Mother... Come to the Promised Land with me...
Sephiroth
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, an OAV version of two flashbacks from the seventh numbered installment in the leg-shatteringly popular Final Fantasy series; well known as the oddball of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII mostly due to its differing art style when compared to the other titles; animated by Madhouse (yes, that Madhouse) and directed by Morio Asaka, Last Order was written by the creators of the original game with the original producer and music composer. Tetsuya Nomura supervised the project.
Released in 2005, Last Order follows the events of the Nibelheim incident and Zack and Cloud's escape from Hojo. The story is viewed mostly through the eyes of Zack and Tseng. Word of God states that this version of the Nibelheim incident is what the Turks believed that happened that day. The 22 minute OVA short starts with Zack and Cloud being pursued through a forest.
This anime provides examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Sephiroth's sword cuts through a four foot diameter pipe and the Buster Sword and can cut straight through Sephiroth and into a glass tank like butter.
- Air Jousting: Zack and Sephiroth can jump so high that they can do this without difficulty.
- Alien Among Us: Though not stated, Jenova is this in canon.
- Almost Dead Guy: The man that tells Tifa and Zangan where Sephiroth and Tifa's father are. He falls unconscious and possibly survives as we see Zangan carrying him to safety. Tifa, Zack and Cloud are bleeding out after beating Sephiroth, but Tifa is saved by Zangan and Cloud and Zack and carried off by Hojo and Shinra.
- Angst Coma: Cloud starts off with one due to the effects of Jenova cells and Mako poisoning.
- Audible Sharpness: This is used throughout the short.
- Badass Normal: The first three ordinary soldiers show off some good moves, but they are slaughtered by Zack. Cloud proves he's one when he further impales himself on Sephiroth's sword so he can attack him.
- BFS: The Buster Sword is one. Sephiroth's sword is pretty long too.
- Black Helicopter: The Turks deploy one to keep track of Zack and Cloud much to the rank and file's annoyance.
- Category Traitor: Sephiroth considers all humans traitors to the Cetra, while he's betrayed SOLDIER, Shinra and ruined his reputation as great hero.
- Character Narrator: Tseng narrates much of the story.
- The Chosen One: Sephiroth believes himself to be this.
- Classified Information: The Nibelheim incident is covered up.
- Cold Sniper: The sniper that orders his comrade to disobey orders to wait for the Turks.
- Continuity Nod: The unnamed Turks from Before Crisis appear on the helicopter-pad.
- Cool Bike: Shinra soldiers use them, not that it helps them…
- Cool Shades: They come with the Shinra mook uniform.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The ordinary soldiers get one against Zack. The Nibelheim citizens vs. Sephiroth except for Cloud.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Tifa's father in Tifa's arms.
- Dodge the Bullet: Zack is shown casually dodging machine-gun fire from multiple shooters.
- Doomed Hometown: Nibelheim is already on fire in the flashbacks and pretty much screwed by Sephiroth leading Tifa, Zack and Cloud to want revenge.
- Downer Ending: The short ends with the sound of the sniper's gunshot.
- Driven to Suicide: Sephiroth jumps into the Lifestream by his own free will in this version.
Word of God says this is just what the Turks thought what had happened. - Eldritch Abomination: Jenova looks vaguely human, but is anything but.
- Evil Former Friend: Sephiroth to Zack and Cloud.
- Evil Matriarch: Sephiroth promises to make Jenova this.
- False Camera Effects: The first shot of the short is the view through Cloud's eyes. Everything blurs in and out to him. Later, the last shot is also through Cloud's eyes and everything looks green to him.
- Foregone Conclusion: Everyone familiar with the game is fully aware that Zack will not make it out alive.
- Glowing Eyes: Somehow, Cloud's eyes glow green before Hojo experiments on him probably due to his Mako treatments in his failed bid to join SOLDIER. Due Sephiroth's reaction, though, it's clear that this is still unusual. Zack's and Sephiroth's eyes also glow purple and green respectively. One of Jenova's eyes glows.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Sephiroth when he learns Jenova is his “mother”.
- Gory Discretion Shot:
- At the beginning, a few soldiers attack Zack and Cloud. Zack takes them out with his sword. All we see is blood spraying into the air from the disintegrated bodies!
- Sephiroth cutting off Jenova's head is this.
- Guns Are Worthless: Played with. Guns can't penetrate Zack's sword and Zack has reflexes to dodge bullets to some extent (friendly fire helped). Subverted with the sniper. Of course, that was Retconed.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Implied in the ending.
- Heroic Willpower: Cloud pushing himself down on Sephiroth's sword and back onto the platform.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Cloud gets impaled not once, but twice by Sephiroth in this version. Also, Cloud impales Sephiroth with the Buster Sword.
- Just Following Orders: Stated by Reno when the other Turks started to pity Zack and Cloud.
- Kill It with Fire: Sephiroth sets the town alight.
- Master Swordsman: Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud are damn good with blades. Some Shinra Mooks are shown using swords but not up to scratch compared to the heroes and villain.
- Metaphorically True: Sephiroth believes Jenova is his mother and that she is a Cetra. This isn't true as Jenova is an alien and he was injected with Jenova cells when he was in his biological mother's womb.
- Mooks: The Faceless Goons that Zack takes on. This is subverted by Cloud who used to be one of them.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The motorcycle troops decide to take on Zack. One cutaway later and the Turks are reporting that the fugitives are now on a motorcycle instead of foot.
- Oh, Crap!: The officer's reaction to Zack returning. Zack's reaction to Sephiroth's power is this. Zack's reaction when he sees the snipers.
- Old Master: Zangan gets called “geezer” by Zack and he trained Tifa.
- The Promise: Cloud's childhood promise to save Tifa. He's a little late, though.
- The Promised Land: The Lifestream.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Tseng and several of the Turks are not exactly thrilled about chasing down Zack and Cloud for the second time and they feel sorry for them. Tseng also questions Hojo's cover-up plan, wondering if it's necessary. He also doesn't look pleased when Hojo decides to use Zack and Cloud as test subjects.
- Pull Yourself Down the Spear: After Sephiroth skewers Cloud, Cloud proceeds to slowly crawl his way down the nodachi to attack Sephiroth with his own (considerably shorter) sword.
- Razor Wind: Zack can fire a blue energy wave by swinging his sword.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: For some reason, the soldiers like wearing helmets with three glowing red lights on them.
- Remember the New Guy?: Funny, VII made no mention of the Turks operating at Nibelheim during the Nibelheim Incident, or really, any of the characters or events of this game. See Retcon.
- Retcon: The cell phone game, Before Crisis, changed the scenario of battle at the Mako reactor. This version was used in Last Order. Later on, the two versions were mixed together and a compromise was made. That version went into Crisis Core. However, Word of God says that FFVII gave us Cloud's perspective of the scene, Last Order and Before Crisis gave us the scene as reported by the Turks and Crisis Core is what Zack perceived as what happened. The only thing we know for certain is that the Turks got it wrong about Sephiroth jumping into the Lifestream and Tifa waking up when Cloud arrived in the Mako Reactor.
- Say My Name: Zangan yelling at Tifa to not go to the reactor. Zack and Cloud yelling at Sephiroth counts as this trope.
- Slasher Smile: Sephiroth gives one to Zack as they fight.
- Stock Phrase: After Sephiroth gets stabbed by Cloud he tells him, “by the likes of you!”, “You bastard”, and “Don't push it, kid!” In response to Cloud impaling himself further and throwing Sephiroth against the wall, he says “Impossible…”
- Sword Sparks: Zack and Sephiroth's battle has them.
- Take Over the World: Sephiroth's plan.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Cloud says he'll never forgive Sephiroth.
- Tragic Bromance: Cloud and Zack just like in the other parts of the compilation.
- Trial by Friendly Fire: When the soldiers surround Zack and Cloud, they start shooting, but Zack dodges the bullets. A few of the soldiers are hit by friendly fire. The officer orders the soldiers to engage in close combat.
- Unusable Enemy Equipment: In the Nibelheim scene, Tifa attempts to use this weapon to slash Sephiroth and fails for this reason, though this was not present in Crisis Core's version of the same scene.
- We Used to Be Friends: Zack tells Sephiroth that he is no longer the person he remembers and Cloud tells him that he used to admire him.
- What the Hell Are You?: Sephiroth says this word for word when Cloud throws him into the wall after further impaling himself on Sephiroth's sword!
- White Hair, Black Heart: Sephiroth slaughters an entire village full of innocents.
- The Worf Barrage: Part way through the short, Zack uses an energy wave attack by swinging his sword. In the flashback, Sephiroth easily knocks it out of the way.
- You Fool!: In the vein of, “You took the planet away from Mother!”
- You Killed My Father: Tifa attacks Sephiroth for this and for killing her neighbors and burning down Nibelheim. She fails. Cloud does the same for his mother and the others. Sephiroth gets impaled.
