Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV truly is anime in the most digestible, bite-sized form perhaps ever made. Announced and then subsequently debuted on YouTube by Square Enix on Wednesday night, Brotherhood lays the prequel foundations for Final Fantasy XV, launching on September 30.
Clocking in at just 11 minutes (make that 8 if we’re discounting the end credits), the first episode of Brotherhood is merely an introductory tale for Noctis and his early-2000’s boyband. The action kicks off as the group embark on their journey of reclaiming the throne that rightfully belongs to Noctis, as well as rescuing Luna, his bride-to-be.
If you were expecting anything outside of foundation-laying for the opening episode of Brotherhood, then you might leave somewhat disappointed. The episode, in its short run-time, only allows for glimpses into the personalities of each member of the aforementioned group of friends, and as such this opening episode is enjoyable, albeit it at the cost of anything outside of straightforward world building and exposition.
The action for the entire episode can be summed up pretty easily: troupe travels in car, has some exposition-laden talk, and is finally halted by a robot patrol for a climactic showdown. Considering the run time of the episode, it’s hard to expect more, but Square actually do a fairly nice job of showing some quirks of the characters featured in this opening episode.
Recently Square announced that the campaign of Final Fantasy XV would take around 50 hours for the average person to beat, and it’s easy to be apprehensive of this. If you didn’t play the Episode Duscae demo and only just boarded the hype train, you won’t have a clue about any of the main characters of Final Fantasy XV. Brotherhood will be your first introduction to these guys before you be spend all that much time with them come September.
As already mentioned, this opening episode of Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV will sell you on the featured cast of characters surrounding Noctis, our reluctant hero. We’re properly introduced to the group through a brief scene in a diner, and it quickly becomes apparent that each member of the group is decidedly different from one another, which can be considered a big win for Final Fantasy XV.
The big win for the group comes in the form of diversity. It’s a form of rock, paper, scissors, but with the personalities of each character. Prompto, the joker of the group annoys Ignis, the scholar of the group, but Gladiolus, the alpha-male type, is able to keep Prompto in check while appeasing Ignis. The diversity of characters displayed in this opening episode gives a great deal of hope for the dynamic between each member of the troupe, as there’s not a boring character in sight.
Ah, I said there wasn’t a boring character. Well, about that… Noctis is perhaps the only character that doesn’t properly get to show his personality in this episode, where at one point Gladiolus even attributes to him “not having properly gone through puberty” yet. It’s a bit weird that Brotherhood would actually acknowledge the lackluster personality of its leading character, but the closing fight scene with soldiers from the invading army at least give us an indication of the headstrong attitude Noctis possesses.
Speaking of Noctis, the most mopey hero of them all, we’re told that he’s heir to a throne that has been invaded by a foreign force, and as such the troupe has to keep him safe and secret. While this isn’t exactly new or groundbreaking material, it’s somewhat relieving that Brotherhood dedicated at least a snippet of its runtime to establishing the backstory and motivations of our hero.
As previously stated,Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV is anime in the most digestible form, mostly due to its run-time, but it’s a bit of a struggle figuring out whether that’s a good thing or not. The show is easy to watch because it never tries to do anything too big for its boots, but in doing this, it also cripples its ability to do anything more than lay some groundwork for the main game.
I’d actually encourage anyone remotely interested in Final Fantasy XV to watch Brotherhood, if only to gain a sneak peek at the group of characters that we’ll be spending hours-upon-hours with come September. There’s an entertaining, whimsical show just waiting to break through in Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, and if Square have any sense they’ll allow it to fulfill this potential before the end of its five-episode run.
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