Written by Ninja Jupi
So a good while back, when visiting the comic book shop with Mark, something on the shelf caught my eye. It was a seven-chapter manga based around the Final Fantasy XIV series. As a fan of the game series, and playing through Final Fantasy XIV myself, I just had to check it out! Final Fantasy XIV is the one I've invested the most time into compared to the other titles in the series. I've played IV, VI, IX, XI, and XII. Interested in XVI too...but I'll hold out on that. Anyway, this series takes characters of the FFXIV game and places them into a slice-of-life school setting. The theme of Dark vs Light is present too, which is no surprise if you've ever played any of these games. There were a few surprises though as far as the roles of some of these characters.
Twin siblings Alphinaud and Alisae are the main characters, even though it seems to be mostly about Alisae. They retain the ages that they have in-game (16), are first-year students, and are in the Class of Light. As for their personalities, they're pretty much intact as well. Alphinaud is the studious, level-headed, polite, and logical one where as Alisae is the jump into action without thinking about it, causal type.
Also, instead of the twins living with their family in Sharlayan, they are living with the other Scions of the Seventh Dawn to attend the academy. Now, I have no idea offhand where that's supposed to be taking place and not all of the Scions reside here. This non-canon story obviously takes place after the events of Stormblood and Shadowbringers as it doesn't include Milifina, Papalymo, or Yda/Lyse. Papalymo in this story would've been interesting...he could've made a good teacher. He was a mentor to Yda afterall.
Those who do live here are Y'shtola, Urianger, and Thancred. Y'shtola is the year 1 homeroom teacher, Thancred is the year 2 homeroom teacher and PE Teacher, and Urianger is the science teacher. Given these three's personalities and characters, I could definitely see them in these roles, especially Urianger. I could see him being a philosophy teacher too.
Getting into the school itself, the characters that you see in this chapter are Tataru, Estinien, G'raha Tia, Haurchefant, Aymeric, Emet-Selch, Zenos, Asahi, and Yotsuyu. Tataru is the school's Head Mistress, which is perfect for her character. She is definitely a take-charge type if you've played the game. She was always in charge of different tasks and has an authority figure vibe about her. G'raha is a second-year student and part of the Class of Light. Just like his in-game personality, he's really into books and tomes. Aymeric and Haurchefant are both third-year students and Aymeric is the class president.
Emet-Selch is the academy's guidance counselor and one of the third-year teachers. Zenos, Yotsuyu, and Asahi are part of the Class of Darkness. Zenos and Yotsuyu are year 3 students while Asahi is a year 1 student. Yotsuyu has kind of a reserved type personality and sometimes getting on her brother (Asahi) for his behavior. Zenos seems to be the popular bishie guy within his group and just like in the game, Asahi worships the ground Zenos walks on. Seriously, when playing the game, Asahi seemed like if Zenos said he'd marry him if he jumped off a cliff with a sword aimed at his throat, he'd do it without thinking twice about it. In-game these were all bad guys, by the way but for those who haven't played I won't spoil too much, especially with Yotsuyu and Asahi's story and how tragic Yotsuyu's was.
The other character in this chapter that's part of the Class of Light is Estinien, who I mentioned earlier. I left him for last because of how surprised I was by his character addition. He's kind of a lone wolf character which gives off that cool guy vibe. He has a bishie feel to him as well, but too laid back to even realize it. This kind of fits his character, but they made him a third-year student. Zenos too, actually. Zeno's character is in his mid-20s for the game. Estinien is up there with Thancred (30s). Yotsuyu and Asahi were in their mid-20s as well, iirc. Maybe even a bit older, especially given what Yotsuyu's character had been through and what she was doing and for how long she'd been doing it. It's an interesting take on these characters, either way.
Now that that's out of the way, let's actually get into the chapter. The academy used to be separated, but two years earlier, the Academy of Light and the Academy of Darkness merged to become Eorzea Academy. Unfortunately, there's still a rivalry between these two groups. Tataru is determined to lessen that gap and comes up with a plan to do so. She proposes a contest between the Class of Darkness and the Class of Light where their deeds and grades, will be evaluated within and outside of the academy. The group with the most points can have any wish they please. Moogles will help with judging the actions of the students and when one does do something, the group receives a Kupo Nut.
All of the students are really into the upcoming competition, and Alisae is all fired up. The Class of Darkness praises Zenos, but Alisae is determined to beat him. The next chapter will be a sports day competition. Which team will win, Light or Darkness?
Sorry for making this so long, but there really wasn't too much to this first chapter. Just all set up, really for the upcoming chapters. It's still fun, though, and curious as to what other characters may make an appearance. As we saw, Haurchefant is in here and if you played the games, you'd know why his character wouldn't be here under normal circumstances. Aymeric is a character I fangirl over game-wise. His having a leadership role works given his role in-game. That aside, this is another addition that's interesting seeing them as teenagers when both are in their late 20s, early 30s respectively.
So, if you're interested in more of this story, I'll drop my thoughts on it. Just comment and let us know what you think. I'm looking forward to this lighthearted slice-of-life story, as well as chapter two!
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