This is going to be a rant and a journey to get to my point. There's something about Tifa that I absolutely despise but I could never pinpoint it until now.
It was until I played Final Fantasy VII Remake when I finally realized it wasn't just a coincidence. In my opinion, the Tifa I have been seeing in the Compilation series was a whole new character that is trying too hard to be "the Cloud love interest" or at least a worthy contender. and all of it seems to hurt her as a character. Nothing about Tifa is consistent or real and everything appealing about Tifa seems to be "Waifu" material. She is a fighter-type character, which means she isn't afraid to get up close and personal. So she obviously has a sense of confidence. Maybe it's just me, but a character like Tifa and her background in abilities means she isn't afraid to tackle anything head-on.
And yet, we see she chooses to be meek and helpless at times. Reluctantly disagreeing with Avalanche (and off-screen). And even afraid of jumping off a train and requiring Cloud to save her. I thought perhaps that Tifa was "lost in translation" because of the English, and decided to rewatch cutscenes with Tifa in Japanese across the Compilation of FF7. It does help that Tifa's Japanese voice actress sounds significantly younger. But even though I admit she comes off as more of a polite Japanese personality, It still comes across as trying too hard.
It's when she says her iconic lines "I'm sick of this. I'm sick of all of this" which comes off really cheap and fake. Like she's trying to put on a performance.
Am i the only one who finds Tifa incredibly fake?
EDIT: I've come to dislike the fans for the most part too. I think the biggest problem I have with the fans, is they are incapable of seeing Tifa in any other aspect other than the framework they want to. The unrealistic aspects of Tifa seem to be ignored, and refuse to really analyze those very aspects. I've seen a lot of what people like about Tifa, and a lot of what they like is her background more than her character. So at the end of the day, it becomes an argument of execution vs what's on script. And for the most part, i believe execution matters the most.
The reason why this is important, because i believe that this world is slowly forgetting to read social queues, and Tifa, tends to hit all the red flags but is always ignored. Don't get me wrong, this is VERY common in anime where certain characters act soft/vulnerable and even if their intention isn't to harm, do harmful stuff.
i understand the Tifa fans may not agree. But it would be nice if they knew where others are coming from when they see that.
In the original FF7 on PlayStation, based on the script and no voice acting or no detail to the characters, she had a lot more spunk and was determined to contribute to Avalanche while she also had her own reservations and doubts throughout the game. Her connection with Cloud was always a little meek but she was unsure and confused about him. And although she took care of Marlene, Aerith seemed more of the motherly role than Tifa. Tifa (to me) was the older sister type. Her relationship with Cloud Always hinted she knew more about him but also never really understood him (until the end).
When I saw Tifa in Advent Children, there was a radical change from the personality that I was used to. I thought it was because she was also mourning over Aerith but also over Cloud not being around to help out Marlene and Denzel and probably resentment that Cloud can't move on from Aerith. So I somewhat justified it in my brain.
After some time I played Crisis Core, I noticed it had that awkward Kingdom Hearts vibe of "maybe I should ask, maybe I shouldn't" type of conversations along with This happened to characters like Zack, Cloud, Aerith, Cissnei, and even Tifa. It was strange and awkward pacing. So because of this weird attitude all the characters were embracing, I couldn't really tell if they were trying to do something with Tifa, but she seemed to have that same spunk from the original just watered down. And because she gets so little screentime, it wasn't as noticeable. I should've listened to my gut though. the iconic Niebleheim incident really didn't try to give her any iconic moments.
When I saw Tifa in Advent Children, there was a radical change from the personality that I was used to. I thought it was because she was also mourning over Aerith but also over Cloud not being around to help out Marlene and Denzel and probably resentment that Cloud can't move on from Aerith. So I somewhat justified it in my brain.
After some time I played Crisis Core, I noticed it had that awkward Kingdom Hearts vibe of "maybe I should ask, maybe I shouldn't" type of conversations along with This happened to characters like Zack, Cloud, Aerith, Cissnei, and even Tifa. It was strange and awkward pacing. So because of this weird attitude all the characters were embracing, I couldn't really tell if they were trying to do something with Tifa, but she seemed to have that same spunk from the original just watered down. And because she gets so little screentime, it wasn't as noticeable. I should've listened to my gut though. the iconic Niebleheim incident really didn't try to give her any iconic moments.
It was until I played Final Fantasy VII Remake when I finally realized it wasn't just a coincidence. In my opinion, the Tifa I have been seeing in the Compilation series was a whole new character that is trying too hard to be "the Cloud love interest" or at least a worthy contender. and all of it seems to hurt her as a character. Nothing about Tifa is consistent or real and everything appealing about Tifa seems to be "Waifu" material. She is a fighter-type character, which means she isn't afraid to get up close and personal. So she obviously has a sense of confidence. Maybe it's just me, but a character like Tifa and her background in abilities means she isn't afraid to tackle anything head-on.
And yet, we see she chooses to be meek and helpless at times. Reluctantly disagreeing with Avalanche (and off-screen). And even afraid of jumping off a train and requiring Cloud to save her. I thought perhaps that Tifa was "lost in translation" because of the English, and decided to rewatch cutscenes with Tifa in Japanese across the Compilation of FF7. It does help that Tifa's Japanese voice actress sounds significantly younger. But even though I admit she comes off as more of a polite Japanese personality, It still comes across as trying too hard.
It's when she says her iconic lines "I'm sick of this. I'm sick of all of this" which comes off really cheap and fake. Like she's trying to put on a performance.
Am i the only one who finds Tifa incredibly fake?
EDIT: I've come to dislike the fans for the most part too. I think the biggest problem I have with the fans, is they are incapable of seeing Tifa in any other aspect other than the framework they want to. The unrealistic aspects of Tifa seem to be ignored, and refuse to really analyze those very aspects. I've seen a lot of what people like about Tifa, and a lot of what they like is her background more than her character. So at the end of the day, it becomes an argument of execution vs what's on script. And for the most part, i believe execution matters the most.
The reason why this is important, because i believe that this world is slowly forgetting to read social queues, and Tifa, tends to hit all the red flags but is always ignored. Don't get me wrong, this is VERY common in anime where certain characters act soft/vulnerable and even if their intention isn't to harm, do harmful stuff.
i understand the Tifa fans may not agree. But it would be nice if they knew where others are coming from when they see that.
Last edited: