"Japanese" FMVs

[DarkClaymore]

As I said in the other thread, I had hard time "connecting" to the game's plot because the characters smiling when there aren't supposed to and etc...

So, I have remembered another reason: The FMVs!

It really annoyed me that in the FMVs, the characters looked Japanese while in-game they not.
I have nothing against them being Japanese, but that as long as they look the same both in-game and during FMVs!

Each time a FMV starts, I just can't bring myself to stop wondering "why they don't look like the characters in game?". It almost felt as the characters I am playing with and the ones in the FMVs are totally different ones.

So basically, I pretty much missed the whole emotional feeling from the game. The only part which I felt something was when

Spoiler

Tidus learned that Yuna will die if she will get the Final Aeon

. And even then it was ruined a little by those smiling faces

 

[Kandy-Sugar]

I never actually noticed to be quite honest.

I never worried about the characters appearance in the game whilst I was moving them around and such.

Once it flipped over to an FMV I didn't really think that they looked more Japanese or not, just that they looked a lot better graphics wise.

But then I'm not that fussy. XD

 

[Auronlu]

I've run into a lot of interesting discussions lately about the fact that we tend to see anime faces as Caucasian which Japanese viewers see as Japanese.

Linkie to one such study

I found FFX's transition to clearly-Japanese faces when the FMVs kick on a little distracting, although I also find them beautiful and satisfying. I like the slightly Japanese feel of this game. It adds a spice, a flavoring to the usual generic fantasy world that I found refreshing.

But I wonder.

That essay above talks about the mind's tendency to see default "unmarked" faces in your own racial type. For instance, you'll see a generic smiley face as white, if you're white. Someone with darker skin may interpret the yellow color as cartoon convention for brown.

When portrait art is detailed, more specific, then we see the racial features indicated by the art. When it's not, we see it as our own.

See what I'm getting at?

Admittedly there's also the blond hair issue, but Tidus' hair is clearly bleached; he's got dark roots. Wakka looks Polynesian, not so far-flung from Japan. The Al Bhed are supposed to be exotic, so their hair and eyes are exotic colors, from a Japanese perspective.

My eyes interpret the jump between FFX models as Caucasian vs. Japanese facial structure in the high-resolution versions. But maybe, it's just that the low-poly graphics are more cartoony, more generic, and look Japanese to Japanese eyes, as much as they look European to our eyes. They're filling in Japanese details. We're filling in European details.

 

[wehttamrd]

Actually I noticed this for the first time a couple days ago, it was during Yuna and Seymour's wedding, and I realized... "hey.. why does Yuna suddenly look so Japanese??" It was weird but I know exactly what you're talking about!

 

[Cecily]

Huh, that's interesting. I never thought of it that way. The FMV models do look Japanese to me, but the in-game models didn't look less Japanese, just less detailed.

 

[ANIMA]

I think the characters lock a lot better in the game, not in the FMVs.

 

[saajuk]

Actually I noticed this for the first time a couple days ago, it was during Yuna and Seymour's wedding, and I realized... "hey.. why does Yuna suddenly look so Japanese??" It was weird but I know exactly what you're talking about!

The wedding scene imo was the only time yuna didnt look so japanese. As for Seymour he looks like a douch in that FMV.

Ya yuna didnt look so good in the FMVs. Same with rikku (she was just plain ugly in them). The others like Auron, Lulu and Wakka didnt look much japenese at all. Just yuna and Rikku and Tidus (whom didnt look half bad)

but these things dont really show up much so it didnt effect me at all.

 

[Midnight Memoire]

I was never bothered by it. Final Fantasy X was the beginning of good graphics for the FF series, imo. It is also a fairly aged game by this time. Just look at the difference graphically between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. It's quite amazing how far they had come in a few years. The FMV's were fantastic. I loved them. Tidus actually looked like an ex-boyfriend of mine... I didn't see him as being Japanese. Rikku, Lulu, and Auron didn't look very Japanese either.

 

[Kazeikan]

I have to agree with them not looking japanese.
I find that Rikku looks awesome in Pics and fanart but when it comes to FMVs, she looks really ugly. Not Asian at all.

 

[Serah]

The only ones I can really recall looking Asian in the FMVs (not the cutscenes) are Tidus, Yuna and Rikku. Lulu, Wakka and Auron looked non-Asian to me. I mean take a look here at these images.

FMV Yuna:

Cutscene Yuna:

FMV Tidus:

Cutscene Tidus:

FMV Rikku:

Cutscene Rikku:

Can you see the distinct differences? I for one, do believe that in the FMVs they look much more Asian than they do in their cutscene graphics.

 

[Cecily]

OK, now I see. I was thinking about the FMVs versus field and battle models - I forgot about the cutscene models. There is a difference.