Final Fantasy 9 Is Getting A French Animated Television Series

[Koby]

So many games are getting movie and television adaptations, and one more just got added to that growing list. Final Fantasy 9 is the latest gaming adventure to get its own animated series. The company in charge of production promises that it will be a kid-friendly adventure that fans will love. 

 

 

The Final Fantasy 9 animated series is being developed by French Cyber Group Studios alongside Square Enix. The goal for the studio is to begin production at the end of 2021, or the beginning of 2022 at the latest. “The games have a strong co-viewing potential,” said Pierre Sissmann, the CEO of Cyber Group Studios, to Kidscreen.  He added that this series will appeal to both those familiar with Final Fantasy and for those just coming to it, giving both a chance to immerse themselves within a beloved universe.

 

For those that may have missed out on Final Fantasy 9's story, it's a charming tale that tells the story it wants to tell. Princess Garnet has been kidnapped by Zidane and the Tantalus Theater Troupe. The heir of Alexandria wasn't exactly a helpless victim, however, seeing as she actually wanted to escape from the pressures of royalty to experience the outside world. Shenanigans are afoot, and both her and her personal guard join Zidane's group to embark on an epic quest filled with adorable chibi-like characters, wholesome dialogue, and - of course - the threat of darkness overtaking the world and everything we know within it.

 

Thoughts on Final Fantasy 9 getting the animated TV series treatment? Sound off with your hottest of hot takes in the comment section below! 

[Claytonic]

Maybe kid-friendly means it will cut down on the innuendo? Not a lot of violence? But if Avatar LTA was a kid show, maybe it won't be as dumbed down as that statement would seem. As long as it has some semblance of the FFIX story in it, I'll be interested in watching. I won't be interested if it is just a comedy show using the FFIX characters. Maybe this FF game is the best for adapting to a TV show?

[Zemekis]

Sorry for commenting on years-old news, but since this cartoon STILL hasn't come to pass, I feel it's fair game. I was obsessed with this news when it first dropped within the FF community. I followed it closely, mostly out of spite because I think it's a bad idea, and all I ever found was speculation. Aside from the initial announcement that it was going to be created, I haven't seen any proof of a release date or that it's been worked on at all. What the hell happened? I'm not a fan of everything getting adapted, and FF IX is very near & dear to my heart. I'd almost rather this project fizzle out and never come to fruition, but it will be at least 23 years separated from my memories of the game. A god-awful cartoon can't retroactively ruin FF IX for me, so I say bring it on. I'm open to a remake as well. Even if it bombs, I'll just go back to the original.

[Koby]

15 minutes ago, Zemekis said:

Sorry for commenting on years-old news, but since this cartoon STILL hasn't come to pass, I feel it's fair game. I was obsessed with this news when it first dropped within the FF community. I followed it closely, mostly out of spite because I think it's a bad idea, and all I ever found was speculation. Aside from the initial announcement that it was going to be created, I haven't seen any proof of a release date or that it's been worked on at all. What the hell happened? I'm not a fan of everything getting adapted, and FF IX is very near & dear to my heart. I'd almost rather this project fizzle out and never come to fruition, but it will be at least 23 years separated from my memories of the game. A god-awful cartoon can't retroactively ruin FF IX for me, so I say bring it on. I'm open to a remake as well. Even if it bombs, I'll just go back to the original.

I did hear a few small bits about it since the initial announcement but I didn't post them on the forum I guess. I had initially garnered a bit of interest in watching this, but later reports suggest it's going to be aimed at a young kid and mostly be something that isn't going to be interesting to us older folks who actually played the game. Strange to say the least that we still don't have any sort of promotional art for it though to see what things might look like, two years after the initial announcement.

 

Illustration by My Hero Academia mangaka Kohei Horikoshi.

 

That's not the artwork for the show, but it's an interesting peek at what an anime style might look like.

 

Taking a look at the studio doing the FF9 show will probably give you a good idea of what kind of animation style to expect: https://www.cybergroupstudios.com/programs/

[Zemekis]

9 minutes ago, Koby said:

Taking a look at the studio doing the FF9 show will probably give you a good idea of what kind of animation style to expect: https://www.cybergroupstudios.com/programs/

 

Right. This was about as far as my research took me at the time as well. I recall something in 2022 about a marketing trade show that was going on where it was supposed to be revealed. Some people got pictures of the kiosk/venue and there was nothing related to the FF IX show on display from Cyber Group Studios. My thought was that the show would be made to drum up hype for an unannounced remake. I'm sure you're as aware of the rampant rumors surrounding an FF IX remake as I am. It's died down recently, but I suspect that it will happen. My craziest dream is of an FF VIII remake, but that will never happen. The game awards go live in ~40 minutes so maybe we'll see FF IX!!! Fat chance.

It really is shocking that we are 2 years out from the initial announcement with nothing more to show for it.

[Koby]

37 minutes ago, Zemekis said:

'm sure you're as aware of the rampant rumors surrounding an FF IX remake as I am. It's died down recently, but I suspect that it will happen.

Yep. Practically everything listed in the Nvidia leak has happened at this point except FF9 and FFTactics. Given how almost everything else became a reality, I still have hope these are real.

[Zemekis]

On 12/7/2023 at 7:25 PM, Koby said:

Yep. Practically everything listed in the Nvidia leak has happened at this point except FF9 and FFTactics. Given how almost everything else became a reality, I still have hope these are real.

There wasn't anything in the Game Awards (that was a long-shot anyway), but I heard that the studio behind the cartoon mentioned it once again, so that's still in the works......maybe? My original hope when I first heard about the cartoon was that is would air, followed by a brief wait leading to the announcement of FF IX remake. Now that we're years down the line, I suspect that the cartoon is complete, or mostly complete, but the game project has been delayed leading to an overall backing off of the FF IX project. It hurts pretty bad because FF IX is a top 3 or 4 game for me...but better late than rushed (or never).

Since the cartoon is confirmed to still be in the works, what's your take on the status? Give me some hope here... 

[Koby]

Just now, Zemekis said:

There wasn't anything in the Game Awards (that was a long-shot anyway), but I heard that the studio behind the cartoon mentioned it once again, so that's still in the works......maybe? My original hope when I first heard about the cartoon was that is would air, followed by a brief wait leading to the announcement of FF IX remake. Now that we're years down the line, I suspect that the cartoon is complete, or mostly complete, but the game project has been delayed leading to an overall backing off of the FF IX project. It hurts pretty bad because FF IX is a top 3 or 4 game for me...but better late than rushed (or never).

Since the cartoon is confirmed to still be in the works, what's your take on the status? Give me some hope here... 

Honestly I feel like a lot of the reason we haven't had more word of the FF9 stuff is because of FF7 Rebirth. It's very possible we could hear something once the newness of that wears off... Or they could simply be waiting for the 7 Remake Trilogy to come to a close entirely at this point. It might even be possible we get a double whammy announcement of FF9 Remake alongside confirmation of a FF17 being in the works, but that's probably not as likely. I do think we're likely to hear more about a Tactics Remake/Remaster (forget which it was suppose to be) before we get any news on 9.

 

And of course the Enix side of things has that Dragon Quest 3 Remake that should be almost completed now... and there was some rumblings that 1 & 2 were getting similar treatment. All the while we've had very little news about it and still nothing but a logo for 12 other than some interviews where they stated they were having difficulty making 12 more "mature" without really going into detail what they meant by that.

[Zemekis]

9 hours ago, Koby said:

Honestly I feel like a lot of the reason we haven't had more word of the FF9 stuff is because of FF7 Rebirth.

I think so too. The Game Awards were just a few months before the release of FF7R2, and Squeenix has admitted that they hold off on reveals shortly before releases (who wouldn't?). Since FF7R2 is releasing on the last day of February, perhaps we'll hear confirmation of the Tactics remaster/make or FF9. Fingers crossed. FF17 is a complete toss up, I can't even speculate one way or the other.