MINI REVIEW: FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0

Class Zero...

This was a selectable reward from the Square Enix website at one point which I'd used accumulated points to redeem. I've never really read a Manga before, but since I only had to pay the cost of shipping for this, I figured this would be a good way to give it a try. Many years later, I've finally given it a shot.

HOW I RATED IT 

4/5 While I don't think this is going to knock anyone's socks off, nor does tell the most satisfying and complete story, I still had a good time with the storytelling, art, and overall reading experience.  

CONTENT

I believe that this Manga functions as a sort of prequel to the videogame it's tied into. I did give that a try years ago on my Xbox but it was just a rather rough experience both graphically and in terms of gameplay since it was so painfully obvious that it was a portable game given a fresh coat of paint. Needless to say, I didn't get very far in it, but I thought the overall vibe of the characters and world was pretty interesting. I'd redeemed this manga as part of a reward system on the Square Enix website (not sure if that still exists or not) partly because it was one of the more interesting prizes and partly because I'd never tried a Manga before. Years later, I finally gave it a go and I had a reasonably good time with both the story that this tells as well as with the Manga reading experience in general (even though reading from right to left tripped me up numerous times during the readthrough). 

One of the things I remember about the game is that there were a rather ridiculous number of playable characters that you could choose to place into your party. This Manga very wisely focusses on three of them with several others playing a supporting role and the rest largely just popping up here and there (sort of similar to how they might factor into one's actual playthrough). I found each of the main character arcs to be compelling and I enjoyed some of the flashback sequences that fleshed out their backstories. I'm not sure if the game's narrative covered any of this content, but if not, then I think avid fans of the game might enjoy getting this added context into Ace, Rem, and Machina. This is also a fascinating world where magic works in some interesting ways. Due to a "blessing" from god-like beings that seem to hold sway over the people, those that die are immediately forgotten by the people that  knew them. It's an incredibly dark concept, especially when paired with the fact that this is a war story at it's core with some dark academia trappings, so death is a rather rampant element of the plot. Seeing how characters handled this bizarre phenomenon was quite captivating and I liked some of the subtle suggestions that maybe some memories don't fully disappear. Contrasting the dark subject matter of the story is the trademark melodrama of the Final Fantasy series' dialogue. While it seemed a little stranger in this context, I still appreciated how those interactions kept this feeling true to the overall tone of the franchise. As fascinating as this all was, there ultimately is not a complete story that's told here. I am aware that most Manga take multiple volumes to tell their stories (with some going on and on in apparent perpetuity), but when I looked up this particular series, it seems the additional volumes mostly just tell side stories set in the world as opposed to being a continuation of this narrative (which I assume is only consumable in game-form). That's a bit of a shame, but I may give the other volumes a chance at some point and I may even dust off my copy of the game to see if maybe I can just rip through the story on Easy Mode or something. 

PAPERBACK & ARTWORK

Having not read any other Manga before, I have no real frame of reference for what is typical. I went in knowing that the artwork is black and white, which I'm not massively a fan of, but I understand that it helps keep the costs of these down for both publishers and consumers. This one had a full color prologue included which was printed on premium paper and I don't know if this is normal, but it felt like a bit of a tease since it was much nicer to see those panels fully rendered. In general, I thought that the quality of the artwork was all over the place. There was the higher-quality prologue vs. the rest of the pages, but then even some of the greyscale pages were sometimes rendered in much higher fidelity and contrast than usual, particularly around the end of one chapter and start of another. Then there was the usual variance you will see in just about any sort of graphic medium where some panels are super tiny and not very detailed, while others are bigger and more intricately done. Overall, I thought the artwork was nice even when things got a little cramped and some of the action shots were hard to interpret. The paperback itself (I don't know if Manga volumes are typically referred to as a "paperback" or not, but that's what I'm going to go with since I know there are sometimes hardcover omnibus editions that come out) is well made, though the middle part of the pages would sort of bend and crackle strangely toward the middle of the book, possibly because of how many pages are crammed into such a little package. It's quite a cute little thing though and it's compact size made it super easy for me to take this on the go. 

CONCLUSION

This one is sort of an interesting case because even though I personally enjoyed my time with it and appreciated dipping my toes into the Manga space through a franchise I'm familiar with, it's hard to say exactly who I'd recommend this to. Certainly fans of the game might have a good time with this even though I know it rehashes some of the information that the game's narrative conveys. To the general Manga reader though, I don't know if this is specifically going to impress you in any way. 

(+) The narrative wisely focusses on specific members of Class Zero

(+) Compelling character backstories and motivations

(+) Artwork that nicely captures the characters and the action that they get into (most of the time)

(+) A fascinatingly dark work contrasted by melodramatic dialogue

(+) A nice way for someone like me to give Manga a try

(-) Inconsistent levels of fidelity in the artwork

(-) A somewhat unsatisfying ending to the story that can seemingly only be continued through the game