Thats so cool. it just tickles my tummy

We seem to have very similar interpretations. 🌝

But what about Johnny? Zack never met him.

Okay I'm subscribing. I just saw you have introspective videos on Cloud and Zack on the side and I need to support my fellow Melanin princess. You make good, valid and well thought out points and your hair is friggin fantastic. Sold. I'm a fan. :D

I love him, there’s always so many layers to his character but anytime u see him achieve some form of happiness u wanna jump and cheer for him

I just need my boy zack to get his happy ending 😭. Zerith to me is the star crossed tragic lovers and I do believe we will see them unite in the lifestream in part 3 bc we never saw it in AC. Just my thoughts on ships lol

After watching your vid my mind was blown. I refuse to think this was another marvel multi worlds. I knew it had to be the lifesteam and you cleared a lot of what I couldn’t make sense. Thank you! I can’t wait for part 3!

THIS IS MF CONTENT

Just remember its cannon to FF10. With farplane and shit like that.....

I totally agree with your last point, Cloud needs to stabalize himself before entering into a emotional romantic partnership. (Though he makes a great effort in Advent Children)

I haven't read the compilation texts, but why try and "clone" Sephiroth using adults instead of just injecting more fetuses with Jenova cells? He was already obviously physically gifted as a kid, so that should be more than enough for the corrupt Shinra scientists to experiment on more fetuses.

I definitely like this format, and I think the length is just right. Not so slow that I get bored caught up in the minutia, but not so fast that I don't get a feel for the intent of the choices you're making. The fact that your art and skill are fantastic of course doesn't hurt, lol. I personally really enjoy doing art studies like this, and sketching through to lineart is my FAVORITE part of the process... partially because I'm very bad at shading, lol. I really like your style, and it really strikes a balance between detail/impression and edges/curves that I'm super into. My work doesn't necessarily look like yours, but it has a similar vibe I feel. Anyway, great work!

OOO we on a art vibe this round? Im here for it teach usss

It’s so cool to see how talented you are in different forms. Watching you draw and taking time to try something new is a breath of fresh air. Good video as always

Some minor thoughs. Zack v Sephiroth part was ok. But it kinda went over Aerith v Sephiroth who are the angel and devil on Clouds shoulder. Recently a friend of mine who is a green enviromentalist played og first time. She said that there is no romance in the game. That the cause is what's important and it's just kids messing around during free time. While for most this take isn't theirs it shows how the story itself is good. Though I would argue some romance adds to it. Eg. in temple of the ancients Cloud breaks Sephiroths control when the whispers attack Aerith. If it's just a friend that control is weakerer to break than when a loved one is attacked. Cloud actually is looking for a family - his friends. He just has problems expressing it. When you talked about personalities around him, he has most of them. And we can see how he interacts with them. I don't think Aerith and Tifa are good at that though. Of course he is more willing to let them do more around him. But I would argue the best to get to him are Zack and....Vincent. Zack is the big brother. They get along because they have the same background and Zack included Cloud as his friend just like Cloud always wanted. Vincent on the other hand is Clouds quite side cranked to eleven. Vince never speaks if it's not important and Cloud feels this on a relatable level. Also Cloud mentally is 16 while Vince is around 50 (serious father-son vibes). Even their absence from the world (coffin sleeping and tank imprisonment) is a mirror image of them. Having both of them around himself Cloud can model his life how he wants it to be (just like most teenagers do). At his lowest in AC he finds comfort in only relatable person - Vincent.

RU-vid brought me to your channel oh yeah i like ya theory followed

Ey, if it works, it works 😂

I wish they never did this fate ghost, mutli timelines, paraellel universe stuff. It never works out.

Everyone knows that I'm of the view that he loves Tifa romantically, but that he cared for Aerith a great deal. Ultimately if they wanted to give a clear description of Cloud's feelings towards Aerith (especially after the lifestream sequence) to put them on equal romantic ground to Tifa's I think they would have, but it's always just been "friend" this, "friend" that in all of the Advent Children promotional material that came out. It's technically a spoiler for Rebirth if you think about it. The devs still wanted you to spend date time with your favorite yet the only one Cloud kisses is Tifa. If he also kissed Aerith I would have been shook, but.. damn. Well-made video though and peep the Wonder Girls reference at the end! Haha

02:16 In the ending of remake before the Whisper fight Aerith talks about this, how Sephiroth is kinda impeding these souls to past on. When the party heard the screams of Gaia, you go directly to the image of Zack's Last stand, this links directly to your Reason 2, this can truly mean that Zack is in that "purgatory" (I don't really like the term but it kinda suits it well), and this can explain what happened with Aerith at the end of Rebirth as well. Due to Sephiroth they all can not pass onto the lifestream until Sephiroth is dealt with.

I love when people know the FF7 lore and refer to their sources! I definitely have never agreed with "multiverses" or "timelines". I think those semantics framing the discourse in the West are a result of people being so influenced by Marvel and American culture, when the writer Nojima grew up in a culture that was influenced by Shinto and Buddhism, so the framework is more centered around that. Videos like this help give pushback to those erroneous views! Excellent job! I also can't wait for Zack and Aerith's reunification in the lifestream, something we never got to see. (Maiden lost relevance long ago, so I don't count it as part of canon lore) About your note: I have to say, never apologize for your point of view! Screw the noise and put out what you want, as it's your channel. The people that will gravitate towards you will find you! 😊 There will always be naysayers no matter what you do. Plus we need more women being outspoken.

I adore Cloud! He's the most iconic and influential protagonist in gaming history imo and I would like to thank you Jazzy for this little video. Over the past few years I've seen more and more hatred shown towards Cloud by so called "fans'" of the game. I agree that everyone is entitled to have their own preferences, but it's the amount of totally unjustified comments that are so toxic in nature that keep seeping in to every stream I watch, Twitter or even Cloud appreciation posts! Many people just do not understand Cloud or do not want to understand him so just hate on him instead - so sad, but true. Cloud is my hero and will always have a special place in my heart!❤

Ahhhh, thank you for this. I've been trying to say stuff like this since Remake, but everyone's so quick to jump to conclusions and then attempt to cement them as 'undeniable fact', when we still don't have the full picture. Ultimately, it matters much less to me how they tell the story, as long as it's thematically strong and coherent. But if so many people are going to try and act like the remake is 'terrible' just because they've decided a specific theory is the only there that makes sense and they believe it's a mess... then it kind of forces me into the weeds of discussing the alternatives that - to me - are kinda obvious if you have the original game fresh/cemented in your mind. Personally, my assumptions about certain things are a bit different from yours. For example, I believe we don't get to see the pivotal moments in full at the end of Rebirth, because Cloud is compartmentalizing his trauma, as he's done with Zack and the Nibelheim incident. That makes more sense to me than Aerith doing so for him, since one of the major thematic elements of Cloud's characterization that is positioned on top of the themes of loss, is learning to properly grieve. I think a much more major part of Cloud's struggles going forward (compared to the original), are going to be his refusal to grieve, which is part of why he wasn't allowed into his own little memory segment in the Temple of the Ancients, and is also his thematic arc in Advent Children. And so in order to finally see first hand Aerith's death and sendoff, will require him to first be able to admit that she's gone, but that that doesn't mean she's not still with them. He'll have to come to terms with the spiritual aspects of the Lifestream, and the oneness that comes with it for all life borne from it. But that's a minor difference, and either one of us could be right or wrong about that obviously. Either way, I think this video really shows an abundance of open-mindedness and understanding of the source material, which I really appreciate. I'm actually currently in the editing phases on my own video on the game as a whole. It's big, so it's slow goings, lol. The voiceover is unfortunately already done, but I hope it's okay if I put a note in that mentions this video, and then a link to it in the description, to show support? Also, you English goodly, lololol :D

Great breakdown! I've always related to Cloud as a character. Whether it's looking up to him as a kid, or recognizing his flaws and how they mirror mine as an adult. We're total opposites with how we interact with others, but I relate to him nonetheless. As a kid I looked up to his confidence as a leader, but recognized his shyness immediately. As I got older, I started related to his struggles with identity, imposter syndrome, again shyness, depression, grief and survivors guilt during Advent Children. To eventually learning to rely on others and break down his walls. Overall, one of my favorite characters and I'm always glad to see him analyzed as more than just "emo Cloud".

Wait hold on keep cooking, you’re onto something

I really like your theory, but there are two scenes that I find significant to the timeline theories. 'The wind, it was you' Zack to sleeping Aerith after He and Biggs realise a wind saved them. And Aerith literally 'pushing' Cloud into another world or timeline in the church as Sephiroth enters to kill her.

I been CloTi since the OG and I was kid, that said I also believe the loves in our lives can have significant values. Of course not always the case, but I also think Cloud loved them both and needed them in his life when they were there. But the UNCONDITIONAL LOVE Tifa has for him no matter how messed up he is is why I'm CloTI. I do 100% think Cloud needs to work out those problems first. As for Barrett...he's gotta be with Rhonda, the mayor of Junon. Would that be team Brhonda? Barrett, Marlene, Rhonda, and Salmon.

I like this theory a lot better than separate timelines, the “reunion of worlds” would be too much like time compression in FF8 which doesn’t tie in with og FF7 at all, dreamworlds of the souls in the lifestream is way more thematic.

So, I'm a little confused about the before or after Advent Children part. In the beginning of the movie, it gives dates that place it two years after the end of FFVII. Tifa says that it was two years ago, and the Edge city that they live in was built next to the ruins of Midgar from Meteor. Cloud and Kadaj even fight in the ruined Midgar. I was under the impression that FFVII Remake and Rebirth were just HD remakes of the original with some added points and expansion of a few things that the PS1 just wasn't capable of. Great video, BTW, very thoughtful and insightful.

I will say Sephiroth does play a role in Cloud's development ironically positively. Sephiroth provides Cloud a frightening dark reflection as Sephiroth became and was adored as a hero similarly to how Cloud wanted to be. But Sephiroth lacked the one thing that Cloud had in abundance- love and being cherished. It was only after Cloud became a hero after OG7/AC that he understood the weight of it all and just wanted to be a family man. He fulfilled his oath to Zack and upheld a true SOLDIER's honor. And that's something that Sephiroth longs to be part of, whether he admits it or not, in Rebirth during the final battle, he even performs the SOLDIER's prayer during one of his moves. Showing there's SOME bond to his former self, in the bond he did have with Angeal. In his resurrection in LS:Blk, Sephiroth places all his chips in Cloud's EVERYTHING, which forms Sephiroth's core. Cloud doesn't need Sephiroth but Sephiroth is dependent on Cloud. Wonderful video about gaming's spiky haired chocobo farm boy, I'll definitely subscribe. <3

Wish you talked about his relationship with sephiroth more, i know its more negative but it definitely help build him up as a character and i love how rebirth expanded that exponentially.

I love Aerith as a character, I mean, how can you not like such sweet girl! But honeslty, in terms of emotional connection depth, if there is anyone who can heal him, it's Tifa. To me, Aerith is the heroin of FF7, but the heroin for Cloud is Tifa.

YES!!! i thought about this last night while i was having trouble sleeping at 5 am and it kept me up til 8. im so glad other people independently have such a similar theory of it all being memories. it ties everything together SO neatly. i think we are in the lifestream after cloud dies when he dies at the end of advent children. it would be such a neat wrap up to end with the end of AC. its not different physical realities its just the lifestreams memories and ppl like cloud, aerith, sephiroth, zack, and even hojo ad gi arent dissolved into the lifestream yet and can only appear conscious one place until they dissolve. we are predominately in clouds memory but its really everyone whos dead. and the world is split when ppls memories are altered and start to contradict. the whispers dont change time, but change memory, thats why its the planet protecting itself. when tifa fell into the lifestream, we see the flashbacks from CLOUDs perspective. theres no reason why the lifestream would have knowledge of what happened when they were kids at nibelheim. and there was a scene in remake where clouds arm is in pain where he had geostigma, it has to be after or during AC.

Great video on a great character! Hearing Cloud's VA voice is like hearing the actual Cloud speaking, pretty wild. Looking forward to Part 3 to wrap up his character arc, not sure how am I gonna survive the wait though 🥹

Cloud is one of my favorite protagonists of all time, definitely #1 in final fantasy anyway. I loved rebirth because of how they portrayed his issues it made me kinda not like him, not in a bad way but he became kind of insufferable. But that only reinforces my love for him more since it makes his heros journey that much deeper.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. So nice to see positivity in this community.

I am so pleased you mentioned that clip from Max Dood because he hit the nail on the head. Cloud is so talented and an every man. But he's also someone who obsesses more on his failures than his achievements and on those who were already stronger than him, despite him being younger and at a height disadvantage. The dude fails at giving himself grace, which, hello, we all do at some time or another. And he is the king of defensiveness until he is shown he doesn't have to be and I get that completely. So the moments where his heart shines, are truly brilliant. As you pointed out, free of Jenova's influence, he's a problem solver and sensitive. He just has the misfortune of clearly being manipulated and used. But if he was worthless, Sephiroth wouldn't bother with him or try to keep him alive. He's basically in the middle of a battle for his soul, so the fact that he pushes through this with the aid of his friends is peak storytelling. Love the vid and I'm trying to see what else I can get into too. I'll be following along with you!

Enjoyed the video <3

Cloud is imo the greatest character in FF history, nobody is as interconnected with everything around him, so well written, so vulnerable yet so satisfying to see, he portrayed the great aspect of life and how one should move on from hardships and failures and keep going, GOAT

He’s a great character and a unique protagonist

Cloud has always been an interesting character to me because even though he has been through so much and comes off as a strong stoic, the group help develop his character showing the better side of himself proving that no man is an island. We see that all throughout FF7 and KH, plus I've always been a fan of his designs. Awesome video!

9:00 where does this footage of Cloud and Tifa come from?