SuperButterBuns whoooaaaa .... I feel like I bumped to a celebrity in a stroll X'D Nomura styles always interesting to me even though sometimes he has some kind of fetish of the year or something...
Before FFXV, it was crazy to think that any of the outfits in FF or Kingdom Hearts could be inspired by real world fashion, eh? You look at Lulu with the belt skirt and think "nah, you could never integrate that into a real life outfit". It's always refreshing to find out that maybe it's not as far fetched as it first seemed!
This was so interesting. I remember trying to draw final fantasy outfits in middle school lol. Also love the guest-expert! Everytime I see a polygon vid it's like coming up for air. Love this channel
I always liked Cloud's outfit. It looks like the remnants of a uniform from his time in SOLDIER but adapted for civilian life. And its slight bagginess hilights how young he is despite having gone through so much already.
We got through this whole video without mentioning Gackt, somehow. I thought Reggie Casual might mention it, but no.... Gackt was the face of J-Rock, and one of the biggest reasons behind the looks of the characters in FF games
maybe they both played crisis core and decided they couldn't stomach putting genesis in this video (since if you mention gackt+ff you can't exactly leave him out)
Squall outfit looks like Gackts Malice Mizer live outfit lol. For sure they referenced Gackt alot. They had Gackt sing in FF8 then they modeled Genesis after Gackt. I think what is not talk about at all is Visual Kei which is the andrognous rock style in Japan that was popular in the 90's. I can see Jrpg games taking some inspirstion from this fashion movement/music culture, especially the distinct Jrock Hair . . . also seen in hosts nowadays.
Fun fact: Amano's amazing illustrations are also HEAVILY influenced by a Russian painter/costume designer Leon Bakst. Bakst was also teacher to Marc Chagall at one point :)
I hadn't thought of it but now that you point it out, I totally see it in Amano's work! Bakst was a MASTER, I kind of wish stage costume referenced him more often as well!
I've been fascinated by JRPG fashion for ages, especially after realizing how much growing up playing Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts influenced my own personal tastes and character designs. It's super cool seeing how it evolves alongside real life fashion styles!!
So glad someone gave Yoshida a shout-out! His designs in the Ivalice series were my childhood. The sensuality he shared with _male_ characters in those games turned my world upside down. Linking Amano’s style to Ukiyo-e also explains the sultry, dreamy expressions common between his work and Yoshida’s. That’s something I’d been trying to put my finger on for a while :D
I'm glad there's cultured fans out here. Don't get me wrong I love Nomura & his art too but I'm sick of social media thinking he's the only best thing out of modern SE. Too many sleep on our lord & saviour Yoshida-san.
This was really cool and informative. This angle and depth of research (reaching out to a YTuber whose big into JP fashion?! Whaaaat!!) Was really something else. Hoping to see what you'll make next!
I loved this video! People sometimes forget that fashion is a very important element of every culture and the way it's portrayed in videogames has always been so interesting to me. I wish the video was longer and more in detail about more videogame sagas! Great work
i honestly cant think of a way to praise this video enough! it manages to fit so many well explained and super interesting pieces of information into such a short amount of the time, the polish and work in this shines through thank you so much for making it, final fantasy is my favourite series and i loved learning about this aspect of it
KappaRoss Sora was meant to look like Mickey Mouse with the big pants and shoes. The protagonist was actually supposed to be Donald or Mickey, but Disney vetoed that idea. I always figured Nomura really likes skater fashion, which is why Tidus, Sora, Ven, etc all wear shorts.
"JRPG outfits are dumb." Stares at Warhammer figurines while thinking about all the leather daddies who are supposed to be rogues or musketeers on television. "Riiiiiiiiiight."
Both can be dumb. I've always thought that WoW or Warhammer aesthetic looked fucking stupid. I get that those universes are over the top, but there is value in restraint.
@@RicochetForce I've actually got a very jarring suggestion for you, and I think you might get a kick out of it, but it's a mere suggestion. Most Warhammer figurines are an oddity, with the occasional down-to-earth exceptions. But we're gonna ignore those. Instead, see if you can find a pdf for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 2nd edition. I'm not going to pretend there isn't still some ridiculousness, but go to both the basic jobs and advanced jobs section. For someone used to Warhammer being over-the-top, it's a breath of fresh air.
I love this! The fashion choices are integral to the character designs. Like, learning about the roots of Tidus's aesthetic actually fleshes him out as a character in my eyes. Thank you Jenna & Polygon
Damn. I never knew that I was looking at HIGH FASHION when I played Final Fantasy games. I just knew there clothes always looked nice but were somehow "unobtainable".
I mean, Reggie Casual was explaining specifically how Nomura designs reflected exactly those characters, but you can go ahead and ignore most of the video I guess. Honestly, I love Amano's art, but his designs weren't always as... descriptive as you're saying. I love Bartz and Firion to bits, but their designs don't have any connection to their actual characters.
@@EinDose yea dude i love how sora's outfit really tells you that he's a kid who basically grew up on an island. ridiculous. some of nomura's designs work, but most of the time it feels like it was a 6 year old who made it. Just look at the character designs on "the bouncer". most of the time its purely made to be flashy, its like fashion fast-food. points for creativity i guess, but not much else.
@@caiopatric I think Sora is a bit of an outlier, because he's specifically supposed to mix with both that 'street fashion' Final Fantasy style and classic Disney. He's always going to feel a little 'off'. The Bouncer, honestly, makes total sense. It's VERY '90s fashionable street punk', with a few sprinkles of classical Japanese styles in parts of it. It fits what it is, quality of some designs aside--of course, that whole package is a bit of a horrid snarl in general.
@@EinDose Well the quality of the design comes first to me, the reasons come as a bonus later, which can help me appreciate it even more. it's not just sora, its most characters in kingdom hearts, with a few exceptions. A game where his designs really shine is The World Ends With You. that game was perfect for him, its all about street fashion and he did it in a way that doesnt make the characters look ridiculous and too unpractical. unfortunately i cant say that most of the time. im not saying he's an awful designer, just that he should've stuck more often with just monster designs.
It's always interesting to me to hear how these people such as tetsyua Nourma and many more have brought real world fashion into these video games to create distinct yet familiar style. I loved this video because it really goes to show how much time and care is put into these design choices and I love how we the fans can dissect it and create analysises out of it.
A long time ago, I tought of all these outfits, specially the ones in TWEWY, as just exaggerations that went along with the genre. I just replayed TWEWY and basically finally understood the whole thing, how fashion, environment, trends and friends affect somebody. It's an interesting idea to introduce on a videogame.
Whoa, this video is so awesome!! I love learning about character design and fashion, and I didn’t realize there was so much historical and cultural context in those crazy designs. Thank you Jenna! I’d love to see more of these c: 💕
This is so great!! I love seeing things from Jenna, she's so talented! Such a good video, so informative! (& the "still not cool" on the pic at the end.... Thank U) (also on the topic of fashion, Jenna's look in this video is 1000/10 :D )
I'd love to see a series about FF fashion, with a focus on each main title game and the ideas that inspired the theme for the main characters outfits!! This was so interesting. ^_^
I really like JRPG fashion. I think FFX-2 and XIII series had the best fashion. I loved the outfits in Lightning Returns, like the Miqote cat outfit, dark muse and amazoness. X-2's Rikku is by far my favourite though, followed by Yuffie in advent children, Yuna's songstress and Lightning's Guardian corps. For guys, Noctis's is pretty cool, and Balthier in XII.
I miss my daily polygon content! I need more Jenna. I need more Pat. I need more Simone. I need more Clayton. Where's my BDG? The only reason I know/care what Polygon is is because of the crazy videos you guys were constantly making. Bring those back please :D
Being a huge fan of fashion, this video is so great! Thank you for making it! Also, super happy to see my boy Reggie on it as well, he's an awesome dude I watch everyday!
FF8, 9, and Tactics have some of the best character designs. Recently FF15 really knocked it out of the park with grounded but memorable styles. I'm excited for the future of Final Fantasy again
I did a study of FF's visual design a few years ago, but the connection you drew here between Amano and ukiyo-e is what finally seals the deal. Those sultry, dreamy bedroom eyes were a staple of Squaresoft's design for so long. We also see this sensual expressiveness with Akihiko Yoshida's work in Tactics Ogre and Vagrant Story :D It's also interesting to see how Japanese design sensibilities transformed punk into something like visual kei, even giving Gackt multiple sort-of-cameos in the series.
I love Amano's art and Nomura's style. Nomura and Hiromu Takahara were long time friends (rip Takahara). Takahara and his brand Black Honey Chili Cookie are actually in Neo: TWEWY. Of course Reggie is the GOAT and I love that you hit him up for the vid.
Wow :) this video was really interesting, it gave me a good insight into my favourite games and where the inspiration was for there design. Therefore some clothes in final fantasy where I think "that's a little overdone" but then sometimes overdone things are super funny xD. Great video! Hope to see more like it soon :)
@@RockEsper still depends on the person. For practical person like me, a matching practical fashion will do and I think that impractical fashion is dumb. But I do still get it that it's fashion, it's also an art. 🤔 I live in a tropical country. Some people here choose to wear coats like, dude, there is no winter here. The lowest temp you could get is around 23C and you choose that that's kinda dumb. It's impractical. 😂
Fashion is art; if clothes existed only for the sake of practicality there would be no variation or creativity, especially between cultures. An art's value is not whether it's practical or not.
Great research, but I feel like you just stabbed millions of fellow women in the back by saying “she proved women don't need pockets!” with a cheerful smile.
None other jrpg style is great compared Nomura and Amano, when i see other jrpg sometimes i'm cringe with their design but with Final Fantasy they can easily look great no matter how weird the fashion is
Idk if it's just my screen, but I think all of Jenna's shots could do with some temperature correction or grading or something. There's a lot of red that I think needs balancing. But anyways this is one of my fave videos to date!
this was very cool and informative, thank you! I absolutely LOVE the fashion in JRPGs, have loved it since I was a kid. I wish I could pull off similar looks myself. it's just so vibrant, unique, and personalized.
Glad I gave this video a chance, not what I would normally watch but was really interesting. I was one of those who would say they look dumb and random but looks like it is based on real fashion after all.