Even if yeah some parts still make me raise an eyebrow. Like "Okay, you don't want me to see this "date" or sparkly dream as romantic. Got it."
The problem is that I think at this point, people will still hold either the "both girls" or "Cloud settled for Tifa" takes because, as of now, we're ending up at Advent Children. The dream date as well, I think, completely fucked the chances of those takes dissappearing from the casual view point of this series. The damage was done, they had a chance to clear up misconceptions, then they chose to have Cloud all smiley holding Aerith's hand on a date with her.
I saw a person post on twitter about Cloud clearing up misconceptions for Tifa's sake, but let's be honest, that's not happening. How would it? How would the devs get those two into that situation in part 3 where they have that kind of conversation and it doesn't come across as a failure to show and not tell on the devs' part?
The ambiguity of their exact relationship can come off one way, but when I don’t think they figured people would overthink two individuals who expressed feelings for eachother living under the same roof and forming a family to be taken as platonic
Again, they knew exactly what conclusions would be drawn when they made the decision to have a shot of a room that belongs to Cloud and has a single bed in it and then refusing to show the room they actually sleep in. Case of Tifa gives a deliberate implication that they share a bed, so this couldn't have been an accident that slipped through the cracks because they don't necessarily view the story through the same lens as some people in this fandom might.
Showing two people share a bed is usually a narrative shorthand for "they're together" and the opposite is usually true, that two people not sharing a bed means they aren't.
It's really sad that the extremes are usually the ones who are very loud and drown out the other voices.
It's not even, though. Ask anybody about the situation and they'll immediately come out with disingenuous takes like "both girls", only takes one google search to see everybody saying it.
BTW, I've seen several claims recently that Aerith's OG GS date is the official one and I have no clue where that's supposed to be coming from. Does anyone have any clue about where people are getting that from, especially given that Tifa's theme is part of Words Drowned out by fireworks?
I'm pretty sure there's an ultimania page that specifies that the Tifa, Yuffie, and Barret dates are "deviations", and put off to the side of the page.
But to use that in an argument you'd have to concede that the HA UTH is canon, because I'm pretty sure the same "deviation" treatment is given to the LA.
I will never forgive brown eyes Tifa though. It's as if Tifa cannot have something unique about her and I hate that. It's the same in Rebirth too, her reddish eyes are gone and it's SO ANNOYING.
I swear they were redder in Remake. In renders and CG cutscenes in Rebirth her eyes are quite red, but her actual in-game model has very brown eyes. Very annoying Square please stop getting rid of Tifa's eye colour.
That's something else with the Remake project, anyone else feel like Cloud's eyes are
really green? Like, there's blue in there but it feels like he has green eyes with a hint of blue instead of the other way around. I almost have to adjust my eyes to see the blue a lot of the time because the blue is so dull compared to the green.
![1720304121470.png 1720304121470.png](https://thelifestream.net/forums/data/attachments/16/16918-40e432d4b72be57d8a8ad94ccd938ffa.jpg)
Like!? I can't be crazy, the blue is so watered down in comparison to even his younger self in the re;trilogy, right?
Its also why by the end of the film, he removes the sleeve as it shows the contrast between his accepted self and his closed off self (with the sleeve).
That would make sense but he puts it back on in Dirge of Cerberus, does he not?
This is also why they had to add so much CT and CT-family scenes in ACC (+ZA scenes), because very obviously, the way they catered to CA fans absolutely did kill the intent behind AC.
Too little, too late honestly. They made the fuck up again of having Cloud being appreciative towards his family in an almost completely unrelated novel where Cloud and gang make a cameo. This really should have been at the end of ACC. Or at the very least him confirming to Tifa that they are a family. Instead, to the average viewer, the film ends with Cloud and Tifa having had a whole one conversation at the start of the film, them not sharing a bed, Cloud having left Tifa for Aerith, and then Tifa having been grouped with the rest of AVALANCHE throughout the film as if her role in the film is as small as theirs. IIRC She was basically shelved for the majority of the film. ACC still doesn't do Tifa or her relationship with Cloud justice in the slightest, the average take on Advent Children makes this obvious.
Surely there had to be at least one person in the writers room who said "uh guys, this isn't conveying what you want it to even after the adjustments made in ACC, might need a little bit more context from CoT"
Scenario 2 - Chapter 12 Aerith date + HA dream date outcome
When Aerith confesses her feelings to Cloud in the gondola, its made clear to Cloud on where he stands with her. So when Aerith says "next time", Cloud's "mochiron" is a reciprocation of romantic feelings as he is open to going on more dates with her. He looks at Aerith because he is opening up his heart to her. Aerith seems to react positively and then says she likes Cloud and does't know what her "suki" means. She hugs Cloud and Cloud responds to the hug by hugging her back.
I want to have a word with any liar who thinks a human being confesses their feelings by saying "I don't know if I like you or love you" followed by "at least now I know where we stand" if it apparently went well.