The only one I can think of is that there was no Aerith shown in the end credits.. what else was destroyed?
If it's the same essay that was posted here a few days ago, then let me tell you, most of it was fluff... Stuff about how beautiful Aerith was, and how important she was in the movie (what has that to do with the LTD?)... A gigantic portion of it was an almost frame-by-frame description of a major chunk of the movie. The points relevant to the discussion were few and far between, and from them, these were knocked off:
1.
Cloud leaves the 7th Heaven and runs to Aerith's church because he feels "most at peace" there. This was debunked in other material, but the real reason why he left the
7th is also specifically stated in ACC.
2.
Cloud has a picture of a bouquet of flowers (possibly the one Elmyra wanted to send Aerith). I never saw this in AC, but I'm willing to bet my entire Iron Maiden collection it's not in ACC.
3.
Aerith giving Cloud the "final push" to defeat Bahamut is hinted to be very important (in supporting the pairing of Aerith and Cloud). Similarly, Zack encouraging Cloud in the battle against Sephiroth must be very important in supporting the the pairing of Cloud and...
Oops.
4.
When Sephiroth threatened to take away what Cloud cherished most, the order in which he thought of the people closest to him was important; he thought of his woman (Aerith) first, then his best friend (Zack), and finally, his family (Tifa, Marlene and Denzel) - who weren't as important to him as the first two. Once again, I can't be bothered to pull out my copy of AC to verify if it is true. But if it is, then this order is changed in ACC, and if it was that important then they wouldn't have futzed around with it. According to the logic used in the article, from the new order, Cloud cares about Zack the least - yet it is Zack who gives him the "final push" to defeat Sephiroth.
5.
Aerith's face appears on the Loveless ad. I never bothered to verify this, but even if she did, in the light of Crisis Core, it could indicate her waiting for Zack as much as, if not more than, her waiting for Cloud.
6.
Aerith is described as being much more vibrant and colorful in the final scene than Zack is, and as lingering "much longer" than Zack did. I cba to check AC, but in ACC, her frigging shoulder "lingers" for about half a second after Zack disappears.
Cloud <3 Aerith's scapula.
Needless to say there's other rubbish in it - such as the wolf denoting Cloud's regret at being unable to save Aerith only,
even when it appears in other places (such as at the church, when it could also go to mean that Cloud regrets being unable to protect Tifa and Marlene from Loz). The wolf is also described as fading away slowly in the Forgotten City. IIRC, it disappears rather suddenly as the camera pans behind a tree.
Seriously, whoever wrote this piece of art was not only bending over backwards to find links between Cloud and Aerith, s/he also made stuff up. How is this supposed to convince anyone with half a brain?
As for why Aerith was removed from the credits... I think this one is pretty obvious. Why would they do that? It's simple - when Aerith and Zack left the church, I really think they dissolved into the Lifestream, or whatever. At least, they're not likely to be solidifying in meadows, hanging about waiting for Cloud or whatever. Removing Aerith from the credits is a
big move. So why do it? Because her presence was perpetuating the rumor that Cloud was going to meet her in the field of flowers (and screw her - !!), and anyway it doesn't go with the fact that she's finally at peace.
IIRC, neither Aerith nor Zack appeared in any significance in DoC, even though the planet was in horrible danger; I think they've gone, they're resting in peace as is their due. So seriously, if they love Aerith so much, they should just let her go to sleep, instead of torturing her with the ever-present Zack, and having to see Cloud in a relationship with Tifa.
and for some reason I was remembering Zack talking to Cloud or something in AC, but yeah that never happened so forget that...
I know you said forget it, but someone else I know seemed to remember that too - it turns out he remembered the flashback near the beginning of AC where Cloud remembers Zack, when he's replacing the Buster sword after Kadaj knocked it over.
