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For those worried that Square Enix will not go through with a blatant Clerith confirmation in the rest of the #FF7R games. Let's remember what other victories we never expected Square Enix to do for Cloud and Aerith... but they did anyway!
Quick Clerith thread incoming!
Quick Clerith thread incoming!
In 2009, Nojima described Cloud and Aerith as "koibito" ("lover") in his novel titled "Case of Lifestream".It was translated as "lover" in German, French, Spanish; while the Italian & English opted to translate it incorrectly, the original text *only* means "lover".
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We can't forget that Cloud was described as Aerith's "lover". This is an older fact, and because it's from a novel, it's easy to push to the back of the mind. But this is a VALID victory we should celebrate all of the time.
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The word "koibito" has been used to describe the relationships between nearly every single Final Fantasy couple; from Noctis and Luna, Cecil and Rosa, Snow and Serah, Noel and Yeul... to minor characters like Shunyin and Lynn and many more /canon/ couples, too.
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If this word "koibito" is enough to confirm these other couples or a good enough label to convey the mutual romantic relationships of these other characters, then it's more than enough to confirm that Cloud and Aerith are indeed already confirmed as "canon".
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In fact, many Japanese fans rejoiced when this novel was released and consider it to be the biggest proof that Cloud and Aerith really did become romantically involved during FFVII.
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Just ask yourself.... before 2009, did you EVER expect Nojima to blatantly describe Cloud as Aerith's "lover"? No, none of us did. We never expected him or Square Enix to be so blatant. And yet they were.
So please remember, CLERITH IS ALREADY CANON.
So please remember, CLERITH IS ALREADY CANON.
World of Final Fantasy showed us that Cloud considers Aerith to be his "taisetsuna hito" (i.e., "most precious person"). While this can be a romantic phrase in Japanese and is considered extremely significant to the Japanese fandom (...)
WOFF also says that Cloud harbors "aisuru / love" for Aerith. In both English and Japanese (and every other language) Terra tells Cloud that he shouldn't turn his "love" for Aerith into hate for Seph. This confirms (without Cloud -ever- denying it) that he loves Aerith.
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While some would argue that "love" can be platonic--it's important to remember this fact exists because NOBODY ever expected Square Enix to say so openly that Cloud loves Aerith at all.
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In fact, until WOFF, a lot of CTs completely denied that Cloud harbored ANY genuine love for Aerith. They have always argued that -whatever- feelings Cloud "thought" he had for Aerith must have been "Zack's". But WOFF proves that Cloud's love was real.
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Furthermore, a lot of fans doubted this was even real until we got video confirmation of the WOFF cutscene. I even doubted it was real because of how forward it was about saying Cloud loved Aerith.
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A lot of CT fans argued that this line MUST be about Teefa or Zack. Before everyone knew the context surrounding the cutscene, I saw a LOT of people even claim that it must be Teefa who d!es in WOFF, and not Aerith.
That's how much of a confirmation this is for Clerith.
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That's how much of a confirmation this is for Clerith.
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So don't hesitate to look back at WOFF and feel confident. Because you should. As of right now, "love" has never been used in any of the games or movie to describe Cloud's feelings for #9. Aerith is the first and only one to be described as someone Cloud "loves".
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Kingdom Hearts 2.8.We absolutely cannot forget that Cloud and Aerith are smack dab in the middle of Kingdom Hearts 2.8's ending credits; more specifically, the ROMANTIC MONTAGE.
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Just watch the video and everyone will know the exact message that Nomura is sending... and how do we know Nomura approves? Because Nomura said that /nothing/ gets into the KH games without his approval.
Not much needs to be said about why this is a "victory" for Clerith.
Not much needs to be said about why this is a "victory" for Clerith.
I mean... just look at it. Cloud and Aerith are included during a literal romance montage-- a montage with 14 other couples (two which are debated admittedly) but if every ship here is "canon", then that also means Cloud and Aerith are canon, too.
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Before KH2.8, did anyone ever expect to see Cloud and Aerith show up during a romance montage? I know I always wanted it, but I never thought Nomura would actually do it. But he did... so why shouldn't we celebrate this victory as the "confirmation" for Clerith that it is?
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We literally have a description from within #FF7R's actual gameplay that says Cloud's heart skips a beat as he's watching Aerith walk away. This idiom is often used for romance and no matter how you interpret its meaning, Cloud's heart is only affected by Aerith.
Cloud & Aerith's "relationship" is said to "deepen" during their park date. While this is said by the Sound Director, they work with the director to plan for all the ways sound will be used in each scene. https://twitter.com/CloudxAerith/status/1244515415868522496
If the sound director is saying the music is conveying Cloud & Aerith's relationship "deepening", it's because the director (Nomura) said it, too. If this had been done for CT, they all would be gloating about how they were called a "relationship" that "deepens"
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We literally have someone on the dev team (who works side-by-side with Nomura) saying that specific music was created to convey the relationship between Cloud and Aerith "deepening".
So again... why shouldn't we count this as another victory for our ship?
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So again... why shouldn't we count this as another victory for our ship?
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MIDNIGHT RENDEZVOUS ANOTHER song created for a Cloud & Aerith moment to convey "romance". Why would they create another song with a purposeful romantic atmosphere to it UNLESS they were trying to convey romance between Cloud & Aerith?
https://twitter.com/DMoranTunes/status/1258442147264593921
I mean, just think about it. Why are TWO important people on the dev team (one a composer and the other the sound director) talking about how these songs were created with romantic elements for Cloud and Aerith scenes? The only explanation is that it's because someone
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higher up (i.e., Nomura/Nojima) told them that this is what they wanted to convey to the viewer... ROMANCE BETWEEN CLOUD AND AERITH.
We should celebrate this as another victory... because it is.
We should celebrate this as another victory... because it is.
Continuing my thread... Just give me a few moments to write it up lol
But that's not only it...
Toriyama also had this to say about the honeybee inn dance cutscene:
"intended to deliver the feeling of a romantic relationship between [Cloud and Aerith], which was slowly heating up in a charming and sexy atmosphere"
https://www.famitsu.com/news/202004/13196429.html
Toriyama also had this to say about the honeybee inn dance cutscene:
"intended to deliver the feeling of a romantic relationship between [Cloud and Aerith], which was slowly heating up in a charming and sexy atmosphere"
https://www.famitsu.com/news/202004/13196429.html
So now we have the sound director, the composer, and Toriyama-- a co-director of FF7R-- all commenting on Cloud and Aerith's ROMANTIC relationship "deepening" and "heating up".
Again, Cloud and Aerith's romantic relationship is being talked of very casually by the devs
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Again, Cloud and Aerith's romantic relationship is being talked of very casually by the devs
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why would they speak of Cloud and Aerith's relationship in this "romantic" context unless it's because they ARE intended to be romantically involved with each other?
If this had been said for CT, all of their shippers wouldn't wait to gloat... so we shouldn't either.
If this had been said for CT, all of their shippers wouldn't wait to gloat... so we shouldn't either.
Nomura said that even though Cloud usually keeps others at a distance, he and Aerith naturally grow closer together. This is reiterated in the actual game, too.https://twitter.com/CloudxAerith/status/1255318549037449218
Cloud's reaction when he saw Aerith in the red dress. Music, close up of his face, fireworks, stuttering... This scene has all of the romantic tropes. It is a show of romantic interest from Cloud, too.
We can't allow antis to dictate what is or isn't "proof". They'll *never* admit it. It's important that we all remember the red dress reveal when we're thinking about just how obvious Square Enix WILL be about confirming Clerith.
If they did THIS, then we should expect MORE.
If they did THIS, then we should expect MORE.
The Dream SequenceIn Cloud's Resolution scene we watch as Aerith tells Cloud to not fall in love with her and his reply? "Do I get a say in all this?" In other words, he wants to love her regardless of Aerith's fears about how long she'll live.
Aerith is only telling Cloud to not fall in love with her because she fears she will di*. That's literally what Nojima said in the FF7R Ultimania. So antis can't claim this is about that "ZaCloud" nonsense.
https://twitter.com/CloudxAerith/status/1255318546164350976
https://twitter.com/CloudxAerith/status/1255318546164350976
but the most important part about this cutscene is that Cloud tells Aerith that HE chooses to love her, even though it's going against her warning.
And that's not even discussing the "I'm coming for you" line that Cloud says in Japanese.
And that's not even discussing the "I'm coming for you" line that Cloud says in Japanese.
In Japanese, the phrase Cloud actually says is "mukae ni iku"... a VERY romantic phrase in Japanese, that means Cloud will bring Aerith back TO HIS SIDE--a phrase that Japanese fans describe as "pure romance"
(read info about the phrase here:
https://twitter.com/manamoazel/status/1256258859431157761
https://twitter.com/miggyxmarie/status/1256808096824987650)
https://twitter.com/manamoazel/status/1256258859431157761
https://twitter.com/miggyxmarie/status/1256808096824987650)
We can't let people forget the romantic significance of this moment. It literally confirms Cloud's love for Aerith and we have every right to celebrate it as "confirming" Clerith... That's what Japanese fans also say it's doing, too.
This is so blatantly canonizing Clerith, that I almost fail to find the way to verbally express how this confirms Clerith. It'd be like asking me to say why a kiss would confirm Clerith. It's so obvious that CT fans completely denied that this scene even existed.
They argued it was too romantic or just "fanfiction". That's how big of a confirmation this moment is for Clerith. Japanese CT fans were also complaining that this game was "too focused on romance" because of it.
The leaks of just the /script/ alone were enough to make CT fans claim it wasn't a real scene in FF7R... that really says it all, folks.
A few years ago, none of us ever thought we'd ever hear Aerith say "you can't fall in love with me", we never expected to hear Cloud say "do I get a say in all this"... never expected any of this stuff happening for Cloud and Aerith. And if we were told years ago
that in 2020, we'd have ALL of this stuff come true--none of us would believe it. We'd say it was "too obvious" or that Square would never confirm one ship over the other like that. But here we are. With all of this great stuff that exceeds what we ever dreamed of.
So it might not be as obvious as a kiss yet, but Cloud and Aerith's love is still being portrayed just as openly and romantically as every other FF couple has been. Just think about it, we're just in the early stages of their relationship and we already have ALL of this for them
We can and SHOULD expect Cloud and Aerith's relationship to only grow more and more obvious with each installment released.
I'll probably add to this thread as more develops, but don't lose hope about whether Clerith will be confirmed blatantly. It will be.
I'll probably add to this thread as more develops, but don't lose hope about whether Clerith will be confirmed blatantly. It will be.
