Production and release
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII was produced and scripted by Square Enix collaboration with Madhouse[16] and directed by Morio Asaka.[19] The decision to create Last Order arose from the positive reaction towards a popular promotional clip created by Madhouse for the game Before Crisis. Madhouse was chosen to produce the OVA partly because of their success with the clip and because the president of Madhouse was very enthusiastic about the project.[16] However, the main reason for choosing Madhouse was that the company "understood the significance" of making a Final Fantasy VII animation, as it was considered a large responsibility to animate "the most popular game" in the Final Fantasy series.[16] Tetsuya Nomura, the character designer for the Final Fantasy VII series and co-director of Advent Children,[20][21][22] acted as the supervising director.[16] He had the right to reject or accept concept drawings for Last Order. As a result, Nomura had a large quantity of images redrawn, to the extent that "the entire production was in jeopardy".[16]
Production lasted six months. The production crew considered the most challenging part of creating the OVA to be making "Nomura's drawings move on screen".[16] Because Last Order was hand-drawn, the crew faced difficulties creating uniform lines. Another issue was the overall feel of each scene; original drawings were done by several artists, resulting in various scenes having different styles.[16] Producer Akio Ofuji explained that they "wanted to make sure the final product was of very high quality, so [they] worked with the production company day and night, straight through to the deadline".[15][16] Nomura and Ofuji agreed that many scenes showing important events and feelings in Final Fantasy VII had been fragmented and disjointed, and so they had decided that those scenes would be the subject of Last Order, giving the audience of Advent Children (the film Last Order was released with) a "more enjoyable understanding".[16] They used the film as an opportunity to portray Zack "properly" as a "handsome, light-hearted man [who] was in everyone's memory".[16] Last Order also details Tseng's growth and his feelings towards his both job and events depicted, wherein he attempts to "get his own ideas of justice heard" but later abandons his moral values "in order to carry out a cruel mission".
Last Order was originally released in Japan with the "Ultimate Edition" of the Advent Children film, Advent Pieces: Limited, on September 14, 2005.[23] The OVA was included in the North American "Limited Edition Collector's Set" of Advent Children, released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on February 20, 2007.[18][24] The North America release did not come with an English dub and the OVA is subtitled.[15] Last Order was not included in the release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, a 2009 director's cut of Advent Children with extra footage.[25]
The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is a series of prequels and sequels to the original Final Fantasy VII game. Last Order is not part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and is considered an outside work.[26] However, it has been associated with the Final Fantasy VII series since its creation,[27] and is mentioned alongside official installments in official guidebooks and companion books.[16][26] Like Last Order, Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII (a mobile phone spin-off of Dirge of Cerberus) is an outside work associated with the Compilation.[26]
Music
Last Order's score was composed, arranged, and produced by Takeharu Ishimoto, including the ending theme "Last Order".[15] The music was combined with the music from Before Crisis on a single soundtrack and released in Japan on December 19, 2007.[28] The soundtrack was later made available in North America by Square Enix.[29] Tracks 13 through 27 on the disc contain the score from Last Order, while tracks 1 through 12 contain music from Before Crisis.[28] Select tracks on the soundtrack of Crisis Core contain music and remixes of music from the OVA.[30]
OverClocked ReMix's four-disc tribute album, Voices of the Lifestream, has a disc entitled Order. The name was chosen to coincide with Last Order, and the music is themed after it.
