Final Fantasy 7 Remakeis one of the most gorgeous games to have come out in recent years.With the release ofRemake Intergradeand its newly added photo mode, the game’s re-imagining of the originalFinal Fantasy 7is finally able to be appreciated in all its splendor. Naturally, the new depictions of these characters call for cosplays, with @meggiicosplay and @gelnythecosplays taking a stab at (and totally nailing) Tifa Lockhart and Aerith Gainsborough.
Tifa and Aerith are fan-favorite characters fromFF7, having appeared in nearly every entry of theFF7story over the past 24 years. BeforeRemake, the last time either character had been featured meaningfully wasCrisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, a PlayStation Portable game released in 2007, set before the events of the original game.
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While the love forFF7never truly dissipated in the time betweenCrisis CoreandRemake, it certainly was not on the forefront of the gaming or cosplay communities.Remake, then, and nowRemake: Intergradeon the PlayStation 5, with their beautiful depictions of the characters and world of the original game, have reestablishedFF7as a series looking to be cosplayed.
On @meggiicosplay’s Instagram, she put out a two-picture post of her and @gelnythecosplays posing as Tifa and Aerith respectively. While the differences between Tifa and Aerith’scharacter designs betweenFF7andRemakeare slight, the two are most certainly cosplaying theirRemakeappearances. For instance, Meggii is wearingRemakeTifa’s red, fortified gauntlet on her left forearm and black stockings with her boots, instead of the original’s simple gloves and black socks.
Although Meggii’s post is commemorative and not specifically about her cosplay, the poses of her and Gelnythe echo the loving relationship of Tifa and Aerith as displayed inRemake. For the protagonist ofFF7, Cloud Strife, both Tifa and Aerith are potential romances that the player can choose to follow. The player’s choices to certain dialogue options, that usually involve what Cloud looks for in a woman, will ultimately determine what dresses Tifa and Aerith will wear duringthe infamous Wall Market Sequence duringFF7. While one might predict there being some strife between the two ladies as the game continues over Cloud, they become quite fond of one another through their mutual banter with Cloud and desire to save the Planet.
What is most impressive about this cosplay is that both character portrayals are so spot-on. A single successful cosplay is impressive on its own, but featuring another equally successful cosplay further amplifies the spectacle of the final pictures, not even mentioning thatFinal Fantasyis hard franchise to cosplayto begin with. As more cosplayers come together, the line between game models and people dressing like them becomes fainter.
