Dead Fantasy

Dead Fantasy
Genre	Action/Adventure Supernatural Fighting Fantasy
Created by	Monty Oum
Starring	Yuna Kasumi Ayane Rikku Hitomi Tifa Lockhart Rachel Rinoa Heartilly Kairi Helena Douglas Cloud Strife Hayate/Ein Ryu Hayabusa Momiji Naminé Vincent Valentine
No. of episodes	5
Original release
Release	October 2007 (2007-10)

Dead Fantasy is a series of fan-made CGI short action movies created by Monty Oum (author of Haloid), starring a cast of characters from the Final Fantasy, Dead or Alive, Kingdom Hearts and Ninja Gaiden game franchises, fighting it out against each other battle royale-style in a number of different environments, including archaic ruins and modern cities. It is relatively complex when compared to other fighting style animations such as Xiao Xiao, and uses detailed 3D models of the characters it features. Monty Oum has achieved a certain level of fame, particularly on the website Gametrailers.com

Since the first installment of Dead Fantasy, the series has been well received by the fans of both game series, with trailers, previews and the installments themselves being featured at several gaming conventions. Currently there are five released episodes in the series, and Oum has confirmed Episodes VI, VII, and VIII, with several recently leaked clips showing Tifa's recovery, Rikku dueling Ayane, and Naminé fighting Momiji before summoning Vincent to battle Ryu. It is unknown how many more will be created due to Oum's recent hiring at Rooster Teeth.

Characters

Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts combatants

Yuna

Yuna is the female protagonist of Final Fantasy X and the main protagonist of Final Fantasy X-2. She is the first character to be introduced in Dead Fantasy in Dead Fantasy I. She appears again in Dead Fantasy II, continuing the fight with the Final Fantasy team against the Dead or Alive team, and in Dead Fantasy IV, in which she fights one-on-one against Kasumi, only to be interrupted by the Kasumi Alpha clones. Yuna is also seen, briefly, at the end of Dead Fantasy V, shown with Cloud Strife, riding off toward an unknown city, where it seems Tifa Lockhart is being taken to.

Yuna is all-around normal in terms of speed and strength, but she is able to shoot both bullets and energy-blasts from a great distance in her Gunner Dressphere. As a summoner, she is able to summon Ixion, Shiva, Valefor, Ifrit and Bahamut to fight, all at the same time. She is also equipped with Potions and Ethers, as seen in Dead Fantasy II.

Although Yuna is able to hold her own in battle, when outnumbered, she eventually needs help shifting the odds in her favor, as shown in Dead Fantasy I before Rikku arrives to help, and again in Dead Fantasy IV, when Cloud comes to her aid. Altogether, she's an average fighter.

Rikku

Rikku is an Al Bhed girl, also a protagonist from Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 and the maternal cousin of Yuna. Rikku is the fourth character to debut in Dead Fantasy, appearing early in the first installment to help Yuna fight against Ayane and Kasumi. She also appears in Dead Fantasy II to continue the battle between the Final Fantasy team and the Dead or Alive team. At the end of Dead Fantasy II, Rikku kicks Ayane into the teleportation cylinder that Rinoa created, teleporting the pair to some unknown location. Rikku will be seen in the upcoming Dead Fantasy VI movie, fighting one-on-one against Ayane.

As a Thief, Rikku is extremely fast, using a combination of blade-work and martial art moves in battle. That, along with her natural flexibility, allows her to take on even the biggest, strongest opponents. It has been speculated that some of her attacks are based off the Afro-Brazilian martial art Capoeira.

She is also able to change Job types via Dresspheres, but changing does take time to do so and leaves her open to attack; her first attempt to do so in Dead Fantasy II was ceased when she was accidentally bumped into by Hitomi. Oum said Rikku will be using multiple Dresspheres for battle in the upcoming installment of Dead Fantasy VI, including some fan-made creations. T hree confirmed Dresspheres are Red Mage, Lolita, and Ninja.

Tifa Lockhart

Tifa Lockhart is one of the main female protagonist of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII; more so Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children. As the sixth character to debut in Dead Fantasy, Tifa arrives at the end of the first installment, aiding Rikku and Yuna against Hitomi, Ayane and Kasumi, right before the credits. Tifa reappears in Dead Fantasy II, seemingly doing the most damage to the enemy team. Tifa appears complete with an array of different Materia to aid in the fight against the Dead or Alive team. In Dead Fantasy III, after being teleported away with Hitomi by Rinoa, Tifa fights one-on-one with Hitomi, only to succumb to a loss after having all of her Materia beaten out of her body. In Dead Fantasy V, which takes place directly after Dead Fantasy III, Tifa is attacked by Hayate and his ninjas. After killing the majority of the weaker ninjas, Tifa succumbs to her injuries and falls unconscious before being captured by Hitomi, Hayate and Helena. At the end of Dead Fantasy V, a helicopter is shown taking Tifa off to an unknown city. Several short clips and pictures of further Dead Fantasy installments have been taken, showing Tifa waking up in some sort of lab scene, revealing that she is indeed not dead, much to most fan's worries.

Sporting a multitude of Materia - including Fire, Ice, Lightning, Time, Gravity, Ultima, Barrier, Poison, All and Blind — Tifa is classed as a highly magical competitor, mixing their magical power with her strength and skill in martial arts. She also have very high threshold for pain, as she can fight on when seriously injured and even when impaled by various weaponry.

However, Tifa does have two major downfalls. She continues to fight, although she may be gravely injured and tired, not giving herself the chance to rest and recover. Also she does seem to be too dependent on her Materia in battle, which becomes her downfall against Hitomi when the latter steals most, if not all, of her Materia and uses it against her to put the odds in her favor.

Rinoa Heartilly

Rinoa Heartilly is the main female protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII and a highly powerful Sorceress. She is the eighth character introduced in Dead Fantasy, appearing toward the climax of Dead Fantasy II, with Kairi, permanently in her Angel Wing "Limit Break". She will appear in a later installment to battle against Rachel.

Being a Sorceress, Rinoa uses a great deal of powerful magic in battle: she was able to freeze a lake of lava using Freeze, as well as use telekinetic abilities to manipulate large stones with relative ease. She is also able to implement the Junction System, as shown when she junctions Holy and Tornado to her Blaster Edge. She is also shown utilizing her Sorceress power to bring about the Lunar Cry and conjure portals from the Moon. Because she is permanently in her "Angel Wing Limit Break", Rinoa has the abilities of flight and Shell (as seen when she protects Rikku and Kairi from Rachel's magical attack) and it also acts as an augmentation of her magic abilities.

She also wields two fan-made weapons: a Gunblade named Vanishing Star, and a Blaster Edge named Silenced Tear. In both terms of fighting skill and magical ability, Rinoa is by far the most powerful Final Fantasy character in Dead Fantasy.

Kairi

Kairi is the main female protagonist of the Square Enix and Disney crossover series Kingdom Hearts. She first appears in Dead Fantasy II, during the fourth act alongside Rinoa, and is seen again briefly at the beginning of Dead Fantasy IV. Her appearance in the series came as a shock to fans, as it was thought that only characters from the Final Fantasy and Dead or Alive universes were to make appearances.

In this series, Kairi is shown to be a very agile fighter, seen performing flips, high jumps and bearing a quick recovery time. She can also activate Drive Forms; in Dead Fantasy II, Kairi transforms into Valor Form, which turns her outfit color red and gives her the ability to use two Keyblades: Oblivion and the Oathkeeper. Her other Drive Forms have yet to be seen. All-in-all, in Dead Fantasy, Kairi’s fighting style is, in a way, similar to Sora’s, the main protagonist of Kingdom Hearts.

Cloud Strife

Cloud Strife is one of the primary protagonists of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, first appearing in Final Fantasy VII. In Dead Fantasy, he was the first male cast member to appear in the whole series; his appearance in Dead Fantasy IV was unexpected, due to the series being thought to possess a “female only” cast.

Cloud enters the series in Dead Fantasy IV, riding in on his motorcycle, Fenrir, to rescue Yuna from a troupe of Kasumi Alpha clones. He reappears in Dead Fantasy V in Tifa's flashback and with Yuna outside an unknown city. He and Yuna will most likey infiltrate DOATEC to save Tifa.

Naminé

Naminé is the Nobody of Kairi in Kingdom Hearts who will appear in Dead Fantasy VIII. In a recent trailer, Naminé is shown to have the ability to take control of Kairi's body, extraordinary combat skills with keyblades, flying, and even the ability to summon Vincent Valentine with one of her keyblades.

Vincent Valentine

Vincent Valentine is one of the main characters of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and the protagonist of Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII who is set to appear in Dead Fantasy VIII. In a recent trailer, Vincent is summoned by Naminé and fights alongside her against Ryu and Momiji.

Dead or Alive/Ninja Gaiden combatants

Kasumi

Kasumi is a runaway shinobi from the Mugen Tenshin Clan who made her debut in first installment of Dead or Alive, and — in the series canon — she is the winner of the first Dead or Alive Tournament. She appears in the first, second, fourth and fifth installments of the Dead Fantasy. As of Dead Fantasy V, she is under the care of Ryu Hayabusa and Momiji, who are most likely getting aid for the wounds she received in her battle against her clones.

Her ninjutsu and wakizashi skill are quite lethal, as well as quick and elegant. She also uses a lot of magic, being able to emit energy blasts from her hands for long range attacks, and her teleportation ability makes it hard to pin down and hit her, as well as allowing Kasumi the ability to teleport herself and anyone she touches away from danger. A weakness of hers is that her attacks with her wakizashi are not really that strong. All-in-all, Kasumi is a well-balanced fighter with normal limitations, such as exhaustion.

Ayane

First appearing officially in the first Dead or Alive, Ayane is a shadow ninja of the Mugen Tenshin Clan, and the winner of the third Dead Or Alive Tournament in the series canon. Ayane's debut in Dead Fantasy was in the first installment alongside Kasumi, fighting for the full length of the first movie, and for the whole of Dead Fantasy II. She will star in Dead Fantasy VI, battling against Rikku.

Above all, Ayane is fast on her feet and very agile in battle, being able to leap great heights in a short amount of time, and jump out of the way of hits sharply. She also bears great ninpo abilities, as shown in Dead Fantasy II when she destroys the solid stone tower in a great explosion, using her "Art of the Raging Mountain God" ninpo. However, ninpo attacks like those require time to "charge up" and this leaves her open to danger, thus she needs protection from her allies for some time until she is at full power.

Hitomi

Hitomi is a karate master, who enters the Dead or Alive Tournaments to test her skill against the best in the world, first appearing in Dead or Alive 3. She first appears midway of Dead Fantasy I, aiding Kasumi and Ayane in battle.

With great mastery over karate, Hitomi is physically the second-strongest on the Dead or Alive side (after Rachel), demonstrated when she breaks and throws enormous stone blocks, and pulls up solid ground without too much strain. She also seems to have strong senses and great recovery, as seen when she was able to defeat Tifa Lockhart even while blinded and intoxicated.

Hitomi is not quite on the same bar as her fellow combatants, as she is currently the only fighter not to enter battle with any magical ability, but her strength and skill does compensate for this. However, saying this, towards the end of Dead Fantasy III, she seizes most (if not all) of Tifa’s Materia, giving her some magical ability for the time being. During her fight with Tifa while she was blinded, she seemed to change her fighting style from karate to Wing Chun — a type of close-range, "open palm" defensive martial art. This makes her the first fighter to change their overall tactics and style in mid-fight (the second being Yuna changing from Gunner to Summoner).

Rachel

Rachel first debuted in Ninja Gaiden, a prequel series to Dead or Alive. She appears near the end of the second act of Dead Fantasy II, destroying the rest of the temple the others were fighting on. At the end of the movie, she is teleported with Rinoa Heartilly for a one-on-one battle in an unknown location.

Possessing cursed blood that could turn her into a Fiend, Rachel has abnormally great strength and potent magic, allowing her to destroy buildings with one hit, swing her massive warhammer with ease and throw her opponents great distances across the battlefield. She can also use her whip to swing down on her foes and climb up onto higher levels. In terms of physical strength, Rachel is the strongest on the Dead or Alive side, as well as the slowest in terms of executing hits.

Helena Douglas

Helena is the current head of DOATEC. In Dead Fantasy III, she activates a horde of Kasumi Alpha clones to go after and presumbly kill both Yuna and Kasumi. In Dead Fantasy V, she takes Tifa to an unknown city by helicopter. Helena has yet to fight in the movies, and her actions as well as her connections with Hitomi and Hayate are suspicious but still unexplained.

Kasumi Alpha

Appearing in multitude at the end of Dead Fantasy III, Kasumi Alpha was activated by Helena and sent to go after Kasumi and Yuna halfway through their duel in Dead Fantasy IV. In Dead Fantasy V, Kasumi manages to kill a large number of the clones, but she starts to succumb to her wounds and exhaustion. As the clones are about to overwhelm Kasumi, they are wiped out by the sudden arrival of Ryu Hayabusa and Momiji.

Although their fighting skill is only a copy of Kasumi's, since the clones attack in a large group, they can be very overpowering and hard to take down; together, the clones even managed to kill some of Yuna’s most powerful Aeons and were prepared to kill her as well, but they were interrupted when Cloud arrived and saved her. According to the third episode, they only had an estimated maximum lifespan of 14 hours without mechanical support.

Hayate

Hayate is the current leader of the Mugen Tenshin Clan, Kasumi's brother and Ayane's half-brother. He was the first male Dead or Alive character in Dead Fantasy, appearing in Dead Fantasy V along with a part of his clan as they hunt down Tifa. In the movie, he only directly engages Tifa once, and otherwise uses his teleportation to evade her, allowing his clan to fight for him. His connections with Helena and the DOATEC are currently unexplained.

Ryu Hayabusa

Ryu Hayabusa, an extremely talented shinobi and the star of Ninja Gaiden, made his first appearance in the Dead Fantasy series in the second act of the fifth episode, where he dives from the sky and kills all of the remaining Kasumi Alpha clones in one attack, saving the life of a weakened Kasumi. He then, along with Momiji, takes Kasumi away to somewhere safe.

Momiji

A prodigy of the ninjutsu arts from Ninja Gaiden, Momiji, currently a shrine maiden, is an up-and-coming kunoichi being trained by Ryu Hayabusa. Appearing in Dead Fantasy V, she doesn't fight, but she debuts alongside Ryu while she psychically examines Kasumi's memories from her fights.