Final Fantasy is one of the most popular video game series of all time. From the epic stories, memorable characters, and the constant reinventing of the gameplay, every installment is an event that is eagerly anticipated by fans. Originally a last ditch attempt to save a fledging company at one point, Final Fantasy became so successful it spawned multiple sequels, merchandise, manga, and even a major motion picture. One form of media that the franchise has always struggled with was anime. This is ironic since you would think the memorable storylines of the games would make for ideal anime adaptations, yet few of the series ever drew from the actual games or were successful. In fact, one of them – Final Fantasy: Unlimited – was even canceled midway through the first season even though it was intended to have multiple seasons and cater to a whole new audience who may have never played any of the games.

Although many believed that this was the first Final Fantasy anime production, the reality is there was one previous Final Fantasy anime that was put into production years before the infamous flop that was Final Fantasy: Unlimited. What’s more, it actually made its way to America and was (at the time) many Americans’ first introduction to the franchise. Yet the anime was a strange piece of the franchise and an even stranger one to wind up on American shores.

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A Booming OVA Market

Japanese OVA Market

While much anime produced in Japan is for TV, there is a direct-to-video market that thrives. This market is filled with shows referred to as Original Video Animations (OVA). These productions usually wind up on the market as a test for a weekly show later on down the road or as a safe haven for quirky ideas that would either never get on TV or didn’t warrant more than a couple of episodes to properly convey in the first place.

Squaresoft’s idea was that they would make a Final Fantasy OVA to not only expand on the story of their most recent game but also use it as a test to see if the franchise would have enough interest from viewers to potentially transition into a weekly TV anime. The anime that would be produced would simply be called Final Fantasy, though it would not be based on the first game but would instead be a sequel of sorts to their most recent entry video game Final Fantasy V.

The title revolved characters who were decedents of the protagonists of the game, who needed to reclaim the four crystals that were captured by an unknown evil force. Despite some off-the-cuff references to Final Fantasy V, the connections to the game were relatively minor, and the episodes were made in a way where viewers need not be familiar with the game to ‘get’ what was going on.

The title was successful enough to warrant a full four episodes (most OVA’s got one or two made), but wasn’t successful enough to warrant moving forward with the weekly anime. Overall, the OVA failed to make much of an impact in Japan, but would make for an interesting story when it was released in America.

The Final Fantasy OVA Comes to America

Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals OVA

The OVA caught the eye of a small anime distribution company in America named Urban Vision, who was looking for inexpensive titles to release. Not having a lot of money to spend, they sought out OVA titles that they could release on one VHS cassette and pay very little for the license. When they caught wind of the Final Fantasy OVA they found themselves with a unique situation in front of them.

The title was not a huge hit in Japan, so it was going to be an inexpensive license. On the other hand, the game it was based on – Final Fantasy V – had not been released in America, so there was fear there would be no context for the content.

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That said, a couple of Final Fantasy games were made available, so it was a title at least some people would be familiar with! On the other hand, these games didn’t have a huge fanbase (that would come a decade later), so the title awareness was just barely better than most of their other titles.

Ultimately, Urban Vision decided to roll the dice as the title was familiar enough and there were enough episodes to get two VHS cassettes releases out of the deal. Deciding there were more pros than cons, Urban Vision brought the title to America as Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals and waited to see if their gamble paid off.

Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals Finds Unlikely Success

The Last Blockbuster Has Morbius Available to Rent

Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, like most Urban Vision titles, was not a huge seller on VHS. The gamble ultimately paid off though as the tapes did find some financial success in an unlikely place: Blockbuster Video. Blockbuster was the king of the video rental world, yet their anime sections were usually slim. While they liked renting out series to customers to encourage repeat visits, they didn’t like long series because of the limited shelf space.

Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals was a perfect title because it was a relatively known title they could pad their niche anime section with AND the series only had two tapes! This was long enough to encourage anyone who rented the tape to came back to rent the second, but there weren’t too many to make stocking the title an inventory nightmare. Shortly after the release you could hardly find a Blockbuster or Hollywood Video that didn’t have these tapes,

As a result, Urban Vision more than made their investment back from video rental stores alone. Sadly, this meant that many copies of the series are in poor condition from bring played so much by all the people who rented them, and the titles have long been out of print with no DVD or streaming release since Urban Vision ceased operations. Ultimately, good copies of Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals are hard to come by, and the prospects of the title being re-licensed have largely faded.

Some copies do appear on eBay, but unless you manage to find a listing where the tape is factory sealed you are taking a big chance that you are getting a used Blockbuster copy, which could result in that tape being of poor quality. Since it IS a Final Fantasy product there may be a chance of it popping up again sometimes, but for the time being it is a unique, mostly forgotten piece of Final Fantasy history.

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