Square Enix unveils a spin-off anime production based on Final Fantasy 15, which will help to fill in some of the story surrounding how Noctis met his friends.

Now that Final Fantasy XV finally has a release date, the floodgates have opened to new information regarding the next entry to the long-running Final Fantasy series. The latest news is that the game will be receiving an anime spin-off that will help to explain the game's story.

Revealed during the Final Fantasy XV Uncovered event, the five episode anime spin-off is entitled Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV. It will reveal the story behind how the main character, Noctis, came to meet the gang of friends he travels with in the game. The anime is being produced by studio A-1, which was responsible for other video game-to-anime conversions, like Persona and Valkyria Chronicles.

The episodes will be ten minutes each, and will be available online for free on YouTube for viewers to watch. The first episode should be made available today on the official Final Fantasy XV YouTube channel, but no information is currently available on how often each subsequent episode will be released.

[HTML1]

Final Fantasy has previously been adapted into anime productions, in Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals and Final Fantasy Unlimited. However, these productions have been loose adaptions at best, with only slight connections to the games. In addition, the visuals in Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV are vastly different from these two productions. Instead, Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV looks to be following in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII's footstepsBrotherhood's visuals, like Last Order's, are so faithful to the game's appearance that they almost look like in-game graphics with a cel shader applied.

Plenty of news regarding Final Fantasy XV is being revealed recently, starting with the announcement that the game will finally be released on September 30th. In addition, it recently came to light that Final Fantasy XV will run at 30 FPS, and a new summon, Carbuncle, has been revealed.

After years of waiting, it's a relief to know that one of our most anticipated games of 2016 is really finally on its way. Time will tell whether the game's years of development have resulted in a great product, but in the meantime, it looks like there will be plenty to enjoy revolving around Final Fantasy XV even before the game is released.

Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV will be made available on the official Final Fantasy XV YouTube channel.

Final Fantasy XV is slated for release on September 30, 2016 for PS4 and Xbox One.

Source: The Verge, YouTube