Aerith

Aerith

So the scene people are getting all up in arms about is this one:

Aerith (who has nothing on her but a flower basket. No staff, no materia) is selling Cloud a flower and they get attacked by strange shadow creatures that are touching her and she can’t see them very well (or at all). So she grabs Cloud’s arm (and she very well knows he is a part of SOLDIER because the uniform and she regonizes the buster sword as Zack’s) She is defenseless, startled, and caught off guard, and she regonizes Cloud as SOLDIER and she knows he’ll help. She may have also grabbed him without hesitation and such familiarity because he reminds her of Zack so much, and she always felt safe around him.

I’d also like to make the point that in the OG game Aerith asks for Cloud’s help a multitude of times, and in Crisis Core she asks Zack to help her too. She may be spunky and street smart, but she is lonely and the last of her kind and she is being attacked because of it. Aerith has every right to be afraid, and it’s ok for her to ask for help.

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but not every female character needs to be fearless and butch and needs to kick ass all the time. (Frankly it’s boring anyways. Femininity is not a weakness nor a character flaw) women can be feminine and some may like to have someone to lean on. That is alright. It doesn’t make them weak people or fragile characters.

Aerith asked for help in the original game, and she asks for help now. It’s completely OK and it has ALWAYS been a part of her character. Stop calling it character assassination and stop forgetting the gameplay fotage of Aerith wielding her staff and joining the fight. Aerith didn’t fight the shadow monsters because she lacked the tools to really fight back. It’s not hard to put together. She had a right to be frightened.