It seems like the long-gestating Final Fantasy 9 animated series is actually now really being made. EuroVisual, the company behind the show, has listed the project as "in production," with some information about the premise.
Now officially titled Final Fantasy: Black Mages Legacy, the series is down on EuroVisual's website for one season of ten episodes, each 22 minutes in length. There's no release window, however 2028 was the tentative target previously.
As implied in the title, the story follows the six children of Vivi, everyone's favorite black mage. These siblings are the last of their kind on the continent, and when one of them discovers another trapped, a mystery tied to Vivi starts to unravel.
Exciting stuff! This project's been through the wringer. It was first announced in 2021, to be handled by another outfit that's now defunct. EuroVisual took over last year, though there was skepticism about whether anything would ever actually emerge from it.
I'm still a touch skeptical, but this is the most concrete evidence we've had of someone, somewhere drawing and designing this thing for our eventual viewing pleasure. Square Enix licensed the show, but has no involvement in the actual making of it - hence the five years, and counting, that we've been waiting for genuine movement.
This is actually the second time a full show has stemmed from the franchise, after Final Fantasy: Unlimited in the early 2000s. That wound up being cancelled, leaving the bar relatively low here overall. So long as they do Vivi justice, though, everything else will be just fine.
