| “ | I will not have you refer to mother that way! |
” |
— Yazoo, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
| ||
| Yazoo | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Original | ヤズー | ||
| Romanization | Yazū | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Species | Remnant | ||
| Date of birth | Unknown date, 2009 | ||
| Age | Less than two weeks | ||
| Affiliation | Jenova | ||
| Relations | Sephiroth (creator) Jenova ("mother") Cloud Strife ("big brother") Kadaj and Loz (brothers) | ||
| Current status | Deceased | ||
| Biology | |||
| Body type | Humanoid | ||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Behind the scenes | |||
| Universe | Final Fantasy | ||
| Created by | 野村 哲也 - Nomura Tetsuya | ||
| Designed by | 野村 哲也 - Nomura Tetsuya | ||
| Performed by | 岸 祐二 - Kishi Yūji | ||
Yazoo is one of the three remnants of Sephiroth shown in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
He, Loz and Kadaj, are the main antagonists of Advent Children. Yazoo has the dubious distinction of being the remnant who plays the least important role within the film, but is nonetheless a potent fighter, battling alongside his brother Loz many times throughout the film.
Yazoo, along with Tifa Lockhart and Sephiroth, was one of the harder characters to animate in Advent Children, especially during fight scenes, which may explain why he plays a relatively minor role compared to the other remnants.
Name[]
His name comes from the geological term, yazoo stream, referring to a small river that runs alongside, and eventually joins, a much larger river. This likely refers to Yazoo's existence as a part of Sephiroth, and may also refer to his eventual dissolution into the Lifestream. Yazoo is also a popular British synthpop band fronted by Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet (known as "Yaz" in the United States) from the early 1980s. This may be relevant since there already are My Bloody Valentine and Velvet Underground references within Final Fantasy VII.
Personality[]
Yazoo's face as he gets excited.
Yazoo embodies Sephiroth's allure and cool personality, and pains were taken to differentiate his personality from Kadaj's while not making him like Loz, who was characterized as child-like. His voice actor was chosen to give the character a shady, dangerous personality, and he has few facial expressions, limited to moments of anger, such as when Reno insults Jenova, or when Cloud Strife slices apart his gunblade, although he has shown sadness to the point of nearly crying when Kadaj said their "big brother" Cloud wouldn't be happy to see them. His cool demeanor was also meant to provide contrast to the childish Loz.
As for combat situations, he was shown to be quite a risk-taker, which, along with his insane laugh, caused him to be labeled as the "craziest" remnant. This was shown in many situations, such as the scene where he barely dodges Loz's Limit Break and motorcycle (different scenes), when he steps on Cloud's sword and, most iconically, when he jumps with his cycle inside the Turks' helicopter to bring it down.
Appearance[]
Yazoo on the forgotten Capital City of the ancients.
Yazoo wears a long black coat zipped up over his chest with black boots, shoulder guards and straps crossing over his torso. His silver hair is the longest among the remnants, and extends partway down his back, although not as far as Sephiroth's. His eyes are green with cat-like pupils, and he always carries a custom gunblade handgun called Velvet Nightmare. His and Kadaj's appearances are both much more androgynous than Loz's, and Kadaj is usually considered slightly more feminine. He is also the tallest of the three brothers and is very lean. Because of his height, hair, and outfit, Yazoo resembles Sephiroth the most.
Abilities[]
Yazoo jumps into the Turks' combat helicopter on Edge.
Yazoo is as strong and agile as a SOLDIER, if not more, and is fast enough to evade Cloud's attacks with the Fusion Swords, even momentarily stepping on the blades to leap away. He is also strong enough to defeat Reno in combat, although he is not as powerful as Loz or Kadaj in physical combat. Additionally, he possesses highly advanced driver abilities, as shown when he jumps onto a helicopter using his motorcycle.
In battle, he typically uses his agility to keep distance from the targets and shoots them up with his Velvet Nightmare, and is a skilled marksman. With his handgunblade, he was able to shoot off Cloud's goggles at point-blank while only scratching his face, as well as shooting Cloud's sword into the air to keep it out of his reach. In a scene, he also used the weapon's blade to parry Cloud's sword strikes at close range. He usually battles alongside Loz, whose melee attacks and brute strength complement Yazoo's agility and long-range tactics.