Interview: Preparing the FFVII Ever Crisis Academy Event

Square Enix surprised us by turning a Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis April Fools’ Day 2025 joke into a full alternate universe (AU) high school themed event called FFVII Ever Crisis Academy Seven: Episode – Brawler. Siliconera was able to briefly talk to Producer Shoichi Ichikawa about the storyline and characters, as well as how the event came to be.

Jenni Lada: How did you come up with the concept for the Ever Crisis Academy Seven FFVII Ever Crisis high school AU scenario? Did you always know it would be a real event?

Shoichi Ichikawa:  Initially, it came from the younger of the development team who voiced their desire to do a school-themed event.

One of the strengths of this title lies in its unique standing as a Live Ops game that takes on new endeavors that would be difficult to achieve in the original FFVII, such as seasonal events and gear, so we consulted [Tetsuya] Nomura-san and made this idea a reality.

For the story, we first worked on a single illustration, and from there, the two base concepts were formed: “Midgard Seventh High School,” a high school for delinquents where Cloud and his group belongs, and “Shinra Private Academy,” an elite school where Sephiroth and his group belongs.

How did you determine which characters would participate in the Ever Crisis Academy Seven FFVII Ever Crisis high school event? 

Ichikawa: We started with the three characters Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa, and gradually expanded the concept as we mused, “If Barret is a part of it, then perhaps he’d be like…” For Midgard Seventh High School, we picked characters who would be key players in the scenario, while Shinra Private Academy would be composed of of Shinra.

Aerith gets to be a sukeban (a girl version of a Japanese bancho character and delinquent youth) as leader of Team Cetra in this FFVII Ever Crisis event. What led to this depiction of the heroine? And how did you decide to adjust her personality accordingly? 

Ichikawa: This was a playful idea on the part of the staff.

Tifa is an honor student and Cloud/Zack are delinquents, so while we were wondering what we should do with Aerith, the art team proposed a rough sketch of Aerith as a sukeban. 

It was visually impactful but also showed a side that was very Aerith-like, such as her fondness for flowers, and we thought we could depict the relationship between Zack and Aerith that is unique to this world setting.

A few characters, such as Cid, Vincent, and Yuffie, ended up left out for this Ever Crisis Academy FFVII Ever Crisis scenario. Were there any ideas for them that didn’t make it into the final event? 

Ichikawa: Yes, there were many different ideas. I am hoping that we will be able to introduce other characters in some form in the future as well.

Do you have any messages about the future of the game?

Ichikawa: Thank you for playing Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis!

We are truly encouraged to see everyone enjoying the game and posting on social media.

This time, we took on the endeavor of developing Ever Crisis Academy Seven, consisting of content that would be quite a challenge to realize in the original FFVII.

We will continue to develop new content and explore various themes for Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, so please keep an eye out for future updates.

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is available for the PC and mobile devices, and the FFVII Ever Crisis Academy Seven high school AU event and banners will run until May 28, 2025.