During the rather successful Final Fantasy XV event, fans were treated to several announcements, including that of a feature film by Sony Pictures Entertainment, the official release date, and the announcement of a mini-anime series. Taking place prior to the events of the main Final Fantasy XV game story, Brotherhood focuses on Noctis and his group of comrades as they protect and travel with Noctis in order to rescue his future bride Luna. Produced by A-! Pictures, the anime series will span across six episodes finishing up upon the release of Final Fantasy XV.

Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV is an six episode anime mini-series. It is produced by A-1 Pictures, and published by Square Enix. It can be seen on the official Youtube channel of Final Fantasy XV and Crunchyroll.

Noctis and friends attack.

Having been on the hype train for Final Fantasy XV since it’s re-announcement, I was pretty excited for the XV event. Admittedly I wasn’t expecting Square Enix to take the XV project so seriously, in fact I doubt anyone did, then we receive the announcement of an anime series, mobile spinoff, feature film, and more. And for a run time of ten minutes the first episode of Brotherhood actually packs a big punch.

The prequel to Noctis’ journey is some pretty quality stuff for ten minutes per episode.

THE GOOD: The animation is very solid, the voice acting is performed by the Japanese cast of the game and feels genuine and all around excellent. And the run time really helps get things out of the way, it never felt like too little information was given, nor did it feel like too much was happening at once.  The action sequences were also very well done, and gives us a further example of how these characters will perform during gameplay of XV.

Gameplay mechanics subtly explained through animation.

THE BAD: Nothing.

Brotherhood.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: From the first ten minute episode of Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, one can assume the series is going to do it’s job as a prequel to the game quite well. We get a nice background on Noctis and his friends, the actual game story, and a few examples of the warp point gameplay mechanic featured in Final Fantasy XV. Featuring excellent animation, voice acting, and action, Brotherhood looks to bring XV fans some strong ten minutes to kill over the course of the next five months. Otaku Dome gives Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV Episode One an 84 out of 100.