Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light - Final Fantasy
When anime or game series become extremely popular in Japan, franchises often introduce a real-life ‘Live Action’ movie of the series. In the past, there have been successful reenactments featuring famous Japanese actors such as the Attack on Titan Live Action movies. There have also been some franchises that have been rumored to release one but still haven’t such as Evangelion due to the production team sticking truthfully to the original anime version. For the Final Fantasy, the franchise first released a live action TV drama series, that was opposite to the orthodox Live Action style. The series was originally released on April 17, 2017 on the MBS/TBS network in Japan and featured a story about a father and son that ‘Plays’ the Final Fantasy XIV game together. The TV series is called Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light and is an eight-episode drama mini-series that focuses on the main character Akio Inaba and how he rekindles his relationship with his old, retired father Hirotaro through the online MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV game.
Plot
The story starts focused on the main character Akio Inaba, who is a young salaryman office worker in his 20s. Despite living in the same house together since childhood, Akio and his father had very little communication while Akio was growing up, to the point where their conversations would not go over a few words.
One day, out of the blue, Akio’s father, Hirotaro quit his full-time job and suddenly became forcefully retired. For someone to be so dedicated to their work and then suddenly quit baffled both Akio and his mother. Akio was stunned and shocked at his father’s sudden change, but due to the lack of communication of many years, he found it difficult to talk to his father to find out the reason for his early retirement. Akio remembers one of the few bonding moments in his childhood with his father was playing Final Fantasy III together when he was little. In hopes of reigniting his passion for Final Fantasy and finding a means to reconnect with his father, Akio buys Hirotaro a Final Fantasy XIV game. Akio constructed a plan to secretly befriend his father in the game and unknowingly join his guild on the MMORPG video game Final Fantasy XIV. Through the game Akio learns and discovers a painful secret about his father and the reason why he quit his job.
Development
The story of Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light was inspired by a series of blog posts entitled Hikari no Otousan by a Final Fantasy XIV player "Ichigeki Kakusatsu SS Nikki". In his blog of more than 60 posts, it details how the father and son pair used the game to rekindle their father and son relationship. The TV drama was produced by Square Enix and directed by Teruo Noguchi and Kiyoshi Yamamoto. During the course of the series, clips, cutscenes and action of the Akio and Hirotaro playing as characters in the Final Fantasy XIV are shown.
Characters
Here is a list and description of the characters that make an appearance in the 8-episode TV drama series.
Akio Inaba - The main character and son of Hirotaro Inaba. A regular office worker in his 20s. He uses the online Final Fantasy XIV game to close the gap between him and his father.
Hirotaro Inaba - The father of Akio. in his 60’s he was said to be the next President of the company he was working in, but one day comes home leaving his position suddenly.
Kimiko Inaba - Akio’s mother and wife of Hirotaro. She was stunned at her husband’s sudden decision to quit his job and can only perceive it as an early retirement.
Yoko Shoda - Akio’s co-worker at his company. At first she was cold towards Akio, but in the end warms up to him.
Takahiro Hakamada - Akio’s senior co-worker at his company and a good friend of Akio. Takahiro lost his father at a young age, and can relate to Akio’s situation.
Hajime Ono - Hirotaro’s good friend that tries to get Hirotaro back into a working state.
Famous Actors
Yudai Chiba - Chiba plays the role of Akio in the TV drama series. He is a Japanese actor and model born on March 9, 1989 in Miyagi Prefecture and is affiliated with Japan Music Entertainment. Chiba is a young, up-and-coming actor that has acted in roles in a variety of different TV dramas and movies. His most famous and well-known part is playing as Alata (Gosei Red) in Tensou Sentai Goseiger. In 2017, he won the Newcomer of the Year award for his role on the Japanese samurai comedy film, The Magnificent Nine at the 40th Japan Academy Prize.
Ren Osugi - Osugi was a famous Japanese actor that was born Takashi Osugi. He was born on September 27, 1951 in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. He passed away on February 21, 2018. Osugi was a highly praised actor with an extensive acting history from the 1980s, working with other many famous titles and directors such as Takeshi Kitano and Susumu Terajima. In 1999, he was given the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Yokohama Film Festival.