Drawn in by Zack's smile
Zack pouted like he was sulking, then smiled carefree.
That was the childish smile that Aerith knew. Back then, at 17, it was exactly that which drew her in.
"It's not over yet, but I'm going to sleep for a little while. There doesn't seem to be anything to do right now. But, if you ever feel lonely, you can call me anytime, Aerith”
"If I get really lonely, maybe I will. Good night, Zack."
Reporting to his hometown that he had a girlfriend
To Dad and Mom:
How are you doing? I'm sorry I left the village in such a hurry back then
It's because I really wanted to become a SOLDIER. If I had told you, I knew you would worry…
I've already achieved my dream now, and I'll keep working hard as a SOLDIER
PS：I have a girlfriend now
Zack
A letter Zack wrote to his parents. The postscript mentions that his "girlfriend" was Aerith?
The "girlfriend" he reported to his hometown
Six to seven years before the story of FF7, Zack wrote a letter to his parents saying he had a girlfriend. Six to seven years earlier—that is, around the time he met Aerith in Crisis Core, does that mean his girlfriend was Aerith?
Although Zack seemed to have many female friends, the fact that he specifically informed his hometown means she must have been someone special。
30th Anniversary Farewell Exhibition: Aerith's Voice
The sky, I really hate it. Because it takes away the people who matter most。
I've heard that when you find a new love, you can forget the past… but is that really true? It hurts so much somehow. Is this really okay?
This is a mysterious place. The flowers bloom all year round, so the seasons never change—and so my feelings cannot change either—what a dilemma
I wonder if I'll meet someone with the same eyes—eyes just like yours. Each time, I agonize over whether to ask: do you know that person? Do you know where he is?
Aerith devastated by Zack's disappearance
Aerith could tell from Cloud's blue eyes that he had been a SOLDIER, because her first love Zack had also been a SOLDIER, and Cloud's eyes were filled with the same color—the eyes of someone soaked in mako. Elmyra wanted to keep Cloud away from Aerith because she had seen how devastated Aerith was when Zack left her.
News after five long years shakes Aerith
When they hear the story from the elderly couple in Gongaga, both Aerith and Tifa react strangely if either is in the party. When Aerith unexpectedly hears news of Zack, her first love, she is shaken。
Seeing Zack in Cloud
Giving everything she had as a Cetra to save the Planet, only to sacrifice herself—Aerith of FF7 left a deep impression as a tragic heroine. But what's worth noting is the connection between Cloud's story and Crisis Core. In Crisis Core, we learn why she was selling flowers when she met Cloud，the story she tells Cloud about her first love Zack, andthat she sees Zack in Cloud—things we never learned in FF7, but which are revealed one by one in Crisis Core.
I cried so hard
I never expected this village to actually be Zack's birthplace and hometown. I was a little, somewhat surprised.
My, first love... although even saying that, he and I weren't especially close. I met him while selling flowers in Midgar, and back then I just thought, "This person seems a little nice."
He was a kind person, gentle to any girl no matter who she was, a SOLDIER with a somewhat childish side. Meeting Zack made me realize, "So there are good people in Shinra too."
So five years ago, when Zack said he was going out somewhere on a mission and then suddenly vanished, I cried so hard. Ahh, that's what they call first love, isn't it. After seeing me so heartbroken, my mother held it against Zack, and I really feel sorry to him for that.
(After Crisis Core, the way the two met has been retconned)
First love
He was a SOLDIER full of humanity, someone who deeply cherished his bonds with people and would throw himself into danger without hesitation when his comrades were in crisis. He was Aerith's first love, and a good friend of both Cloud and Sephiroth. In the Nibelheim incident, he was used by Hojo as an experimental specimen and tragically lost his life while fleeing together with Cloud. His character had a great influence on Cloud, who was controlled by Jenova cells.
When Cloud asked Aerith what had happened, she admitted that the "first love" she had once mentioned was Zack, but since she went to work five years ago, she had never heard from him again...…
The first person she held a faint love for
"Aerith... is that Aerith?"
Suddenly called out to, at first she couldn't recall whose voice it was; she turned around in a fluster, and there stood a face she hadn't seen in five years, one she missed dearly. He was the first person Aerith ever held a faint love for. A close friend who had suddenly lost contact back then, and whom she had never seen again since. Then, the figure she saw in Cloud's movements—a man with the blue eyes that proved him a SOLDIER—Zack appeared there. An image of him, clear enough to rival Cloud's.
Her first love, who became her friend by buying her flowers
Zack, Aerith's first love, was the model for Cloud's "ex-SOLDIER" persona, and the two became friends because Zack bought her flowers. She feels fondness for Cloud because his mannerisms resemble Zack's.
(After Crisis Core, the way the two met has been retconned)
Voice actors' marriage
—The marriage of Maaya Sakamoto, Aerith's voice actress, and Kenichi Suzumura, Zack's voice actor, caused quite a stir among fans of the games.
[Sakamoto]: Personally, I'm not the type to see characters and voice actors as one and the same, but when we announced our marriage, we received a warm response from FF fans—they said they were glad that Zack and Aerith got married—and it made me truly happy to be congratulated so warmly by them. In any case, more than 11 years have passed and we still get along wonderfully, so I'm glad we haven't brought any sadness to the people who congratulated us.
Zack would not waver between Cissnei and Aerith
Q: Did you intend to depict Zack as wavering between Cissnei and Aerith?
[Nojima]: No, that was not the case. I wanted Cissnei to appear as a character who, through all the events they went through, could encourage the somewhat jaded Zack by telling him, "You're not alone." Cissnei herself also felt lonely—or rather, she too was someone who suffered because missions took priority—but I think she's the kind of person who, even at such times, doesn't forget the kindness of seeing things the way a human being should. The story was full of people steeped in a cutthroat atmosphere (laugh), and Aerith, who was in charge of showing the gentle side, always stayed in the slums and never came out, so Cissnei appeared as a character with her own motives who could also offer gentle encouragement.
Suzumura's thoughts on leaving together with Aerith
[Kenichi Suzumura] (Zack's voice actor): I played Final Fantasy VII when it was first released, so I was deeply moved when I saw the footage from AC. So this is how far it's come. My impression of Zack is that he's perfect... in a way. He might be the perfect man, in some sense. When he delivered the line, "I'm sorry. You have no place here," and then left together with Aerith, I got goosebumps all over. But more than Zack in AC, I prefer his more human side in Last Order. Ah, that's only natural, since that was when he was alive (laugh).
In AC, Zack carries a role as important as Aerith's
【Nomura】: Depicting Aerith was an extremely difficult task. The scenes where she appears before Cloud required a great deal of care in the staging and direction.
Also, although Zack doesn't appear much, in the story depicting Cloud,he carries a role as important as Aerith's. Some plot developments only progressed to that point because he was there. So his presence carries considerable weight.
Aerith's Theme
—"Aerith's Theme" took first place in a fan popularity poll of FF music (held at the time of FFX's release), sung by RIKKI, the singer of 《素敵だね》 in FFX.
[Uematsu]: Yes, that's right. But honestly, I never expected it to become this popular when I composed it. You know that scene, right, where Aerith keeps waiting for Zack at the station.
—Yes, 'Aerith's Theme' is played there too.
[Uematsu]: Yes. That's what I had in mind for that scene. In the original there is the description "Aerith is waiting, waiting every single day, always waiting", so I composed the piece to fit that scene。
—In other words, it wasn't composed to fit that scene in the Forgotten Capital…!?
[Uematsu]: I had no idea at all! (laughs). First, there's the scene where Aerith waits for Zack at the station. It's "a piece about a pitiful girl waiting for someone who never comes"… this might be the first time I've talked about it, too (laughs)
This passage contradicts another interview with Nobuo Uematsu, see: Aerith's Theme
Uematsu Talks Music
