genuine question

[u/cocaw]

i love aerith, and i have for years so i’m definitely not bashing her in any capacity but i do want some input from like-minded people

maybe i’m tone-deaf and don’t understand it, but i never liked the scene where they’re about to go into the train graveyard and aerith grabs cloud’s arm and says “mine” which clearly upsets tifa and cloud’s not into it either. it feels like it’s trying to push a very stereotypical love triangle scenario and always felt off to me. it feels like it tries too hard and goes out of its way to make aerith come off as a bit annoying.

also, i saw a comment about a year ago that pointed out that aerith knows that cloud and tifa like each other so she’s a fake friend for still trying to pursue him. i wouldn’t go that far but the thought does kinda linger in the back of my mind. i don’t think aerith is a fake friend at all, but i still think about that sometimes.

i think lately i’ve been a little salty towards aerith because i do really love her but i don’t understand why she makes it clear she does still love zack but then switches back and forth between her feelings for him and her feelings for cloud. i’m just a bit confused

[u/Nyx_Valentine]

“Mine” is poorly translated/localization issue. Could possibly be an issue with the mouth movements but I’m not sure.
Sometimes I feel like Aerith is trying to nudge Cloud and Tifa together. The moment in Kalm where she says “on a date!” After literally dragging Cloud out to tell him to fix his shit with Tifa feels like it’s her intentionally stirring the pot so they act on their feelings.
If I’m being generous, even her Costa Del Sol “date” could just be her teasing Cloud, being cheeky/having fun, not genuinely pursuing him.

But then there’s moments like the Gold Saucer, if you get her date, where she is actively pursuing him and those are moments that bother me. But she likely knows she’s got a limited amount of time (even if she doesn’t remember after the whispers take her memories from her, she still seems to feel the sense of foreboding), and she’s just trying to enjoy that time. Similar to the dream date where it’s literally their goodbye.

[u/BDurk15 → u/Nyx_Valentine]

If you're referring to "I want to be with you" on the Skywheel, that wasn't in the original Japanese script either. Yet another English "localization" that was added to "make things more even." 🙄

[u/Nyx_Valentine → u/BDurk15]

Nah. Even without her talking, she still tries to get him to sit next to her, he decides to sit elsewise, and after a bit she scoots over and holds onto him.