Aerith getting resurrected by flushing the Shinra HQ toilet 10K times makes sense. You've wasted so much water, ofcourse she'd be pissed at you for being harmful to the planet.

One of my favorite stories to tell about Final Fantasy 7 was how I found out about Aerith's death. FF7 came out when I 8 years old, and I became absolutely obsessed with this game from the ads I saw on TV and in magazines. We didn't have a Playstation, but my dad did have a computer capable of playing the PC version, so we purchased a copy of that and The Official BradyGames Guide with it. I was only allowed to play an hour a day and so progress through the game was glacial, but I took that guide to school with me every day and I pored over the contents of it in my spare time. I knew everything about upcoming boss battles, like what I could steal from them or what elements they were weak to, and I knew every major twist and turn the story was going to take, about how Meteor was going to be summoned and how we'd have to collect the Huge Materia to defeat it.

The guide did not spoil her death.

The guide says Aerith is "locked in prayer" as you approach her in the City of the Ancients, and that a cutscene will play before starting a boss fight. They talk about how you can visit her parents house in Icicle Inn, and all the events that reference her later on in the game are carefully worded to be neutral about whether she is present or not. Her death hit me like an absolute truck, and even now I can remember just being a sobbing mess and trying to explain to my poor concerned mom that no, it isn't just like Mario and she won't come back, and generally failing to articulate how much that lack of foreknowledge was hitting me. That moment hit me with emotional damage I didn't know video games could inflict, and really influenced my tastes in gaming for life.

Aerith is my favorite character of all time. I fell in love with her since I saw her in a gaming magazine talking about FF7. All this just for a friend to come and say to me "Don't get too attached to her, because she dies".
You can imagine my face when he said that.

I love Aerith in the original but I love her in the Remake even more. Other media had flanderized her "pureness" but in the Remake, she reminds us that she was raised in the Slums every so often while still remaining her sweet self. If you subscribe to the theory that Remake is a sequel to the original FF7, then I'm all for saving her this time. After all, her relationship with Cloud this time round had been growing with the weight of their previous selves' tragedy. This is the chance for all of us OG fans to make things right.

just spilt my coffee due to that cut in „GONGAGA“ 🤣

Do you work out Aerith? That’s Gainsbrooo

Aerith has always been my favorite character from ff7 from way back when I first played it over 20 years ago. I had to have a laugh when I got her secret scene in the remake when she tells cloud "whatever happens you can't fall in love with me" and all I could think was "Aerith sweety, its 20 years too late for that" XD

Aerith’s death was literally my introduction to death as a concept. She remains a foundational part of my being.

Aerith was always my favorite character of FF7, to the point that her death was the first moment that a videogame makes me sheds tears.

So great to see In Depth Is Back!

A few observations…continuity-wise, Zach fell through the church first but development-wise Cloud fell through first. In fact, the developers specifically copied Cloud/Aerith’s “meet cute” to help the players feel more attachment to Zach.
Also, if my memory serves right, Aerith never calls Zach her boyfriend. In the English she calls him her “first love.” In the Japanese this carries more of an adolescent feeling or child-like love. In the West it is akin to a crush or infatuation.
Finally, the iconic pink ribbon being a gift from Zach was retconned in FF7r. Aerith is seen wearing her pink ribbon as a child during the train graveyard chapter.

Addendum: When Cait Sith says that Cloud and Aerith are a perfect match the fortune is not based on Cloud’s imprinted memory of Zach. The be clear, Cloud retains his original personality and nearly all of his memories. The imprinted parts of Zach only involve the Nibelheim incident and the idea of Cloud being in SOLDIER. Aerith even says as much.

Addendum 2: In Advent Children, Zach isn’t beside her. He actually walks away first.

You forgot to mention that she appears in Final Fantasy Tactics as “Flower Girl.” Great video! Big fan.

Seeing Aerith again always makes me feel sad.

42:48 I agree with Aerith feeling infatuated with Cloud at first because he reminds her of Zack, the way they meet for the second time falling down the church, the eyes, the uniform, the sword, some mannerisms, but she quickly notices their personalities are opposite: a shy, moody, sometimes disrespectful trying to act cool but at the same time kind guy and then an outgoing, cheerful, smiley guy, she's able to fall for both as individuals, and then Cloud is the one that isn't influenced by "ZaCloud" in this relationship because he doesn't know who Aerith is at the start of the game, he doesn't have dejavu's with her, or any memories from Zack about her, just as he doesn't have memories of the Turks because Zack never told Cloud about them, and so he's able to get to know her from zero

It's great to see another In-Depth video. Aerith is such an iconic character. RIP.  
That death scene has still not lost its impact for me. Every time, I bring Barret and Yuffie for that boss fight, because their animations afterward are my two favorites. They absolutely destroy me every time. Barret looking upon her before breaking down, then putting his hand on cloud assuringly. Then Yuffie breaks down crying into Cloud's arms. Now I want to play through FFVII for the thirtieth time, and I last beat it a few months ago! Your knowledge of FFVII is inspiring, and has helped me out A LOT with the game in the past. Thanks for the great work once again.

aerith has been my favorite ff chara since i was literally 5, thank you for this video ♡

A legend. I adore her character ❤

I don't like the idea that she sacrificed herself. I like that she was straight up murdered, that she genuinely thought she was coming back but bit off more than she could chew. That's even more tragic imo

As  a kid, after knowing she died, when in the City of the Ancients and it goes dark, I would walk slowly to the end of disc 1...

happy birthday aerith!! :3

Love this series, it gets better with every video. This had me tearing up again. Aerith is just too sweet.
5:04 5:54 It's worth mentioning that the katakana for her name as written literally spells out "Earisu/Earith" with the E first (the double meaning is much more obvious in Japanese).
20:10 One of my favorite lines in the game is when Cloud says, "Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry......or get angry......" There's just something deeply inarticulately sad about that line. You don't just lose the good times, you lose the sad or bad times too. People are more than just what you want them to be, and to really love someone is to miss those parts of them too.
20:48 Yuffie's reaction gets to me every time.
46:18 Dates are usually written year-month-day in Japanese.