Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, and more are headed to high school in Youth Fantasy Evecri Academy VII inside Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis.

It’s always a little hard to tell how seriously to take announcements made on April 1. April Fools’ Day has become an international phenomenon, and with many Japanese entertainment media companies’ penchant for irreverent self-referential humor, any unusual unveilings from them that take place on April 1 feel like they should be taken with at least two grains of coarse-ground salt.

So while the artwork for Youth Fantasy Evecri Academy VII, a reimagining of Final Fantasy VII set in a Japanese high school, definitely looked cool when Square Enix Showed it off at the start of the month, it was still too early to know if it was all a joke. Now, though, it’s been confirmed that Youth Fantasy Evecri Academy VII is really going to be something that fans can play, even though it’s not a full-fledged stand-alone game.

Instead, Youth Fantasy Evecri Academy VII is going to be an in-game event for mobile game Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis that will be available later this month. Despite its side-story status, a lot of care looks to be being put into the visuals, as a new preview video shows off not just the illustrated high-school student/teacher versions of some of the members of Final Fantasy VII’s iconic cast, but their detailed polygonal models as well.

Youth Fantasy Evecri Academy VII puts the player in the role of an aspiring educator doing their student teacher stint at Municipal Seventh High School in a Japanese town named “Midogaru” (pronounced in Japanese identically to Final Fantasy VII’s metropolis of Midgar, but written in kanji characters instead of purely phonetic katakana script). The student body at Municipal Seventh High School is particularly rowdy, and the player soon gets caught up in the teens’ daily fights.

Along the way, you’ll interact with incoming freshmen Cloud and Tifa, delinquent leader Aerith, and P.E. teacher Barret, and eventually cross paths with the staff and students of Shinra School of Medicine High School, attended by Sephiroth and Angeal.

▼ “Beat Shinra High’s baseball team!” says the fired-up Barret, who’s swapped his traditional machinegun arm for a harisen folded paper fan appendage.

Youth Fantasy Evecri Academy VII goes live within Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis on April 30.

Source: YouTube/スクウェア・エニックス
Top image: Youth Fantasy Evecri Academy VII official website
Insert images: YouTube/スクウェア・エニックス
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