Final Fantasy XI: The Out of Orders

Final Fantasy XI ~The Out of Orders~ was a short-lived official comic serialized in Young Gangan magazine from December 2004 to January 2005. The magazine is a bi-weekly manga anthology marketed to young adult men and published by Square-Enix Holdings' manga imprint Gangan.

The strip was written by Kim Sung Jae and illustrated by Kim Byung-jin. Only 3 installments were published before the comic went on hiatus. It was scheduled to resume in Fall of 2005, but in September 2005 it was announced that it was cancelled. Rumors were that the author did not like how the editor talked about the contents of the manga.

The creators were Korean and the game was not available in South Korea during the time, so the creators are said to have struggled to get their bearings on the game world. There's a number of inconsistencies with the actual game, such as the Tarutaru being featured as being simple and child-like (and not possessing intelligence).

The Out of Orders was set during the Crystal War, based on the Battle of Fort Karugo-Narugo (S) in 862. The main character is Varig (ヴァリグ隊長), Captain of the San d'Orian Melusine Corps. He appears to be half Hume and Half Elvaan. Later in the game's life, this historical encounter would be depicted in A Manifest Problem.

Most of the characters are depicted as jobs available in-game, wearing their standard JSE. Captain Varig is depicted as a Paladin with no shield or helmet, but also seen in the image to the right as wearing an Adaman Hauberk and wielding a Great Katana. Hmmm...

The comic was mostly black and white with a few color pages for the introduction.

The comic spawned a small Japanese meme "見事な連携だ…" or roughly "it's a wonderful collaboration," which is muttered by a character following a skillchain and magic burst in the strip after kicking the decimated cockatrice. The Japanese text for To Kill Mocking Birds has a callback to this in a line from Thundering Chariot.

Sample Gallery

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  Part of the color intro

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  A Galka RNG opens fire with glee

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  A skillchain & magic burst in action

Related Links

• Japanese Wikipedia Entry
• Let's Read The Out of Orders (some scans)