This topic is over the words said by Aeris on her date with Cloud in the Gondola.

"I want to meet you"

Now i know Aly will say that its colloquial Japanese meaning is that she wants a romantic relationship with Cloud which i of course don't deny.

However could it be possible that the creator's of the game meant it literally?

Or left it in those words in order to leave the western world asking questions at the persona of Cloud?

Personally i hope so because it makes the plot far more interesting.

Though then it brings up a whole bunch of Cloti argument suggesting that Aeris never met the real CLoud *sigh*

Aerith is watching over Cloud, ALWAYS! And we see that in Advent Children, so I'm sure Aerith already met the REAL Cloud ^__^. But..not in body *cries*

Definately the hand reach scene proves that she is watching over her.

I just like the idea that Cloud has more depth in character. His incrdibly distorted psychi. It's a very difficult thing to fool yourself so well. We all do it but not to that extent.

You've posed a tough question, but... if you look at her words to mean that she wants to meet the "real Cloud", then you run up against the argument that Aerith didn't know the real Cloud.

I look at it like this: if Aerith didn't know the " real Cloud", then neither did Tifa. Tifa states clearly during the Lifestream Event that she didn't know Cloud well as they were growing up. If she didn't know him well as a child, then she was just getting to know him at the start of the game when Cloud arrived in Midgar - when he wasn't the "real Cloud", according to the Cloti argument.

Yet, Tifa is showing that she loves Cloud when they find him in the Mideel Clinic, which is BEFORE the Lifestream Event. Plus, Tifa only has 6 non-optional interactions with Cloud between the Lifestream Event and the Night under the Highwind Scene.

So if Aerith didn't fall in love with the "real Cloud", then neither did Tifa. ;) Given that, can her words really mean that she wants to get to know the "real Cloud", or is that a misconception?

Yes that's definately true.

I'm at the conclusion that Aeris' words are taken out of context.

AS Carlatta said a long time ago in that essay of hers Cloud throughout the game is CLoud he never changes his persona, he's always the same cold type and only Aeris was able to brighten him up at times (again shows their strength of relationship). What is missing is his past and in general his memory of events.

In that case it seems Aeris is searching maybe not for the real Cloud as in who he is but rather seaching for the CLoud that is his past. The Cloud that made what Cloud is today. The child Cloud in the lifestream event you could say. It seems to me that that was what Aeris' wanted to find.

Though there is still of course the japanese meaning.

I always took Aerith's words about "Cloud... I'm searching for you" to mean basically the same thing as someone searching for the one they truly love. When taken along with the Japanese meaning for "I want to meet you" and fireworks going off in the sky... doesn't that meaning seem appropriate?

I quit arguing with the Cloti's about what "I want to meet you" means in Japanese. But I looked in a few other sources and got the same answer: that it means "I want to be your sweetheart". I'll try to dig those up for you. :rolleyes:

I've really gotta admit, if they wanted to have Aeris say " I want to be your sweetheart" I think they woulda done it. Besides, Cloud's reaction to it seems a little off if that's what she meant(apparently Cloud doesn't know anymore Japanese than we do!). I always kind of took it to mean "I want to get to know you more". I agree with Anastar's idea about "I'm searching for you". Or it could very well be along the same lines as Rinoa and Squall. She spends almost the whole game just trying to really understand him, yet can you deny they're in love? You can love a person without understanding everything about them.
As for the real Cloud, when did he change? All that was screwed up about him was a few memories, they didn't change who he REALLY was. He was still brave, he was still strong, he was still a great hero. He just didn't do some of the heroic things he THOUGHT he did(I think tossing Sephiroth over the edge by his sword was pretty awesome myself). He didn't "discover" himself, just what really happened. So, of course Aeris knew the real Cloud!
(Sorry, I think as I type so sometimes I have issues getting my points across!)

Aerith must've known the real Cloud already from behind the Zack persona, I guess, but maybe she wants him to reveal it to her personally, not just her sensing it... I guess...

In AC... well... maybe she's like his guardian angel, watching over him. ^_^

*swooning* awww... :P

I think when Aerith told Cloud "I am searching you" she tried to tell Cloud her feelings, that is why when Cloud said "But I am rigth here" she said to helself "I know, I know" :lol: even having a out going personality when she has to express her feeling to Cloud, she show a little of shy! So cute!

I always thought she meant that she wanted him to open up to her, that he shouldn't be afraid to hide his feelings. Such as him always acting like the tough guy who doesn't care. However, we see how deeply Aeris touched Cloud's heart after she dies, when he's upset. I think Aeris meant that it was okay for him to tell her how he felt. :wub:

Or maybe by "I'm searching for you" she means Cloud's the one she's been looking for all her life. Ya know, that somebody just for her. But Cloud's so slow when it comes to girls he just doesn't get it!

I've thought about this before... and I think it's a mixture.

I think she is hinting at a relationship with him, which Cloud obviously doesn't unerstand, responding with, "But I'm right here."

Literally: I thought that this is when Aeris wanted to get to know the "real Cloud", meaning, she knew there was a warm personality uner that cold armor, but he never showed it. I think she was saying she wanted to meet the real him, and was also seperating him from her old boyfriend, Zack. At first, she thought of Zack, when she say Cloud, and this might be where she Realized that Cloud was Cloud.

i dont know in english, but in spanih, when someone says: i want to meet you, its refering:

he wants to have a relationship to know it better, do thing togueter....to meet someone is wnat to be with her or him to be able to know it better...

in the spanish version, the translation is:

cloud....im searching for you...i want to know you...

Another random thought: In the song "I'm gonna gettcha"(or whatever the title is, those're just the lyrics they say the most) a couple of times she says "I'm gonna meetcha" Hmm

The song you are thinking of Sefie is "one way or another" by Blondie. It's also referred to as a 'stalker' song, so in it she may not actually know the person, but saw them and knows enough to "meet up with them" somehow.

"I want to meet you". I take that statement literally. I don't even want to touch on the 'If Aeris didn't know Cloud, Tifa didn't either' speel because I find it kind of pointless. Zack's traits and Cloud's traits were so mixed up sometimes, I'm sure even Cloud himself didn't know who he was half the time. It's that in which was confusing Aeris, and she admits it herself earlier on the Gondola ride. She means it literally because she wants to know all of Cloud without the touch of a boy she used to know. She's very insightful to the fact that she knew something wasn't right with Cloud. That's why I can't believe she meant that statement as "I want to be your sweetheart" while knowing he's not all there.

I've always preffered to take Aeris' words literally too; in that she's spiritually trying to find the real Cloud. That interpretaion has always meant more to me. To me, that whole conversation was already an emotionally intimate one (Aeris admitting why she was first drawn to Cloud, but that she now sees that things are different and sees something truly special inside Cloud, and trying to find and nurture his true self). It doesn't need more intimacy or romance than that. Aeris telling Cloud that she wants to meet the real him, a Cloud that isn't pretending or hiding, seems a strong enough admission of her feelings to me. Her wanting to find him and help him find himself is a sure sign of how deeply she already cares. She is telling him how strongly she feels...but not directly. ^_^

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: