User:Sjones23/Yuna (Final Fantasy)

Yuna (ユウナ) is a fictional character from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series. Designed by Tetsuya Nomura, she was first introduced as the female protagonist and one of the main player characters of the 2001 role-playing video game Final Fantasy X, appearing as a summoner embarking on a journey to defeat the monster Sin alongside her companions, including the protagonist Tidus. Yuna reappears in Final Fantasy X-2 as the main protagonist, where she is searching for a way to find Tidus two years following his disappearance, and has also been featured in some other Square Enix games, notably Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Tetsuya Nomura based Yuna's overall design on hakama, but also wanted to give her outfit something that would flow and so gave her a furisode. Nomura said that her name carried the night in the Okinawan language in contrast to Tidus, which translates to sun. After the success of Final Fantasy X, the game's staff wanted her new costume reflect her personality and the game's atmosphere and it was redesigned by Tetsu Tsukamoto. Yuna was voiced by Mayuko Aoki in the Japanese versions of the games and by Hedy Burress in the English adaptations.

Yuna's role as the protagonist in Final Fantasy X was praised for her relationship of the protagonist, Tidus, as well as her characterization. Despite this positive reception, there was a mixed reception for her role in Final Fantasy X-2 for her redesign.

Appearances
In Final Fantasy X, Yuna is introduced as a summoner who can use healing magic and is able to summon powerful magical entities called aeons. Already known throughout Spira as the daughter of High Summoner Braska, who previously brought a brief respite from Sin's destruction ten years earlier, Yuna decides to embark on the summoner's pilgrimage to become a High Summoner herself. The burden of this responsibility is expected to see Yuna journey to temples across Spira, acquire the aeon from each and summon the Final Aeon in a battle that will end both its life and hers. She gradually becomes more open and falls in love with Tidus. Once coming to the place where Yuna can summon the final aeon, Tidus convinces the group to look for another way to defeat Sin that does not involve any sacrifices. Yuna and her guardians enter inside Sin's body where they defeat Yu Yevon who is responsible of reviving Sin every time it is defeated, allowing an eternal Calm start in Spira. However, Tidus disappears as he is the product of the Fayth, who could not depart until Sin's defeat.

In Final Fantasy X-2, set two years after Final Fantasy X, Yuna appears as a member of the sphere hunting group Gullwings, along with Rikku and Paine. In the game's international version, the Gullwings split after Final Fantasy X, with Yuna having returned to Besaid Island, but the trio briefly reunite to explore a tower. In X-2, Yuna journeys Spira in search of the truth behind a sphere containing a video featuring a man resembling to Tidus in prison. The Gullwings always helps people in need, although her job as a sphere hunter may make her intentions seem more money focused. As the journey continues, Yuna discovers the man from the sphere was not Tidus, but Shuyin, a spirit who wishes to destroy Spira in revenge for the death of his lover, Lenne. The Gullwings defeat Shuyin and depending on the player's development throughout the game, the Fayth revive Tidus in the ending so that she can reunite with him.

She also appears in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, an action game that features several Final Fantasy heroes and villains, as one of the characters to be summoned by the goddess Cosmos to participate in a war against her rival Chaos. For this game, Yuna appears in her Final Fantasy X form but sightly arranged to fit with the game's cast. Additionally, she has an alternative design based on an illustration by Yoshitaka Amano, and a wedding dress from Final Fantasy X. Her Final Fantasy X-2 regular form appears as downloadable content.

Outside the Final Fantasy series, Yuna appears in Kingdom Hearts II as a pixie along with Paine and Rikku. Bribed by Maleficent into spying on Leon's group, the pixies eventually switch sides after being abandoned by the witch and told of Sora's cause. Yuna is also featured in a board game-based video game Itadaki Street Special, where she appears alongside Auron and Tidus, and represents Final Fantasy X in the rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

In merchandise
Multiple figures and figurines of Yuna were produced by various manufacturers, including a 2001 figure by Square. An audio CD titled Final Fantasy X-2 Vocal Collections was released in 2003, featuring performances by Mayuko Aoki, Marika Matsumoto and Megumi Toyoguchi, the voice actresses for Yuna, Rikku and Paine, respectively.

Creation and development
According to Tetsuya Nomura, he based for Yuna's overall design on hakama, a type of traditional Japanese clothing. Nomura also stated that when he learned the character was to perform a dance called the "sending," he wanted to give her outfit something that would flow. For this reason, the specific type of kimono he chose for her was a furisode, a kimono bearing long sleeves. Nomura has explained that he adorned Yuna's dress and necklace with images of the hibiscus flower also called "yuna," and that her name carries the meaning of "night" (夕な) in Okinawan, establishing a contrast between her and the lead male protagonist of Final Fantasy X, Tidus, whose Japanese name (ティーダ) translates to "sun" (太陽) in Okinawan. This contrast is also represented in-game by items named for the sun and moon that empower Tidus' and Yuna's most powerful weapons. Nomura has explained that while all these subtle details may be unnecessary, he wants his designs to have meaning behind them.

The positive fan reaction to Final Fantasy X convinced the developers to continue the story of Yuna and other characters with Final Fantasy X-2. Tetsu Tsukamoto, the game's costume designer, said that the radical design changes for Yuna from one game to the other reflected a huge cultural change. Producer Yoshinori Kitase added that they did not want to make Final Fantasy X-2 feel like an extension of its predecessor, so they changed the clothing of Yuna, Rikku and others' to make them seem more active. This was accomplished before the story and setting were created. Because Yuna, Rikku and Paine live in a more care-free world, the designers wanted them to be able to dress up, a feature which became key to the game's gameplay. Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima described her new outfit as a "natural reaction to the heavy stuff she wore in FFX." Yuna's singing performance was used to demonstrate the pop feel that the game incorporates. In regards to her personality Square stated that it was the result of not having her bear the responsibility of being summoner anymore. Moreover, they stated that while "she could be seen as a completely different person", "deep in her heart, she is the same old Yuna."

Reception
Yuna has received positive reception for her appearance in Final Fantasy X. In 2008, Tom's Hardware listed her among the 50 greatest female characters in video game history. In 2009, Manolith listed her as one of the ten sexiest video game women, adding, "let's not mention the Yuna from FFX-2; the original it the girl for us." GamesRadar listed her as one of the 25 best new characters of the 2000s, describing the romance between her and Tidus as "legendary" and Yuna herself as compassionate, generous, and dutiful. In 2012, Complex ranked the original version of Yuna as the 20th "hottest" video game character yet. In addition, readers of Game Informer voted Yuna's relationship with Tidus as the best of 2001. Their relationship was also included on the list of "great loves" by GameSpot, while GamesRadar in 2008 ranked them as the second best Square Enix couple."

Yuna's design change in Final Fantasy X-2 received a mixed reception, and GamesRadar considered that Yuna warranted a sequel to show how popular she had become, and the design change was not well received by several fans. Jeremy Dunham of IGN praised the clothing designs, combining "proven and recognizable Final Fantasy styles" with a "revealing neo-modern fashion sense", referencing her warrior costume as a stand-out, and also said that English voice actress Hedy Burress' portrayal seemed more comfortable as opposed to the previous game. Brad Shoemaker of GameSpot also praised Burress' voice acting, saying that it brought her fully to life in accordance with the other changes in the character. The book Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes described Yuna's appearance as being a "sexy MTV video star", adding that it is a "lesson to girls that being brave, strong, and ready to fight can only last so long - the next adventure is fashion, boyfriends, and sex." GameSpy's Raymond "Psylancer" Padilla called her "the video-game vixen of my dreams." Christian Nutt, also of GameSpy, described Burress' portrayal of Yuna in X-2 as superb. Various publications compared Yuna to other fictional characters, including the Charlie's Angels's Natalie Cook as portrayed by Cameron Diaz;  IGN compared her to Tomb Raider star Lara Croft, due both to her attire and gun-wielding skills. In 2008, GameDaily listed the Final Fantasy X-2 incarnation of Yuna as one of the top 50 hottest video game women, praising her revealing outfit as well as her alternate costumes. That same year, she was ranked as the tenth on top Final Fantasy character by IGN, with a comment her original appearance made her made her "fine eye-candy" and her sending scene was one of the best works by the CG studio Square Visual Works, it was the sequel that gave her more confidence and attitude, as well as "a gratuitously exploitative costume that ranks among the series' finest bits of fanboy-baiting.".

In a 2008 Oricon poll, Yuna was voted the 10th most popular video game character in Japan. In a 2010 ASCII Media Works poll in which Japanese fans would vote whose video game or manga character would like to name their children after, Yuna was ranked second in the female category. The character is also a popular subject of cosplay worldwide. Nevertheless, PSU.com retrospectively called Yuna an underrated character and said that she was overlooked due to Auron and Rikku.