Banal Fantasy is a French Audio Play series created by Thimothée "Durendal" Fontaine on Le Demon du Rire
website. It started in 2004, and consists of Affectionate Parodies of several installments in the Final Fantasy franchise, told in an Abridged Series fashion.
The franchise is characterized by its altered voices (a MP3 saga norm), his Vulgar Humor (mostly in its early installments) and his parodic Punny Names. It is a notorious source of inspiration in the MP3 saga community, spawning a lot of Final Fantasy spoofs (of varying quality) by fans of the original (including Kingdom Paf), Durendal himself starring in some of them.
The franchise is composed of:
- Banal Fantasy I: Parody audio play of Final Fantasy VII.
- Banal Fantasy: Advent Children: Parody video of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, followed several years later by an extended cut based on the Complete re-release.
- Banal Fantasy: Dirge of Cerberus: Parody audio play of Dirge of Cerberus.
- Banal Fantasy: Last Order: Parody video of Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.
- Banal Fantasy II: Parody audio play of Final Fantasy VIII.
- Banal Fantasy Origins: Parody audio play of Final Fantasy.
- Several audio Trailer Spoofs for an hypothetical Banal Fantasy III based on Final Fantasy IX to XIII.
Banal Fantasy provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptation Distillation: It is never brought up in the original audio play that Kel Shit is actually controlled by a Shie-Ra officer named Rivet. Rivet first and only appeared in Banal Fantasy: Dirge of Cerberus and even then does not control the robot-cat, who is autonomous and has his own personality.
- And Then What?: When Ahérée yells about Kissyfrotte at the end, asking him what will he do when he will be all alone in a destructed world, he admits that he didn't think that all through.
- Angrish: After the team made Waïkiki wear dog shoes once in Ice Cube Inn, he is so pissed at it that his rant is barely coherent."I'LL GET MY REVENGE ! I WILL DRESS YOU ALL IN TOILET PAPER SOMEDAY !!!"
- Bedmate Reveal: After his first mission, Crade got drunk and woke up in Tifolle's bed.
- Black Comedy Rape:
- Crade was raped by Don Corneto's four henchmen at the same time when he was disguised as a woman, and again later by soldiers when he was nude and unconscious in a locker room.
- Tifolle rapes Crade in the beginning of the story. And plans to do it again at the end of Banal Fantasy Advent Children.
- Don Cornetto kidnaps Pouffie to make a porno. Fortunately avoided, but she still ended tied up in her underwear.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- When Kel Shite wants to join the team despite Crade's reluctance, he says he is a "mandatory character" and joins it anyway.
- Kel Shite's Pre-Sacrifice Final Goodbye is for the audience, apologizing for not having been often present.
- Dating Catwoman: No matter if Keno is a Truk, Barette loves him and wouldn't break their relationship for anything.
- A Day in the Limelight: One of Kel Shite's only shining moments is when he One-Hit Killed a gigantic monster, which is also the only time the other characters where happy to have him in their team (that and his Heroic Sacrifice).
- Death by Adaptation: After his Heroic Sacrifice, Kel Shite should have returned to the team in another robot body, but here he is permanently dead.
- Disguised in Drag: Crade didn't look good enough for Don Cornetto. The henchmen, on the other hand...
- Fashion Hurts: Pouffie's stubbornness to not have buttons on her shorts to look cool make her trip all the time. She eventually stops wearing shorts in Banal Fantasy Advent Children. So they won't drop anymore.
- Hollywood Board Games: Dréfus is a parody of the canonical villain Rufus who shares some traits with the audio play's creator Durandal. One of the things that give this character a more comedic twist, as well as playing onto his canonical Affably Evil disposition, is the fact that he enjoys playing Battleship with Crade (the parody of Final Fantasy IV's protagonist).
- Innocent Innuendo: Mostly in the first chapters, when Ahérée talks about Crade's BFS."Oh, what a huge blade! It must clean them from the inside when you impale them. You sure polish it often for it to be so smooth?"
- Mathematician's Answer: When asked for a final word during her interview in the finale, Ahérée's answer is "grebe".note
- Nostalgia Filter: In-Universe, Ahérée didn't remember the Old Hag Temple as a simple pet grooming salon.
- Pre-Sacrifice Final Goodbye: Kel Shite says farewell to the audience (the team would not really care anyway).
- Running Gag:
- Crade's falling sword (until he buys a sheath) and the subsequent Double Entendre about said sword.
- Waïkiki's itchy testicles.
- Pouffie constantly loses her shorts and trips.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Crade intended to leave the plot in chapter one, but Ahérée convinced him to stay with her.
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear: Pouffie tries (unsuccessfully) to steal the group's stuff when they first meet, then she sneaks out once again with all the materias during the Dance Party Ending.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: He mixed his personality with Jack's one after his death, actually believing that he did himself some of Jack's actions.
- Welcome Back, Traitor: Despite the fact that everybody hates him and that they caught him red-handed betraying them, they still keep him in the group with no repercussions whatsoever (they barely noticed and respected him before that, though).
