All I will say is that Snow has the most atrocious character design I can recall. Ever. I want to punch him. A lot. With a baseball bat. 90% of it is fine but it's just that smurfING HAIR that riles me

I disagree with the original proposition that FFXIII is less anime-esque than the others. However it would be no surprise if they are trying to make it appealing across a broader international audience; Japan's videogame industry as a whole is feeling quite threatened by others right now.