I have to say I feel like this was one of the saddest FF endings to date. It really pulled on the heart strings, all throughout it teased the glimmer of hope that the cadets would survive. Then when Rem and Machina return, the rest of the class is lifelessly slouched up against their banner. THE FEELS MAN, THE FEELS!
Of course we also have the "In Another Spiral" alternate ending that some fans like to treat as the canonical one. It's definitely much happier and shows as a different, more human side, to the teenage war-faring wonder kids.
So the ending, lets talk about it!