But the FFX characters look too human. Seems to me you're judging by how many strands of hair individually float in the breeze, rather than the originality.

FFIX was unique in its combination of cutesy animé stylee looks with CGI 3D. That was quite daring at the time, and the only decent Anime/3D-style game of recent years - after FFIX - was Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2 in the US).

Anybody remember the in-game graphics/FMV crossover near the end (when Zidane's looking for Kuja's body)? That was genius, the way ingame graphics were effortlessly combined with the FMV sequence. I take off my many hats to you, Square.