The Final Fantasy III manga

Final Fantasy III has a manga.

On its own, this doesn't sound too surprising. Final Fantasy has had a vertiable horde of adaptations after all, such as novels or mangas. Even Final Fantasy I got a manga (a rather interesting one) and Final Fantasy II has a novelization that is the source of The Emperor's true name (which itself gets nods in the games, if never used directly). So, what makes III different?

III... is weird.

The Cast

The manga features most of the guests from the game: The lone guest to be missing is Aria, and even then, she has a spiritual successor of sorts. But we'll get to that.

The manga was the first media to give the main characters set identities. While very distinct from the remake's cast, there are some similarities that blur the possibility of homage vs coincidence.

As the manga was written by the scenario writer, Keji Terada, these characters are technically the closest to "canon" identities of the Famicom party. However, the manga has significant differences to the game and unlike the FF2 novelization (which contributed the "Mateus" name), the III manga has never officially been acknowledged by SE to my knowledge.

Muuchi

Muuchi is one of the three youths of Ur, alongside his adopted brothers Doug and J Bowie. All three of them are mischevious, stealing from merchants and overall being brats. Over the course of the manga, however, he grows into a capable hero in his own right. Muuchi favors swords in battle, using dual blades in the early chapters and a single sword in later chapters. That said, he certainly isn't afraid to use his fists if need be.

His design seems to take cues from the Warrior job. All of the main characters go through outfit changes throughout the manga, but Muuchi favors armors. Muuchi's hair color differs between black, brown and blue-ish.

Doug

Doug is the second of the three youths of Ur. He's a little guy who usually (but not always) keeps an optimistic air. Unlike the other heroes, he doesn't use magic; Instead prefering knives and a sort of bendable flail.

Doug's design is vaguely remeniscent of the ranger job, albeit with a headband rather than a hat. Much like Muuchi, his outfit changes as the story goes on. His color scheme also varies the most heavily of the group: He's usually blond with a yellow and green clothes scheme, but one cover protrays him as silver-haired with a silver and yellow color scheme.

J Bowie

The third of the three youths of Ur. Of the four, he's the oldest and has a more stoic and calm demeanor. Despite this, he is actually just as prone to causing mischief as his brothers at the start of the manga.

During the first half of the manga, he uses twin knives (and some sort of wire aparatus?) as his main weapon. Later, as he becomes more attuned to Black Magic, he uses a staff to conduct it.

Melfi

The last of the four Warriors of the Wind and the only one not native to Ur, Melfi is from the next town over, whose parents were killed in the Great Earthquake. She meets the boys at the Wind Shrine, helping them defeat the Land Turtle and while she is initially unimpressed by their antics, she grows to respect all of them, especially Muuchi.