Not really "shocking" for people in general, but it was for
me, and today is the ideal day to post it, so I"m posting it. Be warned: this is only interesting if you're a Square-Enix fan.
Seven years ago on this date, February 11, 2005, I had the rigorous oral interview portion of my application to grad school at an elite Japanese university. Two days earlier I'd taken, and passed, the written test: you find out you passed because the next day they post a list of all the passing examinees' numbers like this:
You then go to your department's testing area for the next round, or go home disappointed. ^^; (In my case, the next written portion, on February 9, was the foreign language tests.)
So I got through the written parts and have February 11 marked on my calendar. It feels like that date reminds me of something, but I can't remember what.
The big day comes and somehow I survive the interview, with my thesis idea being accepted.
On the way home I suddenly remember: 2/11/1999 is the release date of the Squaresoft classic Final Fantasy VIII. If you bought it on release day, Squall's SeeD exam coincided exactly with real-life entrance exams at real Japanese graduate schools. You took the written portion a few days earlier, just like Squall, and today you had the more grueling "field" exam.
If you look at the calendar of student events on Selphie's blog (we didn't say "blog" back then, did we?) and notice what months things are in, you'll see that the directors probably planned it this way. And it also accounts for the sudden dearth of people wandering around the Garden in the main portion of the story compared to the opening CG: they're home for spring vacation!
The directors also chose 211 as the ID number of the best possible Chocobo World save file, and then very subtly hid this in the Ultimania guide that was released many months later. I wonder what was so special about 211 and 2/11 for them. February 11 isn't always "Exam Day"; it's the second week of February, and the exact date depends on the days of the week. Had mine been on 2/8 or 2/12 I probably wouldn't have noticed. The Japanese people picking it up on Day 1 probably did, though.
Squall got his passing grade after the mission that evening and then they had a big party immediately after; we got ours the next day and the party was after that. (And I passed. I'm a "SeeD" too now.)