#in the wise words of KH Roxas: get real!

[emblazons]

Begging people to just start writing fanfic instead of demanding a queer romcom from the 80s supernatural horror show

#'if the duffers don't do this they've fucked up' please stop. just watch Heartstopper and Young Royals and let ST stay in it's genre #WE ALREADY SAW WHAT S3 DID TO SIDETRACK THE VIBES AND WE'VE GOT ONE SEASON LEFT. THERES ENOUGH TO DO #y'all sound like the people who think they're getting a mlvn wedding sometimes with the 'demands.' it's terrifying #in the wise words of KH Roxas: get real! #the me tag

[crispyapplepies]

AkuRoku Defense pt 2

Axel and Roxas’s ship has had one of the most bizarre fandom journey’s i have ever come to witness. It has gone from being one of the most popular ships maybe ever, to being dead cancelled over a supposed age gap and I find that completely unfair, especially when it speaks to so many innocent people who emotionally depend on the ship, (yes innocent includes the spicy people because art literally is not a crime). So its time to defend it.

Brief Review on Nobodies vs Aging

First of all, l already explained in part 1 what the Nobodies Don’t Age thing means but I’ll go over it again briefly, since it can be confusing, though also many people seem to demand their hands be held rather than use their imaginations to understand. Even so, here’s the short version just for a review:

-A person in KH is made of a heart, body, and soul.

-The body reflects the heart in KH. (See: replica bodies taking on the appearance of the heart that’s inside them). 

-A nobody lacks a heart, making them just a body and soul. They’re advanced zombies of sorts.

Nobodies do not age because they have no heart for the body to reflect. This is why they won’t change until they form one. Change includes age

-Ergo, you can imagine any age you like for Axel to be nobodied, cuz he was frozen at that age and did not change for 10 years. Not until he met Roxas. 

We’ll come back to this again later.

Axel Loves Roxas Canonically

Second of all, Axel loves Roxas and you are allowed to interpret that as platonic, familial, or romantic, I don’t care as long as you’re not forcing that idea on others like the ship police. That said, people are allowed to explore how romantic this love potentially is. 

And what you might like to know is that the canon is even open to this. Axel’s love for Roxas is canonically expressed, and if you would like, you can even interpret that love as romantic. See below:

We are going to look at the japanese translation because AS ALWAYS good old SENA is here for the straights and erases the gay, like clockwork. 

In English, Axel says this:

Axel: I wanted to see Roxas. He...was the only one I liked... He made me feel...like I had a heart. It's kind of...funny... You make me feel...the same...

Axel’s line here in Japanese:

Axel: I wanted to see Roxas... I loved him. Being with him... it made me feel like I had a heart. I feel it from you, too... the same kind of....

You may notice that as romantic as the line “he made me feel like I had a heart” sounds, the original can be read as wAY gooier, specifically cuz of this word:

好き: "suki"

Now here’s the thing. Japanese is a pretty vague language which is why context is so important for these things, as well as what you say, and what you don’t say. 

“Suki” is a very key word here because it is often used in romantic confession scenes.

(I have no idea what this panel is from, I apologize lol) 

It CAN mean something casual, like “I love video games”, but considering Axel is saying this with his dying breath, I don’t think we should be treating it as some hyperbole. He is referring to a person and it is meaningful. However. It is still a word with plausible deniability. Japanese has several words for love, “ai” for example being one of the most inarguable means of referring to romantic love. So choosing “suki” still leaves room for the homophobes to disregard it as something not romantic. Which makes it objectively inconclusive. Here is the thing though… they specifically chose that word, suki, a word which IS so often used in a romantic context in many anime and manga. 

They also chose to use that word rather than something objectively platonic. Which means you also cannot conclude Axel did NOT mean it romantically. Given his devotion to Roxas, and the fact that they chose this word of all words for him to say… I’m personally going to assume it’s romantic. You are free not to interpret it that way. But I am because I am considering the fact that they did not choose something strictly platonic. 

(My translator friend actually freaked out when I showed her this, she’s translated and seen enough confession scenes to know what connotations that particular word comes with lol). 

If you’ve read my queer coding doc, you may recall I also go over how this is one of the most important tricks with queer coding. You write something that CAN be viewed as queer but with plausible deniability for straight people to ignore it. It’s a means of protecting oneself and the text from homophobic oppression. It is a legitimate practice. So even though it can be denied as a queer text, it can also very very well be viewed as a definite queer text. We are choosing to queer it here. It is not as explicit as it could be, but it is still very bold, suggestive coding considering the homophobic world we live in, and especially with KH2 being released in 2004. 

“But Age Gap!” (ughhhhh)

We’re back to this cuz I also finally have the Japanese version of that infamous page in the Day’s novel to look at.  

I hope you’ll forgive me if I get a little bit salty but I don’t like to repeat myself lol so I’m gonna try to keep this section short and to the point.

In this interview with Nomura, he expresses that nobodies do not age, and they exist as they were at the time of becoming a nobody. He then suggests Xemnas seems 30 ish.

Now I truly do not care to hold your hand through the process of thinking creatively because you should be using your own imagination, if you have one, to think critically and creatively about what this idea means.

Kingdom Hearts is a FANTASY game. Nobodies are a FANTASY concept. They can break ALL the rules about real life that you want them to. But I will go ahead and explain this for you even though I’ve already done it many times, in this very document even and in other meta posts.

The body reflects the heart. Nobodies are frozen as they are from the moment they are “born”, which is to say the moment they are created. Glorified zombies. They aren’t going to age unless they form a heart. Why does Xemnas look 30? He has a heart! Or he was formed 10 years after TerraNort defected. You tell me. Why did Ienzo age? I dunno, you tell me! Either he formed a heart and didn’t know it, (he’s passionate about his work, he loves Ansem the Wise, any number of things could’ve made him form a new heart), or he was nobodied later in life. Axel is frozen at whatever age he was when he was nobodied, all the while Ienzo could’ve been nobodied 10 years later. It’s a fantasy, and these are fantasy rules. That scenario can happen. YOU decide. Until the canon tells us for sure, your imaginations can run wild with explanations. Even if the canon does tell us, you can still imagine whatever you want for your own headcanons. Freedom is amazing, it’s salty and sweet. 

Now let’s talk about that annoying page in the Days novel people keep shoving in my face.

This one right here. The official english translation is this:

That’s not the worst translation I’ve seen them put out there. But let’s look closer at the Japanese:

 Here, Axel says he thinks Roxas is about 10 years separate from himself, but things like age don't exist for nobodies.

Already that’s making a lot more sense to me for nobodies since we are told nobodies do not age. As such Axel speaking like he is 10 years older would feels almost contradictory when he has no heart and cannot change. 

This wording is important. Recall me saying that Japanese is very vague so all of the context matters. No one is denying that 10 years passed between Birth By Sleep and Axel meeting Roxas. However. Nobodies don’t age.

(please dont make me explain that a third time in this essay alone)

The Japanese and English both express that age does not apply to nobodies, (as discussed above^^^^) and the Japanese furthers this with its wording. They have 10 years of separation between Axel being nobodied, and Roxas existing.  

Axel saying in English that Roxas is simply 10 years younger than himself is rather misleading considering the ambiguity of the original. I can’t fault the translators too much for not understanding this nobody concept so well because it is obviously confusing. However, I do not think Axel was saying Roxas is literally, in real life human somebody terms, 10 literal physical years younger than him. He is expressing that he became a nobody 10 years ago whereas this guy became a nobody very recently, and it shows with how little he can even function right now. A zombie who has been wandering around with no heart for 10 years meets a fresh zombie wandering around with no heart for 1 day. 

I know antis are gonna use it against us no matter what, but at least know that akuroku is not inherently pedophilia nor is it inherently an adult/minor ship.

In many of our headcanons, Axel was frozen at age 18 or 19, with Roxas being 16. Absolutely no one is required to view them with a big age gap because imagination is free and you literally have no right to police it, but also because the canon expresses these nobodies as beings outside of the realm of age. They do not operate under real life rules or somebody rules. Think of Steven Universe where Rose was thousands of years old but only “grew up” as a person when she fell in love with Greg, a human in his 20s-30s who asked her to consider other people’s feelings. Consider the mind of a nobody as a state of Neverland. You aren’t gonna age unless you step out of it and change. Mature. Isn’t it sad that Axel did not feel like he had a heart until Roxas? No wonder people ship it!

Coding is Obvious

Finally I wanna conclude on a simple thought. This interview right here? I’d be curious what the original Japanese actually says lol but the english translation of it says that romantic akuroku was not Nomura’s intent. 

Here’s the thing though. If you know anything about queer coding, you know that using romantic coding between 2 male characters is signaling something. It is not something you should ignore. It would not be there if the characters were meant to be viewed as objectively straight. And for something “unintentional”... there sure is a lot of coding at work here.

From Axel pinning Roxas down and asking him to come home in a very sexually suggestive pose,

to watching the sunset in sheer bliss together just enjoying the peace of reunion,

to watching the sunset together while talking about what LOVE is, specifICALLY romantic love,

To this. And I already told you what this was in Japanese.

I’m not saying Nomura lied…

But I am saying that a whole staff worked together to create these games, and it is very difficult for me to believe that no one thought to say “these characters appear to be romantic, let us change the scene to be more platonic” if the characters were not meant to be romantically suggestive. 

Tl;Dr I wanna live in the timeline where people let you ship akuroku lol

#akuroku #akrk #axel kh #roxas kh #kingdom hearts

[prpledusk]

NOBODIES AND WHODUNNIT

Ok so theory time.

I recently made a post about vexen, infact the lil labrats been on my mind as of recently surprise to some but eh I do me, but having been thinking about miste4 walking chemical bath I have been bombarded with thoughts on the rg crew as a whole and me being me the rabbit holes dig themselves.

Dear god Im still falling but to put it lightly for the rest of you kh schmucks I think I just came to the conclusion that the rg crew cannot be held responsible at all for the betrayel of ansem the wise. The reasons why shall be explained.

Firstly we must take a look at the victem of this crime, ansem himself as its his statements on the event that we have to go off for this whole hoohah and lemme just point out something that I never notice anyone ever bring up when it comes to the betrayal.

Ansem, more specifically diz, is completely UNRELIABLE.

For one Ansem as diz spent most of his time trying trying to get the kh kiddys to murder the nobodies for the sake of vengeance and typically I wouldnt trust the word of a man whose willing to dehumanize and murder the fuck outta some kids for the sake of getting back at his coworkers as just a general rule. Seconed, Ansems knowlege on nobodies not only seems to be extensivly wrong but he also even outright lies at some points in order to get Roxas and Riku to do as he pleases, pretending to be tiddy ansem in order to get riku to not only attack said coworkers but to get riku to use darkness against said co-workers, this mother fucker didnt even fuckin blink when Riku was about to yeet his sword into Zexions skull like a fuckin javelin and had no problems with Riku getting so infected by darkness that it began physically turning him into ansem.

Not to mention Ansems himself streight up admitted that he wasnt in his right state of mind and his blind hatred and want for revenge streight up changed him into something else so literally everything he says and this includes anything mentioned about his old co-workers can be taken with a grain of salt.

Seconed, theres two questions that need to be answered.

1: when did the scene in ddd with terranort doing the stabby stab to the crew.

And 2: *Why* did the betrayel happen.

The first first question helps to answer the seconed. Specifically if that scene happened BEFORE the betrayel took place. If after I then the betrayel makes no fucking sense.

My reasons being that from what we're given there is literally no fucking reason for the rg crew to betray ansem. Literally everyone ((accept braig)) seems to have a high amount of respect and even love for the guy and dont really seem to have issue with him.

Lex: seems to still retain loyalty to Zexion and for the most part kept his soft spoken stalwart nature even as a nobody.

Zexion: baby

Dilan: literally almost began crying at Ansems return

Even: put himself in harms way to redeem himself, was trusted by ansem enough to be dad number2 and as far as we know was ansems head scientist. (And dont gimme that FOR SCIENCE bull shit, vexen was a slut for science but even knew when to use the safeword dammit)

None of them are shown to have any reason to dislike or want Ansem gone so exactly why would they betray him???

The answer:

They didnt have a fuckin choice.

Because theres a wee thing that the fandom forgot about.

Zombification.

As seen with Roxas, Xion, and even Axel has mentioned he and the othere whent through it, when you become a nobody you're basically a zombie. Head empty, no thoughts, not even a name. Your just an empty shell running on autopilot.

And as shown by Roxas and Xion, when you through the zombie phase? Your more subseptable to suggestions, your basically an entirely different person, and you have no idea who or what the fuck you are.

This lack of agency, this blankbrain? Easy to take advantage of. I think its entirely possible that terranort yeeted everyones hearts, took advantage of the zombie process and had the grew toss ansem in their nonemotive states. This not only would explain why everyone did the betrayel dispite not having reason to but also why when they all got their hearts back it hit Vexen extra hard, enough to go full nobody again, put himself in more danger, and proceed to fuck over the real org in the background and rescue ansem.

So in other words the crew literally had no choice but to go along with it, any agency they could have had in the situation was robbed of them the moment the stab happened so fuck.

This just makes it all extra sad. Since most likely the "they" ienzo was referring to when it came to saying someone told him ansem was mad, most likely that was either Lex or Vex so most likely they realized what they did later, realized it was a bad, but didnt care enough to fix it cause ya know lolno<3 amd decided to instead tell the kid a kind lie to spare him the truth of what they did. So in a sense their bonds with ienzo made it through the whole becoming nobodies thing.

#theory #vexen #dilan #ienzo #aeleus #ouchieouch #nomura why are you like this #kingdom hearts #kh

[nadziejastar]

One of the things I hated about KH3 was how it treated Radiant Garden. It's the most important world in the series with several plotlines running through it and an arc of its own (KH1 a ruin, KH2 rebuilding, BbS flashback to former glory) but KH3 made it cutscene-only and did the bare minimum with it story-wise, it basically became "the place that Ienzo is calling from."

Oh, I definitely agree with you there. It’s a big reason why KH3 felt like an unfinished and incomplete game to me. I actually thought the Disney worlds were great (they even had towns) and I had no major complaints about the battle system. For me, the biggest issue with the game was the lack of an overarching plot and the pathetic “resolution” to the various subplots/character arcs. I’ve heard a rumor that playtesters from 2018 said that Scala ad Caelum was a fully playable world. And there is evidence of that in the hacked data. That would have been a world entirely dedicated to advancing the story and explaining Xehanort’s past. And it was just…taken out.

After BBSV2 was cancelled, Nomura said he was going to incorporate the missing story from that game into KH3, in a condensed manner of course. The missing story would be touched on, but not explored in full detail. That is most likely what the “KH2.9″ thing was all about at the beginning. Of course, the missing story from BBSV2 was never included. I think Nomura was in quite a bind after such an important game was cancelled and the story of KH3 became quite a mess indeed. There was not enough time to come up with a solution.

Nomura said that there were models of Leon and the Fairy Godmother created, but left unused, which annoyed the developers. To me, this indicates that KH3 was rushed and a lot of stuff was cut out. I think Radiant Garden was almost certainly supposed to be a playable world as well. There was a TON of story left to resolve there. Instead of trying to resolve it, KH3 just cut Radiant Garden out entirely, like Scala ad Caelum. I thought the scene where Mickey and Riku figured out that Xehanort possessed Terra was SO awkward.

It felt so strange how any mention of Aqua’s armor and Keyblade was left out. That’s why the spot Dilan showed them was so important, after all. Mickey already knew Aqua was trapped in the Dark Realm and saved Terra. What he didn’t know was where or how it happened, or what became of Terra afterwards. If Dilan told them that the armor was found in the same spot that the amnesiac apprentice Xehanort was found, then it’s all too obvious what happened to Terra.

It seemed like the only thing anyone cared about for 90% of the game was finding enough Replicas for Roxas, Xion, and Naminé. That’s all Ienzo really did, so his scenes were just reduced to Gummiphone conversations. Vexen/Even only joined the organization as a “reserve member” to get access to the Replica project. This made NO SENSE. The organization didn’t need Even’s Replicas to fill out their ranks. If Even conveniently joined the New Organization XIII all of a sudden, they would have just used HIM as the final vessel. They wouldn’t have needed Replicas and they certainly wouldn’t have made him a reserve member. They were only one vessel short, after all.

Ienzo should have told Sora/Riku/Mickey about the armor that Xemnas would always talk to in the Chamber of Repose. And that should have started a conversation about the Chamber of Waking, where Ienzo knew Xemnas’s other “friend” was. Maybe that’s why Aqua’s armor was not mentioned. From the very beginning of KH3, Sora was supposed to know that Ventus’s heart was inside of him (Roxas had Ventus’s heart and that’s why Roxas looked like Ventus—duh) and that Ventus’s body was in the Chamber of Waking. Mickey knew that Aqua hid Ven somewhere only she would know. Sora’s job was to find a way to wake Ventus’s heart, not find him a body. But the only thing that happened in Radiant Garden was the ridiculous subplot of the characters trying to find a body for Roxas and coming up with “Replicas”.

Replicas were NOT needed. Roxas’s real body was in the Chamber of Waking, which was conveniently never mentioned by anyone. And of course, Lea would be able to tell the others that finding that place is impossible, so there was no point in looking. So, the obvious course of action would be to find Aqua first. All of this should have happened either in KH0.5 or at the very beginning of KH3. It appears that at some point, VERY late into development, the decision was made to just forget about the plot of the Xehanort Saga. That’s why most of KH3′s story was simply setting up KH4 with stuff like the Foretellers, the black box, and Subject X. All the important subplots of Radiant Garden were dropped.

Instead of showing Lea’s backstory there, they just made him go back to being Axel and Twilight Town was portrayed as his real home. This wasn’t done because it fit Lea’s character or anything. It was done because there was no time to give him a real backstory in Radiant Garden. And Saïx’s whole character arc was reduced to joining the organization so he could help Even get Roxas a Replica body. That was it. His whole character arc was thrown in the garbage. Isa wasn’t rescued from his possession or given a heartfelt reunion with Lea. All of the drama between Axel and Saïx in Days and KH2 was simply so that Saïx would feel bad in KH3 and then join the organization to get Roxas a body? Yeah, right. If anyone actually believes that, I have a bridge I’d like to sell them.

— And so, is there a possibility that the characters that appeared in that scene will be brought back in the future?

Yeah. The data that Ansem hid inside Sora is a secret related to their resurrection. When Ansem became DiZ and worked from the shadows, he did research on the heart and emotion, but he hid the conclusion of his particular findings inside Sora. There were many who thought that what was hidden was Kingdom Hearts Coded, but that’s not right. In the ending of KH coded, Naminé’s words that DiZ did something to Sora are pointing to the data that Ansem hid. We are planning to make clear the nature of that data in a future title.

The other important plot point of Radiant Garden was of course decoding Ansem’s data that he left inside of Sora. This was about the power of waking, which was supposed to be the MAIN GOAL of the plot, not Replicas. Nomura wanted to make the nature of Ansem’s data clear in a future title. The title being referred to was not KH3, it was actually KH0.5 A Fragmentary Passage.

— Speaking of the KH BbS secret cutscene, Ansem the Wise says that he hid his research results in Sora. This complies with what happens in KH Re:coded when Namine says DiZ (Ansem the Wise) has hid something inside Sora. Is that mystery remaining unsolved?

Yes. Namine added data to the Jiminy Journal in order to convey that the “pain” of those connected to Sora must be healed, but at the point in time Ansem hid the research results inside Sora, he didn’t know that. Accordingly, Ansem’s research results will become the key to healing the “pain” in the future of the story.

The data left inside of Sora was the key to healing the pain of the characters.

— Before the ending, Riku receives research data from Ansem the Wise. In the next title, will that be the key to bringing back the people who are sleeping inside Sora?You could say it’s the key. That data contains the details explaining the way to connect lost hearts.

And it was supposed to explain the way to connect lost hearts.

Secret Report 9: Ansem Code Conspectus, Excerpt 1

First, a vessel for each heart must be readied. Then, a spark of some sort is required to induce its waking. Obviously, the ideal solution is to restore each heart to its own body, but (whatever the case for the two unknown individuals) Roxas possesses no such thing. The same is true for Naminé, who we believe resides in Kairi’s heart. Still, if alternate bodies can be secured for them, all their hearts require to be awakened is that “spark"—people they cared for and who cared for them, who can show them the way home.

Most of the report about Ansem’s Code was useless nonsense about finding vessels for Roxas and Naminé. The only real important thing I saw from that report was the part about the “spark”. That’s what I think Ansem’s code was really all about. A heart simply needs a connection to awaken it. While Riku and Mickey were looking for a way to rescue Aqua from the Dark Realm, Sora was supposed to be looking for the power of waking, which was the necessary “spark” to awaken Roxas/Ventus’s heart from inside of him.

— The press release for KINGDOM HEARTS III unveiled by Square Enix discusses the search for the “Key to Return Hearts.” Is there anything you can tell us about that?

There are two possible meanings of the “key.” One of which is the “hardware” key, which opens doors - this is what keys are in general (laughs), and the other is the “light” key, that opens something else. In this case, it is currently unknown as to which type of key Sora must find. This is the main storyline of KINGDOM HEARTS III - Sora must go on an adventure to find the “key” without knowing what or where it is. But as you know, we can’t really say anything else on the subject (laughs).

That was the “Key to Return Hearts”. And that’s why Sora was travelling to the various Disney Worlds. They were NOT supposed to be useless filler. Sora was looking for some kind of clue about what kind of “spark” would be necessary to awaken Ven’s heart inside of him. That’s why he went to visit Hercules first. Hercules restored his lost powers when he rescued Meg. Then Sora went to Twilight Town, where Roxas/Ventus was from. Most of the other Disney worlds involve someone being restored to life. Rapunzel revived Eugene, Elsa revived Anna, Baymax was brought back to life, etc. These worlds were supposed to give Sora clues about the power of waking.

And what is the power of waking exactly? Well, it is NOT rewinding time to bring people back from the dead, that’s for sure. It is based on what is called “Soul Fragmentation” and “Soul Retrieval”. That is why the power of waking always involved collecting “pieces” of Sora.

And that’s why Xehanort needed to “fragment” Sora’s mind/soul before he could possess him. He became an empty vessel.

The experiments involved convincing the mind to renounce its sense of self.

In other words, dissociation. And dissociation can be induced by PAIN. The person in pain lacks self-awareness, leaving them open for possession. This is no doubt what happened to Isa, too.

Soul Retrieval is a form of healing that one is not able to perform on oneself. Someone else needs to perform this healing on you.

Soul Fragmentation is when part of your soul – that is a part of yourself – separates from the whole and retreats to a non-physical/etheric place. This can occur during periods of stress, trauma and challenge. In the shamanistic perspective, when these parts of our souls are not recovered, we can’t seem to find inner completion or wholeness.

Sometimes the soul aspect can be lost for long periods of time – even over many years, as it will stay absent until the necessary healing occurs to facilitate its safe return to the soul/body. Soul Retrieval is a deeply effective and powerful method of healing and it helps to cement your soul with love and light to empower you and make you more whole again.

As the lost soul fragment integrates you may find a deep connection with yourself and a greater sense of personal power and fulfillment. It can also enhance commitment to your Life Purpose in a way that makes sense for you and your unique gifts and talents whatever they may be.

And while it may sound kind of cheesy, the power of love is basically what is needed to perform a soul retrieval on someone. That’s why it was such a recurring theme in all of the Disney Words. The report about Ansem’s Code was found in Arendelle. And I think it was a perfect fit. An act of love can thaw a frozen heart. That’s basically what soul retrieval/the power of waking is in a nutshell. Aqua needed to dive inside of Ventus and collect all of the fragments of his soul and put them back together. The correct spark to awaken Roxas/Ventus’s heart was Aqua being threatened by Vanitas.

Axel was NOT supposed to be the one to bring Roxas back. I repeat, Roxas was not supposed to be revived by Axel. If that were the case, Roxas’s heart would have woken up at the end of KH2, when Axel sacrificed himself. But it didn’t. Lea was supposed to revive Isa, not Roxas/Ventus. Isa’s heart would have awakened during the final battle. This is why he stopped attacking Lea and he should have been the one to protect him from Xemnas. 

Then Lea would need to heal his soul which was fragmented. That’s what the entire Lea/Isa subplot was all about: healing Isa’s pain. It got NO closure and was instead discarded in favor of a poor excuse to bring Roxas back as a separate character from Ventus, which was not necessary in the slightest. Very, VERY bad storytelling. People don’t criticize KH3′s story because their expectations were too high or because Nomura is incompetent. The story was just BOTCHED. And it deserves to be called out. Fans deserved MUCH better after waiting for so long.

#kh3 #kh #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts meta

[khtrinityftw]

Part 7: Blank Check

But despite all that I've said, Birth by Sleep didn't truly ruin the Kingdom Hearts series until the very end, with the secret ending video "Blank Points".

Unlike previous secret ending videos which were FMV concept trailers for Kingdom Hearts II and Birth by Sleep respectively, "Blank Points" was a few consecutive cutscenes that presented a clear path forward for the series. And it was a path that I was utterly horrified to see it go down.

There is a talk between Terra and Master Xehanort within their conjoined heart that indicates that Eraqus didn't really die and is somehow inside of Terra, and then Master Xehanort makes it clear that he intends to stick around and has some master plan at work. Then we cut to Braig being further positioned as some important, manipulative figure. None of this set me at ease when first watching it, and then it only got worse.

We cut to Aqua in the Realm of Darkness, where she meets Ansem the Wise, who has been retconned into having been transported there after his heart encoder exploded in KH2. Ansem the Wise already had a completed character arc and a perfect, definite ending, but it's being tossed aside for what exactly? To use him as an exposition machine here?

Ansem the Wise tells Aqua about Sora and how he can save everyone who is suffering, and then we get to see Namine, Roxas, Axel, Xion, Terra, Ventus, and finally a tearful Aqua herself look up at the sky and say "Sora", with the music and on-screen text narration pushing this blatant religious, messianic vibe. Sora, whose appeal was largely in his ordinary background, is now being pushed as some kinda Jesus figure who will be the savior of everyone's personal problems and even bring the dead back to life so that they can have a perfect happy ending.

Finally, we cut to Sora on Destiny Islands, who tells Kairi that he has to go because "he is who he is because of them", and he needs to save them. Kairi, in stark contrast to what KH2 showed of her, just smiles and takes this, giving Sora her lucky charm again and making him promise to come back soon. And that's when those accursed words flash onto the screen for the first time ever: "Reconnect. Kingdom Hearts."

"Reconnect. Kingdom Hearts." is basically the tagline for the Dark Seeker Saga, and this video that it debuted in encapsulates that saga's goal: to twist the series inside out in order to make it some kind of vast, inter-connected story that the KH Trinity, which was already a complete story in of itself, is merely a part of. The real story, "Blank Points" claims, is Sora saving everyone with even the vaguest of connections to him from their 'hurt', and thwarting the master plan of Master Xehanort. And this is a major trade down.

The story of the KH Trinity worked so beautifully because it was a personal story: we wanted Sora, Donald and Goofy to reunite with Riku, Kairi and King Mickey because we came to care about all of those characters and their direct relationships to one another; we enjoyed Sora, Donald and Goofy as a heroic party because we believed in the friendship they developed over the course of their journey. And even the villain's motivations were rooted in the realm of the personal: he was a nihilistic scientist who felt insufficient as he was and desperately wanted to be something more.  

There is nothing personal about this new set-up: Sora either doesn't know or remember any of the people he's been charged with saving due to some bullshit about owing who he is to them, a notion that also goes against what made the KH Trinity so great since it was a coming-of-age story where Sora made himself a hero through connecting his heart to others; he put in the work to do that, it wasn't just handed to him. And Master Xehanort's plan has nothing to do with anything personal or relatable: no matter what justification he attempts to make or what retcon is applied to his backstory, there's no solid reason for him to do what he's doing other than because he's evil and the plot requires it from him.

The series was no longer telling the story everyone fell in love with, and that would have been fine if it wasn't now trying to rewrite that story in order to accommodate its new meta-narrative. It's fitting that it happened in a game that rips of a Star Wars prequel, because this is the exact same bullshit George Lucas pulled when tried to use the Prequel Trilogy to recontexualize the Original Trilogy as just the 4th, 5th and 6th acts of "The Tragedy of Darth Vader". 

I guess Xehanort would be the Darth Vader equivalent here, and honestly given that this saga bears his either name or title, he deserves a deeper look.

#Plinkett-Style #Anti-Series Beyond #Anti-Nomura

[themattress]

Wow. Tomoko Kanemaki SUCKS!

I decided to be masochistic and read back through the KH2 novels by Tomoko Kanemaki. And I just have to say: that there are actually people out there who like her writing and consider it to be in as good or superior to the games astounds me. These books are awful.

When they just straight-up adapt the game to text like the KH novels and the COM novels (except for the R/R one, but R/R sucks anyway), it’s fine. They even do the visits to Land of Dragons, Beast’s Castle and Olympus Coliseum better than the KH2 manga does, plus swaps in Agrabah for the far more important Port Royal. But that’s the only good thing I can say about them. In literally every other regard, the game and manga are infinitely superior.

The main problem is simple to sum up: Kanemaki is a fanfic writer. A pretty stereotypical KH fangirl. This in of itself wouldn’t be a problem if she weren’t adapting the games, but she is, and when she combines the game adaptations with her own fanfic based on what she wants to see, there is inevitably going to be a clash between them. The story written by Kazushige Nojima that she is adapting to novel form does not gel at all with what she writes, and as a result she has to either change that story (to the detriment of both it and its characters) or she neglects to change it even when it directly contradicts her own writing. This happens so much that it really makes for an excruciating reading experience. So let me list all of my problems with these novels point by point, to clarify just why Kanemaki’s writing fails so hard.

- I’ll get the biggest one out of the way right off the bat: Kanemaki is obsessed - and I mean obsessed - with the existential plight of the Nobodies, which includes the Draco in Leather Pants treatment to Organization XIII (”Is it really wrong to seek what you’ve lost?” is asked at one point, as though it’s a profound question. Um, when you’re doing so by inflicting that exact same loss upon millions of innocent people, yes it is!) The worst part is that characters (usually Namine, but Axel, Riku, Saix, Xemnas and even Ansem the Wise get on it at some points) are constantly repeating the exact same angsty inner monologues and internal (and sometime external) quasi-philosophical debates about Nobodies. I’m not kidding, it’s usually word-for-word. “Is it right for Nobodies to exist?” “Nobodies have nowhere to go or call home”. “Do Nobodies really lack hearts?” “What defines a heart?” “If Nobodies don’t have hearts, then why do they feel such-and-such?” “Why were Nobodies even born?” “Nobodies aren’t meant to exist, but does that still mean...?” And so on and so on, blah, blah, BLAH. Hearing this over and over and over and OVER again throughout my reading of the novels doesn’t make me more sympathetic of the Nobodies, it actually makes me less sympathetic and want them to go away so I don’t have to keep reading the same damn woe-is-me grade school-level existentialism! I want to keep reading about Sora, Donald and Goofy, damn it!

- Three characters who were mostly on the sidelines in KH2 somehow get a majority of time and focus here: Riku, Axel and Namine. They are even forced into an apocryphal trio together. They are basically treated as the de-facto secondary main characters next to Sora, Donald and Goofy, with their actions and development being given equal importance. Actually, that’s a lie - Riku, Axel and Namine are honestly given more importance. There is so much wrong about this - not only does the trio not feel organic and reek of bad fanfic, but each character in it isn’t well portrayed at all compared to the game or even the manga.

- Riku had the most potential, since he’s always a major character and a more talented writer could’ve come up with more feasible things for him to have been doing off-screen during KH2. But what Kanemaki has him do is ridiculous. If it’s not just stalking Sora, Donald and Goofy as a silent protector (which is the least interesting thing you could do with him), it’s bullshit with Axel and Namine, or fighting Saix midway through even though Kanemaki still keeps Saix’s later line of “Didn’t Roxas take care of you?”, or having him fight Xemnas in the Old Mansion only for Ansem the Wise to show up and Xemnas then just...retreat for no reason, letting Ansem live and thus ensuring the later destruction of his Kingdom Hearts like a dumbass!  And through all of this, she frequently makes Riku default back into snarky, arrogant asshole mode, which doesn’t fit his character at this point at all. Also, while I saw no deliberate yaoi bait in the writing of the KH2 game, it’s definitely present in these novels.

- Axel. Oh my God. Anyone who hates what was done with him as Lea in the games, you should blame Kanemaki, since she actually ran with that kind of writing and characterization for him in these novels long before that happened in the games. He is treated as a totally trustworthy good guy who is a great friend to Roxas, Riku and Namine. The one dick move Kanemaki has him make is quickly backtracked on and then swept under the rug. His whole villainous role is whitewashed at every turn, from both what he intended with Roxas (legit deciding to kill him is changed to attempting a murder/suicide so that he can die with his best friend) to everything concerning Kairi (no, he didn’t kidnap her at all, that point is hammered in frequently, he was going to take her to Namine and they’d then see Sora together! And he didn’t want to turn Sora into a Heartless, that was a wrongful assumption on Saix’s part! And Saix summoned those Dusks on Destiny Islands, not Axel! Axel is chivalrous and heroic and does everything possible to protect and save Kairi! Gag me.) It’s so obnoxious, and beyond removing all of the character’s edge, it’s a blatant case of giving a character a major role in a story that they aren’t supposed to have one in just because he’s a favorite of the writer.

- Namine is an equally blatant case of this, but her case might be even worse. Not only is she THE source of the repetitive woe-is-me existential Nobody monologues and debates, with her whole character arc being changed to revolve around this which honestly makes her unintentionally unsympathetic and annoying, but this portrayal of her has a negative effect on her in both fandom and canon. In terms of fandom, a cult of bad apples (usually yaoi fangirls who already hated Kairi) arose around Namine following KH2, declaring her as superior to Kairi in every way and worthy of being the real main heroine of the KH series. Not only is this false, but it arguably got started because of these novels (translations of which had made their way online long before they were localized), where a character who literally only got 10 minutes of screentime in the game literally gets transformed into the main heroine and one of the most frequently appearing characters in general, even if her “character development” is horribly written and amounts to her being a mouthpiece for Kanemaki’s views. Then again, maybe they just projected onto Namine due to her introverted, fond-of-drawing nature, and Kanemaki was just one of them and thus produced something that kept them going. It’s a Chicken/Egg type of thing, I guess. But whatever the case, what it did in canon was worse. Kanemaki was the first to write for Namine after KH2, in 358/2 Days, and her characterization of her translated in game form to the stagnant caricatured plot device that Nomura then realized was easy to write for and convenient for making other convoluted plot turns happen. 

- Come to think of it, Kanemaki’s partnering up with Nomura for Days probably did a lot more harm than just with Namine. Because her obsession with the “What Measure is a Non-Human?” trope never truly leaves the series after Days. It doesn’t pop up in BBS, since that was being worked on before Days, but everything afterwards is sure to feature it in some abysmal way or another, whether it be Nobodies, replicas, data copies or beings of pure darkness. The “Nobodies have hearts after all” comes straight from her writing (even if she had it as a needless overcomplication of the original idea that strong hearts can share feelings with those without it and thus serve as a heart for them too, while Nomura’s retcon is just “Nah, the body can regrow a heart, Xemnas lied”.) A lot of KH3′s worst writing might have not existed had Nomura not picked up on Kanemaki’s fixation with woobified “non-beings”.

- Sora honestly feels like an afterthought for Kanemaki. She’s so eager to write new fanficcy material for other characters, but not for the actual main protagonist, who only gets straight-up game adaptation. Oh, except that some of his lines that were “mean” to the Nobodies (and thus “OOC”, as both KH2-hating anon and Kanemaki seem to think) are changed or cut out.

- Y’know how the KH2 manga made Kairi even better than her game portrayal? Yeah, well this novel makes her far worse. First off, her defiant “you’re not acting very friendly!” to Axel is cut because Axel is whitewashed in that moment (he even readies himself to defend Kairi from the Dusks which Saix summons). Later, she does not get away from Axel because he was never kidnapping her to begin with here. She then realizes that he’s really a good person before Saix kidnaps her, with Axel desperately trying to protect her. She then only shows up toward the end when Axel once again comes to be her hero (again thwarted by that dastardly Saix), with her moping about how she can do nothing to help the brave, noble Axel. (I feel sick just typing this...) In the finale, not only does Kanemaki not take advantage of the potential Kairi development that the game relegated to optional text boxes, but she actually destroys Kairi’s entire arc long before BBS did by making one of her few additions to Kairi be an inner monologue she has on the shore of Destiny Islands alongside Mickey, Donald and Goofy just before Sora and Riku make it back, where she’s just wishing with all her heart that they’ll come back because “We’re here waiting for you. We’ll always wait for you.” BULL-FUCKING-SHIT. Kanemaki, just like Nomura and Oka, clearly has no interest in Kairi as a character on her own. She is used here as a plot device for the character development of Axel and Namine, characters she is interested in, even though Kairi had more significance and screentime than them by far in the actual KH2 game. Geez, even Nojima tried with her!

- Roxas is written just fine during the prologue, since his scenes are just lifted from the game. But when he resurfaces in the final novel, added material make Axel be the most important thing on his mind. Even his final thoughts as he makes the full merging with Sora is that he hopes to meet Axel again. More deliberate yaoi-baiting, and more shoving Axel down our throats. Hell, that last novel is even named “Anthem - Meet Again / Axel Last Stand”. God damn it, Kanemaki, Axel was not important to KH2. It’s not his story. Get over it already!

- Hey, remember how in the game DiZ/ Ansem the Wise did a total character 180 due to offscreen reasons when he came back after the prologue? That was dumb. The novels add new scenes for him, so Kanemaki could actually rectify this issue....OR she just repeats it, since the first new scene she gives him also has him in 180 mode due to offscreen reasons! 

- Xemnas and Saix both have their levels of menace neutered thanks to the existential angst of the Nobodies affecting them too, with none of their inner monologues bemoaning their fates really adding up with their actions. The game let you make up your own mind as to whether you found them sympathetic despite their monstrous behavior, but Kanemaki is clearly trying to force the sympathy angle, and it really lessens them, especially Xemnas. 

- Really, only Xigbar, Xaldin, Demyx, Luxord, and the trio of Hayner, Pence and Olette were written completely accurately out of the KH-original cast. Nothing felt out of place with them.

- Other nonsensical fanficcy events besides what I’ve already mentioned include bringing stuff from COM (like Repliku) back up frequently instead of keeping focus on the story at hand, a totally different version of how Namine and Axel split from Riku following the prologue (one that continues making Namine unintentionally unsympathetic), Riku having Mickey make the promise after the prologue before Kanemaki’s own 358/2 Days retcons this to happening before it, Riku meeting with Maleficent in Hollow Bastion, Mickey meeting with Axel in Hollow Bastion, Axel being the one to wake Goofy up after his “death”, Axel having a sort of odd friendship with Pluto, Ansem the Wise being the one to provide the box of clues for Riku to give, Axel pretending to betray Riku and Namine so that he gets let back into the Organization and thus be able to rescue Kairi, meetings between the Organization where they talk about totally different and less interesting matters than they did in the game, and having Namine stalk the group throughout the finale as she thinks her last pretentious inner monologues. Also, given its subject matter and how it plays during Days’ opening, I swear to God that Kanemaki created the Axel/Roxas ghost scene that Nomura added to KH2:FM. That it shows up in the last novel, word-for-word, a month before KH2:FM’s release, proves this.

- The misplacement of Disney Castle. This one REALLY bothers me. She places Disney Castle between Beast’s Castle and Port Royal in the third novel. This makes no sense whatsoever, since not only was this meant to be Maleficent’s re-introduction to Sora, Donald and Goofy, but now it comes after Maleficent already made an alliance with Sora and his friends at Hollow Bastion! And then all of a sudden, she’s no longer keeping the Nobodies at bay and is back to self-interested villainy! And there isn’t any dialogue explaining this away or anything!  We still have Maleficent saying “If it isn't the wretched Keyblade holder and his pitiful lackeys!” as if she hadn’t agreed to temporarily join forces with said wretched Keyblade holder and his pitiful lackeys! Way to ruin one of the best Disney world visits, Kanemaki!

- The whole finale and especially the ending itself, which were so powerful in both the game and even the manga, has no power in the light novel style of writing Kanemaki uses. Part of that isn’t Kanemaki’s fault, since so much of the finale’s greatness is visual and that obviously can’t be recaptured in text form. And yet she still makes some baffling pacing decisions, with stuff like the aforementioned Namine stalking passages throwing the whole thing off, LOL moments such as Riku himself outright admitting that he has no idea where he got Kairi’s Keyblade also breaking the immersion, character alterations like to Xemnas and Kairi ruining the effectiveness of things they do, and a truly WTF-inducing final chapter where the entire Secret Ansem Report is put before a novelization of both the credits scene where Sora sees Kairi’s drawing in the Secret Place and the epilogue scene where they get the King’s letter.

Overall, these novels just don’t feel like Kingdom Hearts II to me. Even the KH2 manga, the middle of its first half notwithstanding, felt like it. This does not. And that’s because whatever the faults in its narrative, KH2′s story was first and foremost a fun Disney/Square crossover adventure starring Sora, Donald and Goofy, with angsty existentialism merely being one of its themes and meant more for players to think about and discuss rather than the characters. The novels tell a story about angsty existentialism starring characters who think about and discuss it, with Sora, Donald and Goofy’s adventures being a passionless afterthought. That there are people who honestly think that Kanemaki doing this “fleshes out the characters” is shameful. Constant angst and grade school-level philosophical circle-jerking is not character depth. It is pretension of depth, hence the word “pretentious” which fits perfectly here. It takes a lot more than talking and expressing feelings at length to constitute character development. It requires meaningful actions, and it requires some form of growth and change. Kanemaki’s characters are largely static, simplistically characterized beings who spin their wheels in terms of both actions and growth. Riku does not change: you can barely tell he has any kind of depression or has experienced any kind of humbling. Axel does not change: he’s a great guy from the start and has no internal problems to overcome, only the external one of being separated from Roxas. Namine does not change, she goes through the same questioning and angsting over her existence and the existence of other Nobodies until the last minute where the answer just suddenly comes to her (in fact, it was apparently in her all along and she just forgot it. Shades of Sora’s dumbass “Power of Waking” arc in KH3 here...)  Any actual development that happens with some characters (like Ansem the Wise) comes straight from the game...and Nojima didn’t write that all too well either!  There is just very little that’s enjoyable about the KH2 novels to me, and Tomoko Kanemaki’s writing is to blame for that.

In the words of Lemony Snicket: I highly advise you to not read these books.

#Disney #Square Enix #Kingdom Hearts #Kingdom Hearts II #Anti-Tomoko Kanemaki #Bad Writing #Opinion #Analysis #Truthbomb #This has been a PSA

[ultraericthered]

Remember when secret ending videos in Kingdom Hearts games were COOL?

There were only two such secret ending videos, released in two parts - one for KH and it’s Final Mix edition, the other for KHII and it’s Final Mix edition respectively. I am referring to Another Side, Another Story / Deep Dive in KH and Gathering / Birth By Sleep in KHII, of course. Both videos are amazing to watch and both generated hype and set expectations for the stories/games being advertised, which were KHII for the first one and Birth By Sleep for the second one. But between the two of them, I find one to be superior to the other because what that one was promising actually got lived up to, while what the other was promising...did not live up to the hype and expectations it set nearly so well. The superior one is the above video, the “Deep Dive” version of the original KH’s secret ending. Why? Well, it’s known by now that Nomura likes to set up mysteries and questions that he hasn’t even figured out the answers to, and Deep Dive was an early example of this trend - he had no idea what the fuck he was actually putting on screen, he just wanted to entice players with cool looking imagery and mysterious sounding shit. But aside from the scenes depicted in the video being actual moments we see play out in KHII, almost every word flashed across the screen here wound up having meaning to not just the story in KHII, but the story in Chain of Memories too, as the two games’ stories developed almost concurrently, and all of what it meant ended up coming into play. Here I shall analyze Deep Dive, point by point, to find all that meaning.

Utter silence - This doesn’t mean anything. Nomura just thought it sounded spooky and cool.

A fragmented tale - “Fragmented” refers to something that has been broken apart into separate pieces, or fragments. A fragmented tale ended up being what the follow-up to the original KH was, as it’s fragmented into four parts - Sora’s journey through Castle Oblivion, Riku’s journey through Castle Oblivion, Roxas’ Story, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s next grand adventure, the last of which naturally takes longest to be complete.

A world without you - This ended up referring to the two verse poem from the end of Chain of Memories, which speaks of “a dream of you, in a world without you.”

The eyes will close - This got a double meaning for both Sora and Riku - Sora’s eyes close when he falls asleep in Namine’s pod, and Riku’s eyes get closed by a darkness blindfold.

Something so natural - Never meant anything. Again, Nomura just thought it sounded neat.

The memory beyond - This likely came to mean Sora’s memory of Kairi that Namine erased in Castle Oblivion, making it a memory beyond Sora’s reach.

Something so simple - *Sighs* And for the third time....

Now we get to the notorious 13 points:

XIII - “Where’s Sora?” - There are many “Where’s” asked in the script of KHII. “Where’s the Beast?”, “Where’s the King?”, “Where’s Sebastian?”, “Where’s Jack?”, “Where’s Aladdin?”,  “Where’s Sally?”, “Where’s Santa?”, “Where’s Simba?” “Where’s Kairi?” “Where’s Riku?”    “Where’s Maleficent?”, “Where’s Belle?”, “Where’s Jafar?”, “Where’s Pooh?”, and “Where’s Xemnas?” There is NEVER, not ONCE, a “Where’s Sora?” in the entirety of the game. Oops! “We must find him.” Goes hand in hand with “Where’s Sora?”. For a while, this might have been meant to be about Riku and King Mickey looking for Sora in Castle Oblivion, but in the end result of CoM, Mickey isn’t actually with Riku in the Castle until the last third of his mode, right before Sora’s location is found, so this entire point ended up being a nothing burger.

12 - [Ansem’s Other Report] - Referring to Ansem’s Secret Report, written by the real Ansem. “A creation born of ignorance” - The line is said by Ansem the Wise to Xemnas in the final world, talking about how any World created by Xehanort via his vision would be a creation born of ignorance. It got translated as “an empire of ignorance” in the US dub.

11 - Behind the darkness /=/ Door to the light - The first KH ended with Sora and King Mickey sealing away the Door to Darkness while Riku and the King were still in the Dark Realm, but with the King reassuring Sora that if there’s a Door to Darkness, there will always be a Door to the Light that could free them. So prior to being led to Castle Oblivion, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were wondering where to start searching for the Door to Light. This statement here says that a Door to Light can NOT be found behind darkness like the Door to Darkness, and in fact, it turns out that Riku and Mickey are never given a Door to Light within the Dark Realm ‘cause DiZ gets them out via passageways to the In-Between Realm. Instead, the Door to the Light ends up being what gets Sora and Riku out of the In-Between Realm when they’re stranded there at the very end of the game, and that door came from Sora’s heart.

X - The Secret Place - The Secret Place on Destiny Islands is where Sora and Kairi used to draw on it’s walls as kids, and where Sora and Kairi’s paopu exchange drawing was done, so “the Secret Place” here is code for how strongly Sora and Kairi’s hearts are connected. “His voice...it’s left me.” - The line is said by Kairi to Selphie on Destiny Islands, referring to how her memory of Sora has been faded from her mind. It got translated as “His voice used to always be there...but now it’s gone.” in the US dub. “This time... I’ll fight” - The line is said by Kairi during the final world when she obtains a Keyblade of her own to fight Heartless with. This line is kept word for word in the US dub.

9 - A world in between = A forgotten world - The In-Between Realm is exactly as it sounds like - the twilit realm existing in between Light and Darkness. Castle Oblivion, formerly the Land of Departure, a world that is literally forgotten by our heroes in KH2, is located in this realm.

The gathering = Ansem’s 7th Secret Report mentions a gathering at Castle Oblivion, which leads to the events of CoM. Fittingly enough, a piece of Marluxia’s fight theme, Graceful Assassin, starts playing at this exact point in the secret ending video.

VIII - The third enemy = Nobody. “Who is Nobody, you ask? They are the nonexistent ones” - The first enemy being the Heartless, the second enemy being Maleficent’s Disney Villain coalition. Nobodies are thus the third enemy to be faced by our heroes. The accompanying quote is never actually said, though it’s in reference to Yen Sid describing how Nobodies don’t truly exist at all.

VII - ENDLESS - A random reference to the Door to Darkness and Kingdom Hearts’ prior location, the Endless Abyss at the heart of End Of The World. “What took you so long, Kairi?” - This one might be the dumbest. The line ends up being said by Axel when he comes to kidnap Kairi in Twilight Town...and it’s said for absolutely no reason and has no meaning to it! Took Kairi so long with WHAT? To be located? If anything, that makes YOU the one who took so long here, Axel! It’s pretty clear they couldn’t figure out a meaning for this one, so they had Axel say it for the sake of having it in there somewhere. This line is kept word for word in the US dub.

“Can we do it? Against that?” - The line is said by Leon when he and Cloud are back-to-back, up against a whole hoard of Heartless in the Hollow Bastion War Sequence. It got translated as “Think you can handle this many?” in the US dub.

HEARTLESS - What better to coincide with ENDLESS than HEARTLESS?

“We have come for you my liege” - The line gets projected into Roxas’ mind by a Dusk that’s been stealing photos in Twilight Town during the Prologue....making this a Nobody line rather than a Heartless one, so it’s placement here ended up looking pretty weird. This line is kept word for word in the US dub.

“You are the source of all Heartless!” - The line is said by Xemnas to Ansem the Wise during their big confrontation in the final world, as he credits Ansem for the appearance of the Heartless and the mass creation of them by Xehanort that was inspired by Ansem’s own research on them. This line is kept word for word in the US dub.

6. Organization XIII [The Thirteenth Order] - The Japanese text actually reads “Jūsan Kikan”, which is translated to “The Thirteenth Order”, referring to CoM and KH2′s main villains. The group is called Organization XIII (or sometimes just “the Organization”) in the English version. Metamorphosis - This could mean a ton of things. Bodies and souls metamorphing into Nobodies? Riku metamorphing into Ansem? Sora’s Drive Forms? It’s hard to say. “Sora?” - Just Sora’s name said with a question mark could be from anywhere and it comes up quite a bit in the script. However, THE most significant would be that Roxas, from within Sora’s heart, saying just “Sora?” and nothing else is what triggers Sora’s awakening from the sleep pod. This is literally the first word spoken post-prologue after the title has dropped.

“Sora...Why?” - This is never said outright in CoM or KH2, but it could mean a lot of things.

“Your Highness, but why?” - The line is said by Sora to King Mickey at the Twilight Town mansion when he refuses to say anything more about Riku. It was translated as “But Your Majesty, why?” in the US dub.

5. Change - The Third Key - Riku changes his Soul Eater into the Road to Dawn Keyblade, the third Keyblade to be used along with Sora’s and Mickey’s, with each key originating from each realm: Light, Darkness, and In-Between.

4. End Of The World - This was the name of the Heartless’ homeworld and final world of the first KH, so a return there is hinted at but that never happened. Double meanings include literally the apocalypse and a point where the world reaches an end, preventing you from traveling any further, as there is no further to travel (like the “end of the road” Sora and Riku come to towards the game’s end). This point was probably what scared me most in this secret ending, as without any context, that “End Of The World” and the placement of the following quotes makes it all feel like this is in reference to a single, likely devastating event in the story, and the picture painted in the imagination is not a pretty one. “What is this place?” - The line comes up thrice in KH2′s script - once said by Sora about Beast’s Castle, once said by Kairi and once more said by Sora, both about Betwixt and Between. Very important events happen in both these locations, but the latter in particular.

“Is this the answer you’ve been looking for?” - The line is said by Ansem the Wise, once again in his scene with Xemnas in the final world, though in context he’s asking Xehanort specifically if the materialization and takeover of Kingdom Hearts was what he always wanted out of all his research and experimenting. This line is kept word for word in the US dub.

“This is the world in it’s true form.” - The line is actually “IF this is the world in it’s true form...”, said by Riku as he looks upon the physical representation of the realms that he and Sora have come to towards the game’s end - a large, vast ocean representing the old Realm of Light, and two beaches on opposite side of it representing the Realm of Darkness and Realm In-Between (they’re at the latter) - and determines that he should just fade away into Darkness. It got translated as “If this what the world really is...just this” in the US dub.

“Maybe our journey meant nothing after all.” - The line is said internally by Sora as he’s fighting Heartless summoned by Saix to attack him, Donald, and Goofy and force him to vanquish them with the Keyblade, thus procuring more hearts for the Organization. He’s feeling that if this journey that all started with him getting the Keyblade has only led him to a point where using the Keyblade will allow the villains’ plans to succeed, then nothing he did mattered in the long run. It was translated as “Maybe everything we’ve done...maybe it was all for nothing” in the US dub.

3. Paradise - Ansem the Wise thrice refers to his homeworld of the Radiant Garden as a “paradise” in his Secret Reports. As Hollow Bastion, it’s a Paradise Lost, but thanks to the events of KHII’s story, it begins to be restored to what it once was, name and all.

“We’ll go together.” - The line said by Sora to Riku before they both enter the Door to Light.

II. KINGDOM HEARTS  - Ah, see what it did there? The Roman numeral for the number 2, followed by “Kingdom Hearts?” Kingdom Hearts II? Get it? It means Kingdom Hearts II, guys!

Then as one last point, we have Xemnas sitting on the Dark Realm’s beach, turning to Roxas and saying...

“I went to see him. He looks just like you.” - This actually becomes the first scene shown to us in KHII. Xemnas is, of course, referring to having gone to fight Sora at Hollow Bastion in KH FM, an encounter in which he remarked to Sora “You look like him.” Now it’s paralleled with him telling Roxas, Sora’s Nobody, that Sora looks like him. This line was translated as “I’ve been to see him. He looks a lot like you.” in the US dub. Just as well, since telling Roxas that Sora looks JUST like him seems like a carryover from when Roxas was going to literally look exactly like Sora except with blonde hair, as opposed to the Ventus appearance he has now.

And finally, we see Sora’s unconscious form flying over the endless sea of light:

“Everything is coming back to me, the true....” - Seeing as the shot of Sora flying over the ocean got recreated for KHII’s opening video and in sequence it immediately follows from him getting put to sleep by Namine, the way that line ends is “the true memories”, referring to his true memories being restored, coming back to him, thanks to Namine...and Roxas.

So with a few exceptions, it all ended up meaning so much for the story in the two games following off of the game that this teaser was featured in. The bulk of everything Nomura threw in there - all the words AND the events we saw playing out before us - meant nothing at the time of the video’s conception, yet the teams behind KH’s sequels were somehow able to give it all meaning and make something truly spectacular as a way of paying it all off.

The storytelling for these games in the KH series’ golden age was ingenious.

#Disney #Kingdom Hearts #another side another story #deep dive #KHII #chain of memories #references #analysis #nostalgia #good ol days #First is always best

[gamer-chick-reviews]

Kingdom Hearts 3 (PS4) Review & Discussion (Spoiler Warning)

Hey, everyone. This is going to be my first video game review. The Kingdom Hearts series has been an important part of my life, so I really wanted to get my opinion and review of the game out since I felt like the third game left a big impact on me. I have played all the previous games more than once and was excited for the last of the Xehanort saga. I beat KH3 the week it came out, but I was surprised at how fast the playthrough went. Please remember that you can always disagree or agree with anything in this review. You can think whatever you want for any game, book, or TV show.

Moving along, the way I will go about this review is in parts. First, I will talk about the gameplay, which will consist of the new keyblade transformations, magic, attraction flow, flow motion, links, gummi ship, and mini games. Then I will talk about the Disney worlds and the overall writing of the story. I am not going to go into the visuals and music as much. Just know that I thought they were amazing as always. KH never fails with their music, and the visuals have improved tremendously. The opening was okay, but only because the song was off-beat. (I watched the Japanese opening, and the song slightly matched up better.)

After these sections will be comments on some characters. Then I will finish up with the expectations I had for this game and hopeful ideas for DLCs that could be added later.

So for every game, players have expectations on what will happen in the story or what they will do with the gameplay. Of course, KH3 is no exception; but like all games, the creators will not be able to put in everything that we thought of. So of course I came into this game knowing that every idea I thought of would not make it in the game.  

Okay let’s get started…

Gameplay:

The gameplay of KH3 has truly evolved since the last few games. I think I enjoyed the game mechanics for this game as much as I enjoyed Birth by Sleep’s gameplay. It was all very flashy, and it was nice to see the creators bring back abilities from the other titles.

Keyblade Transformations:

This function in the game was absolutely fantastic. It was a big throwback to drive forms in KH2, but with more of a combination of past abilities such as shotlocks. I think that being able to switch out keyblades in battle was a great idea because most of the time in the previous games, we would not use a keyblade after we got a stronger one. This enables players to use the weapons they like the most because of the keyblade forge/upgrade system. Also switching out weapons in battle really reminded me of Final Fantasy XV. I enjoyed the form transformations, but I did notice some of them were copies of others. Even though this was the case, I still think each one was visually unique, so I didn’t mind that they had the same abilities.

Magic:

The magic in the game has really been well developed throughout the years. KH 0.2 was the first to introduce players to how magic would be in KH3. I like that they introduced water magic, while they also made Aero more like how it was in BBS. It was cool to see the magic change slightly depending on which keyblade transformation Sora was in. Other than that, I do not have much to say about magic.

Attraction Flow:

Attraction flow was a game mechanic that was advertised very early for this game. They were fun to use, but there were times where I did not want to use them in favor of the other finishers. I did not notice until after beating the game that I could have switched between commands using L2. This was thanks to another Tumblr user making a post about it. I can confirm that none of the tutorials say you can switch between triangle commands using L2.

Flow Motion:

Flow motion has become more controlled in certain aspects since Dream Drop Distance. Wall running was something new that they added which was pretty cool. I did notice while my sister was playing that it was very hard to control the spin mechanic from pole to pole. It would get pretty ridiculous and out of hand. So air stepping was not my favorite thing, but I’m sure others had an easier time getting used to it.

Links:

The links were visually pleasing and had a lot of variety based on the Disney characters that they used. I honestly did not use them as much, which is not surprising since I have not used summons as often since KH1 where they were very helpful for those secret bosses.

Gummi Ship:

So in most KH games, my sister and I were never really invested with the gummi ship mechanics. I still feel somewhat the same way, but I do think it has become much better compared to other games. Post-game, I had to do more gummi ship missions to make the Ultima Weapon, so I got time to really explore more of the gummi ship system. I think they made the gummi ship system easier for players and the open exploration is great for people who don’t want to just be dragged into a battle.

Mini Games:

There were a lot of mini games in KH3. Some of the ones that really stood out to me were cooking at the bistro, Verum Rex, and some of the Flantastic 7 games (That cherry game was the worst for me.) Some honorable mentions would be Flash Tracer, Frozen Slider, Festive Dancer and any of The Hundred Acre Wood mini games. I honestly would have been happy with fewer mini games, but I think it was fine that they wanted to add more. The Classic Kingdom games got boring to me after a while. I played the ones that were in Union X to get the Starlight keyblade and already felt like those few games were enough for me.

Plot/Writing:

Main Story Focus/Theme:

So we all knew that in KH3, we would have to gather our seven guardians of light, which meant saving Terra, Ven, and Aqua. While we needed to locate those three, Re:Coded introduced that there could still be a way to help Roxas, Namine, and Xion. Because of the need to find and restore these people, a big theme for KH3 was finding your way back home.

This is a really good theme because so many of these characters have been separated from their friends and cut off from the realm of light. I also love this theme because home to these characters isn’t just a place, it’s their friends and overall the people they love.

Disney Worlds + Twilight Town:

Sora, who is trying to regain his power of waking, decides to travel to different Disney worlds hoping that some spark will create that opportunity. But as Sora travels to each world, it becomes very noticeable that he is not making progress in regaining that power. Sora, Donald, and Goofy even repeatedly question why they are in some of these worlds. And sure, Sora learns a lot in each world about friendship and love, but I feel like he already learned some of these lessons in previous games.

I am going to go over each Disney world briefly to talk about the pros and cons of the story in each one. It can relate to the specific world story or the main plot. Some Disney worlds will be paired together such as the Pixar ones or Corona and Arendelle because of the Princesses of Heart aspect.

Olympus: This world was a great way to start Sora’s new journey. It ties with the main plot on how Sora has to recover his lost powers (specifically the power of waking that I want to delve into more later). The story of the world finishes up nicely and gives Sora a hint to getting his lost power back: the words “with all my heart.” This ties into how Sora just needs to wish for the return of his lost friends in order to create a connection that will bring them back.

Twilight Town: One of the best things about the story in this world is how much I came to love Hayner, Pence, and Olette more. I thought they were alright characters in KH2 and Days, but their actions for finding Roxas even though they never really knew him really showed how selfless they were.. I really liked that, but I was sad that the world became smaller. I also thought the world would be more relevant in the later parts of the story. One part specifically was when Hayner, Pence, and Olette saved Ansem the Wise (omg I thought things were going to go so badly). I expected to go back to the world after that scene, but we didn’t have to… But I found that out because I went looking for the Twilight trio like, “Hey do you have news for me?” but got nothing.

The Hundred Acre Wood: There was not much of a story in this world. The world was one area that consisted of mini games. Sora’s connection with Pooh somehow weakens. Things are resolved too quickly, and I felt that was really lazy for the writers to do. Why the connection weakened is not explained in detail, but I thought it might relate to the theme of finding your way back home. I say this because Pooh considers Sora a part of his home. This relates to how a place can only feel like home because of the people in your life. I think I expected more of a story in this world, but at the end of the day, Nomura just added it to put in one more Disney world.

Toy Box & Monstropolis: I honestly think that the Pixar movies had the best storylines. Even though I had heard from other reviews that the story in Toy Box was anticlimactic, I think that it was relevant to the plot. Sora, who has decided to restore Roxas and Namine, comes into this world where toys have hearts. I think this world in a way went into how replicas were going to be brought back into the story. This is relevant to the plot because both the Organization and Sora’s gang have thought of using replicas to bring back people on their side. For Monstropolis, the story leads to Sora finally finding out Ven has been inside his heart this whole time. I think the setup of Vanitas being in Monsters Inc. makes sense because of his connection to negative emotions and the previous use of scream power in the facility. Monstropolis also has a Disney villain that is working with one of the Real Organization members which is how KH1 and KH2 made Sora and the gang more involved with the world. Overall, the characters were more involved in these stories, which was better writing from the staff.

Corona & Arendelle: These two worlds specifically showed how romantic love became a big theme in the story. Sora explains via instapost that Rapunzel’s power gave him a new outlook on how powerful love can be. It’s not like any of his powers, so he is surprised that it was able to bring back Eugene. There are also flashbacks to the endings of Corona and Arendelle when Sora meets up with Kairi again in The Final World that shows how those worlds affected him. These worlds mostly followed their movie counterparts storywise, but I felt like some aspects could have been added to make the Organization members more relevant. Corona was my one of my most-anticipated worlds. It added great interactions with Rapunzel, so I think they did better with that than in Arendelle where Sora, Donald, and Goofy were just in the background. Elsa really did just end up figuring things out for herself like Larxene wanted.

The Caribbean: The story was choppy like Corona and Arendelle, but I think it was a good world to go back to due to the connections that Sora made in KH2. I think Sora got to see how relationships change in this world through Elizabeth and Will. I mostly say this because despite KH2 not being too long ago, a lot of time has passed in The Caribbean. Furthermore, the ending of this world had a lot of foreshadowing towards the KH3 ending now that I look back on it. This world is also the only one that gives a vague hint to what’s in the Black Box. Luxord specifically says, “But they did say the box contains ‘hope’.” Other than that, this world’s story was okay because its connection to Sora, but could have been better if it was not another movie rerun. It did end up being the world with the best exploration. The pirate ship function was satisfying and probably fulfilled one of Sora’s dreams.

San Fransokyo: This was my second most-anticipated world. However, it ended up having one of the shortest stories. I do applaud the original story, but it was lacking in some way. It introduces again how hearts can take shape in any being, and I love that we got to have two Baymaxes in the end. I noticed that there was little time to explore the city due to the urgency of staying on the world-specific story path. I heard Hiro speak so many times while I tried to look around. This world also confirmed that the Organization had started using Replicas due to the appearance of Xehanort-Riku which was relevant to the main plot.

Original Worlds:

So the remaining original worlds ended up being less explorable which was a bit sad, but some of them did hype up the story.  

The Dark World: We only play this world as Riku twice and as Sora when we rescue Aqua. I think I can accept this since we got to explore as Aqua in 0.2. One thing I did not expect was for it to feel like Riku and Mickey could not manage their main mission. By having Sora be the one to save the day, it showed how Riku and Mickey were not capable. It would have been better if I we got to use Riku to fight Aqua and have Sora as support. It just left me feeling bitter for Riku, but other than that, the scene where Aqua is saved is very good. It was the welcome home that she needed.

The Land of Departure: This part was really cool, because Aqua was the third playable character. However, this moment leads into the power of waking. During Sora’s hour of need, Ventus says he needs to wake up, but Sora still does not have the power of waking. But low and behold, Ventus says Sora has always had the power, and that it will work if he calls upon it in his time of need. I think it was a poor way to reveal Sora got his powers back because it made it feel like going to the Disney worlds was just an excuse to have Sora travel around. It made me see that the Disney worlds and main plot became more separate, which I did not like. The moment where Ven wakes up is still great, and I was happy with his reunion with the others. The scene with Aqua was sweet, while I loved the “second chance” line he said to Sora.

The Keyblade Graveyard/ The Final World: This is basically the set up for the clash of the 7 lights and 13 darkness where parts of the main plot are resolved. So we get the 1000 heartless battle which is good. It was a great throwback to KH2. Then the group encounters Terranort who basically annihilates half of them. A lot of parts of this moment made me mad at the writing. I’m just going to list it…

So Kairi does not have her keyblade out, so Axel takes the blow for her

Kairi still does not have her keyblade out, so Sora just hugs her rather than blocking the hit. (Everyone had their weapons out, so I have no idea why Kairi does not have hers out,)

Cure/items apparently don’t exist in this moment, cause no one heals Ven or Axel (I saw Donald heal in a cutscene in the previous games so it just doesn’t make sense to me.)

When the heartless tornado arrives, Aqua just gave up which is very ooc.

After that Sora goes into his moment of weakness where Riku had to snap him out of it.

So I think this moment is okay, but I think Sora falling apart if Riku was taken too would have made more sense. Riku was still there with him, so I would think that Sora would not have lost all hope.

So next up is The Final World, where Sora goes after they all die from the heartless tornado. So Sora meets Chirithy, and Chirithy explains due to both his heart and body perishing, he has ended up in this place where people are at the edge of life and death. Having this world was interesting because it introduces an afterlife in the series. I also like that Kairi was the one helping to bring everyone back. It is great that she is helping and shows more of her powers, but it doesn’t make me feel much different about how her character was handled before this all happened.

As Sora is collecting himself in this world, he encounters different “stars” which are also dead people who are in this limbo. One of the stars is Namine, which I felt was great to see because she has not been in the game until this very moment. She tells Sora that she will figure out a way to find a connection to Terra. This is hinted in the KH First Breath Concert, so I was already aware that Namine would help bring back Terra. There is also one more voiced star, “The Nameless Star” who Sora meets. This character is probably from Union X (My guess is Strelitzia). I am not going to go into that much, but I will say that the cutscene with this star and Namine are missable. I found this out through different Youtube videos, because I did see these scenes when I played. I think that having those missable was not ok at all because those moments are all story relevant. It also ties to how Lingering Will changes the groups fate later, so having that scene missable can cause some confusion later if not seen.

Just a side note, but Nomura really does not explain the Power of Waking very well. To my understanding, it is supposed to wake sleeping hearts, so the way Sora uses it, is to bring back hearts that have perished. He is basically bringing people back to life. People can argue that Aqua’s heart was not sleeping when they needed to save her in the Dark World, but they still wanted Sora to get the Power of Waking because that power springs from a connection to another’s heart which would have been helpful in finding Aqua since Ven was in Sora. During that scene in the Dark World, Sora did not have that power, but in his case he was able to reach the Dark World because of his connection with Riku and with some help from the keyblade that Aqua left behind.

Anyways Sora is able to save his friends, and meets up with Kairi who is his “light in the darkness.” They are able to go back in time before facing Terranort. It was weird how everything played out the same, even though I’m pretty sure Sora was aware of the time traveling and what had happened last time.

Now the battle is back on track, and the scene with the keyblade wielders from the past and Ephemera happen. That was a really cool scene, and a creative way to put the player in the game. Also the part where Master Yen Sid helps was a nice touch.

After that is the Organization fights. Those were all fun, but the biggest flaw in that moment was what they did to Axel and Kairi (especially Kairi). The reunions were some of the best parts of this game. The Wayfinder trios reunion was the most satisfying and tied up Terra, Ven, and Aqua’s characters. I feel this way because Terra got his redemption, while Ven was able to keep his promise. I got more emotional during those scenes than the ending to be honest.

During those scenes, Xehanort kidnaps Kairi. Kairi becoming the damsel in distress again was such bad writing. She is killed in order to forge the X-blade and to provide Sora with more motivation (that was such bs). Sora’s reaction was good, but Riku’s was lacking (You guys just watched your friend die, seriously)

Also did anyone else think that Terra was going to finally get his talk with Riku before they went to close KH? I was hopeful, but I think because of the urgency I see now why it did not happen. I also want to add, that Donald and Goofy going with us to fight Xehanort was great for old times’ sake.

Scala Ad Caleum: The world was very pretty, but not explorable. It was just the world for the final boss battle. So this is where the big bad, Xehanort confronts Sora and tells him why he wanted Kingdom Hearts in the first place. Xehanort is redeemed, and goes with Erauqs because his old friend has convinced him to entrust the worlds light to these new guardians.

The writing for Xehanort was ok to me, but I explain my thoughts on it more in the character section.

Erauqs being inside of Terra was something I expected because of fan theories. I like that they did this because Erauqs was able to apologize to his students and help his friend move past his harmful ambitions.

As per tradition, I expected to fight a final boss with many forms like in KH1 and KH2. That did not happen in this game, so it was very underwhelming.

The End

Sora going alone to save Kairi was not necessary. This was a missed opportunity for Riku to go with him to search for their best friend. Cause again, Kairi is Riku’s friend too. They missed out on the chance for Riku to say “We’ll go together!” which is a meaningful line in the KH series.

All the happy endings were great. I like that Isa got to sort things out with the others. It was unexpected and even if he had not shown up I would have been fine, but it was a good add on.

Ventus reuniting with his Chirithy was cute.

Namine being her own person was good.

The beach end was fantastic, but I was left feeling complicated because Sora disappeared. It really changed the whole mood.

Sora saving Kairi off screen if Kairi really was there, is not okay. I feel this way because it makes the ending feel not earned. I want to know how Sora saved Kairi because it would have provided more closure and acceptance to his fate.

Epilogue

Xigbar being Luxu was a good reveal. I did not see it coming. I hope they can explain later how Luxu summoned the other foretellers. What was in the Black Box was not revealed but I expected that after a while. I do think that this scene was a good setup for the next saga. Since this part is heavily focused on Union X, I want to add my thoughts on the girl Isa and Axel befriended. I think it was a smart way of adding something from Union X but many questions arise. It creates another 2 boy and 1 girl trio in the series. There is not enough information for this new girl, but I do think the girl could be Skuld. My reasoning for this is through the secret reports.

Secret Ending

I don’t know what was going on in that secret ending. There are rumors about Shibya from TWEWY being involve as well as a Verum Rex world. I have played TWEWY so having it as a world is actually really cool. I feel this way because it is a great setup for bringing Sora back. The Verum Rex part is up in the air for me. I think it’s mostly because it isn’t its own game yet. And yes, I know it is what Nomura would have hoped for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I’m very iffy about the secret ending because it did not feel like any of the other secret endings. It was also one of the first ones without text to reveal what might be coming next.

Characters:

Sora: Sora has matured a lot since the first game, but I did not like that they made him a basic bishonen character that had to “go it alone” in the end.

Riku (will be talking about Repliku too): Riku has had the best character development in the game, but his character changed a lot in KH3 because Nomura did not have it in him to give Riku scenes with his best friends. He did not have Riku talk to Kairi at all in this game. I am not counting that part in the beginning because that was a recap from DDD. For a character who had realized in DDD that he found the “strength to protect what matters,” he did not insist to go with Sora to find Kairi. Overall, this choice did not make sense with Riku’s character development.

Repliku: They tied the story and character of Repliku really well. Giving Namine that replica was very meaningful.

Kairi: They did Kairi so dirty in this game. They hyped her up since she got a keyblade. I know she has the least experience but that was no excuse for her not to have her weapon out at the Keyblade Graveyard. What was all that training for if she was just going to get kidnapped and killed?! Also the whole “damsel in distress” trope is horrible. Overall, wasted potential in this game to make Kairi a better character.

Terra: Terra was actually the character that got the most justice in this game. I think he redeemed himself, and it really brought a close to the Wayfinder trio. I wish we got him in our party too, but I know there was no time for it. But wouldn’t it be cool if we got to control the guardian during the Terranort fight?!

Axel/Lea: Well Axel also got a keyblade by the end of DDD. I’m not sure if it’s just because he got paired with Kairi, but he got sidelined in this game. Xemnas broke his keyblade, but somehow when they had to close Kingdom Hearts, he had it again. It’s disappointing because I went back on Youtube to see how Axel fights during those Organization confrontations. In a way, he can do his own keyblade transformation because his key splits into his chakrams. I love Axel, and I think he had great lines in this game, but that was about it.

Xion: Not much to say about Xion, but her return was unclear. I wonder why she decided to side with the Real Organization because it did give hints on her remembering that she betrayed them and was friends with Axel and Roxas. I was glad to see her reunited with her friends, but I wanted an explanation.

Namine: They would mention Namine, but she barely showed up. She was not in the opening either. I also wish we had gotten a scene of her just arriving on Destiny Islands because it would have shown more character interaction. I think it would be very meaningful because it’s her first time meeting people in a not serious situation.

Vexen/Even & Deymx: I think the real secret in KH3 was Vexen betraying the Real Organization to get his research to atone. That was good, and I did not expect it. Deymx helping was nice too, but after that they failed to explain where he went at the end. All we know is that he is involved with Union X.

Marluxia, Laxene, Luxord: Not much happened with them, and I expected it. It was just weird that Xemnas bothered to reveal that they were all involved with the Union X storyline with Deymx because he made it seem like he was going to use that to his advantage or just for a higher purpose.

Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, Young Xehanort: I don’t have much to say about these characters, but I think ASD and Xemnas had really good lines at the end. When Riku said he would miss ASD, I thought that was funny because I sure wouldn’t but Riku can think otherwise. Young Xehanort had no chill in this game, he was intense in a different way, but it really made me wonder what else happened in his life for him to come to that.  

Vanitas: I actually like how Vanitas just remained a bad guy. This rarely happens in stories, so it was nice to see. His smile at the end made me wonder if they might bring him back in the next games. I do not know how to feel about that, but I thought he was a cool character.

Xehanort: I mentioned before that Xehanort was redeemed. He is shown to have not been an all bad guy but that doesn’t change the fact that he killed/harmed people. He was a character with good intentions but that is no excuse for all the bad things he did. He basically instigated Erauqs downfall and he killed Kairi. He caused all these characters to suffer, so I felt that he could have had better atonement if he had figured out a way to get Kairi back to Sora.

Expectations:

Of course, I came into this game knowing that every idea I thought of would not make it in the game. I do think my expectations were high, since this was one of my most anticipated games for a long time. The writing of the game did affect what they were going to add and not add into this game. There were a lot of missed opportunities, but what’s done is done. I will list out just some things I wanted to happen before or as the game went on, and probably briefly comment on some of them. I will also list out things that I wanted but got out of the game.

Things that I got

Sea-salt and Wayfinder trio reunions

Roxas and Ventus finally meeting (I do wish that we had gotten to see them talk)

Sea-salt trio/Twilight trio getting to go to the beach (making it the ending was just amazing)

New outfits for some characters

Namine being her own person

Things that I wanted

Better character development for Kairi (Reasoning mentioned in character section.)

Roxas to be the equivalent of how Mickey saves Sora during boss battles in KH2.

I thought it would be great to make him playable since he is Sora’s other self. The trailers made it seem like he would be there for Sora in his moment of weakness, but that was not the case. I thought the line in Big Hero 6 would have more relevance, but it didn’t. I was still happy that he at least got to be one of our party members, but he did not get enough screen time.

One thing I must say is that if Nomura going to make Roxas a secret, then actually make him a secret. There was nothing building up to that. From the trailers, we knew that he was going to come back in some way which is what everyone expected. If they really wanted to make him a secret, then they could have restored him earlier and had him doing some behind the scene things to help the others.

More character interaction

For a game that is about friendship, so many of the characters did not get to interact with each other. This is mostly due to so many important events happening at the end of the game, so I can see why it did not happen. The pacing of this game was bad, so squeezing everything at the Keyblade Graveyard gave no time for casual talk.

It was also sad that the other main characters didn’t get to interact with each other because this would have been some characters first meetings with some of the other characters.

Destiny Trio interaction

I know from an interview that Nomura stated that relationships were going to change, but I think they mostly changed because Nomura did not give this trio screen time together. They are supposed to be best friends, and it did not feel that way due to Kairi and Riku barely getting to talk to each other.

Everyone knows Sokai was going to be a thing, and that’s fine. I pretty much felt like Riku had accepted it too, but I think they should have shown Riku supporting and being there for them because they are best friends.

Skateboarding in Twilight Town

This is just a fun mechanic that  I wanted to see again, so it’s not a big deal that it was not added.

Final Fantasy Characters

I know Nomura said that KH3 could stand alone without FF characters, but they brought a lot of life to the world and had personal connections with Sora.

Selfies for Riku

Another not as important game mechanic, but Riku did have a gummi phone.

Thank Namine

After The Final World cutscene with Namine’s star, I was really hopeful to see the official thank you. I think it was either off screen or just did not happen, because Sora disappeared at the end. 

More exploration of original worlds

Twilight Town got smaller.

Yen Sid’s Tower was not added which was fine.

Other original worlds did not have much to explore and were purely for the plot or boss battles.

I don’t think they will make these more explorable, but a DLC could be done.

DLCs:

Sora’s journey to save Kairi

Kairi and Lea training (can be playable or just some extra cutscenes)

Riku and Mickey retracing Aqua’s connections through the worlds she visited or more gameplay in the realm of darkness

More playable characters during the 1000 heartless battle or during Organization XIII fights

Replayable boss battles like in Re:Coded and 358 ½ Days

Critical mode for players who want more of a challenge (Proud mode was actually ok to me, and it is probably because I was not under leveled)

More post-game content such as extra super bosses

Extra cutscenes or some kind of content where we get more character interactions (This probably will not happen, but I just wanted to mention it). One way for them to do this can just be adding the characters in the Keyblade Graveyard. Then players as Sora can briefly talk to them using the triangle command. This is very similar to how we just talk to our party members in the Disney worlds.

So with all that being said I only expect maybe 2-3 of these DLCs happening. That being critical mode and super bosses.

Verdict:

I give KH3 an 8.5/10.

KH3 was fun and nostalgic. The sass was on point in this game, where it really showed the established relationships of some characters (specifically Sora, Donald, and Goofy). I enjoyed the gameplay, but the writing needs a lot of improvement. It is so flawed, and it should not be this flawed for an ending to a saga.

I want to thank those who read this review. It’s my first one, so I know I rambled and recapped parts of the story in some places. I hope those at least helped you guys remember parts of the plot. If anyone wants to discuss fave characters or ships, feel free to send me a message.

Thanks again and hoping to write more reviews on games, TV shows, and even books.

Next up will probably be the video game The Liar Princess and The Blind Prince.

#kh #kingdom hearts #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #ps4 #video games #video game review

[calxiyn]

Hey everyone! This is a very long theory and discussion post. This post and the video I made based on this post is basically my feelings on whether having Marluxia is justifiable or not. 

Now that that's out of the way, let's get into it: For me the answer is yes, and I’ll explain the evidence I believe points to this happening all along, rather than the KHUX trying to add nonsense at the last minute. Whether you like the story choice or not, I believe that if it was previously foreshadowed as happening it has been built up enough to be believable and hence is “justified”. I can’t find a better word than justified other then “makes sense” but you guys get the idea: What is unjustified for me is them adding it because they felt like it and I don’t believe that’s what happened here. Even if I don’t like the inclusion of Marluxia here, I can respect it as it has been built up since RE:COM, and even if Nomura’s choice is bad, at least it was a concrete choice, it’s not random. I just wanted to clarify that. I think it’s understandable to be shocked and or angry as as we haven’t gotten an explanation for why characters like him and Ventus are showing up in Kingdom Hearts UX. But, first in case you don’t know, in the new cutscenes, Sterlitzia, who’s supposed to be the 5th leader, is looking for our player to warn them about all the stuff going down, but storytelling wise it would be cooler if she had known Marluxia beforehand and was actually looking for him and HE killed her. It would have been a cool twist. But anyway she looks around town, and then goes into a building where a shadowed figure kills her in cold blood. She then dies without creating a Nobody or a Heartless, because the intention here wasn’t to extract her heart, and then Marluxia goes to pretend to be the 5th Union Leader. So there’s not too much to unpack here, but what I want to talk about whether or not this is a justifiable decision or not. The first is that Marluxia is called the Graceful Assassin, but he actually didn’t kill anyone in RE:COM. His title was decided before his UX appearance, which always to me pointed that he had done something shady in his past like a lot of the other Organization 13 members. The second is that Marluxia is the one to explain how Roxas can collect hearts. Now everyone in the organization should know this, obviously, but if Marluxia does have a Keyblade in KHUX, it makes sense he would know how since in the scene when he killed Sterlitzia, he choose not to extract her heart to create a heartless or nobody but instead kill them outright. Because if you remember in KH, anyone without a Keyblade can kill heartless but they just come back, meanwhile Sora can extract the hearts of a heartless, so it’s very fitting for him to be doing that in 358/2 Days and it makes the scene more meaningful whether he has a Keyblade or not. However to counteract that point, Marluxia in RECOM says: "The Keyblade's power... How I've longed to make it my own!". This to me implies that Marluxia doesn’t have one and is going to go through KHUX bullshitting his way out of using a Keyblade. Now, this would explain Marluxia’s bloodthirsty attitude towards getting a Keyblade, because he’s been waiting what feels like an eternity to get one. The reason he killed Sterlitzia could have been for the same reason - that he hungers to make the Keyblade’s power his own. If you want both my last point and this point to stand however, you could argue that Marluxia could be talking about the Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts BBS that unlocks Kingdom Hearts, and that the only reason he was going after Sora was because he knew everything had to be “in place” for the events of the future to happen. Remember that we never catch Marluxia monologuing to himself about his true intentions, or are ever in his head, and so the idea of overthrowing the organization to use Sora could have been a ruse to make sure future events were set in stone. In addition, Xemnas knew of the plans to overthrow the organization, and so I believe sending Axel there to eliminate them was also a ruse, or a strategy. Because as we know from Saix, Axel was supposed to die there as well, or at least Saix wanted him to. Maybe this is because later Axel gets a Keyblade in DDD, and Axel says himself he doesn’t think anyone really accounted for him coming in to save the day. So maybe the reason why Xemnas knew is because without this event he knew it would be impossible to set all the events in motion for the other KH games, as explained in DDD. Marluxia also has an obsession of being superior or in power, and no matter where my last point lands you could say the power from KHUX got to his head, and so even if he overthrew the organization truthfully without Xemnas being in on it to set up events in DDD, that could be why. Then, there are the Marluxia Nobodies in the Tangled World, which should have given us a very large clue. Finally, Marluxia is sent to Castle Oblivion and we know the real reason why people were sent there was to find the hidden chamber that held Ventus. As some of you may know, there’s a very solid theory because of the inclusion of the Dream Eaters that the KHUX world we are playing in is a Dream world, like the ones Sora and Riku visited, and the inhabitants of that world are stuck there in a timeless loop so to speak. Or that it is similar to Timeless River, where no one gets any older and are stuck in the timeline in which Disney Castle hasn’t been built yet. In any case, Marluxia could have been woken up along with Ventus, but now that Ventus is asleep again, I believe the concern is by Xehanort and Xemnas that if he is woken up, he could tell them the secrets of KHUX and warn everyone about what he remembers after diving into the dream world. He could also see his old self. With this theory it makes sense that Marluxia and Ventus were just trapped souls stuck in the constant loop of the timeline that were ripped out by Xehanort. Even though some of these point are theory crafting or connecting the dots without it being entirely spelled out for us yet, this to me justifies the decision of including Marluxia into the game. Again, if I don’t agree with the choice I believe there’s enough material that could be now seen as foreshadowing to KHUX, instead of it just being a random choice Nomura made because of a weird KH acid trip. So I wanna hear what you guys think: Do you think this was a random choice Nomura made, or do you think he actually has been planning this all along? And does it make a difference to you regardless? Again, personally for me even if I don’t agree with the story choice I personally can respect with the fact at least it was a concrete choice and not just random, but I wanna hear from the rest of you!

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts spoilers #kingdom hearts union cross #kingdom hearts union x #kingdom hearts unchained x #kingdom hearts unchained key #marluxia #lumaria #sterlitzia #ephemera #ephemer #blaine #ventus

[axlorg89]

For the "send me a ship" meme: do you have a favorite KH pairing, and if so, why? 😊

Can I cheat and say more than one? Because more than one.

Sokai: Ah yes the obviously canon pair. With unsatisfactory amount of screen time together and when one of the pair is on the sidelines… With such a fate why would I hardcore ship it the way I do? Because of the characters themselves. I shipped this when I first played the game because it was obvious to 7 year old me, but I began to dig into this couple when I replayed the Remixes and noticed more details. The driving force for me is the fact that this couple is that how fond they are for eachother. Every moment the two has for each other just makes me love them more because of how cute and wholesome they are. 

One of my favorite moments is the hug and the endgame for KH2. In the hug, Kairi really puts her heart into that hug because she finally can’t believe that Sora is right before her whom she almost forget even existed. She feels guilty and reassured with this. Sora on the other hand looks guilty because he promised Kairi he’d be back and obviously with Riku… But here he is not with Riku. To add up on it, he made her a wait a year and indirectly “forced” Kairi here in a dangerous place no less to look for him. He’s happy at the sight of her but this reunion wasn’t what Sora wanted for Kairi or deserved. Now flash forward to the end where Sora and Riku finally come back home. In that instance where Sora is running toward Kairi is where the real reunion happened for the both of them. Not only that but here he is, at the islands with Riku. This is their perfect reunion because they know the evil had been defeated (Oh little did they know) and their smiling faces don’t lie about how happy they are to see each other. Now tell me those looks don’t look like love.

Ahhh this is getting long and I kind of lost my train of thought. Basically speaking, their actions and intentions for each other make them a great couple. There is so much you can dig into them and see such support they have for eachother. Sokai is so healthy/cute/amazing and I’m just fangirling at this point. With many more amazing moments for them that it’s hard to describe into words since their actions speak miles.

Rikushi: Okay now this is a pairing I can put words for… probably. Now this is a pairing that I liked after seeing 358/2 days. Surprise Surprise a rarepair (Because they are sorely lacking in fanart even though they deserve more). After everything Xion goes through, she really falls back on a certain character in the latter half of the game which is Riku. And I don’t mean to say she values Riku higher than her best friends but that in this instance of serious struggle, Xion feels more security along him while she feels more comfortable with her friends. It’s at this point in time where Xion is treated as less of her own person by those around her, even Axel, and not letting her make decisions for her ownself. Riku, on the other hand, is going on a quest to make sure his best friend wakes up and will take any measures to ensure it. But even despite that, he gives Xion time and more importantly, respect to make a hard choice, even as it’s cutting close to Sora’s time. Xion as well, makes sure not to betray Riku’s trust and respect in her for the same reason that she respects his goal and aim. They also have many great parallels and similar personality traits that they’d be compatible. Hell they could understand each other probably more than the person that they aim to save which are Sora and Roxas. An easy strike against this pairing is that Riku is doing this because he’s reminded of Kairi and Sora within her… which is not wrong but also wrong. In the beginning he does view her as that but the finale of 358/2 days is what convinces me that’s no longer the case. It’s the fact that Riku is still able to remember Xion and more importantly he realizes what she has done. He knows she sacrificed herself for herself, Sora, and Roxas who Xion also knows/believes will go back to Sora. With Xion’s, quite literally, dying words for him to stop Roxas, I believe this strengthens his resolve on bringing back Roxas to Sora. As such he embraces the darkness once more. At the very end, Riku sees Xion for her at the very end as her own person with her own wants and wishes. This in my opinion separates the full comparison of Sora and Kairi the whole time.

-breathes out- Okay that was too lengthy, just know that I love this pair a lot and they would be a great couple. Like people give this love and realize what a great pairing this could be.

You know what? BONUS TIME. I’ll just pop another one in here JUST bECAUSE

RokuNami: Okay where do I go with this couple? Aesthetically HD Pleasing and amazing singing voice actors *cough* okay pairing wise. These two may at first seem like “clones” of Sora and Kairi but they really aren’t and they know that perfectly well for each other. Namine, the moment she stepped into this world, was alone. Not only that but she was controlled as well without having a sense of control for herself. Even in KH2 Namine is still under the control of someone as harsh as DiZ in that small white room. Although she later cherishes Axel and Riku as companions (according to the kh2 novels), Namine knows that she is a witch being kept around walls. And then comes Roxas who perks her curiosity. She sees his memories and relates to him and the feeling of being kept in the dark to which Roxas has suffered intensely from. That is the connection to which Namine feels the “want” to meet Roxas even though she shouldn’t deserve anything since she is a witch as she is constantly been described as. In this, Namine takes more steps for her and also to help Roxas. She also decides that Roxas deserves the truth which is all Roxas ever wanted from the latter half of 358/2 Days. And Namine gave it to him, no sugarcoat at all or bias at all. I believe Roxas greatly senses this within Namine as well and can relate to her in his fleeting summer days. At that point, Roxas knows something is up and that Namine is giving him answers when she really shouldn’t be. It could be fair to say that out of the four he met in the real world(Axel, DiZ, Riku, and Namine) he would choose her first and foremost. These two are honest to god cinnamon rolls and they have similar traits such as being self sacrificing and compassionate. In all honesty, they set out a groundwork for a truly cute (also hurt/comfort) couple. Hopefully we can see more of them in KH3 possibly because they don’t have much screentime. One thing is sure though, they have an unbreakable trust and are super freaking cute and are happy to have each other.

#sokai #rikushi #rokunami #gaaah #I rambled way too long #I think I have a good paragraph for most ships like and dislike #I FANGIRLED WAY TOO MUCH TYPING THIS #and got off track #In fact i probably have a lot of run ons and grammatical errors #its 4:39 AM #why you do this Jen #oh yeah #ships #again thanks for the ask! #ask #amatusvanitas #-rolls around in bed sleep deprived- #kingdom hearts #Sora #Kairi #Roxas #Namine #Riku #Xion

[nadziejastar]

Geez, I didn’t realize there was such a strong hatred for Ansem the Wise in this fandom. But I like this post. I was really confused by how KH3 made Ansem out to be the one torturing all these children with his experiments, while Apprentice Xehanort called him merciless. It just shows that we really needed another game to delve into all these characters’ backstories. Like so many other characters, Ansem the Wise didn’t fare very well in the Xehanort Saga. I’m sure he was supposed to have a lot more depth.

I brought unhappiness to more lives than one. I felt something must be done. Was that why? A means of clearing my conscience? Or perhaps, out of a sort of scholarly instinct? While the boy slept his long sleep, I hid the results of my research inside him, transplanting the data to where it might best serve a purpose. In fact, I would like to believe… Maybe he can set things right. A boy like him who touches so many hearts–he could open the right door, and save all those people whose lives I managed to ruin.

Ansem the Wise told Aqua he felt terrible about ruining “countless” people’s lives. When I first played BBSFM, I couldn’t tell if he simply felt guilty for his apprentices’ actions, which he blamed himself for…or something else he personally did that we never saw on-screen. Who were the “countless” lives he ruined?

— And so, is there a possibility that the characters that appeared in that scene will be brought back in the future?

Yeah. The data that Ansem hid inside Sora is a secret related to their resurrection. When Ansem became DiZ and worked from the shadows, he did research on the heart and emotion, but he hid the conclusion of his particular findings inside Sora. There were many who thought that what was hidden was Kingdom Hearts Coded, but that’s not right. In the ending of KH coded, Naminé’s words that DiZ did something to Sora are pointing to the data that Ansem hid. We are planning to make clear the nature of that data in a future title. —khbbs ultimania

Apparently, Ansem the Wise did research from the shadows while he was DiZ, and then hid the results of that research inside of Sora. This research was supposed to be “the key” to saving everyone, detailing the way to restore lost hearts. And the nature of this data was supposed to be a major focus of “a future title” aka BBSV2.

The wise man who once ruled over Radiant Garden. His apprentices stole his research into the heart and brought chaos to the worlds. The real Ansem expired while trying to thwart Organization XIII’s dark plans. He has left some sort of “data” inside Sora’s memories.

And according to the journal in KH3D, the data was left inside of Sora’s memories. 

— Speaking of the KH BbS secret cutscene, Ansem the Wise says that he hid his research results in Sora. This complies with what happens in KH Re:coded when Namine says DiZ (Ansem the Wise) has hid something inside Sora. Is that mystery remaining unsolved?

Yes. Namine added data to the Jiminy Journal in order to convey that the “pain” of those connected to Sora must be healed, but at the point in time Ansem hid the research results inside Sora, he didn’t know that. Accordingly, Ansem’s research results will become the key to healing the “pain” in the future of the story. —recoded ultimania

— Before the ending, Riku receives research data from Ansem the Wise. In the next title, will that be the key to bringing back the people who are sleeping inside Sora? You could say it’s the key. That data contains the details explaining the way to connect lost hearts. —kh3d ultimania

— The press release for KINGDOM HEARTS III unveiled by Square Enix discusses the search for the “Key to Return Hearts.” Is there anything you can tell us about that?

There are two possible meanings of the “key.” One of which is the “hardware” key, which opens doors - this is what keys are in general (laughs), and the other is the “light” key, that opens something else. In this case, it is currently unknown as to which type of key Sora must find. This is the main storyline of KINGDOM HEARTS III - Sora must go on an adventure to find the “key” without knowing what or where it is. But as you know, we can’t really say anything else on the subject (laughs).

This is probably why the (original) plot of KH3 was simply about Sora traveling to various Disney worlds, seemingly with no real purpose. Thanks to Ansem’s data, Sora knew he had the latent ability to restore lost hearts. Apparently, this knowledge was put into his subconscious, inside his sleeping memories. He didn’t know how to use it consciously, so he was traveling around, looking for something that would give him some kind of “Eureka” moment. 

In search of a place to proceed with my research and planning away from prying eyes, I found myself in “Twilight Town.” It is a quiet village, forgotten in the chasm between light and darkness. I situated myself in the basement of an abandoned mansion standing beyond the woods.

My underground research resulted in one new discovery after another. When a Heartless is born, the body and soul left behind are reborn into this world as a different being. They possess different intentions than their Heartless brethren, and while it is unclear what these sentient “things” are after, it would appear they are responsible for much bedlam in the world. My erstwhile friend the King and his subjects, along with a hero wielding the Keyblade, are battling the Heartless even as a new threat approaches. This new threat…they have given themselves a fitting name, I suppose.These non-beings: “Nobodies.”

DiZ’s research was done after he returned from the Realm of Darkness, while he was staying inside the Haunted Mansion. He learned about what Nobodies were in this way. So…I think this might be what he felt so guilty about. He might have sacrificed children in the name of research during this time period. It definitely sounded like he felt bad about stuff he did that had nothing to do with Roxas, Xion, or Namine. He felt bad about that, too. Just not at the time he put the data inside Sora.

So yeah. Ansem’s data is the reason Roxas, Xion, and Namine were able to be brought back. But I don’t think that was his intention. I think KH3 changed what Ansem’s Code was about, and it originally was something completely different, relating to the research he conducted while he was DiZ.

Ansem quietly shook his head. “Naminé, Roxas, and Xemnas… The Nobodies of those with strong hearts are peculiar beings. My—that is, our theories proved fruitless. Coming into contact with a strong heart transforms a world. And not just worlds, but people themselves—and even Nobodies.”

This is what DiZ tells Riku towards the end of KH2, in the novels. When Ansem put his data inside of Sora, he was asleep. Before Sora woke up, DiZ was still telling Roxas he had no right to exist and taunting him. His original theory about Nobodies was wrong. And he said “our” theories. So it might be that DiZ’s dark research at the Old Mansion was done with Ansem Seeker of Darkness’s participation. DiZ was undercover, after all, so ASoD wouldn’t have known it was him.

Basically, I didn’t get the impression that Ansem wanted to atone for how he treated Roxas and Namine at the point he put his research results inside of Sora. He still hated Nobodies at that point, thought they had no right to exist, and that they didn’t have hearts.

Within Sora’s heart are three compartmentalized “boxes,” each containing the heart of another. One box holds Roxas. Another holds a second heart that has been with Sora nearly as long. The third has held its heart for much longer. These hearts have melded with Sora’s and no longer have voices of their own. Any attempt to mechanically extract them could prove as dire for Sora as what caused him to become a Heartless in the first place.

First, a vessel for each heart must be readied. Then, a spark of some sort is required to induce its waking. Obviously, the ideal solution is to restore each heart to its own body, but (whatever the case for the two unknown individuals) Roxas possesses no such thing. The same is true for Naminé, who we believe resides in Kairi’s heart. Still, if alternate bodies can be secured for them, all their hearts require to be awakened is that “spark"—people they cared for and who cared for them, who can show them the way home.

If I had to guess, I’d say that most of the stuff about Ansem’s Code was only thought up at the last minute for KH3. After BBSV2 was cancelled, they changed the data’s meaning, and waaaaaaaay oversimplified it. Like the stuff about Sora’s heart having compartmentalized “boxes” for Roxas and Xion’s hearts. Why would Ansem’s research results be about that? 

The bolded part is what I think Ansem’s Code was really about originally. When DiZ left his data inside of Sora, I don’t think he thought that applied to Nobodies. But by the end of KH2, he felt bad for how he treated Roxas and Namine and thought the data applied to them, too. At some time, during the events of KH2 after Sora woke up, Ansem changed his view on Roxas and Namine and the Organization. His actions during KH2, showing how he changed, were most likely another blank period to be shown in BBSV2.

Ansem the Wise was just another casualty of the mishandled Dark Seeker Saga.

#kh ansem #ansem the wise #submission

[nadziejastar]

You know, I really wouldn't have cared if this girl had her own adjacent subplot dealing with her memories and the age of fairy tales. It doesn’t sound very interesting to me personally, but whatever. I wouldn’t have even cared if she was an acquaintance of Lea and Isa because they were ALL test subjects (not besties, though). So, yeah I guess I think it was possible that they both could have been “Subject X”. Of course, in KH “X” is not a random letter. It is associated with the Recusant’s Sigil and creating vessels. It means “death” and “endings”. Since this random chick has nothing to do with any of that, she shouldn’t be named “X”. She should be Subject Z or something.

I think all the these characters time-travelling to the present is kinda dumb, but that’s not even my main gripe. No, what really bugs me is that her subplot has totally replaced everything about the original story in the most heavy-handed manner possible. Axel never mentioned this girl before. I had a previous anon tell me that Nomura probably wasn’t that invested in the idea of Isa and Lea being test subjects, and that he left it open on purpose. It’s just my personal bias that they were test subjects. My response to that is: Bullshit. The story was not left open for Lea and Isa to be apprentices just because it was never outright stated. KH3 is just treating the fandom like we’re stupid.

KH3D was setting up one very specific story, then KH3 started following an entirely new one with no warning. It was an incredibly jarring and unconvincing shift. Yes, I find Lea and Isa being test subjects a million times more interesting than them being apprentices. Who wouldn’t? But it is not my personal bias that is fueling my criticism. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together, who took an honest look at the story, could see that it was drastically changed from how it was originally envisioned.

Ansem's Report 2

It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. I shall conduct the following experiments:

Extract the darkness from a person's heart.

Cultivate darkness in a pure heart.

Both suppress and amplify the darkness within.

The experiments caused the test subject's heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle.

Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight. Creatures that seemed born of darkness...What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments?

Originally, the focus of the unethical experiments was the darkness of the heart. Yes, Ansem was experimenting on Xehanort to get his memory back. 

Unbeknownst to me, my six apprentices then began collecting a large number of subjects on which to perform dangerous experiments into the "darkness of the heart." As soon as I found out, I called my apprentices together and ordered them not only to cease their studies, but to destroy the results of their research thus far.

But the apprentices then went on to do far worse things. There is no mention EVER that there were more than six apprentices. But there was mention of the apprentices kidnapping people and performing dangerous experiments on them. Now it seems like these experiments have been retconned to be about memory only. All the focus now is on this one single Union X girl and her super duper special important secret memories.  

Xemnas: Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self.

But originally Xehanort was not concerned with the subjects’ memories. The purpose of the original experiments was to create vessels. Empty puppets who have no self-awareness. 

Xemnas: You feel nothing. Nothing is real. I can give you purpose.

Roxas: Roxas.

Xemnas: That is right--the new you.

The definition of a vessel is a hollow container. That’s what Xehanort needed so he could have 13 copies of himself—they’d all have the exact same heart and mind. Nomura said Seekers of Darkness were “raw material” for the X-blade. The point was he needed just their BODIES.

Xehanort: Roxas... Now, there was a worthy candidate. But, unfortunately, he became too aware of himself, and returned to Sora. Organization XIII's true goal is to divide Xehanort's heart among thirteen vessels.

The less self-aware the person is, the less able they are to reject Xehanort from taking over their mind, body, and heart completely. It’s heavily tied into the Recusant’s Sigil, which now seems to have vanished from Kingdom Hearts lore entirely. I guess they are hoping we just forgot about it, since it got so little attention anyway.

Day 7: Meaning

A name defines an object. Describes the span of it. Gives it purpose. We embarked upon the Replica Program to ensure our new power stays ours. Now, our shadow puppet, "No. i," lives. It needs a name. Something to define it. To give the hollow vessel purpose.

But Xehanort put the “X” into all the original members’ names because he planned to make vessels out of them once Kingdom Hearts was completed. Now suddenly we have a Subject X in the spotlight, but she has absolutely nothing to do with making vessels? 

The Ultimania said that Xemnas was using the Chamber of Repose to communicate with Aqua, and looking for Ventus because he was trying to complete the new Organization XIII. Now suddenly he was doing all of that because Ven was from the age of fairy tales? I’m sorry, but this is bullshit. I don’t think I’m being an unreasonable or petty fan by saying this is EXTREMELY bad storytelling. KH has had a lot of retcons, but this is far worse than anything I’ve seen in this series before. It’d be like if Sora, Donald, and Goofy just randomly stopped looking for Riku and the King in the middle of KH2 and started looking for a random Union X girl instead. That’s how Lea and Isa in KH3 felt to me.

Secret Report 4: Experiments of the Heart – Notes on Subject X, Excerpt 2

Secret Report 4 is obtained after clearing Battlegate 4 at Toy Box: Galaxy Toys / Kid Corral.

Subject's memories have not returned, and our conversations remain less than lucid. What fragments can be gleaned evoke a bygone world, like one out of fairy tales. As improbable as it seems, the question may not be where she has come from, but when. If she truly has crossed through time, the prospect of probing her heart is all the more compelling.

My pilot studies used a handful of subjects, but none possessed the fortitude to endure them. Ultimately, all suffered mental collapse. I knew it would be a heavy blow to lose a subject as unique as she. Upon discovering the tests I've been conducting, my master demanded that I cease my work immediately and destroy what research I have compiled. Worse still, he ordered the release of my remaining subjects. She is gone.

Where is Subject X now? Has "wise" Master Ansem hidden her away? Whatever the case, I will not be deterred. I will take her place as the first subject in the grand experiment to come.

You can see how similar the wording in this report is to the original Ansem reports. Even the part where Ansem ordered them to destroy their research. But now it’s that the subjects experienced mental collapse. Not that their hearts collapsed. The victims of these experiments were supposed to have lost their hearts and become Heartless. This was the precursor to everything that happened. They were supposed to be absolutely horrifying and dangerous experiments. Vexen wouldn't go down into the basement, and even Xigbar said he didn’t like going there. He even called it a “graveyard”. 

Braig’s dealings with Master Xehanort in Birth by Sleep make sense now, as he was to become a vessel.

Nomura: There is a certain reason for Braig to proudly exclaim, “I’m already half Xehanort.” Isa (Saïx) is included too. I think you’ll understand the details about their circumstances eventually.

We were clearly supposed to learn about these experiments in great detail. And it’s obviously why BBS teased us by showing Lea and Isa trying to sneak into the castle while these experiments just happened to be taking place. Isa just happens to be a vessel. He just happens to have the Recusant’s Sigil in the middle of his face. Axel just happens to say that his personality completely changed from how it used to be. Saïx just happens to be the most unfeeling and heartless Nobody of them all, and can't "see" Xion.

Secret Report 5: Memoirs, Excerpt 1

Secret Report 5 is obtained after clearing Battlegate 5 at Toy Box: Galaxy Toys / Main Floor: 1F.

The castle was a wonderland to us children. Within its walls, Ansem the Wise conducted his research, and the fruits it bore allowed everyone outside to live in peace and happiness. That alone was enough to stoke our interest, though not all of the rumors that escaped its walls were so benevolent. By night, the muffled sounds of human wails emerged. There was talk of dangerous human experimentation. Lea and I couldn't help but hatch a plot to steal inside and sate our curiosity.

The two who stood guard at the gates were researchers themselves, though you wouldn't think it to see them, massive and barrel-chested as they were. And slipping past that duo was only the first hurdle. It proved one not easily cleared; we were found and tossed out on our ears, time and again. On the day we finally secured our entry, we descended the long spiral stair at the heart of the castle to find a dark space below it, lined with cages. There wasn't light enough to see if they were inhabited, and we were in no position to call out to any occupants within. Yet we could feel it. A definite presence, there in the black. Terror washed over us, and we immediately regretted coming. But just as we turned to flee, we heard the faintest of voices. The urge to run was nigh overpowering, but someone or something beckoned us on. There, framed by a tenuous sliver of light, we found her.—Saïx 

This report about Lea and Isa sneaking into the castle just happens to be found at Galaxy Toys, where Xehanort discovered he could create vessels after experimenting on the toys. Galaxy Toys was a good fit. The castle looked like a fun place for kids to play on the outside, but on the inside horrible experiments were being conducted. It seems like these experiments aren't even going to get much (if any) attention going forward. It's all about this random girl’s memories now. 

What happens to the hearts of those who have had Master Xehanort’s heart planted within them?

Nomura: They’ll gradually be swallowed by it. As for Master Xehanort, he plans to control them completely. The planted parts of the heart are captured rather than disappear.

In KH3D, Saïx acted exactly like you would imagine a so-called vessel to act. Unlike Xigbar, he was completely still, completely mute, completely blank and expressionless, and didn’t act until Master Xehanort looked over at him (which he would have had no way of knowing unless they were telepathically linked). We know Master Xehanort had the power to transfer his consciousness into his vessels. That’s what makes them vessels, after all. Gee, I wonder if Saïx awakening to a new purpose over time had aaaanything to do with his heart being gradually swallowed by Xehanort? 

I’m sorry, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Saïx was set up to have a backstory as a test subject. Nothing about his character was left open to be an apprentice. Nothing. Subject X could have had any other role in the experiments if they really needed to introduce her to this timeline that badly. But no, she stole Isa’s backstory. That’s how ill-conceived this sudden shift to Union X was. It appears to have happened on relatively short notice. If that’s the best way Nomura could think of to introduce “Subject X”, she has no business existing in the story.

#kingdom hearts #anti-kh3 #kh saïx #kh isa

[nadziejastar]

Terra: Oy, sometimes you are such a girl.

Aqua: Hey, what do you mean, “sometimes”?

Hmm, interesting question. Unfortunately Isa didn’t get a whole lot of screen time. The only thing I can point to is that he probably wouldn’t have been written as such a sarcastic character. Female characters tend to be written as demure and polite, with few exceptions (like Larxene). It wouldn’t have been necessary to write Isa any differently if he were female. But it seems like many creators have narrow views of women and what kinds of personalities they can have. It’s not just KH, though. 

Xigbar: Heh heh. Girls, am I right? Life's biggest mystery. One thing that IS clear, though, is that no girl wants to be with a guy weaker than she is.

I think if Isa had been a female character, the biggest difference would likely have been his relationship with Lea. It would have felt more shallow and underdeveloped without their banter. On the other hand, the intimacy of their relationship would be seen as more socially acceptable. Personality-wise, he’d probably be similar to Aqua. On the quiet side, but empathetic and mature beyond his years. Of course, Aqua seemed sad that she couldn’t have the same type of closeness with her male companions that they had among themselves. And this is exactly what I mean.

Roxas: You mean...real people are more complex than us?

Axel: Well, sure! Especially if they're real and female. That's like a double dose of complicated.

If writing intimate male relationships feels more natural to some creators, I’d prefer if they just wrote that instead of male/female relationships that feel forced. I think Axel is probably a mouthpiece for how Nomura himself feels about women. They’re just hard to relate to. I mean, I understand how people come to think like that. It’s something I’ve personally heard before in real life. And Japan is just a whole different ballpark when it comes to social roles for girls and boys. It’s kinda sad, though. Still, I don’t mind if fictional characters like Axel think this way, as long as the author is mindful about it. It made Axel seem more flawed and human. And at least he was honest. 

The room was completely wrecked—draperies shredded and walls deeply scored—but he saw no Beast inside. And all the way in the back, on a small table gleaming in the moonlight from the window, a glass vessel covered a single red flower—a rose?

But yes, the original idea was that Isa was a rather feminine boy. I liked this. It gave him a unique sense of identity, and it made Axel a lot more interesting. One of Saïx’s weapons is named after a flower that has a rich history in Japan. I really liked the parallel between this particular flower and the Beast’s rose. It’s actually sad how much more heartfelt and sincere the subtle relationship Isa and Lea had, compared to the ones between the male and female characters. 

Roxas looked again at the rose beneath the glass, safe in the back of the chambers. It was somehow sparkling, unlike anything else here.

“Precisely. That is no ordinary rose. The room is in tatters save for one corner—because to him, at least, it is more precious than all the castle’s riches.”

A Queen of the Night flower can take a year to bloom and only blooms over a single night, usually under a full moon. Because of this, it is used to describe someone who has an impressive but very brief moment of glory, like a “flash in the pan”. It’s just as delicate as the Beast’s rose, which sits in the moonlight of the Beast’s room. It also dies as soon as it is picked, making it very rare and very expensive.

Cogsworth: Ah, but that is not all… Over time, caring for that rose has become a cherished part of the master’s daily life.

Mrs. Potts: It’s as though all his hopes and dreams are tied to that single bloom...

The Japanese people have great empathy for this type of fragile beauty, as they have given this plant the name Gekka-Bijin, which evokes the image of a beautiful woman seen by moonlight, or gazing at the moon. Axel’s memories of the past were what he couldn’t bear to lose. His whole relationship with Isa was a flash in the pan. It was actually rather poetic how Isa was made out to be this ephemeral beauty who was only able to shine for such a brief time, then completely vanished out of Axel’s life, leaving only the memories behind. 

Axel: As long as we remember each other, we’ll never be apart. Got it memorized?

Roxas: Ha ha, wow, Axel. That sounded ridiculous.

Axel: What? I thought it was pretty deep.

IMO, this single scene was a lot more romantic than anything between Sora and Kairi. I’m pretty indifferent to Sora/Kairi. It’s not like I hate it or anything. It’s just that we’re always TOLD that Sora has these deep feelings for Kairi. But we rarely ever see it through their interactions. They don’t have a lot of chemistry, in other words. In this scene, the audience isn’t TOLD that Axel has deep feelings for Isa. In fact, we are NEVER explicitly told this. It wasn’t necessary. I could tell, based on the way he spoke, that Axel had profound feelings for Isa.

Roxas: That still doesn't explain what love is... Is love fighting to protect what's most important to you? Where does its power come from?

Queen of the Night is part of Prestige Gear. This is Strength in Luxord’s card. The Strength card speaks to the human spirit’s ability to overcome any obstacle. It represents inner strength, personal power, strong will and determination. The Two of Cups represents deep connections and partnerships, based on shared values, compassion, and unconditional love. Axel was always fighting so hard to protect those memories, keeping them behind glass, so to speak. But he never, ever talked about them to anyone. If Isa had been female, I highly doubt Axel’s nostalgia would have been written with such sincerity. 

#kh isa #kh axel #kh leaisa

[themattress]

Was at a bookstore and...

I would like to make a formal apology to Tomoco Kanemaki. It turns out that her authorized fanfiction is NOT, in fact, the most cringe-inducing Kingdom Hearts material ever published.

That dubious honor actually goes to this piece of shit:

If the cover didn’t clue you in, it’s from a cheap, unofficial publishing firm called Boss Fight Books that specializes in having fans of certain video games writing books about said game. The book on KH2 is written by Alexa Ray Corriea, who is the most stereotypical dumbass, trashy KH fangirl / KHInsider member you could possibly find. The contents of the book are:

Six Days Later: An Exercise in Futility with a Boy Named Roxas - She tries justifying the notorious prologue of the game, but in the worst possible way: by focusing on the character of Roxas himself and his existential angst, which was one of the biggest complaints about the prologue to begin with! I know this is a matter of opinion, but you would think she’d attempt a better defense more on the lines of this video, something that people seldom think about. 

Nobodies and Somebodies - Oh, joy. The typical fangirl romanticization of Nobodies and their angsty plight, and the Draco in Leather Pants treatment toward Organization XIII. Ugh.

Riku and Redemption, Or, What Doesn't Kill You - Her Riku fangirlism explodes in this chapter, to the point of breaking the book’s rules. She’s supposed to just talk about KH2 specifically, and yet in order to talk up Riku’s redemption arc, she has to talk about several other games since, if you’re just going by KH2, the bulk of Riku’s redemption is completely off-screen and he only shows up in person to finish it in the final world & battle of the game. Sora is the main character of the game, and yet he doesn’t get a chapter focused on him! 

Gone Girl - And here’s the fangirl misogyny masquerading as feminism! Alexa is clearly part of the KHInsider cult that is always tearing down the “hated bland love-interest” Kairi in order to prop up the “safer and relatable” (read: angsty and socially withdrawn) Namine despite them objectively being the same characterization-wise through both hypocrisy and sheer dishonesty: she lies by omission or just flat-out lies in order to make her points work.

Examples: Omitting Kairi choosing to enter the dark portal, the fact that canonly she got away from Axel on her own (she lies and claims Saix just took her from Axel ala the non-canon novel and manga), and that she jumped off a balcony to save Sora from the Heartless before getting her Keyblade in order to claim she never shows bravery or initiative. Credits Namine for saving Kairi but not Kairi for reuniting and later saving Sora and Riku. Blatantly lies by saying Namine had agency and “flexed her powers freely” in CoM, completely omitting that she was a slave to Marluxia until the very end. Says it’s sexist for Kairi to be there to speak words of emotional comfort and gratification to Sora like “you’re home”, but praises Namine for giving words of emotional comfort and gratification to Roxas. Says it’s sexist for Kairi and Namine to keep “changing hands” of different keepers, but that it’s offset for Namine by her “having agency” in defying DiZ to help Roxas and saving Kairi (while, again, omitting all of Kairi’s acts of agency.)  And claiming that Namine is the kind of girl Kairi wishes she was when canonly it’s the opposite: Namine is a mousy, weak-willed servant at first and ends up channeling Kairi as she grows and develops.  Also, she brings up Aqua, who is not in KH2.

Bad Romances and Rad Bromances - Related to the previous chapter, this is the inevitable yaoi fangirl chapter that gushes over Sora/Riku and Axel/Roxas. Kairi and Sora/Kairi are shit on with more lies and omissions (ignoring that Sora knew Kairi was safe and didn’t know if Riku was, ignoring that he did frequently fret about Kairi once he knew she was captured, disingenuously underplaying the emotion between Sora and Kairi’s own reunion, and again ignoring that Kairi single-handedly made that reunion happen AND saved the boys’ lives at the end of the game solely because she and Sora are so close.) The Axel/Roxas part is no better, as she glorifies and romanticizes Axel’s actions over Roxas in the game even though canonly it’s disturbing, unhealthy, and ultimately tragic, and ignoring Roxas’ feelings entirely. 

And she also thinks there was a Sora/Kairi/Riku love triangle when, LOL, no, there wasn’t.

Long Live the King - An analysis on...King Mickey? Look, I love Mickey too, but I’m at a loss as to why he gets a chapter while Sora, Donald and Goofy (who deserve a chapter if not just to point out how their names are spammed in that exact order throughout the game) don’t. 

A Kid's Game? - Trying to use the dark stuff and tough gameplay to defend the game from being labeled a “kids’ game”...except that this book was written and published recently. This isn’t the early days when there was only one KH game, people have understood that the KH series attracts fans of all ages for YEARS now. Look at all of the hype among adults for KH3 coming out! That she actually seems to think that the “kids’ game” label is something that’s thrown around at the series anymore gives me so much secondhand embarrassment. 

What the Hell is Kingdom Hearts Anyway? - Oh, wow. She actually tries to make sense of Nomura’s convoluted bullshit in this chapter. And it’s every bit as pretentious as it sounds.

Coda - This last one is possibly the most stupefying and rage-inducing of them all. It’s the coda, the final chapter of her book, and what does she use it for? More cringey, unabashed Riku fangirling! In fact, she decides to claim that Riku, not Sora, is the REAL main protagonist of the KH series...not just as an opinion, mind you, but as a FACT, saying that he’s much more “relatable” (again: code for angsty) than Sora. Sora is casually dismissed and objectified as just some unachievable ideal who is only interesting through his relationship with Riku. So yes, in a book about Kingdom Hearts II, she wraps it up by singing the praises of a character who really only shows up in the final level of the game, propping him up at the expense of the actual main character you spend the game playing as. What a load of tripe.

Fuck this book and fuck Alexa Ray Corriea, I want her to rot in the Realm of Darkness.

#Disney #Square Enix #Kingdom Hearts #Kingdom Hearts II #Alexa Ray Corriea #Fandumb #Hypocrite #Sexism #Misogyny #Stupidity #Anti-Boss Fight Books #Anti-Alexa Ray Corriea