#and then we hear it again in kh2 when we fight xemnas for the first time

[ghostabocky]

thinking about kh3/khux/khdr and wondering if there’s any iconography or characters who have the potential for the same sort of intrigue as lingering will/the mysterious figures/the kh2 secret ending

[themadauthorshatter]

So... I've been watching KH rewrites.

And while I'm not rewriting ALL of Kingdom Hearts, but I have a few ideas to change 358/2 days:

The organization has an agenda: find and kill Sora, Riku, and Kairi so they can stay out of the way, but with Sora sleeping, Kairi safe on Destiny Islands, and Riku running all over the place, their jobs just got harder.

The change the title to 358/3 days, because Axel's in on this too. This is the sea salt TRIO we're dealing with, not sea salt duo.

We see a majority of Roxas's beginner days, like before, but in between them, we see Xion with Axel, mainly because Xemnas trusts him enough to be able to incapacitate Xion, if she gets too fired up.

Oh yeah, Xion doesn't really look up and smile at Roxas when she first sees him. In game, her mouth just opens in a gasp and she clenches a fist. In her first days, she's strictly in 'attack anything that comes near me' mode because she's scared and confused. We see it happen when Demyx waves a hand in front of her face and she literally jiu jitsu throws him to the ground.

Xion stares at Roxas and Axel and follows them individually. Axel finds it creepy and warns her not to get any ideas while Roxas pretends not to notice.

Xemnas is more proactive, checking on and somewhat favoring Roxas and Xion, Roxas more than Xion at first before fully switching over to team Xion. Everyone notices, especially Larxene, and it's not a good thing. Except for Axel, who's okay to stay out of Xemnas's attention.

Larxene is a bitch. As in she not only tells Roxas to not use his keyblade, but also to hold still so she can kick him.

Lexeaus is a little kinder. He does still hit Roxas within an inch of his life, but he lets Roxas hit back, as hard as he can. Roxas does so, hitting him in the side, like by the abs, but not completely, and it only hurts Roxas more than Lexeaus, the big guy fights a pitied smile and tells him to try again. Roxas does so, hitting harder, and Lexeaus grunts and fakes it to look like Roxas really did hit him hard. Roxie boy apologizes, but Lexeaus brushes it off, complimenting that Roxas is a more than qorthy choice for the keyblade.

Zexion is not a fan of Roxas, because he looks too much like Ventus. He eventually has a silent kinshio with him and acts A LITTLE friendly towards him, but nothing serious.

Vexen has to be kept on a leesh so he doesn't lock Roxas in his lab and scientifically check him out. AT LEAST BEFORE HE GOES ON A MISSION WITH HIM. After that, he wants nothing to do with the kid.

Axel is a little weirded out by Roxas, at first, but warms up to him.

Marluxia is a little creepy in that while he trains with Roxas, like practice missions, he gets face caress-y and Roxas later asks Axel if he can not go on missions with Marluxia.

Xemans does not get like that with either of Roxas or Xion; all he does is ruffle/play with their hair and pat their back and shoulder.

AND XEMNAS ISN'T PORTRAYED AS A VILLAIN UP-FRONT. IN A PERFECT WORLD, THIS IS RELEASED BEFORE KH2!!!!!!

Saïx sees Axel's growing connections with Roxas and Xion, and he gets meaner because of it.

Roxas has his own version of anti-form or rage form, in the form of non-form, where he takes on a look very much like a mix of the samurai and dusk nobodies; he's bendy, fast, and hard as shot to lock onto, target-wise, but get hit and there's next to nothing that's going to save you. Roxas can only use non-form when he has no other optiin, and that's because he hates using it with a burning passion. Whenever he uses it, he has a hard time seeing things, so he relies on his hearing and any bright lights that catch his attention. Game wise, this is his limit break. When his health is low, non-form is activated with a cool looking transformation.

Non-form is the reason why Roxas is Xemnas's favorite, at first.

Xion doesn't talk to Roxas at all when they go on missions together, at least not until Roxas goes into non-form to save her, even though she doesn't really need saving.

Demyx was initially chosen to watch Roxas, but he saw the kid, newborn, scared, and confused, go into non-form and damn near attack him until Xemnas kicked him away. Saïx was the runner uo, but he gave the role to Axel, who successfully calmed Roxas down enough for the newbie to return to normal.

Xion warms up to Roxas, but is cold towards Axel, who returns the feeling, but also makes a deal with her; in front of Roxas, they have to play nice together or else Saïx is going to snitch to Xemans, who will have Xion ripped apart piece by piece until there's no putting her back together. Behind Roxas's back, however, they can fight all they want, as much as they want. Hell, they can even try to kill each other. BUT ONLY BEHIND ROXAS'S BACK SO HE DOESN'T SEE IT HAPPEN.

Roxas is given pretty lenient missions and it's not just because of his connection to Sora and Ven. It's also because of how unstable Non-form is.

Oh, yeah. Roxas hallucinates and hears both Sora AND Ventus, but it's only when things get too quiet. Xemnas has Axel keep an eye on him because he made friends with Ventus as Lea and had contact with Sora. If anything, the redhead can keep Roxas stable enough for them to bring him to Castle Oblivion and find Ven, when he's ready.

And he'll be ready when he dual wields keyblades, which Xemnas KNOWS wil happen because he's Xehanort and Xehanort apparently knows all.

He doesn't know enough because there's another person who can dual wield: Xion.

Xion is still a replica, but this time is made with fractures of Kairi's and Sora's hearts, Kairi being able to wield a keyblade because it got passed down from Aqua to her by accident and Sora because he's Sora.

When Axel is sent to Castle Oblivion and is reported as gone, Roxas's reaction is much more severe. First mission with Xigbar goes fine until the end, where Roxas not only gets hallucinations of Sora and all that, but also because he's experiencing a new emotion: GRIEF. He goes into Non-form and goes insane. Xigbar directs him to a dark corridor, where he's released right into the castle in The World That Never Was and starts destroying anything amd everything that moves before going all aroung the castle.

It soon becomes a really darkly comedic game of Catch The Kid Without Killing Him Or Letting Him Leave To Another World.

No one's fully successful, except for Saïx, who also goes berserk to stop and hold him so Xemnas can collect him. Roxas struggles in Saïx's arms and lets out scream after scream until Xemnas comes to get him and snap him out of it.

Roxas leaves Non-form and is led to his room by Xemnas, who compliments his ability to imitate emotions, despite not remembering how to.

Roxas, already trying to keep it together, breaks down again, and Xemnas holds him close, letting him get it all out, and explains that this is why they fight and need to fight warriors of the light, including Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

After that, Roxas is only allowed on recon missions until he's stable again.

It's fine though, because Axel makes it back a week later, saying he got knocked unconscious by Sora. He escaped and made it out a-okay, leavung out the part where he may have merced Vexen and Zexion.

Roxas is still glad.

Axel reports to Xemnas and Saïx and euns into Xion.

The threat still remains, but he's still playing nice for Roxas's sake.

Over time, Axel and Xion learn to get along and even become friendly enough to be sarcastic and jokey with each other.

It also helps that Xion also deals with hallucinations and her way of dealing with them is by running. Axel and Roxas followed her and came face to face with a GIANT heartless, maybe a more threatening version of the Dark Side.

All three fight it, but it knocks Xion and Axel away, the redhead gets up and is almost smashed into the ground before Xion lunges, going into her armored form. Roxas follows as well, in his Non-form.

The two make quick work of the heartless amd Roxas struggles to turn himself back, where Xion does it perfectly.

Axel compliments the work, but hugs onto Roxas before he can lash out at a frightened Xion, telling him to play nice or they're not having any more playdates and he'll be locked in his room 24/7.

Roxas turns back and he and a surprised Xion pass out, leaving Axel to groan at having all the icky jobs; he got the crap beaten out of him amd wants to pass out with the two children, but instead has to carry them back to the castle so neither die on his watch.

They all recuperate and pat themselves on the back for their victory.

Xemnas congratulates them as well, having let himself in the infirmary because he heard what happened.

Axel reports that they're all fine and the heartless is gone, and Xemnas is more than glad to hear it, at least before her turns to Roxas and asks if he was hurt, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He's fine, just a little dizzy, but fine.

Xemnas is more than glad to hear it, pushing back Roxas's bangs and playing with his hair a little before leaving them all to heal, ignoring Xion entirely.

She doesn't take it personally and instead remarks about how nice it was of Xemans to join them, for once.

Axel agrees with the sentiment and makes Roxas and Xion promise that they're won't be anymore surprise runaways like that again.

They agree, though Xion asks if surprise ice cream can be exempt.

Axel smiles and exempts surprise icecream.

They all become real friends after this point, and it includes them poking fun at each other("Er, I don't know my past so I'm gonna go Saïx berserk on anyone who asks, der, der, der"), sarcasm(Xion: "There really is no hiding from Saïx, is there?" Axel: "Well, there's always under Xigbar's bed, but no one's ever returned, so tell me how it goes."), and light name calling, like hot head, burning britches, and smoke and more smoke for Axel, hoodie and emo band for Roxas, and little miss pissed off for Xion, because she's funny to make annoyed and angry.

And they try more than sea salt icecream, like doughnuts, cakes, and eventually healthier foods that are still sweet.

Roxajs and Xion gonon missions together and eventually start more than a friendship.

Axel keeps an eye on them whenever he can and begins lying to Xemnas, saying neither are really progressing with their powers, but are maintaining, so there's that at least. Xemans is not convinced and asks an old question, considering how Axel has possibly the best memory out of everyone here: What happened to Sora? Axel feigns ignorance, because he TOTALLY helped Sora take out Marluxia.

Okay, but what about Naminé? More ignorance because she up and vanished. Maybe Sora stole her away or something, who knows? Teenagers do weird things.

Xemnas, more than a little fed up, notes that Axel's getting close to Rozas and Xion and admits that as much of a shame as it would be to waste resources, it'd be even more tragic to lose their own numbers, maybe even Saïx as well, despite how cold he's turned toward Axel. If it makes him feel better, he doesn't need to do the 'icky job,' Saïx can do it for him and he can simply watch.

Axel steps down and Xemnas twlls hom to tell the truth next time, if he doesn't want to lose anymore friends.

There will be a part 2 of this

[karla-the-elemental-dreamer]

KH-OC Week - Catch Up: Day 5 - (5 AUG 2021)

@khoc-week

The prompt I am doing for this one is 'Memory'. I thought this was just going to be a little diary entry simulation, but I ended up getting carried away and made a little fictional piece out of it. This does not necessarily follow my IRL existence and my dream avenues, this piece is more a completely imaginative fiction (incorporates only some aspects of stories from dreams); and what it would be like if I had a more concrete position, like living there for significant periods of time.

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Diary Entry Written: 8 AUG 2021 (8:08 PM)

Words: 1,652

As I sit here in isolation, thinking about how lonely it is here in the house, I remember all the times I spent with Riku and his friends, who are in turn my friends, and this makes me happy. All of a sudden I don’t feel so alone anymore, and as the memories replay, it’s like the people in them are actually with me; we are experiencing these moments all over again.

At the start, it was hard as I tried to introduce myself to a new world of people and vice-versa. I would tell Riku about myself, and it seemed like he was listening, but a few hours went by, and it’s like he forgot what I had told him… Sort of like he didn’t care, but then I knew Riku wasn’t naturally like this. At the time, I was new, and with Riku having redeemed himself from the darkness, I guess his insecurities were… Protecting him in a way; he did not want to be deceived again. It’s always hard at the start when I know exactly the person I want to show to others, but that they may not perceive me the way I perceive me. I knew exactly how Riku felt, which why I thought to myself, “Just be kind”, because in truth, it’s sometimes actions that speak louder than words.

So I took it upon myself to look out for Riku’s friends when he himself couldn’t be there, or if he was there but he was caught up in another matter. I recall the first thing I did for one of those ‘guardians of light’, so they are called. Xehanort had gotten the best of Sora, shattering him into a million pieces (emotionally), as he was made to watch Xemnas almost incapacitate Kairi. I yelled to Kairi, “Why aren’t you using your keyblade? You have one!”. Of course at the time, Kairi didn’t know who I was, and so she was hesitant to follow my advice. But just as Xemnas was about to make her take her last breath, it seems like Kairi knew what I was on about, and fear was turned into common sense. I continued to yell from the bottom of the plateau; “you get into these situations because people think you can’t fight for yourself!”.

As Riku was busy trying to keep himself from being dominated by Ansem, he looked over at Kairi’s direction with a sort of slant in his face. He himself didn’t know that I was standing below, he could only be confused by the voice he was hearing, but then I think that in Riku’s heart, he agreed that Kairi needed to become stronger and stand up for herself more… Because others won’t always be around. As Kairi swiped the keyblade, Xemnas was launched back, with a shocked look on his face like he didn’t even think the girl could do it. Both Sora and Riku looked at each other, and then to Kairi, with a look of amazement as they saw that she pried herself from Xemnas.

I skip to after that battle, where I heard Kairi say to them, “I probably wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for that girl”. Sora had answered, “No Kairi, it was all you. See, you do have in you, and for that, I’m proud of you”. Kairi stopped him, “But that voice, it helped me a lot”. Riku was curious and so he peered through a wall of the graveyard ruins, and he could see me walking away as I felt I had done my job. A few of these moments, and down the track, Riku began to trust me and see that I meant no harm. Rather than pushing me away and only what I thought was him pretending to care, he took more of an interested and asked me what I wanted when he noticed that I wanted or needed something.

Six months later, and Riku is the father figure I never would have dreamed of back then. And back then I thought I could never show that I was weak, or he would become uncomfortable with such thoughts and push me away. But then he later would accept me for who I am, and he said that is was okay for me to be weak. As my dream guide, he told me that it’s impossible for a person to be strong all the time, and when the cracks show, that it’s no problem to rely on others to build us up. Though Riku did admit that he himself wasn’t perfect, and that some of the messages he shared with me were inspired by Sora’s way of thinking. Riku would tell me stories of the time he and Sora spent together, and he said that he loved Sora very much… But then Riku also admitted that he had a place for me as well, as he did for all his friends.

Down the track, Riku encouraged me to meet his other friends. In Twilight Town, he introduced me to Roxas, Lea and Xion. At first, Roxas didn’t seem too convinced that I was trustworthy, but after a few rods from Riku, Roxas was able to see. I remember telling Roxas that I was aware of all his trauma from the events of KH-Days and KH2, and I said to Roxas that if there was a way for me to bring him back in time so that he never had to go through such a thing, I would. In-fact that’s when I said to any guardian of light who had been through some sort of deep darkness. That if I had the power to change things, I would.

And this is in-fact how I became closer to Terra. Because of all that Terra had been through with Xehanort, he initially thought I was trying to lead him on. However, I understood exactly why Terra wasn’t convinced, and from Riku encouraging me and standing in the same room as I spoke, I told Terra that I understood exactly why. I stated that I witnessed everything that Xehanort did thanks to the accounts of KH-BBS, and I said that I would never wish that on anybody. I said to Terra that I wanted to see him enjoy his life, and that I would be a good friend who would do anything to help him get back the joy that he missed out on for 11 years.

So when I could go on a mission with Riku, I would. But the mission would be so dangerous that Riku wouldn’t let me go no matter how strong I claimed to be, Terra was always the first person he took me to, and in turn Terra would always be the first one to offer to look after me on Riku’s behalf. And then even in a streak of no missions, I lived with Riku on the islands, but I would occasionally go for sleepovers at the Land of Departure.

Aqua and Ventus would sometimes spend time with us, but everybody understood that Terra was my special connection to that place. So as Aqua would have bonding time Ventus, Terra would have it with me. I remember once, I brought a couple of canvas over as I wanted to see if Terra could paint. He didn’t have that steady-a-hand, and unfortunately he ended up making a bit of a mess, but we could make out that the painting was of him, Aqua and Ventus.

I ended up painting a picture of me, with the Land of Departure in the background, holding my Spirit of Brigid keyblade. Why did I decide to draw this keyblade? Firstly, I thought it fit the royal aesthetic of the place. But secondly, I had this memory while painting. The first time I picked up that keyblade, I didn’t realised it was serving as a music box as I heard the school song playing from within the metal! I remember I had to actually slap the keyblade, and that’s when the music stopped and I could use it as a keyblade and not a darn radio. In-fact these days, when the Spirit of Brigid plays the school song, Riku laughs, and he sometimes even slaps the keyblade for me.

So after I spent the night and/or day with Terra, Riku would come to collect me, and Terra would tell him what a great time we had, and if Terra actually had fun. And then Riku would take me home, back to the islands. That same evening, we would walk along the beach, and Riku would ask me for my perspective on the stay. And sometimes, depending on what I told Riku, he would turn my experience into lessons and give me further advice or insights into life.

I would ask how Riku’s missions went, but sometimes he wouldn’t say much. I knew he still kept some things to himself, but at the same time, I understood. It’s not because he couldn’t trust me. Instead, it was more because he likely wouldn’t wish his experiences on me, or something really bad happened to him that he just had to keep it inside. However, for as long as I was under Riku’s roof, even on our bad days, we would always end the night and start the new day together. We slept in his bed, and he’d have his arm over me, ready to comfort me if I had any nightmares.

So yes I may be trapped in my own house, outside the KH world at the moment. But when I think about the day that Riku took me in; Lea and Roxas taking me out for ice-cream whenever I visited Twilight town; Terra babysitting me, and having the delicious dinners that Aqua made, it’s like there with me at this very moment, and I know I’ll be back to see them soon.

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Hope you enjoyed reading that piece! Now to race to get Day 6 and 7 out in a reasonable time-frame so it isn't too late outside the week. Day will contain a special drawing that I trying to finish. Day 7 may be another written piece.

[wolfyduskk]

KHOC WEEK~Day 2

Bonds of the Heart/Ties That Bind

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@khoc-week this one is gonna be a long one sorry bout that!

I’m going to try it kinda like most to least? but leave out some characters she does get close with for the sake of time >~> ANYHOW

#1 being Cleo Maiyu: Her Mama

“Tell them to sort it into this months invoices then mail out th-“

*...* “No I promised starlight i’d spend the day with her & you already took up all of our morning.”

*click* “Where to next Audri?”

“Book house mama!”

“It’s a store but you were close..”

•Cleo, even though it’s not her ideal career, worked at a desk job that payed well in order to support the little family they formed. Not saying that’s all she did for Audri, not at all! If she was needed by Audri, Cleo would drop everything to tend to her. She would accept every gift and proudly wear it or hang it up for everyone to see, giving her gifts & praise to try to make sure she knows she’s loved very much.

Audri’s health & safety is her top priority & willing to do anything to ensure it, wither it be a stern talk or a fist fight. That being said when Audri is sick even if it’s not major, won’t be allowed to lift even a finger in fear of making it worse & losing her.

While growing up Audri understood that work was important & usally left her to work when she worked from home but would stop in to drop off small gifts she made, coffee, or even a peaceful rest with the help of her colourful friends before their home fell & Audri vanished.

#2- Zeke Maiyu: Her Uncle ZeZe

“You sure you want to use this polish Dri? There’s prettier colours-“

“SHh NU! You love love green so its one of the prettiest colours too!!”

In the early years Audri was home schooled due to all the possible illnesses she could get in public schools & private school being to expensive. So since he worked completely from home, Zeke became her teacher during the weekdays & taught her things benifeical to her like reading, writing, cooking, health, as well as things that interested her like astrology & flowers.

They would have days where they would leave home to learn outside or just to play. Audri would alway wonder out of eyesight, (which was easy with technically one eye on you)(sorry not sorry) but never to hard to find again if you followed her giggles or her friends.

(Note:Zeke & Cleo are not mine, they belong to a close friend of mine)

Isa/Saïx

“I-Isa! Lea took off with Prof.Hoots again!”

“Don’t worry Audri, I’ll bring the Professer back & try to knock some sense into that dummy before your mother does..”

•The days she was allowed outside, she’d either go to the castle or look for her older friends who honestly play more of an older sibling role in Audri’s life, with Isa taking a more caring & mature sibling place, while Lea takes a teasing/bully but still fun & kind sibling role.

She bonded with Isa the quickest due to their love of the night, as well as to her, He was more comforting to be around since his personality is something she’s grown up with compared to her other ‘big brother’ Lea, who is much louder & competive. Not to say she dislikes his loud personality, just odd when it’s not her being the only extrovert anymore.

•Months after the fall Saïx would be the one to find her at the doors of Castle Oblivion with a large scar over her front & her once sparkling eyes dulled. Her body somehow survived & became a nobody.

She’d be seen at the start clinging to the back his coat as he was the first she saw & most familiar to her memory wise at the time. Although not an official member, she was given a new name, Aidrux & once more independent, missions.

Even though he became colder over time, he still took his brotherly role seriously with what little hearts he had over the years, just as she once more memories came back would care & help him as much as she was able. She’d stay by his side more once Axel started to stray away from them for Roxas & Xion.

•

Ienzo/Zexion

Ahh the extrovert adopts the introvert~ good quality content with that right there ANyway

“-And then we can make a super big flower like the book with the bean stalk and we’ll touch the stars!”

“...that’s not scientifically plausible Dri”

“Anything is possible when it’s you & me!!”

“..Still think we could make that gaint flower?”

“Thought it ‘wasn’t plausible’. Remember?”

“With you? ‘Anything is possible’ Dear”

“...Dork~.”

•With the tendency to explore unsupervised, it would’ve been only a matter of time before these two would meet. despite the tough shell Ienzo had, instead of breaking it with trying to make him talk, she waited for him to hatch on his own accord, by bringing small books or art supplies to work on silently with a few comments here & there. She knew forcing him to talk would only make it harder.

In time he did start talking although not by much, but enough to hold a conversation which made Audri practically shine when she heard him talk. The small talks the had honestly funny if you were able to hear them, from plans of the future to multi-coloured animals, they’ve talked about it all almost.

•Zexion was a big change to Aidrux once she remembered, but that didn’t mean she didn’t try over the years. Whether it be old books or the small remark there, she tried & forunatly so did he. With illusions of flower fields & cheeky statements, they became close again, well as close as you could get with no hearts anyway.

•Once whole again they weren’t really sure what to do with the sudden massive rush of emotions that filled them when they met up again, it scared both of them to the point they avoided one another for a while till that feeling became unbearable.

They can’t think of the right word to label their relationship but they know they care about eachother differently compared to the others, but not quite love..

But maybe in time it will.

Xemnas

•Oddly enough? He felt kinda safe to her even after she remembered he was the reason she was nobody. He didn’t mind her presence really, she was useful & benifited the Orginzation.

But, something remembered her, and not from when he was an apprentice no. Something before that, but what?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for people she dislikes/hates/uncomfortable with?

•As a child she never felt completely comfortable with Braig, there were the rare times she felt okay but never completely. To this day she still isn’t sure why, but she’ll get an idea why soon.

•During KH2 hands down for a time, H A T E D Sora, as far as she knew, he was trying to stop them from getting their hearts back, stopping her from being with her family. (Id be mad to if banana shoes over here started basically destroying years of planning/ work) She knows the truth now, but being near him all alone still sparks some negative feelings.

•As childish as it is, any man with yellow eyes. She doesn’t remember completely how she got to RG but knows that a male with those eyes took her there & feeling scared.

that’s all I can think of atm but pretty proud of how much I did today! See y’all tomorrow

I have to admit tho out of Lea & Isa, I’ve always liked Lea more so its a little funny how little he’s mentioned lol.

[angel-with-a-pipette]

A lot of ppl say "Kairi is sassy in KH3" but hey, I can't really see that like those ppl. She's not sassy like kh2 or 2 or it's just Alyson couldn't make the sassy line sassy and more boring/emotional? Can u show me the lines that they're "sassy" or something? At least when someone tell me "nah she's not," I'll show him/her

I’m genuinely surprised you see a lot of people saying that because even Kairi fans have started going against her. Not to say that you are going against her by saying you don’t think she’s as sassy anymore! Sometimes it’s just heartbreaking to read people’s opinions on KH3 Kairi…

Now this matter is a little bit complex. I don’t believe Kairi is as sassy as she is in KH1 or KH2 which might have been what Nomura went for since he has this whole “growing up” theme going on. I also believe that it’s partly Alyson’s or the voice direction’s “fault” that Kairi sounds softer than before - which again, since Japanese representatives are deeply involved in the English dub despite certain parts of the fandom claiming they are ignorant of it, could be a conscious choice of Nomura.However, there are also scenes that show some of Kairi’s past sass which is why I want to propose this explanation:

There’s a time and place for everything - and sadly, there was little time for Kairi’s sass.

Now what do I mean by that? Fact is Kairi has very few scenes - if Gamer’s Little Playground really caught all of them, she’s only in one hour of the ten hours of KH3 cutscenes and that counts the full scenes she makes an appearance in, not her absolute on-screen time. And of these scenes, even fewer are suitable for some sass, naturally.

What kind of scenes does Kairi appear in?

She has two scenes in the beginning with Lea

She is seen with the whole cast at Yen Sid’s study as well as on the Keyblade graveyard in several scenes

She is alone with Sora on Destiny Islands and while they’re rewriting reality

She is seen shortly when being abducted by Xemnas and when killed by Xehanort

She is seen shortly when being abducted by Xemnas and when killed by Xehanort

Let’s start with her last scenes first. I think it’s obvious why she can’t be sassy when Xehanort kills her although I wish she was - they should have let her die heroically, defending Sora, metaphorically spitting into Xehanort’s face because that’s the tough cookie we saw in KH2 when she faced off Saix with Naminé. That doesn’t mean however that she should have been a war machine and that her behavior during the Xemnas encounter was OOC for her because as much Kairi jumps into the fight, she also gets intimidated rather easily. Remember in KH2 when she was suddenly surrounded by Heartless after she just jumped down a balcony to save Sora? Imagine how scared she must be with her shoulder in excruciating pain during a fight she herself described as “our toughest yet”. I think it makes perfect sense she didn’t pull out her sass (or any risky moves that would result in breaking her arm and rendering her useless for combat and more of a tool) in this scene.

She is seen with the whole cast at Yen Sid’s study as well as on the Keyblade graveyard in several scenes

There’s also sadly not much of a chance to bring it up when the whole cast is together. Now I wish she had more of an interaction with Sora and Riku especially since her character and her sass and teasing nature shines when she is alone with her boys, but the script didn’t give that to her. It’s a wonder she got to talk to Aqua as it is. The entire scene in Yen Sid’s tower was too crowded, too filled with character meetings that should have been spaced out over the game for the sake of the characters.What I think is kind of interesting though is that we have a scene where Kairi could have pulled out her sass on Sora, as she did several times in 1 and 2, but didn’t:

Here, the cast just talked about how Sora did NOT make Master in DDD - something we know is a very sore topic for him over the entirety of the game. Now what do these little assholes do when the biggest asshole of them all points it out?

They all laugh. It’s meant to be in good nature and Sora takes it like a champ, but truth of the story is that it makes the player very uncomfortable, knowing how much Sora has been picked on over the entirety of the game, by friends and enemies. In light of that, I think it’s very interesting that the camera doesn’t pan over to Kairi and Lea who stand behind Sora. Normally, the camera would pan over everyone, showing their laughter, and it does later on when Donald makes the Half-Pint joke:

I might be biased, but I don’t seem to hear Lea’s and Kairi’s chuckles and giggles during the first scene while I definitely hear both during the half-pint scene. So it’s interesting that this time, the camera pans over all of them and we hear them.

Of course, this is not definite proof, but it hints at Kairi (and Lea) not laughing at Sora’s expense - at a mean joke at Sora’s expense, too. And that, too, fits with Kairi’s past character as shown by @phoenix-downer​ waaay down in this post when she analyses Kairi asking Sora if he’s okay. It’s an ongoing theme with her to be concerned with Sora’s well-being and letting him off the hook when she suspects he needs a break of being teased could very well explain why she didn’t add to the others making fun of him. And boy, does he need a break from it.

She has two scenes in the beginning with Lea

Kairi absolutely sasses Axel in KH2 when he tries to abduct her (again - when he does succeed, she is actually in a position to struggle because he only grabs her wrist - he doesn’t twist her arm behind her like Xemnas does which could have easily popped out her shoulder - and who knows, maybe she was close to it). So why doesn’t she sass him here?

Just like with Sora, it’s not the time and place. Lea is troubled, Kairi tries being open with him but still struggles to get used to him and so both carry around some emotional baggage before they truly warm up to each other. And when they do? She does tease him!

Yes, Alyson’s delivery could be better here and I partly blame the voice direction because in 0.2, she proved she could sass Riku around just fine, but alas, this is the old Kairi. She absolutely teases Lea with his own catchphrase and Lea chuckles at her impersonation of him.

And yet, this is all she does, because Lea continues to say he is worried and Kairi knows he doesn’t need teasing, he needs encouragement, just like Sora does in the aforementioned scene. Kairi might be sassy, but she values the well-being of her comrades over being teasing and a little mean to them. In her eyes, this is the time to be supportive, not to nag.

She is alone with Sora on Destiny Islands and while they’re rewriting reality

Kairi’s shining moment of sass and teasing comes when she offers the paopu to Sora.

It’s a short moment and she softens pretty quickly because she knows that this is serious. This isn’t a joke, neither to her nor Sora, that’s why she grows more serious about it when she explains her motives, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that she kind of dares him to share one with her expression. She wants him to do it, she urges him on with her smile, “Do it!” it says, but ultimately the choice is his.

And if you want to read between the lines, she has a very similar expression on here:

Now, I know nothing about how Risa delivered the scene, but I can absolutely imagine if Hayden did this, she would have delivered it with sass. After all, Kairi told him he’d be safe with her. Why is he surprised? ;) Especially since as @phoenix-downer points out in the same above mentioned post, she turned the Declaration of Protection on its head back during the paopu scene and now underlines that yes, she did it. She kept her promise. Literally “told” him so!

TL;DR: 

There’s a time and place for everything and Kairi’s time was cut too short to give her a lot of opportunities to be sassy

She loves to sass people, but she also makes sure they’re safe physically and emotionally and won’t beat down on someone who needs emotional support, thus keeping her sass in check

The English voice direction (possibly the Japanese one as well) doesn’t do her favors despite some scenes clearly being written with her sass in mind

She has sassy moments, but they get lost because so much is happening around them and the voice direction…

I know I went a little overboard with this, but I hope this answered your question!

[nadziejastar]

Have you read isa/saïx’s character file? How do you feel about how he was portrayed and where his character will evolve to from this point?

One corner of Xigbar’s mouth twitched up in a sneer. “Me? I’m already half Xehanort.”

“That’s…nuts…!”

Xigbar’s golden eye regarded Sora.

It doesn’t make sense. What does he think he can do by throwing away his own heart and becoming Xehanort? I don’t get it. And what is Xehanort after? Why’s he putting his heart in other people?

Yes, I did read his Character File. Personally, I really don’t like the way Saïx was handled. Not at all. It didn’t seem like he evolved naturally as a character. It seemed more like the writers were very lazy and just wanted to have him redeemed quickly without putting any real effort in. And I also don’t have much faith in his characterization going forward due to the lack of respect his character received in KH3. And here’s why.

“Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It’s a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don’t feel like it anymore. It’s strange, but I’m content with just missing what’s gone. I’m not the one who changed. You did.”

“What were you really after, Lea? We joined the Organization at the same time, and formulated our plan. At this point, it’s just an idle fantasy. Everything changed. You, and me.”

I always saw Saïx like this: He was a Nort. An alter ego of Xehanort, no different than Xemnas or Ansem Seeker of Darkness. Saïx absolutely did NOT seem like the same Isa that we saw in BBS. 

“Our efforts have come to bear fruit, nearly ripe for the plucking.”

“Not only have you the power to inflict pain, you also have the power to plant seeds of doubt in one’s receptive heart.”

“It seems we have found a loose thread at which we can tug to unravel Ventus’s heart. The first step is to get Terra alone; then we need to plant the seeds of doubt in Ventus.”

His Machiavellian personality and even his speech patterns were far more similar to Xehanort than Isa. The writers were hinting all along that Saïx was actually Xehanort, not Isa. Look how many times Axel said Saïx had changed. I never got the impression that Isa’s change was natural, either. He changed because he literally became another person—Xehanort. Unlike Braig, there were no hints that Isa ever consented to becoming Norted. 

“Xemnas and Xehanort formed the Organization for a specific reason—round up a bunch of empty husks, hook them up to Kingdom Hearts, then fill them all with the exact same heart and mind,” Xigbar explained behind him.

Sora turned around. Empty husks? Is he saying they’re going to break them with sorrow and put another heart into them…? Or did they already do it?

“Translation—they were gonna turn all the members into Xehanort.”

“Make more Xehanorts?” You’re hollowing out people’s hearts to put Xehanort’s inside them?!

I think Isa was originally meant to be a test subject in the experiments. His mind had to be “broken” with sorrow first. His sense of self had to die. The experiments were to control the mind and convince it to renounce its sense of self. Before becoming a vessel, Isa had to be hollowed out. Then, his heart was swallowed by Xehanort’s. By the time he was a Nobody, Saïx’s mind and personality were Xehanort’s. For the most part, it seemed like Isa’s heart was totally dormant inside of Saïx. Asleep, like Venus’s heart was inside of Sora.

“Indeed. A heart is never lost for good. There may have been variances in our dispositions, but a number of us unquestionably showed signs of a burgeoning replacement.” 

A burgeoning replacement… 

“Once born, the heart can also be nurtured. Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind and convince it to renounce its sense of self. But understand, one can banish the heart from the body, but the body will try to replace it the first chance it gets, for as many times as it takes. And so I knew, even after we were divided into Heartless and Nobodies, it was just a temporary separation.”

There was a gaping void within Saïx, which caused him immense suffering. He remembered his bond with Lea, but he was literally incapable of feeling it. He couldn’t experience friendship or a connection as a Nobody. He wasn’t like Axel or Xemnas or Xigbar. Since Isa’s heart was captured by Xehanort, Saïx had access to Isa’s memories and could still feel some emotions from Isa’s dormant heart, when something very powerful triggered it, such as Axel leaving the organization. But at the end of the day, Saïx was still Xehanort. He still had Xehanort’s soul/mind, even though he didn’t realize it.

“Things are finally right again,” Saïx went on. “Of course, we’re better off this way.”

Axel had no retort for that. Maybe because he didn’t want to alienate Saïx anymore.

“Xemnas is exasperated from all the ‘fixing’ we’ve had to do. We have to set things right. There is too much on the line…Lea.”

Hearing his old name, Axel glanced up to see Saïx watching him intently. He remembered being human. Memories surged inside him, crowding the space in his chest. For Nobodies, memory had all the weight of a heart.

So, Saïx had Isa’s body, Xehanort’s mind, Isa’s memories, and no heart. That’s how we got the complicated character that he was. He was a fascinating character. But he was a Xehanort; cold and calculating. He manipulated Axel to kill Xion by calling him “Lea”, which was honestly a really depraved thing to do. He preyed on Axel’s memories of their past. Saïx did not like how much power Axel had over him, and tried to brutally kill him. At the same time, Saïx had strong romantic feelings for Axel. But—and this is important—those feelings weren’t really Saïx’s feelings. They truly belonged to Isa. Saïx was experiencing them the same way Sora experienced Roxas/Ventus’s feelings. The relationship was like a parasite siphoning off of its host.

Three elements combine to create a life: a heart, a soul, and a body. But what of the soul and body left behind when the heart is lost? When the soul leaves the body, its vessel, life gives way to death, but what about when the heart leaves? A being does not perish when its heart leaves its body. The heart alone disappears into the darkness.

― Secret Ansem Report 4

Three elements combine to make a life. Xehanort creates vessels by literally replacing their mind/soul/personality and heart with his. By the time we are introduced to Saïx in KH2/Days, two of those elements have already been replaced. Only the body is still Isa’s. The body is the least important part of your identity. So, how could Saïx still even be considered Isa at that point? KH is all about hearts. In metaphysical terms, the heart is simply the relationships you form which give you meaning, purpose, and love.

“Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.”

So, how can KH3 downplay the effect being Norted had on Isa? THE biggest things about Saïx were his lack of purpose and his inability to love.

Yes, I thought you didn’t need me anymore. If you didn’t need me, then I no longer held meaning.

He even said in his Character File that if Lea didn’t need him anymore, his life had no meaning. Saïx longed to have the purpose, meaning, and love that a heart provided. He remembered how much meaning Isa’s life had, because of his love for Lea. But he didn’t have access to that, no matter how much he wanted it.

“Just stop it! You treat people’s hearts like they’re bottles on a shelf, but they’re not!”

Hearts aren’t “foolish,” and other people aren’t tools for you to use.

Sora faced Xemnas and summoned his Keyblade, ready to fight. “Hearts are made of the people we meet and how we feel about them—they’re what ties us together even when we’re apart! They’re what…make me strong.”

If Isa’s heart was swallowed by Xehanort’s, then none of Saïx’s relationships should have any bearing on Isa once he was saved. Isa shouldn’t have to atone for anything Saïx did to Roxas or Xion or Axel, because they had different minds and hearts. Those relationships were totally distinct. Saïx did not even really have a heart. He just had a blank void since Isa’s heart was dormant/asleep.

This whole concept is what made the Axel/Saïx relationship so interesting to me. Axel never knew that his best friend’s heart was replaced, like a bottle on a shelf. Hearts are NOT interchangeable. In KH, the heart is what makes you who you are. It is your core identity. So, Saïx had Isa’s body, but not his heart. Without Isa’s heart, the very essence of their special relationship was gone. Axel never knew why Saïx didn’t feel like Isa any longer. Something was just…missing. If Saïx didn’t have Isa’s heart, that is a HUGE deal. Not something to be glossed over, like it was in KH3. In KH3, Saïx being Norted meant absolutely nothing. It might as well not even have been a plot point.

Xigbar: If people see with their hearts, Saïx, then you’re even blinder than the rest of us.

Seeing how Axel handled the relationship with his Norted best friend was soooo intriguing to me. It was SUCH a cool idea, that unfortunately went nowhere. Axel did not feel a connection with Saïx. Instead, he relied on his memories. When Axel mentions the red sunset on Day 255, it’s called “The Longest Day”. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, and is also known as “midsummer”. I believe that the red sunset thing was a precious memory Axel had of Isa telling him that. The scene was inspired by Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. And I believe the localization team knew that. Versus XIII was inspired by Hamlet, so Nomura obviously likes Shakespeare.

Love… Huh. “It is powerful, but it’s not a power we get to have.” Axel had very little confidence in his ability to explain it. But whenever Roxas or Xion had questions about the mysteries of the human heart, he did his best to answer. 

“Nobodies can’t love?” Roxas asked. 

“Nope. You need a heart for that.”

 “Oh… Right.” Roxas fell quiet, pensive. 

Axel kept talking. “Love is what happens when there’s something really special between people.” 

“More special than friends? Like…if they’re best friends? Inseparable?”

In KH, key memories have the power to awaken a heart, even in Nobodies. Axel was growing a heart throughout the course of the story after he returned from Castle Oblivion. The whole idea was that his newly awakened heart allowed him to transform things “base and vile” to “form and dignity”. Axel’s heart had the power to transform (in his mind) the nasty and cold Nort Saïx into the Isa he loved from his memories. His love for Isa was blind and allowed him to remain intensely loyal to what was, essentially, an impostor. Smoke and mirrors. That is what I saw when I played Days and read the novels.

I love Roxas and Axel. I’m sure Saïx would scoff at that. Call it a trick of my artificial memories.

Saïx, without a heart, had no such power. He could not look at things with the mind. He had a scar on his mind’s eye. He only saw with his eyes. He couldn’t even see Xion, since her appearance was dependent upon the connection she has with the observer. Xemnas and Xigbar could see her, though. So clearly there was something uniquely wrong with Saïx. The most important thing was, Saïx could not love Axel the way Isa could.

“You know, right, because you all have hearts!” Sora said, testing Xigbar.

“Axel and Roxas and Naminé, and that other girl. I felt what Roxas felt and…they laughed together, got mad, and they grieved.” The ache in his heart belonged to everyone. “You have to have a heart to cry.”

Xigbar snorted derisively. “It’s about time you noticed.”

Axel did have a heart. Xemnas and Xigbar had hearts, too.

“Oh, the things you hear from a guy with no heart,” Xigbar said through his hilarity.

None of us have hearts, Saïx was about to remind him, when Xemnas spoke again.

Saïx did NOT have a heart. He was unique compared to the other Nobodies.

The Tin Man programming is all purpose versatile program for what ever the master needs done, it means that the slave is a well oiled machine. Sometimes the slave is reluctant to do a job but he is being told that he is a well oiled machine.U.S. Sen. Allen Simpson, one of the perpetrators of the Monarch Program, referred to the Tin Man programming when he told a slave “THESE ARE BUT EMPTY SHELLS OF THE LIFE THEY WERE ONCE POSSESSED. LIKE YOU ARE–EMPTY AND VOID OF LIFE.”Certain alters are not given courage and most have their hearts taken from them. The alters who are programmed not to have hearts are hypnotically told the same thing the Tin Man says, “I could be human if I only had a heart.”

—The above are all excerpts from a book about government mind control

Saïx’s canon backstory does absolutely nothing to explain his unique characterization. If you ignore Saïx’s uniqueness, you cannot possibly offer him a decent redemption. And KH3 did a horrendous job redeeming Isa. It’s so bizarre, too, because if he actually had been subjected to mind control experiments, like it was hinted, it would have perfectly explained his weird personality and also created some much needed sympathy for him.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I’m half-awake, so now might not be the best time to do this. But I’m doing it, anyway. I’m trying to think of all the Sora and Kairi parallels in Kingdom Hearts. And if you guys have any that I missed, be sure to add them here:)

But there’s Sora and Kairi drawing giving each other paopus. 

And how Kairi’s journey through the secret place at the end of KH1 is just like Sora’s at the end of KH2.

Actually, Kairi’s journey in the cave at the end of KH1 is also a bit like Sora’s movements in there at the start of KH1, too.

And credit goes to this one video that used to be on YouTube for pointing some of these out (like this one), but the camera movement when Sora is first surrounded by Heartless in KH1 (zooming in), is the same one that’s used when Kairi’s first surrounded by Heartless in KH2. 1:12-1:13 of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPPYDk8Qmf4 compared with this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taZudWzTxwg (1:28-1:29)

There’s also the fact that Kairi gets her Keyblade like Sora got Riku’s (that later became his). There’s all this darkness around him, and then a light and Sora has Riku’s Keyblade (later his) via the “Delivery Boy Principle). Kairi’s surrounded by darkness--Heartless--and there’s a light, and Riku has her Keyblade (via the Delivery Boy Principle), but since Kairi’s right beside him... Riku’s easily to give her Keyblade back to her.

Sora and Kairi are both dog piled by Heartless when they see each other again in KH2.

Sora and Kairi, in KH2, both refer to the other as someone who means more to them than anything. Sora says this to Saïx when he asks him, “Is she that important to you?” and Sora replies, “Yeah, more than anything.” And Saïx says to Kairi: “I’ll take you to see Sora... you don’t want that?” Kairi - “I do. More than anything. But not with you around!”

Sora has a line in KH2 where he says, “Kairi, where are you?” I think it’s when he’s in the Realm of Darkness after Maleficent saves him. And Kairi also says “Sora, where are you?” when Xemnas pulls him into a fight at a fake Memory’s Skyscraper or something.

Usually, Sora says “Riku! Kairi!”, but there are actually a few moments in KH2 where he instead says, “Kairi! Riku!”, and Kairi always goes, “Sora! Riku!” in KH2.

Both Sora and Kairi say “what is this place?” when they reach Betwixt and Between in KH2.

There’s a shot of Sora’s feet at the edge of the water in a text bubble scene in Chain of Memories (when he’s on Destiny Islands), that matches Kairi’s feet at the water at the beginning of KH1. Likewise, we see Kairi’s feet touching the turf during her first scene in KH2 (when she’s about to send Sora her letter). And we see Sora’s feet touching the ocean at the Dark Margin at the end of KH2 (when he’s about to get her letter).

Some could argue that Sora meeting Naminé and Kairi meeting Roxas are similar.

TV Tropes talks about how Kairi’s attempted journey (in KH2) to find someone dear to her that she doesn’t fully remember, is like Sora’s quest to find Naminé (who Sora was basically brainwashed into thinking was Kairi) in CoM.

There’s the fact that Kairi, like Sora, is the only Other who’s ever wanted to save their Nobody. They also wanted each other’s Nobody to be saved, too.

Neither Sora nor Kairi were chosen to be Keyblade wielders. Sora wasn’t chosen at all, and Aqua chose Kairi by accident.

Kairi, in Re:Mind, waking up when Sora calls her name, reminds me of when Sora “wakes up”, when Kairi pulls him out of the darkness by calling his name in KH1.

Kairi catching Sora in KH3 is like when he caught her at the end of KH1.

Kairi has now gone to sleep for a year like Sora did. And Kairi’s doing it to get Sora back, and he did that to at least get his memories of her back: because he didn’t want to live without them.

I think Sora telling Kairi he’ll give her “a hint” about his name in KH2, is a reference on how Kairi would be like “I guess I can give you a hint” about where Sora could find things on the Island in KH1.

Them both getting stopped by Xemnas in Re:Mind is a parallel.

Kairi sitting where Sora usually does on the paopu tree at the end of KHIII is a parallel.

Their hugs are sort of parallels to each other. In KH1, Sora hugs Kairi and she doesn’t hug him back (because of her shock). In KH2, Kairi hugs Sora and he at first doesn’t hug her back because he’s all surprised and guilty feeling. And since you could argue that Kairi at first is more enthusiastic about their hug in KH2 (since Sora doesn’t think he deserves it), Sora’s the one hyped to see Kairi from the get-go in Re:Mind (partly because she was asleep at first). And then they sort of reach for each other at the same time. But before that, in KH3, when Sora’s saving Kairi from Terranort, he’s the one hugging her again, while it takes her a minute to respond.

Sora saving Kairi at the end of KH3 has shades of, “She did this for me. I’m going to do the same for her.” Especially since both are acts of true love.

This one may not be intentional... but Kairi taking Sora aback with some of her words on the dock in KH1, may be called back when Kairi’s confused by Sora at first in Re:Mind. Sora - “Kairi, are you ready for this?” Kairi - “Huh? ...Yes.”

Kairi’s now on an adventure to save Sora, like he’s always been for her.

Likewise, Kairi’s now in the Final World trying to find Sora--seemingly succeeding--like he earlier was for her.

And there maaaaaaay, in Melody of Memory, being a parallel to Sora finding Kairi’s heart fragments in Re:Mind. Is Kairi sending Sora hear heart fragments so she can track his location and find him or something? We’ll see.

You could arguably say how they both wanted to see other worlds, but were less gung-ho about it than Riku was and always want to come home, really.

Edit: Perhaps both of them forgiven Axel for his kidnapping Kairi. And how they forgave Riku and both held his hand in KH2? Them both being best friends with Riku (and Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka). They both forgive Isa, too.

And oh! When they’re both nodding at Riku, that he has friends like them.

Edit 2: Them both having temporarily forgotten each other because of memory shenanigans, but them still remembering each other, deep down or trying to hold onto the memory of the other hard.

Edit 3: The two of them having Nobodies. And the parallel scene of Roxas returning to Sora and Naminé returning to Kairi at the end of KH2.

Edit 4: And while not a scene, Kairi having her paopu fruit in the Re:Mind menu art parallels Sora having his in the KH3 menu art. Sora and Kairi in crowns in KH3 art for him and Melody of Memory art for her.

Edit 5: Sora wielding Kairi’s lucky charm on his Keyblade when he uses Oathkeeper, and Kairi’s Keyblade has a king chess piece on it--connected by a red thread--that represents Sora. Also, a paopu.

Edit 6: Kairi in Re:Mind having attacks that look a lot like Sora’s.

Edit 7: How could I forget the “Wherever you go, I’m always with you” parallel? -sobs-

Edit 8: Sora and Kairi--in the KH3 opening movie--Sora nor Kairi summoning their Keyblade against Master Xehanort until Riku, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy show up.

Edit 9: Sora and Kairi smiling at each other, and Roxas and Naminé smiling at each other through them.

Edit 10: Sora and Kairi both throwing their fists into the air when they think they’ve defeated Xemnas.

Edit 11: Sora and Kairi pretty much have the same personality, tbh.

Edit 12: Both of them seeing Xion.

Edit 13: This probably wasn’t intentional... but Kairi and Naminé holding hands, and Sora and Roxas holding hands. And both Sora and Kairi holding Naminé’s hand.

Edit 14: Kairi leading Donald and Goofy for five seconds in KH1, like Sora usually leads them.

Edit 15: Merlin and Yen Sid teaching Kairi like they did Sora.

Edit 16: Sora and Kairi’s friendships with Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

Edit 17: The Restoration Committee looking after Sora, and then looking after Kairi for a little bit in KH1.

Edit 18: Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, and Master Xehanort treating both Sora and Kairi like crap.

Edit 19: Sora of course helps protect Ven and Aqua. But Kairi does too, in KH3, when she tells them not to go on a suicide mission.

Edit 20: Sora and Kairi--and many of the other people she meets--is what keeps Aqua from giving up.

Edit 21: Sora now believes in Kairi, like she always has in him.

Edit 22: A really minor thing, but they’re both also friends with Mickey, of course. They both also know Pluto... and arguably Jiminy, and maybe the Fairy Godmother now?

Edit 23: Them drawing each other’s faces when they were young!

Edit 24: This is more a thing they have in common, but they arguably both dance. That, and the fact they both wear necklaces.

Edit 25: The getting separated and reaching for each other thing.

Edit 26: They’ve both sent kingstagram posts to each other now:)

Edit 27: According to Riku, they’re both lazy.

Edit 28: Kairi maybe remembers everything Sora does from his first journey. And is now maybe learning all of his memories in Melody of Memory, and other people’s too?

Edit 29: They have a similar stance when the stars are returning to the sky at the end of KH1.

Edit 30: Kairi has the same battle stance as Sora. 

Edit 30.5--more art stuff--Kairi, on the KH3 cover, is holding her Keyblade like Sora did in that one KH1 image.

Edit 31: Sort of these shots of them at 1:22-1:23 in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZWhr7Bmv50.

Edit 32: Sora and arguably Kairi both saw Riku get locked behind the Door.

Edit 33: Probably not really a parallel, but Kairi doesn’t run towards Sora--as he runs towards her--at the end of KHII. But in the KHIII opening that recreated that event, she does.

Edit 34: Probably not really a parallel, tbh, but Kairi flipping her hair after she fights for the first time and showing off towards Sora, could be like him showing-off(?) in coming to help her and Axel in KHIII.

Edit 35: In Melody of Memory, is Kairi seeing Sora’s memory and he seeing hers?

Edit 36: In the Melody of Memory trailer, when Kairi says things are far from over because Sora was dead, reminds me of when Mickey says “it’s finally over”, but Sora says “no” because Kairi’s dead.

Edit 37: Sora and Kairi both raising their head in the KHII openings.

Edit 38: Some of the poetry in KH may be some of Sora’s writing to Kairi, like she writes to him?

[angiecakes1990]

Sora from Kingdom Hearts 3 

Yes I waited 13 years for the third instalment and we finally got it at the beginning of this year and It did disappoint me cause of all the hype we got from the trailers but I still enjoy this game including better graphics and better battle system and its good to hear Haley Joel Osment can still pull off Sora’s voice despite him being 31 now and he was only around 17/18 when he did KH2.

We got to see also abit of character development of Sora in this game then just seeing a normal boy looking for his friends since he lost his new power after nearly becoming a half xehanort in Dream Drop Distance his mission in this game is to get his power and strength back mostly the power of waking and Donald and Goofy are by his side.

We also see he’s abit edgier in this game he travel to Olympus and see if he asks Hercules how he got his strength back and after he completed that world he realize he has to figure it out himself.

After a trip to Yen Sid’s tower and getting his new gear he was off the next world.

He visited Twilight Town first seeing Hayner, Pence and Olette again and he plans on bringing Roxas back but doesn’t know how to but with a little help with Ienzo, Chip and Dale it can happen with the information Ansem placed inside Sora during his slumber.

Other then the original worlds like Twilight Town, Keyblade Graveyard and Mysterious Tower except for Hercules world nearly every Disney world is based off 3D films released by Disney like Toy Story and Monsters Inc both from Pixar was in KH3 and we got Tangled, Frozen and Big Hero 6 and yes one live action world Pirates of the Caribbean which is based off At World’s End film.

😭 BUT SEEING THE GRAPHICS of that world was freaking beautiful Sora looked soo realistic he was beautiful 😭 I see Tetsuya Nomura and the KH crew put a lot of work and effort into this game.

Also like I said he’s abit edgier cause yes we see our cheerful boy angry what we saw in Arendelle which is Frozen world

He even screamed and snapped when Davy Jones stabbed Will Turner he even jumped on him and threw a punch at him my face was like this 😱

After all that he finally enters the realm of darkness where Riku and Mickey were cause they were in trouble and Aqua was there but she turned so now Sora has to face Aqua cause she’s one of the people they need for the final battle and knows Ven’s location since Ven’s heart was inside Sora.

After bringing Aqua back to the realm of light after she was trapped in the darkness for over a decade they head towards where Ven is and Aqua changed Castle Oblivion back to Land of Departure and head towards Ven only for Vanitas to show up Aqua took him on but she hasn’t fully recovered so she lost but before Vanitas could finish her off Ven’s heart reacted inside Sora and telling Sora that he needs to wake up but Sora doesn’t have the power of waking yet Ven tells him he never lost it it just sleeps only till when Sora needs to it will awaken it so he awakens it and uses to wake Ven up.

After Ven wakes up they returned to Master Yen Sid’s tower now they have 7 guardians of light which is Sora, Riku, Kairi, Axel, Mickey, Aqua and Ven so after a night of recovery which Aqu and Ven needed they headed towards the keyblade graveyard for the final battle but it was all going down from there and all 7 lights have perished including Sora who was in tears.

But he awakens in The Final World and encounters a Chirithy who told him he has to put himself back together and he was still alive but he needed to put himself back together first and after he does he goes to find his friends who have perished and saved their hearts.

It was actually Kairi who saved him she was holding onto him so his light wouldn’t go out and somehow they went back in time before it happened so they can start over.

But it was a little different thanks to Namine when Sora was talking to her in the final world she talked to Terra and he came just in time as the lingering will and stopped Terranort from attacking them and a huge heartless tornado came in and keyblades started coming within their directon its the light of the past of the previous keyblade holders who fought in the keyblade war long ago to give Sora and the others a hand.

But the 7 guardians all had to split up so Sora goes to each of them and giving them a hand taking on the 13 darknesses like he helped Riku with battling Xigbar and a fake Riku which turns out to be a replica Riku from Chain of Memories, He later joins Mickey taking on Marluxia, Luxord and Larxene, He helped Ven and Aqua out with taking down Vanitas and saving Terra and manage to get his body back.

During the fight with Axel and Kairi with Saix and mysterious member who happens to be Xion of all people Roxas spoke through Sora to her manage to save her and since Axel was taken out Roxas comes out of Sora and protects Xion, Roxas is now his own person cause now like Sora wanted him to be he has his own body but Xemnas manage to take away Kairi so after beating Saix Sora goes after Kairi.

But after the fight between Xemnas, Ansem and Young Xehanort Master Xehanort literally killed Kairi in front of Sora and now he was angry but he succeeded and manage to open KH Donald, Goofy and the others all came to his aide and Mickey and Riku were stopped in time but free from it.

Sora wanted to be the one to settle it with Master Xehanort so Donald and Goofy go with him after opening a portal within Master Xehanort which leads them to Scale Ad Caelum.

After he battle him like 3 times 🙄 he finally admits defeat after everyone manage to get there and Eraqus who was inside Terra this whole time pretty much just told him to stop and so he passes the X-Blade onto Sora and therefore he used it to lock Kingdom Hearts with the help of the other guardians lights.

The final battle is over but not yet for Sora he still had to find Kairi cause he explains his journey all started the moment he lost her and this time he has to do it himself so he’ll be going alone.

😭 The ending we got though all the people who were saved by Sora and the gang mostly Sora were all happy and finally moving on with their lives but only thing was missing and that was Sora and its shown he manage to bring Kairi back but he had to pay a price for it 😭 cause he disappears leaving Kairi with the others so basically he used the power of waking which costed him leaving us all on a cliffhanger and thinking on what happen to him 😭

[mellz117]

Hello all and welcome to part 4 of my playthrough of KH2 on the PS2. If you haven't seen the previous entries please go do that.

[ _1_ ] [ _2_ ] [ _3_ ]

To recap: The Wonders of Twilight Town are boring as hell. We spoke to Namine again, Roxas finally realizes his life this week is a lie and starts to remember his life in the Organization. DiZ is racist against Nobodies but we already knew that. Roxas and Axel fight, I wanted to cry. Roxas meets Sora in his sleeping pod before disappearing, I wanted to cry.

And the adventure continues

I wanna know how Sora wakes up in the real world when Roxas merges with him in the virtual one. How in CoM does Sora go to sleep in Castle Oblivion, the whole-ass chamber and then some get transferred to Twilight Town, Roxas meets him in a virtual version of the mansion, and Sora wakes up in the real mansion in KH2? Nomura please explain this series. Is Final Fantasy ever this convoluted?

Donald and Goofy call out to Sora and we're once again reminded this is a Disney game. I don’t know why but the fact that Disney owns the original Kingdom Hearts characters bothers me. It means, unless DISNEY gives the OK, Sora will never be in Smash Bros. and that makes me sad.

I don't know much about comas but after a year of total inactivity, wouldn't your muscles atrophy like, A BUNCH? At least is wasn’t 7... OR VENTUS WITH A WHOLE DECADE WTF?

Again WHY COULDN'T JIMINY JUST KEEP EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN CHAIN OF MEMORIES WRITTEN DOWN IN HIS JOURNAL INSTEAD OF A CRYPTIC MEMO TO THANK NAMINE?

The trinity trio wanders out of the mansion, loot some chests, and find their way to the back alleys of town.

Hayner is rude RIGHT outta the gate, wow. Ok I remember that Pence actually met Roxas in Days, and so to me he seems to recognize Sora through his memories of Roxas despite the two sharing like, one visual similarly: blue eyes. But KH3 to my understanding reveals that the virtual versions of characters affect the real version so I dunno!! WHAT IS THIS SERIES?

"Have you finished the summer homework yet?" Olette asks Sora and his two ANIMAL COMPANIONS as if seeing two anthropomorphic animals is fucking normal in a town comprised entirely of humans and exactly one moogle.

Sora doesn't have any homework. For over a year he's been away from home and his mom couldn't make him go to school. I wonder how she's doing? Does she miss her son? Kingdom Hearts and parents don't gel.

I like how.. When Pence describes this cloaked figure who was looking for the trinity trio, as having big, round ears, they have to think about who it could possibly be. They’re not too bright.

Why is “sofa” capitalized? Also they weren't even sitting on it, neither of them were!

HAYNER IS A RUDE BOY! He tells us so ask Seifer about the town, as we are new. Bruh, if you’re this rude to us I’m sure how much worse Seifer and his posse are.

Seifer is immediately confrontational. “You here to pick a fight with us?” and Sora’s all like “No, we’re new here.” and DONALD FUCKING DUCK! INSULTS SEIFER AND NOW EVERYONE’S READY TO THROW DOWN! THANKS TO THIS DUMB FUCK DUCK!

But thank Christ big chungus appears out of nowhere and stops the children and two adult furries from causing a scene.

This dude is WAY too into the Struggle tournament. Seifer has an unwanted faaaaan! Bro, go away, you’re creeping on a teenager.

I wanna fight Seifer.

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I'm not working on this like I should be. I'm going on vacation soon and since we're all in quarantine I can't really do anything fun so this is the opportune time to catch up.

Moving on! We make our way to the train station and oh no, we're ambushed by Dusks! Because of COURSE we are. Who could've seen THAT coming? /s

I- I like how, even after hearing his voice, and seeing his fucking mousey silhouette, the gang STILL might not be sure this is their stupid rat king. One brain cell between the three of them, I swear, and Goofy is the primary carrier, and it only sometimes works.

Why do we need to purchase tickets to travel on a magical train embarking to an ethereal plane of existence? I guess it's the principal of it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I HAVE A MIGHTY NEED TO HUG THIS BOY. LOOK, HE'S CRYING!

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Pence is so cute. I didn't care much for him when I was younger but he's such a cutie. 

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I HAVE A MIGHTY NEED TO HUG THIS BOY. LOOK, HE'S SAD!

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It's fat cat Pete. For like ever, I had no idea he was a cat. Wonder what Maleficent saw in him to ally with him.

The trinity trio laughing about killing (or at least taking part in killing) Maleficent. "She's toast!" this sure is early 2000's dialogue...

Heartless everywhere! "You mean the worlds aren't at peace after all" well, no sweetie. It takes time for things to recover from horrible events. *looks at current state of the real world*

So like, I had no idea Yen Sid was a Keyblade warrior??? I had read about that in his Wiki page when I googled if any Keyblade warriors were left handed. (Ven might be, but more likely ambidextrous) But I guess being Mickey's teacher would imply his Keyblade wielder roots but whatever, I didn't pay attention when I was a teenager.

Yen Sid's decor is baffling. What are these bookshelves? What are these BOOKS? They're huge!

Good on Yen Sid for using singular “they” pronouns in 2005.

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On to our change of wardrobe. Without a doubt Sora's best look in the whole series, in my humble opinion. Lookit my handsome boy. 

And Sora learns about drive forms, blah, blah, blah, powerful forms, gotta sacrifice something like in Duel Monsters, in this case an ally.

Yen Sid is so boring.

All seriousness and tension is just broken as soon as Goofy’s name is uttered, at least Sora and Donald have normal names wtf.

It’s interesting how like, 15 years later, Union X explains how Maleficent was able to return after her defeat. Something about, as long as someone from your original time remembers you and you have a physical object to represent you you’re able to basically some back from the dead. Right? Am I right on that? I haven’t played it but I’m hanging by a thread on this loop.

Sora’s hard work down the drain...

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Hollow Bastion! And of course there’s trouble. Heartless, Nobodies, and Yuffie, oh my!

A problem sequels have to work around is when the protagonist needs to relearn their abilities. KH does a well and good job with this one. In CoM, it’s a different battle style, in KH2 Sora’s been asleep for a hear prior.

Also, Merlin “leant” Sora some magic spells? How does that work? Like, once you learn it you can’t just... give that knowledge back...?

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How old is Leon? He has no right being this pretty.

Another ambush by Nobodies. Give it a rest, would ya? Battle ensues, Leon deals the final blow against an enemy, and as the camera usually does, zooms in on the victor and we get a nice slow-mo crotch shot of Leon. Thanks, game... Then, Xemnas’s very sexy, very manly voice echoes across town and the organization appears before our protagonists. I’m weak.

Demyx’s laugh, dude. I love it. Sora is ready to throw hands with anyone in his way. Honey, you’re barely out of a magic coma and this dude is like, two whole feet taller than you. Not to mention very fit.

I’m done thirsting over Xemnas...

After a few taunting words, the new villains depart, Donald attempts to give chase somehow? Where you gonna go? They disappeared behind dark corridors. It seems Goofy is still holding onto that shared brain cell.

The Bastard

I like the majority of the Organization. Xigbar is definitely one of my favorites based on this next scene alone. He’s so snarky and full of shit. I love it. He’s great. He was definitely a stoner at some point.

I’m confused though. “He used to give me that same exact look!” the Wiki says Xigbar’s talking about Ven but I always thought he was referring to Roxas? Did Braig and Ven have a history? That’s implied in Days (which released before BbS) IDK dude. I’m surprised I’ve gone this long without spoiling myself too much on BbS. Like, a few story beats here and there but a lot of it isn’t gonna be known until I play it.

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The dialogue for KH2 was so different from the first game. It dates itself so much in comparison.

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Xiggy stands like this for 7 whole seconds parting with a condescending “Be a good boy now!” before disappearing. I love this fucker.

Leon, who’s been sitting on the sidelines this whole time, joins Sora and the others after the real threat is gone. We chitchat for a little bit and say our goodbyes. It’s time to leave this place and move on to one of two available worlds.

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At the Beast's Castle. After fighting a hoard of Shadows, the least intimidating enemy in the series (although the demon tower in kh3 is quite frightening nlg), the Beast himself makes his appearance, takes out the Heartless that suddenly stop multiplying upon his arrival, disgracefully shoves his supposed friends aside, and takes his precious rose to the west wing, which is where it SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE FIRST PLACE. ADAM WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

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No joke one of the funniest actual gags in the whole series is:

*Donald Duck manhandling Cogsworth*

Cut to Sora saying "I'm glad you're OK." to Lumiere

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OK the minigame where you gotta light the magic torches, why do we have to make sure Cogsworth  has enough strength to keep the lever down when we have two perfectly capable companions that can hold it down instead? I remember this sequence being a lot more annoying when I was a teen.

Xaldin's voice makes me feel things. Ahhh he sounds so tired lol. He peaces out and we fight the Beast. I remember getting him to calm down being harder.

"Xaldin used my anger to control me!" Says Beast. He angers very easily so this must have been a cinch. Xaldin's been obsessed with him since Days so I would imagine this intel would come in handy.

More fodder to fight and on to the boss. Phase one is just an angrier version of the Darkball Heartless. Phase two is just skinny Ganon. I like its design though.

“Belle, I’m sorry. I wasn’t myself, being all rude and overall kind of a jackass to you and my servants” Except that’s kinda how you’ve always been lmao. Just because you couldn’t choose not to be an ass here doesn’t change that this IS in character. Still gotta work on that a bit.

“You don’t have to apologize” No, no he still does.

They all reconcile and the Trinity Trio departs until Xaldin shows up again to wreak more havoc.

Time to move on to the next world.

[ryusoraiko]

Please wait and read this! (spoilers for 3D and kh3 (only what's given in the official trailer))

It's about Saix – yeah, old „I don't have feelings and feel perfectly fine about Xehanort's plan” Saix. But does he really think it? 

Please hear me out because I don't think that's the whole truth.

In my opinion he still appreciates his friendship with Axel. I even go so far to say that he wants to protect him. Yes, he doesn't show it like the “normal human” does but there are moments where it's quite obvious. Why? Well, let me show you!

The German BBS journal entry about Isa states that he is rather cold towards everyone except Lea. They have to have a real tight bond. He even laughed!

Then there is good old 358/2 days. Let's go through it in the chronological order.

Day 23: cutscene with Axel and Saix. Saix says he has a massage from Xemnas that there are traitors among the members who are going to castle oblivion and Axel needs to find and dispose of them.

Axel answers with a somewhat question: “I trust, that really came from Lord Xemnas himself.”

Why should he say this?

Maybe because both or at least Saix is working against Xemnas – or trying to. Why? Let's talk about that later – got it memorized?

Day 72: Saix visits Axel in his bedroom and they are talking about what happened in castle oblivion. At one point Axel says that Saix knew all along what's going on and after Saix left he just says “I moved things along just the way you wanted... at least for now.”

Annihilating the traitors was Saix's plan? Why would he do something like this without Xemnas' explicit permission? ← Talking about working against Xemnas.

Day 117: Again, Axel's bedroom. Saix is asking what Xion is doing and Axel replies – rather pissed – that he doesn't spy on her and that he don't have to report to him about his friends.

I dunno, it just seems like both of them have their own little agenda going on. It all seems so mysterious.

Well, it doesn't end there. Axel even says, “As far as the castle goes, you're the one who really wants to go there. By finding the room that Xemnas is searching for... You would find out everything about Xemnas's true agenda. Am I right?”

At this point, 3D jumps in because: Saix already know his true agenda. Making all of them vessels for Xehanort blah blah blah. But still, why does he take the chance that Axel might find out instead by finding the chamber? It's just not like him.

Saix answers with “The Chamber of Repose as well as the Chamber of Waking... Xemnas has an agenda he hasn't told to anybody. And we are bound to find some clues in the Chamber of Waking. And once we obtain those clues, we'll have the upper hand for our own objectives.”

Right, like I said: he knows about his true plan, Xiggy knows but... that's not the point here. The point is: It can't get any more obvious that Saix is planning something – something against Xemnas.

Sure, he might just wanna find those Chambers to help Xemnas but like Saix said: should they find it before him, they could just steal sleeping beauty Ventus and hide him somewhere else. (okay, that's really only my own opinion with no proof except that Saix wants to protect Axel).

Day 118: Saix and Axel meet again – but this time in a hallway. Saix remarks that Axel gets too attached to Roxas and Xion and that he has changed and just goes away. Jealousy calling there *wink*

Day 172: Both of them meet again in the hallway. Axel accuses Saix that he isn't honest with him and wants to know about Xion. Saix replies without a second thought “Do you mean just like you are always honest with me?” You know it. That's pure jealousy. It shouldn't bother him, right? Riiiiiiight?

Day 175 (I think? Not sure if that's right): Xion collapsed, Axel and Roxas bringing her back, meeting Saix. Saix asks if it's broken again and Axel answers “keep your mouth shut.” After those three are gone: “You have changed.[...] Does the past mean nothing to you?”

So basically: Their shared past still means something to Saix. He keeps those memories treasured, which means he stills sees Axel as a friend – or as his best friend.  

Day 299: My favorite scene which actually triggered my obsession with the belief that Saix still holds his friendship to Axel close. “If you could save one of them... why would you choose the puppet? Or put it this way. Which would you rather suffer the loss of: some make believe-friendship, or a real one? [...] There is simply too much on the line, Lea.”

First, I thought Saix was talking about choosing Xion or Roxas but why should he care? They don't have feelings, right?

Saix shouldn't be bothered – but over time (and thanks to 3D) I realized he was talking about Axel's friendship with Roxas and Xion or with Saix. Because, let's be honest: No matter how you put it: even Roxas is a “make believe-friendship because of those “Nobodies don’t have feelings” agenda and the fact that Sora is still out there. Now, he could have said it to make Axel feel remorse but let's be honest: he's jealous. Just pure jealousy and this cold guy just can't express it better.

Now the last thing for 358/2 days: We had to fight Saix in order to escape from the Organization XIII, right? Why was it so easy?

Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed the fight and I just loved fighting against Saix but... he never really used his Berserker-mode, did he? He could have stopped us easily but we still got away rather fast.

Maybe because he respected Axel's feelings? Perhaps because he knew the escape was fruitless, but to have one or none keyblade wielder? I'd choose to have one and just beat him unconscious to get him back instead of letting him run off. I'm sure he did it for Axel – somehow. Just don't take away my belief!

Finally moving on to the next game – Dream Drop Distance. Not really much Saix-quality-scene but some other things I want to mention!

First of all: Nobodies have hearts? They don't remember their feelings – they actually feel them. Point for my “Saix still clings to his 'old' friendship with Axel”-theory. It's much easier to be attached to something if you know that it isn't just a memory but actual feelings! And the best part: he knew it. He knew that he still has a heart and has feelings instead of memories – like the others thought.

Why? That's because of the second thing I want to mention: The real purpose of the Organization XIII: Make more Xehanorts. Or better: make more vessels for him.

Saix and Xigbar both knew about this because both have a part of Xehanort in them. That is why Saix had to know that he still has a heart and doesn’t remember his feelings but actually feel them. Which leads me back to my assumption that he's working against Xemnas – in a way – to protect Axel. Perhaps even sacrificed himself and took a part of Xehanort just to have Axel spared? That's really just speculation – and I don't have any proof but that's what I believe. Why else would you give up yourself and keep going?

Now to the trailers that send my mind spiraling down this line: Kingdom Hearts 3 Teaser. We're reaching the end here!

The extended big hero 6 trailer was the first time I doubted everything I thought/knew about Saix. Don't get me wrong – I love him since 358/2 days. At the end (3:15) multiple, short scenes are shown.

One of them is a scene where Axel – I mean Lea – is sitting on top of the train station in Twilight Town where he and Roxas used to eat their ice cream together, and Saix comes around the corner. Why? Why would he go there? Why even visit/search him? What does he want?

Well, we don't get an answer. At least not in this trailer. You can't even say that Ax-- Lea has invited him or something like that because he seemed too surprised/shocked.

At last there is the Final Battle Trailer. Again, there are two scenes I want to mention. The first one is the “continuation” of the Twilight Town scene. It's at 2:15. Saix and Lea sitting there, Lea has two ice cream in his hands and Saix sits peacefully beside him.

First of all: Why does Lea have 2 ice creams? I mean... I'm pretty sure he wasn't expecting Saix to show up. Did Saix bring it? Well, I don't know and I don't want to dwell on this little fact – just wanted to say that it's weird! What Saix says is more important: “In time I awaken to a new purpose.”

Why is he saying it? It sounds like some kind of goodbye. As in a final goodbye. He doesn't even have a reason to go to Lea and tell him this. They are on two different sides now, aren't they? Saix isn't acting like we got to know him in 358/2 days or KH2!

Second scene is at 2:53. Lea is standing in front of Xemnas and berserker-mode Saix. Well, to make it short and painless: Lea's getting finished off by Xemnas' “Finisher” and Saix is just standing there, watching. Just watching. …

Something seems wrong, doesn't it? Could be because berserker-Saix can't control himself and just attacks. Like everything – maybe not Xemnas but pretty much everything else. You can even see this when you fight him during KH2. He's just thrashing around the place and even throws his weapon through the room (more or less). My point here: He can't control his anger and I doubt he got anti-aggression therapy. There can me so many reasons why he's standing there like a statue. For example, Xemnas or some real training to have more control when in berseker mode but I doubt it. Given all those moments I listed, I think he cares about Lea and doesn't want to be the cause of his death. I’ll go so far to say that he wanted or still wants to protect him but he can't just attack Xemnas, can he? So he just controls him really hard to just. Stay. Still.

To summon everything up: Saix feels more than he shows and still cherishes his (old) friendship with Axel/Lea – maybe even misses it. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes out that he did everything to protect Lea and there is something fishy. I just don't know what. Need to play KH3, I suppose.

If you made it so far: congrats and thank you! Never thought someone would read my rambling.

[candi-girl]

KH3: Hollower Than Any Toy Review **Minor Spoilers**

I just beat KH3 yesterday. I came out of it feeling a bit disappointed. The game is beautiful and the mechanics are still fun but everything from the story to the boss fights felt a bit lackluster. The last boss fights were extremely easy and did not feel as epic to me as KH2's last boss fights. In fact, I liked KH2's ending way more. I haven't played KH2 in years and I still remember exactly how it goes and how I felt after beating it. After what felt like an eternity of reflecting and deflecting light beams back at Xemnas, Sora and a badly wounded Riku sit hopelessly on the shores of the Realm of Darkness. Suddenly a letter in a bottle with a familiar seal emerges from the dark sea. A light shines, a slowed down piano version of "Sanctuary" plays and we are back in the welcoming and colorful world of Destiny Islands. Donald and Goofy lovingly embrace Sora. His eyes then lock-on to Kairi's, Roxas and Namine's eyes follow suit. This felt wayyyy more emotional than KH3's ending which I struggle to remember even though I beat it today.

Before I go any further, I feel I must preface this especially for a post about KH. No, I haven’t played all the spin-off games but I AM A PASSIONATE FAN of the main games in the series. I played the first one for PS2 at 11 when it came out and I was absolutely blown away and in love. I played KH2 at about 14 and got sucked in all over again. In college, I would play Birth By Sleep in between classes. I played 1.5 for PS3 sometime in college as well. Most recently at 27, I played 0.2 from the "The Story So Far" bundle for PS4. I have tried playing Chain of Memories numerous times on an emulator but couldn't stand the Card System and never got very far or finished it. I've also tried 358/2 on an emulator and I've even tried watching it but never got far with it either. I have skipped Re-coded altogether and as soon as I saw the Dream Eaters Link mechanic in DDD I stopped playing that too. I have played a little bit of the mobile KH game but not for long. Suffice it to say, I'm not into mobile games or games for portable devices. The only 2 games I can recall that I have beaten on a portable device (besides Pokemon games on Gameboy) are Birth By Sleep and FFVII: Crisis Core (both PSP). Generally, I get more immersed in games on a TV screen.

Okay so background out of the way, here is what bothers me about KH3 and probably why KH3's ending didn't make me feel as much as KH2's ending. And let me just say, I know this might not be a problem for others who have played all the games, read all the news and external books, probably follow Nomura on Twitter but I don't do that. When it comes to gaming, here is my process: I see a cool game, I want it, I buy it, I play it, I judge whether I like it based on the content in the game, nothing external. I don't follow any gaming news or actively pursue it. If I happen to have the time I’ll watch E3 and hear about things here and there but mostly, when I pick-up a game, I'm hoping it can be self-contained. So, knowing that about me, you can see why I absolutely loathe that if you haven't played KH DDD, KH Recoded, KH 358/2 Days, KH X (the Foretellers lore stuff) you're missing out on like 3/4 of the story.

Chain of Memories being between KH1 and KH2 irked me but I forgave it because the characters and story were still basically the same. Lock keyholes to protect various worlds from being consumed by darkness, help characters in those various worlds with their problem, stop main baddy from opening up Kingdom Hearts, and don't forget that friends are your strength and light. Nothing is wrong with keeping a story “Simple and Clean” and in fact, I think if a story is simple you can focus on making stronger character arcs and make the game super character driven so that the dangerous stuff that happens to characters IS actually scary and emotional! (Side Note: I also believe that because of the association with Disney, the KH franchise feels like it cannot tackle more mature themes like actual death of loved ones, failure, betrayal, etc. which really holds back what a game about the Heart could explore in a more serious, sophisticated manner. However, games like “Ni No Kuni” still find ways to talk about death, depression and grief in ways that are appropriate for younger audiences so it’s possible to do it, KH!)  

And I know that KH3 pokes fun at itself for having so many different titles in the franchise and I know it tries to get you up to speed but it cheapens the experience when SO MUCH of the story-telling and lore heavily relies on externalities and not the self-contained game. It seriously becomes a hindrance and emotional barrier when #1 I don't know know what's going on (or don’t understand/feel the extent and impact of something that's supposed to be dangerous), #2 don't know characters well enough to care about them and #3 there are no real stakes in the KH world because every game you fight the same goddamn enemies. I don't know all the Organization members like the back of my hand so their deaths don't do anything for me plus you fight them at least twice throughout the series (maybe even more) so that shows that they can always come back. The rules and logic in KH are very fast and loose. It's like playing a game with a child and when they are losing they make something up. And all this "I think I should know this character but I don't remember" dialogue is so cheap. Stop with the amnesia story-lines! Games like Chain of Memories and Re-Coded, that are made for portable devices are made to hold fans over until the big main game comes out. Let’s be real, KH: Re-Coded might as well be called “KH: Re-Sell” because it’s KH one all over again but on the DS. Now there’s nothing wrong with a company re-branding and re-selling a product if they know fully-well that there is a market for it (in the words of Cutler Beckett, “it’s just good business”) but for the love of all things good, DO NOT PLACE INTEGRAL plot points in them that the main games will gloss over. And don't expect me to read Jiminy’s Journal! 

Who is this game for? It plays like a casual game but feels like beginning a story at it’s falling action point. I can’t imagine being a newcomer to this series and playing this game and understanding it. I played the game super slowly, exploring each Disney world thoroughly, trying to take it all in but there is so little KH story given throughout the game. Once I moved on to the Badlands, the actual main KH plot began to unfold. When I first started playing KH3, my gf (who has only played a few hours of the first KH) asked me "so why are you going to other worlds if you're not locking keyholes?" I stumbled on my words to give her an answer. I replied "Sora needs to regain his strength and get the power of waking." She nodded but I knew it sounded kind of stupid. "He looks pretty powerful already!" She said as she watched me defeat hordes of enemies in the first world, Olympus. And that was another thing. I felt super overpowered from the beginning all the way up until the end. When fighting Xehanort all I could think was "that's it?" The game is all about Sora regaining his lost powers and learning the power of waking but you start off super powerful anyway. 

This may be a bit of a tangent but in Final Fantasy X, Yuna started off as the weakest, most feeble, docile character in personality and combat as she is just a white mage. I avoided using her at all costs. I had Lulu for black magic and switched Yuna in only when I really needed Protective magic or healing. However, by the end of the game, Yuna with her fully decked out Nirvana staff, third tier white and black magic, double-cast, and ultima became my most valuable and dangerous character. Not only does she literally become stronger in combat, but her (dare I say it) heart becomes stronger too. She becomes bolder and braver. She starts questioning her religion and the society and world she grew up in. She grows in every sense of the word. Yuna’s character trajectory is one of the most poetic I’ve ever seen and experienced in a game and I absolutely love that it’s FELT both in the combat of the game AND the story. I guess the point I’m trying to make is there should be growth in the character’s development but also growth in the game mechanics and combat. FFX is a game that intertwined both forms of growth organically and I think KH3 really should’ve done that as well. Starting off weak and THEN becoming powerful enough to take on the big baddy in the ending rewards the players for their efforts and also feels way more satisfying. Also, a certain character that begins with “K” and ends with “airi” could’ve EASILY been the Yuna of this game. But once again KH3 repeats the same old ideas over and over again. Also, speaking of Final Fantasy, where are my Final Fantasy characters in KH3??

I know this sounds like a negative review but overall, I actually did enjoy playing KH3 and it was great to see all my favs and like I always say, it always feels like home. I'm definitely not done yet (gotta synthesize ultima, collect all treasures and lucky emblems, reach level 99, and maybe play some mini-games). But ultimately it did not have that emotional impact on me like the first 2 KH's. Maybe I AM too old and broken. Maybe when I replay it one day I'll feel differently. Anyway, see you in 2040 when KH4 comes out!

[slowbladed]

you know with kh3 ended, the xehanort chronicles finished i have a lot of thoughts on my history, my experiences, my memories...

i got into the game in july of 2017. i got it on amazon, i sat down and just played it. it took me about a week to finish everything except 2.8. i normally dont really do that with video games. in fact, kingdom hearts is the first game that really pulled me in like that. and i always found it funny.

see, growing up, i didn’t have a ps2, or a gba, or a ds. but my godparents did, and my god brother wanted to desperately show me kh1. and i did. i played it and i couldnt get past any of the worlds. so i kind of just put it to the side and forgot about it. i was maybe 5. a year or so later, he tried again with kh2. i played it, and i would always play roxas’s story. i just loved roxas and loved doing skate tricks. but otherwise i watched him play it, and one day he gave me his gba+chain of memories to play for a bit. i got lost, but i met larxene and was big gay. and i remember, i remember my friend playing kh2, and getting stuck at demyx and beating it for him. i remember loading up my old ps2 kh2 save file that someone played on and fighting xemnas. for a long time i had a kh2 poster. kh1 was the first cd i ever got. simple and clean was something i listened to all the time, both the orchestra and the opening.

my memory is awful. i dont remember much of anything from my childhood because of severe abuse growing up. many memories, both good and bad, i oppressed because of how awful it was. but its funny, i still remember that feeling of happiness hearing sora talk about hearts and things. and i always found it funny that kh is one of the things that stick in my heart, and it wasn’t even the game that kept me together through my childhood (that goes out to halo). i still remember getting lost in agrabah in com. i still remember fighting xemnas for the first time. i still remember all these things, but most of my childhood is just gone. you can argue that the reason i focus so much on memories in my writing, that i think so much on this is because im trying to fill the hole of my childhood.

when i was 13, i met one of my long time friends on tumblr. he’d always say “please get into kh” and i would reply “maybe one day”. even funnier, i only bought kh because toy story was confirmed in it. i love toy story, and thats the thing that made me go “yeah, ill get into the series. ill do it for toy story”. i was 19.

of course my friends joked “pt youre finally getting into it!” “it only took you 15 years” “i think your favorite character will be xion, marluxia, etc” and i laughed at them. i told them “xion wont be my favorite” “im only doing it for toy story” but.. part of me feels like i wasnt. part of me feels like i was doing it to reconnect with my childhood. and this is the first time im really admitting it. that part of me missed that nostagia. 

i sat down and played it. and i dont know what happened, but i kept playing it. i kept playing it because, even if kh1 wasnt great, there was something to it. i fell in love with marluxias character, but there was one character that resonated with me the most: xion.

and it might sound so stupid, it might sound so fucking STUPID but my biggest fear is being forgotten. my belief is that, even if i die, if people remember me deep in their hearts that i wont die. that ill live on and once people have forgotten me that is when i’d truly will die. man, i even had this idea before i got into kh and i thought it was so DUMB growing up. but seeing xion, seeing her based so much on memories, eating ice cream, laughing with her friends, being abused by the organization, then being forgotten, it resonated so deeply inside me. people think i joke when i say i cried whenever xion comes on screen, but she means so much to me. i guess you could even say that i see her as a reflection of myself. that the reason i cry, the reason i resonate with her, is because i understand how she feels. and its so dumb! its so dumb but its how i feel.

and... then i beat all the games. i beat them and talked to my friends. i made this blog. i made new friends. i became even closer to friends i lost contact with. i reached out to them with kh and we fell back with our usual BS as if a day never went by. we laughed, we cried... one friend that was on call with me through KH2, one that i fell a little out of contact with, cried with me when i beat kh2.

i still remember... i still remember crying when roxas and axel sat on the clock tower. eating ice cream. i dont know why. i didnt even watch days yet. i didnt even like axel. i didnt even get roxas. but that scene always stuck out to me. something about it...

i still remember screaming “THATS NOT RIKU!” when kairi revealed ansem underneath the hood. i remember singing awfully out of tune simple and cleans. i remember joking with my friend “hey that looks like castle oblivion!” in the bbs opening and him laughing at me when that part was revealed. i remember dreaming of xigbar serving me food at a restaurant and my friend telling me something important is going to happen august 28th and sure enough lauriam is revealed

and, this has gotten so long. im a giant sap. im a giant emotional sap that has been so affected by kingdom hearts that watching the current one end and seeing a new one open makes me almost wish i could live in his bubble where i could always experience the first time playing it. im a big sap that wants to finally get all my thoughts, all my emotions down, but even i know that no matter what words i use it can never convey what i want to say. im that one guy who, at the end of kh3 cried so hard and for so long because its over, some of these characters ill never see again. im that idiot that cried midway writing this.

im genuinely sad its over. not in a bittersweet way but just outright sad. but i have to remember that even if i played those games all those years ago, that even if i wont be able to feel that feeling playing the games for the first time, that it gave me... some semblance of a childhood. i was able to experience new things like a kid would. to follow sora through the games and watch him grow up. and its dumb, maybe, but.... thinking about it.... i think thats why the game has made me feel this way. even if i didnt wait years between releases. even if i only waited 1 year for kh3... its still a valid experience and a valid emotion.

this has gotten so long but... a lot of this stuff i never really talked about, or even admitted to anyone or myself and having this small piece of media end makes me sad to no end but. BUT.... i kind of got back something that i was missing. even if artificial, its still real to me.

[rxcusant]

Lol explain Kingdom hearts to me. Like all of it. Cause I'm confused as fk. Not KH3 tho cause I'm still going through it.

buckle up lads

so theres a buncha keyblade masters called foretellers and theyre all runnin round like headless chickens cause their master disappeared and nobodys telling each other anything so they all start fightin (except this one guy luxu voiced by max mittleman, he grabbed a box and high tailed it outta there) and then it sparks a keyblade war for all the light in kingdom hearts i think ??? and then i legit forget what happens from here because i hate ux with every fiber of my being but it made this cool place called a keyblade graveyard, its pretty dope.

fast forward 1000 years and we got the cool wayfinder trio all living in land of departure about to take their mark of mastery except terra doesnt pass because Mark Hamil Said Darkness Sucks. also we meet this old guy Xehanort he kinda sucks a lot. theres these enemies called unversed rolling around and mark hamil tells aqua and terra to go stop them but ventus said HEY IM COMING TO and ran after terra so aquas left to be the mom to bring them both home idk and its revealed ventus is made of pure light and xehanort literally split the darkness form his heart and it made vanitas-- hes responsible for all the unversed, he sucks, we dont like him but we love him-- in an effort to forge this thing called the X-Blade (PRONOUNCED LIKE KEY BLADE I HATE THIS SERIES) that will open the door to kingdom hearts, and the x-blade can only be made when pure light and darkness clash, and like... restart the keyblade war and bring about balance?? idk. And xehanort wants to live long enough to see this happen so he literally possesses terras body. Cool! Just what the poor guy needed. Ven and vanitas fight and ven sacrifices himself so he goes to take a Very Long Nap and vanitas just dies like the bitch he is. But ven’s heart finds his way to baby 5yo sora who decides HEY ILL HOARD YOU IN MY HEART FOR THE NEXT 11 YEARS and thats why roxas looks like ventus. Aqua yeets him in the land of departure and then like..locks the world up and it turns into castle oblivion.  meanwhile terra and aqua punch each other and terras about to fall into a darkness pit but aqua sacrifces heself to get him out and so she ends up trapped there for 11 years and terra??is now terranort and has amnesia and this old dude Ansem The Wise finds him and adopts him and an apprentice. yeah. bet he wont regret that decision ; )

10 years later kh1 happens and sora and riku and kairi are chilling on destiny islands until it explodes and riku fucks off to the darkness and kairi fucks off to soras hearts -- i hope she said hi to ventus in there-- and sora ends up in traverse town where he meets donald and goofy. YOU SEE king mickey of disney castle also fucked off because worlds are disappearing to darkness and he left donald and goofy a note to go find The Key cause thatll help. so they do and they journey around with sora and become good buddies i love the trinity trio so much. eventually they meet riku at hollow bastion again and hes been posssessed by this dude Ansem whos not Ansem the Wise but is actually Xehanort’s Heartless (i hate this fucking series) and they find kairis comatose body chillin in the corner and they have a fight scene thats engraved in the memory of Everyone whos ever played PS2 KH1 KAIRI! KAIRI! OPEN YOUR EYES! ITS NO USE. THAT GIRL HAS LOST HER HEART. SHE CANNOT WAKE UP. oh my god why didnt they add a skip scene button. anyway they punch the possession outta riku and sora stabs himself with the keyblade to release kairis heart BUT it also releases his own heart which created his nobody, Roxas, who got vens heart???who thats why he looks like ven?? and it created namine who is kairis nobody because??i honestly forget i hate this goddamn series. anyway soras a heartless for a few minutes but kairi got her heart and life back and wanted to get some sweet sweet screentime and so she saved sora and restored him Thank you kairi. so sora dumps kairi off at traverse town and goes to give Ansem / Xehanort’s Heartless a good ol ass whopping ad they win and restore the worlds but kairi and sora are separated again I’LL COME BACK TO YOU, I PROMISE! I KNOW YOU WILL! WHEN YOU WALK AWAY YOU DONT HEAR ME SAY PLEAAAAAAASE OH BABYYY DONT GO oh also riku and king mickey and sora closed the door to kingdom hearts and trapped riku and mickey in the realm of darkness, that was a thing.

and then chain of memories happened. theyre in castle oblivion!!! whoa!! we meet the organization for the first time! whoa!!! we meet namine!! whoa!!! so like namine has sora-memory powers and can tinker with his memories and the memories of everyone hes connected to (AND HOLY FUCK IS THAT BOY CONNECTED TO A LOTTA PEOPLE NAMINE IS VERY POWERFUL) and the organization is making namine rewrite soras memories as he progresses throuhg castle oblivion to turn him into marluxias pawn so he cna use sora to like..overhtrow the organization, i think?? i hate this seriees. but it all works out in the end except soras memories are so scrambled he decides to sleep for a year to get all the right ones back. MEANWHILE RIKUS IN THE BASEMENT OF CASTLE OBLIVION and hes fighting his own demons i mean darkness i mean ansem i mean xehanorts heartless and he meet up with mickey a few times and then he meets DiZ and he also meets a replica of himself--yeah by the way the organization is making replicas, That Sure Wont Ever Be Referenced Again : )-- and its this game that rikus like YEAH I CAN USE THE DARKNESS AS POWER AND STRENGTH and HES GONNA WALK THE ROAD TO DAWN and then every riku rper put dawn in their url and i got confused trying to keep them all straight lord please help me im a little ol sammi

then we have 358/2 days for the DS which i never replayed cause it was tedious af which is all about the organization and roxas’s time in the organization and meeting his best buds axel and xion and saix standing in the corner being a jealous little binch PLEASE SAIX JUST BE NICE THEYLL GIVE YOU ICE CREAM TOO IF YOU ASK POLITELY Xion is another replica except shes a replica of sora but something got messed up and she got his memories of kairi which is why she looks like her but with black hair for whatever reason, i think nomura just wanted a cool goth girl to add to the series and we all thank him for it, and she and roxas become so close they kinda start influencing that weird memory shit going on and xion keeps trying to leave the organization to set things right but axel always gets stuck with the icky jobs and we got the iconic GO ON YOU JUST KEEP RUNNIN BUT ILL ALWAYS BE THERE TO BRING YOU BACK and i think around this time roxas is also super fed up with the organization and decides FUCK YALL IM DONE and punches saix and leaves. but xion finds him and they have a cool boss battle sequence got i love you xion you are a POWERHOUSE but roxas defeats her and she dies and its the saddest thing in the world AND NOBODY REMEMBERS HER WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT ABOUT!!!! anyway roxas decides hes gonna punch kingdom hearts next cause it was xions last wish but riku, who is sporting a cool blindfold for edge, is like HEY WE NEED YOU TO WAKE UP SORA and roxas is all SORA THIS SORA THAT I DONT GIVE A FUCK and tey fight! and riku loses cause roxas has two keybladees! OBLIVION IS THE BEST KEYBLADE IT LOOKS SUPER COOL I LOVE IT SO MUCH WOW but riku rips off his blindfold and summons the darkness and he takes on ansems, xehanorts heartless, appearance and he squeezes roxas until he passes out and then they yeeted roxas into a data twilight town for a few days.

so enter kh2 with the 6 hours roxas tutorial in the data twilight town until he goes to find sora and returns to him. SO FINALLY AFTER AN ENTIRE YEAR sora wakes up with all his proper memories and so does donald and goofy and theyre like COOL LETS GO FIND RIKU AND KING MICKEY and they go journeying around the worlds again to stop the organization. meanwhile axels gettin desperate to see his best friend for life roxas again and kidnaps kairi but shes like HEY I AINT HAVING THAT and runs off and ends up in twilight town but axel finds her and kidnaps her anyway but then saix kidnaps her to the world that never was. and so soras like WE GOTTA GO SAVE KAIRI AND RIKU NOW cause by the way earlier like midpoint of the game maybe Mickey was like SAY FELLAS DID SOMEONE MENTION THE DOOR TO DARKNESS and its one of my favorite quotes in this hell franchise, so like THYE KNOW KING MICKEY IS OK that just leaves kairi and riku and stopping the organization. so they find kairi and they find riku and sora cries a bit and im just happy the destiny trio is together again. And DiZ showed up again, hes actually ansem the wise, and he talks about computers and hearts and research and xemnas, the organizations leader, is likeI WAS YOUR APPRENTICE! BUT YOU DIDNT LET ME DO ILLEGAL HUMAN EXPERIMENT SON HEARTS SO I KICKED YOU OUT AND RREMOVED MY OWN HEART AND THATS WHY THERES A HEARTLESS AND A NOBODY OF XEHANORT and ansem the wise is like YEAH BITCH and he explodes and riku turns back to normal but he also really needs a haircut. so they go punch xemnas in his zebra coat and riku and sora chill in the realm of darkness for about ten minute son the beach, i guess aqua was hanging out somewhere else, and they get a message form kairi in a bottle and the door to light opens and they go home and it was literally!!!!! a better fucking ending!!!! than kh3!!!!!!!!! thats my tea!!!!!!

so then we have KH3D, dream drop distance, which begins telling us��‘hey when you kill a heartless and a nobody that person is gonna be recompleted so uhhhhh xehanorts coming back Thats Not Good, make sora and riku do their mark of mastery test in the realm of sleep to get the power of waking’ and thats the whole game but its great because flowmotion! dream eaters!  TWEWY TWEWY TWEWY T W E W Y!!!!!! playable riku!!! fun worlds!!! soriku!!! except KH3D’s fatal flaw is THEY INTRODUCED TIME TRAVEL INTO THIS FUCKING COMPLEX HELL HOLE I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THEM FOR THAT. anyway rikus been doing a great hecking job!!!! except sora ended up in twtnw and kept chasing the dreams into the deepest pit of slumber and the organization broke his heart so they use him as one of xehanorts vessels [gesutres to my blog with will smith arms] yeeah babey. and riku is understandably like HEY GIVE ME MY FRIEND BACK and xehanort is like FUCK OFF TWINK and mickey and donald and goofy and axel, whos been recompleted as lea, arrive and steal comatose sora back form xehanort and xehanort monologues about the X-Blade split into 20 pieces- 7 of light, 13 of darkness- and so hes gonna make 13 vessels of darkness with his heart inside them and the guardians of light gotta gather 7 lights to clash and bringg about the keyblade war or bring about kingdom hearts, i-- i literally hate this series so much Why do you think i went on a year long hiatus??? i needed to calm the fuck down-- either way xehanort yeets off with his darknesses and soras STILL comatose and rikus like I WILL DIVE INTO HIS SLEEP AND SAVE HIM BECAUSE DEARLY BELOVED IS PLAYING AND if i continue this joke someones bound to get mad at me for ‘’’pushign a soriku agenda’’’ BUT YKNOW WHAT, RIKUS A REAL MVP AND PUNCHES A NIGHTMARE VEN AND SAVES SORA AND SORA HUGS HIM AND ITS GREAT AND I LOVE MY SONS SO MUCH and the kh3d ends with them saying ‘hey look kairis gonna do something!’ but Little Did We Know.

and thats your summary of what the fuck happened in kingdom hearts. i hate this game so much.

[themattress]

Ah, see, a chapter from this crappy book was put online.

Many comments down below argue against it, point out what’s wrong with it, and deconstruct its main thesis....but I feel I can do it better, so that’s what I’m going to use this post to do.

When I played Kingdom Hearts II for the first time, one moment stuck with me above all else.

Wow, OK, so this one moment (the Sora/Riku yaoi bait moment) stood out above all other of the many magnificent, memorable moments in the game to you, did it now? Goes to show where your priorities are, and they are NOT where most KH players’ are. But yeah, you’re such a KH “expert” whom we should totally take seriously. After all, you wrote a book! 

Before the final string of boss battles, after reuniting with Kairi—a brief hug and the murmured words “this is real”—Sora prepares to continue his trek through The World That Never Was to find Xemnas. Ansem, tall and ominous in his black coat, watches this exchange from a dozen feet away. Silently, he turns and begins to walk away, only for Kairi to run after him and demand, “Riku, don’t go.”

LIE! This is NOT how the moment went at all. The hug was not “brief” - Kairi throws herself at Sora out of pure emotion, hugs him, says “this is real”, and then Sora, recovering from the surprise, closes his eyes dramatically and emotionally as she hugs Kairi back, tightly. This shared hug lasts long enough for Donald and Goofy, our resident in-game Sora/Kairi shippers, to nonverbally react to it with happiness. This moment is given respect and weight, and it only falls flat for you because you don’t care about Kairi or Sora/Kairi.  Sora also does NOT “prepare to continue his trek”, he and Kairi both only get snapped out of the hug when “Ansem” tries to leave. Also, let’s see how long it takes for you to gloss over Kairi’s role in making the reunion happen, even when you admit Riku would have left if not for her. 

(Btw, the hug and Sora crying on his knees both lasted the same amount: 20 seconds.)

Sora spends every free moment he has in Kingdom Hearts looking for Riku, inquiring with everyone he meets about his whereabouts and lamenting his absence.

LIE! This is NOT what Sora does with “every free moment” he has. There are other friends he genuinely wants to catch up with, other people he doesn’t particularly need to help but does, mini-games he wants to play...oh, and after Kairi is kidnapped, he also asks about her in addition to Riku, even to the point of getting on his knees and begging Saix to take him to her. Nobody’s arguing that Riku isn’t very important to Sora, but you are very deliberately and dishonestly slanting things to make it look like he’s all he cares about to boost your argument.

But the moment Kairi speaks Riku’s name, Sora’s face twists, displaying a confusion and pain we haven’t seen before. 

LIE! Sora’s face is first one of “WTF!?” surprise, and then of just-plain incredulous confusion - he doesn’t immediately believe that “Ansem” is Riku and is likely wondering if Kairi’s lost her mind. And really? We haven’t seen these expressions from Sora before? You need to replay this game which you believe yourself to be such an expert at that you write a book about it.

A slow, almost mournful song plays in the background as Sora closes his eyes, and looks past Ansem’s guise to Riku, the friend he has so desperately searching for. 

Aaand you neglect to mention that it’s because of Kairi’s powers that he is able to look past Ansem’s guise to Riku, and that as the song plays in the background, we see all three friends joining hands. Heaven forbid you imply that Kairi means anything to Sora and Riku.

Taking Riku’s hand in both of his, Sora falls to his knees. “It’s Riku. Riku’s here!” he cries, weeping and visibly shaking. “I looked for you! I looked everywhere for you!” The scene reminds me of a moment earlier in Kingdom Hearts II, where Saix kidnaps Kairi. Saix calls Kairi “the fire that feeds Sora’s anger,” assuming that harming the girl will rankle Sora, leaving him emotionally vulnerable. This statement is wildly incorrect: Sora’s fervor for Riku far outweighs his fervor for Kairi—or for anyone else in the game. Riku is Sora’s fire.

LIE! The scene it SHOULD have reminded you of is when Saix tells Sora that he has Kairi, at Hollow Bastion. Sora pleads with him to take him to her. Saix asks if she’s that important to him, and he replies “Yeah! More than anything!”  Saix says “Show me how important” and Sora...falls to his knees, pathetically prostrating himself before Saix, whimpering “Please.” 

When Saix then replies “No”, Sora jumps up, visibly shaking and with a sob in his voice as he yells “YOU ROTTEN...!” Very clearly, Kairi IS Sora’s fire just as much as Riku is, and harming her WILL rankle him and leave him emotionally vulnerable, which it did seeing as he had to fight his way through Heartless, despite knowing the consequences of doing so at this point, in order to reach her, and when he saw Kairi again he got distracted and was ambushed by Heartless that Kairi has to rescue him from. Leaving this info out is dishonest as fuck.

Sora and Riku’s reunion is the big emotional payoff of Kingdom Hearts II, while meeting up with Kairi doesn’t even get a fraction of this attention.

Because Sora and Kairi’s reunion in the original Kingdom Hearts was already ITS big emotional payoff. It receiving as much attention this time around would make no narrative sense given that Kairi was only until recently safe and sound, whereas Riku has been missing and presumed dead for a long time, and Sora never got to fully reconcile with him before this happened. You need to consider the context when making your conclusions.

That’s because there is no traditional romance in Kingdom Hearts.

LIE! See here. Note that it includes Sora/Kairi and Roxas/Namine.

Rather, we get a picture of intimacy between two young men, two best friends. It’s exceedingly rare that any kind of media portrays non-romantic love between two boys so deeply

Except for literally almost every shonen manga/anime/game in existence ever, you clod.

As Kingdom Hearts’s main storywriter, Tetsuya Nomura seems keen on positive portrayals of male intimacy. He worked on the main premise of Final Fantasy VII, which featured a handful of close and complicated relationships between male characters. Cloud’s relationships with Zack and Sephiroth—two former brothers in arms—color our experience in his shoes. In Final Fantasy VIII, the rivalry between Seifer and Squall is borderline flirtatious, with Seifer’s antagonism towards Squall nearing obsessive. These male relationships would continue to play a role in future Final Fantasy games even without Nomura’s involvement—the camaraderie between Braska, Auron, and Jecht in Final Fantasy X, for instance, or the budding mutual reliance and respect between Snow and Hope in Final Fantasy XIII.

Nomura DID have involvement in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XIII, you CLOD!

The relationship between Sora and Riku is not the only intimate male friendship featured prominently in Kingdom Hearts II. There is also the bond between Axel and Roxas.

Oh, boy. Now you open up THIS can of worms. Why am I not surprised?

Throughout Kingdom Hearts II, we see the same flashback a handful of times: Roxas walking away from Axel and saying, “No one would miss me.” “That’s not true!” Axel shouts behind him, then drops his voice and murmurs, “I would.”

Um, we literally only see that flashback twice, and the part you referenced just once.

After encountering a brainwashed Roxas in Twilight Town, he is saddened to hear that his friend does not remember him. He becomes increasingly upset when Roxas continues not to cooperate with him, and in Roxas’s second fight with him it feels as though his anger is turned more on himself than on his former comrade. 

You just point out that Axel becomes increasingly upset when Roxas does not do what he, Axel, wants / needs of him, without considering at all whether it’s what Roxas himself wants / needs. That’s not a good thing. And no, Axel’s anger is absolutely on Roxas in the second fight. There is a glimpse of self-loathing as well, but he is able to overcome it and perform his duty as an assassin, willing to kill his friend so that he can avoid punishment from Xemnas. 

When we watch Roxas’s flashbacks of Axel pleading with him not to leave the Organization, we hear the sorrow in the latter’s voice as he says he’ll miss Roxas. Counter to everything the Organization has been led to believe, Roxas inspires true emotion in Axel: friendship, sorrow, understanding, compassion, love. If Nobodies can regrow their hearts, what emotion more powerful than love can jumpstart their reconstruction? Roxas is the driving force behind Axel and influences his every decision, even when Roxas no longer exists as a separate, complete human being.

First off, who said Nobodies can regrow their hearts? That’s not part of KH2.

Secondly, while it’s true that Roxas inspired those feelings in Axel, the fact that Axel lacks a heart means that he still is completely self-centered about them. Roxas himself is not Axel’s driving force, AXEL is Axel’s driving force. That’s the fundamental point of his character: that he pursues his own agenda above all else, and Roxas now being the main component of that agenda doesn’t change this. Your romanticized, whitewashed view of Axel is not canon.

While he calmly accepts responsibility for Naminé from DiZ

He accepted responsibility from RIKU, not DiZ, who wanted them dead. Clod, clod, CLOD!

Axel’s behavior shows that he sees his self-worth only within the context of his friendship with Roxas. Without Roxas, Axel does not value himself or his own existence, as evidenced by his readiness to sacrifice himself to save Sora.

This is partly true, but you’re a little off the mark. Axel doesn’t value himself only because of Roxas personally, but because of how Roxas makes him feel. Roxas inspiring feelings within him makes him feel like a complete being, like he has a heart. And like he says, Sora makes him feel the same way, so if he wanted to, he could have just stayed alive and stayed with Sora in order to get his feelings fix. The reason he sacrificed himself was because he had realized at last that his selfishness was wrong, that friendship is a two-way street, and after having screwed up with Roxas to the point of trying to kill him, he now wanted to redeem himself by giving to Roxas (and thus Sora): giving his life. This was a redemption, yet you’re skewing it to be “There’s no reason to live if I can’t have my boyfriend Roxas back!”

We never see this level of emotion in Sora’s reunion with Kairi.

You do remember that Sora pretty much killed himself to save Kairi in the first KH, right?

Roxas, who you were just talking about, wouldn’t have been a thing without that happening?

Are you that misogynistically averse to Kairi that you zone out whenever she’s a factor?

Sora crying for Riku, Axel crying for Roxas. The boys are the only ones who cry because their vulnerability is tied up with their dependence on each other. These are the believable relationships. These are the characters whose relationships players are never supposed to doubt. The emotion is raw and crystal clear in both of these scenes. We never see this level of emotion in Sora’s reunion with Kairi. It just isn’t there.

So boys crying ultimately places these relationships above all others, and every other relationship in the game (Sora/Kairi, Roxas/Namine, Roxas/Hayner,/Pence/Olette, Sora/Donald/Goofy, Mickey/Donald/Goofy, Mickey/Riku) can all be swept aside as irrelevant, doubtful and not believable because no visible tears are shed? That’s your argument?

Part of what makes Roxas and Axel’s relationship so beautiful is this outright rejection of their Nobody nature—they feel for each other and they let each other know it.

Here’s the problem - aside from that Axel crying scene which was not in the original version of the game, we actually NEVER see Roxas truly let Axel know that he feels for him. We literally NEVER see their friendship. It is a totally informed statement. We only see Roxas leaving and coldly saying “no-one will miss me” to Axel, and Roxas fully remembering Axel and being touched but still surprisingly blasé over what looks like (and originally WAS) Axel’s death in front of him. Yet this one-sided relationship is one of “the believable ones” to you?

And OK, let’s move away from KH2 and bring 358/2 Days into the equation. Even in that game, Roxas’ feelings of friendship toward Axel, while undeniably sincere, are nowhere close to the intensity of Axel’s feelings of friendship toward Roxas. Roxas actually has stronger feelings for Xion, and is willing to sever all ties with Axel, TWICE, because of something bad he does to him and Xion. This is not the paragon of m/m love you fangirls make it out to be!

Also, Roxas is 15. Axel is in his 20s. Just pointing that out.

Which is why the game’s ham-fisted implications of a romantic love triangle between Riku, Sora, and Kairi are so unconvincing. 

WHAT romantic love triangle!? There isn’t one at all in KH2, and in fact there never was one in the original game! It was always Sora and Kairi who liked each other that way. The official Character Report book confirmed that Riku did not like Kairi that way, knew Sora did and teased him about it, often acting as a potential romantic rival just to push Sora further and make Sora stronger - he’s the big-brother figure, it’s what he does. He only became posessive of Kairi and fought with Sora over her after he thought Sora abandoned him for Donald and Goofy (and the Keyblade). It was basically his way of saying “you throw away our friendship, then I take away your friendship / romance with Kairi, and she’ll stay MY friend!”

The implications are unconvincing because they’re a product of your deranged mind!

While the narrative wants you to believe these two are destined to become lovers, any implied Sora/Kairi mutual affection comes off simply as friends bound together by happy childhood memories. 

Right, because the Paupu Fruit (called “so romantic” by Selphie) is totally just a friendship thing, Sora killing himself in order to save Kairi and Kairi being able to bring him back because they are that close (in the present, not just in “happy childhood memories”) is totally just a friendship thing, the whole plot of CoM hinging on Kairi as Sora’s most important person (which he later re-iterates to Saix) is totally just a friendship thing, Sora imagining himself and Kairi in place of Jack and Sally slow-dancing is totally just a friendship thing, Sora and Kairi’s connection being able to bring Sora and Riku back home is totally just a friendship thing, Xion having Kairi’s face because Kairi is Sora’s most precious memory is totally just a friendship thing, this is totally just a friendship thing...I could go on. You. Are. DELUSIONAL.

Riku and Sora spend all of the first Kingdom Hearts looking for this girl, but at the start of Kingdom Hearts II it’s clear they are more invested in one another.

Which is probably because their goal in the first game was completed and Kairi is safe and sound on Destiny Islands at the start of KH2, while Sora and Riku are still in precarious situations. Once Kairi is put BACK in danger, Sora and Riku both become invested in her as well. Your constant lies by omission are bordering on sociopathic now!

Kingdom Hearts II begins with Kairi on Destiny Islands without Sora and Riku. Despite Sora’s promise during the ending events of the first Kingdom Hearts that he would find her again, he has still not returned home or even bothered to contact Kairi. 

LIE! His promise was NOT “to find her again”, he knows where she is, his promise was to come back to her with Riku, something she agreed to since, contrary to hateful fangirls’ portrayals of her, she cares about Riku too. At the end of KH2, he is finally able to keep that promise, plus the other promise of returning her lucky charm to her once his task was complete. Why the fuck would he return home without Riku, thus breaking his promise?

Instead, his search for Riku led him to Castle Oblivion and the events of Chain of Memories

Which, as mentioned above, his feelings for Kairi were instrumental to.

Meanwhile, that someone else is hopping from world to world looking for Riku, taking no time to stop by Destiny Islands to let Kairi know he’s okay. Everywhere he stops on his journey, he asks the same question: Has anyone seen Riku? Why not ask for directions back home to Kairi? Despite the game’s flashbacks and shoddily shoehorned-in visions of Kairi, she’s just not Sora’s priority.

Because, again, he KNOWS Kairi is safe on the islands so she’s not a priority, and his promise was to bring Riku back home so that the three of them could live happily together again. Why the fuck would he ask for directions back home when he’s made it repeatedly clear that his objective is only to return once he has Riku back, since that’s what Kairi wants as well? Also, once Kairi is kidnapped, she DOES become his priority and he asks about her / a way into the Nobodies’ world to rescue her just as much as he asks about where Riku is.

Sora’s constant search for Riku makes it clear that this is the relationship we need to be paying attention to. 

No, it’s ONE of them. Kingdom Hearts is made of MANY important relationships. His constant search for Kairi in addition to Riku once she’s kidnapped shows that his relationship with her is another one, and Donald and Goofy’s continuing quest for King Mickey shows that their relationship with him is another one. And let’s not forget the core one of Sora! Donald! Goofy!

You pushing Sora/Riku as the end-all, be-all is your agenda, not the game’s.

If there is supposed to be romantic love between Sora and Kairi, it’s not present in the writing. 

LIE! I’ve already pointed out why.

Their reunion is brief, and their conversation is clipped and bland. Kairi tells Sora she came looking for him because he never came home, and Sora’s reaction lets us know that he knows he screwed up. Sora apologizes to Kairi, and even as she hugs him, his response to her presence is anemic compared to the complete emotional breakdown he has when Riku is revealed.

This is your take on it, not a fact like you are presenting it as. Other views may differ.

Even after Riku’s abominable behavior, and even as he spends a majority of Kingdom Hearts II desperately avoiding Sora, his friend is still overcome to the point of tears when they meet. Sora does not rebuke Riku, he simply asks him why he has been avoiding him.

Um, yeah. That’s Sora. That’s his character, very easily forgiving. So what?

Sora is a benevolent guy throughout these games, but it’s not like him to give a free pass to his opponents.

LIE! See Maleficent and Pete, Axel, Beast when he’s under Xaldin’s control, Riku in the first game, Riku Replica in CoM, “Ansem” at the end of KH2...heck, he’s even OK going up and talking to Hades to sign up for the Paradox Cup even after all the shit Hades has pulled. He also is known to give opponents chances to back off and survive, like Vexen and Demyx.

Despite the atrocities committed at Riku’s hand in the first Kingdom Hearts, Sora still sets out in Kingdom Hearts II passionately searching for the lost Riku. He is the only one who gets Sora’s all-encompassing forgiveness.

Yeah, because they’re best friends, close as brothers. And they already had the start of a reconciliation at the end of the original game, when they closed the Door to Darkness. Exactly what’s your argument here? That if Kairi was to inexplicably go evil, Sora wouldn’t give her a pass or forgive her? Because if you believe that, then you’re a (bigger) dumbass!

The final boss sequence of Kingdom Hearts II could have easily pitted Sora solo against Xemnas.

Um, why? The previous final bosses didn’t have him go solo. Why would this?

One of Xemnas’s most common attacks involves grabbing Sora with an electrical field and holding him in place while he slowly drains the boy’s health. During these segments, players are given full control over Riku as he makes his way across the battlefield to rescue his friend. “Rescue” is even the word used for the command you must input to free Sora. It’s one thing to have these boys tell each other how they feel; it’s quite another to see them act it out in a climactic battle sequence.

Rescuing your friend is now apparently a big, earth-shattering deal. Um, OK.

You realize any character can rescue one another in battle, right?

The team-up offers an insight into the dynamics of their friendship. Giving Riku more of the heavy lifting in their combo attacks—breaking the buildings and hurling them at Xemnas as well as having to rescue Sora from the electrical attack—sets him up as the more protective of the two. Sora is active while Riku is reactive, and in the same way he spends all of the game trying to avoid Sora, he spends the final battle allowing Sora to set up powerful attacks for Riku to execute. And by having Sora be incapacitated and requiring rescue says something about how the developers want players to view their relationship. In the end, Sora will always need Riku. Riku’s presence makes Sora more confident, makes him stronger and more sure of himself. We see more of this feeling in Dream Drop Distance, where Sora fails his mission and needs Riku to bail him out, but the first seeds sprout in Kingdom Hearts II.

FUCK OFF. You’re falling into the common “seme/uke” yaoi stereotype for Riku and Sora here. For as much as you disparge Kairi for needing saving by Sora (while ignoring the times she saves him), you seem to actually get off on the idea that Sora always needs saving by Riku. I highly doubt the developers wanted you to think about the relationship like this, Nomura even said the main reason it happened was just because a lot of fans back then wanted to play as Riku, the same reason Reverse/Rebirth mode happened in CoM. Ironically, by the time of 3D, Riku’s popularity in Japan had died out, and the game didn’t sell so well.

Setting the boys up as partners in the final boss fight—literally your final act as a player—telegraphs to us that the game is about Sora and Riku’s friendship.

No. It’s one of the big themes of the game and what takes precedence in the last act, but to say that the ENTIRE GAME is about it and ignore all the other rich content that is packed into the game does it a disservice. I again ask why you even wrote a book about this game. Was it just to push your personal fangirl fantasies? We already have Tomoco Kanemaki for that!

You can’t tell either boy’s story without the other.

Tell that to CoM and 358/2 Days...or this game, where we hardly see a “story” for Riku.

Their friendship, Sora’s desire to find Riku, and Riku’s desire to protect Sora by only helping him from the shadows, is what drives the story forward and what lays down the game’s emotional foundation.

Really? Because it had nothing to do with Roxas’ story, or Axel’s story. Or the story of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee. Or Organization XIII’s plans. Or Mickey’s own quest and connection with Ansem the Wise. Or many events in the Disney worlds. Or...yeah, you get the message. Once again, you simplify a wonderfully complex, multi-layered game and boil it down to a yaoi story. I doubt you’d BE a KH fan if not for the yaoi-bait given this pattern of behavior. I hate to play the “True Fan” card, but...you’re not a True Fan. You don’t get it.

Following the final battle, as they sit on the edge of oblivion, Sora and Riku confess their feelings to each other.

And you deliberately phrase it romantically. More lying.

This climactic scene isn’t Sora and Kairi confessing their love

You realize that 1.) There’s still a series to go for that to happen, 2.) Nomura doesn’t want romance and shipping to be the main focus, and 3.) We actually get a credits scene where Sora sees that Kairi has returned his feelings with the chalk drawing on the cave wall.

We see her again in the very last scene welcoming Sora back to Destiny Islands, but the sweetness of her homecoming words is outshined by this exchange between the boys on a dark beach.

Which is a fact, not at all an opinion. And this is not sarcasm, not at all!

They’ve won the fight, and they don’t know if they’ll be able to return home. 

And who ends up being the catalyst for them coming home and not dying? KAIRI.

While Riku and Sora are not in love, the boys’ friendship is one of the deepest and most moving relationships of any kind that I’ve seen in a video game. And part of why it works is because it’s not a romance. Without sexual tension or expressed desire of any kind, these relationships appear as the deepest forms of male intimacy: mutual dependence, connectedness, and respect.

LMAO! After all this, you’re now trying to claim you’re not a yaoi fangirl and that you understand and accept that Sora and Riku are not in love and their feelings not sexual!? 

You aren’t fooling anyone, Alexa. You’re the typical obnoxious, toxic KH yaoi fangirl. Own it.

Kingdom Hearts II is the tale of these broken bonds becoming whole and being used as power against the creeping darkness. As Sora says in the first Kingdom Hearts, “My friends are my power.” Kingdom Hearts II proves that for Sora and Riku, this will always be the case.

And for Sora and Kairi, and Riku and Kairi, and Sora, Donald and Goofy, and Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and Mickey and Riku, and Riku and DiZ, and Roxas and Hayner, Pence, and Olette, and Roxas and Axel, and...OK, I’ve already made this point before, I’m done now.

Bottom line: this so-called fan lies with reckless abandon, omits key facts, presents her opinions as truth, and completely maligns the entire rest of the game just to prop up the one aspect she feels dominates all others and that other players should feel the same way about it as she does. To all True KH Fans, avoid her, her book, and future writings like the Plague!

[khremixed]

Part 6:  Traverse Town and Getting the Gang Together

We’ve finally gotten to our first real world and man is it a good one.

I’ve always loved the look of Traverse Town.  The cobblestone streets, Victorian buildings, and bright neon signs just combine into something amazing for me.  Each of the three districts has its own unique flavor, but they don’t feel disparate from one another.  Traverse Town also has the feeling of being inhabited, at least in the First District.  The Second and Third Districts are overrun by heartless, so it makes sense in story why no one seems out and about.  It might be my favorite world, so I’m fine that it’s the world we are going to be using as a home base for this game (and miss it dearly in the games it doesn’t appear in).

The transition here is good too.  Donald and Goofy arrive and Donald notices a star going out.  Then Pluto runs off and finds Sora knocked out in an alley.  Pluto wakes up Sora, hears some noise outside human hearing, and then runs off, not to be seen again until the closing cutscene.  Sora wanders off into a nearby store and you meet Cid of Final Fantasy VII fame.

Real talk, but I’ve never played Final Fantasy VII.  Actually, I’ve never beat a Final Fantasy game.  I find turn based combat tedious so the only one I really enjoyed was XII (you know, the one everyone else seems to hate).  I played VIII for a while because of my love of Leon/Squall (more on this in a bit), but the battle system there is broken as all hell.  But anyway, I’ve never played VII, so when I first played this game, I thought Cid was like 35.  Yeah, he’s clearly older than the rest of the gang in Traverse Town, but it didn’t seem like that big of a gap.  His hair is bright yellow and he doesn’t move in a way that reveals being that old.  It’s a jrpg so I assumed that we were going with the anime convention of any person over twenty being treated as a senior citizen.  It wasn’t until Kingdom Hearts 2, when Cid gets a voice actor, that I realized he’s way older (wiki says 42 but that’s ancient in anime/jrpg terms).

Cid’s great, though.  I mean, you are some random kid who just wandered into his store who tells you a tale he’s probably heard a million times over (world destroyed, everyone scattered) and he just immediately offers to help you.  No ulterior motive there.  He’s one of the good ones.  Cid tells Sora to look around town to see if maybe Riku and Kairi did end up here and to come back if they really didn’t.

Sora heads to the Second District.  Everything is nice except for that guy that runs out and immediately gets turned into a soldier heartless in front of you.  It’s genuinely disturbing.  This is the closest thing Kingdom Hearts gets to when it comes to depicting death.  Plus, for someone playing this the first time, you don’t really know what’s happening other than the fact that that dude is terrified and you see his heart literally leave his body to turn into a monster.  Sora then fights a bunch of other heartless and will continue to do so as you explore the various areas.  There is also a great running gag of when you go into one place, Donald and Goofy just miss you as they exit another place.

Heading back to the First District, which is now equally overrun, you go back to Cid, because really, who else does Sora know?  Cid gives a pep talk and Sora goes back outside and this is the moment I’ve been waiting for.  A voice tells Sora that he really has no clue what he has and wonders why it would ever choose a kid like Sora.  And this, my friends, is how we meet Leon.

I’ve had a crush on Leon since I was 12.  Hell, I’ve had a gunblade on my keys since 2007.  As I said before, I love him so much I tried to get through Final Fantasy VIII.  And Leon totally owns Sora in this battle.  Even if you win, which isn’t that difficult if you hide behind the pillars to block his fireballs and nets you an elixir from him down the line, Sora still faints.

While Yuffie helps Leon collect Sora, Aerith finds Donald and Goofy.  Also, between these two scenes, we get our next big Final Mix addition.  Riku wakes up on Hallow Bastion (we don’t know the location yet, but it is) and calls for Sora and Kairi.  Watching him from afar is Maleficent.  At first, I really liked this bit.  It’s fun to see new stuff and I’ve always kind of wondered how Riku ended up with Maleficent.  But the more I think about it, the more I wish it wasn’t there.  Like Sora, the player originally had no clue what had happened to Riku for several hours of gameplay.  The reveal later that Maleficent is manipulating Riku was great and this new scene is detrimental to that reveal.

Anyway, Sora wakes up and has his first hallucination of Kairi, who then turns into a concerned Yuffie.  Since this is the first one, the player can assume that Yuffie’s theory that Leon gave the poor kid a concussion is probably accurate.  Donald and Goofy are in the adjoining room and whole explanation about the heartless is given to everyone by cutting back and forth between the two groups.  It’s a pretty dynamic way to get all the exposition.  This is also the first time we hear about Ansem and his report on the heartless.  I’m sure that that won’t be a reoccurring thing that will reveal previously unknown horrific facts!  I’m sure the whole mess that is Ansem the Wise/Xemnas/Xehanort won’t cause me to start screaming obscenities at the tv screen again!  (Sidenote:  but I totally forgot that we don’t find out that Ansem the Wise was the leader of their home world here or even that his title is “the Wise”).

On a character note, but I’d forgotten just how much of an apathetic asshole Leon is.  He just cannot be bothered to care about Sora’s friends or even feelings.

This is all interrupted by a heartless appearing and Leon and Sora go off to fight.  And this scene is bullshit.  Yuffie getting Leon’s attention, fine.  Her not attacking but instead running?  The hell.  And Leon is the one who tells her to run!  Why?  It isn’t to go protect the healer in the next room because Yuffie just blows past Aerith.  What is with this game and women not getting to do anything but get kidnapped unless they are evil or mermaids?  KH2 does have Yuffie fighting, but still.

Our gang still doesn’t hook up though.  You have to make your way to the Third District, where Donald and Goofy literally crash into Sora.  Cue boss fight!

The boss battle is pretty fun.  And in another change for the Final Mix, but they recolored the armor.  Don’t know why.  (Actually, the further in I get, the more I wonder how many of the heartless were recolored for this and I just can’t remember everyone’s original look so I’ve missed some.)  You have to kill each piece of the armor separately and they will attack independently of each other.  Nothing outstanding, but still fun.

Donald and Goofy try to convince Sora to come with them.  Unlike with Cid, who just wanted to help because he’s a standup guy, Donald is an asshole who straight up lies to Sora about the likelihood of finding Riku and Kairi (Goofy is a standup dude though).  Leon also says he thinks that Sora should go, but is more like Eeyore about it.  Goofy hugs everyone and says “One for all and all for one”.  Now that I’ve played KH3D and know that he was a musketeer with Donald and Mickey, I think that’s rather sweet in retrospect.

Oh, and also, Donald and Goofy tell Sora that if he’s going to join up, then he’s going to have to smile and have no sad faces.  Fuck them.  Sora just lost literally everyone he ever knew and loved and they want him to swallow those feelings.  That’s messed up, y’all.

You also get some stuff, the most important of which is the ability to dodge roll.  I love dodge roll!  I’m always mad when you don’t get it in other games.  There is literally only one ability I like more and that is the high jump (glide is close too).

Before taking off, you can go open up the secret passage to Merlin’s place.  Before Merlin shows up we get another Kairi hallucination.  She thinks that the room is like the secret place on Destiny Islands, but she’s a hallucination, she’s allowed to be wrong.  There Merlin arrives!  I always found his help sort of useless (the Fairy Godmother was more helpful in turning stones into summons but I think in all my years I’ve only ever used a summon once).  Also, feminist aside, but why does the Fairy Godmother hang out as an inanimate mini-carriage when not doing stuff?  Is it so they don’t imply anything going on between her and Merlin when you aren’t around?

When you leave you get the villain conference table scene where they discuss the unlikelihood of Sora winning.  It’s a good introduction of the villains, but I can’t tell if the Final Mix version changed the animation or if I’m just on a better tv because you can now see the silhouettes of all the villains rather than just hearing their voices with extremely shadowed shapes.

[disneydreamlights]

the thing may not be applicable to your own ocs but iF YOU THINK I'M NOT STILL SNEAKING SOME FORM OF OC TRASH SO I CAN HEAR WHAT KINDA STUPID HEADCANONS YOU HAVE, YOU'RE DEAD WRONG. namely ian and tip because sc trash babe. also aqua, kairi, chrom, and adrien agreste

FUCKING HELL ZOE. XD

I’ll throw the SC trash under read more but the rest nah.

Aqua:

Realistic: Aqua is, ironically enough, the member of the Wayfinder Trio most susceptible to her darkness. Her darkness is lower than Terra’s, sure, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t super susceptible to it being messed with and the issues that that can bring. The reason we don’t see that in BBS is just because nobody’s interested in messing with her darkness because like Xehanort wants Terra’s ass, and Vanitas needs Ven, so that leaves nobody to really try to fuck her up. It’s also why in the Realm of Darkness she seems to constantly give up hope so easily.

Hilarious: She wears heelies around in the heels of her Keyblade armor, the worst part about falling into the Realm of Darkness is she can no longer roller skate anywhere.

Heartbreaking: Aqua falls into darkness not only because of her susceptibility, but because Xemnas/Xehanort presents himself as Terra, and so rather than see her enemy, she sees her best friend and after fighting so long she’s just finally happy to see him again, and so when he offers for her to join him, she does no matter what the cost.

Unrealistic: Aqua’s main possession from her home world that she brought with her to the Land of Departure is her teddy bear. She’s brought this teddy bear with her everywhere, including the entirety of Birth By Sleep. This teddy bear didn’t make the trip to the Realm of Darkness and returned with Terra. (Xemnas takes very good of the bear, alongside Aqua’s armor.)

Kairi:

Realistic: Kairi actually has very vivid memories of her time in Radiant Garden. The reason why she lies to Sora and Riku about remembering her homeworld is one of them, because her most vivid memory is one of Xehanort mentioning how all this happened because he wanted to leave him homeworld so desperately. She hoped if she never brought up how nice her homeworld was before Xehanort and all the Heartless, nobody she befriended here would ever turn out like him.

Hilarious: Kairi started Riku on a swear jar. She uses the money that Riku puts in for cursing on ice cream for herself and Namine.

Heartbreaking: When Kairi hugged Sora Heartless in KH1, she obviously didn’t expect him to come back despite the fact that he did. Had he not revived, Kairi would’ve done everything in her power to bring him back, and would’ve likely acted similar to Axel in KH2 (just with some roles reversed and changed out) all in the vain hope that she could do something to see Sora again since Riku and the islands would’ve been gone.

Unrealistic: Kairi very much kicked Sora’s and Riku’s asses together the first time they played with swords when they were kids and because she was that much better than everybody else they were just like “Kairi it��s no fun to fight you we always lose.” “Fine then I just won’t fight but when I do I’ll still be queen of the island.” (The reason why she fought well is she had to in Xehanort’s tests.)

Chrom:

Realistic: Chrom is the biggest fucking clutz like he cannot, for the life of him, be coordinated. Even in sword fighting, while he’s good at it, it doesn’t stop him from sometimes looking like a lumbering oaf.

HIlarious: Honestly the above is good for this too but also did you know that Chrom has almost stabbed Robin more times than he can count simply because he tripped, fell and oops oh shit there was a sword.

Heartbreaking: When Robin disappeared Chrom actually didn’t get any sleep those first few nights of the search. He was so worried for his significant other/best friend that he would leave the castle in the middle of the night just desperate to see some time that they were okay. The only reason he started to actually catch sleep again is Lissa basically tied him to the bed because she was so worried that he’d kill himself from lack of sleep, because yeah they all missed Robin, but that wasn’t a reason to act like that either.

Unrealistic: There was a solid three month period where everybody in the Shepherds decided to make an inside joke that they were going to have a marriage from Chrom and his sword. Chrom was very surprised one day when he walked in on Lissa dressing Falchion up in a wedding gown and Libra actually stood there ready to officiate the wedding between him and his sword. Robin was embarrassed the entire time because when Chrom confessed he used the “Wind at my back and sword by my side” line and in fact when Chrom first said he loved his sword it was meant for her and was referring entirely to her but because they weren’t public about being in love everybody 100% took it to mean Falchion.

I know the last one isn’t technically Chrom but shut up and let me share my “Shepherds are dumbasses” headcanon.

Adrien:

Realistic: When Adrien first learns that Marinette is Ladybug he does a really bad job of not revealing that he knows because all he does is act like Chat Noir and make cat puns when around her in hopes that his Ladybug would figure it out. She still does not figure it out even after that.

Hilarious: Marinette actually figures out who Chat Noir is because of Adrien not even making a cat pun. After months of Adrien making cat puns what in fact actually happens is Adrien makes a pun about modeling or something like that and somehow the pun instantly makes her think of Chat and she realizes what’s happening. Adrien then spends weeks angry over the fact that she is, in fact, that oblivious but understood it all from an accidental pun.

Heartbreaking: Adrien is desperate enough to have some kind of bond with his dad that if Gabriel Agreste revealed to him that he was Hawk Moth, Adrien would choose to betray Ladybug and have Chat Noir join Gabriel while attempting to figure out a peaceful situation so that way the two most important people in his life would no longer fight.

Unrealistic: The only reason Chat Noir uses cat puns is because he knows they annoy Ladybug. Like they weren’t a piece of his secret identity he expected to stick but they did. (It’s also why he would dismiss Marinette as Ladybug. She laughs at his puns because she’s that in love with Adrien, but Ladybug would groan.)

I just hope you know that if my Ian headcanons suck I blame you. XP

Ian:

Realistic: Ian got so fed up with the Christmas carols in the stores that he heard all Christmas season that he decided to write his own Christmas carols. These carols were actually better than actual Christmas carols and somebody heard them and made their own version and then that Christmas carol became the next annoyingly popular song and Ian was bitter forever at the fact that his only song that became big was that.

Humorous: Ian has a gigantic collection of coffee mugs because he’s just that addicted to coffee. He has so many of these mugs that he was placed on a mug ban but he’s still so bad about not buying mugs anyways.

Heartbreaking: While Ian did occasionally travel back to the Spiral he made only one visible appearance outside of Nicole’s revival island and that conversation we rped with Nick in SW: And that was his children’s weddings, because despite the fact that he died before both of them got married, he wanted them to know that he was there, and proud of them and happy for them. 

Unrealistic: Ian spent an entire six months of his life learning how to walk in heelies only to never use them again and give them to Mitch.

Tip:

Realistic: Tip’s main reason for becoming a professor wasn’t just teaching, it was because it was a way for him to take care of and practically adopt kids without actually adopting them, since after his first children and his realization of immortality Tip couldn’t bring himself to adopt anymore while he didn’t have Nicole: Their death would be too painful for him.

Humorous: Tip said fuck once and actually cried so much he decided he would never use it again.

Heartbreaking: Deep down the only reason Tip managed to stay alive during the years between when Nicole died and SW was because he knew, deep down, if he died then he’d forget all about her and never see her again, even if he didn’t consciously remember. Because of this Tip continued to hold on until the chasm, where it was only the rush of happy memories that managed to push him past his tipping point and over the edge.

Unrealistic: There is a universe in which Pat doesn’t make Tip suffer and he gets to be completely happy. ;w;