#hey nomura i have some questions

[milaisreading]

🌱🩷:Blue lock au where Y/n got invited to join the Blue Lock program as a player. She crossdresses as a boy and is friends with Reo and Nagi (they don't know she is a girl). I didn't change much abt Y/n's appearance, except that I made her around 5'10" tall and that she has a similar hairstyle to Chigiri's (the color is up to you, tho)

Warnings: None in particular. Reader uses she/her when narrating, otherwise the characters use he/him for Y/n. Requests are open for this AU.

⚽️Blue Lock belongs to Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

'Blue Lock... so this will be my new escape...' (Y/n) gulped as she looked at the building in front of herself. She saw a lot of people, well known high school players enter the place, making her nervous over the whole idea. Sure, she was excited over finally leaving her home, her adoptive parents for a while, but she was just entering a bigger hell than she already left. Now, some might be confused what a girl was doing at Blue Lock? A project meant for the best football players in Japanese high schools. For male football players. Well, the question was pretty easy to answer, kinda. (Y/n) was adopted at a pretty young age into a somewhat well-off family, but the life she had wasn't the best. Her parents always wanted to have only boys, and while they had 2 biological sons, they didn't want to have a daughter.

'The only reason we adopted you was because I was indebted to your father.' She shuddered as she remembered her adopted father's words. (Y/n) knew they didn't want her, so she did her best to survive the household till she can be free. One of the ways was giving into her parents' demands on changing her personality and appearance to suit a stereotypical guy. (Y/n) didn't want that, at all, but for now she had to be someone she wasn't.

'At least they let me grow out my hair... and they allowed me to leave to this football camp.' She thought, touching a few strands of her (h/c) hair.

"Hey! Earth to (Y/n), are you alright?" She jumped, looking over at her teammates, Nagi and Reo. The two looked at her in worry for a moment, which caused her to smile and nod her head.

"I am fine! Don't worry... Just a little nervous." She thought as Reo grabbed her hand and pulled her into the building while Nagi followed after them.

"Don't be. All three of us are highly ranked football players, I am sure this thing will be a walk in the park for us." Reo laughed.

"Yeah, you worry too much." Nagi yawned as they got into the main hall where the other players were. (Y/n) recognized some from her previous matches, and some were unfamiliar.

'Oh... that Kira guy was invited here too? Figures, he was a good opponent back then...' She thought, recognizing the white haired boy. She then turned her attention to another guy standing next to Kira, they seemed pretty close.

'Who is he? I never saw him before...' (Y/n) thought while observing the blue-eyed boy.

'That sprout is cute tho.' She smiled, noticing the few strands of hair that were sticking out.

"Who are you looking at? Come on, we need to catch up to Reo." Nagi ground as he tugged on the pants of her uniform.

"H-huh? Nobody! Let's hurry up." She said, glancing a few more times at the unknown boy.

They soon reached Reo, only for him to scold the duo for getting lost.

"Congratulations, you unpolished lumps of talent." The trio froze for a moment and then looked at the stage, only to find a guy with bowl-cut black hair and glasses looking at all of them.

"Who is he?" (Y/n) muttered.

"Dunno." Nagi shrugged.

"What did he just call us?" Reo wondered.

"According to my personal judgment the 300 of you are the best strikers under 18. My name is Jinpachi Ego and I was hired to give Japan a World Cup victory." Everyone kept silent as (Y/n) stared at Ego in shock.

'World Cup victory? Japan can't qualify for semi-finals, what does he mean by victory?' She thought skeptically.

"I'll say this plainly. One thing is needed for Japanese soccer to become the best in the world: the birth of a revolutionary striker. From you 300 players gathered here today, I will forge the best striker in the world through a certain project."

Ego continued his speech, not giving anyone time to digest anything.

"What a bore." Nagi groaned, earning a kick to his leg by (Y/n).

"Shh." She warned, then looked back at Ego.

"All of them revolutionary strikers!! Their extraordinary egoism is the one thing Japan’s football lacks. You will not become the greatest strikers in the world, unless you have the ego to match. My purpose here, is to create such a player in Japan."

'Egoism? Shouldn't football be treated as a team sport? What good does it bring to act like that on the field?' (Y/n) raised her eyebrow, tuning out whatever Reo and Nagi were saying.

As Ego kept on talking, (Y/n) was getting lost in her thoughts.

'So we are basically training for our national team now... Getting out of one hellhole into another, but at least here... at least here I feel a little bit more like myself, as odd as it sounds. While I can't tell to anyone I am not a guy, at least I can play the sport that always saved me from going insane.' (Y/n) thought, looking back at the crowd as Ego finished his speech. (Y/n) listened as he talked about reaching the goal he set up for them, and if the players who were gathered had what it takes to become a striker. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the boy from before rush to a open door, and something struck her. She wasn't sure what it was, but something about him and the look he held in his eyes made her hypnotized, and she quickly ran after him.

'Who are you? And what's up with you?' She sprinted faster after him, ignoring Reo and Nagi's calls, both desperate to catch up with her.

"Huh? Thank you... so you said I am in Team X, Teieri-san?"  (Y/n) asked the woman, who smiled and nodded her head.

"Yes, that's just down the corridor. I will keep your phone and other items safe while you are at our facility." (Y/n) thanked the woman and started walking down the hallway, looking at all the rooms in curiosity.

'Probably the storages...' She thought.

'This place is like a prison, but I can welcome it. I wonder how I will keep myself hidden now... now that I have to share a room and everything with some dudes.' She cringed and sighed, then slowly walked into Team X's room. Inside were, as expected a bunch of other guys, some changing, some just talking.

'Oh brother....' She thought, looking to the side.

"Ah? You are our other teammate?" A guy with brownish hair asked.

"Y-yes! (L/n) (Y/n) is my name." She said in a little bit deeper voice.

"(Y/n)? Isn't that a girl's name?" Another guy asked while walking up to the duo.

"My parents have a thing for feminine names." She answered with the same lie she's been using for years.

"Wait... (Y/n)... (L/n) (Y/n)? Hakuho's eagle?"

"What?" (Y/n) she raised her eyebrow as a blonde approached them.

"You are known as a beast with those precise shots. I should have expected someone like you being here."

"Ah... thanks." (Y/n) answered, unsure what was going on at this point. By now a group has been formed around her and the guys started asking her different questions, until someone cleared his throat.

"Can you donkeys shut up?"

(Y/n) tensed up and looked at a pair of red eyes staring directly at her.

'Ahhh!! Scary!' She thought.

"Sorry, Barou." A few sighed out as the boy and (Y/n) had a stare down.

"Barou... I know you. You are that guy from Akudo Academy. We played against you at the quarterfinals." (Y/n) recalled, remembering the sheer force he used back then.

"So what about it?" The boy asked, obviously annoyed that she brought that up. Some of the teammates backed away, scared of a possible infight.

"Nothing-"

"I see you unpolished lumps have all found your room." The group looked at the monitor, only to find Ego staring down at them.

"Good, now it's time for the first elimination round."

"What?" (Y/n) and Barou asked at the same time.

"Every team in our 5 buildings is playing a game of tag, in a football way. You will be given a football, the person you hit with it will be it, and will chase someone else." Ego started explaining as a football fell from the ceiling, landing between Barou and (Y/n). The duo glanced at the item and then at each other.

"You are given 2 minutes. The person who stays it when the time runs out, is eliminated from Blue Lock..." The room fell into a tense silence.

"And, subsequently they are losing the opportunity to ever play for Japan."

"Haaa?!" Barou and (Y/n) yelled in shock.

"That's rediculous, how is a game of tag going to help here?" Barou wondered.

"Especially if you only give us 2 minutes."

"2 minutes is the most a player spends in the possession of the ball during a game. Now hurry up. On your sleeves you will see your current rankings, the one with the lowest is the 1st it."

(Y/n) quickly went to look at hers and scanned the tag.

"Currently the highest ranked one here is (L/n) (Y/n), at 252."

"How does this ranking even work?" She wondered to herself as the screen flashed the name of the first it. She looked at the boy and felt a little sad, he looked pretty meek.

"Donkey." Barou started, hitting (Y/n)'s head.

"Ow! What? And did you just call me a donkey?" She asked in disbelief.

"Don't get too distracted, can't have you eliminated this soon." Barou warned, confusing the girl a little.

"What? Why would you care?"

"Because I still need to prove to you that I am far better than you are."

The girl sweatdropped as the siren signaled the start, causing everyone to disparage across the room. She watched as the boy nervously looked around before his eyes fell on her.

'Shit.' She thought, dodging the ball that came flying to her.

"Huh? Why aren't you kicking back? You are the higher rank here." Barou questioned, annoyed at her move.

"What? The goal here is not to be it!" She watched as the ball bounced off the wall and back to the boy, who seemed more and more determined to get her instead of someone else.

'I can't be eliminated.... I don't want to go back home...' (Y/n) thought, glaring back at him.

[phantomyre]

following the train of thought that EC-vincent is a different timeline from rebirth-vincent, does that suggest that the entirety of EC could be just /one particular timeline's series of events/ instead of The History? or is this divergence just for vincent?

for example- does it make sense to consider EC-glenn to be different from rebirth-glenn & etc etc?

(wanted to get your thoughts if you had any)

Hey there, and thank you for the question! I do have a few thoughts on it, albeit I try to approach it based on what we've been given across all recent information so it might sound a tad generic. Long post... (sorry, I got carried away lol)

[Preface] As is already obvious, it would appear that of all the main party members, Vincent's the only odd-ball out in terms of his appearance. He doesn't 'belong' to any timeline in EC unlike all the other characters who are from Remake/Intergrade/Rebirth. And I think this is for a reason. I've seen the excuse of perhaps Vincent was just modeled a long time ago, but frankly I don't think the dev team are that shallow. They've had Vincent's model for about a couple years, give or take, or at the very least his design. And they know fans would pick apart character appearances and inconsistencies if something (like Vincent) was out of place. And yet they chose to go out of their way with a totally different take than what we see in Rebirth. It would have been a lot easier to port in Vincent's Rebirth design into EC, but Nomura decided to painstakingly create Vincent from scratch for EC. What's more, we also get a completely different Galian Beast, which is also another extensive process to create. Now granted-- perhaps what we see in EC was what we were going to get in Rebirth but got scrapped, and Nomura may have been so married to Vincent's EC design that he wanted to include it instead. However, if there's anything we have learned about the FF7 dev team (and Nomura), it's that there's always some nuanced reason behind it aside from 'I spent so much time on this; just add it already'. Anyone who has been in the FF7 fandom for some length of time will know you can't always trust what the devs say 100%. They are artists, and they like to be a bit mysterious. All this is to say... I just think there's a potential lore reason for why they decided to give Vincent this unique treatment of being time-line vague. Rebirth has shown us that there isn't a single timeline but multiple worlds that diverge and merge, depending on the choices being made by those who can affect fate. So at least within Rebirth's 'world', we know that multiple worlds can exist in tandem. This concept isn't exclusive to Rebirth, however. It is also indicated (by Sephiroth) at the very beginning of Ever Crisis...

During special story-based events where a portal is involved, you'll notice that they will always have something along the lines of 'another possibility' being repeated. So in essence, while there's nothing official that states EC is its own world or timeline, we are being told that the Lifestream is capable of weaving many 'possibilities', or alternative worlds. And this is front and center with Ever Crisis and Rebirth. What's more, EC just so happens to line up with the compilation lettering system... AC, BC, CC, DC, EC... Coincidence? For those of us who know OG's story and have played EC, there are a few differences when going through the OG's story. It isn't 1:1, and some things are taken from Rebirth. One might call it abridged. So... is Ever Crisis a separate world/timeline? Maybe. In terms of Glenn, I think it's a bit early to tell because Rebirth essentially gave us a spoiler for what happens to Glenn. But First Soldier's story has yet to conclude. So in terms of Glenn, he's a bit of an outlier. I think we'll have a better answer to that when we get part 3 as I'm sure we'll see him there in some form. Though back to Vincent... While it depends on how one looks at 'worlds' or multi-timelines, I think we can mostly all agree it's not a single world. What causes this to get very convoluted is that we got Vincent who is immortal... there are many ways they could handle him being both immortal and being a part of the Lifestream's system that creates multiple worlds from choices. However, the simplest thing I can think of is that Vincent simply exists outside of time. I feel as though Vincent is described as outside of time, but I could be wrong. All I know is that in BC, Vincent does say 'The passage of time has no meaning to me'. This is going deeper into some other territory but I'll just briefly say that I believe Vincent is incapable of merging with the Lifestream... but that's for a different discussion. And because I think he cannot merge with the Lifestream, he is thus 'outside' of time if that makes sense. TLDR: I think it's very possible EC is meant to be 'another possibility' of another world created by the choices of our protagonists (and by way of logic, the choices we make as gamers). Secondly, I think this curious lack of design cohesion is specifically for Vincent, only. This may have to do with him being immortal and existing (likely) outside of time itself. I think this is their way of communicating (as all artists do) Vincent's identity to us without really divulging it. I wouldn't doubt part 3 will uncover this side of Vincent so that we can come back to EC and see a connection.

[organizationhimself]

just kinda having some thinky thoughts about how dark road totally rewired eraqus's character and what a phenomenal job they did.

like here's your problem you have. you need to take this cloistered old man who raised his students in the jedi way, somehow put up with Old Man Villainy being That Way presumably on the regular, lost every last iota of his shit and turned on the Apocalypse Child he adopted as well as his surrogate son who was infested with The Evil (which the series has long established as not necessarily being good or bad without context) to say nothing of the headtrip he gave his direct heir, and you need to reduce him to a version of himself as a child that is. like. fun. someone who has a genuine friendship with xehanort and is regarded by xehanort as someone who is a "sly fox," i.e. not the sort of buffoon who tests for mastery of the keyblade by child-proofing some orbs of light.

where do you even begin?

YOU TRAUMATIZE THE UNGODLY HELL OUT OF HI--okay i'm getting ahead of myself, let's start with principles.

because eraqus is principled. he believes really firmly in the light in a way that's nearly sora-adjacent in its intensity, but the thing is that sora has this flexibility that eraqus was simply not raised to appreciate. yes, nomura, we understand you like the bright sunshine one and the wry brooding one, you did it with sora and riku, god knows what you did to axel's spine to fit him into the sunshine kid's mold next to isa as brooding anti-crybaby, and now we're doing the same thing to eraqus. ok. i love it when you're optimistic, let's do it.

so first we need confidence. easy; he's a smug little rich kid. worked for riku didn't it? (source: kh1 manga, and the fact that you cannot convince me anyone can maintain a kid with that build on a budget) but we also need to see how dark road changed him as a person. let's contrast his uptight stick-up-his-ass future with a present day class clown who doesn't take things seriously; a headstrong fighter who jokes that he'll just run away. and hey speaking of emotional damage, let's start easing into the inevitable terrible, horrific, unspeakable traumas we're going to visit on this defenseless creature with a little one as a treat:

HIT HIM RIGHT IN THE GRANDPA.

and there you go! we now have a source for eraqus's rejection of the darkness that is not simply a function of his career as a jedi keyblade master, but has an actual personal experience he can point back to in order to say "hey, darkness is the pits!! here is why." it sets the stage early for him to be already butting heads with xehanort, who takes a much more flexible look at the worlds and the way they work and is more willing to view things from the perspective that he is not an authority on the moral peculiarities of whatever world he is currently inhabiting.

xehanort is also a child of destiny [citation needed]. an isolated visitant who was born for finer things but never slept a day in his life without waking up with sand in his mouth until he reached out and took his fate in his bare hands and let it drag him all the way to scala.

where he met the blueblooded child of a keybearing legacy thousands of years in the making, just like his.

and suddenly what you have are unwitting equals. we're ready to set them both up at the chess board; eraqus's legacy is plain, he moves first and he makes no apologies for it because it's his birthright. but xehanort's half of the board is still buried in shadow, implied but never stated, never surrendered to eraqus's probing questions or revealed by his moves, but already aimed at a clash with destiny, fated, inevitable.

shall we say, already written.

and this is brilliant!! now we have a source for our "sly fox," a reason for xehanort to be extremely familiar with the way eraqus thinks (and not to star wars on main but the obi-wan kenobi series did something really similar to this narratively by using anakin and obi-wan's familiarity with each others' fighting styles to predict the actions they would take in a situation, and i will actually never be over it in my life, absolutely stealing it for a xehaqus fic sometime, just shamelessly mugging ewan mcgregor in the street for that solid gold good shit). not only that, but we also have an explanation for xehanort's motivations as described by kh3. he is not looking at the fight from the perspective of one of the pawns; he is looking at the fight as a player, deciding which pawn gets taken. selecting which rook to sacrifice in exchange for the queen.

and eraqus is opposite him, doing the exact same thing (sort of, kh3 was a little cerebral with that), but there's an important difference here that we'll come back to later on.

so, okay. we have a vague outline in the shape of a sunshine kid now. he has confidence tied to his role in society, his legacy gives him perspective, his trauma ensures that he will one day calcify against the darkness with such emphasis that he will unwittingly pad the therapy bills of an entire generation. so far so good.

but uh, yeah, his kids? he fights them? like okay, axel has his differences with his kids too but he's not trying to kill them (mostly). eraqus really definitely for real is, and ven is defenseless. so that'ssss...hard to square with the sunshine kid we're building, nomura, how do we explain that? we really can't handwave it as amnesia this time, we're not working with ansem the wise here.

(BALDR. BALDR IS HOW--

ok but wait wait wait, before we even get to baldr, there's something we can do:

make eraqus impulsive.

and i mean impulsive. make eraqus spoil for a fight with so much unmitigated howler monkey energy that he will fight his friends just to vent. (this isn't even a unique thing, riku and xion and even sora do it all the time, and we're not here to talk about ven's crimes against miners but it's clear that violence is a spoken language in kh.) eraqus is fluent, so we're making it so that all of eraqus's intensity and passion can be focused on a single point if xehanort pushes exactly the right switches in his head.

and then, y'know, yeah. make baldr slaughter all of his classmates, several of them right in front of him, because of unchecked darkness and baldr's own inability to see past his own grief and resentment for long enough to understand that all he's really doing is inflicting his own suffering on other people in a murderstorm of nihilism and bitterness. unrelenting trauma conga line, check.

and now we have almost all the elements. eraqus's principles can't allow him to accept darkness, both because his grandfather was lost to it and because it left him (by all accounts a bourgeois slacker at the bottom of his class, someone vidar doesn't even consider as a candidate for one of the lights despite what baldr has to say about eraqus as a light source) one of the only survivors of an event that completely resculpted his life and community. time to pack him off to the jedi temple land of departure to be least okayest teacher of the year, right?

well...no. we need eraqus to wait.

because he doesn't take on students. and doesn't, and doesn't, for decades. first he fights xehanort, and as we have established he is spoiling for that fight (white moves first!). and then when xehanort finally visits him to drop off that half-dead kid he found (ven was like that already shhh), he's kind of like politely like "oh, you have apprentices. they seem...bright," like he's congratulating eraqus on finally reaching a life stage that eraqus should have hit approximately 50 years ago, and eraqus is like "yeah yeah whatever shut up anyway YOU'VE got one too now right." (yen sid talks about the role of "seeker" like it's a different thing from "keyblade master" so that's where i'm extrapolating this distinction from, but regardless i don't think anyone ever seriously expected xehanort to take on students.)

my point here is that eraqus waited until the last possible opportunity to take on students. to carry on the legacy that was so important to him as a child, and to re-experience the closest thing to the camaraderie he had as a keybearer-in-training that he could ever have back. that is how impactful baldr's actions were for eraqus.

i'm veering completely into speculation now but i think eraqus was terrified. how could he not be? his class wasn't even taking the mark of mastery and still got decimated by it. how could he risk going through that again, but from odin's perspective this time? what guarantee would he ever have to avoid the same tragedy his master had failed to prevent?

so, NOW we know why eraqus's mark of mastery was a handful of light pinatas and a duel. (i like to think xehanort felt a certain level of professional embarrassment for him and wanted to make it just a little more like a real challenge.)

(this is a sidebar and i'm going to talk about my other blorbo for a second but terra has a beautiful dream of being a sly manipulator. that's why he doesn't worry about investing himself in villain schemes, because he assumes he'll see the snare coming before he gets his head caught in it, but it's never coming from directly in front of him like he expects. so this is a dream that will never come true, but he has it, and i think given what we knew about eraqus as early as blank points, its only possible source is a master who was strict and exacting, but--very occasionally--also a sly fox who secretly delighted in his students' nascent abilities to surprise and outwit him.)

back to the trauma, we also have, obviously, the explanation for eraqus's attitude towards terra, and later ven. terra is a tragedy in slow motion that eraqus has seen happen before. baldr was unable to control his darkness; it overwhelmed him, and eraqus does not have the context that xehanort does, that baldr was in some ways a product of his own darkness-shunning society. even if eraqus does have that context, i can't really see him agreeing with it--and even if he at one point agreed with it, he would have gotten that context from the same guy who last showed up at his house talking about kicking off the apocalypse for the vine.

so like. eraqus has never seen any damn thing in his whole life that doesn't confirm his bias against the darkness. does that make him innocent of parenting Incorrectly? no, he is a Bad Dad. does it explain his hopelessly unsuccessful parenting strategies? yes, it does.

what it reinforces is also that eraqus didn't want to have to fight terra and ven. the original bbs is honestly not very good about establishing this: he cries one Sad Tear. yawn. still child abuse, asshole! the stakes in bbs are also not very well established, because there's approximately six people in it and some of them are just the same guy over again, so we don't really have a sense that terra being taken over by the darkness is like...gonna mean something to eraqus that is sincerely worth the personal cost of killing him. since we're clearly no longer worried about ven, there aren't other students to protect (besides aqua, but she's a really hard sell on the "needs to be protected from terra with so much urgency he must not live another moment" front). there is no immediacy to ven's status as Apocalypse Child; if anything vanitas seems like the obviously more important threat, and maybe eraqus should be less concerned about weeding out students and more focused on vetting friends like Old Man So Clearly The Villain My Guy. bbs eraqus is just genuinely hard to like as a character.

but now we have dark road context.

and white moves first.

eraqus is not seeing terra or ven in that moment, he's seeing baldr. he's seeing the summoning of kingdom hearts that almost was, and he is gripped by meticulously prearranged, bone-deep, irrational, traumatized, unbridled impulse. the emotion must vent. the thing he was powerless to stop has returned to haunt him and he must resist it. he knows what will happen if terra strikes him down here and heads back out into the worlds in search of other hearts, other lights. he knows.

but terra resists, using the full spectrum of his strength without remorse, and it is only when eraqus's keyblade is ready to fall from his hand that he realizes the truth:

My own heart is darkness.

and when this happened in the original birth by sleep all i could think was yeah star wars dad!! nailed it your heart IS darkness you fuckin dillweed, about time!! what took you so long!!

but after dark road, this context is completely changed. eraqus is not just realizing that he fucked up.

he is realizing that he fucked up the exact same way baldr fucked up.

that he let his own grief and suffering cloud his judgment and guide his blade to strike out at his loved ones. that instead of finding a way to live with what's already happened to ven, what was long ago fated for terra, he turned his resentment outward and gave that darkness leave to consume them both whole.

but unlike baldr, eraqus regrets it.

it is that moment that xehanort cuts him down anyway, not because eraqus can't be saved the way baldr couldn't but because xehanort is cleaving away the last of his own attachments to the world so he can follow through with the rest of his plans, and i am SO NORMAL ABOUT THI

but okay anyway. eraqus has exactly one move left.

he can't see the board. unlike xehanort, he has no extra pieces of himself he can just bandy about; the warriors of light must assemble without any of his direct input, chasing the echoes of eraqus's students and pushing and pulling in reaction to xehanort's steady advance through the center. he has only one chance. he can't afford to waste it.

the kings are meeting in the middle of the board. the stalemate will come any moment, when they're both out of moves and out of time, leaving the fate of the worlds undecided.

and it is at this moment that eraqus pulls the same penultimate move that xehanort himself used on baldr, confronting him with the first victim his darkness ever struck down. eraqus almost doesn't have to say anything, at all, because xehanort has to know what it means. has to know what it says.

xehanort resists. the world is too far gone. too many horrible things can happen in it; it must be reset. not purged and filled with darkness, like baldr wanted, but returned to a state that can never mutate into the conditions that made baldr exist in the first place. that doomed all their classmates to die. it's too late.

For us, perhaps...but not for them.

and now we go back to the distinction.

the thing that makes xehanort's chess game different from eraqus's is that, for xehanort, it's only chess. the pieces he's moving have ceased to exist in his mind as individuals. they are pawns on a line of white and black squares, and they may weave away from his will here or there but they cannot be swayed from their march.

eraqus never forgets.

and it's actually eraqus's capacity for forgiveness that i haven't even touched on yet. this isn't a word i ever expected to associate with him, but eraqus spends dark road forgiving. five minutes after any altercation he's already forgotten about it. name-calling. arguments. rejection. opposition. full-on fighting.

murders.

when xehanort kills baldr, eraqus is still calling out for him to stop. when xehanort later strikes out at him with darkness (the thing eraqus is scared of the most!!), permanently disfiguring him, eraqus has already forgiven him before seeing him the next time in person.

he does not forget that baldr is a person in spite of his darkness, and eraqus doesn't want him to be killed for it. that terra is a person in spite of his darkness, and eraqus doesn't want to see it consume him. that ven is a person in spite of the darkness that was cleaved from him, and eraqus doesn't want to see it return.

(if you think about it the real tragedy is that we were robbed of him looking aqua in the eye and telling her that she isn't tainted forever, that it did not take her, and even if it had, that will always, always matter less than her finding her way back. i refuse to believe terra was not already made aware of these facts.)

but he also does not forget that xehanort is not a faceless player in the skies, impossible to convince of the significance of a pawn; he remembers that xehanort, too, is still a person.

this point is important because eraqus's last move is not a checkmate (I KNOW HE SAYS CHECKMATE but it is not checkmate), but it is calculated to produce something else: a concession. he doesn't need the board to support his win or xehanort's loss; he needs the player on the other side to put down the pieces and follow his beacon out of the dark.

and that is how nomura shows us our sunshine kid at last, fully formed, as he takes xehanort's burdens from him and spirits them both well beyond the reach of the board.

anyway yeah microwaving him in my brain along with axel (and also roxas and terra because if i don't collect all my blorbos AND their hot mess dads i'll never fill out my pokedex).

[silver-wield]

Hey Silver, I can't remember if anyone's asked you this, and I'm trying to remember if you once wrote a post about this a while ago, so hopefully you'll clear the air, mainly for question #1

1) Is Nomura the main director of ReTrilogy?

^ I ask this because, per IMDb (and my own memory of when I first played the game months ago), in Remake, Nomura is the sole director, but in Rebirth, he shares the title with Hamaguchi — and, unlike Wikipedia, on IMDb, when it comes to the ending credits, you have to provide verification, with pictorial evidence or documents.

2) Why does Wikipedia state that Toriyama co-write Remake with Nojima? 😒🤦🏻‍♀️ IMDb shows that Nojima is the sole screenwriter for both games, and I'm more inclined to believe both my own memory and IMDb specifically because you have to provide verification for the ending credits.

Nomura was the main scenario director for Remake and Hamaguchi directed the fight sequences while toriyama handled some event scenes, but Nomura is super busy with multiple projects including kh4 so stepped back and let Hamaguchi handle the main direction from Rebirth onward. He's still the creative director and has a big hand in the story. He's the reason Nojima's first draft of Barret's arc stayed the same whne Kitase wanted to change it, so he's still running the show in part.

Toriyama wrote some sub events and actually wrote the first draft of Tifa's resolution but Nojima had the final say in it and made them change it so Cloud hugged Tifa.

Nojima is the sole writer for the main scenario so imdb doesn't count things like sub scenarios like wikipedia does, it only cares about the main narrative and that's all Nojima for all 3 parts.

[kairithemang0]

The "Kairi Problem"

Hey guys it's Kairi day I'm gonna go on a long rant about how sad I am that she kinda sucks as a character.

To start I want to say that I absolutely adore Kairi, and that this isn't meant to be me hating on her, because I do really love her as a character (I literally stole her name for heavens sake). I just believe that there are a lot of problems with her character I need to get out of my system.

Ok, let us begin! First off, and the main issue with her for me is her pure reliance on Sora, and how much that really has damaged her character. Kairi is best when she's not around Sora. For instance, her conversations with Lea in KH3 are some of my favorite parts of that game. Their dynamic is so fun, and I wish they had more screentime together because they have the potential to have this sibling relationship that would be so wholesome. Along with her other interactions with characters, she could have such a great friendship with Aqua, seeing as Aqua will be teaching her how to better herself with the keyblade, it would be great to see more of their interactions.

HOWEVER! These are the only 2 meaningful relationships Kairi has outside of Sora. And even then, Sora makes up 80% of her interactions. Not even her and Riku talk much after KH1. They hardly even talk in Melody of Memory, a "Kairi game" where she is hardly playable. Not only that, at the end of that game Riku basically told her that she needs to stay home and let him to do work to find Sora. This to me is a big misstep in the writing for her character.

Kairi has self-confidence issues, one of her battle lines in Re:Mind is literally "please work". She has no faith in her abilities, but so much can be done with that. She can have an arc about believing in yourself and coming into her own and learn to stand beside Sora and Riku, not just letting them protect her.

This is partially due to her lack of screentime. She's never really been the focus of anything, she's just Kairi. The prize. That's really what she is, she's like the princess in another castle. Just "the girl". And that's a terrible thing to do with her character because unlike Peach, the princess in another castle, Kairi doesn't get the chance to rise above that label. In 21 years you'd think she'd be given something, anything really. I think that's why her kicking a heartless in the KH TV show pilot made me, and probably others, so excited. She did something! And it was cool, that's what we needed. Something cool.

So why am I talking about all this? The fandom has made jokes about Kairi being a plank of wood for years, it's no secret to anyone she's been given very little in terms of character. I guess my question is why? Why is Nomura giving this character with an interesting backstory and an interesting set of powers with seeds of a character if you squint such little time? Not only has she been around since the very beginning, but even characters who we know much less about than her are far more fascinating. I like to compare her to Yozora, who is a character we really know nothing about however we know he's powerful, and we know he has a goal. And I can assume he will deliver on both of those things even when we know more about him. Kairi on the other hand has had very few cool moments, has no goal, and just MIGHT be powerful. I mean you'd think having a princess of heart, a topic that has been covered in multiple games and will likely continue to be touched upon, as a main character would be amazing, right? Well, she's hardly ever mentioned to be a princess of heart and all we know about her powers is that she can bring back a heartless Sora in Kingdom Hearts 1. And that's it, that's all we know.

And I haven't even gotten into the whole thing about the Destiny Trio, the main trio in this series made up of 3 very important characters, feels more like 2 duos. It's either Sora and Riku or Sora and Kairi, not "Destiny Trio". And we know Nomura can write good trios, even while having 2 of the characters have moments together. So why can't the Destiny Trio have this? The 3 of them hardly interact without one of them overshadowing the other. For instance, the Riku and Sora KH2 reunion.

Sora is confused on how Riku can be here when he looks like Ansem. Kairi shows Sora that it is in fact Riku, and Sora and Riku have a moment. Then Kairi does nothing for the rest of the scene. In every case, that is a Riku and Sora scene where Kairi is just there. And this happens time and time again, where Riku or Kairi is put to the side so they both can have their moment with Sora.

And now it's time to talk about the scene where Xemnas kidnaps her. This scene is just... GAH I HATE IT!!! Xemnas just snatches her and then somehow, she's just passed out and gets killed. Not only that, but the reactions from other characters are also so lackluster. Sora does his "Kairi!" thing, and if anyone else were to have reacted I would say it should be Riku and Lea. Of course, Lea was dealing with his own troubles during that scene, seeing his best friends again was definitely something that would be more important to him, however he and Kairi spent time together growing a bond and training together, you'd think he'd at least go after her a little more? He does nothing! The only person that reacts to it is Sora, which is so sad since you'd think even Roxas would care a bit, since he and Kairi had that brief moment in KH2 where Roxas and Kairi's minds connect. You'd think any of them would have more of a reaction than they did. And she herself just sits there and struggles a bit. She's got another hand she could use to summon her keyblade again and swipe at him or do anything else that isn't absolutely nothing.

This whole scene would have been better if they had waited longer for Kairi to get taken, maybe she goes into battle with Sora, Riku, and Mickey when they fight the norts, but Xehanort swopes down and stabs her with his keyblade or something. If that happens, we could get more of a reaction from Riku. Really anything that isn't what we got would be better.

Throughout this whole series Kairi has been pushed to the side time and time again, and I highly doubt that'll end any time soon. With a new saga coming and more focus being placed on the Foretellers and what came before, Kairi will likely be once again pushed to the side lines while other more interesting characters take the front lines. It's a very sad fate for a character that has so much potential she'll never live up to due to a lack of interest from the writer.

[goldensunset]

at the request of exactly one person i have made a khdr quiz ⭐️ 31 questions with some joke qs again

[valorxdrive]

please let us know your thoughts on the kh pilot 👀

Alright! I made sure to give it a good share of shots, rewatches from last night and just recently too, just so I can get a solid lens upon it.

Keep in mind that for the pilot none of this will have any jabs at the animation. Its pilot material, the atmosphere on the other hand is what will keep my attention on it.

OKAY SO.

I’m genuinely on the fence about it. One thing I do enjoy is the extension of banter, but that also plays into a thought of being less serious so to speak. One of KH’s strong points to me is how it can balance a lethal atmosphere with the hodgepodge it made in the current day with a Disney/FF-Esque bowl. I do understand how this facet can’t be properly translated over to the big screen on the other hand. (Doubly so considering its age, I ain’t gonna be a harsh judge on that.)

Going over it moreso, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of much of the dialogue within the pilot. At least when it comes to how they fill in the smaller moments outside of the more memorable talks. Like hey, I enjoyed that bit of Goofy talking to Sora at the ship. Then there’s bits like Jiminy’s narration I really enjoyed listening to firsthand. Also Riku was a bit too silly for my taste. Not to say he’d be an absolute stick in the mud, but that was a lot more zany then I normally like from him.

Though, that one line with him and Goofy was golden. LMAO. So there was a lot of hit and miss.

On another note! What really intrigued me moreso above all else is in the pilot would be the extra emphasis upon heroism, what it means and its overall importance. There’s a couple of key points that I’ve seen in the main series itself come to reflect on this more in the recent day. So to see this was one of the core concepts draws a highly intrigued note to me. As some examples here, both from the game and a lil nomura interview.

Naturally we have to take the MoM as a unreliable narrator on this one.

So let’s reflect this to what Jiminy talks about in the pilot.

“Around these parts, heroes are found in all sorts of places, from Olympus, to Wonderland. A hero might be a prince like Aladdin, or  only boy like Peter Pan. Each world has its own hero. But in this story, a very special one was needed, to defend all the worlds of the magic kingdom.” - Jiminy, KH pilot.

I always found the fact that the MoM talking on this concept, when no one ever mentioned heroism to take note of that. So to see this old pilot ring a note on that is very intriguing to me. (I’ll find that other interview bit in due time, buuuut have this in the meantime.)

From BBS! From when Sora allowed Ventus to rest within his heart.

_____

So in short. To see how the future of the series if dabbling back to old core concepts, refining and playing around with them as they see fit is very good in my book. The LOST MASTERS saga seems prepared to truly draw on a lot of backburner concepts, evolve them and deliver them into a whole new sphere with the incoming cast joining Sora and Co’s long journey.

AND DAMN RIGHT I’M HYPED FOR THAT.

But all in all I hope this answers your question. Above all else, I can live without KH having an animated series. I much more prefer to see the games push on and watch many people form the story through this particular medium.

[strangefellows]

Oberon, Emet, Ardyn, and Luxu :)

favorite thing about them

Oberon: He's incredible. His writing is insanely good. He's a little known Arthurian figure who happens to be my favorite. He's bitter and angry and hateful but he cares so, so much.

Emet: I like tired old men, he's so snarky and obnoxious and dramatic but he's so devoted.

Ardyn: See above, like Emet I like dramatic obnoxious tired immortals, he's so messed up but the tragedy of him is incredibly good and painful.

Luxu: THREE TIRED DRAMATIC OLD MEN! I love them for the same reason.

least favorite thing about them

Oberon: He's not in NA yet. :|

Emet: I really am still somewhat unsatisfied with his ending in EW, but I'm coping.

Ardyn: How BADLY he was handled after the base game came out and until the saving throw of Ep Ardyn but EVEN THEN UGH, I hate his finale in DOTF.

Luxu: All of the questions we still have, how he almost ruined 10 years of Braig headcanons XD

favorite line

Oberon: "A bottomless sky. An empty life. Joy will have its value decreased tomorrow, and suffering will be forgotten together with yesterday. Beautiful things can be awful under certain conditions, and awful things can be beautiful under certain conditions. …Hah, what a laughingstock. Do you really believe there's any substance to life? …Hey, let me know, Blanca. Did your tale go satisfactorily?"

Emet: Either the line about boring him or his speech in Amaurot.

Ardyn: Oh it's been so LONG but his sass is always good.

Luxu: His fucking pre-fight cutscene in KH2 YES I'M COUNTING THAT lives in my head rent free years later.

brOTP

Oberon: Him and Castoria, honestly.

Emet: Ooooh, that's hard. XD Lahabrea?

Ardyn: I have HC friends for him from before everything happened!

Luxu: Radiant Garden Squad!

OTP

Oberon: Him and my Master OC; ObeGuda hell yeah.

Emet: Hyth/Hades/Azem, of course!!!

Ardyn: I do have an OC I ship with him, but also Ardyn and Aera ;u;

Luxu: .....SS dinghy Braig/Even?

nOTP

Oberon: I don't really ship him and Merlin, but also Please do not ship him romantically with Castoria

Emet: Him and Elidibus

Ardyn: Him and Noctis, gah!

Luxu: I...don't really ship him with the other Foretellers? IDK what's a NOTP-- OH WAIT XIGDEM PLEASE NO MORE.

random headcanon

Oberon: Despite all his flirting and playboy behavior if it came down to it he's pretty sex-repulsed.

Emet: He's the youngest of the Emet-Hyth-Azem trio, and he's a bit flustered about it.

Ardyn: He's a very, very good storyteller! He likes telling stories to children, or he used to.

Luxu: Ava was his favorite and he spoiled her rotten; he used to call her Ava-cado as a teasing joke.

unpopular opinion

Oberon: I want more people to play with the Vortigern aspect of him, not the Oberon aspect.

Emet: Like I said above, I'm not the biggest fan of his send-off.

Ardyn: He's nowhere near as sadistic as some people tend to paint him.

Luxu: The "Braig" we knew was ALWAYS Luxu.

song i associate with them

Oberon: This song has HUGE Oberon vibes to me, I love it.

Emet: Honestly? This song and this song were ones I blasted pretty hard when I'd rerun Dying Gasp back in SHB.

Ardyn: This one holy shit this is so very Ardyn.

Luxu: Quite frankly? This one hits.

favorite picture of them

Oberon: Nothing like his fourth ascension, honestly.

Emet: There's so little official art of him :(

Ardyn: This art simultaneously is my favorite and my beloathed because of how they never followed through on it.

Luxu: Nomura's art is always a classic.

[thequietmanno1]

TheLreads, Vigilantes ch 117, Replies Part 2

1) “OH FUCK RIGHT OFF FURUHASHI

IM GOING TO FIND YOU, AND I’M GOING TO MAKE YOUR EAT YOUR OWN TEETH”- It’s hysterical to see, in real time, your patience with the crazy narrative self-implode and you just soldier all through the remaining madness to get to the end.

(Vigilantes ch 71) 2) “Oh, now we have the imaginary ghost of koichi of arriving home, we`re full of ghosts today I`d say, soon we`ll have the imaginary ghost of Soga of being a piece of shit. That would be hilarious to see again…”- Well, now we’ve got the ghost of Knuckle and Pop floating around, so maybe Soga will wind up inside Koichi’s consciousness as well

(Vigilantes ch 86) 3) “Also, I don`t see why you`d check on her dude, you`re like, 40 chapters too early for her to wake up.”- She doesn’t have to be conscious to give a delirious Koichi some moral support…. (Vigilantes ch 95) 4) “Love this whole emotional introspection stuff that makes it seem like Pop is gonna die so Koichi has regrets over not confessing he loved her before.

…

you better fucking not Furuhashi.”- Does this count as her dying? Or shall we file this under “only mostly dead”?

(Vigilantes ch 104)

5) “Hey Pop, nice to see you again. Having a nice nap there in the fridge? Great, see you again in some 17 chapters.”- Sooner than that even. Even being fridged didn’t stop Pop contributing to this final fight, albeit only limited to a “moral support” role….which actually, is about all she really offered the gang even back in the day, come to think of it.

(Vigilantes ch 104) 6) “Yeah he did. Goddammit Pop.

If you ever wake up from that coma I’ll make sure to give you an earful about this.”- Does this count as “waking up”? Not certain it does honestly, as Pop seems due for the big sleep in reality. (Vigilantes ch 116) 7) “Koichi please, we all know the only person who’s gonna die is gonna be Pop.”- She’s dead, Knuckles is dead, Nomura is basically dead, Koichi is somehow still alive and on the verge of passing the threshold of mortality, AFO is just loving being on the side-lines of all this after his own near-death at All Might’s hands.

(Vigilantes ch 116) 8) “ARE WE IN A FUCKING DYING DREAM OR NOT HERE BECAUSE IF NOT I’M ABOUT TO HAVE SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT GHOSTKLEDUSTER HERE”- We’re in a lucid dying dream, wherein Koichi has connected to the spirit world and the astral planes as he puppeteers his battered body around to fight Nomura with the last of his failing strength, before he finally passes on….to his future hero career.

9) “Koichi this is not the time, you can say whatever you want to the real one rather than the ghost”- Well, he does have the opportunity but….as far as we can tell he never actually said anything like “Love” to her during their talk.

10) “Oh right, there’s a kaiju chase happening right now, almost forgot about it”- All that booze went straight to the memory circuits, huh?

11) “Yeah, we’re absolutely doomed

but hopefully that ghost experience has finally convinced you to kill”- Punch, yes. Kill…. we could have ended it a bit quicker if so, and maybe not have had the inconsistency of Koichi’s invulnerable Quirk failing him when it was most dramatically appropriate.

12) “KOICHI

SMASH!”- Koichi Rip N’ Tear! Seriously, that Kaiju form was as solid as a fart in the wind against his blows.

13) “OH JESUS KOICHI, THAT’S NOT A SINGLE SHOT

YOU FUCKING SWISS CHEESE`D HIM

BUT YOU DIDN’T HIT THE FUCKING BRAIN GODDAMMIT DUDE, YOU WASTED THE ONE TIME POP ALLOWED YOU TO KILL”- I cannot help but imagine what the effect would have been if this power was added to OFA. Seriously, Decay is useless against these force fields and they enhance Izuku’s ability to attack from any distance.

14) “We’re three chapters away now folks… Seems like, tomorrow, it all ends……”- All that alcohol screwed up your chapter count, but it’s understandable really. @thelreads

[invidiatechdemo]

I really do need to write down some of the specific weird 'writing a re:coded sequel version of remind but writing it like it's the novelization of a version that's a game with baffling mechanics related to power scaling/difficulty' situation I have stuck in my damn brain. The thing is the thing requires outlining + specifically outlining vis a vis : worlds visited order and the locations of Specific Plot Beats, and as I think i've mentioned here before writing is my nemesis and makes me ill.

For a super basic plot synopsis without spoilers for some of the specifics the concept was basically uh. (this is actively split up into parts because as it turns out i have a lot to say).

Initial section of story is post3 but pre the timescale of ReMind and MoM, and addresses that the journal still exists and addresses a thing that a lot of fics that remembers them don't (that textually, it's not just data-sora who forgot those events but likely has them etched in heart, the entire thing in many nomura interviews is that Data-Riku forgets in a similar way once the message abt Xion + Wayfinder is conveyed. bottom text.). It specifically actually uses them in a 'hey did you notice/feel anything weird when Sora (irl) disappeared' questioning by Riku and Mickey, and this planting the seed of. Upcoming things, because those bonds are /still/ etched and Data-Riku and Data-Sora would still have the feeling of being friends w/ Mickey and stuff.

ReMind starts with 3 Riku starting the damn boss rush but after a certain point when the computer is unattended, Data-Riku and Sora getting involved, with reasonings for that being those bonds to Mickey and Donald and Goofy still echoing, and a Castle Oblivion style 'I had a feeling that maybe if we came here, we could help' situation.

Hey don't worry that I'm going to keep alluding to KH2 and RE:COM in this metaphor, ok? :)

In Cid's words, the Data True Org stuff's composition is as follows: "This computer, the one in Twilight Town, and the one in the castle are all connected to the same network. They sent me all of their data and I merged it with the stuff I already had".

The castle in this statement is likely Radiant Garden. Later story stuff would actually dig deeper into /where specifically/ all the data is from in terms of where the castle and twilight town got their info, because if you take the Data Greetings serious, Scala Ad Caelum is just. In there, huh.

Data-Riku and/or Data-Sora enter one of the boss arenas, and start fighting. This is a terrible decision. For some. Later things. This being Young Xehanort's boss arena /specifically/.

The overlap of Jiminy's Journal Info (which /already/ has been shown to be able to reveal cutscenes/events that Sora was not there for as a weird world-memory thing (Riku interacting with AnsemSOD after island's fall, Riku at the clock tower in Neverland with Kairi, etc) and the info collected from Cid's vast repository of data results in something /extremely/ bad happening that initially just looks like generalized errors but quickly devolves into Bug Blox, and DS and DR being separated on two different levels.

It's at this point IRL Riku gets back. Bottom text.

Riku basically acting as mission control/the framing device from this point, with other characters coming in as things get worse and worse.

Hey remember the funny messages Data-Riku sent to Mickey. Riku does start getting those, but all they ever say is 'GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT' or 'LEAVE'. This is fine.

As a note, whoever they were fighting in the boss arena has frozen in a single place from the moment that the crashes/errors/bugs started occurring, with the boss arena visually being in the 'hub area' for what this game would be, with the boss arena basically crashed down and half submerged in the weird circuit bg and other miscellaneous debris from various worlds. Visually the hubworld riffing off End Of The World, with it becoming less luttered/chaotic at certain story beats/world completions.

Data-Riku landing in said hub world, with a framing device being Riku and Cid basically gmod prop spawning in a gummiphone so they can see info/data, since the camera is focused on Data-Sora by default. Comedy routine of Data-Riku selfie with a fucking damn frozen data greeting True Organization member. Cutscene dialogue where Riku and Cid talk about what the hell could have happened.

… Oh hey. Where did the player-controlled KH3! Sora go in all of this mess, since Riku was using that initially to interact with the garden of assemblage computer stuff. Oh well, probably got lost in the initial errors. It's fine. Surely.

Meanwhile Data-Sora is doing basic plot progression stuff in Data versions of some of the Disney Worlds, eventually meeting up with Data-Riku in the hub area. In my gamer-brain where I'm treating this as a game with mechanics, hub world meetup point would explain some of the initial base mechanics for people not accustomed to coded, and level selection. The gummi-phone mechanics now being used as a way to detect certain types of errors/bugs/reveal them, as well as for sections of game that are essentially Somniums. Info split between puzzle gameplay tutorials being explained via Data-Riku, and combat-related tutorials explained via Data-Sora, which is why they're split up initially so it's not a bunch of tutorials all at once.

There is a third game mechanic, but we haven't reached it yet. Smile.

Game tutorials and cutscenes slowly revealing something Very Specific about the game-scaling: Data-Riku and Data-Sora... were /not/ ready for this; the two of them are based on the Riku and Sora of /multiple games ago/, they can fight blox and stuff fine, but even the initiating cutscene implies they would have lost /horribly/ if the fight had gone on uninterrupted, and it unclear if if they would have uh. lived. Unlike the kh3 data sora, there's an issue.

Riku wanted them to leave/quit and let him just handle it, Data-Sora and Data-Riku point out that the way Riku was interacting with that data world is gone.

This conversation happens in the Hub World, and specifically mentions how Data-Riku can make portals to and out of the datascape/into other datascapes This is established early on as a thing Data-Riku still can theoretically do, despite the weird errors/glitches; outside of attacking them, whatever is going on with the system cannot intervene with Data-Riku or Data-Sora's programming, very likely because they have hearts alongside them being outside context problems.

Speaking of: yeah, the Bug Blox unlike in the previous game feel /really/ targeted, with lots of instances of stuff showing up specifically to impede progress.

But yeah, instances of true organization difficulty-wise veer into superboss territory, but in many cases they basically stick to their arenas. (some of which have basically collided into the various data worlds, puncturing through them like paper with large empty spaces and indestructible blox leading out to them. It's quite nasty, and there's this weird mixture of standard bug blox textures and the weird gummi-meaty world of chaos textures. This only gets more and more severe in the Radiant Garden and Destiny Islands sections.)

The bosses in question tend to have idle animations if left alone, typically sitting at the edge of a platform and looking out, either out into an endless abyss if one of the ones that hasn't crashed into a data worlds, or actually doing something a little bit more invested, like throwing stuff off their platforms, or straying slightly outside their arena to do something. This turns off immediately when Data-Sora or Riku are in range.

After one or two worlds are done, pretty early into the game but still with some 'game time'/plot stuff... hey so remember that super-duper frozen in place Young Xehanort? The one in the hub world and you likely have hit the 'interact' button on multiple times and probably gotten some dialogue with Data-Riku, Data-Sora, and Riku being a little bit creeped out/upset that there's just like. A dude. Yeah, that guy is gone now. It's completely unclear where he went. "Hey, Riku what do you think-" Data Riku is missing.

This is where the text limit cuts me off so. Mean cliffhanger.

[spaghetti-spider]

Square Enix: Physically releases a switch port for one of their most popular PS4 games

Also Square Enix: Refuses to do nothing more than a cloud version of games originally released for the PS3

[milaisreading]

I really like your BLLK headcanons about y/n's plushes! I adore the idea about y/n as BLLK manager, so if you accept bllk requests, can I ask you, please, for  headcanons about y/n as bllk project manager and boys are whipped for her like in your headcanons? Have a great day and ignore it, if it's uncomfortable for you!~ 

Garden

Author:

Thank u for the request, I hope I am doing this the right way since I don't do requests often. Tried to keep it as short as possible🩷

Warnings ⚠️: none in particular. Reader uses she/her. Possible manga spoilers. Requests are open.

⚽️Blue lock belongs to:Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

It was one of those rare days when Ego allowed the team to use their phones instead of just training and sleep. (Y/n) was out with Anri to run some errands Ego came up with, much to their annoyance. The team wasn't really aware of the two being gone, as they were immersed in their phones. But it took only one post from a fan of theirs to set off a chain of chaos.

"Hey, (Y/n) isn't here today?" Isagi spoke up, showing Bachira and Gagamaru his phone. The two looked at it in confusion and soon after their expressions turned to one of realization, then they sighed.

"(Y/n) looks so cute~ Isagi, send me that picture!" Bachira commands as the boy sweat drops.

"You can find it on the internet yourself- Gagamaru you haven't blinked once since you started looking." The goalkeeper looked away from Isagi's phone and then at the boy, blinking a few times.

"I did." He simply answered, his face turning red as Bachira laughed and slapped his back.

"You are down bad, Gagamaru! Can't blame you though, (Y/n) is so cute and caring! Nobody could resist her!"

"True! She always does her best so that we are comfortable and can just focus on football." Isagi added with a dreamy sigh, getting nods from the other two.

"She also always pays attention to help us out with the parts we lack before Ego-san can scold us. That's really sweet of her." Gagamaru said nervously, his face turning red along with the other 2.

"Yeah." They sighed, but their moment of tranquility got interrupted as three of their other teammates entered the room, two looking confused and one pissed off. The former Team Z members raise their eyebrows at Rin as Chigiri and Rensuke sat down.

"What happened to you, Rin?" Bachira questioned as the taller huffed, sitting down between Rensuke and Isagi.

"Nothing. What are you two doing there?" The tale-eyed boy asked, his anger turning into confusion at their flustered faces. Isagi said nothing and showed Rin the phone, which still had the post of a fan on. It was a really simple picture of (Y/n) wearing the Blue Lock jacket and a mask, holding a box as Anri was in the background talking to someone. The caption was simple too, just a 'Happy to have gone outside today! Seeing (Y/n) is rare but so worth it!!'

Rin's face turned red and he let out a dreamy sigh, shocking Chigiri and Rensuke.

"What did you even show him? We have been trying to calm him down for the past 10 minutes." Chigiri asked as Rensuke leaned in to look at the phone. Chigiri looked on as his friend had the same reaction as Rin, just that it was way more obvious.

"Nothing much, a fan posted a picture of (Y/n) she seems to be out in the city right now." Gagamaru explained to the redhead, who took the phone from Isagi's hand.

"Hey!" The boy yelled as Chigiri ignored him while Bachira chuckled a little. The redhead blinked a few times as he went over the picture for a minute.

"Cute..." He muttered, grabbing the spot where his heart is dramatically. Isagi took the opportunity and took his phone from him, and then went to look at the picture again, meanwhile Rin and Bachira were leaning against his shoulders to look too.

"She looks so adorable~ Wish I was with her. I feel bad when she has to carry those boxes around." Chigiri pouted as Rensuke nodded in agreement.

"I never see her complain tho or even ask for help. Baro and I once wanted to help her but she just kept ignoring and asking us to go and rest."

"She is very considerate. We are very lucky Ego-san picked her as our manager." Rin added, causing the six to nod along.

"Guys! Did you see the pictures of (Y/n)?! The JFU updated some from today's conference!" Karasu yelled as him, Otoya, Baro and Hiori walked into the room. The others perked up as they looked at the boy.

"There are more?! Where?!"

"On JFU's official site. The pictures look glamorous, nothing out of the ordinary for her." Aryu said with a smile as he handed Chigiri his phone, prompting the others to huddle up next to him and look at them.

"So cute~"

"Look! She is waving too!"

"Look! The smile is there too!"

"Wish there were more pictures without the mask."

"I couldn't imagine being an outsider and only seeing (Y/n) once in a blue moon."

"Must suck. Thank God I am not one of them."

"You guys are so weak acting like that over some pictures. It's rediculous." Baro commented, causing the others to glare at him.

"What did you just say, you donkey?"

"Want to repeat that?!" Isagi and Bachira replied as Otoya let out a laugh next to Baro.

"Let's not pretend like you didn't have the same, if not a worse reaction."

"Yeah, your face was as red as a tomato from that one picture where (Y/n) was smiling at the camera." Karasu added as Aryu and Chigiri snickered.

"Weak minded king." Rensuke taunted.

"Shut up! Aside from that one, I am the most calm and collected."

"Anyways, my favorite one is where she was nearly caught falling asleep. Chigiri scroll down, you guys won't be disappointed!" Otoya urged, just in time when Nagi, Reo and Kurona walked in.

"My favorite one was the one where she is talking to Teieri-san. It always looks nice when she is relaxed." Hiori admitted with a blush.

"What are we looking at?" Nagi raised an eyebrow, walking to where Isagi was.

"Yeah, you all are quite loud." Reo said.

"New pictures of (Y/n). The JFU posted them. She looks so cute too!" Aryu said while Reo and Kurona ran to where Chigiri was, hoping to catch some glimpse of the manager.

"What?! Let me see. I didn't se (Y/n) in so long."

"We literally sat last night at dinner with her." Nagi told Reo, who looked at him dumbfounded.

"So? Too long- Hey Chigiri, can you return to the previous picture?" Reo urged as the boy agreed, wondering where their phones were.

"Whatever, hope (Y/n) will be back soon. I want to show her a new trick I learned." Kurona muttered, trying to move Gagamaru's head out of his sight.

"The real her is better than any of the pictures. These just don't do her justice." Karasu added, prompting the rest to agree unanimously.

"Oh? Rin, you seem in a better mood too? What were you even mad over?" Kunigami suddenly asked the tale-eyed boy, who just shook his head, trying to enjoy (Y/n)'s pictures in peace.

"Nothing...I forgot about it."

An hour before...

Rin was in the main hall enjoying the silence as he went through his phone, just checking in to see what his favorite artists and footballers were posting, when a message from his brother popped up. Now, him and Sae were now on better terms than previously, but not so much better for the older to write him at random times of the day. Cautiously, Rin opened the message and boy did he wish he didn't.

Sae: Hey Rin, you are good friends with your manager, right?

Sae: Could you tell me if she has any social media?

Sae: Could you also give her my phone number. She isn't dating anyone, right?

Present time...

"Absolutely nothing, it was resolved, anyways." Rin said to his orange-haired teammate, knowing his brother is probably pissed that he had left him on read.

"Can I show you another picture of (Y/n) I found on my camera roll? I think it was from our U-20 match!" Reo suddenly said, catching everyone's attention now.

"Show!"

"I wanna see!"

"When is (Y/n) coming back again?"

"Not sure, Gagamaru. I hope soon."

Meanwhile on the other side of the Blue Lock building (Y/n) let out a sneeze as she was looking through the 1st aid kid.

"Are you alright?" Niki asked in alarm as (Y/n) waved him off.

"Yeah, must be seasonal sickness. Anyways, how did you even manage to cut your finger like this? I am not used to you being clumsy." Niki blushed a little and looked away as (Y/n) started disinfecting his cut.

"Accidents, you know!" Niko answered nervously, enjoying the short moment he had with her.

'Her hands are so soft!!'

[phoenix-downer]

Howdy. I recently became a fan of Kingdom Hearts despite being familiar with the name for a long time, so I'm still learning about the franchise and awaiting the release of KH4. One thing I wanna know is: Was Yen Sid's determining of Sora' assessment of the Mark of Mastery Exam fair? I've seen a lot of debate on this, with mostly the blame going to Sora for easily letting himself get manipulated by Young Xehanort and his own Darkness, which is true to some extent but still. What do you think?

Oh nice, hope you've been enjoying your KH journey!

You bring up a really interesting question. I've seen a lot of debate about it as well and I kind of wonder if it's because the concept was good but the execution was bungled.

Because Sora failing to pass the exam? And all because of his pride/hubris leading to overconfidence and risky behavior? That's an interesting concept, especially after KH2 where he won, where he succeeded.

And his temptation in DDD was handled very well too--I find it just as compelling for a character to be tempted by good things obtained the wrong way, as it is for a character to be tempted by bad things. It was the way Sora was trying to reach Riku and Kairi that wasn't good, not wanting to reach them that wasn't good. And that is why he was led astray--his heart and love for his friends wound up being his downfall in a way that mirrors Luke's downfall in Empire Strikes Back. Xehanort very cunningly exploited a deep-seated fear Sora has that stems from past trauma thanks to all the times he's been separated from his friends and took advantage of how much he loves them:

Again, really good stuff. I do think the writing could've more strongly established that Sora's arrogance led to his downfall because that part of the execution is a bit weaker (though he does have a brief line at the beginning of the game alluding to this), and I wonder if it's because Nomura and/or Disney didn't want the protagonist going too dark, but I digress.

I think the part of the execution that's really bungled is Yen Sid's explanation for why Sora failed.

First of all, when Sora asks about the results, Yen Sid tells them they both performed admirably. Maybe it's to spare Sora's feelings or whatever, but it's already kind of setting up a discrepancy between his words and what actually happened during Sora's exam:

Then, he talks about how he's glad Sora and Riku are both safe and grateful for Lea's help. He also apologizes for what happened which hey, I'll give him credit for that, but if the test was rigged against Sora, why would you still count it? Your pupil was set up for failure and you're just... gonna... roll with it? He doesn't strike me as a very good teacher lol:

Then he talks about how the test revealed truths about the future clash etc. and says he wants a Keyblade Master who will have a useful power for the future battle. Again, no problem with that, but a good teacher would've revealed the parameters of the test ahead of time and not after the fact. It's just wildly unfair to switch how you're evaluating students after they've taken the test, and I think this is where people started to get irritated with the explanation. Everyone's had a crummy teacher who graded them unfairly on an assignment, and that's how Yen Sid comes across here:

Then, he says this. If Sora had truly failed, Yen Sid should not have said this. It would've been better if Sora didn't deserve to be made a Keyblade Master yet than for Yen Sid to say, "You deserve to be one but because Riku got an A+ and you only got an A, he passes and you fail." Again, I think people got irritated by this because it's just so blatantly unfair and doesn't track with Sora failing:

Again, I think most people would've had no problem with Sora failing and Riku passing if Yen Sin's explanation had been handled well and if either Sora's arrogance had more directly tied to his downfall OR if Yen Sid had clearly spelled out that Sora's greatest strength is his greatest weakness, he needs to temper his heart's urges with the wisdom of experience, and he needs to grapple with his darkness and master it like Riku has.

As it is, we see Sora show a little cocky arrogance at the start of DDD, he's tempted by his good side, and then... he's ambushed, sabotaged, and kidnapped, nearly losing himself and control of his own heart to the villain in the process. And he fails, not because of his own choices which led to his heart getting captured, but because... he got an A and Riku got an A+? It just doesn't make sense, and that's what bothers me about it.

Hope that helps explain where I'm coming from more. Of course, all of this is my own interpretation, but it's definitely why I didn't really buy what happened at the end--the reason Yen Sid gives for Sora failing doesn't track with what we actually saw happen in the game.

Thanks for the ask!

Screenshots are from here.

[sailforvalinor]

hey i've seen in your latest post mentions of sora possibly being MoM and i'd like to know why it's such a popular theory? i've never really seen mentions of it so i wondered what the theory was about (like why would people think that, why so many people agree, if it was implied in the games?) i'm a bit confused

Great question, Anon! I’ll try to do my best to explain, but I’m by no means an expert.

So, there have been a lot of theories as to who MoM could be in the years since the character was introduced, but there is at least a general consensus that MoM is going to be someone we recognize, given that his identity has gone so long without being revealed, and both the game and MoM himself being so determined to keep his appearance and name a secret (think that scene with him and Young Xehanort in Re:Mind). It doesn’t really make sense at this point for him to be a completely new character.

Now, Sora is by no means the only character suggested. For example, before KH3 released, there were some theories floating about that MoM could be Riku. This theory stemmed from the fact that No Name, the keyblade that MoM gifted Luxu, supposedly contains MoM’s eye—which was the same ice-blue as Riku’s eyes. However, this theory kind of went out the window when Riku’s eye color was changed to green in KH3, but the one in No Name stayed the same (I honestly wonder if this was done on purpose to debunk the theory). Also, to me, it doesn’t seem to make much sense given the upward trajectory of his character arc recently.

(It’s also worth mentioning that there is some doubt as to whether or not the eye in No Name is actually MoM’s literal eye, as he is very ambivalent and dodgy about an answer when Gula asks him about it in Back Cover.)

There is also a fairly popular theory that’s been floating around for a pretty long time that MoM is Demyx. It made sense to me for awhile, as he’s one of the only Organization members unaccounted for in terms of where he comes from who also has a lot of plot emphasis (though certainly not the only one). We also learn in KH3 that he, along with Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord, are connected to the keyblade wielders of the past, but he never showed up in Union Cross. He also has a similar personality to MoM. However, as we know next to nothing about Demyx, him being revealed as MoM isn’t going to pack a lot of narrative punch, so it seems unlikely to me—however, I won’t rule it out entirely. (There’s also a lot of emphasis on the implication that MoM once had friends/something he cared about, but he lost them, while Demyx has no connections at all. However, this could just be because we don’t know about them yet.)

It just occurred to me that Luxord could be a candidate for a lot of the same reasons, plus the fact that Marluxia explicitly questions who he is in Re:Mind. However, once again, I don’t know how impactful of a reveal that would be. (It also implies that MoM put on a fake accent for some reason?)

I don’t know for certain, of course, I think the Sora=MoM has persisted because it just makes a lot of sense, both in terms of in-world logic and having enough narrative punch. If something were to happen to his friends, he would go to any and all lengths to save them—including, say, traveling back in time to change the course of history. The world of Kingdom Hearts itself punishes Sora for doing what he thinks is right—stealing his powers, his friends, and now even his life—and it wouldn’t be too hard to see him being pushed over the edge. It also would conveniently explain why MoM is voiced by Ray Chase, as he’s playing an adult version of Sora (if MoM were any adult character, they would have to explain the VA discrepancy—unless, of course, they do what they did with Luxu/Xigbar and have him stealing people’s bodies, which is a definite possibility).

What in particular swayed me towards this theory was an interview Nomura gave before KH3 came out, where he said that he doesn’t “actually sympathize or empathize with Sora at all,” and pictures Sora “like [his] enemy.” Now this could very easily just be an indication of how he decided to write KH3, but if this is his attitude towards Sora right now, making him face a version of himself who is a “villain” and face some consequences for his actions definitely seems more likely to be on table. However, more recently Nomura said that he decided to make KH4 over Verum Rex because he was worried about Sora, so take this all with a grain of salt.

(Additionally, this is not a theory I’ve ever seen put forward, but Ven would make a really interesting, though not necessarily likely, candidate. As the token “innocent” he would have all of the shock factor, and would be interesting given all of his ties to both the time of fairytales and the present. Him both training and being trained by Xehanort would make for some fun irony, as well as him predicting that he himself would be “the fated child possessed by darkness.” However, Ven has been through enough already, and I don’t think it’s very likely.)

I hope this maybe cleared some of this up?

[silver-wield]

hey I don't know if i posted this here or to my friend but uh, i want to talk about what "interrupted by fireworks" mean.

So this ost shows up in three sections of OG. Gsd where it fits with tifa, uematsu confirmed this. In mideel and the Rancid cait sith premonition to aerith.

At first you'd wonder if it's an ost for a "romantic" atmosphere. But is it really? That's what some think. But look, rebirth has deleted that ost why?

Because i think the song isn't meant to be "romantic" at all. It's a sign of distress and worry. Could be in Tifa's pov or Cloud's pov, or maybe both?

In her gsd, tifa has trouble telling what she meant. Cloud has a need to know what she wanted to say. Didn't get there with their conversation.

In mideel, tifa sees cloud dying. Cloud is unable to be with Tifa especially now. Is this the end of them?

In the cait sith bullshit, tifa.. is not gonna be with cloud?(I know she wasn't there but we know the song is representative of tifa and we know she's in love with cloud, is this an indirect rejection? Of course we know it's bullocks but at this moment, we look at it). And to cloud, has the same thing with tifa. If he not meant for tifa? I recall he doesn't say anything here but Nor is he happy because he's not. This Isn't what he wants. Never what he wants.

Rather than romantic, it's like a segway, an insight to distress. Even the title is distressing haha.

But now it's gone? Why? Because unlike OG, there have been little to Zero times where tifa sees a distress within their relationship. Gsd, they confirm eachother. Maybe in part 3 she'll get in a distance from him because that's not the soldier cloud we know. I just hope whatever it is that they don't feed crackshippers anymore bullshit to feed their Delusions. I know tifa worries in an ultimania about his bond to aerith. Needless detail and out of context (because she's just being paranoid, questioning everything, until she sees he's just there to ask for forgiveness and is dying. Things she didn't know prior but I wish she could have trusted him better. Again Useless detail, Never in the film Nor novels). But we sure as heck the ones who heard him call her Nakama and Mother 😂. Tifa dear Wake up.

Anyway. That's all. Still can't believe some think the caith sith thing in OG is "romantic" like seriously? After knowing she dies and it's a lie? They think it's not that and it's just "tragic what could been"? They clearly don't understand how premonitions work right? If it didn't happen, then it will never happen. Exactly as tifa's premonition was awful but look at them they're together smiling. Then AC ruins that and made Delusional people think cait sith is "correct" (nvm how Shit he is at this like yo gurl DIED). because they didn't make it clear that he's been Super Happy after the events of FF7. But seriously, these people have difficulty letting go of their preconceived Delusional HC. Goddamn shippers🤦.

Uhhh actually Nobuo explained a lot of times they reused or even used tracks in og for segments of the game the track wasn't intended for. Like he was surprised aerith's theme played at the forgotten city because he only wrote it for the flashback at the train station to show the similarity between her and Elmyra both waiting for a loved one.

Also there was a lotta hands in the pot for og, most notably toriyama, who liked to fuck things up behind Nojima's back. His involvement was heavy handed af for disc one until aerith died, when he took a back seat. He was and still is salty af his fave isn't the love interest.

The temple bullshit was his idea, which is why it doesn't exist in rebirth. The canon relationship is the work of nomura and nojima and the people who weren't out to ruin their own work.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Yuugiroku 3 - Short Episode #6 “Yukimura the Page's Secret”

Maybe it’s because Shinkai Reimeiroku is getting released soon, but i was wondering why Takeda doesn’t appear in any of the short episodes (admittedly i wrote this note a month in advance but w/e. it’s fine since im avoiding tumblr til im done with exams lol. final final of the semester is scheduled for tomorrow)... and why Miki doesn’t have any ‘extra’ content (not counting the souma-hen musical since that involves a different cast of people). 

I mean, Nomura, Nakaoka, Motoyama and Takeda all appeared on one of the Shinkai drama cds, and Takeda also voiced one of the Ginsei no Shou countdowns.... so it’s sorta odd to think about how there’s nothing for Miki beyond the games despite how all the non-romanceable Shinkai characters had something extra. 

guess it’s kinda pointless to speculate bout that though?

anyway, enjoy!

Hakuoki Yuugiroku 3 - Short Episode #6 “Yukimura the Page's Secret”

Translation by KumoriYami

Souma: Hoh...... Today's practice is over, so I should go over to the well and wipe down this sweat.

Nomura: That’s right! We don't have any work today so let's go out and have some fun!

Miki: So this is where you were.

Souma: ! Miki-san―

Miki: I have something to ask you, but you're free now, right?

Souma:......No, but we made plans to head out now......

Miki: In any case, it’s not for anything important, is it? You'll just be going to eat udon, or look at some swords.

Nomura: Don't be so judgemental/say it so casually! it's all we can afford to do with our salary!

Souma: No-Nomura!

Miki: Although I don't think that needs to be said so loudly...... since you're not doing anything important, it's fine, isn't it? 

Since that’s the case, just come with me.

Nomura: What should we do? Isn't Miki-san is the the Captain of the Ninth Division? So shouldn't we listen to what he has to say?

Souma: But we've been told that we can't let our guards down around him......

Souma: Furthermore, he suspects that Yukimura-senpai is a woman.

It's possible that we might expose something.

Nomura; But won't refusing make our relationship with the Ito-faction even worse?

Souma: That's true......

Miki: So what are you doing? Are you coming or not?

Souma:......I understand, we'll go with you.

Miki: It’s good that you're so understanding. Then, let’s go to the common room.

I won't ask about anything else....... That guy, Yukimura, is he really a man?

Nomura: Th-This question again? Aren't you a little too fixated on this/looking into this too much?

Souma: Th-That's right. Regardless of where you look, isn't Yukimura-senpai is ob-obviously a man?

Miki:...Do you think you guys can lie through this? I don't know how you're able to pretend like that.

Souma: Exactly who is lying/I don't know what you mean by lying.

Miki: That soft voice and slender waist...... and those long eyelashes and delicate cheeks [tl i have translates to "white" for cheeks], how don’t they look like a woman. 

Nomura: Senpai is just faking that voice! In fact, Senpai's voice is actually very rough/hoarse!

Souma: Th-That's right! I also took a bath with Senpai――

Souma: Despite that appearance, once Yukimura-senpai takes off their clothes, their whole body has steel-like muscles.

Nomura: Exactly! I'm surprised that their body is even better than Nagakura-san’s! Senpai really looks slender though. 

Miki: Um...... if you're going to be lying, can you put more effort into it?

Souma: Put in more effort....... But, we're not lying though.

Miki: So I imagined how the calf I saw beneath the hem of their hakama looked very soft?

Nomura: Of course you did! Soft calves...... What are you looking at, you pervert!

Miki: Pervert? We're all men, so what's wrong with looking at someone else's calves?

Souma: Th-That’s right, there’s nothing weird since we're all men...... but......

Miki: Was Yukimura having hair that smelled nice also because I was imagining it?

Nomura: Yo-You’re saying it smelled nice! What did it smell like?

Miki: For a guy like you who/ someone who isn't aware of women, you wouldn’t get understand what that smell was like.

Nomura: Hey, what does did it smell like? Senpai's hair, did it smell good?

Souma: Wait. Is this the time to asking that?

Nomura: Even if you say that, I really want to know......

Miki: Hey, what are you whispering about?

Souma: No, it's nothing. That nice smell was probably just some burned incense.

Souma: Since this is a temple, people frequently burn incense sticks here.

Miki: It obviously didn’t smell anything like an incense stick......

Souma: It's not unusual for the scent of incense to mix with body odour to change into a different smell. 

Miki: Then, when I joking pushed them down, I just imagined that strangely cute voice?

Nomura: What do you mean you pushed them down! Did you take advantage of Yukimura-senpai!? How are you going to take responsibility for that! [not sure bout the 2nd sentence here and the first question right after this]

Miki: Take advantage of? Take responsibility? What are you saying. Isn't Yukimura a man?

Nomura: Ah! Th-That’s――

Nomura: Souma! I, I remember that I have something to do! I'll be going first!

Souma: Oi, wait for me, Nomura!

Souma: After saying something like that, what am I supposed to do!!

End