#Kairi blaming herself has potential to be interesting though

[mythicalartistx]

How the English Translation makes Kairi characterization worse...

Why I'm going to say is about her character and it doesn't have to do with liking her with Sora or not, it's fine if people like the ship, it's completely valid but it's not about that.

The English translation had sadly change lines that gave her strength or character to lines that kills her character or even romanticizes it with Sora instead.

I'm not here saying there's anything wrong with the ship, there's not it's fine. I'm here saying how they ruin good character moments for romance or other reasons as well.

They give other people all the credit or just make it lackluster.

For example in MOM she blamed Xehanort for Sora's disappearance in the ENG version, but in truth she blamed herself. Now this changes it so she's blaming someone else, but her blaming herself gives her character like it's her fault than just her blaming someone else.

And I think that is a neat take that she blames herself because Sora wanted to bring her back so he could go home with all of his friends. I find her character to be more interesting if she blames herself and feels guilty over what happened.

Here she's taking action and feeling guilty rather than being like oh it's definitely this guy's fault. And just blaming the obvious choice — the villain is kind of like really...

I mean it sort of makes sense because Xehanort caused Kairi's heart to shatter which then Sora went to find her... But still... It just sounds better if she blamed herself, not sure why they changed it to blaming Xehanort?

Another is a dialogue that Sora says, "I'm strong with you, Kairi." And like it's fine whatever, but the original dialogue is something like "You're strong, Kairi." Now this one kind of bothers me because it uncharacterized her.

It is showing that she's strong here. Sora believes she is strong and that's nice considering how her character is always left behind. However they take that all away in the English, when he says "I'm strong with you Kairi"

It could be saying oh Sora just is strong with her because his friends make him stronger or something. But it removes that fact that Kairi is strong by herself as stated in the JPN version. And it slightly romanticizes it when there wasn't any before and because it wanted to romanticize it, it took away development for Kairi.

It also could be her along with Riku helping him get back and it seems Sora believes it was only Kairi who helped him after restoring everyone (he probably forgot what Riku did and how he sacrificed for him) so saying you're strong could also be like Oh you're strong and helped me.

And it just shows to her character she's strong and can do things, she's not the weak person who is always being left behind or needing to be saved but that's it

And taking that away just kills her character more.

I really have hopes for Kairi in future installments, if you seen any previous post I made I have stated it would be really interesting for her character to make new friends since she is Always being left behind and there could be potentially some interesting interactions and development between other characters such as the sea salt gang or Wayfinder Trio.

I also had stated that if we get to see her finding out about her past with Aqua or even Lea it would be interesting.

So far her best interaction is with Lea in kh3 and I liked how they became friends, but I really hope for more

[darkzeruda1214]

Kairi deserved better.

Oh, boy this is going to spark up some debates.

Now I want to CLARIFY before I start.

I DO NOT. Under any circumstance hate. Or dislike Kairi. Personally I think she was one of the few characters that actually have an interesting background and has a lot of potential as a character. And I really do like Kairi, but I think the rest of the fandom can agree with me.

She. Was. Done. Dirty.

Seriously. Does anyone in the development team even like or want her in the series?!

This girl deserves better. As well as give her some spotlight and some much needed personality!

*Canon Kairi is just really... unjust. The fandom does a much a better job portraying her character! (TAKE NOTES NOMURA Dangit! You could learn a few things from the fans!)

Anyways...

Time to get to the topic, (also thanks for my cousin for allowing me to use their exact words for this argument).

(SPOILERS FOR KH3)

So after finishing KH3 I was left unsatisfied and just plainly angry at the ending. And after what happened to Kairi, there’s nothing more than I want is for her to get some redemption because what happened to her is utter bullshit. One of the things that really pissed me off was how they handled her.

And yes, I’m talking about the final battle, but one thing I think many people tend to overlook is her treatment in the trailers.

Now I know some of you are confused by what I mean. But the trailers really deceived fans about what Kairi was going to offer. A lot of fans speculated, argued and theorized that Kairi was FINALLY bulk up and be ready to fight. She was finally going to be useful.

Now to be fair she isn’t and act totally useless. I mean she did save Sora during the Final World arc. (But you know, Square totally missed an opportunity that could have given Kairi more substance, but that’s for a totally separate debate for another time).

The trailers made it seem that Kairi was going to be part of the final battle. Now that part wasn’t a lie, but they clearly only gave her the spotlight for a couple of scenes, she’s a party member for the first part of the battle and then that’s it. We don’t even have her throughout the ENTIRE battle. She’s just cast away, because PLOT!

Utter. Bull.  

But another thing that really degraded her character as a whole is the lack of personality.

Kairi used to be a snarky and sarcastic character in KH1. And I really enjoyed what kind of character she used to be during my second play through.

(Though I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t have any attachments to any of the character -not including Disney exclusive characters- in my first playthrough until later on in the story. Riku was the only one I was more intrigued about).

Back to Kairi, even with the few seconds she was in, she had something that made her feel like fleshed out character. Not by much, but there was something. And all of that was nearly taken away in KH2, now some of you are probably ready to argue that KH2 was her best version. I’m incline to disagree, now while Kairi was mostly asleep in KH1, she had more personality in the first game compared to the second. Because in the second game, she becomes less sarcastic and more bold when it came around action.

This is where I feel Kairi started to fall as a character and more as a plot device. Because as we all know it, she get’s captured. At least in the first game she had purpose and a reason to be there.

In KH2 she had absolutely no reason to be there.

As much as I hate to say this. Her character direction fails in the second installment, because the only time she’s relevant (not including Naminé) is the Roxas telepathy conversation and the bottle scene. After that, the only way to keep her in there is by having. Her. Get. Captured. 

She’s ‘the fire’ that keeps Sora going. And at that point she’s only there as a plot device for Sora. Who he himself wouldn’t be relevant either had it not been for the Keyblade and for Roxas. But since he’s the playable character he’s obviously important. But… the same can’t be said for our Princess of Heart. While they managed to keep something in for Kairi in the second game, it was completely tossed out entirely in KH3. Honestly, the only thing I got from her is that she's heavily infatuated/in love with Sora (which isn't a bad thing, it's just that’s ALL her character had to offer in the third installment). And just in general I think her development went in the wrong way.

So we finally get to the title of the rant.

I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me and that's fine. Since we all have the right to our opinion, and to disagree and agree.

But I think she didn't need to have a Keyblade.

Or at least in the way how the writers decided to give it to her.

Reason I say that? She didn't even EARN her Keyblade. Yeah, I said it. 

She didn’t earn it, Riku gave it to her like a gift card. Like: here, it's yours. (It’s pink. So I don’t want it. It matches your clothes though).

That’s it.

They just handed her a Keyblade. That it. She didn’t even have to WORK FOR IT. (Not even a joke since the franchise is handing those things like lollipops) Now. If they had allowed her to manifest it. I dunno, actually EARN it, like how Sora and Roxas did. (Heck, even Riku got it, off screen, but he still got his). And addressing the Wayfinder’s Keyblades, it’s pretty obvious since they were training to be masters at the time. And don’t even get me started on Union X and Ven.

But Kairi was just given the damn thing like a kid given candy. Not through some rigorous trial of heart, mind or soul. Not through battling. No. Just handed one. 

I mean yeah sure you could argue her coming to another world could work for her favor, after all she traveled from one world to another. Being brave to help out Sora despite being in danger herself. But again, she’s just given the Keyblade by Riku. Not by her own power. She’s just gifted THE DAMN THING!!!!

I’m sorry. But I don’t think that’s how KEYBLADES WORK!

Look at Axel/Lea! He manifested the Keyblade in his hand! Sora’s appeared to him at first, but then he earned it after showing that his heart is strong and his power is through friendship. 

Roxas earned Kingdom Key through Sora, but later he earned his own Keyblades after his strong promises and from battling. One from defeating Xion and the other from the sworn promises.

And it’s no doubt Riku got his from all the hard work of fighting the darkness and helping Sora in his journey. 

But Kairi. Didn’t.  This pisses me off.

Honestly... at this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised that the writers (actually I think I want to blame Nomura for this) don’t like Kairi. If they don’t even bother to put any effort in making Kairi a fighter. Why on earth did they have to give her a Keyblade?  

Again. If they allowed her to manifest it, or let her go through a small trial of some sort like everyone else, or test the power of her heart then I wouldn’t be arguing this topic.

I’m not saying it’s intently bad that they gave her a key. I’m saying the way how they did is simply lazy writing and makes Kairi look useless.

Because of her Keyblade, I think that’s the reason why a lot of people wanted her to fight. And honestly, I feel that was the wrong direction to grow her character.

I can name a good number of cartoon, game and anime characters who don't have ANY fighting experience but are still amazing characters.

And I think that’s a problem in pop culture in general. What most fans of any series don't realize, is that well-written female characters aren't just those who kick butt and shoot stuff.

They don't have to be a badass to be a good character!

And I think that's what really screwed Kairi over in the end. (That and what Nomura did to her). But the moment they decided to give her a Keyblade to fight, it really tipped her off badly.

So going back to the trailers, since I clearly forgot to remind myself, the trailers really made it look like Kairi was finally going to be able to help in physical part of the battle.

They emphasizing so much on her training, that it made it seem like Kairi was going to be a stronger character "physically.” But… once the game was released, there wasn't anything to back it up all that “training.” In fact we didn‘t even get to see her and Axel train at all.

And to me that was a shallow move. The only thing the trailers served was a cheap extension to encourage people to buy the game. I think they tried really hard to sell the game by releasing too many trailers too early in the year that not only spoiled the story, but made fans wait even longer for a game that didn't even feel complete.

All that’s left is the Re:Mind trailer. (Edit ReMind fixed her character. About DAMN TIME!)

But that's just my opinion, if you don't agree with me, that's fine I respect your opinion. I don't mind at all Kairi having a Keyblade or learning how to fight. But I don't think that's what she needed in order to be a good character. She really needs a fleshed out personality and some interests/hobbies outside of simply being in love with Sora.

No hate to Sokai ship. It's a good couple, just... was poorly executed in cannon. Fandom works have better stories and delve into the relationship and characters (better than Nomura ever could write) I'm sorry. But I'm still bitter to what he thought would be a good thing to add in KH3 especially after how many years fans waited the game's release.

*I know there are other reasons as to why Kairi looks and is treated as a bad character. But her poor development discussion has been overdone so many times that it’s practically common knowledge for any Kingdom Hearts fan.   But again that's me.

I really needed to get that out of my system.

[phoenix-downer]

The Keyblade Graveyard Part 1: Japanese and English Comparison

This is the fifth in a series of translation and analysis posts I’ve done about KH3. I’ll be talking about KH3 in the context of Westerns, briefly touch on a possible connection to jidaigeki, go into detail on camera angles and camera shots, and, of course, discuss translation and the social aspects of language.

I’ve broken up this analysis into multiple parts because it was getting so long. This part will cover Aqua and Ven’s interactions with Terranort, the next will cover when he attacks Lea and Kairi, and so on and so forth up through when the Demon Tide sweeps Sora away. 

Here’s a general key for the kind of analysis I like to do:

JP: Official Japanese Dialogue

EN: Official English Dialogue

TR: My Translation (usually more literal and thus more stilted than the official English version. I’m not using natural-sounding English in order to stick as close to the Japanese versions of the lines as possible for the purpose of analysis)

Notes: things I found interesting, grammatical points, extra thoughts, etc.

One last note: media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Every work of art must be viewed through the cultural lens of the people who made it. Kingdom Hearts, for all its ties to Disney, is still very much a Japanese game, so it should be analyzed in light of that.

With that in mind, let’s continue.

Terra’s introduction is like a cowboy in a Western with the dramatic smoke:

The cinematography of this whole scene strikes me as inspired by Westerns and/or Samurai cinema (chanbara, a subcategory of jidaigeki, or period films). The two genres of film have had a large influence on each other (Akira Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai was remade as The Magnificent Seven in the US, for example, and Akira Kurosawa was a fan of the American director John Ford), so this speculation might not be that far off.

This screenshot from the trailer for Seven Samurai, for example, shows a similar “dramatic smoke/dust” moment, which makes me think that this may be a trope in Samurai cinema as well:

The setting of the Keyblade Graveyard itself calls to mind the setting of a lot of Westerns, with its smoke and dust and craggy hills and desert. The conflict even takes place in a graveyard, much like the final standoff in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, one of the most famous Westerns of all time (technically a Spaghetti Western, or a Western made in Italy - in this case directed by Italian director Sergio Leone):

Anyway, continuing on. Terra is here, but he’s looking at the ground and not making eye contact with anyone:

Ven is the first to notice him, and he calls his name...

JP テラ！

EN Terra!

TR Terra!

...before taking off after to him, which stresses Aqua out (and rightfully so - can you blame her for being on edge about everyone’s safety here, especially Ven’s?):

JP ヴェン！

EN Ven!

TR Ven!

We get this wide shot of Ven running to Terra while he just sort of stands there:

There are a number of shots like this in the scene that really emphasize the scale of the conflict by showing how small the human players are compared to the setting.

This ties in well to the theme that the characters cannot change their fate - they’re just playthings of it. The Keyblade Graveyard will still be there long after they’re dead, much like how it is still here after all the people who fought in the Keyblade War died. And while Sora does later change fate, he has to face the consequences. Death claims its prize in the end.

Ven latches onto Terra’s wrist, and the camera focuses on their hands:

And then we get this over the shoulder shot that is also at a bit of a high angle to emphasize Ven’s vulnerability:

JP テラやっと会えた！

EN Terra! We found you!

TR Terra! We could meet at last!

Notes: The Japanese phrasing is a little different than the English version, but the same general meaning gets across. Ven is excited to see Terra again. His use of yatto implies it’s been a while, and he uses the potential form for meet, hence why I translated this as “could meet” despite how awkward it sounds in English.

We get this reverse over the shoulder shot from a lower angle to emphasize Terra’s greater size and strength compared to Ven:

Now, Aqua has Seen Things™ in the Realm of Darkness, and she is quick to ask if this is really the Terra they know and love. No doubt she has in mind the time they met in the Realm of Darkness and Xehanort took control of him:

JP テラ　本当にテラなの？

EN Terra, please say you’re in there.

TR Terra, is that really you? (Literally: Is [that] really Terra?)

Notes: Japanese tends to use names more than English does, whereas English favors the use of pronouns, hence why Aqua repeats Terra’s name twice in her question in the Japanese version.

She uses the ~nano construction to check for confirmation - she wants to believe this is Terra, but she has her doubts.

We get this extreme close up shot of Terra’s eyes to emphasize that while yes, they are blue, they seem a little empty and soulless:

Something I noticed about Kingdom Hearts 3 is that there are a lot of extreme close up shots like this, especially of the characters’ eyes.

Well, as I was doing some research for this analysis, it turns out this type of shot is also sometimes called an Italian shot, named for... you guessed it, Sergio Leone, who popularized it in his Spaghetti Western films.

Here’s an example of this type of shot from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

The emphasis of this type of shot is on the character’s emotions, and it serves to heighten the dramatic tension of the scene. Multiple times throughout the Keyblade Graveyard, we’ll get extreme close up shots like this that have just such an effect.

On a side note, I never noticed this many extreme close up shots in a Kingdom Hearts game before. I wonder if they hired new cutscene director(s) to work on the game who left their unique mark on it, or if the graphics capabilities of UE4 allowed them to experiment around with the cinematography more than they could in the past.

Continuing on, we see Aqua’s reaction to Terra’s soulless gaze:

She immediately moves to put herself between Ven and Terra, selfless to the end:

Ven sounds downright annoyed in the Japanese version and confused/questioning in the English version, but Aqua doesn’t care, she’s keeping him safe. Note how tense Sora is in the background:

JP 何だよアクア！

EN What gives, Aqua?

TR What(’s going on), Aqua?

Notes: Ven uses the emphatic particle yo in the Japanese version to show his annoyance with Aqua here - they’re finally all together again and yet she’s pushing him away from Terra? What gives?

The camera changes to this wide shot, once again emphasizing the epic scale of this very human conflict:

JP あなたの中にテラはいない

EN I know that you’re not him.

TR Terra isn’t inside of you.

Notes: Aqua knows the problem. Terra, or perhaps more specifically, Terra’s heart, is not inside of the body before them now. Aqua sounds angry and frustrated in her delivery in the Japanese version. She’s sick of this happening, sick of Terra still being lost to them.

Ven gasps in this next shot to indicate his surprise:

And Aqua sounds very angry/upset in the Japanese version as she commands Xehanort to release Terra. The camera angle is low again to show how Terra is towering over them, to hint at the power imbalance that we will soon see play out:

JP テラの体を返しなさい！

EN Now, let our friend go!

TR Return Terra’s body (to him)!

Notes: When Aqua was addressing Terra earlier, she used casual/intimate grammar forms. Japanese has an entire system of conjugation based on social dynamics - there are polite and casual forms of verbs, there are honorifics, humble expressions, rude expressions... all to express the relationship between the speaker and the addressee.

Aqua switches to a more polite form here. This could be because she wants to indicate social distance from Xehanort. It certainly isn’t used to be polite. This isn’t her friend; this is the man who ruined her friends’ lives as well as her own. She commands him to return Terra’s body using the honorific form nasai in a way that sounds like she’s scolding him. It’s possible she also chooses to use this particular command form as a mark of feminine speech, instead of using one of the coarser/more direct command forms at her disposal.

The camera tilts up, still at that low angle to emphasize Terra’s relative size and height advantage, and he (well, more like the heart inside of him) smirks:

We see his hair change color in a close up shot:

And then Ven’s horrified reaction. After all, he never knew what happened to Terra (as far as I can remember). The shot here really emphasizes his emotions by centering him in the frame head-on:

Fate of the Unknown has begun to play, very fitting for this scene, as Terra’s fate smacks Ven in the face (and the audience as well, for that matter). Note how everyone is ready for a fight, even if their Keyblades aren’t out yet. Knees bent, arms outstretched, or, in Goofy’s case, balled into fists:

Then we get this close up shot of Terranort’s face. His hair is fully silver and his eyes are yellow, and Mickey proclaims what has become of Terra:

JP これで１３人目ー

EN He is their thirteenth.

TR Here is (the) thirteenthー

Notes: Basically saying the same thing in both languages, just worded sligthly differently to sound more natural in English.

Dark smoke wafts off of Terranort as he finally speaks, and it’s not with Terra’s voice:

JP おまえたちはここで敗北する

EN Today is the day you all lose.

TR Here you all (will) lose.

Notes: Terranort uses the derogatory second person plural pronoun omaetachi to refer to them here. He also uses a casual form of the verb suru, indicating familiarity or, in this case, contempt. The word for “lose,” haiboku, can also mean “be defeated.”

Aqua sounds downright angry here in the Japanese version as she responds, and Ven just looks sad. The camera angle is a little off-kilter here (note how Aqua and Ven seem the same height even though they are not, and the characters in the background form a diagonal line): to indicate how “off” this whole situation is (I think this would be an example of a Dutch angle, but in case it’s not, I’ll call this kind of angle a tilted angle throughout this analysis):

JP 何を！

EN What?!

TR What!

Notes: I noticed the dialogue uses a lot of exclamation marks throughout this scene, both in the English version and the Japanese version. Emotions are running high, and all those exclamation marks really serve to show that.

Here we get a shot of Ven’s feet and Aqua’s legs...

...which is reminiscent of images and posters of famous show-downs in movies, like this one for the 1952 Western High Noon:

We even see this same sort of shot earlier in this scene, this time with Sora’s legs and Xehanort as the approaching opponent:

Once again, the framing of the shots calls to mind Westerns.

Moving on to the dialogue:

JP １３の闇にたどりつくこともなく　この場で心は肉体を離れ我が身を散らす

EN Before you even face the thirteen, every last one of you will be torn heart from body.

TR Without even reaching the thirteen darknesses, at this place (your) hearts will be separated from (your) bodies (and) I (will) scatter them (literally the bodies).

Notes: Terranort uses a different pronoun than Terra does. He uses ware, which Xehanort sometimes uses (and also sounds kind of old-fashioned), instead of the masculine pronoun ore, which is Terra’s pronoun of choice.

In the Japanese version, two different words are used for “body” here as well, nikutai in the first instance and mi in the second instance, perhaps for poetic effect and/or to avoid redundancy.

Next, he summons his weapon, which is accompanied by more darkness, and delivers this line:

JP だが安心しろ

EN But fear not.

TR But be at peace.

Notes: “Fear not” sounds a little archaic in English, as in modern English we would say “don’t be scared” or “don’t be afraid.” Over time main verbs lost the ability to move in front of negatives in English, and we insert “do” instead, which attaches to “not” to form “don’t,” while leaving the main verb in its spot.  

Terranort’s use of an older construction in English like this is very effective at making him sound pompous. In modern English saying “fear not” brings up religious connotations, as a lot of well-known quotes from the Bible are based on older translations (hello, King James version) and thus older forms of the language. Terranort sounds like he’s playing at God, here, in other words. It also makes him sound older, which is fitting for an old man who stole the body of a young one.

In the Japanese version, he uses the command form of the verb suru, shiro, to command them to be at peace. This is a very direct way to command someone to do something, kind of coarse and not at all polite.

The camera cuts to this close up shot of his face:

JP χブレードはここで完成する

EN The χ-blade will still be forged.

TR The χ-blade will be completed here.

Notes: Basically saying the same thing in both languages. I like how the English version went with “forged,” though. Fitting for the whole “creating a weapon” thing.

We see, not Aqua and Ven’s reaction to Terranort’s proclamation, but everyone else’s, Sora’s in particular. He is centered in the frame here:

And then we get a closer shot of him to better showcase his reaction. His voice sounds lower here to indicate his determination:

JP おまえたちに負けることはない

EN We’re not gonna lose to you.

TR We’ll never lose to you.

Notes: Sora uses the derogatory second person plural pronoun here, omaetachi. He’s referring to their enemies as a whole as a whole, not just Terranort. Unfortunately this nuance is somewhat lost in English because we use “you” for both singular and plural second person, though regional varieties have popped up, such as y’all, you lot, you guys, youse guys, yinz, etc. to refer to plural “you.”

(For anyone wondering, yes, English did used to make this distinction in the past, much like many modern European languages still do. It was a sad day the English language lost its second person plural pronoun for various reasons that I won’t get into here, but those regional varieties I mentioned have popped up for a reason - it is really useful to be able to make that distinction between singular and plural!)

Sora uses the ~kotowanai construction here to indicate that they’ll never lose to Xehanort and his cronies. He’s absolutely sure of it. And the English version captures his casual style of speech with “gonna.”

The shot ends with him glaring at Terranort:

And the camera cuts to Terranort, making what I will call “the Xehanort look” from here on out:

We can see the Xehanort look exemplified by Xehanort himself here:

An eyebrow raised, head tilting forward, eyes looking up - a Kubrick stare to indicate he’s a little deranged.

An example of the Kubrick Stare for reference, from the film A Clockwork Orange. The Kubrick Stare was popularized by the director Stanley Kubrick for it showing up in a lot of his films:

That is a dramatic contrast from the types of faces Terra makes:

Using Xehanort’s expressions with Terra’s body makes it very clear Terra is not the one in control here, as to my knowledge Terra never makes the Xehanort look. It’s also very unsettling to see Terra acting like Xehanort. It just feels wrong, and that really comes through in how Terranort moves and reacts.

One moment, he’s there...

...and the next, he’s gone, indicated by a whooshing noise:

He can move lightning-fast, a fact the slow motion here in the next part obscures a little for dramatic effect. This has also lead to the impression that Aqua and Ven just stood there and did nothing. That’s not entirely true. It’s more like they didn’t have time to do much of anything.

Aqua does, in fact, react to his disappearance; you can hear her make a surprised noise here:

And then he suddenly reappears between her and Ven, indicated by another whooshing noise. Note Terranort’s posture, how he is bending his knee to gather as much momentum to hit Ven with as possible. The scene also goes into slow motion for dramatic effect:

And the camera cuts to him swinging his blade and speeds up a little:

Again, Aqua barely has time to register that Terranort has moved because he’s moving so quickly. Ven is in shock because he would never imagine Terra hurting him. They didn’t have much time to launch any sort of a defense, and while I think Aqua expected Terranort to attack her, perhaps, neither she nor Ven expected Terranort to attack Ven.

Because Ven is like their younger brother, or even their son. In the Japanese version of BBS he downright said he was supposed to bring his parents to Disney Town when he gave Terra and Aqua the passes, not just grownups like the English version went with. And while Aqua and Terranort have fought before, Terra has never laid a hand on Ven. Not as Terra, not as Terranort. Ven trusts him to keep him safe, to protect him. So for Terranort to attack him, well...

It’s kind of like watching a father attack his own son as his wife watches on in horror at what’s unfolding.

The scene goes back into slow-mo as Terranort’s Keyblade connects with Ven, and Ven is folded over from the impact, Terranort hit him so hard. He makes a choked sound of pain, too, like he’s had the wind knocked out of him and can hardly breathe. Note how Aqua isn’t looking in their direction yet because she hasn’t had time to look yet:

We cut to a closer shot of Ven that puts the focus on him as he reacts, and you can see the pain written all over his face:

The scene is still in slow motion as he hurtles backwards:

And then the camera cuts to Aqua to show her reaction. She slowly turns her head (still in slow-mo, remember?), and the look of shock and horror on her face is heartbreaking to see:

The camera speeds up to normal speeds as it shows Ven being flung backwards, as if this is from Terranort’s POV:

Note how Ven’s eyes are still open, he still seems to be conscious:

And then the camera cuts to a different perspective behind the characters, as if the camera is on the ground. Note how once again the ground is at an angle instead of forming a straight line in this shot to indicate how wrong this whole situation is. We can also see Ven landing on his back with his legs in the air...

...which provides enough momentum for him to tumble backwards:

His body settles on the ground in a cloud of dust, and he no longer seems to be conscious. Note his limp head:

My guess is that landing on his back like that/hitting his head is what made him lose consciousness, as he was conscious before when he was still in the air. Terranort wasn’t necessarily trying to kill him (though I’d argue hitting your head like that would probably be enough to kill you in real life if not in video games), he was just trying to incapacitate him so it would make it easier to take his heart out of his body later on.

Riku provides credence to this theory later on when he tells Sora that the hearts of their friends are still in their bodies. If Ven had died here, that probably wouldn’t be the case.

The camera cuts to Terranort, and he has a downright smug expression on his face over what he just did. The Xehanort look is back in full force:

And it makes for quite the contrast with Aqua’s look of shock and disbelief as she gasps:

We get a shot from her POV, showing Ven crumpled on the ground:

And then a close up shot of her reaction to what has happened to Ven that showcases her emotions, her feelings. This moment is framed in terms of her pain and loss and shock, showing that we as the audience are supposed to empathize with her:

We get a closer shot of Ven that fills the frame, and Ven isn’t conscious:

And Aqua has processed everything enough to finally be able to speak:

She calls Ven’s name in a downright panicked manner and leans forward as she does:

JP ヴェン！

EN Ven!

TR Ven!

To be continued...

[mikebookswrestling]

Becky v Rhonda: TLC to Mania and Beyond

So it seems fairly inevitable that Becky Lynch is going to drop the Smackdown Women’s Title at TLC and I can’t really blame them for it because it’s a way to take the belt off of her without really beating her and hurting her momentum, setting up her transition to Raw and the much-anticipated feud with Ronda Rousey.

But what if it wasn’t inevitable…?

Becky retains at TLC in a brutal affair. All three women look strong, all three elevate themselves. This is the beauty of ladder matches. There’s no pinfall so no one has to look weak or beaten, just a bunch of badasses, one of which happens to have won.

Building to Royal Rumble

Now along the line of no one losing, both Charlotte and Asuka want another shot at Becky but once again the rest of the women’s locker room wants their shots at the top as well. So Paige says that in two week’s time there will be a fatal four-way elimination match to determine the number one contender to Becky’s belt at The Royal Rumble: Charlotte and Asuka are automatically in, the other two spots to be determined by a pair of triple threat matches on this week’s and next week’s Smackdown. (Because we need to start building up some more members of the SDL Women’s Division if Becky is potentially leaving to feud with Ronda.) This week it’s Billie Kay, Sonya Deville, and Carmella with Sonya winning, next week it’s Peyton Royce, Naomi, and Lana with Peyton Royce going over (with help from Billie of course).

So it’s a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match because Becky had to fight her way through the entire women’s division to get her shot at the title, so “If ya wan a shot at The Man’s title, ya can do da same ting!” This match is on Smackdown but you want to build Sonya and Peyton… and Asuka for that matter, so this should be given about 20 minutes with zero eliminations in the first ten. Eventually, Peyton is forced to tap to the Asuka Lock, then Sonya catches Charlotte with a hard knee shot and pins her. Shock. Then it’s Asuka vs. Sonya and while it isn’t easy, Asuka does win, again with the Asuka Lock.

The Royal Rumble

So it’s Becky versus Asuka one-on-one at the Royal Rumble because we deserve nice things. I’m certain that they could and would have a great match, only somewhat tainted because it goes to a No Contest because of Charlotte and her kendo stick once more. After a brutally hard-fought match, she lays into both of them relentlessly. Charlotte goes Full Heel.

She also enters the Royal Rumble at number one. Number two is Bayley and oh it’s a bad day to be Bayley. She gets a little bit of offense in before Charlotte takes over and just lays into her. Number three is Dana Brooke and there’s just this brief look between the two of them before they both go to work on Bayley. Now I’m not going to do the whole Rumble, but in general, there are going to be a whole lot fewer Legends and a lot more spotlight for the NXT/PC ladies: Nikki Cross, Shayna Bayzler, Biana Belair, Dakota Kai (wearing her Kingslayer shirt, ofc), Kairi Sane, others make appearances. Billie Kay takes her time entering at number 12, gets to the ringside area, stops and waits. Then Peyton Royce enters at number 13 and they go in together and stick together.

Bayley despite having the absolute crap kicked out of her the whole time just refuses to be eliminated.

About number 19 or 20 Nia Jax’s music hits but she doesn’t come out. Cut to backstage where Nia is laid out in an area that looks like it was hit by a hurricane. There has been some sort of wild brawl here. Alexa Bliss is there, Paige is there, no one seems to know what happened until Becky’s music hits out in the arena and The Man comes to the Royal Rumble. She’s covered in welts and bruises from the earlier beating but she’s still coming, still carrying the Smackdown Women’s Title. She hands off the belt to a referee and makes a beeline for Charlotte, eliminating her in pretty short order with Bayley’s help. Charlotte stares daggers back up at Becky and once again very audibly Becky calls Charlotte a bitch.

Have Sonya Deville go on a tear eliminating a lot of people, have her get six or seven total (because the current record holder is Michelle McCool and no one is helped out by her having that distinction).

Eventually, the final four are Becky, Bayley, Sonya, and Sasha Banks. Sasha is super-fresh, having come out at number 29. Bayley is your iron woman, having been in from the start at 50+ minutes on now, mostly due to sheer determination at this point. Becky has been through a war with Asuka already, then Charlotte and her kendo stick, then the Rumble match itself. And Sonya is on a roll right now.

Becky immediately goes for Sasha judging her to be the biggest threat. Sonya eliminates Bayley just past the 56 minute mark, giving her the new record for the longest time in the Rumble which builds her up. Sonya then jumps Sasha from behind and lays her out.

Then she squares up with Becky and because we’ve built Sonya up over the last month, it starts to look like maybe… just maybe they’re going to go this way instead. For a minute or two a wrestling match breaks out in the middle of the Royal Rumble. Sonya is fighting with Becky rather than just trying to eliminate her, seemingly to prove to herself that she can hang with The Man, which proves to be her undoing because Sasha gets back up and throws her out of the ring. Becky and Sasha then go at it for a couple of minutes before Becky just manages to get Sasha out of the ring.

Becky grabs the microphone and says, “Hey, Ronnie, ya didn’t think I forgot about ya, didja? I’ll see you at Wrestlemania.” She drops the mic. She holds the Smackdown Women’s Belt up with one arm, then she holds the other arm up the same way as though it had the Raw Women’s Title in it.

The Road to Wrestlemania

Now, Becky/Ronda is going to suck up a lot of oxygen in both women’s divisions so I would use this as the opportunity to announce the cross-branded WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles and the tournament to crown the inaugural champions culminating at Wrestlemania. This gives the other women something to fight for that’s actually worth fighting over, so they aren’t just all in a battle royal for the fifth time in just over a year. The finals at Mania should be Sasha and Bayley vs. The IIconics and The IIconics should win.

Becky defends her title in The Elimination Chamber and wins. I’m not going to get into the specifics of it but you have enough credible challengers to make this look like Becky is definitely going to lose the belt here and then she overcomes.

Now things are getting interesting. What are Shane and Paige going to do? Ultimately they decide that they can’t force Becky to vacate the title and they can’t stop Becky from fighting Ronda, she earned that right by winning the Rumble. They can, however, book a Smackdown Women’s Title match for Wrestlemania. And suddenly “Oh my god, is Becky Lynch going to have to pull double duty at Wrestlemania?”

Paige suggests a gauntlet match with all the Smackdown women to determine who gets the shot. Shane likes that idea but decides he’s going to one-up it and makes it an Open Invitation Gauntlet Match, any woman from any WWE Brand can show up and be in the match. Now, this is a gauntlet match like we had earlier this year on Raw, where it’s a series of full-length TV matches that take up most if not the entire episode of Smackdown, and like that match, Naomi will be playing the part of Seth Rollins. She beats Carmella. She beats Mickie James. She beats Dakota Kai. She beats Lana. She beats Ember Moon. She beats Liv Morgan by DQ when the rest of the Riott Squad jumps her. (They are all ejected from the match and from the building as a result.) She just beats Mandy Rose with a well-timed head kick and FTG. 

Next comes Asuka and try as she might, Naomi is exhausted. She’s been fighting for 50+ minutes. Asuka would be a challenge if she were fresh, like this she’s got nothing. One spin kick and Asuka pins her. Asuka beats Nattie and Candice LaRae and Alicia Fox. (No IIconics, Sasha, or Bayley because they are in the tag team match at Mania, no Nia Jax because I don’t like her, she clearly doesn’t know how to work a safe match, she needs to go back to the PC and relearn her fundamentals.)

Then out comes Charlotte, but before she can get to the ring, from behind Ronda Rousey with a kendo stick blasts Charlotte again and again and again and again. While the referees are dealing with that, Mandy and Sonya drag Asuka from the ring and hurl her into the ring steps. They put her through the announce table (a spot someone would have set up earlier in the gauntlet). They roll her back into the ring and Sonya makes the cover. Mandy gets a referee to notice what’s going on. He makes the three-count. 

Sonya stands up to see if there’s another challenger and no sooner than she’s turned around, she’s slammed to the ground with a judo throw and locked into an armbar. Sonya taps. Ronda is seething at the mouth and staring up the ramp towards the back, no one else wants a piece of her. The new number one contender for the Smackdown Women’s Championship is Ronda Rousey.  

The match at Wrestlemania is now Title v Title, winner takes all, winner gets to choose their brand going forward. Only one other time in Wrestlemania history has there been a Title v Title match. That was billed as The Ultimate Challenge, this is The Ultimate Fight! This is your main event of Wrestlemania 35.

Again, Becky wins (by pinfall, neither of them can get their submissions locked in). She’s the absolute hottest act anywhere in the company. She’s a fantastic worker, she a great promo, she’s basically social media royalty at this point. After all this build, it costs Ronda nothing to lose to her so there’s literally no downside to closing your biggest show of the year with your hottest act, your biggest babyface holding all the gold.

After Mania: Becky is The Man!

Monday on Raw they hype is “What will be Becky’s choice? Raw or Smackdown?” Before that happens though, Becky’s walking around backstage and runs into Bayley and Sasha who are upset that they lost the tag title tournament. Becky basically says, “So what ya lost? Ya gonna let it get to ya or ya do sometin about it?” “We’re gonna do something about it,” they answer in unison. “That’s my girls,” Becky says walking off.

So come time for the announcement and it’s Becky in the ring with Renee Young and when asked what brand she chooses she says, “Both.” Asked how she plans to do that she says “I am The Man and I will be The Man every day of the week and twice on Sundays and anyone who wants to take either of these belts offa me, inside the ring or out, better come ready for a fight.”

No one is really interested in sharing Becky across brands so both sides start making plans to get the belts off of Becky at Backlash. Stephanie and Alexa’s strategy is that if Ronda wins the Raw belt back Becky’s going to want another shot at it and they’ll force her to declare herself for Raw in order to get it. Shane books Becky into a Triple Threat Match against Sonya and Mandy that essentially a handicap match convinced that he is actually going to force a feud between Becky and him. He’s a bigger target than Ronda Rousey, Shane’s a McMahon, after all (just to intentionally belabor the comparisons between Becky and Austin some more).

Backlash: An (Un)Equal and Opposite Reaction

Naturally, Becky plays Sonya and Mandy against each other and swoops in at the opportune moment to tap out Mandy, jump-starting a Mandy-Sonya split. Then against Rousey, Becky gets her in the Dis-Arm-Her and Rhonda won’t tap, won’t tap, won’t tap but can’t seemingly escape either. Eventually, she can’t answer the referee’s call and the ref stops the match.

After the match, Shayna Bayzler, Marina Shafir, and Jessamyn Duke hit the ring and put the boots to Becky. Rhonda comes to momentarily and gets in Shayna’s face asking what they’re doing? Shayna responds, “Are you done trying to act like a good girl, yet?” Rhonda thinks about it for just a second before saying, “Yes.” Then the beating resumes. As the segment closes, they stand over Becky’s laid out body, flashing the four fingers.

Elsewhere on the card Bayley and Sasha won the Tag Titles from The IIconics who want their rematch on Monday. 

The Man Goes to War

The tag title match only gets a couple of minutes in before Duke, Shaffir, and Bayzler jump in and start fighting everyone, though Billie and Peyton take off pretty quickly. Sasha and Bayley put up a fight but are outnumbered until The Man comes for her girls. Ronda’s crew isn’t at all interested in a fair fight just at the moment so they clear out. Becky, Bayley, and Sasha stand tall and, in true Horsemen style, hold all the gold so they all throw up the four fingers despite them being only three.

Tuesday opens with Paige in the ring with Becky, Bayley, and Sasha. Bayley and Sasha are there to give The IIconics an actual rematch but they’re here for Becky’s announcement too. Becky says:

“For almost three years now, I’ve been proud to represent Smackdown Live. I was the first woman drafted to this brand, which is how I knew that Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan were smart enough fellas that I wanted to work for them. Because they could see that, even then, that I am The Man. I was the first woman to hold this belt. I was in the first ever Women’s Steel Cage match on Smackdown Live, I was in the first Women’s Money in the Bank match, the first Last Woman Standing match… and with all due respect to AJ Styles, he did not build this house alone.

But Sunday night at Backlash, Rhonda Rousey started a war and it’s a war I aim to finish, but I can’t do that while my attention is divided. So reluctantly I have to surrender the Smackdown Women’s Title. (She goes to hand over the belt but pauses.) To alla yous in the back, just remember, I never lost this title. None a ya beat The Man, but come Survivor Series I’ll be waiting to let ya prove that ya really deserve it.”

From there, Becky, Sasha, and Bayley 3-on-4 feud with the MMA Horsewomen. I’d have Ruby Riott win MitB and then you can throw The Riott Squad into the mix with them to keep things fresh (as well as The IIconics and maybe make Lana and Carmella a tag team, too. The Dancing Queens or whatever.) 

Asuka wins the Smackdown Women’s title, for sure, and now we’ve got a strong Smackdown Women’s division for her feud with: Charlotte, Sonya, Naomi, Mandy, maybe at this point start building Zelina Vega as a serious women’s wrestler as well.