#ONE DAY ~Yozora Remix~

[lyricsmiliyah]

[Translation] ONE DAY (Yozora Remix) (Miliyah loves m-flo)

This way, I can decorate my own nightsky I wish upon a sad star, that we could join hands people die, people are born, and the days repeat Tell me why i don’t know why I want to carry out the mission God has for me Hurt no more but i don’t know Oh no no... Why do you conceal your pain? Rain in your hear, livin’ this way everyday Why do you conceal no pain? Stop the Masquerade and stress fades away Searching for the things you can’t see You don’t understand but it seems OK Your reasons you keep in your heart that’s your own proof... you hear people sayin’ “It’s useless to try and change the word? Why don’t you DO IT before you say that Just start with one step yourself It’s easy, one by one, two by two Everytime it passes by just HOLD IT It’ll all build UP towards the sky Cross the cloudy sky, be there by morning We’re still being made, imperfect, but WE’LL BE PERFECT ONE DAY The world is so sad this way withering to the ground, can’t you see Surely, God must be tired by now Of everyone being so power hungry But there’s nothing I can do but look at it with irritation the pieces of your heart In order to find them keep on trying We live on the same earth we are family so gather peace with touch Let’s show our love for someone I wish upon a sad star, that we could join hands people die, people are born, and the days repeat Tell me why i don’t know why I want to carry out the mission God has for me Hurt no more but i don’t know Oh no no... Everyone, stand close to each other The wall between us is too HIGH Is this city life? SUBSTANCE instead of STYLE SMILES on the outside, but worth zero Yen on the inside Drawing a line from nose to eyes the feeling goes down 10% A Roentgen scan shows your heart is empty throwing away feelings in favor of safety “Harmony is important" you say, what does it all mean? But in reality you think different, keep friends waiting Make use of your differences, or don’t The conclusion “the vessel of love" is a weapon Looking up, you walk on and forget Everyday you’re hustlin’hustlin’, from point A to B and then return from B to A Truth is, you’re chasing a dream (far away) But when you see that somethin ain’t right you wanna say something, but you never do Why do you let a chance escape and then smile deceitfully? the pieces of your heart in that pure smile, a cry and prayer is hidden so gather peace with touch Let’s talk bout love, We can sing from here I wish upon a sad star, that we could join hands people die, people are born, and the days repeat Tell me why i don’t know why I want to carry out the mission God has for me Hurt no more but i don’t know Oh no no... Ain’t NO perfect world till we all heaven...Imagine that (Can you imagine that?) Ain’t NO perfect world till we all heaven...Imagine that (Imagine that) This way, I can decorate my own nightsky This way, I can start to look for you This way, we can rise together This way, our feeling can rise to the heavens I wish upon a sad star, that we could join hands people die, people are born, and the days repeat Tell me why i don’t know why I want to carry out the mission God has for me Hurt no more but i don’t know Oh no no... 

I wish upon a sad star, that we could join hands people die, people are born, and the days repeat Tell me why i don’t know why I want to carry out the mission God has for me Hurt no more but i don’t know Oh no no...

  Credits :  https://www.jpopasia.com /

[yzxsn]

100223

| making music together.

book a studio. pay the fee. wake up early in the morning and shamble into the car with three guitars -- electric, acoustic, and bass.

this was the process for the two would-be artists. where their personalities and agreements ended, the extent of their relationship had been in tolerance for the art they made together. that, and given their living arrangements, they were practically joined at the hip for the time being.

stella was used to having breakfast bars prepared for the girls in back. in the car, sena scarfs them down, just as yozora slid on earbuds, contemplating their next cover. just because they'd finally started going to a proper studio after years of working with home remixes, didn't mean she felt as thought there was going to be a break in their careers. in fact, as she focused on the riffs that started to blast in her ears, yozora was seriously considering why they were finally returning to official processes after neglecting them for so long.

[playing: fool's gold - ofk.]

once they arrived, they settled into the room quickly, despite the early morning lazy-haze setting in. bassline on her mind, yozora sits down with one of the instruments, quietly picking at the strings to get that repetitive itch out of her head. sena continues to shift their equipment around -- and her decision to argue over sharing their responsibilites goes out the window once she sees that distant look in yozora's eyes.

"… and the recording equipment goes there…"

…

9:00am; mic checks, instrument tuning, and warm ups.

10:00am; they address the message from their mixer, yukimura, about the drum beats being sent in. created from some tentative ideas based off the titles of a tracklist they'd sent her, sena is quicker on the ball to elaborate on them through some immediate brainstorming. it comes to yozora's displeasure; she offers to shelve the proposed melody until they can figure a stronger chord progression.

11:00am; the duo play improvisation with the tools they have on hand -- this is in spite of the song they had expected to develop upon, and the melody quickly takes a rock turn based on their instruments, despite the jazz-oriented process.

12:00am; music is hard work. sena suggests that they take a break before continuing, so they do so.

[playing: comfortable - lauv.]

sena writes to their producer (rika) over a laptop. yozora's mind is still set on work, a habit she had never been able to shake off. that was okay, because the itch she'd had since the day started hadn't gone away, either. she takes the electric guitar off its stand, and continues to strike at the strings.

it's easy to tell when music takes hold of the spirit. difficult to tell from songs alone, given they catered differently from individual to individual. complexity in the ingredients would also to be considered. but sena didn't need to turn around to know that yozora was trying her best to concentrate on something, between the almost inaudible taps of her feet on the carpeted floor, and the quiet singing of lyrics familiar.

just as she set down the laptop, the bridge kicked in, made the song identifiable. so sena paces over, hits record while yozora wasn't paying attention (she never minded, but was frequently surprised), and waits patiently for the chorus. a few steps over to her partner, and she looms over the musician, sly.

her voice melds into the song, and yozora doesn't react to it.

"and i can't help myself--"

(arms wrap around yozora, as she stiffens and pulls her back straight. palms meet the sides of her jaw, and fingers slide themselves under her chin.)

"all i wanna hear you say is…"

sena raises her face, and yozora looks back into an infinity, dropped from her head lost in stars and noise into a lake that spanned forever, and reality kicks back in with a wash of heat.

"…are you mine?"

(she remembered getting dressed, earlier today. black tracksuits were her thing, for yozora, and sena had commented how she'd looked like one of the most popular anime characters at the moment, tainted with only angst, given her monochrome look.

'hitoribocchi.'

before this, she had been lost in music making on her own, going nowhere but circles practicing in her bedroom before sena pulled her out of her shell. a day of carrying her guitar case to school, in replacement of her bag, and then abruptly being pulled aside from the hallway when the sun went down, caught by complete coincidence --)

yozora blinks, and closes her eyes as the shadow falls upon her. lips upon her lips. for a moment, the song dies in her head, and she is freed from the nagging of a muse that didn't belong.

a compulsion still lingered, however, when sena leaves her. yozora doesn't let the kiss end with a tug -- she ends it afterwards, on her own terms, with a sigh and an expulsion of the truth in shifted lips, devoid of voice;

of course i'm fucking yours.

[playing: arctic monkeys - r u mine?]

[lesbrarians]

The Connection between KH & TWEWY

Okay so I know just reblogged a post saying most of this stuff, but I have even more thoughts that I want to elaborate on and don’t want to clog up the OP, so! Making my own post haha.

Where are Riku and Sora at the end of KH3?

We know from the Secret Endings of KH3 that Sora’s in TWEWY!Shibuya and Riku’s in TWEWY!Shinjuku. But Shinjuku has been erased at the end of TWEWY: Final Remix. How can Riku be in Shinjuku, then?

My guess is that he’s in a parallel version of Shinjuku that has not been erased. We know that parallel worlds, and alternate planes of existence such as the Underground, Realground, and the Higher Plane all exist in TWEWY. The Secret Reports go into the concept of parallel worlds more:

Beat Day 5  —   Secret Report 19:

In life, reality is made up of a continuous string of choices, and the consequences of those choices. Every time a choice is made, the option not selected branches off and exists as its own reality: a parallel world.

Countless numbers of such parallel worlds exist within a single plane, be it the RG or the UG, and travel among them is possible through the use of Imagination.

Theoretically, anyone can jump to a parallel world, but penetrating the membrane between worlds requires up-tuning one's vibe. This limits the pool of beings able to make the trip.

Additionally, stress caused by breaking through the barrier can pull down the traveler's base vibe. If the vibe dips, the frequency maybe too low to pass through the barrier. In the worst cases, it may render the traveler unable to return to his or her own original world.

In the extended trailer of NEO, we see parallel worlds happening in action. Rindo has a choice of getting Nagi an ES pin or not. The parallel world where he doesn’t get that pin results in a bad outcome. So he “time travels” back to make a different choice -- it’s not precisely time travel, though, it’s him shifting his vibe to the parallel world where he made the alternate choice and gets the Good Outcome! But there’s more to it than that.

What’s the connection between NEO: TWEWY, Shinjuku, and KH?

We see mention of Shinjuku in NEO -- we’re going to be meeting the Reapers from Shinjuku! But, NEO takes place three years after the events of TWEWY: Final Remix. The Game that Rindo and co. are playing looks totally different than the Game we’re familiar with. Now, this could mean that there’s a new Composer, as the Composer defines the rules of the Game, or it could mean that the Composer’s the same but he has decided to change the rules of the Game.

A New Day 1 — Secret Addendum A:

Although the rules have undergone some slight revisions in the wake  of Shibuya's rebirth, the powers that be deemed no major changes were  necessary, saying it's better to keep things easy to understand.

For now, it seems, the Game will remain the same. The Composer  will continue to use it as a tool by which he can judge the worth of  visitors from the RG.

In the three years between Final Remix and NEO, it’s possible that the Composer has revised the rules entirely! But... at the end of Final Remix, we learn that Shinjuku’s been erased due to this Incident. So in the timeline/world of Final Remix, Shinjuku’s gone. And Neku’s dead -- Mr. H could only save Beat.

So I propose that NEO doesn’t take place in the timeline of Final Remix -- it takes place in a parallel world, where Shinjuku was never erased. Like the Shinjuku that Riku’s in!

Circling back to Neku being dead in the main timeline of TWEWY: the hooded figure that we see at the end of the NEO trailer... for the sake of this theory, let’s presume that it’s Neku. We already know that Neku has the potential to jump to parallel worlds -- he has an extraordinarily high Imagination, and if we take replaying the Days in each chapter, and Another Day, as not just a game mechanism but as something that has actual, in-game implications... Neku’s shifting to a parallel world each time the player replays a Chapter in Final Remix. It’s possible that Neku’s death in Final Remix isn’t a true death, but him shifting to a parallel world -- perhaps the parallel world of NEO, where Shinjuku was never erased, and where Coco never pulled all her A New Day bullshit?

He’s dead, but not really -- just shifted to a parallel world.

So what does all this have to do with KH?

Well. Like Neku, we know that Sora’s dead, but not really dead. For all intents and purposes, he’s dead in the main world/timeline of KH -- he no longer exists there. But we see him in Shibuya. He’s alive somewhere... in a parallel world. But the stress of breaking through the barrier makes him unable to return to his own original world.

Sora’s in a parallel world of Shibuya. And Riku’s in a parallel world of Shinjuku -- the parallel world of NEO, where Shinjuku was never erased. They’re not in the same timeline/world. If Neku can jump between parallel worlds, and has jumped between Final Remix TWEWY and NEO TWEWY... it’s possible that he can jump between the parallel world that Sora’s in and the parallel world that Riku’s in, or else teach them how to uptune their vibe and shift between parallel worlds themselves.

What about Luxord and Yozora?

To shift gears again. As I’ve mentioned a couple times before, I have a strong headcanon that Luxord’s Somebody is from the world of TWEWY. The concept of him being a Reaper and a Game Master is too fitting for his character. His Jackpot ability in 358/2 Days is very reminiscent of Beat’s Fusion (cards exploding, matching cards). And, perhaps most importantly, as a Nobody, his power is time manipulation. He’s a perfect fit for shifting between parallel worlds and changing the outcome of events to manipulate timelines to his own liking.

In KH: Re Mind, Yozora battles Sora in Shibuya, and then wakes up in a car driven by, presumably, Luxord. Did Luxord rescue Yozora from Shibuya and shift them to a parallel world? Your guess is as good as mine. We’re just going to have to wait and see, but I believe he’s going to be a key factor in the future of KH. Especially with the Wild Card he gave Sora. A Wild Card acts as a substitute card -- perhaps, if used by Sora, it will mean Yozora becoming a “substitute” to take Sora’s place. It’s a concept, anyway.

Also noteworthy is this interview from Nomura:

Interviewer: “Is Sora in the world of The World Ends With You?”

Tetsuya Nomura: "It does look like it. But there's more meaning in the fact that it is not Shibuya (渋谷), but Shibuya (シブヤ). Also, Sora promised Neku and the others in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance that he would meet them in Shibuya (シブヤ)

Shibuya (渋谷) is most likely TWEWY: Final Remix Shibuya, but Shibuya (シブヤ) may be Yozora’s Shibuya, also known as Quadratum. Sora and Neku are going to meet in this version of Shibuya, if DDD is anything to go by.

Ultimately....

I believe that NEO is going to have huge implications for the future of KH. I believe that Neku is going to play a pivotal role in reuniting Sora and Riku. And I believe Luxord is going to play a key role as well. I cannot wait to see how it all plays out. Parallel worlds and timelines have always been my jam (see also: my love for Kotaro Uchikoshi’s work!) and it’s part of the reason why I love Nomura’s work as well. The madlad has a master plan at work, and it’s gonna be confusing as hell getting there, but I have faith he can tie it all together in the end.

[kyndaris]

Dearly Beloved

The Kingdom Hearts franchise has always been dear to my heart, ever since I first saw ads of it on TV back when I was just a little one. The infusion of Disney with Final Fantasy had be hooked. Mostly because of Disney. It was only later on that I fell in love with Final Fantasy. And the rest...well, as they say, is history. 

It should also not come as a surprise that I have great respect for the Goddess that is Yoko Shimomura. Since my early days of playing video games, she’s managed to capture the essence of the Disney worlds and bring them to life as Sora has traipsed through, destroying Heartless everywhere he went. I mean...look no further to my old posts about Final Fantasy XV and you will see that I basically worship anything that she throws out into the world.

So, though I was burned by re: Coded and its rehash of prior events, I still picked up Melody of Memory with the full knowledge that any relevant lore drops would most likely be at the end and just be enough to tide me over before the next bigger release (and honestly, after the dumpster fire that was Kairi’s entire character arc in Kingdom Hearts 3, I would have liked to see her uplifted a little in future instalments). And because the game is essentially a celebration of the work Shimomura has poured into the series.

As soon as gamers pick the game up, they are thrust into the ‘World Tour’. There’s little explanation for why the characters have ended up in a musically-themed game, but as soon as you unlock the first recap cutscene, it becomes clear that Kairi is summarising the series.

A lot of the music are top-notch and easily recognisable for anyone familiar with the series. Whether that was Bustin’ on the Beach, Destati or L’impeto Oscuro. Others were a little bit harder to pin down - mostly because they never truly impressed upon me during my initial playthrough, such as Access the Grid (which also did not seem to hit my beat centres so I felt as if I was too heavily reliant on the visuals to pull me through).

Melody of Memory only contains approximately 140 or so songs. That meant that not all of my favourite songs were present. In particular, Tears of the Light, which is my  go-to melancholy song to make sad things a hundred times sadder. Still, there was quite a bit of variety, though there were also quite a few remixes of songs, such as Traverse in Trance and Scherzo di Notte. All of them brought a little something extra to the pieces on display, so it did not feel like I was playing through the exact same song, even if I thought that it was cheating. At least, a little.

I will admit, though, that the limit of one song for each world in the Kingdom Hearts 3 portion of the game was a little disappointing. Even if Let it Go is a bop, I would have preferred additional field and battle music. 

What came as a shock, though, were ACTUAL DISNEY SONGS that could be unlocked. Like: A Whole New World and Beauty and the Beast. All, of course, from the ACTUAL ANIMATED FILMS! 

I mean, I had expected Utada Hikaru - because the singer has become synonymous with the series, but one does not simply throw in Part of Your World, okay? At least warn a Disney geek!

The gameplay is reminiscent of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. However, as none of the consoles that can play it have the use of a stylus, it’s mostly button presses with the occasional flick of the thumbstick. The presentation is also vastly different - with the four different teams running towards enemies and hacking away at them to the rhythm of the music. This took me some adjustment as my natural inclination was to hammer away at X (or A, as I was playing on the Nintendo Switch) as soon as Heartless/ Nobodies/ Unversed or Nightmares appeared. Of course, that often resulted in a ‘bad’, hurting my poor characters and depleting my health bar.

The controls for the game keep it quite simple. There are three buttons that can be used to attack (which are helpful when the occasional simultaneous attack occurs, as you need to press either two or all three), one is for jump (and if you hold it down, you can glide) and a final button to use magic/ special move. At least, those are for the general tracks.

There are also two other different types of tracks that one can play through. Boss battles and movie tracks have singular hit notes (red), hold notes (green) and thumbstick flick notes (yellow). Most of these are to the left or right of the screen rather than centred, as with the general ones. But unless I was playing on beginner, most of my attention was focused on what combination of notes were coming up ahead - desperate to not miss a single one in my chain (particularly on Proud).

Once I had gone through all the worlds, I was rewarded with discovering that the entire game had been Kairi reliving her memories in a desperate bid to find Sora. How something like that would help in reality is questionable, but THIS is Kingdom Hearts. I’ve stopped trying to apply logic where the franchise is concerned. After remembering her traumatic childhood and being ‘rescued’ by Terra-nort, she is put into a machine to find a keyblade wielder. Researcher Terra-nort says a few obscure words and Kairi is back in THE FINAL WORLD. Where, of course, a phantom of Master Xehanort appears. They fight. Kairi, for some random reason, takes on the form of Sora, defeats Master Xehanort and then she wakes back in Radiant Garden with Diz, Ienzo and Even looking on.

It’s not too long before Riku appears and then THE FAIRY GODMOTHER! Some revelations are dropped and all three are whisked away to the Final World (which I thought was where hearts on the cusp of death went, but anyhow, they manage to travel there) to meet with the Nameless Star. She is revealed to come from the ‘Other’ world. A place of fiction and ‘unreality.’ It is then that she reveals a city called Quadratum, wherein resides Noctis Yozora of Verum Rex fame. Riku, as always, heads in to rescue his good old friend and Kairi stays behind to train with Master Aqua.

Thus ends Melody of Memory, paving the way for where the story will go next.

I’m not entirely sure how the Lost Masters will feature in Quadrutum or what role they’ll play in the inevitable sequel. The Re:Mind DLC seemed incredibly focused on Yozora and the unreleased ‘fantasy based on reality’ Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Somehow, though, I’m sure Nomura will make it all fit and still have fans scratching their heads. Hopefully, though, we’ll get to see more Riku AND have a proper strong story arc for Kairi. The poor girl needs to catch a break instead of being a walking plot device cliche that only serves to motivate the main protagonist.

Now, back to whether or not Melody of Memory is worth playing through and purchasing. If you’re a Kingdom Hearts aficionado that also loves the music and doesn’t mind rhythm games, pick it up. If you said no to any of the three, particularly if you hate rhythm games, then don’t. You might as well just YouTube the ending to get your daily fix of Kingdom Hearts lore that’ll keep you informed and give you a modicum of knowledge for what Kingdom Hearts 4 may bring. 

Ah! Who am I kidding? The next title after this won’t be Kingdom Hearts 4. It’ll probably be another indecipherable list of numbers or words that are just jammed together because it sounds cool. NOMURA! LOOK AT THE CHAOS YOU HAVE WROUGHT!

[arcxnumvitae]

You walk into a large, spacious room. The doors suddenly slam shut behind you and there you see them, a muse. Then the music starts and you realize-- oh no, a boss battle

Basically this is an idea stolen from @thewolfisawake of what kind of music would be playing if it was a boss battle against my muse. I’ll update this whenever, honestly it’s just for fun.

Veritas-- Two’s Song from D.rakengard 3:  Kickass but with this sense of a somber attitude to the whole thing still. 

Ven-- Twister Kingdom Mix from K.ingdom Hearts D.ream Drop Distance: What can I say, it’s a song with an out there vibe and it fits what’s likely a really out there boss fight.

Qingshan-- A Beautiful Song from N.ier A.utomata: Listen, my dragons all have to have some amount of drama in their themes and what better than the song of a scorned lover? It’s frantic, elegant, and grand.

Lucia-- Vector of the Heavens (Data Battle Remix) from K.ingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind: I know, I know, someone’s going to take me out back and shoot me one day for all these connections I keep making with Lucia and Xion but listen-- it fits. There’s no denying the sense of sadness to the song but the rock remix guitar strumming along and the fast pace of it all still spells out a bad time when going against that speedy little lady.

Alexa-- Vs. the secret boss (I guess it’s still spoilers??) from K.ingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind: It’s kinda lowkey, a dramatic piano but no frenetic violin slapping you upside the head. Dramatic. Poignant. And--oh, you’re dead, oh dear. UPDATE: it’s been a year, it’s not spoilers anymore who the K.H3 secret boss is, Yozora

Val-- Lightning Battle from K.id Icarus Uprising: The exact opposite of Alexa’s, as it should be. The guitar going at it, the music giving no breathing room whatsoever right from the very get go, Val would be the kind of boss to overwhelm with attacks and not let up at all.

Katarina-- That Person’s Name Is from B.ravely Default: Can a song exude the feeling of “honor”? This one does to me with Katarina. She’s a boss fight with honor, how nice.

Emil-- I’m honestly stuck between two so until I make a decision here’s both. Wicked Flight from B.ravely Default: Ominous, sounds like he’s just playing with you. He seems pretty casual about this whole thing but there’s something about that smile... They Who Govern Reason from O.ctopath Traveler: The main canonical thing about Emil and his family’s sword style is how graceful and fast it ends up looking like during a battle and what better way to get smacked around by a sword than to a song as austere-sounding as this?

Huaxiu: Lord of the Castle (Data Battle Remix) from K.ingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind: Remember what I said way back when about my dragons having to be the most theatrical, elegant fuckers? Behold. He’s beauty, he’s grace, he’s launching you across the room and kicking your ass severely. Amid the grandeur though there is a speed up that reminds you that Huaxiu’s not here to play.

Eira: Give Me All Your Love from The W.orld Ends with You: It’s fun! It sounds like a DDR song! It’s definitely very different from the normal boss songs but it fits the small girl currently casually bouncing on her heels ready to personally ruin your day.

Minglian: The Champion Mipha from H.yrule Warriors: A.ge of Calamity: The main thing that Minglian’s boss song needed to have an element of was grace, while still maintaining the feel of a song that you could get your ass kicked to. And the brass section does help fulfill the aforementioned requirement that “the dragons’ songs need to be very dramatic”. Helps that I associate her with water, and for those familiar with B.otw, the person who the song is for is a graceful water person too.

Zhaohui: Polumnia Omnia (S.caramouche’s boss theme) from G.enshin I.mpact. The choice for this song also kind of relies on the knowledge of the character himself but all you need to know is: spite and a rage towards the gods that abandoned him. The tenor singing in my mind really portrays a feeling of dread and anger, plus the lyrics? “Why did you throw me away on the fifth night?” This is a boss fight I imagine happening on the brink of Zhaohui’s control, when every last restraint is finally crumbling down around him and he’s near mad with twisted rage. It’s a fight that happens right before he is lost for good.

Kaisei: Dismiss from K.ingdom H.earts. “This wimp? Ha, this should be easy--why does the music sound like it won’t be easy?” But yeah, I wanted something that sounded a tad ominous and a little foreboding. I think the D.estati choir you can hear in parts of it also adds very nicely to that air. 

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Is Nomura simply not one to have his characters kiss in his games? I can understsnd if that's just how he rolls.

It’s hard to say, really. I feel we don’t have sufficient enough evidence to tell either way.

I’m going to break this down by the things he’s directed thus far (so there will be no The World Ends With You here–even though he Produced it, and interviewers always ask him about a sequel for it and things like that? Almost like they know he has more say when it comes to that kind of stuff, and perhaps even the story, than we the audience know? But IDK for sure, so I’m leaving that one out).

But starting with Kingdom Hearts, the only canon pairing we really know for sure of is Sora and Kairi. And they only just got together in KHIII. And after they did, so much tragedy struck and they really didn’t get to spend that much time together (and I also get the sense that Sora wouldn’t want their big kiss to happen when Kairi’s about to lose him–in thinking that that would make it even worse for her–but who knows?), so that could be a reason that they haven’t kissed yet (that, and they’re young age. But they’re going to be sixteen in the next game–the age that Zidane and Garnet kiss in FFIX’s ending, I believe; many Disney pairings who kiss are also that age–so maybe something could happen with them in the future), or it could be that Nomura just never has a desire to see them kissing. I don’t know, And like I’ve said before… there’s a chance that they could have kissed offscreen in their Re:Mind dates…

Nomura directed Advent Children… and he probably could have had a kiss between Cloud and Tifa–and/or maybe even Cloud and Aerith there–but since everyone behind FFVII wants to play both sides, and never make either pairing truly canon or more canon than the other… I think he was bound by that, and couldn’t show Cloud kissing either girl… Or he might just not be interested in characters kissing.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII/Final Fantasy XV: It definitely seemed like Nomura was going for some Romeo and Juliet/Shakespearian tragedy with Noctis and Stella here–and yes, I do think people took that one interview of his out of context, when they suddenly started thinking that Nomura meant for Noctis and Stella to be platonic. It’s so obvious that that wasn’t the case–so I could have easily seen him having his two characters here kiss. Especially since imo, the Noctis and Luna’s ghost wedding scene where they do that, is actually a remnant of Noctis and Stella’s ending. But we probably won’t know for sure until we see what he does with Yozora and Stella 2.0, or whatever.

With the FFVII Remake, Nomura definitely has more control of this version of the FFVII story than he ever has before (and they’re definitely changing things to try and make it even better, in their eyes, and to fit these modern times), so there’s a chance there could maybe be some kissing going on… but maybe not. We’ll see when we get the full Remake, I guess. But I just get the weird feeling, that they might add a kiss between Cloud and Aerith, to try and make them even more tragic and give us a  “what could have been” feeling with them. But I still don’t think they’re going to make either Clerith or CloTi more canon than the other. If they do add a kiss between Cloud and Aerith, for instance, I imagine it will be because they’re keeping the scene where Cloud and Tifa have sex (we might also at least get a kiss scene between Cloud and Tifa that way. Because they might decide to depict it more than the original FFVII game did. I don’t think we’re going to see a full-on sex scene, of course–probably not even close to what Hollywood shows in PG-13 movies–but maybe we’ll get Tifa’s line about how words aren’t the only way to show someone how you feel, a kiss, and then a fade to black), but maybe not making it optional this time? So to try and balance it, they might have Cloud and Aerith kiss–perhaps to impress on the audience that they might have done more/been more together, if they’d had more time–and Cloud and Tifa have sex? …These are just my feelings on it, atm. I could be way, way wrong, of course. Edit: He could also have a kiss between Zack and Aerith in a flashback, if he wanted. Perhaps.

So basically… I guess I’m saying we’ll probably know for sure about how Nomura feels about kissing in the coming years, when we see what happens with SoKai, Yozora and Stella 2.0, and the canon FFVII romances.

Edit: You know what? I’m going to throw in The World Ends With You, after all. Just for fun. I think most of us would say, given the evidence, that Neku and Shiki are the canon couple of the game and they clearly like each other. But I’m not surprised that they haven’t kissed yet, either. They’ve only known each other for seven+ days–and those first few days were certainly rocky, and they were anything but friends for them–and are definitely only in the “like” phase of their relationship right now. They need to spend more time together, and get to know each other a bit better–perhaps even going on a few dates–before they even think about kissing. And they arguably had a date in Final Remix, before that all went to hell with Neku dying again before he could meet up with Shiki. Arguably. But they could definitely kiss in the future… if Nomura (or whoever’s largely penning the next TWEWY stuff, that is) isn’t against kissing. Like I said, what we see in all these couples from the future will probably give us Nomura’s stance on kissing.

[unassumingvenusaur]

Kingdom Hearts III Secret Ending, TWEWY, & FFXV

So, the Kingdom Hearts III secret ending dropped yesterday, and this might be the most bizarre and unexpected one yet. Further complicating it is the potential ties to other Square Enix properties. As someone who is a big fan of both Kingdom Hearts and The World Ends With You, and who at least has played Final Fantasy XV, I thought I’d have a hand at trying to consolidate various points people have made as well as my own observations into a simple* explainer. 

Honestly, this is as much for my own sake as for helping others who aren’t sinking headfirst into the deep lore of multiple Tetsuya Nomura franchises...This man is utterly ludicrous. 

*ugly sobbing

***OBVIOUSLY, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BOTH KINGDOM HEARTS III AND THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU: FINAL REMIX UNDER THE CUT***

For people who haven’t seen the Secret Ending...Well. I’m not quite sure why you’re reading this, you should probably go watch that. But the basic gist is: 

We see Sora and Riku both waking up in hyperrealistic and visually distinct cities--or perhaps just different areas of the same one (the likely answer)

Due to the gradual reveal of the environment, it’s shown that Sora is in Shibuya, Tokyo--not quite the real one, which I’ll comment on later--and Riku is in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

As Riku walks through Shinjuku, we see Yozora--the protagonist of the fictionalized video game, Verum Rex, that we saw in the Toy Story world--observing Riku from a rooftop.

Lastly, we see a figure in the iconic black cloak looking out at the moon of this world--a normally shaped moon--and forming a heart shape within it with his hands. 

Really, the basic sequence of events is pretty simple to follow. What makes this complicated is what each of these individual pieces mean.

Verum Rex? Final Fantasy XV? 

The biggest elephant in the room to most is the presence of Yozora, and in fact the secret ending is named after him. This is gonna get into some real meta stuff. 

The entirety of Verum Rex--the fictionalized video game of which Yozora is the protagonist-- is a very, very thinly veiled jab at Final Fantasy XV. 

For those who do not know, Final Fantasy XV was originally developed under the title Final Fantasy Versus XIII, with Tetsuya Nomura, director of Kingdom Hearts, at the helm. He was taken off the project, and rumors circulated about his bitterness towards his brainchild being seized from him. Verum Rex seems to be complete confirmation of this, in a very public and hilariously petty way--the Final Fantasy XV that Nomura wanted. The similarities between the two games have been pointed out by many. To list a few as examples: 

‘Yozora’ is Japanese for “night sky.” Noctis Caelum, the protagonist of FFXV, is Latin for “night sky.” 

“Verum Rex” is Latin for “True King.” Noctis’s main character arc in XV is him growing into and accepting the role of King. This title could be Nomura asserting that Yozora is the true king he wanted to make. 

As can be seen in the in-game trailer, the aesthetics of the games are extremely similar, and a few of the characters can be identified with those from XV.

Yozora’s pose on the cover of the game is extremely reminiscent of that of Noctis in Versus XIII’s teaser art.

The main theme of XV, Somnus, is just kind of straight up incorporated into the Secret Ending at one point. Compare: Somnus vs “Yozora.”

What does this all mean? The only two things we can say definitively are: 

a) Sora and Riku as well as the black hooded figure have somehow ended up in Yozora’s world

b) Tetsuya Nomura’s pettiness levels are off the charts

I personally highly doubt any of this means that the lore of Final Fantasy XV itself will tie into Kingdom Hearts--it simply seems that Nomura is determined to see his original vision of his characters to their end, whatever form it may take. But who knows? Nomura is riding it ridiculously close here.

The World Ends With You?

So the other big Tetsuya Nomura property that is possibly wrapped into this Secret Ending is The World Ends With You. There is not as much concrete to go on as with FFXV, but regardless, what are the connections in this trailer? 

First, the basic premise of TWEWY: The protagonists are participating in something called the “Reaper’s Game,” a competition among the recently deceased to get a second chance at life.  The game is set in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Wait, that sounds familiar--Sora is in Shibuya in the Secret Ending! In TWEWY, the game begins with protagonist Neku waking up in the middle of the bustling Scramble Crossing in Shibuya. While devoid of people here, Sora wakes up in the very same Scramble Crossing. 

One could think that Nomura might just like Shibuya as a setting for his games and wanted to have a little fun--certainly possible. But what makes the connection to TWEWY especially striking is when the camera pans to the massive building with “104″ in big letters along the top. This is a building in real-life Shibuya, as well....sort of. The real-life building this is based on is actually called 109. 104 originated in TWEWY’s own version of Shibuya. 

This would seem to indicate that this is not just any Shibuya, this is the TWEWY Shibuya. It could be a reused pseudonym, yes, but 104 is such an iconic part of TWEWY that Nomura would know full well what he was doing by placing it in the trailer.

But what drives home the TWEWY connection even more is Riku and Yozora’s location. We know Riku is in Shinjuku, because after showing 104, the trailer shows Riku looking up at what is a distinct governmental building in real life Shinjuku. 

What’s the relation of Shinjuku to TWEWY? Nothing....Until the recently released Final Remix, that is. Final Remix reveals that a girl Neku keeps seeing visions of--the girl who will presumably be the protagonist of TWEWY 2--hails from Shinjuku. Additionally, Shinjuku is discussed by Joshua and Hanekoma in Final Remix as having been destroyed in some way--if I remember correctly, the entire city was “erased.” What the implications of this are isn’t really clear in TWEWY, but the notable thing is that the two main settings of the trailer are the two most important settings of TWEWY. 

This is not the first time TWEWY has appeared in Kingdom Hearts, either--characters from it appeared in KH: Dream Drop Distance, and at one point, Sora makes a promise to visit them in Shibuya one day. Seeing as he is in Shibuya now...Perhaps this promise is one that will actually be fulfilled. 

TWEWY’s relevance is potentially extended by what exactly happened in Kingdom Hearts III’s plot...which is what we’ll talk about next.

What the heck does this all have to do with the game I played???

Obviously, this is impossible to answer at this point, and can really only mostly be speculated. First, here is what we concretely know: 

It is made a point several times in the game that Sora’s vast connections to others, and specifically his repeated attempts at awakening them, have been causing him strain. Sora’s connection to other hearts has been waning, enough that he no longer appeared on the cover of Pooh’s story book, likely due to his weakening. Xehanort tells Sora at several points that he has doomed his heart. 

Right before the climax, Xehanort strikes Kairi with his keyblade, seemingly killing her. Of course, everyone also “died” earlier in the story, and Sora saved them as well, so this was never going to be permanent. 

After defeating Xehanort, Sora goes off to find a way to rescue Kairi. 

Later, we see Kairi and Sora back on Destiny Islands--however, Kairi is crying, and Sora evaporates into light. We have no idea what his true fate might be, but it’s probably not good. 

Some time after, Sora awakens in Shibuya. Riku is in Shinjuku for some reason but we have no hecking idea why so don’t think about that too hard. 

Of course, you didn’t read this far to have the plot reexplained to you, you came here for plausible speculation!! Here’s my take which will almost certainly be wrong since this is Kingdom Hearts, but it’s fun to think about. 

If the TWEWY connection is real--why would Sora awaken in Shibuya? It’s possible that in rescuing Kairi, Sora died, and now he has come to Shibuya to participate in the Reaper’s Game, to reclaim his life. Alternatively, he could not be dead but still have ended up there for some reason. 

We don’t know if this is Canonverse TWEWY or some KH AU version like they do with Final Fantasy--both are plausible. 

But wait, why is Yozora there? One answer is that despite all the similarities Nomura is just having some fun and this is simply the setting of Verum Rex. Another potential answer is that Verum Rex takes place in the same universe as this TWEWY. Or perhaps Yozora’s heart was set adrift like Sora’s, and he ended up in Shinjuku in a similar manner. 

There’s one thing that I’ve barely talked about at all, though--the figure in the black cloak. That’s because there is not much to latch onto there. A likely candidate for the figure’s identity is the Master of Masters--the originator of keyblades who is stated by Luxu/Xigbar both in the epilogue and the secret reports to soon be returning. By making his hands in a heart shape around the moon, perhaps he is conveying his desire to to turn this world’s moon into a new Kingdom Hearts? We really don’t know. But that seems a likely implication. 

Wait, you ask, what’s all this about Luxu and the Master of Masters? Who?? To which I say: It is exactly like Nomura to make the plot of a mobile game that no one plays the central conceit of the KH series going forward. That’s a whole other novel length post to explain right there and I only tenuously understand it myself sooooooooooooooooooooooo

you’re on your own 

tl;dr welcome to the tetsuya nomura cinematic universe

[bluerosesburnblue]

A Kingdom Hearts III Secret Movie Theory/Kingdom Hearts IV Speculation

Everybody seems to think that the Yozora we see in the KH3 Secret Ending is exactly the same character as depicted in the Verum Rex game in Toy Box, but what if it’s... not?

Spoiler Warning for: Kingdom Hearts III, The World Ends With You (main game), The World Ends With You (A New Day)

I mean, what do we actually see Yozora do in the Secret Movie? He sits there, ominously, and watches Riku. But at no point does he show any of the skills or abilities of the game!Yozora from Toy Box. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t have his crossbow weapon, either. Or any weapon, for that matter. So here’s what I propose: the Yozora we see in the Secret Ending isn’t exactly the same as the Yozora we see in Verum Rex. Rather, it’s a coincidence, much like Riku’s resemblance to Yozora. The Yozora we see in the Secret Ending is a real person. The one we see in Verum Rex is just a metaphorical representation of that person

Let’s put a few theories I’ve seen around Tumblr together. alloutassassin made the interesting observation that Yozora’s heterochromia (specifically the one red eye) could be a reference to a central plot element from Final Fantasy vs.XIII that was scrapped in the transition to Final Fantasy XV: “Eyes that can see the Light of Expiring Souls.” It’s a really interesting plot point, especially since we can tell from the Verum Rex trailer that Nomura is using some old ideas from vs.XIII that didn’t make it into XV for the game. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he brought back the eyes that can see death at some point. alloutassassin makes a lot of interesting observations (and I do recommend checking out their post), though since they admit that they don’t know anything about The World Ends With You, there is one big inaccuracy that I’m going to address, simply because of how important it is in TWEWY right now

alloutassassin says that Riku’s in Shibuya, and it just looks different because he arrived at a different time than Sora did. He didn’t. Riku’s actually in Shinjuku, as proven by vixro in this post here. To summarize their observations, Riku very deliberately walks directly in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, a real-world building in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, and Shinjuku is right next to Shibuya. Now why is Riku being in Shinjuku and not Shibuya significant? Because TWEWY’s Shinjuku no longer exists

Nomura explicitly recommended that people play TWEWY Final Remix while they wait for KH3. Final Remix adds a new scenario called “A New Day,” where Neku is occasionally subjected to visions of a lone girl walking through an empty city, and at the very end it’s revealed that Shinjuku has been erased, and that that girl is the only survivor.

Back to the “Eyes that can See the Light of Expiring Souls” thing, there is a character in TWEWY who was able to see dead people playing the game while he was alive: Mr. Composer of Shibuya himself, Yoshiya Kiryu, aka Joshua. For the sake of anyone reading this who hasn’t played TWEWY and doesn’t care about spoiling it, Joshua, Neku’s partner for Week 2 of the game, is the Composer of Shibuya. He’s essentially the person who runs the entire Reaper’s Game, and the highest ranking Reaper in Shibuya. During Week 2, he illegally partners with Neku while assuming a more human appearance due to hiding out in the real-world of Shibuya, so none of the Reapers recognize him. During the week it’s revealed that he could see the dead while he was alive, and it’s that ability that caused him to get interested in and eventually join in on the Reaper’s Game. From there it can be inferred that he entered by choice in the past and worked his way up to the position of Composer prior to the events of TWEWY. The entire point of this, though, is to prove that being able to see the dead while you are alive is a rare, but not unheard of ability to have in the TWEWY universe

One last important detail about TWEWY that many people overlook is this: the rules of Shibuya’s Reaper’s Game are not universal. The Composer makes the rules, and for everywhere that a Reaper’s Game exists, that Composer is free to make their own rules. We only know the rules of Shibuya’s Game. We don’t know anything about how the Game is run in Shinjuku, so it’s possible that some elements of it could be quite a bit closer to Verum Rex than TWEWY

So here’s what I propose: the Yozora we see in the Secret Ending shows no signs of having the abilities of the Yozora from Verum Rex, but could easily still have the ability to see the dead that being a vs.XIII Noctis-expy would imply that he has. This ability canonically has a counterpart in the TWEWY universe, which means that the Yozora from the Secret Ending could potentially exist within the confines of the TWEWY universe. The only other TWEWY character we know who has this ability was driven to play the Reaper’s Game and rise through the ranks to become the highest ranking Reaper because of that ability

Our Secret Ending Yozora could be someone involved in the Shinjuku Reaper’s Game. Given that Shinjuku... exists, I think Riku could have arrived either just before Shinjuku was erased (unlikely, as the TWEWY cast in KH3D are all implied to be their selves from after the TWEWY Reaper’s Game has finished, or at the very least from very late in the game) or after Shinjuku potentially gets restored. So now I’m torn between a few possibilities:

Yozora could be the Composer of Shinjuku, either the old one restored along with Shinjuku or a new one who we’ll see rise to the position over the course of the events A New Day implies will happen

Yozora is a Player in the Shinjuku Reaper’s game. Riku is either incapable of seeing him because Riku is alive while Yozora is not, or Riku totally could see him and is in the Shinjuku Reaper’s Game as well

Yozora is totally alive and is watching the events of Shinjuku’s Game from the real world

Either way, I’m not totally convinced that the world of Verum Rex actually exists within the Kingdom Hearts universe. What we see of Verum Rex in Toy Box could be teasers for Yozora’s role in whatever game the Secret Movie eventually becomes, but meant more as symbolical representations of things that will happen, rather than being literal events. Riku and Yozora’s appearance in Shinjuku during a cinematic that blatantly shows Sora in TWEWY’s Shibuya, all while Nomura encourages people to play TWEWY Final Remix, seems very deliberate and suspicious to me.

[lyricsmiliyah]

[Romanized] ONE DAY ~Yozora Remix~

Kono mama jibun wo yozora ni kazasou Negau wa te awase kanashimi no hoshi wo Nakushi umareshi kurikaesareru hi Tell me why I don't know why Kami ga ataeta mission hatashitai yo Hurt no more but I don't know Oh no no... Listen Nande kakushiten no pain? Kokoro ni rain saseta mama livin' everyday Nande kakushiten no pain? Masquerade yamereba stress fades away Me ni wa mienai nanika wo motomete Nanika wakaranai kedo it seems OK Kokoro ni risou idaiteru koto dake Sore ga shoumei... you hear people sayin' "sekai wo kaeru koto nante muri" nante iu mae ni DO IT Hajime no ippo wa jibun Goku futsuu ni, hitotsu hitotsu, hitori hitori Maido omoidoori ikazu tomo HOLD IT Tsumikasanete'kou ze UP sora no hou ni Kumorizora koete'keba soko wa morning Koujijuu, oretachi imada mikansei Dakedo WE'LL BE PAFEKUTO ONE DAY Sekai ga konna ni mo kanashii Karehateteru daichi can't you see Kitto kamisama mo tsukarete dareka no chikara wo hoshigatteru Dakedo nani mo deki nakute iradachi tada miteru dake Kokoro ni aru piece-tachi Mitsukeru tame ni keep on trying Onaji hoshi ni iru we are family Atsumete peace ni touch Let's show our love for someone Negau wa te awase kanashimi no hoshi wo Nakushi umareshi kurikaesareru hi Tell me why I don't know why Kami ga ataeta mission hatashitai yo Hurt no more but I don't know Oh no no... Minna kata suri awaseru hodo chikai no ni Otagai no aida ni tsukuru kabe wa HIGH Sore ga city life? nakami yori mo STYLE Uwabe dake no SMILE, kachi wa ￥0 (ZERO-yen) Hana wo aida ni shita me wa ten to ten Surihe tte kanjou mo 10% RENTOGEN tooshite mita HA-TO empty Kimochi butsukeau koto yori mo safety "wa wo daiji ni" tte what does it all mean? Mattaku chigau kangae motsu mono doushi Chigai wo ikasu ka, ikasanai kade Ketsumatsu wa "ai no utsuwa" mata wa kyouki Ue wo muite aruku no wasure Mainichi ga hustlin' hustlin', A kara B chiten Soshite kaeri wa B kara A Jitsu wa yume oikakete'tai (far away) Me wo mireba wakaruze somethin ain't right Honto wa nanika ga iitai dakedo itsumo iezu jimai Nazeka chance nogashite bakari de warai de gomakashite'nai? Kokoro ni aru piece-tachi Sono muku na egao no oku ni hisometeru inori no sakebi Atsumete peace ni touch Let's talk bout love, We koko de utau no Negau wa te awase kanashimi no hoshi wo Nakushi umareshi kurikaesareru hi Tell me why I don't know why Kami ga ataeta mission hatashitai yo Hurt no more but I don't know Oh no no... Ain't NO perfect world till we all in heaven... Imagine that (Can you imagine that?) Ain't NO perfect world till we all in heaven... Imagine that (Imagine that)

Ain't NO perfect world till we all in heaven... Imagine that (Can you imagine that?) Ain't NO perfect world till we all in heaven... Imagine that (Imagine that) 

Kono mama jibun wo yozora ni kazasou Kono mama kimi to yukkuri sagasou Kono mama zutto futari de agarou Kono mama omoi wo ten made tobasou Negau wa te awase kanashimi no hoshi wo Nakushi umareshi kurikaesareru hi Tell me why I don't know why Kami ga ataeta mission hatashitai yo Hurt no more but I don't know Oh no no...

Negau wa te awase kanashimi no hoshi wo Nakushi umareshi kurikaesareru hi Tell me why I don't know why Kami ga ataeta mission hatashitai yo Hurt no more but I don't know Oh no no...

credit : lyricsmiliyah.tumblr.com