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imtheperfectvoid · 5 years ago

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I’ve had this class made for a good while but I finally decided to post it to Tumblr — here’s the cast of my fangan! The story involves a group of Hope’s Peak alumni being gathered for physical and mental examination under the guise of being eligible for a federally-awarded grant for graduates of Hope’s Peak. However, because it’s a DR game, they’re trapped in the facility they’re gathered in and are placed in a killing game.

You can read the bios of each character below the cut!

Hisahito “Hito” Kanbara ♂

Height: 5'6"

Birthday: Mar 16

Age: 23

Occupation: Shinist priest

Likes: Astronomy

Dislikes: Lying

(Note: his Name in Kanji is Written as 尚人 meaning “esteemed person” but he calls himself just “Hito” (Person) because humility is one of his largest virtues and feels it’s important to put the good of the world before himself)

The protagonist of the game, and quite honestly the perfect example of “lawful good”. A kind-hearted, genuine boy with a penchant for seeking the truth and attaining growth, he feels that this game is truly going to test his faith and his virtues while being tempted to bring violence and harm to his fellow classmates. His devotion to his “Great Mother” - Shinomoi, a goddess representing truth, faith, and luck - is what keeps him steady and strong during his time in the game, and through her divine power is he able to piece everything together and bring every trial to a complete close... at least, he believes it is her aid that allows him to do so.

Atsuko Kurishita ♀

Height: 5′1″

Birthday: Nov 22

Age: 24

Occupation: Interior decorator

Likes: Glitter

Dislikes: Grapes

A bubbly, excitable girl with a keen eye for decor and design, she’s responsible for refurnishing and garnishing the homes of hundreds of homes across Japan, even many celebrities and well-known figures. She is a very emotional person, and can quickly jump from one to the next - quick to smile, quick to anger, quick to cry. She is also an overwhelmingly positive force in the games, collecting as many “pretty” things as she can find and presenting them with kind words to anyone in need of friendship or care. Her ditzy nature can sometimes hinder trials’ progression, but she can just as easily provide many helpful clues with her 1.5 eyes for detail.

Vox Stratos ♂

Height: 5’11″

Birthday: May 1

Age: 24

Occupation: LARPer

Likes: Wind chimes

Dislikes: Sour candy

Being very soft-spoken and gentle, it’s clear that this delicate man is very deep into his self-assigned role as Vox Stratos, an Air Genasi bard that is set on a mission to travel the multiverse and bring peace to his own lands. He can be very dramatic and overzealous in his endeavors and mannerisms, but his intentions are pure and his words are always genuine. However, he tends to be quite dim in terms of piecing together the overall mystery of a trial, and will usually have to be guided by another’s explanations to fully grasp the situation. There can only be speculation as to what kind of person he may really be beneath the guise of Vox Stratos.

Noburo Himura ♂

Height: 6′8″

Birthday: April 25

Age: 30

Occupation: Gravedigger

Likes: Rabbits

Dislikes: Heavy rainfall

A quiet, scary-looking guy like him is definitely someone everyone feels wary of; in truth, it’s not like they have much to be concerned with. Outwardly, his appearance would not leave you surprised to know that he’s responsible for plotting mass graves in no time flat. Despite this, he can be quite the gentle force. His heavy spirituality and desire to keep the worlds of the living and the dead in peace make him a rather benevolent person behind the mask. He may be quiet, but he can offer some solid arguments and points during a trial, and it only aids his usefulness to the group.

Minoru Kurosawa ♀

Height: 4'5"

Birthday: Aug 31

Age: 28

Occupation: Dentist

Likes: History documentaries

Dislikes: Loud music

Despite her stature, she is renowned as a superb force in the dentistry community - having single-handedly performed dental miracles on even the most disastrous of teeth. She is quite like a stern mother figure of the group, always keeping everyone in line and providing herself as a means of support whenever necessary. Her mind is tough and she can be very no-nonsense, but she does mean well in the end. A rather neutral force in trials and investigations, she tends to shine more outside of them and in the element of simple social contact between murders.

Takumi Achikita ♂

Height: 5′7″

Birthday: Feb 8

Age: 25

Occupation: Keysmith

Likes: Sunflowers

Dislikes: Annoying people

Famous for his ability to craft keys that open any and all locks, this cold boy is certainly a foil character of the group. He’s cocky, arrogant, and manipulative - and his only goal for this game is to escape, whatever that may mean for him. His uppity, loner behavior is backed by cold outbursts and isolation from the rest of the group, with hardly any empathy or show of concern for others’ wellbeing. Despite this, he does provide excellent talking points and arguments during trials, making him an unfortunately helpful force during investigations.

Sayuri Akashi ♀

Height: 5′3″

Birthday: Jan 2

Age: 28

Occupation: Biochemist

Likes: Renaissance art

Dislikes: The ocean

This mysterious lady is one of the most analytical and logical minds of the group, her forward-thinking mindset being a key part in how effectively she’s concocted several “miracle drugs” that have successfully aided in the world of eradicating/improving mental health. Her sharp eyes are a blessing for investigations, able to latch onto any minute detail and provide ample evidence into a trial. However, her logic cannot help but cripple her in terms of social understanding and communication with the group.

Habiki Bando ♂

Height: 5′9″

Birthday: July 7

Age: 25

Occupation: Drummer

Likes: Frogs

Dislikes: Serious conversations

This upbeat boy has a passion for drumming and an even bigger passion for making people smile. He’s the drummer for a ska band so successful and well-adored, he’s considered as “The Boy Who Made Ska Actually Cool”. His joyful nature and his constant joking (despite the fact that his humor tends to fall flat and not work) creates a very friendly appearance for him. Unfortunately, his cheeriness cannot overshadow the fact that his usefulness in trials and investigations is less-than-admirable. However, some of his capabilities may have some sort of merit down the road, if he keeps his ears open.

Koya Hamasaki ♂

Height: 5′11″

Birthday: Oct 11

Age: 26

Occupation: Sea captain

Likes: Letter-writing

Dislikes: Clowns

This foul-mouthed guy has the capability to successfully and efficiently man the wheel of any sea vessel put in front of him, and this notability is something that has built up his status as the Ultimate Captain. He’s quite the loud, rambunctious party type, and his dirty humor and sly comments are a large aspect of his outward, confident appearance. This confidence also drives him to assert control and act as the head of the party, despite most everyone’s protest. However, this confidence is faulty in trials, leading him to be more hasty in judgement. Perhaps something lies beneath that confidence that he works to hide?

Tetsuya Yomohiro ♂

Height: 6′0″

Birthday: May 15

Age: 27

Occupation: ???

Likes: Gin

Dislikes: Insects

Waking up with little to no personal memory, he doesn’t let this sway him in his endeavors to focus on the game and protect himself from certain death. Although he may not know much of his own life, he certainly knows how to throw around wit and banter and talk his way around any situation thrown at him. He’d prove helpful as an ally, but he could become quite the bother as an enemy. Despite his quiet charm, it’s easy to see he harbors a lot of natural sadness and pessimism, always looking to stifle his emotions with a drink or a cigarette. Whoever he may be, he clearly has a lot on his mind, even with the amnesia.

Yama Ryumine ♀

Height: 5′10″

Birthday: July 24

Age: 28

Occupation: Rock Climber

Likes: Alternative music

Dislikes: Economics

Famous for scaling mountainsides in record times with relative ease, she’s cocky and brave, always needing to be moving and cannot sit still to save her life. She’s a bit dense in terms of putting things together, but her bravery is always much appreciated in terms of bringing others to justice and understanding. All about fairness and equality, she is quick to defend others and give the benefit of the doubt.

Masumi Ichino ♀

Height: 5′3″

Birthday: Sep 18

Age: 23

Occupation: Calligraphy teacher

Likes: Video games

Dislikes: Yelling

This studious girl has been deemed her talent based on her superior capabilities to mimic most handwriting styles and can craft the most eloquent-looking calligraphic wordforms, even being so skilled as to personally pen the lettering of notices from high officials of Japan (the irony is that her natural handwriting is garbage). She’s quite docile and easy to startle and fluster, but her good-hearted nature and her clever mind makes her a valuable ally during the killing game.

Riku “Rick” Ushinōka ♂

Height: 5′5″

Birthday: Mar 2

Age: 24

Occupation: Farmer/”Cowboy”

Likes: Origami

Dislikes: Dark chocolate

This quiet boy, given the official title of Ultimate Farmer, is largely responsible for creating one of Japan’s highest-grossing farmlands in the nation’s recorded history, producing mass quantities of produce and farm life that has kept Japan strongly powered. His entire life has been in moderate isolation, having been homeschooled up until being brought to Hope’s Peak, so his communication skills amongst people his age leaves a lot to be desired. Though he lacks a fair amount of common sense and intelligence, what he does provide is a sharp eye for detail and order, and his capabilities to notice details will prove useful in his time in the killing game.

Yuriko Iwasaki ♀

Height: 5′7″

Birthday: Oct 29

Age: 25

Occupation: Chess player

Likes: Sudoku puzzles

Dislikes: Working hard

This proud girl has countless trophies, plaques, and awards recognizing her as the world’s most proficient grandmaster of chess. Her mind is sharp and her tongue is equally so - she has quite the sense of self-importance, believing herself to be the strongest asset in the killing game and talking down to anyone who views otherwise. Despite her rough, callous nature, she does provide quite the analytical perspective and holds the potential to be incredibly useful during trials and investigations.

Rei Obara ♀

Height: 5′7″

Birthday: Jan 18

Age: 26

Occupation: Cutler

Likes: Horror films

Dislikes: Cuttlefish

This girl is cold and aloof, her notoriety as one of the most gifted knife-makers in the world certainly affecting this reputation; she holds the capability to craft a razor-sharp blade from nearly any material given to her (see kiwami japan). Her humor is dry and her wit is endless, and she has little interest in making friends or growing close with anyone, fully understanding the severity of the situation and knowing that her status as a cutler certainly paints her as a threat, pushing her to further distance herself from the group. Despite this distance and her lack of ability to pick up on the nuances of the game, perhaps she can still prove useful in defending the rest of the group from whatever ultimate evil their captor has planned.

Jato Wakashira ♂

Height: 6’1″

Birthday: Oct 1

Age: 26

Occupation: Fashion designer

Likes: Summertime

Dislikes: Rough textures

This vivacious, lively man is the creator of some of the most trendy, in-style clothing collections, achieving international success and fame early on in his solo career and attained a celebrity status and amassed a huge social following. His flirtatious charisma and cheery attitude make him incredibly amiable, and his passion for clothing is unrivaled. Though he works hard to try and get along with everyone and get in the good graces of everyone in the game, he can’t help but form a bit of a wall with everyone and keep people at arm’s length throughout the events - a natural distrust lying beneath the surface. He fears anyone getting too close and discovering what he’s really like behind all the charm and sweetness - not fear for himself, but fear for them.

Kana Jikiba ♀

Height: 5’5”

Birthday: Feb 27

Age: 25

Occupation: Ceramicist

Likes: Raspberries

Dislikes: Loud noises

This bizarre girl has a lot of strangeness and uncertainty about her character - not many people are sure of her background, her nationality, or anything of that sort. However, what most people do know about her is her incredible aptitude for crafting some of the finest porcelain pieces to ever be made; everything from plates to tea sets to decorative pieces to even her own mask has the careful touch of a genuine artist behind them. She may be proficient in the art of ceramics, but she seems to struggle to effectively communicate and connect with other people - her mannerisms, way of speaking, and overall demeanor radiates an aura that makes most people wonder if she’s even human underneath that mask. Despite this, she’s a pleasant force with a surprising amount of intellect that always tries her best to maintain the peace.

#danganronpa #danganronpa oc #fanganronpa #dr oc group #dr oc #void draws

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oveliagirlhaditright · 4 years ago

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Chapter Five of my dark Kairi story entitled “Swallow”.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456412/chapters/66099568

Falling

Sora's PoV:

"Come on, Yozora," Sora complained. as he grabbed onto his prison door and shook it with all his strength. "Don't lock me up, because you know I'm right in saying that… locking Stella in that box—no matter how she betrayed you is wrong—deep down, you know it's awful... because you're me."

And that must have meant something to Yozora, because he gave Sora something to eat then—to help stay conscious for once, in this awful place—and it was dropped at his feet.

It was a banana.

Kairi's PoV:

Kairi and Riku decided to go to Radiant Garden, to ask the Restoration Committee and Tron for help. But it left a bitter taste in Kairi's mouth to do so, because to her it was just pointing out to their friends that they hadn't found Sora yet, and that she had failed in another way.

So Kairi found herself leaving this to Riku—even if she would have loved to meet this non-corrupted version of a friend that Sora had loved so much: Tron—and took a moment to relax for the first time in ages.

As she did so, a kid named Ben—who she would learn the Restoration Committee had taken in—sat down and talked to her, as she dipped her toes in the fountain.

"…Kairi, I think that's your name… I'm sorry if I'm ruining your privacy, or whatever, but I'm Ben. And Radiant Garden's new leader, Leon, told me a little bit about your story with this 'Sora'… and how you now think he's in data world or something? …All I'm saying is don't bet on the wrong horse. I tried to recreate my mom, via this intelligent house that we had... and that was a disaster. Sometimes it's better to have a flawed reality, than to hold onto a scary dream."

If Kairi was being honest with herself here, she was spooked by this entire one-sided conversation. Though she did wonder if the gods of the different worlds had perhaps sent her this boy to her to give her advice...

She was about to ask him how a "mom" connected to an automated home—was that what she was getting here? could even exist to become a disaster, but Pip was having none of that.

"…Why would you tell Kairi that, to get her all scared and defeated?!" Pip demanded. And Kairi pet his fur in order to calm him down, as she contemplated and yet sent a small smile Ben's way.

And she was glad that Ben was holding his hands up defensively for Pip's anger. Because Kairi didn't want her new best friend to be mad at the child… even though she was sad he was kind of confronting her with her worst fears here.

"Hey, Miss. I just don't want anyone to say I didn't warn you. But it could work out. Like, even though we were fine without her… Pat's got her bugs worked out now, so sometimes she gives us chocolate chip pancakes!"

And that was all that a little kid would worry about, wasn't it? Kairi almost giggled at those words about pancakes… almost.

Instead, she decided to speak calmly to Ben and use some of his own terminology back at him. "Don't worry about it, 'Mister. 'Pip here is just a little protective of me, like he was with his mistress, Giselle, but I see that you only want to help me. Thank you."

Pip crossed his arms over his chest defensively here—because Kairi had bemoaned some of his efforts to coddle her heart?—but she knew he really didn't mean it, which she was glad for… because she still needed one friend in this world, after all.

Speaking of friends—or former friends—it was when Kairi was having these depressing thoughts and twiddling with her thumbs, that Riku finally returned.

"What did they all say?!" Kairi demanded, as she sprung to her feet and began assuming the worst. They're not mad we took some months off in looking for Sora, are they? …They really don't think I'd sacrifice him again so easily, do they?"

And Riku sent Kairi a small smile here, that was so much like their old bond, that Kairi could have cried. How she wished their connection was that strong again. And maybe they were getting somewhat close to it again, but…

"Relax, Kairi. Of course they're not upset with us… with you. And they're worried about the Master of Masters and his flunkies, but I told them we can handle it. They also told me what everyone else is doing, and I can tell ya if ya want. But most of all… Cid fixed our phones like we wanted him to... And I should have said this all when that kid wasn't here, huh?"

And this time, Kairi did have to laugh. It was a rare sight to see Riku flustered, but she definitely appreciated over the arrogant boy he had once been on the Islands. "This is Ben, Riku. He's cool. It sounds like he's in cahoots with the Restoration Committee. But on the subject of youth... did the Restoration Committee look any older to you? If so, we must have somehow traveled to the future when we were in the Caribbean. But if not… then we only moved ahead in time in that world, for some reason."

Overhead, a seagull was flying by… perhaps trying to see if there were some French fries nearby that it could eat. And for just a second, Kairi was taken back to Destiny Islands: the place where Sora had climbed a tree to get a seagull egg… and the place where many times—even though Kairi had enjoyed talking to Sora (she always would)—she didn't want to relish in his company if Riku wasn't with them. She missed those days…

"The Restoration Committee is the same age, Kairi. Don't worry." And again… Riku treated Kairi with such patience, that she hated him for it. She didn't deserve it…

But deciding that they probably should have these conversations away from Ben—just in case—Kairi and Riku bid their new friend goodbye and went back to Riku's gummi ship to discuss things more. Apparently, King Mickey had picked up Kairi's own ship from the Caribbean and had taken it back to Disney Castle. So, it seemed that she would be staying with Riku for a while…

Which was fine. More than fine, really. Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Cloud, and Tifa had missed seeing the guilt that she bore, and now she and Riku were safe to talk about Sora away from prying eyes.

"So, what are all of our other friends doing now, Riku? And don't spare me any gory details."

And Riku didn't, as he set the ship in auto-pilot and walked around to look at the stars. Kairi wondered if he imagined Sora in one of them like she did, but she thought he might also be picturing Naminé on one of them, too.

"Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are following Sora's lead and going to sleep… to try and find hints of him in their dreams, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua are taking on apprentices, thinking the next generation may hold the truth to finding him... Lea and Isa are looking for a friend that they lost, but think it might connect to Sora. And Roxas and Xion are apparently trying to going as high in the Ocean Between Worlds as they can, to see if they can see Sora from that vantage point… And Naminé's not doing anything… because she thinks you and Sora aren't together now because she tore you apart before."

Wow, her friends certainly had better ideas than she did. Kairi had no doubt that they'd find Sora before she could even dream of it—like usual—though she would still try… and her heart broke in hearing that the girl she thought of as a sister was blaming herself for something that wasn't her fault at all.

Kairi even thought about getting her gummi phone out, to demand that Naminé cut it out that instant… but she couldn't do it yet. No, the only pain she could think of at all anymore was her own. Because Sora, the light of their World, had died for her (again). And even if by miracle of miracle, they happened to save him… that would always be true, and she could never wash the blood off her hands.

Kairi could tell the question Riku was dying to ask her now, as he seemed to look at her with bated breath... what was it about him that now bothered her, that made her push him in a way that she never had before?

And Kairi would tell Riku one day, she promised herself now, and would attempt to make amends... just not now. Never now.

So instead, she changed this subject about their friends and feelings.

"Is your gummi phone picking up any data worlds now?" Kairi asked, being careful not to look at Riku, but rather at all of the parts of the gummi ship around her. The seats that Riku had in his own vessel here were jade, and Kairi loved that aesthetic choice, as they matched his eyes.

But somehow, even before he'd spoken Kairi knew that Riku would disappoint her. "...No. But I may be picking up something else."

Well, the "something else" was news to Kairi. She wasn't even sure they'd get that lucky. So she stood from her seat and peered at the gummi phone he held in his hand, as she took in what appeared to be some sort of jungle pictured there.

And Kairi grinned… she couldn't help it, even though these memories now hurt her. She recalled, after all, bits of when Sora had been in Deep Jungle. She thought he may have even fought about Donald on whether or not to go there… and in the end, Sora had made them crash so that he could look for her and Riku.

If they had to go to such a place to save him now—or at least get some kind of clue about him—Kairi thought that it was only fitting.

"Then full speed ahead, maestro!" Kairi encouraged Riku, whilst she pointed her Keyblade out towards the sky.

And for just a second, Kairi again felt like the girl who had built a raft with her friends, jumped off a balcony, and fought in a Keyblade War.

…

The first thing Kairi noticed when she and Riku eventually landed on the new world, was a strange fruit that she had never seen before.

And suddenly realizing just how ravenous she was, Kairi ate the yellow, C-shaped piece of food and even shared some of it with Pip.

"This is delicious!" Kairi sang, just as the flavors and textures really hit her taste buds for the first time.

But Riku seemed to be staying far away from it, though Kairi couldn't imagine why. He must have been as hungry as she was, if not hungrier since he was a growing guy.

"...Kairi, you know what that is. Right?" Riku asked, with some strange tone in his voice that she couldn't figure out for the life of her. "An aphrodisiac."

Truthfully, Kairi wasn't entirely sure what that was. She thought it had to do with romance and fruit together, somehow, but that was about all she knew. She may have been going to school some, while Sora and Riku had been out adventuring, but she hadn't always been paying attention in class… Not when she'd been worried sick about her missing friend and the boy she couldn't remember. "Aphrodisiac?" Kairi tested the word on her tongue. "Like the paopu fruit?"

"Err… You know what? Nevermind."

And here, Kairi couldn't help teasing Riku a little—as she felt some of her old self come to the surface again, just a tiny bit. "Riku, even if you're worried about falling in love or whatever—because you want to die an Old Maid, instead of getting married, I don't think this fruit is as strong as to make you propose to Naminé the next time you see her, or anything like that. So, c'mon! Give it a try!"

But, perhaps, Riku even did Kairi one better than that, when he saw a yellow coconut lying around that Kairi had missed and opened it and ate at the milk inside…

Right. Yellow coconuts… She had once ordered both Riku and Sora to find them for the raft. So were Riku and she finally becoming those fourteen-year-old kids together, then?

The two teens finished eating—eventually playing a game, where they told each other what they wished it was. Because they wanted meat right now more than anything—but then finished off and began walking again.

And before Kairi knew it, she and Riku were nearing a mountain that was very much shaped like an ape… Kairi probably would have told Riku something about it, if it that moment she hadn't seen something that caught her eye even more!

A lovely lady and an ape-like-man—not unlike Tarzan from Sora's time in Deep Jungle, that Kairi remembered from being particularly active in his heart there—were having dinner together, as a giant monkey (a gorilla? An ape?) talked to them and served them food!

There were even breathtaking twinkling lights around this treehouse… and even in the light of day, they took Kairi's breath away.

Everything about this scenario was just beautiful. To Kairi… as silly, and romance novel sounding as this thought in her head was becoming, it was like what her life could have been like with her mate, Sora, if things hadn't gone so horribly… As she knew that he had wanted to show her a magical world, too.

And so even though Kairi didn't know this couple at all, she couldn't help rooting for them… and she saw that Riku felt the same way, when he was quick to assure the woman that everything was fine, when she began to panic: "Oh, no! You're not with Lyle are you?! You don't think I've been taking hostage by a madman, who will try and steal my autonomy, will you?"

"Not to worry, ma'am... we're just here to see if this world—err, place—needs any help at all. And if it does, we're only too happy to aid it. I'm Riku, and this is Kairi."

Kairi was about to proudly tease Riku that he was acting like Sora again, as she smiled up at him, but just as she was about to, some other people entered the scene… At least one of which who looked like he might try and tear the lovers apart, if his look of outrage in seeing them together was anything to go by…

And then the one that Kairi had been worried about (and surely Riku, as well) was pulling a gun, and shooting at Ape-Man, just as the pretty girl cried, "Lyle, no!"

Guns… Kairi hated him. And she knew that Sora had come up with that same sentiment when he saw Clayton with one, and she could easily understand why.

Before it was too late, Kairi tried to jump in front of the lady's lover, but even with her warping ability she didn't make it in time!

And then there was a panic. Some of the dark-skinned men present were angrily pulling the shooter way, and insisting that he would have to go to prison for shooting another human… Meanwhile, the girl—and the ape who had been waiting on them—were worrying over the shooting victim. And Kairi and Riku were quickly there, too… Though they also wanted to give him some air.

Kairi thought about trying to use Curaga on the man, but she knew that wouldn't work. Cure spells always healed depleted energy more than anything else…

The woman was on her own phone, desperately trying to get service—whatever that was, Kairi thought—so people would come and give George (apparently that was the man's name) the medical treatment he so desperately needed… but the crying woman said that it would still take time, and George might not make it.

So, it was then that Kairi made a decision… because she'd seen too much like this in her lifetime, and had of course felt this way herself.

"We've already ruined the World Order in so many other worlds we've been in, Riku. What's one more? Let us help this man get the best medical treatment available."

Riku might have whispered something about the old Kairi being back then, but if he did she didn't completely hear it. No, she was too busy creating a Corridor of Light to get everyone where they needed to go faster.

But she didn't just leave it at that. Naturally, she walked up to her new friend and whispered gently in her ear, ""I know I'm probably just some crazy magical girl to you now, so who would believe me? …But if you walk through this path and think desperately of where you want to go as you do so, it'll take you there."

"Magic… after a talking monkey?" the woman with the slight accent—or was it lisp?—echoed back to Kairi, with a sort of unhinged quality in her voice. Kairi was about to question it. But, hey. Hadn't she been about the same when Sora had disappeared after using a Keyblade on his own heart, and Riku had seemed gone forever? "Why aren't I surprised? Thank you."

And so, the woman, Kairi, and Riku (who had stepped up to be the main one carrying George here) walked through the Light, and left everyone and everything else behind for the time being.

A pity, that, because looking back on it… Kairi thought she'd felt something of Sora when she'd bitten into that fruit.

But now was the time to be selfless again… to be the girl he surely loved: the Master of Masters had to be right.

…

Once they exited the path, Kairi found herself in an area that reminded her a lot of Giselle's world, oddly enough, which gave her the confidence to see this thing through… And she wondered if the two worlds of towering skyscrapers were once one, before the World had been split into parts.

Taking the brunt of George's weight herself now—as Riku seemed to be getting tired, and Kairi could hardly blame him—Kairi helped Ursula (introductions had been made on the three—four, counting George's—way here) get George into her apartment complex. And she thanked every god she could think of that they took the elevator to get to the penthouse, for even as a Keyblade wielder she didn't know if she could have carried George up all those flights of stairs.

Kairi laid George down on Ursula's bed, as the girl called for a doctor to stop by and see him… And it was as she did, that Kairi understood how rich Ursula was—even moreso than she had been as the mayor's daughter, because her family hadn't been able to afford to persuade doctors to make house calls—unless there were just different protocols here…

And it was at this point, that Riku seemed to get uncomfortable… as he seemed to shrink away from all the expensive things around him.

And Kairi wondered for the first time if her own wealth had used to make him uncomfortable… Even in their golden years, had they not been as close as she'd thought they'd been.

"Riku…"

But Kairi's best friend was interrupting her before she could finish her thought. "If you don't mind, I think I might go back to the place we just left and see how that Lyle's doing… There was something about him. I don't know."

Well, that made sense. If Riku thought there was something sinister about him, it made sense that Riku would want to investigate… even if Kairi herself felt called to stay here for whatever reason. "…Of course, Riku. But stay safe. We don't know what we might be up against in this world…"

Riku waved to Kairi as he was walking through his own Corridor of Light… though he didn't promise Kairi he'd be back soon, and she didn't tell him to come back as fast as she could. They weren't quite there yet, after all, and this knowledge made her impossibly sad.

Though Kairi tried to hide it, when she walked up to George and put a Cure spell onto him for good measure.

"Thank you," he told her—with a smile in his voice—as consciousness returned to him.

And Kairi couldn't help beaming herself—reminded, as always, of Sora—as she replied, "Of course."

Kairi then made a show of becoming the Invisible Girl, as doctors and Ursula worried over George. Though even in her solitude and loneliness at the moment, she couldn't help feeling grateful that Ursula had yet to ask what she was… or any other fair question like that.

Kairi wondered how she would even answer that. As the physicians performed their magic, Kairi went outside and did her own—fighting the tiny shoe-like Heartless that she could find if she looked hard enough, though it was clear that this world didn't have much darkness in it… yet—but the whole time she did, she couldn't help feeling like she was the real monster here.

'Sora… If you can somehow sense me, and sending me these alerts about your presence… does that mean you can see the new me and think I'm someone worth something? Or are you blinded by your love for the old me, and are blind as a bat?'

The last group of Heartless that Kairi fought, ganged up on her and tried to grab her by her leg and pull her away… And while Kairi would say she'd had to stab at her thigh to get rid of them all, the truth was that she had wanted to cut herself for some sort of relief.

And it was exactly for that reason, that she was able to return to Ursula acting sane… as ironic as that was.

"Thank you for helping him, for helping us!" Ursula exclaimed, the moment that she saw Kairi again—as she took her hands in hers, and Kairi was reminded of her friendships with Selphie, Olette, Naminé, Xion, Aqua, Giselle, and Carina… the friendship between girls. How she'd been missing it. And maybe it was exactly what she needed to get out of her funk… or so she hoped. "Gosh, I barely even know you, but you've been a truer friend to me than you had any right to be! Know that if you ever need anything—anything!—and if it's in my power to get it for you, I will… Though I'm afraid I have to ask you one more thing… do you think you could stay with George some? At least until he completely heals?"

"Of course!" Kairi readily agreed. But she wondered if it was not her voice speaking, but Sora's… for didn't she have better things to do—like finding Sora—if this world panned out to mean nothing?

But still… Kairi couldn't turn down someone who needed her, could she? What kind of Princess of Heart would she be, if she did? …If she was even still that at all.

"I'm sure you must have a job and stuff. And this city… must be culture shock to George. I'll keep an eye on him as best I can."

Ursula laid a hand on Kairi's shoulder then—in what she could only presume was thanks—and if things had been different… Kairi might have been happier than she'd ever been.

After that—while Kairi and Ursula both kept an eye on George for the time being—Ursula and Kairi ended up playing a game with apple cider (because Kairi still didn't quite drink, thank you very much), where they took a swig from their drink every time one of them said something awful the other had had to go through for being born into the world with certain advantages.

And though George didn't seem to be able to understand a lot of what they were talking about, as they talked (and Kairi feared that he might somehow be getting hammered on the cider), he seemed to be having as much fun as they were… which Kairi was glad for, because she was charmed by her new friend and wanted him to enjoy life. Yes, that was true.

But through their game, Kairi recalled just how many creepy guys had hit on her just for being the mayor's daughter… and how she had one had to defend her virginity with a hairbrush, when Sora and Riku had been away… She pondered if Sora and Riku (saviors of the galaxy) would be impressed by her achievement there or not.

Kairi knew that she herself wasn't. As always, she should have been better and stronger… and done more, so she'd never been in that situation to begin with. Or really incapacitated him in a form of revenge.

…But none of that mattered now. Happy game time was over, and it was now bedtime.

But as Kairi slept… she dreamed. Dreamed of things that she got the sense were supposed to happen in this world, in a few days' time, but that she was somehow seeing now.

She saw Ursula going to her own engagement party—oh. She'd been engaged to that Lyle guy?—and instead falling for George, as he ran with the horses… She witnessed George saving someone from falling from a ridiculous height… And Ursula realizing she loved George and admitting it to her mother…

And then… and then the softest waves all about her, and suddenly a Foreteller. Kairi ran towards that Foreteller, standing on a single stone in a roaring sea now… and then seemed to teleport there.

Before Kairi's very eyes, was a girl in gorgeous rose-colored robes, that the princess herself wished she had. And while Kairi wanted to attack her—because that was just the norm now in dealing with what might as well have been this new Organization XIII, wasn't it?—Kairi found her heart resisting that notion now, for whatever reason.

And instead, in the softest voice she'd ever used with one of her enemies, Kairi asked with a hand held under her chin, "What do you want? What does your Master want? Please tell me."

And thankfully, this woman-with a very sweet voice, Kairi would come to see—thought it appropriate to answer her, as she herself glided closer to Kairi. "It's good that you somewhat separated me from the Master with that question. Because my wants and his don't exactly line up. For a time, the only ally I had was myself... And I wish it could have stayed that way. But now, I find I'm reluctantly on his side again. Since, despite everything, he is still my father."

Of course… even though Kairi could try to sympathize with this lady here—and her heart was screaming at her to—this made her furious, because no matter what… right was still right.

But then again, maybe she only thought that because she'd never had to choose before. All the stars twinkling around Kairi now seemed to call her a liar. Because the truth was… if she had to choose between the World and her adopted father or her grandmother… would she choose as Sora did? Kairi honestly wasn't sure anymore.

Thankfully, the small Foreteller missed Kairi's moral dilemma here and carried on with what she had been saying… and Kairi was thrilled. It wouldn't do to let the enemy know they had a faltering Princess of Heart on their hands, after all.

"But as for what the Master wants... I won't say all of it—because I don't want to fully ruin his plans. Some of his ideas are good—but more than anything, he desires unity. Since he knows what being without it has caused."

Kairi wanted to argue that the history books from the Islands told her that when most people started wanting this kind of thing, it always led to bloodshed… but she didn't.

Instead, Kairi was focused on the pastel pink Keyblade that was now pointed at her chin. There was something about this Keyblade that reminded Kairi of her own, Destiny's Embrace, but she couldn't imagine why… because they weren't that similar.

She also couldn't understand why the girl was aiming her Keyblade at her now, when until now she'd mostly seemed the pacifist… unless she was trying to show her something now. But whatever that was, Kairi could only begin to imagine. So, she thought she might tell this stranger something instead.

"I think you had the right of it before… going against your dad if he's planning some evil things, is the right thing to do. It's like how I couldn't fully forgive my friend Riku for some of the awful things he did, even if it was for my sake."

And that was a truth she'd never admitted to anyone before. Barely even herself. So why was she saying such things now?

The woman smiled sadly at this. She then leaned in and kissed Kairi on the cheek, entirely shocking her. And Kairi felt Pip come out of her hood here—to try and defend her honor, perhaps—but the woman swiftly showed that she wasn't aiming for anything crooked here, as she whispered into Kairi's ear. "Time heals all wounds, don't you think? You should let that go, Kairi. Listen to Ava."

And Kairi woke up to see George standing before her, with bruises all over his body—clearly from exertion—and it seemed to her that he must have already saved the man she'd seen briefly in her dream.

…

At first, Kairi wanted to believe that she'd just somehow had psychic visions here—even though that would have been scary in its own right—but it was when Kairi started reliving some of the things that she'd dreamt about, that she realized that some sort of time travel was in effect here: because even Ursula would sometimes turn to her, as though she was having déjà vu.

Right now, Kairi was at Ursula's engagement party—something she was enjoying, because it felt good to take a break from the doom and gloom and having to worry about the World's safety again—and she was watching George run with white horses, alongside Ursula and her friends.

…George looked attractive while doing this. And if her heart didn't belong to Sora, she might have been moved by it. So, she certainly understood why everyone else was.

But Kairi soon found that it was George's kindness more than anything, that was moving Ursula—as he walked over to them and explained, "I just thought the horsies here might get bored, if no one played with them."

So, he hadn't been doing that to be manipulative and look powerful. Really, Kairi knew she should have supposed that that was the truth. But with how she'd been abused so much by men in the Organization—and now the Master of Masters—she sometimes forgot that there were decent ones out there.

"Someone named Yozora is also awful," Ursula said to Kairi then—as if she'd read Kairi's mind—whilst she ruffled George's hair. But she'd spoken that as if she'd been in a trance.

And Kairi was completely baffled by this, because she was starting to understand that this "New York" didn't have many sounding names like that, if any. So, who was this Yozora… and why had Ursula felt the need to speak of him?

Was that what she was supposed to find out here, that was connected to Sora? The name sounded like Sora's, that was for sure. And as she whispered it now… Kairi almost felt as though she was saying Sora's name, like sometimes she thought of herself when she heard "Naminé" now.

But this discussion of Yozora was swiftly forgotten about, when Ursula's mother—who seemed off to Kairi—came outside to have a private word with George.

And somehow, Kairi wasn't surprised at all when George was gone the next day, having left again for Bukuvu to save Ape.

"This just reeks of my mother! I know she did this!" Ursula fumed, as she paced back and forth in her bedroom.

And Kairi told her the honest truth, as she laid down on the bed and wished to sleep… She'd been wanting to sleep a lot since coming to this world. And while Kairi wanted to believe it was because of a spell that Ava was perhaps putting on her, she knew it was really because she was depressed. "…She probably did… As silly as it is to say this, I figure she did because this is the plot in so many books and movies. And you have everything here… I can understand why your parents would be leery of you throwing that away. Mine would probably behave the same way… though they may not have strong-armed someone like George so much."

Honestly, Kairi missed George—well, as much as her heart could miss anyone who wasn't Sora—since last night, she'd planned on trying to show George some slides of modern things, like Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jane had shown Tarzan… though she'd near instantly learned that George didn't need them. He'd been very thankful of her efforts, however.

"I'm going to go have a word with her!" Ursula bellowed. "And then you and I are going back to George's home, and are going to help him heal his surrogate father! …And if your friend really went back there for Lyle, we're going to help him get over his crush on him, too!"

"Wait… what?!" Kairi demanded. But Ursula didn't clarify what she meant by that. Instead, she was going to the room that her parents were staying at here after the engagement party had ended late.

Just a few rooms away, Kairi could hear Ursula's mother unintentionally making her daughter realize she was in love with George (just like in her dream), and the two of them arguing about it… but Kairi couldn't focus on that right now.

Did Ursula really think that Riku had somehow gained feelings for Lyle?! Now that she made herself think about it, perhaps Riku had had feelings for Sora for some time—man, did they ever need to talk, if that was true—so if Lyle somehow reminded him of Sora… then maybe.

But Lyle seemed like a vile person, so if Kairi had to save Riku's heart from being broken by him, she would!

Kairi was walking towards where Ursula and her mom were still yelling at each other—to insist that they leave now, if they could—when Kairi bumped into Ursula's dad: she'd met him the night before.

And he seemed to be much more level-headed about his daughter's feelings than her mother was. "I support whatever decision makes Ursula happy, of course," he started as he saw Kairi. "But do you really think this is the best decision for her to make?"

And Kairi grinned, somehow reminded of her decision to do everything she could for Naminé and to give her the chance to live to the best of her ability. "Just… love your daughter. Love is the reason we're here, after all."

Kairi then approached the room that Ursula was in, grabbed her arm—because it looked like she was ready to leave anyway—and whisked her away.

…

This time around, Kairi agreed to fly on Ursula's private jet to get to George and Riku. As this time, she didn't think they were in too much trouble. Ape seemed to be, but hopefully George was already taken good care of him.

But even if she didn't feel much like a Princess of Heart anymore, she had a duty to the worlds and the World Order, so it was probably best to not screw with it once more in this world.

She supposed she was also somewhat doing this to try and stick it to the Master of Masters some. Because if he wanted unity… maybe he wanted the worlds to know about each other again. In which case, she wasn't going to give the evil man what he wanted… how she hated him.

Pip thought that Kairi was being reckless, too. He came out and talked to her while they were flying back to the much more flora-filled part of this world. He had seen her cut herself, and since then he'd kept quiet to see what she would do next… and he wasn't impressed with some of the choices she'd been making.

And here, Kairi couldn't help but sigh and to try and hide behind her hair some. Great. Now even her knew best friend hated her.

At was at this point that Kairi escaped to fight some Shadows that were on the jet—thankfully, Ursula was completely missing them as she flew—and as she swung each one, she couldn't help being terrified that they were actually drawn to the darkness in her heart, if there was some there. A troubling thought, indeed.

As was the situation Kairi and Ursula walked into when they made it back to the tree house. Some poachers were trying to take Ape with them, in having learned that he could talk—clearly, they had never seen other anthropomorphic beings before—and George was trying to stop them, of course, and Riku, too… Something that made Kairi's heart sing, because it reminded her of Sora.

But then it all went into Hell in a handbasket, as it would have. "You have got to be kidding me!" Ursula was complaining now. "Lyle, they let you out of prison. Or did you escape?"

And before Kairi could blink, he had darted over and grabbed Ursula with a gun pointed to her cheek. "I am now certified to perform wedding ceremonies, Ursula. And we're going to get married. I have our vows right here."

"Ursula!" George called. And it was clear to see that he was torn between saving his father or the love of his life.

Kairi would have tried to rescue Ursula—and Riku too, she was sure—if at that second, the poachers hadn't sent their own bullets flying at everyone.

As time seemed to slow down to a crawl, Kairi did her best to deflect them all with her Keyblade. And Riku was doing the same thing ...which was enough for the poachers to give up and run away, as they witnessed the two's powers…

But while Kairi didn't think that the thieves were working with Lyle, what they had done was the perfect opportunity to take off with Ursula.

Riku pounded his fist on the ground angrily here. And as pathetic as it was to say, Kairi was completely at a loss on how to comfort him. Maybe because she wasn't entirely sure where his emotions were at here. "Dangit. I thought he was a little like me—and had gotten on the right track, but could be saved—…I was wrong."

"If your choice of action was to try and be someone's hero here, you couldn't have been wrong, friend. In fact, I know what I have to do now," George said, while he patted Riku on the shoulder before heading off in the direction that Lyle had taken Ursula, with Ape right behind him.

"Riku… we need to talk now," Kairi told her friend, as she helped him to his feet. The mulch he'd been sitting on had stained Riku's jeans a slight brown color, that wasn't completely unlike Sora's hair color. Kairi swallowed. "You love Sora, don't you? You seem to think I pushed you away… but you've done that to me, too. Is this why? And what? You wanted to help Lyle because he reminded you of him?"

Riku glared at Kairi. And for the first time she could remember, she found herself almost being afraid of him—and had to take a step back—but the look dissipated just like that, and instead a single tear fell from his eye. "Yeah, Kairi… I do love Sora. Or did. I don't know. I do have some feelings for Naminé now, as you've noticed. I also used to like you… And I wanted to help Lyle, partly because I thought he was like me. But there was a bit of Sora, too… Lyle exudes a gay energy. And I'm sorry… You know I think Sora's completely straight in his love for you, but you've got to admit that he's the same that way. But that failed. So I failed again. But oh well.

"But since we're talking about painful topics here… do you mind telling me what. I did to piss you off so much?"

Kairi did not want to answer this. But she supposed she had no choice, since she had just forced Riku to talk about such painful things.

She wanted to use the excuse that they needed to save Ursula, so she wouldn't have to talk about it… even though Kairi knew in her heart of hearts, that she would be fine. But she didn't, in knowing that she owed Riku and their old bond more than that.

"Riku… you were willing to kill for me. Pinocchio, for instance… You also didn't care what was going to happen to the worlds through Maleficent's plan—and your helping her—as long as it got you me… You also kidnapped Princesses of Heart. But I'm going to shut up now, because I swear I'm not here to read you all your sins. Especially since I probably have you beaten in that category these days. And while I appreciate that you were trying to do that to save me. I also hate that you would have made me an accessory to murder that way. At least I did… And maybe I was somewhat jealous of all the time that you got to spend with Sora lately, that I didn't. I don't know."

Kairi crossed her arms over her chest here, feeling very uncomfortable. She was even about to go hide in the treehouse, if she needed to. But Riku startled her just as Ava had, when he was suddenly before her and kissed her on the cheek—but almost on the lips, and maybe that had even been his intention—and somehow, she thought everything that had just happened between them was exactly what had needed to transpire to make them good with each other again.

"There, Kairi. Was us treating each other siblings again really that hard?"

Kairi laughed. Because even though she got where Riku was coming from—he had only kissed her cheek, after the two of them had spilled their hearts out about their romantic love for Sora, essentially—siblings didn't almost kiss each other on the lips… and not after they admitted they'd once had feelings for each other. And yes, Kairi had had feelings for Riku for a hot second, long ago. So this probably was the perfect closure that they'd needed.

"No, Riku. I guess it wasn't."

And feeling as though he was the wing beneath her wings, Kairi glided towards a waterfall nearby, where it looked like Lyle still had Ursula kept hostage. And she landed on the boat to free her from it… only to realize that George had Ursula in his arms on the cliff above them, and Lyle had just said his vows to Ape, who was now kissing him.

Her work here was done… Kairi let herself fall back into the water, and float away—feeling completely blissed out for the moment.

…

Things happened pretty fast after that. George and Ursula were getting married, of course… and they were doing so here.

Ursula's family—and maybe even her friends—were flying out to witness it. And Kairi and Riku decided to stay for it, after they were asked to.

And Kairi agreed pretty easily. She knew, not that long ago, she'd somewhat regretted staying in the Caribbean so long, when Sora needed them. And she'd even been afraid that the Restoration Committee would hate her for that choice. But now she realized just how self-absorbed that sentiment had been. This was all part of the journey to find Sora, after all. So, of course, she would stay for her new friends on their day. How often had Sora got distracted on his adventures?

So, a few days later, everyone was having a grand old time. Kairi was even nearly convincing Ursula's mother to give the pair a chance… though the alcohol she was encouraging the older woman to drink might have been a large part of that.

Speaking of, RIku—who said he was almost eighteen now—had decided to try some champagne, and had quickly fallen in love. He was even offering to sing a song for the married couple now, so Kairi knew he must have been a little tipsy.

But of course, when things would start to feel alright again… they would all fall to pieces.

Kairi saw the Master of Masters standing a ways away from her now—in a more secluded part of the forest—and Kairi found herself going to him, as if she were a puppet on a string.

"Have you again taken a break from looking for Sora? You disappoint me, Kairi."

Kairi summoned her Keyblade to hand, but it was different from Destiny's Embrace this time as she'd put a Keychain on it. A Keychain from this world, that turned the teeth into a groom and bride from a wedding cake: probably because there had been so much romance here.

"Yeah, well… I'm sorry to disappoint. Actually, I'm not. I will find Sora—though I don't know why you would want me to, since he's your enemy who will undo all your plans—but I'm not going to lose myself to do it. Not when you apparently want me to be angry for some reason."

"…Even though, more than once, he's completely lost himself for you."

And despite everything that Kairi had just promised herself, she found herself attacking the Master of Masters for this, as she screamed.

No doubt, she was inviting a lot of attention her way—on George and Ursula's happiest of days—but she hoped that no one would come after her… that the music would drown this out, because they all deserved to be happy. She would deal with this mess herself.

He summoned Xehanort's disgusting Keyblade, because of course he did, and sent an "X" bathed in fire her way, but Kairi was quick to jump over it.

She then sent her light Pearl attack—though actually created from real pearls: an impressive technique that she'd recently taught herself—at the Master's face, but he dodged by doing a backflip out of the way.

Once the man was on his feet again, he kicked at Kairi's legs and she was ashamed to admit that he actually knocked her down.

He had his Keyblade poised over her head then, but before he could decapitate her with it—or whatever he might have planned to do—Kairi grabbed his arm with all her strength, so he couldn't move it. Much like Xion had done to save Axel from Xemnas' ethereal blades.

"Why are you even here?!" Kairi growled. "You already sent your Ava after me here. I thought only one minion per world would bother me."

"…Because this isn't some perfect little story, Kairi. Haven't you figured that out yet?"

And before Kairi could react, the man slammed his Keyblade down on the pressure point of her neck so that she passed out… And when she woke up, she found he hadn't done anything to her. Hadn't kidnapped her, as a Princess of Heart, to further his goals or anything. And somehow… that was the biggest insult of all.

What? Had he beaten her in a fight just to humiliate her?

And as Kairi became furious at that notion, she expected her insanity to come back in full-swing… but it didn't. Kairi's mind felt sane. And that horrified her more than anything. Would her new strength be gone if her mind worked right again?

In her hoodie, Pip had laid his paws on Kairi's shoulder—clearly trying to keep her from going over the edge—but she didn't want him to be.

She wanted to fall… in this happy world, or no.

Author's Note: This chapter gave me fits, so that's why it took me so long to finish and post. I'm sorry about that:(

I always wanted this world in here. Partly because, so far, the worlds Kairi have gone to are somewhat similar to Sora's ones from KH1. Enchanted was two worlds (Andalasia and New York) like Wonderland is (Wonderland and England), the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are full of Greek mythology like Hercules is. And now George of the Jungle is clearly a lot like Deep Jungle/Tarzan.

But then when I decided that Kairi and Riku would believe that Sora is in a data world… I didn't know if this would fit, because would it still seem like filler? I thought about skipping this world altogether, but in the end I'm glad I didn't. And I hope you all feel the same way, too.

Another issue I had, is that this movie is mostly comedic and this story… is not. Hopefully I struck some sort of balance here, but IDK.

I almost feel like there should have been more dialogue and stuff from the George of the Jungle characters here—and more George—but whatever. This chapter is finally done, and I'm glad about it.

…I feel like there was a lot I wanted to say here, but now I kind of forget. If I remember, I might add on.

Ben is from the Disney Channel Original Movie "Smart House". Originally, I was going to have FFX-2!Yuna to somewhat beware Kairi of chasing dreams… but then I realized that that didn't work for obvious reasons, so Ben it became.

Oh. And since Re:Mind isn't canon to this story, I tried to have everyone looking for Sora in ways that they aren't in canon… though Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are doing what Kairi is in Melody of Memory. Haha.

And I'm sorry if there are a ton of mistakes here (though hopefully there aren't). I rewrote most of this… and am too lazy to go back and reread those sections. So, yeah.

Welp, see you all soon. I hope.

I hope everyone's having a great October thus far!

Edit: I'm also going with that Destiny Islands didn't have bananas here. So shh.

Edit 2: I swear there isn't going to be a lot of time travel in this, if any more at all. It was only "there" last time-though not even that-because I wanted Kairi and Riku to be in Dead Men Tell No Tales. And while it's sooooooooooooooooomewhat story important here, I mostly did it to try and spice up this comedic movie some. Yeah.

Edit 3: Kairi defending her virginity with a hairbrush is a reference to sunflowerb on fanfiction's amazing "Smile and Nod" story.

#swallow #my writing #Shanna writes #my work #mine #swallow chapter five #kairi #sokai #riku and kairi friendship

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nadziejastar · 5 years ago

Note

Did you finish reading that KH3: A Conclusion without a story article? If so, what did you think of it?

I loved reading it. It was a fantastic take on KH3. There was pretty much nothing that I disagreed with.

By the time you leave Olympus, Sora hasn’t learnt how to restore his powers; and the frustrating part is that he never explicitly does.

I completely agreed with this. Sora’s journey in KH3 should have been about learning the power of waking. But even in the scene where he finally does learn it, there’s no real reason why. He didn’t seem to learn anything on his journey.

Even the villains are given no progress – a subplot about Pete and Maleficent looking for a mysterious black box goes nowhere, and Organisation XIII (the primary antagonists) only put in a brief appearance, spouting their usual brand of vaguely ominous dialogue. To compound these issues, the protagonists are ultimately left not knowing where to go or what to do next. Only two hours into the game, and the plot has no sense of momentum or direction.

Yep. The black box thing annoyed me so much. The Organization was also a huge letdown. We don’t get to learn the real reason why Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, and Luxord joined until KH4!? Something went very, VERY wrong in the Dark Seeker Saga for that to happen.

By comparison, Kingdom Hearts II’s opening was significantly slower paced – to the point that it was a detriment to some players. However, so much more was achieved in a similar space of time; II’s initial hours establish the game’s tone and major themes, as well as introduce a large cast of brand new characters (while simultaneously reintroducing old ones in new contexts).

Yep. I liked KH2′s opening, slow as it was. The prologue of KH2 felt like it had more plot than almost all of KH3.

And this is one of the core problems with Kingdom Hearts III; even if you look past a threadbare narrative for Sora and company while they adventure through the self-contained Disney worlds, there is nothing going on outside of that either. In Kingdom Hearts II, both Riku and Mickey were operating behind the scenes, aiding Sora from the shadows and setting key events in motion. In III, however, these same characters spend most of their time expositing plot points and passively waiting for the big battle at the end of the game – and that can be said for almost all of our heroes.

I also agree. This problem would have been mitigated if every character got their own time to shine using the power of waking. Riku and Mickey could have had a subplot together, showing how Riku got his new Keyblade. They should have saved each other from the darkness.

If there’s a job to do, it’s up to Sora to do it. With a couple of key exceptions, every character apart from Sora, Donald, and Goofy is presented as almost comically useless – yet our protagonist remains the butt of every joke.

Yep. Everyone other than Sora was useless. Aqua needed to save Ven, but all she did was get knocked out in the battle with Vanitas. Ven needed to save Terra, but he didn’t really do anything. Sora did all the work. Lea needed to save Isa, but he did nothing in his fight. He got shoved to the side while Roxas and Xion took over. Kairi saving Sora should have gotten more focus.

The villains reveal that the only way Sora can release Roxas is by giving into the darkness, and sacrificing his own heart. Self-sacrifice is nothing new for Sora (he did the same thing in Kingdom Hearts I to save his love interest Kairi), but this had the potential to be an interesting plot point, as it gives him a selfless reason to be tempted by, and potentially give into, the darkness. But it’s never brought up again.

Yep. Early scenes in KH3 make it seem like the game did originally have an actual plot at one point. Xigbar was luring Sora into a trap, so he’d fall to darkness. But it’s never brought up again, LOL. It’s crazy.

In fact, ‘saving Roxas’ is scarcely discussed until the end of the game (King Mickey telling Sora to “let the rest of us worry about Roxas and Naminé for now”, essentially dropping the subject after only the second Disney world). Ultimately, Roxas’ heart just leaves Sora’s body of its own volition in the final act, making the player’s time here, once again, feel largely pointless.

And yes, saving Roxas was handled very badly. This is because, IMO, saving Roxas and saving Ventus was supposed to be one and the same. There shouldn’t have been a separate “saving Roxas” subplot.

In interviews, Nomura discussed the struggle of dealing with so many characters – even citing the cast size as one of the main reasons that Final Fantasy cameos were omitted[2]. The real problem, though, is that nothing is done to mitigate this challenge.

Yes, exactly. And treating Roxas and Ventus as separate characters only exacerbated this problem.

Upon leaving Twilight Town, the player finally begins their true journey – travelling to various worlds based on Disney properties and beating back the forces of darkness. But there’s no real set up for this; no distinct reason *why* we’re visiting these worlds.

Mm-hm. I think the issue was that we were supposed to learn more about Ansem the Wise’s data in KH0.5. That was supposed to give Sora a quest in KH3: search for the “Key to Return Hearts”. Once that game got cancelled, Nomura had no idea how to write KH3′s story any longer.

So around 3-4 hours into Kingdom Hearts III, the story still lacks a clear sense of direction and purpose, and hasn’t yet established any clear themes or deeper meaning.

Yeah, it’s sad because there was an underlying theme in the Disney worlds: the power of love and its ability to restore what was lost.

Kingdom Hearts III cleverly tries to frame its story through the lens of a chess match between two Keyblade Masters, Eraqus and Xehanort, when they were young. The game even opens on this scene, highlighting its importance. But chess has rules; logic; a clear sense of direction. Kingdom Hearts III’s narrative is akin to two people who don’t know how to play chess. They understand that they have to defeat their opponent’s king, but the rules of how to move their pieces, how to actually reach that coveted checkmate, are completely unknown to them. The characters in this game feel like pieces on a chess board with no rules; aimlessly moving back and forth across a limited space, until both players finally decide enough is enough and agree to bring their match to an end.

LOL. Yep. The fact that Xehanort had “reserve members” showed he had no idea what he was doing.

Stick to your guns – don’t be afraid to explore a good idea, or to develop the plot outside of your main protagonist. When so many previously proactive characters are in play, the story shouldn’t feel so static, or entirely dependent on the protagonist’s actions. The way your protagonist reacts to events and changing circumstances is just as important as the ones they play an active role in creating.

That’s why I liked the spin-offs. KH3 suffered from forcing you into only Sora’s perspective. Even Nomura said that the Keyblade Graveyard should have had everyone fighting their own battles.

Simply put, the Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III have no tangible impact on the game’s core narrative.

Sad, but true.

“In the end, although I had a hand in it as well, the flow of the dialogue and the stories of each world were largely handled by the level design team.” While I very much appreciate this standpoint of ‘gameplay first’, as well as the act of involving multiple teams in the execution of the story, these statements do prove my point. Set-pieces and events are one thing, but if there was a specific story to tell – with outlined themes to be explored, character conflicts to evolve, and goals to be achieved; all developed evenly throughout the entire game (Disney worlds included) - you would imagine the scenario would be built around balancing those narrative elements with the individual tales of each level.

Very interesting. The story in the Disney worlds was largely decided by the level design team? Wow.

Despite major villains such as Young Xehanort, Vanitas, and Marluxia making multiple appearances in their respective worlds, they generally just spout off trite exposition and then either disappear or summon a boss fight. Some villains don’t even know why they’re there, while others introduce plot points (such as the Black Box or the new Princesses of Heart) that are never utilised or expanded upon. As the game features at least thirteen main antagonists, these early appearances should have been integral in establishing their personalities, motivations, and the threat they pose to the player (as well as our heroes). In execution, though, they seem like little more than after-thoughts that offer hints of personality, but never go beyond the superficial – and certainly contribute nothing to the main narrative. This, I believe, is because Kingdom Hearts III doesn’t have a story to tell, but was instead content with treading water until its grand conclusion.

Yep. I had no idea why Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord were running around in the worlds. Why are they back? Other characters, like Saix, were given flimsy “motivation”. All in all, the organization members were supposed to be vessels by the time you fight them in the KG. Hollowed out containers for Xehanort’s heart. Victims of mind control who you are supposed to have pity for. But they never felt like it.

Kingdom Hearts III’s meandering and vapid progression during ‘the Disney loop’ supports my argument that the game lacks a complete narrative and was merely concerned with reaching its final act. I believe this is most evident by the way in which the player is made to jump from world to world without any direction or purpose. Consequently, the majority of Kingdom Hearts III feels content to aimlessly ‘go through the motions’, setting a repetitive, humdrum pace and ultimately lacking the sense of narrative depth and genuine value that is integral to a great RPG.

Yeah, I believe there was–at one point–an actual plot for KH3. But after BBSV2 was cancelled, a huge portion of KH3′s plot was pretty much scrapped along with it and rewritten.

Everyone’s heard of the three-act structure; a model that forms the foundation of popular culture’s favourite stories. Act 1 features the setup and exposition; an ‘inciting incident’ to get the narrative moving. Act 2 is the confrontation; a midpoint which challenges the protagonist, pushing them to their limits. And finally, Act 3 is the resolution; concluding the plot, along with any character arcs introduced in the previous acts. While this structure doesn’t necessarily need to be adhered to, I believe it possesses something that Kingdom Hearts III sorely lacked – a midpoint.

Yep. KH3 had no mid-point. Scala ad Caelum could have worked as the mid-point. And it could have been another hub world like Radiant Garden. KH3 probably originally had this, but it was scrapped.

This is especially a shame, as Aqua’s fall into darkness – resulting in a twisted form that externalises all of her loneliest thoughts – is one of the most dramatically compelling aspects of the game. And that’s despite lasting for all of 10 minutes (a decade of solitude and suffering are seemingly erased by a few whacks from Sora’s Keyblade).

This is true for all of the characters that needed to be saved. Nobody really used the power of waking on anyone. It’s was just whack, whack, okay you’re saved.

And this is ultimately the problem with the lack of a true Act 2 – the characters aren’t explored or challenged when they need to be. The narrative refuses to escalate until its final act, at which point it feels like going from zero to sixty in a matter of moments. But during the heat of battle – at such a late stage, and with so many heroes and villains in play (more than twenty) – it’s hard to develop your characters in a way that feels natural. Kingdom Hearts III’s solution is bizarre soliloquies that are completely disconnected from the events around them. Is Sora in the middle of a boss fight with three villains? Well, the other two will disappear while you spend several minutes casually chatting with the third. And while this is partly due to the challenge of giving such a large cast an appropriate send-off, it’s also a direct consequence of the lack of time given to exploring characters and their relationships in the previous 20-25 hours of playtime.

So true. So many characters who had so much development over the series. That’s why they needed another game before KH3. It was probably too much to ask for KH3 to be the epic conclusion as well as dive into everyone’s backstory.

On that note, having some sort of hub – a place, like Traverse Town or Hollow Bastion in the first two Kingdom Hearts games, that the player regularly returns to – can be an effective way to centre your story. It provides a home base, and a recurring cast of characters that can be revisited at any time. This kind of location helps players to feel a deeper and more personal attachment to your world.

Yeah, the game would have been so much better if you could visit RG and interact with the plot-important NPCs.

Put in Kingdom Hearts terms, we might say that the body and soul are here; it’s just missing its heart.

I’ve had the exact same thought.

This essay began with the assertion that Kingdom Hearts III is a conclusion in search of a story; a game without a tale of its own to tell. So far, we’ve examined the material impact; the effect this has on the game’s pacing, its sense of player progression, engagement, and character development. So in this topic, I want to consider the conceptual side of things; the motivations that drive our heroes and villains, the purpose of the events that take place, and finally the meaning intended to be conveyed by the story. Put simply, does the narrative of Kingdom Hearts III have something to say?

Sadly, no. I can tell it was supposed to, though. KH3′s story was supposed to be about the power of love. It was really that simple.

By the time of Kingdom Hearts III, Riku has overcome all of these challenges and been granted the title of Keyblade Master, so it was important to present him as a more mature, capable character, having regained his confidence and developed a clear identity. But ultimately, he just feels bland and stoic in this game. He has no new narrative arc, relatively few interactions with Sora, predominantly serves as a mouthpiece for exposition, and is more devoid of a distinct personality than ever. And for a game which serves as a conclusion to the story so far, it’s essential that our core group of characters, such as Riku and Kairi, reach a satisfying crescendo. The narrative should organically involve them in significant ways, and the challenges they face should provide natural opportunities for growth and exploration.

Sad, since Riku seemed like he did originally have a narrative arc. He got a new Keyblade! But the way he got it was laughably random and meaningless and contributed nothing to his overall growth or development.

As much as I’ve tried to understand it, I cannot summarise Master Xehanort’s motivation in that same, concise way. His initial speech in Kingdom Hearts III implies idle curiosity; he speculates that “If ruin brings about creation, what, then, would another Keyblade War bring?” followed by statements that he wants to re-enact the conflict and simply see what happens. He also wonders if they will “…be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of”, implying that his goal is to test humanity; or at least the current generation of Keyblade wielders. But that’s a pretty flimsy motivation, and it’s lacking any context or logic.

Yep. Xehanort was supposed to have another game to explore his motivations. When you get rid of that, his character just doesn’t work anymore.

And it’s not just the heroes that have this problem. During their death scenes, several of the Organisation’s members (Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene, Xigbar, Xion, Saix, and Ansem) either encourage Sora or imply that they didn’t care about the outcome; or didn’t even want to battle in the first place. Some have their reasons, but if even one of them had chosen not to fight, Xehanort’s re-enactment could have failed. Much like I described earlier, it doesn’t feel satisfying to overcome a foe who didn’t want to fight, and a war with the potential to destroy the universe should be motivated by much more powerful convictions.

I don’t disagree. But I honestly think this is because none of these characters actually wanted to fight in the Keyblade War. They were supposed to be possessed puppets. Mind-controlled vessels with no will of their own.

Let’s use Saix as an example. What makes a more engaging battle? In canon, Saix had flimsy motivations to be fighting, anyways. He wanted to atone so he was acting as a double agent in order to procure some Replicas. And he wanted look for Subject X. That’s why he joined Xehanort. That’s all the reason he had to fight.

Compare that to a potential backstory with him as a vessel, lacking free will. Isa was a human test subject who was possessed as a teen. His best friend Lea has to fight him unwillingly. Saix is berserk and nearly kills Lea without even being aware of it. But all Lea wants is to save his best friend. I know which one I find more engaging.

Ever since that first game, I’ve been trying to identify what it is that unified these two styles of storytelling – the Disney fairytale with the SquareSoft RPG. And in writing this essay, I finally realised; the secret ingredient, the unifying thread that both franchises had in common, was love. Romance is at the core of almost every classic Disney film, and every Final Fantasy from IV to X was in some way a love story. Seemingly the developers of the original Kingdom Hearts realised this too.

I’m pretty neutral about the Sora/Kairi romance. I mainly wanted Kairi to not feel like a damsel-in-distress yet again. And KH3 definitely screwed that up.

In a way, my problem was the same as that of Kingdom Hearts III’s story. We both spent so much time looking to the horizon, imagining what the future may hold, that we missed out on what was already right in front of us. I will always love and support this series, and its creativity and charm will no doubt continue to inspire my own stories for the rest of my life. But despite not being the conclusion I hoped for, Kingdom Hearts III has freed me from my own obsession with the series’ future. I no longer feel like I’m waiting for something that may never come. Of course, I hope the series gets its story back on track, and rises to new heights greater than ever before! But it turns out that I already got my ending in 2006; and now that I’ve finally realised that, I can finally, honestly say that, as a Kingdom Hearts fan, I am satisfied.

It’s sad that KH2’s ending felt more satisfying. Because KH3 should have been even better than KH2′s ending. KH2 had a happy ending. But in KH3, everyone was there on the beach. Terra, Aqua, and Ven were saved. In KH2, Axel was dead. He had a sad ending. But in KH3, he was human again and even had his childhood best friend back, too. Even Hayner, Pence, and Olette were there. Sora should have been there, too. By all accounts, I should have liked KH3′s ending the best out of any game. But they ruined it with the horrible character development and the cheap cliffhanger.

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 6 years ago

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Kingdom Hearts 3 - Thought Post/Review

When it comes to this game, I have a lot of really positive things to say about it - my experience was overall very enjoyable - but I also have some really major negatives to say about it as well. It was a mixed bag for me, personally. If I were to give this game an a point score, I would probably give it a 7/10.

This post is going to contain SPOILERS to the rest of my more detailed thoughts will be under this Read More. WARNING: SUPER LONG POST!

Opening - I’m a fan of Face My Fears and I do like the visuals of the opening - they are beautiful, but I felt that while the music and visuals line up for the first half of the opening, once it gets to the part where the visuals start spiraling downward through chess pieces, the music and visuals stop lining up and it makes the rest of the opening feel disconnected. I also feel like the opening was kind of shouting, “Hey! Remember Kairi! Remember her and Sora’s relationship! Remember this character and that relationship is a thing even though we’ve ignored and neglected it for nearly 13 years!” So, yeah...

If I had to rank all the CGI openings, I would still place DDD and KH2 at about equal placement at the top, followed 0.2 ~A Fragmentary Passage~, then KH3, KH1, and Birth By Sleep last. This opening was good, but the series has done better. I did really like and enjoy the video recap that plays before the game starts (with the orchestra version of Don’t Think Twice/Chikai playing in the background) it’s really well done.

Music - Outside of the Toy Story world using the instrumental version of You’ve Got a Friend in Me too much, to the point where I’ve had it stuck in my head for nearly a whole week now, I found the music to be excellent. As I already stated, I’m a fan of Face My Fears and I love Chikai/Don’t Think Twice. All of the familiar background music was there, helping me to instantly get back into the world of KH, while the new background instrumentals for many of the worlds and such were lovely. A lot of the time I found the music really helped to invoke the proper emotions in me, even if the writing was of a scene or moment was poor. So, basically, the music in the game did its part and hit its mark.

Voice Acting - I currently live and work in Japan, so I got the Japanese version because I was too impatient to wait for the delivery of the English version. I do miss the HJO and David Gallagher for the voices of Sora and Riku, it doesn’t quite feel the same (David adds a softness to Riku, especially when he is talking about Sora, that Miyano Mamoru just doesn’t), but the VA work itself was all really good! It also made me realize that a lot of my issues with characters like Xigbar (who I’ve straight up just found annoying) or Aqua (who I was always just largely indifferent to) are mostly due to their English VAs. Xigbar character was far more bearable for me and actually a bit interesting in Japanese, while Aqua’s Japanese VA actually had me invested in her character.

Character Designs - LEA/AXEL GOT NEW CLOTHES!!! T-T Of course, it doesn’t happen to the very end of the game and his new outfit honestly doesn’t look that much different from his black coat, but I’ll take it. Xion and Isa’s new outfits were nice too. Honestly, the only character design that I outright dislike is Goofy’s Monster’s Inc one, outside of that, I’ve gotten used to Riku’s new redesign, though I feel like his look has changed the most between the past games and KH3. Though, the Destiney Trio in general all actually look younger in this game as opposed to their KH2 selves, so it is slightly weird/odd in that sense. Overall though, I think all of the character look really great here (and I liked the updated looks for Hayner, Pence, and Olette too!) As for the heartless, nobodies, and unversed enemy designs - they were all really awesome! A lot of the heartless were also just very cute, which I appreciate, and I loved the idea of heartless possessing the toys like we saw in Toy Story. That mid-boss fight with the doll heartless - oh gosh! I LOVED that design so much. I want to cosplay it so bad!! >, Finally, Chirithy was just SO ADORABLE! This is crossing over a bit into story/character stuff, but that scene when Chirithy reunites with Ven - I honestly couldn’t handle that level of cute and heartwarming! Graphics - The graphics are really the standout for me. This game is absolutely gorgeous! The amount of times I just stared in awe at the breathtaking landscapes is innumerable. The characters all look fantastic too - especially Lea/Axel. He is just soooo pretty! They really outdid themselves with making his hair look so nice and soft, lol. The only times the graphics went a bit wonky with me were when Herc would do his stone throw move (the movement and graphics for the stone got weird) and during the heartless horde attacks at the Keyblade Graveyard (the shadow heartless in particular had an appearance and movement that was very clunky and not smooth/natural looking like the rest of the graphics). That was all likely due to the fact that I was playing on a PS4 through, rather than a PS4 Pro. Everything else looked absolutely fine though, so I am ultimately not bothered by those brief moments. Exploration and Interaction - These two aspects were a highlight of mine. Even though finding all of the Hidden Mickeys and Chests could be vexing sometimes (especially the last one of either category), I utterly enjoyed exploring the areas and going around taking pictures. All of the little snippets of conversation that you could hear and get from the NPCs in the cities and towns, as well as things like Sora doing tricks with the barrels were fantastic and helped you feel immersed in the world. I also liked how there was always at least one chest that was hidden in a large object that you had to smash in order to get - that was fun. All of these small things helped make the worlds feel more alive and lived in. The use of the Gummiphone and taking selfies and stuff was also such a silly touch (as was Sora’s complete and utter bafflement at using technology, omg, I loved that - it was perfectly consistent with KH2 Sora and his inability to type on a computer - lol). Worlds - I think it is both a bit of a good thing and a bit of a bad thing that I don’t necessarily have a favorite world in KH3. Pretty much every world had some upsides to them and some downsides to them, so none of them really stood out in the same way that, say, Halloweentown did in KH1 or Fantasia did in DDD, but by that same token, that also means there were no worlds that I absolutely hated like Monstro in KH1...though the BH6 world gets a bit close to it...Going through the list:

1. Olympus - I loved traveling through this world - running through the ruined city and helping the towns people, and climbing up the gorgeous Mount Olympus to the even more breathtaking realm of the gods. But, at the same time, I found the constant interruptions of the tutorials to be a bit tedious and they often took me out of the experience a bit. Exploration wise though I really enjoyed this world.

2. Twilight Town - This is probably the closest to the best world for me in KH3. Exploring the center of town and the woods was nice. The theme for Twilight Town is so relaxing and running into characters like Scrooge, Remy, and Merlin there was a delight. I also enjoyed how lively Twilight Town felt and the original story content here was very interesting. It was great to see Sora interacting more with Pence, Hayner, and Olette, too. The only real downside to this world was the fact that it was so small in comparison to the Disney Worlds.

3. Toy Story - I was really excited for this world because I love Toy Story. Seeing Sora interact with the Toy Story gang was awesome. I loved it! This was also one of the worlds that an original story that was built more around the original story content of the game, rather than the other way around with the original content of the game being fit around already established Disney stories. That is something that I liked and wish we saw more of in this game as a whole.

I also really loved the design of the “girl’s section” of the toy store and the boss fight there. However, I found the first floor of the toy store to feel so empty and I absolutely hated all of the mecha stuff. I don’t care about mecha stuff like that for the most part (there are a few anime exceptions, but they are rare). And fighting them every time I had to return to that world for a missed chest or Hidden Mickey was just...ugh. Yeah.

4. Tangled - The city of Corona is so immensely beautiful and charming, and the wooded areas were amazing to travel through...I just personally hate Tangled so literally all of the cutscenes that involved the Tangled storyline were unbearable for me. I couldn’t wait for that world to be over. Seeing Marluxia again though was nice. I missed his fabulous pink haired self.

5. Monsters Inc. - Seeing Sora interact with Boo was precious, omg!

6. Frozen - One of the themes of Frozen is loneliness, so the fact that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are largely isolated from the Disney characters in this one makes sense. It was a bit annoying to have to go up the mountain three different times and finding Olaf’s body parts pissed me off because I couldn’t find the last body part for a ridiculously long time and I was just like, “I don’t like Olaf enough to even care about this~!” But I always enjoy seeing Larxene and her labyrinth had such a ethereal atmosphere about it. I also genuinely like Anna and Kristoff as a pairing and found their scenes/moments together to be very cute. Sora thinking about Riku in connection to Elsa was also very nice and something that I felt was largely missing from this game. There were a lot of moments like that in previous games, but in this one Sora wasn’t really making any connections like that and it was weird. Finally, even though this world was largely empty as well the comments from Donald and Goofy as well as the interactive aspect of Sora riding the giant snowballs still made the world seem alive, or, at least more so than Toy Story and Monsters Inc.

7. PotC - I found the underwater segments to actually be very relaxing, the underwater landscapes and the beaches were beautiful, I liked the feel of Port Royal, and Sora’s outfit in this world is my favorite in this game. That being said, I’ve kinda lost interest in PotC over the years and the pirate ship battles made initial travel to and from each island a really pain in the butt for me. It sorta ruined the experience. That being said, I did like the idea of Sora being the captain of a pirate ship and using it navigate the world - it made sense and Sora was so happy to be able to do it - but I just personally didn’t enjoy it as much as him, lol.

8. BH6 - I’ve never watched BH6 and I have no desire to. This world is probably my least favorite of the bunch. There were only two parts of this world that I truly enjoyed and those were 1. when Sora, Donald, and Goofy initially arrived and Sora was blown away by the size of the city and was typing a text or something to tell Riku about it and 2. when Baymax taught Sora how to fist pump. That was some golden, wholesome stuff right there. I loved it.

9. Edit: I forgot to include Pooh’s world!

So, Winnie the Pooh - I actually liked this world, even though the three different versions of the same mini game aspect left a lot to be desired. I’m not a fan of Winnie the Pooh, generally speaking, but it has always really worked for me within the KH game. There is a calming aspect to Pooh’s world. This time around the world was very small...and I think they did that to show how Sora is growing up. While Pooh and the other’s will always be in his heart, he will always have a lingering connection to them, I think this is probably the last time we will see Pooh’s world in a KH game. I say this because I really felt like this was Sora saying good-bye to his childhood/childhood innocence in a way. And I really liked and appreciated this aspect of the story, since I want to see more of growth and change coming out of Sora in the upcoming games. I liked the stuff with Repliku/Dark Riku, but I really didn’t like the rushed feeling of this world. It was sort of like Monsters Inc. in that way. It felt like everything was a mission that you had to complete very quickly and then right when you finished, you were rushed off to the next segment. The vastness of the city was a bit overwhelming at first, but I got used it and I did slightly enjoy seeing Sora, Donald, and Goofy running around a modern day looking city. But by and large I was happy to be done with this world.

FF Stuff and Side Content - I am a fan of FF games in general and of the FF characters appearing in KH. But I’m okay with the fact that we didn’t get any FF characters in KH3. The story had too many characters to deal with anyway, so bringing in some more would not have done the game any favors. Some fans think that some FF content may end up being DLC. I don’t know if it will or not, but I was okay with the small references and easter eggs that we got. So, if they do add some more FF content stuff, then that is fine by me, but if they don’t then that is fine by me as well. As for side content like secret bosses or Coliseum fights and such - none of those things ever appealed to me to begin with and there was so much to do anyway that I’m fine with the game lacking these elements. I know many people aren’t though, and I can understand how that could be a bit upsetting. This is another aspect of the game though that I feel there could actually be some DLC for.

Game Play and Gummi Ship - Look, this part is totally bias of me - I know - but I suck at the Gummi Ship stuff so I honestly just hate it. For me, personally, I would have been completely fine if they had gotten rid of the Gummi Ship stuff and just had you go from one world to the next without having to do anything. I would have preferred if the space and time that content had taken up had been used toward story and character + relationship development instead - since this game desperately needed more of that. The game play I enjoyed for the most part, the only bit that I really disliked was the awful pirate ship battles. Ugh. Outside of that, I really liked how KH3 combined/brought in a lot of the game play dynamics from previous games. I don’t really play the games for the battles or game play itself, so I’m not too picky with this. It was fun and enjoyable and it was easy, but hard enough for me. I know for some people it was a bit too easy, but for me it was fine. I know that there have also been some complaints about the lack of Critical Mode and too few Keyblades, but once again, I feel like those are things that could be improved upon with DLC.

Characters - While playing this game there were so many scenes and moments that I loved. I laughed and cried plenty of times. The scene in the Realm of Darkness when Riku calls out Sora’s name and he appears and then Sora and Riku Reality Shift in order to create the Gayblade and fight Dark Aqua together - my goodness! That scene was amazing as was the fight with Aqua. Another excellent scene was Riku’s moment when he was motivating Sora and protecting him from the heartless. Sora and Riku both get moments when they protect the other and all of this is A++ stuff right there. Getting to see a softer, humbler side of Axel/Lea was great (and the Kairi and Lea/Axel interactions were wonderful!) and Ienzo has shot up on my fav characters list like whoa. In fact, every single interaction between Organization members was wonderful and wish we got more of them! I wish we also got more interactions among all of the characters in general.

Edit: I also forgot to mention that I loved seeing Yen Sid actually doing something/being useful outside of being the old mentor/info dump guy. His moment was great!

But...there were issues. I didn’t like how the series handled Master Xehanort. I loved how Young Xehanort didn’t really get any sort of redemption. It was refreshing after all of the other characters were kind of “saved” by Sora. It made sense for them, since most of them were Nobodies, but the same sort of philosophy applying to Master Xehanort just left a bad taste in my mouth. The 180 switch in Master Xehanort’s motivation/plans was also....not good, imo.

I wish Sora got more of an actual character arc. It was there, in bits and pieces, but Sora still largely feels like Sora and that’s just...It reminds me of how Kairi told Sora to never change at the beginning of KH1 and he has largely stuck to that and that is just...not healthy. I really do feel that Sora tends to suppress a lot of his emotions. We saw some of that suppression in this game, I feel, but not enough.

Next up we have the romance...look, I don’t ship it. I ship Sora and Riku together. That being said, I enjoy polyam Sora, Riku, and Kairi fanart and fanfiction and like 95% of my OTPs are het pairings. One of my OTPs of OTPs is, in fact, a pairing from Square (Tidus x Yuna from FFX - their love story is so amazing - I cry and laugh with them every single time I play that game and I’ve played it more times than I can count, in both English and Japanese). I feel like Sora and Kairi’s relationship has potential, I remember when I first played KH1 back in 2002 and I shipped them together so bad - I cried so much during the ending - but the writing has, ultimately, seriously failed to utilize that. The vast majority of KH3 was focused on friendship. Sora barely even thinks about any sort of romance and he hasn’t thought about romance or even Kairi that much at all in the past couple of games either. Then we get the paopu scene and suddenly there is a shit ton of focus on Sora and Kairi and their relationship.

This goes back to the issue of showing vs. telling. We get told about Sora and Kairi’s feelings, but the game does a really poor job of showing it. This issue also ties back to poor pacing. Kairi, as a character, should have gotten more individual development and then we should have gotten far more heart-to-heart conversational moments between Sora and Kairi. I feel those are aspects about their relationship that the game really needed to establish first, but just plain didn’t. So the relationship stuff falls apart for me.

All of Sora’s heavy, emotional moments tend to be with Riku and I honestly can’t even tell you why Sora likes Kairi. I know they are friends...but...what else? Why is Sora so precious to Kairi? Why is Kairi so precious to Sora? We don’t really know. With Sora and Riku I can easily talk to you about their competitive sides, about the jealousy and admiration, and about the journeys they’ve been on and why each cares about the other. With Sora and Kairi...it just feels like they are a thing because they are a boy and girl. That’s it. Their moments together held no emotional impact for me, except for my utmost anger when the series temporarily fucking fridged Kairi for Sora’s stupid, dumbass manpain.

Sorry, but I fucking hate that trope. It’s sexist and shit and needs to go away. The Sora and Kairi relationship is such a damaging ship, not in and of itself, but due to the execution, poor, underdeveloped writing, and inherent sexism. The scene with Kairi and Sora sharing the paopu fruit was awkward with Riku in the background, it made the moment feel like they were third wheeling Riku (even if that wasn’t the intention of Sora, Kairi, or the writers - it sorta felt that way) and was largely just awkward because of his presence there and because Sora didn’t really feel all that into it. It felt more like he kinda just went along with it. Kairi becomes a damsel in distress again even though she is a keyblade wielder this time and she has talked about fighting and protecting and such. But we don’t really get to see Kairi protecting Sora.

Instead, Kairi continues to play an emotional support role - a largely sexist role that women and girl characters get stuck in, she gets reduced to nothing more than the love interest and plot device to motivate Sora, and that plot device/motivation also ends up being a literal fucking trophy (No Matter What - Reunite with Kairi) that you earn in the game. I know it’s Japan, and I know that gender inequality and sexism issues run deep here (I live here - I see and experience it quite often), but it is also 2019 and with the creation of female characters like Xion and Aqua, I thought that the series would start actually making some strides with fixing its issues with sexist writing, but sadly, I feel it has only gotten worse. Practically every world in this game had some form of “girl/woman character failing and needing to be saved/protected by a boy/man character.” We also got the fake video game commerical before the Toy Story world that included a damsel in distress and a man trying to save her and Olympus started the whole “manpain to get back strength” idea (Herc and his situation with Meg).

The sexism in the writing extends to all of the original girl and women characters of KH. Namine is virtually non-existent in the game, Xion shows up towards the very end (in a way that isn’t properly explained and isn’t given the proper time, execution, and emotional strength behind it), Kairi - all of the issues I mentioned above, Larxene - we learn that she was just following “that guy” (aitsu あいつ) so that has the blame shift off of Larxene a bit and onto “that guy,” which denies the series of an original woman/girl character that is unapologetic in their badness and also gives this idea/impression of a woman chasing after/doing something because of a guy, Olette’s character is actually treated pretty well but her personality is lacking - nothing about it really stands out, and finally, Aqua is a master but we still see her getting defeated all the time, doing nothing against Terranort, and then Terra gets told to protect her along with Ven. Ugh.

I also noticed in the Secret Ending that we saw Sora and Riku, but absolutely no Kairi. uou All of the girl/women characters deserved better writing than this! ( I also seriously hope they don’t try and go down a Riku and Namine route because both Riku and Namine deserve better).

The treatment of women and girl characters in this game really brought down my impression of it. The representation in that area was truly awful. Even with all of those problems though, I did feel that the ending moments were very heartwarming - with everyone on Destiny Islands - and slightly bittersweet when Sora disappears. Riku’s character growth in this game was great, as was his trust and belief in Sora, but I felt many of the other characters didn’t really get much of a character arc or character growth. They all just kinda felt there. Can DLC fix some of these issues...I don’t know, but the fact that I feel so much needs to be fixed by download content is a problem...

Story - As with many KH games the same story issues seem to be present here. First, the issue of telling vs. showing. KH tells so much. The story has gotten so intricate and they have to make the games as “new user” friendly as possible that we often get large chunks of info. dumps which take away from time that could be spent on character interactions (which were severely lacking in this game, but an improvement over pretty much all of the others).

Next is the issue of integration of original content with Disney content. KH3 did improve on this a bit over KH2 and other past titles, but I still feel like KH1 did this best. Here in KH3 we have worlds that have themes that are much more closely linked to the original story content of KH and to specific characters, but at the same time, I still felt that some of the Disney content was nothing but filler. Filler isn’t necessarily a problem, but in a game such as this with the huge amount of characters and stories that needed some form of wrapping up/sense of conclusion this was not good. Every cutscene really needed to count, but I don’t feel like every one of them did.

The last story issue that isn’t character based, but just general storytelling based, is the pacing. This goes along with the issue above of integration. There needed to be a bit more integration of original story content and it needed to be spaced out a bit more. We got a lot of good story/plot beats at the beginning and a ton at the end, but the middle of the game was severely lacking. I feel we should have gotten some major story act after completing Frozen.

If all of these issues had been properly handled, then I think plot moments like the return of Roxas and Xion could have been better presented (or even explained at all - honestly how did Xion come back? I know a replica was likely used, but that’s it) and the ending could have felt less like completing a checklist. This also could have, possibly, fixed the issue of the series not really fully explaining/showing how exactly Sora returned Kairi and why that caused him to disappear. Though I feel that that likely would have still remained ambiguous because this game set up so many sequel hooks.

That being said, even though there was a lot of sequel hooks, which I think were ultimately to the determent of the game’s story as a whole, I did find myself intrigued by things like the girl that Isa and Lea were/are looking for, Xigbar being Luxu, and so on. The scene with the horde of heartless that you need to defeat with the past keyblade wielders was also really cool - not only visually either. Those keyblade wielder names were real names of real players of the mobile game! Honestly - how awesome is that! That was an awesome and touching moment for Union X fans. The issue though, is that I found myself becoming more intrigued by the sequel hook stuff than the actual resolution to the current arc and that isn’t really a good thing...

Sequel Hooks - As I stated, I feel this game had a bit too many sequel hooks. I understand that KH3 is simply the end of the Dark Seeker/Xehanort Saga and not the series as a whole, but the ending that we got was just a bit too open ended and I feel it left too many loose ends. There were also a lot of time spent setting up the foundations for the next KH game than there was properly resolving the current arc and that...is a big problem. It may just be the end of a saga/part of the overarching story, but it should still have a resolution that feels like an ending of sorts. This game didn’t have anything like that. It seemed to, but then it did a fake out with Sora. It was really unnecessary to me, since I felt that the epilogue was enough of a teaser alone to hook a sequel. Now, I’m going to feel a need to check out the next game, not necessarily a want, because Sora’s story/character arc was left unresolved in the end, with only a secret ending teaser. It left me feeling intrigued but also largely unfulfilled story-wise.

Future DLC - Now, from what I understand, there are plans for download content in the future. I’m not really all that familiar with download content stuff. KH3 is the first game I’ve ever played on a PS4 and I’m used to older games where the game that you got on the disc(s) was it. Nothing more and nothing else (unless they released a new game like the KH remixes). Could future download content fix a lot of the issues that I have with the game? It’s possible. It will all depend on how the DLC gets handled and what it will contain/how much DLC we will get. It still probably wouldn’t fix the issue I have with the way Kairi’s character has been treated not only over the years, but in this game in particular, but I feel it could possibly fix a few things and enhance some others. We’ll just have to wait and see though!

#KH3 #Kingdom Hearts 3 #KH3 spoilers #Kingdom Hearts 3 spoilers #thought post #review #sorry for any typos #I just really wanted to get this up before I went to bed #it is now 2am and I have work in the morning #good night everyone~

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thedeliverygod · 7 years ago

Note

1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 20, 28, 29, 37 for the ask fic meme!! :)

oh my god lol thank you

1. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

fluff. flufffluffflufffluff. I just tend to write cutesy romantic things with some comedy thrown in.

2. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

coffee shop au lol. I made Kairi work in a coffee shop in my post-canon story but an au based off of it, I haven’t really had any good inspiration. I guess it doesn’t help that I don’t actually like coffee hahah. but I do like the atmosphere in coffee shops regardless.

4. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

uuuuhhh I mean I’ve somewhat played with the idea of a Kimi no na wa/Your Name AU especially because of @paperypiper‘s art lol but other than that I don’t think I have many ideas floating around.

5. Share one of your strengths.

dialogue. always dialogue lolol.

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

idk if you’d even consider this prose but idk I feel like I just really nailed Sora’s feelings of growing older here in a way that’s relatable but also heavily tied into the canon storyline as well

‘I can’t believe Ariel and Eric are married and have a baby now. I mean… it’s probably been at least four years since I’ve seen them, so it shouldn’t be too surprising.’ He let out a small sigh, closing his eyes, ‘Everyone’s been moving forward while I’ve just been stuck in place. Wonder how long it’ll take before I manage to catch up?’

There was no doubt that he was making progress back at home, but he’d still missed so much and he was never going to get that time back. That was what bothered him the most. As for his friends on other worlds, he supposed he was going to have to get used to feeling like he’d missed out on a lot. The more time he spent at home was less time that he spent out on other worlds and vice versa.

He let out a small laugh to himself, ‘It’s funny. Time was probably the last thing on my mind just a few years ago. Now I can’t stop thinking about it.’ He flopped over onto his stomach, ‘Maybe once I get used to “boring” life back at home again, time will go slower. Like what Donald was talking about.’

He hoped so.

Pushing himself back off the bed, he stood up and moved to the window. Sliding it open, he closed his eyes and inhaled, listening to the sounds of the ocean and the seagulls flying above as he remembered the words Riku said in the realm of darkness, ‘At least the waves sound the same.’

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

ooooh boy this one’s gonna be hard…

I think I’m gonna with this drabble where I sort of came up with the back story for the little table that block’s out Yukine’s light so Yato can sleep. I rarely like going back and “adding” scenes to canon but for some reason this one just felt right. And Yato hit me in the feels even though I wrote it myself lol.

Yukine inhaled sharply and felt his face start to get warm, “You more than any one should appreciate that, Yato. I’m trying to make up for everything I did but it won’t mean much if I have a master who goes around and does the same shit.”

Yato lowered the pillow, mumbling, “I get the point.” He picked it up and placed it back under his head, “And I do appreciate it.”

“But you won’t change.” The regalia turned over, his back to Yato.

“I’m trying.” He answered quietly, more to himself than to Yukine, “I really am.” After a minute of staring up at the ceiling, Yato finally slipped out from underneath his blanket and moved to the corner of the room.

9. Which fic has been the hardest to write?

I Can’t Quit You is really hard for me because of the nsfw content lol. But also Good Enough and I Can Barely Say have both had their difficult moments because I’m not always too familiar with the situations and feelings related to them that I write. Good Enough I also tried to do a lot of research about life/school/etc in Japan to make sure I can give somewhat of a sense of authenticity but I’m sure there’s some inaccuracies still.

10. Which fic has been the easiest to write?

lol tbh I don’t think it’s ever easy. but Somewhere In Between, I somehow managed to crank out 15k words in 3 days which is more than I’ve like ever done in my life so I guess I’ll say that one.

16. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

yatori has taken over my life and I’m fine with that. The growth of their relationship and their familial roles with Yukine are just too pure and I love everything about them.

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

being A L O N E (which hardly ever happens these days which is why I’m struggling), not having any responsibilities for at least a few hours (another thing that’s hard to come by these days), and a nice warm, sunny day. sometimes I’ll sit outside and write but sometimes it’s just nice to know that it’s nice outside lol. I often put on an old nostalgic movie to have on in the background as well. sometime i’ll do music, sometimes not.

28. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

@scarfblogs is amazing in everything; dialogue, description, ideas; everything is so good I cannot. also the best person I love her

@thatsnicebutimmarried‘s writing is just so whimsical and humorous and foidsjfsf. major inspiration for years and so glad to know her/that we reconnected through tumblr

@hafuriyuki captures Yukine to perfection in both fanfics and RPs, but other characters as well. I always get hella excited when I see alerts from AO3 for updates because Nana’s works just always make me feel warm and fuzzy or left on the edge of my seat.

29. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

okay realll talk idk if I would trust myself to do or not but one of my favorite unfinished stories is Simple and Clean by Candy-Mog. It’s probably one of the most re-read fanfics of my life lol. This was back in the day before Kingdom Hearts II, there were so many good fics that tbh canon KH2 was a bit of a let down lmao. but mannnn I loved this fic to pieces so if I had to choose one, it would be this one.

37. Talk about your current wips.

just the 2 which you guys know about. The titanic AU I’m writing for the noragami big bang and the one based off “Quit” by Cashmere Cat ft. Ariana Grande. 1st is going to be more of a collection than a cohesive chapter-ed fanfic, 2nd is basically a smut fic with some feels and it’s going to take forever to write because I’m not too great at writing such things yet lol.

#Anonymous #long post #my writing #thank you so much for this! it was fun

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satorisa · 8 years ago

Text

Lift the Veil - Chapter 5

Lift the Veil - Chapter 5: War of My Life

Rating: T

Summary: After living in Tokyo for the past six years, she decides to head back to Azumano to escape the big city. However, she now has to face everything that she tried to flee from all those years ago. How exactly will she fare when the pages of a long forgotten book start turning once more?

Read On: FanFiction.Net, Archive of Our Own

Risa may or may not have a drinking problem, but I most certainly do know that I have a problem with how this is progressing because I’m behind on my editing schedule for this fic because life but mainly because I have no clue what I’m even doing.

On that note, enjoy this mess of a chapter.

War of My Life

I’ve got a hammer and a heart of glass; I got to know right now which walls to smash.

Waving goodbye to Saehara, I left the police station feeling energized with the noon sun on my skin. Ritsuko stood outside, dressed in a fashionable ensemble that she complemented with a designer handbag. She smiled before somehow managing to run towards me in her heels to give me a hug.

“How’ve you been?” she asked excitedly as she let go of me.

“Good,” I replied as we started walking towards the café that was, according to her, to die for. She reminded me of my high school self, back when she was level-headed and I was the hyperactive one more in touch with my girly side. I supposed owning and managing a couple of high-end boutiques does that to someone. “Work’s been easy, and it’s nice being back home. What about you?”

“I’m great!” she exclaimed with an enthusiasm for life that I no longer had. “The boutiques have been doing well, and the suppliers are wondering if I can extend the market to a bigger city like Sapporo!”

“Really?”

“Yup! I get a lot of customers who come by the boutiques since a lot of our better merchandise is marked as store-exclusives.” She smiled. “Honestly, I didn’t realize I’d have this much fun working with the fashion industry. When my friend decided to rope me into entrepreneurship, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.”

“Wasn’t it hard?”

“Of course! I nearly quit in the beginning since I was selling unknown brands from a tiny little boutique, but one regular turned into several regulars who attracted more upcoming designers which, in turn, brought more regulars, leading me to where I am today. It’s amazing to see how far everyone I’ve worked with has come, and seeing all my hard work paying off has been the biggest reward for me!”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Well, what about you?” she asked. “Don’t you like what you’re doing?”

I paused, unsure of how to actually respond to her question. Once upon a time, I had big plans on becoming a news anchor, completely obsessed with the fact that I’d become famous in my own right by showing up on TV every day. I settled on editing being my entry job simply because I was relatively decent with writing and grammar but, somewhere along the way, I became attached to books. Even though I still aimed to be a news anchor, I now had to determine whether I kept that goal because I really wanted to become one or because it was my childhood dream.

“Yeah,” I finally answered, trying to hide the small crisis that innocent question brought. “Working in Tokyo was too much, so I decided to move back here. The workload is nothing compared to my last job, but it still keeps me preoccupied for most of the day.”

She nodded, staying silent as if waiting for me to elaborate as much as she did. However, before she could say something to egg me on, we arrived at our destination—unfortunately christened Castelnuovo Bistro—and were seated in a booth under some dim lighting.

After ordering, we started talking about our college lives which, eventually, led to us sharing all the dumb things we did as students. However, no amount of laughing and eating could get my mind off of earlier. Even as we headed back to the police station, joking as if we were back in high school with Mari to complete our trio, I could barely focus on what exactly we were talking about.

And, when I walked back in, both Saehara and Hiwatari stopped their conversation, staring at me with bewilderment as I sat down, opening my laptop to drown myself in work and forget about my sudden displacement in life.

For study breaks, my friends and I always headed to the Starbucks overlooking Shibuya Crossing, somehow managing to find a vacant table in the midst of all the Tokyo chaos. Over personal drinks and shared snacks, we’d discuss what I secretly called the topic of the day.

One time, unfortunately, they all decided to focus on their love lives. They ranted on about terrible exes and failed romances or praised their current partners, proudly boasting about their healthy relationships. I sat there reading (The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry felt too out of place amidst the love lives of young adults in this century) while nibbling away at my baumkuchen, hoping that I could stay quiet and unnoticed for the rest of this conversation.

Unfortunately, they could read neither my mood nor my expression, so they eventually turned to me with smirks and curious eyes. They were all journalism majors and approached me because I seemed just like them: a girl who only cared about how well other people perceived her. Finding it hard to connect with others, especially as a first-year in college, I clung to them if only for my weekly dosage of social interaction. (It took me a while to finally separate from this group of people, but that wouldn’t happen until I finally got closer to other people in Japanese literature who eventually introduced me to other people in journalism.)

“Come on, Risa-chan!” one coaxed. “You’ve got to have some interesting stories!”

“I came from a small town in northern Japan; the only interesting story I’ve got is the fact that my sister’s been in a relationship for four years.”

Another pouted. “We’re asking for your stories though! Nothing passionate? Sexy? Steamy?”

I silently laughed at the memories that resurfaced, mentally berating myself for my stupidity. But then my mind, whirring from comprehension, presented two memories regarding the first word. I cringed at the juxtaposition of them, and I could feel my tears rising up.

“Please,” I croaked, ready to chug my chai latte after I said my piece. “The only thing that was hot and steamy was the bits of salmon floating around in the soup.”

They looked at each other, slightly confused before forcing a laugh. Any lover of language would have either groaned or snorted at my remark. Clearly, I had found myself in the wrong group of people.

Blocking out the rest of their conversation, and the memories trying to flood my brain, I downed my drink, trying to forget everything with its comforting warmth.

“Harada-imouto, be a pal and let me go home early today!”

Looking up from my laptop, I saw Saehara in front of me, bowing at such a steep angle that I thought he might just tumble over. I nearly dismissed him without hesitation considering the Saehara I knew probably had a dumb reason to excuse himself, but I decided to give him the benefit of doubt.

I braced myself for his terrible answer. “…why?”

“I’m having dinner with Akane and—”

“Why are you still here?” I screeched, somehow too caught up with the pitiful image of his girlfriend having to wait for his sorry ass to consider that Saehara might’ve just played to my pathos. “You’ve got better places to be than this dingy place!”

Thanking me, he rushed out at such a pace that I couldn’t help but believe his claim. He usually left the station at a casual stroll, and I smiled at his burst of energy and enthusiasm before returning to my work. I had around an hour left before I wanted to leave for the news station so I could polish up my pre-broadcast work without running into Hiwatari.

“Is my station really that dingy?”

Looking up from my work, I saw Hiwatari standing nearby with a steaming mug of coffee in his hand. Startled by his presence, I slightly jumped, noting the flicker of concern on his face before his composure settled in.

“All police stations are dingy,” I answered. “To be fair though, I might’ve spent too much time in one back in Tokyo.”

He nodded. “I can imagine that the ones in the city weren’t as well-maintained, although I am glad that that was just your biased opinion. I do take good care of my station, but I am willing to work on improving it if need be.”

I didn’t acknowledge his statement. Hopefully, my disinterest would dissuade Hiwatari from continuing this conversation, but his figure lingered in my peripherals, detracting me from the work I was trying to focus on.

“Your sister invited me over for a meal whenever I was free as thanks for the other night,” he awkwardly started.

My focus waned from my growing agitation at Hiwatari’s inability to take a hint and at Riku’s well-meant yet completely insensitive offer. “Why tell me that?”

“I figured that you would’ve appreciated the notice.”

“You don’t have to be considerate of my feelings now.” I turned to him, allowing my frustration to seep through my furrowed brows and frown. “Besides, don’t you think it’s kind of late to be caring now?”

He somehow maintained his expression despite my sudden accusation. With a nod, he muttered a soft-spoken apology before he turned away and retreated back to his office. Once I heard the door shut, I gathered my things and escaped from the police station, running towards the news station in a feeble attempt to get my mind off what happened.

I knew that what I said rattled Hiwatari; he had a habit of excusing himself whenever he was uncomfortable. Not that it was easy for a layman to read the subtle changes in his expression and mood, but Hiwatari always felt apprehensive whenever he found himself in a vulnerable position. A lot of men did that to protect their manly pride or ego, but, for Hiwatari, it was one of the consequences of living with Krad for around fourteen years of his life.

Honestly, I hated that I knew this. I hated the knot that appeared in my stomach when he stiffened up before quickly excusing himself. After all these years, after everything that happened, I still couldn’t stand seeing Hiwatari anything less than his normally aloof and composed self.

I somehow managed to keep myself collected and made it to the news station without catching too much attention. The security guard greeted me with a smile, and I returned the gesture, trying to leave any thoughts of Hiwatari at the door of the building.

Heading towards my cubicle, the staff seemed as calm as always, chatting about the usual topics of the handsome Police Commissioner (not that that was helping my case and ick) or the cute new editor from Tokyo (please) before I settled down at my desk. Even with the trivial and slightly annoying conversations occurring around me, it set up the white noise I needed to fully focus on the rest of my work.

Until they started gossiping about something that turned my productivity into an existential nightmare.

“Oi, Kawamura-san, did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

I peeked over the cubicle, looking at the women in the cubicle next to mine. One of them was sitting, the other standing, but both were idly holding a steaming cup of coffee.

“That the Captain’s going to promote the new editor.”

“Eeeeh? Already? But she just got here!”

“But she graduated from Tokyo University and interned at the NHK! Don’t you think she’s overly qualified for her current position?”

“So what? She just got here. Who cares about where she came from? I’ve been working here far longer than she has, and I’ve yet to receive some huge bonus or substantial raise!”

“You’re just jealous!”

“And you’re not? She comes here from Tokyo, gets stationed at the police department with Hiwatari-san, and is already on her way to getting promoted! It’s not fair!”

“I know right!” she leaned closer to her confidant, but I could still hear her obnoxiously loud voice. “Did you hear this though? Apparently, she grew up here before disappearing off the face of the earth, and now she’s returned despite all her success. Do you think it’s a fraud? Maybe she’s running from something? Relationship issues?”

By this time, I was already so far into the conversation that I was silently responding to their blathering mouths with my changing expressions. They somehow moved onto another conversation that lost my attention without noticing that I was obviously eavesdropping, and I returned to my work, glad that I was on my way to not having to see Hiwatari first thing in the morning. But did I really want this? Anyone would be glad to have a promotion since that meant a more prestigious job with better pay but…

Damn. How dare I have these second thoughts now. I should be happy about this.

Hearing my phone ring, I looked down to see a text message from Daisuke saying that his parents wanted me over for dinner and that Argentine and Towa terribly missed my company. He, unfortunately, couldn’t be there in case he needed defuse his rambunctious family since he made plans to have dinner at my house, so I texted Riku that I would be over at Daisuke’s for dinner and continued working until I had to leave.

“Risa!” Mrs. Emiko greeted, pulling me into a hug. “It’s been forever!”

“Emiko, please, you’re choking her!” Mr. Kousuke called when he emerged from the kitchen.

She pulled away with a huge grin, ushering me into the living room before excusing herself to check up on the food. I sat next to Grandpa Daiki, bowing slightly before turning my attention to an Alphonse Mucha documentary that so happened to be on. I became so engulfed with the show that I didn’t notice Towa and Argentine slowly creeping up behind me.

“Boo.”

Startled out of my seat, I turned around to see the personified artworks hovering over me from behind the sofa. Towa had a grin that eclipsed her face and Argentine, sly bastard, covered his chuckling mouth with his gloved hand.

“Still as sensitive as ever!” Towa chirped before skipping back into the kitchen to help the Niwas prepare dinner.

Argentine offered his hand, helping me up with an apology, before setting up the table. I followed him and, despite his protests, laid out the wine goblets and silverware.

“You are the guest, Risa-sama.”

“And, as the guest, it’d be rude of me to just sit around doing nothing!”

He sighed before heading into the kitchen. From previous experience, I knew Mrs. Emiko would kick me out if I stepped onto that hallowed ground, so I settled back down next to Grandpa Daiki and dove back into the interesting world of the Art Nouveau movement.

Back then, when I practically spent every waking second with Daisuke, Riku, and Hiwatari, we tended to drop by the Niwa household after school. Riku and Daisuke always retreated to the latter’s room before dinner, getting their daily dosage of alone time together, so I spent that time studying at the dining table with Hiwatari’s guidance. And when he had to work overtime, Towa and Argentine took a break from maintaining the house to keep me company. On occasion, when Grandpa Daiki was awake or in, he’d sit at the head of the table with a steaming cup of green tea while reading or writing something.

This slightly cramped and always noisy household became my second home, and I found a second family with the Niwas, too. I used to joke around about getting to know the in-laws back then but, on the extremely off chance that Riku and Daisuke didn’t work out, I knew they’d still be family to me.

The doorbell rang, and I shot up to let whoever it was in. I didn’t think too much about who it could be but, opening the door to see a slightly startled Hiwatari, I squeaked.

“Good evening, Harada-san,” he mumbled, taking off his shoes and brushing past me without much of a scene. “Auntie, Uncle, I’m home.”

The quartet in the kitchen marched out, greeting their wayward “son” with fanfare. I returned to my spot by Grandpa Daiki, wondering why he didn’t bother to join them.

“Not greeting your practically grandson?”

“He doesn’t need this old coot to fawn over him; the rest of the family gives him enough attention anyway. Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve seen my practically granddaughter-in-law.” He shot me a toothy grin before patting my shoulder to comfort me. “I told them not to invite him for dinner with you, but they just didn’t listen to me.”

After coming back to Azumano, I hated how everyone assumed that I had gotten over what happened. Sure, their conclusions were valid, but my being back here didn’t mean that I had finally made peace with what happened. Like any other adult dealing with a lack of closure, I left it as far behind me as feasibly possible so I could move on with my life. And here I was, still running away from it just to keep myself afloat and somewhat sane.

I took Grandpa Daiki’s hand and smiled, grateful for his gesture. It was nice to know that someone still kept what happened in the back of their mind even after my long absence.

“Risa, honey, dinner’s ready!” Mrs. Emiko called. “And could you please help Dad over? Thanks, dear!”

Despite his old age, he was still fit enough to move around without aid. Mrs. Emiko probably worried about her aging father yet, despite Grandpa Daiki’s notorious stubbornness, he let me help him to the table if only to avert my attention from Hiwatari’s presence at the table.

Argentine insisted on having me sit next to him, so I found myself wedged between him and Grandpa Daiki. I found it funny how I became closer to Argentine even though he kidnapped me back then. I certainly kept my distance from him after meeting him at the Niwa household once but that somehow turned into him poking my ticklish sides when I was too engrossed with my work to get a rise out of me (and entertain whoever else was around.) Maybe it happened from listening to all his long-winded stories, filled with melodramatic tangents, about Qualia. I was a blooming teenager obsessed with love, and he probably found solace from my genuine interest in his life.

“How are Towa and Argentine?” Hiwatari asked, rightfully concerned over the artworks wellbeing.

“They’ve been good,” Mr. Kousuke replied. “Emiko’s been working them to the bone like always. It’s a mystery how they’re still holding up so well.”

The married couple squabbled from his remark, and I glanced at Hiwatari’s expression. With his smiling eyes and upturned mouth, I found myself recalling those looks he—

“Risa-sama, are you okay?” Argentine asked. He, luckily, didn’t draw any attention towards me. I exhaled the breath hitched at the back of my throat and drank some wine to wash it do.

“I’m good. Sorry to worry you.”

“It’s alright as long as you are fine.” On his other side, I saw Towa jab him while taking a bite. “Erm, if you don’t mind, could you share some of your experiences in Tokyo? Towa and I were wondering what it would be like to be in a big city.”

They couldn’t leave Azumano due to reasons along the lines of being delicate and an extreme liability, so I picked out stories that I knew would catch their attention. Hooked on my words, they reminded me of children with their enchanted eyes and fascination with the simplest of things. Eventually, the table quieted down as I started talking about my college misadventures.

Argentine found himself attached to the many themed cafés dotting Akihabara, while Towa clung onto the melting pot of Harajuku’s fashion scene. Mrs. Emiko and Mr. Kousuke, however, were thoroughly entertained whenever I’d talk about my college hijinks. (I mean, at some point the couple was snorting in laughter. Pretty sure they were getting a kick out of this.) Grandpa Daiki would sometimes smile, and Hiwatari looked like he was having a ball with it. Whenever he would catch me watching him though, he would feign indifference, faking a cough to hide his laughter and cover that smirk he couldn’t seem to get off his damn face.

To think I was somehow concerned over this man a few hours ago when here he was, perfectly fine while relishing in my embarrassments.

Eventually everyone calmed down and the conversation moved to other topics, like the artworks asking if they could take a short trip to Tokyo and the art-savvy men wondering what could possibly go wrong. (Apparently, it was so bad that the three of them couldn’t wrap their head around the potential chaos that would occur.) I finished the grand meal of Tournedos Rossini (courtesy of Emiko’s grand tastes and Argentine’s odd talent for creating fine cuisine) before my eyes drifted to Hiwatari, who looked content surrounded by such animated company for dinner.

Honestly, why the hell was I always staring at him?

“The past is always too hard to leave behind,” Grandpa Daiki sighed.

“It’s not like it’s easy to leave it behind when it’s right in front of you.”

“There will never not be a day when it’s not in front of you,” he reminded before sipping his water.

I groaned, downing the rest of my red wine. Grandpa Daiki offered his untouched goblet, and I quickly finished it as well. Did he want me to drink for him? Or maybe he wanted to help me by letting me loosen my grip on reality?

Eventually, dinner came to end when Grandpa Daiki excused himself to get some sleep. Both Mrs. Emiko and Mr. Kousuke left to help him upstairs despite his protests. Towa and Argentine started to clean the table, keeping me in my seat despite my protests to help. They emerged from the kitchen after they tidied the table, each of them carrying a flower-adorned porcelain plate with a matching teacup. Argentine set his set of china down in front of me, and I stared in awe at the intricately decorated petit four and could smell what seemed like jasmine tea from my cup. Hiwatari had a different petit four in front of him, and his cup was filled with black coffee that eclipsed the flowery aroma in front of me.

“Enjoy the desserts!” Towa chirped.

“You won’t join us?” I asked.

“There’re dishes to wash,” Argentine answered. “Besides, Satoshi-sama likes time to himself.”

“Well, if he likes time to himself, I should help you then.” I started to get up from my seat, but Towa pushed me back down.

“Nu-uh. Madam said that no one gets up from the table until they need to leave.”

“Well then, I have to go.”

“Risa-sama!” The artworks simultaneously called over the scraping chair as I started my long overdue escape.

“I never thought the day would come when Risa Harada would pass on an offer of cake and tea.” When those cold words sliced through the air, I stopped. I turned to see Hiwatari’s icy glare, unmoving as he mechanically sipped his coffee. The striking color of his eyes only aided his intimidation. “If you have a problem with me, you should personally tell me instead relying on off-hand comments and running away.”

The Hiwatari I knew would’ve sulked for a bit instead of passive aggressively confronting anyone; I was the one guilty of doing that. But what fueled his uncharacteristic pettiness? Was it to call me out on my disdain from earlier in an eye-for-an-eye type of deal? Or was he trying to undermine me by using my own methods?

I shot him a look before sitting back down, readying myself to verbally battle with Hiwatari. Immature, I knew, that our communications had finally boiled down to this, but unrelenting stubbornness was an uncanny trait I shared with the young man hailed as such a mature role-model; we could never just admit our wrongs. Besides, I wasn’t going to take this without a fight. I wasn’t that young woman who allowed herself to get hurt by others anymore. And if ignoring him meant protecting myself, I didn’t care what others thought of it.

Besides, the damn hypocrite had no right to call me out on that.

“Oh, boo-hoo. I’m so sorry that I heart your pathetic pride,” I responded with sarcasm. “I didn’t realize that I had to be nice to your frozen majesty when I came back.”

“It’s common courtesy, although I highly doubt you know what that means since you’re making a fuss at someone else’s house.”

“I wouldn’t be like this if you hadn’t started it.”

“Did you need to continue it though?” he scoffed. “Six years later and your volatile temper is still as prominent as ever.”

“As it should be considering I have good reason for it compared to that nasty attitude of yours.” I took a bite of my cake. “Tell me, how does it feel to have karma bite you in the ass?”

The calm front that Hiwatari somehow maintained gave way to the storm brewing inside of him. He shot up, slamming his hands on the table; a cacophony of clattering china and spilled drinks followed. I flinched, slightly terrified at his sudden ferocity almost reminiscent of Krad, but I had to maintain my ground.

“Harada-san, how could you be so damn stubborn?”

I glared at him, gingerly laying the fork down before I threw it at his face. “Self-preservation, Hiwatari-san: something you know very well. After all, would you keep someone in your life when you know that they’re able to ruin everything in one-fell swoop?” His eyes widened, and he fell back into his chair looking devastated. “See? You wouldn’t, so I have every right to do the same.”

Finally finished with letting out those pent-up emotions, I focused on the food in front of me, stuffing myself with the cake before emptying the teacup without break, burning my tongue from its scalding temperature. I left the house without a farewell, avoiding the frozen artworks who were unfortunately caught in the fray and the bewildered older Niwa couple standing by the foot of the staircase.

I ran back to my house, trying to at least keep myself composed until I got to my room, but when Daisuke opened the door, I broke down crying right there on the stoop, screaming into my hands until Riku pulled me into an embrace.

#dnangel #satorisa #satoshi hiwatari #risa harada #my writing #fanfiction #I HATE THIS CHAPTER #and honestly i just really liked writing argentine and towa #practically anyone but the main two #and grandpa daiki #maybe i should just quit this before it turns into a cesspool of melodrama and retreat to writing about anything BUT romantic relationships #because i love platonic relationships too much for my own good #and also because this is starting to encroach on personal territory #someone lemme go back to meet the me a year ago and smack her to stop her from writing this catharsis #because a year later i'm having too much trouble trying to edit this crap #and some japanese culture time!#when risa talks about the salmon floating in the soup she's referring to ishikari nabe #which is one of the hokkaido region's famous foods #(hokkaido is the top most island of japan where sapporo is located)#honestly i think my favorite thing about uploading this on tumblr is adding some japanese culture commentary #because formatting it on this website is HELL

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sambart93 · 6 years ago

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2018.06.01 PuriStage Episode 5 [Review]

This is the final one, I think, I hope. And of course I went! Because I am trash and have an addiction problem that I can’t get over xD I really shouldn’t have but, I got a ticket so might as well go!

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1 PreOrder DVD here Online Store here Previous Reviews of the Series: Episode One, Episode Two, Episode Three, Episode Four

CAST and CHARACTERS

Hounan Izaki Ryuujirou as Yagami Riku Aoki Jin as Fujiwara Takeru Matsunaga Arisa as Sakurai Nana Kumagai Kaito as Hozumi Kohinata Kishimoto Takuya as Hasekura Heath Shiraishi Kosuke as Kadowaki Ayumu Ayukawa Taiyou as Kuga Kyousuke Arai Yusuke as Dan Yujiro Mizukoshi Ayumi as Kawarazaki Riko

Saisei Hiramaki Jin as Suwa Reiji Kobayashi Ryo as Mayuzumi Shizuma

Mihashi Kanegae Kou as Kamoda Kei Sawada Takurou as Eifuku Takeshi Yokoyama Masafumi as Nagatsuka Nobuhiko

Ichijyoukan Murata Hisashi as Himemiya Yuri Tanabe Ken as Shishibara Kaoru Asegawa Kenta as Samejima Arata Matsumoto Yui as Hachiya Tetsu

Ichiba Murakami Wataru as Izumi Shinobu Taguchi Ryo as Tomaru Kansuke Iwase Koki as Masunari Ikki

Tsubakimachi Suga Masanori as Minato Shugo Nakamura Tarou as Sata Kazuki Kurosaki Reon as Shizuno Makoto

Kakyouin Kitamura Kento as Yagami Tomoe Harano Masaki as Natsunagi Toya Maruyama Nao as Izumino Hajime Ohashi Noryuki as Izumino Ryo Masuda Yuki as Sakurai Joe

OTHER Kobayashi Shuuji as Piece of shit DJ Stride HAYATE as Isurugi Isamu

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: This was so much better than (at least) the last one (Episode 4)! This was so much more enjoyable and interesting and just a lot of fun to watch! I almost didn’t go this time because while I love the anime and I was super hyped for the stage series, it’s always been pretty forgettable to me. So I nearly didn’t go because whats the point when I keep getting disappointed and none of my oshis are in it but... my fav character was back, Himemiya, I have this huge crush on Hiramaki Jin still, and he’s back this time around by some miracle(!), and we knew it was going to be a completely different story so I was interested in seeing something I couldn’t have expectations for but was with a cast/characters I liked. So I went...

Also every time I’ve had freaking amazing seats. Episode 1: row 5, Episode 2: 10th row, aisle, Episode 3: 11th row aisle, 4th row: 11th row left side and this time: 7th row aisle. You can’t give up luck like that, can you?! And the seat alone is a big enough reason to say this time was so much better! Because of my seat, I had Hiramaki Jin RIGHT behind me. I had Kanegae’s butt right in my face. I have Aoki Jin run past me so fast. I had Izaki run past me and my hair just blew back. During curtain call I’m pretty sure KishiTaku spotted and remembered me and he got this amused smile on his face and wouldn’t look away (I was in my seat WISHING a kankeisha was behind me but I knew there wasn’t). Everyone outside of the stage/story itself was such a good experience. And can I just remind everyone how amazing the pre-show music is?! I freaking love it! Just let me sit in that theatre for 2 hours listening to that pre-show music please!! Or give me a gosh darn CD! xD Then the story itself; it was so interesting! I LOVE what they did and the character dynamics! It was sooooooo good! This stage allowed the lesser ‘important’ characters to develop and show their personalities which was nice. And then the stunts!! Again, please like Aoki Jin just stood out. It was a LOT more obvious this time who had kept up with their training and who hadn’t which made those that had carried on, stand out and look even more amazing -- although I was relieved to see Izaki’s knee muscles had softened a little. And we had freaking Hayate who did (what I think) is the most dangerous stunt of them all and you literally heard the entirety of the audience shit themselves and gasp. It was amazing. OH! The length this time was just right! It’s 2 hours and 20 minutes! I remember being so pissed when episode 4 came about and it was like less than 2 hours (turns out it was supposed to be 2 hours and 10 minutes) and no break. HOW CAN A FINALE BE THE SHORTEST ONE?! Anyway... this was the perfect length for them this time I think - especially because this one is a stand alone story. The character development was really good too! Especially Riku and his brother. And the other school’s members development too was great! I was so emotionally involved this time around that I was crying at the end at a few parts! This was just SO MUCH BETTER! If they’re gunna keep doing PuriStage like THIS one then please, bring out 5 more and I’ll definitely go! My literally only one (new) complaint is the ending. But that’s spoilers so I’ll talk about that later. My complaints about DJ Stride and Nana still stand though. OH! And the AfterTalk was so much fun too! Rating: 7.5/10

SPOILER REVIEW

STORY

So certain members of each school have been selected to join the EAST JAPAN national(?) team, obviously this causes the not-selected team members to either be pissed, get hurt, feel jealous or feel left out, which leads them to create their own rival team: vs East Japan. And so these two teams compete to see who really deserves to be given professional Stride opportunities. Meanwhile, Tomoe gives up Stride so he can take over and continue the family bakery, stating he doesn’t want to do Stride anymore.

That’s the bare basics of this story and that is all you really need to know about the story because it focuses very heavily on everyone’s relationships. Suddenly teams are getting broken apart because one or two of them have been picked for this national team which means they can’t go to their school’s training etc. On top of that, because of the rival team, old team mates are now competing against each other so it’s like “I want to beat you but I still want to be your friend after all this” which causes tension. There’s also tension WITHIN the groups themselves. They ALL used to be rivals and now they have to start working together as a team?! Course that ain’t gunna go so smoothly! The story is just SO damn good! I absolutely loved that the teams mixed and they had to start working together and the conflicts and problems that arised within and between the two groups/teams were so great!!! It got even more juicy when the school members would be AGAINST each other in the races! My favourite was definitely Himemiya versus Hachiya! Oh my emotions... they kept/keep ALL the ‘versus’ pairings a secret until you actually see the stage so they were all surprises to us, which I loved! Although I know my friend said she would’ve preferred it if she’d known about who was racing who BEFORE the show. But personally I think that would’ve ruined a few things such as who’s on who’s team and things. Other pairings like Riku vs Takeru were blatantly obvious they were going to happen so I still stand by that I agree with Trifle for not revealing the teams and rival pairings beforehand.

A huge plus this time around, as stated above, was the fact it was an original story. So while we all knew these characters and we liked them, we were getting something different, something exciting, something we didn’t technically know (maybe this story is part of the game? But from the way they kept the pairing and the pairing bromides a secret makes me think it was an original story for the stage), and because of the story splitting the teams up, we could get some less known characters or less popular characters into the spotlight, or we could get more character development from others. It definitely felt like Hounan was the less interesting and less main this time around which was great and we could focus on others. Even though Riku and Hounan are technically still the main focus, I felt this stage gave them less time and more time to others. Which, me being bias towards others, was a godsend! We like how we spent more time with Takeru rather than Riku this time too and we got to see more of his development and his struggle and I felt he was more relate-able this time around.

The main character development I was happy about was the rift that occurs within Ichijyoukan. We have Himemiya and Shishibara being picked for the EAST JAPAN team while Samejima and Hachiya have been left behind and join the Versus team. And then, as said before, it gets even more juicy when Hachiya and Himemiya go head-to-head; you can see how much Hachiya respects and loves Himemiya and I love how no matter what happens in the race, it isn’t going to cause bad blood between them. And there’s this BEAUTIFUL scene towards the end when Himemiya has been chosen to go further in the EAST JAPAN selection series while the other three are being left behind and they got him a signed Ichijyoukan towel and it seems like he isn’t interest but then (I’m going to tear up thinking about it!) he swings the towel behind him and wears it almost like a flag around him and I just got so emotional - Himemiya is a little shit but you can tell he cares for his teammates, he appreciates them, he supports them even though it looks like all he focuses on is winning.... ahhh my heart!!

Also, with this shift in character/team focus, some lesser appreciated characters got more love. The three that caught my eye were Natsunagi Toya, Tomaru Kansuke and Kamoda Kei. And what got me cracking up part way through about these characters/cast most of all was that I couldn’t help they all felt like my friends’-oshis and when I spoke to my friends after they were like ‘yup that’s one of mine’ xD BUT I love how much more time they got! I’ve always liked Natsunagi and his actor - I’ve always thought he was totally adorable in the anime and the actor himself looks totally adorable, in fact he reminds me of someone.... the Yamanaka twins maybe? -- and he got more time in this which was so nice! Then we had Taguchi/Tomaru (by the way, his picture on the PuriStage site does not do him justice, he looks MUCH cuter in real life) and he has some issues to work through this time around and he takes his anger out on people and for quite a while he has a lot of frustration and he’s upset about the whole EAST JAPAN and not being chosen for it etc. I think his yelling scene was very well done and it shows just how little hope he has even though he’s good enough to be in the Versus group. And then we had Kamoda; it DID help I got that moment where he butt was right in front of my face but this time around he just seemed much more interesting to me and he’s cute so can you blame me?!

As for the new people... there were 5:

Matsunaga Arisa as Sakurai Nana Team Tsubakimachi: Suga Masanori as Minato Shugo, Nakamura Tarou as Sata Kazuki and Kurosaki Reon as Shizuno Makoto. HAYATE as Isurugi Isamu

We all know, I don’t give a shit about Nana, you can take her out completely and I’d be more satisfied. I GET why she is so predominate in the main story, I GET IT but I just don’t want her in it. She annoys me, she’s not exactly interesting, she’s only in it because of her father (yes I went there), just no thank you. Don’t care how many times you change the actress. Just leave. Yes the actresses are very nice and very sweet and I like actresses who’ve played her. I just don’t like Nana. MOVE ALONG.

Ah man Tsubakimachi.... I HATED these guys!! Well two of them. As soon as they came onstage I fucking hated Shizuno Makoto - this bratty arrogant cock head. And just UGH go die Minato Shugo; his hair is TOO anime and annoying as fuck and oh my god, don’t get me started on his voice. Maybe like 10 years ago I would’ve like the stereotypical ‘hair covering eyes and a soft voice’ character but now they just ANNOY me. UGH....

BUT SATA KAZUKI! OH MY! I LOVED THIS BOY STRAIGHT AWAY!!! And the actor Tarou too! His so tall and lean and he’s a good mixture of competitive and devoted but also a little shit. I love how we have the backstory of Kata and Takeru used to be in the same Stride group and Kata bullied him because naturally my brain goes ‘SEXUAL TENSION!!!’ and just... Kata is sexy and mean and great okay!! He doesn’t go overboard like Izumi-mean (if you catch my EnStar/EnStage reference there) in terms of bullying but OH! Did I mention he’s sexy?! I looooooooooved him and he has the whole jacket falling off one shoulder that just so sexy.... ohmyyyyy. But his two team mates are fuckheads okay.

I really want to see Kata and Takeru go head to head. Can we have a spin off which them in middle school and see what it was like? Or should I just go and doujinshi that shit?

So lets just have some appreciation for ALL the non-Hounan guys that entertained me and that I loved in Episode 5

HAYATE! Oh my Hayate is the BOMB! We all know people like Aoki Jin are really talented and good at the stuff in PuriStage but holy fuck, this old man is LEAGUES above everyone else. It never registered with me before but he did ALL the choreography and parcour training for these boys in PuriStage! He did it ALL! And you can tell why! Holy shit... he was doing his own stunts! He was JUMPING OFF the top platforms and onto the floor and it was so flawless and so freaking amazing and he’d doing it while HOLDING ONTO HIS HAT! Like straight away the ability level is way above everyone else. And then he has one scene where he’s training EAST JAPAN team (he’s in charge of them) and he asks what would be the best way to get over this one course; so three of the boys give three different ways and he’s like ‘you’re all right but slow so y’all wrong’ and he proceeds to show them the right way and he literally jumps ONTO A BAR! THE BAR IS LIKE 7+ FEET IN THE AIR. HE JUMPS ON THIS BAR WITH ONE FOOT and has enough power to jump onto a different platform! WHAT THE FUCK?!!? This was the moment that audience absolutely SHIT themselves. There were actual gasps during this moment and the entire room got tense and it was crazy. I’ll be replaying the SHIT out of that scene when it’s on DVD. Seriously, MY explanation is not giving it justice. He JUMPED from a 7+ ft platform onto a SINGLE BAR and onto another 5 ft high platform... WTF?!?!?!? Aoki Jin, you’re good but Hayate clearly showed how superior he is to everyone there for this sport that isn’t even real xD

Can you clearly see how much more I enjoyed this episode?! It took 4 stages (like 8 hours of wasted time... more like 13 if you include goods lines and stuff haha) but we got to a part that was just soooo juicy and gooooddd!! Seriously, PuriStage can continue their series so long as they continue doing things like this; original plot lines, other school focuses, mixed up competitions etc. YES!

And how could I forget to talk about my beloved Hiramaki Jin <3 I was a little worried partway through the show because in the beginning in the opening he was running around the stage just like everyone else but then in the actual play himself, he and Kobayashi were in their uniforms. BUT in the second half they turn up in EAST JAPAN and Jin runs in the final EAST JAPAN versus VS EAST JAPAN match. Kobayashi explains that Jin/Reiji does actually want this and so they cancelled their live for Reiji -- which is the sweetest thing ever!!! So Jin ran in the last race and of course looked great! But before the match he came into the audience area and he was right behind me and I just couldn’t stop looking. He’s so pretty and I’m so glad he was back this time around *cries* I understand why these two spent so much time out of the main story and why they were in it this time; one is to create mystery ‘why they in it if they ain’t going to race?’, another is because they’re damn popular characters you have to have them, another is the actors themselves almost always work with Trifle now so clearly they have a good relationship with the cast, staff and crew so they probably got asked if they wanted to return and did so, another reason is that these guys are much older than the other cast so in order to keep them safe and not over-worked they didn’t give them big whole chunks of Stride-ing. We don’t want wonderful actors like Jin and Kobayashi and KishiTaku getting hurt do we! We leads me actually TO KishiTaku! He also spent a lot of time NOT Stride-ing this time around and again I get it’s because of his age; he still did a damn good job when he DID Stride, just like Jin did, but they convenietly brought back in ‘Heath your injury is bad again isn’t it?’ in order to keep KishiTaku from stretching himself too far. I get all these reasons why they did what they did.

PS. No way am I complaining, I just felt the need to explain to those who maybe see the DVD and love one of these actors or characters and question ‘well what’s the point if they ain’t doing Stride?’ so here you go.

Ahhh Jin....

But Alex, what about the main guys?! Okay... I guess I’ll talk about them...

So the main part of the main characters/school this time is Riku and Tomoe’s relationship, and Riku’s character development (because isn’t it always *yawn* he’s so immature and I feel he never really develops). Riku is obviously hurt that Takeru got picked over him to be in EAST JAPAN so he has some hurt feelings towards the team and towards himself rather than Takeru - which is good - and he wonders why he was not good enough. Then we have the Tomoe plot line; he gives up Stride in order to help at the bakery because their father is ill. While Tomoe explains that he’s in his final year, he can’t do Stride forever and he always planned on taking over the store anyway, so might as well leave now before he gets scouted for EAST JAPAN or something. And stupid Riku takes it from face value and believes Tomoe!! What an idiot! But slowly, people like Heath go to his shop and ask ‘is this really what you want?’ and we also have Taiyou’s voice as NAME HERE calling from America (which is why he isn’t here this time) and telling him ‘the three of us should race together again’ so Tomoe starts to face his real feelings again. There is this beautiful moment towards the end where he gets back into his Stride gear and he’s racing and he finally admits and yells ‘I WANT TO DO STRIDE’ and I was so emotionally involved with him by that point that I was just streaming!

Some other scenes that I love were just so ridiculous and cracked me up. I love how the banana joked carried on from the previous stages in this one and we had one of the PURPLE GUYS taking the banana and eating a massive chunk of it in one go xD Also we had the twins from THE OHTER SCHOOL who had the weirdest warming up stretches and stuff and 50% of the audience were too busy watching and laughing at them rather than paying attention to the slightly serious topics going on between the rest of the EAST JAPAN members xD and sometimes one of the characters would point out and go ‘what the fuck are they doing?! Do you see this?!’ which was hilarious!

I loved the ending when GLASSES GUY was crying and acting like a mother watching her son go to war with the whole handkerchief in hand and waving pose xD speaking of the ending; I didn’t like it. I really like how Takeru is the only one to get picked to go the international races and he’s about to go and Nana and Riku are like ‘don’t worry, we’ll see you there next year’ which was beautiful BUT THEN THEY HAD TO RUIN IT and Dan-sensei gets a call and they’re requesting at Riku and Nana join the team too so they don’t have to wait a year and I thought it completely ruined it. WHY?! WHY?!?!? It was perfect and mature of them being okay with Takeru going off on his own, WHY did you have to.... anime-cliche it and allow the others to go too?! OHHHH I really hate this ending. WHY?!

Unfortunately we’re finishing on a negative here ^^^^ but in general I really, really enjoyed this installment! So much better then episode 4 for definite, so much better than the main story. I really loved this one! I kinda of hope we will get another but judging from tweets and stuff, it sounds like this really was the last one -- at least with this cast... but time will tell.

I am sooooooooo behind as usual, even though I only had two plays this month! I had an entire month to catch up and I just didn’t! I SUCK! I’m sorry. And July... holy shit July is fucking crazy.... prepare yourselves for THAT schedule.

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nadziejastar · 6 years ago

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Why All 7 Guardians of Light Were Meant to Use the Power of Waking

Joshua: “In their world, something happened that brought their existence to an end. To keep them from fading altogether, I gathered up the very last remnants of their dreams and looked for a place to give them refuge. Here, I thought they might have a chance–that the pieces of their dreams could make them whole again. Maybe I could give them another chance.”

So, I feel like neither the Realm of Sleep nor the power of waking got properly utilized in the story. I don’t know exactly why, but there definitely were a ton of deviations from the story’s original vision. Maybe it had to do with making the game more accessible to new players. Or perhaps the higher-ups thought constant heart-diving would divert from the action too much, and casual fans wouldn’t appreciate that. Or maybe it was due to the cancellation of BBSV2. Whatever the case, the power of waking got erased from the story almost entirely by Kingdom Hearts 3. It was never even properly explained how the Realm of Sleep differs from the Realm of Darkness.

The whole concept of the Sleeping Worlds is based on ancient shamanism. A shaman is kind of like a death “midwife” or “ambassador”. Your soul is your connection to the divine. It is your source of guidance–and when you lose it, you're really in trouble. You’re stuck in the limbo of the astral realms. A shaman is an explorer within these realities for the purpose of bringing back information and for the purpose of healing. They find lost souls on the other side and attempt to help those souls cross over. When Riku became a Dream Eater for Sora, he basically became a full-fledged shaman.

Joshua was serving the exact same role for Neku and the others. When a person enters the Realm of Sleep, it is after the fragmentation of their soul. It’s a defense mechanism against unbearable trauma. That’s why the characters from The World Ends With You were so important to include in KH3D’s story. They all died in the real world and the Sleeping Traverse Town was a safe haven in another dimension, where they exist in a dream. The Realm of Sleep is a place of total darkness and safety. There’s no conscious awareness whatsoever, in order to shield the ego from pain.

One of the major ceremonies a shaman performs is called a “shamanic journey”. A shaman goes into an altered state of consciousness and travels outside of the space-time continuum into the hidden realms that many term “non-ordinary”. Non-ordinary reality is a parallel universe to ours. Some call it the “Dreamtime”. There is no time in non-ordinary reality. Linear time only exists in the 3rd dimension of physical reality. According to shamanism, there are four “Worlds":

Upper World – The non-ordinary reality of the super-conscious. This is where the Spirit or Higher Self resides. It would be Heaven, essentially.

Middle World – The ordinary reality of the conscious. This is the world we currently exist in. The Realm of Light, basically.

Lower World – The non-ordinary reality of the sub-conscious. This would be the Realm of Darkness, where the individual sub-conscious and the collective sub-conscious merge. Shamans mainly work here.

Under World – There also exists an Under World. This is a state of unconscious that is NOT typically traveled to on shamanic journeys.

So what happens to people who wind up in the unconscious? Well, in the hidden realities there are compassionate spirits who offer their guidance and also their healing help on behalf of all life on earth. These would be the Dream Eaters in KH lore. And that’s basically their job. To escort souls to other, higher realms when they are finally ready. It’s actually not the job of humans to venture to such realms. What the the 7 Guardians of Light are attempting to do by reviving sleeping people is actually a pretty extraordinary endeavor for humans from the Middle World.

Yen Sid: “If we are ever to strike down Xehanort, we need the individuals King Mickey spoke of in his letter. We must lead them out of sorrow and slumber, and back to our world. To do so, seven Sleeping Keyholes must be found and unlocked, and a great power retrieved.”

Acquiring shamanic power involves a “death initiation” ritual. The experience is supposed to bring them in touch with their own death and rebirth, ushering in a new stage of life. During an initiatory experience, a shaman often takes a person to the brink of madness, insanity, and deviance. The purpose of totally losing it is just that: to lose the ego’s hold over us. To loosen our consciousness---that limited, boxed-in perception of what life is all about and which imprisons us within it. It’s these moments of ego death that provide an experience of reality that is larger, deeper, and infinitely more exquisite and beautiful.

This initiation is typically not blissful, fun, nor healing. The shamanic experience is usually filled with terrifying and nightmarish visions or visits from spirits. If a person is called to take on the responsibility of a shaman they usually fall very ill or even to the brink of death. It is considered to be an initiation by the spirits. The experienced shaman keeps the shaman-in-training on the correct path during this process, although the person may believe they have totally lost it. That’s what Yen Sid was attempting to do for Sora and Riku. Yen Sid is using the ancient ways, since he’s a traditionalist. This is how Riku acquires the power of waking. He becomes a true Master.

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

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

But Sora doesn’t become a true Master. So there had to be a way for a non-Master to use this power. Ansem’s research was said to be the “key” to healing the future pain of the story. Nomura mentioned this many times, so it was clearly supposed to be very important. He said it was supposed to explain the way to bring back lost hearts. Yet that isn’t what it was revealed to be in KH3. At all.

"Believing light and darkness must remain in balance, Master Xehanort seeks to spark war against the ‘tyranny of light’ to restore equilibrium.

In an effort to undermine Xehanort’s plot, Sora, Donald and Goofy search for seven guardians of light and the “Key to Return Hearts,” while King Mickey and Riku search for previous Keyblade wielders.”

—Kingdom Hearts III press release (2013)

An initial press release even mentions something called the “Key to Return Hearts”. Where did that idea go? My conclusion is that Ansem’s research data got badly retconned and the importance of the power of waking was drastically minimized from what it was originally intended to be. Yen Sid implied that Terra, Aqua, and Ven were all in the Realm of Sleep. This power would be necessary to arouse them from their slumber. But the power of waking really wasn’t even used on most of them in KH3, leading to a very confusing story for many people, myself included.

The importance of the power of waking even influenced the Disney world choices. Hercules rescued Meg from the Underworld due to his love for her. Rapunzel brings back Eugene with her light. Elsa’s love for Anna saves her from being frozen solid. Baymax is restored due to his bond with Hiro, etc. These characters are all using the power of waking. These Disney worlds were supposed to have an enormous relevance to the main story. It’s honestly mind-boggling that they still wound up feeling like filler, despite how thematically tied they are to the main plot.

I think the decision to minimize and alter the usage of the power of waking is the very reason everyone seemed to get “jobbed” in KH3. This was a major complaint I’ve seen everywhere. Everyone is constantly getting their ass kicked. My theory: There are countless scenes of characters getting knocked unconscious because that was when they were originally supposed to be using the power of waking. These “dive-into-the-heart” scenes would have been used for character development, and strengthening the relationships between the characters.

At the end of 0.2 Aqua descended into an all-black realm. I think originally, that was the moment she went to the Realm of Sleep. That’s what the totally black background seems to represent in general. Unconsciousness. She can’t take the trauma of almost being saved, then watching that chance slip out of her grasp.

When Sora finally arrives to save her, the scenes are almost identical. Sora would then have to use the power of waking on her. Since Ven’s heart is inside of him, he would be able to do this, not realizing exactly how he did it, though.

I even think King Mickey was going to use the power of waking on Riku at some point in the story. The blackness looks identical to the Realm of Sleep. Perhaps Riku’s trauma is due to the darkness inside of him being part-Terra all along. This realization would make Riku feel pretty terrible and guilty for rejecting it.

Then I think Riku would have to use it on Mickey, after he is defeated by Aqua. Mickey’s trauma would be the tremendous guilt he has over feeling like he abandoned his friends in the darkness for so long. Then Riku would be the one to be his light, just as Mickey was for him in Castle Oblivion. This would have allowed for much deeper development to their relationship, which has been a major focus since CoM.

We already know that Ven has been in the Realm of Sleep since the end of BBS. And again, the all-black background is there. Somebody would need to dive into his inner self and finally awaken him.

That’s exactly what I think Aqua was going to attempt. Sora still doesn’t know how this power works, so he can’t just give Ven back his sleeping heart. Aqua has a close heart connection with Ven, so she tries to awaken him. Then Vanitas arrives. There’s a force-field around Ven’s chamber, so it would take a while to break through. Aqua’s unconscious and helpless, since she’s in the astral realms. Ven’s heart awakens just in time to save her. The scene is similar to the one in BBS, when Ven is frozen solid and Aqua is about to be killed.

Terra would have headed straight to the Realm of Sleep if Aqua didn’t save him the first time. I’m sure that by KH3, he was back there again---especially after becoming one of the 13 Seekers of Darkness. That’s just too traumatic.

When I first saw the scene where Sora freed Terra’s heart, it immediately aroused my suspicions. It was way too quick and easy. I think Ven was originally going to be the one to use the power of waking on Terra. I don’t think anyone else was going to be unconscious during that scene. I think many scenes were rearranged in the final version of the story.

That’s why when Terra wakes up, he immediately rushes straight to Ven. Not because he doesn’t care about Aqua; because Ven was just inside of his heart with him and now he’s the only one unconscious upon Terra’s revival. And that’s why he is crying when he tells Ven that he found him, just like he promised. He used the power of waking on him and found him in the deepest abyss. Their friendship would come full-circle after Terra told Ven he knew he’d be there when he really needed him. Ven would be the one to save his friend, not Sora.

These scenes of everyone out cold are SO similar to the end of KH3D, where Riku is out cold after he dove inside of Sora’s heart. Everyone is huddled around him, worried. Donald is out cold, too. Maybe he was supposed to use the power of waking on Yen Sid or something? Or maybe he went to the Realm of Sleep, after the trauma of using Zetta Flare.

I have absolutely no doubt that after getting kidnapped, mutilated, tortured, and possessed by Xehanort, Isa would have been in the Realm of Sleep along with Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. He’s been there ever since. So Lea would have to use the power of waking on his waifu Isa. To me, it seemed like Isa was created for that very purpose. To give Lea an extremely personal reason to be a Guardian of Light---to give him someone special to use the power of waking on, in order to make his story more emotionally gratifying. Kairi would try to protect him while he’s out cold, searching for his friend in the astral realms, and this would strengthen their friendship, too.

If they had stuck with mind control plot, Isa wouldn’t have been a Nobody at the point he’s revived. When he was re-completed, his heart was still captured by Xehanort, so his body was just an empty shell. They didn’t need to make him a Nobody to use him as a vessel. So, instead of disappearing into darkness, he and Lea would probably just share a moment where Isa wakes up in Lea’s arms, somewhat similar to KH3. However, I think we missed out on a pretty great scene of Isa opening his eyes for the first time, showing they are green again. But my point is, all the scenes of everyone unconscious were supposed to be at the very end of the final battle---after Saix and Terranort are defeated, but before the Xehanorts are defeated.

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

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

This is the response Nomura gave in 2013, after that initial press release came out. Sometime after this interview, the story was changed quite a bit. There was absolutely no mention of a “Key to Return Hearts” in the final version of the story, and Ansem’s research data had a negligible impact on the story. In the original version of KH3′s plot, Sora clearly didn’t “get” whatever message Ansem’s research was meant to show him. He isn’t sure what kind of ”key” he is supposed to be looking for, and would spend the whole game looking for it. Is it a Keyblade or...something else?

That’s quite different than what actually happens in the final game, where nobody acts like they have the slightest clue what they’re trying to accomplish. Nomura clearly hinted that the key was a “light” key. The light would open the door to “something else” and this would be the key that would show how to restore lost hearts and heal the “pain” of the characters.

It only makes sense that ALL the Guardians of Light would use this power in the story. It’s literally the power of light. That’s their entire purpose as guardians. This is what the Reiki weapons that Saix had were all about. As a Guardian of Light, you can use your OWN inner light, your aura, for healing purposes. To bring back a person from their sleep and to heal their pain. You don’t need to be some kind of official master. It’s not about a title. It’s about your heart’s connection with the person. Anyone can become someone else’s Dream Eater.

Sora uses this power on everyone during the final battle. I think that everyone getting wiped out was always a part of the story. But Sora saves them, proving that you DON’T need to be a true master to use the power of waking. Then Kairi saves Sora. Kairi is NOT a Keyblade Master. I think Kairi was supposed to be the real hero who saves Sora with her pure light after he uses (or abuses) the power of waking on everyone else. While looking to rescue her, she actually rescues him. That would be a total reversal of her position as a damsel in distress. That’s what makes the most sense to me.

A gold aura signifies divine protection and enlightenment. When you radiate this color aura, it means that you have achieved something that not a lot of people can. The color of enlightenment. It says that the person is being guided by their highest good, and they radiate and glow with the gold energy. Those with a gold aura are able to radiate energy to heal others.

Mr. Nomura, since you are the one that is writing the scenario this time, how is the progress coming along?

Nomura: Since we are arriving near the conclusion of Xehanort in KINGDOM HEARTS III, the outline of the story has been solidified but not necessarily the direction where the KINGDOM HEARTS series is continuing to head. We are still trying to decide where to go from several choices.

Even when this interview was given in 2015, they didn’t know quite where the story was heading in the future. But the basic plot for KH3 was thought of loooooong before 2015. All of the changes to the plot and the butchering of character arcs came later. I’m not convinced that the time travel shenanigans in The Keyblade Graveyard were originally a part of the story. I think that was probably thought up later as a way to introduce us to the concept of time paradoxes and such.

Then the story could “seamlessly” switch over to the time-travelling Foreteller arc stuff and its original characters. Like our good friend “Subject X”. Lea and Isa’s story was butchered altered to accommodate Skuld existing in the current timeline. She wasn’t always supposed to be there, so she needed to take Isa’s place in the story. I suspect it’s the same with Kairi getting killed and Sora disappearing. It’s all just a way to focus on the Foretellers after the Xehanort arc got butchered. Just a hunch.

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zdbztumble · 5 years ago

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“Chain of Memories” revisited

(NOTE: My only experience playing this game is with the remake for the PS2, and so all my comments, and all my memories, derive from that, not the GBA original.)

It’s been interesting, going through the Kingdom Hearts series again this year, to see lines of praise and criticism I wasn’t aware of before. In the case of Chain of Memories, I wasn’t aware of some of the objections made to this game’s story and gameplay. Apparently, it’s been faulted for abandoning the set-up at the end of KH I in favor of a completely new story, it established the series’ penchant for nonsensical mystery and needlessly convoluted plotting, and the gameplay is too divorced from the rest of the series.

I can’t say that I find the first and the third to be justified critiques. To begin with the third point, I really enjoy the card-based mechanic. It took me longer to get the hang of it this time than I remembered from my teenage years, but once I did, it was a lot of fun to play around with. If I have any complaints about the mechanic, it’s that the game becomes a little too easy once you unlock enough sleights and grow your deck to a certain size. By the time I reached the end of the second set of world cards, it was only boss battles that offered any real challenge. But I still enjoyed building decks and watching the sleight animation.

As for the idea that the game abandoned the set-up from KH I - I just can’t see that at all. It’s stated more than once that Sora and friends came to Castle Oblivion on the trail of Riku and King Mickey, and until Repliku is revealed as such, he feeds into their feelings about that search. This game was also produced when KH II was already announced, and was conceived of as an intermediary title; even if it had deviated wildly from the set-up at the end of KH I, this would have been the place to do it.

And that is something worth remembering when assessing CoM - the state of things at the time it was made. It’s easy to look over the entire series, with all its strange naming conventions, egregious retcons, and neglected and abandoned character lines, but when CoM was made, there was only the one game, and an upcoming sequel. To think of CoM as a side game, was appropriate at the time, even with the impact it would have on KH II’s story.

However - with that said, hindsight has not always been kind to CoM, because the game did set trends that would end up metastasizing and bringing the whole series down. It did indeed establish the precedent of teasing future titles and stories with vague allusions, set-up without a pay-off. In this case, with KH II on the way - and the fact that KH II did pay off the teasing in CoM - the mystery made for an effective element in the larger series. But efforts to replicate the success of that mystery in later titles were often abysmal. A very similar story goes for this game’s attempt to have its cake and eat it too with the question on whether Sora would ever remember Namine - KH II found a way to pull that off in a satisfying manner that preserved a bittersweet and sacrificial element, but other games could never duplicate that feat.

This game also started to demonstrate the pacing issues that later games would make far worse. One aspect of the pacing was out of the developers’ hands - the loss of the rights to Tarzan cost them a world, and by moving Halloweentown up to fill the empty slot in the first set of world cards and sticking the 100 Acre Wood into the second, that set of world cards feels light and rushed compared to the first. But there are other pacing problems within this game. The ratio of cutscenes to gameplay is often awkward, especially with the need to pass through two sets of scenes every time you move up one floor. The repetitive nature of these cutscenes, with stilted dialogue covering things the player already knows, also emerged here, in a more pronounced way than in KH I that would only grow and fester.

I also found some of the leaps of logic more of a strain on credulity here than in the first game. To complain about logic in Kingdom Hearts is always going to be a little ridiculous, I know, but the first game did manage a better internal logic, at least up until the very end. It was a fantasy world’s logic, well freed from many normal constraints, but it held up. Some of the moves here, from Goofy’s deductions about memories early in the game, to when Donald and Goofy do or don’t appear in cutscenes, to Sora’s assumptions when he offers to let Namine wipe his memories, just didn’t hold water even internally, and that’s another trend that would worsen with time.

And then...there’s the villains.

Organization XIII has always been better as a concept and a collective than broken down into its individual components IMO. In this game - where it was still just “the Organization” - that collective is never truly dealt with. Its plans and its threat are the tease, the shadowy image on the horizon that will ultimately be addressed in KH II, its only representation within the game being Axel and Vexen. The villains here are a renegade faction within the Organization, and that faction is essentially only two members, Marluxia and Larxene. And I have to be honest - they just don’t work for me.

Playing through KH I again this year led me to finally love and appreciate Riku as a character, but no such change of heart happened with these characters. Axel and Larxene remain utterly repellent to me. I get that Axel is meant to be smug, and Larxene’s meant to be a sadistic bitch, but such characters tread a very thin line between being effective and compelling antagonists that enhance a story, or being insufferable black holes that derail a story. Both fall firmly in the latter category IMO, and the only reason they don’t do more damage is because of their limited screen time. As for Marluxia - I was shocked, playing through this game again, how little screen time he has, and how limited the build-up to him is. Couple that with his non-existent personality, and I really can’t believe that this guy was brought back in KH III, let alone the greater lore. This, of course, marks another trend began in this title - underwhelming and/or detrimental antagonists in black cloaks given one too many monologues.

There are also issues unique to this game, and in some cases to the remake of it that I’ve played. Summons are much more hit and miss than in the first game (Donald and Genie are essentially worthless in my experience), and not having some of them available for most of the story in a given world can get frustrating when you want to play with them but the game moves so quickly due to the ease of combat. Line readings in cutscenes are often awkward, and Sora’s teenage voice, while unavoidable, is incredibly distracting.

And there is one criticism I’ve seen of this game’s story that I have to agree with: the lack of a role for the Disney worlds in the story. I don’t always agree with the way this criticism is put. The fact that none of those worlds and characters are really there, and are constructed from fragments of memory, put some limits on what agency they could have in the larger plot. And I don’t object out of hand to the fact that this turns a good chunk of the game into covering old territory; the level design, world-plot tweaks, and battle mechanic all make it a unique enough experience from KH I. But while some of the Disney worlds tie in thematically to the larger story (Halloweentown and Neverland in particular stood out on that point), there was a huge missed opportunity to tie them into the actual narrative.

Consider this possibility: in each Disney world, there is a fragment of Sora’s memory - his memories of his past, before the first game - that is unlocked by completing the world. These could give us some backstory on his life on Destiny Islands, show more of his friendships, and give more detail on Riku and Kairi’s character - for example, Alice tricking the Red Queen (an excellent scene and character beat, BTW) could trigger a memory of a time when Kairi displayed similar quick thinking, early in her friendship with Sora. As the game goes on, these unlocked memories would become more distorted, with Namine gradually worming into them - first as a figure on the periphery, then co-existing with Riku and Kairi in their childhood, then ultimately replacing Kairi. This idea already exists in the game through dialogue - some of it quite well-written - but this would have been far more impactful IMO, and expanded the lore of the series in the areas that actually deserve it.

Now - that’s a lot of negatives, and you may be thinking right now that I became disenchanted with CoM after this play-through. But in fact, I didn’t. As I said, the flaws it has that became trends aren’t nearly as ugly here as they would become, and the flaws it has unique to itself aren’t deal breakers. And this game has elements that are executed so well, that they make up for nearly all of these flaws, and turn this game into what I feel - at least at this point, with more games to revisit - is the best character piece in the series. And the character in question is none other than our hero, Sora.

To begin with - even more than replaying KH I, replaying CoM demonstrates how far Sora’s IQ has fallen in recent titles. The Sora of DDD and KH III would have been slack-jawed and buggy-eyed, constantly baffled by the nature of Castle Oblivion, throughout the game. This Sora catches on quickly to how these projections of memory and people work, which is quite welcome. As in KH I, he is still clearly a childlike teen with a lot of zest and optimism, but he isn’t incapable of getting down to business, and he’s realistically triggered by setbacks and trauma.

And boy, does he come in for trauma on this game. If other aspects of this game suffer in their pacing, the slow build to Sora’s disoriented, lost, and broken state of mind when the truth about Namine comes out is fantastic in this game. The way Namine is revealed over time plays a big role in that, even if the player can see it coming, but the timing on when Sora shifts gears is wonderfully placed, the dual memory moment being a highlight. When he breaks with Donald and Goofy, it feels truly earned, and that dovetails nicely into the Destiny Islands story material. Prior to this playthrough, I actually remembered Sora going even darker - for some reason, I thought he was the one to kill Vexen. But the grim, even ruthless, look on his face when he defeats Axel and finishes Marluxia are enough to sell that having his mind scrambled leaves Sora in a dark place. I daresay that the angry and fragmented person he becomes over the course of the game should have been the model for Roxas’s personality...but my unpopular thoughts on Roxas are best saved for after I replay KH II.

It’s the breaking of Sora’s mind, more than any scheme of Marluxia’s, that really drive the conflict in this story, and Namine’s role in that as the reluctant breaker turned savior is quite effective. I can’t say she’s at the top of my list of favorite characters from this series, but she is a unique and engaging presence, who I’ll have more to say about after replaying KH II. The role Repliku plays in the story is even better IMO, even if clustering all his material in the back half of the game seems a poor pacing decision. I don’t know whether this was intentional or not, but the sheer level of vindictiveness and hatred that Repliku expresses towards Sora, and the reactions that draws out of him, were a great way to indirectly express any lingering fears or doubts Sora might have developed about his friend after the events of KH I. (Though one must ask why the real Riku didn’t appear in Sora’s memories of Monstro or Neverland.)

Lastly, we come to Kairi, who plays a significant role in this game without ever actually appearing in it before a clip during the credits. That Kairi, and Namine, serve almost entirely as objects for the hero to save is unfortunate, as is the fact that Kairi is more intrinsically tied to the heart of this game’s story than she is KH III’s. But that said - at least she is relevant. I’ll also credit this game for, intentionally or not, showing how unhealthy a single-minded obsession on protecting and saving the “princess” can become.

Where Kairi’s role really comes home to roost is in this game introducing the phrase that Kairi is the most important person to Sora. That they were more than friends, and that they were bound together, was well-established in KH I, but the point is really driven home here, largely through Namine’s machinations but also in smaller details, such as the dialogue given over to the three friends on Destiny Islands. This side to their relationship is so stressed, and so central to this game, that I really can’t understand all the comments about KH III “finally” making it canon - Sora’s side of it, at least, has been so from Day 1 of this series.

The one missed note in this aspect of the plot is in the dialogue right before the final floor begins, discussing the fake memories. Just a word from Namine about how her fake memories held the power they did because they were built on truth, with herself grafted over Kairi, would have been nice. But even without that beat, it’s a wonderfully handled story element. I really can’t put into words how satisfying I find Sora’s arc in this game, or the fact that it actually is central to the game, the primary thread in its narrative, something that shouldn’t have to be remarked upon in a series with one central protagonist. For the strength of that arc, and the joy of the gameplay, I still give Chain of Memories high marks. It can’t compare to its predecessor for overall quality, but what strengths it has overpower so much else about it.

I suppose now I should revisit Reverse/Rebirth...the tax one has to pay in a proper re-visit before getting to KH II...bleh.

#z's crits #kingdom hearts #chain of memories #sora #critique #commentary #disney #square enix #kairi #riku

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