#nomura thinks of everything

[hollowwhisperings]

Heart Stations (KH spec)

after realising how much Foreshadowing and Sneaky Plot Points were lurking about in KH3's "demo" section, i finally remembered that a LOT of KH3 is done in parallel with KH1: which means that ITS "demo" is ALSO subtly plotty!

The first thing I remembered about Sora's heart station in KH1 is it being able to connect DIRECTLY to the heart stations of Princesses.

despite Sora never having met these princesses before.

except... VENTUS has!

the heart stations that Sora visits in the first Heart Dive belong to Snow White, Cinderella & Aurora: the order of their stations is in the same order as Ven's meeting them in BBS. Ventus befriended Cinderella personally, becoming friendly enough with Snow White & Aurora to have [link] attacks based on them (mostly through his friendship to the dwarves & Aurora's non-evil fairy godmothers).

There is also, in KH1's tutorial, a heart station depicting the three "free" princesses: Alice, Jasmine & Kairi. I had forgotten about this one. It's... interesting that, despite SORA being best friends with Kairi, Sora's heart instead connects to the "idea" of these three princesses altogether rather than individually (if only in the background, given the lack of need for a player to have 7 stages in a tutorial rather than 5). Sora knows Kairi personally but only Ventus could have known Alice or Jasmine, even THEN, his meeting them would have been during KHUX (a time he does not remember in BBS but treasures enough to enable his reunion with Chirithy in KH3).

The last heart station Sora visits in KH1's tutorial heart dive is Belle's: Belle is the princess who Sora ultimately ends up reasonating with most, in his heart at least, and she notably takes on the role of "Riku" to Beast's "Sora" in CoM.

it is EXTREMELY odd that Sora, well before Riku's heart gave him Kingdom Key, was able to directly walk from his heart station to those of the Princesses of Heart: Ventus did not have this ability nor any personal connection with Kairi. There are two plausible explanations as to why Sora's heart was ALREADY connected to that of the Princesses, prior to personally meeting them: Ventus might have joined their hearts by his being an 'artificial' Princess of Light courtesy of Xehanort & Vanitas; RIKU was connected to the princesses and, when Riku gave his crown necklace to Sora, Sora inherited that connection.

Ventus: Artificial Princess of Heart?

this theory is technically canon, working with the definition of princesses as "beings whose hearts are made entirely of light". it seems unlikely that this technicality would result in a metaphysical stairway between Sora's heart station and those of the Prinxesses': if it was THAT easy, Xehanort would have noticed the connection while he had Ven all comatose. Ven's heart being sheltered in Sora's MIGHT, however, explain why the heart stations of Snow White & Cinderella & Aurora were so much closer than the other stations (though the Sleeper/Dreaming connection is a stronger factor shared by Sora & these three).

Riku as Kingmaker?

Sora's first keyblade, Kingdom Key, gets him specifically scouted as Special by Donald & Goofy: Kingdom Key has narrative significance to it, tying it to Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Key was also, originally, an existence dormant in RIKU'S heart: when Riku['s heart] was consumed by darkness in KH1, Sora was able to reach the light within Riku and receive its protection.

the ease with which Sora inherited Riku's keyblade betrays A Lot about Riku's Heart but it ALSO hints that this is not the ONLY example of Riku's Heart being considered interchangeable with Sora's. in later games, Riku and Sora are able to wield each other's keyblades without hesitation and are even capable of merging: other than SoRiku & Sora's Heart Roommates, Aqua is the only instance of someone summoning & wielding another's keyblade.

The keyblade of a deceased Eraqus came to Aqua in her time of need: this makes sense, the keyblade of a teacher coming to protect its student. Eraqus taught Aqua how to call and use a keyblade; Eraqus [knighted] Aqua with this keyblade; Eraqus died with this keyblade, died realising that he had failed his students and that original duty of protecting them.

Sora, meanwhile, began wielding a keyblade because Riku's Heart knew Sora could use it when Riku could not.

So what makes Riku so special, to keyblades and Princesses of Heart specifically?

It seems increasingly likely that Riku is the "Child of Destiny" that Xehanort believed himself to be: Riku's resemblance to Ephemer makes it likely that, just like Xehanort, Riku is his descendant; additionally, the light of Riku's heart was strong enough to catch the attention of both Terra AND Aqua in BBS. Both Terra & Aqua had, by then, met three Princesses of Heart AND lived alongside the artificially-light Ventus: nevertheless, Terra and Aqua only note that Riku's light is "strong" but not in the same way as any heart they'd encountered before.

Riku also, just "incidentally", happens to have had a Crown since infancy (if we quote Sora in CoM but correctly attribute to Riku what he says of Naminé's charm)... that Riku GAVE to SORA, who now wears it as a necklace. A crown necklace that Sora subconsciously gestures to when speaking from "the heart". *insert Necklace Theory here*

so, even before receiving Kingdom Key, Sora had been given a kind of "kingdom's key" through Riku, in symbol & oath.

this leads me to conclude that the CROWN must have connected Sora's heart (which, in DDD, appears a hop skip & a jump away from Riku's) to the Seven Princesses of Heart, the Seven Lights.

which, in turn, leads me to believe that Riku's gift & oath to Sora was significant enough to be recognised as a form of "Coronation": Riku CROWNED Sora, even without knowing it, and did so while meaning it with "all his heart". Riku's Heart recognising & accepting Sora as its "[king?]" (partner? equivalent?) seems to have continued from that Fateful Meteor Shower, throughout Riku's Entire Villain Arc & Redemption, continuing past Sora's failing to exist: Riku has pulled at LEAST two True Love's Sacrifices for Sora, not counting repeats across timelines, just within DDD & KH3. Riku's sacrificing himself has never lasted long enough to learn any repurcussions beyond Sora.exe going offline. SORA'S nonexistence has not significantly affected the integrity of his universe at large, beyond Riku.exe presumably shortcircuiting, which leads me to believe that so long as ONE of the two has a heart where it should be, the potentially disaatrous ramifications of "oh, btw, this one kid's heart has direct access to our universe's suns? should we be worried about that" has been prevented.

(Riku launching himself OUT of said universe to follow Sora? UH. let's just hope Kairi's still in touch with the other Original 7 and can lead the New Lights when it potentially/inevitably becomes necessary?)

Speaking of Kairi...

interestingly, Kairi never really indicates feeling "connected" to Riku.

Kairi feels connected to SORA and HIS heart, something many characters share in common (often very literally). Another product of Riku (& thus Destiny) sharing his role with Sora, when not designating him [his] King absolutely?

Speaking of Kings...

Riku ends up manifesting ANOTHER keyblade, just casually, despite Sora's having Kingdom Key being a Big Deal.

we could dismiss Riku's having Soul Eater in KH1 as "that's Xehanort/Terra/Ansem SoD's heart at work"... but we can't dismiss Riku's STILL having a keyblade post-KH2, Sora wielding the original Kingdom Key while Riku so happens to summon a second keyblade from his heart without any fuss at all??

it is... interesting, that Donald & Goofy never ended up explaining [to the audience] why Kingdom Key SPECIFICALLY was something King Mickey was looking for in the first place.

if it was due to Mickey's searching for the Wayfinder Trio, Donald & Goofy would have been searching for multiple "keyblade WIELDERS" instead of one "KEYBLADE": we can only assume that Xehanort's repeated efforts at starting another ragnarok have sufficiently distracted everyone from Kingdom Key's origins.

I personally find it very heartwarming/plot-foreshadow-y that Kingdom Key has STAYED with Sora, even upon reuniting with a Riku whose heart is at peace again: consciously or otherwise, Riku's heart continues to choose "Sora".

(which, given how likely it is that Riku is the foretold Child of Destiny... means that RIKU'S choosing Sora makes DESTINY choose Sora... for better of for worse, right? plz just let them be married already, Disney: Nomura & Utada have Riku's vows all written and everything)

[lunarcloak]

The same blood

runs in their veins.

[daylighteclipsed]

Y’all ever think about if Sora falls to darkness that inside his heart will look like the Destiny Islands falling again

[goldensunset]

dude if kh ends ill. probably cry lmaoo. but also. fandoms continue after their thing is finished dont they?? like. 10 years after its done ppl will still talk abt it?? i hope so at least

given that the kh fandom has survived several massive droughts over the years at this point i think it's unkillable. some of my mutuals on here are from like the ice age of kingdom hearts and still alive and blogging the exact way they always did. it won't be a huge fandom but even now with the series still being alive the fandom isn't as big as it once was in its heyday. but those of us here are incredibly loyal. and the nature of any long-running thing is that people carry it with them over the course of many years and it'll become impossible to drop it once it does end. but! it truthfully all depends on How it ends if you ask me. if it's a trainwreck a lot of people might abandon it out of resentment. if it's good or even mediocre as an ending it'll have its fans throughout eternity

[masterfuldoodler]

girlbossed too hard.... unless...

[tragicclownwrites]

🤡

[lecliss]

I'll never be able to take the theory that Vincent is Sephiroth's real father seriously cuz I cannot stress enough how important I think it is to the plot that Vincent wanted to fuck Lucrecia and did not get to.

[marcsnuffy]

Re: anri going to jail…yes she absolutely should!! Tbh anri has always been one of my fave side characters and I feel like she has been very neglected by both the narrative and the fan base! Like, she was a new hire at the jfu and immediately proposed soccer: saw trap edition, she defended it to the media and went out of her way to hire ego! Blue lock would not have existed without her imo, and she’s constantly reduced to blue lock staff member 😭😭

Ego would not have been able to ruin children’s lives without her, and I think she probably set everything up too… I think she should absolutely go to prison (imo for more time than him) sorry for the rant lol 😭😭 I hope you have a great day!

I forgot to answer this when I got the ask, sorry anon😭

Story-wise, I feel like Kaneshiro did everything he wanted with her on the first couple of chapters and then gave up on/forgot about her. She was the only person in the JFU who actually cared about winning the world cup, she is perfectly okay with crushing 299's high schoolers lives for the sole purpose of creating one singular striker, she's assertive in the face of the press and the JFU's executives who only care about her body or how disrespectful she is.

After that she slowly starts becoming a dumb tool to get concepts explained to the audience or Ego's secretary. Every now and then she'll get a moment where she's more than that but those are few and far between.

Fandom-wise, I get why she's not given much attention. I've seen people like bllk characters with less screen time/plot relevancy than her, and I don't know if it's the usual misogyny thing in fandoms or in the writing itself. Probably a bit of both? Maybe I'm expecting too much from the football battle royale shonen manga.

TL;DR: She's still going to jail

[toonheartz]

thinking about how my original take on epic mickey is that it's begging to be a kh world and weirdly enough i remembered that by rewatching the "you deserve to be your own person" scene

[didsomeonesayventus]

on one hand I get no joy from KH fanfic anymore on the other oneshot of Sora finding out Young Xehanort made it to Squareville and pinning him for some questions on what the he*k is going on

[tea-of-destiny]

terra kingdomhearts voted most likely to be suffering from "guy in his early twenties" syndrome

[hollowwhisperings]

KH Spec: Princesses of Heart As Stars, part 4/?

For what limited game-time Jasmine has, she certainly makes up for it with respect to the Themes of KH's Princesses & how the chronologically older princesses relate to later ones: this part will largely focus on how Jasmine expands on existing themes amongst the princesses & how she can act as a guide to identifying future "Princesses".

Thusly, Part 4 focuses entirely on Jasmine & how she thematically links the Seven Lights (past, currently known & as-yet-unrevealed) together.

Jasmine

Disney's 'Aladdin' is a film connected to the themes of Wishes & Love by its premise: Aladdin's story is about his dream of reuniting with Jasmine, with whom he has fallen in love, despite their differences in class... and about the Wish-granting Genie acting as his Wingman.

Dreams, Wishes, Love & Miracles: Jasmine fits the pattern.

(She also does a lot of Self-Reflection, no bodies of water required, though her magic carpet ride does depict her interacting with physical water: Jasmine is named for the flower, one bright & vaguely star-shaped, yes I'm kind of reaching with this last idea)

With Jasmine's connection to the preceding Textual Themes of Princesses established, we are able to expand on the Implicit Themes they share: 'Freedom', 'Curiosity' & how both themes tie into 'Responsibility'. The last theme is related less to each heroine within their individial films & more to their collective roles in KH as a whole.

Freedom, Curiosity & Responsibility

Where a dream of "freedom" could only be implied for Snow White, Cinderella & Aurora through their storybook "Happily Ever Afters" due to the IRL society they were contemporary to, Jasmine was able to express her desire for it outright.

Jasmine, like Aurora, has grown up sheltered & removed from wider society. As a Princess, Jasmine feels a Responsibility to know her people and, as a person, she is Curious about the Wider World: Jasmine is the first of these princesses to begin her film with safety of body & mind, enabling her to have Dreams beyond the initial Coming of Age concept of Freedom as simply Leaving Childhood & its (often literal) Trappings Behind.

Freedom Through Love

Jasmine's Freedom is actualized by her gaining the emotional support to confidently stand up to her father (& against the influence of Jafar) and assert her wishes to postpone marriage in order to first explore. Aladdin's Love functions as that emotional support, and Jasmine's Love of Aladdin strengthens her conviction to know the people she will rule.

The Founding Princesses would not have been allowed to openly admit a desire for freedom, instead projecting the concept onto finding their "True Love": conventionally, marriage to a man was the method by which a girl reliant on her childhood home & caregivers could become an adult... in the consenual care of her husband, and he in hers.

Thusly were the Anonymous Princes Charming deployed!

To the Princess Snow White, wanted dead by her royal Stepmpther & found in deathly sleep by her newfound woodland family, an Anonymous Prince Charming to share a duet that enables his later identification (by shared anecdote) as the remedy to Snow White's curse! This Prince then takes the recovering Princess away, presumably in search of a village with an actual medical professional to address any repurcussions of her Resurrection. Unsaid but technically applicable is the importance of a fugitive Princess with a Suddenly Missing Step-Mother, the Acting Queen-Regent, having a Prince to corroborate her Alibi. Said Queen may have been killed via cliff (& angry woodland mob) but with Snow White the legal heir, she was only a Regicide away from being Queen-Monarch.

(i can & would frame the Happily Ever Afters of Cinderella and Aurora with this cracktastic political context but that would be gratuitous to the point being made)

Responsibility: The Prince(ss) & The Pauper

Jasmine & Aladdin are an example of the "Princess & Pauper" dynamic, something prior princesses have touched on but were unable to explore in their original films: Snow White & Cinderella were forcibly made into servants, Aurora's safety required her growing up isolated & far removed from any luxury (the Good Fairies not even using their magic).

The dynamic, typically romantic, serves as a vehicle through which the privileged character (the Prince/ss) can better themself & their people by understanding the circumstances of a Pauper: it is also used as a quick explanation for how the Pauper can be rescued from their desperate situations at all.

This dynamic is explored in several of Disney's Direct-to-Video sequels and some have already had elements used in the KH series already: the premise of KH4, where Sora seems to have forgotten Riku & Riku seeks him out at the encouragement of the Fairy Godmother, somewhat resembles the plot of one of Cinderella sequel film.

Given that the KH series is named for a KINGDOM Hearts, pauper-adjacent heroes developing galactic senses of 'Responsibility' prior to any (additional) Royal Revelations is fairly important. That said, the connection the Seven Lights have to Kingdom Hearts itself is not entirely clear: they act as substitutes in its absence and seem collectively capable of mimicking some of its alleged powers. Kairi's consistent association with stars can, to a degree, inform that the Princesses function as "solar substitutes". That the primary themes (wishes, hopes & dreams; love, miracles & freedom) shared by the Disney Princesses identified as "Lights" are represented with star-like imagery or stars outright is supporting evidence to this premise.

Curiosity: The Wider World(s)

Jasmine's curiosity is a product of her sheltered upbringing, of her boredom for lack of responsibilities despite her evident interest (& talent) in fulfilling them. Curiosity is also a primary feature of any Coming of Age: as the KH series is itself an extended Coming of Age story for Sora, one told in the "Heroine's Journey" framework, it makes sense that many of Jasmine's frustrations and dreams so easily recall those of Sora & Riku (&, uh, Xehanort).

Kairi, notably, does not display these Coming of Age markers until the very end of Melody of Memory.

Through the lens of Jasmine, the Coming Of Age markers common to contemporary fiction can be identified in the Founding Princesses before her: Snow White's curiosity is present in her film, largely as a plot device & method of endearing her to others; Cinderella is too overworked to be truly curious beyond the freedoms & possibilities of having one night off to attend a Ball; Aurora's curiosity foretold her doom by spindle... but it also enabled her meeting with Prince Philip, her (also foretold) "salvation".

Freedom Through Song

Even before Jasmine was allowed to admit her desire for freedom, Disney Princesses were able to allude to their true feelings through song: Snow White's "I'm Wishing"; Cinderella's "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes"; Aurora's "Once Upon a Dream". These songs are thematically connected through the song "Wish Upon A Star", from Pinnochio, and the four songs solidified the symbols the KH series seeks to emphatically connect: Wishes & Stars; Dreams, Love & Miracles; the Human Heart; Coming Of Age; Curiosity & Freedom (with all the Responsibility that entails).

Jasmine's "A Whole New World" draws all the connections of the [Wish Upon A Star] series of songs back to the premise of the KH series itself: exploring new worlds, making wishes & dreams (of the heart) come true, the responsibilities of power & the freedoms made possible by love.

It should, at this point, be noted that despite numbering amongst the Seven Lights herself, Kairi is NOT the KH-original character who best exhibits the themes of the Disney Princesses who have now "Come Of Age" (& so passed on their mantles as Lights): the character most strongly associated with the key themes of the Disney Princesses is, in fact, Riku. Riku has even had his "own" songs, ones with themes consistent with the Princesses discussed thus far: the KH2 song "Passion" & the KH3 song "Chikai". For lyrical analysis on "Chikai", the youtuber TennelleFlowers (AKA the mastermind of the Six Hour Riku Is Gay Video) goes into the song, lyric by lyric.

Given that I have just sneezed for a 4th time in a row, I will conclude this post on Jasmine: Part 5 may end up continuing the ways she thematically ties the Princesses together, leading into a hopefully brief section on Belle (due to Better Analyses existing on how she & her story are consistently used to parallel the relationship of Sora & Riku: I'd specifically recommend reading the "Aitsu" translation essay on Chain of Memories by the SoRiku Ultimania).

[milaisreading]

Wedding day

Pairing: Itoshi Sae x Isagi's sister!Reader

Warnings: Reader uses she/her. Requests are open

⚽️Blue lock belongs to Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

"Can you please calm down, sis? Everything will be fine." Yoichi said as he walked around the room after his sister. The older Isagi was panicking a little as she thought more and more about the whole wedding that was supposed to happen in an hour.

"You think?! Yoichi, what if I am not good enough? Sae is a literal football star and I am just-"

"The best sister and future wife. Exactly!" Yoichi quickly chimed in, annoyed that she had let the recent gossip on the internet get to her. While he did have sympathy for her, marrying a high profiled person lime Sae Itoshi wasn't nothing, he was also mad that she was doubting her own worth.

"Yoichi... You of all people know how the news are. They will nitpick on the most smallest things about me." (Y/n) sighed as she went over to sit on a chair in the room, Yoichi following close behind.

"What if they are right about me not being the one for Sae?"

"That's ridiculous! He loves you!" Yoichi argued again, but he knew it was useless. He wasn't Sae. The one whose opinion mattered the most right now.

"I don't know... What if I am just hindering him? There are so many better options than I am. Did you see all those models from Madrid who talk about him? What if I am not the one?"

(Y/n) held back a few sobs as Yoichi went to comfort her. He would be lying if he said he didn't expect the news to make such a huge deal out of the wedding. He did. But, seeing the state his sister was in just broke Yoichi. She didn't deserve all this stress now. Nor did Sae deserve to be doubted.

And, while Yoichi was comforting (Y/n), he didn't notice Rin peek into the room and catching some of the conversation the were having, and catching the distressed state (Y/n) was in.

'Shit!' The younger Itoshi thought as he slowly closed the door. He didn't expect to walk into all of that. While Sae was on cloud nine in his room, (Y/n) was over here distressed over some gossip.

'Wait? What gossip? Big brother never mentioned anything about that.' Rin wondered as he took his phone out to search for anything that remotely could mention either Sae or the wedding.

Meanwhile...

Sae was happily drinking the water Rin brought him earlier. The older Itoshi never expected to be excited over anything like a wedding. Well, he never saw himself marry anyone until he met (Y/n). The love of his life.

'Ahhh~ I am all excited for our future. I can't wait for us to finally tie the knot. Maybe even a few kids down the line, but that can wait for another few years. For now, I just want to enjoy my time alone with her.' Sae smiled softly and blushed, not hearing the footsteps approaching his room.

'My sweet (Y/n). She is so clumsy and cute. So adorable and always kind to me and others. I am so lucky to have found-'

"Big brother!"

Sae snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at the door as Rin walked in, looking oddly nervous.

"What's up with you? You are more nervous than I am." Sae joked but Rin ignored him as he kept on glancing between his phone and the older.

"Well..."

"Anyway, how is (Y/n) doing? How does she look? Bet as stunning as ever. She is so adorable."

Sae went on a ramble and Rin knew he had to cut it out now before he went into an endless loop with it.

"I... There is something you need to see, and I think you won't like it."

Sae stopped and raised an eyebrow at Rin.

"What do you mean?"

"It's about (Y/n). You didn't read any of the news some of the Spanish and Japanese media reported?"

"No. Why would I? They mostly say dumb stuff, anyway."

"It might be dumb, but the stuff nearly has (Y/n) crying right now."

Sae froze up for a moment and quickly took the phone away from Rin.

The younger Itoshi was used to seeing a lot of emotions on Sae, but anger, genuine anger was not one of them. The more Sae read through the articles Rin had found, the redder his face became and the more his eyebrows furrowed.

'I would pray for the reporters, but they deserve whatever happens next.' Rin thought as an eerie silence took over.

----

Once Yoichi had left the room to let his sister cool down, (Y/n) had finally realized how ridiculous it was that she was crying about these things. After all, if Sae really didn't want her, he wouldn't have asked to marry her. Right?

'I need to have more faith in him, and also be less sensitive.' She thought as she put down her phone, not noticing Sae walk inside.

"Why didn't you tell me about those articles?"

(Y/n) yelped , and turned around to see Sae walk into the room and towards her.

"Sae! You shouldn't see me before-"

"I don't care. Rin said you were distressed over what those journalists were saying. Why didn't you tell me about it?"

For the first time since they started their relationship, (Y/n) was left speechless by the anger Sae was radiating. Sure, she was used to him being angry over what Shidou would say at times, or even when he would lose a game. But, this was a different type of anger. It was more genuine than the previous ones.

"Why?" Sae's voice got softer as he grapped her hands into his, causing (Y/n) to turn red a little.

"I thought it was stupid to bother you with that. It's just me being sensitive-"

"It's not. The stuff those idiots said about you is disgusting, and I will put an end to it on my next interview." (Y/n) raised an eyebrow as Sae pulled her in closer.

"I thought you don't have one yet."

"I asked my manager the schedule me one after our honeymoon. As much as I hate going on these, this is a different circumstance."

"Oh? Thank you." (Y/n) said as she grew flustered, causing Sae to finally smile again and chuckle a little.

"Don't thank me for stuff like this. And, have a little more faith in me. I have my eyes only set on you."

"You are right, I an sorry. I know you do."

She smiled as the door opened again, revealing Sae and (Y/n)'s moms.

"Sar Itoshi! What did I say about seeing (Y/n) before the wedding?! And why did you make Rin guard the entrance?" Sae flinched at his mom's yelling as Rin could be heard apologizing to him from behind her. (Y/n) laughed a little as her mom tried to calm the other woman down, finding the whole situation equally amusing.

"Well, today is an eventful day." (Y/n) laughed, and Sae smiled at her.

'At least you calmed down.'

[verathena14]

I JUST HAD THE BIGGEST REALIZATION ABOUT SORA'S POD IN CoM/Re:CoM

(this might be a well-known/widely accepted idea but i have never seen anyone talk about it so im very proud of myself for figuring this out)

So it's a lotus, right?

For the longest time, that wasn't anything of note. Just "oh okay cool. nice flower."

BUT THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN THAT. I WAS A FOOL, AN ABSOLUTE BUFFOON, TO THINK THAT NOMURA WOULD DO SOMETHING SO SURFACE-LEVEL.

As we know, Nomura <i>looooves</i> to pull from mythology (see: Riku on the Delphic Tripod in Olympus in KH3, the foretellers being the Seven Deadly Sins, Skuld being one of the Norns, literally the entirety of the KHDR cast -- and now the KHML cast) AND THEN I REALIZED.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew happen upon an island full of people who have forgotten who they are and where they came from-- and this is because of the LOTUS FLOWERS.

YKNOW, LIKE HOW SORA'S FORGETTING LITERALLY EVERYTHING THE LONGER HE SPENDS IN CASTLE OBLIVION!

But what I really like about this allusion is that Nomura turns it on its head-- the lotus, the pod, instead heals Sora's memory.

And guess who set up the whole plot to mess with Sora's memories? That's right, MARLUXIA. WHOSE WHOLE SHTICK IS **FLOWERS**

GOD, I don't know how I didn't notice this earlier but this whole thing is VERY yummy to me, I am SO normal about it.

[goldensunset]

it's all been said before but something something riku is the element of change and kairi is the element of stability cuz riku wanted to leave the island above all else while kairi didn't really care she just wanted to stay with her friends above all else no matter where she was (and of course sora was kinda in between) something something the moral of the story here being that some things in life have to change while other things are meant to last and this is why both kairi and riku are both so important to the heart of this story cuz they represent that duality. we can't stay on this tiny island forever as innocent kids. but the island and what it means to us will always be there. y'know

[soracities]

hey!! i hope this doesnt come across weirdly but can you think of any poems that are "blue"? not necessarily that are about the color, but rather that evoke that feeling

This was such an intriguing question. Blue poems (to me), either in tone or feeling:

"The Wild Swans at Coole" by W.B. Yeats

"Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by W.B. Yeats

"Rain Song" by Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

"A Little Tooth" by Thomas Lux

"Night. The city grew calm..." by Alexander Blok

"Fire Graffiti" by Tomas Tranströmer

"Vermeer" by Tomas Tranströmer

"When She Told me..." by Jean Valentine

"black magic" by Sonia Sanchez

"Shapechangers in Winter" by Margaret Atwood

"I Sleep a Lot" by Czesław Miłosz

"Between Ageing and Old" by Jack Gilbert

"Imaginary Morning Glory" by C.D. Wright

"And Then I Tried" by Rene Ricard

"Rain" by Michael Bazzett

"Rush Hour" by Gerry Murphy

"The Hole" by Richard G. Stern

"in the rain" by e.e. cummings

"it may not always be so and i say" by e.e. cummings

"[And when I embraced you]" by Kiwao Nomura

"I Dreamed Again" by Anne Michaels

"Somewhere Night is Falling" by Anne Michaels

"Flame" by Adam Zagajewski

"Postscript" by Seamus Heaney

"Down by the Station Early in the Morning" by John Ashbery

"Love Poem" by Denise Levertov

"The Years from You to Me" by Paul Celan

"In Spite of Everything, the Stars" by Edward Hirsch

"Earthly Constellation" by Vasko Popa

"Waiting Room" by Ingeborg Bachmann

"Woman" by Saadi Youssef

"Night in Hamdan" by Saadi Youssef (no online source, but the collection is Without an Alphabet, Without a Face)

"I'm Speaking" by Rafael Guillén

"Head, Heart" by Lydia Davis

"Dwelling" by Li-Young Lee

"Aubade" by Louise Gluck

"French Novel" by Richie Hofman

"Counting the Beats" by Robert Graves

"Cascando" by Samuel Beckett