#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...

[sumiscribe-side]

i used to think that the ReAl uniform doesn't suit sae but then i realized that it was just weird for me to see him without his arm sleeves + gloves

[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

[cloudofash]

I'm so late but I wanted to reply to this theory.

I don't think K*airi is evil or malicious. I still don't know if she has hidden powers or not but I still find it strange that her Nobody just so happens to have the power of memory manipulation. Nobodies tend to take on the power of the original person (much like Axel wields fire the way he did when he was Lea the Human).

K*airi may have hidden powers that affect peoples' memories that simply haven't been revealed yet. Maybe she affects memory subconsciously and isn't even aware of the power.

Perhaps K*airi doesn't have the power at all, and Naminé having memory manipulation is a narrative tool to say "this is the effect K*airi has on Sora, he focuses on her so much that she almost affects his memories".

We'll never know until or unless her power is ever revealed. Maybe training with Aqua will be the way her powers are discovered and finally utilized properly.

Also: Yes some of the characters do kiss but the kisses are placed in the end credit scenes of the games (sans Snow White and Sleeping Beauty). I still think Sora and Riku's way of showing their love would be interlocked fingers because hand holding is kind of their thing and it would be soooo romantic sigh

The Ariel / Riku Parallel and the future of Sora and Riku

This is a parallel I see covered a lot of the time but when it's mentioned the comparison usually involves Naminé in place of Ursula.

The parallel typically follows:

Ariel is Riku. They both wanted to see the outside world.

Sora is Prince Eric.

Naminé is/was Ursula (Vanessa).

Naminé (Ursula) used witch like powers to place Sora (Eric) in a trance and blind him from his true light/the one, Riku (Ariel).

It's a direct parallel that needs little analysis or explanation.

I have also seen fellow Sorikus touch on this parallel with the Final World tunnel scene where Sora notices that the Light is Riku much like Eric notices "the one" who sang to him and saved him in the storm is Ariel.

My theory is that this parallel goes beyond just the tunnel scene. In fact, I believe that Nomura is following the KH2 Atlantica storyline for Sora and Riku's eventual romance later in the games. Walk with me here.

-

The KH2 Atlantica story begins with Ariel saving Eric after a storm. She immediately falls in love, and sings to him. He wakes up just enough to hear her singing, she goes back to Atlantica and her father breaks her statue of him, her heart breaks and Ursula makes her contract with her...you know the tale.

In the KH2 version of this tale however, Ariel falls into a deep depression because she knows she can't be with a human up on land as a mermaid. Not to mention her father's hatred of humans casted fear and doubt into her. When Ariel and Eric defeat Ursula, Ariel reveals to Eric that she is actually a mermaid. However in this scene, Ariel hangs her head in shame and tells him "goodbye" anticipating that he would not accept her as she was. To her surprise, he does accept her.

This scene always struck me because at no point in the original film is Ariel ever ashamed of being a mermaid, she simply knew as a mermaid she couldn't live on land with the one she loved. Why would shame and fear of not being accepted for who you are be added to this tale?

And it doesn't stop there. All throughout the Atlantica storyline, we're told that Ariel and Eric's love is a "forbidden love". A love that shouldn't happen between mermaid and human, sea and land. We're told how a "love struck" mermaid in the sea felt she could only love her human soulmate from afar, that they could never be together despite her wanting them to be.

Who, in the entire Kingdom Hearts cast, does this sound like? Who else, if confirmed that he truly is in love with Sora, would have a forbidden love?

There is no one else other than Riku. Kai*ri, as a cishet female, would not have a forbidden love with Sora. Riku, as a demi/gay male, would have the forbidden love.

Riku has spent a good portion of this series loving and protecting Sora from afar, most often than not, without Sora even being aware.

Who would be more likely to be "ashamed" for loving Sora, and fearful of rejection? Kai*ri, or Riku? In fact, just as Ariel was ashamed that she was originally a mermaid and had to transform into a human, Riku was ashamed that he had to borrow the powers of Ansem and transformed into Ansem.

--

Now why do I say this parallel is going to dictate the future of Sora and Riku's relationship? Because KH3 pretty much follows half of this parallel already.

We already know that Sora discovered that Riku was his true light in the tunnel. He then forgets all of this ever happened and forgets that he ever saved Riku.

And not only that, but Riku's light is blocked out and Sora ends up thinking that the light belongs to another character.

That's right. Sora (Prince Eric) has yet another haze over his eyes. And instead of Naminé, this time Kairi is Ursula.

This is an exact parallel of not only Atlantica, but of what happened in Chain of Memories with Naminé.

Naminé describes herself as a witch who controls the memories of Sora and everyone surrounding him.

Naminé is Ka*iri's Nobody, also described as her "alter ego". Vanessa is in a way Ursula's human alter ego, they're one in the same.

Ka*iri, most likely, has a similar power. She may not use it consciously, but whenever Sora turns his focus on Ka*iri, he forgets all about Riku. This has happened since KH1.

Ursula used her power to make Eric forget about Ariel, the girl who saved him and sang to him. Let's also not forget that Ursula made an appearance in Dream Drop Distance when Sora and Riku were building their dream raft.

We're following the Ariel parallel, just a bit out of order. We're past the point of Ariel's (Riku's) depression. We're past the point of Ariel makes a contract with Ursula to transform into a human / Riku making a contract with Ansem to transform into Ansem. We're at the point where Prince Eric is tricked by Ursula / Sora realized who his light is but forgot and is currently under the false impression that Kai*ri is his true light.

Memory of Melody aside, KH3 is the most recent major title in the series. KH2 happened way back in 2005 and Nomura is STILL referencing it. This tells me this parallel is not concluded nor going away, rather, it's building up. Which means, we will eventually reach the conclusion of this parallel.

Prince Eric finding the one. Sora finding his light.

Every Disney parallel thus far has either reached a conclusion, or is still ongoing (such as the Riku / Hercules and self sacrifice for love). I highly doubt this parallel will be dropped before its conclusion, unless Disney or some Square execs drop the hammer on it and either force Prince Sora to be with Kai*ri instead of Riku or force Sora into some "power of friendship" spiel. Or if Nomura's hands get sweaty and he remembers the pressures of homophobia in society and ends up fearing the anger of the fanbase for pushing an LGBTQ romance. So although I genuinely believe it's Nomura's intention to pair Sora and Riku given the buildup of their relationship over the longevity of this series, and the Disney couple parallels between the two, he may end up cracking and decide against pursuing it.

Given that Riku in the Novels all but confirmed Sora is his light and love and Nomura approved it, I'm hoping that he has the confidence in his tale to propel this love into the mainline titles. Nomura DID say that the series has taken a directional shift, this may be the shift he's referring to all along.

----

So what would a Soriku love look like in future titles? Well let's look at the portion of the Atlantica parallel not explored yet.

Ariel returned Prince Eric's pendant. The Crown Necklace theory and Shooting Star Memory has yet to be addressed. Perhaps at some point in Quadratum Sora loses his crown necklace, Riku finds it and returns it to him triggering the both of them to finally address the Crown Necklace with Sora remembering that Riku is the one who gave it to him in the first place. Sora remembering that Riku was the light in the darkness and not Kai*ri is now a new plot point needing to be addressed. Just as Eric realized Ariel was the one he was looking for all along, he declared his love for her. Sora will eventually realize Riku was the one he's been searching for all his life and will probably apologize for not realizing it sooner.

Not to mention the Hercules parallel of self sacrifice for true love has also yet to be addressed on Sora's end. He's still figuring out what love is and what love means. Both the Ariel-Eric and Hercules-Meg parallels end with a confession of love. That confession may just be how Kingdom Hearts ends.

Additional Note: Do I think there will be a Soriku kiss? No.

Not a single Disney couple has kissed in-game. We know they're all in love because of how they look at each other, the things they say about each other, their warm embraces. If the cishet Disney characters have yet to kiss in game, then it's safe to say we won't get any Soriku kisses either. The only way that changes is if there is a future title and Nomura introduces kissing via Disney, then I think a Soriku kiss will be on the table.

[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.'

[cryinggirlnamedhelen]

Plsss elaborate on ness

I’m going to assume it’s the part where I talked about Kaiser refusing to break up with anyone and Ness being the exception here…alright?

So let me just establish something first: I DO NOT SHIP, SUPPORT, NOR ENJOY KAINESS OR ANY SORT OF PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, OR ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP. This will be a post through the eyes of a Kainess (and Kaisagi, for that matter) hater. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

To start off, I would just like to clear some misconceptions first. Kaiser and Ness do not care for each other genuinely. Kaiser is more obvious, as we are shown direct panels of him studying psychology in order to manipulate someone (Ch. 261), and Kaiser often treats Ness as a dog.

Ness, on the other hand, is more on the delusional side. He doesn’t actually realize that he is being used, and Ness’ so called “love” for Kaiser is only a result of the psychological manipulation that Kaiser has put him through so that Ness believes that Kaiser is his savior. It’s not affection, it’s abuse and gaslighting that no one deserves to go through.

I often see people pointing their grubby hands at the panel in chapter 243, when they are both in the shower. They say “look, Kaiser is smiling genuinely there, meaning that he cares about Ness!”, which is an extremely invalid and frankly bizarre assumption to make.

Assuming something from a panel from a manga, where everything is deliberately written and drawn, is a dangerous move. We don’t even know why Kaiser is smiling; it could be because he’s having fun, yes, but it can also be because he realizes that Ness has fully become his dog. We don’t know, and I think Nomura purposely left this vague, so I don’t think it’s fair to use this as evidence.

Now, onto the main course. I once said that Kaiser has attachment and abandonment issues, and I still stand by what I said. The attachment issues can be seen in his childhood ball, which is often seen dirty and constantly patched up. In the anime and official art, we see that Kaiser still keeps his old and beaten up soccer ball despite his currently wealthy life style, still emotionally attached to this ball despite his undesirable childhood. He is also unhealthily attached to soccer itself, as it brings him joy to crush other people’s lives. Joining Re Al aside, the reason he went to Blue Lock for the NEL was literally to crush Isagi because of Kaiser’s attachment to soccer.

His abandonment issues mainly stem from chapter 293. Kaiser had just told Ness to find a new king and that Ness wasn’t useful in his life anymore; and yet when Ness passed to Isagi, Kaiser screamed out Ness’ name in rage (the panel is hilarious btw). Kaiser’s actions contradicts his words to Ness, as the moment Ness (unintentionally) abandoned Kaiser, he was furious and frankly even a bit horrified, as his current state (as if 296) is nearly depressed.

As stated before, Kaiser doesn’t genuinely care for Ness; he cares about his talent. He got far too attached to Ness’ potential, and the moment he fumbled the bag and Ness (once again, unintentionally) abandoned him, Kaiser’s abandonment and attachment issues began to show. Kaiser’s words of breaking up with Ness in all those previous chapters was because of how emotionally constipated Kaiser is. He thinks that he doesn’t care about Ness as a whole instead of only not caring about Ness as a person. Due to this, he “broke up” with Ness due to his own miscalculations and emotional stupidity.

So basically, if it weren’t for the fact that Ness had potential, Kaiser would have discarded Ness a while ago.

[confession-of-the-heart]

So amid all of the pairing discourse being sent to this blog, one little thing stuck out to me. Someone commented claiming that AkuRoku is one of the most popular pairings on AO3 with some of the largest numbers of fics, but being the statistics nerd I am, and knowing the general trajectory of this fanbase, I decided to run some numbers and put that claim to the test.

(Actually, looking into that got me really curious about the general popularity over time of all the relatively notable pairings in KH, so I think I might eventually make a formal post compiling all my findings once I have a little more time. This is definitely informal, but it’s just an initial impression of my research thus far. Obviously, take this with a grain of salt: fanfic is only one piece of the general popularity puzzle, but it does seem to be generally understood as a decent benchmark for analysis of broader trends within fandoms.)

As a note, I measured fic numbers by date of update from April to April, year to year on AO3, so factors like game release date timing should be taken into account.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, SoRiku is the undisputed king of KH shipping. It’s been going incredibly strong since 02 but even then experienced a massive jump at KH3’s release, number of fics updated in the year multiplying nearly 6x in 2019 from where it had been in 2017. It’s slowly settled down since, but is still holding at well over 300 fics per year, even during this content drought. It’s vastly above everything else in popularity and always has been.

Most pairings have followed a similar pattern since KH3’s release: The entire fandom experienced a general jump in activity and most pairings got a boost from 2018-2020, although some more dramatically than others: Akusai fics (inclusive of fics tagged just leaisa, just akusai, or both, not counting the same fics twice) experienced a more dramatic leap than any other pairing in 2019, going from just 40 in 2017, to 183 the following year, to 350 in 2019–an 8x jump in interest. (Wow!)

Like Soriku, most other pairings have generally gone fallow since 2020, as that was the last time we all got any sort of content. (Missing Link when Nomura.)

As far as the stats for Akuroku go… Honestly a bit gobsmacked by the trends in the data. I decided to include both number of fics updated per year on both AO3 and fanfiction.net, as the fandom’s early 2000s heyday can’t really be accounted for on AO3. fanfiction.net’s numbers are a little inflated because I couldn’t honestly be bothered to separate out the infinitesimally small number of non-ship fics in the 2000s and early 2010s from the overwhelmingly large proportion of ship fics there, but if you compare how many fics that pairing used to get in its heyday from 2006-2011, it used to average out at roughly 1000 fics a year.

From 2012 on, the drop in popularity is precipitous—on both fanfiction.net and AO3. it had less than half the fics in 2012 on fanfiction.net than it did in 2010, and it’s continued to exponentially decline there since. For example, there were no AkuRoku ships updated on fanfiction.net last year, and there were only 2 updated the year before. (Noting that fandoms at large did begin to increasingly migrate away from fanfiction.net after 2012, which also explains similar but less extreme declines in otherwise healthy ships like SoRiku on that website).

It fares a little better on AO3, although it’s been eclipsed in popularity by ships that were once drastically less popular than it involving the same characters at several points—Leaisa/Akusai for example consistently had hundreds more fics than it from around 2018-2020, an impressive feat considering that ship basically didn’t exist prior to 2013~2014, although it’s gone quieter since.

AkuRoku has remained pretty much consistent at roughly 150~200 fics per year on AO3 since 2012 (a couple years have had roughly a 10~20 variance above or below that, no significant jumps either way, though it did roughly halve from a high year in 2020 to a low year in 2021) which leads me to believe that it’s… probably more off in its own world separate from what the rest of the fandom is doing than other ship communities? It doesn’t follow the same trends as ships that are more closely following the story developments in canon do.

It’s kind of surprising to see it be that much of a general drop, though. I knew it was less popular than it once was, but I didn’t realize just how much less popular it really is. 150~200 fics updated a year sounds like a lot, but if you compare it to how absurdly ubiquitous it used to be, it’s a shadow of its former self. Unless KH4 has a bunch of interactions with them and them alone, going by the trends and general attitude of the fandom, I think it’ll probably just continue to slowly lose momentum. It still has a lot of diehards, but it would appear that the majority compared to that of 15-20 years ago have jumped ship, so to speak. I have a feeling that if Roxas ever gains any significant peer relationships with different male characters in the future, it’ll likely be another nail in the coffin for it as enthusiasm for a gay Roxas ship bleeds elsewhere.

So, uh, basically… everyone who’s freaking out about it, chill? It’s probably just going to continue slowly petering out on its own eventually as the next games move away from the characterization that initially made it popular, whether anyone wants it to or not. That’s what fic trends would appear to indicate, at any rate.

Side note: out of all the pairings I’ve analyzed popularity over time for thus far, I’m surprisingly impressed by Naminé/Xion. I thought it was way more of a rarepair than it actually is. It’s not going anywhere crazy like Soriku, but it’s actually rather consistent with other moderately popular kid pairs like Roxas/Xion on AO3, and saw a jump in numbers above Roxas/Naminé of all things from 2019-2020, which I would never have anticipated. Let’s go lesbians! I guess KH3 really did change things up.

~~~

[goldensunset]

i love darkness and edginess in kh absolutely and i think the deeply philosophical introspective examinations on what it means to be human aka existential dread and all that lends itself to a bit of horror easily and i love seeing it utilized to its fullest potential. ultimately though what i want is something comforting and reassuring at the end of the day- like what nomura said about the series reflecting his belief that ‘the heart is never truly gone’. how you might lose people but they’re always a part of you. i will be happy no matter where the series goes as long as it fundamentally comes back to love and human connection. it’s really beautiful the way the story gets so incredibly dark but it always manages to come back to the light somehow- whether it’s a classic disney happily ever after, or something more akin to other storytellers where something is absolutely lost but it’s still a good ending, y’know? instead of everything being saccharine you get hurt and you grow because of it and new beauty blooms. kh really delivers on that front and i want it to stay that way forever

[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.

[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