#not because the events aren't sad. they are comically tragic

[pocketramblr]

All my manifesting of AFO having the most saddest, most meow meowest backstory have come true.

It's very "poor" and "meow meow" but I'm trying to figure out if it's "sad", exactly

[themattress]

And now, I just feel compelled to sing the praises of one of Kingdom Hearts' greatest heroes:

SHIRO. MOTHERFUCKING. AMANO!

The more time passes, the more amazed I am by this man. He's had a hero's journey IRL when it comes to his place in the franchise: jumping at the call but being inexperienced and screwing up, reaching his lowest point before rising, dealing with great adversity only to come out of it stronger than ever, and becoming a beloved hero to many who continues to do good.

KH1 was his first manga adaptation, and for the most part it's your by-the-numbers comic book adaptation of a story from a non-comic book medium, not especially good or especially bad. But Amano showed three weaknesses: he mischaracterized the KH-original characters (Sora, Kairi, Riku and Ansem all start out on point, but once Destiny Islands is destroyed this changes drastically: Sora turns into a spastic moron, Kairi into a bland bystander, Riku into an emotionless tool, and Ansem into an over-the-top eeeevil lunatic who actually gets himself killed without any contribution from Sora, Donald and Goofy!), he sucked at action scenes leading to many iconic battles from the game being straight-up left out altogether, and his gag manga inclinations caused him to turn scenes that should be serious / emotional into jokes.

CoM was his aforementioned lowest point. All those flaws were not only still there, but worse, turning what was once a dark, mysterious and psychological story into an unfunny farce.

Disgraceful. For a good while, I actually disliked Shiro Amano due to this.

But then came the redemption: KH2. The Prologue section of this manga is masterfully done, possibly even better than the game's version. The pace is less sluggish, the events less irritatingly obtuse, and the humor actually works to the benefit of the story's seriousness - because so much of the goofy humor is between Roxas, Hayner, Pence and Olette, you build even more of an emotional connection to them and the tragedy of Roxas learning the truth about his life hits that much harder when it transpires. When Sora returns, Amano is briefly tempted by his old inclinations and kind of backslides, with the resulting trips to Hollow Bastion, Beast's Castle, Land of Dragons and Olympus Coliseum suffering as a result. They aren't quite as insulting as the CoM manga, but still bad. However, true to hero's journey form this period of temptation and backsliding passes and only reinforces Amano's commitment to improving and actually balancing his humor and adaptational changes with drama, emotional sincerity and faithfulness to the game. From Disney Castle on, he returns to quality output. There are still mistakes here and there, but on the whole the manga is an enjoyable one. From the characterization to the action scenes to the tonal balance, Amano had improved.

And then came the hiatus between its first half and second half, during which he worked on the 358/2 Days manga. Take what I said about KH2's Prologue, then apply it x10, and you get this manga, where the writing and pacing is improved from its game counterpart and the humor is rich, well-timed and actively feeds into the drama and tragedy of the story rather than detract from it. To make the contrast to how far he's come most apparent, remember how in the CoM manga where there's an omake short that makes a complete joke out of the Riku Replica, originally one of the story's most tragic characters? Well in this manga, we get an omake short about a Dusk, which starts out hilarious but then ends up being absolutely heart-breaking. It makes me legit sad over a goddman DUSK. Now that takes real talent!

What's also apparent with the Days and KH2 mangas is that Amano had come to shine in a way that Tetsuya Nomura absolutely does not: respect for his female leads. Kairi, Namine and Xion in these mangas aren't primarily sources of support for male characters or there to make male characters feel things above all else; they are their own distinct individuals with vivid personalities and clear character arcs. Even Olette shines brighter than in the games!

Once Amano made it back to the KH2 manga for its second half, he was firing on all cylinders. Again, not everything was perfect, but much like the game itself the narrative flaws were not enough to overshadow the many more narrative strengths. And when the manga finally concluded after so many years, Amano confirmed that it truly was the end. He would not be adapting other KH games. And given that the rest of the KH series never got better than where KH2 ended, this was absolutely for the best. I could very easily imagine the Olympian gods making a constellation in Amano's image, as he had become a true hero.

However, oh no! He got persuaded into adapting KH3 when it came out in 2019! This is going to ruin everything, right? WRONG! The KH3 manga has not only been a shining example of how far Shiro Amano has come, but also a masterclass in demonstrating how acutely aware of the game's problems he is and the lengths he is willing to go to fix them. For example...

- He opens the manga with a direct adaptation of the game's opening scene with the Boy in Black and Boy in White in front of the chess board followed by the FMV intro. By doing things in this strange way, Amano invites the possibility of this being an alternate, diverging timeline from the prior manga continuity so that its ending remains untouched should you desire it to be. Almost as if the Boy in Black and Boy in White reside in some higher plane of existence and the KH3 manga is the "game" that they're playing, so it's not to be taken too seriously.

- The whole opening that semi-recaps stuff leading into KH3 is played off as a joke, and given that the stuff in question was stupid (such as the Mark of Mastery exam through sleeping worlds and Sora failing his Mark of Mastery exam on bullshit grounds), this is appreciated.

- He actually makes Maleficent and Pete more competent; rather than have Maleficent dismiss Pete's idea to take Sora out while he's still weak, he has both of them agree that they needn't bother with Sora because his weakness will lead him to being destroyed by the Xehanorganization anyway. They can find the black box while their foes fight each other.

- 0.2 BBS is adapted after the Olympus visit in a way that also recaps the most important points of BBS and includes stronger characterization for Aqua, Terra and Ventus. Stupid things like Mickey losing his shirt are avoided, and there is actually clarification on how Mickey could not have gone into the Realm of Darkness to save Aqua earlier and all the time between KH1 and KH2 he was building up his strength to obtain the Power of Waking so that he could as he promised to, making him come off so much better than he did in the games.

-Coded is not referenced, ever.

- The "Roxas and Namine ceased to exist when they merged with Sora and Kairi" retcon is completely avoided, with the manga instead saying they do exist within them as was originally the case in KH2. Giving Roxas his own body is less correcting some injustice or "hurt" and more part because he's needed for the battle against Xehanort and part because Sora's just a nice guy like that, wanting to provide his friends with all the basic comforts.

- Xehanort's master plan retcon is also discarded! Here it's said that Ansem and Xemnas' plans remained their own, as they should be, and that since Master Xehanort's return he's embarked on "a new plan" once joined by his time-traveling younger self, who never mentions needing Ansem for his time-traveling which keeps things consistent with how KH2 depicted time travel as simply a magical phenomenon that didn't need complicated rules.

- Not only are Riku and Kairi way more in-character than they were in the game, but most shockingly Axel is too! He actually feels like Axel, character flaws and all, not dumbass Lea!

- Toy Box, Corona and Arendelle, while still filler, are all adapted faithfully, which is nice.

- Various alterations are made for the better: the Riku Replica stuff is kept to an incredibly bare minimum, Ansem the Wise first appears in the scene where he returns to Radiant Garden meaning him still being alive is more of a legit twist plus he never meets Aqua only for there to be no pay-off and the dumbass plotline with him and Xehanort's Heartless is left out, the "secret Keyblade legacy" stuff with Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia and Larxene is cut, the second Kairi and Axel scene is no more, and the big reconvening at Yen Sid's Tower scene and the fallout montage is massively reworked into something far better written and paced.

All this plus maintaining his balance of humor and sincerity, including using the former to support the latter, and even correcting previous flaws (holy shit, Marluxia, Larxene, Vexen...they're all completely in-character now!) If Amano keeps this momentum going and actually manages to make something good out of the notoriously disappointing finale in the Keyblade Graveyard, then he will officially have given us the best version of KH3's story in existence.

Tl;dr: nothing but respect for Shiro Amano, who is a better writer than Nomura will ever be.

[main-lightning-boy]

Here are some of my book recs!!

If there's a movie too then I'll colour the title.

Sad books about teens.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky. Please look up a list of TWs for this if you ever read it.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Cute book about a young queer relationship.

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World - Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M. Danforth. Be warned, this one starts off cute and gets very sad.

Simon Vs the Homosapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli. I read the book before watching the movie. It's a chill read.

Dead Posts Society - Nancy H. Kleinbaum. I haven't actually read the book but I am obsessed with the movie and 100% will be reading this soon.

A Series of Unfortunate Events - Daniel Handler. I read these as a 10/12 year old, I never finished them but I definitely recommend. They're an easy read and I'd love to re read them when I find the time.

The Color Purple - Alice Walker. This book broke me in ways I can't explain. Please look up a TW before reading.

Dear Evan Hansen - Val Emmich. One of my favourite musicals and it's honestly a pretty solid book for what it is. The movie sucks but just ignore that. Look up TWs for this.

Golden Boys - Phil Stamper. Young queer guys go out into the world. Cute.

Fantasy books/ Supernatural Fiction.

Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien. Haven't finished the books yet because they're so long, but so far it's a fun read. Movies are also amazing.

The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkien. The movies were okay, the books have a lot of songs. These probably aren't worth reading unless you love LOTR.

Gothic! The Original Dark Tales. - Multiple Authors.

Interview With a Vampire - Anne Rice. I haven't read it but my dad is obsessed with the movie.

Twilight - Stephanie Meyer. Movies are a favourite of mine, the books are definitely something.

Comics/ Graphic Novels.

The Umbrella Academy - Gerard Way. I prefer the show over the comics but as a fan they're still fun to read.

Watchmen - Alan Moore. A social commentary on the government and power. Great read and the movie is amazing.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World - Brian Lee O'Malley. Such a fun graphic novel series and the movie is amazing.

I Am Not Okay With This - Charles Forsman. Cute style but a tragic story.

Social commentaries/ Serious books.

1984 - George Orwell. Good read, it's a little slow at times but overall, it's pretty good.

Animal Farm - George Orwell. It's short, it gets to the point almost immediately. A good read if you're into politics.

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk. One of my top 10 books and movies of all time. Extremely misunderstood story. The book goes into a lot more detail than the film.

Biographies/ Autobiographies.

Sorry Not Sorry - Naya Rivera. As a Glee fan, I love this book so much. If you like behind the scenes TV show drama, you'll adore this.

Lives of the Artists: Frida Kahlo - Hettie Judah. Friday was an incredible artist and an advocate for many political causes. Great read.

I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy. This one really got to me.

Art/ Music.

Romanticism in Art - William Vaughan.

The High Renaissance and Mannerism - Linda Murray.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music - Percy A. Scholes. I haven't read through it all but as a musician its very helpful.

Music in the Life of Albert Schweitzer.

Supernatural History. (I bought these when I was in my BuzzFeed Unsolved era.)

The Book of English Magic - Philip Carr-Gomm & Richard Heygate.

The Witches: Salem 1692: A History - Stacy Schiff.

Conspiracy Theories - James King.

A Natural History of Ghosts - Roger Clarke.

Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science - Jeff Meldrum.

I hope this helps! I've read most of these and I personally think they're great. I tried giving a variety since I don't really know what you're into. Have a nice day :D

Does anyone have any book recommendations, I want to get back into reading but K can't find anything and booktok is full of porn addicts who swear they aren't because it's on paper.

(Please I'm desperate I will take anything)