#the whole elsa and anna power of true love thing in kh3 . parallel to them in my heart

[venjamin-kingdomhearts]

saw a post compare power of waking to “true love” and even if this wasn’t mentioned at all i’m just vibing with the idea platonic/brotherly true love that allowed sora to wake up ventus. i will never stop thinking about them and how much they love each other

[smartzelda]

Okay *Demyx voice* Arendelle time!

Poor Sora😂

That gust of snow just moves in and he's like "Coat! Please! I'm an islander!"

Donald just shrugs it off like "That's not how it works. Go and freeze."

This is where I bring up the "kh3 is self aware thing" again because now we actually have Sora dying from the snowy area, and then when Sora just like completely forgets about it, Donald and Goofy are like, "Islander my butt. He's not even feeling it anymore, is he?"

Sora getting the first puzzle piece to the situation when Elsa runs away, a sad look on her face. Y'know, the beginning of that Riku to Elsa and Sora to Anna parallel, Elsa running away because Anna and the whole Kingdom are better off without her

Elsa: *uses magic*

Sora, Donald, and Goofy: *surprised pikachu face and slightly fearing for their lives*

If I'm remembering correctly, there's a section right here where you basically fight a bunch of enemies in the huge area

I distinctly remember running around, (and Xion could vouch for this) fighting the enemies, and very monotonely voicing that I was about to die

So...ice maze.

In my proud runthrough I really had to get to a save point so I zoomed through the ice maze as fast as possible. This time I took the time to explore every room and beat all the enemies. I still hate light rails with a passion.

So, the avalanche gets started at the top once we reach the palace, pushing Sora, Donald, and Goofy off

I... The ice dragon thing was so bad. I spent forever, dying and dying and dying to their stupid laser beams. It happened so many times that I had to go to bed and try it again the next day. I would get to the part where all three flew in the air and shot beams, and it felt so unpredictable and stupid and impossible because I would dodge beams from two, and the third's would appear right under where I was landing, which was impossible to judge. It was here I learned a lesson: Use the Kupo Coin when you need it

Bless the kupo coin for saving my stupid butt

The sled part after that stressed me out cause it wasn't hard, but I had a bad habit of bumping into things, so...😂

I pretty much just abused shotlocks, ultimate form, light form/double form okp, and thunder or thundara or whichever I had at the time and I finished those dragons off

Spiky brown grass 😂😂😂😂

Poor Sora is so frustrated that he didn't get a color like green or blue like Donald and Goofy

The part where Anna talks to Sora about Elsa and he finally puts some pieces together and relates it to him and Riku really gets me every time because their situation is a big Soriku parallel. I know this is one of the scenes that's probably been soriku analyzed to death, but like

Elsa and Anna used to play all the time when they were really little like best friends

Baby Sora and Riku, best friends, used to play together all the time

One day, Elsa shuts Anna out because she doesn't want to hurt her

Kairi enters the scene, Sora starts paying a little more attention to her, Sora and Riku's duo relationship isn't terrible, it just does a little decrease. The literal shutting out in which Riku and Sora close the Door to Darkness. Then, the shutting out when Sora wakes up in kh2 and Riku alienates himself because of his guilt over what he did, and what leads into the next part of the parallel

Elsa accidentally uses her ice magic and flees the kingdom to the north mountain. She alienates herself so she can't hurt anyone (especially Anna) and because she thinks the kingdom and Anna are better off without her

Riku feels like he can't win without using the power of darkness and is weak. He is ashsmed that he relied on darkness and it showed in his appearance as Ansem. He alienates himself from Sora and everyone because he feels like he can't show his face as Ansem and because he thinks Sora is better off without him.

Sora, of course, puts these pieces together with Anna's story and makes the parallel connection between him and Anna, then Elsa and Riku in his head. I like how he says, "If anyone can help her, it's you," because I feel like that's him remembering his situation with Riku when he wanted to find him and that because of the reason for Riku's actions, only he could help.

And I think it's interesting that it's first Anna saying "I have to bring her home" and then Sora saying "I'm sure she knows now much you love her" for him to make these parallels. I think that implies that Sora gets that Elsa and Anna are siblings that love each other and he's thinking over what Riku means to him and even what he means to Riku.

Also Sora (in jap ver dialogue) realizing that maybe Riku pushed him away because he's someone precious to Riku is like...

My heart bro...

Ngl, so many times here I moved up the mountain fighting enemies and died that I'd go halfway up the mountain, then backtrack all the way back to the save so I wouldn't have to keep completely starting over every time I got oneshotted by an armored body. I did that multiple times for this area.

So, we get to the point where Sora finally reaches the top of the mountain again. For whatever reason I couldn't remember if it was like that before, but the Elsa freezing Anna's heart scene and it flashing between that and Sora, and then Sora holding a hand to his heart in pain right after we see the shot of Elsa putting ice into Anna's heart.

I think it's a parallel and Nomura's tryna tell us/foreshadow something

Okay, so big oof on the Marshmallow fight. I think on my proud run I got a bunch of times to use the team attack with the tree. I swear I only got to use it twice counted up from all my attempts on this run

The suckiest part was armored mode. I did a lot of trying to let Donald and Goofy do the work here cause I didn't wanna get oneshotted, but that didn't always quite work out... I eventually did it though, snd of course Sora, Donald, and Goofy are knocked off the mountain again

Idk how mant times I'm gonna keep saying this, but poor Sora. He's just so done and frustrated. "I could do this a hundred times."

And then Donald and Goofy both take him seriously 😂

"Please don't."

"Yeah, we should do it again!"

Awwww, Marshmallow. He just wanted to protect Elsa. I know that's what he was created to do, but that's still sweet

Sweet Sora boy making friends with anything that moves and we love him for it

Marshmallow made my life with enemies a little easier ngl

At the save point right before seeing Kristoff, I did some meteorite farming in gummi space and took a trip to the bistro. By this point I had excellents on all but 3 dishes because I didn't have the ingredients yet.

Also, by this point I was blessed with adorable remmy and Sora getting presents. Remmy got his own tiny present!

And I'm sure you know this already, but like...I have a soriku obsession right now, so I enjoy making things into little personal Soriku references

Exhibit A: My gummi and Teeny Ships

They are both named after Yozora and contain the colors for Sora, Riku, and Yozora

Okay, so back in Arendelle, Sora, Donald, and Goofy temporarily leave Marshmallow behind, and we come upon Kristoff and another Soriku parallel

Kristoff: "No, Sven! We're not going back. She's with her true love."

Riku: "You mean Kairi. To Sora, she's someone very special."

Sora: "Where'd Anna go?"

Kristoff: "She's back at home."

Sora: "Something happen?"

Kristoff: "Anna was struck in the heart by Elsa's ice magic. If the ice isn't removed, she'll freeze forever. Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart. So I took her back to Arendelle and to her true love, Hans."

Xion: "Do you know where Sora is now?"

Riku: "That secret stays with me."

Xion: "Why's that?"

Riku: "Xion...your memories...they really belong to Sora."

Xion: "So you mean...I'm like a part of him?"

Riku: "When his memories were scattered, some of them...found their way inside you. Now, Sora has been put to sleep so that we can piece together his memory."

Sora: "But...what about you?"

Kristoff: "What about me?"

Sora: "Uh, I sorta assumed you guys were..."

Kristoff: "Nooo! I just keep her from getting lost."

Xion: "So, do you hate me for taking your friend away from you?"

Riku: "Nah, I guess...I'm just sad.

Sora: "Really? Oh, but you seem so..."

Goofy: "Perfect together!"

Donald: "Yeah, like me and Daisy!"

So let's talk this over.

Point one, both assumptions on who the person in question's (Sora and Anna) true love/most important person is. This may have to do in part with some surface level stuff and Kristoff/Riku's anxiety that the person in question (Anna and Sora) probably doesn't like them like that.

Point two, the person in question has had something bad happen to them such as their memories being "erased" or their heart being frozen, needing some sort of action to save that person.

Point three, neither Riku nor Kristoff factor their feelings into the situation, Kristoff because he just feels the duty to save Anna and doesn't believe he is her true love, and Riku because he feels the duty to save Sora snd similarly does not believe himself to be Sora's special person (which didn't exactly factor in in Riku's case, but it's true he too pushed his feelings aside in all areas except saving Sora).

Point four, "I just keep [him] from getting lost" is totally something Riku or Sora would say about the other.

Point five, I added the last part because despite the insistence that Hans is Anna's true love, Sora, Donald, and Goofy agree that it seems Anna and Kristoff are perfect together, and it especially helps to know that on their side, they've seen that Anna and Kristoff work well together. They haven't seen her with Hans, and even in the movie, she and Hans don't get much screentime development. This is a parallel more to the soriku experience. On our side, we see Sora and Riku get a lot of screentime and development together, and it's clear that they care for each other. So when someone, even in game, insists that Kairi is most important to Sora, it feels like, "Oh, but Sora and Riku seem perfect together" and "But Kairi and Sora don't really get development like that or really much screentime together."

So, resuming the story (and the parallel), there's a gust of wind amd Kristoff looks towards Arendelle. He obviously feels something is wrong and says Anna's name before rushing off. I'm being completely honest, we've seen Riku too rush off, feeling that Sora's in danger. Prime example I remember though would be in the keyblade graveyard when Riku just gets a feeling and runs over to Sora, giving him a pep talk sorta just before everyone else gets swept up.

So, Marshmallow too, just like Kristoff, feels something is wrong, and gestures in the direction of Arendelle, saying Elsa's name, and the group is off to save Elsa and Anna.

And then, another parallel! Yes, Arendelle is Soriku parallel city over here!

Before Hans' sword reaches Elsa

Before the demon tide reaches Sora and Riku

Anna stands between the sword and Elsa

Riku stands between the demon tornado and Sora

Anna puts her right hand out to block the blow

Riku thrusts the keyblade in his right hand forward, directing the darkness around him and Sora into a tunnel

Anna completely turns to ice and saves Elsa, an act of true love

Riku attempts to save Sora at the expense of his own life, an act of true love, and is swallowed by the darkness

Anna gives one clear final breath

Riku gives one clear final breath

Elsa, alive due to her sister's act of true love, realizes the power of love and is able to save/unfreeze Anna

Sora's heart and body persist, arriving in the final world, his heart likely persisting due to Riku's act of true love, and his body due to Kairi, and he believes in himself and is able to go save Riku's heart

Just...ya know...food for thought...

And now, boss battle time! I believe I didn't have too much trouble on it when I dodged correctly. I beat it fine. One of my favorite shots I saw though was Sora using subzero impact with Ultima, but his clothes were the formchange color because I had just hit Ultima form right before. It was literally so epic!!

No, Marshmallow! You can't die this way! I need you to battle things for me-! Uh, I mean, you need to be alive because we care about you!

Just kidding Marshmallow! I love you and you're actually a nice snow giant with a big heart!

Cue Sora getting the example of the power of true love when Anna unfreezes.

THE PRETTY ANIMATION

Pretty animation Sora, I looooove you

Poor boy caring so much about everyone. He just wants to keep everyone safe.

And after Elsa gives another demonstration of the power of love, Arendelle is over.

[kaiserin-astraia]

RIP

I think I’ll just get right to the point.

I loved KH3; 75% of it, I’d say. But the issue is, the 25% I don’t like is almost deal-breaking. Let me explain why. it goes without saying but kh3 spoilers ahead. also, kairi stans, this is not for you. I’m not looking to argue with anyone, this is just my grievances with the game.

They mcfucking murdered Kairi.

I’m not even talking about her cheap, literal death. I mean, KH3 killed any possible way for her to be a well-rounded, likable, independent character. We were promised she would fight (“This time, I’ll fight”) and she even says “No, I’ll protect you” to Sora and yet she only fights once. As in, one (1) time. What the fuck was the point of having endless, timeless training if she doesn’t come out swinging?

Also, as a princess of heart, you’d think she’d be considerate, but no, she’s not. She was so wonderful with Lea/Axel, I was so hopeful that she would actually befriend others and make meaningful connections. But instead, while Sora is worrying about Riku, she shoves a paopu in his face. He’s silent, taken aback, clearly hesitant and confused, until she explains, “I just want to be apart of your life no matter what, that’s all.” That’s all. She only convinced Sora to take the paopu by saying nothing between them would change. But still, she never once asked how he felt. She never once tried. It felt like she just was so determined to get what she wanted that it didn’t matter that Riku was sitting just down the beach; it didn’t matter Sora seemed unsure of such a lofty promise.

And then, her relationship with Riku. It’s non-existant. Not only did KH3 basically kill Kairi as a character, they killed the destiny trio. She didn’t speak with Riku even once the whole game. Hell, Kairi spoke to Sora all of twice. And all of them were to be a doe-eyed “perfect” love interest for Sora.

What is even her personality? She literally has no purpose outside of being Sora’s SO. Is she… kind? Is she… sassy? She had more personality in kh2 and oof man that’s… not good. She became essentially a smiling, pretty piece of cardboard.

And then, her powers. So she’s swept away first, and yet she’s supposed to be the light that guides Sora back? She’s the force “holding Sora together”? HOW? And then both Namine and Xion seem to have this 6th sense of Kairi, and vice versa, that makes no sense – on top of the fact that it implies that they are so similar that they are essentially interchangeable. Listen, if your character can be swapped out with someone else and it’d be the same…. You have a bad character.

And then they actually killed her! Again, WHATS THE POINT OF MAKING HER STRONG & ABLE TO FIGHT IF ALL SHE DOES IS GET TAKEN HOSTAGE AND TURNED INTO A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS? LITERALLY? AND THEN LITERALLY KILLS HER. I CAN’T. I CAN’T.

I’m angry because she had so much potential. I wanted her to join Sora’s party (more than for one fight…), I wanted her to have her own motivations and goals, I wanted her to have a personality, and instead they did … this.

 This brings me to my next grievance. At the end of dream drop distance, Sora and Riku’s friendship was so solid. It was so close and so sweet. But in kh3? It’s like they purposefully watered Riku down just to make sokai a thing. Like are you fucking kidding me? They advertised Riku with Sora so much leading up to kh3, and yet you only see Riku like, less than a handful. And then, at the end, Riku sacrifices himself, again, for Sora… only for Kairi to get the credit for saving him! Because… deus ex machina, I guess?

Throughout the worlds, there was this recurring theme: acts of true love. Almost all of them require sacrificing oneself. Hercules and Meg, Anna and Elsa, Repunzel and Eugene, even Will and Elizabeth Turner. Let’s see, who has sacrificed themselves for Sora? Oh right. Riku. Kairi has never once shown this kind of love for Sora. And yet at the end, it seems like Sora has decided Kairi is this true love…? He looks into the light when he’s floating with Kairi like he gets it, but all it takes is one braincell to see that this parallel simply doesn’t work with Kairi!

I guess you could count the moment Sora shields Kairi from the incoming blow (though, why he hugged her instead of blocked the hit with the keyblade, I don’t know) and the moment Kairi shielded Sora as a heartless in KH1, but I would argue that Sora shielding Kairi is just him upholding his promise to protect her, not an act of true love or sacrifice; and Kairi was in no real danger when she protected heartless sora so it really doesn’t have the weight. These moments are nothing in comparison for what Riku has done for Sora every game since kh1. And I guess what bothers me so much is that for all my theorizing (probably another post, or I’ll just link to others’ posts about the theory), that probably is just it: they are going to sweep Riku’s sacrifices under the rug and claim that sokai is true love just for those two weak moments. It’s a slap to the face. It laughs and says, “its not that deep”. Essentially, they are saying “hey all that character development Riku and Sora got in dream drop? Don’t matter. Keep scrolling.” Its so cowardly it makes me sick.

 The only hope I have now is that all of this was purposefully misleading. The fact that Sora and Kairi didn’t even share the paopu correctly; the fact Sora seemed confused and hesitant around his connection to Kairi; Sora’s mission to bring her back & his seeming success before disappearing; the secret movie.

[princesskairi]

Potentially minor, nitpicky criticism to a small section of the Sleeping Realm Theory Doc. Note: This criticism has nothing to do with ship wars (at least that’s the intention!) as the doc has nothing to do with ship wars too.

This is referring to the doc’s analysis of the scene where Kairi and Sora reunite in the light tunnel under the section Riku is Light -> Light in the Darkness. Read more underneath.

————————–

My biggest criticism in this analysis is how it presents Kairi and her importance to Sora in conjunction with Riku. This criticism also calls into question some of the claims used to debunk Kairi as being the light in the tunnel.

To start off, it’s not that I dislike the suggestion that Riku is the light in that scene, it’s that to then follow up and say that Kairi is off to the side then moves and “eclipses” that light from Sora’s view is risky framing whether intentional or not. 

While it might not be the writers’ intentions, it’s dangerous to paint that scene that way without further warning/clarification as it can easily fall into the toxic rhetoric that Kairi is in the way of Sora’s realization about Riku (unfortunately, something that is not uncommon in fanon). It takes a scene that is largely meant to display Kairi’s strength and resolve to protect Sora and shifts its focal point to Sora’s thoughts about Riku, which I feel is rather unfair to one of Kairi’s few spotlights in KH3.

The light can very well be Riku’s in that scene (considering the whole “Riku! Answer me!” analysis), but to present Kairi as “eclipsing” that light, leading readers to pick up a double meaning, and then to say that it is never Sora himself that figures she is his light severely downplays Kairi’s real significance to Sora and how he views her. If it is the case that Nomura intended to have double meaning in Kairi eclipsing the light and mislead the audience to think that she is the light by having Sora claim that she is, then of course my anger would be directed towards him alone. 

The part where the writers bring up a screenshot of Namine telling Sora that Kairi’s his light to emphasize that Sora does not figure it out himself is out of fair play. It’s taken out of context. Namine explicitly tells Sora that because she’s been messing with his memories up to that point. She guides and allows Sora to remember for himself that important connection before putting him to sleep to fix his faulty memories. Even if Namine doesn’t tell Sora that, there is no doubt Sora believes it himself. In fact, Sora has already since equated Kairi to light in KH1 (before Namine reinforces it to him) in his speech with Kairi in Traverse Town. He tells Kairi that it was her voice that saved him from the darkness. When Kairi responds that she didn’t want to forget about him, it is Sora that goes “That’s it! Our hearts are connected and the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light.” With the prior context, that’s basically Sora figuring out for himself that “that light” was Kairi’s and the same concepts can be applied to reach and save Riku too. Also, Sora does explicitly conclude on his own in KH3 to Kairi that, “The light in the darkness. It is you”. It’s strange why the narrative that Sora is being misled to think Kairi’s his light (i.e. simply told by others) has to be included to further emphasize the idea that Riku is Sora’s light (esp. when there’s plenty of evidence that Riku is Sora’s light without needing to reevaluate Kairi-centric scenes and call to question Sora’s own revelations about her)? 

————————–

Quote from the doc:

“And so ask yourself this, how is Kairi supposed to be following her own light back?”

Following the same logic, in KH1, how does Kairi, who at the time resides in Sora, also follow the light back to her flashback of her grandmother? Not only that, after her heart is restored to her own body, she tells Sora in Traverse Town, “A light at the end of the tunnel” to which he responds “Oh, your grandma's story right?” and she responds back, “That’s right, we were together”. This shows that Kairi too can in essence “follow her own light back” or at the very least experience that light from an outside perspective. But to leave it open, perhaps this ability is due to the weird oddities from her being in Sora’s body? Or a bolder take is that the light is actually Kairi’s grandmother’s light this entire time! lol! (I highly doubt that this was the intent but who knows! Unless past interviews/Ultimanias can shed some light.) In any case, before one can disprove Kairi being the light on this basis, one needs to also explain this contradiction (considering the doc makes a point that this kh1 scene is meant to be Kairi’s light).

Passage from the doc:

“And if this scene were truly meant to be taken at face value, why do we get these specific visions, inexplicably in the middle of it. Sudden visions of self sacrifice, both referred to as True Love and the reviving power it has. Except, neither Kairi or Sora had sacrificed themselves for just each other at this point, Sora tries to shield her (an act that read as surprisingly desperate and hopeless for the first sign of danger she faced, like he—his heart, remembered she was going to die in this battle no matter what) but Goofy blocked the attack and nothing came of it. And most importantly for all the danger she’s in, none of Kairi’s scenes read as self sacrificial, they read as resigned.”

As for the Disney visions, I do believe that the general takeaway was meant for Sora equating feelings of self-sacrifice, love, and care to his own situation. I do not believe it is exclusively meant for Riku and I do not believe that Kairi can not be equated to these scenes just on the merit that there is no direct self-sacrificial parallel of them in KH3 up to that point. One can argue that even if Goofy came to protect them, that doesn’t lessen the impact that Sora was ready to sacrifice his own danger for Kairi.

In any case, if self-sacrifice is a needed component to link these Disney scenes to someone then Kairi and Sora also have their share as do Sora and Riku. In KH1, Sora sacrifices himself to revive Kairi because of his love for her like how Eugene sacrifices himself for Rapunzel and Anna sacrifices herself for Elsa. Elsa and Rapunzel bring Anna and Eugene back due to their love for them. Same thing happens on Kairi’s end. While Kairi is made of pure light and has no immediate danger in getting pummeled by heartless when she hugs heartless Sora, she herself doesn’t know that she wouldn’t be in danger. That scene could be still interpreted as sacrificial to an extent. Kairi sacrifices her own danger to revive Sora with the power of her light and love for him. Same with Riku, he’s sacrificed himself plenty times for Sora out of his love for him throughout the franchise. These actions are still seen as sacrificial in nature despite Riku not actually dying at the end of it. Riku’s sacrifice (i.e. demon tide) is more recent, so these visions may better equate to Riku esp. with Sora remembering Riku when talking to Anna and others, but considering that this scene is about Sora and Kairi reuniting and Sora showing gratitude towards Kairi, it’s not fair to write Kairi off as not a trigger for these Disney scenes as well.

“This light, that Sora assumes is Kairi, but which she never confirms or denies, a light that led him to Riku’s heart originally. This light begins showing him these scenes of self sacrifice, and Sora makes a confused, jerking motion. And in reaction, Kairi is also confused. Which is weird considering if she’s the light, she would be the one showing him these visions in the first place, right?“

This isn’t quite a fair take. It’s impossible for Kairi to show these visions to Sora as she was not present when those scenes occurred. The same logic should apply to Riku. He was not present when those scenes occurred; he would not be able to show these visions either. So what gives? I don’t believe these visions are being shown to Sora rather Sora is literally remembering these scenes himself and equating them to what he feels right now in his own situation. He jerks up, which causes Kairi to be confused bc she simply can’t know what’s up with Sora’s reaction even if she is able to somehow show these visions herself. She checks to see if Sora’s okay and when she sees that he is, she states, “I told you Sora. You’re safe with me”. 

If what was really meant was that “Riku is the light in the tunnel -> Riku’s light embodies Riku’s self sacrifice, which in turn causes Sora to connect it with his own memories in the Disney worlds” then that’s a different thing and totally valid but was not presented that way in the doc. I also feel that Sora isn’t confused rather in a state of realization and coming back to reality after these visions, which explains why he’s a bit shaken up/disoriented at first with his “Ooh”. Regardless of whose light it is, I firmly believe it is Sora making these connections for himself and not the light showing them for him. Bc of this interpretation, the theory that “Kairi is the light” or “Riku is the light” is not necessarily disproven or illogical on the basis that neither one has been there to experience these Disney scenes. This is different from when the light shows Kairi’s Radiant Garden memories to Sora and is not a perfect parallel but does not need to be.

All in all, Riku’s love for Sora is integral to understand the sacrifices made to facilitate the “drops” and bring everyone to a new worldline, but I personally feel that this specific analysis of Kairi and Sora’s scene does not need to be presented in a way that makes Kairi seem like a misleading device for both Sora and the audience to realize Riku’s love/light. There is no need to disregard Kairi and Sora’s potential connection with the Disney scenes rather than simply show that these scenes are strongly attributed to Riku. There is no need to treat Sora as if he cannot or doesn’t accurately conclude what light means for himself.

I hope my criticism for this specific section does not come off as mean-spirited and I do not want this to be a playground to incite s/hipping wars either bc it’s not even about ships. To make it extremely clear, my criticism does not have to do with ships NOR do I think the theory doc is trying to force a ship onto people either. The word “love” can be interpreted however way you want: romantic, platonic, whatever. I do think that the writers were a bit too quick to dismiss Kairi as the light in this scene and that there was an over emphasis towards Riku in a scene meant to establish Kairi’s importance and I wanted to address that. If it is misreading on my part, feel free to discuss! I don’t want to put words into other people’s mouths. I am open to critique too. This one criticism doesn’t negate all the other interesting insights the doc makes. The doc as a whole is an interesting read and I offer nothing but support and thanks to those involved in the process. 

And who knows, maybe Nomura will come out and confirm that this portion of the doc is right! Then jokes on me but until then, I believe this criticism holds fair.

[asiryn]

my continued first impressions of KH3 (i’ve made it up to the beginning of Big Hero 6). spoilers beyond the cut

okay, i’m attempting to go vaguely in chronological order, so here’s some bullet points:

- in hindsight, i suppose that team darkside were using the toy story world to confirm that beings like replicas can actually have hearts, as apparently they want replicas on their team (to fill out their 13 darkness ranks?? idkkk, i have no idea who counts as an Official Darkness or not)

- woody went Off at young xehanort, which i appreciated. also, i noticed that yx seemed to be parroting a few lines from asod (the whole bit about how hearts begin in darkness and that it’s the heart’s true essence), which is curious to me. was yx already saying and believing that before he started time travelling, or is he picking that up directly from asod?

- it’s interesting to me that the conflict in the toy story world did not get resolved. the world is still split in two, and andy and the others are still missing. normally the disney world reaches some kind of conclusion when you complete it, but this didn’t. makes me curious if this is some kind of hint of events to come, or if it’s just...going to be left hanging. hmm.

- while it makes a bit of sense, i’m still kinda mad that, after you complete the world, rapunzel is no longer allowed to be part of your party. yeah, i get that her moveset revolved around her hair, but come on, just give her a frying pan and she can still kick ass! (also, i agree with donald’s statement, that she’s the strong one between her and flynn)

- this whole thing about the New Seven Hearts, and how the power of a princess of heart was apparently “passed on”.....it’s weird to me, and i don’t think it entirely gels with what we’ve been told about them in every other previous game. idk. also.....if rapunzel, anna, and elsa are 3 of the new ones, and presuming that kairi still counts....then who could possibly be the other 3? (also, if kairi is indeed still a POH....then why didn’t hers pass along with all of the others? and what does that mean for the others? did darkness suddenly appear in their hearts??)

- vanitas getting yeeted is the funniest thing that i’ve seen so far XDDD

- i also find it amusing that vanitas has so far been the most straightforward and honest person in this entire game (apart from maybe ienzo), and that he told sora more info in a single conversation than anyone else had in the entire series up to that point

- and i think that monster’s inc has been the best disney world incorporated into the plot so far, in that it makes perfect sense that vanitas was able to recover his strength in this world

- man, i am so glad that larxene is back, i missed her so much, and i’m loving every second that she’s on screen (also, in the conversation that she had with sora outside elsa’s newly constructed ice palace....she wasn’t actually wrong about anything she said)

- you know, all things considered, i’m not surprised that pretty much the entirety of “let it go” was put into the frozen world. (and i’m not really complaining, as i love the song and idina menzel’s singing XD)

- it was kinda a nice surprise that your disney party member in the frozen world was marshmallow, and it kinda made sense, but i’m still a bit salty that anna and elsa weren’t ever your party members

- the moment when sora was listening to anna talk about her relationship problems with elsa, and he realized it was a lot alike what he went through with riku....ouch, that’s a dagger in my heart (....i am.....slightly wary of the greater implications of this parallel, especially when combined with a couple of other possible parallels being made, as i’m not looking forward to the potential double whammy of forced sokai and pulling a no homo on soriku....but if that is the intention, it’s been pretty subtle so far, so i guess i can only hope it stays on this level :/) (and on a related note, i’m not a fan of the fact that sora and riku have barely had any interactions at all, and that riku has hardly had any scenes in general, at least so far :///)

- man, the voice acting for most of the pirates world, and elizabeth in particular, was so bad and boring :///

- with demyx officially being a reserve member of “true org xiii”.....i give up on trying to keep track of who counts for a 13 darkness or not :///

- xemnas saying something about demyx, luxord, marly, and larxene having some kind of keyblade power.............??????????????

- asod, what girl are you talking about????? that ansem has hidden????? wtfffff

- aqua ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

- yessssssssssssssss, roxas, ven, and xion all have their own hearts!!!!!! so relieved

- you know, it’s so simply brilliant, to create replica bodies for roxas, xion, and namine to exist in; never thought of it myself, but i really should have

- i really wish that everyone would realize that, every time they start talking about saving aqua, and sora speaks up about wanting to be the one to do it....i wish they would realize that it’s really ven talking, and not sora. come on, y’all are now all aware that his heart’s inside sora ://

- still have no fucking clue what happened to terra :////

- according to luxord, the black box team darkside wants is filled with hope.....so does that mean that they want the pandora’s box that maleficent tossed aside? surely in that case, then xigbar already has it, bc he was watching them the whole time. and......i thought the black box in question was the one the master of masters gave to luxu?? is that box filled with “hope”?? idkkkkkkkkkk

- i’m so proud of hayner, pence, and olette, for managing to help ansem escape from asod

- as to vexeven.......idk if he’s lying or not to ansem, about wanting to atone...... >.>