#then again there’s references to twewy in the secret ending so like

[blowingoffsteam2]

So like what are we all gonna do if Sora didn’t actually forget Riku in kh4 afjsjfs

[rayvenden]

Just my KH20th Announcement Trailer thoughts and text dump

First are my quick thoughts and then I go into analysis mode. This post is more for me than anything lol

They're delaying the Dark Road finale AGAIN? The bastards

BRAIN AND HIS HAT IN 3D!

WEIRD LONDON SCALA IN 3D!

I'm going to be playing this mobile game even if it's shit and even tho it looks like another gacha

STRELITZIA IN 3D!

TWEWY style subplot for Quadratum mayhaps? POG

No platforms announced for KH4? Please my one big fear is that it's going to be PS5 timed exclusive. T-T

Dark Road:

Not me studying the missing upperclassmen of Scala to see if anyone looks familiar (like a somebody of Luxord and Demyx, but I don't think they fit that bill). However this looks like it's probably Baldr's missing sister.

---

Missing-Link:

These devices in Missing-Link are probably "links" lol. (Gee how would I have ever guessed)

Apparently the title Missing-Link refers to this taking place in the time between Union Cross and Dark Road (to link them). Makes sense as... that's what the game is.

Missing-Link could also be

-a missing link in a chain of memories

-a lost page of the Book of Prophecies

-a missing star connecting a constellation? (i.e. Yozora or Nameless Star reference)

-a missing person (plenty of candidates lmao. Nameless Star, Subject X, Ava, the population of Daybreak Town, the population of Scala ad Caelum, even Sora. Plus I am sure there will be even more murders *cough* 'missing people' during this game.)

Side note; I think it'd be cool if you got creepy correspondence from a missing person's link. 👀

It's probably also a slight reference to D-Links from BBS, which is how you tap into the trio's and Disney characters' powers. So your link is probably canonically how you use the medals shown. You probably equip your medals to set which moves you can use, like how it works in UX, with a mix of BBS since it’s now in 3D with 3D moves.

Cue me getting hype as hell. I love BBS style customization. UX had plenty of customization but now that it's in 3D we can actually get a heckton of recognizable moves from across the entire series as equippable medals. Watch me equip all Sonic Blades and just nope off into space.

Okay two things here:

First off, gotta be a reference to Yozora (don’t you know, he has a copyright on the night sky). Secondly, it's probably safe to imagine that we'll be dealing with another Real Daybreak Town VS Data Daybreak Town situation here. Since the "stars shown contorted", I think that means that things aren't quite right. 👀 Like, perhaps the constellations don’t line up right... BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT REAL *gasps in shock*

KH4:

Actually I don’t think I have a lot to say here. It’s beyond cool that the Dark Seeker saga is done and we’re getting the start of The Lost Master arc. Seriously the Master of Masters is such a fun character, so I’m excited.

This might be a good spot to find some ingredients:

Oh right I guess people are freakin out cause Star Wars might be in KH too lol:

Also it makes sense that Strelitzia found Sora since they both heckin DEAD

WAIT SEVEN WHOLE DAYS

DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH CAN HAPPEN IN SEVEN DAYS

Do I smell a KH2 Roxas style intro????????? DOES THIS CONNECT TO THE YOZORA ENDINGS? WHICH ENDING IS CANON? IS NEITHER ENDING CANON? IS ANY OF THIS REAL, OR NOT? AAAAAAAAAAAAA

anyway

Ignoring his very concerning words, this appears to be the Master of Masters and Luxu due to their stances. Which alright, we were already wondering how MoM got to Quadratum, but now Luxu is here as well? Is it that fucking easy to get to Quadratum? I mean it’s not SUPPOSED to be that easy. Sora and Strelitzia got there by DYING. They’re straight up DEAD. Xigbar went and faked his death and had a chat with the Foretellers and then apparently just moseyed on over to Quadratum??? They got some sorta secret backdoor to just go back and forth as much as they want? Well okay, maybe it’s not dissimilar to the dark corridors I suppose...

Edit: Look at this gremlin man

This is the look of a man who knows too much and is having the time of his lives. I guess if you went through what the MoM forced you to go through, maybe you’d learn to have fun with it lmao

Also, the Master of Masters wanted to vacay in Quadratum to get away from the Darknesses who were chatting him up in UX, but where there is light, darkness will follow, so lookie here he introduced KH’s darkness and heartless and shit to this world, good job buddy.

Edit: I forgot the Donald and Goofy at the end bit. It’s probably Hades which makes sense because why wouldn’t you wanna talk to the Lord of the Dead to get ideas on how to bring back a dead person lol.

Editing again because this on twitter appears to have more information if you’re interested! There’s a bunch of info including something I’m personally excited about:

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I don’t know if I can properly do a review for Neo the World Ends With You. I can talk about the bullet points about the plot and how it’s the perfect sequel to TWEWY there, but other than that... I feel like it’s just going to me being like, “It’s good. It’s good. It’s so good” and gushing about my favorite parts. But you know what? Here I’m going to try it, anyway:

So, I saw someone complaining about how the artwork for Neo wasn’t original, because if you put it beside TWEWY (the Switch version), if you didn’t know any better, you might think you had two copies of the same game... And that’s because the creators tried to make this “TWEWY 2″ in every way possible, even with the box arts being so similar. And I just- I love that so much! 

I feel like Neo is almost moreso now an act two to TWEWY--the final act--than a sequel, per se.

But, like, a lot of us were theorizing from the beginning that Rindo’s mask thing might be tied to him not speaking up, like Neku’s headphones were tied to how he shut people out. And this was true. And, ahh. What a beautiful thing this was. To have such protagonists for the two games and to see them grow. And while I expected Rindo’s character arc, it was honestly a lot better than I was expecting. I grew to like him a lot more than I thought I would. And I loved him making the decisions to go back and try to save his friends, even though he knew it might make things worse, when before he could rarely make a decision on his own. I really felt his struggle here, and it was executed well and this was pay-off after everything that came before it.

TWEWY gave us Taboo Noise and Neo gave us Plague Noise. At first, this kind of bothered me. Because I thought if one could make Plague Noise, surely someone like Sho or Mr. H would have tried that in the first game, when they were trying to become Composer and save Shibuya, respectively. But now that I get what they were going for with it, I’m all for it. And TheDeliveryGod points out that they might be a reference to Covid with the “Plague” name and with Rindo wearing a “mask”, which I hadn’t thought about. I know they started coming up with some of this before that, but maybe. Edit: This all ties into Neku and Rindo’s character arcs, too. Originally, Neku didn’t want anyone to force their values on him and probably would have been happy if they all thought like him. But in the end, everyone IS thinking alike and it’s not what he wanted at all. In Neo, Rindo has a problem of speaking up and making decisions. And in Neo, this leads to people not being able to think at all.

Anyway, TWEWY had everyone brainwashed by the end and Neo had it so they couldn’t think at all. And oh my gosh, I did not think that Nagi and Fret’s psychs would come in to save the day (and Neku and Tsugumi’s as well), but this is another amazing payoff and I could watch this segment again and again. Eep! It was such a beautiful text bubble scene and cutscene!

And when I was first playing the game, I was starting to worry if they’d delve deep into the characters... and really explain everything, make me care about everyone and everything and add replay value. But they did. They really did. I never thought they’d make me care about the Shinjuku Reapers, but here we are. I feel so bad for that tragic family now. And ahh! Knowing that Shoka is Swallow now has so much replay value! ...And makes her and Rindo even more shippable, of course. I’ve gone back and played a few chapters and I can see it now. Ahh. And of course, the character development is spot-on. Which is what TWEWY is all about. I never should have doubted. I really loved all the flashbacks with our girl Shoka, too, and seeing her and Ayano’s relationship, and what she was like before she found herself with Gatto Nero.

Rindo gets pulled back into the RG similarly to Neku’s ending! And at first, you think that’s his happy ending, too! But all is not right, of course. But because Neku’s struggles (him finally letting people in) got the attention (a change of heart) of another higher being (the Composer, Joshua, and he gave Neku and the gang their happy ending), it does the same thing with the angel Haz. And can I just say... there’s something about this whole segment that is just sublime? I want to watch it over and over and over again. It oddly might be my favorite part of all of TWEWY now, and that is really saying something. But Neku’s story was about letting people in and he did that, so story out. But Rindo’s was about making decisions... and he has one more important decision to make--the biggest one--before he can get his happy ending, and Haz leads him to it, subtly. Sort of like how I think Joshua was subtly trying to get Neku to change his mind about destroying Shibuya in TWEWY.

Oh. And you finish off the big bad by doing a Fusion with your whole party again, and you all sort of land/flash on the ground afterwards like you did in TWEWY, too!

And I’ve rambled enough about the new NeShiki scene in my NeShiki posts since Neo. But that essentially being a continuation of their scene from TWEWY: MMM. My heart! It almost makes not seeing Shiki’s face all these years worth it for that moment. Almost.

And then the title changing to “The World Begins With You” again, but with Neo this time... is just the most beautiful and awe-inspiring thing they could have done and I can’t thank them enough for it.

And the sheer joy I felt when I realized that this game had Another Day, too.

There are other smaller things, too. Like I’m pretty sure shark Noise start appearing on the day they did in the original (the day Rhyme got erased). And how Transformation--a song that plays as boss battle music against Sho--plays when you first meet him in TWEWY.

Neo really is TWEWY2 through and through, even though the developers didn’t want to call it that (so newcomers knew they could play it without knowing the first game), and I can’t thank them enough for that. What a wonderful world this was. ^_^

Oh! And the ending scene with Rindo and Shoka playing FanGo was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen--the perfect ending, really--and felt like it came straight out of a Disney movie.

It makes me wish I could rewatch all of this in one-go... except I can’t. Haha.

Oh, and of course I love that we get a new menu art, ala what FFXV did, where the darkness is gone and we have Neku in the art, too:)

...

And now onto a few tidbits of some of my million favorite scenes: 

I love that Beat calls Nagi Pinny. LOL. I love everything about Beat in this game. Speaking of:

That one quest where that one guys becomes possessed with Noise and is fretting about his sister and you fix him up, and Beat says, “I love a guy who cares about his little sis.” :)

And when you’re exploring the urban legends (that is very Twilight Town KHII, I must say. Side note: Stealth Sneak from KH, I can’t believe you made it here, too), and you’re doing the stair ones, and Nagi falls down them and Beat’s like, “Yo, Pinny. You, ai’ight?!”:D:D:D

I think this was another part of the urban legend day, but when that guy imprinted on that girl to just end her friendship with all her friends, since she was stressing about friends growing further apart, so he decided to just cut her losses. And Beat was like, “How about I imprint you to stick your hand up where the sun don’t shine, yo?”

Or in Another Day, when Beat says to Neku, “We’re not getting much screen time,” and Neku replies, “Let’s let the kids have it. That gives us more time to...” Beat: “That’s right: Tin Pin Slammer!” Nagi: “Those two sure seem to have gotten themselves into something exciting over there.” Shoka (I think it was Shoka): “Oh, they’re playing that game that was super popular three years ago.” Hahaha. I also loved the reference to Reaper Creeper with Rhyme and Coco, and Nagi and Fret being like WTF is that?

All of the character interactions are wonderful, and you know I’ll be making posts upon posts about them. But I love that we passed the Bechdel Test with some sweet Shoka and Nagi moments.

That whole scene where Joshua helps Shoka and Rindo is just the greatest. I keep watching it over and over. I love that he helps her in such an asshole-y way. Everything’s a game to him (though you know what? Maybe it’s also a reference to Rindo and Shoka meeting and bonding through FanGo) Oh, Josh. But maybe that was the only way he could do it. The Neku and Josh scene is also wonderful (he tried to help Neku after Coco shot him. He did... even if it was to lock Neku in Shinjuku for three years, because he didn’t trust him to blab that Josh was the Composer? I’m kind of with Neku on that one, “Oh, brother”. But it all worked out in the end, and the following moment with Neku and Josh is really special).

Though I really am wondering why he didn’t help more, and why no one thought to get the Composer for help... probably because he couldn’t interfere. Got to get those secret reports to explain everything, I’m sure. You know what? I’m sure he was actually pulling some strings behind the scenes.

Adore all the stuff with Rhyme. I’ve gushed about that in other posts. She’s so cute now! Always was. And I’ve so proud of my hacker daughter!

Shutting up now. And expect a million more Neo posts in the future. What a game. What a series! So glad I can say that about TWEWY now.

Edit: And I’m so glad that angels were in here, and that that plot got expanded on from the original!

[izaswritings]

all that’s left in the world | chapter two

Title: all that’s left in the world—

Synopsis: —is me.

Neku’s been shot and Shibuya is threatening to go the same way as Shinjuku, but just because the first Game is over doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten how to play.

Or: Neku deals with a nightmare city and his most annoying (and mathematical) partner yet; Shiki and Joshua commit an escalating number of illegal moves, Beat and Eri hunt down a stray Reaper, and Rhyme watches and waits for the counter-attack. Shibuya refuses to go down easy.

Fandom: The World Ends With You | TWEWY

Warnings: some cursing, implied/referenced character death a la Neku’s situation/Reaper’s game, references to canonical murder attempts (successful and failed), implied suicide mentions (nothing explicit, just… as a way to get into the Game), self-esteem issues abound, and Joshua. Just… Joshua.

-

AO3 Link is here!

Part One is here!

-

part two: shiki

.

She knows even before she gets the call, Beat inconsolable over the phone. She knows, in some way, from the moment she wakes up, that very morning. Mr. Mew’s stitching is ripped and Neku is late for their meeting; she and Eri go shopping alone. It’s not the first time it has happened, and Eri is fine, even more upbeat than usual when she hears it’s just them today—but Shiki, for a moment there at Ten-Four, stands looking in a shop window feeling like the floor has fallen out beneath her feet, like everything has tilted to just that one degree left to off and now no matter what she tries, it’s never going to be the same again.

So, yeah. She knows. She picks up the phone for the second time this morning with her fingers already going numb, her gut all tied up in knots, Mr. Mew strangled in her other hand. She answers the phone.

She says, “Beat, I— I don’t understand, I’m sorry, what happened? Beat, what happened? Where’s Neku? I just talked to him, I was just talking to him—is he with you? Beat?”

She listens. “Beat, where are you?”

She doesn’t move. She feels like she’s barely breathing. She talks into the phone, and she can’t even hear her own voice, the roaring in her ears is so loud.

Minutes later. Shiki hangs up the phone. She closes her eyes.

There’s a beat. Ten-Four is aflutter around her; the murmuring crowd and the click of shoes against the ground and the way the light warps and reflects, bouncing off the glass, twisting around each shadow. It’s midday on a Monday and Shibuya is awake and alive, and Shiki feels like a stranger.

Eri says, “Shiki?”

Shiki blinks. She swallows. She’s still holding the phone, she realizes, and it takes effort to click it closed, to put it away. Her hands are cold.

Eri’s standing in front of her, eyes wide. They’re in the middle of the walkway, the crowd rushing around them. She has shopping bags in one hand and a smile that’s fallen to worry. “Shiki! What’s wrong? Was that Neku?”

Shiki flinches, and then curls her hand. “N-no,” she says. She takes a breath. Then another. Something settles in her. “No, no, it was— Eri, um, I’m sorry, I have to go.”

“What? But—”

“Sorry. Sorry. I just— I have somewhere I need to be,” Shiki says, and she says this last bit very quietly, decided and cold to her core, a whisper to herself. “Eri— Eri, can I ask a favor?”

Eri has already put down her bags. She looks freaked. “Of course, Shiki, anything, but what—”

“My friend, Beat— h-he saw— he needs some help right now. He’s by the CAT mural in Udagawa. Can you go help him get home? Beat’s calling Rhyme, and I’m sure they’ll get him back safe but— I'd feel a lot better if you could help too.”

“Sure,” Eri whispers. They’re in their own little bubble in the crowd, and Eri has come close, shopping bags left on the floor and her bare hands taking Shiki’s wrists. “Sure, of course, whatever it is but—Shiki, what happened? Where are you going?"

Shiki stares down at the floor. She doesn’t answer, doesn’t know how to answer, and in the end she just stays silent. She tugs her wrists from Eri’s grip, and turns to pick up Mr. Mew with both hands, looking down at his face. There’s comfort in this—the stitching she knows by heart, that she did by hand; the reminder of the power, and the life she once breathed into him. Her hands tighten. Her fingers leave little dimples in his black fur. Because Mr. Mew is answer enough, isn't it? She feels so cold, but she isn't surprised, not really. She woke up this morning feeling like the world was off-kilter, and even though she hadn’t needed Mr. Mew with her for weeks, she'd brought him with her today.

“Shiki?”

Her eyes feel hot and wet. She presses her lips. “Eri,” she says. “Please just trust me. I—I have to—I have somewhere I need to go.”

Eri looks panicked. Her hands flutter by Shiki's shoulders. She laughs, bubbly and bright and all Eri, but it wavers at the edges.  “I—”

Shiki meets her gaze. “Please,” she repeats. Her grip on Mr. Mew is very tight. “He’s by the CAT mural. He’s… he’s not doing okay.”

Eri bites her lip hard. “Okay,” she whispers. She swallows and looks around and makes as if to pick up her shopping bags, almost, before she seems to think better of it and pulls her hand back, fluttering in the air. “Okay, okay. I will.” She searches Shiki’s face. “You better call me, okay? Shiki, promise you’ll call me.”

If this goes right, Shiki won’t be able to call her. Shiki won’t be able to call anyone. But she can’t say that. Eri doesn’t know—not about the Game, not about anything. Even if she did, she still wouldn’t let Shiki go.

And Shiki has to do this.

Shiki exhales. “Okay.”

Eri’s face falls. She’s always known when Shiki lied to her. She reaches out and Shiki steps back. “Thanks, Eri,” Shiki says, voice tight, and then she turns on her heel and runs for it before she can think better of what she is about to do.

.

Neku told them all the whole story, in the end; Neku tells them everything. The missing gaps and the hollow pieces and who that pale-haired boy had really been, down there in the Shibuya River, on that final day. He told them, even though he wasn’t supposed to, and at the time Shiki had nodded and listened and tried not to feel sick, and she'd said all the things that needed to be said, like “Why do you still trust him?” and “Okay, Neku, but—” and “Even so. If—if he ever—you know I always have your back, right?”

And Neku had smiled at her. “I know,” he'd said.

But Shiki had taken something else from that truth too, in a way Beat and even Rhyme had not: she had understood. She understands what it’s like. Once, not as long ago as either of them would like, Neku had lifted Shiki into the air and strangled her with her own shirt collar. He tried to kill her. And afterwards he said sorry like it had to be pulled out from between his teeth, and Shiki had accepted that because Shiki accepted everything back then, especially terrible things, because Shiki had known she was an awful person and so bad things in return were just deserved.

Neku hadn’t really been sorry then; in her secret heart of hearts, Shiki hadn’t really forgiven him, either. She would, though. At the end of the sixth day, five minutes before the ad was set to air and they were waiting with bated breath to know the outcome, Shiki had apologized for slowing them down—and Neku, Neku had looked away and said, awkward and quiet and like he didn’t know the right way to be kind: “That's okay. It’s fine. We, um. We all have our bad days.”

She’d looked at him, then. She thought about everything he’d said to her, how she’d bared all her ugly secrets and he’d accepted it like it was fine. How he’d told her she was lucky to be jealous—to have something to strive for—to have a friend so wonderful you could be jealous of them—and how those words had sunk in where everything else had slipped off. The envy ate at her, sometimes, like a rot in her gut; in no world could Shiki ever imagine being able to leave it behind.

So to hear that? That this envy didn't have to be a bad thing? That she could be jealous and still love Eri, be jealous and still be herself—learn to love herself? That it was Neku who gave her that?

And that day, at the end, she said, “Neku? Thanks,” but what she really meant was I forgive you.

So she understands, a little, the thing between Neku and the boy named Joshua, even if she doesn’t like it. She understands. And when Neku told her the story, she took it and tucked it away, that Joshua was Composer and powerful and dangerous and sometimes cruel—but he was also someone Neku trusted.

And she’s thinking of that, still—remembering the story, and the way Neku told it; remembering forgiving Neku. And she’s thinking of the Reapers, and the Game, and of that last day in the rain, facing the Game Master head-on, standing up and standing strong and saying: I'm coming back to Eri, and you aren’t stopping me.

She looks up into the entrance of the Shibuya River. She curls her fingers to fists. Mr. Mew dangles from one hand.

She walks inside with her head held high, and refuses to let herself shake.

.

The door lets her through. She’s not sure why—if it's because she’s in the RG or if it’s because there are so few higher-ranking Reapers left to challenge him that Joshua honestly doesn’t see a reason to block her or anyone else out—but Shiki’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, as Rhyme would say, so she sets her jaw and pulls back her shoulders, and marches right on in.

It’s... as creepy as it was the first time around, she thinks, and cold, too, even with her sweater. She shivers a little and draws the green cardigan higher up her shoulders, taking strength from it. Mr. Mew is a comforting weight in her hands, but the deeper she walks in the more Shiki has to double-check: the warmth of her green sweater, the darker tan of her hands compared to Eri’s, the bobbed cut of her darker hair and the thin weight of her glasses on her nose. She’s Shiki. She’s herself. No matter what she remembers of this place, she’s here now stronger and better than before. She’s walking these halls with her own two feet.

Despite her conviction, though: it really is creepy. The quiet drip of the water from above, the slow trickle of the deadened river, the long, empty hall stretching on and on. She exhales hard and isn’t surprised when her breath fogs.

“Hello?” Shiki tries, and no, nope—the silence is somehow worse when nothing answers. She exhales harder, angry at her own fear, and draws herself tall. Her footsteps click quiet down the hallway. She’s dressed well for this. She likes these boots. Comfortable, cute, and good for running. “Helloooo?”

Nothing.

She thinks of the phone call, of Beat babbling over the speaker. “It happened again, yo, I saw—I wasn’t fast enough—I wasn’t enough, Shiki, I—I'm sorry, Phones—oh, fuck, Phones—”

When she speaks again, she feels very cold. “I know you can hear me. Or, I guess—you should. You probably already know I’m here. Maybe you even let me in... I don’t know.” She hugs Mr. Mew to her chest. “Beat mentioned you. You saw what happened, right? You know what’s going on?” She stares into the darkness. Nothing. “I know we don't know each other very well, but I— Neku trusts you. Despite everything. So I’m going to try too.”

Still nothing. Shiki rubs one of Mr. Mew’s paws between her fingers and draws strength from the stitching. The remembered pride of creating this little stuffed cat, the dedication, her fingers bloody from needle-pricks and the way she’d smiled for days once she’d finished. “I need to talk to you,” she says, louder now. “I need to— I need your help! You’re the Composer, right? You brought us back, right? Joshua—”

“I didn’t say you could call me that.”

The voice is young, boyish, chiding… and utterly unexpected. Shiki startles so bad she almost falls over, and turns around so quick she almost gets whiplash. Mr. Mew is squeezed in a death grip. She splutters. “Y-You—that was—give some warning!”

The boy who had definitely not been there a second ago just smiles at her. Shiki’s heart abruptly lodges in her throat. She feels cold again. Oh, she thinks. She recognizes him. Only barely, only briefly, but... the pale hair, the bright eyes. The way he’s smiling. She knows him. Joshua—the Composer. Or something.

“Um,” Shiki starts, and then forgets everything she’d planned to say.

The boy waits, and when the silence stretches, he smiles. “What,” he says. His eyes are bright. “Nothing to say? And after you came all this way.”

That kickstarts her brain. Shiki takes a breath and sets her feet. It’s fine. She’s fine! Reapers and Noise and even a dragon... and maybe the Composer is stronger than all those things, but Shiki knew this going in. She knew the moment she answered the phone—the moment she walked up to the door.

“I need your help,” she says, and Joshua raises an eyebrow.

“Wow,” he says. “So forward. And demanding. And I should help you... or even listen to you, I might add... why, exactly?”

She stares at him. “Because Neku's—hurt,” she says, stumbling over the words. The boy's smile widens. She kind of hates it. “He needs our help!”

“Mm-hm.” Joshua tilts his head. “Okay. That doesn't answer my question, you realize.”

Okay. Okay. All-powerful being who could smite her or not, Shiki’s starting to get a little angry here. She takes a deep breath. “Neku… he’s in the Game again, right? I wanted to ask if you could—”

His eyes are suddenly cold. “Neku's dead,” Joshua says, blunt. Shiki falters, the words dying on her tongue. “I won’t stop the Game for him, or for anyone. Even if he was in my Game, I’m afraid that just isn’t done.” He smiles again, but his demeanor has visibly chilled. “Well, this was fun. See you—”

But Shiki isn't listening anymore. “That’s not what I was going to say!” she snaps, hotly. “I wasn’t going to ask you to—” Her mind derails. She stops. “Wait, w-what? What do you mean if he was—Neku’s not in the Reaper’s Game?”

Joshua’s tilted his head, though; he looks curious. “Oh?” He blinks. “Don’t tell me you want to join him in the Game. Trust me, you don't need my help for that.”

Yeah, Shiki knows. But she also knows she couldn’t. She couldn’t hurt Eri like that, couldn’t hurt Neku or Beat or her parents… couldn’t do that to herself. Maybe this body won’t ever be what Shiki wants it to be, maybe her reflection won’t ever quite match who Shiki knows she is… but it’s hers. She is Shiki Misaki, and she’s worth something all on her own, and she won’t forget that again. She’s not who she used to be.

But Joshua isn’t wrong, either: he just hasn’t figured it out yet, why out of all people Shiki needs his help, because the only way this works is if he agrees. “Maybe not,” she says, voice small. “But you’re the only one who could let me in as an illegal Player.”

Because Neku told her everything—even the lie, even what he’d thought was the truth. And this time when Joshua looks her over, reading her mind or just her face or whatever it is Composers do, she knows he gets it, because he finally stops smiling.

“...Huh,” he says, but he doesn’t sound much pleased. He crosses his arms, one hand lifting to twirl a strand of hair. “Hm. Well. An interesting idea.” He stops mid-motion. “Though you do realize that just because I break my own rules doesn’t mean I’m going to let you do the same, don’t you?”

“I—I get that,” she admits. “I do. But I'm not—I get it, I know Neku has to win the Game to come back, that’s the major rule, but—but the risk’s the same, right? If I get erased in the UG, I’ll die in the RG too, I’m just... skipping a step to the entry? The Game itself—I’m still playing with the same stakes! Um. R-right?” She thinks.

Joshua doesn’t say anything. His eyes are narrow. “It’s an entertaining idea, I’ll give you that. Unfortunately...” He trails off, hands rising in an open shrug, and sighs heavily, falsely regretful. “I’m afraid I just don’t have any more use for Neku, really. He’s done his duty, and very well, too... and now it’s time for him to retire. I advise you just accept it and move on.”

There’s static in her ears. Shiki is frozen still. She gapes at him. Joshua smiles back, and it doesn’t reach his eyes. He flicks his fingers at her. “Ta. You can leave now.”

“What are you saying?” She sounds so quiet, even to herself. Strangled. Cold all the way to her bones.

He sighs again. “Look—”

“How can you say that!?” Something’s buzzing in her ears, burning in her blood. She can’t breathe. “You can’t—how could you—I thought he was your partner too!”

Joshua’s smile flickers. Shiki barrels on before he can speak. “He'd do it for you!” she snaps, feeling something angry and hot climb up behind her eyes. When she'd died… it had mattered. Her parents had left flowers by the spot, and even Eri—Eri, who Shiki had been so afraid to see—she'd cared so much she'd almost given up her whole dream just because Shiki wasn't there with her. And it had hurt, to hear that—to know she was so loved, and how much she had left to lose by failing the Game—but it mattered. To hear that. To know.

So she can't imagine this—can't imagine if someone spoke about her the way this boy is speaking about Neku, like he's nothing, like he doesn't matter, like the only reason to save someone is because they're useful. It makes something coil in her gut. It makes her throat close up tight.

“He'd do it for you!” she repeats, scandalized, and Joshua isn't smiling at all now and she should really watch that—but she’s too angry, suddenly, too mad to think. Her arms are ramrod-straight by her side, Mr. Mew swinging from one shaking fist; she stomps her foot against the ground and it doesn't feel like enough. “He— he didn't shoot you in your stupid duel and he never hated you even when he was mad at you and he always invites you to our meetups and—and even I know that, he didn't even tell me that, I just know! Because you’re his partner! He—and you—”

She’s losing her words. She wants to scream. “Never mind! Never mind! I don't get why Neku cares about you at all! You clearly don't deserve it! I'll save Neku myself, you—you—argh!”

She wants to strangle him, but she’s not that far gone. Shiki stamps her foot again instead of hitting Joshua in the face like he deserves, and marches down the hall, shoving past him, heading for the exit. Fine, fine, fine. She'll figure something out. She will.

“Neku is a special brand of stupid.”

Shiki takes it back. She's going to hit him. She turns around, livid, words rising on her tongue, and then she sees Joshua fully and stops. He has one strand twisted around his finger; he's staring off into nothing, into the darkness of the sewer, looking something like thoughtful, or maybe tired, or maybe just blank. “He is,” he adds, when Shiki doesn't say anything. “Anyone else would have taken the shot. Should have...”

He trails off, then sighs again. “It doesn’t matter. Like I said before: he’s not in my Game. Someone’s trying to jack Shibuya, and frankly, she's annoyingly good at covering her tracks. If Neku’s in a Game, it’s not one I'm running.” He makes a face, briefly. “And fine, yes, I can guess where he is, but your idea only works if there’s other Players to pact with. If he’s where I think he is… and if she’s running it… well, I doubt there’s anything left in that city at all, Player or person. Even if I was so inclined to sneak you in, you’d be less than useless. No partner…”

He stops there, the words unsaid but understood. No partner, no power. Shiki would be nothing but more food for the Noise.

Shiki stares at him. She turns her eyes away. His admission has pulled the rug out on her anger; she’s not sure how to feel at all. “...Oh.”

“Mm.” He's silent, for a moment. Shiki stares at the ground. In the distance, water drips.

“Could...” Her voice falters. Shiki swallows. “Could you get me in,” she says, haltingly, “as an illegal Player... if I was already in a pact?”

He tilts his head, giggling a little at the thought. “Wow. You’re just full of ideas, aren’t you? Let me guess. Daisukenojo Bito? His sibling? Or what about your friend… Eri, was it?”

This time, though, Shiki’s ready for him. “What about you?"

He seems, for a moment, to be at a loss for words. Then he smiles again. “No.”

“But—”

“It's a grand idea, really. But you aren't really suited to be around, well, me—for a long period of time. And I can't exactly leave Shibuya unguarded.”

What? That’s news to Shiki. “But Neku was fine,” she says, bewildered, and Joshua smiles, a little sideways. 

“Well, he was fighting for you.”

Oh, Shiki thinks, and for a moment it just kind of hurts, to be reminded of that. To remember how much she'd come to mean to Neku. Like Eri almost giving up their dream—something painful, but not all bad. It’s never a bad thing, Shiki thinks, to know you’re loved. She draws herself taller. “Then it's fine,” she says stubbornly, and when Joshua raises an eyebrow at her, she says, “I'm playing for Neku. So it's fine.”

He snickers. “That's not at all how it works, but I'll give you points for tenacity.”

“I don't care,” Shiki says, more firmly. “If it's what we have to do, then I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes.”

They finally got back. They were all finally together. And Shiki could look Eri in the eyes again and not hate herself while doing it, and Beat smiled all the time now and Rhyme, Rhyme was dreamless but happy and, they said, willing to try and find a dream again. Rhyme was alive.

Neku was happy.

Joshua’s smiles fades, a little. He considers her. Shiki stands still and tall and tries her best not to fidget.

Joshua takes a moment to think about it. He twirls one section of hair around his finger, tugging at the strand. And then he is smiling again, and that brightness is back in his eyes. “Well,” he says. “All right then, Shiki Misaki. You have yourself a deal.” His smile flashes to a grin. He giggles. “I guess you can call me Joshua after all... partner.”

Shiki meets his gaze and smiles back. He’s rude. He is, she realizes, a little cruel. When she can do so without getting immediately smited, she’s going to break his nose for ever talking like he was going to leave Neku to die. But maybe he does care about Neku, maybe it does mean something to him too, because she can't see any other reason why he'd agree.

And Neku trusts him.

Shiki isn’t sure if she feels the same, but she knows how the Game is played.

“Call me Shiki,” she agrees, and the last thing she hears before the pale flicker of the binding pact blinds her, and the world flickers around her like bad static, is Joshua, laughing again.

The pact snaps into place—

—and then Shiki is somewhere else.

[madcapotaku]

Kingdom Hearts: The World Ends With Final Fantasy Versus XIII

I’m fairly certain I’ve decoded the secret ending & of course Nomura can completely change any premise he wants but the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts 3 is not as random or obscure as it seems to be. Let’s investigate....

Fans are gagging over Yozora’s resemblance to Noctis but there’s an obvious reason. It’s a massive hint to where the plot is going. Nomura wants to tell the original storyline of Final Fantasy Versus XIII which is NOT Final Fantasy XV in any way shape or form. The original plot of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, people gifted with the sight to see death’s light after being involved in near death experiences themselves. This Reddit user explains it better than me because for one, it’s been so long since I heard this storyline, it’s so ignored, I almost wondered if I made it up myself, & two, this user had a little more information than I had. (never heard about the Goddess)

This plot explains why Final Fantasy XV had so many night related anthems, (Noctis, Luna, & the moon) while having little to no moon/night related plot. This also explains why Yozora has a red eye. (The death sight)

Part of the reason why it took me this long to connect the dots is because I had no knowledge of another video game called, The World Ends With You

Another Nomura game that is based on death & reapers. It’s a game based in Shibuya that has players fighting for their lives, literally. You have a certain time frame to reclaim your life or the reaper gets you. (Paraphrasing, like I said, I never played it)

With Final Fantasy Versus XIII & The World Ends With You both having death as it’s main theme, & both games having a certain Kingdom Hearts 3 Director in common, it’s not rocket science to break down the secret ending now......

Sora & Riku both woke up in Shibuya (once again, the town The World Ends With You is based in) after Sora went on some LIFE SACRIFICING mission to bring Kairi back. Sora never returned (see KH3 ending) which of course has Riku going in after him........

Notice the different colors? The different scenes? Both didn’t enter Shibuya at the same time (Riku arrived later) and with The World Ends With You & Kingdom Hearts for that matter having alternate words, it’s easy to assume they’re in different realities. Sora, is in TWEWY, which is not that far fetched considering he has already met the protagonist of that game, Neku.

While Riku is in another Shibuya, Final Fantasy Versus XIII (Verum Rex) as we saw when Yozora was staring at Riku. (He’s staring because he sees the death light on Riku)

Either both Sora & Riku are dead, or close to it. It’s not a coincidence at all these death omens are centered on that secret ending. Yozora’s appearance confirms it, it’s just a lot of people have no knowledge of FFVersusXIII’s original plot so it’s goofy, petty, or strange to see “fake Noctis” in KH3, but it’s not. It’s a red flag of what’s next. Oh & add the fact that we had no Final Fantasy (another game about DEATH) references in KH3, (looks like it’s because we’re getting a FF theme series) that it’s kind of obvious the next series is going to take on a serious tone. An older tone, as it should considering KH fans are old enough for this material 17 years later after KH1. I’m more excited for this plot than any KH storyline in the past. We’re finally getting the dark story Nomura always wanted to tell....

This scene is of course a Kingdom Hearts reference but it’s also a Versus XIII reference as well. The moon is the light that the death seers depend on. I see you, Nomura!

[nekucreates]

Finally finished replaying The World Ends With You today (main story-wise, and do need to redo chapters to get all the stuff I missed and stars to get the Secret Reports) and let me just say I’m so glad I chose to replay it! Though I wish I could erase my memory and experience it without knowing what was going to happen, just to re-experience what it’s like to play such an amazing game blind! 

Putting a ‘read more’ because it’s lengthy and I discus stuff about TWEWY (might be an interesting read!) 

I first got into the series like years back, and I think that Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is what really made me wanna play the game? I think, but hard to remember. Basically I saw TWEWY being sold at an anime convention stall and BOUGHT IT INSTANTLY. It was never in any stores where I live, so I was lucky to find it at a con! And oh man is it unlike any game out there! It is overwhelming at first, as there’s so many mechanics, but that’s why this replay was so much fun because I already knew what was happening! 

I have never fully gotten all the Secret Reports before, especially as I reset the game back to square one just for this replay (was fun being weak again, having to recollect pins and use the food system). But I think I’m going to try this time, and I usually never care about getting every little thing in games but I’d love to give it a go!

Played the majority of the game on Normal mode! On my first playthrough I did it on Easy so hey, I’m a better gamer guuuuurl this time around! And handicapped myself by not using healing pins as often. And unlike the last time, the final boss only killed me once! Was so satisfying to beat on Normal, and you bet I’m gonna fight it again on Hard at some point (gotta do that anyway to complete everything). 

I owe this game a lot, and it’s very personal to me! I mean it’s obvious I owe it something, as I go by ‘Neku’ (umm but not in a k/inning way, don’t misinterpret that cause NOPE, do not like that whole ‘I AM THIS CHARACTER’ thing). Though I stole Neku’s name as it was an upgrade from ‘Neko’ and sounded more my style! Not because it has anything to do with the character, even if I do like him quite a bit and can relate with some of his character! (And ‘theHooded’ actually doesn’t relate to the game at all, it’s a nonsense title which ain’t a reference to anything) My fav character is actually Joshua! What can I say, I just adore chaotic gays! Aha, but being serious for a second, Joshua is so complex, and just so fascinating to me! A lot of what he says to Neku during his week made me laugh. I love how much the two bickered, but would actually work together against the Reapers super well!

I also love the themes and messages of this game, ‘expand your world, let people in, trust your friends...’ It’s full of good messages like that, despite how dark this game is (you’re literally in a death-game, that’s pretty metal). And I always try and recommend this game to people, though I kinda wish people would actually give it a go and not just like...ignore me about it. You can get this game for hella cheap online (DS version especially, which I have). 

If TWEWY gets a sequel and it’s only on the Switch (which I don’t have) then yes I’d literally buy a Switch just to play it even though I wouldn’t use the Switch for anything else, ‘cause that’s how much I love this game!

And yo if anyone wants to discus this game with me, or send me asks about it, go ahead I ADORE THIS GAME SO MUCH.

And this concludes my short Reaper Review! Tune in next week when I once again replay a game and totally ignore the new ones I’ve never played!

[breezy-cheezy]

Ok so just a heads up, I just finished Kingdom Hearts 3. It was about 4 ish hours of yelling, screaming, tears (happy and sad, and really really mixed) annnnnd confusion. Like woah, what a ride. I will be posting/reblogging spoilers too...it’ll be under “KH3 spoilers”, for those who want to block it. Because heck there are some THINGS I wanna draw. Those of you who are still playing through, good luck! It’s a treat!! As for me, some general thoughts, questions and semi theories under the cut 

(almost all contain spoilers below this point so, beware):

- Ok FIRST of all....wow. Gotta say the music is PHENOMINAL. Yoko Shimomura just reaaaally outdid herself here!! As one who’s listened to the soundtrack of kingdom hearts over and over, I recognized so many theme songs and key songs interwoven into the story to complete it to such a wonderful level. Not to mention, I got chills over just some reorchestrations, like wowwwwww...

- Donald is over powered as FREAK, gosh O.o;;;; Also, might I mention he’s ALOT better at healing in this game X’’’’D

- GRAPHICS. REALLY GOOD GRAPHICS. I wish I had a screenshot feature on the tv...I’ll have to look up scenes later, because wow this game is so pretty.

- Every part with Sora using the power of waking is so cool. I’m still super duper confused on the....mechanics of it (especially regarding Sora’s fate) but regardless, getting to save your friends through all the worlds was REALLY fun. I wish they could like. Join you as you rescue them. Stampede the enemy. With friendship. 

- Sora’s scream of emotional anguish on it’s own made me wanna cry. Same for Xion. Goodness the voice acting, y’all are killing me...

_ Riiiiiikuuuuu...I love him so much. He’s a good friend, and having to fight his younger self/replica, it’s so clear how far he’s come!! I pointed out that’s what he was like in the first game to my sister, and she’s like “?????? really????” I love this disaster child. I’m sure it’s embarrassing seeing your past self, but also harsh having your past mistakes thrown in your face...anyway, love Riku. Always. He’s a good egg.

- Kairi..........deserved better DX I was REALLY hoping I could play her at least for a little...! But nooooo...at least Aqua was briefly playable?? That was really cool. I just wish...more was done with Kairi. That she had more of a presence through the whole game, like RIku did. Not just the damsel in distress at the end...she did help Sora alot in her own ways I’m just...MAN I feel this could’ve been done better...

- I LOVED getting some closure on a majority of the “villains” of the game. I liked them all. I do wish I knew what actually happened to Vanitas...? Where’d he go?? WHat the...also Repliku’s sacrifice ;;A;; that was really cool. But can’t they just make another replica for him?? Also was Larxene referencing Marly???????? Xemnas’s ending was probably one of my favorites. 

- TERRA COMING BACK WAS FREAKING COOL AAAAAAA--- the wayfinder trio was so terribly tragic, I’m so glad they can be happy again...

- ALSO SCREAMING ALOT FOR SEASALT TRIO, GOODNESS FINALLY FINALLYYYYYYYYYYY *sobs* 

- Axel actually having a reason for his weird face tattoos was really cool. Because this poor man is DEFINATELY CRYING NOW aaaaaaaa, I’m so glad for Isa, I cryyyyy...also who the heck was the girl they were talking about?????? I thought it was Xion but I was obviously wrong......I’m so confused, Square. Nomura. Answer me. Who is she. Anyway happy platonic AkuSaiRokuShi does me so much joy, my skin is clear, 10 years added to my life, blesssss

- ALSO “The final World” was really freaking cool and trippy but pretty. Also I know barely anything about KHX...who is the cat with a purse again and why is he in KH purgatory??? X’’’D him reuniting with Ven was really cute...ANYWAY. I collected way more Sora’s than I should, it kicked me out when I gathered 333. X’’’D but hey I got more maximum health! Which saved my butt constantly in the final battles O.o  finding Namine there was really sweet...but who were the other stars?? Who was the other voice? Was that Marly’s sister or...???? Probably has something to do with KHX again and I got lost, but I was so interested...who WERE these hearts???? 

- I wish I got to explore that last kingdomy place I forgot the name of more...it was SO pretty before Xehanort blew the whole dang thing up. Also I’m STILL very confused on his motives?? Why do you want to like...darkness everything up to make a new light world??? What???? Master Eraqus popping up again made me cry...especially his apologies to his kids apprentices. Also helping his friend pass on. Gosh dang. R I P, both of you. 

- The epilogue was wonderful! Just domestic stuff showing everyone is back and well!! I ADORE Xion’s new outfit, I need to gather references...Isa too. ANd Axel.....

-Well...almost everyone made it back. Sora just...didn’t make it then?? What??? Poor Kairi...I had a FEELING he’d “die” in some way. It’s open ended so he COULD come back but I’m just confused where did he gooo????;;A;; bring my Sonshine back....

- NAMINE IS BACK YESSSSS she’s so pretty!! ALSO RIKU/NAMI GETTING SOME SORT OF CONTENT AAAA YES *THROWS SELF INTO THE SUN* platonic or romantic i don’t care that was a cute scene!!!!!! 

- Overall it all tied together really well, but also it’s...very obvious there will be more. Like...Xigbar as Luxu? ...Who is Luxu???? More KHX stuff??? ALSO WHAT’S IN THE BLACK BOX Y’ALL ARE KILLING ME SQUARE I’M SO LOST

- Also, does Yazora actually have a role to play then?? Why was he in the secret movie? Where is Sora? I thought he was in the world that never was but it also MIGHT be TWEWY’s Shibuya???? Whaaaat? And Riku’s...somewhere...too?? That tidbit gave me way more questions than answers what the heck Nomura?? X’D I mean I wouldn’t mind, he is very pretty?? But I thought it was just a toy story joke?? What in the hap is heckening...

- OH ALSO EPHEMERA POPPING UP AND HELPING WITH ALL THE PAST KEYBLADE WIELDERS WAS RAD I KNOW THOSE TINY BITS ABOUT KHX SO THAT WAS REALLY DANG COOL

- In the end I really really loved this game. My favorite worlds are probably Corona, Toy Box, and SanFranSokyo, man, those were so good. I’ll probably research KHX a bit, because alot of the ending made little sense to me...but for the characters really important to me, they have concluded so that’s good. Well I mean except for Sora. But I’m pretty sure he’ll come back...somehow...

A++++ game Square, exceeded my expectations in many ways, some minor complaints (pacing, Frozen world in general...) and major confusion, but overall I am happy. I loved this adventure, and I’m satisfied with the conclusion ;v;

[davidmann95]

Some Kingdom Hearts future thoughts

Have to get ‘em out! Went into some thoughts with my psuedo-review of III, but I’ve got others and stuff worth expanding on. I’ll put them under the cut since it clearly goes into spoilers, except for my boldest, most controversial guess: along with being announced either this year or next (since Kingdom Hearts has never reached the end of a calendar year after a release with nothing on the horizon) I think Kingdom Hearts IV is going to be a 2022 release. I recognize that sounds like an intensely generous timeframe, but I have several reasons:

1. Above all else by far: once again, Square Enix and Disney are going to be on Nomura’s ass, nose to the grindstone, to get him to start delivering these on a consistent basis again. Do you think they’re looking at Kingdom Hearts III topping sales charts and thinking “well, it sure was worth the wait”, or do you think they’re going “gosh, these are some nice sales, sure would be nice if it came out years ago and we had a bunch more similarly-selling titles by now, let’s try and aim for something closer to that in the future”. Especially-especially since Nomura and the actors aren’t getting any younger and the series is at a point where the core fanbase for the franchise as-is is going to be the primary target rather than new audiences, which means it has to wrap up in a timeframe where that’s still a viable market. So rapid, priority development and few if any more spinoffs. I mean, not as if there’s really a handheld platform for them to be on anymore.

2. My understanding (and this is going somewhat into the technical side of things, so I’m going thirdhand here based on what I’ve heard from others) is that the lifecycle of the current console generation isn’t going to run out for quite a bit yet, so they can reuse a lot of the assets and whatnot from III.

3. A big deal was made about Dream Drop Distance coming out on the 10th anniversary of the franchise, and given 20 is a much wilder number for this series than most equivalents when it’s about a single cast of characters going through a single story, I can’t imagine they won’t want to push that as at least a similarly big deal.

4. Finally, when things don’t go as catastrophically off the rails as III did, these games seem to have a fairly consistent 3-4 year development span (even III, once they announced the beginning of development in 2013, would have come out 2017-early 2018 if not for switching from Luminous to Unreal Engine), and for the reasons I listed above I think this is going to be on the speedier end of that.

* Firstly: the main discussion I’m seeing at this point regarding IV is “it’s gonna be a Kingdom Hearts/The World Ends With You/pseudo-Final Fantasy Versus XIII crossover!”, and I really expect and hope that isn’t the case. Not that I’ll be pissed if it is, I’m sure it would still be rad, but it strikes me as both unlikely and the lesser outcome. I don’t know that I see the powers that be diverting resources in one of their biggest cash cows towards a sequel to one of their minor games - one that’s already been in Kingdom Hearts, meaning its inclusion here wouldn’t reasonably be a huge enough deal to base a lot of the full story on - and a way to reimagine another project. And for that matter it strikes me as conceptually small-scale given the setup. Nomura went with a name in Yozora that doesn’t just have the bent meaning of Sora’s name but actually literally sounds like him, went with a setting that aside from the one cameo sign mainly screams to viewers “Sora’s suddenly in the real world, holy cow”, and unless I entirely misread it Verum Rex was presented as a total self-roast in Toy Box. It doesn’t strike me as spot-the-reference (even though that’s 100% in there) nearly so much as establishing a tonal contrast to Kingdom Hearts.

I joked initially about this being a Flash of Two Worlds! (linking to a description for non-comics readers who are here because I tagged Kingdom Hearts)/’Kingdom Hearts goes to war with its own gritty fanfic’ setup, but...I actually suspect that’s pretty close to what’s going on here? This seems like a send up of Final Fantasy’s relative self-seriousness and over the top Super Cool characters, as a contrast to Sora’s goofy open-hearted sincerity and optimism. It’s the Secret Movie aesthetic that some want not just more prominent but as the actual main tone of the series morphed into an entire universe all its own, and Sora, out of place, has to find his way through and back home even as the real threat mounts, and probably has to save this world and get through to its heroes who aren’t likely prone to grinning through off-the-cuff monologues about the heart. That is not only entirely my kind of ridiculous meta jam, it feels like a logical next step for the series: if the first trilogy was in part about growing up, the next (and I suspect last, as the Master of Masters and his Foretellers have been set up as the primordial antagonists of the entire mythology and this is where they’re coming to the fore; my old theory of Eraqus being the big bad of an intermediary trilogy looks solidly shot to hell) could very well be about reaching adulthood, in which case it makes sense Sora would have to pass through a near literal fire of Adolescent/Adult Cynicism.

* Speaking of where Sora ends up: I kinda doubt he’s literally dead, or that if he is it’ll last past the opening of the game. They’ve already made a big theatrical production of Sora dying twice now, the second time in the most literal way possible and just a few hours prior to this, so while third time’s the charm I think there’ll be more to it than that. The again common thing I’ve been seeing is that he’ll have to play the Reaper game to win his life back (not something I’m much familiar with but I think I’ve got the basics), but again, while it’ll certainly be part of the game I don’t think TWEWY is going to be the big thing here (like they’d really make that a bigger deal than the Final Fantasy elements have been), and he just dealt with the afterlife and had to essentially play a game to win his soul back, and this wouldn’t even be a game he’s unfamiliar with. My impression is he’s incorporated back and whole - if likely powered down from the ordeal to justify him being back at level one - and the mystery is less whether or not he’s truly alive so much as how he ended up here and how to get back.

* On the other end of things - and I realize it’s a risky prospect to suggest after her getting a shockingly small role compared to everyone else in III was the damning weak aspect of its otherwise basically perfect finale - I think this is where Kairi is actually going to start to come to the forefront. She and Riku would be at the head of a search that everyone would be a part of (they were there when it happened, they know death is negotiable in their world, and they’re good people who all owe him), her especially since he’s her boyfriend - they may not declare it outright but there’s clearly no ambiguity between the two of them as to their situation anymore - and the one he sacrificed himself for, and she’s out there fighting now even if she’s inexperienced. And Riku seems like he’s going to end up lost himself on the search, leaving her behind as the sole Destiny Trio representative. So even if she isn’t a playable co-lead I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the one going on a more traditional Kingdom Hearts adventure searching with the rest while Sora and later Riku deal with the genre mindfuck. On the bright side if nothing else, she’s died twice now too and they’ve both been presented as dead in a “maybe this time for real” way for a finale, so while again third time’s the charm, I figure she and Sora are relatively bulletproof from here on out.

* Speaking of Riku, while this seems more like an old-school proof of concept trailer from I and II rather than the more recent actual scenes, meaning his appearance might well change just as Kairi was different in I’s Secret Movie than she really was in II, it’s very notable that he hasn’t aged at all. So likely instead of another tragic I to II scale timeskip of Sora being lost from his friends, it looks like IV will be picking up immediately and the search for him won’t take long to succeed. Also speaking of Riku, I seem to see people thinking he’s with Namine now? Not that that seems impossible, but while the scene as a whole is romanticized in that it’s basically a princess being carried away by chariot to her happily-ever-after, it reads to me less as an actual romance than Riku fulfilling his ‘brother’s promise. Though if Square/Nomura does want to really get into romance with the next trilogy, since Sora/Kairi is locked down maybe they’ll just say fuck it and do a whole Riku/Namine/Xion/Roxas Love Square situation.

* Actual prediction rather than analysis of evidence: I suspect this is the last major time the Destiny Trio is going to be split up, at least in the searching-for-each-other, not-knowing-if-everyone’s-alive sense. I was the search for Kairi, II for Riku, and now IV for Sora - that cycle looks to be completing. Wouldn’t be surprised if V and/or the finale was finally the three of them as the adventuring party as fans have wanted for so long, with III as the grand finale to Sora/Donald/Goofy.

* It seems early to predict the main villain, but at the same time everyone was accurate in assuming a Keyblade-wielding Xehanort would be the final boss of the trilogy circa 2006, so I’m gonna go ahead and say Xigbar/Luxu is gonna be the end-all with IV. The Master of Masters is still the end of the road, and perfect for it because he’s a real-world normal savvy guy who can manipulate this world of straightforward classical adventurers with ease, while Sora at the opposite end of the scale is silly and sweet even by that world’s standard. But Luxu addresses the same ideas in a way that’d be perfect for this game in particular as it seems to be set up, he’d be the villainous connective tissue as this game moves from one trilogy to another, and he has the dangling personal thread of the ‘reward’ he suggested was coming for Sora. Or hell, since now it looks like she’s at least somewhat privy to what’s going on, maybe Maleficent will finally step back up.

EDIT: Ooh, just remembered, speaking of what Xigbar says to Sora, his Olympus conversation also predicts Sora’s fate? The whole “if you leap in to save somebody, you might just end up in the clutch needing to be saved yourself” lecture, i.e. the premise for IV. Maybe his teach isn’t the only one privy to future events?

* Not both, they’ll wanna space it out, but I’m like 70% sure this is where Marvel or Star Wars are gonna happen.

* Finally, while I’ve heard speculation that the Mystery Star is one of the Foretellers or the person who died in that Union X game, I don’t think she’s one of them given it’s a new voice actor and she cites a name Sora knows. More likely she’s ‘Subject X’ (I went ahead and looked up the Secret Reports, haven’t gone back and done all the bonus challenges myself yet and won’t I imagine for some time), who does seem to be from that time but is I think someone new.