#this post was barely scratching the surface

[bittsandpieces]

i realized ive been unconsciously holding back on some of my freak posting bc i became mutuals with some very cool people who post like. less overtly nasty content. but i shouldnt be changing how i blog out of some misplaced anxiety about my cool mutuals judging me, thats stupid. so this is my public announcement that im absolutely desperate. in case you werent already aware

[rikusahoge]

"But be safe. No reckless stunts."

On Sora and Riku's respective recklessness as showcased in the series, and what it means for their relationship

Under readmore because i am going to talk a lot

As an aside: Im going to be pulling from the Japanese text, though I am not a native speaker or really any kind of speaker, so take what I say with a decent amount of scrutiny. I'm more than willing to be corrected on these conclusions!

One line that has stood out to me in kingdom hearts is the repetition of "no reckless stunts!" and similar phrases. If you examine the original text, three slightly different words have been used to mean "reckless", which I'll include below (pulled definitions from Jisho, mostly)

無謀 (mubou): reckless, foolhardy, rash, ill-advised, mad (scheme)

無茶 (mucha): reckless, absurd, unreasonable, ridiculous

無理 (muri): impossible, unreasonable, unjustifiable

Importantly for what i want to talk about is how "muri" is used in situations where a character wants to express that something is impossible (think of a character giving up all hope due to an insermountable obstacle in front of them, they may mutter something like "muri da...") keep a pin in this, it will matter toward the end.

Also note that each of these words starts with "無" (mu), which usually means nothingness or absence of something. The definition of this kanji isnt super important, it's more important that its presence ties these three phrases together in a really unique way as i hope to demonstrate.

what i propose is that both Sora and Riku are depicted as reckless characters, albeit in different ways. The established pattern I've noticed is that Sora: "mucha" & Riku: "muri". I will tentatively refer to "mucha" as "rash" and "muri" as "impossible" (despite that it does also mean other things in some cases! bare with me it'll make sense)

Dialing back a bit, we have seen countless moments of Sora acting rashly. It is one of his key character traits and it tends to get him in trouble. He has a big heart, and is quick to anger.

Sora's response to loved ones and helpless innocents that have been put in harm's way is to repetitively bash things with his keyblade (and ask questions later).

It's Sora's rashness that allows Org 13 to use him to complete kingdom hearts. The extreme end of his rashness is showcased when he stabs himself to release Kairi from his heart.

Tldr. I think it's pretty well established and easy to argue that Sora is one to leap before he looks.

Now, Riku might be a little harder to sell as reckless, because of how well he tends to hide it. He carries himself as a role model for Sora, and tries to be the responsible friend. But if we look at his patterns of behavior, despite how he carries himself, he is quite reckless!

Without thinking of the consequences, he rushes the open door when destiny islands falls to darkness, eventually succumbing to it himself. He lashes out several times at Sora, particularly dangerously when he fires off a dark firaga in Hollow Bastion. He closes the door to darkness with Sora without knowing what would happen to him if he was trapped in the realm of darkness. When Sora is asleep, he sacrifices his form to defeat Roxas, without any assurance that he would ever be able to get his old form back.

We see Riku's recklessness too in the fight against Xemnas. He recklessly throws himself in front of Xemnas twice, hurling Sora away from danger and taking a very nasty blow to the hip. I'd count his dive to save Sora in DDD among these, mostly due to his risk taking behavior when it comes to saving Sora. Finally of course we see it in KH3, with his ultimate sacrifice. (but i think importantly, this scene isn't just recklessness, but I'll explain in a bit)

So tldr. Despite Riku's mask of level headedness and resolve, he has been shown over and over to take massive risks without caring for the consequences. Which is pretty reckless, in my opinion!

Sora and Riku's recklessness, mind you, is also called into question by Yen Sid, who tells Riku the reason he kept Aqua's fate a secret was to keep Riku and Sora from staging a "half-baked attempt at rescue"

He says similar in Japanese, but i want to just note the word he uses when he describes the rescue attempt as reckless (highlighted for ur convenience):

(the highlighted word here is "mubou", it will come back later in an Important way, so keep it in mind)

he's *basically* saying that if Riku, or worse, Sora, knew about Aqua, they would have recklessly marched into the realm of darkness to rescue her. Because he knows they are both ... Like that.

I would be remiss to not mention that Sora's impulsivity and recklessness is something Riku admires! After Yen Sid tells riku not to be rash, and Riku excitedly tells Mickey he's ready to help save Aqua, Kairi observes that Riku has changed, and he's more like Sora. Riku asks if that's a compliment, but I think it's clear that he feels it is. He says it's more Fun to just follow his heart, which is sora-esque. (;_;) This is also something he brings up to Sora when they're on the dark margin together, that he's jealous of how Sora can just follow his heart. It's clear Riku has started to embrace his more impulsive side, to follow his heart like sora does. This is important later!

So now that I have my premise Mostly set up, I'd like to highlight a handful of scenes that I thought were really telling about how Sora and Riku relate to the terms "mucha" and "muri", respectively.

Let's start with Sora and "mucha".

The first instance i have found "mucha" used is in Olympus Colliseum.

lets recall How Herc initially loses his power in KH2, and compare it to the movie.

In KH2, Herc is tricked into leaving the colliseum unguarded by capturing Meg and hiding her in the underworld so that Herc and Sora must go to her rescue. Hades sends a hydra in to destroy the colliseum while Sora and Herc are busy fighting heartless and Pete and rescuing Meg.

Upon seeing the destruction in the colliseum, Herc falls to his knees, and you can visibly see his colors fade to a more ashen complexion, similar to his appearance without his powers in the movie. He calls himself a piece of shit basically and Meg helps him up to limp to safety, leaving Sora to defeat the Hydra (ahem sora helping riku walk in twtnw after xemnas fight anyone)

(Herc even has a second journal entry for his Desaturared form.)

You leave the world after defeating the hydra and jumping up on its back a few times, and after sora d & g are named true heros. Yay. But Herc doesn't have his power back yet, which will later be addressed in the second episode.

Herc's loss of power is much different from the movie. In the movie, he agrees to let Hades take his strength for a day in order to keep Meg from harm, and release her from the contract she had entered with Hades (iirc). This was all so Herc wouldn't get the chance to save Olympus from the titans that Hades revives in order to take Zeus' throne for himself.

Herc still tries to wonderboy his way into rescuing the town, and fights a giant cyclops. While he lacks physical strength and gets pretty much Pummeled, he ends up beating the cyclops with his wit - but in doing so, a pillar is knocked over. It is about to crush Herc, but Meg pushes him out of the way, and is crushed to death.

She gives her life to save him, which in turn returns strength to Herc, because the contract was only good if Meg remained unharmed.

What I'm mostly trying to say here on this tangent is Herc's loss of power in KH2 specifically is very reminiscent of Sora losing his keyblade in Hollow Bastion, which is later echoed in the keyblade graveyard when he feels he loses his strength to fight after losing his friends. I bring up the movie to show how bizarrely different it is from the Kh2 plot, perhaps precisely to make the parallel between Sora and Herc stronger (and the parallel between Herc and Riku, by the way - Herc falling to his knees, losing his power, and giving up, only for Meg to walk him to safety, is a parallel to Riku losing his will to fight and press on after the battle with Xemnas - Sora refuses to let him and in the same Exact way he helps Riku walk on)

So Hercules, when faced with the impossible wavers, and loses his strength and will to fight. This is important so keep it in mind. Impossible/Muri isn't stated here as far as i know, but it's important that he is feeling utterly defeated and unable to win.

The second visit to the world is when we first see the term "mucha"/reckless used as far as I was able to find. Hades casts Meg into the Soul Hole and Herc dives in to save her without hesitating (mechanically to write Herc out of the boss fight, but)

We later see Herc emerge with Meg, his godly aura restored (he is Radiant!) something that *should* have killed him. and should have been impossible. But his desire to save her was so great, he recklessly dives in, without knowing that he will succeed. Luckily, all he had to do to prove he was worthy of godhood and power in both the game and the movie was to use the strength of his Heart rather than his fists, as a true hero does:

Sora scolds him and tells him not to do anymore crazy stunts after this reckless dive to save Meg (screenshot makes it look like herc is saying it sorry lol) and that is where we can see the term "mucha" being used in Japanese:

instead of crazy stunts, Sora moreso says "but don't be reckless (mucha)":

to which herc responds:

"people always do stupid things when they're in love" (note he doesn't repeat reckless, he says "baka" lol)

so here we have a direct link between herc's sacrifice when he dove in to save Meg, the restoration of his power/Godhood, and acting recklessly (mucha), without Fear or Doubt, to save someone he is In Love With. put a pin in this because it's all connected.

Now moving onto KH2.9 and KH3. From the start of the game we are told Sora has lost the Power of Waking, and his Entire goal in the game is to regain it, wake Ventus, and prepare for the battle in the KBG with Xehanort.

The Power of Waking is already a very vague, disney-esque power, essentially the power to free sleeping hearts from slumber (and first introduced to us in DDD, particularly in terms of Riku waking Sora up in a sleeping beauty retelling but I'm getting ahead of myself)

Yen Sid suggests that Sora go to Olympus for clues to regain his power, as Just Like Sora, Hercules also lost his power, but was able to regain it.

It's pretty straightforward, but in the interest of not making this post a fucking novel ill try to keep it short. Herc tells Sora he's not sure just *how* he got his powers back, just that he wanted to save Meg with all his heart when he (recklessly) dove in to save her. The game is trying to tell Sora that it's the Power of Love that brought back Herc's strength, and that Love will be key in bringing Sora's PoW back, too.

Specifically, I think that Herc's story and the other worlds Sora visits are saying that it's True Love that will bring Sora's powers back. Acts of true love in KH3 are framed as courageous, selfless, and performed unconditionally.

Despite the visit to see Hercules, Sora still doesn't gain the PoW. He has an idea of what he needs to regain it, but he has to visit multiple Disney worlds to learn more about the power of true love and sacrifice (well also separation but thats not as important to this post) before he's ready to test it out for himself.

After Arendelle (i think) we get to another important cutscene where Riku, Sora, donald, goofy, & mickey meet up with Yen Sid to discuss the progress they've made on their respective journeys. Sora wants to go to the Realm of Darkness with Riku & Mickey because he's worried, but they Won't let him because he doesn't have the PoW. Riku does the fondest laugh known to man, eliciting a bit of anger from Sora, but explains it's because of what Yen Sid had told him earlier - that had Sora or Riku known about Aqua being trapped in the RoD, they would have recklessly gone in to save her.

he's pretty much directly quoting yen sid here, just like he does in English (saying half-baked instead of reckless too). So basically saying here Sora would have marched into (the dark world) recklessly (had he known where Aqua was) - again using "mubou" like master yen sid.

Interestingly, when we get to Sora telling Riku to not be reckless in the dark world to Riku, he's not repeating the same word for Reckless that Riku is using (Now this might be just a flow of the conversation thing, which i certainly cant confirm as a non-native speaker but i think it's still notable)

Sora says something similar to what is said in English; with a few distinctions. A rough translation would be "but don't overdo it, call me if anything happens" (need I gripe one more time that english localization cuts out sora telling Riku to call him; which is why he spends the rest of the time apart from Riku wanting a call, and why its so unhinged that Riku triangles for sora and basically summons him. I DIGRESS)

This line is translated as "but be safe, no reckless stunts" in English, which serves as a callback to what Sora tells to Hercules in KH2, (further solidifying a herc/riku parallel) but IMPORTANTLY, Sora is NOT even saying the same thing he said to Hercules in the Japanese script. He's saying something else - 無理しないで (muri shinai de), which is usually translated as don't overdo it - but literally means "don't do the impossible". This will be important later when I talk more about Riku so keep this in mind.

We immediately get Donald saying "Sora's the reckless (muri) one" (abbreviating for simplicity) but Jiminy disagrees. In English he says "He's not reckless, he just doesn't think!" but in Japanese he says this:

Which i know im going to butcher any translation I do, but Jiminy is basically saying "[Sora's] not muri he's mucha". That distinction is important enough for Jiminy to make a joke about it. That Riku might actually be the one who is overdoing it/trying to do the impossible (muri), while Sora is the one who runs headfirst into danger recklessly (mucha). Which, i think, is quite fitting, given the actions theyve done through the series.

Importantly we get one more instance of "mucha" which I think really ties Sora's trait "recklessness" together nicely, and puts into perspective what the repetition of these phrases is doing from a story telling perspective.

After Sora finishes up the remaining Disney world visits, S, D, & G find out that Chip & Dale have lost contact with Riku & Mickey. Sora is very upset at this, and is Determined to save them (Riku) (with all his heart). Sora has NOT GAINED THE POW at this point, and they don't know how to even get into the RoD, so Sora opts to "let his heart be his guiding key" to find his way to Riku and the RoD. (Recklessly I might add, he hasn't called or talked to Yen Sid or consulted anyone about it lol)

He arrives at Destiny Islands and mysteriously finds Master's Defender which happens to be the key to getting him into the RoD. Right? Well. We know from the glossary that the established method of reaching the RoD is with a keyblade of darkness, through dark corridors, or with the Power of Waking.

Others have argued this (see SRT) but it's heavily implied that Sora regained the PoW on his way to rescue Riku. That he used it explicitly to get into the RoD is where people tend to be a little caught up in the details, because it *does* seem like Master's Defender plays a role, which begs the questions - is it a keyblade of darkness? What the fuck was it doing there? etc. (literally saw on a kh wiki that sora got into the RoD because Masters defender was a keyblade of darkness, which is unconfirmed currently lol) It's also not traditionally what the PoW looks like. There's a huge door that appears, Sora isn't using the kingdom key, he doesn't burst out of Riku's chest. Etc.

HOWEVER. I think with the context of the narrative arc Sora is going through, the foreshadowing present in the game, and The Reckless Rescue angle can at least prove that he DID regain his power here, regardless of whether or not he explicitly used it to get into the RoD. I'll try to briefly summarize the points I've seen made before I add my own.

After the visit to Olympus, Sora explains to Yen sid that he didn't regain his power but he still learned a lot. Yen sid stresses again that sora needs the PoW, Sora gets pouty, and Goofy cheers him up by saying "maybe something will trigger it real soon". Shortly after a bit of banter, there is a knock at the door, and Riku and Mickey walk in. The camera kmakes a point to show Mickey off to the side, then pan up to Riku as he walks in to close the door, who is centered in the view (almost as if we are watching from Sora's POV, who is anticipating Riku's appearance in the door).

Putting this side by side is a little unfair, since it's not an immediate jump from Goofy saying this to Riku's entrance, but it's pretty in your face about just what (or who) might be key to reawakening sora's PoW.

We also get some heavy handed foreshadowing in the next visit to Yen Sid's tower, right before Sora tells Riku to not overdo it:

Yeah. and he does, importantly, get the power of waking, not BEFORE he comes to the rescue, but BECAUSE he comes to the rescue.

Now for my contribution since I stole the last two/three points from other posts. Just before Sora enters the RoD, he tells D & G to stay behind and that he has to go alone. (Sigh, yes, this scene is a parallel to Riku using the PoW to save Sora in DDD - it *has* to be him, and him alone) D& G protest, but eventually relent. But Donald doesn't let Sora go without saying this:

(In English, Donald says "you promise to be good?" inexplicably) but in Japanese he tells sora (basically) "Don't be reckless" - aka. No Reckless Stunts, complete with the use of "mucha" (recall Donald in the previous scene was the one to call Sora "muri" before being corrected by Jiminy). This is similar to what Sora tells to herc, so we are pretty much full circle on this scene being a callback to Herc rescuing Meg in KH2.

Like Herc, Sora does the reckless thing. Like Herc, he heroically dives into the abyss to rescue his loved one with all his heart.

Like Herc, Sora regains his power the moment he resolves to rescue Riku, even if it is not made explicitly clear to Sora OR the audience (perhaps the fact that he regained the PoW is why he is able to save aqua, too)

I could probably go on about this and what it means for Sora for a long time, but I think it's high time I actually wrote about "muri" and Riku's recklessness, so let's rewind a little.

I've already brought up how Riku relates to Herc in terms of his recklessness and heroics, but theres a few more things to add. of course. I'll recap with pictures of one of the parallels i've already discussed:

So here i think at least metaphorically, we can argue that Riku has lost a bit of his "power"- or rather, his drive. After everything is over, he just collapses, ready to die or be left behind. Sora WONT let that happen. So Riku asks Sora to lead. He confesses to some of the jealousy and superiority he'd been feeling over Sora for the past few years, and seems to be trying to find a new direction in his life, having now repented Quite a bit for the sins he committed in KH1.

Riku's entire purpose for fighting after KH CoM and KH2 was to wake Sora up, keep him safe while he does his keyblade weilder duties, reunite him with Kairi, and send him on his merry way. Sora refuses to let him leave, and demands that he comes home with him. So he does. but without his jealousy over his feelings toward Sora, or without his feelings of guilt and feeling he needs to make it up to Sora, what is left to drive him to keep fighting?

DDD gives him a pretty strong answer - it's where he both rediscovers his sense of purpose and gains the Power of Waking in the process. And his dream eater powers too. btw

Riku's journey in DDD is, simply put, not really about passing the mark of mastery exam and becoming a keyblade master. it's about remembering What he lives for. remembering his promise to Terra, and how those feelings have evolved - from wanting strength to protect the Stuff that matters as a child, to, in DDD, discovering that the "stuff that matters, like his friends" was Sora the Whole time, and that Sora is actually a "precious best friend" that he wants to protect. It's About recovering his strength, like Herc needs to do in KH2.

So how does Riku regain his "strength"? By Sora-style taking a reckless dive into the deep abyss of Sora's heart to wake him using the PoW.

(Not once was I able to find any mention of "recklessness" here, or any particular language that ties this moment together cleanly with what happens in Olympus Colliseum in KH2, but the repetition of diving down into an abyss to rescue someone (with all your heart. etc) is Enough of a parallel to make the connection between this scene and Herc's dive to save Meg)

It is within the deepest depth of Sora's heart where Riku is interrogated by three pieces of Sora's heart about what he's afraid of, what he cares about more than anything else, and what he wishes - All canon answers involve the mention of "precious" - "taisetsu" (sorry im not explaining this one im going to just assume you know what im talking about if you are a soriku that reads meta you should know.) - to lose something precious, my precious best friend (fuck da english localization for this one), to recover something precious that I lost. It is here that we see Riku's simple "protecting important stuff" become "protecting something precious/my precious best friend" (note that this hasn't quite become "taisetsu na hito"/precious person but hes getting there)

Ansem the wise is there i guess and he tells Riku that his 3 answers are what were the key to waking sora up, and I think, importantly, are what give Riku his "strength" back. He has rediscovered his purpose, which is, to him, protecting Sora (with all his heart)

Continuing into KH2.9 we have another couple scenes that will both complete Riku's development from protecting stuff that matters to protecting a precious person and also continue to make a strong connection between him and Hercules.

It's been pretty well established that these two scenes are deceptively mistranslated, but i'll go over it again

Herc here is saying "taisetsu na hito" which is translated to "person I love most"

The EXACT phrase Mickey uses to tell Riku why he's feeling more powerful and fearless in the RoD, in the literal next scene in 2.9. They were supposed to be VERY CLEAR hit you over the head parallels but, well. SENA said fuck gay people i guess.

Riku repeats what Mickey says into his hand ("strength to protect my precious person") and recalls his promise to Terra, to protect the things that matter. (again it's implied it's always been about protecting sora, he just didn't have the language or understanding of himself yet to know how to say it)

There is absolutely no room for nuance here. This is explicitly framing Riku's feelings for Sora on par with Herc's feelings for Meg eg. explicitly romantic. And that it's his ROMANTIC LOVE for Sora that is what gives him his strength - not just to protect Sora, but also to do THE IMPOSSIBLE

phase ??? of my argument will now commence hang on to your butts. (i wrote this all in one night im tired)

Now that ive Exhaustively set that up. lets actually get back into discussing what I initially set up - riku doing the impossible "muri" thing.

As a reminder, Sora tells Riku to not "attempt the impossible/overdo it" in the RoD. And to call him if he needs him.

So Riku, instead of attempting the impossible in the RoD by facing the demon tide, does call Sora, which ends up being what saves the day! Yay!

I have bad news though! Riku is terrible at listening to advice when Sora is in trouble.

Now recall what I mentioned earlier about the fall of the guardians in the KBG and Sora's subsequent breakdown being a parallel to Herc losing his power in KH2. Sora *fails* everyone here, and he explicitly states he is worthless, without strength, when he loses them. It's very in line with Herc losing his powers in KH2.

(just putting these in here to hurt you and myself)

So, we get the Herc parallel, but it stops here for Sora. He doesn't do some grand self sacrifice for Riku to prove his heroism and regain his "power", but i think theres a reason for that beyond it just being Riku's time for the spotlight but I am getting there.

In the english localization, Sora says "we've lost, it's over". It's a subtle change from the Japanese, where instead of "it's over", Sora simply utters "muri da--" ("its impossible") (in the wettest saddest voice you can imagine)

It's at this moment where I do truly think we're meant to make the connection between Sora saying "its impossible" and Sora telling Riku to not attempt the impossible. It fits in nicely with Sora telling Herc to not do reckless stunts, with the slight change in language from "reckless" to "impossible", and with the impending self sacrifice. Riku knows that beating back the demon tide is impossible. But he does it anyway (compare to how, when faced with a much smaller demon tide, and he was losing, he listened to Sora's advice and called Sora for help instead of attempting the impossible)

So we have Riku's ultimate true love sacrifice for Sora, which both takes his life and grants him a spot upon an alter in Olympus, perhaps symbolically giving him some sort of ascension for his heroic deed. And again tying his sacrifice intimately to Herc's.

Because Sora and Riku are both "herc" and "meg" here I am going to make a little bit of a reach. Recall that I went through the effort of recapping the climax of the hercules movie. for no reason. There is a connection though even if it's loose, and i would kick myself for not including it.

In the movie, Meg, like Riku, protects a powerless Hercules from impending danger in her own act of true loves sacrifice. Her death gives Hercules his strength back (partly due to contract BS but it's still a romantic moment). And her death is what drives Hercules to dive into the Soul Hole to rescue her soul at a potentially great cost, which is what ultimately restores his godhood (showing his strength of heart). Riku sacrificing himself for Sora can be seen to be more like the events of the Hercules movie, Riku standing in for Meg - Sora does have to restore Riku's heart after it's been taken by the Lich, after all, much like Hercules brings Meg's soul out from the Hole. And Riku's sacrifice is what gives Sora the resolve to keep fighting. (not arguing with anyone who thinks it was only kairi because it wasnt lol)

So Riku attempts the impossible here, and ultimately he is rewarded. An interesting nuance is that the phrase "attempting the impossible" isn't meant to be taken as a challenge. From what ive read from native speakers, the phrase Sora uses really is better translated as "don't overdo it" as it is less about proving yourself to be able to overcome crazy obstacles and more about keeping your expectations in check. But Riku is reckless, and following his heart, which he learned from Sora.

I hope I've properly illustrated how Sora and Riku are both painted as reckless in different ways, and how the language used in KH3 is making direct references to Herc's reckless heroics in KH2 and in the actual Disney movie. And how these reckless acts are showcasing how much these two love each other, because I still have one more point to make. Namely, how this ties into Cinderella, and ultimately KH4.

In Terra's route of Birth By Sleep, he happens upon a distraught Cinderella, who has had her dress torn up by her step sisters. She was planning to go to the ball, but cannot, because it is "impossible" (muri)

Terra tries to console her. It's all very reminiscent of the scenes of Herc's, Sora's, and Riku's defeats.

After Terra fights off the unversed summoned by Cinderella's negativity (toxic much..), Out of the blue, the fairy godmother appears and makes everything better. She fixes up Cinderella with a dress and a ride to the ball, and sends her on her merry way.

She explains to Terra that she appeared to Cinderella to show her that her dreams *can* come true and that she typically appears only to people that have a strong belief in their dreams. Terra says he believes in dreams but you have to work for them, to which FGM responds that simply believing in dreams is already a difficult thing on its own. (Ventus also compares Terra to Cinderella. btw. because of his strong dreams)

Now. Sigh. Im not the only person that has pointed this out. The FGM quite literally appears to Riku, but only after a year has passed and they have no leads on Sora, and after it's implied that Riku is starting to lose hope.

In the limit cut, you can see Riku's sad wet puppy dog face as he talks about how hard everyone is working, and how they haven't found anything at all. He says "if Sora is really out there, don't you think we would have found something by now?" - Again, he's losing faith in his dreams of Sora's return. This is important.

I do not have the strength to go through and find all the times Riku told everyone to believe in Sora in KH3. It's a lot. And the last thing we hear him say Near Sora, is to let him go on his suicide mission to save Kairi - to BELIEVE in Sora (#wish).

So one, we know the dream Riku believes in is Sora, and two, we know he is starting to lose his belief in his dreams, like Cinderella before the ball, when he dress is destroyed.

Right after it's clear their is no lead through the data from Org 13, FGM appears, just like she did for Cinderella. And she tells Riku that His Dreams Are Literally A Key To Find Sora (that hes quite literally been #dream drop distancing into sora's dreams while hes in unreality is already so much without the FGM being there to explain this to him but KH is crazy!)

One last thing to really drive this home. The FGM brings Riku and Kairi to the nameless star to bring the three keys together.

And what does she tell Riku, before he leaves?

"Be careful. Do not attempt to do the impossible."

---------

if you read this whole thing... well... im proud of you. I know i definitely missed stuff, because it would be so hard to go through all the games and really dig for the use of this term especially when I dont speak japanese at all. and because i wrote this all in one night. But dont hesitate to comment or reblog if you have anything to add. I freaking love kingdom hearts

[loverofstufflof]

Ways to consume Journey to the West (without needling to buy and read a full translation)!

I’ve noticed that a lot of people can’t read the book for a lot of different reasons, so I’ve compiled a couple of my favourite ways of consume the story while bypassing these problems, categorized by the various issues I’ve come across.

Note that this is mainly for English speakers, as that’s the language I default to for translations.

The book is too inaccessible/expensive for me to obtain physically

Journey to the West Research has an entire blog post dedicated to compiling free PDF versions of the book. This includes many languages, not just English.

I struggle with reading text in that quantity

There are abridged versions of the story, my personal favourite is the one by Julie Lovell—it’s approximately a quarter of the original story’s length, and mainly focuses on the most iconic chapters. These versions are also typically more easily found in local bookstores.

I struggle with reading novels in general

The story has been converted into audio form! Here are the ones off the top of my head, each listed with their own pros and cons:

Journey to the West: An Audio Drama Series is an original translation told in a read-aloud format, in which the host, Lin, acts as a kindly librarian reading to a group of awaiting 1st graders. She gives every character a distinct voice and personality, and she’s obviously delighted to be able to share her culture with the listeners. The show used to have free translation notes, where Lin gets to act as a disgruntled translator going on about the intricacies of the Chinese language and historical/mythological contexts, but these now require a subscription to access. This show is the reason why I know how to pronounce these characters’ names.

Legends Summarized: The Journey to the West by Overly Sarcastic Productions is one that I’m sure I don’t need to include (because of how widespread it is) but feel I should because someone is gonna mention is anyways. It’s a very summarized, very sarcastic retelling of Red’s favourite chapters in the book, accompanied by fun visuals and the excitement of someone who clearly knows and loves what they’re talking about. As Red has said herself, this series should not be your only source of JTTW knowledge, as she simplifies it a ton to make it more digestible. Great for people who are just getting into the story and want a general overview, not great for people who want a more in-depth understanding of the themes and other complexities.

Journey of the Monkey King is a podcast akin to a longform, more in depth version of the OSP series. It consists of two Irish comedians discussing one chapter per episode; one of them (Caoimhe) has read the book, the other (MJ) hasn’t. The format is mainly Caoimhe giving a comedic abridged version of the chapter while MJ gawks in horror at whatever absurdity the Monster-of-the-Week presents. Because it’s hosted by Irish people, there isn’t much cultural context given, and some names are butchered, however I do find this one a lot easier to follow in comparison to the Audio Drama Series, and it’s far more detailed than Legends Summarized.

Journey to the West English Amateur Audiobook is one that is on my radar but have not started. To my current knowledge, it is an audiobook version of the WJF Jenner translation, which is notable to me because most of these types of podcasts are derived from the Anthony C Yu translation, so this one would be a nice listen to compare how the two went about handling the text.

Please know that this post isn’t intended to shame anyone into consuming the story; it’s not for everyone! But I’ve come across my fair share of aspiring fans who couldn’t access the book in a way that suited them (including myself) so I wanted to make this knowledge more generally know for anyone else who might need it :]

[entamewitchlulu]

briefly thought about Masako Penguindrum and how yeah it's haha funney incest she kissed her brother ewwww lol but if you barely scratch the surface you realize she kisses her brother because her family was irreparably broken by a wildly abusive grandfather, negligent and then dead parents, and her only other source of support essentially kidnapped by another family, leaving her alone to be her younger sibling's only protector against their mutual abuser who fucks up her brain at a critical time in her childhood development so badly she hallucinates near constantly, with the only hope in her life being that one day the idealized vision of her Last Hope in the form of her brother, who is Supposed to Protect Her, will come back and save her from the horrors, only to find out that he has abandoned her entirely for a girl he is clearly in love with but insists on calling his sister, essentially completely replacing her and leaving her completely alone.

Of course she fucking kisses Kanba. She sees him playing house with a girl he insists is his sister, and yet is clearly deeply in love with her, so in a desperate attempt to take back her family, she playacts at romantic interest in her brother because as far as she can tell from the outside this is what Kanba wants, that's what she'll be if only it will put him back in her family and give her back the security of a Family that she's wanted and been denied her entire life. So if Himari is going to replace her, then she can be the "sister" Kanba clearly wants, right?

Maybe that will finally make him come home.

[leifyposting]

a couple people asked for a jean analysis thread so…

Why I Love Repressed, Overburdened, Walking Dumpster Fire Jean Gunnhildr - And Why You 🫵 Should Too!

jean is NARRATIVELY and PERSONALLY vital to mondstadt's story and in this post i'll explain why

ok let’s go:

first off: jean is NARRATIVELY important to mondstadt because she acts as a representative for its most important themes and ideals

in other words: jean's story is the story of mondstadt itself

"but leify,” i hear you say, “shouldn't venti be the representative of mondstadt?”

well… yes and no! more on that later

but first let's talk about what the story of mondstadt even is:

in broad strokes, the story of mondstadt is the story of a people being given freedom - and using that freedom to confine themselves and others (see: vennessa)

it's the story of freedom offered but not demanded (see: dvalin)

to understand how jean's story matches up to this, we have to go all the way back to the archon war to meet her ancestor gunnhildr. unhappy with decarabian's rule, she led her clan outside the walls - and then returned to seek freedom for the people who were still trapped within

it's interesting to note that gunnhildr toppled a god - and then immediately became first priestess for another god. again: she was offered freedom from kings and authority, but since it was not demanded of her, she chose not to take it

fast forward to present day and the gunnhildr clan have become pretty much THE de facto protectors of mondstadt. there's an old joke in the taverns that "a gunnhildr learns to say 'for mondstadt as always' before learning to say 'mommy'"

but this duty isn't always a good thing!

the gunnhildrs have taken the freedom offered to them and chosen to confine themselves with it - to sacrifice it to uphold the freedom of the people around them

and jean is no exception. she's sacrificed her own freedom to become a protector of the freedom she doesn't get to taste

you can also see jean's mondstadt-representative traits in her relationships with the people around her

jean at her best uses her autonomy for the good of her people. jean at her worst uses it to imprison them (klee) and dictate what she feels is best for them (noelle)

if that sounds familiar, it might be because that's the major conflict between decarabian and boreas during the archon war

decarabian believed he was a good king, imprisoning his people "for their own good." boreas chose to die rather than make them sacrifice their freedom or wellbeing

and i’m not trying to argue that jean is wrong for the decisions she’s made re: klee or noelle. i think she’s doing the best she can under the circumstances!

what i AM trying to argue is that jean, like all her mondstadt forebears, is constantly trying to draw the line between freedom and constraint. this question of freedom without rules and rules without freedom is at the heart of her story - and of mondstadt's story as well

but wait!

back to venti for a moment. why wouldn't mondstadt's god be the representative of his own nation?

i think the simplest answer is that venti has long ago abdicated that position. in choosing to step down from his position of authority, he has in a sense let go of the right to dictate mondstadt's story. that's what it means to be a nation of true freedom!

okay but why is this important? who cares that jean's story mirrors mondstadt's or vice versa?

well - short answer is that what happens to jean in endgame will also be what happens to mondstadt

(assuming of course that the genshin writers don't fumble)

jean represents the best and the worst of mondstadt - but almost more importantly, she represents their 2000-year experiment in freedom

in the end, will mondstadt's people rise to the occasion and throw off the confines they and the gods have placed upon themselves? in the end, is freedom - even imperfect freedom - worth fighting for? the way genshin wraps up jean's story will reflect their answer to those questions

which brings me to my second point, which is that jean is PERSONALLY important to mondstadt - and to the whole mondstadt cast

it's pretty clear to see that the people of mondstadt love her. 20 playable characters have voice lines about her (some archons don't even have as many!)

but on a more meta level, jean is personally important to the mondstadt cast because her uprightness gives them someone to foil off of

in other words, jean's straightforward representation of mondstadt's ideals gives other characters the chance to interrogate those same ideals

for example: jean represents constraints placed on freedom - which offers klee the chance to interrogate the question of how far unchecked freedom truly goes

in the same vein, jean represents duty fulfilled - which gives diluc the chance to interrogate duty abandoned for love

i can keep going! if jean didn't represent justice carried out in the light of day, rosaria could not represent justice carried out in the dead of night. if jean didn't represent being rooted in her family legacy, kaeya could not represent being uprooted in his

i think of this role as a kind of narrative version of the straight man, which is a role that plays off the funny characters and that is used to heighten the comedy of a scene by reminding the audience of the baseline reality

ultimately, jean represents mondstadt to the player, revealing the themes that are most vital to the story - but she also represents mondstadt to ITSELF, reminding the characters around her of the nation's ideals, whether they then choose to stand in agreement or opposition

[fraudulent-cheese]

Still miffed by that one take about there being nothing left to talk about in total drama and that's why the fandom's boring or dead or inactive or whatever

[carmillatism]

but genuinely, how do i begin to describe emcee in cabaret? they're a character, sure. a lead in this musical with multiple main characters that all have something to say. but they're... not that exactly. they're a character that you can invoke the name of and analyze, and whose name proceedes the credits to the name of an actor. however, they aren't just a character. they're not even really a character. at least, not in a way that a character is normally a character.

they're everything, which also makes them nothing (in the way of a normal character). they're every person in the world along with the world over. they're ideologies and concepts and political policies and an entire group of people. they're metaphors stacked on metaphors. but it's not like, "oh, this character is fulfilling 3 different metaphors at the same time". no, there's more like an infinite amount of interpretations of who they're standing in for. they're a metaphor for absolutely everything (at least contained in 1930s germany, but no musical- no media- stays solely in the time it's about nor the time it was made).

they're the bad, the good, the totally neutral. obviously, much of their focus in the musical is embodying fascist ideologies, especially the rapidly growing ones in the early third reich. however, they also specifically fill in for sally in i don't care much (and could generally be filling in for the ignorant german populace). but in the end, he also fills in for those persecuted in the holocaust, and he does as such in the entire musical.

he's this idea of the weimar republic's general openess and liberal nature fizzling out but still being alive in certain places even as the third reich comes to power. but they also represent how that identity can then be facilitated to aid the nazi propaganda at the time and bolster the third reich's beliefs. there's an idea there that emcee is the way far right movements will co-opt leftist presentations as a way to normalize their beliefs in a society that wouldn't normally accept them.

but even then they're not just the bad, not just a metaphor for nazism. they're also the daily people and the relationships they form. they're there when schultz and schneider first sing together and are more supportive than anything (though i do have something to say about how they can still encapture the early steps of fascism in that scene) and there's the points where he is just another person at the cabaret or where he's more idea than person.

emcee isn't just a metaphor for fascism nor are they a truly physical character in the musical. they're a presence and a representation of every person, identity, ideology, belief, and group, and the world at large, all in one person that is constantly changing and morphing to represent these people and things. (this is especially noticeable after their switch from expressing sally's feelings in i don't care much to switching back to their master of ceremonies persona when introducing sally back to the cabaret (which is another metaphor for fascism and/or ignorance but not getting into that), especially as indicated by the long seconds of silence as they transition from the end of that song right into cabaret.)

anyway, emcee is a concept as much as they are a character, and they're less a character and more a presence felt by every character, every audience member, the whole world over, throughout (and after) the musical.

[mochiajclayne]

how do I even explain that law had been saying homosexual coded stuff about him and luffy as early as marineford like sir what do you mean your meeting with strawhat was fate 🤨

[ashestxr]

being in the hermitcraft/life series fandom while also being hyperfixated on cherik is a problem, because i cant stop imagining the xmen and the brotherhood as minecraft youtubers that are normally very chill and respectful but go batshit when put on a pvp server with barely any rules 😭

like, hear me out, xmen first class as 3rd life

charles gathers as many of his youtuber friends and acquaintances as possible for a hardcore minecraft server where everyone has three lives, expecting it to be all peaceful and stuff until people are on their red life, and at first it is, when people are just getting started. erik and charles team up, of course, and so do a few others like shaw and emma or raven and hank, most people just sticking to themselves

but then shaw is an ass and breaks the "rules" by killing erik on purpose while not on his red life. this ends with erik swearing that he'll be the one to get shaw out of the series (charles is not impressed when he finds out)

things get relatively more peaceful again after that, people dying on accident here and there, but of course, that doesnt last long as shaw is the first to get to his last life. hes allowed to kill people now and its made worse by the fact that his alliance has grown stronger, azazel and janos have joined him and emma in their castle on the beach. shaw is even proudly showing off his new netherite helmet, despite the fact that helmets arent allowed on the server

moira decides to do something about that and goes to charles and erik to ask for help of aligning as many other people as possible against the four of them before they get more allies. they go off on their own to recruit the others while moira builds a secret base for their meetings. unsurprisingly, everyone agrees to join them, but they didnt know that shaw had already recruited angel before asking her. a couple more people get on their red life outside of shaw. the team has a couple of successful secret meetings, but angel rats them out and tells shaw where they are

while charles erik and moira are out scoping out shaws base, they find only emma is there and end up in a stand off. shaw and the others storm the secret base and find darwin, alex and angel there. it ends with angel being revealed as a traitor and alex and darwin killed. alex is on his last life, but darwin was already on red, so hes first out of the server. he gets made fun of by alex for that ("seriously darwin? you can adapt to survive anything but that doesnt translate to minecraft skills??"). emma is also killed shortly after and is second out

before this, everyone that was against shaw was just in a tentative alliance, nothing like what shaws team was like. they would have meetings and help each other with some things, but they were still off on their own. but now they were a team, sticking together in their new base and and helping each other grow stronger

on the final day of the server, most of the people were on red, charles being one of the few still on yellow. the plan was to swarm shaws team while they were still inside their base, but since last time they were there, it had been trapped and all hell broke loose once they stepped inside. practically everything blew up, and azazel, janos, and angel jumped them shortly afterward while they were still confused. shaw was no where to be found

erik went to look for him while everyone else fought and he found him in a secret room underground that had been untouched by the explosion. they fight and erik wins, donning the helmet that shaw was so proud of. during their fight, several other people lose their last life in the chaos, until eventually the only ones left are charles and moira, charles somehow miraculously still having two lives while moira is on her last

just as they are discussing how to end the game fairly, by having moira killing charles and then the three of them having a friendly battle to see who wins, erik comes back and sees that charles is still on his second life. he decides that charles deserves the win, or maybe they could have a joint win, and starts shooting moira from a distance, catching them off guard. moira starts to shoot back at erik, and while charles is trying to get them both to stop he gets shot in the chaos. already low on health from the battle before, and without any food to heal, he was one shot, and looses his second life and it was unfortunately eriks arrow that did it. moira, caught off guard at charles' sudden death, doesnt see erik coming closer and gets killed shortly after, leaving just erik and charles left

charles returns from his respawn and goes back to the beach with nothing on him and finds erik waiting there for him. erik asks if this means that they won. charles disagrees, saying that there has to be one winner, and all the "ghosts" left on the server agree in chat. erik begs him to reconsider, that it was charles' server, he could do whatever he wanted, they can change the rules and win together. they want the same thing. it was always their alliance above everyone else. charles disagrees.

theres nothing much that can be done. charles has nothing and moira took all of his things with her when she lost her last life. despite eriks insistence that they can have a fair fight, charles is already low health again and erik doesnt have enough food to get them both up to full health. charles takes the loss with dignity, and erik wins the first season

and of course, the collective fandom in their universe that has grown throughout this series freaks the fuck out over this finale 😭

like, charles and erik obviously become what desert duo is in our world (beach duo?), where people make a shit ton of art and fics about these two and also shipping them and people are still obsessed with their team-up even years after the first season has ended (their interactions in later seasons dont help)

and of course, the animatics. they are so dramatic and accidentally fool people into thinking theyre for something equally as dramatic, but when you actually watch it to see just how heart wrenching this series must be, this is what you see when you get to the big scene that everyone is obsessed over 😭

(imagine getting your fiancé into a silly block game only for him to get way more into it then you ever were)

i kinda got carried away while figuring out how to make xmfc fit into minecraft, cause despite all the detail i went into here, this au is mostly focused on these characters being minecraft youtubers rather than what they do in the game 😭

like i do have some plans for how dofp could work in the life series (and possibly making it be double life??), and the vaguest ideas for x1, but otherwise its just mostly silliness and dumb antics (like charles and erik being engaged but the fandom doesnt know or peter also being a youtuber and finding out that erik is his dad after already becoming friends with him online)

i really hope other people like this au because its been consuming my every thought lately 😭😭

[rainbowtitania]

That Kitchen Scene

Okay, I gotta talk about kitchen fight for a minute, because it was visually GLORIOUS.

tldr: every aspect of the scene’s mise-en-scene, lighting, sound, camerawork, and blocking all work together here. Even without a single word of dialogue, this scene makes us feel estranged from this familiar place; uncomfortably close but also disconnected from these characters; and we’ve got subconscious alarm bells ringing because all sorts of small details feel menacing and unreal.

It's such a smart way to film a fight between two characters who are almost always on the same page but are uncharacteristically alienated from each other, who are both hiding how they’re feeling and pretending to be normal when they’re not, and are now pushed to a breaking point. It’s also such a smart way to film two characters who feel alone in their grief for different reasons. It’s such a relatable feeling: when you’re trying to make your pain heard but it feels like you can’t break through; when your familiar spaces and relationships all feel tilted on their axis and everything looks mostly the same but feels wrong in some indefinable way.

Anyway, let’s dive in and see how they did it:

The scene opens on Eddie’s dark hallway, and when we see the kitchen, it’s harshly lit. There’s some yellow, but it only accentuates the sickly, shadowed atmosphere compared to the bright, sunny way the kitchen is usually lit. There are also no photos, magnets, or drawings on the fridge, which differentiates this from what Eddie’s kitchen used to look like, but also what Buck’s kitchen in the loft looked like. There are no objects to clutter the counters or table (again, unlike the way the set used to be dressed), which gives the whole room — especially considering the way it’s lit — a sterile and impersonal feel. It feels subtly wrong from the get-go.

Similarly, there’s no soundtrack for much of the scene, and the ambient audio (I’m not a sound person so this might not be the right term) is turned way up, to a degree that’s louder than it would be in real life. We hear every shuffle of their feet, every crinkle of the plastic on the paper towels. And they move and bang around so much that there’s just this underlying clamor to the whole scene that’s — again — artificial by design.

Next, I want to pause on the first angle we get of the kitchen. Ostensibly, it’s from Eddie’s POV. He walks in, stops, sees the grocery bag. But the camera is lower to the ground than Eddie’s eyeline, and shakily moves up to Buck putting away cereal. I think this has three purposes: accentuates Buck visually in the space, creates an ominous or disempowered feeling (which low angle shots are often used to do), and flags for the viewer immediately before a word is spoken that something isn’t right. On 911, the cinematography usually fades into the background; when it doesn’t, it’s visually unsettling.

The camerawork through the whole scene is deliberately provoking. Even when we do get a more traditional shot-reverse-shot during the argument, the audience is never allowed to align with either Buck or Eddie. The camera is never quite filming from their POV or over their shoulder, it’s always at an odd off-angle. But neither is it filming from a neutral POV where the audience can be an observer like a fly on the wall. Instead, we’re just a little too close. We’re in their faces. When Buck and Eddie move forward, the camera moves back jerkily and too slowly, at a different speed than Oliver and Ryan are walking, rather than with a frictionless travelling shot. Oliver and Ryan also shift from side to side as they move, as does the camera, so the camera is often zigging when Oliver and Ryan are zagging. It’s almost nauseating, and makes us feel like they’re about to bump into us. It’s as intimate as it is claustrophobic.

Speaking of bumping into each other: the blocking. You’ll notice that Buck and Eddie are rarely in the same shot together at all, and only cross near each other once: when Eddie comes in to get a cup of coffee, they physically turn their backs on each other until Buck is on the other side of the room again. (Compare that to the kitchen scene where Eddie tells Buck he’s moving — even when Eddie is keeping a secret, the two of them are all up in each other’s space).

It makes the moment when they finally meet an emotional source of tension but a huge visual catharsis. And the camera might be uncomfortably close, something awful might be happening between them, but the moment they touch is also the moment when the music kicks in and Eddie and Buck can finally be honest with each other about how they’re really feeling. Eddie and Buck get close to each other and both their composures crack.

[initforthelolzz]

back from the dead

[deancasforcutie]

Despair // Night on the Galactic Railroad

'Campanella,' said Giovanni, sighing deeply, 'we're alone again. Let's stay together till the ends of the earth, okay? If I could be like that scorpion and do something for the benefit of all people, I wouldn't care if my body burnt up a hundred times over.' 'Me too,' said Campanella, his eyes welling with the clearest tears. 'But what is real happiness, Campanella?' 'Don't ask me,' he answered dreamily.

[autoboros]

WHAT??? ARE THERE MORE SPOON PEEPS??

Yep, these are my real main 4 guys

They're all really close friends and they've been around for like... nearly 2 years now which is crazy

[you-me-we-04]

For personal reasons, I need one of 911 season 8 main plot points to be a love triangle centering on one Evan "Buck" Buckley. I long for Tommy and Eddie's cat fighting over this man, his time, and his love. I need Tommy and Eddie always trying to one-up each in the smallest things (I'm talking about who gets to buy Buck a coffee, who makes sure he gets home safe after a night out) give me Hen running a betting pool over who Buck will end up with, give me Tommy and Eddie still doing Muay Thai together and during these seasions of them doing Muay Thai it is broken up with vague threats over who loves Buck more ("Evan" Tommy corrects every time, Eddie always hits a little hard after that) give me Buck pretending like he has no clue this is going on but in truth, he feel unworthy of causing all this drama esspically when he finds out from Chris that it's messing with Eddie and Tommy's freindship, give me Buck going to Maddie for support finally admitting all the stress this is causing him, give me pissed off Maddie going big sister mode on both Eddie and Tommy telling them if they really love every part of Evan Buckley that they will stop this stupid cat fight and let him make up his own mind. Then. Then. Then. THEN in the season 8 finale in the very last scene in the wrap-up they do in every season give me some line about love and how it finds us i.e "And sometimes in a moment when its most inconvenient and unexpected love finds a way to make its way into our lives and despite it all, it finds a way to surprise us." (In my head the voiceover is Bobby) and we see Buck's home clothes are strewn in the hallway we see two male bodies cuddling in a bed. One we can't make out but the other is clearly Buck and we cut to a close-up of Buck who just says "I love you" THEN CUT TO BLACK COME BACK FOR SEASON 9 TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

[noisytenant]

new collection i want to start but can't think of a name for: things that expand your vision of what is possible in the world. "oh, you can do that?" things that blew your mind a little bit

does not need to be impressive. in fact many are relatively mundane.

examples:

death's dynamic shroud live cover of BAE (digital live 2020) made me realize that if you sample the vocals from someone else's song you can also sing those vocals yourself whenever you want

sakina agoshi (nullmeta)'s fish shaped hair... so cartoonish yet so plausible

[nobodynotbymitski]

dreamt of visiting a dan and phil museum called "la tour de fer" (the iron tower) which was for some reason located in nantes and sold kawaii stationery.