#xross wars

[alphagodith]

just some of my favorite shots of wizardmon from the digimon xross wars manga. i did not like how he was drawn in the dreamers manga so i got nostalgic. note there may be spoilers and some stuff is out of order/cut to fit more wizard.

and the fun human tf sequence under the readmore cuz it's better with context but would make this an annoyingly long post

for the record i DID translate the digicode and it's actual nonsense. says something like 'my boss told me to write something cool here'

gotta love wizardmon's resting bitch face, especially in human form. man always looks bored/evil/annoyed but he's actually really cheerful xD the full manga was scanlated by xros raws, and you can download it there.

[sinank0606]

Still one of the best and most surprising moments in the whole manga.

I so wish that the anime would have done something like that 😂

[chernobog13]

A few new guys arrive to lend a hand, by Alex Ross.

May the Fourth, and all that!

[jade-lop]

Did GG staff watched all the previous seasons of Digimon and then thought, ‘’hmm, you all can do better’’, then proceeded to make all the joke Digimon into a lethal, formidable threat.

Arukenimon and Lilithmon were nothing more than underestimated lackeys in their series, but here, they almost killed the main cast if not for timely intervention.

[crimzonstudioz]

I did a sketch of Nene and the humanoid sparrowmon from Xross wars

[rpking99]

Digimon Humans

Adventure

Tae Kamiya

Sora Takenouchi

Sora is the DigiDestined of Love from the original Adventure. Her partner was Biyomon. A sporty tomboy, Sora is passionate and a girl full of love. Caring about every single one of her friends, she isn't afraid to throw hands if you hurt one of them

Mimi Tachikawa

Mimi is the DigiDestined of Purity (Sincerity in the Dub) and partner of Palmon from Digimon Adventure. A party girl who moved to the US for a few years, she does not hide her thoughts of her feelings. No filter.

Adventure 02

Kari Kamiya

Kari is the little sister of Tai, and is the DigiDestined of Light. She is partners with Gatomon. She was in the Original Adventure as well as the sequel, Adventure 02. A fan of photography she is very focused girl, playfully and cheerful

Yolei Inoue

Yolei is from Adventure 02, and she inherited the powers of both the Crest of Love and Crest of Purity, partnered with Hawkmon. She is rather smart, but is short tempered and has no filter. But beyond that she is rather mellow

Tamers

Rika Nonaka

Rika is a tomgirl from Digimon Tamers, partnered with Renamon. At first she saw Digimon as just things, she grew to care about others. Even though she can still be a bit cold, she tries her best to care for others. Those she cares about, she protects with her life and can be very affectionate with

Jeri Katou

Frontier

Zoe Orimoto

Fairymon

Level: Champion

Zoe is part of the DigiDestined, or rather the Legendary Warriors, from the fourth season of the show, Digimon Frontiers. They had the ability to turn into Digimon, Zoe turning into the Warrior of Wind. So, like Ranamon, she is a minor elemental god, one of Wind. She is a spunky and opinionated girl, the kind of person who doesn't go with the crowd, preferring to stick to her ideals. She is an open person who always speaks her mind, sometimes to the point of unintentionally insulting and alienating others. And she spent two years living in Italy beore returning to Japan

Also, because she is from Frontier, she can Digivolve! Yeah, reason why she was first...

Zoe's Digivolutions

Savers

Yoshino

Xross Wars

Nene

Adventure Tri

Meiko Mochizuki

Meiko was the new DigiDestined added in Digimon Adventure Tri. Her partner was Meicoomon and... not getting into any of that continuity stuff. Basically, her partner is dead. She is a very shy and reserved girl, seeing Mimi as her best friend. She ius a cute nerdy girl who can be very fun

Digimon Games

Ami Aiba

Nokia Shiramine

Kyoko Kuremi

Yuuko Kamishiro

Rina Shinomiya

Erika Mishima

Mirei Mikagura

Rie Kishibe

Total Muses: 19

[geek-life-or-bust]

I was today years old when I realized WHY this bitch has been one of my comfort characters since 1999. He is *resilient* as *all hell*. Regardless of being defeated *twice* in Digimon Adventure, he came back in Digimon Adventure 02. Not only that but if I remember correctly, he came back *again* in Digimon Xross Wars and it took *all 6* Digidestined leaders to take his ass out. That is the kind of determed and resilient I strive to be. Yeah hes a villain but holy crap if you ever need a character to inspire you to get up when life kicks the crap out of you, Myotismon is the one...

[just-a-seagull]

Alright, I'm now playing cyber sleuth:hackers memory, and just so you guys know I picked betamon, because it's the one on the cover. But I have a question and I'm gonna put it under the cut.

So I've watched digimon xross wars/fusion, and now that I've seen 2 versions of neptunemon I have a few big questions, 1) why does it have a sharp toothed shark monster mouth in the anime and most official art I've seen but in the game it has a normal human mouth. 2) is it like an apollomon/appolomon(whispered) situation or are they just 2 separate designs for the same exact digimon? 3) why is appolomon not in this game because some members of the Olympus 12 are in the game including it's counterpart dianamon, so why not it?

[kawaiilizzie]

would you tell me about your OCS for Kamen Rider..? 🙏🐕

Of course! I'll be glad to tell you more about my OCs! Lets me know you're genuinely interested in my Saber AU. There's a lot but I'll try my best and feel free to ask me questions about my OCs.

Kaede Shinaki/Kamen Rider Lobera (II) - The protagonist of my AU. A sweet and kind 22-year-old college student and aspiring singer who gets caught up in the war in-between the Sword of Logos and the Megid. Using the Sessouken Fubuki and its token Wonder Ride Book Snowfall Beauty (based on a yuki-onna), she transforms into the Swordswoman of Ice and Snow, Kamen Rider Lobera. Her birthday is May 9th. She is played by Yui Sakurai.

Shion Akamatsu/Kamen Rider Espada (III) - Kaede's 21-year-old closest friend and apartment roommate with a love for fairytale endings who has feelings for her which she later confesses during the final fight with Bahato and Yumeko. Expressing her wish to be by Kaede's side and not feel helpless to help her friends, she wields the Raimeiken Ikazuchi to transform into the third Swordswoman of Thunder, Kamen Rider Espada. The Raiju no Arashi Wonder Ride Book (based on Raiju) is exclusive to her as Espada. Her birthday is May 17th. She is played by Noel Hayase.

Arch Seirei Artemis/Yukari - The Seirei associated with the Haouken Xross Saber and the current princess of the Seirei. After inheriting her title from the previous Arch Seirei upon killing it after it made its wielder go berserk, she was tasked by her previous wielder with watching over the Sword of Logos and guiding them to the day her Seiken would reawaken to them. She goes by the name Yukari while posing as a human. She is played by Amane Tsukiashi.

Sound Seirei Naoto - The Seirei associated with the Onjuuken Suzune and partner to Tetsuo. She is a kind and supportive girl who holds a relationship with Tetsuo that is deeper than most other Seirei. She is capable of using her singing voice as a weapon if she wants. She is played by Luna Nakagawa.

Yumeko/Kamen Rider Nimcha - An ancient swordswoman and former huntress for Artemis who was sealed in a crystal called the Moonlight Diamond before reemerging in the present day. Her low self-esteem and desire to prove herself as the strongest leads her to using the Mushikiken Madoromu and its token Wonder Ride Book Lucid Chameleon (based on a chameleon) to transform into the Swordswoman of Dreams, Kamen Rider Nimcha. She is played by Suzuka Chinzei.

Lennox/Kamen Rider Lennox - The beautiful princess of the Megid and their only female general. She was the Seirei of Crystals who turned evil by anger and remorse in the aftermath of an accidental murder of a rouge swordsman she and Tassel were trying to save and is the mastermind behind the Megid’s whole plot and the manipulation of Isaac and Storious. Using the Purgatorio Wonder Ride Book and the Dooms Driver Buckle, she transforms into the Swordswoman of Endings, Kamen Rider Lennox. She is played by Mana Manaka.

Ayaka Shinaki/Kamen Rider Lobera (I) - Kaede's older sister and the previous Swordswoman of Ice and Snow. Joining the Sword of Logos as a member of the Northern Base, she values family above all else and is a kind and supportive person in general. She sacrificed herself to save a young Kaede's life during the Sword of Logos tragedy fifteen years ago. She is played by Tao Tsuchiya.

Ice Seirei Yukina - The Seirei of the Sessouken Fubuki and partner to Kaede. She is a kind-hearted girl like a princess who cares deeply about her friends. She felt guilty about Ayaka's death, especially since Kaede had to witness it happen, even if she didn’t directly see it. She wants to make amends for it when her Seiken reappeared to Kaede in the present day. She is played by Hikaru Yamamoto.

Thunder Seirei Raito - The Seirei of the Raimeiken Ikazuchi and partner to Kento and Shion. He serves as a princely mentor figure to Shion when she took up his Seiken and was amazed at her determination when she first became Espada. He is played by Satsuki Nakayama.

Flame Seirei Homura - The dragon Seirei of the Kaenken Rekka and partner to Touma. She was sealed into the darkness by Daichi fifteen years ago but reawakened around the same time that Yukina did after she found Touma's desire to make people happy through books adorable. She comes across as a little hot-blooded, but she's really just passionate about helping Touma get used to being a swordsman. She is played by Rin Takanashi.

Water Seirei Mizuhara - The feline Seirei of the Suiseiken Nagare and partner to Rintaro. He is very adaptable to new wielders of his Seiken while holding memories of his past ones close to him. He is played by Atsushi Shiramata.

Land Seirei Riku - The golem Seirei of the Dogouken Gekido and partner to Ryo. He is the physically strongest of the Seirei known for being stubborn when choosing new wielders of his Seiken and he understands why Ogami prefers physical attacks over magic the most. He is played by Eiji Akaso.

Wind Seirei Fuutaro - The ninja Seirei of the Fuusouken Hayate and partner to Ren. He is very tactical with his speed and magic which make him faster than most Seirei and he can tolerate Ren's gremlin antics, as he knows he's still learning to understand true strength. He is played by Ryo Matsuda.

Light Seirei Hikaru - The knight Seirei of the Kougouken Saikou and partner to Yuri and one of the first two Seirei awakened by Tassel. He fused with Yuri after Bahato was sealed in the Book of Ruin, making the former a hybrid in the process. He doesn't have much experience with other Seirei due to his time in Avalon. He is played by Yuki Kubota.

Dark Seirei Yamina - The dark dragon Seirei of the Ankokuken Kurayami and one of the first two Seirei awakened by Tassel. She has no problem finding new wielders for her Seiken with her power of precognition which let her access the World of Darkness. She has partnered with Hayato, Daichi, Kento, and Sophia. She is played by Nana Mori.

Smoke Seirei Noroko - The fairy Seirei of the Eneiken Noroshi and partner to Reika. She possesses a near-stoic demeanor that is hard to break through who knows her magic's limits, often being undeterred by stronger opponents countering her. She is played by Yuria Haga.

Time Seirei Tokiwa - The merman Seirei of the Jikokuken Kaiji and partner to Ryoga. In contrast to Noroko, he is slightly insane with a deep pride in his magic who can be quick to anger and Ryoga is one of the few who can keep him in check. He is played by Kohei Murakami.

Void Seirei Naiko - The Seirei of the Mumeiken Kyomu and partner to Bahato. She reaches out to those with little left to believe in and is the one responsible for returning excess magical energy from Xross Saber to the void. She is played by Arisa Komiya.

Dream Seirei Yuna - The Seirei of the Mushikiken Madoromu and partner to Yumeko. She only wants to help people pursue their dreams and make them a reality, sometimes without realizing their mortality. After Yumeko’s defeat, she is taken in by the Sword of Logos to cope with what she had enabled. She is played by Ami Tomite.

[swisssadge]

AncientVolcamon was in Xros Wars

Then I do stand corrected (I never watched Xross Wars cause I hate the designs of the new main characters and mons). But I'm still quite happy to see it in the anime, cause AncientSphinxmon always had my favourite design of the original ten, and Koichi as well as his Spirit digivolutions were always among my favs too. And it's great to see any of the original ten in action, since Frontier itself gave us nothing, only a weird flashback where all we see was the shapes of the Warriors and nothing more.

[alphagodith]

wizard requests!

see that button up there that says "Ask Alpha(wzrd reqs open)"? that's my ask box, and 'wzrd reqs' is short for 'wizard requests'! what that means is, you can send me a drawing request, prompt, or question for one of my favorite wizards via that button, and i will draw it/the character answering it, for you, for free! (but if you enjoy my art, tips are certainly appreciated)

applicable wizards;

wizardmon/wizarmon from digimon adventure (1999) anime and xross wars manga

vivi ornitier from final fantasy ix (9)

lonely wizard/blue mage/lonely wizbot from inscryption (the video game)

my own wizardmon oc, who is an au/fan continuation of the canon one, from a wish fulfillment/self-ship fanfic of mine that i probably will never publish despite it being pretty damn detailed. tldr of the fic is that ghost-seeing self-insert brings wizardmon back to life after the canon story ends. everyone is all grown up, digital world is at peace, and wiz has been dead for a bit over 10 years. has 'what does it mean to be human/alive', 'light cannot exist without dark', and 'learning to live for yourself' themes.

my wizgato fusion

my wizardmon/vivi ornitier fusion

and maybe suggestions for other wizardmon fusions- tho be aware the rights to the designs i create stay with me. if you want me to design something for YOU to use/own, you'll have to do it as an actual commission, not an ask box request.

the only requirements for requests are that you be polite, the main focus be one of the aforementioned wizards, and the prompt be brief enough that it leaves some room for me to interpret it my own way. other than that, anything goes! i might twist an idea that makes me uncomfy into one that doesn't, or post something against tumblr tos elsewhere instead of in the ask response, but i won't judge.

these are not fully custom illustrations- i am not drawing a specific scene based on a detailed description. you're just giving me an idea to play with. if you want something super specific, or more detailed and polished than a sketchy doodle, you'll need to pay for a commission. you also do not have permission to upload these doodles on your own accounts- only reblog or otherwise share direct links to my own post.

and no, anon is not on, because people always abuse it. however, if you are shy and just don't want your name publicly attached to your request, or don't want me to verbally/textually respond to the ask and just want the art, you can mention in your ask that you want to be anon and i will post my 'answer' with your name and avatar cropped out. (but you should make sure to check the tag regularly and/or have dms open so i can send it to you, since you won't get a ping/notification when i post it like you would with a regular, non-anon ask)

all asks are tagged 'ask alpha' and wizard requests are also tagged 'wzrd req' and/or 'wizard request doodle'. you can also find more wizard (and other) art by me under 'drawn by alphagodith' if you want to see what a more polished piece by me looks like.

[magpiejay1234]

Anyway, Savers is over, now onto Xros Wars.

I won't be going over Appmon, since it is own subfranchise. So after Xros Wars, including Hunters, we will move to Adventure reboot.

Xros Wars will take longer, since it is three seasons (a novelty, as other Series have been all single season long), with the third season, Hunters, effectively being its own sub-series. So we will take each season on its own, like the YGO series.

****

Now for the general things about Xros Wars:

**This is the second major time Digimon TCG was revived, though in Xros Wars, this was in the context of Super Digica Taisen arcade games, which were not released to the West.

**Because of the arcade focus, and TCG revival, as well as overall merchandising, Xros Wars, like Frontier, focuses on the collectible aspect of Digimon, rather than the raising aspect of Digimon.

**As such, in Xros Wars, there are no Evolutionary Levels. Any Digimon can theoretically beat any other Digimon. Evolutions themselves will be reintroduced, for obvious reasons, and retroactively Xros Wars era Digimon will be given Evolutionary Levels (some will be given during the Xros Wars, since many Digimon introduced around the show don't have much to do with the show itself).

**Because of the merch focus, as YouTuber Billiam notes, many Digimon have mechanical looks to them, even if they are bestial. This ties into the Xrossing mechanic, since each Digimon detachable parts that can be recognisable on a DigiXros form.

**The overall artstyle will try to emulate earlier Series, but not have the same character designers, and tropes. Differences, while subtle, are noticeably there.

**Because of the "war" aspect, there are many recurring characters in these seasons, though only a small number of them matter a lot.

**There aren't that many Xros Wars era video games, surprisingly enough. Most of the video games between this era, and Adventure reboot are around Appmon era, and many of the games released during this era focus on Adventure era stuff instead. This is again mostly due to the arcade push.

Xros Wars era would be one of the bigger bumps of Digimon's popularity, bringing back some old fans, and bringing in many new ones due to simplified mechanics, and expanded lore. This era is the favourite of many people, and it is one of the few periods where new concepts could, temporarily, rival Adventure era stuff. Due to the poor reception of Hunters, it didn't last long, but it is notable nonetheless.

Dubbing of this Series apparently had many interesting controversies, but we won't go over the dub. The original had obvious production issues, as more prominently seen in Hunters, but a lot of those come from the new status quo.

Xros Wars manga, despite having most of the same cast, is completely disconnected from the animé, but much like the GX manga, many people prefer it over the animé, and it gets decent amount of promotion by Bandai due to its international popularity. We won't discuss that a lot either.

[iamthespineofmybook]

While Chrono Trigger is my favourite game, and I could probably come up with some interesting ideas for it, I'd probably pick Digimon's video games.

There's some good ones, sure, but most Digimon games are pretty middling, and some of them feel like they were trying to be Pokémon-like rather than Digimon-like.

Until Xross Wars, only one character I know of in the various series had more than one partner (Willis/Wallace and his Terriermon and Lopmon). So change number one would be to limit the player to having a single partner and making that one a solid character, instead of the player collecting data in each encounter and creating a team out of that data. That partner character then could have a variable evo line based on the player's actions, like in Survive, but the line would also be set in stone once the 'mon hit each stage.

There would be human allies, but they'd be party members like in Final Fantasy, rather than troops like in Survive.

Humans would have actions in battle, like Digimon do, but it'd be limited to buffing their partner or evolving them unless the human in question was like Masaru (who is well known for punching enemy Digimon).

I have more thoughts, but I think I'll stop there.

YOU! Are granted the power to suddenly own ONE video game franchise, and to hire the best people who have ever worked on it (and/or anyone else you want in on it).

What video game franchise are you rescuing--er, acquiring?

[jade-lop]

What made Digimon cute or cool was not their appaerances, but their personalities.

[rpking99]

MASTER FRANCHISE LIST

This post has multiple lists. Broken down by medium (Anime, cartoon, ecetra) and in each Medium having their own muse lists. Pictures are with them to give visual representation

COMICS

DC

Batman

Titans

Justice League

MARVEL

Spider-Man

X-Men

Avengers

ANIME

Digimon Digital Monsters

Digimon Humans (Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, Xross Wars, Digimon Video Games)

Dragon Ball (OG Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Dragon Ball Xenoverse)

Yu-Gi-Oh Humans (Duel Monsters, GX, 5Ds, ZeXal, Arc-V, VRAINS)

Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Spirits

Naruto

Ecchi Anime (Kill La Kill, Panty And Stocking, Rosario Vampire, Monster Musume, Danmachi, My Dress Up Darling)

Misc Anime (SSSS Gridman, SSSS Dynazenon, SpyXFamily, Ms Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, One Punch Man, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Bakugan, Dinosaur King)

CARTOONS

RWBY

Action 1 (Ben 10, Danny Phantom)

Action 2 (Totally Spies, Kim Possible, Powerpuff Girls, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Incredibles, Xiaolin Showdown, Kung Fu Panda)

Transformers (G1, Beast Wars, Robots In Disguise 2001, Cybertron, Animated, Aligned, Kotobokia)

Comedy 1 (Helluva Boss, Hazbin Hotel, Scott Pilgram, Scooby Doo, Loony Tunes)

Comedy 2 (Disney, Gravity Falls, Total Drama, Hotel Transylvania, Road To Eldarado, Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends, Who Framed Rogger Rabbit, Addams Family)

VIDEO GAMES

Persona Part 1 (Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Arena Ultimax, Persona Dancing)

Persona Part 2 (Persona 5, Persona 5 Strikers, Persona 5 OC)

Megaman (Classic, Zero, Battle Network, Starforce)

Sonic

Nintendo (Metroid, Mario, Starfox, Bayonetta, Wii-Fit)

Action/Fighting Games (Mortal Kombat, Devil May Cry, FNAF, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Lolipop Chainsaw, Among Us, Tomb Raider)

RPG Games (Nier, Nier Automatica, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, .Hack//GU, Undertale)

Pokémon Part 1 (Trainers)

Pokemon Part 2 (Rich gals, Rangers, smart gals and professors)

Pokemon Part 3 (Gym Leaders, Elite 4, Champion)

Pokemon Part 4 (Evil Team)

OTHER

Tokusatsu Part 1 (Power Rangers, Super Sentai, Ultraman)

Tokusatsu Part 2 (Kamen Rider)

Horror (Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday 13th, Halloween, The Ring, Predator, Alien)

V-Tuber

Hentai (Kuroinu, Zone, Taimanin)

OC

Total Muses: 684

[themattress]

Reblogging to first off correct an error: it's Kingdom Hearts IV that wraps up loose ends and kick-starts the so-called Lost Masters Arc, not Verum Rex. Verum Rex is purely Yozora's backstory, which doesn't involve Sora or presumably even any Disney characters at all.

But more importantly, you wanna know why the (present, ongoing) franchise is dead to me? It's not just the narrative shifts - it's how those narrative shifts have impacted the KH universe. To put it simply, each narrative feels like it occupies a different universe from one another.

The original Kingdom Hearts narrative of the 2000s was carried through Kingdom Hearts (and its Final Mix), Chain of Memories (and Re:Chain of Memories), Kingdom Hearts II (and its Final Mix), 358/2 Days, Birth by Sleep, and the seven episodes of Coded during 2009. This universe was simply that, a universe, shared by Disney, Final Fantasy and original characters and featuring JRPG concepts that properly accounted for this universe being owned by Disney so that they didn't feel too out of place. Story possibilities were endless.

The Reconnect: Kingdom Hearts narrative of the 2010s was carried through the final episode of Coded in 2010 along with Birth by Sleep's Secret Ending video "Blank Points", Birth by Sleep: Final Mix, Re:Coded, Dream Drop Distance, X / Unchained X, 0.2 Birth by Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage, and Kingdom Hearts III. Rather than a large universe where anything can happen, this universe completely revolves around the Order of True Keyblade Masters and the Mark of Mastery and the Keyblade War and the X-Blade and the Power of Waking and the machinations of Xehanort across time and space, and the victims Xehanort has hurt who need saving by Sora. This universe can be summed up with lines such as "Destiny is never left to chance", or "I should have known there were no coincidences, only links in a much larger chain of events", or "My appointed path is now etched in my heart". Everything is part of a grander plan, everything is predetermined to some degree or other, and everything connects back to this same handful of concepts relating to the Keyblade.

What's worse is that all of this no longer accounted for Disney. Meaning that aside from Yen Sid, Mickey, all of Mickey's servants, and to a certain extent Maleficent and Pete, the Disney characters of the series were left out of contributing to this universe's core concepts and storyline...and that those few Disney characters who did felt incredibly out of place and awkward. The humor value of Mickey Mouse saying weird JRPG things begins to run thin when those things are so convoluted and uncharacteristic that Bret Iwan is clearly struggling in delivering them. By the time of KH3, it felt as though all the OC stuff in the KH universe was invading an entirely separate universe of Disney stuff rather than them sharing one.

And of course, the long wait for KH3 ended up screwing the universe and its narrative over even further, since the previously simple X / Unchained X that wasn't supposed to matter to KH3 beyond a vague prophecy about light and darkness expanded and mutated to the point of infecting both 0.2 BBS and KH3, which directly leads us into the most recent narrative.

The An Oath to Return: Kingdom Hearts narrative of the 2020s is now carried by X: Back Cover, Union Xross, Dark Road, Missing Link, Kingdom Hearts III's DLC, Melody of Memory, Verum Rex and Kingdom Hearts IV. The story of this universe is completely centered around the wily Master of Masters and his apprentices whose machinations and web of connections are responsible for the Keyblade War, the new World Order forged in Scala ad Caelum, everything that happened with Xehanort, and even things connected to a "realm of unreality" known as Quadratum. It's everything wrong with the previous narrative and its universe on steroids, and this is almost entirely due to Nomura's all-consuming desire for a re-do on his cancelled passion project, Final Fantasy Versus XIII. As a result, nothing in the universe seems to matter anymore. Time, reality, life and death, fundamental rules, even the personal motivations of the characters...all of them flexible on the whim of Nomura. I never agreed with the "Dark Seeger Saga" idea behind the Reconnect narrative, but I can at least imagine a version of it that worked. There is no way in which this "Lost Masters Arc" idea behind this Oath to Return narrative works. It is a literal Square block in a Mickey Mouse-shaped hole.

Say the thing, Xemnas!

Three Decades, Three Narratives, One Gigantic Mess (KH related)

I’ll be getting to my next Anime Update post momentarily, but first I have to get some thoughts out regarding this subject:

As I’ve detailed before, the Kingdom Hearts video game series has told two different narratives in two decades at this point, and as of 2020 it’s officially gotten started on it’s third one. You can….kind of see the problem here just by looking at that image above.

The narrative of Kingdom Hearts (2002-2007), the purest, truest Kingdom Hearts narrative, is the original PS2 era KH Trinity plus three sources of outside material and context that serve to fill in certain details in the Trinity’s story. Some observations I can make on how this narrative was handled and presented: KH1 definitively begins a story, and it opens with Sora and his friends, not with Xehanort. CoM then begins with the last scene of KH1 (Sora, Donald, and Goofy chasing Pluto along a winding path), with KH1’s Secret Ending(s) alluding to Roxas’ Story and what’s to come in KH2. Roxas’ Backstory is concurrent with events of CoM and leads directly to prologue of KH2 that opens that game. And KH2 ends definitively except for a very vague “Call To A New Adventure” final moment, with Secret Ending(s) alluding to the Prequel that uncovers the secret origins of several characters, particularly the villainous Xehanort.

So the only outside material that’s canon to the KH Trinity are the X Fairy Tale and legend of the Keyblade it’s tied directly to (because it has it’s origins in KH1 itself), Roxas’ Backstory from 358/2 Days (in KH2 Final Mix, Axel mentions that he and Roxas used to sit on the clocktower, eat Ice Cream, and watch the sunset in the old days, and we see Roxas’ defeat by Ansemified Riku that happens in that story), and a Prequel story of events years back (what that story is differs depending on version - KH2 Vanilla alludes to a story where three armored Keyblade Wielders fought against the young, pre-amnesia Xehanort when he abused his status as the Keyblade’s Chosen One to throw the worlds into disorder, but then KH2 Final Mix alludes to a finalized, alternate story where Xehanort was an elderly Keyblade Master who hijacked the heart of one of those armored heroes, the one named Terra, and was using him as his vessel at the time he nearly lost his life in a great battle and came to with amnesia in the aftermath. Terra-Xehanort mentally became a new person as he was raised up by Ansem the Wise but his heart still carried Xehanort’s evil essence and the Darkness of Terra’s heart that was sustaining him, and this influenced the creation of Ansem and Xemnas). NOTHING of “Blank Points”, BBS: Final Mix and it’s Bonus Episode, Coded, Re:Coded and it’s endings, Dream Drop Distance and its endings, X Backcover, Union X, 0.2 BBS, Kingdom Hearts III/Re:MIND/Limit Cut Episode, Dark Road, Melody of Memory, Verum Rex or whatever else comes next in the franchise is certifiably canonical to the lore, character arcs, and story narrative of the original KH Trinity.

But then we have the story of Reconnect: Kingdom Hearts (2009-2019), which is what Nomura concocted when he recontextualized the entire series’ narrative into the Dark Seeker Saga. Hooooh boy…

In this narrative, we have X Backcover going on concurrently with the events of UX, BBS: Final Mix’s Bonus Episode leading straight into the main story of 0.2 BBS, the finale of said main story happening concurrently with the finale of KH1′s story, the “Call To A New Adventure” ending of KH2 is now given a new context by the ending of Coded/Re:Coded, which itself leads to the second half of “Blank Points”, except that also happened because of the secret ending of Re:Coded, and while that was going on, the extra secret ending of the Re:Coded cutscene movie from 2.5 HD Remix was happening. This all leads directly to Dream Drop Distance, the canon narrative-breaking dumpster fire itself. The secret ending of Dream Drop Distance leads directly into the framing device segments of 0.2 BBS, with the end of that leading directly into KH3 (disregarding the nonsequitur opening sequences of that game). Stuff from the X subseries set well before the main saga even began suddenly come back to bite the narrative in the butt (the Lost Masters, the Black Box, Chirithy, Xigbar being Luxu, hints about Ventus’ forgotten past, details in the secret reports, “May your heart be your guiding key!”, etc.), and on top of that we get more hooks to the next saga like Subject X, the Nameless Star, the concept of worldlines, the Master of Masters’ secret master plan, Verum Rex and YOZORA, etc. And the direct segue into that next saga is featured in “Limit Cut Episode”, the post-game of KH3, the very same game that ends the Dark Seeker Saga. …..WHO TELLS A FUCKING STORY LIKE THIS?

And now, as of 2020, just as the narrative of Reconnect enveloped, absorbed and diminished the pre-existing Kingdom Hearts narrative, An Oath to Return is doing so to the previous Reconnect narrative. New developments in UX coincide with it’s own spinoff app game, Dark Road, which give fresh new details to the origins of Xehanort that would surely change how we look at things in BBS and KH3 (particularly the out-of-order, context-free DLC-added scene of young Xehanort speaking with the Master of Masters in the Keyblade Graveyard). Details relevant to this new saga seemingly stop at the events prior to KH1, with Luxu manipulating the amnesiac Terra-Xehanort back down a path of evil and, as learned in Melody of Memory, Terra-Xehanort said some funny stuff regarding a certain world before sending Kairi away from Radiant Garden only for it all to pick up again with the image of Luxu at the end of the Keyblade War and the utterance of “May your heart be your guiding key!” in 0.2 BBS. Everything in KH3 and onward that followed ties into this saga.

Here’s the thing that was really getting me, though: the period of years 2000 to 2009 covered the development of KH1 up to the development of BBS, and the final product version of BBS we got in early 2010 had all the red flags of the intricate new saga Nomura was kickstarting, with “Blank Points” making his intentions all too clear and ending on the first ever display of the words “Reconnect: Kingdom Hearts”. Then the following decade of 2010 to 2019 spanned the development of both Re:Coded and Dream Drop Distance all the way to the development of the KH3 DLC, and if the initial KH3 didn’t already have enough red flags, “Limit Cut Episode” once again makes Nomura’s intentions all too clear and, provided you beat the secret boss fight with Yozora, ends on the first ever display of the words “An Oath To Return: Kingdom Hearts.” 

Now, consider this: BBS was released in January of 2010, with Re:Coded coming out in the Fall of that same year and ending with the second display of the Reconnect title following some statement made by Yen Sid setting up what was to come next. The KH3 DLC was released in January of this year, 10 years later, with Melody of Memory coming out in the Fall of this same year and ending with the second display of the An Oath To Return title following some statement made by Yen Sid setting up what was to come next. 

History has literally repeated itself, and that’s why I and so many more KH fans are jumping ship with this franchise now. We simply cannot DO another decade of this bullshit. We are beyond done.

In terms of decades based on the game’s’ release history, Dream Drop Distance came out literally the day after the series’ first decade was over. We should all dread what could pop up in 2022, by which time there is no more Kingdom Hearts - there is only Verum Rex.