the freakshow (affectionate)

broken up version below the cut

i think what really gets to people about recoded is that like. to them the whole xehanort thing is the Main Plot so recoded which doesnt add anything to the Main Plot until the very end is functionally useless. but what they dont realize is that the xehanort thing is in fact Not the Main Plot of the entire series, as later evidenced by the fact those like 13 games or whatever is just Part One, and that the actual overarching story is about sora and identity and love and sora and learning to balance between the negative and the positive and sora and loving all of yourself completely to become the best you that you can be and, most importantly, its literally about sora. the whole xehanort thing was just like. the Excuse i suppose to go on this whole coming of age story with sora he is the main character the story has been and always will be about sora the character and there might be world ending adventures happening at the same time but thats like the b-plot. the action is a way for you to understand sora as a charactwr and recoded is literally about Sora The character and also to remind everyone that hey remember castle oblivion? sora sure doesnt! isnt that strange :) this surely wont come back in some meaningful and horrifying way. but for now here is data sora going through castle oblivion and coming to a completely different conclusion to what sora originally did in the actual game. just so youre aware :) food for thought :)

Kh Worldbuilding headcanons: Destiny Islands Edition

No one ever talks about the original worlds in kh and i find that a travesty because these places are a really, REALLY good mine to play around with. (u can also use them or expand on them if you really like)

So im gonna share some HCs i have about the original kh worlds, starting with Destiny islands..... but before that some basics: also this is kinda long so under the read more it goes

In general:

Kh "worlds" arent really floating in space. the stylized icons we see in game are more akin to dimensional rifts rather than actual planets (seriously who thinks this is how the world looks fr)

Following on with the dimensional rift: as the "worlds" arent really pieces of the original world, they are something more akin as parallel dimensions or something along the lines of something like ff14 (mostly because i would rather die first than live in a world with 5 different versions of britain existing at the same time)

As much as dark road is cool, the explanation for the empty worlds is dumb and for the purposes of this exercise, instead ofthe worlds filling the people gradually after it is created, i consider that the worlds as they exist are the result of the surviving children of the war making their stories real in the fractured reality of the original world (it also follows the weird theme of reality/unreality that kh4 seems to go for) and it turning into a different version of earth as we know it, with some exceptions, such as monstropolis (which exists independently as a parallel land to earth in its canon) and Deep space (which is straight up NOT earth and was more like, the rift of lilo and stitch's world pointing at the high counselor's fleet BEFORE the actual movie started) and also the OG worlds who dont have something to be based on for reasons to be explained later.

the only world that exists in the ocean between as it is, is the Keyblade graveyard. because it was so majorly fucked up by the war it both shattered in the physical and dimensional way after it happened.

Now that that rant is out of the way, LETS GO TO THE MOST UNDERRATED WORLD IN THE SERIES:

Destiny islands is in fact, more than 2 islands, being a big archipelago with a bigger "main island" where our three protagonists live at. this one we have seen before in kh2

Destiny islands, is, by far, not the only chain of islands in the world. in fact, theres way more islands beyond the horizon.

We know the islands have a mayor, thus we know that they must have cordial diplomatic ties with different islands near them.

Due to FF characters existing here, i am very tempted to assure that some of the races from ff8 and ffX exist in this world (you are now imagining kimahri playing with a tiny kairi after diplomacy stuff with her dad just ended)

Due to DI being an original world, it is actually a shard of the original world that didnt really changed much compared to the other original ones. its major difference is that it is an ocean world like Wind waker hyrule or the Grand line from One piece

Magic is a real thing in the original worlds populace, you just really need to get good at it, learn it, be magical by default, or cheat and get a keyblade somehow

Religion in the og worlds strike me as something akin to the way people prayed to the aeons of yevon in ffx or the astrals of FF15. with people praying to the ff summons on a case by case basis and depending on their preference for patron gods. Ie: Leviathan being a goddess of the ocean and water who is prayed to by sailors or fishermen, while scholars prefer ifrit using an interpretation of the fire of knowledge. (you know. like a furry prometheus that doesnt get eaten by an eagle daily)

I'll probably go on more detail later, but for now, the summons that get prayed to the most in DI is probably Leviathan for the aforementioned reasons, Ramuh for nature and agriculture reasons, shiva for tradition and combat reasons (related to riku in my particular headcanon) And Titan for economical reasons, wow alex making the rock man into the economy guy i wonder where you have heard it before

Speaking of economy, DI currency totally has tiny paopu fruit symbols in its coins and bills, and its a legal course currency in its neighboring islands because they too dig the paopu fruit symbolism

Munny looks like malleable diamonds because it probably just morphs into the appropate currency depending on the world we're in, moogles only use them as they are because they are both the people doing synthing and also shady as hell. do not trust the pompom people.

Going back to the Paopu fruit: its quite a common tree fruit in the islands and in fact is industrially harvested in some islands both as an export and in-island use.

The paopu folk story is actually mostly just a misconception for an older tale. originally involving sailors and a promise to return home safe. it eventually turned into "sharing one will entwine your fates forever"

Paopu pastries are a common dessert, and paopu wine is used often in weddings.

Monsters ARE real in the islands and roam the most inhabited places. These are often hunt for game and for safety reasons

THAT MEANS, chocobos are also a thing people use in the most rural parts of the islands for fieldwork, transportation and sometimes food.

Blitzball is MAD popular and they Often do tournaments involving several islands. DI itself was almost a perpetual champion up until jecht retired, then they win every so often instead of always

Boating licenses are a thing, but kids can still use their little boats because they have to row them. think like, the difference between a bicicle and a motorbike.

There are bridges for tram systems between islands that are close to each other, usually reinforced for sea and storm reasons.

Legally speaking, equal marriage is a thing and even polyamorous ones because why being an ass about it.

Healthcare is mostly public, but there are Specialty care stuff in the main islands that costs money because of course it is

Because sora and riku are japanese names, i prefer the island to be something like a tropical japan, so most of the people in DI have japanese names.

That would be all for now. tune in next time when i tackle on Twilight town, who may or not be in perpetual twilight (is not)

Untitled Kairi Post II

Kingdom Hearts II is Kairi's other good game. It's (sadly enough) where she peaked.

However, many fans were and still are disappointed in KH2 Kairi. Is that reasonable?

…..Yes and no.

I feel that Kairi’s role in Nomura’s base story for KH2 is really good, barring one factor. She starts remembering Sora and even makes contact with his heart via Roxas which causes her to send her poem out to sea, she befriends Pluto and goes through a Dark Corridor to Twilight Town where she befriends Hayner, Pence and Olette, she gets kidnapped by Organization XIII and held captive in the Castle That Never Was, is rescued by Namine (the other half of herself) and reunites with Riku and in turn reunites him with Sora, is given a weapon and is able to fight as part of the heroic party, she saves Namine from fading through reassimilating her into her heart, and ultimately her poem inspiring pure feelings in Sora allows him to open the Door to Light and bring himself and Riku home after all hope seemed to be lost; he even is finally able to return her good luck charm to her as promised in KH1.

The one factor that needed to be altered was the kidnapping part. It still had to happen, but it preferably should have happened a good while after showcasing her stay in Twilight Town and fleshing out her character. The scene where she goes to Twilight Town should have happened much earlier, and we could constantly cut back to her after completing each world (maybe even have a playable moment or two with her). Do that and everything’s perfect.

However, not only was this factor not altered, but three glaring problems also transpired.

First of all, notice a pattern in all of Kairi’s major scenes?

WE GET IT. Kairi really, really likes Sora; she’s his love interest. That was a huge part of her character in KH1, but there (as I just got done analyzing) Kairi still had a backstory and feelings on matters that were unrelated to Sora and an inner life and an actual character arc that progressed from beginning to end…all of this despite Sora being the one whom she primarily interacted with! And it’s terrible that KH2 isn’t affording her the same treatment when at the same time it gives her so many other characters to interact with like Selphie, Pluto, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Namine, King Mickey, Axel and Saix. The best she gets is with Riku:

Secondly, she gets a weapon. Did it have to be a Keyblade, and did that Keyblade have to be so flowery? No, but whatever. It’s a weapon, and she can fight with it. She says so herself!

She does so against a horde of Heartless - in a cutscene. Where we only see her take out two enemies and then the remainder of the fight largely happens offscreen. Afterwards, we never see the goddamn thing again! Not even when it clearly is supposed to be there:

Come ON! We needed way more than that! And hey, game developers, couldn’t you have given Kairi a non-party battle AI? You gave one for Axel who wasn’t even supposed to make it that far into the story; so why not Kairi? It makes this whole pay-off underwhelming to many.

Third and finally, what is she doing when not fighting or having a scene centered around how much she cares for Sora? Mainly just idly standing in the back row of the party and saying “Sora!”, “Riku!”, or both. Now, this point isn’t quite as bad as the others since this is shared with Donald and Goofy rather than be exclusive to her, and the game also has several screens where you can talk to Kairi and she has text boxes with dialogue that actually showcases more of her personality beyond just being Sora’s love interest. She reminds you of her knowledge of nautical superstitions, is perceptive enough to recognize the Proof of Existence chamber as a graveyard, says she doesn’t like being left out of adventuring, says that she wants to get more skilled as Sora and Riku in combat so that they get hurt less, and outright puts her foot down and tells Sora in non-negotiable terms that from now on where he goes she goes too (please ignore Nomura totally ruining this in the games past KH2, ‘kay?)

So, that’s why people are often hard on KH2 Kairi. BUT I still say that she still deserves credit for the things done right with her, namely the important plot-relevant actions she undertakes, the fact that she gets to forge connections with so many other characters at all, the fact that she even has a weapon and gets to fight competently with it, those aforementioned text boxes, and her still getting some measure of character development through learning that “waiting isn’t good enough” (again, ignore Nomura’s post-KH2 fuckery!) Plus - her attitude!

And this leads me to my final point, which is….

Kairi in the Kingdom Hearts II manga doesn’t get kidnapped until after quite a while spent in Twilight Town and even receives a focus chapter while being held captive, her relationships with other characters are fleshed out beyond her just talking about Sora with them, she has much more impressive showcasing of her combat skills and is even outright acknowledged as possibly a fiercer fighter than Sora and Riku, she displays her character the whole way through and not just in optionally viewable text boxes, and on top of all this her facial expression are always on point, which isn’t even something that can be said of other characters in the manga! She’s got all of the game upsides, and none of the downsides.

Normal again normal again

Anyways

Are you all aware of that Soriku scene at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2?

"If the world is made of light and darkness... We'll be the darkness."

"Yeah. The other side...the realm of light is safe now."

[From Riku's Story in the KH Character Files]

[From the KH2 Light Novel]

ㅤ

What I think about a lot is that...this is the kind of thing Nine wants with Sonic.

"And yet they felt completely content to be here—because they were together."

"That's the best part of all. There's no one here! It's a clean slate—the perfect place to start over and get the world right. With the proper fortifications—and enough shard energy—it could be home! The one you lost, the one I never had. I can make that hope a reality. For both of us."

"Sonic is gonna love this place."

What is clear to me, from the way it delighted Nine to find the Grim (a place with no life) and yet excited to show Sonic, to make it his home too, is that Nine wants to be with Sonic. Whether if it was the two alone in a world of their own making, or among life they created, Nine would be content to just...be with Sonic.

And yet, even as you connect it to the Dark Margin scene from kh2, there is one major difference.

Sora and Riku were not looking to live out the rest of their days in the realm of darkness. They were trapped, and they thought there was no way out. So despite being trapped for what could be eternity, they felt content just to be there with each other. Even if they were separated from their home, their other friends, it was enough that they had each other.

But with Nine and Sonic, it isn't simply that they would be content living alone together, closed off from everyone else, if it meant that they could have each other and everyone else could be safe. Nine wants to make it like this. Sonic wants to go back home, to introduce Nine to Tails and his other friends, to go on adventures like he used to. He wants to integrate Nine and his new friends into the life he had. Nine rejects the world that hurt him, rejects everyone but Sonic. He wants to be separate, alone. He wants to create his perfect home, a better world, and such a home doesn't include anyone else but Sonic. He wants to create the kind of home that could be the one he's always wanted, that could be a new home for Sonic.

This is all to say that, Sora and Riku hadn't planned being trapped in such a place alone, just glad they could at least be together, but Nine wishes to be alone in a world of their own making with Sonic, wants Sonic to be as content at being trapped alone with him as he would be. Does that make any sense?

It just drives me crazy, okay

To want to be alone so badly, yet unable to get rid of that feeling of loneliness once you've felt true companionship. To desire home more than anything, pursuing an idea, yet not quite realizing home was always about the people with you, rather than the place. And yet, to know deep down that you can't have "home" without this person, the companion you didn't know you craved, and so you pull them into your goal. To have an almost possessive need to have this person in your life, to make a home with them away from anyone and everyone else. To want to live with them forever in a world that is both of yours.

Ngl I'm thinking so hard abt the comic u made with isa and how he got the scar do you have thoughts on it? I'm rotating it in my brain....

Hm.. Well I guess I could share a bit on how I interpret the pre 358/2 days Akusai relationship, (and how beserk/the scar throws a wrench into it). this ended up being considerably longer than I thought It would be so the rest is under the read more (543 words under cut) 

A big reason I find this era interesting is because it kinda plays into how nobodies function as a whole? If that makes sense. Like the idea of how nobodies replicate the experiences/emotions of their past lives, without having the proper feelings to truly emulate them, and I think that’s really interesting with a relationship such as what was presented in bbs era Lea+isa. They really were close, and I’d suspect that after getting pretty-much-killed they’d still be close, either from a legitimate want or a urge to keep some norm from when they were somebodies. This would probably result in the slow deterioration of their relationship as they attempt to replicate an experience from a memory that’s around eleven years old by 358/2, and eventually their relationship becomes distorted (like trying to paint a portrait through a funhouse mirror). This is my main hc for how they got to the point seen in 358/2. 

A major thing that I think would ‘break’ this is Xemnas/the scar. It’s seen as abnormal by the other members that Saïx was able to reach his position as second-in-command, and that makes me wonder what sacrifices he had to make. The scar itself is what I’m using in the comic, but lunatic (and how he’s somewhat possessed by it when berserking if his nobodies are anything to go off of) is also a thing I think about a lot here. The scar itself is kinda unnecessary when you consider the fact that saïx. Already has a recusant's sigil in his name idk. It kinda feels like possessive if I’m being honest which is neat in reference to how kh2 saïx acts. (NOT suggesting saïx was 100% possessed, or unwilling to do what happened in kh2 that kinda weakens him as a character to me. But bro literally was a highly prioritized member of a cult at the age of 16 there is no way he wasn’t manipulated.) so yeah the scar and what it represents (greater importance in the running of the org) probably fricked them up a lot. 

And one final thing, subject X and loyalty. Just, saix runs on loyalty, he devotes himself wholeheartedly to a cause and loses himself to it. He *literally* gave up his humanity for a girl he doesn't even know the name of, and continued the search for her until he lost even the shadow of what he once was. I don’t know if I can attribute that level of devotion to Axel, and I think that conflict could create some interesting ideas. Specifically, the point in which Axel’s already started to doubt that subX is even real, and Saïxs is at the beginning of a downward spiral. There’s conflict in that! It’s interesting! 

In conclusion Akusai/leaisa is awesome because you get like twoish hours of them interacting in the whole series but every minute of that is so packed with implication and you know the characters individually and you know how the series functions enough to piece together what has to happen in order to get to how they’re shown in [insert cutscene here]. It’s cool and lets me think a lot about the ramifications™ thank you for coming to my Ted talk

Roxas, Namine, & the Reality That Carl Jung is Real

OK SO. this video is great and is an even more detailed, succinct version of what i was talking about in my roxas/kh2 plot analysis post. please watch, this is such good food for thought. for a while ive really been thinking about the meaning of nobodies in kh, and how i feel the concept has been gradually bastardized over the course of the story- but disregarding that lmao! i have been making the connection myself about how similar nobodies are to the concept of the shadow in carl jung's psychology theories, and boy howdyyyy was it great to see i wasn't the only one, because violet howler mentions the same in this video. as ive mentioned before, i feel like roxas and namine should have never been pushed as being their own separate people, rather as reflections of sora's and additionally, kairi's worst aspects. or at least the parts of themselves they repress. roxas and namine should have always been vehicles to help strengthen the main characters, rather than growing into people of their own- that way the ending of kh2 would've actually been the happy ending that they were clearly trying to push that it was for roxas and namine. but only to backpedal in ddd.... in the video, violet howler tries to argue the contrary- that the further developments in the series for roxas and namine to separate as whole people from sora and kairi are logical extensions of their representation as shadows- but i just disagree. i already mention this in my post linked above, but sora and kairi should've grown as people and actually gained the memories and experiences of their nobodies when they merged; the whole plotpoint of confronting the side of themselves they wouldn't rather acknowledge should've been wrapped up ages ago in kh2 instead of being stretched out for so long. roxas and namine's stories and connection to one another should've been more tightly written to more properly lead into their ending of returning to their counterparts. i am still miffed about how roxas spends so much of days chasing after xion who gets to have all the character development and hard choices, instead of the guy you're literally playing as- ok.... although ill say namine is written a lot better, as she gradually grows into having her own initiative- and its nice that kairi in kh2 also starts to express the same urge as she decides to stop waiting for sora and riku and just go find them herself. anyway. i will say though, i am very so-so hmmm lukewarm about the whole "nobodies can grow hearts" shtick. in a lot of ways, i like the idea. BUT ONLY when you think about it through this context: through forming connections with others, and holding on to their humanity so to speak- nobodies can grow a heart of their own and regain their humanity. thats cool! kingdom hearts is about the importance of friendship and connections, and all that- so having such a thing have real physical results in the nobodies is a powerful concept. that, and it really does fit with the whole nobody/shadow carl jung representation going on. BUT THATS NOT HOW ITS IMPLEMENTED IN GAME. xemnas in ddd says the body will replace its missing heart at the first chance it gets- not when the nobody makes connections with others. which is why i hate the growing hearts bit, because its very clearly a poorly thought-out escape for the nobodies' major dilemma. same thing with how a person can be recompleted by killing the heartless and nobody. thats fucking insane because it makes it so that the answer to all the organization's problems was to commit seppuku all along!!! nothing of value is lost, everyone is technically immortal if they lose their heart to darkness and split- just shoot their two counterparts and you get to live again. its so bad help alright. i'm starting to lose the point so i will end this here lmfao. long story short, i agree with everything in the video except most of his reasoning that the weird shit at the end of kh2 and postgames made any sense and is justified by the carl jung shadow theory comparison. kthx, watch the video its cool :)

Okay So I Watched Some of the 6 Hour "Riku Is Gay" Video

Disclaimer: I only watched the KH1-2 sections, the KH3 section, and Sora's Comphet section. Also, I already agree with the preset that Riku is a queer character. Sorry guys, but he is.

Personally, I think it's a good video. It's not overly malicious or angry and the evidence it presents is actually really good, though I'm in the queer spaces of the KH fandom so I've seen most of it.

I really only have 3 major issues:

The video is way too fucking long. Something like this would have benefited from being a multipart series. Also, if all you wanted was condensed proof that Riku is "gay" that's really only a 30-40 minute video. This leads me to my next point.

The title is very misleading. This isn't just a video about Riku's queerness. Hell, there's an entire portion of the video called "Sora's comphet." Most of the KH2 section is dedicated to how passionate Sora is about finding Riku. This video should not be called "Riku is gay (and why it matters)", it should be called something like "SoRiku is canon actually (It's more than a ship)" or "The queerness of KH and why it's essential."

This video has a habit of minimizing Kairi's importance to Sora. Like, they try to give the disclaimer that they don't think Kairi means nothing to Sora, but it's hard to buy it. In the KH2 section, for example, they bring up that Sora doesn't ask about Kairi until he realizes she's been captured by the organization. That's the thing though, for most of the game Sora knows where Kairi is. He saw her drift away with the islands in one and he finds out when she's been captured in 2. Don't forget he also dropped to his knees for Kairi when Saix comes to tell him what happened. Does that disprove any potential queerness Sora might have? No, especially with the scenes of the reunion. "Kairi, you've changed, but we'll always be friends :)" "RIKU OH MY GOD *cries and gets on the floor* I LOOKED EVERYWHERE FOR YOU!" Really it's more of a personal belief that shines through that the romantic love interest has to single-handedly be the most important person to you that sets me off. Though, I don't solely blame Mr. "Whatever his name is" for that. It's more of a "we live in a society" thing.

Aside from that, most of my criticisms are nitpicks. The structure is hella off with the video. He starts off by stating his beliefs and then giving the evidence. Like, dude, you have to lead with the evidence and then tell people what it means. Anyone who's skipping through the video and doesn't already agree that Riku is queer is going to get frustrated watching it and feel compelled to not take it seriously. Especially since the video is 6 fucking hours.

Arguably the KH3 and Coded sections aren't needed. The KH3 section is just theory and conjecture that he could've saved for the end of the video and the Sora and Riku of Coded are different characters than regular Sora and Riku. Can they give us insight into their relationship and their feelings? Yes, but ultimately, their circumstances are different. Feelings can manifest one way in one context and a whole other way in a different one. Regular Sora and Riku have enough evidence all on their own to carry a video.

The novel should have honestly been its own section. People are not compelled to take that seriously. It's cool that Nomura himself was impressed with the writer's understanding of the characters and had her write the novels so far, but that doesn't mean she never takes any creative liberties. It's also worth pointing out that Nomura IS NOT the only writer for the series. He's not even the main writer for the games.

Bro, you're gonna bring up the scene where Namine comes to Riku about getting him to use the darkness but not bring up the aggressively gay scene before that where Zexion makes himself look like Sora in order to defeat him because Zexion knows that Sora is his potential weakness?

But yeah, the vid has a few glaring issues, but it is great. I'm happy something like this exists where we can get all the major SoRiku talking points in one place. No hate to this man, especially for something like this.

I really hope the only reason Kairi has not been at the forefront of kh is because, like nomura often does with the series, he didn’t write a specific and concrete story for her so she could be used at a later point that fit her and the story more and gave him room to really work her in.

She’s the only main character in the series that we truly know basically nothing about which is bananas considering her significance to the story. She’s been a Princess of Heart since the beginning of this story and yet we hardly know what being a Princess of Heart even means? While we really don’t know much about the pasts of most of the main characters we at least know other aspects of their life and personality and abilities because of the journeys we went through with them.

Sure, we don’t know Aqua and Terra’s past and what life on the Land of Departure was like but we’re intimately familiar with their image of themselves, how they view morality and righteousness, their fears and shame and ambitions.

With Roxas, Naminé, and Xion we genuinely know every aspect of their life because we were there for it.

With Riku and Sora we’ve had deep dives (literally) into their subconscious. We’ve seen the worst sides of themselves and the best. We know their morals, their hopes, their feelings. They are easily the two main characters we know the most about.

Even Ven, though his past before and between Khux and BSS is still missing and he’s the most elusive of the main cast, we know about the things he’s chosen to hide from or forgotten against his will. We know about Vanitas and how he was abused by Xehanort (which even Terra and Aqua don’t know much about). We saw his struggle with jealousy and desire and we’ve seen the extent of his anger and his love.

But Kairi? We know a handful of things about her and most of them are just facts, not decisions she’s made or many aspects of her personality. Of Kairi we know,

•She was from Radiant Garden (KH1)

•She’s a Princess of Heart (KH1)

•Her grandma told her about the legend of Worlds and Light, which is connected to the Age of Fairytales (KH1)

•She enjoys writing letters, specifically to Sora (KH2)

•She trained with Axel under Merlin (KH3)

•She is the one who held onto Sora’s image and brought him back / kept him safe (KH1/3)

•She feels strongly about Naminé and thinks she deserves to exist (KH3)

•She was experimented on by Terranort and had her memories messed with (MoM)

And… that’s really it. Of course there are little, nuanced moments scattered throughout the series but they’re very small and rare that it really doesn’t add up to much. Melody of Memory gave us the most tease of the kind of person Kairi is beyond being kind and that’s 18~ years after she was first introduced.

What does Kairi look like at the end of her rope? How does she react under duty and responsibility? What makes her laugh, cry, sentimental? What insecurities does she have? Has she struggled with darkness? What would that look like to her? In depth, how does she feel being left behind beyond “it makes me sad?” There are so many questions to be asked of Kairi’s character and it feels too intentional for her to have “conveniently been forgotten” all this time. Out of 10 protagonists and dozens of other characters both major and minor, she’s the only one with minimal motivations and expressed emotions?

To me it feels like Nomura’s been waiting for the right place to put her and I really hope it’s true because Kairi has SO MUCH POTENTIAL. As a Princess of Heart, as a keyblade wielder, as a student, as a friend, as a person. And it feels like she’s just WAITING to be utilized. I really hope that finally that can happen for her because I know when it does it’ll be phenomenal.

The Eventual Days Remake

I mean, I’d like to believe we’ll get one given the game is tedious at best and the movie sucks at worst. However, the question is “how should we get a remake?”

Well buckle in because I’ve had an idea I’ve been sitting on since I finished KH3!

My Premise

Now I know what I’m about to say will tempt you to immediately reply “what!?” and stop reading but hear me out. My basic premise for this would be remake is based a little on Assassin’s Creed 2. The story structure specifically.

...Still there? I hope so! Naturally, what do I mean by this? Well, the most basic structure. A story set in the present and the past.

We already know ‘Ansem the Wise’ and his machines can help you dive into memories. We also know Ienzo has disney-magic-wifi access to the computer in the Twilight Town basement.

What I am proposing is that our Days Remake is actually set post-KH3. We’d be controlling a revived Roxas (and at times Xion) reliving their memories. Trying to find any hints that could help Sora. They, after all, have the closest ties to him being literal products of his being.

The majority of the story is the duo, in those pods, reliving their lives. This would be our “past” segment in which we spent most of the game. Acting as a true remake to Days (which it needs) while also giving newcomers an easy entry point into a bloated narrative.

At times you will leave the pod, walk around the mansion, interact with Lea, the kids of Twilight Town, etc. Something small that can be a fun break from the heavy story of Roxas’ past.

Perhaps we could even give Roxas access to the computer in which breakdowns and recaps of the story so far exist. A way to explain to new players who Sora even is.

I dont think we’d have the whole of Twilight Town to explore since I doubt a game budget can handle that plus all the Kh3-scale rebuilds of worlds we’d see in the past segments of the game but who knows. DLC exists right?

Story Structure

Naturally, our story structure wont match the original DS game. That was made to be played on the go with it’s mission based layout. Our remake will need the true console treatment.

As mentioned, the “present” segments of the game in which you leave the machine/datascape to explore the mansion would be easy but likely restrict how much of Twilight Town you actually see.

In terms of scenes, the present should have only a few I believe. An intro, an ending, and whatever clues they find in the middle. Perhaps even shots of characters, such as Xion herself, witnessing what Roxas went through during the Kh2 tutorial.

But the past, I think, should follow a chapter like structure. I dont know exactly how we’d lay it out but I chose this because of the simulated nature of the past (its a datascape) and because I feel chapters would allow us to add in the many lost scenes from the DS game.

Such as the small chats Roxas has with Org members in worlds, “thats a stick”, and so on. Days gained a lot of fans due to those moments. They need a way  in.

A chapter structure would also allow us a way to swap between Roxas and Xion. Retelling Days from both of their perspectives. It is essentially their story and we minds well make full use of it.

We could add new things to Xions chapters, flesh out some of her scenes from the old game, small stuff but something that’d be old yet new for this story from 2008.

Lastly, this one is entirely a personal pick on my part, I would add Kh2′s tutorial to the ending of the game. We’d have to tweak it since this is no longer a tutorial but I do feel Roxas and Xion’s story is only told completely if you add that small section of KH2 to Days in some way.

I also just want Roxas’ friends to see what his time in the digital town was like.

Motivations

Lastly, I’d use the present-day portions of the story to give a bit of insight into Roxas’ motivation. I’d like to imagine that he was fully aware for the entirety of 3. Fully knowing of the fact that Sora spent most of 3 just trying to bring him back.

This would be Roxas motivation and a contrast to his past self we see within the datascape. Roxas wishes to help Sora, the only person that told him he deserved to live. One of two people that actively sought ways to help him live a life.

I want that to mean something to Roxas. Xion, in turn, is motivated by this. Sora didn’t actively try to save her as bad but he also didn’t know she existed until she reappeared in KH3 lol.

Conclusion

As for the ending, well once you complete reliving Roxas life we would end the present story with Roxas being told that Riku has found a lead and followed it.

I am not sure what else we would add and I do not know what hints we could add throughout the game to tie it into KH4 or beyond. Those are Nomura secrets at the time of me writing this.

However, I would end it on a positive note. They have a lead and could find Sora. No secret endings, nothing like that, just tell me an open and close story. A story that progresses the present and retells the past.

If done right, we’d have an amazing entry point into the series and a great reintroduction to Roxas and Xion.

Now if only I could beam this idea to Nomura himself. lol Bye now~

My Personal Top 10 Kingdom Hearts Characters 

Number 1. Xemnas - This doesn’t require much explanation, but allow me to explain. After replaying KH2, I’ve come to realize after all this time Xemnas is an amazing villain. Xemnas is the nobody of Apprentice Xehanort, his husk, an entity that can feels nothing and wasn’t meant to exist, yet he’s quite the specimen. He’s a very sinister figure due to his nature, the fact that he’s a special nobody like Roxas, his inability to feel emotion, and his belief that negative emotions are what give the heart power, but at the same time you somehow manage to feel pity for him because of these things. While what he does is his own choice, you can clearly see that while he’s a different entity from his human self, he still chooses to go in that hollow shadow because it’s in his own nature, and it ended up being his downfall. That and his boss was truly a test of your skills. TL;DR: Xemnas is amazing.

Number 2. Ansem/Apprentice Xehanort - After replaying the original KH trilogy, I kinda realize that while Apprentice Xehanort didn’t have much screentime only had 2 outings as a main villain as Ansem for 12 mintues, his presence is greater than I thought and he’s 100% on par with Xemnas. Apprentice Xehanort was originally just Xehanort’s heart in Terra’s body, but after getting a bad case of amnesia, he was found by Xigbar and taken in by Ansem The Wise and became his apprentice. During his time as an apprentice, he was curious about darkness and the heart, and based off what we can infer from his reports, he was curious about who he really was. Eventually Wise Ansem decided to shut down all of his research and, Xehanort was livid to the point where he was willing to send his teacher to the realm of darkness. Eventually, he does get his answers and gets memories back, but the experience causes him to act impulse, turn his colleagues into heartless and nobodies, call himself “Ansem”, experimented on a young Kairi before sending her off to Destiny Islands, and finally separate his heart from his body and becoming the heartless, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. In KH1, he’s bodiless, until possessing Riku, but he does a lot of shit in the shadows, until the end of the game. However in Riku’s portion of Chain of Memories, he only appears in the flesh three times and he terrifies Riku, until their final fight. So he basically gave a lot of tramua to Riku after that one possession from KH1 that didn’t really start healing, until KH2. In later games Ansem’s still pretty good, but honestly his portrayal in the original trilogy is fantastic.

Number 3. Axel/Lea - Axel has been a showstealer ever since Chain of Memories thanks to his gangster-esque attitude and the wild card element he brought to the table, but he definitely got more depth in KH2 thanks to the introduction of his buddy Roxas. 358/2 Days goes further into his character by expanding upon his relationship with Roxas and introducing his history with Saix and in all honesty it’s his second best appearance in the series, mostly because he’s one of the major characters in that game so we see things through his lens more often, which kinda helps strengthen his sacrifice in KH2.  However he does return in Dream Drop Distance and KH3 as Lea, and while he isn’t as amazing as before, he’s still pretty alright. No matter what game he’s in, Axel will make sure you get him memorized.

Number 4. Marluxia - I respect Marluxia a lot for his time as the main villain in Chain of Memories. He was a clever son of a bitch and the grim reaper motif combined with the Japanese symbol of death (cherry blossoms) made him unique for an Organization XIII member, not to mention he’s one of the few Organization members that’s as terrifying as Xemnas. He also had some stuff going on in Union X and KH3, but his first outting remains his best.

Number 5. Xion - People love Roxas, but I personally think Xion is honestly sadder as a character because she’s not a real nobody. Xion was a replica that was made using Sora’s memories and for a little while she was a faceless enity. Everything about her feels borrowed, but it feels like that was the point because her memories, and her “face” isn’t even hers until KH3. In short, Xion feels like a real nobody, despite not being like the other nobodies and I like that. That and her friendship with Roxas is actually kinda wholesome if you look past the cheeesy shit.

Number 6. Roxas - Someone get this poor kid an ice cream. He’s been placed in a cult and he’s constantly questioning his existence, he needs that ice cream. He’s a wet cat, give him shelter.

Number 7. Xigbar/Luxu - Xigbar was originally a dude Master Xehanort hired to help him with his quest to forge the X-Blade, then Xehanort possessed Terra, lost his memory, was found by Xiggy and Ansem the Wise, and both of them remained in kahoots. Xigbar soon became the eyes and ears of Organization XIII, and Xemnas’s right hand man. Then union cross reveals Luxu, who was a foreteller tasked with watching events unfold, until the time is right, and his master acts an awful lot like Xigbar which led to some crazy fan theories. Then in KH3 we are proven wrong because it is revealed that Xigbar was the current vessel for Luxu’s heart and soul ever since Birth By Sleep. So yeah, Xigbar’s character is simply a very observant right hand man that always lingers in the shadows, and the Luxu twist doesn’t really change that, it just means that we’ll get more of this clever little sneak. 

Number 8. Riku - Riku went from Sora’s overconfident friend, to an asshole, to being norted, to redeeming himself and becoming on of the best character in the series. A keyblade wielder who can use both light and darkness, but keep his shit together. However what I like about him the most is that he’s a one to one parallel of the Xehanort’s, not in design, but in terms of background, however unlike those guys Riku got his shit together and immediately cleaned up his act as soon as he realized that some damage can be fixed. Not to mention his friendship with Sora after KH1 and the lengths he went to ensure that his friend is restored is indeed something. Riku may have gotten swooned by the promise of strength, but he ain’t gonna let that be more important than his friends.

Number 9. Sora - He’s warmed up to me, plus I see the appeal.

Number 10. Master Xehanort - I used to like this guy a lot and I still do. Xehanort is honestly intriguing despite being a mixture between a hammy as hell bastard, a old ass nerd, and a self righteous prick. His relationship with his friend Eraqus is definitely something, his belief in balance between light and darkness mixed with his own delusions make him interesting, plus he’s surprisingly alright as a character. However Birth By Sleep remains his best outting as a villain.

hi im going to talk about kingdom hearts with no aim or major point

finally going through and playing the kingdom hearts series is such an experience for me because like. even though i barely played them these games were really part of my childhood.

i used to watch my sister play them all the time and just thought they looked so cool. i wasn't really a disney kid or anything, i didnt have any attachments to the characters. eventually, my sister got to the lion king world in kh2, and that being one of the first and only worlds i really recognized, i told her i wanted to play the game. so she set me up with kingdom hearts 2 and let me play the game on my own.

i know every game reviewer from 2006 hates the first few hours of kingdom hearts 2, but personally, i loved them. i pretty much instantly fell in love with roxas and his story. (i really relate to some parts of it to be honest). and i wasn't very good at video games, actually only recently did i start getting better, but this was one of the first games where i could understand the plot.

i played the entire opening. i got up to sora's introduction, and i was so fucking confused. i just wanted roxas back. i stuck around twilight town for as long as i could reasonably justify, i redid the skateboarding minigame over and over, i just walked around. i stalled until i couldnt justify it anymore and then i tried to continue. i got all the way to hollow bastion before i gave up.

i kept coming back to kingdom hearts 2 over the years. every once and a while i would try to continue it again, but i could never really get past the first hour or so with sora. all i wanted was to keep playing in twilight town with roxas. one time i even tried to pick up the first game but i just couldnt get into it.

then earlier this year, i was out with some friends and i saw the kingdom hearts 2 manga on the shelf, and i thought what the hell, why not read it. i read part of it, then i bought it, and i read up to the end of roxas' story and started crying. i kept reading until the end of the twilight town story. a few days later i booted up the game again and replayed roxas' story and started crying. and then i just decided to play the rest of the series. now im playing through birth by sleep.

anyways kh2 is pretty good. but as much as i love sora now, roxas will still always mean more to me.

Now that I'm stuck with the last few bosses due to game crashing, I guess it is time to discuss story elements. Let's talk about Xion, first.

We discussed why Xion was introduced as a character in relation to external reasons, but we might need to discuss why she is present within the strict confines of Days.

Due to the nature of CoM, 5 of the Org. members were already destroyed before the bulk of the events, so Roxas's interactions with them is quite limited, even though they are some of the better ones. So they cannot become Roxas's partners through the game.

Among the remaining 8, two of them, Roxas, and Axel are already there, and Xemnas is the Orcus on His Throne, so this leaves the remaining 5. Saix is de facto antagonist of the game, and Xigbar is a minor antagonist here, so this leaves Xaldin, Luxord, and Demyx.

Xaldin has his big arc with Beast, one of the most important characters in KH1. Luxord, and Demyx have a decent working relationship with Roxas, as established in KH2, but they cannot become main characters due to nature of their personalities (Demyx being brilliant, but lazy, Luxord being a loner seeking new excitements), so they just end up being major recurring characters, like HPO.

(Of course, like Xigbar situation, the recent retcons made Roxas's relationship with Luxord a bit more weird, as it is now a reflection of the relationship he had with Yozora.)

We also cannot have much with Riku, and Naminé, due to their context in KH2, though we use both them to near full extent, mostly for Xion's parallel arc. This becomes more present in the last quarter of the game. Kairi, who does not directly appear here, but is thematically very important here, also cannot due to the memory meld with Roxas in KH2's prologue.

As for HPO, they are also used to near full extent here. They obviously cannot become party members, and we already breached the established canon by making them friends with Roxas (and to a lesser extent have Pence become associated with Axel) before the simulation Twilight Town who forgot about the situation because of Xion's memory erasure.

So, for Roxas to interact with somebody, we needed someone close to his biological age, and with similar powers. Or in Sonic Heroes terms, we needed E-123 Omega to round up the number for Team Dark as Eggman's replacement.

Gameplay wise, since Riku was going to be final boss due to KH2, and KH1 Secret Ending, and Roxas was going to lose against him, we needed a more proper final boss, so there could be a closure.

Every Kingdom Hearts game I've played ranked by their movement

Regarding Kingdom Hearts, I've been replaying the first game and with that game having as much platforming as it does, it's gotten me thinking about movement in KH games as a whole. So now I'm ranking every KH game based on solely it's movement. Awesome. Except for Chain of Memories I fully skipped that game lmao.

6: KH1 - And this is the game with the most platforming? Uh oh!! Movement in KH1, to me, has 2 major issues. Firstly, you have so much landing lag for no reason. Sure, the landing lag can be cancelled with a jump, but this funnels players into a very samey playstyle during combat. For the actual platforming it's miserable though. Secondly, this is the only game where you don't have any way to go up once you've already jumped, and this is the game that needs it the most. It's very easy to use an aerial combo on an enemy only to fall off the small platforms the game gives you and have to backtrack up to it. I remember hearing that a major criticism with KH1 was that platforming was bad, which is why there's so little in base KH2, but I feel like that complaint wasn't articulated nearly well enough. The platforming didn't need to change, just the movement.

5: Dream Drop Distance - This is also another big surprise. Now, Dream Drop's movement does have its moments! having this wide open areas to explore and scale is pretty cool. However, it kinda falls flat everywhere else. Flowmotion is good. Like, REALLY good. So good that it allows you to avoid engaging with platforming or enemies in any meaningful ways. It's either scaling walls with wall jumps or playing hit and run with the enemies. At the end of the day though, you're just doing the same things over and over again.

4: BBS - The movement in Birth By Sleep depends on your character but it's all around solid. The reason I don't like this game is because of the combat, not the exploration. It feels like it actually succeeds in what KH1 wanted to do in that regard. Still not going to boot it up again.

3: 0.2 - This is the first game to let you move while casting spells and it makes for pretty dynamic magic in theory. We're only talking about movement today so I'm going to leave it at that. The rest of Aqua's movement in that game is just as solid as BBS was, it's pretty good all around.

2: KH3 - KH3 is such a cool game to play after all of BBS, DDD, and 0.2. It feels like the team took the best from all of those games going into KH3. The standout movement option is definitely flowmotion, or more specifically, how it was nerfed going into this game. You only get one wall dash and one wall jump now, and you can't wall jump on everything. This means you actually get to interact with the level design in cool ways with flowmotion. It's also really fun during combat, opening up more creativity now that you can't camp out every enemy. The addition of superdash also makes things really snappy in terms of pacing. The big problem I have with it is the existence of Aerial Dodge but other than that, great movement.

1: KH2 - KH2 just feels fantastic. Everything you do flows together so well and it feels like you can always put Sora exactly where you want him. I can't understate how genius it was that the double jump in this game gives you mostly horizontal momentum. Doing a double jump into a glide at a million kilometers per hour really never gets old. This game's movement is why Cavern of Remembrance is the best level in the series, being able to actually use all these abilities for platforming is a blast.

A post looking over Kairi's actions in KH1/KH2/KH3, because curiously (and frustratingly) enough she only seems limited to approximately 10 major action set-pieces per game.

Races with Sora and Riku.

Referees a race between Sora and Riku.

Makes the Oathkeeper charm.

Goes to the Secret Place to safeguard the world's heart but is attacked by darkness.

Sends Sora a flashback of her and her grandmother from within his heart.

Saves Sora from having his head caved in by Ansem from within his heart.

Tries and fails to save Sora but still refuses to believe that he's gone, then runs away with Donald and Goofy at Riku's urging.

Recognizes Sora as a Heartless, protects him from other Heartless at great personal risk, and restores his human form to him.

Gives Sora the Oathkeeper charm and has him promise to return it to her.

Goes to the Secret Place and draws herself giving a Paopu Fruit to Sora.

Prior to Destiny Islands' destruction, Kairi as well as Riku are both, apart from their major character development scenes at sunset, simply doing things that reflect their friendship with Sora and their easygoing tropical life. There isn't anything major until the big storm strikes and they are both lost to Sora. After this, Kairi is a passive character by plot necessity, being unable to do anything because she's inside Sora's heart and for the longest time isn't even aware that she is. The moment she gets an inkling about it following the events at Neverland, she does something from within Sora's heart, and once it's outright confirmed by Ansem she immediately puts that knowledge to use and saves Sora from him. After this is her main actions everyone remembers her for - saving Sora after he becomes a Heartless and then giving him the Oathkeeper charm we see a lot more of in the following two games. While she absolutely could have stood to do more after regaining her body, she is at least given the focus in the ending FMV and (epilogue aside) does the last action seen in the whole game.

As I said here, I really like this mostly-passive-by-design role for Kairi in the first game, since as a potentially standalone title with heavy basis in fairy tales, mythology and of course Disney movies, this kind of mysterious magical damsel role is a perfect fit, plus it had a nifty twist put on it and was accompanied by an actual human and relatable character arc for her. Some may find it disappointing, but I feel for this specific entry in the series, it is perfectly justified. The only fuck-up was putting the scene where she gives Sora the Oathkeeper in Traverse Town instead of Hollow Bastion, which is then nonsensically said to be "way too dangerous" for Kairi and she'd "get in Sora's way" if she did...a fitting description for if she followed him into End of the World, not Hollow Bastion where the other Princesses of Heart are managing to get by just fine. Fix that one glaring error and Kairi in KH1 would be perfect.

Writes a letter to Sora and sends it out to sea to reach him.

Resists Axel's manipulation and runs into a dark corridor to Twilight Town with Pluto.

Befriends Hayner, Pence and Olette.

Gets away from Axel when he kidnaps her (off-screen).

Escapes her prison cell alongside Namine and is willing to fight Saix alongside her.

Stops Riku from leaving and has him be honest about his current condition.

Fights a chamber load of Heartless alongside Riku to save Sora, forcing Xigbar's hand.

Stops Riku from leaving AGAIN and reunites him with Sora.

Takes as many small actions as possible as a member of the party.*

Merges with Namine, thus saving her from fading into darkness.

* Stops Mickey from getting himself killed, points out the appearance of a Heartless swarm and the door to Kingdom Hearts, gets back through the door alongside Mickey (off-screen).

I again link to a prior post I made, where I brought up the reasons many people found Kairi in KH2 to be a disappointment. And while those reasons are and always will be valid (and always rectified in the KH2 manga; please check it out, people!), when I look at Kairi's actions in KH2 as a whole I can't help but feel that it's a major overreaction. People get caught up in either the various execution flubs that affect more characters than just Kairi or let their personal expectations for her get in the way of actually looking at and appreciating what's actually there, because what's there is a strong young woman learning to come into her own and fighting tooth and nail for every scrap of agency the villains keep trying to deny her, all while forging new bonds with others and being responsible for restoring the old bond of the Sora/Riku/Kairi trio. Her first action undertaken boomeranging back at the very end to save Sora and Riku from dying in the Realm of Darkness and bringing them home to a happy ending is just beautiful, the ultimate reward for Kairi taking it upon herself to be proactive.

Writes a letter to Sora but doesn't send it to him.

Gives herself a makeover.

Shares a Paopu Fruit with Sora.

Fights Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed alongside Lea (off-screen).

Guides Sora in corporeal form as he uses the Power of Waking to save everyone.

Kills some Heartless during the Heartless Rain event.

Fights Xion and Saix alongside Lea and Sora, but loses and is kidnapped then killed.

Re:Mind - Fights Xemnas, doing well until he saps her energy with a nil technique.

Re:Mind - Fights Master Xehanort alongside Sora then takes part in destroying him.

Re:Mind - Does everything alongside Sora in the ending FMV.

I've bitched about this a lot, but I want to specifically call to attention just how incongruous Kairi's actions added in the Re:Mind DLC are with her actions in the base game. The first two actions she takes in KH3 are utterly useless, with the actual point of her in those scenes being for Lea's sake and for the sake of pushing bad retcons. Sharing a Paopu with Sora comes out of nowhere both in the context of the game and the series up to that point and it affects nothing. We then get her fighting either entirely off-screen, shown killing a single raining Shadow Heartless, or pathetically short-lived and ending in miserable failure, with her actual major plot-affecting role being spiritual in nature and, again, out of fucking nowhere. Whatever one's issues with her in KH2, Kairi was not being built up for a combat role in that game - she was only being built up for a more proactive one in KH1, and while that role could have been executed better (like it is in the manga) she still fulfilled it. In KH3, she was very specifically being built up for a combat role, and she didn't fulfill that role in favor of a sudden, unsatisfying bait-and-switch where she's just as passive as she was in KH1, if not more so.

So that's why it's jarring when in Re:Mind, she's suddenly having no problem against Xion despite struggling in the base game, fiercely fighting Xemnas to the point of shattering his energy sabers and forcing him to drain her stamina in order to save himself, and then not only fighting and helping kill Master Xehanort but being the most OP playable character in the process which is at stark odds with her useless party member AI. Then she's inserted into literally every part of the happy ending montage she was originally almost entirely absent from until the last minute. It is such an obvious ham-fisted case of damage control after fan backlash that it only satisfies you in the moment, then you begin asking how and why the game even had to get it so wrong in the first place. And the dissonance only gets worse with the following Limitcut Episode + Melody of Memory, where suddenly it's like Re:Mind never happened as Kairi's once again a weakling who needs more training because adventuring's "way too dangerous" for her, with her main story contribution being passive and spiritual!

Character-wise, for Kairi it's KH1 > KH2 > KH3.

Action-wise, however, it's KH2 > KH1 > KH3.

…im not really a mamas boy im just one of those dudes who once catches that scene before the protagonist is separated from his mother or family

…like wut you see on destiny island before sora leaves to save the universe

…i was like that hardcore with a manga series called TEGAMI BACHI

…the protagonist was separated from his mother and one of his MAJOR goals was find her and reunite with her

…im playing this series cuz i wanna see sora return to destiny island after saving the universe and reunite with his mom 🤗

LOL. I get it, friend. No worries. A lot of fans actually want Sora to reunite with his mom and have that dang dinner, already. Though what they don't realize is he actually did have it at the end of KH2.

But the last thing we hear before all the craziness starts is Sora's mom calling him down to dinner, before he disappears to another world and his home Island gets destroyed for a while. So I can understand why it sticks in people's mind. It has mine, somewhat.

It is pretty crazy how, for the most part, the KH characters don't think about their parents or family members while on these adventures at all.

Though I understand that it happens, because most epic series like this always deal with family in some way (maybe even at the forefront), and Nomura just wanted a saga about friendship (which is definitely refreshing in a lot of ways). So he just kind of avoids the topic.

Though lately, we've been dealing with familial relationships a bit more in this franchise... So who knows? Maybe we will eventually actually see Sora's mom. LOL

I know the fandom would certainly love that.