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themattress · 4 years

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The Butterfly Effect of Xion

So the Vince Vaughn movie Fred Claus has been on TV, and I have to paraphrase:

“I don’t hate you, Xion. I just wish you were never born.”

(XION FANS, DO NOT ENGAGE)

Dwelling on it recently, I came to realize just how damaging the existence of Xion has been on the Kingdom Hearts series. There were issues with her in her debut game of 358/2 Days, true, but they pale in comparison to what ended up happening in the games afterward. Xion’s existence created a Butterfly Effect, where five major problems that wrecked the series might not have occurred if the precedent hadn’t been set by Nomura and Kanemaki with Xion.

1. So, Xion is a replica. She was meant to be a replica of Sora, but because the memories she absorbed from Roxas (because that’s a thing now) were Sora’s strongest memories, those of Kairi, she became a girl who resembled Kairi. Except when she isn’t and looks different depending on who is viewing her. This didn’t only over-complicate the replica concept in Days, but it set the precedent going forward that replicas could be used for anything the plot demands and ended up as the go-to method to bring previously dead or disembodied characters back (that and time travel). Back in CoM, the Riku Replica was just a clone of Riku, the idea was simple to grasp. Now replicas aren’t even really replicas at all.

2. Let me point this out again: Sora’s fractured memories somehow escaped him and that’s never explained how this is possible. They go into Roxas and then “leak” out of him and into Xion, which is what gives her an identity. And Namine’s power over the memories of Sora and those aligned with him are now increased so that she can view memories currently being made by Roxas and Xion from a far away distance. This convoluted usage of the concept of memory only gets worse in Coded and 3D, and it’s unclear who remembers what anymore. Much like replicas, memories are now being used to make any ludicrous plot turn happen, and this especially damages Namine’s character given that she has power over memories.

3. So because Xion’s identity is composed of memories that need to go back inside of Sora, she ceases to exist after dying. Let me repeat: Xion ceases to exist. This is what is said by Namine, who is a pretty reliable source given how overpowered she’d become at this point:

If you return your memories to him, you'll disappear. And since everything about you was built on those memories...no one will remember you when you're gone. There won't be any "you" to remember. I can't save you, Xion - even a memory of you.

Except that this totally becomes a lie in Coded, making it so that what Namine should have said was “Don’t worry, Xion - I can totes save a memory you inside of data placed within Jiminy’s Journal, and everyone will begin remembering you again in a few months’ time until finally you can come back to life and exist independently of Sora. There’s no stakes here!”

And this begins one of the most damning trends in the series: previous canon is discarded on a whim in order to bring back characters who definitively reached a conclusion in order to give them an ideal ‘happily ever after’ ending as fanservice for everyone who likes them. Roxas, Namine, Xion, Axel, all the other Organization members, Ansem the Wise, Eraqus, even the goddamn Riku Replica...the dramatic power of their endings is completely undone against all internal logic and good storytelling sensibilities. And it all started with Xion, who even after ceasing to exist (making her deader than dead), still managed to give belated telepathic messages to Riku and Roxas the day afterward, leaving a door for revival open.

(Side-note: Nomura actually said in the BBS Ultimania interview that “there is no concept of death in the KH universe”. Really, now? Tell that to Hades, the lord of the dead. Or the numerous Disney villains who have died. Or good guys like Mufasa, Tadashi, or Bambi’s mother! Hell, even your own OC characters have acknowledged the reality of death: Xehanort’s entire impetus behind possessing Terra is because he was afraid of dying from old age before he could see his plan through to fruition! Nomura, you are an absolute hack.)

4. So, Xion is a Kairi look-alike who can wield a Keyblade. Chronologically speaking, she wielded a Keyblade before Kairi did, even though the game where Kairi did was released first. You have her in your party throughout Days, can play as her in Mission Mode, and then in KH3 she flat-out replaces Kairi in the party during the battle with Saix. Kairi, meanwhile, has never been playable, and had exactly 1 minute of time in the party before being taken out of it and replaced by Xion. Then she gets killed by Xehanort and is unable to take part in the big climax, but Xion does. And during all of this, Kairi is phased out of the trio between her, Sora and Riku, all while Xion is a retcon to the KH2-established duo of Axel and Roxas.

If Xion didn’t already feel like a self-insert Mary Sue from a fanfic before, she certainly does now. Kairi actually had narrative build-up and anticipation for years at becoming either a playable character or a full-fledged party member, and either way being an all-around capable Keyblade wielder who could fight alongside her friends Sora and Riku. But instead, this black-haired copycat of her who was created after the game where Kairi was given a Keyblade and was then said to be deader than it was possible to be gets all the glory.

Just look at the cover of KH3. Kairi sticks out like a sore thumb because she remains the only one with alleged combat capabilities who has never ever been playable across the entire series’ existence, and whose time as a party member is pathetic compared to everyone else. Perhaps if we didn’t have Xion, who got 30 more votes than Kairi on an official popularity poll, the game developers would have felt more of a drive to develop Kairi and make her a competent combatant. But I say perhaps because Nomura would be a sexist pig either way.

5. Lastly, let’s talk about the “Seasalt Trio” that became a thing thanks to Xion. In KH2, the narrative was that Roxas and Axel had been friends, with Roxas having something of a heart and Axel actually being able to feel emotions due to forging a close relationship with him. But Roxas left the Organization to find out the truth about himself, disillusioned by Axel’s lies and possessiveness of him. Ultimately, when it came down to truly helping Roxas or just helping himself, Axel chose himself and tried to kill Roxas. When this failed and Roxas merged with Sora, Axel became consumed by guilt and tried to get Roxas back until he finally realized that his selfishness was the problem and reached true atonement to Roxas through sacrificing his life for Sora. And for his part, Roxas learned to be at peace with an existence as part of Sora, as he felt more emotionally fulfilled than he did as a Nobody and could still be with Namine.

While Days mostly stuck to the narrative in regards to Axel, the addition of Xion complicated things so that Axel was made to be viewed more sympathetic than he really should be. The connection Roxas had with Xion, meanwhile, totally eclipsed the one he had with Namine in KH2, to the point where all of Namine’s helpful actions toward Roxas are retconned into her subconsciously keeping a promise she made to Xion to look after him. And the idealistic friendship between the three of them, where they enjoy working together in the Organization and having ice cream together atop Twilight Town’s clock tower guaranteed that many players would no longer accept Roxas’ fate in KH2 as a happy ending for him. After all, if he was perfectly comfortable as his own physical existence and had good friends he enjoyed eating ice cream with all the time, then nothing less than that seems like it could make him happy.

And ultimately, not even the narrative around Axel was to last. In Days, he says to Xion that she and Roxas can “keep on running, but I’ll always be there to bring you back!” In context, this was a selfish, possessive threat. It was Axel saying “Screw what you two want or need! I want and need you at my side in the Organization and I’ll drag you back there against your will no matter how many times you try to escape!” But once Axel is revived as Lea in 3D, the narrative pretends that wasn’t the case and now insists that it’s a noble pledge, a promise to “always bring his friends back” when they disappear, and that it’s legitimately what they want him to do. An interesting, morally gray character was totally whitewashed so that he deserves the ideal happy ending that he receives. All from something he said to Xion.

So yeah, this is what holds me back from being a big Xion fan, and while I hold no personal animosity toward her, I deeply wish she had never been introduced into the series at all.

I wish she was conceived exclusively for Shiro Amano’s manga instead!

#Disney #Square Enix #Kingdom Hearts #Opinion #Analysis #Xion #Bad Writing #Jumping the Shark #This Franchise Got Screwed Up #Anti-Xion #(Sort of)

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argentdandelion · 5 years

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No Soul Necessary: Flowey’s Happy Ending (Part 1)

Introduction

Warning: This post necessarily covers Flowey’s dark, traumatic, and sad backstory.

In many works, Flowey gets a SOUL in a Post-Pacifist timeline, and is often “restored” back to Asriel with a Boss Monster body. Sometimes, it is implied this is only way for Flowey to be happy: that it is impossible to save him, too, so long as he is a soulless flower.

Yet, as the Flowey and PTSD series shows, having a soul is neither necessary nor sufficient for Flowey’s happiness. For one thing, six human SOULs apparently wasn’t enough for him to regain love nor compassion; he only got that after absorbing six human souls and the souls of almost every monster. More importantly, though gaining a soul might make it easier for him to be happy by letting him feel love and compassion again, it wouldn’t solve all his problems.

And Flowey has a lot of problems.

Well-Supported by Canon

These aspects of Flowey's suffering are well-supported by canon.

Guilt, Regret, and Self-Loathing

After the God of Hyperdeath fight, Asriel understands if Frisk cannot forgive them, and understands if Frisk hates them. He acted “so strange and horrible” and hurt many people; Asriel believe she has no excuse for what he had done.

If the game is started up again after everyone goes free, Flowey (despite presumed soullessness) says he can’t “go through with it again” (do the same actions to achieve that ending) if the world was reset, so whoever he’s talking to must erase his memories, too. He seems guilty or ashamed at his actions: he talks about the power Chara was “fighting to stop, the power that I wanted to use” (presumably the power of SAVE) with an expression that might be shame.

Furthermore, several prompts in for the flowerbed speech, Asriel discloses he’s blamed himself for the decision to not kill the humans attacking him the whole time. Apparently, a sense of guilt and self-loathing at himself for failing Chara and getting himself killed was why he adopted his “kill or be killed” view. Yet, after seeing Frisk (it’s unspecified when; it could be at the flowerbed itself) he doesn’t regret his decision anymore. He said he did the right thing, and he can’t regret hard choices forever.

Lack of Love/Compassion/Empathy; Difficulty Forming Relationships

Flowey cannot feel love nor compassion; it is likely anything approaching empathy eludes him. This is a major impediment to feeling fulfilling relationships. Indeed, the idea he couldn’t feel anything (loving) for anyone made him “despondent”, until he eventually coped by making himself a callous manipulator who didn’t (emotionally) need anyone.

Flowey’s difficulty in forming relationships is a similar problem. Solving others’ problems distracted or amused him for a while, but it didn’t really make him happy. His lack of love and compassion, as well as his ability to rewind time, led him to become estranged from others. People were reduced to sets of numbers, lines and dialogue.

Unable to feel love and compassion, Flowey's life was surely less happy than before. The closest Flowey could get to fulfilling relationships was just amusement at others, and with time he grew tired of it. He himself likes to think “there’s someone out there...someone that I won’t get tired of.” There’s only one person (Chara) he cares about anymore, and yet he says (with a sad expression) that he couldn’t really care about them.

Despair

Given how close they were, Chara’s death alone would have been enough for Asriel to fall into a deep depression. Yet, his suffering is only multiplied by several layers of trauma from the plan and its outcome.

Flowey/Asriel believes that, in refusing to kill the humans attacking him and getting killed himself, he “failed” Chara. He expects Chara to be mad at him for this.

Flowey discloses that, when he woke up as a flower, he “couldn’t feel anything for anyone.”1 He spent weeks with Asgore, trying to vain to feel love. Eventually, Flowey became so distressed at his failure he quit and run away. He went to Toriel, but even she couldn’t make him “feel whole again”. He became despondent: he decided to didn’t “want to live in a world without love anymore—a world without you, Chara”. He spent weeks with Asgore, trying to vain to feel love. Eventually, Flowey became so distressed at his failure he quit and run away. He went to Toriel, but even she couldn’t make him “feel whole again”. He became despondent: he decided to didn’t “want to live in a world without love anymore—a world without you, Chara”. Flowy then tried to “erase himself from existence”.

He discovered his power of SAVE after this, starting ‘Pacifist Routes’ of his own and solving others’ problems flawlessly. Their companionship amused him, for a while. But, as he repeated time, he found them predictable; without compassion, he grew estranged from others and saw them as just lines of dialogue and numbers.

He killed everyone in the Underground, just to add novelty to his boring life. But eventually, he grew tired of that, too. He was surely very lonely and thought his existence pointless, but the very things he had lost (and gained) with his new life as a flower trapped him in despair.

Extrapolations

While recurring elements in works set in a Post-Pacifist timeline, these aspects of Flowey’s suffering aren’t so well-supported in canon.

Body Dissatisfaction

A recurring element in fan works is Flowey’s dissatisfaction or distress at his new flower body, and its limits.

In the Genocide Route, Flowey shows fear and helplessness at realizing he can’t feel his arms and legs and how his whole body had turned into a flower. If he had some choice in form when absorbing six human SOULs, the fact he had two big, clawed arms may very well be a compensation for his long-lost limbs. As soon as he absorbs the equivalent of seven human SOULs, he takes a body identical to his old Boss Monster one, and says: “Finally. I was so tired of being a flower.”

In some cases, it’s hard to tell whether Asriel/Flowey is dissatisfied by what he is or who he has become in that new body; he might conflate the two and separate his existence into two identities.

Flowey is neither human nor monster, but a soulless, nigh-necromantic magic flower whose existence is utterly unprecedented. After attacking Flowey, Toriel calls him a “miserable creature”. Flowey describes himself and who he thinks is a soulless Chara as “creatures” as well. In his flowerbed speech, Asriel calls Flowey not a “he”, but an “it”, and tells Frisk not to think of Flowey as Asriel, saying: “I just want you to remember me like this. Someone that was your friend for a little while.” (It’s unclear whether he means “as a Boss Monster” or “as someone compassionate”)

Parental Separation

Even in works where Flowey gets a soul, "becomes Asriel", and has Frisk as an adoptive sibling as a sort of Dreemurr Family 2.0, things just aren't the same. Chara is still dead, and Asgore and Toriel are still estranged/separated.

It must have been a shock for a newly-awakened Flowey to go back home and find Toriel’s old throne under a sheet, and to search for Toriel for so long only to find she’s as far away as possible from Asgore. Realizing his parents, who used to be such sickening sweethearts, have separated and no longer love each other is bad enough. Knowing that they separated over Asgore’s declaration of war, which only happened because Asriel and Chara died, just makes things worse: Flowey might believe it’s (indirectly) his fault.

While Toriel and Asgore are probably not technically divorced in Undertale, Flowey could have reacted in a comparable way to the kids of divorced parents. After all, kids developing mild depression after their parents’ divorce in a common response. In fact, this “mild depression” can get worse; according to Helpguide.org, some of the symptoms, “frequent violent and angry outbursts”, “withdrawal from loved ones”, and “disinterest in loved activities” sound like things Flowey would do.

Uncertainty He Even Deserves Happiness/A Second Chance with a Boss Monster Body

In several fan works, Flowey/Asriel sometimes believes he doesn’t deserve happiness, and/or a second chance with a Boss Monster body. Regardless of form, he might believe he doesn’t deserve happiness because of all his terrible deeds, and also think he’ll only bring misery to others.

To this end, he might regret going up to the Surface with Frisk, or even seek isolation. Indeed, only Frisk knows Asriel broke the barrier, and Asriel spends the rest of his short existence as “himself” by the flower patch in the Ruins, apparently unnoticed. He doesn’t want his parents to know he was alive again, and won’t go up to see them, because he thinks it would just break their hearts. Furthermore, in some works, Flowey lives an isolated life in the Underground as a sort of prison sentence for his Flowey Run crimes.

While Flowey cannot feel love nor compassion, it’s still possible he could feel guilt and regret. It’s possible he remembers what it was like to feel love and compassion, even for a little while, and wants Frisk and the other monsters to be happy even if he cannot.

He’s certainly capable of feeling irritated at people, so presumably he meant an inability to love anyone and, perhaps, a flattened and incomplete emotional range in general. ↩︎

#Undertale #Undertale Analysis #Undertale Meta #Flowey #Flowey the Flower #Asriel #Undertale Character Analysis #No Soul Necessary: Flowey's Happy Ending

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j-exclamationmark-l · 6 years

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Koiryu Junji scenario

I finished the Junji scenario of Kiryu’s dating sim a while ago. I don't remember it as well as I apparently remembered the guitarists' scenarios, also it bugged me pretty bad so I wasn't terribly invested in it.

The story begins the same as the others', with the protagonist finding herself suddenly in 1800s Japan at the mercy of five dragon gods. Mahiro freaks out to find a human woman at his shrine and threatens to kill her when Junji steps in and stops him. Mahiro relents and lets her stay at the shrine. That night, Junji confronts the protagonist and tells her she needs to show with her actions, not just her words, that she’s willing to help them, which apparently means sitting still and allowing Junji to pretend he’s going to kiss her before he pulls back and laughs. “looool jk u shoulda seen ur face u really thought i was gonna kiss u loooooooooooooool!”

The next day, it’s agreed that the protagonist will go to the establishment Yoidzuki and do work as an oiran to try and gather information for Kiryu on demons, as they cannot return to the Ryuuguu without eradicating all demons from earth. The protagonist spends the night drinking with Tomoya, a high ranking official in the Meiji military. In addition to having something of a man-crush on Junji, he tells the protagonist of a demon called the Bakeneko, or Cat Demon. The protagonist takes this information back to Kiryu.

The six set out for the Bakeneko’s shrine, using the protagonist as bait to lure out the cat demon. Junji saves the day, but gets injured in the process. They take him back to the shrine, where he develops a fever from the poison in the cat’s claws and the protagonist does her best to nurse him back to health and cook for him, which makes him very happy as “no one has cooked for me before.” The protagonist begins to realize she’s falling in love with him.

Also, at some point, the Bakeneko returns in a harmless form, looking to help Kiryu, and Mahiro decides he likes it better than his comrades. Junji names it Takemaru.

At Yoidzuki, a rumor begins that ghosts are haunting the place. Protagonist tells Kiryu, and they decide that every day, one member of Kiryu will go and request her while simultaneously looking for clues about how to draw out the ghost of the Botan Doro, but Junji is scheduled to be last, as he is still recovering from his wounds. The first day brings Mr. Kujou, who does not look for clues, but proceeds to get very, very drunk until Hiyori is called to carry him back home. Some of the oiran allude to the fact they know Hiyori is a man, which puzzles the protagonist as clearly Hiyori is female. Mitsuki comes the second day, refusing to drink. He says he noticed the protagonist and Junji have become close, and asks if Junji told her he already has a fiancee. This breaks the protagonist’s heart and he devotes the rest of the night to comforting her instead of looking for demons. The third day, Mahiro comes, immediately finds the seal protecting the place from the Botan Doro, and stabs the ghost to death.

The latest demon issue resolved, the protagonist goes to work the next day and is requested, much to her surprise. She walks into the room to find none other than Junji, who felt left out that he never got to drink with her. She brings up the fact that he has a fiancee and he promises it doesn’t mean anything. He kisses her and she runs away.

After a while, Junji decides he’d like the protagonist to accompany him to the dojo he owns to learn how to fight; however, for unclear reasons, he decides she’d better disguise herself as a boy named Ryuu. Junji spends all day teasing “Ryuu” during their practice fights and making the girls at the dojo accuse the two of being gay together.

Suddenly, Hayato barges into the dojo, demanding to fight Junji. “If I win, you must give the dojo to me!” he proclaims, and for... reasons I can’t understand, Junji agrees. In any case, Junji wins, and Hayato throws himself at Junji’s feet, begging Junji to take him on as an apprentice, and again, Junji agrees for some reason.

The days are busy for the protagonist, training during the day at the dojo and working as an oiran at night. Tomoya eventually joins the dojo and the protagonist tells him that she’s a pair of identical twins. Tomoya confesses to “Ryuu” that he is in love with Ryuu’s “twin.” Meanwhile Codomo Dragon joins the dojo as well and constantly pick on “Ryuu.”

At Yoidzuki, the protagonist picks up on a new rumor that though it is spring, corpses have been found on the edge of town frozen to death. Mitsuki and Mahiro begin searching for the cause. One day at the dojo, Junji and the protagonist are called away immediately by Kiryu to come help fight the demon they’ve found. They travel to the edge of the village and find a snowstorm. It’s voted that Takemasa should be the one to go check it out, but Junji and the protagonist volunteer to accompany him. In the snow, they discover a fallen woman whose face is obscured by long, black hair. She immediately sees through everyone’s disguises and accuses them of being liars. Junji realizes this is the Yuki Joro and begins trying to fight her, telling the protagonist not to meet her gaze or she’ll be frozen to death. The rest of Kiryu joins the fight and defeat the snow woman, but Junji, Takemasa and the protagonist appear to be suffering from hypothermia. They decide to return to the dojo.

At the dojo, the Meiji government has stepped in and announces it is searching for the Dragonball. Kiryu does its best to pretend they have no idea what that is while trying to take care of the three frozen members. Junji cuddles up with the protagonist beneath a blanket. After the Meiji military leaves, Hayato tells Kiryu he followed them and saw the battle with the Yuki Joro and knows who and what they are and that he knows they have the Dragonball.

Junji and the protagonist spend more and more time with each other until Junji promises to forget his fiancee in favor of the protagonist and they agree to be a couple in secret.

One night, while Junji walks the protagonist through town, a cart nearly topples over on top of the protagonist and almost kills her... but doesn’t, sadly. A mysterious figure seems disappointed.

The next day, the two are walking together again when they notice a white-haired woman fleeing. She runs into Junji, and he identifies her with alarm as his fiancee, Otohime. He takes her back to the shrine, but Kiryu immediately tries to reject her. Mahiro suddenly stops complaining about the protagonist, raving that she’s been super helpful to them and their mission. Mitsuki flat-out tells Otohime to go screw herself and Hiyori and Takemasa sulk around, whispering bad things about her, but Junji seems enchanted by his fiancee, spending every moment with her. Hiyori warns the protagonist that there’s nothing worse than a jealous female god. In the halls at night, Otohime confronts the protagonist, stating ONCE AGAIN that she’s Junji’s fiancee and that the protagonist should back off.

At the dojo, the Codomo Unit agrees that they prefer the protagonist to Otohime and wish the latter would go back to wherever she came from. I don’t really understand why, though. Why do we constantly have to compare the two female characters? Why do we have to pit them against each other? I’ve always had groups of friends that were half male and half female and I have literally never noticed conversations like this occurring organically. Besides, no one even knows the protagonist is a girl, why would... uuuUUUGGHHHH. Why do they two girls have to hate each other? In my opinion, Junji’s the one who’s in the wrong in this situation for lying and being indirect and leading both women on. I feel bad for Otohime. He promised to marry her; who am I to waltz in and take that away from her?

Hayato challenges the protagonist to a duel to get her mind off Otohime, but the protagonist is so distracted that Hayato falls over on top of her and discovers with a strategically-placed hand that she’s actually a girl. The protagonist makes him promise to keep it secret.

Junji tells everyone later that the Dragonball is missing; as it turns out, not only is the Dragonball missing, but so are the special items that belong to the White Tiger (Codomo Dragon) and Black Tortoise (Royz).

Just then a monster is seen, calling all three groups to come and fight it. Otohime reveals that she summoned it with the three artifacts, knowing that once Kiryu was done fighting this last demon, they would have to return to the Ryuuguu and she and Junji could finally be married. Junji is appalled at her, having realized why she was running when they first met (she stole Royz’s artifact). He then demands to know how she managed to come to earth, and she tells him that she sold her soul to be reunited with him once she saw him making out with the protagonist. The protagonist uses the Dragonball to fight off the last demon, but Otohime is gravely injured and without a soul, she will not move on to the next life. The protagonist fights with all her might to keep Otohime from dying and is able to save her and kill the last demon, but by doing so, the protagonist is sent back to 2017.

The protagonist goes about life again as before at her company. Eventually the events she underwent begin to fade like a dream - though she felt she was gone for a year, only a week or so went by in present day, and no one really noticed her absence. She misses Junji terribly and visits a cherry blossom tree like one he was fond of to mourn her loss of him... only to have him approach her, having... magically... found a way to present day to take her back?

In the end, Otohime lives and decides to be fwiends with the protagonist, who will now marry Junji, and everyone lives... happily ever after?

#koiryu #bakumatsu meiji koisuru ryuujin sama #kiryu #otome game #i'm probably forgetting a lot #i hated this scenario the most #tokai junji

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