xehanortsreport

[xehanortsreport]

sighs...ansem was alone for like. 70+ years. i feel like even a relative loner like him must have been wanting for company.

anyway i headcanon him as taking a lot of strolls amongst the populace of various worlds in his potato sack form before eventually destroying them. just some mysterious, formless man. he's become a legend or cryptid in numerous societies because of it. the robed figure who shows up, watching in the corner of a busy market, or perched upon a parapet, or deep in the back of an opera house. he speaks in your head. you don't think he has a mouth.

and then shortly after, things start going...wrong. people disappearing. yellow eyes flickering in the shadows of the forest that don't seem like any animal you've ever seen. a deep chill in your bones despite the sunny day. something isn't right.

#it just occurred to me #that ansem's time travel at least explains emblem heartless in khdr's era #can't help you with khux though

[xehanortsreport]

Who up snorking their maiden

[xehanortsreport]

there's something very funny about my casual appreciation for the horror of the kh series popping off while i sit here once again unable to sleep for more than 4 hours at a time without getting stricken by night terrors

#i have a junji itoian relationship with horror. i appreciate it bc im scared of everything. #also thats ptsd babes! (crying begging for my meds to refill so i can sleep again)

[xehanortsreport]

Behold the endless abyss!

#uwawa so cute #kingdom hearts

[xehanortsreport]

holds ansem...i just think hes neat...i hope i can help people appreciate him more...

[xehanortsreport]

rolls over alright it's a reasonable hour

i really like to explore ansem as like. a master xehanort who got to relive his life and come to different conclusions. i don't believe ansem and xehanort are inherently different, despite the entire terra-xehanort thing; ansem is pointedly, time and again, by multiple different people in game and multiple paratextual materials as specifically "xehanort" or "xehanort's heartless". in my brain they are more or less the same heart, the same person.

where things split is age and lived experience. ansem went back in time to when xehanort was a kid and then lived out the rest of his days in real time all the way up til kh3. that's damn near a century of extra knowledge, experience, time. reflection.

much like how one views themselves as a child when they've hit adulthood, i think the difference between MX and ansem comes down to perspective and the natural changes time brings to everyone. MX is to ansem as YX is to MX. they're not different people but the gap in experience and maturity is so wide that they're practically separate beings anyway.

i think that's how you can have someone as doggedly single-minded and thirsty for knowledge as ansem, who proudly declares himself as a seeker of darkness, just want to straight up give up by the end of kh3 while it took MX getting beat onto his deathbed to do the same. i think ansem reached the same conclusion far earlier simply because he has lived longer. goals and dreams change as you age, and i think getting beat once in kh1 really did a number on his ambition. i think it caused the same self reflection MX only achieved in the equivalent moment in kh3.

it's like looking at a video of yourself in the past, with full knowledge of hindsight, and knowing it's beyond your control.

so im any scenario where i'm writing a post kh3 ansem, i'm sort of inherently taking the time to write an...alternate MX? if that makes sense. MX is a possible future, and ansem is another possible future. and so i like to explore that.

#me thinkin...

[xehanortsreport]

if you were wondering who painted that portrait of xehanort in RG. it was me i did that.

i wrote this as a joke but i think i'll work it into my sona's backstory actually, why not.

#who else in the series is obsessed enough with the guy to do it. #when did he get a portrait done. why. mysteries.

[xehanortsreport]

Kingdom Hearts - Hollow Bastion

#hollow bastion my beloved...come back 2 me baby #kingdom hearts

[xehanortsreport]

rolls over alright it's a reasonable hour

i really like to explore ansem as like. a master xehanort who got to relive his life and come to different conclusions. i don't believe ansem and xehanort are inherently different, despite the entire terra-xehanort thing; ansem is pointedly, time and again, by multiple different people in game and multiple paratextual materials as specifically "xehanort" or "xehanort's heartless". in my brain they are more or less the same heart, the same person.

where things split is age and lived experience. ansem went back in time to when xehanort was a kid and then lived out the rest of his days in real time all the way up til kh3. that's damn near a century of extra knowledge, experience, time. reflection.

much like how one views themselves as a child when they've hit adulthood, i think the difference between MX and ansem comes down to perspective and the natural changes time brings to everyone. MX is to ansem as YX is to MX. they're not different people but the gap in experience and maturity is so wide that they're practically separate beings anyway.

i think that's how you can have someone as doggedly single-minded and thirsty for knowledge as ansem, who proudly declares himself as a seeker of darkness, just want to straight up give up by the end of kh3 while it took MX getting beat onto his deathbed to do the same. i think ansem reached the same conclusion far earlier simply because he has lived longer. goals and dreams change as you age, and i think getting beat once in kh1 really did a number on his ambition. i think it caused the same self reflection MX only achieved in the equivalent moment in kh3.

it's like looking at a video of yourself in the past, with full knowledge of hindsight, and knowing it's beyond your control.

so im any scenario where i'm writing a post kh3 ansem, i'm sort of inherently taking the time to write an...alternate MX? if that makes sense. MX is a possible future, and ansem is another possible future. and so i like to explore that.

#im very bad at ending these things #xey rambles

[xehanortsreport]

you ever just think about the heartless manufactory. peak environmental horror (dreamy sigh)

#i keep wanting to explore just. the horror of the kidnappings. #mass kidnappings! sanctioned by the state! #the guards are in on it! #your townspeople are being experimented on en masse and turned into monsters #and it's so enshrined and refined that there is a WHOLE ASS SECRET FACTORY built in the castle where your king lives! #DEDICATED to it! #like!!!!!!!!!!!! jesus christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[xehanortsreport]

the real reason i think xigbar and ansem are a great ship is bc they both have identically horrific senses of humor.

#a quip for every situation. i need them to do comedy together. #a roast of ATW with these two would go hard

[xehanortsreport]

some observations from going down a rabbit hole of japanese language xigbar yesterday

(apologies for the youtube watermarks. i got this clip from this video.)

[Video ID: a fifteen-second clip from a cutscene from kingdom hearts 3D: dream drop distance, with japanese audio and english-language visuals. it's the scene where xigbar tells sora that he's not going to wake up. end ID.]

keep in mind that this clip is just the japanese audio being played over the visuals from the english language release. the subtitles aren't a direct or literal translation of the words being spoken; they correspond to the localized dialogue that the english voice actors wouldve been given

hōchū ōtsuka (xigbar's japanese va) and james patrick stewart (his english va) give, to my ears, pretty similar vocal performances. this is the case for pretty much all of the characters ive seen so far in my xigbar-centric explorations (roxas's vas sound nearly IDENTICAL). the notable exception being xemnas, whose japanese va straight up sounds like he's trying to talk without moving his mouth

in the english dub cutscenes, the character animations often feel...floaty? disconnected? like, because they're not synced up to what the characters are saying and how, their gestures frequently seem random and unmotivated. in retrospect it's obvious that this issue wouldnt be present in the original language because that's the dialogue they would've been animated around in the first place!

now that im actually watching the character animation with the dialogue it was actually done for, i appreciate it a lot more. its so expressive. smiles.

at the end of xigbar's speech here you may notice him saying the phrase "tte hanashi." this is his japanese catchphrase! it means something along the lines of "so they say", "or so I've heard", et cetera. i love "as if" im a big fan of "as if" but i also love the idea of xigbar consistently undermining the information he gives and emphasizing how often he eavesdrops and spies on people.

he says "tte hanashi" very very often. multiple times in most of his scenes that ive seen so far. way more often than the english dub says "as if"

he doesn't say it normal like im pretty sure that's not how you say it in normal speech. like sometimes he does say it normal, but he always draws it out at least a little and often really draws it out, emphasizing it with some kind of gesture, like he does in the clip

seriously if there's a moment in the games where xigbar says something while doing a cunty little gesture he is probably saying "tte hanashi" in the japanese version

this is my new vocal stim. i can't stop saying it

#you and me both op #btw his dialogue is meant to give the aura of 'an older man using slang' so thats why it sounds Like That #hes quite literally hello fellow kids-ing his way through his speech #he's saying 'tte hanashi' in a very playful manner thats meant to contrast his age and appearance #basically the reason why he got the surfer dude treatment in english which i love

[xehanortsreport]

AT LEAST I HAVE THIS

#ansem be on that PHONE

[xehanortsreport]

its really nothing major but they got rid of ansem's snarky little line about sora!!! they got rid of the little bit of banter he and xigbar had and gave xemnas a dry ass line instead to replace it im 😥

the kh3 manga gave xemnas ansem's dialogue with xigbar. what did i do to you, amano???

[xehanortsreport]

the kh3 manga gave xemnas ansem's dialogue with xigbar. what did i do to you, amano???

#they did this to spite me specifically

[xehanortsreport]

#slamtastic jams

[xehanortsreport]

Castlevania 2

The Silence of Daylight

#another underrated track...its just so good #slamtastic jams