Kingdom Hearts

Basically, this is my opinion forever.

Also...

Battle Axel again, but be warned—he's stronger than before!

You don't say.

Literally every (official) continuation in the series has brought its share of baggage and loose ends, and in Days' case, most of that was simply building off of the baggage and loose ends that COM and most notably II already introduced.

Was Roxas seen as a sensible inclusion prior to Days? Did people like the sudden shift in character Axel went through prior to Days? Did Saix have anything to his name other than dog jokes prior to Days? I admittedly don't have any major perspective on this since I wasn't anywhere near the fandom around this time, but I have trouble imagining how any of these can be answered with a straight "yes".

"Dog jokes"?

It's true that almost every entry in the series has left loose ends (and I would not necessarily exempt the rest of the series from criticism on that account, by the by), but the reason why Days irks me especially in that regard is that its loose ends don't even really have anything to do with the main plot of the series. It basically is, and continues to be, an extended side-plot that could be cut out of the series entirely without really affecting anything. By that I mean that the series keeps pushing the idea that Sora needs to do what amounts to clean-up duty to undo the ending of a story that was never his story to begin with.

Without Xion, Axel is the only peer Roxas has (and I'd hesitate to call him even that) and he would have been the only positive relationship that Roxas had in the game. Leveraging the entire story on a single relationship does not for good writing make. Nomura backed himself into a corner by making the organization a group of older, pretty, antisocial assholes. To that end, Xion was practically necessary just to round out character dynamics and provide an in for outside characters like Riku to have an indirect effect on Roxas.

That said, I also acknowledge that the whole "secret 14th organization member only everyone has amnesia about her" felt kind of like bullshit.

Luxord was a pretty nice guy (in Days) and Demyx was a goof, but they never came across as people Roxas would heavily associate himself with.

Except by that time KH 2 had come out and we had seen another side of him already, so this is a completely moot point. It's not terribly unfeasible that Axel and Roxas could have developed a genuine friendship and attachment throughout the game. showing different sides of characters that you wouldn't have imagined is basically how fleshing out characters works.

Which is the problem, because it really should not have been that way. What i think would have been ideal was that Roxas would have complex relationships with the different Organization members but ultimately decide that he wasn't going to get the answers he wanted from them.

i mean, adding xion works and i'm not really that fussed about it at the end of the day, but i think it shows how the organization as characters have been a bit mismanaged.

edited 28th Nov '15 2:37:56 PM by wehrmacht

Xemnas is a pretty Bad Boss and let everyone die. They should have formed a union.

Marluxia tried that

I'm not really bothered by this since KH II and maybe Com introduced the idea that almost everyone forgot about Sora while he was asleep.

Anyways, I like Days just for the line " No, Xion. Who else will I have ice cream with?"

It's a silly line but it makes sense in context. Roxas asked Axel what friends are and Axel replied that they're people who have ice cream together.

Also I like Xion a lot. If Nomura decided to replace Kairi with Xion, I'd be very okay with that.

I think there's room for both of them.

And I understand the context for the line, but the delivery kind of kills it.

I really liked Xion since she was basically a deconstruction of Sailor Earth.

I think Xion's introduction works just fine in the context of the story in which she initially appears. I don't think it works well in the context of the series at large because, well, the rest of the story up to that point practically mandated that Xion be destroyed and forgotten about by the game's end, which means the only way for her to still be around is for the story to go out of its way in order to undo what happened in Days.

I cannot help but see this prospect as a timewasting detour story-wise, because Xion is not a character who's particularly... relevant? I mean, she's mostly relevant to Roxas, whose story is itself kinda in its own little bubble whose connection to the overall series feels strenuous at best (and which was resolved in Kingdom Hearts II before Days and coded came along with their Happy Ending Override). Even from the perspective of their story, it doesn't strike me as particularly satisfying to see Sora, a guy who acted as a Living Macguffin throughout their time together, be the one to resolve it (except, I guess, in the raw sense of being happy that your favourite character is no longer dead, by whatever means).

edited 28th Nov '15 4:27:54 PM by DrDougsh

If neither of them came back I would totally understand and have no trouble living with it, as it reinforces the tragedy of their existences. I'm actually concerned about their return because it can very easily end up as an Ass Pull if Nomura isn't careful, especially undoing Xion's Ret-Gone status.

edited 28th Nov '15 4:38:10 PM by Karxrida

Re:Sex with clones- I'm sure King Mickey wouldn't oppose, since he's married to basically his exact twin with a bow.

wait, when did the topic of sex with clones come up

Last page, earlier today.

I'm surprised no one said "Orgy XIII".

Screwing your clone is incest.

Screwing yourself from another time period is masturbation.

Learn the lore, scrubs.

Just a reminder than several characters are underage.

Also I seriously do not like equating anything sexual with this franchise.

Yeah no,cease.

there was a robot chicken skit about this lol

to be honest i feel that it would be more poignant if they all stayed gone. while KH is a very optimistic series on the whole and there's nothing wrong with that per se, having things be a bit more bittersweet would be welcome.

Honestly I think sex with your clone is the same as masturbation.

Identical twins are clones. Bring the idea of "masturbation" up with a set sometime, hm?

If you're locked in a room with yourself, you can either fight or you can fuck. Anything else is a meaningless waste of both your time.

edited 28th Nov '15 9:48:57 PM by TheAirman