Plodding along
We mmmmmay have gotten a little bit carried away playing Kingdom Hearts tonight. But there was random sidequest stuff we wanted to do, dangit! And in other news, today was a day in which we were forced to realize that accepted scientific principles are constantly changing, and when they show up in 25-year-old manga, that can make for an interesting time researching for translation notes. (For varying definitions of the word "interesting.")
But back to Kingdom Hearts! We were ready to keep leveling our ship up to level ten, but after we got it to level nine, the game gave us a trophy! And we were like, "What? Okay. Let's just keep going, though." But then we checked and apparently the ship can't get any more powerful than level nine, so we figured it was about time we went on to the next plot point, so we did!
And basically it just activated the end of the movie. We all sailed into a whirlpool, which really seemed like a Very Bad Idea, and indeed, Davy Jones is all, "Well, this is easy," and summoned the Kraken to take out the Black Pearl. So of course now we have to rescue the Pearl from the Kraken using our own ship, and that was okay, I guess. In the meantime, Luxord's showing up and trying to figure out where the box is. Sora's like, "Guess what! It has Davy Jones's heart, so it's not what you want anyway!" and Luxord's like, "Actually, no one's seen inside the box I'm looking for, so it could be!" and Sora's all, "That doesn't make any sense!" and Luxord said something about hope being in the box, so I was like, "Oh, so it is the Pandora's box that Pete found in Olympus..." (I'm still not sure about that, because it really did look different, but on the other hand, it is still a little odd that they decided to start the whole game there), and Sora was all, "Organization XIII needs hope?" and now he's feeling sad for them, because he's the nicest guy in the worlds.
Meanwhile, Jack Sparrow (the real one) has found the box, and now Sora and Pals get to help him fight Davy Jones. And all the stuff happens, and I think that the stuff where Will Turner comes onto the ship and Elizabeth comes onto the ship and they're trying to be all sneaky but Jones finds them... I think that's all from the movie, but like I said before, I haven't seen it in years. The one part I'm pretty sure was very different from the movie was after Jones stabs Will, Sora basically freaks out (he doesn't take to kindly to people murdering his friends) and launches himself onto Jones. He started punching him and everything, and it was super dramatic! Especially because Donald and Goofy can see that Sora's not really going to be able to beat Davy Jones up all on his own, so they join the fray, but Jones is stronger than all of them, so he's throwing them all across the ship, and wow, it was just. Wow.
And then they end the movie and they live bittersweetly ever after. But Sparrow is all, "Come on, Sora, you of all people know that just because Mr. and Mrs. Turner can't see each other for ten years doesn't mean their hearts aren't connected," or whatever sappy thing they said, and Sora was like, "You're right! Wait for me, my friends!" and then his ship exploded into a billion crabs and that was the end of that story.
After that there was a cute scene where we finally get to see Kairi's new outfit (complete with new haircut!), but Axel still refuses to change clothes. He's hoping they'll get Roxas back, and he wants Roxas to recognize him. He also reminds us all that he did meet Ventus many years ago.
And then! we check in with Hayner, Pence, and Olette back in Twilight Town, and oh my goodness, those kids are so brave! Aaaaahhh! They've been staking out the haunted mansion in the hopes of getting a clue about Roxas, and their patience pays off when who should appear but both Ansems! The evil badguy one from Kingdom Hearts I and Ansem the Wise from Kingdom Hearts II! And the first one is trying to get information out of the second one, and Hayner and the Gang hear them say Roxas and quickly determine that Ansem the Wise is somebody they want to save. And oh my goodness, you guys!!! They tried to take on Ansem Seeker of Darkness!! What were they thinking! I was so worried about them! I was like, "He's obviously way more powerful than them, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't care that much about hurting kids."
They weren't entirely stupid about it. First they sent Pence as a distraction. (That was pretty funny, too. He's all, "Hey! Excuse me! I think my friend lives here!" and Ansem the Seeker of Darkness was all, "Ugh, no one lives here. Go away!") Meanwhile, Olette sneaked around the pillars and pulled Ansem the Wise over while Other Ansem was looking away. Of course they didn't move fast enough, but while Evil Ansem was like, "Hey, where are you going!", Hayner comes along and delivers a flying kick to from behind!
...Or that's how it was supposed to go. Come on, people, he was the final boss of the first Kingdom Hearts game. Those kids didn't stand a chance. Before Hayner can land his kick, Evil Ansem's Heartless guardian thingie pops up and catches him, then throws him against the wall! Oh man, this was so scary!
But before Hayner makes contact, a slithery white thing shows up! It's a Nobody! What! Where did that come from!? We remembered a Nobody mentioning something to Sora about trying to revive their master when he said he was going to bring Roxas back, so we thought maybe somehow Roxas was doing something, but! then who should appear but Even!
...Oh wait, he hasn't appeared yet. They all ran away while Evil Ansem was distracted with the Nobodies, and when they were in the Twilight Town Tunnels, that when Even appeared, and his timing was frankly a little annoying, because Hayner had just asked Ansem the Wise to tell them about Roxas. (And by the way, Evil Ansem is pretty sure that Ansem the Wise knows something that can help them all get Roxas back. (The Organization wants him, too, naturally.))
But this was the weirdest part! Even had some weird speech about how he came back as a member of Organization XIII and now his research can continue...and can I join you again, Ansem the Wise, because I want to atone, too. What! But he was super creepy and super mad scientist crazy! We don't trust it. Especially because he was just at the Caribbean watching the Davy Jones finale and going, "So that wasn't the box we were looking for."
And that was that. Our next stop is San Fransokyo, and right now all signs are pointing to "that's super close to the end of the game, because there are only enough slots for enough sidequests and mini games from one more world." And we're having a difficult time with that, partly because we don't want the game to end so soon, but mostly because the pacing of this story is way too slow for them to suddenly throw us into the end of everything after just one more world. I feel like Sora hasn't really accomplished any of the things he set out to do, but every world had him getting a new goal. Well, I guess we'll just see how it all goes. Thinking about Big Hero 6, I can see where that story has the potential to really affect Sora in a lot of different ways.
Oh! But there's one more thing I forgot! We got more ingredients, so we did some more cooking, and we ended up making all of the dishes on the non-Seven Purin side of the menu! And that meant we had a scene that concluded the whole "Little Chef" arc, and I kind of loved it, because it had Scrooge doing this whole monologue about how he thought that just building attractions like a fancy restaurant and and outdoor theater would make him a lot of money, but after seeing how much love and care Little Chef (that's Remy's name in Japan, I guess) put into making dishes that would make people happy, he realized that that's the important thing (I don't remember if he implied that that's the real moneymaker or not...). And the whole time he was talking, I was like, "ARE YOU LISTENING, DISNEY!? THIS MONOLOGUE IS FOR YOU!!!"
And that's that. Today I'm thankful for eventually finishing that one panel in Sailor Moon that was giving us trouble, finally making it through that world in Kingdom Hearts (and boy howdy were the graphics fancy), the assurance that we will eventually get Athena's Wizarding World Crate, getting to do some sidequesting, and getting to sleep in tomorrow.
But back to Kingdom Hearts! We were ready to keep leveling our ship up to level ten, but after we got it to level nine, the game gave us a trophy! And we were like, "What? Okay. Let's just keep going, though." But then we checked and apparently the ship can't get any more powerful than level nine, so we figured it was about time we went on to the next plot point, so we did!
And basically it just activated the end of the movie. We all sailed into a whirlpool, which really seemed like a Very Bad Idea, and indeed, Davy Jones is all, "Well, this is easy," and summoned the Kraken to take out the Black Pearl. So of course now we have to rescue the Pearl from the Kraken using our own ship, and that was okay, I guess. In the meantime, Luxord's showing up and trying to figure out where the box is. Sora's like, "Guess what! It has Davy Jones's heart, so it's not what you want anyway!" and Luxord's like, "Actually, no one's seen inside the box I'm looking for, so it could be!" and Sora's all, "That doesn't make any sense!" and Luxord said something about hope being in the box, so I was like, "Oh, so it is the Pandora's box that Pete found in Olympus..." (I'm still not sure about that, because it really did look different, but on the other hand, it is still a little odd that they decided to start the whole game there), and Sora was all, "Organization XIII needs hope?" and now he's feeling sad for them, because he's the nicest guy in the worlds.
Meanwhile, Jack Sparrow (the real one) has found the box, and now Sora and Pals get to help him fight Davy Jones. And all the stuff happens, and I think that the stuff where Will Turner comes onto the ship and Elizabeth comes onto the ship and they're trying to be all sneaky but Jones finds them... I think that's all from the movie, but like I said before, I haven't seen it in years. The one part I'm pretty sure was very different from the movie was after Jones stabs Will, Sora basically freaks out (he doesn't take to kindly to people murdering his friends) and launches himself onto Jones. He started punching him and everything, and it was super dramatic! Especially because Donald and Goofy can see that Sora's not really going to be able to beat Davy Jones up all on his own, so they join the fray, but Jones is stronger than all of them, so he's throwing them all across the ship, and wow, it was just. Wow.
And then they end the movie and they live bittersweetly ever after. But Sparrow is all, "Come on, Sora, you of all people know that just because Mr. and Mrs. Turner can't see each other for ten years doesn't mean their hearts aren't connected," or whatever sappy thing they said, and Sora was like, "You're right! Wait for me, my friends!" and then his ship exploded into a billion crabs and that was the end of that story.
After that there was a cute scene where we finally get to see Kairi's new outfit (complete with new haircut!), but Axel still refuses to change clothes. He's hoping they'll get Roxas back, and he wants Roxas to recognize him. He also reminds us all that he did meet Ventus many years ago.
And then! we check in with Hayner, Pence, and Olette back in Twilight Town, and oh my goodness, those kids are so brave! Aaaaahhh! They've been staking out the haunted mansion in the hopes of getting a clue about Roxas, and their patience pays off when who should appear but both Ansems! The evil badguy one from Kingdom Hearts I and Ansem the Wise from Kingdom Hearts II! And the first one is trying to get information out of the second one, and Hayner and the Gang hear them say Roxas and quickly determine that Ansem the Wise is somebody they want to save. And oh my goodness, you guys!!! They tried to take on Ansem Seeker of Darkness!! What were they thinking! I was so worried about them! I was like, "He's obviously way more powerful than them, and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't care that much about hurting kids."
They weren't entirely stupid about it. First they sent Pence as a distraction. (That was pretty funny, too. He's all, "Hey! Excuse me! I think my friend lives here!" and Ansem the Seeker of Darkness was all, "Ugh, no one lives here. Go away!") Meanwhile, Olette sneaked around the pillars and pulled Ansem the Wise over while Other Ansem was looking away. Of course they didn't move fast enough, but while Evil Ansem was like, "Hey, where are you going!", Hayner comes along and delivers a flying kick to from behind!
...Or that's how it was supposed to go. Come on, people, he was the final boss of the first Kingdom Hearts game. Those kids didn't stand a chance. Before Hayner can land his kick, Evil Ansem's Heartless guardian thingie pops up and catches him, then throws him against the wall! Oh man, this was so scary!
But before Hayner makes contact, a slithery white thing shows up! It's a Nobody! What! Where did that come from!? We remembered a Nobody mentioning something to Sora about trying to revive their master when he said he was going to bring Roxas back, so we thought maybe somehow Roxas was doing something, but! then who should appear but Even!
...Oh wait, he hasn't appeared yet. They all ran away while Evil Ansem was distracted with the Nobodies, and when they were in the Twilight Town Tunnels, that when Even appeared, and his timing was frankly a little annoying, because Hayner had just asked Ansem the Wise to tell them about Roxas. (And by the way, Evil Ansem is pretty sure that Ansem the Wise knows something that can help them all get Roxas back. (The Organization wants him, too, naturally.))
But this was the weirdest part! Even had some weird speech about how he came back as a member of Organization XIII and now his research can continue...and can I join you again, Ansem the Wise, because I want to atone, too. What! But he was super creepy and super mad scientist crazy! We don't trust it. Especially because he was just at the Caribbean watching the Davy Jones finale and going, "So that wasn't the box we were looking for."
And that was that. Our next stop is San Fransokyo, and right now all signs are pointing to "that's super close to the end of the game, because there are only enough slots for enough sidequests and mini games from one more world." And we're having a difficult time with that, partly because we don't want the game to end so soon, but mostly because the pacing of this story is way too slow for them to suddenly throw us into the end of everything after just one more world. I feel like Sora hasn't really accomplished any of the things he set out to do, but every world had him getting a new goal. Well, I guess we'll just see how it all goes. Thinking about Big Hero 6, I can see where that story has the potential to really affect Sora in a lot of different ways.
Oh! But there's one more thing I forgot! We got more ingredients, so we did some more cooking, and we ended up making all of the dishes on the non-Seven Purin side of the menu! And that meant we had a scene that concluded the whole "Little Chef" arc, and I kind of loved it, because it had Scrooge doing this whole monologue about how he thought that just building attractions like a fancy restaurant and and outdoor theater would make him a lot of money, but after seeing how much love and care Little Chef (that's Remy's name in Japan, I guess) put into making dishes that would make people happy, he realized that that's the important thing (I don't remember if he implied that that's the real moneymaker or not...). And the whole time he was talking, I was like, "ARE YOU LISTENING, DISNEY!? THIS MONOLOGUE IS FOR YOU!!!"
And that's that. Today I'm thankful for eventually finishing that one panel in Sailor Moon that was giving us trouble, finally making it through that world in Kingdom Hearts (and boy howdy were the graphics fancy), the assurance that we will eventually get Athena's Wizarding World Crate, getting to do some sidequesting, and getting to sleep in tomorrow.