Ranting About Kingdom Hearts' Melody of Memory
Kingdom Hearts recently released the long-awaited Kairi rhythm game, Melody of Memory. As the first KH game I had to wait for, the hype was up. I'm not a gamer, so I watched it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsVKx-m0xH4 .
Let's get to!
Because it's less than 40 minutes long, I'm watching it while I type. (Also yes, I'm improvising on the structure of this post.) Be ye warned, this post will have spoilers.
Let's get to!
Part 1 - Recaps
MoM begins with a recap of the entire series so far, narrated by Kairi. Let's be real, I watched until the COM recap and skipped the rest. I like the music under the narration, but other than that? Boring. The animation is reused from the game, not updated or anything. The narration itself is basically a Wikipedia retelling. At least have Kairi express her own feelings about it.A lot of people complain about it, but we can't change what's done. This is the way I see it: what's mentioned in the recap is what Nomura-san deems important.
One moment I found interesting is that Marluxia, the big bad in Sora's half of COM, was barely mentioned. In Riku's half, the big bad was Ansem SOD. Yet he wasn't mentioned. Instead, Zexion was implied to be the big bad. It said, "Meanwhile, Zexion had decided that Riku had outlived his usefulness." It then goes on to overlook his death, which shocked many young fans, so I hear.
Another point to mention is that the only Organisation characters mentioned were Repliku and Zexion, out of around seven total members, including the replica. Zexion is severely underrated and is generally not considered to be an important character. The fact that he is mentioned might mean he's more important than what most people claim he is. But then again, Zexion is one of my favourite characters and as such, I'm probably overthinking. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Part 2 - The actual story
The recaps took around 20 minutes. The new cutscenes also took around 20 minutes. It's a little disappointing, but it's not a main game, so I can understand.
(At the point of typing this, the recaps still haven't finished.)
The story begins with Kaira in the Final World. She has a flashback to her forgotten past in Radiant garden. Side note, the animation is amazing. Terranort reveals his plans. It's hammy and I have no idea what's going on. As usual, haha.
And what's this? Kairi is doing something? Believe it or not, Kairi is fighting Xehanort and holding her own. Well, kind of. Sora still has to save her. But it's definitely an improvement from previous games in which Kairi did nothing except be kidnapped. Baby steps, am I right?
Xehanort is defeated and turns into different versions of himself. Terranort is back and repeats what he said earlier. I still have no idea what's going on.
Back to real life now. Kairi wakes up in the Radiant Garden lab. Ienzo, Even and Ansem TW discuss what is happening. Things start to make sense. Their seriousness when they talk about unreality cracks me up. Also, Ienzo's hair looks spikier than normal?
The Fairy Godmother from Cinderella shows up. It's sweet seeing the scientists jump back, haha! They're usually composed, except for Even. Ansem and his apprentices continue talking about "unreality" (AKA fantasy...final fantasy). That is, until they reach the "extent of our knowledge." Their frustrated smarty-pants sighs give me life. I know the feeling.
Back in the Final World, Riku, Kairi and the Fairy Godmother talk to a star. From the comments, the star's name is Stella, the female protagonist from Final Fantasy 15, who was removed when the director changed. The characters recap (again) and the star agrees to help. I love this moment: she says, "Please, let me know what you need from me." Riku replies, "Thanks!" and points his blade at her. That's KH for ya.
Aaaaaaaand, Kaira is benched. Again. Oh Kairi.
Part 3 - The post credit scene
This scene is currently blocked, so I read the comment section and pieced together what's going on. What I got out of it is a reminder of why I...really really really dislike Mickey. Disney forbid anyone hates their mascot.
Kairi has to continue her training. Normally, I'd be disappointed. The thing is, she's going to train with Aqua. That, I am excited for.
Overall Feelings
I'm disappointed the total amount of new cutscenes was less than half an hour. I mean, Coded was at least an hour full of Mickey! It's Riku. They put bugs in him!
But it was forewarned. And the amount of games/updates that came out in 2020 is pretty significant. My heart is okay. (Not really.)
On the whole, I think MoM has set up the next instalments perfectly. You know, for a KH game. I'm excited for Kairi to be doing something! I'm excited for another Riku game! But most of all, I'm glad these scientist boys are getting expanded roles.
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