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Noivern

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Oracle Spockanort

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As someone with a sexrepulsion, I think I'd rather keep kissing to a minimum or just not have it included.

I prefer it, if any romance in the series is kept to the more cute innocent puppy love behavior.

Mood. I’m aro so kissing and relationships are a big squick to me

(should note that when it comes to fiction I’m way more lenient and a bit of a romantic but myself personally no thanks)
 
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Clue.Less

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Given! sorry for the late reply.


You two should totally share those fanfics because I would love to read actual KH fanfiction but I never dared to look in fear of coming across the flood of fanfics of the one ship that used to dominate that tag back in the 2010's lol
*knuckle crack* What do you want to read?
^^
I actually haven't read much, but you know there's an "exclude relationships" filter on AO3, so searching for the story of your dreams is pretty safe.

AO3ExcludeFilter.jpg
Here's the cookie/eye-color ficlet I was talking about, that made me go 🤣👀🤩

I'd love recs of other Dream Eater stories! Any rec really.
 

palizinhas

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I need to branch out more when it comes to KH fanfic, I mostly read akusai fic and even then not a whole lot. I think a lot of it is just that there's. So many real world AUs and I'm not into those.
 

Clue.Less

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I need to branch out more when it comes to KH fanfic, I mostly read akusai fic and even then not a whole lot. I think a lot of it is just that there's. So many real world AUs and I'm not into those.
Would you DM me some recs for Akusai? I started looking into Isa & Lea BBS-era stories today for "research" and the "Isa & Lea" tag pulled up a number of Akusai stories that looked actually pretty interesting. I don't ship them but I have to say I'm curious now. Their dynamic does have a lot of dramatic potential, and good fanfic writers can sell me anything...
 

palizinhas

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Would you DM me some recs for Akusai? I started looking into Isa & Lea BBS-era stories today for "research" and the "Isa & Lea" tag pulled up a number of Akusai stories that looked actually pretty interesting. I don't ship them but I have to say I'm curious now. Their dynamic does have a lot of dramatic potential, and good fanfic writers can sell me anything...
I honestly don't think I know any Akusai fanfics out of the top of my head. They all kinda blur together at this point.

I've tried writing Akusai fics myself, but I find it hard to nail Axel's characterization, just because he's kinda all over the place depending on the game.
 

Clue.Less

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Read my shitty AkuSai fic

I already did :D Stop making me say how much I love your stories.

@Noivern here's a SoRiku rec for you; it's the best:

And a Xehaqus rec:

Tch...

Do you only take prompts for Roxas/Kairi? Cause there's one rare ship/friendship I'd LOVE to read from you 👉👈
 
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gulava

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I voted no kissing, but i would be ok with it if only sokai kiss. The paopu fruit and hug scenes in kh3 weren't enough to convince people of sokai happening so having them kiss would end the debate for once and all. unless people find a way to to misinterpret the kiss.

Considering how Nomura is, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out either Kairi had the ability to do memory-stuff all along as part of her PoH package and Naminé's powers are actually a nerfed version of that being limited only to Sora, or Kairi might have gotten Naminé's powers after she returned to her by 2 and she kept those innate abilities after (kinda like how Sora learned how to skateboard because Roxas had that ability programmed into his data self by DiZ).

As a namine fan, I would hate this. I do want kairi to get more opportunites to be involved, but not at the expense of namine getting shafted, again. she has been replaced narratively by xion and everything that could've been for namine before Days, now belongs to xion :/. her memory powers are the only unique aspect of her character and the only link she has to the overarching story. the fact this has a chance of happening because of her lack of popularity scares me to no end. it will only prove nomura does hate her as he still managed to find a wat to make luxord relevant despit him being one of the least popular organization's members.

tl;dr it's sad to see a character you love get pushed to the pit of oblivion because of their lack popularity.
 

*TwilightNight*

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As a namine fan, I would hate this. I do want kairi to get more opportunites to be involved, but not at the expense of namine getting shafted, again. she has been replaced narratively by xion and everything that could've been for namine before Days, now belongs to xion :/. her memory powers are the only unique aspect of her character and the only link she has to the overarching story. the fact this has a chance of happening because of her lack of popularity scares me to no end. it will only prove nomura does hate her as he still managed to find a wat to make luxord relevant despit him being one of the least popular organization's members.

tl;dr it's sad to see a character you love get pushed to the pit of oblivion because of their lack popularity.

It's not for lack of popularity. The difference of votes between Kairi, Xion, and Naminè weren't that big (Aqua's though...). The crux of the issue is the continuous abysmal treatment of Naminè Nomura keeps inflicting due to casting the character aside. He's aware, yet all his brain could conjure up was to throw her to Repliku for KHIII who's disconnected from everyone. Not for her sake, but for him. Hell, he got more of an arc than her.

Add that with her not interacting with the rest of the cast, not belonging in a trio, and not fighting, she gets the lowest of scraps except in KHUx for some reason. It's really Nomura's fault. If the series is not giving her more prominence, then of course she's not gonna fit anywhere in the fandom. She's practically a "just there" character. She's implied to live in Twilight Town now, but isn't seen with everyone else at the scene in said town and neither was her name outright mentioned in Limit Cut. So a few people think she's in RG for some goddamn reason I do not understand except they think RikuNami is actually a thing.

Look at Riku. He ranked the lowest when it came to Sora, Roxas, and Axel, and Nomura felt a bit insulted for him and just forced and pushed him in regardless. Ven? He ranked even lower than low, and what does he do? Insert him in the KHUx story line.

It's a matter of bias and sexism. He prefers male characters, period. I do not like the guy because of this (aside from his mediocre writing) and it just rubs me the wrong way. Heartless and Meow Wows have more merch than Naminè. It's fucking ridiculous.

Aqua only got what she did because she's Sora/Roxas level of popularity.
 
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Oracle Spockanort

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I already did :D Stop making me say how much I love your stories.

@Noivern here's a SoRiku rec for you; it's the best:

And a Xehaqus rec:

Tch...

Do you only take prompts for Roxas/Kairi? Cause there's one rare ship/friendship I'd LOVE to read from you 👉👈

Hit me up with the deets 🥳
 

Face My Fears

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Sora/Kairi need to kiss in the very last game of the KH series. I don't want it any sooner than that.
 

Idreamaboutcats

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Addition: Yozora and Nameless Star/Girl-in-White/Not-Stella (Calling it now, they're probably gonna name her "Umi" or "Machi" or something related to the sea).

(Everybody ranting about how Nomura can't write a decent story about a girl except Aqua).

Ehhh... Naminé is human living doll now, so is Xion, I think that was their sole plotline for the rest of the series after II and 358, which is a shame. Kairi is, well, you know. It's not so much that Nomura is sexist as that he just can't write out a decent plot for a girl, except Aqua, and for some reason, they're always a trio with two boys. Even minor characters like HPO are a trio with token girl. I wouldn't bring a political tool like a Bechdel test in a game like this to scout for sexism, but honestly it wouldn't even matter because the main topics of conversation had always been about Light, Darkness, or Sora. There's no giving a hoot about anybody else unless it's angst.
 

*TwilightNight*

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Ehhh... Naminé is human living doll now, so is Xion, I think that was their sole plotline for the rest of the series after II and 358, which is a shame. Kairi is, well, you know. It's not so much that Nomura is sexist as that he just can't write out a decent plot for a girl, except Aqua, and for some reason, they're always a trio with two boys. Even minor characters like HPO are a trio with token girl. I wouldn't bring a political tool like a Bechdel test in a game like this to scout for sexism, but honestly it wouldn't even matter because the main topics of conversation had always been about Light, Darkness, or Sora. There's no giving a hoot about anybody else unless it's angst.

I know this is off topic to the actual thread and I am exacerbating it, but it's not just about writing a decent story. Nomura can't accomplish anything remotely serviceable for the female characters in comparison to how he treats and just adores his male characters. If the fanbase doesn't like one of them as much, he goes out of his way to give them relevance and purpose. There is not one female character in KH that isn't there to serve a male character, not one. Not even Aqua, who rides off the plots her guy friends leave behind. There have been just too many instances of this frustrating issue that I find hard to ignore and that should be more called out. Naminè just so happens to be the prime example recently due to how she's being treated.

When you need to have your fans tell you, a professional, how to treat a female character and what they expect out of them (that's why Kairi got MoM, and even then, it feels like Nomura is doing it to pacify the outrage), no one is going to convince me Nomura isn't a sexist. Whether it be by virtue of being a middle-aged Japanese man still stuck in conservative and outdated perceptions or otherwise. In fact, this goes to any Japanese male writer with the exception of Hiromu Arakawa [mangaka], who was able to write phenomenonal female characters with different strengths (there are probably a few more but...few). It's not like Nomura's a stranger to female character building; he's worked on Final Fantasy. He simply just doesn't put the effort since he has full reign with KH. There's no point doing the Bechdel Test on the series -- the result is obviously going to be pitiable. We don't even have a decent female friendship properly developed, if it exists.

That's the last thing I'll say on the matter though.


-----

Uh...

Here thread:

s-l400.jpg
 

gulava

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It's not for lack of popularity. The difference of votes between Kairi, Xion, and Naminè weren't that big (Aqua's though...). The crux of the issue is the continuous abysmal treatment of Naminè Nomura keeps inflicting due to casting the character aside.

Not many fans participated in the anniversary poll so I can't really take it as an accurate measurement of the characters's popularity. xion, albeit controversial, is popular enough in japan for her theme to get a music box, not even riku or sora got one. If I'm being honest about it, xion is more popular than both namine and kairi combined and the majority of fans prefer her over them. as for kairi, she is the main heroine so even if she does get hate and criticism, she is still loved by many. these two have dedicated fans and therefor seen profitable by the marketing team (and nomura) whereas namine has a very small fanbase compared to them and thus easy to ignore. however, it's not like their mistreatment of namine goes unnotice. people know she is mistreated and as ironic as it is nomura himself is aware of it if that one scene in kh3 is anything to go by.

He's aware, yet all his brain could conjure up was to throw her to Repliku for KHIII who's disconnected from everyone. Not for her sake, but for him. Hell, he got more of an arc than her.

Ah yes nomura's newfound love for repliku lol. I still don't get why he brought back the one TRULY dead character in kh, only for him to kill repliku again in the same game. although, I do get the feeling he brought him back more for riku than namine. repliku is sorta of a mirror for riku and he reminds him of his old self or whatever. even repliku farewell scene parallels riku's in kh1.

she gets the lowest of scraps except in KHUx for some reason.

the only reason why khux gets my money.

So a few people think she's in RG for some goddamn reason I do not understand except they think RikuNami is actually a thing.

I can't wait for MoM to come out and debunk rikunami for good. It has been a year since the ultimania came out with nomura debunking rikunami, yet people are still trying to push it. they keep bringing up the misconceptions of them working working together in days as a definitive proof of rikunami when they only had one scene in days, one that implied riku wasn't around in the first 200 days due to his lack of knowledge of the roxas/xion's issue, and afterwards he spent more time with xion than namine. he had more dialogue with xion than namine, his ""supposed love interest"".if nomura was truly going for rikunami, then he could have added more scenes of them together when he did the days movie. evidently, namine isn't even on riku's list of priorities as he is seen showing more concern and care for aqua than he ever did for namine, his supposed love interest, and he had to be reminded of her existence by his soon-to-be-dead replica. namine and riku don't have any semblance of relationship/bond, let alone one that can be perceived as romantic.


Addition: Yozora and Nameless Star/Girl-in-White/Not-Stella (Calling it now, they're probably gonna name her "Umi" or "Machi" or something related to the sea).

i will be disappointed if her name doesn't have a celestial motif.
 
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*TwilightNight*

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Not many fans participated in the anniversary poll so I can't really take it as an accurate measurement of the characters's popularity. xion, albeit controversial, is popular enough in japan for her theme to get a music box, not even riku or sora got one. If I'm being honest about it, xion is more popular than both namine and kairi combined and the majority of fans prefer her over them. as for kairi, she is the main heroine so even if she does get hate and criticism, she is still loved by many. these two have dedicated fans and therefor seen profitable by the marketing team (and nomura) whereas namine has a very small fanbase compared to them and thus easy to ignore. however, it's not like their mistreatment of namine goes unnoticed, a japanese artist complained about it on twitter. people know she is mistreated and as ironic as it is nomura himself is aware of it if that one scene in kh3 is anything to go by.

Isn't that because her theme is one of the better ones or one of the breakouts? I think that's the case. Anyway, I'm not sure how you're measuring popularity. Those votes show that the gap isn't big, even if the sample was small. Xion had everything handed to her on a silver platter in 358/2 Days. Hijacked the game off of Roxas, got in a trio with two of the most popular male characters, her theme is the only one to get an obnoxious, fancy French name, got the Tragic™ treatment, was in Organization XIII as the "14th" but not really, is a Sora yet looks like Kairi so she can go in any of those groups, etc. But even that wasn't enough to beat Aqua's outrageous favor. And that's the thing. Both Xion and Kairi are divisive and controversial to an extent. For different reasons. You don't see Aqua and Naminè get this kind of vitriol, it's either you love them, like them, or are neutral. Kairi and Xion you have to be at either end of the polar spectrum for the most part.

As I've mentioned previously, how are you going to give a character relevance if you are to consistently cast her on the side away from everyone with no "team" to belong to. Naminè is left out of trio art, Twilight Town art, Keyblade wielder art, no merch, not in the Guardians of Light, etc., because Nomura has disconnected her from everything and did absolute shit to fix it. No matter what, that's going to affect things. I remember people going bonkers when Naminè appeared in the trailer for Re: Mind and I had thought to myself "where the hell in what rock did y'all come from?". There's interest, she's simply not used.

Ah yes nomura's newfound love for repliku lol. I still don't get why he brought back the one TRULY dead character in kh, only for him to kill repliku again in the same game. although, I do get the feeling he brought him back more for riku than namine. repliku is sorta of a mirror for riku and he reminds him of his old self or whatever. even repliku farewell scene parallels riku's in kh1.

I don't care for Riku Replica and never did, so I don't mind either way. I just don't like the mind screwed victim implications and what it did to Naminè's character, being utilized as some trophy for his "sacrifice" and nothing else when she has her own shit to close that doesn't involve him.

I can't wait for MoM to come out and debunk rikunami for good. It has been a year since the ultimania came out with nomura debunking rikunami, yet people are still trying to push it. they keep bringing up the misconceptions of them working working together in days as a definitive proof of rikunami when they only had one scene in days, one that implied riku wasn't around in the first 200 days due to his lack of knowledge of the roxas/xion's issue, and afterwards he spent more time with xion than namine. he had more dialogue with xion than namine, his ""supposed love interest"".if nomura was truly going for rikunami, then he could have added more scenes of them together when he did the days movie. evidently, namine isn't even on riku's list of priorities as he is seen showing more concern and care for aqua than he ever did for namine, his supposed love interest, and he had to be reminded of her existence by his soon-to-be-dead replica. namine and riku don't have any semblance of relationship/bond, let alone one that can be perceived as romantic.

SEE GUYS! We brought it back to shipping.

Anyway, I just found Nomura failing to keep the concept about Riku Replica's connection with her funny. He inadvertently eclipsed Repliku with that dumb crap he pulled with petals and Riku arriving on a ship as if that isn't the most shoujo trope in existence. And somehow he thought people would be like "totally about Riku Replica". The guy has no sense.

Those who keep pushing certain ships are those that want to uphold their own narrative and keep their confirmation bias. They're not gonna relent. So let them be. Time will shut up who ever it needs to.

Heck, who knows, maybe Nomura could actually be competent one day and truly deliver and care about his female characters in some unfathomable miracle of the 5D universe. For now though, he's on the bottom of the totem pole.
 

pastel.goblin

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The number of people going on about Rikunami being canon still baffles me. Ship them if you want, there's potential there, but they're just not canon, and would need a heck of a lot more development together if they're legit going to be a thing. Them spending a year together just... didn't happen. Considering how beloved Days is, some people don't seem to remember the plot that much aha, and it makes me laugh when I see people act like Riku/Xion is a totally out there random ship, yet he spent more time with and seemed more concerned about her than he ever has Naminé.

The scene of Riku picking her up is easy to misinterpret, but at the same time there's been no build up or relationship between them to make that satisfying, it felt like it came out of nowhere. Still frustrates me that she was left to wake up amongst her previous abusers, then picked up by someone who was at worst an acquaintance, at best a work colleague. Ship them or not but it should've been Roxas, he's the one she had the strongest connection to (one that was even alluded to in KH3 itself) and they promised to see each other again. Yeah yeah it's been years since we've seen them interact, but within the game's timeline it wasn't that long ago.
 

gulava

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Anyway, I just found Nomura failing to keep the concept about Riku Replica's connection with her funny. He inadvertently eclipsed Repliku with that dumb crap he pulled with petals and Riku arriving on a ship as if that isn't the most shoujo trope in existence. And somehow he thought people would be like "totally about Riku Replica". The guy has no sense.

to be honest, the petals scene reminds me a lot of laguna and elone's scene at the end of ff8 and the petals in both secens are meant to illustrate their rebirth and starting a new life. neither of these scenes is meant to be perceived as romantic and it's more about the girls starting their new lives.

CEAB0213-369C-43AA-A5CB-F8BEFAA35318.jpeg


357C4513-5277-414E-834B-D2AB12AAAF45.jpeg

I don't want to derail the discussion about namine's mistreatment because it won't end. it needs its own thread at this point.
 
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