Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - #21 - Aqua, Expatition Leader

[@NobodyC13]

Aqua: "Sora, if Riku goes down a dark path and becomes a dick to everyone, will you save him?" Riku: "Why do you say it like it's a pre-determined thing?"

[@timothymclean]

"You have pointy silver hair and are Sora's best friend, but just a little better than him at everything. If that's not an obvious setup for an anime rivalry, I don't know what is."

[@iantaakalla8180]

“I have a friend of mine that also acts like how Riku acts. It’s a hunch that he may end up falling to darkness.”

[@coastersplus]

So we have Ventus, who keeps trying to make friends with the first people he runs into. Terra, who keeps trusting the first people he runs into, most of which unfortunately happen to be evil and he can't seem to tell. And Aqua, who keeps doing work for whoever she runs into first, except for being smart enough to fight against Maleficent and not do everything the aliens tell her. ...You know, I think we're being a little unfair to Terra here.

[@petervilla5221]

So you mean to tell me that Ven is flighty, Terra is dense, and Aqua is easily redirected?

[@coastersplus]

@@petervilla5221 ... well played. Now get out.

[@jameshart2622]

To be fair----slightly----Terra was never completely obedient. For example, he _didn't_ try to kill Snow White, just talk, and Maleficent basically enchanted him directly. He was still roughly 100 times too trusting. Saying Aqua is a better judge of character is a bit of an understatement.

[@smallpoly10]

6:06 Aqua: "Are Terra and Ven___ here too?" Kind of seems like she originally said Ventus, but then... Boss: "No no, make it Ven it's more casual." Grunt: "But we'll need to re-record the line!" Boss: "No we won't just mute half the word. No one will notice." Grunt: "Should I get rid of the muted part so it all flows together nicely the way people actually talk?" Boss: "No, leave the awkward pause in there. This is KH we're talking about. The fans love unnatural pauses in the dialog."

[@justtheworst.6795]

"Now let's go beat up Daft Punk," is my new favorite one-liner in this series

[@fourcatsandagarden]

In defense of Terra, Sora might've done similar because he, too, is a very trusting soul. He just usually didn't run into villains FIRST, unlike Terra who just kept meeting villains before he met heroes. Or if Sora did meet a villain, they did a blatantly villainous thing. Being raised under Master Xehanort's tutelage probably also taught him not to judge people by how they looked (which, outside of Disney's animated movies, is usually also a good trait), considering Xehanort was considered generally good by the people around Terra, up until he started behaving blatantly badly.

[@krishnansubramoni7801]

7:45 Oh my god, I never noticed that Aqua's keyblade vehicle ranged attack is her vehicle transforming into a Bow! That is so cool

[@Artista_Frustrado]

-Zack's D-link referencing his slot mechanic is a cute reference -GEE IS ALMOST LIKE EXPLAINING THINGS REALLY WORKS!! Screw you Donald & you no-meddling rule! -yeah, this & KH3 is where the Disney Thematic integration is actually done well (except for THAT world) -wow straight up DMC Air Hike, Aqua continues to be the best -the weirdest part is that Sora & Riku just take everything at face value. granted, probably everything Terra & aqua said is less weird than living with Wakka, he keeps talking of the Al'Behd & something about a Happy Festival Fireworks...

[@DarkinPunk]

36:31 Thank you for calling out these people for ambushing children to say creepy things to them. I thought it was just me seeing all this.

[@EldritchZoeArchive]

This is rapidly becoming a series in which I watch someone who actually bothered to grind beating all the bosses I got stuck on in one try.

[@Slash-XVI]

That fight against vanitas in today's episode was among the more difficult ones. Even with the amount of grinding Dan did, he took considerable amounts of damage, which might give a good impression of how hard this fight can be.

[@EldritchZoeArchive]

@@Slash-XVI Oh, totally. I might be misremembering, but I think I had more trouble with that Vanitas fight than the actual final boss.

[@samuelturner6076]

10:39 - YES, just yes, Aqua doesn’t get anything that she deserves and she deserves EVERYTHING. 19:53 Idk man, Id say small children can sometimes be even more dangerous when it comes to enforcing their will, especially strangers children because if you don’t then you can feel like the worst person.

[@Mikesean45]

20:36 While I don't think they'll ever integrate the Disney worlds as much as they did in KH1, I think they've been getting better at using them since KH2. Like, they aren't used to move the plot forward all that much, but they do help move character arcs forward.

[@Adam-cq2yo]

At this point I feel like the Disney worlds aspect of Kingdom Hearts is dispensible. Like, you could get rid of all the Disney worlds in a game like Kingdom Hearts 3 and just have original worlds and not much would change. That said, I'm glad we still have them. We get interesting scenarios like cartoonish Goofy and Donald going into live-action Pirates of the Caribbean. Or going into the Timeless River, which is classic black-and-white Disney. These are scenarios we wouldn't have if we only had original worlds. Kingdom Hearts is weird and I love it.

[@starlight_circuitry]

For some reason, all my suggested videos on the sidebar of this one are kids toys? It doesn't happen on any other video, but for some reason, KZbin thinks that because I like watching spiky anime characters fight nearly to the death in Disney settings, I want to know about Wendy Pretend Play w/ Magical Junior Vampirina Favorite Toys.

[@coastersplus]

Same here. Kingdom Hearts: It's for kids! _dies because I'm some other form of existence and therefore one really bad scientist thinks I'm not supposed to exist_

[@Overhazard]

I had noticed that, and I wasn't sure if anyone else was like that. Have you noticed the insanely high view counts on all of them too? This is children's television nowadays. This isn't the first video I've seen where the suggested video column is full of them though. Any video that frustrates KZbin's formulas for suggested videos is loaded with these videos. I looked into these things, and they are actually pretty manipulative. The titles are full of popular kids' franchise names and characters, both to bring kids in to watch and to game KZbin's search system and priority system. (Meanwhile, KZbin does nothing to stop them, and if anything, is promoting them, because they bring in so much money in ad revenue.)

[@southhill6667]

Same, I tag them as "Not Interested" to hopefully teach the algorithm that it's an absolute idiot. :'D

[@salgen1319]

And I get... Classical music?

[@almostirrelevant9181]

What is it with all the kids just trusting random adults they meet? I feel like we should be worried.

[@samuelturner6076]

I mean, these are very young adults, so I guess their stranger danger isn’t going off?

[@coastersplus]

@@samuelturner6076 I was pretty scared of teens as a kid and they didn't even have giant key swords they materialized out of thin air and absolutely ridiculous costumes. But I imagine Destiny Island doesn't have too many strangers to worry about.

[@liamwhite3522]

Timeline Talk! AQUA GOT HERE SECOND! YAAAAAAY! Aaaaaand got to Neverland last. Boo.

[@TheShizI47]

Alright, I was just patiently waiting for this to come out! This series really is my favorite thing about weekdays.

[@timothymclean]

13:13: _Now_ are you convinced that Stitch can be dangerous? I mean, he can be _not_ dangerous, but the Grand Councilwoman sorta has a point. It's only a matter of time before something cheeses him off and he starts ripping a hole in the ship. Exile isn't the best option, but Stitch at _least_ needs some court-mandated therapy or something. Also, Jumba boasting about programming Stitch's destructive instincts is maybe one step removed from calling himself an evil genius again. 31:20: Quick question: did Ven or Terra ever beat up a boss and collapse like _they_ were the one who was defeated? I know Sora did that once in the first game, when he was supposed to be beaten up by Leon Squall or whatever that guy's name was, but that was before he knew what a Keyblade was, so it doesn't seem like a great point of comparison. 3:00: "Don't be dense, person I've never seen on this ship before. You surely know the most dangerous prisoner on this ship by number." 7:45: ...So Aqua flies around space in a giant longbow? 18:30: Pete, are you feeling okay? 20:30: The Disney worlds are generally just there to strengthen themes and characterization, and that's about it. But they're pretty good at that. Still, this plot is more character-driven than usual*, so the Disney worlds end up feeling less pointless. 29:00: Vanitas-can I call you Vani? Vani, I know you're the embodiment of the darkness inside Ven, but that doesn't give you an excuse to be petty. You're supposed to be the secondary villain for this entire game, and this is the best villainy you can come up with? You should at _least_ be threatening to sic Unversed on Peter Pan's buddies or empowering Hook or something. 32:49: Aqua's supposed to be a stoic character. What's your excuse, Pete? 36:00: Was this strictly necessary? Would Sora not realize that friends should try to save friends without this pep talk? I'm trying to figure out if Aqua's visit has any purpose beyond "Wouldn't it be cool if all three BBS protagonists came to Destiny Isles?" ...Come to think of it, I'm not sure Ven and Terra's visits had much purpose beyond "Here's why a Keyblade chose Riku/Sora". *The only other character-driven Kingdom Hearts game I can think of is 358/2 Days, and the characters in question don't really engage with the Disney world the same way Terra, Aqua, and to a lesser extent Ven do.

[@krishnansubramoni7801]

I thought Aqua's interaction with Sora and Riku seemed really awkward at first- like horrifyingly awkward considering Aqua has been so mature and careful. But then I realize that she is probably only barely holding it together at this point and just needed to get something out. Like she feels confused, frustrated, and cannot-with all her skill and power, seem to be able to simply reach anywhere at the right time. She sees Terra has most likely given power to Riku and probably out of sheer desperation wanted to just make sure that at least this "version" of Terra in Riku, gets a better life than her Terra.

[@callowguru2611]

I love that keybladers are just interdimensional exterminators.

[@MaraK_dialmformara]

callow Guru time to call the Orkin mouse!

[@MatthiasPendragon]

Stitch is so darn cute. Also, top notch editing Carrie, as always.

[@Alfonsotakles]

Maybe it's late, but... Fire cartwheel doesn't have any kind of invincibility, Dan! If you plan to do the optional bosses with Aqua, i would strongly advise to return to your original, non-firey cartwheel!

[@petervilla5221]

24:53 Damn Carrie, that's a silky smooth transition!

[@datanaral6031]

So many great quips in the first few minutes of Neverland :'D you're on a roll, Dan!

[@chrisfloyd9204]

Sora and Riku as kids is too dang cute

[@nikobloop]

18:35 I think the weird camera pan to the sky is supposed to be like that anime thing where someone dramatically shouts in shock or exasperation, and you can hear it echo from high up. It's similar to the "birds flying out of trees after a really loud noise" trope. The pan up usually serves as a transition as it fades to another scene, but since the boys are "shouting" relatively quietly, and the scene continues, it doesn't have as much of an effect and just feels awkward 29:29 lmao Arin screeching at Bowser in Mario Maker 36:01-36:22 Calm down with the KH destiny talk Aqua, you're scaring the children

[@tzisorey]

"Must we though?" Well, to be honest - he *was* created with the intention to be the most destructive weapon, and Jumba does claim him as a succes... if you don't know anything more, it is probably the most logical conclusion.

[@muraalia]

That's not the best way to approach kids. She just suddenly jumped down next to them and quietly stared at them for a while, chuckling. Then said some weird things. Strange Riku and Sora weren't scared, they didn't even look all that weirded out.

[@nathanbrown8680]

@31:31 Aqua, You just needed to hold on to your anger for a few more seconds to stave off the adrenaline crash until after you'd made sure of the monster's death and the whole tragedy could have been averted. You could report to Eraquis and he wouldn't have to try to kill Ven and Terra doesn't succumb to darkness.

[@TamTroll]

honestly that dang ticking crocodile feels like a deus-ex-machina thrown in only for the "get it!?" factor. Bother Terra and Aqua manage to avoid a fight with Hook because the croc just HAPPENS to randomly show up for some reason and just kind of sit there doing nothing. i know he's supposed to be hunting hook, but that context is never given in-game, so it's really jarring and abrupt when suddenly the whole story is over because a lizard showed up. Anyways Tinkerbell is of course the best part of this episode, as ususal.

[@timothystamm3200]

But everyone knows Tock the clock.

[@TamTroll]

@@timothystamm3200 maybe so, but he's never introduced or even mentioned before he appears. if you played this game without watching Peter Pan first, you'd have no idea what the heck was happening. Even if there was just a throwaway line like "he (hook) lost his hand to a crocodile a few years ago, he's been terrified of it ever since" would fix everything. It wouldn't explain the ticking granted, but it'd be better then "AHA! I've got you now! oh wait nevermind a crocodile you've never met or heard about before just showed up, gotta go! SMEEEEEEE!!!!"

[@trace9021]

@@TamTroll That problem is going to get *so much worse* when Dan gets to KH3.

[@pyrosianheir]

Oh, Sora. Ever a sucker for a pretty face.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

29:29 - "WHY YOU BREAKING MY STUFF ALL THE TIME, YOU FUCKING FREAK?! YOU'RE A FREAK!!"

[@phyrofox1641]

9:14 dan forgets he saw stich in the beginning cutscene The big guy is legitimately big boned, as he's prolly the size of a house

[@Soumein]

I noticed Aqua's battle stance is quite similar to Lightning, from Final Fantasy 13.

[@firenter]

Highly likely, Nomura designed her as well

[@zmanjace1364]

"Random person that shouldn't be here! Do our job for us! We trust you implicitly for no desirable reason."

[@MaraK_dialmformara]

Zman Jace she’s basically Commander Shepard

[@zmanjace1364]

@@MaraK_dialmformara I mean most people knew that Shepard was a Specter but yes. I can see that.

[@MaraK_dialmformara]

@@zmanjace1364 I mean in terms of showing up in a new place where nobody knows her and being expected to clear the monsters out of the plumbing.

[@timothymclean]

Well, considering that Aqua shows up to clean up some random monsters that also shouldn't be here, and acts like she knows what's going on, it's not _too_ surprising that some people would trust her to clean up the mess when nobody else was around. Especially the politicians.

[@jameshart2622]

Y'know after binging Terra's quest, it's nice to see watch somebody play who seems to understand that deception is a thing people do when they want you to do things.

[@UltimaAzN]

"The heck is Ghost Drive?" Only the coolest Command Style in BBS.

[@timothymclean]

I would have gone with "what Johnny Blaze does with his motorcycle".

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Just for a moment, compare the early Aqua (as in just arriving at Castle of Dreams) with Gantu: quick to use violence as a first resort against people they deem enemies.

[@pacha269]

the little bear (forgot his name) sounds like carrie/germ in night in the woods

[@stickwyvern2138]

Oh, cool. They turned her bike into a bow.

[@CLB872]

Am I the only one that felt the Grand Councilwoman ahd Aqua felt a bit stilted in their delivery. Gantu felt just great though,, his delivery was perfect.

[@pyrosianheir]

Most people's biggest complaint with Aqua is that a lot of her lines are a bit stiff.

[@timothymclean]

@@pyrosianheir I personally think her VA went a bit too far with the "stoic, aloof badass" thing. Dunno what the Grand Councilwoman's VA was going for...

[@rekipstar]

I like how you go to the world map after you find Mickey. Like... you could just take him to, like, Dwarf Woodlands or something.

[@CidAghast]

is Zack having Stop a reference to anything

[@datenegassie]

Is it just me or does the Deep Space music sound like the Windows XP startup jingle?

[@Chowder_T]

How long did it take you to kill that one unversed in the vehicle section?

[@Adam-cq2yo]

It seems he kept trying to melee it. Meanwhile, his both his attack and the unversed were going clockwise. It was like a couple of gears. No wonder he had such a hard time hitting it.

[@johnyesjustjohn]

1:08 The Black Cauldron world?

[@nathanbrown8680]

Disney only has the film rights for it so Square would have to negotiate the videogame rights on their own. Also, Disney kind of memory holed the film because Eisner mismanaged it so badly so they might not want Square using their character designs.

[@johnyesjustjohn]

Nathan Brown That probably means Disney won’t do a remake any time soon, which stinks because the series it’s based on is good and could make a better movie or series of movies than the old one.

[@NobodyC13]

They announced a few years ago that they renewed the rights and promised to do something about it, which I feel is what the Disney remakes SHOULD do. Remake the weakest films in their canon, instead of the good ones, so now thanks to hindsight they know what didn't work before.

[@nathanbrown8680]

@@NobodyC13 That is good news if they learned the right lessons. Hopefully the Star Wars debacle has taught them not to play stupid games with stories aimed at nostalgia appeal.

[@Overhazard]

@@NobodyC13 Unfortunately, that's pretty rare in Hollywood, as remakes of films that didn't work are very risky, whereas remakes of successful films will get people to go watch on name recognition alone. The only cases I can think of where an unsuccessful movie was revived later, though they're both sequels, are Fantasia and Blade Runner. Even then, Fantasia got a lot more popular later on that most people don't realized it bombed initially; and Blade Runner 2049 bombed just as hard as the original movie. It's not too common, even, for an unsuccessful adaptation to be given another attempt. The idea is that it didn't work the first time; why would it work the second? It's very unlikely Watchmen will be adapted again any time soon, for instance. The Lone Ranger may never get another film adaptation due to how the Disney movie (the one with Johnny Depp as Tonto) lost so much money, it made the front pages of some newspapers. All of this regarding rights may explain why Eilonwy wasn't among the Disney Princesses in Ralph Breaks the Internet though.

[@victoriajackson8774]

Aqua is vens mother figure so she needs to play into every childs imagination the reason she accepted the expadition is because its her motherly instinct.

[@lucianodebenedictis6014]

Did you get the sticker on the tree? Did you get it?

[@superfiver]

I kept thinking about that the whole time, lol. I'm sure he go back and get it.

[@lucianodebenedictis6014]

@@superfiver yeah, he has to. But I obsess over those things

[@KynElwynn]

Dear Dan, I hope you will read the Xenahort Reports in order in a wrap-up video of this game once you have beaten it. Getting them out of order makes it annoying to put everything together expecially when it's done through three different playthroughs

[@brockmckelvey7327]

We're almost done with Birth By Sleep! I wonder what Dan will do next.

[@gayleslimepudding]

All 3 of the bbs peeps get talked into things p easy huh

[@MaraK_dialmformara]

Gayle B they’re Here To Help (TM)!

[@mrthefreemanmd]

"where have you seen that shape before" "have you looked outside"

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but stars aren't actually star-shaped.

[@mrthefreemanmd]

@@imveryangryitsnotbutter what, now thats news to me, what next is greenland a frozen wasteland too

[@zmanjace1364]

So I know next to nothing about final fantasy and I dont feel like reading a Wiki. What is the deal with Zach? I know he is from VII and has something to do with Cloud but that's just a guess.

[@Data3rror]

In the most neutral / spoiler-free way (in case other folks read this comment), he's the guy who Cloud aspires to be like for most of the game. Used to be in a relationship with Aerith. Is only an active character in FFVII's prequel game (which, cheekily enough, is probably why he's the only FF character present in this prequel game).

[@RiddleAnim]

Zack stars as the player character to the Final Fantasy VII prequel,Crisis Core. I don't know the particulars,as I've never played,but he dies in a billion-to-one final stand against the Shinra Energy Corporation's private army. The player is in full control during this event,similar to the Halo Reach mission Lone Wolf. Apparently,Cloud learns about Zack,and tries to style himself in his image? I dunno. I've never really liked Final Fantasy VII. More of a Final Fantasy VIII guy,myself.

[@zmanjace1364]

@@Data3rror fair enough. Thanks

[@rmsgrey]

@@zmanjace1364 Major spoilers for Final Fantasy VII. Seriously. Even bigger than that one spoiler everyone always talks about. This should already be hidden, but just in case... ... ... Okay. In Final Fantasy VII, for the first half of the game, Cloud is not himself - instead, he's an idealised version of Zack, and remembers certain things both were present for as though he were Zack, rather than his own role in events. It's gradually revealed, first that the backstory he tells is a lie, and ultimately what the truth is - that, after a certain incident, Zack and Cloud were used as research subjects, but Zack broke them out, before dying in an ambush, at which point Cloud, who had been pretty out of it since the escape, adopted his new persona and memories. In Kingdom Hearts, I have a wild fan-theory (that probably isn't true) that Cloud and Sephiroth are Zack's Nobody and Heartless respectively. We don't actually know how Zack, Cloud, Sephiroth and Tifa are connected in the KH universe (or even if this version of Zack is connected to the others).

[@Soumein]

I'm no sage on the lore, but here's a spoiler warning for what I remember, if you just want to know. In FF7, Cloud plays the role of a special forces unit called SOLDIER, and has a bad history with Sephiroth. Early in the game, he claims to be hunting down Sephiroth for killing his family and hometown. During that event, Could fights Sephiroth, and somehow kills him (which is why it's weird Seph comes back). Problem is, Cloud has strange memory lapses here and there, and a voice that talks to him in a couple scenes. Eventually he confronts Seph, who tells him Could wasn't there when he killed the village, and black haired guy named Zack was. This is reinforced by a photograph Cloud thought he was part of, and his friend Tifa, who silently thinks the stories he's telling are wrong (she was there at the murder, but doesn't remember Cloud being there), but can't bring herself to question him. Cloud was actually there, as a nobody Shinra fighter, and everything Cloud thought he did, Zack did instead. Sometime later, Shinra, the evil corporation of the game, is hunting them down to cover up the Sephiroth massacre thing, but (I don't remember how) Could is kind of messed up, in a pseudo-comatose state, with Zack carrying him around on the run. They're eventually captured and subjected to various experiments, and the way I understood it was Zack's persona, memory or possibly consciousness is embedded into Cloud. I'm probably totally wrong, but that's what I remember. I've only played FF7, and don't know any of the extended universe media.

[@Overhazard]

Wait a minute, how did Aqua know Jumba has the title of "Doctor"? Prior to this, Gantu had only referred to him simply as "Jumba." Also, the crocodile's tick-tocking has never been synchronized with the music. It kind of ruins the feel when the background music is out of tempo with the crocodile. "One of you might be special enough." But just one. Also, Aqua's being awfully specific about Riku's future there. Somehow, though, it feels like Sora and Riku are just enamored at how a pretty lady just visited their island. So Destiny Islands WAS the world at the center of the big swirling vortex on the space map.

[@ImperatorPenguin]

Really? The two-story tall alien is big-boned? Never would have guessed that. Also, I really like Aqua's armor... except the helmet. She looks better without it.

[@timothymclean]

The bunny-ears look silly on Ven and Terra, but tilting them back 90 degrees is worse.

[@phyrofox1641]

@@timothymclean personally I think Ven looks more like a doggo

[@wave9nut]

Watching this on April 1st the chest bit was good.

[@jamir6423]

12:44 oof!

[@undoneonion90]

Expatition.

[@adamhurd1560]

Did Stitch just body shame Gantu? Not cool Stitch!

[@Vergil21a]

Tinkerbell's model in this game seems strange, why show of her underwear like that? I don't think anywhere else does, and I doubt its for Fanservice considering the target audience.

[@Overhazard]

Fanservice was the intent for Tinkerbell in the Disney animated movie though. So in a sense, they've kept the spirit for the 21st century. I did notice her underwear in Terra's run through Neverland though, and I found it odd. And this was approved by Disney.

[@jonathanseamon9864]

1:26 Can I be pedantic and assert that the past tense of 'grind' should be 'ground'? Grammar please correctly speaking ;)