RAHAL'S RANT & RAVE

Disclaimer: This is a rant by Rahal. As seen in the rest of Sin Harvest, Rahal has a very sharp tongue. And she knows how to use it. This is directed at certain wide spread assumptions and rumors which make NO SENSE. This is not an attack at your fandom. Go ahead, be a fan. I'm just as insane. But please, be a little more informed. Hopefully this will cause you to want to look up the facts yourself.

CHAPTER 1: The Beginning. 9.7.2003

OKAY! I'VE HAD ENOUGH. All this talk here and there about Kingdom Hearts 2, Kingdom Hearts 3, etc, and A TV SERIES! Are you people out of your mind?! Okay, first off, people are going to say, what's your problem? And I'll say this, you guys don't get it! This is a BUSINESS. They want to make money! And those people who have written about this so far, have not quite grasped the simple concepts behind running a company.

Next comments are: What authority are you then?

Simple answers. First of all, I'm not a teenager. Big whoop eh? Actually, I'm rather young, but wise for my years. Second of all, I know more about the industry. I know the people who work in it. I know the history, both Disney and Square. I was there when Kingdom Hearts was first announced, way back in 2003 in the US. And I followed it. Didn't think I'd like it, but I learned a lot.

So here are my credentials:

1: I know people. I work with the leading professor in animation im America at UC Berkeley, where I'm finishing my final year. I am also currently working on a thesis statement about Japanese and American pop culture art, focusing on animation and comics. Impressive no? I am also an animator, and have researched into all the animations companies in the US. I've entered the sacred vaults of Pixar.

2: Games, I know them. Most of you out there don't remember the NES, or, for that matter the SNES. Take it from someone who has been around. I could probably tell you the whole history of Square, since its inception. My contacts in the US are many and varied, in Square and other game companies in the US. Now, to be honest, this doesn't count for much because games are made mostly in Japan. WHICH BRINGS TO ANOTHER GOOD POINT.

3: I KNOW JAPANESE. I took 2 years of in the university, and am quite fluent in reading. I've translated many things, currently working on the Final Mix script. HENCE, I can read the announcements on the japanese sites, as well as read the japanese game. Before you start looking for information in the US, I suggest looking at the source. The game is kind of obvious, but you could also learn how to check up news at Square-Enix (Enix-Square in Japan.)

4: I KNOW THE GAME. This seems kind of obvious, but for a lot of what is written about KH prospects tend to completely ignore the obvious things hidden in the original game. Good proof? I'm the one who transcribed the script (in the psychotic section.) Took me a good month. We also read the Japanese on the Final Mix when we played it and have most of the scenes on hand. The Ultimania guides also give you a lot of hints, if you know what to look for. HENCE, don't go looking at second, third, fourth hand information. Check out what you have, THE GAME.

You can take it or leave it. But read through my logic and look at what makes more sense. Other people ignore a lot of facts, feading their crazy imaginations because they only think about themselves and what they want. Companies are also out there to survive, and it's a tough game.

RANT & RAVE!!!

RANT #1: RUMOR ABOUT A TELEVISION SERIES!

Good God, who came up with this!?! To be honest, I know, it was PSM WAAAAY BACK when Kingdom Hearts was first noted as a success. People seem to always associate Disney with animation. That's all well and good, when we go to watch a film. HOWEVER, there are a few facts missing.

FACT #1: This game is under Disney Interactive. NOT Disney Pictures, any channals, Buena Vista or anything film related. We're talking games. For those of you who state that Disney doesn't make a lot of games. Even before that, for those of you who say that people who own GBA and PS2 are not kids. What the hell is wrong with you? What do you think Pokemon is? What do you think Yu-gi-oh is? Who do you think buys these things? 25 year olds? Good God. Did you know that in one year, the best selling GBA game was a Mary-Kate and Ashley game? Can you imagine? That is a DI (Disney Interactive) product. Those things make money, or they wouldn't make 'em. A lot of education programs for schools etc. they do well. Kids like 'em, parents are happy to pay for them to keep them quiet. That's why cartoons do so well, as well as game.

FACT #2: DISNEY DID NOT PRODUCE KHEARTS, Disney Interactive didn't either. Square did all the development, the programming etc etc. The most DI probably did was check on the development, make sure the characters were used correctly and up to standard. But I'll tell you, Japanese people LOVE Disney (hence Tokyo Disneyland, and the new park in the Tokyo Harbor). Square people watched 6 months of Disney movies to get this stuff right, and if you ever watch those movies over again, you can see the accuracy. This is a JAPANESE product, hence Nightmare Before Christmas (underground here in the US). AND SO, SQUARE HOLDS A CREATIVE POWER AND COPYRIGHT. If you look on the box, it says "Developed by SQUARESOFT", not by Disney Interactive. This gives them rights to the stuff they make. DI can't just run off and make spoofs of KH without Square's permission.

FACT #3: Disney no longer has a TV animation studio. They trashed it a couple years ago, and joined it with the movie studio. Don't you wonder why we don't have Disney Afternoon? There is a very good reason. They made Toon Disney, yes, but not many tv series anymore. There are a few survivors, but the industry is very low right now. Most of what is on Toon Disney are old things that they've taken from archives. In fact, most of the new cartoons? Those were made almost a decade ago. In fact, I've seen them in other places like Taiwan and Japan before I saw them in the US. The Disney Vault has 80 years of film, I don't think they'll have to make a new series soon.

FACT #4: Square does not make good spin-offs in animations. FF Unlimited did average at best, and it was only the FF name that got any viewers. And dare we talk about the FF MOVIE? Dear God, no. They also trashed THEIR movie studio, AND they just got eaten by Enix (Enix's stock was worth more at the merge than Square's). They don't have the cash nor the sources to make another tv series.

Fact #5: Kingdom Hearts did OKAY in sales. Yep, you heard me. Great as the game is, it was mildly popular. It did only just reach the million mark. Did you know? FFX-2 probably sold more in the first two weeks, I think something close to 2 million on the first day. Makes Kingdom Hearts look like penny cash. Dragon Quest outsold FF9 when it came out in the first weekend. Sorry bubs, if they're going to animate anything, it won't be the lowest selling game, even if the game is really popular.

Conclusions:

It simply doesn't make any sense to make a KH animated series. Square probably wouldn't like the idea, they didn't do too well in this industry anyways. Disney would hesitate to make a TV series when they have many other Winnie the Pooh spin offs to write. They have a lot of material, and hence, could write from their own work, rather than having to pick up something co-owned and have to share the profits. Neither studio is really equiped with it either.

AND TO BE REALLY HONEST, DO YOU WANT ONE? I mean, come on. Look at the made for video Disney movies. Face it, they suck. Don't you groan every time you hear LILO AND STICH TWO! Do you want massacre it? Can you imagine Disney people trying to draw Sora's hair? Or Leon's zippers? Nomura did all the storyboard sketches, they can't get him for the whole series? And he's not going to write for it. I can see it now.... Sora will be lost, Riku will be evil, Kairi will be useless... EVERY DAY for HALF AND HOUR. THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR. The puns will be worse than Sai's, and I mean... the bad puns, which are really bad. And you think Osment is going to voice for the series? I don't think so. David Gallagher? They have enough to do what with movies and TV series. And Osment's voice changed recently. I don't know what you guys are thinking. It would a Devil incarnate, HAVEN'T YOU SEEN WHAT THEY DID TO ROBIN? TEEN TITAN!?!?! Ye gods, what are you asking for? It's like... How to draw Anime books! Great for the amatuer, bad for the professional. Please, don't ask for such silly things. If you're lucky, maybe a Japanese company will make the series. The animation will be drawn in Korea, but at least it'll be clean. However, we have a problem with story. Square is already planning to make KH2, considering FF, who knows how many more will come? Where are they going to get the story ideas? You want to see the whole game animated? They it's just same thing, except worse because you don't get to kill things. You'll just get to see lots of Heartless and go, "NO SORA! USE YOUR OTHER ABILITY! USE THE OTHER KEYBLADE! DONALD CAST FIRE!" I can imagine now, and I quake with fear. Imagine, an episode about the white mushrooms. While it's funny, it's also stupid. A whole episode about mushrooms. I think I've said enough about this.

RANT #2: BUGGING OFFICIALS

Okay. Some people have contacted Square and DI and got to some PR people. This isn't a surprise, nor is it flattering. Did you know they pay people to come in and talk about their products? You're giving them free service, and of course they want to know what you think. This is Marketing, it sells things. And, I hate to break your bubble, but no one in the US probably knows about anything. PR works with things AFTER they are produced. The US works with things AFTER they are made in Japan (as far as Square is concerned), and hence, they really don't know what's going on anyways. PR people probably didn't even play the game, it's a bit long and out of their age range. Please don't offer yourselves up to them as subjects to their marketing. You should get them to pay you for it. But please don't call them about that either, you'll piss them off. end of rant session #1.