#realitycheck ramble

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Not me getting excited over the announcement of possible Kubo and the Two Strings merch in the year of our Lord 2023.

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Share 9 of your fictional crushes and let everyone guess your type.

I was tagged by @frxstguardian

Dan Heng - Imbibitor Lunae version (Honkai Star Rail)

Azel (A Bride's Story)

Ozma (RWBY)

Zhongli (Genshin Impact)

Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian)

Xiao (Genshin Impact)

Ai Mikaze (Uta no Prince-sama)

Kaeya Alberich (Genshin Impact)

Faramir (Lord of the Rings)

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This question was originally from an old ask that was sent to my art Tumblr but I’ve decided to post it here.

Why wasn't there any payoff with the armour? I mean it should've done SOMETHING in the climax, during the ghost scene?

I thought there was payoff with the armour. The goal with the armour was to collect all three pieces so that Kubo could protect himself from the Moon King. That goal was thoroughly accomplished. Kubo collected all three pieces and wore it in the final battle. Heck, he took out an eye and a few legs off the Moon Beast, then survived being crushed and thrown through a forest. The armour did its job. It had nothing else to offer by the time Kubo and the Moon King were at the climax of their battle at the graveyard.

From your question, it seems you felt that the armour’s role in the final battle was unsatisfactory. It sounds like you were expecting it to have a different role to what Laika intended. And that’s totally understandable. You were bamboozled by its trope! I would like to examine why you didn’t get the payoff with the armour that you expected, and the reason why Laika did not play to this expectation.

In terms of story tropes, the armour is kind of like the Infinity stones in Avengers: Endgame. It’s an Ultimate Weapon which the hero seeks in order to complete their quest. In stories like these, we expect to see the hero use the Ultimate Weapon to win against the villain in an epic showdown. It’s a rewarding experience that serves as the climatic payback for all the hardships the hero has endured to gain the Ultimate Weapon. This is why Iron Man’s iconic snap with the Infinity stones was satisfying. After all the hardships that the Avengers suffered, they finally got to use the Ultimate Weapon against Thanos.

But here’s the thing: the armour is an Ultimate Weapon, but it wasn’t the right one for Kubo. Kubo and the Two Strings is not a story where the death (or incapacitation) of the villain is the ultimate victory worth celebrating. It’s a sombre story about the death of loved ones shown through the eyes of a child. Hence, the armour wasn’t the right Ultimate Weapon for this story. It clashed with another thematic message in the film: that vengeance is an endless cycle that only reaps sorrow.

The armour is a symbol of this cycle of vengeance and sorrow. We don’t canonically know who created the armour, but it was clearly made with the purpose of arming someone to kill the Moon King. This led the Moon King to kill samurai to prevent anyone from using that armour to kill him. But instead of deterring samurai from using the armour, it gave them more of a reason to. A god killing innocent samurai is more than enough reason to raise an army against the Moon King. So, more samurai tried to find the armour to kill the Moon King and in return, the Moon King killed them. And so, the cycle of vengeance kept going. This is the situation that Kubo and his family eventually got caught up in. Hanzo was another samurai who tried to kill the Moon King with the armour. The conflict eventually escalated into a bloody conflict between family members, taking the lives of Hanzo, Sariatu and her sisters, and ending with Kubo attempting to kill his horrible grandfather with the armour too.

The cycle of vengeance that started over this hunk of enchanted metal caused significant tragedy. If Kubo had defeated the Moon King with the armour after all of this, it would go against the thematic message Laika had about it. It would have instead validated the armour’s existence as a righteous quest that was destined to be completed. In most other stories this message would have been fine, (e.g. Infinity War and Endgame) - but not for Kubo.

Kubo is ultimately a film about the death of loved ones. This is a theme that is intimately tied into this discussion on vengeance. Vengeance is not a healthy strategy to deal with grief. It feeds into anger, bitterness, and returns violence for violence. If Kubo had embraced vengeance and killed his grandfather with the armour, it would’ve been justice served by the sword – but at the cost of no closure or healing for Kubo’s grief.

This is why the armour was not the right Ultimate Weapon for Kubo. Instead, the Ultimate Weapon which Kubo needed was found in two strings. (I’m sorry for being corny). This didn’t come out of nowhere. You can see it in practice or discussed by characters throughout the film. And that eventually culminated into Kubo’s epiphany at the climax of his battle with the Moon King.

The two strings metaphorically represented the love and memories Kubo and his parents shared with each other. Through this, Laika offers an alternative strategy to grieving the loss of loved ones. Remembering their story and cherishing the relationship and impact which a one had with their deceased loved one would be a healthier strategy to deal with the grief. It is important to understand that saying goodbye inevitably comes sooner or later.

Sure, it’s not a perfect ending. It doesn’t bring justice for all hurt that the Moon King caused.  (For more on my thoughts on this, please see my answer for the following question from another ask: “Why did the Moon King lose his memories and how would things be different if he had kept them?”) But it was a way out of this cycle of death. It showed a glimpse of hope for recovery and healing for Kubo from his grief.

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Sibling interactions in Heart Hunter will forever be the highlight of this mini-game for me.

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I really hope this new change worked out for those who need the greater contrast in colours. But I cannot look at my dashboard for more than a few minutes at a time without experiencing significant eye strain. @staff Improving this site’s accessibility is a great idea but could the saturation be turned down slightly? A similar colour to Twitter’s night mode should be fine.

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Please excuse me while I scream in delight at the fact that Prakra has a female monarch.

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Okay, so this is a coincidental, long-stretch of an idea but hear me out:

The Sword Unbreakable was found in the Temple of Bones.

The Breastplate Impenetrable was found in the Long Lake.

The Helmet Invulnerable was found in a village.

What if the location of these artifacts had greater meaning other than to serve as exciting/convenient plot points? It always bothered me that the Helmet was hidden in a notably different environment to the rest of the armour. So ... what if each item’s location could be interpreted as a reference to a mitsutomoe - a three-flame symbol that represents the heavens, earth and humankind in Shintoism.

It kind of makes sense:

The Temple of Bones represents the heavens.

The Long Lake represents the earth. In Shintoism, the creation gods, Izanagi and Izanami, created the islands of Japan from the ocean with a jeweled spear.

The village represents humankind.

By completing the quest, a person was symbolically gathering the items needed to restore balance and harmony to the world.

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Here are some headcannons I've imagined about Sariatu and Hanzo:

Pillow fights can be dangerous because they both know how to fight.

Sariatu is usually the first to wake in the morning; she likes watching the sun rise.

Hanzo sounds like a dying crow when he sings; Sariatu can sing beautifully (something which many people have already headcannoned too). They've argued about whether singing is a talent that only some people can do or a skill that can be taught to everyone.

When Hanzo is drunk, all he does is cling to Sariatu and rambles about how much he loves her and wants to have many children.

Sariatu tells stories when she’s drunk. No one can tell if she’s recounting something real or spinning fiction though. “Let me tell you about that one time I kicked Shutendoji’s butt to the Underworld and back because he said he didn’t like rabbits, haha.”

Hanzo once had a mental meltdown when Sariatu nonchalantly referred to Izanagi and Izanami (the creation gods of Japan) as her grandparents.