I recently had the pleasure of playing an old game called Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward. It was the second installment of the Zero Escape series and was a sequel to 999. I had previously played 999 as a teen, and then again as an adult. So I thought to give Virtue a go. The Zero Escape series is a puzzle thriller where through sheer wits and intellect, nine characters try to survive a deadly game of life and death. Overall, I had about 77 hours of fun playing Virtue. The story was a bit crazy but the puzzles were pretty good.

Unfortunately, two of the character designs were pretty sexist. Everyone else had suitable and practical outfits (including three other ladies in the cast, one of whom is not shown in the line-up below). But these two ladies were given the short end of the character design stick.

Meet Alice (dark skinned lady) and Clover (pink girl). They are highly trained secret agents who are currently hunting down a terrorist organisation. Alice is a math genius who can do astronomical equations in her head. Clover is a new recruit with supernatural telepathic abilities. For some reason the character designers thought they should look like eye-candy strippers instead of, you know, secret agents. And no, they weren’t undercover at a super sexy nightclub if you were wondering.

Normally I would give these character designs an eye roll and forget about it. But unfortunately for me, I had spent about 77 hours with them. After all that I had more than enough spite to fuel a quick redesign of their outfits, plus three in-game sprites for comparison. 

If Monkey and Beetle were their own characters, instead of straight up being Kubo’s parents, how would that play out?

I’m not sure what you meant by “their own characters”. If you meant that Beetle and Monkey were completely unrelated, enchanted creatures that happen to be able to talk to Kubo, then I think that would notably change the story and theme of Kubo and Two Strings – namely, its poignant theme on the death of family members. This change would leave Kubo alone to struggle with the loss of his parents with two animal sidekicks. It might give Kubo the opportunity to see that there are other things in the world to live for (adventure, new friends, etc), but it wouldn’t bring him any closure on the death of his parents. I think it would be likely that Kubo would end up killing the Moon King or die trying.

Alternatively, if you meant that Beetle and Monkey were tangible echoes of Sariatu and Hanzo (such as their love and/or memories magically reincarnated in very mysterious circumstances), then I think the theme and story would remain mostly the same. Kubo would still get the closure he needs and the loss of Beetle and Monkey would be similarly tragic for him. By changing what Beetle and Monkey are, it makes Kubo’s theme on the death of parents more wistful. Kubo would be interacting with the ghosts of his parents in an opportunity which none of them had.

Personally, I think this wouldn’t be as dramatic as the canon story. Kubo literally meeting his parents via animal avatars was an opportunity that all of them needed. Hanzo “died” when Kubo was a baby; Sariatu spent all of Kubos’ childhood in constant fear and with a deteriorating mind; and Kubo never got an ordinary, peaceful childhood with both of his parents. I think the closure Kubo gets in the canon storyline is stronger this way.

 Why did the Moon King lose his memories and how would things be different if he had kept them?

I have never been a part of the production of Kubo, so I can’t speak for its crew as to why exactly it was decided that the Moon King would lose his memories. I can only speculate. From what little we saw of him, it seemed that the Moon King believed he was inherently better than others due to his status as a deity. He was also very unwilling to ever change this perspective. Hence, his memory loss can be seen as a desperate bid by Kubo to get the results Kubo wanted: a second chance for his grandfather, instead of sentencing him to death.

The Moon King’s memory loss was a controversial topic. Some people thought it made sense, others argued it was cheap. I would agree with both parties. Kubo’s actions show that forgiveness is more powerful than vengeance, and that every person deserves a second chance no matter what they have done. Kubo ended the cycle of death and revenge which his father and countless other samurai had attempted. Overall, a great outcome and story lesson. But all of this was forced by Kubo; the Moon King had no say in this. Character redemption arcs must be willingly taken by the character themselves. That character must be genuinely remorseful for their actions and be willing to resolve the impact they had made as a villain. By removing the opportunity for the Moon King to decide what he wanted to do, his forced second chance brings no justice to his victims. The Moon King can never do right by Kubo for all the suffering he caused if he can’t remember it.

Let’s look at the arcs of Zuko and his father, Fire Lord Ozai, from the masterpiece that is Avatar: The Last Airbender. Zuko’s time spent in the Earth Kingdom opened his eyes to the suffering the Fire Nation had caused. This eventually led him to join Aang and lead the Fire Nation towards a peaceful path. Zuko’s arc is a proper redemption arc. In contrast, Ozai was taken down in a similar fashion to the Moon King - but with actual justice. Like the Moon King, the threat of Ozai was removed. Aang took Ozai’s firebending away and Zuko led the Fire Nation to remedy the impact from a century of war and colonisation which they caused. But Ozai is hardly remorseful after all of this. So, he ends up in jail for his crimes. Ozai’s jail sentencing brings justice to his victims because his jail time acknowledges the wrong Ozai committed. This is the key difference between Ozai’s and the Moon King’s arcs. It is the reason why Ozai’s arc is satisfactory and the Moon King’s isn’t.

While giving the Moon King a second chance at life with amnesia is merciful and incredibly kind, it erases the opportunity for justice for Kubo as a victim. Keeping the Moon King’s memories would have allowed him to face the consequences of his actions. I doubt he would be remorseful about it, but he’s an old guy outmatched by dozens of villagers. I’m sure they can put him in a makeshift jail.

An alternative outcome which I would like to imagine, is that perhaps the Moon King slowly regains pieces of his old memories over time. Canonically, we know lost memories never come back, but there are glimpses that pop up every now and then. Beetle and Sariatu went through this despite their memory loss. It’s not a far fetch for the Moon King to experience this too. This way, justice can eventually be served and it’s quite likely he would feel remorseful for his actions.

 What if Kubo and Kuna, through AU-crossing magic, were able to interact off of each other? Imagine the possibilities of Saru and Monkey interacting together!

I’ve never given such an idea any thought before, so I think it would be kind of weird. It would double the trouble and double the comedy, haha.

Red Like Roses Part II (Vol 1)