So in general I do like Koana's character arc, but I have issues in how it actually plays out

One problem I have with Koana's story is that the game doesn't really do a good job of explaining why his approach to Tural's future is the wrong one

Or I guess more accurately one that more just needs some major tweaks

Like the game doesn't really give a compelling argument to why Wuk Lamat should be chosen over Koana other than "she's more social than him"

The approach is especially lost on western audiences since Koana basically promotes the "westernization" of Tural, for a lack of a better term

as an aside you won't believe how many racist remarks I've seen about the Turali

In game we really only see the good side of Koana's approach

Aetherytes, dirigibles, and the railroad are all ideas he brought over that have been almost universally good for Turali

The railroad is the only contentious one but that gets resolved in 7.1

Dirigibles are only upside and aetherytes are so beneficial even the nomadic Hhetsaro tribes are using them like god think about how much effort it must be to lug a big fucking crystal around

and having to re set it up like 5 times a year that logically is really only going to be used by that specific tribe frequently

I know some of this is due to the fact that Koana is a side character and we can't devote that much screen time to him but he's literally a very important side character

being one of the rivals for the throne

It's kind of disappointing he isn't in Urqopacha part 1 because we could've had like, an easy way to show why his approach isn't universally good

like he could misguidedly think that "well why don't we just replace alpacas with something they use in Sharlayan"

which would go against how important alpacas are to the Pelupleu

or in Ok'hanu he can be like "see my potion is great, we don't need a useless festival"

which they kind of go for but was approached from the float angle and should've been more like being inadvertently disrespectful of the Hanuhanu's culture and feelings

Like he's not being intentionally rude and dismissive he's just too Sharlayn pilled

Koana should literally be that insufferable prick who spent a semester abroad in Europe and made it his entire personality

the flaws in his approach should be approached as "he doesn't realize what he's advocating for is replacing Tural with Sharlayan"

like maybe he doesn't realize his potion concoction works for a one time trial, but would be unfeasable to do on a large scale

like maybe the potion materials would have to be imported from Sharlayan and it would be prohibitively expensive

Or that it his policies would put a lot of Turali out of work

(remember when they tried to sell us on the idea that this was a highly political story?)

like the first time he starts to realize that maybe he's wrong is when Wuk Lamat suggests addressing the cause of banditry in Kozama'uka instead of just sending more soldiers in but like why does that affect him so much

This kind of ties into the fact that I think the kidnapping arc should've been written very differently

they kind of try to show that the flaw with Koana is that while people like his policies, people don't really like him as a person or leader

but they don't present it really well and he comes off as just more socially awkward and not even that debilitatingly so

We should see more of Koana genuinely appreciating what Tural already has and that his ideas should be more about enhancing it rather than replacing it

we kind of see it in Iq Br'aax but only kinda

It's in Mamook when he decides to give up his claim to the throne and it makes sense that he wants to support his sister, but I'd like to see a better aha moment about it and not less like he just kind of gave up because the plot needs him to

He should see that blind technological innovation was not going to solve Mamook's problems and that not solving Mamook's problems won't solve Yak T'el's problems, which won't solve the problems Tural has a whole

You can become the most technologically advanced nation in the world but if it doesn't address the wider societal and cultural issues you're still gonna have a troubled nation (Alexandria)

I think at some point that someone just needed to give Koana a gentle reminder that uhhh Sharlayan also has issues and that it is a nation of scholars first and foremost and it's actually kind of poorly run politically

It was kind of a point in Endwalker that the Forum was so needlessly inept and secretive that it was screwing everyone over, including Sharlayan itself

and also Sharlayan's innovations are not always meant to be practical, as the first and foremost objective is to experiment, study, and learn

Yes, a lot of what Sharlayan learns can be put to good use but not all of it, they learn for the love of the game mostly

Anyway I do know a lot of people want see Koana visiting Solution 9, and I do to, but for a different reason

And that's to see what a technologically advanced, but socially and politically inept civilization is

Alexandrians when we first meet them are like, legit the most helpless people you've ever met

like I suppose namazu are objectively the most pathetic, but even the lowliest namazu pushes and strives and works hard for results

Very small results, but still results

Alexandrians are not bad people by any stretch of the imagination, but they've lived such comfortable and strife free lives they just kind of don't know how to do anything themselves

So we should see Koana learn that advanced technology is cool, but just having it for the sake of having it isn't the way

He should look at regulators and be horrified on a human level

He should look at their heavily processed (I assume) space food and be like "what is this"

He should look at Endless technology and understand that while it's a scientific feat of unimaginable heights it should also never be used

So like, I don't think he would be as impressed with Alexandrian technology as some people think he would, because they lack the imagination and wonder that Sharlayan has

Koana loves Sharlayan the nation itself, and the defining trait of Sharlayan is their boundless curiosity and willingness to learn and explore possibilities, something the Alexandrians lacked

Moving on another beef I have with Koana's writing is I kind of just don't really understand why he was so convinced his parents abandoned him when he was young

I get that a child's perspective is often skewed

And it's not exactly clear how old Koana was when he was left alone

But like why is he so convinced that his parents abandoned him to "follow the herds"

Like did he never once entertain the idea that maybe his parents died???

I do get that prior to his change of heart he has a strong disdain for the traditional Hhetsarro way of life

But that seemingly stems from his belief that he was abandoned, but again, why does he believe his parents just randomly left him alone in the wilds

I really would've appreciated just like, even a throwaway line that it's just something he convinced himself of

Or maybe his adoptive Pelupelu parent inadvertently led him to believe it

It just sort of comes off as "we need to come up with a reason to why he's so hostile to Hhetsarro culture"

"and a reason why he's so protective of Wuk Lamat"

Koana is a really emotional person at heart, so I can get that maybe he just got super passionate about the wrong idea about his parents but I'm just struggling to understand where that idea came from

So I'd just like a little bone about why he believed so fervently that his parents coldly abandoned him for seemingly no reason since it's not exactly Hhetsarro tradition to leave your kids behind

Him having abandonment issues makes sense but the part where he's just so utterly convinced of something he has no proof of is what makes it weird