Looks at Zen’s Trance.
It’s magic.
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Would it still be adorable if the girl didn’t miss and actually killed someone?
Yeah, I think not. That particular scene was both baffling and almost outright horrendous to see.
Let’s say “magic” and “spiritual powers” are the same thing. Zenyatta has always been straight up 100% magic.
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He just works on his breathing 
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How so? Is it not just a mobile combination of S76s heal and Batistes immortality field?
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I’m so down with magic-based heroes. Good chance to introduce some unique abilities into the game.
I mean, I’m down with magic but even then, I don’t really see what Kiriko does as magic? I see it as more of a spiritual thing. Similar to the Shimadas, I see their dragons as being a spiritual thing. And with Kiriko, she’s bonded with a kitsune spirit. I guess you could call that magic? But I definitely lean more on it being more spiritual, which isn’t at all new for Overwatch. Just look at Hanzo, Genji, and Zen.
The devs confirmed that the Shimada dragons isn’t magic and so it’s safe to say it’s not spiritual either, you could explain it as hard light technology or nanobots specifically tied to Shimada DNA.
While they never explained it, it’s possible to explain with in universe technology, Kiriko isn’t like that at all.
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Tbh a lot of Blizz games seem to be made now by people who don’t know or care about the lore or aesthetic.
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The dragons were never a confirmation of magic.
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It doesnt matter what couldve happened. The grandpa couldve just straight up died. Or they couldve have hurt the little girl. It definitely was baffling. The girl didnt kill someone and theorizing how that would be horrendous if she did isnt relevant.
Its baffling and funny because its subverting the expectation that the little girl is helpless and cant fight back. So personally the cinematic was a 10/10
We’ve already gone down that path before. In Wandavision, they wanted us to sympathize with the Scarlet Witch, but if you were to step back and look at what’s actually happened. She had taken over the town and imprisoned thousands of peoples within their own bodies.
Hayward was treated as the bad guy, but he was actually the only one that kept his head on straight. If this thing had actually happened and you were one of the victims, you would absolutely want an army of Haywards to deal with the situation and making sure it doesn’t happen.
The girl and the grandfather had no agency and what kiriko did is essentially on par with the AI underneath Anubis. Remember that in that one, the omnic had just enough time to shoot itself before it got completely taken over. And i had always said that it’s what made omnics so dangerous because that AI wasn’t unique (Even Sombra had atleast a rudimental way of getting into an omnics systems) and i doubt a city full of omnics have guns conveniently always on hand to shoot themselves with. That grandfather and girl went straight up mental.
Lore wise, Kiriko is going to be problematic if the story were to go into the ethics of Overwatch.
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Have you tried psychedelics? Like Scarecrow, but not as intense.
Kiriko’s spirit magic is more heavily emphasized than the Shimadas’ dragons, but to me it’s the same. They’ve said that there’s no magic, but they hand-waved the heck out of the spirit dragons.
Zenyatta’s healing is also never explained in any kind of technological way. He even has a spawn-room interaction with Mercy where she says she doesn’t understand how his healing works. Mercy is the originator of the biotic technology that powers Ana’s, Soldier’s, Moira’s, and her own healing, and Zen’s is something different.
Is it a little weird that all of the ambiguous spiritual power all belongs to Asian characters? Yeah, it is. But I don’t have an issue with the exist of spiritual power generally.
Edit to fix a typo.
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It’s kind of ironic that Valorant has an established explanation for Radiants existing, yet Overwatch still has vague notions of what can or cannot exist; the former being out for less time than the later.
Im not really arguing the ethics of what happened, what couldve happened etc. Regardless theres nothing that supports that kiriko forced or coerced the grandpa and kid to take action. Empowered absolutely, but controlling them in anyway not at all.
I am talking about the storytelling, the animations, which i though were amazing. Even in storytelling questionable ethics doesnt mean a poorly written story, or hero, or villain. In most cases you could argue that it adds more depth, more personability, better cheacter design.
Its made of my favorite kind of sci-fi technology: Quantum DontThinkAboutItTooMuchIDontFeelLikeWritingAnExplanationToHowThisWorks
The cinematic was trash, the lore around kiriko is trash, the writers shoehorning a teenage ninja to be besties with a 50 year old yakuza guy is just bottom of the barrel fanfic awful
In-game the character is fine (her ult is a mess though)
In lore? Embarrassing. Hopefully we dont see her again in ANY lore-related media.
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[quote=“Kay-12511, post:36, topic:707175”]
Regardless theres nothing that supports that kiriko forced or coerced the grandpa and kid to take action.[/quote]
Their personalities did a 180. In terms of fight or flight, she turned untrained civilians that would have been better off following their instinct and running for safety, into berserkers willing to run straight into a gun with all sense of self preservation gone. The one that wanted to fight them was Kiriko, but she sent those two instead.
You have to be very careful when trying to write something into the lore. One of the fundamentals of world building for an IP is establishing the rules of the world early on and following it. Otherwise you start deviating and end up with messed up characters like this.
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Sigma in spawn room: How does this omnic defy gravity? No repulsors to be detected.
Zenyatta: I owe my gifts to the Iris.
Would it surprise at this point if Zen’s Transcendence actually is canon?