#Utada’s songs are sora an Riku’s povs

[kiolilo]

大切な人を守る力〜♪( ´θ｀)ノ

[mythicalartistx]

So I just looked at Hikari English translation lyrics for the first time...

IT'S DEFINITELY FROM KH1 RIKU'S POV I'm going insane it's so him.

It shows how he is alone and that he got separated for Sora. He forgotten his destiny probably referring to his Kingdom Key going to Sora. Then he is referred to as light he awakens in the middle of the night.

Now the light is sometimes referred to him or Sora. Because to Riku, Sora is light.

He wishes he can tell him but he's scared and repressed his feelings. And he always wants to be together with Sora. Because with Sora who he views as light, he'll be fine when it's In the middle of the night when it's dark such as when he was going through a dark place in KH1

He's like turn everything off, don't do anything else but look at me. It gives KH1 Riku vibes so much.

He's still in his "I'm definitely not gay" phase and says he doesn't believe in us completely

But with Sora, he views as his Light

Riju wants to continue being with him and just want Sora to only pay attention to him.

And the thing about light, Riku is the light but to Riku, Sora is His Light.

They are each other lights.

Riku once said in the novels, Riku looked away from Sora because he was dazzling. For Riku he was too bright or dazzling.

And these are just some of the main stanzas I have thoughts on from it being about Riku

My thoughts on Chikai

[daylighteclipsed]

opinions on chikai? there's never been official word on it iirc, but some people interpret it differently. personally... that song is riku coded

Looked up the full English lyrics and made the irreversible mistake of scrolling down to the comments.

Completely unrelated, that song is 100% from Riku’s pov about Sora because he’s in gay love with Sora and wants to get gay married to Sora and kiss Sora in an unmistakably gay way because he’s gay. Homophobes shut the fuck up forever.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

So, in the recent 20th Anniversary Event Q&A Nomura stated that Utada wrote the lyrics first, and he would add the imagery after. This makes some certain image choices very interesting and kinda changes the perspective on how certain scenes can be read. It makes the image choices absolutely intentional now. Certain images and lyrics matching up wasn’t just because of the music accidentally lining up with a moment or anything like that. Those kinds of readings now, especially for Simple and Clean and the KH1 OP, don’t fit now that we know this bit of information. 

So, with this in mind, I am going to be taking a deeper look at the OPs (specifically for KH1, 2, and 3, since those three all have different songs).

Though, in this post, I will only be looking at KH1. I'll try and get posts up for the other two OPs some time this week.

"You're all I need." - That's the lyric and the image is of Riku’s initial appearance and him reaching out to Sora. The other lyrics that accompany the scenes between Sora and Riku in the KH1 OP all have to do with a relationship becoming more complicated and difficult to navigate like "Don't get me wrong, I love you, but does that mean I have to meet your father?" and this segment ends when Sora surfaces from the water with the last lyric in the Soriku section of the OP being "No, I don't think life is quite that simple." A sentiment very squarely from Riku’s POV.

This ends up foreshadowing Riku and Sora's dynamic for the rest of the series pretty much, until we get to the end of KH2 and then from DDD and into KH3, we see that their relationship has gotten a lot easier to navigate for the both of them. But that doesn't mean that there aren't still some hidden challenges. There likely still are or will be, and I won't be surprised if we see some of those being explored. More likely from Sora this time, rather than from Riku.

Next up, we have the Sokai section of the KH1 OP, which is where we get the chorus of "When you walk away, you don't hear me say, please, oh baby, don't go. Simple and Clean is the way that your making me feel tonight, it's hard to let it go." And this falls *right* in-line with the fear of change that Kairi expresses to Sora in KH1 when she tells him to "never change."

 Also, the lyric of "hold me" fits in with her taking refuge in his heart in KH1 (Sora essentially holding her and protecting her throughout the game). The general theme in this segment of the opening is her fear of growing apart from Sora. KH3 highlights this with her desire to share a paopu fruit with him, so that they will always be together.

The section focused on Kairi and her bond with Sora ends when the lyrics of "Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on." 

It then transitions to both Sora and Kairi looking at another version of Sora falling from the sky, with the lyrics "Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all." This brief segment of the OP at the end is about Sora and Sora alone. 

In KH1 he just runs head long into everything, this continues all the way through the series, and even into KH3 where we see him using the Power of Awakening incorrectly, even after having been warned. Here the lyrics indicate that nothing scares him though, while the lyrics of KH3 indicate facing fears, but I'll talk about that more in another post.

"Nothing's like before!" - Is when Sora has gone back under the water, Kairi reaches out for him in shock and fear, and the water ripples causing the image to disappear. This ends up paralleling Sora disappearing and essentially dying at the end of KH3. That change and separation that Kairi feared has happened and because Sora didn't think of consequences for his actions, things have now irreversibly changed.

Of course, when Nomura was creating the imagery for this first opening, he wasn't thinking about the events of the future games yet. Just the ones of KH1, in which all of the imagery still works. But with knowing the future events of the games and how character arcs play out, plus the fact that we know now that the imagery was created to reflect the writing, rather than the other way around - it honestly makes the KH1 opening way more interesting and far less abstract than it used to be for me (it was always the most abstract of the bunch, but now I can appreciate how KH3 tied in pretty well to this opening).

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Remember when KHII first came out, and lines from the song Sanctuary were backwards (“I need true emotions,” “I need more affection than you know,” and “So many ups and downs”), and then everyone became convinced that there was, like, a secret, bonus song, if you listened to the entire song backwards. Like, people thought the song forwards was Sora’s PoV and the song backwards was Riku’s PoV (and I was one of those people). (Some even thought that Sora’s speech at the beginning of the game: “A scattered dream that’s like a far-off memory... a far-off memory that’s like a scattered dream: I want to line the pieces up. Yours and mine” was a secret message from him to Naminé if you played it backwards).

Though now I think we unintentionally made that all up, and just heard what we wanted to hear. LOL. Like, you can make-out things that kind of sound like “Ansem” and stuff, but only if you’re looking for them. I don’t think it was intentional by Utada Hikaru or anything like that.

But those were some wild times. Only us and this fandom. LOL

[animexalchemist]

Over-Analysing Chikai

Hi there kids! I’m Alchemist and I’m descending further and further into madness the closer KHIII comes. I don’t know if anyone has spent far too much time thinking about Chikai, the Japanese version of ‘Don’t Think Twice’, but I need somewhere to dump my obsessive thoughts.

So buckle up, kids, let’s do some English Lit analysis whoooo~

So Passion/Sanctuary was about Sora and Riku's relationship.

Nomura: We decided to have it played at the last scene, so for me the theme was "Sora and Riku's reunion." I wrote stuff like "An image of a reunion, a happy moment in a way" and "Like a Hikari 2" in there.

Now what if Chikai, (chikai means ‘oath’) is a continuation of this song and talking about how their relationship is now? Certainly it has changed, and Normura even stated in an interview with IGN:

"[Kingdom Hearts is] not too realistic, but I do want my players to grasp a sense of reality from it as well. For example, I'm sure you had friends when you were young, a good group of friends, but as you grow older things change and it doesn't always stay the same. I think all I can say is please play to the very end and see what happens. But I think [Kingdom Hearts 3] does depict how each character feels about each other in this new storyline."

I mean this quotation alone has so much SoRiku potential and I’m trying not to get my hopes up but OH MY GOD WHAT IF--

Ahem. Let us look at the lyrics for Chikai (translated, of course):

I never cared about stuff like destiny, but This time, I'm forced to acknowledge it

Are you really okay with someone like me? Really, really? I don't want to let you get your hopes up about me

The weather today is just right for An eternal oath, free of lies Don't need pretty flowers don't need a witness Let's just wear rings of the same colour

So frustrated, what else can I do I want to sleep clinging on so tight to you that it's uncool, every day

No more promises Those are just for pleasing people

What I'm saying now isn't some second hand opinion It's not even a promise, it's an oath I can't go back to my old liar self Let's have our rings be the colour of the sunrise

Let's press our thundering hearts together and dance Let's celebrate the fact that we are alive here and now Sometimes there's no real deep meaning to the tears I can't hold back I just suddenly remember the old days (ah I want to cry) the light shining through the opened door I want to be by your side forever more It hasn't even been a choice for quite some time

The weather today is just right for An eternal oath, never been seen before Don't need pretty flowers don't need a witness Let's have our rings be the same colour

Kiss me once, kiss me twice Once isn't enough

Kiss me once, kiss me twice Give yourself to me 

Kiss me once, kiss me twice Kiss me three times Please 

Kiss me once, kiss me twice Give yourself to me 

Let's listen to the sound of the sunrise with our shoulders touching Let's make an oath to share our lives together

OKAY THEN.

These lyrics. These god damn lyrics, basically describing a wedding. My heart can’t handle this agh! So let’s take a closer look!

Now it's called 'Oath', and Kairi's keyblade for Sora is 'Oathkeeper', so is this perhaps a SoKai song? Or a song describing Sora and Kairi’s relationship? NOT IF YOU GO SHERLOCK ON THE LYRICS! The title alone may suggest it, but then we must investigate the lyrical content, naturally.

"Are you really okay with someone like me?"

This line suggests that maybe this is from Riku's point of view, because he has such a complex and guilt about going off the god damn rails in KHI, and doesn't think he deserves his friends/relationships and everything he has done since then is to atone.

Other lines that make me thinks this is from Riku's POV:

"I want to sleep clinging on so tight to you that it's uncool"

Riku is more likely to phrase it that way. Sora and Kairi would probably be more romantic about it, rather than claiming it's 'uncool' and self-depricatingly suggesting their feelings are lame.

"I can't go back to my old liar self"

Again, Sora and Kairi haven't really lied in the series, which makes me think the song isn't about Sora's feelings or Kairi's feelings. So if it's about Riku's feelings, and based on everything we've seen in the games, this is basically a love confession to Sora, and is like a continuation of the love and security sung about in Passion/Sanctuary.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!

"the light shining through the opened door"

At the end of KHI, Riku was on the opposite side of the door to Sora (Sora on the side of light, Riku and Mickey on the side of darkness). The two of them are both placed to see 'light shining through the door' (Kairi showed up after the door closed)

“Let's listen to the sound of the sunrise with our shoulders touching. Let's make an oath to share our lives together”

We know that when Riku and Sora sat on the beach as kids, they were often so close that their shoulders were touching. Plus the mention of sunrise might be significant. We all know Riku walks “the road to dawn” and immediately following dawn is sunrise, suggesting that he has reached the end of the road and completed/fulfilled his journey by making this promise to share his life with Sora.

"An eternal oath, never been seen before"

Now THIS bad boy of a line may be very cheeky or maybe I've just gone crazy with my analysis, but let's link this back to the title as well. 'Oath'. One thinks of Kairi, as I said earlier, but Riku's keyblade for Sora is 'Oblivion'. Oblivion, obviously, is darkness, something forgotten, or, like the line says, 'never seen before' or perhaps 'not remembered before now'. The design for Oblivion is fascinating, but the keychain is of particular interest. It's the crown symbol that Sora wears around his neck in every game. WHY WOULD THAT BE? Why would Oblivion have that symbol? As far as we know, Riku didn't give him that necklace and Riku has no relevance to the one thing that Sora always wears... OR DID HE?!

What if Riku did make an oath, an oath to be by Sora's side and always protect him, "his most precious person" (actual shit Riku has said) but this 'oath' was forgotten? Not only was it broken in KHI where Riku actively harmed Sora, but it could have been completely forgotten certainly by Sora in Chain, where Naminé rearranged some shit and buried Riku's oath in a dark space of his heart, into 'oblivion', while she was busy tampering with Sora's memories. When was Riku's oath made? When did he give Sora the necklace? Likely during the star shower they saw when they were children, that one scene that features in most of the games of the little baby Sora and Riku sat on the beach watching the shooting stars.

The fact that Sora's new keyblade in KHIII is called 'Shooting Star' I think is highly relevant, and I'm sure that something significant happened on that night.

This above theory was masterminded by @blowingoffsteam2, and I highly recommend giving them a read here and here as they go into far better detail and explain everything beautifully.

oh also the fact that the trailer has Riku protecting Sora while Utada sings 'Kiss me once, kiss me twice' in the bloody background

In conclusion: I am slowly descending into madness and will likely die the minute I open up KHIII. Thank you for reading, kids!

[lilyginnyblackv2]

So about the lyrics of “Chikai” and the ending scene on the beach...

As the focus shifts onto Riku and the camera starts zooming in on his face while he walks forward a bit and looks at Sora and Kairi on the paopu fruit tree:

本当にこんな私でもいいの (Hontou ni konna watashi de mo ii no) “Am I really okay like this?” Starts to play. And as the camera shifts to the shot of Sora and Kairi on the tree and starts zooming in the lyric ねえ、いいの (Nee, ii no) (Hey, am I?”) plays.

Then, as the camera zooms in some more:

 あんまり期待させないでほしいよ (Anmari kitai sasenaide hoshii yo) (I don’t want you to get my hopes up) plays and as the camera focuses on Sora and Kairi’s hands, the yo fades out and you can hear Utada’s “Ahh” begin as the next verse of the song starts and the scene shifts its focus (as in POV) from Riku’s POV to Sora and Kairi’s (Sora squeezing Kairi’s hand) and then them looking at each other. The framing of this - the way the camera focuses on Riku and then the way the camera focuses on Sora and Kairi from Riku’s POV with those lyrics playing in the background...The look on Riku’s face... I just, wow! This was definitely intentional and it is showing a lot. (If it wasn’t intentional, I’ll eat my hat!) And my heart is breaking for Riku! T-T I know some fans may try and bring up the fact that watashi gets used here (so we should assume that the POV of the lyric is from a woman/girl’s POV), but it is a gender neutral form of “I” and was likely chosen because it fits the tempo and beat of the song better than boku or ore (which is what Sora and Riku actually use in game) would. Plus, these lyrics are internal monologue, specifically uncertain internal thoughts. So the use of watashi which doesn’t hold the same level of confidence or assertiveness as ore does, works well here. But yeah...just...watch me cry all of my tears... TT0TT