#most of the other games are similar in structure to kh1 which is why i only talked about the plot of that one

[sanitizarium]

Okay so what exactly is kingdom hearts? I've only heard a little since my dad played some of it when i was younger. All I know is that there's Disney characters really and you play as this kid with a giant ass key for a weapon, but could you perhaps tell me more? I'm quite interested i'll be honest.

OKAY OKAY SO the basic gist is that you play as sora (big key boy) and he initially lives in a place called destiny islands with his friends riku (silver haired boy) and kairi (dark red haired girl)!! at the end of the tutorial of the first game, destiny islands is consumed by darkness and everybody is separated from each other! sora and riku end up in traverse town where they meet donald and goofy, and riku ends up leaving sora. the first game is pretty much just sora, donald and goofy travelling through different disney worlds to seal keyholes (kind of like...stabilizing the worlds?) and looking for riku and kairi ^^ in the later games they add a whole lotta stuff like organization xiii, the great keyblade war and a bunch of worldbuilding stuff in general :D its very fun i love it a lot.... also despite popular belief it's not too hard to understand as long as you have a basic understanding of every game! even though there are only like...three numbered titles...there is not a single spinoff in kh every single game is important to the plot in some way

[violethowler]

The Things That Matter

I’ve talked a lot over the last two months or so about the many different ways that the characters, story, and themes of the Kingdom Hearts series align with the framework of the Heroine’s Journey. For the final chapter in this series of essays, I’d like to talk about what it means for this series to follow this narrative formula. Because the fact that Kingdom Hearts fits into this storytelling pattern is critically important now more than ever. 

The three most recent series I know of that aligned with the Heroine’s Journey framework all ended up missing the landing in various ways. Two of the three - Voltron: Legendary Defender and the Star Wars sequel trilogy - abandoned the formula in their final installments, while the third one - the Frozen movies - managed to fit into the formula almost completely, but suffered in the second movie from a lack of clarity as to which of the two leads is the main protagonist and which is the Animus. Two of these were under the Disney umbrella, and all three have had evidence found that executive meddling or other behind-the-scenes conflicts over story direction played a role in how the final installments ended. 

As I mentioned in my essay “Into the Unknown,” when a story deviates from the structure it appears to be following, it produces a visceral sense of wrongness in the audience. In stories which up toward the end aligned with the Heroine’s Journey, that effect is amplified. The framework of the Heroine’s Journey was designed to uplift the experiences of identities outside of what society considers the default option in storytelling. The lived experiences of those identities are mirrored in the narrative’s themes. So when a story set up around calling out prejudices and double standards about those identities that are ingrained into the audience’s culture deviates from that formula, the result inevitably ends up reinforcing those biases instead, on top of the brokenness of the narrative in general.  

In terms of how this applies to Kingdom Hearts, Sora and Riku’s individual character arcs have been noted by many LGBTQ+ fans to have notable parallels with elements of their own lived experiences:

Riku’s arc of learning to accept his darkness as something natural that’s a part of him and which he can express in a positive way mirrors how many LGBTQ+ people grow up with the idea that same-sex attraction is “sinful” and “unnatural” and have to unlearn that mindset in order to realize that there’s nothing wrong with them. Likewise, Mickey’s line in Re:COM about how spending time with Riku has positively changed his opinion about Darkness can be read as an analogy for straight people who are initially unsure of or hostile to LGBTQ+ identities changing their minds with education and first-hand interaction to become staunch allies. Esmeralda’s talk with Riku about how “There are just some things we need to keep separate from the world at large, at least until we have time to figure them out”[1], while on one level is referencing Riku’s Darkness and his inner turmoil relating to Ansem, can also describe the common LGBTQ+ experience of being in the closet and hiding that part of yourself from the people around you[2]. 

As for Sora, in Kingdom Hearts III he responds to Davy Jones’ comments in The Caribbean about the romantic relationship between Will and Elizabeth by saying that “I still have a lot to learn about love[3],” indicating he lacks understanding of his own feelings in the area of romance. This is supported by the official Kingdom Hearts Character Files book published by Square in February 2020. Short stories in this book featuring Sora’s POV depict him as actively confused about what romantic love is[4], and struggling to define the nature of his relationship with Riku[5][6]. This can be a common experience for LGBTQ+ youth growing up surrounded by media that only ever depicts romantic relationships as one boy, one girl. Many people who grew up like this—myself included—have had similar experiences of struggling to understand our own feelings about someone of the same gender because for our entire lives up to that point we had little or no exposure to the idea that being romantically interested in someone of the same gender as you was an option. 

Sora and Riku are each written in ways that speak to common LGBTQ+ experiences, and the fact that so many things—the canon parallels to Disney romances, the match with how love interests are portrayed in the Heroine’s Journey, the fact that one of the series’ Lead Event Planners Michio Matsuura was described by the Co-Director Tai Yasue to be “head over heels for the bond between Riku and Sora’s hearts[7]”, in connection with his enjoyment of “pure love dramas[7]”—are all pointing to the conclusion that these similarities did not happen by accident, but by design. 

It makes so much sense for Heroine’s Journey narratives to be used to tell LGBTQ+ stories because there are so many ways that homophobia and transphobia overlap with and are rooted in the very same gender and cultural norms that the framework challenges. Many countries have come a long way towards public acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities, but in terms of the stories that we tell, mainstream fiction is still skewed in favor of stories with protagonists who are straight and cisgender. Storylines with straight romance are treated as a society-wide default, while creators in countries like the U.S. who want to include even the smallest background references to LGBTQ+ relationships have had to fight and push back against corporate pressure to remove them. 

This is especially true for media aimed at children and teenagers, as the fact that being openly LGBTQ+ is still widely considered problematic in many countries is frequently used by entertainment executives in ostensibly more progressive countries as an excuse for censoring LGBTQ+ storylines and characters. Multiple creators working on animated shows for Disney and/or its competitors have spoken out in recent weeks about the resistance they faced to including LGBTQ+ relationships[8][9][10] and how they were told that openly acknowledging characters as non-straight was too controversial or “inappropriate for the channel"[9].

As a consequence of this environment, creators wishing to depict non-heterosexual relationships have had to resort to creative methods of getting the implications past the censors in a way that LGBTQ+ audiences would recognize while still maintaining plausible deniability so that the executives could make money off the story in anti-LGBTQ+ markets. The downside to this is that because these efforts are more subtle, most straight audiences will either not notice the implications, or else dismiss them as an accident. Some will go as far as coming up with alternate explanations to justify why any potential LGBTQ+ subtext about a character or relationship could not possibly have been put there by the creator intentionally. 

This extends not only to audiences, but also to people who interact with these stories in a professional capacity, such as translating and marketing a story’s international release. Animated shows that feature same-gender relationships have had international dubs change the gender of one character in the pairing to make it straight, for instance. Or there's the infamous example of how the English dub for Sailor Moon in the 1990s changed two girls from lovers to cousins in order to provide an explanation for their closeness that didn't involve acknowledging that the characters were not straight. In terms of the Kingdom Hearts series, the English localization has routinely downplayed LGBTQ+ subtext in the series while in some cases adding romantic undertones to interactions between a male and female character that did not exist in the original Japanese script. Kingdom Hearts III was one of the most egregious examples of this:

Hercules’ recollection of how he dove into the River Styx to save Megara’s soul in KH2 is thematically connected to Riku sacrificing himself for Sora at the Keyblade Graveyard through the phrase taisetsu na hito (literal meaning: “precious person”) when Hercules is talking to Sora in Olympus and when Mickey is talking to Riku in the Realm of Darkness at the beginning of the game. The English version translates this as “person I love most” for Hercules, while changing it to “what matters” for Riku and Mickey to call back to his meeting with Terra in Birth by Sleep, which the scene includes a flashback to. While Mickey and Riku’s original meaning can still be deduced from the conversation around it, especially with Mickey saying "sometimes you care about someone so much," changing the line for the sake of a callback downplays the evolution of Riku’s goals from protecting “things that matter” to protecting “the *person* who matters”. 

Donald and Goofy’s teasing Sora in the scene at Galaxy Toys where Sora comments on how much he or Riku resemble Yozora is framed in the English version as “Riku would be a great action figure because he’s cool, unlike Sora.” However the original Japanese indicates that the teasing is centered around the fact that Sora said a character who looks like Riku was good-looking.

When Kairi offers Sora a paopu fruit, she says in the original Japanese that it’s simply a good luck charm so that they don’t get separated, while in the English localization, she says “I want to be a part of your life no matter what, that’s all.” While “that’s all” still fits with how the parallels to Winnie the Pooh indicate her connection with Sora has weakened and she wants to maintain it, the first part of the English line calls back to the legend of the fruit introduced in KH1, which was openly referred to as romantic by Selphie in the original and localized versions of the first game. As a result, this adds romantic implications that contrast with Sora’s unreceptive body language and facial expressions[11] as he reacts to the initial offering of the paopu fruit. 

In the original Japanese, Riku’s words to Sora before his sacrifice at the Keyblade Graveyard translate to “I believe in you. You won’t give up.” The English localization changed it to “You don’t believe that. I know you don’t.” Not only does it remove a callback to the original game, but this phrasing dowplays Riku’s faith in Sora and ignores Sora’s very clear feelings of inadequacy. 

During the scene where Sora and Kairi are floating through the dark tunnel toward the Keyblade Graveyard, Sora’s line in English, “I feel strong with you,” was originally an acknowledgement of Kairi’s strength that called back to how he wouldn’t let her come along on the return trip to Hollow Bastion in the first game because he thought she’d “kind of be in [his] way”[12]. Removing this callback takes the focus away from Kairi’s growth and brushes aside one of the ways the game shows that Sora’s view of her has changed over the course of the series.

Some fans defend changes such as these insisting that the development team had to have approved of them. However Testuya Nomura himself feels strongly enough about the subject: he stated in a 2018 interview several months before KH3's release that “an incorrect or defective translation risks compromising the comprehension of the whole story,” referring especially to the Kingdom Hearts series[13], and the English localization of Re:Mind—which was much more accurately translated than the base game—directly references the original meaning of Kairi’s words during the paopu scene in one of the DLC’s Kingstagram posts. This all indicates that changes such as these that remove important connections or change the meaning of the conversation are ones that the development team very much do not approve of. 

LGBTQ+ fans of Kingdom Hearts who recognize their own experiences reflected in Sora's and Riku’s journeys know that Disney has not had a good track record when it comes to depicting LGBTQ+ characters in properties they are affiliated with. The most we ever get in their movies are background moments or nameless characters that are only there in one scene that easily can be cut out for distribution in countries with heavy anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. And that’s if the character’s orientation is even mentioned out loud in the film at all instead of simply being confirmed by interviews before or after release but never acknowledged on-screen. Television has fared better, but until recent years we never had any main characters who were confirmed in-show to be anything but straight. But things are slowly starting to improve. Within the last few years shows like "Andi Mack" and "The Owl House" have depicted major characters as openly interested in others of the same gender[14], and Pixar recently released a short as part of their Sparknotes program called “Out”, which openly centers on a man worrying about telling his parents he’s gay. 

This is why it is so important that the Heroine’s Journey of Kingdom Hearts follow through to a structurally appropriate conclusion, with the development team being given the freedom to tell their story in full without restriction or censorship. Deviating from the formula this late in the series would represent a continuation of the recent trend of Heroine’s Journey narratives being structurally broken by inference from forces other than the main creative team. But if the Kingdom Hearts story is able to complete it’s Heroine’s Journey without executives or localization teams getting in the way of the intended story, then the LGBTQ+ themes already present in Sora and Riku’s journey will break so many barriers,challenge people’s expectations of what is possible, and convey powerful messages of self-discovery and acceptance—just like the framework was designed to. 

Sources

[1] Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance; Square Enix; 2012. 

[2] Tumblr post by @blowingoffsteam2; December 3, 2019. https://blowingoffsteam2.tumblr.com/post/189461796759/blowingoffsteam2-dont-mind-me-over-here-just

[3] Kingdom Hearts III; Square Enix; 2019. 

[4] Translation of KH Character Files Beast’s Castle story by @lilyginnyblackv2; February 3, 2020. https://lilyginnyblackv2.tumblr.com/post/611420864489062401/character-files-beasts-castle-story-english

[5] Translation of KH Character Files Arendelle story by @lilyginnyblackv2; March 3, 2020. https://lilyginnyblackv2.tumblr.com/post/611490139845345280/character-files-arendelle-story-english

[6] Translation of KH Character Files Arendelle story by @notaseednotyet; March 1, 2020. https://twitter.com/notaseednotyet/status/1233993459670765569

[7] “Message from the KINGDOM” Updates!; April 11, 2012. https://www.khinsider.com/news/-Message-from-the-KINGDOM-Updates-2427

[8] “”Steven Universe” and “She-Ra” creators on Representation”; Paper Magazine; August 5, 2020. https://www.papermag.com/rebecca-sugar-noelle-stevenson-2646446747.html

[9] Twitter thread by Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch; August 9, 2020. https://twitter.com/_AlexHirsch/status/1292328558921003009

[10] Twitter thread by Owl House creator Dana Terrace; August 9, 2020. https://twitter.com/DanaTerrace/status/1292321440029478917 

[11] Frame by frame analysis of Sora and Kairi’s body language during the KH3 paopu scene by @notaseednotyet; September 14, 2019.  https://twitter.com/notaseednotyet/status/1172774158167506944

[12] Kingdom Hearts; Square Enix; 2002. 

[13] “Nomura stresses the importance of direct translations on story comprehension, and talks about world development as well as the Gummi Ship;” August 27, 2018. https://www.kh13.com/news/nomura-stresses-the-importance-of-direct-translations-on-story-comprehension-and-talks-about-world-development-as-well-as-the-gummi-ship/ [14] Disney’s The Owl House Now Has a Confirmed Bisexual Character; August 9, 2020. https://io9.gizmodo.com/disneys-animated-series-the-owl-house-now-has-a-confirm-1844665583

[bearpillowmonster]

KH: MoM Review (Story)

You don't begin the game with the new story, it's mainly just Kairi retelling the story from her perspective and you build up to that point...after KH3, so its basically the ending. I want to be clear, this isn't THE Kairi game, we might get one in the future but this is just told from her perspective, you don't play as her that much and you don't unlock her like the other characters, which is kind of disappointing.

One thing I noticed is that they give the player the choice of where to go. If you want to head to Chain of Memories, there's a path, if you want to go to Days, there's a path, if you want to go to KH2, there's a path, it all branches out after KH1. I would have to say it's a bold move to put KH2 right there because if you don't skip anything, the beginning of KH2 is the world before the Days section, when chronologically, it's the other way around.

(to the left is CoM, Straight is KH2, the right branch up ahead is Days)

Also Tarzan is missing from the world line-up, I assume they didn't get the rights because they had a whole debacle back when 1.5 was coming out and such but it's just kind of odd to me, I was kind of looking forward to that too. Same with Pirates and Pooh, not sure why that would be though and here's the funny one...Symphony of Sorcery, the one that actually has to do with music! I hated the way that world was put together in Dream Drop, I thought this would bring it redemption but the world isn't even in it!

With that, some Kingdom Hearts games are longer than others, so since CoM has pretty much all the Disney worlds from the first game, it's just different Castle Oblivion sections, so pretty short and sweet. That isn't to say that worlds don't come back for more tracks though, for example, Neverland appears in the KH1, BBS, and Days sections but with different songs. There are also different teams such as Team Classic, Team Days, Team 3D (odd choice but I like it), and Team BBS. They aren't interchangeable and you can't play as KH2 Sora but it is what it is, it doesn't affect gameplay anyway.

This game definitely reaches out to wider audiences but I wouldn't call it a replacement for story. If anything, it makes you want to play the other games, a great compliment/supplement. Especially if you want Disney World plots, that’s practically nonexistent. It is funny that they just used two songs for Re:Coded and only one for 0.2 though. There are 3 extra worlds that you only unlock if you get 280 stars, I like that, I only ended up doing that after the story though since I only had 208 by the time I figured that out.

I remember when I was a kid and my friend wanted to play Guitar Hero but he used the controller, not the guitar and I couldn’t even wrap my head around the idea, but look at me now! Little did I think, years down the road that Kingdom Hearts was going to swoop in and make a game like this where I’m actually interested in rhythm.

Overall, this game made me much more interested in rhythm games entirely. If they made a Zelda one in a similar style, I would totally be interested. With that said, this is the best rhythm game I've played thus far, not that I've really been into them though. 

Stop! STOP!

I know you want to see it but this is where I get into spoilers, keep that in mind. Also, there is a scene after the credits, but it doesn't matter how you play the game, it's there for everyone. And if you see "Secret movie" somewhere online, that's false, it isn’t actually a "secret movie" because I've seen some pretty convincing fakes out there.

Now, I can see where people would get hasty and say that the content isn't all that much because they do wait until the end to reveal the new content and while I was satisfied with it (even if it left on a cliffhanger (as I expected!)) I could see some people not being as satisfied. I ended up spending about 10 hours going through world tour but I kept going after that as I mentioned so kind of average but this is also a rhythm game, think about a CD with that much content and not all the songs are even in the world tour.

Is it probably skippable? Probably. I expect it’ll be relevant but I think it’s more just connecting the dots than anything, besides, this is the current KH game for a while, I hear we won’t get news until 2022.

That final boss was great, I loved it. The only real gripe I had with it is that Sora looks like an MMD model, like if KH3 Sora was still in KH1. I also expected a little more out of Kairi's backstory because we got most of that specific part in the trailer making it easy to pick apart. I did stray away from everything since that trailer though and I was pleasantly surprised. Also, FGM can just teleport to the Final World whenever??

Nameless star is voiced by Madison Davenport who, as of now, is still under the name "Nameless Star." it's kind of salty but at the same time, sweet because I'm excited to see who she is. The japanese voice actress "Risa Shimuzu" voiced Vitani in the Lion King 2...so confirmed? Hahaha. Kairi asking to be trained by Aqua makes my heart all warm and fuzzy, I love that thought, that they all become masters and teach the new generation because I was thinking that the BBS gang might become irrelevant after KH3.

Xehanort talked about ‘paving the way for Sora’s disappearance’ but that was apart of his plan? I know YX teased it but he wanted that to happen?

Quadratum has to do with an ancient Roman building technique and the concept of "Making Square" but it really is Shibuya. The foretellers presence makes more and more sense as this goes on and it's really setting up for it. I felt like we were spending all that time building for KH3 but we didn't even realize that we were building for KH4 along the way and I think that it's just going to keep going, which is why "Quadratum" is a good metaphor in this instance, it keeps that same momentum and structure, it didn't lose anything by finishing the Xehanort Saga, it just used it as a launchpad.

Other than that, I heard "data" being tossed around when they talked about dreams and memories. Kairi is the memories (I guess Pooh is too though...) 

and Riku is the dreams, so does that mean Nameless Star is data? Strelitzia is that you? It seems familiar because I mean she's "from the other side" and Brain was talking about data in Union X so it's possible. I just don't want the master plan to be "Re: Coded was actually 10x more important than you thought!" kind of data.

[sharingthesamesky]

Here’s the Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Fragmentary Passage and Kingdom Hearts Back Cover reactions thread I promised you

Back Cover:

THIS MOVIE IS SO PRETTY HOLY SHIT

Also, the cinematography is incredible. Like. From someone who studied film, this shit is really good. There was like. That one moment when it was a little on the nose with the flower petals, but this is a Kingdom Hearts game so comparatively it was downright subtle.

If the Master of Masters isn’t somehow connected with Braig I’d be surprised at this point. (Master of Masters, here after known as Mr. MoM). Plot says it should be Xehanort, but mannerism SCREAM Braig. (They also share the whole one-eyed thing.)

Is Kingdom Hearts using Norse mythology symbolism now too? Because Mr. MoM’s whole “takes one eye out and casts it into [the future] to know ultimate truth” thing is just Odin.

How on earth did Mr. MoM convince these 6 super serious people to listen to him. He doesn’t seem like someone any of them would agree to train under AT ALL. Maybe Gula? But Aced and Ira? I guess there just weren’t any other Mr. MoMs to pick from?

The fucker wrote the book of prophecy in vague rhyme because he’s terrible

I swear this time travel thing is so dumb. “Don’t want you to cause any temporal paradoxes” MY ASS. you can’t just make shit up because its sounds cool. How does this work? If you “can’t change the future” then like. What is even the point of anything? Are there some events that are fixed but the specifics are still in flux?

The real reason Luxu doesn’t get a book of prophesy is that Mr. MoM hand copied the thing five times already and didn’t feel like doing it again.

Alternatively he hand copied it six times but that foreteller moogle that gives you your medals got Luxu’s copy.

I mean clearly Mr. MoM saw the keyblade war and was like “what’s the best, most fun way I can cause this? Oh! I know! I’ll tell Gula to find a “traitor” and make them all fight each other. I mean if there was really a traitor, I could just tell Gula who it was, because I can SEE THE FUTURE, but that wouldn’t be fun at all!”

Seriously if Gula hadn’t preempted that speech what would he have said.

“Oh, I know. I’ll make Aced feel jealous and make him attack the leader because I’m totally a champion of light. TOTALLY.”

Why is Ira so sure that this event would have been in the book? What kind of events make it into the book? Clearly not everything or Ira wouldn’t need Invi’s reports at all, right? Seriously did I mention this time travel stuff is terrible?

“I might vanish or I might not - anyone’s guess” says the man whose entire shtick is knowing the future. Everyone: Sounds legit.

If Mr. MoM’s keyblade makes it all the way to the present, why the fuck do their books end with the keyblade war? I mean probably because they all die in it and telling them that is a sure way to cause those supposed temporal paradoxes, (or because Mr. MoM is just a conniving ass) but I swear none of them thought to ask why his vision of the future stops there? Well, I suppose “and then the world ends” is a good enough place as any to claim you can’t see past. Even if you’re lying liar about it.

We all know Luxu’s the traitor right? Let’s just get this out of the way. Not that he necessarily betrayed anyone or anything, but Gula’s magic paper says “bears the sigil” so it’s gotta be LuXu. Unless of course its one of our key kids who went all edgy and put an X in their names.

Okay, even not knowing that, why in the hell did no one mention Luxu as a possibility for the traitor in the first place?

I mean they know about Luxu even though he’s sort of implied to be a latecomer to the group. Did they all start out wearing those black cloaks before they got their fancy foreteller gear?

Okay who designed the fancy foreteller gear who made those masks and how did Mr. MoM convince them to go with that? I mean - scratch that last part these idiot’s will do anything he says apparently.

(You’ll pry my guilt bonuses from my cold dead, darkness ridden hands, KHuX)

Mr. MoM engineered this entire thing and use everyones unquestioning loyalty and sense of his own perfection to do it. No one bothered to question any of the details and that’s why it worked.

“Hey, Master, why to all the chirithy look the same? Wouldn’t it be easier to tell which one turned into a nightmare if they were like. Numbered or something?”

“Hey Master, you want us to… collect Lux? What are we collecting it for? Shouldn’t we… not do that?”

“Wait you want us to… take Lux from… the future?”

Seriously this movie answers zero of the questions about how time works in KHuX. None of them at all. Well, maybe Season Two will address it.

“Hey Master, why is it called a Nightmare if this isn’t the world of dreams because obviously it isn’t right? RIGHT?”

Ava tells her dandelions they are gonna practice leaving the world by going into the realm of dreams though so.

I’m sorry I couldn’t take that scene seriously with all the key kids in their default starter outfits. No keyblader that’s the “best of the best” is gonna be wearing a starter outfit with no perks.

Okay, I get that Gula couldn’t tell anyone his role, and that Aced’s “true role” aka the failsafe powder keg fuse makes sense to keep secret, but why didn’t Ava tell anyone her role?

The foretellers have different VA’s than the characters they obviously correspond to, but they’re similar (well, accept Aced) and they speak in a very similar way. Care to comment? (Mr. MoM giggling in the distance)

Ava, how does Ephemer even know about the book? Did you tell all the keykids about it or what? I kind of doubt that. Ephemer you clever little sneak.

The Foretellers have a secret castle no one is allowed to enter and yet they have their meeting in the warehouse that literally everyone goes into all the time.

"coolheaded Gula?" More like flips the fuck out when he can't figure something out and tries to SUMMON KINGDOM HEARTS Gula.

Too bad Spongebob can never know what’s inside my secret box.

Seriously, why does ANYONE trust this guy.

Luxu’s reaction to “it’s my eye” is amazing.

No Name. Really. You don’t say.

The NA rankings are pretty spot on though. Good on us.

Fragmentary Passage:

Holy shit I’m so sold on the “technical demo” aspects of this game. Next Gen I love you.

You have to understand the last gen I had was a PS2. Why is everything so reflective and responsive its amazing.

Aqua’s VA is better than she was in BBS, but it still definitely limited my enjoyment of the game.

I did not realize the top of Aqua’s outfit was supposed to be see-through mesh other than the boob pads. Not sure how I feel about that.

I hope that the FFXIII style “hallways simulator” thing was because of time constraints and not because it’s how KH3 is gonna go.

The whole “There’s no time in the realm of Darkness” thing is really interesting, especially given all this time travel nonsense in the Realm of Light. But. Things still clearly progress in a linear fashion in there. Aqua doesn’t see Riku running through the darkness and then walk for a long while and then see Mickey. People enter and leave the place in an order that seems to be shared. Which means there is time. I think the word you are looking for is vague, arbitrary, or inconsistent.

Goddammit Nomura, take a second to read about time between your Latin lessons and your comparative mythology classes.

The new Heartless look really cool. I like them. And the elemental effects are fantastic. I could watch those heartless throw water at me all day.

The world design, apart from the linearness of some of the levels, was amazing. The suspended structures and twisted landscapes were really compelling.

I can’t be the only one who got strong “American McGee’s Alice” series vibes though, right? In a good way.

The mirror puzzle was neat. Not sure how long it would have taken me to figure out had I been playing and not watching a walkthrough so I’m calling it neat entirely by concept and visuals.

Phantom Aqua attacks in a pattern pretty similar to Xehanort’s fight with Terra in BBS, but with a mix of Aqua’s moves thrown in.

Aqua’s attack style is… kind of Extra. That twirl where she sticks her leggy straight up vertically in the air is like… Was that necessary? It certainly isn’t physically possible. Ask figure skaters.

The Terra/Xehanort scene was surprisingly good despite Terra’s VA. It was nice to get some insight into how that relationship is going. Because the rest of time seems pretty linear, we know that scene takes place, for Terra, at some point AFTER the worlds start vanishing. But if we take the claim that time is - if not absent - weird in the Realm of Darkness, then we don’t have any sense other than that. Maleficent gathered the princesses from the worlds we saw before she met Riku so that isn’t any indication, really.

Did I start crying when I saw Destiny Islands? Almost. Did I take a million screenshots of HD Destiny Islands? You bet your ass I did.

I did kinda cry when I saw Riku in his dumb KH1 puffy pants, though.

So behind the door in the Realm of Light is the heart of the world, but when it’s in the realm of darkness, it’s a magic keyblade shrine? I’m not really gonna argue. It seems to be a symbolic thing. Whatever. Good to know it’s a “push” door I suppose.

I’m not looking forward to that Demon Tide boss showing up again.

Mickey says he’s been “working with” Sora and Riku and he’s a fucking liar you didn’t do shit for them during KH1, Your Majesty, I WAS THERE.

“Kingdom hearts.. well okay not really kingdom hearts but. It’s sorta like a mini kingdom hearts? look we didn’t have the lore finalized at this point so just. pretend for me, Aqua.”

I can’t believe the Darkness ate King Mickey’s shirt.

(I know it was for the sake of consistency, and if it hadn’t happened you’d have people saying Mickey took his shirt off to be all macho mouse for that scene but still. Did anyone remember going in what Mickey was or wasn’t wearing during that scene?)

Kairi gets 3 seconds of screen time, and they are THE BEST. She’s super on point and I love her and hope she beats Lea up repeatedly and that we get to watch. Or do it.

I’m so thankful that Yensid didn’t pull a “no, Kairi you’re a princess of heart you can’t do both.” I didn’t think he would but it wasn’t NOT a fear of mine.

RIKU AND KAIRI INTERACTION. I PRAYED SO HARD. FOR SO MANY YEARS.

Riku’s whole “I tried to hard too be a role model” thing had me in tears. My son. My beautiful darling son. I am so proud of you. So proud

Sora-esque.

Yen Sid’s “No, see you would have done some stupid brave shit and fucked it all up” was. Amazing. Surpassed only by his “Sora, you fool, you complete and utter fuckup.”

“HAPPENS ALL THE TIME”

So… was Yensid actually talking about Hercules or did Sora just… guess wrong. Because Yensid never explicitly says to go to Olympus Coliseum. Sora’s just…. really literal minded.

Goddammit I take back what I said about Next Gen the canon Disney characters look TERRIBLE. I really hope they work on that before KH3 because I really don’t want to deal with plastic model Donald and Goofy the whole time. Please.

I did NOT miss Donald Ducks voice.

That Gummi ship scene was incredible? HD Sora is so expressive and adorable and precious.

I like watching the dynamic between those three. It’s weird as fuck to watch with these graphics, and Donald and Goofy’s voices make it near impossible to take seriously, but it was fun to see.

“May your heart be your guiding key” DID YOU ALL FORGET WHY SORA FUCKED UP SO BAD IN THE MARK OF MASTERY? GOD DIDN’T YOU HEAR WHAT XIGBAR SAID? “Aren’t hearts great? Lead us wrong every time.” GODDAMMIT.

(I suspect that Mr. MoM knew that too, and was counting on it, hard. Even if he isn’t Braig.)

Special Credits:

I don’t have much to say other than HOLY SHIT NOSTALGIA and that i’m such a sucker for parallels in fiction that I was kind of rolling around with glee.

I actually didn’t realize just how much hugging and touching there is in this series?

Everyone’s all “KH doesn’t have explicit Romantic Parings” But they DID just do a giant romance montage (which included Namine and Roxas?) just to lead up to Sora and Kairi so. Not all that subtle.

As much as I’m :/ about that last bit, it was nice to see this game remember that other parts of the Destiny Islands trio exist besides Sora and Riku’s dynamic. We got some Riku and Kairi in 0.2 and we got this little bit in the credits so at least they haven’t forgotten Kairi exists.