The Truth About Kingdom Hearts!
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
- I decided to come back after 11 months and several very long videos. To explain what I have learned about the true nature of kingdom hearts!
I still believe in the Greatest Love story ever told!
It was squashed and mistranslated by Disney.
Even more than I thought
Soriku!
Thanks to the help of some commenters and videos I now believe
Sora x Riku is still possible!
shipping.fando... 
Игры
Oh man, you should have brought up how Goofy and Donald used to tease Sora about Kairi constantly, but after a certain point, they start teasing him about Riku instead. Anyway, I would LOVE more content on this! Can never go wrong with more gay :D
I believe it's after KH2 when they stop teasing him about Kairi and start teasing him about Riku. They barely ever mention Kairi after KH2. All their teasing is purely about Riku. Which makes sense, seeing as they're so close to Sora.
Even Riku's Sacrifice (for Sora) is repeated in KH3 , so you can interpret it again.
Until it's drilled in
Riku is sexy
Riku literally didn’t want sora to give up … he didn’t sacrifice himself for sora. Sora was broken from losing everything. Riku saw it and needed to show sora that they aren’t gone and they still have their hearts
That is... literally sacrificing himself for Sora. He sacrificed himself and became the Light so Sora would Believe in himself the way Riku does. The more correct translation of that line is "I believe in you. I know you won't give up."
Later, Sora repeats this quote to Nameless Star when she describes her Heart pinning for Yozora.
This is also why Nameless Star helps Riku get to Sora in Melody of Memories.
The thing that hit me the hardest in this video was you posing the idea that the final scene is Sora finally taking Riku's hand, because OF COURSE that's how it has to end. The entire series keeps bringing back that visual of Sora reaching for Riku and not quite getting there, so of course the ultimate payoff is for Sora to finally make it to Riku
Sora is confused about love. But can you nlame him? He got his memories messed with and went into a coma for a year in Com. He got put to sleep and hidden away by all the hearts he had in storage after the bad guys attacked him and took his power. He has had so many people's hearts in his heart, and has felt their pain. No wonder he is confused. And now his time lines and memories got all messed up from the power of waking.
Good thing Riku is very patient.
Whether it’s romantic or platonic, there’s just no way to dismiss that Sora and Riku are portrayed as soulmates throughout the series.
The fact that at the end of KH2 they were both content with being stuck in the realm of darkness for eternity because they had each other was such a beautiful and heavy moment. They were fully ready to just chill in the equivalent of hell FOREVER and they knew it would be okay because they were finally together. Sora dropping to his knees, “I looked for you, I looked everywhere for you!”.
Sora’s concern for Kairi is there but it’s just not near as pressing as his concern for Riku.
The fact that the sound of their hearts connecting creates a song called DEARLY BELOVED in dream drop?? The list goes on and on.
Whether Sora and Kairi are canonically romantic or not, I don’t think it changes the fact that Riku is the number one person in Sora’s life and vice versa. The love they have for each other is completely undeniable no matter what type of love it is.
I'm of the mind that it's only the Western culture that grasps so tightly on to “gay subtext” I was curious about this whole rabbit hole so I did my own research and honestly I think that this is comes from a cultural disconnect.
Japanese culture treats the relationship between boy and a girl when it is romantic as very reserved, PDA of any kind is also a much bigger deal than it is in America.
Male friendship is treated with a level of emotional vulnerability that the Western audience interprets as romantic because for us being emotionally vulnerable is frowned upon especially nowadays. Similarly in Japan when a man is with a woman PDA is just as frowned upon, it is something that you do when alone together at home, and in Japan it is also common for such relationships to be very formal and to the point. Teenage boys don't just openly hit on or a girl they like, it is a very reserved interaction.
All this is important because I think the Western audience is looking at Sora's relationships with Riku and Kairi through an American lens. Kingdom hearts is a Japanese game written by a Japanese man that came to the rest of the world. Thus the scenes for the game especially Sora's interactions with Riku and Kairi are reflect Japanese culture.
I see so much of the shipping wars fail to understand that both relationships reflect quite accurately how Japan views gender dynamics. It's not a question of sexual orientation, it is simply about what is and is not a normal relationship dynamic. The hard truth is that Sora loves both Riku and Kairi, Riku as his best friend who he has very deep but platonic feelings towards and Kairi romantically but just as deeply.
What's important is that every scene that they share in the series represents both of these deep loves that are mutual.
It's not supposed be a competition and that's what Riku realizes throughout kh1 and 2. The fact that Sora likes Kairi does not change that Riku is his best friend.
Speaking of Sora and Kairi their interactions throughout the series very much reflect the natural progression of a boy and girl that like each other but want to be sure of their feelings before they show those feelings outwardly to each other and especially in the presence of others.
That's how Japanese culture is and all these morons who project their own cultural biases onto Japanese relationships are going to be very disappointed when they are forced to realize that Nomura does not care about who ends up with who.
Here's the thing with Western fans: they have an unhealthy obsession toward romantic relationship to the point of making sex and romance the highest form of love. In EVERY PLACE ON THIS EARTH, sex and romantic love is seen as lower, banal, and lustful. Hell, even the ancient Greek civilization knows this (that romance and sexual love is the lowest form of love). Even Shakespeare knows this (hence Romeo and Juliet is a story about the stupidity of romantic love)! But no. For these deranged, sexually-obsessed Westerners, something as banal as sex is the ultimate, the purest and most glorious form of love.
So yeah, Sora and Kairi has romantic relationship. But so what? The message of KH, which is about Sora and Riku, is that their love toward each other is stronger, purer, more glorious, and higher than SoKai romantic relationship. But these sexually-obsessed, woke, Western degenerates do not have the mental and moral capacity to understand such concept and instead pervert this message into, "OoHhH~~~ ThAt MeAnS RiKu (aNd SoRa) iS gAy~~~" (even claiming that SoRiku being Gay is the "deeper message" this video here). Like, dude. You defeat the entire purpose of this game.
Your summary of Nomura's interview about KH4 made me lose it xD He did essentially say that KH4 would only feature Sora and Riku as returning characters, he's confused why people care about the others, and that Melody of Memories was never a game about Kairi. Great video! Your sense of humor and the pacing of the video are both perfect
I love the other characters but fr Nomura been saying it sense the begin the game is about Sora and Riku relationship (platonic or not so like idk why people are shocked.) Especially when Nomura got biased for Riku like man's so protective of that boy.
@@evaundertale2247 Nomura said that this series is about Sora and Riku. We're off to a new saga. As much as I loved the old characters, a lot of them were tied to Xehanort and it feels unnecessary to bring them along in the next arc for any more than the occasional cameo. I can see why people think Kingdom Hearts is getting too convoluted for them so perhaps a bit of a clean slate is the best direction to take the series. The only characters that I'm 100% sure will remain on the main cast are Sora / Riku and Mickey / Donald / Goofy.
Though, I feel like Ventus should return too as his story (plus Marluxia & Larxene) has yet to reach a conclusion.
So... there's a lot of stuff to explore there especially with the Fortellers being involved.
@@purpleirken1529 Yes, I can see those characters returning. They probably wouldn't be on the main cast though.
@@rirururu4697Very off topic but I love your pfp lmaooo
Whether or not Soriku is meant to be romantic, it's undeniable that the series is about Sora and Riku and their relationship. Whether or not they are canonically gay/bi, it's undeniable that the English mistranslations were motivated by homophobic worries about it sounding "too gay".
Considering how Disney was back in the day, I don't think they were intended to be gay, in fact the only reason Disney pushes homosexuality now is because it's "trendy." Also people forget that in the first two games Sora and Riku were fighting over Kairi and Namine, although the second game was more Sora and Repliku fighting over a girl.
@@abledkey Riku never fought Sora over Kairi. When he raced Sora for Kairi in the prologue, if you talk to him again he says it was all a joke. He was just teasing Sora about liking Kairi.
And Riku never fought Sora over Namine. That was the Replika, a dummy / puppet that was forced to like Namine because she wrote him that way. Riku has no romantic feelings for Namine. And neither does Sora, he too was manipulated by Namine rewriting his memories.
@@asheisthebiggestproblem5266 they implied Riku liked her too when they were talking about leaving the islands, and even during the events of Neverland and Hollow Bastion.
@@abledkey keep in mind that he says kairi is ‘the reason he wants to leave the islands’ when he’d been talking about it since before kairi even came to the islands(in bbs) so him mentioning that and sora literally giving a big eye roll is him DIRECTLY fucking with sora again because Riku knows *he* likes kairi, and riku enjoys messing with sora because any attention is attention to riku. Also, like, outside of KH1 we never see him really ‘crush’ on kairi anymore.. almost as if he never really did want to in the first place. He did really want to FIND kairi, true, but he seemed really ‘whatever’ about finding kairi in traverse town, making it his GOAL to find sora first and foremost. he only starts getting pissy and suddenly caring about kairi AFTER sora seems like he doesn’t need his help, and that makes riku jealous(he even admits it in KH2).
of course, because it was 2002, they had to imply vaguely that riku and sora were ‘competing for the girl’ and while i think sora genuinely did like kairi, riku has very ‘complex’ feelings for sora and kairi is just a means to an end of getting under sora’s skin, but he matures beyond that in KHCOM and beyond that in realizing that sora was the person he wanted to protect all along(via original DDD japenese translations for the ending and also.. that game as a whole hahah)
also that first comment you made about homosexuality ‘being trendy’… absolutely fuck you, we’re in danger of having a lot of our rights as people taken away in the next few years and such has already happened for trans people and there are so many murders of queer people of color every year even in the US, not even mentioning so many other places where it’s illegal to be gay. This may be ‘surprising’ to you, but gay people don’t like haphazardly shoved in gay characters either whose only personality trait is being gay. The reason Sora and Riku would be so sweet is that they grew up as childhood best friend even before kairi came along, and there’s so much riku has done for sora and sora has done for riku!
@@abledkey Again during Chain of Memories all of that was fake, those were fake memories created by Namine. The real Riku had no feelings for Namine.
The idea that things can be up to person to person interpretation is one of my favorite things in different media, the need to be correct really takes away from others perspectives and personal experience that reflect how they read stories
@kingdom I love sora
18:10 You forgot Barrett. Cloud canonically goes on a date with Barrett at the amusement park. 😂😂😂
Final Fantasy is not shy to gayness.
Is there anywhere you know of to see a literal translation of the Japanese dub of kh3?
Also if you haven't seen "constructing kingdoms" they also lay out a very compelling case for Soriku that kinda blew my mind at the time and made more sense than I had expected it to.
yeah, every other language its been translated into. the english one is bad.
@@inxine well I only speak English 😭
quick note to your translation rant.
not disney, but Square Enix northamerica. they handle the translation.
Nomura, for kh3 (since he was the one who wrote that game) specifically asked that the translation be as accurate as possible.
Nomura himself has alot of weight when it comes to kh, so much so that he plainely told them that he wont make kh3 if he cant use ToyStory.
so, not disney, but SE northamerica is to blame. they have had this sort of narriative since FF8, all the way to ff16.
also sidenote, im so fking glad i grew up bilungal (german and english), cause when i tell you that any other language, besides english, takes the japanese script and translates it into their language and how accurate those versions are, im so glad that kh1 and kh2 (only mulitlanguge dubbed versions in europe) came out the way it did for us, cause kh3 translation and the subs in other languages, dont even line up.
its such a fking mess that i understand your frustration. also, the fandom is toxic asf cause nothing else matters to them, but the english dub ha. dumb.
kingdom hearts is a rare fandom where the english dub is the version everyone holds sacred 💀
About the comment about Kingdom Hearts being a Biblical text, 7 of the pieces of Formless Darkness are named after the Deadly Sins. Pride, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, and Greed.
Also, X's are sigils, the kind used in Magic Spells. It makes you shackled to the conflict for the X Blade. It is also a Role in the Master of Master's Play that he locked down in his Magic Book and Omnipresent Eyes.
Which means that, yes, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, is metaphysical Gay Demon who feeds on Riku's guilt. And the Darkness grows.
I am that friend who won't shut up about kingdom hearts
This such a perfectly explained summary of the journey so many of us have been through with KH 💙😂 Thank you! Your take feels so honest and balanced, I'm grateful for it. I look forward to any new videos you make!
Oh I just LOVE your analysis 🤩 !! I always knew that Kingdom hearts was written more intelligently than I thought and I just wasn't either smart nor invested enought to assemble the pieces of the puzzle or decrypt all the subtexts, but I always loved watching videos or reading writings analyzing the universe of Kingdom Hearts, the events of each game as well as their subtexts and messages.
And I must say that your analysis and interpretation is one of the best I've heard so far 😃
ngl, describing ansem as ‘a literal gay demon’ absolutely sent me
To be honest, I was in the same boat as you with KH3. I felt so dissatisfied and let down. But I played the English translation. And it bugged me so much that there seemed to be this heavy focus on Sora and Kairi when she... Literally does nothing. Like, they didn't even seem to give her AI much care. I actually had a bug in my game where her AI glitched out and just ran into a wall the entire fight. When I tried to reset her AI by freeing her, she just stopped, did a 180, then ran across the field to start running into the other wall.
But after falling deep down the rabbit hole... Yeah. Definitely saved the game and series for me. Whether or not Sora and Riku get together, all the evidence pointing to Riku specifically being gay can't be denied. The fact that Nomora literally changed a scene so Riku doesn't smile at Namine anymore because fans started shipping them should tell you all you need to know. Nomora has never cared who gets shipped with who. Until then. Riku is his baby. And he wants his baby to be seen and not stuffed into a little straight bubble. And I love that.
I tend to not comment and just like your videos, but I wanted to say I do enjoy your Kingdom Hearts content! Honestly, I believe that Kingdom Hearts is only understood once people understand the social dynamic between the Destiny Trio in 1.
Also, I highly recommend watching Constructing Kingdom’s videos on the series. Especially the one about the series following the Heroine’s Journey instead of the Hero’s journey. It really hammers home why people are struggling to understand certain writing decisions!
Thank you so much for commenting
Comments like this are the reason I still make videos.
I have seen Constructing Kingdoms and I think I even talked about it in one of my Kingdom Hearts Videos.
I haven't watched them in awhile
Thanks for reminding me to check them out again
I do find it interesting how most of the time. The person who sora immediately wonders about is Riku. Not Kairi
When i was trying to explain kh to my friends is going to be complicated to cause i said ill stream playing and explain lore and trying to make sure none of my biased go in the explanation like yes im one of the people who think Soriku could be endgame (though i love Kairi not that i dont but she deserves better with how much she gets left behind by Riku and Sora. And when she obviously even in the journals in game has deep feelings for Sora but like he ain't committing to her like girl deserves better)
I watched the music translation and ive even been replaying the games and trying to translate the games with a group of people i just... there's so much story that people really just don't talk to characters or take what they say in non voiced cutscenes or the dialog of talking to them it sucks cause theres alot of blink and you miss moments
Im a straight male...and im so angry that you didnt name It, Kingdom Hearts Pride mode.
"Sora is a life boat for lonely hearts with no where to go." might be the best summation of Sora I've ever eard
God..........
Man. This is the video I would make, these are the level of words I would use, if I weren't afraid of getting backlash and/or ridicule from ALL parts of the fandom instead of just some of them lmao. "Nomura's a good writer, he's clever, but he's not some kind of Super Genius" No actually he is. "KH isn't perfect but it's way better written than people give it credit for" why are you still trying to coddle the homophobes. Kingdom Hearts is the greatest piece of fiction ever created
"It's not completely the translation team's fault, they were just going off minimal guidance and their own assumptions we can't say for sure they were being deliberately homoph-" I Can! Fuck Disney
Like I've never seen someone actually go unapologetically full throttle like this. Bless you friend 🙏🙏💖💖 Soriku Endgame Actually
Ok Social Justice Weirdo
Someone should make a mod (edit: to kingdom hearts 3) that changes the English version to have translations more accurate to the Japanese version, at least on PC.
Soriku timelines through and through no matter the bad or good they will always find each other and be together even if either of em disappear their love is infinite beyond a legacy that will be seen for a long time to come even if it ends
Rewatched this literally after watching it and might do it again while actually watching instead of listening since im so bored at work and I love this video.
Yep I'm back rewatching because I love all your points.
Oh and then the novels which are semi canon mainly due to calling things out before the games do so its like confusing trying to find out the lore when lore is in concerts now
Gotta say, I respect seeing you as a guy making videos like this. The vast majority of the homophobes I see creating content or being assholes in comment sections are men. Not to say I don't ever see women doing it, but men tend to be way more adverse to coming out of the closet or even accepting LGBT+ in others than women. I wish more men would advocate for the community to convince others its OK and they don't have to be toxic to avoid being outcast.
As for Soriku in general, I have a newfound hope because of FF16 having a canonically gay character. That means SquareEnix is no longer against the idea as they once were and are slowly yet certainly catching up with the times. Perhaps Nomura himself will eventually allow Soriku to happen, but it has to be at the right place and the right time so it feels like what we've been waiting for now just queerbait. Kingdom Hearts is secretly a large story about coming out (the key opens up the hearts true feelings as well as the closet door) and I hope it ends on a good note when the time comes.
Soriku endgame actually!!!
19:40
In my opinion as a bisexual who rarely puts his sexual values in games and watches trying to get a more universal meaning, and I'd like to hear what you think about it
kairy represents the straight
Riku the gay
And Sora the bisexual
Kairy loves Sora
And riku does too
And Sora is in between, loving both but not really understanding and we as players are waiting to see his choice and even if his relationship with Kairy will not work I think he still loves her in some ways.
The 大切な人 (Taisetsu-na hito) problem goes all the way back to RE:CHAIN OF MEMORIES.
In that game Aladdin says 「君も、大切な人に会いたくてがんばってるんだなって」or "You too, are trying your best to find your precious person"
He was literally comparing himself and Jasmine to Sora and someone else.
We can figure out who this is by the time in Re:Chain, is Namine introduced yet? No.
Sora knows Kairi is still safe at DI, Riku is the only option.
I highly doubt that Nomura was involved in localization and double takes of the KH Translations, as the earlier games particularly KH1's translation quality is awful at best.
love every word
16:48 actually tetsuya namora didnt write ff7 he was only the charicter designer the writers of the game are Yoshinori Kitase and Kazushige Nojima and 7 remake was written by Kazushige Nojima and Motomu Toriyama however he did direct it
I hope Ansem SoD's journal entry in the next game just says "literal gay demon" lol
Thank you for this video!! I appreciate you so much
Holy shit. Okay. That is. *Interesting*. (rips off my eyelids)
May I bog your curiosity with the peculiar relevance of the lyrics of Sanctuary to where the story is right now.
Or maybe that's just me overreaching.
Definitely not overreacting, Sanctuary is confirmed to be a song from Riku's perspective about the sleeping Sora.
A lil confused but you got the spirit lol I'm so glad you're learning more about KH through the SoRiku side cuz they got a lot of cool stuff that's just, like??? They actually understand how creating things work??
Tbh, I do think that up until kh2 era was over, Nomura did try to play the "pick your fav waifu" with Riku & Kairi, but I think when he finally got around to DDD, he seemed to have made up his mind: Riku. But being so harsh on SoRiku peeps for our biases feels a bit hollow, ig? Cuz we always get attacked for our views on the txt so ofc we're gonna double down & get loud about what we like & we have fun hanging out & talking about it!
& I won't argue about Disney's anti/queer stuff cuz. It's complicated. It usually just comes down to "if it makes money", & Disney's def starting to notice that queer do make money lol but I don't think Disney has been holding Nomura back with SoRiku when it comes to the translations for the games. I think that's Square Enix North America (SENA) playing that game cuz they make the same mistakes with Kairi in general. A big example is in KHMoM where Dreamnort confronts her. In ENG, she blames Xehanort for what happened to Sora. In JPN tho, she admits that she lacked the strength to save Sora. & the last scene where she decides to stay & train her own way is less jarring in JPN. Disney wouldn't make that kind of mistranslation. Disney is full on girl power, especially since the Renaissance. That isn't to say that they didn't push it in the past; cuz we just don't kno.
Anyway, sorry for the long reply! I'm glad to see your understanding KH improve & evolve! If ya ever wanna hang out & talk about KH stuff in gen, I love to infodump & dm's are always open lol I'm SunGuardian524 everywhere
"Person I've Given My Title To: What You Have Said Is Absolutely True. A Great Understanding Of The Creator's Design, The REAL Test Is To Fight One's Own Depression, If You Think You'll Be Well And Fine.
(Mostly Kids)
About the romance and shipping simulator in FF7, I always entertained the idea that Cloud wasn't just attracted to Tifa and Aerith, but also to Zack and Sephiroth as well (and vice versa, Aerith, Tifa and Zack definitly all love Cloud with all their heart, and Sephiroth always had this strange fixation on Cloud😅), so it's nice to know that this assumption may have been true 😃 and I could even say that Nomura may enjoy polyhip / polyamour 😄 or at least having one character being in love with more than one love interest at once.
And I always entertained the idea ot the polyship Sorikai too w🙃
Do you like MHA Baloney? It’s given me that same onion feeling and Horikoshi leaves messages behind too in that same way. It’s so hard to find people to talk about it with. Everyone only cares about the surface story and all I wanna do is talk about the things Horikoshi left behind but if I do that, people will think I’m nuts or hate me.
Another banger video!
I've been watching alot of KH content explicitly about Soriku vs Sokai here lately and while I'm convinced there's something there with Riku, I haven't been convinced that there isn't anything there with Kairi. Alot of these analyses seem to disregard alot of things that don't follow one narrative or the other. I think you get close to that when you say that multiple interpretations are valid, and I'm not saying they aren't, but I get something out of it that I don't see anyone else talk about. I don't think Sora is meant to be with either of them. I think Sora loves both Riku and Kairi but I think Riku and Kairi are IN love with Sora. When Sora says he doesn't get romance, I take it at face value. I think romantic love goes over his head while both Riku and Kairi are convinced he's meant to be with the other.
holy skeet i actually like Sora when i was a kid i connected to him but never played the games cause of set abuse happening if the KH team would add a character that could ask for a hug by Sora would make me so happy. with some sort of words of encouragement to the players for interacting with this one character with remember don't be afraid to ask for help no matter what.
I love your video❤
Even though the English dub is screwed, i never thought of them differently and I always felt that Nomura was the one to blame for forcing Sora and Kairi down our throat and i was so angry and confused because we have this beautiful relationship between Sora and Riku and then comes Kairi (i like her but she's cock blocking Riku heheheh) to ruin it all
Nah but Disney straight (hehe) up changing the animations to avoid using the translation of "special person" is SUPER SUS, like, ok, maybe Sora and Riku are just rwally good friends, platonic relationships ARE a thing, ask any aroace person.
But Disney isn't helping the queer accusations by censoring the whole ahh game.
were suposed to play the game 3 times well i gues i overstudied for most games...
i realy like this and you sound good and i like listening to you talk about my favorite franchise.
so i need to learn japanese
Especially for a Japanese PG series tied to Disney, a lot of the relationships are... "suspicious".
SoRiku and AkuRoku are great examples of that.
Localisation have always been an issue when it comes to subtle details and intentions....
Personally, I'm still not over the infamous "Aibou" controversy 😔
Good watch. I don’t like anyone forcing cis relationships on people. It makes me uncomfortable.
true love like sleeping beauty's true loves kiss
I’m heavily disinterested in Kingdom Hearts Ships, because they ship Sora and Kairi together when Demon Slayer fans don’t Ship Tanjiro and Nezuko together at all.
idk, i just feel like Riku is in love with Sora, but Sora is just oblivious. I mean, all throughout kh2 it was hinted towards Sora and Kairi's relationship. Roxas, who is literally Sora, was like "oh you're that girl he likes". He fantasizes dancing with Kairi after Jack and Sally romantically shared a moment with each other. So it's just hard to be like, yeah Sora realizes he actually loves Kairi when he still shares the paopu fruit with her after 11 years since their drawing in the cave. Honestly I like it better, its like a little tragedy you will always feel with Riku
Two points. First, Kingdom Hearts characters in the story are subjectively wrong about things all the Time. For example, Roxas thinks he doesn't have a Heart despite all the emoting he has been doing. Also, Roxas is part Ventus, and part Darkness, as well as Sora.
Second point. Sora imagines Kairi as her KH1 self. The one who, apparently in Sora's mind, is stuck in the Past. And it is prompted in the Japanese by Donald and Goofy, not Sora himself. And when Kairi and Sora reunite, it is awkward, and there is no music.
When Sora and Riku reunite, Sora is on his knees, crying as Dearly Beloved, the Theme of KINGDOM HEARTS, and the Source of Light, Darkness and Life plays in the Background.
@@Fragmentsinfractals488 thats fine, but when the minute sora knew kairi was in danger he lost it, and he began to spiral into doubts of uselessness. Ventus being apart of Sora has nothing to do with that intercross with Kairi. And saying Roxas doesn't think he has a heart also doesn't correlate with the fact he's carrying Sora's memories bc of Namine's interference. Riku is gay. Sora just gives me Riku is my best friend vibes.
That is because Sora hasn't gone through his true Darkness arc yet. When Riku goes through it, he basically discovers he is gay. Do the math.@@simsarethebest925456
Further, in Kh2, after Kairi is taken, Sora spend most of his time asking about Riku. Land of Dragons, Riku. Twilight Town, Riku.
In Kh3, Sora is constantly trying to call Riku, is disappoint when the calls are Ienzo, and doesn't try to call Kairi once.
In Yen Sid's tower in KH2, Sora when discussing Fighting the Organization literally forgets Kairi is part of the group until he thinks about it.
@@simsarethebest925456
Also, Sora looks super uncomfortable and very stilled during the entire paopuo scene in KH3, and doesn't even agree to it until Kairi says it is just a good charm, like the way it is for the Wayfinder Trio.
as a bi individual i always saw it as a 3 way love triangle sora is confused and cares about riku and kairi both alot. kairi loves sora and cares about riku. riku cares about kairi and loves sora. there all messed up from unfortunate circumstances and bad times and not being able to express themself properly. and i think what nomuras thought of the end of kingdom hearts is sora riku and kairi, are all on that beach keys in the sand embracing all 3 of them and it goes to black with a heart shaped hole around the trio destined to be together. the destiny trio. (and yes i mean as a poly relationship not just as 3 close friends)
So the problem I have is that there are A LOT of implications that Sora loves Kairi in a romantic sense that aren't subtext, and with Riku their close bond can easily be explained by the fact that they've been best friends since childhood and being gay wouldn't explain why Riku is pushing Sora towards Kairi both figuratively and sometimes literally.
Another problem is how homosexuality was portrayed in Japan during the late 90's and early 2000's, it was often played off jokingly even in media that's more explicitly gay (including the original FF7), and while Square had a ton of freedom, Disney still had creative control and could shut down any idea they deemed inappropriate.
i’ll be honest, riku being gay is a massive explanation as to why he keeps pushing sora towards kairi. it’s pretty well known that riku has a terrible opinion of himself, and believes he doesn’t deserve nice things (sora). it’s also a super common experience among gays to believe that there’s no way the person you like is also gay, so in a fit of self loathing, you push them towards an obvious straight choice (kairi) so that you can feel any sort of happiness by being the person who created a happy ‘couple’. it’s almost a trope at this point.
@@mistysilence2 there's no way that Nomura wrote Kingdom Hearts with that in mind, keep in mind this is early 2000s Japan and Disney, gay representation is either played for laughs, uses stereotypes, or not represented at all. Even in Nomura's own work on FF7, the gay stuff is something you have to seek out and isn't taken seriously at all.
@@abledkey i mean, that sort of assumes that in the early 2000's, no one in media at all supported gay people, which is distinctly not true. we had supporters back then, but you could only work within the confines of what was allowed by censors at the time, and to work within the confines was to make us the joke. if you didn't, then you didn't have gay people AT ALL. like you assume that normura used gay characters just as a joke, i'm going to assume he used gay characters as a way to at least have us be visible in some way, so that he could eventually work in people who weren't just stereotypes. i will say that this whole point is a bit moot, because nomura was/is a character designer, and had very little, if not nothing, to do with the story of FF7 or what characters were and weren't gay. he just drew them.
@@mistysilence2 I'm saying based on the time period, region it was made, and the companies involved, I highly doubt that they intended Sora or Riku to be gay without being done in poor taste.
I think there is a lot of good points here, but I don't agree it is a localization team changing words that completely change the story. The story is more than about identity, it is about the connections between people. Kairi is not there for no reason, there are two trinities of characters for a reason, they are both love triangles. Different kinds of love triangles, I would argue the subtext closer aligns with a more nuanced idea, the frustration and struggle Riku has with his feelings for Sora. I don't think it makes sense at all that Sora is gay, I think his whole breakdown in kh2 hen he finds Riku is because Sora cares for his friend, and doe not have the awkwardness he does with kairi, Riku teases sora about the Papou fruit because he knows sora likes kairi, he is not actually planning on giving it to her himself. Rikus struggle is finding his strength in the darkness, accepting sora does not feel the same but it his friend, that is strength. You have to bend over backwards to explain sora reciprocating, yes riku is likely gay but sora is not. The second trio is Aqua having to choose between Terra or Ventus, different kinds of men. The whol untold tale? Yea that is their original fallout before time travel
Nah lmao
No
Lmao look at this guy right here lmao
So many Social Justice Weirdos
"Make it lame and gay"
The REAL Ship is rokusora
Im gonna pretend you didnt say that...
Listen I love SoRiku and all, but kh3 is not about Riku, it is about Sora, Xehanort and the clash of light and darkness
Nomura says it’s about Sora and riku.
@@inferniiia he says the series as a whole is about Sora and Riku, but birth by sleep is not it’s about the wayfinder trio, whereas the series as a whole is still about Sora and Riku
Not here to be a phobic but why does everything has to révolver around a romance. Strong platonic love exist. Powerful, emotional friendships are important to a lot of people and needlessly making it romantic makes it loses it's weight. In general in fiction, when there's romantic tension, there's a bit of ackwardness and bashfull laughs and silences. The will to go far to protect one another. Sora and Riku are confortable with eachother because they both know where they stand. They have each other backs yes but they're no ambiguity nor secret desires. They're basically brothers with the occasional tease and belief they have in the other strengh. But to whoever replies, dont' give me the stupid paopu keychain argument. One, it's a keychain not the real thing. And two, Riku gives Kairi her keyblade who also has a paopu keychain and no one bat an eye at that. So in conclusion, it's nice for people to find forms of allegories but don't ridicule yourself trying to prove something with the weirdest reasons and rewrite canon however you like. And the worst part is, ambiguous friendships that may (keyword may) have romantic subtext exist already in this franchise : Lea & Isa and Xehanort and Eraqus.
Riku is not entirely comfortable about Sora yet. He has "something" he cannot tell Sora. Something that gives him Despair, as he tells Anti Aqua.
And Nomura is directly quoted as having secret thoughts put into KH3, and basically wants to see if you can find it.
About the combined Keyblade, Keyblades manifest directly from the Heart. So, The Combined Keyblade is direct Heart merging.
Also, "Dearly Beloved" is the phrase at the beginning of Wedding vows. It is also the sound Ideas Sora and Riku bring together in Dream Drop Distance that wakes the World , Symphony of Sorcery, and regularly plays when Riku and Sora are the main focus of a scene. Literally romantic. You don't Marry your friends.
Dearly Beloved plays when the Combined Keyblade with the Papuo appears in Kh3, and the Keychain of the papou is put directly in front of you with giant rainbow Heart Crown and the Light cuts the Darkness. Ta Da.
Further, the Kingdom Key is manifested to Sora directly from Riku's Light in his Heart. Direct from Word of God.
Also, in the novels, Riku and Sora both say they don't see each other as Brothers. Riku tried to, it didn't work. Sora looks at Ana and Elsa and thinks of Riku, but then realizes that isn't the dynamic. Something There That Wasn't There Before.
Riku and Sora's relationship is not yet defined by the series outside of them being best friends, but we are told within the games that Riku keeps a lot of things inside that he can't tell Sora. This is canon. Just as the other commenter said, Riku is not comfortable with Sora yet.
You are putting your own interpretation onto the Riku and Sora just as we are. You can't say with absolute certainty that your way is the correct way unless the canon confirms you're correct. As of now, Sokai is not confirmed by the original Japanese dialogue (which matters far more than the butchered English localization). Not even in KH3 when they ate paopu fruits together (they didn't share a single fruit like the legend described).
strong platonic love is literally everywhere this comment has "how dare people not agree with me" energy
@@pop-punkreptile5827 I don't mind the ship in fanon. What I do mind is how some are going off the rail to almost force it to be true in the games canon. The things I saw on Tumblr are insane : like someone said that Riku opened the door to Darkness not because he saw a tangible and sure to work opportunity to finally leave the Island (confirmed by Ansem because he possesed him), but because he saw Sora and Kairi have a moment on the dock and was jealous. Like what ?
Kingdom hearts is a great saga on friendship and connections. Even the most beloved ships that are very hinted are not even canon. Until it is confirmed in game, we can only take things with a grain of salt. Anyone can ship whoever, but we souldn't force it into canon. As for why I don't ship Soriku anymore (except for the fan-forcing), is because not only their friendship means a lot to me (My best friend, who is a girl, and I act the same way as them), but also they gives more Tulio & Miguel vibes than Bill & Frank vibes to me.
It's things like "Beast used the power of waking" that shows me how much head canon is truly stored in your mind. After worlds are lost multiple people, not just Sora, find their ways to different worlds usually on ones in-between realms like Traverse Town. Beast was just one of the people taken along for the ride. Since Belle is a Princess of Heart you can almost look at it as if he's her chosen Guardian since Princesses of Heart appear to have special powers nobody else can do. But that's just a guess. The simple explanation of "They get sent to other worlds if they survive" works well enough. Power of Waking is very specific to Keyblade Wielders. If anyone can use Power of Waking we'd have huge problems but this is meant to be a rare power even with Keyblade Wielders since it can literally break time and space if misused. I don't think Beast is doing anything that special. He either simply got lucky ( which is possible) or his thoughts in his heart really did help him. We can't extrapolate anything deeper from that. That's when it becomes fanfiction and we start using the story against itself by using things within it the wrong way. Sometimes you just have to accept it at face value. Like Mickey Mouse in DDD. Why does he recognize Sora despite being in a completely different world and story from his KH version? Because it's a Dream and Dreams are REAL but they're still a "Dream". Just accepting it at face value helps immensely in this complicated story.
i see you on every single soriku video spouting large walls of text full of nonsense. at this point i think you're obsessed with soriku bc i surely dont rewatch and leave long comments on videos i dont like like you do
??? Mickey did not recognize Sora in the dream worlds of ddd.
So weird the LGBT community hates characters like Ursula for their representation of drag culture but Riku plunging an entire World into Darkness because of his Gay feelings he doesn't understand isn't? Come on man....
One is an unrepentant villain and the other is a scared 15 year old who doesn't fully understand what's happening or the consequences of his actions (who then gets a very extensive redemption arc where he learns that what he did was wrong and how to grow past it). Also there's plenty of gay people that love Ursula LOL, we aren't a hivemind.
lmao you day the wildest one liners
Yoshinori Kitase was the primary writer for FF7 which was intentional because they wanted their newer writers to show what they got. Nomura helps with some ideas since he is the character designer but it's very unhealthy to attribute him as a writer when his first real big writing role was Advent Children. Which was Final Fantasy's first major successful film. Matter of fact it was the most successful animation in both Japan and America when it came out. So they're never letting him go now. But as for original FF7 story? He simply does the continuation of the story despite the fact the story itself was written to not have a sequel. Seems to be Nomuras specialty.
The thing with Riku being Gay is that it's tragic. That's why I don't like it. If it truly was about Rikus hidden Gay feelings then the Story is telling him he's wrong for having those feelings. How keeping them locked up ultimately helps everyone and how supporting Kairi and Sora's relationship ultimately makes everyone happier. That's why it being a Gay story doesn't work. It'd be Anti-Gay if that were true but Kingdom Hearts isn't Anti-Gay but neither is it pushing it. Riku is simply a person who feels like he deeply betrayed a close friend and holds himself accountable for his actions. Sora forgiving him makes him admire him more and why their bond is now truly close as best friends. Like it's pretty messed up the game he's trying to cover himself in Darkness people code as the most gay and when he comes back to light the say it's Anti-Gay. That's just seeing things you want to see because it makes sense in your head. Trust me a lot of fictional stories can have events or story plots tie into themes we perceive to be true but that's why you got to be careful on what's truly being said and what's meant to be open to interpretation. When writers say that they're really trying to say "I'm trying to appeal to Atheist and Religious folks". Hence the religious magical fantasy elements mixed with science. You can either accept it as the fantasy world it is or read it as living ideas and metaphors. Both interpretations work. That's why Final Fantasy is heavily coded from Star Wars. The mixture of fantasy and science is KEY to understanding every Square Enix. There's only so much the mind can comprehend when you just have to "feel it". Hence KH2 both being a literal fantasy story about people splitting into multiple beings or you can see that as a story about Nihilism vs Finding Your Own Meaning. Xemnas constantly talking about returning to nothing because all of life is just from Darkness while fighting friends who just simply want to be together. That's what "Open themes" are truly about. Religion. It's so obvious nobody needs to say FF is heavily coded in Christian ideology. Because they understand how to look at media.
People forget but The Hand of God saves Cloud in FF7 at the end but was shown to be Tifa. That's how make a scene with mixed themes. You can either see the religious symbolism or just brush it off and see it as Tifas light is what saved him.
If you have to question the sexuality of your own characters then that means it never mattered to the story because there's far more pressing story events to think about or you're just pushing a bias.
Get Woke Go Broke
Solo Lost Money
Sorikus are weird
And we will talk to you later
Sora and Kairi all the way 😊.
We'll have to see about that, cause at the end of KH3 Kairi is stuck at home training some more while Riku is the Knight in Shining Armor yet again and is off to save Sora.
@@asheisthebiggestproblem5266 Yozora is gonna save him and we’re going to be able to playa a him too.
Nah media literacy matters 😊
Tbh this is fixed with a polyamorous relationship, they all love each other and its ok.
But after Riku's strength was overwhelmed by the Darkness and killed them both the only thing keeping Sora existing was Kairis deep internal connection to Sora's Heart they had since KH1. She's always with him. Even in Death. You can't ignore that.
My this RUclips video was filled lies
Just because you don't want to hear it doesn't mean they are lying
@@user-mu1os7me8s just because you want to live in your sad lie is Pretty pathetic
@@tailsdoll2743😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Right full of lies and reaches. I'm starting to believe gays have no concept of friendship whatsoever and have to sexualize everything cause that all their minds can wrap around.
@@user-mu1os7me8s Ok Social Justice Weirdo
Yall act like you can't have a best friend without being sexually attracted to them damn lol
nah, its just that men and women cant be friends /s
Riku is gay video and many others like it miss context for every point.
The kh3 points are destroyed when you actually watch the cutscenes in order which includes context.
Idk if it was that video, but there was a point where Riku was talking to Mickey in rod early kh3. He says he got his power to protect what matters (his friends including sora) (ddd ending)
Then he also says "it's a secret" when he says he made a promise with literally showing the scene of where that promise was made.
The vid tries to say it was to sora.. but literally the flashback scene was terra talking to kid Riku telling him to make a promise not tell anyone what they talked about that day.
I gave benefit of the doubt for a second and watched these vids (and now they are being recommended to me) but no, it's like they say, the shipper community is always crazy. I'm one to just find it annoying on the surface and never diving in until now with any series.
Riku tries to save everyone basically just as much as sora which sora in kh3 basically calls all of his friends the light in the dark at one point in kh3.
Trying to rip out context just for the ship is annoying.
Nomura acting weird lately i think it just makes sense hes not good mentally, started kh3 when he didnt want to (he understood its disney choice tho and its his job), kh3 got hate, vs13 cancelled, having to work on multiple games.
I personally think namine, kairi and young xehanort will come back regardless of whag nomura has said. Its irrelevant if its sora and rikus story anyways, characters are still expanded and used in the series regardles.
Heres why these kh shippers feel like there is validity.. kh is a 'cringe' wholesome series about hearts and friends. It dives into it more than your typical shounen rivalry, which we all know every shounen rivalry has a ship community with 'proof'.
At the end of the day, rikus character will probably be tied to ephemer blood line story plot which is why he want to protect his friends and travel to other worlds plus connection to darkness. Itll be like naruto with indra and asura.
Yes its young xehanort that inspired riku, but im saying theres probably more to it via bloodline stuff considering YX is ephemer blood line.
In Dream Drop, in the correct translation, It is Precious Person. And it is called back in Kh3, twice. Precious Person singular.
In ddd when Riku is asked what is most precious to him, his canonical answer is “My precious best friend” aka Sora. So get over it, you’re wrong. When talking g to Mickey they are specifically talking about “strength to protect the person most precious to you”. Who Riku already said is Sora.
@@CampingforCool41 nope in the vid it tried to play off it in a special way focusing on the 'secret' as if Riku is trying to hide it, the secret was with his talk with terra which involves protecting his friends. (ship copium)
precious best friend means nothing for a ship, it's literally just shounen anime trope
Get over it? You need to get over your delusion that you are right. Idc if I'm wrong or right, you do, the thing is though I'm not wrong.
@@XFR18 ok have fun with kh4 👌
@@CampingforCool41 he uses 大切な人 (taisetsu na hito) it means precious person. It’s used in a romantic way.
If he wanted to say precious friend it should be 大事な友だち(daiji na tomodachi)
So just get over and accept it already. Love exists between people of the same gender and deserves to be shown on media.
Kairi actually has so much involvement in the story. She's purposely not around Sora because that's the ending of his entire arc. Living in peace with Kairi. If she was with him all the time you instantly bastardize the entire themes of KH1 & 2. Even when she's not there they flashback to her, daydream about her, and talk about her constantly. Riku is saving Sora because he was the villian. Objectively Riku in KH1 was a major villian who was responsible for many things happening. His redemption is through Sora. As soon as he abandons Sora his entire story falls apart and he appears as completely selfish. The whole reason Sora even had to sacrifice himself for Kairi was because of Riku. He owes them for life.
Bloodlines is a major factor in the recent story updates. The gay narrative actually get in the way of many MANY of the themes of KH and is why the LGBT community tries so hard to overwrite heterosexual relationships. They don't like stories that imply children are the answer. Because only heterosexual cis relationships can do that. It's always about the children
You talk about Subtext but ignore all the times children are heavily mentioned. You claim the final shot will be Riku holding his hand out as Sora embraces him but if anything it's going to "end" with Sora and Kairi having a baby.
Gay relationships don't work in stories about children. I'm sorry no one was blunt about it.
Dude....Wtf?
Gay relationships are not inherently sexual, same as hetero relationships. And the characters are teenagers, not 12 year olds. Romance tends to blossom around that age, it is perfectly normal to have sweet, innocent teenage romance.
You're the weirdo for suggesting that gay romance is wrong but that Sora and Kairi, TWO MINORS, will have sex and have a baby.
Then so don’t straight ones 🙄 get real asshole lmao and read the subtext
And saying it’s going to end w SK having a baby then saying soriku isn’t appropriate LMAOOO fucking gall
Square isn’t the kind of company to go woke .. I’m sorry. Riku is with namine
Fr
they literally changed a scene in remind at the end where riku smiles at namine BECAUSE people saw it as romantic and nomura hated that, riku goes to pick up namine FOR REPLICA RIKU
people like you disagree with sora and riku being together because they’re ‘just like brothers’ (even though in the ultimamania they both said they ARENT LIKE BROTHERS and have a different kind of relationship but don’t know how to describe it)
but the second riku just fucking glances at a girl and doesn’t want to murder her immediately you’re like ‘YEP THEYRE TOGETHER BC BOY AND GIRL HAHA’
tell me ONCE when REGULAR riku gave a singular fuck about namine and talked to her in a context that wasn’t about trying to save sora
@@bugcatx And with the Necklace Theory, Replica Riku only cares about Namine Because Namine rework his Memories. How did she do this? She place herself over Sora in his Memory. So, Riku Replica's instincts to protect his precious person (Sora) is connected to Namine by Darkness. So , even RikuNamine is actually Soriku.
So, the original scene in KH3 is a parallel to Riku and Sora in the Kh1 intro.
@@Fragmentsinfractals488 exactly! the necklace theory is so good, especially since apparently the ‘thank namine’ plot isn’t over yet, so there are more memories to be uncovered and more things to be said, and since the series revolves around specifically sora and riku, why wouldn’t it be something like that?
riku has always been very protective of sora and only spiteful and angry in the first game because sora seemed like he didn’t need his help, and that upset him-
there’s so much evidence for the necklace theory and even just scenes with sora and riku basically low key flirting but because they are two guys they are immediately brushed off as being a sibling dynamic while they would never say that about sora and kairi because it’s straight? even though post kh2 and kh3 mistranslations, he hasn’t even seemed REMOTELY interested in kairi as more than just a really close friend he grew up with(but because as i said, he’s a boy and she’s a girl, they’re automatically shipped because… why not i guess >:// )
Meanwhile in FF16: Makes a canonically gay character
It's time for you homophobes to stop. The world doesn't accept people like you anymore and that won't change.