EDIT: Thanks for all the new love and support! I apologize for the terrible audio quality but newer videos sound better! If you like what you see here and want to actually hear my voice, might I recommend the video right after this one? It fixes it a lot. You can watch it here: ruclips.net/video/D6Q19CFthC8/видео.html Again thank you all so much for the new support and love! Let's try to hit 1.5K before 2025 yeah? I made the thumbnail a little to hard for this video. If people want I may make another video on Sora's Darkness maybe how the forms work? IDK. But what's your favorite form in Kingdom Hearts?
My theory for why in rage sora keeps the keyblade and movement and even his party members is because unlike anti rage is a desperate last stand unlike anti which is offensive trading his friends for power rage is sora trying to protect his friends no matter the cost and that’s what I think risk charge is it’s him purposely harming himself so that he can get a power boost and his friends don’t get hurt and that final attack is him being unable to push it any further and instead cleansing the darkness while still protecting his party
The reason Sora wields his keyblade in Rage form is because he's purposely embracing the darkness in his heart, if u notice Rage form only appears if u have low hp while Anti form is a punishment for overusing the drives. Anti form is his darkness forcefully taking control (hence the animalistic movements) while Rage form is supposed to be a last resort if u have no ways to heal, its Sora controlling and using this darkness to his advantage. This may give him the added strength he needs to pull through at the cost of halfing his hp a maximum of 3 times
I actually have a headcanon about Rage in that after you use it shows up less, is because those inside Sora's Heart is trying to protect him from the Darkness. Doesn't make sense during the DLC after the story but hey it was a nice idea anyway.
Totally agree with that, loves how Nomura manage to tell the story through gameplay. Like CoM being a total mess to understand it's gameplay as Sora is trying to understand what's happening to him inside castle oblivion, or Days gameplay being some boring missions you're doing as you'd do a job waiting to spend some time with your friends. Also, about Sora and his Darkness, the more I think of it the more it reminds me of Naruto and Kyuubi's relation, the first times he unleash it he can't control it at all like anti-form and then he release it himself from rage. Maybe Sora will be able to communicate and "control" his Darkness as Naruto does with Kyuubi later on, that'd be hell of nice ! Also, you mentioned Sora's Darkness being what's left from when he turned into a heartless, but I've read things saying it could be a part of the Darkness that was inside Roxas in UX, so one of the True Darkness, it then became Vanitas but part of it would have ended into Sora with the Heart of Ventus. That would be the voice Sora hear, and only him (the one that's never voiced). In Re:Mind he hears it and it calls itself Darkness if I'm right. It explains more why Vanitas is physically Dark Sora.
I think these forms are foreshadowing how much darkness Sora has. I've seen some theories going around that Sora's the kind of person to keep a smile on his face when he's actually suffering. With everything he's been through, I imagine he'd have a lot going on, and to pent all that up would build up a lot of anger in anyone, hence him having "Rage Form". Hell, in Kingdom Hearts 4 he might even have something beyond Rage Form considering he doesn't have his friends with him to keep him in check.
I wouldn't be surprised. There is a saying that "The loneliest people Smile the brightest" Though at least in KH4 he's with Strelitzia so he's with someone that could help with that potentially.
Kh 4 is a great time for sora's darkness to be tackled. Something else to note is Sora had an unconventional recompletion from a heartless and nobody. With his heartless being morphed back into himself and his nobody being technically someone else and his and also did not get destroyed. This could imply Sora also along with his natural state and behaviour could have something else going on with his technical state of completion and non completion at the same time. I feel like a good hook for kh 4 might be for Sora to hint down his true heartless and nobody in a realm where they are not bound to him.
@@Themoo_atcows that's what I'm suggesting. I wonder where his actual nobody is though. They are likely both in him but since he hasn't completely recompleted he might be in trouble in unreality where the rules might be diffrent
@@glitchyfox8706 wait a second. I forgot he was in unreality. So he doesn’t exist while existing and not existing all at the same time… you know how that makes me feel? 🪣🪨🪨🪣🪣😭😭🪣🪨😂
@@MastaGambit that's the part that makes sora scary. 90% of the cast would've been overcome by darkness at that moment. Riku is probably one of the only others who could maintain their heart. But Sora not only stays alive, but keeps the use of his keyblade
Also, something interesting to note, during NG+ in kh3, you can go rage form in Sora's KH2 outfit and it has the anti-form markings. At first i thought it was an Easter Egg, till i noticed that none of the other form changes change sora's KH2 clothes, which makes me think Rage form is just Anti-form with Sora controlling it better
I'm surprised you didn't mention the only other relevant interview question in the video. "There's a form that appears called "Rage Form," which reminds us of the "Anti Form" from KH2. What is the setup behind that?" / Tetsuya Nomura: "The forms in this title are very different from that of KH2, so we decided to change all the names. Rage does indeed have characteristics that are reminiscent of Anti, but it's basically a separate thing setup wise. Anti is based on Sora getting completely stained in darkness, but Rage doesn't go quite that far. It's based on him going into a rampage state, controlled by feelings of anger." Basically just reinforces the point that Rage Form is more controlled use of darkness and that lets him use the keyblade rather than emulating being a heartless who is said that they cannot use the keyblade.
Kh2 sora is still "infected" by the darkness when he was a heartless so that dark power is more chaotic and untamed Possibly after working with Riku, his work to restore the sleeping worlds, and almost falling into darkness again, he may have found that balance is the key like riku says
I don't know if he's fully balanced given that he still goes into an almost heartless like look, but you can tell he has gotten better at handling it. At the very least he/the player is the one embracing the darkness to help win the fight. I like to think that also shows that Darkness isn't bad but rather who uses what power for what purpose.
Honest to god, anti-form has helped me win fights it really shouldn't have, such as fighting Xigbar. I think rage mode is just anti-form, but Sora has grown enough to have full control over himself in that mode.
Honestly i just figured Rage Form is basically Anti-Form, but Sora is subconsciously still clinging on to what little sanity he has while in it. Hence him still holding on to his Keyblade, using it to deliver the blows and attacks of darkness. Like you said, Antiform is him being completely consumed by the darkness in his heart, its why he acts animalistic, like a pure heartless would. While he still has cracks in his heart, he's not letting it completely consume him. Using it to his advantage, or as a last resort but he's nowhere in control like Riku, Terra, etc. Nice video and topic btw 👌
Sora's teacher's have been so far in the light they forget that no matter how big the light is, it will always cast a shadow. I.e Yen Sid telling him that Nobodies can't be trusted and that they have no real feelings while we all see that's not true. Not that they're good guys but despite having no hearts at first they are still people in some sense and writing that off isn't a good thing to do. Also thank you, I just wanted to sing the form's praises cause they're just cool!
@@KingdomCakes yeah facts. But to be fair to Yen Sid, Nobodies at the time of Kingdom Hearts 2, we're still kind of new right? Besides Xehanort turning everyone into one long ago, not that many people really dealt with Nobodies since they were always behind the scenes. Plus, the humanoid Nobodies just kept buying into Xehanort, or at that point; Xemmas's lies. They had no hearts at first, but very slowly developed new ones. But to them, it was probably just them thinking they remember the feeling since they had all their previous personalities, memories, etc. I think they only people who discovered that light and darkness should be a blend and exist together was kind of Riku and Mickey right? I mean I wanted to say Xehanort, but he used nothing but darkness.... for dark deeds as well lol. And Terra tried but completely failed. Sora knows this by 2 I believe, but he's so far on the light side he probably thinks "why bother?" However, he does use Dark Firaga with Riku in 2 🤣 And no worries, this was an interesting and entertaining video. And it is a great form, adds to the lore. In a way, I like that it's not really mention or brought up by anyone. I mean, in 2 it's mention in that mirror 🪞, and in 3 Xehanort forces you into it by stealing Sora's light, but it's always been a cool background element
My thought on the difference between the two forms is that in 3 Sora is older and more experienced, and thus perhaps has better control over the darkness in him
It makes sense. while the timeline between 2 and 3 isn't big, he still went through DDD so the Org putting him in the deep sleep may have helped while he with the control.
@KingdomCakes I think DDD might be a contributing factor. I've only played through it once, but I recall Sora experiencing Roxa's pain in some way. With that Sora would maybe be better at directing the darkness from pain like a shaped charge from an explosive, rather than the more feral loss of control seen in anti. That's my theory.
Anti-form is kinda like the opposite of Sora's whole persona. It's animalistic in nature, showing how he is letting his emotions control him and being blinded by the power. Because of that his attacks, while many in a short time span, are very weak. Rage form is Sora using these emotions as a power boost. Using such emotions like RAGE can give you imense power in the shortrun (especially as he gives up parts of himself for more power, lowering his HP). Although using anger in this manner where it turns into rage deprives Sora of the same light he uses in most battles. Thats why when Xehanort deprived Sora of the light he went into Rage form. Sora is still aware of what he is fighting for, thus the keyblade allows him to harness its power. He is still cognitively there, but he's showing a part of himself that many don't realize. Sora never depended on Anto-form, it was something he fell into when he lost himself. Sora does have the option to depend on his rage for when everything turns dark. When he is low on HP and morale is low, he switches to rage as an instinctive fighting chance. Think of it as a fight-or-flight reaction. Sora on his journeys has realized his own mortality and that his own strength may not protect the ones he loves or even himself. He takes on the burden of the world and when it weighs on him, he changes for the worse. It has only been temporary so far, but I think in KH4 we are going to see a much deprived Sora than before. He doesn't have his friends, he doesn't have his home, and he doesn't know where he is. Rage, Sadness, and all the negative emotions wills strike him as the foretellers test him.
That's a good way to look at it. I know that there have been times that someone's rage turned into darkness like Terra, although it was more so he gave into that side because of his rage. Not to mention the series has gone out of its way to show that being overly in one side isn't a good thing. With Master Eraqus being so far gone into the light he was willing to kill Ventus in order to stop the X-Blade being forged. Either way I hope we get to see more of this darker side of him in KH4.
That fight or flight part is part of my headcanon too, Rage is primal desperation for survival leading to the body overclocking itself with darkness, kind of like adrenaline.
My take about this : Rage form has some Unversed patern in his costume. And the Unversed are more link to negativity aka "RAGE form". For me negativity doesn't not mean pure darkness. This is why Vanitas and Rage Form Sora are able to use the Keyblade.
I think a part of it has to do with the fact that Sora in KH2 was fully against the use of darkness. For the darkness to overpower him and take over his body, even for a moment, it had to be particularly strong. I'd presume this influences how much it changes his abilities and personality. KH3 Sora, due to Riku, is less resistant to the darkness. And on top of that, he recognizes it's important for there to be darkness, so he's more willing to tap into that power. It's likely due to his acceptance that the darkness inside him becomes less of a cruel entity that's foreign to Sora in its entirety, and more of another side of Sora to be used when it becomes difficult to rely on the light.
His darkness wants to help light thrive, this darkness will confuse the fuck out of the foretellers and M.O.M. because of how rooted they are in their ways
I dont think It Will confuse the MOM, gazing eye already IS associated with darkness and luxu hás to have learned the corridors of darkness from someone The foretellers tho? When they see Riku, Sora and maybe even Terra they Will have a stroke
With what you said about Sora sacrificing his health in Rage Form to get stronger, I like to think that is a parallel to Sora’s arc in KH3. He wanted to prove to himself that he is strong enough to help and save others to the point of breaking the laws of time which ultimately got him banished from existence.
I’m gonna be honest I kinda like to go into those forms on purpose I just find them insanely interesting as if what happened when he turned into a heartless is hiding more then we realize I hope kingdom hearts 4 shows more of this darkness in sora
I heard some quote about The more light you have the bigger the shadow of darkness will appear Something like that And that represents sora Sora might have stronger darkness than Xehanort
Replace "sometimes" with "constantly" and you'd be correct. Most of these lore hypothesis videos forget one crucial thing: Nomura is a hack, and just writes whatever he thinks would look cool on screen for a moment before moving on. He doesn't care about consistency, constantly retcons his own retcons and has a serious hard-on for "plottwists". Kingdom hearts was understandable back in the day when Nomura didn't have FULL creative control over the franchise yet. The moment he did is the moment nothing made sense anymore, and flashy scenes with boring ass copy-pasted generic spikey haired anime boytoys became more important than good writing.
Okay, it's nice to see _someone_ finally cover anti form and rage form, because I've been asking in comments for years on several channels for that. That interviewer asked the _wrong_ question. Yeah, antiform is a leftover of Sora being a heartless in KH1, but it's so much _more._ If you want to make a proper video on the matter, have I got a yarn to spin for you. So, first off, lets discuss Shora. Can we discuss Shora, cause I been dying to talk about him. Roxas is Sora's _empty body,_ and Roxas is born after Sora turns himself into a heartless, in the sort of innocent, love filled way that only a child can sacrifice themselves for someone else. Sora, at this point in the story, is practically an innocent. The darkness in his heart is the immature fear and sadness of a child who has suffered a tragedy, but sees a solution and persues it doggedly. He _can_ bring back the Islands, he _must_ save Kairi, he _will_ beat some plain sense into Riku, with a clue by four if he must. So his darkness is _weak._ It's a little tiny Shadow whose instinct to consume is completely overwhelmed by Sora's intense desire to see his friends and Kairi to safety. And then Kairi does something, something I think none of the great thinkers of KH ever go back and deeply consider. She brings him back. She doesn't make him human, but she drowns that little darkness in her own protectiveness, and the innocent light of a child Princess of Heart transforms Sora's heartless into a being in the same category as Ansem the Seeker. A fully realized, fully intelligent being, shaped like how it once was in life. A human heartless. And this is the birth of _Shora,_ the other half of Roxas. I call him Shora because he is _H_ eartless Sora, Sora's Heartless, SHora. If Xemnas can mix in Xs, I can do it too. Shora saves the worlds, and in the deepest depths of the light realm's darkness, on the very border line between Light and Dark, Shora comprehends Kingdom Hearts instintively. Ansem has long overcome his instincts, rationalized away his obsession with Kingdom Hearts, is self assured in his proclamation that Kingdom Hearts is the primordial darkness. But Shora, newborn heartless who hasn't drowned those instincts in intellect and arrogance, _knows_ that Kingdom Hearts is Light, the Light Born from Dark, the great Light that all Heartless seek to consume. We all know that story, so let's move on to the part where Marluxia's plot to break Sora nearly succeeds. Remember, Sora was a Heartless for THE ENTIRETY of CoM. A being composed of heart (emotion) and darkness, wrapped in the protective loving light of a Princess of Heart. And Castle Oblivion was _torment._ Soulless emotionless demons with human faces physically and mentally and emotionally abuse, gaslight, torture poor Shora. His personality is broken piece by piece until nearly all that remains of Sora is protectiveness and loyalty. Sora's innocence is stripped by the events of Castle Oblivion, bit by torturous bit. And then? That chain of memories is broken. It has to be, in order to restore Sora's true memories and bonds. His true memories which are off galivanting around in a puppet named Xion, bonding with his body, Roxas. Eventually two become one, and Roxas gains a second keyblade. Eventually, Roxas is defeated and forcibly reintegrated with Shora. The need for Kairi's body shell fades. But the problem is that so much artificial mess has been made of Sora's being that he can't be reconstituted in the normal way. You can't simple defeat Roxas and Shora in combat, and remake Sora. So Sora spends the entirety of KH2 unknowingly puppeting Roxas, and only becomes whole near the end after he confronts himself. But he never confronts Shora. That being of darkness that Sora spent a year as, still.lives inside him, and the darkness from that shattered chain of memories persists. As Namine said, the memories don't vanish, they still exist, they just can't be remembered. So Sora's inner darkness has gone from a little baby shadow to something... Much worse. It's impossible to tell if anyone knows besides the Xehanort Band, what lurks inside Sora. Drive form consumes Donald and Goofy, and Sora isn't all there. But it's possible for other combat partners to witness the transformation. Hercules, and the FF characters could see it happen. The bosses might see it. Now, Sora's keyblade is a bit fickle. After leaving him for Riku, then returning, it left him again as pure darkness, and only returned when Sora was given the blessing of a princess of light. Here, Shora has no such blessing. Shora has no more shell of light between him and the outside world. Here, Shora gets to play _his_ way. And his way is bestial, flinging razor sharp claws and fast kicks and moving so fast he might as well be teleporting and firing off blasts of darkness. But Shora is different from wild Heartless in one key detail. He remembers the embrace of light and fights on the side of light. Now here is where things get nuts. Ansem, Xemnas, and Xehanort _notice_ how powerful Sora's darkness is. They corner him in the dreaming worlds, send him off course, and eventually he nearly gets Norted, lost to the light forever. And again, Sora is tormented in a side game and his darkness grows, but from being nearly norted, Shora picks up two tricks. Firstly, he learns how to properly share his power with Sora. Secondly, and more importantly, Shora learns from the Master Keyblader of Darkness _how dark beings weild a keyblade._ Which leads to Shora getting a massive upgrade in KH3, to Rage Form. And this is Shora at his most powerful yet, and his first canonical cutscene appearance. Xehanort makes the _grave mistake_ of forcing Shora to the surface and learns first hand what "the brighter the light, the darker the shadow cast" means, because Shora _spanks_ him and recovers Sora's light. Neither one of them is tolerating that "bad guy stealing portions of them" schtick anymore. In conclusion, Shora is Sora's improperly reintegrated heartless. In every side game staring Sora, he is relentlessly abused by the baddies and the darkness in his heart grows. You can see the progression of that darkness in the power level progression from little shadow to antiform and then rage form, when the darkness answers his call for strength. Shora isn't _just_ Sora, he's a partial being made of a piece of Sora like Roxas, and Sora will eventually have to confront and properly embrace Shora as part of himself.
@@KingdomCakes I just need this spread, I've been cooking on this topic for like two years now, ever since I got the collection on PC and I realized "hey, wait, isn't he still a heartless in this game?" and "Hey, wait, just because he can't remember Oblivion, doesn't that darkness still live in him?" Because every time I look up antiform, or rage form, or a character breakdown, no one is talking about this, and I feel like niche internet crazyman Theorizer talking about the ten billion crimes of Mort.
@Xahnel This post is great! You really got me thinking on this tbh! One thing that I realized is the Vexen fight in KH2 and how Vexen scans you then spawns an anti form sora. Not sure what to think on this but thought I'd be worth mentioning and see what u think on that detail.
A really cool idea would be for the KHUX protag to get anti form in, maybe, a later chapter of Missing Link, or it's hypothetical sequel, as they had enough darkness for a Dark Chirithy to be made.
Anti/Rage sora is one of the edgiest and badass parts of kingdom hearts. Its just so cool to see story through gameplay. wish in cutscenes they would address it. I get hollow ichigo vibes
Cool video! I always love little mechanics/details in games that hint at something more, like Anti-Form and Rage Form (it’s part of why I like the keyblades in Days so much, for example.) I like the idea that the latter shows a but of growth on Sora’s part! Definitely interested to see what they do with that thread going forward. Additional fun fact: Final Form actually reduces the Anti-Form counter significantly, which is really cool for the form Sora gains after accepting Roxas, seemingly showing that doing so strengthens his control over his inner darkness.
I remember my friend telling me you could purify the anti form into a green form which was a defensive drive form where all attacks had a guard and counter frame
My headcanon is that Rage form is Sora getting desperate to survive an encounter that he overclocks his body with darkness, and he is struggling to control solely because of the weight on his shoulders stressing him out, and he can talk but he's hard to understand, sounding staticy and demonic, but while in this form his anger comes out and he tends to snap at others in this form, while in this form he's in lessened but consistent pain due to it being an evolved Anti-Form, his fingerbones extend and contort into claws, since he still swipes with his other hand sometimes. It's primal desperation assisting him in controlling it, but still affecting his personality.
I consider rage form to be partially a result of what happened during Dream Drop Distance, where he essentially fell into darkness while he lost himself in his anger against the different aspects of Xehanort. And while he did come back from it, it resulted in him having more experience with his darkness, more particularly his rage. This would explain the differences between anti and rage form. While anti is him fully losing control to it, rage focuses only on a single aspect of it rather than all of it, allowing him to retain some of his aspects while in the form. This also adds onto why the carnival rides remove it, as they are meant to have a fun and light feeling, resulting in his anger for that time dissipating.
I like your theory on rage form, and would like to put forth my own idea as to why he keeps the keyblade in rage form. Sora has been shown to have an incredibly resilient and open heart capable of supporting others (Roxas and Ventus) along with being extremely empathetic and willing to accept someone swapping to supporting the light, so maybe he did something similar with his heartless form. I also believe that Sora would have gotten a keyblade on his own in time. On the night he was born he saved Roxas (the starting scene on Destiny Islands in Birth by Sleep), and then at the age of either 4 or 6 he sensed that Roxas’s heart was in danger again, reached across worlds (and possibly into the Realm of Darkness), communicated with Roxas, and gave him shelter and recuperation in his own heart. Sora seems to have an oddly strong light in his heart, I think that might become a plot point in the future.
Theory about rage form: sora's emotions go bat shit insane and he can't control them but he's still is consiuns and actually is aware of who's friend or foe
My current theory is that in Kingdom Hearts IV Sora may feel more desperate to get home to his friends and rely more heavily on Darkness as he has become, subconsciously, more attuned with it. In the final Xehanort boss fight in KH3, he "draws" out form while Anti-Form was more of a gameplay mechanic instead of a story element. Well, except for the fact that the chance of Anti-Form triggering is higher during boss fights and extremely higher during Organization XIII fights specifically. So, I feel like it is safe to assume that Sora's "darkness powers" are tied to negative emotions. I think the main mysteries that are meant to be explained and explored in Kingdom Hearts are Yozora's purpose and identity, the Dandelions, the Master of Masters' true intentions, why Sora's Keyblade seems to behave so bizarrely compared to other Keyblades and why was there a respective version of it in the Realm of Darkness, and Sora's darkness. Keep in mind. Ever since Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 (and I don't think this has been changed or retconned), when you become a Heartless, you are no longer you. If you have a strong heart, you may cause a Nobody to be created. If you have a very strong heart, you become a Nobody yet retain your human form, intelligence and memories. Sora became a Heartless, remained being still Sora, and was able to turn back to human thanks to Kairi. This may explain why Roxas and Xion are able to wield Sora's Keyblade and why Roxas felt alienated even with other Organization XIII members. It is because his creation was very abnormal. You could claim that Rage Form and Anti-Form are due to Ventus/Xion/Roxas; however, when Xehanort drawed out Rage Form in Sora, Ventus, Roxas, and Xion are already separated from Sora, which means it solely stemmed Sora.
I definitely see the difference as growth. Up until the end of KHII Darkness is largely portrayed as bad. Riku made use of it, sure, but it was generally because he had to. But in DDD, things changed. The Dream Eaters are made of Darkness after all and Sora worked with them well enough. By the time 3 rolls around, he's seen Riku channel it safely, worked with the Dream Eaters. He's starting to understand it's not all black and white. So if he needs his Darkness, he'll reach for it.
I think that in KH2 it's completely unintentional, but in KH3 he's kind of getting the hang of it. Like, he hasn't mastered his own Darkness like Riku has, but he has better control of it than he used to have. Going into Rage form is a choice (usually - Master Xehanort banishing the Light from him is an exception) and he still has the presence of mind to still use the Keyblade and most of his other abilities while in throws of Darkness.
Always thought rage form was the 'Unversed Form'. Since in BBS, Vanitas was the reason the unversed existed due to his channeling of negative thoughts, It may make sense that sora uses whatever manifested to fight Riku in TWTNW in KHDDD (That nightmare red eyed thing) Also all unversed have red eyes, and Square Enix 'eye' cannon is almost biblical by this point.
So I think a big of part of the reason why Sora has more control over Rage form as compared to Anti-form is because of his perspective on the darkness. His original view was pretty black and white, but by the end of KH2 and fighting with Riku, his view changed to more shades of gray, realizing that both light and darkness are necessary in the world they live in. So with this new perspective, he's more accepting of the darkness and is therefore able to control it better in KH3 than in KH2.
I've always thought about it like this. Anti-form is the darkness in Sora's heart overwhelming his body (which he regained when Roxas joined with him at the start of KH2) and instead of the form changing the way it was supposed to, Sora very nearly becomes a Heartless again. He can't use the keyblade here because he is overwhelmed by his own darkness. After confronting Roxas near the end of KH2, it becomes possible to trigger Final Form in the same way that Anti-Form is triggered. Like Anti-Form, the trigger is not controlled. I see it as a sort of "breakthrough" where the light of both Sora and Roxas's hearts have fully synchronized, allowing Sora to fight with the full light of two keyblade weilders who have become one. Then comes KH3... but of great importance is the role that Sora's darkness takes in Dream Drop Distance. Organization 13's real plan here was to get their hands on Sora by forcing him to succumb to the darkness in his heart. Riku manages to stop this, but I think that this is kind of the "door" to Rage Form that has been opened. Sora is now connected to, or in touch with the pain and rage in his heart. He can still use the keyblade here because he's not overwhelmed by the darkness... but he is using its self-destructive power. It's kind of like what happens to Terra through Birth By Sleep, and I don't think it bodes well for whatever Sora will have to go through next...
One thing that caught my eye was KH2 dark form sora's animation when hanging off a ledge.. It's just weirdly cute seeing him hang like that, looking around casually.
Thanks! After trying to actually look at small details for an upcoming video I started learning more and more things about this game too. I love coming back to any game and noticing details I might of missed the first few times.
I think Sora has been amassing more and more darkness as the series has gone on, as seen when it starts to boil over in the keyblade graveyard breakdown. If Re:Coded is the foreshadowing that I think it is, then the giant Darkside shown in the KH4 trailer might be from Sora. Anyways, I really hope Sora and/or other characters explicitly bring up Rage/Anti form in the next game.
Meow Wow PFP spotted. Absolute respect gained from me. As for the trailer it's quiet possible. Though I do wonder about Strelitzia, it could be connected to her as well. Probably not given what we know, heartless started coming in when Sora came to Quadratum. We'll just have to wait and see.
One thing that I love about Anti Form is the parallels it have with the form that taps into Sora's light the strongest: Final Form. You see, if you pay attention to Anti and Final Forms combat, their attacks and combos are almost a mirror to one another, just one using darkness tendrils and the other using two keyblades and an abundance of light.
Man... My first antiform was in 'The world that never was' Square. I went nuts, we thought it was all linked to those scenes with Riku and Roxas for years... Nostalgia, thank for you for the memberberries.
When you think about it, Anti and Rage form really make sense. The closer you are to light, the bigger your shadow grows. And knowing how much light Sora has, fair to say his darkness must match.
Videos like this has me imagining Sora having a full in cannon berserker moment where someone else has to bust him out of it. Its also in Quadratum, effectively the real world. So I could imagine significantly more brutality.
When i replayed Kh2FM, i realized there's a lot more overlap with final form's animations and combo attacks with antiform than i expected -- add that with the mechanics of gaining the form and it seems to line up with a story of gaining control over the darkness within, which would explain the design of "3's dark form has to include him having more control". Makes it so i wish 3 had more storytelling in the mechanics (more than just including flowmotion and gradually acquiring movement abilities, and that ReMind didnt just dump all of the patched-in abilities at the end)...
I love these forms and I just love how Raw anti form is, but rage form lore wise (according to Nomura) is just Sora being really pissed but having more control over the power since he's grown I love it so much. Its in one of the interviews with him
Anti-form was my favorite in KH2, and I would purposefully go out of my way to go into it as often as possible. Fun fact: At least in the PS2 version of the game, you can force the transformation to happen if you time your form change with an enemy hitting you (at least, I'm pretty sure that's how it worked. Been a while since I played). Needless to say, once I figured that out, it was pretty much the only form I used form then on.
Rage form should've unlocked a second form like other keyblades do in the final fight, except it doesn't have a risk charge, and sora DOES get rid of the keyblade in that state, unlocking a more anti form kind of state while randomly shooting dark versions of spells and wisps that come off him are like chains which whip around him. Idk i just think anti is cooler in some ways, and rage doesn't feel like an upgraded anti just something else...
The drive forms were implemented in a way where antiform could go unnoticed until the very end. You build up anti points with each use, which affect antiform probability , and they reset once a new form is introduced. Or lower the tally if antiform is reached. The growth abilities are also tied to the drive system, so it brings the temptation to abuse it.
“Leftover darkness within his heart.” Wow! Thanks for sharing that in the video as it’s the first I’ve seen or heard of it. I love learning more about the characters in this game!❤ So his anti-form is different from when he transforms into a heartless. And he does look and act very not in control and almost animalistic compared to every other form. I wish there was more story of this form; like in the manga or the big game books. They could have put in more details about why this happens to Sora. But the mystery leads to rapid fun discussions and theories among the fans, and I know companies do this with some franchises to get that engagement. Though maybe it’s a bit unintentional. Sora in rage form is so awesome. And I do wonder if Nomura was thinking of adding Anti-form and taking a step back from that and considering how much Sora has grown to now give him more control of those darkness powers. And I like that theory of Sora being more in control and I do feel he has control of that darkness when in rageform.
I dont remember where I heard this but it's always stuck with me where, the brighter the light the longer the shadow you can cast. So Sora's darkness is a really interesting concept.
I'm not the best at kingdom hearts lore but heres my theory, maybe its somehow linked to Sora's drive forms? The anti form obviously didn't have any markings or color, just pure black, while rage form looks like some kind of dark drive form (triggered by tapping into darkness/rage) Due to the markings on his clothes and there being more color (although just shades of dark blue) while also being able to make out his features better. As far as i know all we see of anti form Sora's face is his yellow eyes. And honestly the first time i used rage form i instantly thought of the drive forms. Just a small idea, I dont really know where to take it though.
What i appreciate about Anti and Rage forms is that from a gameplay perspective its reminscent of Berserker type fighters, hard hitting, high risk high reward. Also from an FF perspective its a lot like Dark Knight job you see in Tactics, X-2 and XIV, tapping into the power of darkness to fight the evils of the world (IV Dark Knight i tend to associate w Riku)
Anti and Rage form are really good mechanics that help balance out the game in an interesting way. It's just a nice bonus that they are badass as hell.
Somehow in my first playthrough, I used drives ALL the time, loved em, and yet I never encountered anti form until the boss fight with Xigbar and I was totally surprised.
Actually, nomura answered the difference between anti and rage Rage for is less "Dark" compared to anti form. While the former represents Sora's darkness, Rage Form is solely his anger. So sora darkness react to his Rage, it doesn't control him compared to anti, he just so angry that the darkness come out to say hello
The Anti Form counter works like this: Valor, Wisdom, Limit, and Master forms adds a +1 it and maxed out at 10 and increases with fighting Org 13 members while Final reduces it back to 0.
Contextually, I like to remember what DiZ says to Roxas before he gets assimilated into Sora after KHII's prologue. "Give some of that rage to Sora." At this point, Roxas isn't fully on board with whats going to happen to him, even fighting for control against Sora when he enters The World That Never Was. He's avidly refusing to helpSora by giving him his rage, and instesd trying to use it for his own ends. After his battle he does give in slightly to Sora, and ends up giving him the Two Become One Keyblade, which allows for some control in the idea that it allows Sora to access Anti-Form on purpose due to its unique properties. Roxas gave Sora some control over his darkness. However, by the end of KHII, he gives into being part of Sora now entirely at a point where you can no longer end up in Anti-Form. Inbetween 2 and 3, Sora and Roxas in DDD, as well as Data Sora and Data Roxas in Re:Codes, for whatevr thats worth, have encounters that I believe are even deeper than just acceptance. These moments are when I feel Roxas tries to allow Sora to have his sorrow, and his rage. This works even better if you consider Roxas has an equal control over darkness and light we don't see in many, if any, other characters in the series. Therefore I believe along with his rage, Roxas also gave Sora a deeper understanding of how to control darkness alongside it, allowing Sora to access Rage Form in KHIII.
Last year I remember watching the video talking about the anti and rage forms. Technically Sora was still a heartless until kingdom hearts 2 beginning. Just one with its human form because of Kairi. So u can see it as a side effect of that. The video I watched last year had a quote saying that Sora took inspiration from Riku and how he controlled his Darkness to use it as a power to protect people. So Sora practiced and did the same with his darkness. He's see it as just another power to protect his friends. I don't if that info was pulled from the manga or from the developers. Since I can't remember the name of the video. It's why Sora has so much control over his rage form, remember rage doesn't mean evil. His rage steams from people constantly trying to harm his friends.
@bk2yu I hear it low too on Firefox. Could be a browser thing cause on Oprea and mobile, it sounds fine. Still new to making these videos so who knows. 😅
I think is an actually nice subplot to Sora's story we've seen being developed even in front of ourselves without mostly being quite obvious to most people. Specially the ones that still havent understand the whole story. From the story of KH COM, the ending of KH2 and the story of KH3 (Not to mention the very hints that evem Sora showed like when he was just talking to Donald and Goofy and then tried to make a joke to hide that feeling "Unforgettable, just like your face") we can see a situation about Sora's Darkness. And even I would say it's a special case. Because Riku had darkness before but now he has overcome it in KH DDD and even I would say that Aqua despite being in the realm of Darkness and becoming Anti Aqua is not worse than the case of Sora. Cause the darkness is still growing on him. I wouldnt be surprised if in KH4 Sora doesnt only deal with that situation again but the very darkness about him will become a quite relevant story arc when the entire Lost Master Saga reaches its climax (Maybe in a potential KH5 or KH6 lmao)
I heard a theory from someone that the red orbs that come out of Sora when he uses risk charge are Roxas, Ven, and finally Sora's heart. As if he's willing to sacrifice anything, including the hearts he's protecting, as well as his own, for power.
Sora's theme through the Kingdom Hearts series so far was him slowly getting pulled under by the darkness surrounding his heart. Each bad thing that happens to him or his friends is slowly drowning him in hate, anger, and sorrow. If things keep going, he will likely be pulled under entirely, unable to come back. In all likelihood, KH4 or the new arc as a whole is going to be the conclusion to that very plot point.
my headcanon has always been after KH1 when he became a heartless momentarily something was left to linger in his heart. the whole sora is connected to everyone in some way type of thing, and rage form is just him without the light. if sora wasnt a light hearted hopeful individual, everything hes gone through since KH1 would make him pretty mad.
I think of Rage form being an evolution to Anti. With Anti, he looks a lot like a Shadow and his movements are of a bloodthirsty animal, and with Rage, he can use his keyblade, he's not as animalistic and gains power similar to the Darksides, almost like as he got stronger with the light, he also became stronger with the dark. Then again, the brighter a light is, the longer the shadow it casts.
Anti Form is not exactly a form, but rather its his way of thinking. As full of light and bubbly Sora is, he does have some obvious insecurity issues that leads to someone as super powerful as him to be a bit corrupted for a short time when controlled. Anti Form constantly looking around as if hes searching for something... maybe his friends in which Donald and Goofy vanish, hell hes literally experienced them ditching him because of King Mickeys orders and his constant mission of having to rescue Kairi over and over so its partly her fault. And when he attacks almost like hes angry, its like he gone Feral, a mix of confusion, anger, sadness, the entire makings of Darkness. He even does start fist fighting if hes angry enough, abandoning his literal ultimate weapon just to throw hands, yeah Ide say Anti Form make sense... but Sora will bounce back eventually as his light is far stronger than his dark thoughts. As time went on, hes shown to still have the same issues, even breaking down and crying when Kairi got snatched... AGAIN.
I think both forms could be tied to an emotion of desperation. Activating forms in KH2 fully restore your life bar while also powering up Sora in some way. And since using Form is tied to a limited resource you need to build up, one tends to use it as reaction against being overpowered by the forces of darkness. It also ties neatly to Rage Form. It is a form available for Sora to activate only at low HP or when seemingly overpowered by the Nort to rule all Norts wielding the Keyblade to rule all Keyblades. In both forms, Sora doesn't necessarily have an at-will activation, but rather demands conditions which inherently can be tied to desparation for more power, even if it means accessing the darkness within him. Anti form could be explained with Sora still trying to get familiar with his new powers, unknowing of the darkness within being an option (which also explains why he has no Keyblades equipped) while Rage is him knowing where to channel his desire for power when he's running out of options.
My headcanon is that Armoured Ventus Nightmare unintentionally taught Sora how to utilize the darkness instead of being enveloped by it. Hence why both of them still use the keyblade, but look almost the same. (Minus the nightmare symbol on Ventus)
My theory about Anti and Rage: 1. Anti-Sora is like name says: something that is opposite to Sora. He is weakened and strongered by Darkness self. In this state his mind go off, he cannot yet control it like Riku does in this moment. So, this is how he's weakened: he's something like empowered Shade Heartless or Neons. Reason is just simple: he became Heartless, had all that challenges in Castle Oblivion and goes to sleep. He didn't have really time to master this. So Anti-Sora is just his darkest, deepest darkness, feral and mindless puppet. + forms was just new gift, he needed to find a way to use it properly. So he does all the time. Why no Keyblade here? In KH1 it's sayed (I don;t remember by who, probably by Riku in Hollow Bastion) that Keyblade is drawed to strong and stable Heart. As Anti-Sora is sorta opposite of strong and stable Heart (especially second one) he cannot summon it. 2. Rage Sora is like lvl2 Anti-Sora where he learned how to become more stable and less feral. This is why he can summon Keyblade. Just like that. More practice = more knowledge how to "behave". How to overcome that Darkness like Riku did. So he got ability to summon Keyblade.
Only time I ever learned about Antisora was at Yensid's tower. Every time I transformed inside, it always was that form. Rarely anywhere else. Only 1-3 yimes in Mulan's map near the ruined village and cave.
This may have been foreshadowed all the way back in... I think KH1. (Paraphrase) But be careful, the closer you get to the light... the deeper the darkness *cue Darkside* Sora has an overpowered dark side (literally, we have the classic anime protagonist stages, berserker in anti-form and more in control berserker in rage form) and it may be a central conflict of kh4, Sora coming to terms with it and embracing the power to wield light and dark perfectly together. To bring balance to the for-, I mean, world
I got a theory that by ReMind Sora can now use the Darkness more efficiently in the form of Dark Form, with Rage Form basically being the risker, stronger upgraded version of that form
Well remember what the first game said The closer you get to the light the greater your shadow will become So if Sora has a lot of light then he must have a whole lot of darkness I like to think of Sora as a pure heart and what they say in the first game pretty much spells it out The closer you are to the light the more the darkness grow stronger
Anti-Form being power and darkness overtaking for a second while he defeats enemies seems obvious enough, but I imagine Rage form still has a keyblade because he's probably a lot more experienced. While Anti is like a berserk adrenaline accidental form, Rage is more of a conscious approach to make a risky play. Sora accepts the darkness within him, and thus, still retains some of his light while consumed.
Given that Sora is forced into Rage Form after Nort "steals his light," Sora is one of the single strongest characters heart-wise. He had no light in him, yet both rejected becoming heartless, or losing access to his Keyblade. When Aqua was consumed, she lost the ability fo summon hers. Sora didn't
My theory is that in KH2, Sora has Anti form because he was still affected of becoming a Heartless, as well of this being a side effect of him being incomplete, (Roxas, the more refine and tamed part of his darkness, the other more unstable part being nightmare Ventus) When Sora reunites with Roxas he's able to keep his darkness at bay, that's why we don't see him use it (or it use him) in the next games. Then in DDD Riku defeats the more unstable darkness in Sora's heart (nightmare Ventus) and with that out of the way, Sora can now control his darkness, making Rage Form. And at the end of KH3 in the final battle, i belive that Xenaroth tried to make Sora a Heartless by taking out his light, and he technicaly did, just that it was Sora in control of his darkness. This doesn't mean that Sora can use darkness now, I see this form more like the Dark Riku form from chain of memories, he has the power and some of the control, but still pretty animalistic to be considered a good transformation.
For the Xehanort fight I feel like it was a trigger. Xehnaort sapped all the light most of thr light out of Sora, so in a moment of desperation he turned into Rage form. Leaving thatvlast bit od light still in him to not be split like Ventus. He doesnt turn back till he get all the light back because then it is safe.
Drive forms compared to Command Styles -he can't keep them up, he can't even activate them w/o enough focus to do so and he always have a chance of it going sideways and bringing out Anti-Form... So he learned when to take the gamble and when rather not... And Anti-Form? He weaponized it into Rage Form because whatever works - works
I wish these forms would be acknowledged within the story. It seems like it should be a bigger deal if Sora's friends witness him be overcome by darkness in the heat of battle.
Anytime somone talks about and shares a new insight into these forms, i must indulge my kingdomhearts2/ dmc3 inner edgelord teenage self. Devil trigger and drive forms will always be cool
So I have some extra lore stuf... and a hot take. For the lore, remember that the Heartless move by instinct. They chase after hearts mindlessly. They're kinda like zombies in that regard. So it makes sense why Anti Form is so feral. The darkness from that transformation in KH1 is seeping up and clouding his judgment. As for Rage Form, there was an interview with Numora a while back where he did say that Rage Form is what happens when Sora gets extremely angry. So it makes sense that Rage Form can be activated manually, as Sora is choosing to give into his hate instead of keeping his composure. As for the hot take: I don't like how Anti Form is handled. I think it's an unnecessary punishment. Drive Forms are already tied to a resource, AND half the fights don't let you use most of them because you need your party members. It's extremely frustrating going into a boss, having it fail, then having to die so you can go back and purposely waste your Drive JUST so you can use the game's main fucking mechanic. It would have been a lot better if Anti was instead a punishment for using multiple Drives in a single fight (and having the counter reset when you exit a fight), rather than it being just in general.
> Be Me > Playing critical mode for the first time > Fighting Xaldin at Beast's Castle > Attempts to use drive form > Gets Anti-Form > Scrambles around like a maniac desperately attempting not to get skewered. Good times.
He goes into antiform before fusing with Roxas, after the fact he gets final form which resets his anti counter. Basically he's come to grips with the darkness in his heart and can work with it, rather than it having to take over. EDIT: Then there's that whole cutscene in Re:Coded where he (well, a form of him) directly accepts the darkness when it has literally nothing to offer him except pain. If that isn't coming to grips with your shadow than I don't know what is. It's probably the first time in the entire multiverse that the concept of darkness has ever felt anything even approaching love so naturally that would put it at odds with the the rest of the world which just lashes out out of loneliness. Nobody said darkness has to be evil, and Kairi hugging Sora's Heartless was the first act of breaking that chain of abuse in a universe of contempt and malice between both domains.
0If you compare the two forms side by side, rage form has more reddish color with yellow rather than just yellow. Just a neat tidbit I'd share. Edit: I was referring to the eyes.
![7 Hardest Summons To Obtain [Commenter Edition]](/img/1.gif)
EDIT: Thanks for all the new love and support! I apologize for the terrible audio quality but newer videos sound better! If you like what you see here and want to actually hear my voice, might I recommend the video right after this one? It fixes it a lot. You can watch it here: ruclips.net/video/D6Q19CFthC8/видео.html Again thank you all so much for the new support and love! Let's try to hit 1.5K before 2025 yeah?
I made the thumbnail a little to hard for this video. If people want I may make another video on Sora's Darkness maybe how the forms work? IDK. But what's your favorite form in Kingdom Hearts?
Might sound cliche, but, Double Form. That form slaps so hard.
@@dev1ljuce352 Double Form is cool! I'm a huge fan of the colors of Ultimate and Final Form myself which make them my favorite.
@Burger_pants I think it was too much noise removal from Audacity. It's the only thing I could think that would cause that.
My only problem with this, is your mic is very low. But great video!!
My theory for why in rage sora keeps the keyblade and movement and even his party members is because unlike anti rage is a desperate last stand unlike anti which is offensive trading his friends for power rage is sora trying to protect his friends no matter the cost and that’s what I think risk charge is it’s him purposely harming himself so that he can get a power boost and his friends don’t get hurt and that final attack is him being unable to push it any further and instead cleansing the darkness while still protecting his party
The reason Sora wields his keyblade in Rage form is because he's purposely embracing the darkness in his heart, if u notice Rage form only appears if u have low hp while Anti form is a punishment for overusing the drives. Anti form is his darkness forcefully taking control (hence the animalistic movements) while Rage form is supposed to be a last resort if u have no ways to heal, its Sora controlling and using this darkness to his advantage. This may give him the added strength he needs to pull through at the cost of halfing his hp a maximum of 3 times
I actually have a headcanon about Rage in that after you use it shows up less, is because those inside Sora's Heart is trying to protect him from the Darkness. Doesn't make sense during the DLC after the story but hey it was a nice idea anyway.
@@KingdomCakes Hey that makes perfect sense, this is KH so anything can happen 😂
Totally agree with that, loves how Nomura manage to tell the story through gameplay. Like CoM being a total mess to understand it's gameplay as Sora is trying to understand what's happening to him inside castle oblivion, or Days gameplay being some boring missions you're doing as you'd do a job waiting to spend some time with your friends.
Also, about Sora and his Darkness, the more I think of it the more it reminds me of Naruto and Kyuubi's relation, the first times he unleash it he can't control it at all like anti-form and then he release it himself from rage. Maybe Sora will be able to communicate and "control" his Darkness as Naruto does with Kyuubi later on, that'd be hell of nice !
Also, you mentioned Sora's Darkness being what's left from when he turned into a heartless, but I've read things saying it could be a part of the Darkness that was inside Roxas in UX, so one of the True Darkness, it then became Vanitas but part of it would have ended into Sora with the Heart of Ventus. That would be the voice Sora hear, and only him (the one that's never voiced). In Re:Mind he hears it and it calls itself Darkness if I'm right. It explains more why Vanitas is physically Dark Sora.
@@HetalMariusbut sora hear the true darkness only because he was inside ventus and because these darknesses have a mind of their own
@@HetalMariusYou mean Ventus in UX, not Roxas right?
I think these forms are foreshadowing how much darkness Sora has. I've seen some theories going around that Sora's the kind of person to keep a smile on his face when he's actually suffering. With everything he's been through, I imagine he'd have a lot going on, and to pent all that up would build up a lot of anger in anyone, hence him having "Rage Form". Hell, in Kingdom Hearts 4 he might even have something beyond Rage Form considering he doesn't have his friends with him to keep him in check.
I wouldn't be surprised. There is a saying that "The loneliest people Smile the brightest" Though at least in KH4 he's with Strelitzia so he's with someone that could help with that potentially.
Kh 4 is a great time for sora's darkness to be tackled. Something else to note is Sora had an unconventional recompletion from a heartless and nobody. With his heartless being morphed back into himself and his nobody being technically someone else and his and also did not get destroyed. This could imply Sora also along with his natural state and behaviour could have something else going on with his technical state of completion and non completion at the same time.
I feel like a good hook for kh 4 might be for Sora to hint down his true heartless and nobody in a realm where they are not bound to him.
@@glitchyfox8706 so what you’re saying is Sora even more in a state of existence and non-existence then Nobodies?
@@Themoo_atcows that's what I'm suggesting. I wonder where his actual nobody is though. They are likely both in him but since he hasn't completely recompleted he might be in trouble in unreality where the rules might be diffrent
@@glitchyfox8706 wait a second. I forgot he was in unreality.
So he doesn’t exist while existing and not existing all at the same time… you know how that makes me feel?
🪣🪨🪨🪣🪣😭😭🪣🪨😂
I always thought when Xehanort drained the light from Sora, he activated Rage Form either consciously or on instinct as a self defence mechanism.
I think it was a bit of both because after using dark Sora's unique finisher on Xehanort, he changes back.
I thought it was pretty obvious that Xehanort stole most of Sora's light and that Rage Form was supposed to be what was left of him.
@@MastaGambit that's the part that makes sora scary. 90% of the cast would've been overcome by darkness at that moment. Riku is probably one of the only others who could maintain their heart. But Sora not only stays alive, but keeps the use of his keyblade
Also, something interesting to note, during NG+ in kh3, you can go rage form in Sora's KH2 outfit and it has the anti-form markings. At first i thought it was an Easter Egg, till i noticed that none of the other form changes change sora's KH2 clothes, which makes me think Rage form is just Anti-form with Sora controlling it better
I'm surprised you didn't mention the only other relevant interview question in the video.
"There's a form that appears called "Rage Form," which reminds us of the "Anti Form" from KH2. What is the setup behind that?" / Tetsuya Nomura: "The forms in this title are very different from that of KH2, so we decided to change all the names. Rage does indeed have characteristics that are reminiscent of Anti, but it's basically a separate thing setup wise. Anti is based on Sora getting completely stained in darkness, but Rage doesn't go quite that far. It's based on him going into a rampage state, controlled by feelings of anger."
Basically just reinforces the point that Rage Form is more controlled use of darkness and that lets him use the keyblade rather than emulating being a heartless who is said that they cannot use the keyblade.
oh this clarifies a lot :o
Kh2 sora is still "infected" by the darkness when he was a heartless so that dark power is more chaotic and untamed
Possibly after working with Riku, his work to restore the sleeping worlds, and almost falling into darkness again, he may have found that balance is the key like riku says
I don't know if he's fully balanced given that he still goes into an almost heartless like look, but you can tell he has gotten better at handling it. At the very least he/the player is the one embracing the darkness to help win the fight. I like to think that also shows that Darkness isn't bad but rather who uses what power for what purpose.
You can look it up, but no this isn't it. Nomura went over the differences between them.
Honest to god, anti-form has helped me win fights it really shouldn't have, such as fighting Xigbar. I think rage mode is just anti-form, but Sora has grown enough to have full control over himself in that mode.
Shout out to OG KH2 where anti saved my life at Demyx before the 1000 heartless battle.
Honestly i just figured Rage Form is basically Anti-Form, but Sora is subconsciously still clinging on to what little sanity he has while in it. Hence him still holding on to his Keyblade, using it to deliver the blows and attacks of darkness.
Like you said, Antiform is him being completely consumed by the darkness in his heart, its why he acts animalistic, like a pure heartless would. While he still has cracks in his heart, he's not letting it completely consume him. Using it to his advantage, or as a last resort but he's nowhere in control like Riku, Terra, etc.
Nice video and topic btw 👌
Sora's teacher's have been so far in the light they forget that no matter how big the light is, it will always cast a shadow. I.e Yen Sid telling him that Nobodies can't be trusted and that they have no real feelings while we all see that's not true. Not that they're good guys but despite having no hearts at first they are still people in some sense and writing that off isn't a good thing to do.
Also thank you, I just wanted to sing the form's praises cause they're just cool!
@@KingdomCakes yeah facts. But to be fair to Yen Sid, Nobodies at the time of Kingdom Hearts 2, we're still kind of new right? Besides Xehanort turning everyone into one long ago, not that many people really dealt with Nobodies since they were always behind the scenes. Plus, the humanoid Nobodies just kept buying into Xehanort, or at that point; Xemmas's lies. They had no hearts at first, but very slowly developed new ones. But to them, it was probably just them thinking they remember the feeling since they had all their previous personalities, memories, etc.
I think they only people who discovered that light and darkness should be a blend and exist together was kind of Riku and Mickey right? I mean I wanted to say Xehanort, but he used nothing but darkness.... for dark deeds as well lol. And Terra tried but completely failed. Sora knows this by 2 I believe, but he's so far on the light side he probably thinks "why bother?" However, he does use Dark Firaga with Riku in 2 🤣
And no worries, this was an interesting and entertaining video. And it is a great form, adds to the lore. In a way, I like that it's not really mention or brought up by anyone. I mean, in 2 it's mention in that mirror 🪞, and in 3 Xehanort forces you into it by stealing Sora's light, but it's always been a cool background element
Jesus loves you my friends, i hope you have a nice day
My thought on the difference between the two forms is that in 3 Sora is older and more experienced, and thus perhaps has better control over the darkness in him
It makes sense. while the timeline between 2 and 3 isn't big, he still went through DDD so the Org putting him in the deep sleep may have helped while he with the control.
@KingdomCakes I think DDD might be a contributing factor. I've only played through it once, but I recall Sora experiencing Roxa's pain in some way. With that Sora would maybe be better at directing the darkness from pain like a shaped charge from an explosive, rather than the more feral loss of control seen in anti. That's my theory.
Anti-form is kinda like the opposite of Sora's whole persona. It's animalistic in nature, showing how he is letting his emotions control him and being blinded by the power. Because of that his attacks, while many in a short time span, are very weak.
Rage form is Sora using these emotions as a power boost. Using such emotions like RAGE can give you imense power in the shortrun (especially as he gives up parts of himself for more power, lowering his HP). Although using anger in this manner where it turns into rage deprives Sora of the same light he uses in most battles. Thats why when Xehanort deprived Sora of the light he went into Rage form. Sora is still aware of what he is fighting for, thus the keyblade allows him to harness its power. He is still cognitively there, but he's showing a part of himself that many don't realize. Sora never depended on Anto-form, it was something he fell into when he lost himself. Sora does have the option to depend on his rage for when everything turns dark. When he is low on HP and morale is low, he switches to rage as an instinctive fighting chance. Think of it as a fight-or-flight reaction. Sora on his journeys has realized his own mortality and that his own strength may not protect the ones he loves or even himself. He takes on the burden of the world and when it weighs on him, he changes for the worse. It has only been temporary so far, but I think in KH4 we are going to see a much deprived Sora than before. He doesn't have his friends, he doesn't have his home, and he doesn't know where he is. Rage, Sadness, and all the negative emotions wills strike him as the foretellers test him.
That's a good way to look at it. I know that there have been times that someone's rage turned into darkness like Terra, although it was more so he gave into that side because of his rage. Not to mention the series has gone out of its way to show that being overly in one side isn't a good thing. With Master Eraqus being so far gone into the light he was willing to kill Ventus in order to stop the X-Blade being forged. Either way I hope we get to see more of this darker side of him in KH4.
That fight or flight part is part of my headcanon too, Rage is primal desperation for survival leading to the body overclocking itself with darkness, kind of like adrenaline.
My take about this :
Rage form has some Unversed patern in his costume. And the Unversed are more link to negativity aka "RAGE form".
For me negativity doesn't not mean pure darkness. This is why Vanitas and Rage Form Sora are able to use the Keyblade.
I wished these forms would get mentioned more in the story cutscenes.
I think it would initiate an apocalypse vibe like in birth by sleep lol
@@yogimastul2newsflash, that's exactly what they were facing.
I think a part of it has to do with the fact that Sora in KH2 was fully against the use of darkness. For the darkness to overpower him and take over his body, even for a moment, it had to be particularly strong. I'd presume this influences how much it changes his abilities and personality.
KH3 Sora, due to Riku, is less resistant to the darkness. And on top of that, he recognizes it's important for there to be darkness, so he's more willing to tap into that power. It's likely due to his acceptance that the darkness inside him becomes less of a cruel entity that's foreign to Sora in its entirety, and more of another side of Sora to be used when it becomes difficult to rely on the light.
Sora in anti: *IM LEFT, IM RIGHT*
His darkness wants to help light thrive, this darkness will confuse the fuck out of the foretellers and M.O.M. because of how rooted they are in their ways
I dont think It Will confuse the MOM, gazing eye already IS associated with darkness and luxu hás to have learned the corridors of darkness from someone
The foretellers tho? When they see Riku, Sora and maybe even Terra they Will have a stroke
@@mobgabriel1767MoM watching sora keep his keyblade after being drained of light:
👁️ 👁️
👄
I know anti form is supposed to be a punishment for overusing drives but honestly I’ve always thought it was so cool and loved whenever I got it lol
With what you said about Sora sacrificing his health in Rage Form to get stronger, I like to think that is a parallel to Sora’s arc in KH3. He wanted to prove to himself that he is strong enough to help and save others to the point of breaking the laws of time which ultimately got him banished from existence.
I’m gonna be honest I kinda like to go into those forms on purpose I just find them insanely interesting as if what happened when he turned into a heartless is hiding more then we realize I hope kingdom hearts 4 shows more of this darkness in sora
I heard some quote about
The more light you have the bigger the shadow of darkness will appear
Something like that
And that represents sora
Sora might have stronger darkness than Xehanort
Rage form is just anti form combined with the limit break system from 358 Days
One problem with kingdom hearts is that there are so many unanswered questions sometimes things in it dont make any sense
Replace "sometimes" with "constantly" and you'd be correct.
Most of these lore hypothesis videos forget one crucial thing: Nomura is a hack, and just writes whatever he thinks would look cool on screen for a moment before moving on. He doesn't care about consistency, constantly retcons his own retcons and has a serious hard-on for "plottwists".
Kingdom hearts was understandable back in the day when Nomura didn't have FULL creative control over the franchise yet. The moment he did is the moment nothing made sense anymore, and flashy scenes with boring ass copy-pasted generic spikey haired anime boytoys became more important than good writing.
Okay, it's nice to see _someone_ finally cover anti form and rage form, because I've been asking in comments for years on several channels for that.
That interviewer asked the _wrong_ question. Yeah, antiform is a leftover of Sora being a heartless in KH1, but it's so much _more._ If you want to make a proper video on the matter, have I got a yarn to spin for you.
So, first off, lets discuss Shora. Can we discuss Shora, cause I been dying to talk about him. Roxas is Sora's _empty body,_ and Roxas is born after Sora turns himself into a heartless, in the sort of innocent, love filled way that only a child can sacrifice themselves for someone else. Sora, at this point in the story, is practically an innocent. The darkness in his heart is the immature fear and sadness of a child who has suffered a tragedy, but sees a solution and persues it doggedly. He _can_ bring back the Islands, he _must_ save Kairi, he _will_ beat some plain sense into Riku, with a clue by four if he must.
So his darkness is _weak._ It's a little tiny Shadow whose instinct to consume is completely overwhelmed by Sora's intense desire to see his friends and Kairi to safety.
And then Kairi does something, something I think none of the great thinkers of KH ever go back and deeply consider. She brings him back. She doesn't make him human, but she drowns that little darkness in her own protectiveness, and the innocent light of a child Princess of Heart transforms Sora's heartless into a being in the same category as Ansem the Seeker. A fully realized, fully intelligent being, shaped like how it once was in life. A human heartless. And this is the birth of _Shora,_ the other half of Roxas.
I call him Shora because he is _H_ eartless Sora, Sora's Heartless, SHora. If Xemnas can mix in Xs, I can do it too.
Shora saves the worlds, and in the deepest depths of the light realm's darkness, on the very border line between Light and Dark, Shora comprehends Kingdom Hearts instintively. Ansem has long overcome his instincts, rationalized away his obsession with Kingdom Hearts, is self assured in his proclamation that Kingdom Hearts is the primordial darkness. But Shora, newborn heartless who hasn't drowned those instincts in intellect and arrogance, _knows_ that Kingdom Hearts is Light, the Light Born from Dark, the great Light that all Heartless seek to consume.
We all know that story, so let's move on to the part where Marluxia's plot to break Sora nearly succeeds. Remember, Sora was a Heartless for THE ENTIRETY of CoM. A being composed of heart (emotion) and darkness, wrapped in the protective loving light of a Princess of Heart. And Castle Oblivion was _torment._ Soulless emotionless demons with human faces physically and mentally and emotionally abuse, gaslight, torture poor Shora. His personality is broken piece by piece until nearly all that remains of Sora is protectiveness and loyalty. Sora's innocence is stripped by the events of Castle Oblivion, bit by torturous bit. And then? That chain of memories is broken. It has to be, in order to restore Sora's true memories and bonds. His true memories which are off galivanting around in a puppet named Xion, bonding with his body, Roxas. Eventually two become one, and Roxas gains a second keyblade. Eventually, Roxas is defeated and forcibly reintegrated with Shora. The need for Kairi's body shell fades.
But the problem is that so much artificial mess has been made of Sora's being that he can't be reconstituted in the normal way. You can't simple defeat Roxas and Shora in combat, and remake Sora. So Sora spends the entirety of KH2 unknowingly puppeting Roxas, and only becomes whole near the end after he confronts himself.
But he never confronts Shora. That being of darkness that Sora spent a year as, still.lives inside him, and the darkness from that shattered chain of memories persists. As Namine said, the memories don't vanish, they still exist, they just can't be remembered. So Sora's inner darkness has gone from a little baby shadow to something... Much worse.
It's impossible to tell if anyone knows besides the Xehanort Band, what lurks inside Sora. Drive form consumes Donald and Goofy, and Sora isn't all there. But it's possible for other combat partners to witness the transformation. Hercules, and the FF characters could see it happen. The bosses might see it.
Now, Sora's keyblade is a bit fickle. After leaving him for Riku, then returning, it left him again as pure darkness, and only returned when Sora was given the blessing of a princess of light.
Here, Shora has no such blessing. Shora has no more shell of light between him and the outside world. Here, Shora gets to play _his_ way. And his way is bestial, flinging razor sharp claws and fast kicks and moving so fast he might as well be teleporting and firing off blasts of darkness. But Shora is different from wild Heartless in one key detail. He remembers the embrace of light and fights on the side of light.
Now here is where things get nuts. Ansem, Xemnas, and Xehanort _notice_ how powerful Sora's darkness is. They corner him in the dreaming worlds, send him off course, and eventually he nearly gets Norted, lost to the light forever. And again, Sora is tormented in a side game and his darkness grows, but from being nearly norted, Shora picks up two tricks. Firstly, he learns how to properly share his power with Sora. Secondly, and more importantly, Shora learns from the Master Keyblader of Darkness _how dark beings weild a keyblade._
Which leads to Shora getting a massive upgrade in KH3, to Rage Form. And this is Shora at his most powerful yet, and his first canonical cutscene appearance. Xehanort makes the _grave mistake_ of forcing Shora to the surface and learns first hand what "the brighter the light, the darker the shadow cast" means, because Shora _spanks_ him and recovers Sora's light. Neither one of them is tolerating that "bad guy stealing portions of them" schtick anymore.
In conclusion, Shora is Sora's improperly reintegrated heartless. In every side game staring Sora, he is relentlessly abused by the baddies and the darkness in his heart grows. You can see the progression of that darkness in the power level progression from little shadow to antiform and then rage form, when the darkness answers his call for strength. Shora isn't _just_ Sora, he's a partial being made of a piece of Sora like Roxas, and Sora will eventually have to confront and properly embrace Shora as part of himself.
This is beautiful. I got no rebuttals for this.
@@KingdomCakes I just need this spread, I've been cooking on this topic for like two years now, ever since I got the collection on PC and I realized "hey, wait, isn't he still a heartless in this game?" and "Hey, wait, just because he can't remember Oblivion, doesn't that darkness still live in him?"
Because every time I look up antiform, or rage form, or a character breakdown, no one is talking about this, and I feel like niche internet crazyman Theorizer talking about the ten billion crimes of Mort.
@Xahnel This post is great! You really got me thinking on this tbh! One thing that I realized is the Vexen fight in KH2 and how Vexen scans you then spawns an anti form sora. Not sure what to think on this but thought I'd be worth mentioning and see what u think on that detail.
Or maybe, just maybe. Instead of embracing Shora, he makes a being of darkness that acts for the light.
A really cool idea would be for the KHUX protag to get anti form in, maybe, a later chapter of Missing Link, or it's hypothetical sequel, as they had enough darkness for a Dark Chirithy to be made.
It was also possible to only use Darkness Medals too. I would love to see forms come in Missing Link!
Anti/Rage sora is one of the edgiest and badass parts of kingdom hearts. Its just so cool to see story through gameplay. wish in cutscenes they would address it. I get hollow ichigo vibes
You're not the first to compare drives to bleach. I need to sit down and watch it!
@KingdomCakes it's a good watch, you are bound to have a favorite character since there are so many
Cool video!
I always love little mechanics/details in games that hint at something more, like Anti-Form and Rage Form (it’s part of why I like the keyblades in Days so much, for example.) I like the idea that the latter shows a but of growth on Sora’s part! Definitely interested to see what they do with that thread going forward.
Additional fun fact: Final Form actually reduces the Anti-Form counter significantly, which is really cool for the form Sora gains after accepting Roxas, seemingly showing that doing so strengthens his control over his inner darkness.
I remember my friend telling me you could purify the anti form into a green form which was a defensive drive form where all attacks had a guard and counter frame
My headcanon is that Rage form is Sora getting desperate to survive an encounter that he overclocks his body with darkness, and he is struggling to control solely because of the weight on his shoulders stressing him out, and he can talk but he's hard to understand, sounding staticy and demonic, but while in this form his anger comes out and he tends to snap at others in this form, while in this form he's in lessened but consistent pain due to it being an evolved Anti-Form, his fingerbones extend and contort into claws, since he still swipes with his other hand sometimes. It's primal desperation assisting him in controlling it, but still affecting his personality.
I consider rage form to be partially a result of what happened during Dream Drop Distance, where he essentially fell into darkness while he lost himself in his anger against the different aspects of Xehanort. And while he did come back from it, it resulted in him having more experience with his darkness, more particularly his rage. This would explain the differences between anti and rage form. While anti is him fully losing control to it, rage focuses only on a single aspect of it rather than all of it, allowing him to retain some of his aspects while in the form. This also adds onto why the carnival rides remove it, as they are meant to have a fun and light feeling, resulting in his anger for that time dissipating.
That thumbnail is badass. Love it!
Sora was able to control the darkness from the very beginning.
I like your theory on rage form, and would like to put forth my own idea as to why he keeps the keyblade in rage form. Sora has been shown to have an incredibly resilient and open heart capable of supporting others (Roxas and Ventus) along with being extremely empathetic and willing to accept someone swapping to supporting the light, so maybe he did something similar with his heartless form.
I also believe that Sora would have gotten a keyblade on his own in time. On the night he was born he saved Roxas (the starting scene on Destiny Islands in Birth by Sleep), and then at the age of either 4 or 6 he sensed that Roxas’s heart was in danger again, reached across worlds (and possibly into the Realm of Darkness), communicated with Roxas, and gave him shelter and recuperation in his own heart. Sora seems to have an oddly strong light in his heart, I think that might become a plot point in the future.
Theory about rage form: sora's emotions go bat shit insane and he can't control them but he's still is consiuns and actually is aware of who's friend or foe
My current theory is that in Kingdom Hearts IV Sora may feel more desperate to get home to his friends and rely more heavily on Darkness as he has become, subconsciously, more attuned with it.
In the final Xehanort boss fight in KH3, he "draws" out form while Anti-Form was more of a gameplay mechanic instead of a story element. Well, except for the fact that the chance of Anti-Form triggering is higher during boss fights and extremely higher during Organization XIII fights specifically. So, I feel like it is safe to assume that Sora's "darkness powers" are tied to negative emotions.
I think the main mysteries that are meant to be explained and explored in Kingdom Hearts are Yozora's purpose and identity, the Dandelions, the Master of Masters' true intentions, why Sora's Keyblade seems to behave so bizarrely compared to other Keyblades and why was there a respective version of it in the Realm of Darkness, and Sora's darkness.
Keep in mind. Ever since Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 (and I don't think this has been changed or retconned), when you become a Heartless, you are no longer you. If you have a strong heart, you may cause a Nobody to be created. If you have a very strong heart, you become a Nobody yet retain your human form, intelligence and memories. Sora became a Heartless, remained being still Sora, and was able to turn back to human thanks to Kairi. This may explain why Roxas and Xion are able to wield Sora's Keyblade and why Roxas felt alienated even with other Organization XIII members. It is because his creation was very abnormal.
You could claim that Rage Form and Anti-Form are due to Ventus/Xion/Roxas; however, when Xehanort drawed out Rage Form in Sora, Ventus, Roxas, and Xion are already separated from Sora, which means it solely stemmed Sora.
Man you are Underrated! Youve gained a sub!
Thank you!
I definitely see the difference as growth. Up until the end of KHII Darkness is largely portrayed as bad. Riku made use of it, sure, but it was generally because he had to. But in DDD, things changed. The Dream Eaters are made of Darkness after all and Sora worked with them well enough. By the time 3 rolls around, he's seen Riku channel it safely, worked with the Dream Eaters. He's starting to understand it's not all black and white. So if he needs his Darkness, he'll reach for it.
I think that in KH2 it's completely unintentional, but in KH3 he's kind of getting the hang of it. Like, he hasn't mastered his own Darkness like Riku has, but he has better control of it than he used to have. Going into Rage form is a choice (usually - Master Xehanort banishing the Light from him is an exception) and he still has the presence of mind to still use the Keyblade and most of his other abilities while in throws of Darkness.
Always thought rage form was the 'Unversed Form'. Since in BBS, Vanitas was the reason the unversed existed due to his channeling of negative thoughts, It may make sense that sora uses whatever manifested to fight Riku in TWTNW in KHDDD (That nightmare red eyed thing)
Also all unversed have red eyes, and Square Enix 'eye' cannon is almost biblical by this point.
One of them is darkness, one of them is just anger
So I think a big of part of the reason why Sora has more control over Rage form as compared to Anti-form is because of his perspective on the darkness. His original view was pretty black and white, but by the end of KH2 and fighting with Riku, his view changed to more shades of gray, realizing that both light and darkness are necessary in the world they live in. So with this new perspective, he's more accepting of the darkness and is therefore able to control it better in KH3 than in KH2.
I've always thought about it like this. Anti-form is the darkness in Sora's heart overwhelming his body (which he regained when Roxas joined with him at the start of KH2) and instead of the form changing the way it was supposed to, Sora very nearly becomes a Heartless again. He can't use the keyblade here because he is overwhelmed by his own darkness.
After confronting Roxas near the end of KH2, it becomes possible to trigger Final Form in the same way that Anti-Form is triggered. Like Anti-Form, the trigger is not controlled. I see it as a sort of "breakthrough" where the light of both Sora and Roxas's hearts have fully synchronized, allowing Sora to fight with the full light of two keyblade weilders who have become one.
Then comes KH3... but of great importance is the role that Sora's darkness takes in Dream Drop Distance. Organization 13's real plan here was to get their hands on Sora by forcing him to succumb to the darkness in his heart. Riku manages to stop this, but I think that this is kind of the "door" to Rage Form that has been opened. Sora is now connected to, or in touch with the pain and rage in his heart. He can still use the keyblade here because he's not overwhelmed by the darkness... but he is using its self-destructive power.
It's kind of like what happens to Terra through Birth By Sleep, and I don't think it bodes well for whatever Sora will have to go through next...
First time I got anti form is was in the Xigbar fight, and it is what allowed me to win.
One thing that caught my eye was KH2 dark form sora's animation when hanging off a ledge.. It's just weirdly cute seeing him hang like that, looking around casually.
Good video man, I didn't know about that thing with the mirrors!
Thanks! After trying to actually look at small details for an upcoming video I started learning more and more things about this game too. I love coming back to any game and noticing details I might of missed the first few times.
I hope you get more love man. Thanks for explaining this cause I was SO LOST when I got anti.
I think Sora has been amassing more and more darkness as the series has gone on, as seen when it starts to boil over in the keyblade graveyard breakdown. If Re:Coded is the foreshadowing that I think it is, then the giant Darkside shown in the KH4 trailer might be from Sora. Anyways, I really hope Sora and/or other characters explicitly bring up Rage/Anti form in the next game.
Meow Wow PFP spotted. Absolute respect gained from me.
As for the trailer it's quiet possible. Though I do wonder about Strelitzia, it could be connected to her as well. Probably not given what we know, heartless started coming in when Sora came to Quadratum. We'll just have to wait and see.
One thing that I love about Anti Form is the parallels it have with the form that taps into Sora's light the strongest: Final Form.
You see, if you pay attention to Anti and Final Forms combat, their attacks and combos are almost a mirror to one another, just one using darkness tendrils and the other using two keyblades and an abundance of light.
Man... My first antiform was in 'The world that never was' Square.
I went nuts, we thought it was all linked to those scenes with Riku and Roxas for years...
Nostalgia, thank for you for the memberberries.
When you think about it, Anti and Rage form really make sense.
The closer you are to light, the bigger your shadow grows.
And knowing how much light Sora has, fair to say his darkness must match.
The deeper the darkness, the more pure the light.
The brighter the light, the longer a shadow is cast.
Videos like this has me imagining Sora having a full in cannon berserker moment where someone else has to bust him out of it.
Its also in Quadratum, effectively the real world. So I could imagine significantly more brutality.
When i replayed Kh2FM, i realized there's a lot more overlap with final form's animations and combo attacks with antiform than i expected -- add that with the mechanics of gaining the form and it seems to line up with a story of gaining control over the darkness within, which would explain the design of "3's dark form has to include him having more control".
Makes it so i wish 3 had more storytelling in the mechanics (more than just including flowmotion and gradually acquiring movement abilities, and that ReMind didnt just dump all of the patched-in abilities at the end)...
First time it happened to me, I thought my game had glitched
I love these forms and I just love how Raw anti form is, but rage form lore wise (according to Nomura) is just Sora being really pissed but having more control over the power since he's grown I love it so much. Its in one of the interviews with him
Anti-form was my favorite in KH2, and I would purposefully go out of my way to go into it as often as possible. Fun fact: At least in the PS2 version of the game, you can force the transformation to happen if you time your form change with an enemy hitting you (at least, I'm pretty sure that's how it worked. Been a while since I played). Needless to say, once I figured that out, it was pretty much the only form I used form then on.
Rage form should've unlocked a second form like other keyblades do in the final fight, except it doesn't have a risk charge, and sora DOES get rid of the keyblade in that state, unlocking a more anti form kind of state while randomly shooting dark versions of spells and wisps that come off him are like chains which whip around him.
Idk i just think anti is cooler in some ways, and rage doesn't feel like an upgraded anti just something else...
The drive forms were implemented in a way where antiform could go unnoticed until the very end.
You build up anti points with each use, which affect antiform probability , and they reset once a new form is introduced. Or lower the tally if antiform is reached.
The growth abilities are also tied to the drive system, so it brings the temptation to abuse it.
“Leftover darkness within his heart.”
Wow! Thanks for sharing that in the video as it’s the first I’ve seen or heard of it. I love learning more about the characters in this game!❤
So his anti-form is different from when he transforms into a heartless. And he does look and act very not in control and almost animalistic compared to every other form.
I wish there was more story of this form; like in the manga or the big game books. They could have put in more details about why this happens to Sora. But the mystery leads to rapid fun discussions and theories among the fans, and I know companies do this with some franchises to get that engagement. Though maybe it’s a bit unintentional.
Sora in rage form is so awesome. And I do wonder if Nomura was thinking of adding Anti-form and taking a step back from that and considering how much Sora has grown to now give him more control of those darkness powers. And I like that theory of Sora being more in control and I do feel he has control of that darkness when in rageform.
I dont remember where I heard this but it's always stuck with me where, the brighter the light the longer the shadow you can cast. So Sora's darkness is a really interesting concept.
I'm not the best at kingdom hearts lore but heres my theory, maybe its somehow linked to Sora's drive forms? The anti form obviously didn't have any markings or color, just pure black, while rage form looks like some kind of dark drive form (triggered by tapping into darkness/rage) Due to the markings on his clothes and there being more color (although just shades of dark blue) while also being able to make out his features better. As far as i know all we see of anti form Sora's face is his yellow eyes. And honestly the first time i used rage form i instantly thought of the drive forms.
Just a small idea, I dont really know where to take it though.
What i appreciate about Anti and Rage forms is that from a gameplay perspective its reminscent of Berserker type fighters, hard hitting, high risk high reward. Also from an FF perspective its a lot like Dark Knight job you see in Tactics, X-2 and XIV, tapping into the power of darkness to fight the evils of the world (IV Dark Knight i tend to associate w Riku)
@bryankane8127 that's probably what they were going for, tbf. It makes sense that they borrow elements of FF and make it it's own thing here.
Anti and Rage form are really good mechanics that help balance out the game in an interesting way. It's just a nice bonus that they are badass as hell.
Somehow in my first playthrough, I used drives ALL the time, loved em, and yet I never encountered anti form until the boss fight with Xigbar and I was totally surprised.
Actually, nomura answered the difference between anti and rage
Rage for is less "Dark" compared to anti form. While the former represents Sora's darkness, Rage Form is solely his anger.
So sora darkness react to his Rage, it doesn't control him compared to anti, he just so angry that the darkness come out to say hello
The Anti Form counter works like this: Valor, Wisdom, Limit, and Master forms adds a +1 it and maxed out at 10 and increases with fighting Org 13 members while Final reduces it back to 0.
Contextually, I like to remember what DiZ says to Roxas before he gets assimilated into Sora after KHII's prologue. "Give some of that rage to Sora." At this point, Roxas isn't fully on board with whats going to happen to him, even fighting for control against Sora when he enters The World That Never Was. He's avidly refusing to helpSora by giving him his rage, and instesd trying to use it for his own ends. After his battle he does give in slightly to Sora, and ends up giving him the Two Become One Keyblade, which allows for some control in the idea that it allows Sora to access Anti-Form on purpose due to its unique properties. Roxas gave Sora some control over his darkness.
However, by the end of KHII, he gives into being part of Sora now entirely at a point where you can no longer end up in Anti-Form. Inbetween 2 and 3, Sora and Roxas in DDD, as well as Data Sora and Data Roxas in Re:Codes, for whatevr thats worth, have encounters that I believe are even deeper than just acceptance. These moments are when I feel Roxas tries to allow Sora to have his sorrow, and his rage. This works even better if you consider Roxas has an equal control over darkness and light we don't see in many, if any, other characters in the series. Therefore I believe along with his rage, Roxas also gave Sora a deeper understanding of how to control darkness alongside it, allowing Sora to access Rage Form in KHIII.
Last year I remember watching the video talking about the anti and rage forms. Technically Sora was still a heartless until kingdom hearts 2 beginning. Just one with its human form because of Kairi. So u can see it as a side effect of that. The video I watched last year had a quote saying that Sora took inspiration from Riku and how he controlled his Darkness to use it as a power to protect people. So Sora practiced and did the same with his darkness. He's see it as just another power to protect his friends. I don't if that info was pulled from the manga or from the developers. Since I can't remember the name of the video. It's why Sora has so much control over his rage form, remember rage doesn't mean evil. His rage steams from people constantly trying to harm his friends.
Your voice is soo quiet. Could use a bit volume up.
Thank you for the heads up! I'll try to up it next time.
Was it really? I didnt think so tbh 0-0 either way my friends, I hope you have a great day, Jesus loves you
@@KingdomCakesyour voice volume was fine everything else needed to be turned down a bit I think
@bk2yu I hear it low too on Firefox. Could be a browser thing cause on Oprea and mobile, it sounds fine. Still new to making these videos so who knows. 😅
@@joshua2400❤ have a blessed day.😊
I think is an actually nice subplot to Sora's story we've seen being developed even in front of ourselves without mostly being quite obvious to most people. Specially the ones that still havent understand the whole story.
From the story of KH COM, the ending of KH2 and the story of KH3 (Not to mention the very hints that evem Sora showed like when he was just talking to Donald and Goofy and then tried to make a joke to hide that feeling "Unforgettable, just like your face") we can see a situation about Sora's Darkness. And even I would say it's a special case.
Because Riku had darkness before but now he has overcome it in KH DDD and even I would say that Aqua despite being in the realm of Darkness and becoming Anti Aqua is not worse than the case of Sora. Cause the darkness is still growing on him.
I wouldnt be surprised if in KH4 Sora doesnt only deal with that situation again but the very darkness about him will become a quite relevant story arc when the entire Lost Master Saga reaches its climax (Maybe in a potential KH5 or KH6 lmao)
I heard a theory from someone that the red orbs that come out of Sora when he uses risk charge are Roxas, Ven, and finally Sora's heart. As if he's willing to sacrifice anything, including the hearts he's protecting, as well as his own, for power.
Sora's theme through the Kingdom Hearts series so far was him slowly getting pulled under by the darkness surrounding his heart. Each bad thing that happens to him or his friends is slowly drowning him in hate, anger, and sorrow. If things keep going, he will likely be pulled under entirely, unable to come back. In all likelihood, KH4 or the new arc as a whole is going to be the conclusion to that very plot point.
my headcanon has always been after KH1 when he became a heartless momentarily something was left to linger in his heart. the whole sora is connected to everyone in some way type of thing, and rage form is just him without the light. if sora wasnt a light hearted hopeful individual, everything hes gone through since KH1 would make him pretty mad.
I really hope exploring soras darkness and learning to harness it without seeing it as evil like Riku happens going forward
I think of Rage form being an evolution to Anti. With Anti, he looks a lot like a Shadow and his movements are of a bloodthirsty animal, and with Rage, he can use his keyblade, he's not as animalistic and gains power similar to the Darksides, almost like as he got stronger with the light, he also became stronger with the dark. Then again, the brighter a light is, the longer the shadow it casts.
Anti Form is not exactly a form, but rather its his way of thinking. As full of light and bubbly Sora is, he does have some obvious insecurity issues that leads to someone as super powerful as him to be a bit corrupted for a short time when controlled. Anti Form constantly looking around as if hes searching for something... maybe his friends in which Donald and Goofy vanish, hell hes literally experienced them ditching him because of King Mickeys orders and his constant mission of having to rescue Kairi over and over so its partly her fault. And when he attacks almost like hes angry, its like he gone Feral, a mix of confusion, anger, sadness, the entire makings of Darkness. He even does start fist fighting if hes angry enough, abandoning his literal ultimate weapon just to throw hands, yeah Ide say Anti Form make sense... but Sora will bounce back eventually as his light is far stronger than his dark thoughts. As time went on, hes shown to still have the same issues, even breaking down and crying when Kairi got snatched... AGAIN.
I can't wait to see those issues fully fleshed out in 4. It's part of growing up after all.
I think both forms could be tied to an emotion of desperation.
Activating forms in KH2 fully restore your life bar while also powering up Sora in some way. And since using Form is tied to a limited resource you need to build up, one tends to use it as reaction against being overpowered by the forces of darkness.
It also ties neatly to Rage Form. It is a form available for Sora to activate only at low HP or when seemingly overpowered by the Nort to rule all Norts wielding the Keyblade to rule all Keyblades.
In both forms, Sora doesn't necessarily have an at-will activation, but rather demands conditions which inherently can be tied to desparation for more power, even if it means accessing the darkness within him.
Anti form could be explained with Sora still trying to get familiar with his new powers, unknowing of the darkness within being an option (which also explains why he has no Keyblades equipped) while Rage is him knowing where to channel his desire for power when he's running out of options.
My headcanon is that Armoured Ventus Nightmare unintentionally taught Sora how to utilize the darkness instead of being enveloped by it. Hence why both of them still use the keyblade, but look almost the same. (Minus the nightmare symbol on Ventus)
I like to think rage is kinda similar to Riku's darkness form, where he is simply embracing the darkness and weaponizing it with control
My first time experiencing anti-form was during the final boss battle while fighting king armor Xemnas.
My theory about Anti and Rage:
1. Anti-Sora is like name says: something that is opposite to Sora. He is weakened and strongered by Darkness self. In this state his mind go off, he cannot yet control it like Riku does in this moment. So, this is how he's weakened: he's something like empowered Shade Heartless or Neons. Reason is just simple: he became Heartless, had all that challenges in Castle Oblivion and goes to sleep. He didn't have really time to master this. So Anti-Sora is just his darkest, deepest darkness, feral and mindless puppet. + forms was just new gift, he needed to find a way to use it properly. So he does all the time.
Why no Keyblade here? In KH1 it's sayed (I don;t remember by who, probably by Riku in Hollow Bastion) that Keyblade is drawed to strong and stable Heart. As Anti-Sora is sorta opposite of strong and stable Heart (especially second one) he cannot summon it.
2. Rage Sora is like lvl2 Anti-Sora where he learned how to become more stable and less feral. This is why he can summon Keyblade. Just like that. More practice = more knowledge how to "behave". How to overcome that Darkness like Riku did. So he got ability to summon Keyblade.
Only time I ever learned about Antisora was at Yensid's tower. Every time I transformed inside, it always was that form. Rarely anywhere else. Only 1-3 yimes in Mulan's map near the ruined village and cave.
This may have been foreshadowed all the way back in... I think KH1.
(Paraphrase) But be careful, the closer you get to the light... the deeper the darkness *cue Darkside*
Sora has an overpowered dark side (literally, we have the classic anime protagonist stages, berserker in anti-form and more in control berserker in rage form) and it may be a central conflict of kh4, Sora coming to terms with it and embracing the power to wield light and dark perfectly together.
To bring balance to the for-, I mean, world
I got a theory that by ReMind Sora can now use the Darkness more efficiently in the form of Dark Form, with Rage Form basically being the risker, stronger upgraded version of that form
I'm glad these forms are just gameplay mechanics and not canon.
It's weird for Sora to do all of these and no one brings it up.
Well remember what the first game said The closer you get to the light the greater your shadow will become
So if Sora has a lot of light then he must have a whole lot of darkness I like to think of Sora as a pure heart and what they say in the first game pretty much spells it out The closer you are to the light the more the darkness grow stronger
Shoutout to everyone else who anti-formed their way through the Xigbar fight 🥲
When it comes to anti from and rage from they were my favorite from to play as in kingdom hearts 2 and 3
Anti-Form being power and darkness overtaking for a second while he defeats enemies seems obvious enough, but I imagine Rage form still has a keyblade because he's probably a lot more experienced. While Anti is like a berserk adrenaline accidental form, Rage is more of a conscious approach to make a risky play. Sora accepts the darkness within him, and thus, still retains some of his light while consumed.
Given that Sora is forced into Rage Form after Nort "steals his light," Sora is one of the single strongest characters heart-wise. He had no light in him, yet both rejected becoming heartless, or losing access to his Keyblade. When Aqua was consumed, she lost the ability fo summon hers. Sora didn't
My theory is that in KH2, Sora has Anti form because he was still affected of becoming a Heartless, as well of this being a side effect of him being incomplete, (Roxas, the more refine and tamed part of his darkness, the other more unstable part being nightmare Ventus)
When Sora reunites with Roxas he's able to keep his darkness at bay, that's why we don't see him use it (or it use him) in the next games.
Then in DDD Riku defeats the more unstable darkness in Sora's heart (nightmare Ventus) and with that out of the way, Sora can now control his darkness, making Rage Form.
And at the end of KH3 in the final battle, i belive that Xenaroth tried to make Sora a Heartless by taking out his light, and he technicaly did, just that it was Sora in control of his darkness.
This doesn't mean that Sora can use darkness now, I see this form more like the Dark Riku form from chain of memories, he has the power and some of the control, but still pretty animalistic to be considered a good transformation.
in my kh2 play in halloween town and in the past of mikey (black n white) i could only use anti form and i loved it
For the Xehanort fight I feel like it was a trigger. Xehnaort sapped all the light most of thr light out of Sora, so in a moment of desperation he turned into Rage form. Leaving thatvlast bit od light still in him to not be split like Ventus. He doesnt turn back till he get all the light back because then it is safe.
Keep up the work friend!
Drive forms compared to Command Styles -he can't keep them up, he can't even activate them w/o enough focus to do so and he always have a chance of it going sideways and bringing out Anti-Form... So he learned when to take the gamble and when rather not... And Anti-Form? He weaponized it into Rage Form because whatever works - works
I wish these forms would be acknowledged within the story. It seems like it should be a bigger deal if Sora's friends witness him be overcome by darkness in the heat of battle.
Anytime somone talks about and shares a new insight into these forms, i must indulge my kingdomhearts2/ dmc3 inner edgelord teenage self.
Devil trigger and drive forms will always be cool
So I have some extra lore stuf... and a hot take. For the lore, remember that the Heartless move by instinct. They chase after hearts mindlessly. They're kinda like zombies in that regard. So it makes sense why Anti Form is so feral. The darkness from that transformation in KH1 is seeping up and clouding his judgment. As for Rage Form, there was an interview with Numora a while back where he did say that Rage Form is what happens when Sora gets extremely angry. So it makes sense that Rage Form can be activated manually, as Sora is choosing to give into his hate instead of keeping his composure.
As for the hot take: I don't like how Anti Form is handled. I think it's an unnecessary punishment. Drive Forms are already tied to a resource, AND half the fights don't let you use most of them because you need your party members. It's extremely frustrating going into a boss, having it fail, then having to die so you can go back and purposely waste your Drive JUST so you can use the game's main fucking mechanic. It would have been a lot better if Anti was instead a punishment for using multiple Drives in a single fight (and having the counter reset when you exit a fight), rather than it being just in general.
> Be Me
> Playing critical mode for the first time
> Fighting Xaldin at Beast's Castle
> Attempts to use drive form
> Gets Anti-Form
> Scrambles around like a maniac desperately attempting not to get skewered.
Good times.
He goes into antiform before fusing with Roxas, after the fact he gets final form which resets his anti counter.
Basically he's come to grips with the darkness in his heart and can work with it, rather than it having to take over.
EDIT: Then there's that whole cutscene in Re:Coded where he (well, a form of him) directly accepts the darkness when it has literally nothing to offer him except pain. If that isn't coming to grips with your shadow than I don't know what is. It's probably the first time in the entire multiverse that the concept of darkness has ever felt anything even approaching love so naturally that would put it at odds with the the rest of the world which just lashes out out of loneliness. Nobody said darkness has to be evil, and Kairi hugging Sora's Heartless was the first act of breaking that chain of abuse in a universe of contempt and malice between both domains.
0If you compare the two forms side by side, rage form has more reddish color with yellow rather than just yellow. Just a neat tidbit I'd share.
Edit: I was referring to the eyes.