Kingdom Hearts III stands out from other entries in the series in many ways, but there is one I want to focus on today, and that is the fact that it begins not with an original world, but a Disney world, and that Disney world is Olympus.
Do you see what I did there? That sentence above? That, just to refresh what you learned in third grade English class, is a thesis statement.
Here is the first paragraph from the Wikipedia article on thesis statements:
Something expressed near the beginning of a work that is synonymous with one's argument. This is why Kingdom Hearts III begins, atypically, with Olympus. To state the thesis of the work.
"Do you remember the last time we were together? You were feeling down and out. How did you get your strength back? When you jumped in and saved Meg?"
"Huh... That's tough. All I know is that she was in trouble. Suddenly, I wanted to save her with all my heart."
Now, those familiar with both Kingdom Hearts and the 1997 film Hercules will already know that the event where Hercules loses his strength and regains it by rescuing Meg are rather different.
In Kingdom Hearts II, Meg is used as bait to convince Sora to unlock the coliseum in the Underworld. But in the original film...
Meg dies.
And Hercules charges into the Underworld...
...to rescue her soul and bring her back to life...
...willing to sacrifice himself to do so.
Now, the reason I want to focus on the film's version of events rather than Kingdom Hearts II's is that Hercules' answer to Sora's question is rather vague.
"All I know is that she was in trouble. Suddenly, I wanted to save her with all my heart."
That statement is equally true for the film's events and the game's. This was likely intentional, because while, from a Watsonian perspective--that is to say, for in-universe purposes--Hercules needs to be talking about the game's events, from a Doylist perspective--beyond the fourth wall--what is important is the film's.
Because they are remarkably similar to the start of Kingdom Hearts III's final chapter.
Riku dies.
And Sora charges into the "Underworld"...
...to rescue his soul and bring him back to life...
...willing to sacrifice himself to do so.
And isn't it peculiar that, out of all places, Riku's soul was found in Olympus?
The similarities don't even stop there, either. How did Riku and Meg both die in the first place?
By taking a blow meant for their hero. Something else discussed at the start of the game in Kingdom Hearts III's Olympus.
"I don't admire one guy leaping into danger if it means someone else might have to jump in to save him. You're all just lining up to lose out. Dooming others to take the fall with you."
From the moment Kingdom Hearts III begins, it sets the stage for Sora's final sacrifice, tied to a film from 1997, like a silk bow on a noose, all hanging from a key idea. A key line.
Uso Mitai Na I Love You (A Queer Reading of Kingdom Hearts)
After my last analysis, which covered "Simple and Clean", you might have expected the next to be about "Hikari", the Japanese version of "Simple and Clean". There's something kind of funny about "Simple and Clean", though. Something you might have noticed. While the verses are indeed an English version of "Hikari", the chorus follows a different melody. What you may not know is that melody from the chorus of "Simple and Clean" actually comes from a completely different Utada Hikaru song.
What I find interesting about "Uso Mitai Na I Love You" is that it almost sounds like a sequel to "Simple and Clean". A "Simple and Clean" with a little more confidence. A "Simple and Clean" that understands that the insecurity came from the point of view character, not anything the receiving character has done in particular. They're still scared, but they want to hope.
Here I'll be offering a translation I found on the ever-trusty azlyrics.com. While I know a little Japanese, I'm far from fluent, which is why I've chosen to leave a deep dive into "Hikari" to someone who is. "Uso Mitai Na I Love You", while also in Japanese, is something I feel less confident that someone else would look into, seeing as it's related to Kingdom Hearts only through a shared melody with "Simple and Clean". I thought it would be an interesting addition, though. Call it DLC to my "Simple and Clean" analysis, if you like. I certainly won't be going into depth in the same way. In fact, this analysis is in an entirely different style. We'll call this the "a picture is worth a thousand words" style of analysis.
With a calm gaze, I will gradually sort out
The lights and shadows of this world
Since that time I've wanted to be like you
Pushing your way forward with slightly pursed lips
In my dreams I have seen
A plain as wide as my eyes can see
Where lies will not blossom
I'm waiting for you there
A story that will end emotionally
Began that day when you said "I love you"
I can't wait patiently for the start of the second half
Instead of endlessly doubting
I want to hear that dubious "I love you"
Until the end, always, always
Words cannot be trusted completely
But when carried by voice, at least a little should certainly be conveyed
Let's ascertain together
The truth that will soon be revealed
Even waking up to it brings no sadness
Such a world is waiting for the two of us
I look back on the fleeing shadows along the road
The "I love you" I could not say that day
I can't catch up to it even with my last spurt
What should I do when I doubt even just a little?
Already a liar, but I love you
I want to be by your side, always, always
A story that will end emotionally
Began that day when you said "I love you"
I can't wait patiently for the start of the second half
Simple and Clean (A Queer Reading of Kingdom Hearts)
I've gone back and forth about potentially doing lists of smaller observations. This series was never meant to have frequent updates, but there are times where I consider a topic and dismiss it knowing there's little to say and still find myself wanting to bring it up regardless. Just little things like…Riku's voice calling out to Sora at the end of Kingdom Hearts when, in Peter Pan, it's happy thoughts that allow people to fly. Riku is his happy thought. Or how the hard mode is called "Proud Mode". There's not much to say about that, but I do think it is part of a complete queer reading. Perhaps these could be called "footnotes". I could tag appropriately so those only interested in in-depth analyses from this blog can filter them out, and I could make a master post of them.
For now, though, I'd like to discuss something I've been planning since the beginning of this series. Something I started a draft of that I never got back to. It was rambling and full of tangents and the idea of trying to edit down the entire analysis to something more focused overwhelmed me. Still, I like the idea of the topic too much to leave it be. So here I am now, revealing it to you.
A deep dive of Utada Hikaru's "Simple and Clean".
Before I continue, I would like to remind people that this is a queer reading of Kingdom Hearts rather than a theory blog. As such, this is about the interpretation of the works, not the author's intent. Whether this was Utada Hikaru's intent with the lyrics of this song is irrelevant to this particular interpretation. It does, however, set the stage well for a queer reading from the very beginning of the series. Primarily, my argument here is that it does suit a main couple in the series, even a character's entire motivation at this point in the series, but while many associate this song with Sora and Kairi because it plays over their farewell at the end of the game, it doesn't suit them at all.
The point of this song is in the title. "Simple and Clean". And with the lyrics that follow it when that title appears in the song. "Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight. It's hard to let it go."
Simple and clean. It's purity. It's forgiveness. It's begging, "Just for a moment, please, please let me pretend there's nothing wrong with me." Of the three characters in the trio whose dynamic the first Kingdom Hearts is about, this idea doesn't suit a Princess of Heart like Kairi with her pure light and her inherent good, and it doesn't suit a hero like Sora. But it does suit the one who started all of this mess in the first place, who destroyed his home, who turned on his friends, who fell to the darkness. It suits Riku.
So let's look at this song from the beginning. It helps to remove the stanzas and look at the words as if they're prose.
"You're giving me too many things lately. You're all I need." This is, in and of itself, begging, in a way. The subject of the song is someone who doesn't want to be bought. They just want time with someone. Time that cannot be substituted with any material object. And it feels like they're not getting enough of it.
"You smiled at me and said, 'Don't get me wrong, I love you, but does that mean I have to meet your father?'" The person this song is directed toward doesn't understand why there's so much pressure on them to prove that their love is real. To them, it's just a simple fact. Why does it have to be proven? How does the singer not understand it as is?
"When we are older, you'll understand what I meant when I said, 'No, I don't think life is quite that simple.'" The singer doesn't even know what they're asking for. They don't know what will be enough to prove to them that the person they're singing to loves them. They don't even know if it can be proven. It can't be proven simply, at any rate.
Here, I'll skip to the second verse before going into the chorus, because the second verse really just doubles down on the same ideas.
"The daily things--like this, and that, and what is what--that keep us all busy are confusing me." Life is busy, everyone knows this, and maybe it's this busy life that's pulling the singer and their loved one apart more than the singer would like. The singer is unsure whether their worries are founded or just the simple result of life being life.
"That's when you came to me and said, 'Wish I could prove I love you, but does that mean I have to walk on water?'" The same basic message as before with the person being sung to feeling pressured to show their love, but escalated. "Do I have to meet your father to prove I love you?" has been raised to, "Do I have to walk on water to prove I love you?" Going from something that feels extremely huge ("Meet your father" implicitly suggesting "prepare to marry you") to something that's literally impossible.
And here's a line I interpret differently from most people, I think.
"'When we are older, you'll understand it's enough when I say so, and maybe some things are that simple.'"
I feel most people hear this as something the singer is saying. To me, it's a continuation of the quote from before. "'…does that mean I have to walk on water? When we are older, you'll understand it's enough when I say so…'" In other words, "When we're older, once you've matured a little, maybe you'll believe me when I just say I love you." To me, the "Maybe some things are that simple," is in response to the "I don't think life is quite that simple from before." An argument. "Am I supposed to believe you love me just because you said so?" "Yes! You are!"
Which really brings me to the core of this song. Why it really suits Riku and Sora's relationship in the first Kingdom Hearts game. All throughout the game, Riku is, there's no getting around this, horrible to Sora. It's his villain arc, after all. We can't appreciate the way his character progresses after this point without accepting that he made some serious mistakes here. He not only doubts that Sora cares for him, but attacks the love he has for Kairi, Donald, and Goofy as well, accusing Sora of forgetting about himself and Kairi, accusing him of replacing them with Donald and Goofy. But all of this comes as--though admittedly toxic--a cry for help. A cry for attention, specifically. It's Riku's emotionally immature way of saying, "I don't feel loved. I don't feel loved, and I'm upset."
And yet, all throughout the game, Sora's standing on the other side of the canyon Riku carved between them, shouting back, "I do love you," confused as to why Riku can't hear it. Sure, he'll stand between Riku and someone he's lashing out at (see Monstro)
But the moment he doesn't have to protect anyone from Riku, he's right back to only wanting Riku to be okay, only wanting for the two of them to stay together (see Monstro yet again).
"When you walk away, you don't hear me say, 'Please, oh baby, don't go.'" Despite all of the desperation for love, it's still something that's never really said, never really understood, or both. Which is a perfect summary of Sora and Riku's relationship all throughout the first Kingdom Hearts game. As much as Riku wants to be loved, it's something he never fully expresses. As much as Sora wants to understand why Riku's doing all the horrible things he's doing, he never really does. Still…
"Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight. It's hard to let it go." Sora still makes Riku feel "simple and clean". The opposite of complicated and dirty. The opposite of corrupt, of dark, of broken. Reading the line this way, it's hard to imagine any other character but Riku saying this. And what's more, it is hard for Riku to let go. And yet, that's exactly what he does. With the words, "Take care of her," the game ends with Riku letting go.
"Hold me. Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on. Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all. Nothing's like before."
So, then… If this song is about Sora and Riku, why play it over Sora and Kairi's parting? That question has a simple and clean answer.
Because when the door closes between Sora and Riku, Riku is left on the other side, in the dark, left alone with that unspoken "please don't go" hidden beneath the "take care of her", Sora's left with a choice. To follow Riku's spoken request or his unspoken one. All he does is nod. But while Riku takes that as an "I'll take care of her," what Sora's true answer is shows only in his actions.
The Paopu Fruit (A Queer Reading of Kingdom Hearts)
In Kingdom Hearts, the paopu fruit is said to tie the destinies of two people who care about each other together. It's a tradition of Destiny Islands, but it's a belief that's spread as far as the Land of Departure. It's used as a way to portray love of all kinds, but it has a romantic connotation. It's brought up time and time again in regards to Kairi, and yet there's a pattern in scenes where the paopu fruit appears that has nothing to do with her. One I'd like to point out today.
I'd first like to point out that I'm making a strict distinction between where the paopu is mentioned and where it actually appears. It's discussed, it's represented by the shape of the wayfinder, it's drawn, but I want to focus on the actual paopu fruit itself and where it appears in cutscenes. (Keep in mind I'm focusing on where the paopu in the scene plays a role, not where it simply appears in the background on the tree.)
The first example is where the concept of a paopu fruit is first introduced.
Riku tosses Sora a fruit, explains the tradition, and laughs it off as Sora tosses the fruit away.
The paopu doesn't make a reappearance until Birth By Sleep.
Terra finds a fruit washed up on the shore and remembers what Aqua told him about it.
When he finds the tree it came from and decides to take a closer look, two boys race past him to sit on its trunk.
Sora and Riku.
Not much later, Aqua herself finds the same island, the same fruit, the same tree.
And the same boys.
Once again, the paopu doesn't play a significant part in a scene until much later. But in Kingdom Hearts III, there's a scene where Sora and Kairi exchange paopu fruit.
Where that scene begins, however, is significant. Because it doesn't just start with Sora and Kairi talking to one another.
It starts with them looking at Riku.
With Sora wondering if he's okay.
Wherever there is a paopu, there is always Sora and Riku.
Conversely, Kairi is often associated with the paopu, but this association happens because of two major representations.
The first is her thalassa shell wayfinder, the one she allows Sora to borrow.
As Aqua says in Birth By Sleep, this is made in the shape of a star to reflect the paopu fruit.
The second reason Kairi is associated with a paopu fruit is because of a drawing. One we should all know well as it's the final shot before the credits in Kingdom Hearts.
The significance here lies in that while Kairi's associations with the paopu come in the forms of effigies and images. If the paopu fruit has a romantic connotation, this, perhaps, reflects that they hold the idea of a romance when they are together.
Like the very first time we ever see a paopu in Kingdom Hearts, however, the real thing...
The Power of Waking (A Queer Reading of Kingdom Hearts)
At the start of Sora's quest in Kingdom Hearts 3, he and Riku are given separate tasks.
To Riku, find Aqua in the Realm of Darkness.
To Sora, discover the Power of Waking.
And Sora was given some very important advice at the start of his journey.
And he follows it. He follows his heart to Hercules, who reminds Sora of when he gave his all to save Meg.
He follows it to the Kingdom of Corona, where he watches Eugene nearly die to save Rapunzel's life.
He follows it to Arendelle, where he sees Anna, frozen, having saved Elsa.
Jack gives up immortality to save Will, Mike and Sulley part with Boo to keep her safe, Woody saves Buzz and lets go of Andy, Hiro destroys the chip Tadashi originally made to save Baymax.
Again and again, Sora's heart leads him to places where he learns about true love, that it's what matters most to someone, above all else. Whether it's romantic, platonic, or familial, it's someone for whom you'd give up something you really, really want, as long as it meant they were safe.
It's someone you care about so much that losing everything else wouldn't matter, as long as you were with them.
It's someone you'd die for.
It's what matters most. It's something you want to protect with all your heart.
The Power of Waking is true love, which... Well, of course it is. Historically, it always has been, ever since Disney's start.
But Sora's heart wasn't only leading him to these worlds. There was another direction Sora's heart consistently led him to throughout his journey.
Ironically, it seems the place Sora's heart pulls him most fervently to on his quest to discover the Power of Waking is the one place he's not allowed to go until his quest is complete. It's a catch-22.
Of course, fate intervenes, and Sora famously does find himself at Riku's side once more.
And what should immediately follow that reunion but...
...Sora's first use of the Power of Waking.
As Ventus said, he never lost it. It sleeps within him, and it has for a long, long time.
The Kairi Question (A Queer Reading of Kingdom Hearts)
I realize the first question that’s going to be on a lot of minds the minute I start talking about Sora and Riku as a romantic couple is how that fits with Kairi’s character.
There are, of course, the obvious responses, such as the fact that Kairi hasn’t played a major role in the story for a very long time, if her role could ever be called major in the first place, but that doesn’t delete her character from the story entirely.
Instead, I would like to revisit the fundamentals and really disentangle Kairi’s role from our preconceived notions of what the best friend to the male lead is “supposed” to be.
In other words, anything that is not explicit within the text is not canon.
Kairi is never explicitly stated as Sora’s love interest. The closest we come to it at any point in the story is in Chain of Memories, where Sora’s memory is addled and Namine, planting herself in Kairi’s place in many ways as her shadow, her Nobody, causes Sora to express disappointment in that they were never really friends, “Or anything more than that.” But that only confirms that Namine addled Sora’s mind to make him think he was attracted to her. Whether those feelings came initially from Kairi is left vague, even when Namine admits that Kairi is the girl in his life who is most special to him.
Feelings can also change, and people can realize that things they thought they once knew about themselves are wrong. Though I doubt this is something Kingdom Hearts would ever address plainly using specific terminology (even if Sora and Riku were to become an explicit couple in the future), since it has a certain tone that’s just slightly hovering over grounded reality, there are many people out there who didn’t realize they were queer when they were young and thought they had a crush on someone just because that person was their “favorite girl” and they didn’t realize there’s supposed to be a feeling that goes along with that. It’s a nigh-universal experience amongst homosexual and asexual people in particular. That feeling that you have to “choose” someone.
Sora’s feelings for Kairi could be interpreted as having never existed at all, or having once existed and then changed, or having been presumed by even Sora because everyone on Destiny Islands thought he liked her and he simply went along with it because he thought he was supposed to like her.
If they did exist at any point, it’s easy to support the interpretation that they don’t anymore.
Sora’s confusion when Kairi hands him a Paopu fruit--a colloquial symbol with romantic connotations--and the distress on his face is easy to read as a rejection.
It certainly isn’t an explicit expression of romance from Sora, in any case. There are none in the series. No verbal confessions, no kisses, no dates outright stated as such.
If there are no explicit confirmations, we have to turn to implicit.
But the problem with Sora and Kairi is that every scene between them that could be interpreted as romantic has a pointed, purposeful, and platonic parallel elsewhere in the series.
I’ll only give a few here to make my point, but I may make a post dedicated to this later, showing every single time Sora and Kairi do something together that’s repeated by another two characters at another point.
The existence of these platonic scenes juxtaposed against Sora and Kairi does not necessarily mean that it is impossible to read them as romantic, but that every scene between Sora and Kairi reliably has a platonic counterpart is worth noting when analyzing the purpose of these scenes.
So, if we’re assuming Kairi’s role in this story is not to be Sora’s love interest, since that role falls to Riku, then how can her role be read?
Well, personally, I read her role as--bear with me--to...not be Sora’s love interest.
And I don’t mean that in a she’s-a-strong-independent-woman-who-don’t-need-no-man way. What I mean is that she is there, specifically, to subvert the expectation that every hero in every story needs to get the girl. She’s standing in the role of “the girl” specifically to take up that space, but Sora has no intention of “getting” her.
Kairi has never been a particularly important part of Kingdom Hearts. None of her choices seem to matter.
In the first Kingdom Hearts game, her role throughout most of the story was that of a corpse. She was a MacGuffin, passed from place to place, from villain to villain, until she was rescued, just before the climax, leaving said climax for Sora and Riku alone.
In Kingdom Hearts II, she boldly left the islands in search of Sora only to be captured, passed again from villain to villain, and be rescued (by Namine this time rather than Sora)...just before the climax, leaving the climax for Sora and Riku alone once again.
In Kingdom Hearts III, if we count Re:Mind, then the story becomes more about Kairi toward the end of the installment...
...until you unlock Episode Riku after the credits, where the story goes right back to being about Riku and Sora.
...And then someone who looks like Riku and Sora.
The non-numeric games barely mention Kairi at all, usually giving her one or two short scenes where she has no lines. Even Birth By Sleep gave her less screen-time than Sora and Riku, and she only shared one scene with them while Sora and Riku were never apart.
And even Melody of Memory, a game with only thirty minutes or so of plot that was mostly about Kairi...
...ended with Kairi being told she couldn’t come, outright vocalizing what the rest of the games had all implied, finally saying it to her face. “This story...”
“...isn’t yours.”
And she’s disappointed. Understandably. Everything, this whole time, has been about Sora and Riku, and that’s something she can’t ignore anymore.
She’s the love interest that wasn’t. The girl the hero wasn’t supposed to get. She is there to be the subversion of a trope. She’s there specifically because she doesn’t have to be there. But that’s okay.
Why?
The only thing that’s been keeping her in these games all this time, the reason she keeps being pulled back into the story even when she’s not relevant, every single scene without dialogue given to her in those games where she’s otherwise absent...
They’re all there for one reason.
Sora loves her.
Maybe it’s not the way she wants. It’s certainly not the way he would have loved her in any other game. But he does love her. No game fully passes without at least a mention of her, because he’s thinking about her, or dreaming about her, or talking about her. And even if the story doesn’t belong to her...even if the romance doesn’t belong to her...he’s always going to love her.
This is your reminder to blacklist the tag “amoremoccidere” if you do not wish to see the contents of this blog. This may include:
Fans of the “sokai” (Sora and Kairi) “ship” who do not wish to stumble upon any amount of negativity directed at something they enjoy.
Those who dislike “soriku” (Sora and Riku) as a hypothetical romantic relationship and do not wish to see it discussed in any manner.
Those who cannot read opinions that differ from their own without becoming angry and will disagree with a queer reading of Kingdom Hearts for any reason. Anger is a valid emotion to have. Avoiding what brings you anger can be a mature decision.
Please also note that the creation of this blog and its posts is not an invitation to debate or argue, and any attempts to incite discussion will be dismissed. Also note that readers and rebloggers may argue amongst themselves, and that the author behind this blog is not responsible for any arguments that may arise as a result of its content.
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