Sorting Through Kingdom Hearts III Part 4 - See You In Shibuya
Link to Part 1
Link to Part 2
Link to Part 3
Kingdom Hearts III almost gives us a happy ending. Almost.
For a split second, all of our heroes are hanging out on the beaches of the Destiny Islands, including both Sora and Kairi, who are sitting together on that well-known tree branch. As they lean in close to each other, suddenly Sora disappears. Um...WHAT?
Why did he disappear? Where did he go? Was he ever really there to begin with? And what about Kairi? Was she really there?
What follows is mostly speculation, but then again, most of the others posts have been just that, though with better evidence.
Let's start with Kairi. Was she really on Destiny Islands along with everyone else? We see her murdered in the Keyblade Graveyard, because unfortunately the series has turned her into the perpetual victim. But, as we already know, the dead don't necessarily stay dead in Kingdom Hearts. Literally all the Guardians of Light are returned to life in this game. Including her.
So Kairi already died once and came back. Did she do it again?
Yes, of course, but with Sora's help. After Master Xehanort is defeated, Sora goes off to rescue Kairi. We'll get to the details of that in a moment, but Kairi's appearance can only mean that Sora was successful.
What else indicates that Kairi was sufficiently rescued? Namine. Her revival in Hollow Bastion is shown, and she is with every else on Destiny Islands. As we know, her heart resided within Kairi since the end of KH2. It only briefly left when Kairi died the first time. Where did it go? The Final World.
"I was in Kairi’s heart, but then we were struck by a powerful darkness...and I woke up here.”
When Kairi died the second time, Namine's heart once again returned to the Final World. And what happened? Exactly what Namine described the first time:
“Kairi is where I came from. So when she’s safe again, Kairi is where I’ll return.”
So, once Sora rescued Kairi (again), Namine's heart returned to Kairi (again) and then her heart was placed into a replica. Namine's existence confirms that Kairi survived. But what did it cost Sora?
Young Master Xehanort warns Sora about diving into the abyss, presumably where he has to go to save Kairi:
"That heartless you’ve been fighting. It’s not like other heartless. It exists to usher hearts down to the depths of darkness. If you chase it, you will condemn your heart to that same abyss...What do you think the power of waking is? It’s for traversing hearts to reach worlds, not for traversing worlds to reach hearts. There’s a high price to pay for wielding such power foolishly...There’s no saving you. You’ve paid the price, and it lies at the bottom of the abyss.”
But Sora goes there anyway and apparently sacrifices himself to bring Kairi back to the World of Light. And that image of him right before the credits roll is probably Kairi's imagination. Sigh.
We don't have any clue to where Sora might have gone to until the secret movie after the credits. Sora is looking pretty realistic (with fingernails!) and, as the world around him is revealed, we see that it's Shibuya from the World Ends With You. The best hanging thread from Dream Drop Distance has finally been pulled. Neku telling Sora “See you in Shibuya” was not just a pleasantry.
So, it's likely that Sora died, but instead of being sent to The Final World, this time he enters the Reaper's game. (Could it be because of Luxord's card?) We might not be getting a direct TWEWY sequel, but this is the next best thing.
Speaking of, the secret movie also includes Riku ending up in another world not dissimilar to our own. It's the world of Ventus Rex, aka FF Versus XIII. Nomura might be cramming both games Square won't let him make into KH3.5. I'm excited for it!
Joining both of them in the secret movie is the Master of Masters, whose apprentices appear in the post-credit epilogue. It seems that they're setting up a Sora vs. Apprentices future. Why? Well, guess you'll have to play Union Cross or watch one of those Youtube summaries if you want a clue. I really don't like how they're tying the mobile game into the main series, given how unbearable I felt playing it was when it came out. But maybe they'll at least give us another movie or release a PS4 version.
Where does the Kingdom Hearts series go from here? Well, we know there's Final Mix DLC coming. And the secret movie hints at where 3.5 or 4 will take us. It seems certain that the Master of Masters will be the primary antagonist going forward, along with at least some of his apprentices. And we're not done with many of the Organization's original members, especially Xigbar. Plus, the Book of Prophecies will undoubtedly come into play, and maybe we'll have boss battles with Maleficent and Pete again when it does.
It could be a while until we get our next KH game, be it a Ventus Rex/TWEWY mash up or an Unchained Key/Union Cross HD upgrade. But it's a safe bet that KH4 will be a PS5/next gen game. Hopefully it won't take 13 years to release. And maybe we'll get Star Wars or MCU worlds this time! (Or even Avatar or something now that the Fox merger is complete.)
I've got one more post left, sorting through Nomura's recent interviews and what I got right and wrong in my previous essays. See you then.