Level Story | Issue 3 | Kingdom Hearts 1 by Level Story Magazine

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Cover artwork by: c-dra https://www.c-dra.com/ FEATURES

Treasured Memories pg. 36

Kingdom Hearts 1 adapts Disney properties for a video game using the collection structure.

Simple & Clean pg. 44

Kingdom Hearts 1 stands out from the rest of the series for its simple and clean approach to storytelling. 10 // Story Overview How does Kingdom Hearts 1 hold up?

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14 // Friends in My Heart

18 // Road to a Hero Examining Sora’s character arc through the lens of the hero’s journey.

16 // Hand in Hand

22 // Kairi Looking at the problems with Kairi.

52 // Another Side, Another Story

26 // Hikari (Light) Riku’s arc may be the most complex of the game. 32 // Dive Into the Heart Does Kingdom Hearts 1 play by the rules? 40 // No Time to Think How Kingdom Hearts 1 is hindered by Disney.

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p.36

48 // Neverland Sky Looking at Kingdom Hearts 1 as an adult.

50 // Once Upon a Time

p. 44

LEVEL STORY MAGAZINE MISSION STATEMENT Storytelling in video games is getting better and better with age. What began as simple forms of combat, exploration, and journey missions, has evolved into something much more sophisticated than once allowed. No longer are we content to only be concerned with gameplay mechanics. Although gameplay is really important, the gaming community also cares about other attributes such as style, design, musical score, and of course story. As time has passed, video games have steadily begun to provide well crafted stories to accompany their gameplay. But unlike mediums such as the novel or film, video games are not well respected and therefore are not considered to be an art form. They began as a series of objectives for the player to immerse themselves in. It was only as the technology developed that creators began to challenge the mediums original intent. Video games are still tainted with the taboo of mediocrity that many find to be silly and for the immature. This is an outdated notion. Video games, new and old, are important. Stories are important. All stories regardless of the medium are worthy of study. My goal is to examine the stories that exist in classic and modern day video games. Through careful exploration I will analyze these stories just as one would analyze a novel. Is the story well crafted? What themes are at play? How do our characters grow? And ultimately, what attributes of the video game directly contribute to the game’s core narrative? This is Level Story Magazine.

CREDITS Writer & Designer | Danielle Carpenter Writer | Samuel Gronseth II ARTISTS Luna B. c-dra Devurr Jesse Elliott Jonás Emanuel Erneste Edward Gan Jerónimo Pastor Gómez Megan Kallas Dariens Leclerc Caitlin M. AL SANYA C. “Orion” V. PATREON PRODUCERS Tyler Giza White Mage

The ideas presented by the writers in this magazine belong to them individually and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of everyone who contributed. © Level Story Magazine, 2019

WORKS CITED 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

“Chrono Trigger by puwexil in 5:41:25 SGDQ2019.” YouTube video, 5:41:25. “Games Done Quick,” June 30, 2019. https://youtu.be/ mopVLqSsv54. “Minecraft with RTX | Official GeForce RTX Ray Tracing Reveal Trailer.” YouTube video. “NVIDIA GeForce,” August 19, 2019. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=91kxRGeg9wQ “Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King Announcement Trailer.” YouTube video. “Nighthawk Interactive,” August 29, 2019. https://youtu.be/ko8ey8JCpP8. “YOU’VE BEEN LIED TO.” YouTube video. “ProJared,” August 28, 2019. https://youtu.be/BBywRBbDUjA. Phillips, Tom. 2019. “Walmart to Remove Signs Showing Violence, Including Video Games.” Eurogamer.net. Eurogamer.net. August 9, 2019. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-08-09-walmart-stores-remove-signage-referencing-violence-including-video-games. “Kevin McCarthy touts first responders in El Paso shooting.” YouTube video, 1:49. “Fox News,” August 19, 2019. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=Vz9p6CpAIT4. Salam, Maya, and Liam Stack. 2018. “Do Video Games Lead to Mass Shootings? Researchers Say No.” The New York Times. The New York Times. February 23, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/us/politics/trump-video-games-shootings.html. “KINGDOM HEARTS 1 FINAL MIX FOR BEGINNERS.” YouTube video, 1:55. “SuperButterBuns,” 2016. https://youtu.be/mopVLqSsv54. Miesel, Sandra. 2011. “Is There Hope for Slytherin House? Can the Serpent Change Its Skin?” In Harry Potter for Nerds: Essays for Fans, Academics, and Lit Geeks, 1–16. Unlocking Press. n.d. Great Philosophers: Augustine On Evil Commentary. Accessed June 30, 2019. https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/ Philosophers/Augustine/augustine_evil02.html. Sweeney (Caltheous), Erin N. 2011. “Cracking the Planetary Code: Harry Potter, Alchemy, and the Seven Book Series as a Whole.” In Harry Potter for Nerds: Essays for Fans, Academics, and Lit Geeks, 171–97. Unlocking Press. “Johnny vs. Kingdom Hearts.” YouTube video, 11:37. “SomecallmeJohnny,” 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0APabcIsd8. “Kingdom Hearts Retrospective.” YouTube video, 7:19. “KingK,” 2018. https://youtu.be/jvK7l-Ivl1U. Lewis, C S. 2001. “On Three Ways of Writing for Children.” In Children’s Literature, 43–55. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press. Greenwald, Andy. 2013. “Winter Is Here.” Grantland. March 27, 2013. http://grantland.com/features/the-return-hbo-game-thrones/. “Kingdom Hearts Retrospective.” YouTube video, 6:22. “KingK,” 2018. https://youtu.be/jvK7l-Ivl1U. Kanemaki, Tomoco. 2015. Kingdom Hearts: The Novel. Translated by Melissa Tanaka. First ed. New York, NY: Yen On.

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Creator Letter Kingdom Hearts Should Be Taken Seriously

evel Story would not exist if I had never played Kingdom Hearts. You may find that statement to be hyperbolic, but allow me to explain. I didn’t play many games growing up outside of the popular Nintendo titles - Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country, and Banjo-Kazooie. While these are all fantastic games in their own way, none of them feature narrative dense stories. As far as I was aware, games did not contain compelling stories the way the books I loved did. Games were games. The most cinematic game I had played in my short life was Tony Hawk’s Underground, a game that doesn’t scream great narrative. It didn’t make me seek out more narrative games, even if it did surprise me with a story instead of just handing me a level to peruse. Kingdom Hearts was different. From the moment I popped in the first game to get my fill of Disney magic, I was amazed by the realization that a video game could play on the screen like a movie. It awakened the potential in me to seek out narrative in spaces beyond books. I realized that good stories can exist in any space, as long as their allowed. Whenever I tell people I play Kingdom Hearts, the almost universal reaction is laughter or a pretentious scuff. The story is convoluted and all over the place. How can anyone take

Disney seriously? It is stupid. This comes from many who have never picked up a single game from the series in their lives or haven’t played enough to allow the game proper time to do its job. The important thing I want to get out there is this - Kingdom Hearts is not a bad series. Kingdom Hearts is not a bad story. This perhaps is my mission statement for this issue and future issues tackling other games in the series. Now, let me be clear. Kingdom Hearts can’t escape criticism. It often invites it with its poor structure, retconning, and narrative padding. The games feature so many narrative problems that it can be overwhelming to talk about everything without tripping over yourself. I’m not even sure I was able to get all my thoughts on the pages of this issue. But that being said, there are good things happening. I hope I can uncover some of those things while still remaining critical of the things that don’t work as well. A few things of note before you get into the issue proper. First, although the first game in the series is called Kingdom Hearts, it will be referred to as Kingdom Hearts 1 in an effort to make things less confusing when the series as a whole is referenced. It can be assumed that this issue is in reference to the Final Mix version of the game, the definitive version. Finally, this issue is focused on the first game only so no need to fear spoilers for future titles if you have not played. The games will be discussed in order of their release. I love Kingdom Hearts 1 a lot. Though on the surface it shows its age in the somewhat slow gameplay and weird cut scene pacing, looking deeper only reveals much more depth and complexity...even if there is a hint of silliness to it all.

Danielle Carpenter Creator & Publisher

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The Hot & the Cold SGDQ ‘19 Hits $3 Million!

News

Speedrunning event Games Done Quick held their summer event and earned three million dollars for the organization “Doctors Without Borders.” This is a fantastic milestone for the event! 1

Minecraft with RTX Minecraft is getting an update! The game will be implementing ray tracing, a lighting upgrade that allows “real-time global illumination.” This means, realistic lighting. The update is said to release within the next year. 2

Disney Classic Remasters Disney announced their plans to re-release their classic Lion King and Aladdin games in remastered form in the fall. The games will be released for consoles and the PC. This comes after the animated counterparts were remade as “live action” movies earlier this year. 3

ProJared Comes Clean Back in May, the popular gaming YouTuber was accused of cheating on his wife as well as soliciting nudes from minors. Months later he returns with a video that claims he is innocent and blames “cancel culture” for his troubles. Is anyone else tired of these fake apologies? 4

Walmart & Violent Games Walmart made the decision to remove images of violent video games from their stores after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. The franchise still displays and sells guns. Something feels wrong with this picture...5

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“Video Games Could Be Linked to Mass Shootings” is Still a Thing Earlier this month, video games were once again made the scapegoat of mass shootings and violent behavior. After two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio happened only a day apart from one another, politicians were naturally asked to respond and offer solutions to this epidemic. Republican Kevin McCarthy of California came on Fox News and said, “The idea that these video games that dehumanize individuals to have a game of shooting individuals...We’ve watched studies show what it does to individuals, and you look at these photos of how it took place, you can see the actions within video games and others.” 6 It seems this argument will not be going away anytime soon. It is one that is tired and blames video games in order to push a specific agenda rather than truly confront the issue at hand. The New York Times published a piece back in early 2018 regarding this discussion. The piece pointed to research that says video games are not to blame. “Media scholars say the claims about video games and violent movies — a common one in the wake of mass shootings — does not hold up to scrutiny.” The article also looks at the Columbine shooting, where two students shot and killed 13 people at the Colorado High School of the same name. It was this event back in 1999 where violent media became a popular victim to blame for these horrific actions. 7 Video games as a medium are still new and growing. Due to this, it is easy to place blame on something that is relatively foreign. But it would be nice if our politicians pointed the finger at the real culprit instead of ignoring the issues that they directly benefit from. Something tells me this won’t be happening anytime soon.

Level Story’s Top 5 E3 Announcements!

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD 2

Nintendo is developing a sequel to Breath of the Wild. Folks have been predicting this announcement for a long while. The fact that it is now a reality is overwhelmingly exciting. The game seems to be working in the same realm as Majora’s Mask in that it is using previous Zelda assets with a much darker tone.

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE

YOOKA-LAYLEE AND THE IMPOSSIBLE LAIR

Final Fantasy fans have been aching to see this game be remade in beautiful high definition. That desire is slowly becoming a reality. With the release of a new trailer, this remake is looking better than ever. Let’s just hope people don’t get too upset over Tifa’s breasts.

BANJO-KAZOOIE IN SMASH

Fans of the bear and bird have wanted a proper sequel to Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie for a long time. No, Nuts & Bolts doesn’t count. With no sign of a sequel on the horizon, it seemed their best bet was to see their favorite characters duke it out in a Smash game. Thankfully, these characters were not forgotten and received an epic trailer for their announcement!

It is fair to say that the original Yooka-Laylee is a head scratcher of a game. Although the game is certainly enjoyable, it contains overwhelming flaws. The sequel seems to bring the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie back to form a la Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. No longer are Yooka and Laylee 3D platforming but entering the realm of the side scroller!

NI NO KUNI COMING TO PC, PS4, AND SWITCH

This notable title, animated by Studio Ghibli, has only been available on the PS3 for the longest time. Finally it is being ported to the next generation of consoles and we couldn’t be more excited. While the Switch is only getting a standard port of the game, the PS4 and PC will be getting a remastered version.

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STORY OVERVIEW

It Began with a Letter

ingdom Hearts 1 begins with a dream sequence. A boy wakes up on a pillar of stained glass. In the dream he ventures to many different pillars, learning different ways to fight strange shadow enemies until he comes face to face with an enlarged version of his shadow. Once the shadow is defeated, the boy sinks into a pool of darkness and wakes up. The boy is named Sora, who resides on Destiny Island with his friends Riku and Kairi. The three children are trying to build a raft and set sail to discover other worlds. While gathering materials for their journey, Sora messes around and plays games with his friends. He has a bit of a rivalry with Riku, who is older and always seems to be better than him at various tasks. Sora has feelings for Kairi, who he longs to share a paopu fruit with. When two people share a paopu fruit, it is said that they are connected for eternity. Sora visits the secret place where he and Kairi used to draw on the cave walls with rocks, and there he draws himself sharing a paopu fruit with her. Then, a mysterious figure appears. His face is kept hidden beneath a hood and what little he says makes hardly any sense to Sora. He talks of what lies beyond the door and Sora looks over at the mysterious door in the cave with no handle and no lock. It can’t be opened. When he looks back, the man is gone. Meanwhile, trouble is abrew in another world called Disney Castle. King Mickey has left on an important mission, leaving only a brief letter to explain himself. He tells his royal knight, Goofy, and royal mage, Donald, that the stars in the sky are disappearing one by one. This means trouble and he has gone to investigate. He advises Donald and Goofy to find the person with the “key” by talking to Leon in Traverse Town. The two set off. Back on Destiny Island, a storm has arrived and the island is littered with the weird shadow creatures from Sora’s dream. Above the island is a large ball of energy. Sora finds Riku beneath the energy and he is acting strange. Riku extends his hand to Sora, saying it is time for them to depart and he is not afraid of the darkness. Sora hesitates as dark matter latches onto Riku like snakes pulling him into the ground. Sora

reaches out to his friend but there is a flash of light. Suddenly, Riku is gone and all that is left with Sora is a strange weapon called the keyblade. Sora uses the keyblade to fight his way through the Shadows to a mysterious door in front of the secret place. When he gets inside, he finds Kairi standing in front of the mysterious door. She seems out of it and as Sora walks toward her, the door opens and a gust of wind sends Kairi flying toward Sora. He opens his arms to catch her, but it is almost as if she passes through him before she disappears. The wind pushes Sora out of the secret place and he lands on the only patch of land left to his home. His enlarged shadow from the dream has returned and now Sora must fight him in real life. After the defeat, the orb of energy in the sky begins to vacuum Destiny Island into its clutches. Sora tries to hold on but gets swept away. He lands in Traverse Town. The Shadows are here too. After exploring a bit, Sora meets Leon who challenges him to fight. After, Sora collapses. When he wakes, he sees Kairi standing above him. She begins to explain that the weird creatures Sora saw on the island are after him because of the keyblade, but then it is revealed that it isn’t actually Kairi he sees but someone named Yuffie. Leon is also there. They explain that the creatures Sora fought are called the Heartless. They are attracted to the keyblade. Sora is now the chosen keybearer and has to take on the responsibility that comes with that. Meanwhile in the next room, Donald and Goofy have met Aerith who tells them about the wise ruler, Ansem, who was doing research on the Heartless and kept a detailed report on his findings. With the worlds in turmoil, his reports have been scattered and must be collected. Suddenly, Heartless attack. Sora flees with Leon. They enter the third district of Traverse Town and meet up with

Photo credit: Devurr https://twitter.com/devurr https://devurr.tumblr.com

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Donald and Goofy just as a giant Heartless appears. The three fight and win. After some introductions, it is agreed that the trio should travel together to find Sora’s friends, find the King, and work to seal the keyholes of each world in order to protect them from being lost to the darkness just like Destiny Island. The trio visit a variety of worlds and do their best not to meddle in world affairs, but don’t succeed very often. After much exploration, they usually find the hidden keyhole and seal it after battling a bunch of Heartless. They return to Traverse Town where Sora finds Riku. Kairi is not with him. When Riku sees Sora is the master of the keyblade, he becomes noticeably annoyed. It doesn’t help that Donald refuses Sora’s request to bring Riku along with them. Riku then disappears, but Sora is just glad that his friend is safe. They fight some more Heartless and seal the keyhole to Traverse Town. Leon tells Sora about an evil villan named Maleficent and that they should watch out for her. She is behind what is happening to the worlds. They venture off once again. It is revealed that Maleficent is working with other villains to kidnap select princesses from various worlds known as the princesses of heart. They are the key to their plan, though it is unclear as to why. Maleficent has roped Riku into her company, manipulating his insecurities toward Sora and his desire to find Kairi in order to use him as a pawn. Riku seems reluctant, but falls for her trap. While visiting other worlds, Sora encounters Riku again. But Riku has changed. He is actively working against Sora and Sora can’t figure out why. He tries to reach his friend, but Riku once again disappears. They find him in another world but this time, he has Kairi. Although she is okay, she seems to be comatose and unresponsive. Sora reaches out to her with little luck. To his dismay, Riku takes Kairi and disappears through a dark portal. Sora has a strange vision. He is floating in a library that he has never seen before. Kairi is there, though she is a little girl. With her is an old woman presumed to be her grandmother. The grandmother tells Kairi about the origins of the worlds, how long ago people only had the light. When they began to fight over the light, darkness entered the world. A great war was fought and the world fell to darkness, only to be rescued by children who still had light in their hearts. Though the world was renewed, it was split into multiple worlds that were separate from one another. The trio then find themselves at a place called Hollow Bastion, a place that feels intensely familiar to Sora. They find Riku again, who takes the keyblade from Sora for himself. Although Sora fought here with the keyblade, it belonged to Riku all along. In an attempt to follow the King’s orders, Donald and Goofy go with Riku. They must follow the key. Sora is left without his friends and a wooden sword. Not giving up, he makes his way to the castle to confront Riku. Though Riku taunts him, Sora does not let him win and reminds Riku that his power never came from his weapon but from the strength of his heart. His strength comes from his friends. At this statement, Donald and Goofy return to Sora’s side, as does the keyblade. Sora fights Riku before Riku runs off. They make their way up the castle and are confronted by the dreaded Maleficent. They battle with her before Riku appears, clearly not himself. He has a different weapon now, a keyblade of his own made from the hearts of the princesses of heart. He claims that it has the power to unlock hearts. With it he stabs Maleficent, telling her to give her heart to the darkness. She transforms into a dragon. Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat her and find Riku. In glass cases are the princesses of heart. Some Sora saw in his dream, their faces on the stained glass pillars. Some he met in other worlds they traversed such as Alice and Jasmine. Kairi is there, laying as if she is asleep on the floor. Riku appears and Sora tells whoever is possessing Riku to

give him back his heart. Riku says he is Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. He tells Sora he first must return the princess’s heart to her. He points the keyblade at Sora’s chest and Sora feels something pang inside him as he realizes Kairi is not only a princess of heart, but her heart rests within him. Riku goes to stab Sora but Sora fights back in the final confrontation between he and his best friend. Once defeated, Riku drops his weapon and disappears. Meanwhile, the keyhole to Hollow Bastion seems dangerously active. Sora tries to seal it but can’t when the princesses are without their hearts. How can he free Kairi’s heart when it is in his own? Realizing what he must do, Sora picks up Riku’s keyblade and stabs himself with it, opening his heart to the darkness and freeing not just Kairi’s heart but the remaining princesses. Kairi awakes just as Sora disappears. Donald calls out to Sora but it is too late. He is gone. A man appears, claiming the keyhole is complete and that the princesses have served their purpose. He walks toward them when Riku appears, trying to hold the man back. He tells them to run because the Heartless are coming. Kairi leads the way and they flee. As they come to the castle exit, they notice a Heartless following them. In a leap of faith, Kairi believes the Heartless is Sora and runs to protect him. Sora then returns to his body. The four return to Traverse Town and tell Leon what happened. While Kairi stays behind at Hollow Bastion, the trio return to seal the keyhole and save Riku. Just before they do this, they find Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith who say that this was once their home world where Ansem ruled. They are disappointed at his fate, being the mastermind behind the problems this entire time. They tell Sora that once he seals the keyhole and defeats Ansem, the worlds will go back to as they were. They will never see each other again. Sora says his goodbyes and returns to seal the keyhole. After battling various Heartless, they make their way to a place called the End of the World where fragments of the broken worlds reside. They make their way to what looks to be Destiny Island but it is broken and ruined. Ansem is there and they fight him. He leads them to a place called the Endless Abyss and they fight once more. Sora defeats Ansem. In his final moments, Ansem reaches out to two large doors that rest on floating rock and claims it to be Kingdom Hearts. He says that Kingdom Hearts is the supreme darkness but Sora says Kingdom Hearts is light! Then the doors open and bright, white light bathes Ansem. He disappears in defeat. Sora, Donald, and Goofy run to the doors to seal them shut but it seems they are too heavy. Inside are a massive amount of Heartless. Their plight seems hopeless. Then Riku appears and tells Sora they can shut the door together. As they shut the door, King Mickey appears on the other side behind Riku with a keyblade and together, he and Sora seal the door from both sides. As the door shuts, Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi. The doors disappear. The worlds are returned to their original state. All is as it should be. Throughout Kingdom Hearts 1 there is an overwhelming lack of focus. The game paces itself fairly well and introduces concepts adeptly, but the execution is what is troubling. The story is solid enough but trying to condense it and make sense of it all can be confusing. Although it shines in comparrison to games that came after, that doesn’t excuse it for the problems it has. While a compelling narrative, there is a lot that needs fixing.

RATING:

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ISSUE 3 | LEVEL STORY

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Destiny Island: Kairi passes through Sora, where her heart takes refuge. Traverse Town: Sora awakes from fighting Leon and believes he is talking to Kairi, soon later learning it is actually Yuffie. Deep Jungle: Sora sees Kairi walking behind Tarzan for a brief moment.

Deep Jungle: Jane shows the trio and Tarzan slides with photographs. One of them looks familiar to Sora, though Sora has never been off his island.

Traverse Town: At Merlin’s hut, Sora sees Kairi. When he calls her name, Donald and Goofy become concerned, and she disappears.

FRIENDS IN MY HEART Sora and Kairi’s connection in Kingdom Hearts 1 is of pivotal importance. Not only is their connection what motivates the two of them, but it is also significant to the overarching plot of the game. Kairi’s heart both literally and figuratively resides with Sora throughout most of the game. Kairi passes through Sora just as Destiny Island is being claimed by the darkness. Her heart takes literal refuge in Sora’s. This is a key point of the plot and can be documented in the timeline on the right. Yet their connection already runs much deeper. In the beginning scenes of the game, Riku explains the mythology of the paopu fruit. When two people share one, their destinies become intertwined and they form a lifelong connection. Sora does not actually share the fruit with Kairi but instead draws himself sharing one with her on the walls of the secret cave. This metaphorically forges a connection between the two. Kairi later solidifies this connection by giving Sora the Oathkeeper keychain as a symbol of her always being with him. In addition, in the closing cinematics of the game, Kairi sees Sora’s drawings and is so touched that it brings tears to her eyes. The game goes out of its way to cement the connection between Sora and Kairi, literally throughout the plot of the game and metaphorically with the two friends sharing a part of themselves through the paopu fruit and the Oathkeeper keychain.

Neverland: Sora reaches out to Kairi’s comatose body when he can’t reach her. Her hand moves toward his. Traverse Town: Sora has a vision of Kairi and an old woman, her grandmother, in a library. Her grandmother tells the history of why the worlds are separate from one another.

Hollow Bastion: Sora learns that Kairi’s heart resides in his heart. He stabs his heart in order to set Kairi’s free.

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Hollow Bastion: After landing, Sora says, “I know this place.” It was Kairi’s home.

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Photo credit: Jonás Emanuel https://www.facebook.com/jonasemanuelrebenke/ https://www.instagram.com/jonas_emanuel_ilustrador/

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Hand in Hand Written by Danielle Carpenter

If you had to settle what the core theme is from Kingdom Hearts 1, the answer would be friendship. When Sora loses the keyblade to Riku, he pronounces that, “I don’t need a weapon...My friends are my power!” Ignoring the fact that Donald and Goofy had abandoned him and aren’t doing much good in the friendship department, the sentiment has weight. Sora has made many new friends along his journey that have taught him different lessons. He also still carries the friendship between he, Riku, and Kairi. These friendships make him strong. They are Sora’s central motivation throughout the game. Kingdom Hearts 1 presents friendship in a variety of different ways. At their core, these friendships have stakes and consequences. Sora’s friendships are presented in a way that understands why friendship is so important in the first place. To maintain a friendship, one must put in the work to do so. Sora does not simply find Riku turning to the darkness and say, wow, looks like Riku has gone bad and I have to do away with him. In fact, Sora never once lays that blame on Riku. Instead, Sora fights for Riku, encouraging him to consider the consequences of his actions and then knowing that Riku is no longer himself but being possessed by Ansem. This game has no time for petty arguments between characters (we can forget about the Sora and Donald conflict that takes place in Deep Jungle). It knows that friendship is important and shows us why. The central friendship in the game is between Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Riku and Kairi are almost like a brother and sister to Sora. They mess with each other, they argue with each other, and at the end of the day they love each other through and through. As already mentioned, when Riku chooses the darkness, Sora never gives up on his friend. He fights for him. Though the two have a boyhood rivalry, at the end of the day they are there for each other when it counts the most. At the end of the game we see Riku help Sora shut the door to Kingdom Hearts, trapping himself inside the Realm of Darkness. When it comes to Kairi, Sora literally stabs himself so that her heart can be returned to her body. Her friendship means so much to him that he would make that decision. He and Riku spend the entire game looking for her, and both share the sole concern for her safety. Another important friendship Sora makes is between Donald and Goofy. Though their desertion at the beginning of Hollow Bastion doesn’t put them in so good a light, for most

of the game these three characters form a friendship based on the phrase, “all for one and one for all!” They are there to support one another. Sora literally needs to them to proceed through certain sections of the game, specifically when it comes to the trinity marks. In addition, Donald and Goofy play the important role of surrogate parents to Sora. Donald is strict and wild tempered, while Goofy is calm and encouraging. They balance each other nicely, aiding Sora when he needs to be reminded of why their mission is so important. Finally, Sora forms many friendships with the Disney and Final Fantasy characters throughout the game. When Sora meets new people, his bond with them is almost instant. He never questions their loyalties or asks anything or them. All he can do is do right by them. This results in people being naturally drawn to Sora, helping him in his times of need without even second guessing themselves. All of this speaks to the idea of chosen family. It is now an internet meme that the Kingdom Hearts series does not care about these characters’ parents. Sora’s mother only appears once off screen, yelling up to her son that dinner is ready and receiving no response. Riku talks of them never seeing their parents again, but this sentiment is never revisited in any way. The most we get from future titles is a flashback with Sora mentioning his father. It would make sense that the relationships Sora forms and already maintains would constitute as family. Since he never so much as sheds a tear for his poor mother waiting for her son to come to dinner, it can be implied that his true family lies in his friendships. It isn’t a radical idea to say that friendships come and go. Friends enter and leave our lives. That is normal. But Kingdom Hearts 1 weighs friendship much heavier on the scale. Sora does not make a friend that he doesn’t consider important. His relationship to Riku and Kairi resembles that of siblings. Donald and Goofy are the inserted parents, guiding Sora as he comes of age. These friendships are important thematically but also within the rules of the heart. Sora’s heart is strong because of his friends, not because of his ability to wield the keyblade.

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ROAD TO Photo credit: Jerónimo Pastor Gómez https://www.deviantart.com/jefra https://www.facebook.com/JeroPastorArt https://jefra626.tumblr.com/ https://www.instagram.com/jero.pastor/ 18 ISSUE 3 | LEVEL STORY https://twitter.com/JeroPastorArt

A HERO Written by Danielle Carpenter

In Joseph Campell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell coins the trope popularized in epic stories as “the hero’s journey.” This term refers to the story beats that are associated with that of a hero, and is referenced in the first issue of Level Story Magazine talking about Banjo-Kazooie. Banjo-Kazooie is not unique in using said trope. It is very common and appears in several games, including the Legend of Zelda series, Journey, Final Fantasy VII, the Uncharted series, Gone Home, and of course Kingdom Hearts 1. The hero’s journey resonates with audiences collectively and it is a great map to use when directing a character. At its heart, the hero’s journey is a tale of transformation. A character must go through trials and tribulations to come out a new person on the other side. Kingdom Hearts 1 tells of Sora’s transformation from innocent and silly boy to one who has the maturity to do the right thing in order to not only rescue his friends, but save the worlds. This isn’t a new story but one that has been retold in a variety of different ways over time. As discussed in the Banjo-Kazooie issue, the hero’s journey is split into three acts. Act 1 begins with our hero in their ordinary world. Sora is on Destiny Island with his friends, dreaming of adventures but living a relatively safe and quiet life. Then there is a call to adventure. When the Destiny Islands are swallowed into darkness, Sora gains the keyblade and is transported to Traverse Town. Sora must venture to find his friends and return home. Next, our hero may refuse the call to action. When Yuffie and Leon explain that the keyblade chooses its wielder and Sora doesn’t have a choice but to bear the responsibility that comes with that, Sora argues that he didn’t choose this and

just wants to find his friends. A mentor then comes along in the form of Donald and Goofy. There is an argument that this mentor is Leon but he doesn’t so much as mentor Sora as feed him information about the plot. While Donald and Goofy aren’t exactly wise or on par with someone like Merlin the Wizard or Dumbledore, they guide Sora throughout his journey and act as surrogate parents. Finally, our hero crosses the threshold. Sora crosses from Traverse Town into various other worlds. Enter Act 2 where forces of darkness are encountered. Sora battles many Heartless, as well as the Disney villains, and even his best friend Riku. These enemies test him and Sora grows from his experiences. The hero then approaches the inmost cave, Hollow Bastion. Here Sora experiences his weakest moment, when the keyblade is returned to Riku and Sora is left with nothing but a wooden sword. On top of that, Sora’s friends desert him. What follows is the ordeal. Sora clashes with Riku and Maleficent. Though Sora wins back the keyblade, he is tasked with another difficult undertaking. After learning Kairi’s heart rests within his own, he stabs himself with the keyblade made of the princess’ hearts to set Kairi’s heart free. This sacrifice marks a point of growth in the hero. Sora is now emotionally mature enough to set aside his own desires for the greater good. Our hero is then given a reward. Sora is returned to his body after living briefly as a Heartless, and returns to Traverse Town with Kairi. She gives him the Oathkeeper keychain to represent their connection with each other. We now enter the final Act. The hero must take the road back to face the final confrontation. Sora returns to Hollow

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Bastion to confront Ansem in order to save the worlds. He then visits the End of the World, where fragments of what is left of the fractured worlds exists. Sora must battle through to face Ansem. This is the point of resurrection. Though Sora has already experienced resurrection, this resurrection is in reference to the hero’s ideals. While Ansem says Kingdom Hearts is the supreme darkness, it is proven that Kingdom Hearts is light. Once it is over, the hero returns home with the “elixir,” or reward. Although Sora does not return home, he returns the worlds to their original state and closes the door to Kingdom Hearts with the help of Riku and King Mickey. Sora’s journey is a classic that many audiences will find familiar, exciting, and rewarding. What is interesting about Sora’s journey versus most others is that he is not the original chosen one. He is no Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins. Riku is the chosen one. Riku is the one the keyblade was meant for. Sora just happened to be there when Riku chose to leave Destiny Island through a dark portal. Sensing his light, the keyblade fell to Sora. One has to question the entire logic of this but I digress. Kingdom Hearts 1 uses the Disney worlds as a tool to explore the hero’s journey narrative a bit deeper. Throughout his journey, Sora is constantly tested. The most obvious example of this is when Sora visits Olympus Coliseum. There is an explicit storyline where Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter the Coliseum tournaments to prove themselves as heroes. The world does not take the time to fully explore this idea in a meaningful way, so naturally it doesn’t feel all that important to the plot. In fact, players can skip Olympus Coliseum all together if they wish. Merlin the Wizard is a character in Kingdom Hearts 1, though he bears little resemblance to film or book counterpart. Only in name and said magical ability does he offer us something barely recognizable. Merlin comes from Arthurian legend, a classic hero’s journey. Believe it or not, Merlin is not the only Arthurian icon in this game. One reference that is easy to miss comes at the beginning of the game when Sora wishes to name the raft “Excalibur.” Excalibur is the name of Arthur’s sword. It is fitting that Sora should reference Excalibur since the keyblade is an abstract stand in for the sword. Just as Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, so does Sora by winning back the keyblade from Riku. The hero’s journey formula is one of simplicity that provides rich and effective storytelling. Not only does Sora’s journey follow these beats but there are plenty of references littered throughout the narrative that call back to past hero’s journeys. Sora’s transformation comes from a long line of hero’s before him, yet it manages to feel unique and fresh.

ISSUE 3 | LEVEL STORY

IF YOU LIKE KINGDOM HEARTS 1, THEN YOU WILL LIKE... 151A / KISHI BASHI Bashi’s music is very much in the realm of the experimental. His use of instruments does the work of telling a story and exploring different themes, and is a delight to the ears.

TWIN PEAKS Though having never watched this show myself, it is known for its grand narrative that is dispersed over many different works. Sound familiar?

A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA / URSULA K. LE GUIN This is the tale of Ged, known to many as Sparrowhawk. He is known as the greatest sorcerer in all of Earthsea. In a foolish attempt at gaining power and knowledge, Ged releases a terrible shadow into the world.

SPIRITED AWAY Considered Hayao Miyazaki’s magnum opus, this film follows 10-year-old Chihiro after she begins working at a spirit bath house. What follows is a splendor of animation and storytelling. Do not let this film pass you by.

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Kairi

Written by Danielle Carpenter

Photo credit: C. “Orion” V. https://omnificent-orion.tumblr.com/ 22 ISSUE 3 | LEVEL STORY https://www.artstation.com/loxocosm

And then there’s also Kairi, a.k.a. the girl. And that’s kind of it. - SuperButterBuns 8

There is a scene at the beginning of the third act of Kingdom Hearts 1 where Sora talks to Kairi after rescuing her and freeing her heart. It is clear that Sora must return to Hollow Bastion to defeat Ansem and rescue Riku. Kairi says that she wants to join Sora on his adventure, but Sora’s gut response is to say that it is too dangerous. After Kairi points out that they got this far by sticking together. Sora retorts by explaining that no matter what happens they will always be together. They are part of each other’s hearts. “I can’t help?” Kairi asks. “You’d kind of be in my way,” Sora responds. This response is perhaps the best way to define Kairi in Kingdom Hearts 1. Sora is clearly not making the statement with malicious intent, but rather in an effort to protect Kairi who is his friend that he loves dearly. But it is worth pointing out just how much his words resonate with the issues I take with Kairi as a character. While other characters, mostly male, are afforded complex storylines and adventures, Kairi is merely a background prop. She is nothing more than a commodity in Sora’s narrative. Once the narrative no longer has a use for her, she is virtually forgotten. The truth is, Kairi as a character greatly frustrates me. For all of the somewhat interesting material given to her, it is overtaken by the fact that at the end of the day she is nothing more than the girl of the group. Her reason to exist is to motivate Sora, to reward Sora, and to further Sora’s story. Although she is given an interesting backstory, it is never explored in the slightest outside of small inclinations. Her screen time is limited due to being comatose for most of the game, a fact that could be easily forgiven if the developers hadn’t done so wrong by her. What is the most frustrating is that this is nothing new or surprising. Kingdom Hearts 1 truly embraces its source material by making Kairi a Disney princess who is made entirely of light and left with nothing interesting to work with. While Riku gets to play the perfect foil to Sora, and Sora gets to go on adventures, Kairi doesn’t even get to have her backstory explored. She isn’t allowed to participate, isn’t allowed anything interesting to work with, and ultimately isn’t allowed to be a fully fledged character. Kairi apologists will tell you that her role is substantial in Kingdom Hearts 1. After all, she is central to the plot. I’ve discussed why her relationship with Sora is so important. There is weight to their relationship and that should not be

undermined. In addition, when Kairi is on screen she displays somewhat of an interesting character. She jokes and teases the boys, shares secrets with Sora, and came from another world. Yet this is short lived. For plot reasons, Kairi acts as a sleeping beauty for most of the game, and the interesting backstory that explores her coming from another world never happens. Despite the game’s clear focus on discovering different worlds, never once is Kairi’s original home brought up in context. It is only hinted toward. Beyond Destiny Island, Kairi’s story is to be the goal that Sora is working toward. Even Riku is working toward said goal. She becomes a pawn in the boys competition between one another. Who can rescue Kairi first? Who cares about Kairi more? Who can share the paopu fruit with Kairi? Kairi apologists will also explain that Kairi is the reason Sora returned to his body. Her belief in him brought him back to the light. This is all well and good, except all Kairi does is hug a Shadow Heartless. There is no build up, no grand sacrifice. In other words, though Kairi’s actions are deemed heroic, there is no weight to them. She is a princess of heart made of pure light. She is the pure female character. We expect her to do good. There is nothing remotely interesting about this. That is the problem. Making Kairi a princess of heart is an interesting way to incorporate original characters with the Disney characters, yet the choice unfortunately harks back to the problem with Disney princesses in the first place. The Disney princesses receive a lot of scrutiny for not being empowering role models for young girls. While some of this critique is misguided and includes bad faith arguments, it isn’t difficult to see the harmful messages the Disney princess brand can enforce. Earlier films such as Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs present women who need men to come and rescue them. Aurora and Snow White respectively hardly resemble active characters. The Disney Renaissance introduced much more developed princess characters. Ariel collects things and desires adventure outside of the sea. Belle enjoys reading and thinking for herself. Jasmine actively does not want her life dictated by the law to marry a prince. Yet the continued critique is that all of these women’s stories revolve around men at the end of the day. Now I could go into more depth about why, when taking each film into context, this is a poor way to read these movies. But looking at them on a cultural level, especially when taking Disney’s marketing into consideration, it is easy to see that the princesses as a brand aren’t the best for young girls. The problem with the princesses as a brand is much the same issue they have in Kingdom Hearts 1. The princesses in this game are relegated to being the seven princesses of heart, beings with only pure light inside of their hearts. With no darkness in sight, this essentially sets the princesses up as that of a higher power. Their pure light can be used to shield the world from darkness. How that works is never explained. You just have to accept that this is how things work.

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Here is where the problem exists. Storytelling 101 will tell you that creating an interesting character involves creating a character who doesn’t have it all together. If a character has all of their cards stacked up nicely, there is no story to tell. When a character is given something to overcome, you are on the path to a compelling narrative. Since the princesses, and therefore Kairi, are made of pure light, there is no darkness to balance that out. Not only is Kairi inherently uninteresting and unexplored, but she has no room to be anything but a wholesome girl. She is relegated to looking pretty and doing as little as possible. While Riku struggles to overcome his darkness and Sora shows a good balance of light and dark, Kairi simply is pure light and there is not much to work with there. It is also worth mentioning that the only interesting female characters in this game are villains, or rather, those who are allowed the audacity to choose darkness versus given no choice at all. There are other female characters who are somewhat interesting (i.e. Yuffie, Aerith, Ariel) but they are not given enough screen time to really give their character time to do something. To be an interesting female character you either have to not show it off and be a background or side character, or you have to be a villain. The unfortunate result of all of this is that at the end of the day, this is a display of wasted potential. All of these female characters offer something far more interesting than being passive or simply good. While Sora and Riku are allowed to mess up and feel like real characters, Kairi and other women are not afforded this luxury. Kairi feels empty. She is given no space to explore her character which is a shame because there is a lot of great material being set up on Destiny Island. When thinking about solutions to Kairi’s character, there are a few I’ve come up with that range from extreme to simple, small changes. On the extreme end of things, make Kairi the keybearer and Sora the damsel. Kairi bearing the key and exploring other worlds would be a great tool to unveil her past and give her more of a connection to the penultimate level, Hollow Bastion. This would also flip tropes and create a more interesting character. Sora is great, but if you want more than generic hero, this would be a welcomed change. But perhaps you want something not so extreme. Fair enough. Let Kairi be awake during the game. Sure the rules of the universe seem to say that without a heart, a person can’t feel or experience memory. But rules can be changed, and if we are being honest, they aren’t well defined anyway. By allowing Kairi to be awake, she can have her own side story just like Riku. Once again, this side story could tell us more about where she came from and weave it into the narrative. She could still be captured, but at least this would allow her to fight back and do something. I know there are those out there who say no, the story is fine as it is. These changes take things too far. Let’s work with that then. If Kairi must remain comatose throughout the game, then let Sora play more of a role in learning about where she comes from. Throughout the game, Sora has hints of Kairi’s past, seeing certain images that spark a recollection. But nothing happens beyond that. Sora should discover where Kairi comes from, and it should play a larger role in the overall story. When Kairi is awake, let this information be crucial

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to defeating Ansem besides an out of nowhere proclamation about a place never mentioned prior. Set Kairi up as an optional party member like the Disney characters in various worlds. Give her a weapon in the early game. Go on a mission with her. Allow her to do something. As a teenager first playing this game, I disliked Kairi very much. I did not have the language to explain why I felt this way, only that I knew she seemed uninteresting and she didn’t really matter that much. She is a macguffin. Replace her with anyone and the same story will play out. But I have come to realize that my frustration with Kairi is not her character but rather the developer’s inability to do something interesting with her character. The pieces are there but nothing comes of it. What is even more aggravating is that this is not something new. Women have a history of being objects to further male storylines. Whether they are rewards or side-kicks, many boil down to simple plot devices without any real thought put into who they are as people. They exist to play a role and when that role is filled, they sit quietly in the background. This explains my biggest issue with Kairi. While Riku and Sora have definitive character traits and arcs, Kairi is just the girl. Look, they say, there is a girl character to balance the boys but instead becomes the object of heteronormative competition and plot contrivances. Kingdom Hearts 1 is a fantastic game. My opinion on this won’t change anytime soon. The fact is that when our female characters are denied complexity and are boiled down to objects, it feels as if that is all women can ever be. Kairi should not just be the token girl. She has the potential to be so much more.

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Written by Danielle Carpenter

Photo credit: Luna B.

LunaB.coISSUE 3 | LEVEL 26

STORY

HIKARI (LIGHT)

Riku’s story in Kingdom Hearts 1 bears similar attributes to Sora’s. He is the chosen wielder of the keyblade. He is searching for and trying to rescue Kairi. He experiences a loss of innocence and comes of age. Riku’s story is the hero’s journey with a twist. Though he is the chosen keyblade wielder, it is taken from him when he chooses darkness. The means in which he tries to protect Kairi are misguided by insecurity and childhood jealousy. And unlike Sora, Riku does not come out unscathed on the other side but trapped in the Realm of Darkness. Riku’s story presents something very unique in that regard. The original chosen one, the supposed hero, is rejected by the object intended for them. Riku subsequently goes through an arc far more destructive and complex than Sora, choosing darkness as a means to an end and then attempting to find redemption in the light. While Sora plays the part of the hero, Riku plays the part of the villain. Yet to call Riku the villain of Kingdom Hearts 1 would be incorrect. He certainly plays the role of antagonist next to Sora’s protagonist. Whereas a villain is a central bad figure with opposing beliefs of the protagonist, an antagonist is merely an opposing force to the protagonist. An antagonist is not inherently bad, just as the protagonist is not inherently good. Riku does not act to destroy the worlds. His motivations are almost identical to Sora’s. Rather it is how he goes about his desires that makes him an opposition to his friend. An example of this exists in the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling. The hero, Harry Potter, is to Sora, as his school rival, Draco Malfoy, is to Riku. It is a bit of an abstract reading, as Draco and Harry are not childhood friends and therefore their conflict is not rooted in something more personal and meaningful. Their rivalry exists on a much grander scale, based on personal beliefs and classism / racism. As noted in a previous piece in regards to the hero’s journey, this is not something brand new but has existed in several different stories. However, looking at Riku through the lense of the Potter books may help us grasp a better idea of Riku’s character arc and why it is so compelling. Riku is a Slytherin It is not a secret that Rowling’s approach to Slytherin House in the Potter novels is a tad bit shallow much of the time. Slytherin is one of four school houses and is generally considered to be the bad house of the bunch. Surprise surprise, Draco Malfoy is sorted into this House. Harry Potter is sorted into Gryffindor House, a.k.a the heroes. Though most of the series takes a nuanced look at good and evil, the portrayal of Slytherin’s as evil, racist, and immoral figures is strangely black and white.

Now this piece is not in the business of picking apart the flaws of Harry Potter, even though that is something I feel equipped to do. However, looking at Harry Potter offers a unique lens to examine other stories. For example, the four Hogwarts Houses can be applied to characters that exist in other universes and stories. Think pieces all across the internet have broken down why each child in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe represents a different House, or what House Downton Abbey characters belong. It is easy to frame personality types in this format and apply it to other stories. Naturally, it can be done with Kingdom Hearts characters. Riku resembles many of the classic Slytherin traits just as Sora does Gryffindor. He is cunning, ambitious, shrewd, and shows a strong sense of leadership. Slytherin’s colors are green and silver. Riku bears silver hair and though his eyes are canonically blue, they sometimes appear green and the color green is a known symbol of envy but also growth, two very appropriate terms for Riku. In addition, the animal associated with Slytherin is a snake. Riku is tempted by Maleficent, the metaphorical snake who persuades him to go further and further into darkness. The Slytherin common room resides in the castle dungeons below the lake and is associated with the element of water. “Water cleanses or drowns,” writes Sandra Miesel in her piece, Is There Hope for Slytherin House? “[It] may even do both at once: baptismal water combines both spiritual cleansing and drowning to bring forth a new creature...” 9 Although Riku’s name translates to “land” in Japanese, the game very much associates him with water. In the opening cinematic full of abstract plot imagery, Riku extends his hand to Sora as a wave of water rises behind him. The wave then crashes over him. This very much symbolizes RIku’s upcoming journey. He will drown only to be baptized, or redeemed. Sora on the other hand is trusting, brave, playful, and chivalrice. These are classic Gryffindor traits. The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin is very prominent in the Potter books, so it is no surprise that these two characters who resemble the respective Houses also have a bit of a rivalry of their own. “You’ve pushed me, as I’ve always pushed you,” Riku says to Sora just before taking the keyblade. Light and Dark Riku’s story is ultimately one of redemption. Though he choses darkness as a means to fulfill his goals throughout the game, he is never fully dark. His intentions are the same as Sora’s. He wants to rescue Kairi. He wants to explore other worlds. This also bears a resemblance to Ansem himself. But it is how Riku goes about these goals that leads him to so WWW.LEVELSTORY.NET

much struggle. His intentions are good, his actions are rooted in darkness. When Sora finds Riku on Hook’s ship in Neverland, there is a moment when the shot only frames one half of Riku’s face. This is a cinematography technique used frequently in film, usually framing an entire face but one half is in shadow. By framing only half of the character’s face in the shot, or showing part of it in shadow, it tells the audience that this character has duel motivations. The character may be torn about something and this is reflected on the screen, or the director wants to tell the audience that this character is not what they seem without really saying it. A great example of this appears in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. When Darth Vader is taunting Luke as they battle, Luke’s face is half in shadow, demonstrating his conflicted nature between doing good or giving in to his anger. The great philosopher Augustine saw good and evil (in Kingdom Hearts case, light and darkness) as a duality. “Many of us tend to think of evil as a separate and competitive force to good. Augustine argues that evil is parasitic on good and not separate from good at all. Instead, evil is a corruption or rejection of the good. Just as a shadow grows larger as we move away from the light source, so the evil grows as we move away from what is good.” 10 Riku is not inherently bad. It is only his bad choices that compel him to further poor actions. Riku’s motivation to rescue Kairi is clouded by his insecurities to be the best in competition with Sora. Only when he reaches his lowest point can he embrace the light. This type of transformative storytelling is similar to the hero’s journey, also referred to as literary alchemy. Literary alchemy is in reference to the physical practice of alchemy, turning lead into

gold. A person begins as lead and can be transformed into something greater. It is the “transformation of the soul or how characters grow,” says Erin N. Sweeney. 11 Riku’s story juxtaposed with the story told by Kairi’s grandmother actually reveals a mirror between the two. Just as people lived with the light, so did Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Then Riku let darkness into his heart due to jealousy and insecurity. By doing this, he becomes separated from his friends. Now he, along with Sora and Kairi, must work to sustain their innocence and the light. They need to do this to rebuild the world, just as in the story. Hikari (Light) In the end, Riku chooses to help shut the door to Kingdom Hearts. For the first time in the entire game, his actions are not motivated by self-involved feelings. Instead he sacrifices his own well being to save the people he loves. Much like Sora when he frees Kairi’s heart by stabbing himself with the keyblade, he has the maturity to know how to make difficult decisions. He chooses to act for the light. While Riku’s story is not conventional like Sora’s, he goes through a similar arc. Both seek adventure, both seek to rescue Kairi, both come of age and lose their innocence, and both learn the importance of self sacrifice. However, Riku’s story is far more interesting. Sora has struggles, but his flaws are usually what aid him. Riku’s flaws encompass him and he has to fight a real battle within in order to overcome himself. This will continue to be explored as the series continues. Riku’s story isn’t about choosing good no matter what. It is a story about fighting against his inner darkness, and returning to the light.

FANS PLAY!

OPEN THE DOOR - LET’S PLAY KH1FM - PLAYTHROUGH

KINGDOM HEARTS FINAL MIX SPEEDRUN

by NicoB

by MistMaster1

by PAOPUFR00T

NicoB is one of the most engaging Let’s

MistMaster1 gives a great performance as he

PAOPU runs the game on proud mode for

Players on YouTube. With every game he

speedruns the first Kingdom Hearts game

Games Done Quick’s Frame Fatales, an all

tackles he goes all in, exploring every nook

on proud mode, the hardest difficulty of the

female speedrunning event. In an exemplary

and cranny and doing his best to get the full

game. In addition, he remains at Level 1 the

run of the game, she shows off various different

experience. Watching his energy and joy on

enire time! This run is full of great commen-

strategies and just goes to show why this game

screen is enough to make you smile.

tary and shows off why KH1 is so great!.

is so fantastic!

ISSUE 3 | LEVEL STORY

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ISSUE 3 | LEVEL STORY

Written by Danielle Carpenter

A common critique aimed at Kingdom Hearts 1 is that the villain, Ansem Seeker of Darkness, is revealed far too late in the story. For most of the game it seems Maleficent is the big baddie, only to be pushed aside for some random dude who loves darkness. Ansem can feel random for a number of reasons. While his name is introduced in the early game, his reports are not a requirement and thus people may not take the time to read them. Since he isn’t brought up most of the time, it is easy to forget about him. Though we meet him on Destiny Island, there is no way to know that the man in the potato sack will turn out to be Ansem so most players will not make the connection. I understand all of the reasons why Ansem feels like an out of nowhere villain. However, I’d argue that he isn’t as out of nowhere as you may think. I’d also argue that he is an incredibly interesting villain. The immediate fix that I would put on this game is to make the Ansem reports required reading. Either have them on the screen after collecting them or have a voice actor read them. It would also help that reports aren’t hidden behind optional, secret bosses since they are so important to the story. By implementing these fixes, this makes Ansem far more crucial and present in the story. It also takes him from a somewhat vanilla character to something far more complex. That being said, forgetting the poor execution of his character, I still think he is a good character and only feels out of nowhere because the game doesn’t make him a priority when it clearly should. Ansem is a scientist as well as a beloved ruler. His reports serve as tools to understanding hearts and the Heartless. But they also serve as a window into his character. Though the reports are fairly ambiguous, this only serves to heighten Ansem’s mystique. The mystery about him is what makes him so appealing. How did he drive himself so far into the darkness? What was he like when he ruled over Hollow Bastion? Even if these questions were answered in his reports, could we trust them? After all, Ansem comes across as an extremely unreliable narrator. His findings sometimes feel contradictory and since his stance is opposite to our protagonist’s, we aren’t necessarily quick to listen. Ansem’s scientific research versus Sora’s trust in the heart presents a classic dichotomy, knowledge versus belief. I doubt the developers were going for this theme, nor do I think it is an exactly nuanced take on the discussion. Many fantasy stories play with this debate. In the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, a similar debate occurs between Lord

Voldemort and Harry. Voldemort believes in pushing magic to gain ultimate power and guarding that power, while Harry believes in the power of love. It all sounds a bit silly when put in those words but it is a trope used quite often within the genre. Ansem also resembles Voldemort in his lust for power. It is also worth noting the emblem on Ansem’s chest, something that is left completely ambiguous in this game but carries a variety of implications. This is something I will return to at a later time. One connection the game really wants the player to notice is between Riku and Ansem. These two characters are very similar. Both want to escape their land to see other worlds. Both turn to the darkness as a means to an end. Only their choices force their paths to divert. Riku eventually chooses to walk toward the light. Ansem is destroyed by it. Ansem’s philosophy believes that darkness is the heart’s true essence, and that Kingdom Hearts holds an infinite source of darkness. He wishes to conquer the worlds and rule them in darkness. This philosophy isn’t random but builds from his research that is noted in his reports. Though we side with Sora, reading Ansem’s reports gives tangible evidence to his claims, especially when thinking in a real world context. Reading scientific evidence about climate change and then reading a rebuttal from an individual who says this winter was the coldest yet and therefore climate change is not real is enough to apply to the stories we consume and ask, maybe this guy has a point? Maybe Ansem should be given more credit than we allowed. Once again, this isn’t something the game explores at all and applies no nuance. I’m sure there is an interesting take away from it all but I may not be the one to dive that deep into things. What we can take away, however, is that Ansem has done a load of research and studies, only to be proven wrong. This is a very powerful sentiment. Taking all of Ansem into account, he is indeed an interesting villain. Though his execution holds him back, taking what the game gives the audience as a collective portrait of the character is highly compelling. Even if he resembles a classic bad guy who’s only goal is to take over the world, he still has interesting motivations for said goal and his philosophy is believable enough to make him less black and white. Had the reports been more of a forefront in the game, I imagine Ansem could only reach an even higher level of potential than he already has, especially with that velvety voice courtesy of Billy Zane.

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n our popular media, the heart has somehow become acquainted with emotion. We experience a broken heart, we wish with all our hearts, we trust our hearts to guide us. This sentiment, primarily encouraged by Disney films, is far from what the actual heart is as the organ that pumps blood and keeps us alive. The idea of this “heart” as a source of wish fulfillment is overused and misguided, despite the countless films I love and adore that rely on its trope (i.e. most Disney movies). The trope has moved so far into the cliché that anytime it is used now-a-days there is a collective eye roll from the audience. What is quite unique about Kingdom Hearts 1 is its attempt to recontextualize this language we use to talk about the supposed “heart” by actually making it a third component of the body - the body, the soul, and the heart. Although this idea is often not built upon very well within the narrative, coming off as cliché as the Disney films it seeks to reimagine, it often presents an entirely new premise that has never been seen in fantasy stories. The cliché idea of the heart is repurposed as a tangible thing. This is very good. Kingdom Hearts 1 roots itself in these new ideas though it is unclear if it has an understanding of said ideas. Many critics like to point at the Kingdom Hearts series as an example in convoluted storytelling due to the overwhelming amount of plot points and ideas being presented. While there is something to be said about this, it should be noted that a story is not automatically bad when it presents a lot of ideas. Rather the pitfalls that often occur in stories like Kingdom Hearts have to do with execution. Kingdom Hearts 1 presents ideas so vaguely and without narrative focus that there is much less of an understanding of how it all truly works. This becomes overwhelming and hench why people complain. It is important that the person or people telling the story have a firm understanding of their own narrative universe. If the plot and story elements such as characters and setting are the bricks, then the rules of the universe are the structural plans. Another way to think about it is that the rules provide a map to navigate the story as you would navigate a large structure. Having a solid understanding of the universe will help you navigate the narrative rooms more efficiently. A great example of this is Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time. When a new idea or character is introduced, it remains consistent. When Finn grows a grass sword on his arm, it stays like that in the next episode. The key to good world building is consistency. Even if it is a minor detail that may go unnoticed, if you plant the seed

ISSUE 3 | LEVEL STORY

then you should follow through and water it. I don’t claim to have a PHD in Kingdom Hearts studies, but I love these games and have worked hard to try and understand its moving parts. In this piece I want to explore the construction of this first game. What ideas are established and are they presented well? Do the rules of the Kingdom Hearts Universe as presented in Kingdom Hearts 1 hold up, crash, or land somewhere in between?

How Kingdom Hearts Tackles World Building Kingdom Hearts 1 does most of its world building through cut scene dialogue. Characters discuss certain elements of the world such as the stars being other worlds and that worlds are being swallowed by darkness, hence why so many stars are blinking out. These scenes range from well done to...what just happened? Some scenes hardly give players any substance to work with while some provide an overwhelming amount of information. It is difficult to pinpoint what is at fault though a large amount can be attributed to the state of video games at the time. Cut scenes as we know them were not the norm and Kingdom Hearts 1 was one of a handful at the time of its release. This is why scenes may appear awkward or not well paced. Still, what the audience is given to work with isn’t terrible. The more crucial bits of world building exist in the Ansem reports, optional reading segments that are not required of the player to complete the game. The fact that much of the world building exists in optional text is not a good thing. A good use of the reports would be to make them appear on the screen to read after collecting them, or not allowing the player to progress in the game without reading said reports. Regardless, with everything the game gives us, let’s break down the rules of Kingdom Hearts 1.

The Heart The heart as referenced in the game is referring to a third entity of a person. A person is made up of three parts - the body, the soul, and the heart. The heart is something which is linked to emotions and memory. When Kairi loses her heart, she has no emotion and is basically comatose for a big chunk of the game. Most hearts are made up of light and darkness. It is only in rare

DIVE INTO THE HEART Written by Danielle Carpenter

Photo credit: Caitlin M.

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cases that a person can be all light or all darkness. An example of this is the princesses of heart who are made up entirely of light. A heart is represented by a stained glass pillar unique to the hearts owner. When a heart is exposed to more and more darkness, it will eventually transform into a creature called a Heartless.

The Heartless The Heartless are described by Leon as “those without hearts.” There are two types of Heartless. The first is a Pureblood Heartless,born from the darkness in a person’s heart. The second is the Emblem Heartless which is the result of a person’s heart becoming corrupted and releasing from their body. Sora becomes a Pureblood Heartless after stabbing himself to free Kairi’s heart, his darkness forming into a Shadow. The man seen being attacked in the first moments of Traverse Town has his heart corrupted by the Heartless and thus he becomes an Emblem Heartless. There is very little explanation given to where the Heartless our heroes fight are coming from besides the worlds are being corrupted by darkness and Heartless come with that. The weight of this isn’t totally felt in the game except arguably toward the end. Heartless also appear in ship form when the trio travel from world to world in the Gummi Ship. They also manifest in the Olympus Coliseum to fight tournaments with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. While certainly good gameplay fodder, from a story perspective these last two bits feel a bit silly. The Heartless reside in the realm of the ridiculous rather than a literal threat that is supposed to be felt throughout the narrative.

other worlds exist but merely talk of it as a possibility. Not only do Sora, Riku, and Kairi dream of exploring other worlds but characters such as Ariel from Atlantica also wishes to discover what is out there. The reason Sora, Donald, and Goofy are able to travel between worlds is due to the Gummi Ship. The Gummi Ship is formed from gummi blocks which are pieces of shattered worlds. It is unclear whether King Mickey, Donald, or Goofy had used the ship prior to the games beginnings. It can be assumed they didn’t yet it isn’t presented as something new when Donald and Goofy board the ship. Clearly they have access to information, whether through research or means of a higher power, that allows them to fly from world to world when most do not know that other worlds exist.

The Keyblade / The Keyblade Master The keyblade is a weapon that chooses its master. The keyblade wielder is then given the responsibility of rescuing the worlds from darkness. King Triton of Atlantica speaks of the keybearer and says all they do is shatter peace with their meddling in the affairs of other worlds. The Ansem reports also bring up the mythical key which Ansem says he has heard brings chaos and ruin. Originally Riku was chosen to be the bearer of the key. When Riku chose darkness as a means to escape Destiny Island, the key seemingly sensed this darkness within him and so went to Sora who actively fought against the darkness. Riku later earns the keyblade back for a brief time before once again being thwarted by Sora whose heart is stronger and more akin to the light. This comes after Sora gives a grand speech about not needing a weapon when he has his heart and his ties to his friends to protect him and give him power. While this entire exchange gives spice to the story, it makes the keyblade feel a bit fickle. Will it just keep jumping back and forth? Why didn’t it sense Sora’s moral high ground and character from the start? And now that Riku’s heart is moving toward the light, wouldn’t the keyblade return to its rightful owner?

Rules provide a map to navigate the story as you would navigate a large structure.

The Heart of Worlds The heart is not an entity exclusive to people but exists in worlds. Worlds have hearts, guarded by keyholes that are hidden somewhere safe. In the game, we see Sora finding and locking these keyholes in order to protect the world from being corrupted by darkness and disappearing like Destiny Island. Worlds are not connected but separated from one another by invisible barriers. They appear as stars in the sky. King Mickey is prompted by the disappearing stars to go on his quest and command Donald and Goofy to find “the key.” When a star goes out, it means a world is disappearing and being claimed by the darkness. This is exemplified when Destiny Island is consumed by darkness followed by a scene of Donald and Goofy witnessing a star going out. In Ansem’s reports, he talks of finding a door which leads to the heart of his world. The reason the worlds are separated is explained by Kairi’s grandmother in a flashback. She explains that the world was once only made of light, but people began to fight over the light and thus darkness entered the world. This resulted in a war which destroyed the world entirely. What brought the world back was the light in the pure hearts of children. The world was then made up of light and darkness, and the worlds were no longer one but separated. Most people in the present timeline do not know that

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Kingdom Hearts The place referenced in the games title may be the most ambiguous bit of information of all, but clues can help decipher what it is exactly. For starters, Kingdom Hearts is the heart of the entire multiverse. It is presented as a realm guarded by two large white doors. In the game’s opening moments, bits of text speaking directly to Sora says, “The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes.” This can be applied to Kingdom Hearts which when opened shines a bright light but on closer inspection is completely filled with darkness. Depending on your perspective, this is either unclear or nuanced. I find that anything that has to do with Kingdom Hearts has a little bit of both. The idea is that light cannot exist without darkness. Bright light will cast a shadow.

Do You Know the Rules? Now that we have a good chunk of Kingdom Hearts 1’s ideas spread out before us, it is prudent to talk about how the game exhibits said ideas. On close examination we are able to break things down with a bit of clarity, but does the story actually lay things out for us in a way that flows well with the narrative while also staying consistent? For many Kingdom Hearts fans who know where the series goes in later entries, the answer would most likely be yes, simply due to the later game’s doing a far lesser job. Kingdom Hearts 1 does it best and so criticism is reluctant. This isn’t wrong, but it isn’t right either. The sins of the later games certainly weigh heavy on the series and present this first entry in a much brighter light. But it should be said that from the beginning, Kingdom Hearts 1 struggles with world building. As mentioned, the heart is a third component that creates a whole person. This is extremely significant but it isn’t emphasized in a way that feels separate from the way the heart is talked about when we turn our game consoles off. “The heart may be weak...”, “your heart? What good will that do?”, “My heart has been touched by those I’ve met and my experiences.” None of these statements vary from the cliché way the heart is talked about in everyday life. Statements meant to carry weight because of the lore being set up often fall into language used by the Disney films that many are so well acquainted with. Sora can say “heart” as many times as he wants, but this doesn’t do the work of setting up believable ideologies and rules. The result is that things happen and we might have an idea as to why but when trying to explain it, your brain turns into scrambled eggs. The biggest issue with how the game talks about hearts is when it comes to hearts being connected versus how this relates to the plot point of Kairi’s heart residing in Sora’s for most of the game. Kairi’s heart literally leaves her body and takes refuge in Sora’s heart. This is juxtaposed with the idea of hearts being connected due to forming relationships with one another. Sora forms bonds with the people he meets on his journey and they become part of his memories, his heart. The game tries to equate this to being the same as how Sora is connected to Kairi. But it is not the same. Aladdin’s heart is not inside Sora’s heart, but their bond makes them apart of each other. They are figuratively connected, and this is important. Their connection is not something that is tangible or that can be seen but is felt. Kairi’s connection to Sora on the other hand is literal. Her heart is literally in his heart. It is physically there inside of him. No one else’s heart takes refuge in Sora. This is not to say that Kairi does not have a connection with Sora based on their relationship, but the game does not frame the conversation to be about this. It is framed to be about Kairi always being with him on his journey. The reason he sees her everywhere and has flashbacks about her and recognizes places he has never seen is because her heart is in his. It is not merely a strong connection. The same thing would not happen with Aladdin because Aladdin’s heart is not in Sora’s. These are two totally different things that game doesn’t feel the need to clarify. Sora talks to Kairi in Traverse Town as if this experience of her heart being in his is proof that she is always with him, and Kairi agrees. But this is entirely false. Kairi’s connection to Sora based on their memories and time based together may make her part of his heart, but for most of the game she was in his heart. He felt her with him because she was with him, not because of the

connection formed by their relationship. The game is talking about two very different things and doesn’t bother taking the time to really understand or deal with what is going on, opting for generic language about hearts and flowery statements about always being with one another. The mythology set up in the game does very little to back up the lore. While characters like Genie talk of the keyhole and Triton of the keybearer, these occurrences often appear too few and far between to mark any significant meaning beyond the close study. The ambiguity is not done for creative or purposeful effect, but rather a lack of world building. Instead, the game opts to say the words light, darkness, and heart as much as possible but does little to truly map out the rules of the multiverse. On top of everything, Kingdom Hearts isn’t mentioned until the very end of the game. The game’s title and everything the plot sets up is built on this realm known as Kingdom Hearts, yet it is not once mentioned before the final moments of the story except in a one off text box in toward the final area. This is a huge misstep by the writers, particularly when looking at the game as a whole and recognizing the intense amount of meandering and padding that exists instead of building blocks to create a well rounded story and environment. The pieces are there, and some sections work better than others, but it overall fails to really give the audience something to latch onto besides seeing their favorite Disney or Final Fantasy characters. Perhaps this is a bit overly negative and doesn’t give the game enough credit for what it does right. In the long game, Kingdom Hearts 1 does a fairly good job of pacing itself and giving us a competent story to follow. It is only when you examine the short game, scene to scene, that cracks begin to appear. The game sets up a lot of clever ideas but fails to follow through with said ideas. Many concepts are left ambiguous due to lack of explanation or lack of understanding of world mechanics. Far too many plot points are explained away by, well the game said so.Why are Sora, Donald, and Goofy exempt from returning to their respective worlds at the end of the game? Why is the keyblade so fickle with its decision making and why is this not explored? How do Sora, Donald, and Goofy escape the endless abyss and end up in an open field? Why does Sora only change his appearance in certain worlds when their concern is keeping the world order? If Sora was a Heartless and could return from that state, then shouldn’t that say something about how the trio fight Heartless and set their hearts free? Could there be a larger commentary here about how they save people and allowing them to come back from the darkness rather than simply letting them perish? As mentioned, the narrative is limited by the scope of video game development. Sora remains in his standard outfit most of the time for budgetary reasons. Redesigning him over and over costs time and money. This was discussed in the Firewatch issue. But unlike Firewatch, there is no narrative cohesiveness in Kingdom Hearts 1. While these are small nitpicks, they become much larger when talking about consistency and world building. The takeaway is that the rules set up in this game only work at one time or another, and are either dropped or forgotten for narrative convenience. The fact that these rules are so loose is not an automatic dismissal of the story being told. But when a story does not have a firm grasp of their own, created narrative rules, than it is challenging to take it as seriously as it desires.

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Treasured Memories Adapting Disney Stories into Kingdom Hearts Written by Samuel Gronseth II

daptation has always interested me. Many see it as artless, or an indication that new ideas are lacking, but I find the whole process fascinating, and uniquely creative. It’s not simply transplanting a story; it’s the creative process of adapting something into an entirely new form. That form can be different in so many ways! Perhaps it’s a different medium, like making a video game based on a movie. Perhaps it’s a different time, like setting an old play in the modern day. Perhaps it’s a different culture or people group, like retelling an old story with people of color instead of the original white cast. All of these adaptations show classic stories in a new light, in the hands of new creators, and I think that’s fantastic. It’s even said that every individual production of a Shakespeare play is its own unique vision of his work, and I love that idea. That so many people could have their hands on a classic story to bring out what they find exceptional about it, and apply their own creative energy and vision to it. With video games, specifically, adaptation is a strange beast. Partly because the medium is still relatively young, still growing and evolving. But it also simply hasn’t done it much. For most of the medium’s history, true adaptation was exceptionally rare. Most video games that were based on anything were rushed-out tie-ins to popular movies; sure, The Lion King, on the Super Nintendo, was technically a movie-to-game adaptation, but it wasn’t concerned with adapting the story so much as using the environments, music, and visuals to create an enjoyable challenge. What’s more, only so many stories outside of the video game medium translate well into traditional video game genres. The Lion King isn’t a movie about Simba trying not to fall into water, but that’s what the player spends most of the time doing in the game, because it’s a platformer. Even more action-oriented movies like The Incredibles or Revenge of the Sith have a lot more talking than they do fighting, and turning them into action games did not provide a very good opportunity for adapting the story in a meaningful way.

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This approach didn’t change much over time, even as improving technology made it easier than ever to actually put effort into retelling the story of the source material. Play any game based on a movie on the PS2, and you’ll find the same thing; the games are clearly low-effort in the first place, and the story is communicated through the bare minimum of connective tissue, usually brief cutscenes that gloss over major events. They technically communicate the events of the story, at least in broad strokes, but they never even try to retell it in a compelling fashion (let alone one that utilizes the interactivity of the medium). It’s unsurprising that the movie tie-in genre pretty much died during the reign of the PS3 and Xbox 360, barely clinging to life on the Wii until they found new life in recent years on mobile platforms. Low effort aside, these tie-ins were clearly intended to appeal to people who were already familiar with the story. They didn’t need to truly retell the story in interactive form, because the players already knew the story being told. Games weren’t commonly considered a form of storytelling art back then, either (less so than today, at any rate), so there was little perceived reason to focus on that element to begin with. Eventually, this began to change. To some degree, at least. We got major games based on books, like The Witcher and Metro 2033. We even got a few interesting takes on older stories back on the PS2, like the Godfather games, or that Fellowship of the Ring game that got made right before the movies took over the followups. But for the most part, when existing stories were adapted into video games, it was a cynical attempt to cash in on the popularity of a work with little to no effort. Kingdom Hearts 1 is, in some ways, an exception to this rule. And in some ways not. Because it’s a freakin’ weird game. I say that lovingly, of course. The fact that someone at Square Enix pitched the idea for a Disney and Final Fantasy crossover and didn’t immediately get laughed out of the room astonishes me to this day. Kingdom Hearts 1 is a strange combination of seemingly incompatible things, and working Disney stories into an otherwise unrelated JRPG multiverse setting is possibly the strangest adaptation challenge I’ve ever heard of. While the overall setting of the game is essentially an original creation, as a monarchy with Mickey on the throne and other Disney staples like Donald and Goofy being part of that world, most other Disney properties incorporated into Kingdom Hearts 1 are played more straight. In most cases, the player essentially plays through a condensed version of the original film, with the conspicuous addition of shadowy monsters to fight. Those retellings are what this article is concerned with. So how were Disney’s stories adapted to work in Kingdom Hearts 1, and why was it done that way? Kingdom Hearts 1 follows a very familiar structure in its story and gameplay progression; I like to call it the collection structure. After the conflict is introduced, the quest (which takes most of act two to complete) consists of collecting a certain number of items across a number of locations. Collecting these items allows the protagonist to move on to act three and challenge the antagonist in the final confrontation. It doesn’t necessarily have to be collecting items, of course; one of the oldest vanguards of the collection structure, The Legend of Zelda, replaced the collection of items with the activation of the Divine Beasts in Breath of the Wild, but the structure is the same. The point of the collection structure is that, from the moment the quest is revealed to the story’s climax, the player’s goal remains the same, and the story need not develop in any meaningful way until then. This structure is popular in games because it gives the player something to do without needing to tell a particularly complex story. In early games like Final Fantasy or The Legend of Zelda, where there was little precedent or technological ability to tell complex stories, it made for an easy motivation for the player to go on their adventure and see it through to the end, without the need to continue telling the story beyond the first and final moments of the game.

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The Disney stories in Kingdom Hearts 1 are adapted first and foremost not as stories, but as settings for a collection structure. More sophisticated uses of this structure, however, often utilize each collection as an opportunity to tell their own stories that relate in minor ways to the overarching narrative. This is what we see in games like Ni No Kuni, the first Mass Effect, and the aforementioned Breath of the Wild. And it is in this framework that Kingdom Hearts 1 comfortably rests. The Disney levels in Kingdom Hearts 1 are best understood not as adaptations of the stories into another form of story, but of the settings into video game levels. Rather than the ice level, the lava level, the underwater level, etc., Kingdom Hearts 1 uses the Tarzan level, the Aladdin level, the Little Mermaid level, etc. That is to say, the Disney stories in Kingdom Hearts 1 are adapted first and foremost not as stories, but as settings for a collection structure. By retelling Disney stories in each location, Kingdom Hearts 1 simulates narrative movement while effectively running in place; everything you do in Agrabah, Wonderland, or most other locations ultimately happens for no reason other than for Sora to find the next keyhole and (sometimes) for Maleficent to find the next princess. The segment doesn’t raise the stakes, change the goals, or otherwise change the story in any meaningful way; it just checks one more box so we can continue toward the eventual finale. Each choice in the adaptation process is made for a reason, and understanding those reasons brings us closer to understanding the work. Recognizing the narrative purpose of the Disney stories as vignettes that lead to the next point in the collection (the keyhole), rather than moving the story forward in any complex or significant way, helps us to understand why most of them are essentially bare-bones retellings of their original stories. Ultimately, retelling Disney movies was never the goal, but appropriating the settings in a way that necessitates as little true narrative progression as possible. There are exceptions to this, of course. Most notably, I think, its use of Winnie the Pooh, calling to the series’ nature as a storybook in a rather meta fashion. Its handling of Beauty and the Beast also deserves this disclaimer. But when Kingdom Hearts 1 opts to play a setting straight and retell the original Disney story, it tends to do it with little effort put into an effective retelling. At this point, this article might be coming across as being rather negative toward the game, and that’s not entirely untrue. I do think this is a failing on the game’s part, or a missed opportunity at least, if one that’s improved over the course of the series. But that’s not to say Kingdom Hearts 1 is a complete failure on

this front, either. These stories are still here for a reason. Kingdom Hearts 1 is, itself, a fairy tale. A fairy tale comprised of countless other fairy tales thrown in a blender and whipped into an earnestly cheesy and pure-hearted garble, but still a fairy tale. It relies on, and uses its story to affirm, a degree of childlike wonder. And it takes a particular type of cold-hearted person to deny that Disney’s legacy embodies that wonder in a stunningly effective and wholly unique fashion. One could say that Sora’s journey is more literally applicable to many of us than we might realize. Young children, aching to see and learn more about the world, being transported to other lands and learning important lessons from colorful, wondrous Disney movies. The mere presence of Disney properties in this game reinforces its themes and atmosphere. Even if, in the end, they’re just another step in our journey.

SAMUEL GRONSETH II

is the creator, writer, and host of the popular YouTube channel, “Games as Lit. 101.” https://www.youtube.com/user/gamesasliterature

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No No Time Time to to Think Think How Kingdom Hearts 1 Hinders Itself Written by Danielle Carpenter

Photo credit: AL SANYA https://www.deviantart.com/retro-robosan https://www.etsy.com/shop/RetroRobosan

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can’t speak for everyone, but I think it is safe to say that many came to the Kingdom Hearts series due to their love of something else. Kingdom Hearts works with beloved properties: Disney and Final Fantasy. The original intent was to replicate the success of Nintendo’s Super Mario 64. Mario was, and still is, a character recognized around the world. The only property that was more recognizable was Disney. Square Enix (then Square Soft) launched a project, headed by Square producer Shinji Hashimoto, to create a game with the free three dimensional movement of Super Mario 64, with the collective popularity of Disney, mixed with elements from their own franchise, Final Fantasy. Tetsuya Nomura, who had overheard the Super Mario 64 conversation, was brought on to direct the game, having designed several characters for the Final Fantasy series. When Hashimoto had a chance meeting with a Disney executive in an elevator, in a building shared by the two companies, he pitched the idea right then and there. It wasn’t long after that Kingdom Hearts was born. This is a great story. The unfortunate reality that comes with something like this, however, is that there is a chance that the source material at hand can hinder a story. Kingdom Hearts 1 unfortunately tends to lean too heavily on the audience’s prior knowledge rather than doing the heavy lifting to tell their story. While elements of good storytelling are at times on display, much of this game relies on the player to recognize someone or get the inside joke. The problem with this should be obvious, but we will come back to that. In the theatre, there is a gesture known as jazz hands where a person waves their hands back and forth rapidly in excitement. There is not much to it beyond that. The gesture carries little significance in the grand scheme of things. When applied to stories, jazz hands work less as an explicit gesture and more as a distraction. They seek to look pretty and it ends there. Don’t look at the poor characterization or the plot that doesn’t make sense! Look! Aladdin is freeing the Genie! That is my favorite part of the movie! Kingdom Hearts 1 frequently uses jazz hands as a means for players to fill in the blanks that the developers don’t bother filling themselves. This is poor storytelling. For starters, it does not work for people unfamiliar with the source material. Even if

the audience is familiar, a story needs to stand on its own two feet. Sure people always bring their own experiences to the table but it isn’t in a story’s best interest to do so. If someone misses a reference, and said reference is missing a story beat or building block, suddenly it doesn’t make sense. There is a hole. A story needs to do this work for the audience, not the other way around. Sure a story can leave something unexplained and the audience can figure it out, but that isn’t what Kingdom Hearts 1 is doing. These references have no explanations or payoffs to the story. They only serve as a means to get people excited about a reference to their favorite game, movie, or character. Jazz hands aim to distract. They distract the audience from what is actually happening. If someone has seen Aladdin, then seeing the Genie freed once more is exciting. But in the context of Kingdom Hearts 1 and what is going on within the scene, it makes little sense unless you are familiar with the beats of the original movie. Aladdin’s arc in the film of the same name is built upon him beginning as a selfish trickster. Throughout the film he learns what it means to follow through on his promises through his various interactions and experiences. He goes from being selfish to selfless. This makes his choice to free the Genie at the end instead of wishing himself a prince that much more impactful. In Kingdom Hearts 1, Aladdin starts off as a good guy. He doesn’t lie to Sora, he doesn’t cheat Sora, and shows almost no resemblance beyond appearance to his film counterpart. This removal of growth and expecting the audience to have seen the movie is a great disservice not only to Aladdin as a character but to Kingdom Hearts 1’s story. Simply having Aladdin promise the Genie he will free him at the start of Agrabah and then freeing Genie at the end isn’t enough to tell a proper story. There is simply no work being done here. All the work is put on the audience having seen the movie. They see Aladdin and become excited that one of their favorite Disney characters is in the game, along with some of their favorite moments. Yet these moments are left so bare bones that there is no narrative nutrition. This more or less happens in a bunch of other places throughout the game. Tarzan has a bad relationship with Kerchak and we have no idea why. Thus the drama that is

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Let Sora find Genie’s lamp. Let Sora be childish and make dumb wishes. Let Sora set the Genie free. supposed to heighten the story is based on, “well something is happening but it doesn’t make sense so let’s move on to another scene.” Many Final Fantasy character introductions are long panning or zooming shots, indicating a character of great importance. Yet if you’ve never played Final Fantasy, as I hadn’t, these shots are jarring and confusing. Who are these people? Why are they important? Why should I care that Leon doesn’t want to be called Squall? The games answer to these questions - you just care. We don’t have to give a reason. YouTuber SomecallmeJohnny says, “What do these Disney worlds mean to someone who has never seen these movies? When taking the Disney goggles off, they do very little in terms of developing characters. Very basic context is given to each world you are in. It is shallow. You only form these connections if you enjoyed the movies and if you haven’t, what do you get out of that?” 12 This is the essence of jazz hands. They don’t exist to do anything of value. The result is something very shallow. Look pretty and do as little as possible. Kingdom Hearts 1 works best when it progresses its own story. The game hits its stride when it doesn’t follow its Disney counterparts. Monstro and Neverland are perfect examples of this. The games uses this time to have our main characters interact and progress the narrative at hand, not sloppily recount the narrative from the source material. This makes the worlds feel as if they matter. What would have helped worlds like Agrabah and Deep Jungle would be to focus on the central plot of the game and do something new with the characters from said worlds. Let Sora find Genie’s lamp. Let Sora be childish and make dumb wishes. Let Sora set the Genie free. Let Sora have conflict with Kerchak. Let Sora mend said conflict. What adaptive choice may work the best in the game are Donald and Goofy. Unlike the other Disney and Final Fantasy characters, they are given time to breathe and are afforded proper character development. While they share traits of their on screen personas, these traits don’t exist in a vacuum but are dual purpose. Donald’s hot headed nature and Goofy’s...goofiness aren’t simply there as references but points of character development. We get to know them through their interactions and their relationship to Sora. Some may argue that this is unfair as Donald and Goofy have way more screen time than the other characters, but this is not an excuse. What it boils down to is poor writing, and poor writing leads to jazz hands being the substance, which isn’t substance at all. Despite Kingdom Hearts 1 having a fairly strong narrative, it is filled with lots of shallow and meaningless elements that distract more than help with the story. It seems that as a whole, Disney and Final Fantasy are not that important at the end of the day which is unfortunate as there is a lot of material to work with. Had the developers simply focused in on telling their own story and had used these properties as a support system, Kingdom Hearts 1 could have gone from good to great.

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Simple & Clean

Written by Danielle Carpenter

Photo credit: Dariens Leclerc https://www.instagram.com/dariens_art/

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he Kingdom Hearts series is notorious for being labeled convoluted when it comes to its narrative. The label is both fair and unfair, and is something to be explored once the magazine approaches later games. But what stands out about Kingdom Hearts 1 is that despite the poor exposition and world building, the narrative is the most compact and concise of the series. While later games do a lot of telling and explaining, the first game does a little less and allows the story to unfold naturally. It has rightly become a meme to call the first game simple and clean in reference to the game’s opening cinematic song by Utada Hikaru. The game has an intense focus on moving swiftly, if a bit uncoordinated, to the plot resolution. While there is a good deal of padding and useless meandering from world to world, there is a strong sense that all of this ties together and matters to the end goal. Kingdom Hearts 1’s plot is simple and clean and this is due to how the game builds itself up, good pacing, and how it integrates its source material. When experiencing a new story, audiences always start out with a relatively blank slate. They have to be introduced to characters, get to know the locations the characters visit, and have a decent understanding of how the world works. How a story introduces itself is crucial to the audience sticking with the story. Audiences shouldn’t be weighed down with too much at one time but should be given enough information for the plot to make sense and given more and more as time passes. This practice is known as Bricks in the Backpack.A The idea is that each element of a story holds a significant amount of weight. For this example, let’s say that each character, plot element, and setting weighs as much as one brick, and the audience experiencing the story is wearing a backpack. Each time something new is introduced, you add a brick to the backpack. Things can get heavy pretty fast. The key is that once a brick is added, the audience should then be given the tools to begin to build a house. The bricks should not stay in the backpack. Kingdom Hearts 1 adds a lot of bricks into the backpack in the beginning of the game. Fortunately, it also allows the audience to begin building a sturdy structure. The game does a fantastic job of establishing our characters, their goals and motivations, and moving the plot steadily forward. The Dive into the Heart segment sets up some basic ideas but doesn’t do much to push the plot forward or really help us understand what is happening. Destiny Island as a tutorial level is, dare I say, perfect. It begins the story with low stakes and really allows the player to explore and get a feel not only for how the game plays but who these characters are as people. It manages to lay out a lot in an efficient way. The lore of the paopu fruit is introduced and manages to not only develop Sora’s relationship to Kairi but his relationship to Riku. Riku explains why sharing the paopu fruit is significant, and later makes sharing one with Kairi a prize for himself should he win in a race against Sora. This is a great example of interactions showing the audience the themes of the story. Riku and Sora will have a continuous rivalry throughout the game and it is first exemplified here, among a few other examples we will get to shortly. The paopu fruit is a seed planted to heighten Sora’s connection to Kairi. While it does the work of showing how strong their connection is, it also plants the idea that Sora and Kairi are connected through deeper means than we understand. This is in reference to Kairi’s heart residing in Sora’s for much of the game.

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The secret place is where Sora finds childhood cave drawings and draws himself sharing the paopu fruit with Kairi. Yet this is also the place where the mysterious door resides, with no lock or anything indicating it can be opened. The door clearly can’t be opened by a normal person. When Sora meets the strange hooded figure, who totally doesn’t look like a sack of potatoes, he is told that he understands nothing of other worlds and what lies beyond the door. This scene basically tells the audience, yes you will discover what lies beyond the door and Sora will gain that knowledge as the game continues. As touched on earlier, Destiny Island is a perfect nesting ground to build the relationships between our three friends, Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Their scenes together not only manage to build their connections but tell us a lot about them as characters. They feel like real kids with real problems and real desires. In a scene at sunset, the trio look off into the horizon and establish their goal to see other worlds. Through their dialogue we learn of their distinct characteristics - Riku wants to escape and see what is out there, Sora is easy going and immature, and Kairi is fun, loving, and determined. Three Final Fantasy characters also vacate the island Selphie, Wakka, and Tidas. Despite their roles being kept to the minimum, they each offer something unique and important to the story at large. Not only can you battle with them and come to understand the gameplay a bit better, but you can speak with them. What they reveal is quite in depth for NPC’s. If Sora talks to them on Day 2, they each tell him something different that adds to the plot. Selphie talks of the paopu fruit and how sharing it with someone you really care for makes you connected for all eternity. Wakka talks about the secret place being fun to explore. Tidas tells Sora that he has gotten stronger, but he is still no match for Riku. All of these comments work with what the narrative is setting up, establishing the paopu fruit connection, the mysterious door, and Riku and Sora’s rivalry. Meanwhile, scenes from Disney Castle are also intertwined with the Destiny Island storyline. This choice to show these scenes side by side versus in large chunks at once is a very smart decision, allowing the audience to digest and better build with the bricks they are adding to their backpacks. Where Destiny Island is a low stakes tale for the majority of its screen time, Disney Castle is high stakes, establishing that the worlds

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are in danger and that Donald and Goofy have to find someone with a key. This not only confirms that our trio will be visiting other worlds but that Sora is destined for something much greater than he can ever imagine. The two stories merge at Traverse Town. Just as Destiny Island is claimed by darkness, Donald and Goofy look up in the sky and see a star disappear. Though our characters do not meet up right away, they both learn crucial information on their quest to find one another. Traverse Town is where much of the exposition happens. We learn about Ansem and his reports. We learn about the Heartless. We learn about the chosen keyblade wielder and Sora’s new responsibility thrust upon him. By the end of Traverse Town everything comes to a head. Sora’s goal is to find his friends. Donald and Goofy’s goal is to find the King. Together, their goal is to save the world by sealing the keyholes. Shortly after this, we have our first villains scene that shows a collection of villains teaming together. For what purpose it is not yet clear, offering some welcomed suspense. The villains are all in shadow, not offering the audience too much but just enough to establish that they have evil plans ahead. Now, that was a lot of information I just went over. Handled poorly, this would all be way too much to take in. Even reading this condensed account of events can feel overwhelming. But Kingdom Hearts 1 does an excellent job of establishing an idea and then laying it down to begin building. Nothing in these beginning scenes remains stagnant. The bricks are collected and are used to build the narrative and it is wonderfully done. What keeps the story working so efficiently after everything is introduced is the expert pacing. Though the story can sometimes meander or pad itself, it mostly sticks to the narrative at hand. The beginning of the game saw some of this pacing. As discussed, Sora’s story on Destiny Island is intertwined with Donald and Goofy’s at Disney Castle. These stories converge in Traverse Town. Had these been handled one at a time, the pacing would feel very slow and would not have transitioned so well as the narratives meeting one another in the middle. Sora’s relationship with Riku is also well paced in the story. It would have been easy to just include scenes where Sora misses his friends, only to find out that Riku turned to the

dark side at some point off screen and now Sora must fight him. But the game goes out of its way to establish this friendship and what it means. It creates tension between the two boys and puts something at stake. Sora sees Riku frequently on his quest. We get to see how they are moving apart and this provides the narrative room to breathe and change. The relationship is built up and the final clash does not appear out of nowhere. The villain scenes offer a very nice taste of good pacing. They are quick and to the point while leaving just enough open that there is still a mystery. One thing Kingdom Hearts 1 does really well is integrating the Disney worlds with the main plotline. Disney worlds don’t feel separate from the story but are actively part of the narrative. While some Disney worlds succeed at this better than others, they all at least contribute something to forwarding the plot. Whether it be tackling the relationship between Riku and Sora in Monstro or reminding us that our friends are in our hearts in Deep Jungle, each world ties back to the main narrative in some fashion. The same can be said of the villains. Though some villains may appear to carry more significance than others, they all lead Sora to the big baddie, Maleficent. Speaking of Disney, Kingdom Hearts 1 clearly has a deep love and respect for its source material. Disney and Final Fantasy are given a lot to do and this is extremely important, especially when looking forward to future titles in the series. YouTuber KingK says in his video about the game, “[The game] managers to capture the grandiose world ending stakes of a Final Fantasy story with the universal theming of a Disney movie.” 13 Not only are characters and places given love on screen, but their very nature is being represented in this game. Kingdom Hearts 1 sandwiches itself nicely between these two different entities. Although not crucial to the plot, Final Fantasy characters play a large roll in the narrative and bring a lot to the table. Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith are all key to helping Sora and friends digest the plot in Traverse Town. They act as adult role models for Sora. As mentioned earlier, Tidas, Wakka, and Selphie all work to contextualize what the game wants us to know is important in the beginning game. Even Cloud helps Sora in his quest to learn what it means to be a true hero. But it is Disney that is given much more to do in this game. All of the villains are stand out and interesting. Each world offers unique traversal and something to the plot. Donald and Goofy

themselves are given a lot to do, being Sora’s sidekicks. I would even go as far to say that Donald is a driving force at many points in the game, lying to Sora that he will definitely find his friends even though he has no clue, and later telling Riku he can’t come with them on the Gummi Ship. He and Goofy’s personalities are embraced to the maximum and are great silly foils to Sora’s more somber and serious moods. What may be the best example of how well the developer’s handled Disney is how Mickey is portrayed. When Square Enix (then Square Soft) were given the okay to use Disney properties in their game, it was explicit that Mickey could only appear on screen once. There is no solid reasoning behind this that we know of but the best guess is that Disney didn’t want its most prominent and recognizable character to be caught up in a game that could possibly tamper with their image. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Square, who later will overuse Mickey in future titles. Mickey is a King and his reputation is very built up throughout this game. When we finally encounter him, it is at the very end of the game when he helps Sora seal the door to Kingdom Hearts. This restriction allowed Square to make a creative choice and it paid off. As discussed in the last issue with Firewatch, restrictions are not a bad thing. While Kingdom Hearts 1 is far from a perfect game, it has a firm grasp on its plot and themes. It understands what beats need to be hit in order to tell a compelling story and this sense of direction is very good. What is set up at the beginning pays off in the end. Most of the necessary questions receive answers. It presents the most coherent plot of the series - a young boy goes on an adventure, exploring worlds, and eventually defeats the bad guy. While this story can feel stale, Kingdom Hearts 1 manages to do something unique and interesting with the formula. It truly is simple and clean.

A - This idea comes from story expert Lani Diane Rich. She originally touched on the topic in her podcast “Storywonk Sessions.” Her current show is called, “How Story Works” and is a great resource for understanding story.

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Neverland Sky Kingdom Hearts All Grown Up Written by Samuel Gronseth II

When I was a young kid, I inexplicably loved Fantasia. My mother was confused about it, and in hindsight I can see why. You expect young children to enjoy cartoons with Goofy failing to ski, or Donald Duck getting into an increasingly ludicrous snowball fight with his three nephews, not artsy animations set to classical music. But nonetheless, it enraptured me as a child. So you might imagine the feeling that swelled in my chest when, after 30+ hours of battling through the jungles of Tarzan and flying around Captain Hook’s pirate ship, the first notes of Night on Bald Mountain marched through my speakers and jolted directly into my heart. I had a second of disbelief, uncertain that the game would actually do what it seemed to be doing, when the view shifted from Sora and the gang floating in empty space to Chernobog, emerging from the top of a volcano. I lost it. My wife can attest to the gleeful giggles and excited rambling as this terrifying artifact from my childhood (and let’s not get lost in nostalgia here, also a legitimately beautiful and dramatic animated short) roared before my eyes, immediately interweaving itself with the emotions and mythos of these characters I loved, and I was given control to directly face this immortal figure of animated art. Then I actually had to fight him, and all that joy quickly dissolved into frustration and anger. And after multiple hours, countless failed attempts, and a number of screamed words that wouldn’t be appropriate for Sora to hear, I am ashamed to say this was the point where I gave up on Kingdom Hearts 1 and just watched the final cutscenes. That sequence of events was a perfect microcosm of my feelings toward Kingdom Hearts 1. It gives me joy, it ignites my imagination, it makes me see old characters and stories in a whole new light, and I absolutely love it. But then I have to play it, and all those warm, fuzzy, electric feelings evaporate into a haze of maze-like level design and punishing, nonsensical difficulty spikes. See, the scene I just described didn’t happen when Kingdom Hearts 1 released in 2002. I was 13 at the time. Had I played it back then, perhaps my relatively carefree childhood and bountiful free time would have led me to forgive the game’s wonky combat, punishing difficulty spikes, and seemingly endless parade of bosses before the finale. But when I actually played this game for the first time, I was not 13. I was almost 30. For this reason, Kingdom Hearts 1 has a different place in my heart than it seems to for most people. I have minimal nostalgia, dating back only to my college years when I started the game a couple times but never got more than halfway through. I have only a love of Disney, a love of Final Fantasy, and a desperate desire to like this weird, charming, hot mess of a game. But frankly, the game isn’t always easy to love.

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It would be cruel and unnecessary to recount the game’s faults in detail, both because we would be here all day, and because those faults do not define this game. I’m not here to convince you all that this game you love isn’t good. Partially because that would just be unkind, and partially because I don’t actually dislike Kingdom Hearts 1. For all its frustrations and missed opportunities and horrendous levels, I still cared about these characters. I still got lost in its world. I still shed a tear or two at the end. I love Kingdom Hearts 1. I also kind of hate Kingdom Hearts 1. And at the root of all this is another emotion it took me a long time to pin down: jealousy. Kingdom Hearts 1 is, more than anything in my estimation, a perfect embodiment of the innocence, naivete, and wonder of childhood. The protagonist is a kid who wants to see what’s beyond his little world, but doesn’t understand how this will change his carefree life and innocent, uncomplicated friendships. The game gives us peeks at worlds and characters from other realities entirely, hinting that the world is far bigger than we can see from here. Sora is surrounded by people who know more than him, who direct him in his quest, but he is ultimately the one in control of his own destiny. And everything, even the darkness and danger, is seen as wondrous, exciting, sometimes even playful. As an adult, this invoked feelings in me. Strong feelings. It made me feel unrestrained, uncomplicated joy and connection and longing. It stimulated my imagination and took me back to places I already knew and loved, In short, it made me feel like a kid again. In a way few things ever have. And I appreciate it for that. But I also can’t help but feel that I would have appreciated the experience more if it spoke to me when I was still in that part of my life, instead of needing to take me back to it.

SAMUEL GRONSETH II

is the creator, writer, and host of the popular YouTube channel, “Games as Lit. 101.” https://www.youtube.com/user/gamesasliterature

Photo credit: Megan Kallas megankallas.com WWW.LEVELSTORY.NET 49 instagram.com/meganleighkallas

After

the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, the internet was inundated with fans and newcomers streaming and experiencing the game. One such streamer was a newcomer to the series, aided with the help of revolving commentators who had prior experience with the games. The conversation eventually came to an interesting place. After one of the many cut scenes displayed a scene of the ridiculous, a commentator made the comment that Kingdom Hearts is for children, as if this is why it is ridiculous. This came after the chat was making jokes about the keyblade being a phallic symbol and analysing what was happening on screen, as if the series being for children was a justification for not thinking deeply about a story and the symbols within the story. When the chat became noticeably annoyed, the commentator tried to clarify their position by arguing that calling something “for children” is simply a reality. It should be said that Kingdom Hearts has routinely struggled with who its target audience is. While the characters resonate with younger audiences, especially the Disney characters, the story is clearly aimed for a young adult audience. After all, the series shares similar themes such as identity, platonic relationships, and more to other popular YA media. Despite this, Kingdom Hearts may have the potential for an older audience but with its lack of graphic violence, its use of family friend language, and its bright color scheme, it automatically contrasts games that claim the opposite aesthetics. These games are regarded as “adult.” Celebrated author and children’s literature defender C.S. Lewis writes in his essay, On Three Ways of Writing for Children, “I never met The Wind in the Willows or the Bastable books till I was in my late twenties, and I do not think I have enjoyed them any the less on that account. I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story. The good ones last. A waltz which you can like only when you are waltzing is a bad waltz.” 14 What Lewis is getting at is that simply because a story is branded for children should not mean it can’t be enjoyed by adults. It should be enjoyed by adults. Of course Lewis is speaking toward literature but this sentiment is universal. All children’s media faces a bias that because it is made for children, it is not worth the watch for an adult. Though there is a plethora of children’s media that pushes itself out for easy cash (Angry Birds anybody?), it isn’t genre that is at fault but the lazy trend itself. Since children do not have the capability to think critically about what they watch, bad movies are simply easier to feed them. Though if we are being honest, I’m not so sure the same can’t be said of “adult” films...but that is a conversation for another time. One of the largest children’s media conglomerates happens to be the central property in the Kingdom Hearts games, Disney. Though Disney has an inconsistent track record when it comes to its animated films, it is popularly regarded as the best in the business. The 1990s saw Disney release its most critical and commercially successful films, and this era known as the Disney Renaissance is still highly regarded to this very day. Modern Disney animation has also seen great success and in some ways has surpassed the Renaissance era. But despite all of these accolades, Disney is rightly criticized for watering down its source material. Disney presents reimagined fairy tales that equate more to family friendly sentiments, removing anything that isn’t deemed suitable for young ages. Yet this very idea challenges the very ideas of the children’s stories Disney bases itself on.

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If one were to visit the original versions of stories such as Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, or Pinocchio, chances are they will be horrified by the result. The happy endings that they have come to associate with these types of stories are all but gone, replaced with dark and sometimes grotesque circumstances. For example, Pinocchio kills Jiminy Cricket in the original story. In the original Snow White fairy tale, the evil queen dances to her death in molten hot shoes. Ariel does not live in her original story. The very notion that dark ideas can exist in children’s stories is often met with harsh criticism. Think pieces regard these revelations as “childhood ruining” and “inappropriate.” Society has shielded children from these harsh realities, instead opting for a more sanitized version of events. This is not inherently a bad thing. I can attest to being a Disney defender while still recognizing that there is something lost by removing the original source material. But it is worth pointing out that sanitized interpretations, once stripped down, have now been stripped down again for the purposes of Kingdom Hearts 1. Kingdom Hearts 1 retells classic Disney fairy tales through the lense of Sora. Almost all of the Disney properties came originally from a book such as Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Bambi, 101 Dalmatians, Tarzan, and Greek mythology. It is no wonder that Kingdom Hearts 1 seeks to copy the universal appeal of its source material. Of course, Disney would not have allowed the game to be released had it been any other way. They want to protect their brand from being tainted. Though Kingdom Hearts 1 primarily pulls from Disney, it still leans heavily on the storytelling tropes from Final Fantasy. Somewhat similar to Disney, Final Fantasy leans heavily on the epic and somewhat over dramatized art of storytelling. Both are interested in the fantastical, yet another genre that begs to be taken seriously. Labeling media as simply “for kids” can often appear as a disservice to the media and the association that comes with said label. Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes a person can make is confusing child like with childish. For example, animation as a medium may appear child like, but Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff’s belief that “themes are for eighth grade book reports” is childish. 15 It is the difference between thoughtful media versus the shallow. The medium to which it is presented is only the shell. If a work that is aimed toward a younger audience presents complex characters, interesting plot, and complicated themes, isn’t it more than simply a story for children? Can’t it move beyond that? That answer is, yes. Avatar: the Last Airbender is a TV series that can attest to this. Saying something is for kids due to bad writing is two different points entirely. It effectively misses the point. While Kingdom Hearts 1 can not claim to be the most well told story, it does present itself with complex ideas and is smart about how it tackles familiar tropes. Yes it uses a traditionally child like approach to the narrative but there is a lot of meat on its bones.

Maybe it’s a little on the nose, but it is a game designed for children to enjoy with themes that are applicable to all audiences.” - KingK 16

Once Upon a Time Written by Danielle Carpenter

Photo credit: Erneste https://erneste.portfoliobox.net https://www.redbubble.com/people/tytiretu https://ko-fi.com/tytiretu

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Written by Danielle Carpenter Photo credit: AL SANYA https://www.deviantart.com/retro-robosan https://www.etsy.com/shop/RetroRobosan https://retrorobosan.tumblr.com/ https://twitter.com/alsanya

Another Side, Another Story The art of adaptation is a task more accurately equated with walking a tightrope than riding a bike. Translating ideas from one medium to another is never easy, though in many cases this process becomes a comedy or errors with corporate meddling and lazy decision making in order to make a quick buck. Changes that may seem minor are not noticed by general audiences, but fans or critical viewers will pick up on the implications being made. With every change comes a consequence, whether it be a large change or a small one. This is not to say change is bad. No two mediums work the same and changes must be made. Some changes, however, can be made in poor taste. The Kingdom Hearts 1 novelization is an interesting case study in this overarching discussion. The author adapting from screen to page is faced with the challenge of taking a visual medium and putting it into words, a task that can go south very quickly. How does one describe the random battles our heroes encounter or their linguistic forms of speech? How can one capture Donald’s raspy clucking? Another question to consider is if the text is competently translated for audiences outside of Japan? None of these tasks are straight forward or easy, yet that is how these hurdles are approached none-the-less. The Kingdom Hearts 1 novelization is at times quite competent in its execution but falters where it matters the most.. Though it certainly has charm, that charm does not extend to people who aren’t wearing the rose colored glasses of having played the game prior. Thus it works as a companion to those familiar with the game, but much less as a novel independent from its source material. Not everything is entirely awful here. In actuality, there is a lot of good being done in this novelization. The problem that seems to exist is that this momentum is not carried out. Great details at the beginning of the book are often dropped by the end. In fact, the entire end of the book reads more like a rushed book summary rather than an actual story. This makes the experience fall pretty flat which is unfortunate since the book seems to have a lot of great ideas yet doesn’t know what to do with them. The book clearly knows that a different sort of context needs to be applied in order to convey what is happening on the screen. The reader is exposed to Sora’s inner dialogue and his thoughts. Here we see Sora reflecting on things far deeper than in the game. For example, when Sora visits Wonderland, he reflects that he has never heard the word “trial” before. His life on

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Destiny Island was so secluded that he has no concept of such a thing. At another point further into the book, Sora actively thinks about the darkness in his own heart and how this darkness manifests when he is afraid or when he hates something. He even experiences severe trauma after leaving Monstro. The book clearly wants to create a more well rounded character and this comes across. Characters that lacked motivation or seemed basic in the game are allowed dialogue and some sort of autonomy. For example, the Final Fantasy characters feel much more alive and not as stiff as in the game. On Destiny Island, Wakka is the oldest kid there and is often the teacher of the group. Selphie actively feels left out from the trio’s exploits when they are busy playing off on their own building the raft. When Sora arrives in Traverse Town, Leon is not randomly summoned by the gods of game timing to confront Sora but is warned by Cid who sees Sora first in his shop. Actions that are difficult to portray in a game are now much easier to convey on the page. The book does not adapt the game one to one. Several scenes are condensed, combined, or greatly altered to read well in a novel. On Destiny Island, Sora has two sunset scenes with his friends. These are combined. In the novelization, the events of Destiny Island take place on the same day. The trio have their scene talking about discovering other worlds before Riku leaves for the day, leaving just Kairi and Sora to have their sunset scene together. It works very well. Another great example of good adaptation comes when Sora meets Donald and Goofy. Rather than pausing the action, the trio introduce themselves while they begin fighting. This achieves a dual purpose; our trio introduces themselves to one another and fight the enemy before them. Other little details are enjoyable such as Donald’s spells being verbal. When he zaps Goofy he yells, “thunder!” Donald also says “quack” a lot more than you would expect and it is very funny. Gameplay mechanics are contextualized for the page. There are several points where one of the trio will run over to someone to heal them, the equivalent of in game yelling of names before giving the party member a potion. The book goes out of its way to elaborate on things like trinitys and how they come across the Ansem reports. Admittedly the Ansem reports are handled pretty poorly, randomly falling out of a villains pocket after battle, but at least they are made to play a bigger role in the story.

Unfortunately, the good doesn’t go much farther than that. There are several moments of this book that are head scratchers and make you wonder what the purpose of certain changes benefits. The book will insert bits of thought or dialogue to seemingly fill in for conversations in the game and this seems to be a good choice, only to have the same thing be repeated word for word from the game. For example, when Sora arrives in Traverse Town he goes in search of Riku and Kairi, actively reflecting on the fact that he is in another world and that he is upset. Then the book has Sora quote his game self and cry out at the realization that his island is gone as well as his friends. Why add this bit of narration only for Sora to act as if he’d never had the thoughts in the first place. The same thing later happens when Sora meets Donald and Goofy. The three introduce themselves in the book in the heart of battling a heartless. They then go on to repeat this introduction just as it happens in the game. It makes these seemingly smart changes feel pointless. Other times, the book cuts some scenes that feel very important to the plot while leaving in others that just aren’t needed. We still have the scene with Terk flirting with Donald yet several scenes of Sora seeing Kairi on his journey is left out. Speaking of left out, several worlds are left out of the book. This is not a criticism. It is clear this was done to focus on the story at hand and moving things forward. Worlds such as Halloweentown, Atlantica, and Olympus Coliseum are all cut. Though some may complain about this, it was indeed the smarter choice to tell a more concise story. It may not come as a surprise that the book is poorly written. Whether this is due to the original text lacking or a poor translation, it is impossible for me to say. Though it is not always too noticeable, other times it is outright clunky and awful. Sentences read like laundry lists: “Sora, Donald, and Goofy waved to Jiminy, who stayed to watch the ship, and look around them, then finally stepped off the ship.” (56). Others are just plain lazy writing: “He let go of the dark Keyblade, and it floated up, shining blackly…” (223). 17 Overall, the experience of reading the Kingdom Hearts 1 novelization was not a bad one. While the book has glaring problems that my literary mind can’t ignore, it does a decent job of adapting from screen to page. It is certainly clunky and some narrative choices are more questionable than others. As it stands, it is a fine companion novel for the avid Kingdom Hearts fan. I can’t see it gaining much traction beyond that.

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WHAT WE ARE ENJOYING

OCTOPATH TRAVELER

STRANGER SONGS

LOVE YOU LIKE THAT

THE LION KING SCORE

Put on some headphones, and do nothing else.

A wonderful mix of synth and summer.

The perfect pop bop of the summer.

In light of the remake, listen to the original.

WAYPOINT RADIO

CINEMATIC SCHEMATIC

ART FOR ARTISTS

GAME STUDIES STUDY BUDDIES

There is an entire lore series on Kingdom Hearts. Yes please.

Nerdy meets film criticism meets story experts. Not sure what could be better.

A podcast that deconstructs pop culture weekly in an easy to digest format.

Two friends read books about video games and then discuss them in depth.

[Square Enix]

[Vice]

[Cabin 24 Records]

[The Cinematropolis]

[Republic Records]

[Walt Disney Records]

[Digital & Creative Media Works] [Ranged Touch]

CROSSWORD Across 1. Sora’s Home 2. Kairi gives Sora... 3. Riku’s name in Japanese 4. Sora’s Mom calls him for ______ Down 1. _____, Seeker of Darkness 2. Donald calls Goofy this 3. Yoko _________ 4. Sora’s weapon 5. Sleeping Beauty 6. Sora gives Kairi... 7. Squall 8. Hayden Panettiere

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Answers: Across: 1. Destiny Island, 2. Oath Keeper, 3. Land, 4. Dinner; Down: 1. Ansem, 2. Palooka, 3. Shimomura, 4. Keyblade, 5. Maleficent, 6. Paopu Fruit, 7. Leon, 8. Kairi

BANJO-KAZOOIE SGDQ2019 RACE [Games Done Quick]

LATE STAGE DISNEY [Renegade Cut]

MULAN [Electric Didact]

Speedrunners “Hagginater” and “duck” battle it out in this 100% Banjo-Kazooie race full of some incredible puns.

Disney has entered a stage in time where they seek to recontextualize their own canon with some lackluster remakes.

Part of the “Lessons Animation Taught Us” series, this video beautifully analyses Disney’s Mulan.

JAZZ VIDEO GAME MEDLEY [insaneintherainmusic]

MARKETING CAMPAIGN OF DOOM [Frustrated Jacob]

MINECRAFT, SANDBOXES, & COLONIALISM [Folding Ideas]

YouTuber Carlos Eiene conducts an orchestra performing a spectacular medley of video game music. It is incredibly well made!

Frustrated Jacob goes through the history of Final Fantasy XV and why the game was practically doomed from the beginning.

This thought provoking video about exercising colonial tendancies in open world sandbox games is really good. Dan Olson once again gives us a fantastic video essay.

ON WRITING AND WORLDBUILDING, VOL. I Timothy Hickson [Chris Drake, Artist]

MAYNARD TRIGG AND THE CREATURE BENEATH THE VEIL D.C. McNeill [Digital and Creative Media Works]

THE GOLDEN COMPASS, HIS DARK MATERIALS BOOK 1 Philip Pullman [Alfred A. Knopf]

Written by YouTuber “Hello Future Me”, this book considers helpful writing lessons that differ from the traditional.

In this character driven fantasy, Maynard Trigg lives a carefree life before it is shaken by a mysterious pirate.

Soon to be a series on HBO, this first entry in the series introduces readers to a parallel world where humans have animal companions.

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FA N S C R E AT E ENRICO DEIANA

Enrico’s covers of popular video game tracks are epic in scale. His reimaginings of Kingdom Hearts music is glorious.

GARIK WHEELER

In preparation for the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, the YouTuber known as Everglow decided to post a timeline series that showcased the Kingdom Hearts story in chronological order. Posting the first video back in April 2018, the series came to have 122 episodes in total. Though there are already timeline videos on YouTube chronicling the Kingdom Hearts series, Everglow went above and beyond with this project. He did little things like adding music to scenes or featuring the text reports from various games, to including gameplay that seemed to be choreographed to enact specific themes being represented in the story. With the help from other talented contributors, he even created new portions of gameplay from past games that otherwise wouldn’t have flowed as well in their original form. It became immediately clear that this was no ordinary timeline project. In another’s hands, this project would not have succeeded in crafting such a remarkable look at the Kingdom Hearts series. Arguably it succeeds far better at telling this story than the games themselves, a bold claim, I know. If you are interested in experiencing this story at its fullest potential, look no further than the Kingdom Hearts Timeline series by Everglow. This space is too small to do the thing justice so go watch it yourself!

Have you ever wished for a metal album of Kingdom Hearts music? Well you are in luck! Garik’s first album, Reconnect, is rockin’!

A DIVE INTO THE HEART OF KINGDOM HEARTS I

PROJECT DESTATI

Project Destati shows a clear love of Kingdom Hearts. They take Yoko Shimomura’s music from a 10 to 11 in all the right ways. This first EP is a great way to dip your toes into their music.

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by Jacqueline Merritt This video is long but well worth the watch. YouTube has plenty of videos reflecting on Kingdom Hearts 1, but none seem to get to the heart of it like Jacqueline’s. Through careful analysis, she breaks down why she loves the game. It is really, really good.

ANALYSIS OF THE BEGINNING OF KINGDOM HEARTS 1

by Bio-Roxas Bio-Roxas is one of the more up and coming YouTuber’s in the Kingdom Hearts community. Mainly known for his form breakdowns for later KH games, he also streams regularly and has a few Kingdom Hearts 1 videos. If you are a fan of the games, then check him out!

www.issuu.com

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FA N S W R I T E Kingdom Hearts 1 is my second favorite game of all time, and easily my favorite of the series. It filled me with a sense of wonder at its mysterious atmosphere and beautiful music, not to mention it’s fantastic opening hours. Today, the game’s design astounds me with how well it was laid out, the worlds are (mostly) fun to explore, and the combat has a perfect pace and sense of tactics, being stylish without being shallow. I have beaten this game many times, both complete runs, and quick runs and everytime I reach the end, I feel satisfied in a playthrough. - MapleKnightX on Reddit To me...It means there’s no way you’re taking Kairi’s heart! - ThatTwoFacedLiar on Reddit To me, it’s the immortal classic. Oddy enough, it’s the only title in the series to feature my favorite voice actor of the series, Billy Zane. The combat system is good, but feels rather less when compared to KH2 & KH3. But, I really love that it has probably the most easy to understand story of the series. The game is short, but has a lot for you to get out of it. It’s at the top of my list, as it is a title with great bosses, and a great secret movie (that’s still pretty impressive for 2002). It’s ‘Unknown’ secret boss is also one of my favorite bosses of the entire series too. Most of all, it introduces “Ansem, Seeker of Darkness” who’ll have a special place in my heart as the first antagonist of the series. Yes, I know KH1 has some pretty corny dialogue & cringey moments - but in a game that’s so little, it succeeds by introducing so much - which is why I consider it to be the immortal classic of the Kingdom Hearts series. - skyline-pigeon on Reddit To me it means it had the least amount of filler padding in it. Plus I was too young and stupid to notice how much was really there. - WaketheWindFromAfar on Reddit I played the first Kingdom Hearts game in an effort to catch up with the series via the “The Story So Far” collection. I had been playing chronology so far and didn’t have a very fun time. That is, until I got to KH1.5 and had a honest blast. I admire how Square was able to divide the focus of the enemy’s attack and still give a challenge. This is definitely the game that made me a fan. - AvengerOfDads on Reddit Everything.......it means everything to me. - SanicTheBlur on Reddit KH1 is that childlike wonder, i remember playing it when i was 6 years old as my first videogame and going to all the Disney worlds and messing around and finally beating ansem on the islands. Everytime i pick up the game to play it again i still get that same feeling. - BogeyT15 on Reddit There are a lot of words that describe KH1 for me, it wasn’t the first game I played but when I did play it through it was like those moments when you can feel your feelings have more potential. I haven’t been with the series for very long but since then I feel like every aspect of life is a little more worth living. - 013_Fajita_Cat on Reddit

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Kingdom Hearts 1 was my introduction to the series, and I very quickly fell in love with when when watching my cousin play, and when I played the game for myself. Although the gameplay hasn’t aged well in comparison to the rest of the series, I still have a soft spot for it. - Redtutel on Reddit Kingdom Hearts 1 is a game that helped me get through a tough childhood. My father died when i was 9 and I was bullied a lot through school. The game held a lot of meaning not only due to the metaphor in the story about growing up and learning to cope with things, but it was the one thing i was able to look forwards to after school to get away from my sh***y life. - MadnessConsumesMe on Reddit Kingdom Hearts 1 was a lot to me as a kid. It was my real first introduction to JRPG games and final fantasy two things I love to this day. It was late nights with my sister and father playing through almost non stop. It honestly formed my tastes and preferences to the entirety of video games and it will always mean a lot to me. - ranjo4589 on Reddit I was a “good kid” growing up. I knew a lot about Disney, but never cared for MTV or whatever the other kids were watching. I never wanted to play violent video games or listen to crude music. I always felt uncool, out of place and not “with it”, and got “bullied by omission” by everybody. No friends throughout the entirety of middle school. I felt left behind. Kingdom Hearts came out when I was twelve, and the story really helped me feel validated for wanting to be a genuinely good person who wanted to help people. But at the same time, everything about the game itself felt... strange. The music and art direction were beautiful in ways that I could always distinctly see and hear. The gameplay and level design was unlike ANYTHING I’d ever seen before. The way the tone would shift between happy and dead serious was almost haunting at times. I would sometimes lie awake at night trying to understand exactly what it is that I felt. The characters always felt out of place somehow. If anything, I started to relate less to the characters and more to the concept, the principle, the idea of the game itself. And then, years later, it hit me: “You will always be a stranger... because the world needs you to be.” Since I first played the game, I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ll ever experience anything like it again. And there’s a part of me that doesn’t think I should or can. The series has matured into what it wanted to be, and so have I in many ways. But I will never ever forget how special I felt knowing that there was another stranger out there just as strange as me. - dinoconservative on Reddit Kingdom Hearts 1 has the best music of the series in my opinion, it’s the springboard from which the rest of the games get their nostalgic feeling. The OST for Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion just to name a couple are deeply ingrained in my memory. Then there’s Simple and Clean which (while certainly a bit cheesy without context) conjures up images and memories of the final moments of the game that I associate with a sense of accomplishment. Music that’s so good it’s still being used in the games to date just revamped and refined. - DreddShift on Reddit

Photo credit: Edward Gan edwardgan.tumblr.com instagram.com/edward_gck/

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ISSUE 3 | LEVEL STORY

Level Story | Issue 3 | Kingdom Hearts 1

Articles inside

Another Side, Another Story

Once Upon a Time

Neverland Sky

Simple & Clean

No Time to Think

Treasured Memories

Dive into the Heart

Beyond the Door

Hikari (Light)

Kairi

Road to a Hero

Hand in Hand

Friends in my Heart

Story Overview: It Began with a Letter

Summer 2019 News

Creator Letter: Kingdom Hearts Should Be Taken Seriously