If there’s one thing we can all agree on about Kingdom Hearts, is that we all have very different opinions about it. Whether it’s to do with which games in the series we like the best (or the least), who our favourite characters are, or about how Disney is used, we’ll find something to disagree on.

But having different opinions is good. It encourages us to discuss things together. So here are my hottest Kingdom Hearts takes, so you can feel feel to disagree with me and tell me how completely wrong I am (even though I know I’m right).

Disney Worlds Aren’t Filler

Somehow, more than 20 years later, people still think the Disney worlds and characters are just there for funsies. Yes, the fun is part of it, and contributes a lot to the series’ charm, but the Disney worlds do serve a narrative purpose, and aren’t just ‘bloat’ or ‘filler’ as many fans would have you believe.

The Disney worlds often foreshadow future events in the game or parallel characters like Sora and Riku and their dynamic, so they offer you a little more insight into what’s going on. It’s well worth paying attention to what the Disney characters do and say, and what’s been changed from the original Disney movie, to see these connections.

Chain Of Memories Is Easily One Of The Best Games In The Series

If I have to hear someone say Chain of Memories is the worst game in the series one more time… The card battle system is difficult to get into, I’ll give you that, but once you do get into it and start customising your decks? It’s actually extremely rewarding.

Chain of Memories’ narrative is also much more important than people give it credit for. It introduces Naminé and Organisation 13, it kickstarts Riku’s redemption arc, and a whole lot more. Plus, if you read into the game’s mistranslations, you’ll have even more to dig into and to think about the implications of.

Roxas And Xion Coming Back Was The Right Decision

I may be a little biased, as Roxas and Xion are my favourite characters in the series, but they deserved to come back in Kingdom Hearts 3, and it was done well. I’ve seen lots of people say they should have stayed gone because Roxas ‘accepted’ he was part of Sora. But did he really? It seemed more like resignation to me.

Beyond that, do you think Sora would just let Roxas cease to exist, after meeting him and seeing that he really was now a whole person, separate from himself? No, he wouldn’t. That’s why he’s so determined to bring him back. Roxas and Xion fought so hard to be their own people, have their own identities, it would go against the core themes of the series to just let them be nothing after that.

KH1 Doesn’t Need A Remake, Ever

Listen, I know KH1 has its jank. I’ve struggled with it myself. But it doesn’t need to be remade to remove that or to improve its graphics or whatever. Final Remix is exactly what it needs to be - an improved version of the original game - so we don’t need it to be made from scratch in a new engine.

If any KH games should get remakes, it should be 358/2 Days (the movie just isn’t cutting it), and the mobile games that you can’t even play anymore.

If You Care About The Story, You Need To Look Into Mistranslations

I mentioned mistranslations in Chain of Memories briefly earlier, but they’re consistent throughout the series. Translating anything from one language to another always results in something being lost, and Nomura has even said himself how important the original text is for truly understanding the story.

There are some big changes between the Japanese and English dialogue across all the games, some with quite drastic implications, so if you want to fully understand the story, you need to look into these mistranslations and interpret them for yourself.

Final Fantasy Characters Taking A Backseat Isn’t A Bad Thing

I like Final Fantasy, but I don’t love it like I do Kingdom Hearts, so again I may be biased here. But the Final Fantasy characters don’t always have to be a main focus for KH to be good. I see it more as an extra treat on top of the main meal, rather than being the main meal itself.

KH3 already had a lot of original characters to juggle and balance their screentime. Do you really think adding FF characters to that would have made the pacing any better? Uh, no. I’m perfectly happy with them appearing in the Limit Cut episode instead of bloating the story for fanservice.

The Story Isn’t Confusing, Just Pay Attention

If I had a penny for every time someone who claims to be a KH fan calls the story confusing, I’d be very rich. Sure, it may have been harder to follow two decades ago when you didn’t have a Game Boy and a PS2 and a DS and a PSP so you missed out on the side games, but today? I just don’t believe adults are actually struggling to comprehend the story.

There’s a lot to remember, I’ll give you that, but I never felt lost when playing through the games. Just listen to what the cutscenes are telling you, read the secret reports, and you can follow along. If you still can’t, well, I’m worried about your basic literacy.

No, The Series Should Not Have Ended With KH2

I love KH2 and I love its ending, but in no way do I think the series should have ended there. Sora’s character has barely developed at that point. It would be an extremely unsatisfying conclusion just for that reason alone.

The seeds of Xehanort are also planted in KH2, and only Xemnas is defeated in that game. Why would you leave off a series with the main villain only being teased, and never actually defeated? Now that makes no sense.

Kairi Isn’t A Main Character, And That’s Okay

Put down your pitchforks. I don’t hate Kairi. However, I think a lot of people get more disappointed with Kairi’s involvement in the story because they see her as a main character, when she’s really in a more supportive role. She doesn’t get as much screentime or development as Sora and Riku, and a lot of people get angered by this.

It’s a bit of an unrealistic expectation, though. The series’ producer, Shinji Hashimoto, said “The fact is that the main focus of the series is Sora and Riku; how their friendship develops, but also how they grow up.” While Kairi is part of the Destiny Trio, her character isn’t the focus, which is why it feels unbalanced between them.

It’s totally fine to want more character development for Kairi - I think there’s definitely room for improvement even if she’s only in a supportive role - but lofty expectations, like expecting her to suddenly become a Keyblade master and rescue Sora in Quadratum, are only setting fans up for disappointment.

KH3 Doesn’t Deserve Anywhere Near The Hate It Gets

Kingdom Hearts 3 gets so much unfair criticism it’s almost unbelievable. Let’s address some of them, shall we?

  • The Disney worlds are filler and bloat the story.

Well, no. As I said earlier, if you pay attention to what’s actually happening in the Disney worlds, instead of rushing through them to get to the ‘real’ plot, you’ll find they actually have a lot to say. In KH3 specifically, a lot of them show Sora an instance of true love’s sacrifice. I’ll leave that for you to figure out.

  • It wasn’t worth waiting 13 years for.

Did you forget about all the games that came out between KH2 and KH3? It wasn’t a 13-year wait with no KH content. And, I happen to think Dream Drop Distance is a fun game.

  • It just doesn’t live up to KH2.

Nostalgia is blinding you, my friend. As someone who played through the entire series as an adult, I don’t have that childhood nostalgia attachment to KH2, so I can tell you objectively, they’re pretty on par. KH3’s Disney worlds are the best they’ve ever looked, in fact.