On April 10, 2022, Square Enix held the “KINGDOM HEARTS 20th ANNIVERSARY EVENT” at Hikari Hall on the 9th floor of Shibuya Hikari to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the “Kingdom Hearts” series, and announced the releases of the next games in the series. This article will report excerpts from the Q&A corner regarding the “KINGDOM HEARTS” series at the event. Original Article: Here. The translation is by the author of the article.
Kingdom Hearts (Quite Enthusiastic) Q&A corner
At the event, Tetsuya Nomura answered questions from fans via SNS and other means in a Q&A corner. Here we pick up some of the questions.
Q. Does the humanoid Nobody have the Nobody symbol?
A. It’s not attached to the humanoid nobodies. The human form, unlike heartless, does not have a symbol. You can think of them as something akin to a pure blood.
Q. Who is Demyx?
A. This question was asked a lot. If I answer it here, I won’t need to depict the answer in future games, so I am going to refrain from answering now, and since he is the only mysterious character in the XIII Organization, I plan to mention him someday.
Q. Hikaru Utada has sung the theme song throughout the series, but what inspires you from her songs?
A. In the “Kingdom Hearts” series, I think about the opening movie after receiving the music, so in that sense, I am inspired every time I think of the opening movie with Utada’s music in mind, so she is indispensable to me.
Q. In the last episode of “Kingdom Hearts Union X” I believe the player melted into Xehanort’s mind, but was he inside Xehanort the whole time?
A. This will become clear when you play “Kingdom Hearts Dark Road”.
Q. In “Kingdom Hearts II,” Riku hands Kairi the keyblade. Do you have any plans to depict how that happened in the future?
A. This is another one of those questions that would end the mystery if I told you the answer (laughs). I intend to follow up in some way.
Q. The story is split based on who wins or loses the battle against Yozora, which I believe was a first in the “KH” series. What is the significance of this?
A. Yozora is quite strong and would be hard to beat. Therefore, we thought it would be better to see something even in the event of defeat. There is not much significance in terms of the story.
Q. About the end of “Kingdom Hearts Union X”. Was Ephemer aware of the player’s true intentions at that time?
A. It is a sad goodbye, but there are many things to come regarding Ephemer, so I will refrain from answering.
Q. Why was Riku’s hair cut in “Kingdom Hearts 3D”?
A. During “Kingdom Hearts II,” fans often told Riku to cut his hair. So we heard everyone’s wishes were heard and cut his hair. (laughs).
Q. In conjunction with the above question, is there anything you would have changed in response to fan feedback?
A. Regarding the resurrection of Roxas and Xion in “Kingdom Hearts III,” I was struggling with the issue until the very last minute, and even considered a route story that would have them resurrected. However, everyone’s feelings for them were strong, so we decided to go with the revival route. The parts of the story where we were wondering what to do were very much influenced by everyone’s wishes and feelings.
Q. Is there a way to read the “X” in “X’s world” where the Master of Masters tried to disappear? Is the X a foreshadowing?
A. It is a foreshadowing. The name was written in the script. It is being withheld at the moment, but we will reveal in due course.