Dream Drop Intimacy
I recently finished Kingdom Hearts 3D for the second time.
And it is hard to think that this game was not especially intended for us, Soriku fans. I mean, this game exudes Soriku intimacy and tenderness from its beginning to its end.
The game, itself, is much fun to play – though I’ll admit some skepticism about the dream eater breeding thing. It was a pleasure to wander in the new worlds, and particularly Fantasia. The concept of the parallel actions of Riku and Sora, interfering in each other’s worlds, was a nice idea, and it would have been perfect if this “distant interaction” between the two of them had been as perfectly done in each world as it is in the first (Traverse Town) and last one (ah, and more metaphorically, in Fantasia). Which is not the case in the first three worlds following Traverse Town, where Riku and Sora only act, independently, as supporting characters for the world’s main plot.
(And it is especially painful in Tron Legacy, where all the characters are just as awfully uninteresting as they are in the movie.)
But what was really refreshing, in this game, was probably the total absence of Kairi (which is much better than her artificial and cliché involvement in KH2), and of any implied romantic feelings between Sora and Kairi. Sora, actually, doesn’t think about her even once, not even during the ending scene – while his relationship with Riku has literally become entwined, with Riku diving in Sora’s heart.
Let’s make things clear here : we do not criticize Kairi because she’s a girl and because we only like promoting homosexual couples. We criticize Kairi since until now her character remains terribly bland. And it was also the case for Sora and Riku at the beginning (KH1), but both of them benefited from interesting character development (which was fine for Sora, and exceptional for Riku), while Kairi, who originally had no part in the plot of KH2, suddenly became… the girl to rescue. And the intimacy and complicity that Sora begins to share with Riku at the end of KH2 and all through KH3D is shown as much stronger and deeper than everything we could witness between him and Kairi. Under these circumstances, there is no reason for us to promote a Sora / Kairi couple, since we firstly base our “couple” notion on what both people really, deeply share with each other.
And KH3D gives us plenty of occasions to appreciate the strength, the tenderness, and the passion of the bond between Riku and Sora. So many occasions, actually, that it is difficult to decide which is the cutest of them.
Is it in Traverse Town when Riku is disappointed as he realizes he can’t touch Sora through his hologram ? (photo)
Is it when Sora confidently says that he’s connected to Riku with his heart ?
Is it when Sora hears Riku’s voice in The World That Never Was ?
Is it when Sora only thinks about Riku when his strength is abandoning him ?
Is it when Riku dives in Sora’s heart and must collect 30 bodies of Sora ? (…)
Is it when Riku has to answer three questions related to his devotion to Sora ?
It is when Sora majorly hugs Riku while they exchange tender looks ?
Or it is, maybe, when we think about the subtext regarding Riku being Sora’s dream eater ?
(We would be curious to know how Sora breeds him, and where he pets him…)
Knowing what the next opus will make of this intimacy is however a true question. First, we can be pretty sure that the Soriku couple will not be made official. Remember ? Homosexuality is fine, as long as it doesn’t concern main characters. Second, we know that Kairi will probably play an important role in it. That could be the chance to develop her character in an original way. But we really hope that this won’t just be a poor excuse to place the Sora / Kairi couple at the center of the game in order to make up for the disappointment of those who can’t stand the idea of a Sora / Riku couple and who had to go through KH3D all the same.
And this point can be summed up as follows : can we expect a non-consensual ending in a game in which Disney is directly implied ?
Now that we have seen Wreck It Ralph, we shall not say that it is impossible. But it might be reasonable to say to we can’t expect it to be completely iconoclast.
So we’ll consider ourselves satisfied if no couple is made official – since that would obviously not be Soriku.