Do you think characters should've aged further?

[MrFranklin95]

You as a young fan, I was always under the assumption that Sora and co were older then they actually were by the time we got to DDD. Be fair, they really don't need to be, but I always thought it was cool in KH2 that these characters actually did age up. Its really not something you saw happen in most video games properties aim at a younger audience. It some ways, it felt like the audience was growing up a long with the characters themselves.

Now, I've always had an issue with the Kingdom Hearts series only focusing on the relationships between friends and not really any others; romantic, parenthood, all that other stuff. At the end of the day, I guess it was always my own interpretation but Kingdom Hearts was for me a giant walking metaphor for growing up. I think only focusing on friendship angle limits the kinds of character development opportunities and themes the story could take in the future and in some ways, I feel like its related to the characters not aging any futher then were they are right now. To be fair, it could just be the long gap between KH2 and KH3 and the inbetween focuses on different stories that effects my mindset on that. And now that I'm older, having these characters still be 16 or 18 still feels a little weird. Now, its not something that makes or breaks the story for me (KH's story has WAY bigger problems the age of the characters) but it does make the progression of the main characters feel a little stagnant. KH has a lot of Shonen aspects in its story, which is more geared towards a young/teen crowd, so having the main protagonists still be teens makes sense in that context. But I think it would be nice to see the characters age a little further.

And to be fair, it's not like they haven't, its been a year since KH3 in-universe, so Riku would most likely be 17/18 by now. Again, it might be the development cycle of the games themselves effecting my mindset on this. I still can't get out of this feeling that all of them should be a little older and feel a bit more mature. Some ways they do and in a lot of ways they don't. Also, it would be weird if Sora came back and he was still canonically 16 lol that would be really jarring.

The series has proven that you don't have be in your teens in order to relate to characters. Axel and Aqua are one of my favorites of characters in the series and their in their early 20s. Again, it really isn't something that is needed. The development cycle of the games really has nothing to do with the timeline of the story. So maybe, at the end of the day, it wouldn't change too much but I think it would've been interesting to see a much older Sora, Riku, and Kairi and hopefully it's something that'll happen in the future.

Also, there is concerning the whole Yozora business. Depending on which direction they go with it, the aging thing might not really matter if Sora's universe ends up being an entirely fictional world and Yozora's is the real one? Which, if that's one of twists in the story, opens up a lot of possibilities of how we view the series and these characters in the future sagas. Though, I don't think it would effect aging since adults do exists in the realm of light. At this point, I think I'm just speaking hypotheticals and taking certain theories into account.

I'm curious to know what you guys think? Should they age up these characters earlier post KH2? And do you think it's something Noruma will worey about in future sagas? Or does it just matter to you one way or the other?

 

[2 quid is good]

I still say it's silly that mere weeks have passed between KH2 and KH3

I think it's even sillier that Hayner and Co. Are on the same summer vacation in both games

So yeah I definitely think a year should have passed between both, and weeks should have passed between KH3 and Remind

 

[okhi12]

The way characters grow and age in this series makes no sense anyway.
Comatose bodies like Ventus don't grow or starve to death after 10 years, some nobodies age (Zexion, Axel, Saïx) age and retain their adult age after becoming complete while Terra's body deaged after being Xemnas.
As you said, the KH series has much more jarring issues.

I agree the time gaps between games are weird, not that it's not believable but... the characters should change accordingly. At least they should change their clothes and haircut a bit so it doesn't look like 1) they didn't undress and take a shower in ages or 2) their wardrove is full of the same identical clothes.

Quadratum has a Shibuya, which in real Tokyo is a fashion district, right? there's no excuse for Sora and Riku to change their clothes in the next game.

 

[OrionGold]

Quadratum has a Shibuya, which in real Tokyo is a fashion district, right? there's no excuse for Sora and Riku to change their clothes in the next game.

Now that you've said it... It would be cool if we can change outfits for Sora and Riku in the next KH game.

 

[Deleted member 246005]

I lost interest in Sora as I got older so it might've helped if he aged up as well. It also would've helped Haley Joel Osment's performance as he aged a lot faster than Sora.

The original plan for Ven and Sora was reincarnation. Having Ven die at 17/18 and Sora starts getting Ven's memories when he's 17 helps with setting up the new saga. The retcons are less messy and you get a head start on the themes of fate and destiny. Plus Sora and Kairi could be already dating or they could've dated and broken up already.

Having a year pass between 2 and DDD would've definitely helped Kairi's training. Less need of the hyperbolic time chamber nonsense.

Granted I don't really hate Sora because he stays 15 for over 10 years. I like Aang and his story takes places over the course of 6 months.

A better option would've been to swap him out. Less Pokémon Anime and more the Pokémon Adventures manga. From 2 onward Sora just became a chore to put up with. Let him end on a high note than become an acquired taste.

It would've been funny if Ven aged ten years while in Castle Oblivion. Watch him rub his new height in Terra's face. Plus it would've helped seperate him and Roxas vocally.

@MrFranklin95 They could've explored friendship in a more mature way. Having Pete have beef with Goofy because Goofy chose Mickey instead of him is more interesting. That could extend to Max and PJ as neither knows how to deal with it either.

Or just have the villians be friends like Azula/Ty Lee/Mai from The Last Airbender or Zaheer and his friends from Legend of Korra.

 

[May-Jor]

The series has proven that you don't have be in your teens in order to relate to characters. Axel and Aqua are one of my favorites of characters in the series and their in their early 20s.

Wait, isn't Axel nearing his 30s? He should be around 15-16 during BBS. And I think Nomura said that Aqua was 18 or something.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Yes, aging and time is all sorts of wrong.

KH2 should have been at least a year gap. They weren’t home any time at all after being gone forever. Also it’s the fact that SO MUCH changed in Twilight Town in a few weeks. Wtf. You mean to tell me they bulldozed and rebuilt nearly half of the town center in a few weeks? And that the ice cream shop lady retired in that time too?

We are also supposed to believe that the hole in the wall leading to the mansion was sealed perfectly in that time too?

Nah. You can’t convince me.

Also KH3 - Remind/MoM’s year gap is absolutely 100% stupid. It adds absolutely nothing to the games. The characters don’t age physically at all even though they should have. Their emotional states are exactly the same as they were a year before. This should have been the few weeks gap.

You wanna convince me that it had been a year? Grow Riku and Kairi’s hair out. Maybe have Riku’s outfit change since he was awake the whole time? Absolutely change TAV’s clothes.

None of it makes sense.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Yes, aging and time is all sorts of wrong.

KH2 should have been at least a year gap. They weren’t home any time at all after being gone forever. Also it’s the fact that SO MUCH changed in Twilight Town in a few weeks. Wtf. You mean to tell me they bulldozed and rebuilt nearly half of the town center in a few weeks? And that the ice cream shop lady retired in that time too?

We are also supposed to believe that the hole in the wall leading to the mansion was sealed perfectly in that time too?

Nah. You can’t convince me.

Also KH3 - Remind/MoM’s year gap is absolutely 100% stupid. It adds absolutely nothing to the games. The characters don’t age physically at all even though they should have. Their emotional states are exactly the same as they were a year before. This should have been the few weeks gap.

You wanna convince me that it had been a year? Grow Riku and Kairi’s hair out. Maybe have Riku’s outfit change since he was awake the whole time? Absolutely change TAV’s clothes.

None of it makes sense.

This. 100% ALL. OF. THIS.

You do NOT say a year has passed in Limit Cut if nothing has visually changed. If they said it was a few weeks later, yeah I’d buy that. But not a year.

 

[Cumguardian69]

The only thing I want out of age in KH is for the dialogue to tend more adult like. In Arendelle Sora (well, HJO) sounds incredibly frustrated after getting knocked down the mountain, and this makes his voice sound deeper than it normally does throughout 3. I LOVE that. Same with Riku - people say his delivery was bad or monotone, but really it's slightly less emotive but more adult like.

Meanwhile we got characters like Ven still sounding like literal children (e.g. I DONT CARE IM STILL GOING TO CALL OUT TO HIM).

 

[Xagzan]

Yeah all of these comments just show how avoidable and self-inflicted all this is meaningless nonsense is. Like, Square, you guys do know how time works, right? We have enough riddles to piece together in this series already and you can't even let the character ages make sense?

Yes the Wayfinder trio should've been aged up as is. It was silly to put that time freeze on Aqua and there's no reason given why Terra's body was reverted in age after Xemnas was destroyed.

I also wasn't crazy about Kairi's KH3 appearance. She looked older in KH2.

Also KH3 - Remind/MoM’s year gap is absolutely 100% stupid. It adds absolutely nothing to the games. The characters don’t age physically at all even though they should have. Their emotional states are exactly the same as they were a year before. This should have been the few weeks gap.

Let's be real, there is a non-0% chance that this length will eventually be retconned.

 

[AdrianXXII]

I think my biggest gripe is that a year passed in Limit cut and yet the characters didn't age or change. Are we really to believe that Kairi and Riku wouldn't change pretty drastically going from 15 and 16 to 16 and 17? I feel like the gap should have been a month or two. While I'm not against aging the characters up a bit more, I feel the way they went about it was pointless. Though I guess we just have to wait and see, if the next game can actually add a point to it.

Personally I feel like the gap between KH2 and KH3 should have been a few months, which would make the changes to Twilight Town more believable. There also was no real reason for HPO to still be on Summer Vacation, you add a throwaway line like it's the weekend or fall break or something.

I agree with others that AVT should have aged a decade since BBS, this way they'd really feel like a generation before SRK and not just their upperclassmen. Especially seeing that by the time they released KH3 a lot of us who were similar ages to them in BBS would have aged up too.

 

[MrFranklin95]

@MrFranklin95 They could've explored friendship in a more mature way. Having Pete have beef with Goofy because Goofy chose Mickey instead of him is more interesting. That could extend to Max and PJ as neither knows how to deal with it either.

Or just have the villians be friends like Azula/Ty Lee/Mai from The Last Airbender or Zaheer and his friends from Legend of Korra.

Anything would better then what we got in KH3, honestly. And its not like friendships isn't a theme that couldn't go in many different directions. It could and should. But the series never feels like exploring it. Its something I'm hoping in the future sagas and something I'm hoping we can sort of, not completely move past, but explore more dynamic relationships.

I mean, whole parent shit still bothers me ever since KH1 (I will die on this hill lol these kids have parents, SHOW THEM!) and if they want to do more with Sora/Kairi, they're gonna have develop it way more, which means the series is going to have to come out of its comfort zone of its baseline "my friends are my power" at some point if there's going to be any point in following these characters or future characters any further.

 

[MrFranklin95]

Wait, isn't Axel nearing his 30s? He should be around 15-16 during BBS. And I think Nomura said that Aqua was 18 or something.

Huh... yeah, now that you mention... I honestly assumed Axel, Aqua, and Terra were the only protagonists in there 20s. I don't know, they just don't look like 18 year olds to me. Axel, at the very least, should in his mid 20s.

Honestly, I'm not even sure Noruma is even keeping track of this shit anymore like people pointing out, Re:mind added an entire year gap without any of them aging at all lol

 

[kaseykockroach]

I want to play as a bearded Sora who makes dad jokes.

 

[bambii (aka foreteller)]

The other thing that I really just can’t square away in my head is that Riku... does not look or act 17. At all. You can tell me he’s still a teenager all you want and I still won’t believe that he’s not in his early-mid 20s

Also, anyone gonna mention how Ven in Union Cross is supposed to be like 10? Lol

 

[MrFranklin95]

The other thing that I really just can’t square away in my head is that Riku... does not look or act 17. At all. You can tell me he’s still a teenager all you want and I still won’t believe that he’s not in his early-mid 20s

Also, anyone gonna mention how Ven in Union Cross is supposed to be like 10? Lol

Further on that point about Ven, I always found it weird that in the world of Union Cross that the entirety of Daybreak town was filled with only children/teens? I mean, I guess it still goes along with the fairytale told in KH1 but I still found it weird. Like, for how ever long this town exist (which I don't think they ever say) no one aged or became adults?

Still weird that the entire keyblade war (or I guess, the second Keyblade war, which was still a weird retcon as well, even in the browser) was fought completely by children and five adults in animal masks lol

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

The other thing that I really just can’t square away in my head is that Riku... does not look or act 17. At all. You can tell me he’s still a teenager all you want and I still won’t believe that he’s not in his early-mid 20s

Also, anyone gonna mention how Ven in Union Cross is supposed to be like 10? Lol

Ven is forever baby.

 

[Zettaflare]

Honestly I would of been fine with the one year time skip after KH3..... if Sora was still alive. Then at least everyone could of gotten a well deserved break before the Foretellers.

Here it's just a bad case of Mood whiplash when we see Terra congratulate Riku after Sora disappears

 

[Squood!]

i honestly feel like I'm the one person who doesn't really care about Sora's parents

 

[GreyouTT]

I still say it's silly that mere weeks have passed between KH2 and KH3

I think it's even sillier that Hayner and Co. Are on the same summer vacation in both games

So yeah I definitely think a year should have passed between both, and weeks should have passed between KH3 and Remind

Are they still on vacation? I figured they were just out after school.


Also for all the complaints about the characters not changing, I have the answer: They blew all their budget on the Mickey scene, Yozora's boss fight, and Cid's chin.