Why Kingdom Hearts' Anime May Be Essential Viewing For Game Fans

Although Kingdom Hearts fans are known for waiting literal years for any tiny scrap of news, D23 spoilt us rotten.

As well as giving us a whole lot more information on the fourth mainline game, Kingdom Hearts 4, it was announced that Kingdom Hearts was getting its own Disney Plus anime. 

In terms of what actually happens in the anime, Disney has remained tight-lipped. But in a press release, Ayo Davis, president of Disney Kids & Family said: “Kingdom Hearts has captivated gamers everywhere with its unique blend of adventure and imagination. There’s something really exciting about taking a world fans have spent years exploring through the games and bringing it to life in a completely new way. And with a creative team that is working closely with the legendary Tetsuya Nomura, our new series will be unmistakably Kingdom Hearts, while giving fans a whole new way to experience the world they love.”

While this doesn’t reveal much, the press release also notes that we will be seeing a “brand new story” that’s all about “celebrating the characters that have captured the hearts of millions of fans around the world.”

Who Is In The Kingdom Hearts Anime?

Based on the press release and statement, it seems likely that we won’t be seeing a rehash of any of the main games or its many, many spin-offs. 

Still, the promotional graphic Disney shared shows the back of a man carrying a Keyblade, which is the defining weapon of choice for the franchise. Though the character holding the weapon does bear some resemblance to Sora, Kingdom Hearts’ primary protagonist, we aren’t seeing any of those iconic hair spikes, nor his usual outfits. 

The Keyblade also looks different to the one Sora wields. Based on all that, it’s fair to assume that this character isn’t Sora — but given the anime is described as “celebrating” beloved characters, we wouldn’t be surprised to discover that there’s a link there between the two. Or, perhaps, this character has nothing to do with Sora but has a link to some of the other characters that have been introduced throughout the game’s history.

There’s a frankly ridiculous amount of lore about the Keyblade and its wielders, so based on that, I wouldn’t be surprised if what we’re getting is a story about a Keyblade warrior at another point in time.

How Important Will The Anime Be?

While Kingdom Hearts has a lot of spin-off games, it differs from other franchises in the sense that, more often than not, lore from these spin-offs play an important role in the main game storyline; as demonstrated with both Kingdom Hearts 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3.

Redditors highlighted this point in a thread about the anime announcement. 

“So... if the games have told me anything this will be an anime original story that is going to be canon and essential to understanding the next game,” one quipped.

“You know it,” a second replied.  “NOTHING isn't canon with Nomura.”

Meanwhile, a third added: “100% it's going to have some tie-in to Kingdom Hearts 4 that, if you don't watch it, will leave a lot of holes in [the game's] narrative.”

What Will It Be About?

Some fans believe that the Keyblade-wielder in the graphic is from the same era as the 2020 prequel game Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road, saying it bears resemblance to someone called Helgi. Essentially, Dark Road explores the origins of the main games’ villain Xehanort, who trains to become a Keyblade wielder in the world Scala ad Caelum, along with other students. Helgi is one of the upperclassmen. This game takes place approximately 75 years before the events of the first main game.

Other fans are theorising that the anime could be based on Missing Link, the Kingdom Hearts mobile phone game that was scrapped. In terms of timelines, Missing Link was meant to take place within the four-generation gap between Kingdom Hearts X/Union X (the earliest chronological games in the series) and Dark Road. 

Missing Link was allegedly set in a blank part of Scala ad Caelum’s history, hence the name ‘Missing Link.’ It is also rumoured to have an emphasis on descendants and bloodlines that, apparently, form part of Kingdom Hearts 4’s lore.

While little is known about Missing Link, an alleged opening cutscene for the game was leaked back in July. This trailer is, for lack of a better word, bonkers. It features characters in astronaut-like outfits wearing jetpacks and using Keyblades to fight a Heartless creature — which, in case you didn’t know, is the main type of enemy in the Kingdom Hearts games. 

Once the creature is defeated, they end up in a modern, Tokyo-like city which looks an awful lot like Quadratum, which is a prominent world in Kingdom Hearts 4. The trailer also shows people in lab coats, suggesting that there’s some high-tech science stuff going on despite all of this presumably happening a long time ago.

The theory that appeals to me the most, however, is the idea of an anthology series, with episodes being set in different parts of Kingdom Hearts’ history. It would definitely be a good way to tie things together ahead of Kingdom Hearts 4, but if we don’t get Keyblade-wielding astronauts, I’ll be the first to riot.