Web Video / How To Fix Kingdom Hearts

"How to fix Kingdom Hearts" is a YouTube series made by YouTuber Cryptonix02, known on DeviantArt as TheCrownedRoxas, in which he describes how the Kingdom Hearts series (particularly the Dark Seeker Saga) can be improved.

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This series contains examples of:

• Adaptational Alternate Ending: A downplayed case with the Kingdom Hearts II arc; while Sora and Kairi still reunited, the ending was turned from a happy ending into a Downer Ending: Roxas and Xion are trapped into Sora's heart (or at least that's how Sora, Riku, and Kairi see it), Gnosis had to be separated from Kairi right after reuniting with her, and the heroes were left questioning their beliefs regarding light and darkness. On the plus side, Namine was Spared By Adaptation, and we know Sora will save Roxas, Xion, and Gnosis, but still.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • Unlike in the games, Kairi does feel like she has to return to Hollow Bastion, thinking something terrible happened there.
  • The ending of Kingdom Hearts II was changed from a happy ending to a Downer Ending, because of Roxas and Xion's tragic fate. On the plus side, Namine was Spared By Adaptation.
  • Terra had to see Ephemer being killed by the Heartless.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Often occurring.
  • The Heartless are creatures of pure darkness instead of Enemies Within, and the Nobodies are creatures of pure light rather than Empty Shells.
  • Organization XIII isn't made out of Nobodies, but rather out of people whose hearts were fractured by Terra-Xehanort. However, when Terra-Xehanort split himself into Ansem and Xemnas, the latter ended up a being of pure light, so he is still classified as a Nobody.
  • Xion isn't a Replica of Sora. Instead, she was created when Sora's heart was fractured by Ansem. As such, when fighting Roxas, she doesn't take Sora's form.
  • Vanitas is not Ventus's Enemy Without, but rather an inhabitant of the Realm Of Darkness.
  • Since time travel was made impossible, Ventus, Ephemer, Lauriam, and Elrena (and perhaps Strelitzia) hail from the present rather than from the past. As such, Ephemer is not the founder of Scala ad Caelum here. And that's without getting into his relation to Xehanort...
  • The χ-blade, the key to unlock Kingdom Hearts, is renamed the Key of Hearts and redesigned to resemble the Combined Keyblade from Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance].
    • The Kingdom Key and Kingdom Key D are made more special by being respectively the light and dark halves of the Key of Hearts.
  • The Power of Waking is changed into a spell Namine created using the Book of Retribution.
  • Since Xehanort was made unable to time travel, Young Xehanort was turned into a dream manifestation of Ansem/Terranort. His purpose in the game was to have Sora witness Xehanort's experience with the darkness in order for Sora to understand his motives.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Kairi gets this in spades, more so than in the manga. She often sparred with Sora and Riku as a child, she briefly used the Kingdom Key after her heart returned since Sora was apparently gone, she got her Keyblade sooner than in the games (at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II), and she does put up a good fight against Axel when he tries to kidnap her. This culminates with Kairi becoming a main playable character in Dream Drop Distance. She also never actually gets kidnapped: the closest she got to being kidnapped was when Axel tried to kidnap her, and even then he failed.
  • Namine is unable to fight at all in the games. Here, she becomes a skilled Black Magician Girl during Days Between. (She learned everything she knew about magic from Zexion, or rather his Book of Retribution.) She then Took a Level in Badass by becoming a Keyblade Wielder in Dream Drop Distance.
  • Ansem actually fights rather than letting his Guardian do all the work, even if he just uses dark spells.
  • At the time Birth By Sleep starts, Terra, Aqua and Ventus already are Keyblade Masters, with Terra, in particular, being hailed as a hero after saving several worlds from Chernabog.
• Adaptational Context Change: As noted at In Spite of a Nail below, Braig and Isa ended up with pieces of Xehanort's heart without being subjected to Grand Theft Me. They received those hearts through their loyalty towards Xehanort, since connected hearts exchange pieces between each other.
• Adaptational Early Appearance:
  • Riku gains his Keyblade, the Way to the Dawn, after defeating Ansem in Castle Oblivion.
  • Kairi gains her Keyblade at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II.
  • Since Kingdom Hearts II was released before Kingdom Hearts Days, Xion's existence being alluded to in it qualifies, with Xion making her first full physical appearance in the scene with Roxas and Axel on the clock tower.
• Adaptational Explanation: The reason Sora was losing his memories in Castle Oblivion? It's because his heart was fragmented.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Marluxia and Larxene tried to overthrow Xemnas not out of their selfishness, but rather by the fact, that when their hearts were fractured, they kept enough memories to know how evil Xemnas was. In Kingdom Hearts III, they're revealed to have been Good All Along.
  • The Heartless: in the games, they're Always Chaotic Evil; here, they only fight because they have to fight back against the tyranny of light, and they're mostly innocent creatures in a desperate need of a hug.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Master Eraqus, while still favoring light over darkness and although he still tried to kill Ventus, isn't as much of the Knight Templar that is in the games. (That would be Hermod, Bragi, Urd, and Vor.)
  • Terra-Xehanort, of all people, is made more sympathetic. From his encounters with Young Xehanort, Sora realized that the Keyblade Authority refusing Xehanort's idea made Xehanort feel betrayed and alone. Furthermore, Terra-Xehanort, while believing all the pain he, Ansem, and Xemnas caused was necessary, does understand that it's wrong and that Sora hates him for it. Ultimately, he is portrayed as a Stealth Mentor towards Sora.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Xemnas uses light here, instead of nothingness.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • The Organization is more dangerous, often committing acts of terrorism towards the Disney Worlds, being more like a mafia of sorts. However, Marluxia, Larxene, Roxas, and Xion are subversions: the former two were Good All Along, and the latter two are more like Punch-Clock Villains.
    • This extends to light as a whole: in the games, light is purely good, but here, as Xemnas proves, light can be just as good or evil as darkness.
  • Lea and Isa are introduced as crooks, and by the time Ventus meets them, they were already working with Xehanort. Downplayed in Lea's case, as he has second thoughts. It might also be invoked, in order to make his Heel–Face Turn in Kingdom Hearts 2 all the more impactful.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The scene with Roxas and Axel on the clock tower after Roxas' defeat in Kingdom Hearts II was changed to include Xion in it.
  • It's revealed that Yen Sid's Keyblade is the Star Cluster.
  • The experiments Terranort made behind Ansem the Wise's back aren't shown on-screen in canon (only through the Ansem Report). Here, the experiments Terranort makes behind Gnosis's back are shown through a Whole Episode Flashback from Ienzo's point of view in Dream Drop Distance, alongside the creations of Ansem and Xemnas, how Radiant Garden became Hollow Bastion and how the Organization members ended up in The World That Never Was.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: The Heartless and the Unversed are grouped together into the same enemy category, as both originated from the realm of darkness. Both are still referred to as the "Heartless" by those from the realm of light.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • The χ-blade was renamed the "Key of Hearts".
  • Ansem the Wise is renamed Gnosis.
    • As a consequence, Terra-Xehanort is often referred to as Ansem. This is dropped in Dream Drop Distance, where he reveals to Sora that his true name is Xehanort.
  • Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was renamed Kingdom Hearts: Castle Oblivion, and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days was renamed Kingdom Hearts: Days Between.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Kairi is goofier and more tomboy-ish than in the games.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Any Ship Tease between Roxas and Namine was removed, Roxas being paired up with Xion, and Namine with Riku.
  • Ansem and Xemnas are Co-Dragons to Master Xehanort in the games, but here, they're Arch-Enemies, partly due to Ansem being a heart of pure darkness, and Xemnas being a heart of pure light. Justified since during his experiments, Terranort figured out that hearts are always 50% light and 50% darkness, and when attempting to split a Heartless into a heart of pure light and one of pure darkness, those two hearts were always fighting each other.
  • A downplayed example with the Wayfinder Trio: it is stated that their friendship stems from shared struggles.
• Adapted Out: Hoo boy.
  • Squall did not rename himself Leon.
  • The World Order was removed, and the reason the guest star party members can't leave their worlds is that there's not enough room in the Gummi Ship.
  • The Keyblade of Hearts was replaced with the Kingdom Key D.
  • The only worlds that can be visited in Castle Oblivion are Destiny Islands and Twilight Town, and even then, Riku doesn't visit the latter.
  • The Replica Program no longer took place. As such, the Riku Replica was never created, and Xion underwent Adaptational Backstory Change.
  • Donald and Goofy didn't lose their memories throughout their journey through Castle Oblivion. As such, they were put on to guard the sleeping Sora rather than being put to sleep.
    • Sora didn't forget his memories of Castle Oblivion while he was restored, although even if he did, Donald and Goofy still remembered, so they could remind him.
  • Roxas and Xion can't use the Kingdom Key normally. There are two exceptions: the final phase of the Xion fight, where she uses it, and the battle between Roxas and Riku after Xion's death, where Roxas uses it. Normally, Roxas wields Oathkeeper, and Xion wields Oblivion.
  • The Organization's goal wasn't to provide Empty Shells Xehanort could use for Grand Theft Me, but rather gather the Kingdom Key while Ansem was looking for the Kingdom Key D.
  • Since the Way to the Dawn Keyblade symbolizes Riku conquering his inner darkness, Riku no longer wears a blindfold throughout Days.
  • Xion was not Ret-Gone after her death.
  • Maleficent does not appear in Kingdom Hearts II. It's implied she was Killed Off for Real.
  • Atlantica was removed from Kingdom Hearts II.
  • Time travel was removed, with the sole exception being Sora's visit to Timeless River. ^note When making the first video, Cyrptonix genuinely forgot Timeless River was in the second game. Whenever Cryptonix talks about that, he goes up to Large Ham:
  Cryptonix: "There will be NOOOOO time travel!!!"
  • Kingdom Hearts coded was removed entirely, due to it being a "Shaggy Dog" Story. However, the Neo-Darkside does appear in Dream Drop Distance as a boss fought by Kairi, but it has no connection to Sora anymore.
  • Ventus was never taken to Destiny Islands by Xehanort. Instead, Vanitas took Sora's look when Xehanort took Vanitas himself to Destiny Islands.
  • The Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony was removed.
  • The idea of worlds being trapped into sleep. Instead, the Realm of Sleep is comprised of dream variations of the worlds and varies depending on the dreamer.
  • Mickey never found Aqua during his journey in the Realm of Darkness.
  • Cryptonyx stated right off the bat that events from the second saga will be removed because he can't implement them without the benefit of hindsight. This includes the world of fiction and the black box. It's implied it's also the case with Subject X. Thus far, the only element from any of the games after III is Kairi's flashback to Radiant Garden being attacked by the Heartless that came from Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.
• A Hero to His Hometown: Vanitas is seen as a hero by the denizens of darkness.
  • Terra being seen as a hero by the denizens of light also counts.
• Alternate Universe: Due to multiple characters from Union X getting huge overhauls that contradict reveals from it, such as Hermod, Urd and Vor being alive by the time of Birth By Sleep and Xehanort and Ephemer being Unrelated in the Adaptation, it's safe to assume the plot of Kingdom Hearts X is strictly not canon for this universe. Unless, coincidentally, there was another Ephemer back in the day that looked exactly the same as the one Terra lost...
• Anti-Hero: Xehanort is this in the grand scheme of things, as he fights for what was right (the balance between light and darkness), but has complete disregard for the pain he causes. From Vanitas's point of view, Xehanort might as well be a Designated Hero.
• Anti-Villain: Xehanort is this, ultimately. He does genuinely try to help Kingdom Hearts, but everyone is against him, either due to their unrelenting Black-and-White Morality or Xehanort using more questionable methods.
• Ascended Extra: Riku keeps using his Dark Mode after leaving Castle Oblivion, whereas, in the games, he stops using it after defeating Ansem.
  • Namine in the Reverse/Rebirth mode (Riku's storyline during Castle Oblivion) gets a scene in the early floors to warn him about the Organization, and she helps Riku several times with his fight for control with Ansem, even replacing Mickey in the scene when Riku in Dark Mode slays Lexaeus. She also spends more time around Riku during the events of "Days Between", in which she helps him overcome his struggles with darkness.
• Ascended Fanon: Oddly enough, This Very Wiki is this: it was made by a fan of the series, and Cryptonix later did a video of himself reading it.
• Ascended Fridge Horror: Time travel being Adapted Out is Fridge Horror for Maleficent, since in the games, she only survived being slain in Kingdom Hearts I by time travelling to the age of fairytales. No time travel means Maleficent was Killed Off for Real. This Fridge Horror is given further fuel by the fact Maleficent was Adapted Out of Kingdom Hearts II, and was ultimately confirmed by Word of God. That said, the same Word of God states he could invoke Unexplained Recovery on Maleficent, but decided not to, due to Maleficent no longer being plot-relevant.
• Author Filibuster: Cryptonyx takes his time to point out various Ass Pulls and game play flaws. This becomes more obvious in the Birth By Sleep and Dream Drop Distance rewrites, for which he has a lot of original writing.
• Badass Bookworm: Namine becomes one throughout the series, becoming an actual witch rather than a memory manipulator thanks to her inheriting the Book of Retribution from Zexion. She also becomes a Teen Genius after spending enough time around DiZ.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: Xehanort was trying to achieve balance between light and darkness. However, he became Drunk on the Dark Side. It’s implied that Yen Sid also tries to achieve this balance, as he wants to bring all worlds back as one, and the world was shattered by the imbalance between light and darkness. Once the Destiny Island and Disney Castle Trios learn that light is not always good and darkness is not always evil, it’s implied they, after saving Roxas, Xion and the Wayfinder Trio, will help Yen Sid restore balance and put the world back together.
• Big Bad: Various incarnations of Ansem (aka Terra-Xehanort), depending on the game.
  • In Kingdom Hearts I, it's Ansem's darkness, which has Maleficent as The Dragon and the Disney Villains as his Quirky Miniboss Squad.
  • In Kingdom Hearts: Castle Oblivion, Marluxia and Zexion form a Big Bad Ensemble, with Marluxia trying to overthrow Xemnas, and Zexion trying to stop Marluxia. Ansem becomes a part of this ensemble in Riku's story, as an Enemy Within.
  • In Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts: Days Between, it's Xemnas, Ansem's inner light. It's not as obvious in Days Between, since you play as Roxas, a member of Xemnas's Organization XIII, but as Cryptonix points out, Days has a Villain Protagonist''.
  • In Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, it's Ansem's original persona, Xehanort, with Vanitas as a Dragon with an Agenda.
  • In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, it's a recompleted Ansem invading Sora's dreams, though the game paints him as more of an Anti-Villain.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • In Kingdom Hearts, the Final Fantasy crew and the Disney Guest Star Party Members arrive to help Sora and the Beast tear through a large number of Heartless.
  • Later on, Donald pulls one by attacking Ansem while charging a lethal dark spell, causing it to fail and only fracture Sora’s heart.
  • In Kingdom Hearts II, as Axel cornered Kairi, Namine opens a portal behind the latter, allowing her to escape.
• Big Good: Just like in the games, Yen Sid. His overarching goal is to unite the worlds back as one, undoing the damage caused by the Keyblade War. He left his fellow Keyblade Wielders when he learned that they were more focused on the destruction of darkness rather than restoring the fractured world. He acts as a mentor to both the Destiny Island Trio and to Mickey.
• Birds of a Feather: While Riku originally intended to rescue Namine from the Organization because Namine reminded him of Kairi, their Ship Tease shows Riku and Namine to be this trope: they both were manipulated by a villain (Riku by Maleficent and Ansem, Namine by Marluxia), with them regretting believing that villain, and both believe Dark Is Not Evil.
• Bittersweet Ending: Most games have one.
  • The ending of KH1 is just like in canon: Ansem is defeated, but the Destiny Island Trio fails to reunite.
  • Castle Oblivion ends on a better note than in canon: Sora still saves Namine from Marluxia, he's still forced to sleep for a year to get back his memories (although he loses them for a different reason), but unlike in the games, Donald and Goofy don't need to sleep, since they didn't lose their memories, and Sora doesn't have to forget Namine.
  • KH2 was turned from a happy ending into a Downer Ending: Roxas and Xion basically gave up on their lives in their belief that they're not supposed to exist, Gnosis was separated from Kairi right after reuniting with her, and the heroes were left questioning their beliefs regarding... well, everything. The one upside is that Namine was Spared By Adaptation, but even that is marred by the above... until you realize Sora, Kairi and Riku will save Roxas, Xion and Gnosis.
  • Days Between ends just like in canon, albeit with one upside: unlike in canon, Roxas and Axel didn't forget Xion. However, even that is marred by the KH2 ending.
  • In Birth By Sleep, Terra and Ventus both end up in the same Fate Worse than Death. Aqua's fate is somewhat better, since the Realm of Darkness and it's denizens were changed so Aqua being trapped there won't necessarily be a Fate Worse than Death, but that's marred by the fact Aqua was seeing herself as a failure because of what happened to Terra, Ventus, Eraqus and the Land of Departure.
  • In Dream Drop Distance, Riku is a Keyblade Master, he, Sora and Kairi all have the power to protect the worlds from an upcoming threat, Roxas, Xion and Ventus's hearts are free, and Lea and Namine are training to help the gang with their own Keyblades. However, Sora feels sad for Xehanort, the cult of light is implied to be a massive threat (as Terra-Xehanort states they will target the Kingdom Keys), and Sora still has struggles with his darkness despite Riku and Xehanort's attempts to help Sora conquer it, and it's implied Roxas was taken hostage by Isa. Currently, the heroes are planning to find a way to control the Heartless.
• Both Sides Have a Point: The forces of light and the forces of darkness both have a point in their conflict: the forces of light aren't wrong with stating that the forces of darkness destroying worlds is wrong; however, they want to destroy each and every darkness in the universe to ensure no world gets destroyed, and that brings the argument brought by the forces of darkness: that the forces of light are Holier Than Thou Knight Templars.
• Broken Aesop: The Dark Is Not Evil aesop. We're supposed to sympathize with the darkness as Sora starts to see the gray area... Never mind that the darkness destroyed his home back in KH1. And while Birth By Sleep does justify why the denizens of the Realm of Darkness did this by teasing Hermod, Bragi, Urd and Vor as Light Is Not Good villains enforcing the "tyranny of light" we know about from Xehanort's reports and portraying Vanitas more sympathetically, that still doesn't excuse the Disney Villains and Ansem using the darkness to terrorize everyone, turning the aesop into "Dark Is Not Evil unless it's used for mass destruction or petty schemes. This turns the entire situation into a Black-and-Gray Morality, meaning it's no surprise the supposed heroes don't know what to believe anymore by the end of KH2.
• Character Development: The cast eventually accepts that darkness is not truly evil.
• A Day in the Limelight: The Kingdom Hearts II arc has some segments when Kairi is playable. While Sora travels between worlds, Kairi searches for things: first for clues about her past in Hollow Bastion, then for Sora in Twilight Town.
• Death by Adaptation: Maleficent.
• Death by Origin Story: Ephemer is only seen in a flashback in Aqua's story, and then, he's killed by a large swarm of Heartless.
• Decomposite Character: Braig is not Luxu here. Same goes for Bragi.
• Demoted to Extra: Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was reduced to a DLC for Kingdom Hearts being renamed Kingdom Hearts: Castle Oblivion.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: The reason Lea and Isa became Xehanort's disciples. Unfortunately for Xehanort, Lea as Axel found another purpose: that of being Roxas and Xion's friend/Big Brother Mentor.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first two parts had Crypto stopping his changes to the story to explain his revamping of various Scrappy Mechanics, such as making Scan an obligatory ability (the ability itself is not hated, just the fact it's optional), and the removal of the Camera Screw. In Part 3, the only change he describes is reimplementing Revenge Values and removing randomicity of enemy attacks, with the rest of the gameplay changes being in a simple list; Part 4 removes gameplay changes altogether.
• Fantastic Racism: The Warriors of Light (including the Nobodies) and the creatures of Darkness towards each other. Because of this, using both light and darkness is frowned upon, though Yen Sid seems more open-minded.
• Fatal Flaw: The Keyblade Masters of the Land of Departure share one: their Fantastic Racism towards darkness.
• Fix Fic: The entire series can be considered this. It's biggest fix is that Xehanort's claim to fix the balance between light and darkness with darkness is less Insane Troll Logic, and the light-alignment of the worlds is painted as bad.
• Good All Along: Marluxia and Larxene are revealed as such in Kingdom Hearts III.
• Hero Antagonist: Invoked with the Disney heroes and the Final Fantasy cast; Cryptonix adds them as bosses because Roxas is a Villain Protagonist in Days Between.
  Cryptonix: "A good number of bosses should be Final Fantasy and Disney protagonist, because, again, you're supposed to be one of the bad guys. Bad guys fight the good guys."
• Horrible Judge of Character: Downplayed: Word of God is that Lea (and by extension Axel) never liked the Obviously Evil Xehanort, but he still worked for Xehanort despite knowing better.
• Hourglass Plot: In KH1 and BBS, the heroes are sided with the light. By the time of KH3, they're sided with the darkness. (They're still enemies with Xehanort, because of all the pain he caused.)
• I Did What I Had to Do: Xehanort understands he did many things that make him unsympathetic, but he justifies them as being either necessary (Terra's possession due to Master Xehanort being too old and frail, kidnapping Roxas, Xion and Ventus due to Xehanort wanting to meet Sora as himself before the cult of light returns) or outside of his control (most of Ansem and Xemnas's actions).
• In Spite of a Nail: In spite of all the nails Cryptonix put, Braig and Isa still ended up having pieces of Xehanort's heart. However, they have those pieces because they willingly follow Xehanort instead of having been subjected to Grand Theft Me.
• Irony: Namine ended up living up to the witch reputation Larxene gave her, albeit she's a good witch, rather than the wicked witch Larxene was painting her as.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Despite the Black-and-White Insanity of the Keyblade Masters of the Land of Departure, with their unrelenting belief that Light is Always Lawful Good and Dark is Always Chaotic Evil, they do have a good argument in their favor: the Heartless destroying the worlds is merely proving them right.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • It's implied to be the case for Maleficent. Cryptonix confirmed it to be the case, mostly because he doesn't find her to be plot-relevant after the events of Kingdom Hearts I
  • From Sora's point of view, Ansem and Xemnas both die at the end of their respective game (although Riku faces a remnant of Ansem in Castle Oblivion), since Xehanort was made unable to time travel.
• Light Is Not Good: Xemnas here is an example that light can be as evil as darkness. Hermod, Bragi, Urd and Vor may also qualify.^note  A common desire for the games is the existence of a Light Is Not Good villain to stop breaking the Dark Is Not Evil aesop.
• Living Memory: Young Xehanort
• Loving a Shadow: Riku's feelings for Namine were this at first: he originally intended to rescue her from the Organization because she reminded him of Kairi. Over the year that passes between the events at Castle Oblivion and KH2, his feelings become less this and more Birds of a Feather.
• My Greatest Failure: Terra sees Ephemer's death as this.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Both Xehanort and Vanitas fall under this, especially Xehanort (and Ansem). The two want to return balance between Light and Darkness. However, they destroy entire worlds to do so. Xehanort is even more malicious than Vanitas: all Vanitas wants is to take back what light took from darkness; Xehanort, on the other hand, is an Omnicidal Maniac.
• Official Couple: Per canon, Sora/Kairi. Also Riku/Namine and Roxas/Xion.
  • However, it's only explicit for Roxas and Xion; Sora/Kairi and Riku/Namine are kept mostly to Ship Tease.
• Promoted to Playable: Various characters that aren't playable normally become playable after unlocking the so-called "New Game +" feature, which is unlocked by beating the story mode once, and is inspired from the Mission Mode of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days.
  • In Kingdom Hearts I, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and Riku: Donald and Goofy are simply party members, Kairi is an 11th-Hour Ranger who has a similar mechanism with the one Mickey canonnically gets in Kingdom Hearts II, and Riku is not playable at ALL, not even being a party member. They keep becoming playable for this mode in future games
  • In Kingdom Hearts II, the mode has a large cast. Aside from Sora and the returning characters from KH1, Mickey, Namine, the Final Fantasy cast, Disney's Guest Star Party Members and the entire Organization XIII (not just Roxas) are playable in this mode. In Story Mode, Mickey has his Big Damn Heroes mechanism, Roxas is only playable in the prologue, the Final Fantasy crew and the Disney party members are just Guest Star Party Members, and Organization XIII (save Roxas) and Namine are not playable at ALL. Also, among the old characters, they all are party members (Although Kairi and Riku are only available once you reunite with them in The World That Never Was), and Kairi does have her own side story.
  • Kingdom Hearts: Days Between has as playable characters every playable character from the Mission Mode, as well as Kairi and Namine. Namine is not playable through any means, and Kairi doesn't appear in Days at ALL.
• Redemption Promotion: Oddly enough, an item gets this. It is stated that the Book of Retribution serves Namine better than it served Zexion.
• Related in the Adaptation: Ansem the Wise's stand-in Gnosis is Kairi's grandfather.
• Saved by Canon: We already know that Sora, Riku and Kairi will save Roxas, Xion, Gnosis and the Wayfinder Trio from the fates Xehanort put them into. Heck, the entire plot of Dream Drop Distance is Sora, Riku and Kairi saving Roxas, Xion and Ventus!
• Self-Deprecating Humor:
  • Cryptonix claims that the Star Cluster being Yen Sid’s Keyblade is an / / Ass Pull.
  Cryptonix: “Did I create an Ass Pull in order to give Yen Sid an iconic-looking Keyblade? You bet your sweet bippy I did!”
  • He also states that his decision to have Riku/Namine and Roxas/Xion / / will get a lot of hate, mostly from the Roxas/Namine shippers.
  • He states that Namine's growing into a badass will culminate with her getting a Keyblade. Cue the video booing.
• Shout-Out:
  • This moment of Self-Deprecating Humor:
  Cryptonix: “Did I create an Ass Pull in order to give Yen Sid an iconic-looking Keyblade? You bet your sweet bippy I did!”
  • Terra first uses the darkness when a giant Heartless hits Aqua and Ven with a Mega Destruction Dark Ball of Darkness and Destruction.
• Spared By Adaptation: Namine wasn’t absorbed by Kairi at the end of Kingdom Hearts II.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Sora ends up understanding that Xehanort was feeling betrayed and alone and feels sorry for him. Looks like Young Xehanort fulfilled his purpose.
• Teen Genius: Namine becomes one throughout the events of Days.
• Took a Level in Badass: Namine turns from a Shrinking Violet Damsel in Distress into a Badass Bookworm. She even gets a Keyblade in the Dream Drop Distance arc.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Xehanort and Ephemer. It should be noted that Cryptonix has the excuse of having been unable to predict The Reveal that Ephemer is Xehanort's great-great-grandfather.
• Villain Respect: Saix praises Sora for using the Anti-Form, stating it brings balance in his heart.
  • Shortly beforehand, Luxord tells Namine that she uses the Book of Retribution better than Zexion.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The creatures of darkness are openly persecuted by the Keyblade Masters, and it has been the case for centuries.
  • Xehanort himself may qualify after the reveals in Dream Drop Distance. He was feeling betrayed by his cohorts, was left with nothing but his desire to restore balance between light and darkness, and was willing to go to extreme measures to achieve that goal. Sora, upon seeing Xehanort's past with his own eyes via his encounters with Young Xehanort, ends up realizing how alone Xehanort feels.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: While this series keeps this with Roxas and Xion, this theme is also brought up with the Heartless, with most heroes ending up feeling horrible for constantly persecuting them by believing Dark Is Evil.
• White and Gray Morality: The series turns into this from Black-and-White Morality (actually, from Black-and-White Insanity, as revealed in Birth By Sleep), because of the main heroes growing up and accepting that darkness is not inherently evil. The only truly "black" characters are Xehanort's incarnations, such as Master Xehanort, Ansem, Xemnas and the overall Big Bad, Terra-Xehanort, and even then, Cryptonix states they are Anti Villains, trying to do the right thing, but doing it the wrong way. Saix is more well-intentioned than Xehanort regarding balance, as shown by his Villain Respect moment towards Anti-Sora, Marluxia and Larxene, for all their bullshit they did to Namine, only did it because they knew Xemnas was evil and wanted to stop him, and Vanitas was trying to save his kind. While the villains (except the Xehanort incarnations) are morally gray, the heroes grow to be truly good.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Poor Kairi was separated from her grandfather right after reuniting with him, since Gnosis was Doomed by Canon to be banished in the Realm of Darkness after KH2. Yeah, she doesn't get a break even in fanworks of fans who like her.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The inhabitants of the Realm of Darkness see Xehanort as a Messianic Archetype. Ultimately subverted, as Vanitas saw Xehanort as what he truly is: a cruel, selfish man.
  • However, Vanitas himself plays it straight with his kind: in his eyes, the inhabitants of the Realm of Light are all cruel tyrants, and that it’s his job to take back what the light took from the darkness.

The Just A Pancake ripoff has examples of:

• Abridged Series: It does effectively explain the series in a nutshell.
• Accidental Misnaming:
  • True for a Just A Pancake ripoff, Riku is misspelled as Raiku, and Kairi as Kerry.
  • Even the titles are misspelled: nutshell is always misspelled as shellnut.
• Adaptational Badass: The Mega Destruction Dark Ball Of Darkness and Destruction does more damage than in Just A Pancake's videos. It managed to land two hits: one hitting Aqua and Ven at the beginning of the Birth By Sleep recap, and an incomplete version of it (Ansem launched it prematurely because of Donald's interference), when it hit Sora, caused the creation of Roxas, Xion and Namine.
• Adaptational Jerkass: While he always thought the main female characters of Kingdom Hearts (Kairi, Namine, Xion and pre-0.2 Aqua) were bad, Just a Pancake is portrayed as a misogynist here. Thankfully, he vanished after the Days Between recap.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Sora towards Kerry, at least compared to his Just A Pancake version, is more willing to let her play with him and Raiku. The only time he was mean to her was when she revealed she has a Keyblade, as he thought it was a Kingdom Key, and even then, Raiku explained that Keyblades were weaker replica of the Kingdom Key right afterwards.
• Adapted Out: The Birth By Sleep recap has no mention of Ephemer.
• Affably Evil: Fitting the main series' Dark Is Not Evil aesop, every villain is nice towards the heroes, except Xemnas. Terranort in the Dream Drop Distance recap takes the cake, mainly thanks to how Cryptonix paints him as a Tragic Villain.
• Affectionate Parody: It's made clear from the tone of the series that The Merger Magikoopa loves both Cryptonyx's work and the Kingdom Hearts series.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: According to Xehanort, the Keyblade War was started when some drunk idiot thought there was too much Darkness in Kingdom Hearts.
• Argument of Contradictions: In the Dream Drop Distance recap:
  Mansex: „What would dear old grandpa think of you in this place?^note  He's talking about Pleasure Island. Oh wait he’s dead.”
  Kerry: „No he’s not.”
  Isa: „Yes he is.”
  Kerry: „No he’s not.”
  Mansex: „Yes he is.”
  Kerry: „Wait, I know where this is going. I’ll just beat you both up.”
• Captain Obvious: Yen Sid has several moments when he states the obvious.
  • In the Birth By Sleep recap, he states that Terra is possessed. Aqua already knew this, since she had a small fight with Terranort that was interrupted by Lingering Will.
  • In the KH2 recap, Yen Sid attempts to state that the Heartless represent darkness, but Sora, Donald and Goofy ain't having any of it.
  Sora, Donald and Goofy: "We know!
  Yen Sid: "I know... you know."
  • There's also the Running Gag of him trying to point out that his name spelled backwards is Disney. Again, Sora ain't having any of it.
  Yen Sid: "Also my name-"
  Sora, Donald and Goofy: "Spelled backwards is Disney!"
  Sora: "We know!"
  Yen Sid: "I KNOW!... you know. I know. I’ve got it. I’ve got the concept."
• Darker and Edgier: The Kingdom Hearts II and Blank Points recaps have mention of sex.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Like in Pancake's videos, except that, as Sora learned in the Dream Drop Distance recap, Xehanort became angry and bitter because his colleagues didn't believe.
• Intimate Healing: Invoked; when Kerry gets depressed because of what happened to Gnosis, Cloud tells her to "find the one [she] loves the most and get laid with him".
• No Fourth Wall: There are references to the real world, Cryptonix and the Kingdom Hearts fanbase.
• Not What It Looks Like: After Terranort managed to make Sora believe him, he starts teaching him how to use the darkness. However, because Sora is not used to darkness, it's a painful process. The session was ruined when Sora's friends came in, since Terranort realized they were thinking he was torturing Sora.
  Terranort: "Oops."
• Rule of Cool: This is why Master Xehanort is still talking in "χ-blade!" despite it being renamed and redesigned.
• Shout-Out: A Pun0based example; the Dream Drop Distance Recap is named "How to fix Kingdom Hearts Dedede in a shellnut".
• Skewed Priorities: All of them regarding sex.
  • When Kerry gets depressed after finding out Gnosis is her grandfather, Cloud tells her to "find the one [she] loves the most and get laid with him" . Kerry then calls Cloud a genius.
  • After learning what happened to Roxas and Xion, Sora complains that they didn't get laid.
• Take That!: The Merger Magikoopa is really not fond of how Kerry, Namine and Xion are portrayed in Just a Pancake's videos.
  • This is also the case for the games: in the recap for Dream Drop Distance, Kerry states Nomura hates her.
  • At one point in the Dream Drop Distance recap, Xemnas asks Kairi while they were on Pleasure Island what would Gnosis think if he saw her there. After an Argument of Contradictions regarding whether or not Gnosis was dead, Merger states that "Kerry, being your typical Disney Princess, is too pure for Pleasure Island’s temptations. Stop asking, you bunch of degenerates."
• Talk to the Fist: The Argument of Contradictions between Kerry and Xemnas regarding whether or not Gnosis was dead ended with Kerry attacking Xemnas because she realized where this was going.
• You Need to Get Laid:
  • Cloud tells Kerry this when she gets depressed over what happened to Gnosis.
  • This is Sora's overall attitude towards Roxas and Xion once he learns about their existence.