YMMV / Kingdom Hearts: The Antipode

• Adorkable: Sora is as goofy and excitable as ever, even after being turned into a Heartless.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: How honest was Hades when he spoke of the other Greek Gods as ruthless, destructive crooks akin to their mythological counterparts? While Hades is clearly not a reliable source of information, there's also no indication that he's lying, and Zeus is, at the very least, implied to have his adulterous tendencies from the original myths.
• Awesome Music:
  • An original theme, titled Fractured Mirror, was composed for the Final Battle of Fragmented Truths. A Lord of the Castle-inspired number that is in equal parts climactic and emotional; it perfectly encapsulates the conflict between Riku and Riku Replica. The use of Hikari at the end is the icing on the cake.
  • One fan compiled a soundtrack document assigning various Kingdom Hearts music tracks to scenes in Antipode, adding an extra layer of immersion to the story.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Due to the character's presence in the world of Arendelle and the Organization's naming system, its not hard to figure out that Nahxs is Hans's Nobody, therefore Hans is the newest member of Organization XIII. Perhaps in anticipation of this, The Reveal takes place fairly early in the story arc, with most of the heroes unaware of Hans' true nature. The real twist is how this affects the storyline of Frozen (2013).
• Catharsis Factor
  • After DiZ spent an extensive period of time being a hateful Jerkass to everyone around him as well as an Abusive Parent to Xion, Goofy gives him a well-deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech prior to the climax of The Year Between, calling him out for his horrid behaviour and dehumanizing treatment of his daughter.
  • Given how much of a manipulative, two-faced bastard Hans is and given all the hell he put both Anna and Elsa through, Kristoff gaining the upper hand during the climax and giving the smug bastard a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown is immensely satisfying. Though this is mitigated by the fact that he escapes scot-free afterwards.
• Character Rerailment: After Dream Drop Distance retconned Xemnas from an Anti-Villain to a more straightforward baddie, Antipode builds upon his characterization in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix (notably his connection to Terra), thereby restoring his status as a Tragic Villain.
• Complete Monster: The Coachman, the unscrupulous owner of Pleasure Island, somehow manages to be even worse than his animated counterpart. Luring away young boys who lost their homeworlds, the Coachman takes them to a twisted amusement park where they are encouraged to misbehave, then forcefully transformed into donkeys to be sold into slavery. The Coachman even goes as far as to whip the boys off-screen and feed them to the Heartless if they can't be sold. When 15-year-old Riku uncovers the operation alongside Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket, the Coachman tries to have them all killed by the Heartless to ensure that they don't reveal his secret.
• Crack Ship: Donald Duck and Kristoff, after the trolls mistake the former for a girl and try to wed the two.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Captain Amelia gets the mental image of Xigbar or Hans trying to eat B.E.N's Mushroom Heartless only to get beaten to a bloody pulp instead. Delbert notes that due to the Mushrooms' cooking skills, it would be quite a tasty pulp.
  • Olaf is a frequent source of this. Special mention goes to his quip about making a bonfire out of Hans' innards. Fortunately, Sven shuts him up by muffling his speech with a hoof before he can explain his plans for Prince Hans-brand camping equipment in front of Anna.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • During the Time Skip in The Year Between, Kairi, Donald and Goofy spent four months traveling the worlds, fighting The Heartless and sealing keyholes. What sort of adventures did they get up to?
  • What about Riku Replica and Naminé? They also spent months traversing various worlds, sealing keyholes while being pursued by Marluxia and Larxene.
  • Grandship is a giant airship housing a massive assortment of Disney and Square Enix characters, with said characters getting into all sorts of crossover shenanigans.
  • What If? the Organization succeeded in turning Elsa into a Heartless and recruiting her Nobody into their ranks? Given Elsa's close friendship with Riku and her animosity towards the Organization, would she join them in order to tear them apart from the inside? How would this affect the overall story?
• Fan Nickname:
  • Xemnerra for Xemnas after The Reveal.
  • Dark Elsa for Elsa after her Face–Monster Turn.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Xemnas' line "I'm what's left. Or... maybe I'm all there ever was." takes on a new meaning when All That's Left reveals that Xemnas is really Terra, reduced to a hollow husk that knows only of hatred and rage. In other words: all that's left of Terra.
  • Several examples in regards to Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
    • Vanitas' words to Ventus in regards to Terra come back to haunt poor Ven when he meets Xemnas and realizes that the Organization's leader looks very familiar...
    He's leaving you behind. And by the time you catch up... he'll be a different person.
    • Prior to the climax, Aqua tells Terra that he'll "go astray again". She soon regrets these words, especially when she discovers to her horror that she was right; he really did go astray again.
    • During the climax, Xehanort urges an enraged Terra to give in to The Power of Hate. A decade later, anger and hate are the only emotions he remembers.
    • Terra's heartfelt words to Aqua upon their reunion in Kingdom Hearts III (notice a pattern?) are bittersweet compared to their reunion in All That's Left when Aqua learns of her best friend's fall from grace.
    "You never stopped lighting my way back."
    "Unfortunately, there was nobody left to light the way."
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the first installment (published in 2012), the Genie does an impersonation of Doc Brown upon meeting Sora. Come 2020, and Christopher Lloyd is cast as the official voice of Master Xehanort.
    • Similarly, the Genie impersonating Mario in All That's Left (not to mention Mario himself having an indirect vocal cameo at Fix-It Felix Jr.'s 30th Anniversary Party) became this when six years later, Sora personally shook hands with Mario as the latter welcomed him into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
  • In The Year Between (written in 2015), Xiruk offhandedly refers to King Mickey as "Captain Cryptic". One year later, the author started an Undertale Alternate Universe webcomic titled Inverted Fate where coincidentally, Frisk gives Chara the exact same nickname which they use for the majority of the story. Word of God says this is unintentional.
    • Coincidentally, Sora and Ventus' situation is very similar to that of Frisk and Chara, with Ven and Chara taking refuge inside the hearts of their respective companions as voices in their heads.
• Ho Yay:
  • Sora and Ventus have grown quite close after Sharing a Body for several months with only each other for company. It certainly helps that the author supports the pairing and has stated that Sora is bisexual in Antipode.
  • Donald and Goofy. During the Arendelle arc, Donald was willing to sacrifice himself to avenge Goofy when he thought the latter had been frozen solid by Dark Elsa. Goofy likens this to an Act of True Love, much to Donald's ire.
    Remember what ol' Pabbie said? Takes an act of true love to thaw a frozen heart, and Jim said there's no greater love than self-sacrifice. You must really love me Donald!
• Like You Would Really Do It: The entire cast of heroes sans Kairi being killed off by the Cyclops Titan in the first Disney world of All That's Left? Yeah right. Doesn't make the scene any less tear-jerking though.
• Love to Hate:
  • Zexion is a nasty, manipulative Smug Snake who rivals Larxene in terms of sheer cruelty, yet his charisma and use of deception over brute force makes him quite an entertaining villain.
  • Marluxia and Larxene. The former is a cold, calculating Manipulative Bastard who is as charismatic as he is ruthless. The latter is one of the most sadistic and vicious antagonists in the series, but due to her Large Ham and Deadpan Snarker tendencies, she's also one of the funniest.
  • Hans is every bit as vile and two-faced as he was in the animated film, with special mention to the scene where he taunts Elsa with a Breaking Speech. And due to his extended role in Antipode, he not only gets to fully realize his potential as a manipulative, cold-hearted villain; he absolutely steals the show in the process.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Princess Sourpuss, Sovereign of Darkness and Bullheadedness. ^ExplanationKairi gives Riku this Embarrassing Nickname when the former compares himself to a princess for being repeatedly saved by Kairi.
  • "You kiss good." ^ExplanationAfter sharing a First Kiss with Kairi, Riku tries to come up with a smooth, philisophical response only to fumble on his words and spout this gem, eliciting Face Palms from Kristoff, Sven and Young Xehanort.
  • Xemnas and Aqua have divorce vibes. ^{Explanation (SPOILERS)}Xemnas, being Terra's Nobody, has an incredibly troubled relationship with Aqua due to their fallout in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Xiruk even likens himself to a divorce counselor after witnessing their personal dramas in Castle Oblivion.
    • Xiruk the Divorce Counselor.
• Memetic Loser: Gaston. After all those memes about him being left out of Kingdom Hearts,^note Prior to Kingdom Hearts χ, at least. Gaston finally makes an appearance in Antipode... as a comic relief side character whose most notable appearance has him being punched through a table by Miss Piggy.
• Moe:
  • Naminé is a sweet and gentle Nice Girl with crippling self-esteem issues due to guilt for the crimes she was forced to commit. Her determination to atone for said misdeeds makes her come off as incredibly sympathetic. That she's the only lead character who's physically defenseless makes one want to protect her as much as Xiruk does.
  • Xion is naive and softspoken with a childlike curiosity for the world around her. Her abuse at the hands of DiZ and later Marluxia and Larxene is bound to awaken one's protective instinct.
• Moral Event Horizon: Has its own page.
• Narm:
  • As Sora is about to sacrifice himself to revive Kairi like in the original game, he and Riku decide to have one last sparring match using their wooden toy swords. While the scene is emotional, its somewhat undercut by the fact that Sora pulls the two wooden swords out of his pockets, with the implication that he kept them in there throughout the entire story.
  • The reveal that Xemnas is able to speak in Terra's voice, though heartwrenching, makes him rather hard to take seriously when one realizes that when he speaks, its really Terra doing a Batman voice except its Paul St. Peter.
  • Though the scenes with the Lingering Will are played for drama, the fact that it has a cape is rather silly given that in this continuity, the armor was designed by Edna Mode.
    • Word of God's explanation dips into Narm Charm territory: the author suggested that Terra wanted a Badass Cape so badly that he literally willed one into existence.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: "Ringaqua" for Aqua and Ringabel.
• Signature Scene:
  • The ending of Act 1, where Riku, faced with a Sadistic Choice, decides to leave the Door to Darkness open in favour of searching for Sora. This is the moment where the story diverges completely from The Stations of the Canon and takes off in its own unique direction.
  • The Final Battle of Fragmented Truths. Riku has an emotional confrontation with Riku Replica within Castle Oblivion in the culmination of the latter's struggles throughout the story. As they fight, the scenery around them morphs into different locations from their memories and as the castle crumbles around them, the area turns into an Amazing Technicolor Battlefield. Meanwhile, Roxas reluctantly fights Kairi, Donald and Goofy to prevent them from interfering. Kairi even summons her Keyblade in an awesome moment.
  • The Climax Boss of The Year Between, which serves as the conclusion to Riku Replica's arc. After several chapters worth of buildup, Xigbar and Demyx launch an attack on Disney Town during the Dream Festival to strongarm the heroes into rebrandishing their Keyblades. In this battle is where the Replica finally overcomes his identity crisis and adopts the name "Xiruk".
  • The Reveal in All That's Left, where it becomes apparent that Xemnas is not Xehanort's Nobody, but Terra's.
• Shocking Moments: All That's Left has several.
  • The entire cast save for Kairi being killed off by the Cyclops Titan, though they're revealed to be alive not long after.
  • Tinker Bell's death at the hands of Hades. Thankfully it doesn't stick either.
  • Like in the animated film, Hades usurps the rest of the Greek pantheon and becomes the single-most powerful being in the universe. During his battle, he shows off his newfound power by stealing Aqua's Keyblade and turning it into the χ-blade.
  • The Reveal that Xemnas is Terra's Nobody rather than Xehanort's. After a discussion, Xemnas brings Aqua and Xiruk into a near-perfect recreation of Terra's bedroom (save for some missing books). In a soft tone of voice, he drops the following Wham Line: "You were right, Aqua, and so was the master; I did need to be watched. Unfortunately, there was nobody left to light the way." Aqua is reduced to tears upon the realization that because she pushed him away, her best friend fell from grace and became a monster.
  • Not long after the aforementioned reveal, Xemnas comes face-to-face with the Lingering Will on their Station of Awakening, while he himself takes the form of Terra. The armor, which contains Terra's heart, gives Xemnas a scathing "You Used to Be Better" Speech while forcing him to feel every ounce of guilt and sorrow that he had been immune to as a Nobody.
  • Late into the story, Xaldin informs Xemnas that they have a new recruit: Nahxs, better known as Hans. To clarify: Prince Hans is now a member of Organization XIII.
  • The Arendelle arc is full of this:
    • Elsa gets stabbed in the heart with a shard of enchanted glass, forcefully corrupting her and amplifying her darkest traits. Elsa then begins to give her beloved sister Anna a heartwrenching "The Reason You Suck" Speech. She launches a blast of darkness-infused ice at Anna only for her new friend Riku to take the blow, his heart being frozen instead.
    • Following this, Elsa's ice palace is destroyed by being dropped into a volcano. To top it all off, Marshmallow, her loyal bodyguard becomes a Heartless.
    • Hans reveals to Anna his status as a Nobody and manipulates her into believing his side of the story, before exchanging vows with her and marrying her on the spot.
    • During the climax, Hans escapes through a dark corridor, cementing his Rogues' Gallery Transplant and indicating that he'll remain a threat to the heroes outside of Arendelle.
    • In the end, Elsa freezes her own heart in order to rid herself of the glass's influence, turning to ice in the process.
• Squick: Madam Mim spits on her hand before offering Zexion a handshake. Luckily for him, he has gloves.
• Unexpected Character:
  • During the Treasure Planet arc, Xigbar uses the map to flick through portals of different worlds. Amongst them, Geno makes a cameo.^note Super Mario RPG is a Square Enix title. The next portal shows Tulio and Miguel from The Road to El Dorado, which B.E.N decries as 'Katzenbergian interference'.
    • After the Arendelle Arc, Morph takes the form of a tiny donkey chanting the word 'parfaits'. More 'Katzenbergian Interference'.
  • While the series is no stranger to cameos from more obscure Disney works, Dinosaurs appearing as a Show Within a Show is on a whole 'nother level of obscurity.
  • In the above chapter, the Five Bear Rugs from the Country Bear Jamboree; a theme park attraction, make an appearance at Anna's wedding.
• The Woobie:
  • Sora not only has to deal with feelings of betrayal and guilt from having his kindness exploited by Maleficent; like in canon, he sacrifices himself to revive Kairi, turning into a Heartless in the process. Sora spends several months hiding from his friends out of shame for his monstrous form, helping them from the shadows with only Ventus for company. Sometime after reuniting with them, Zexion briefly takes control of Sora and forces him to attack Kairi, leaving the poor boy traumatized and guilt-ridden. He later learns that the only known way for him to regain his humanity is at the cost of Roxas' life.^note  Kairi's light would've been able to return him to his human form had he not spent so much time as a Heartless. This revelation coupled with the guilt of having Ven trapped within him sends Sora into a Heroic B So D, though his friends assure him that they will find a way.
  • Anna arguably suffers even more than she does in the animated film. Her sister Elsa, under the effects of Nahxs's dark magic, gives Anna a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech blaming her for everything that transpired between them and yelling that she should've stayed dead. After her darkness-possessed sister is subdued and locked in the dungeon, Anna marries her fiance Nahxs and learns the hard way that he never truly cared for her in the first place. Even worse, Nahxs escapes scot-free, leaving Anna in fear of him potentially returning. And finally, Anna watches as Elsa freezes her own heart to rid herself of Nahxs's influence and is left wailing over her frozen body, though this is mitigated by the latter's revival. By the end of the arc, Anna is left a traumatized wreck, screaming and sobbing into Elsa's arms.