No one was expecting Nintendo to announceKingdom Hearts: Melody of Memoryfor Switch coming next month. In fact, many initially expectedKingdom Hearts 3to be the end of the long-run saga between Sora, Kairi, and Riku. But thanks to the end ofKH3and itsReMindDLC pack, a new main series installment was teased,presumablyKingdom Hearts 4. As a result, it’s clear that the franchise has many more stories to tell.
Kingdom Hearts 4is reportedly in consideration, but because of the secret ending found inKingdom Hearts 3,the ending ofReMind, and what’s currently known about the upcomingMelody of Memory, fans are able to infer what the plot of the next main series installment will be. Likely,Melody of Memorywill bridge the gapbetween the ending ofReMindandKH4, with Kairi being the centerpiece of this information.
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Connecting KH3 and KH4
Despite being a character essential to the overall story of theKingdom Heartsseries, Kairi has only received a minor amount of cutscenes throughout the games to explain her side of it all. One of the biggestdisappointments ofKingdom Hearts 3was the Kairi didn’t actually end up being a playable character, and though she became a trained Keyblade Wielder, she spent much of the game away from Sora’s journey yet again and in the background. Thankfully, with the introduction ofReMind, the player was given the option to play as the leading lady, and she took up much more screen time.
Sora had spent all ofReMindtrying to find the pieces of Kairi’s fractured heart, and in the end, Sora mysteriously disappears. Perhaps he, once again, sacrificed himself to save Kairi’s heart.Kingdom Heartsendings have always been vague. It looks like Sora’s abuse of the Power of Waking caused him to fade, presumably bringing him to Shibuya, the setting ofThe World Ends With You,another Square Enix game that collided withKingdom HeartsinDream Drop Distance. It may not be connected, but inThe World Ends With You, Shibuya is the setting of the Reaper’s Game, where the dead compete to transcend and become Reapers.
From what’s shown in the finalMelody of Memorytrailer, it looks like Kairi is working with Ansem the Wise to find Sora and bring him home, but it’s no easy task. She’s revisiting the worlds (via the rhythm game) looking for clues about Sora. From what’s known about the Reaper’s Game, it could be inferred that Kairi is attempting to bring Sora back from the dead, or simply bringing him back from the world he’s currently in. The rhythm game will both recap the adventures of Sora throughout the years while bothtelling Kairi’s side of the storyand introducing brand-new cutscenes of the present-day issue. Through their research, this will likely bring about the introduction of Yozora.
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Finding Yozora
Yozora was already introduced to the main series inKingdom Hearts 3through the fictional gameVerum Rex.After the events of theReMindending where Riku comes in contact with theFinal Fantasyfriends in a search for Sora, Riku finds himself in a different district of Tokyo, but withinVerum Rex.This possibly means thatRiku will find Yozora looking for his friend. While he’s doing this, Kairi is asleep while Ansem studies her heart for clues about Sora, but through trailers, it looks like some of Kairi’s interaction with Ansem could be after she’s awoken from this slumber.
While the bulk ofYozora’s story will likely come inKingdom Hearts 4, it looks like he holds some sort of key to saving Sora. “I will save you,” Yozora says after seemingly defeating Sora in Shibuya, an interaction shown in the secret ending ofReMind. Finding him will likely be a big plot point of Riku and Kairi’s journey inMelody of Memory.If it follows normalKHformats, this event would come at the very end of the game, if at all.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memorywill release for PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on November 11 in Japan and November 13 worldwide.
