While Melody of Memory was able to distract some fans for a little while, the long wait begins until the next mainline Kingdom Hearts entry. However, the wait theoretically shouldn’t be as long compared to the agonizing wait for Kingdom Hearts 3. With the 20th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts coming in 2022, Tetsuya Nomura has stated in a Famitsu interview that the next mainline entry is planned to release that year. As for what the next title is going to be about, Kingdom Hearts 3 and ReMind‘s secret endings clearly infer what it will be about.
Sora’s awakening will likely be the center of the next Kingdom Hearts story, at least for the most part. There are still some loose plot threads and introductions of long-awaited, deep lore characters like the Foretellers, but Sora’s return to the real world will likely be the narrative’s focal point. As for what the secret endings were hinting at, it’s very possible there’s a certain other Tetsuya Nomura brainchild serving as a conduit for Sora’s resurrection, one that fans have seen before in Dream Drop Distance: the Reaper’s Game from The World Ends with You.
Based on Kingdom Hearts 3‘s ending and ReMind‘s secret endings, it’s clear both Sora and Riku have ended up in a version of Tokyo, though the details are a bit fuzzy. One one side, Sora wakes up in Shibuya in what is presumed to be The World Ends with You‘s setting, though that may not necessarily be true. Riku wakes up on the other side of Tokyo, near the Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. There’s no direct confirmation that the two are in the same world, only subtle hints that could be interpreted as dueling worlds or the same world.
Obviously with the “104” building and the Shibuya imagery in the ending, it’s clear Sora has ended up in some version of The World Ends with You‘s world. Whether that’s the version where Neku and the rest of the gang are, well, it’s impossible to tell at this point. Some have pointed to the 104 being a solid confirmation, but some believe its a Verum Rex version of Shibuya. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that the Verum Rex game trailer, which displays before the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 3‘s Toy Box world, also has a banner that shows the game also takes place in Shibuya. Either way, there’s some evidence that Sora’s ultimate sacrifice may have placed him in the Reaper’s Game.
The Reaper’s Game in The World Ends with You is sort of like a competition in the afterlife, where people become contestants in the Reaper’s Game after they’ve passed in real life. Obviously, knowing the events of Kingdom Hearts 3 ReMind‘s ending, Sora ends up trading his life so that Kairi isn’t taken down by Xehanort instead. His sudden disappearance at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, and Riku and Kairi’s efforts to search for him, is a clear indication that he’s passed. So this secret ending depicting Sora in Shibuya could very well be placing him in some sort of Reaper’s Game, but it may not be the one inherently in The World Ends with You.
For those who remember the events of Dream Drop Distance, there are two dueling worlds of Traverse Town where Neku Sakuraba and his fellow The World Ends with You characters are participating in the Reaper’s Game. Each “player” is assigned a time limit to complete the objective of the Reaper’s Game, specifically inscribed on the player’s left hand in Dream Drop Distance. When Sora wakes up in Shibuya during the secret ending, he doesn’t have a time limit on his hand. However, it was clearly a deliberate decision not to show Sora checking his other hand, which in the original The World Ends with You was where the death timer was.
That being said, if Sora is in a version of The Reaper’s Game, it’s very possible he could be placed in a very familiar situation to Chain of Memories. In a possible scenario where Sora is finally revived, he may need to forget his memories and play in a version of the Reaper’s Game in order to resurrect himself. Either that, or Riku needs to help him do so. Those who’ve played The World Ends with You know that each player of the Reaper’s Game loses their memories on death, and slowly regains these memories as they complete the Reaper’s Game. Sora and Riku are loose “game partners” in Dream Drop Distance, but they could actually participate in the Reaper’s Game now.
This could potentially be the subject of Kingdom Hearts 4‘s plot, or whatever the next Kingdom Hearts project is that’s supposedly coming in 2022. It’s clear, now that Kairi has returned and Sora’s disappeared, the next story will involve Sora’s resurrection. What better way to contextualize this than utilizing the Reaper’s Game? Sora did promise he would return to Neku and the gang again, and the Reaper’s Game is a solid conduit from Tetsuya Nomura’s concepts to utilize in bringing back Sora. Pair that with the various underlying character and narrative arcs of Kingdom Hearts‘ story, and all of a sudden Sora’s resurrection with the Reaper’s Game seems like a viable direction.
The next Kingdom Hearts project is planned for release in 2022.
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