Kingdom Hearts Differences! #kingdomhearts #shorts

There actually many differences between the Japanese and English versions of Kingdom Hearts games! Let's look at some of them, mainly Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2!

This video was very helpful for research on this topic!

Other Sources:

[Syntherus]

I always assumed the "Tell me why he picked you" was referring to Ansem the Wise/DiZ. So the subtext was "show me why you're so great that my life had to get ruined."

[WarriorKid_]

Bro, I was wondering for so long what the zero district was.

[DenDenDenDenDen]

In Dark Riku’s death scene in KH3, Repliku’s line is “Thank you” while in Japan it’s “Take Care of Her” (in reference to Namine). “Take Care of Her” was Riku’s final line to Sora in KH1!

[Vixorous]

"Tell me why he picked you."

I always assumed Roxas was talking about Riku referring back to their fight in 358/2 days.

[hyper_tex]

In the english version of the roxas scene, i always thought Roxas was referring to DiZ, given that Roxas was still so angry that he wasn't allowed to exist, and that DiZ chose Sora to get revenge on the Organization, especially given the future games context that he wanted revenge too. In fact, i bet nomura liked the mistake, and why he gave Roxas the revenge for Xion motivation in the first place, which means that mistake may have been what got us xion in the first place 🤔

[Snickritz]

I Remember Hearing that the "Tell Me Why he Picked You!" Line is talking about Axel's sacrifice in an interview with Nomura, cant remember where tho

[fryguy]

Who knew in the English version, keyblades have genders?

[PupRiku]

I figured it just meant "the Keyblade master" as in "that guy right there who is a Keyblade master" rather than THE one and only Keyblade master.

[destroyerkitty]

I always thought “tell me why he picked you” was talking about Riku. Aka, “tell me why saved you instead of letting me live.”

[XRaptor]

It doesn't say "it chose" either. It's using the passive voice in Japanese. That screenshot was saying "... the reason you were chosen..." (middle of a sentence probably) so can't tell who/what chose who/what, nor is the intention to raise the question of who/what is doing the choosing in Japanese. You would have to use context for that, and even still pedantically would be vague.

[fr]

The "Keyblade Master" debate is stupid. Even with the knowledge of later games, it still makes sense. All others who wielded the Keyblade were lost, so of course Sora would be "The One." The others had to be awakened to the power to wield the Keyblade (mind you Roxas and Xion are exceptions because they are Sora).
Riku and Kairi both received the blessing of the Keyblades when Aqua and Terra visited Destiny Island, and Sora held Ventus' heart inside him, allowing him to be immediately given the Keyblade when the danger on Destiny Island occurred.

[bluesnake]

I always assumed Roxas was talking about Diz choosing Sora as his method for taking down the organization. Which I saw being tied back into when he says in Dream Drop “this could have been the other way around.” Never thought he meant the keyblade.

[Madgunner]

When I played it, when Roxas says "why did he choose you" I thought he was talking about Diz

[DMNZDN]

I hated that for the English localisation for kh3, they changed the way the characters mouths move, so it looks like English, so in the scene between Axel/Lea and Saïx before the final fight, the JP version has Saïx smiling at Axel and its like he's teasing him throughout their conversation because they were once friends. But in the English translation/localisation, they changed Saïx's expression so he wasn't smiling which makes me sad :( Sure, Saïx has been a bit of a jerk throughout the games he was in, and his redemption was mostly behind the scenes but let him smile at his OLD BEST FRIEND GODAMMIT

[Thatboybeans]

I always thought the “he” Roxas mentioned was Diz or Riku

[aguywithgames]

The consistent important lore localization fumbles of KH needs to be studied.

[spencergrady]

I always figured by Zero District he was talking about where his house was, as it was outside the other three.

[SteveCraftsk]

Imagine how much confusion would've been cleared up had mistranslations not popped up.

[ZombiBunni_]

The Keyblade Master thing in kh1 hurt so many people's understanding of the story </3 (not their fault ofc, it's a localization fail)

[lebearpolarr]

Rather than "why it picked you", the original JP text was more like "Tell me/show me please, why you were chosen", which makes it more ambiguous and abstract imo. It doesn't imply the context of a person or Keyblade choosing Sora, just, "why was Sora the one allowed to exist and why Roxas wasn't?" making that line even more painful and popular in JP (along with Uchiyama Kouki's brilliant voice acting).

Source: JP speaker for over twenty years who uses the language and translates in work and also played KH2 in JP only