Kingdom Hearts BEST Sora Design!

#SoraUltimate #SoraSmashBros #KingdomHearts

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Spikey Hair, a giant Key and some goofy ass giant shoes. A Best character design video for Sora is one that has been requested a LOT on this channel over the years, and it’s not hard to see why. The Kingdom Hearts series is hugely popular, with the wild experiment of Disney and Square paying off dividends for both companies. Much like many of the Final Fantasy characters that proceeded him, Sora is a large part of Kingdom Hearts success, launching the game as a fun to play as, easy to root for main protagonist. His name translates to ‘Sky’ in Japan, putting emphasis on the characters whimsical, floaty movement and aerial combat style. The character was very adaptable to the Disney IP’s the games would feature, appearing in several different forms and costumes that put the average cosplayer to shame.

Despite not being the protagonist in all the Kingdom Hearts games, Sora’s design has always been the backbone. Roxas and Ventis are just some of the alternate characters who have cropped up in the series based on his design template, though I won’t be covering them today outside this mention as I am defining them as separate characters, influenced by him or not. I will be covering Donald and Goofy in a separate video too as a thank you for all the support on my recent community post!

Today we’ll run through a huge amount of Sora’s designs throughout the series, look at his development and decide which design truly stands out as his best inclusion. Like always, this video took a ton of time to develop, so if you can like the video, subscribe to the channel and hit the notification bell It’d be super appreciated. Please also consider becoming a Patreon. Even at the lowest tier you gain early access to these videos and are able to influence the success of this channel first-hand.
Kingdom Hearts was directed by Tetsuya Nomura, a Squaresoft legend responsible for some of Final Fantasy’s most iconic character and monster designs. He designed Sora from the ground up as an original character after disputes between Disney and Square. Originally, Disney had wanted Donald Duck to be the games main character and Square had wanted Disney’s biggest mascot, Mickey Mouse at the helm of the project. Instead Nomura Developed Sora, who was originally depicted as a half human, half lion hybrid with baggy clothes and spikey light and dark hair. Disney had Nomura rework this concept as they believed it too closely resembled Zidane Tribal from the previously released Final Fantasy 9.
Sora made his debut in the original Kingdom Hearts, where alongside Riku and Kairi, the 14-Year-old found himself plunged into darkness, the heartless and a series of my childhood Disney VHS tapes. His first appearance saw him wear a red jumpsuit with puffy shorts and a zipper. This was accompanied by a black and white jacket, white fingerless gloves and a silver necklace resembling a crown.

At a first glance, he feels like a classic Final Fantasy protagonist, his hair being a massive part of this. He has long brown Spikey hair, slightly reminiscent of Cloud Strife in style; and then you see his shoes.

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Sir. Are you allergic to these?

Sora’s giant feet and these huge yellow monstrosities are the most Disneyfied elements of his design, with both these and the red in the rest of his palette being an obvious reference to Mickey Mouse. While I really hope I don’t get demonetized for mentioning the mouse that runs the house, the homage to his design is a charming touch for the Kingdom Hearts series lead character and a good compromise if the mouse wasn’t going to be playable.