Sounds About Light

The third Kingdom Hearts begins here! We've finally made it to the most recent game in the series besides Dark Road and Melody of Memory and also the rest of KHUX that came out after this! Our journey begins in Olympus Coliseum, a world whose name should probably be changed at this point. There's no Coliseum in Olympus this time around, and maybe that's why it's actually pretty great for a change!...

We're back from our break and entering the Unreal Era with [checks notes] Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-, not to be confused with A Fragmentary Passage from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep! -A fragmentary passage- picks up right where A Fragmentary Passage left off, with Aqua having bad times in the Realm of Darkness. Will Mickey Mouse help her times become good, or will h...

The true KHUX begins here! After last week's tragedy, we could all use a bit of levity in our lives, so actually there wasn't a tragedy last week. Problem solved! This week, we'll be meeting some new friends, not meeting some new friends, and meeting some not new friends. Classic Kingdom Hearts stuff, in other words. This episode introduces a lot of questions and mysteries, but you'll have to wait...

Thinking about the Power Bangles too much made us both sick for a few weeks, which is a shame because now we're back to talk about the end of Unchained χ and apparently the Power Bangles are more important than ever! What is this game?! To make matters worse, the end of the world is happening. Oh, come on! Well, that's it for KHUX. We'll be back next time to start the sequel, KHUX! Sam | Drew | Tw...

As we enter the second half of the first half of KHUX, we meet a new friend, Skuld, who is bringing back belts in a big way! We'll need her emotional support, because things are not great in Daybreak Town. The Foretellers are fighting, Chirithies are turning purple, and we're finding more and more that Kingdom Hearts is not afraid to kill kids as long as they're offscreen and we don't know them. W...

This week in Daybreak Town, our boy Dennis is feeling lonely. It turns out it's hard to make a lot of friends when you're not allowed(?) to talk to 80% of the people around you! Fortunately, he meets a nice(?) boy named Ephemer who breaks the rules(?) and they become fast friends. Is everything as it seems? Or is everything not as it seems? Also, make sure you pay attention we've got some plot-cri...

The chronological Kingdom Hearts begins here! We're going back in time to the Age of Fairy Tales in Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ plus Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover! What does that mean? Short answer: mobile games. We're meeting a whole new cast of characters, including the guy from our podcast art, a bunch of animal-masked dweebs, and Dennis. There will be intrigue, there will be keyblades, and there...

In the finale of Dream Drop Distance, we finally get to see an old guy wiggle his fingers again, and the game is good. Also I guess some stuff happens with Riku and Sora and character arcs or whatever. Look at his fingers go! Yahoo! After that, we're discussing our general thoughts on this weird, messy game and why it's good, then we learn about Minions. Next time, we'll be starting Kingdom Hearts...

This episode is... nuts! We're approaching the end of Dream Drop Distance, and the mysterious villains who have been popping up throughout the game to be vague at Sora and Riku are finally going to start being specific at them instead. Sam's been working out at the Ultimania to prepare for this one, so let's put our brains together and drop into the Xehanort Experience Record! Sam | Drew | Twitter...

Merlin sent us away to a pocket dimension for two months to work on our Donald Duck voices, and we're back to talk about the last two Disney worlds of Dream Drop Distance: Country of the Musketeers and Symphony of Sorcery! Two unusual choices for Kingdom Hearts, and therefore two very good ones! Let's all put our heads together and see if we can continue to understand this game as it starts throwi...

This week, we're getting an exciting new perspective on Pinocchio and a fairly underwhelming familiar one! I never thought I'd be disappointed to leave Monstro so quickly, but here we are! We're also entering the Spellican Arc of Dream Drop Distance with a return to TWEWY Twaverse Twown, and a B-plot about Minnie Mouse being held hostage. All in all, a pretty good week of Kingdom Hearts! We'll be...

Alright, let's get these out of the way! We're visiting the first proper Disney worlds of Dream Drop Distance: France and Computer! They're not good, but that doesn't mean we won't talk about them for two hours! If anyone without a 3DS was worried that they're missing out on some great Kingdom Hearts worlds, well, you're probably fine when it comes to these two. Also: we finally get to the bottom...

We're entering the 2.8 Era with Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance! If you thought things were weird and confusing before, this is where it really gets weird and confusing. The true Kingdom Hearts begins here, one could say. We're trapped in a dream with the TWEWY gang. How important are they to the lore? Hopefully not at all! Sorry if we sound lost; we're not players! Sam | Drew | Twitter | C...

Re:coded is ending strong(?) with a trip to Data-Castle Oblivion, where we'll be seeing, and Sora will be forgetting, a whole lot of familiar faces! Will a new Black Coat Guy successfully goad him into beating up the data illusions of his friends for no reason, or will Sora obviously not do that? That would be a pretty weird note to end on, so the game helpfully throws twenty straight minutes of &...

On this week's installment of Re:coded, we're finding out whether it's really safe inside Riku as Sora enters the datascape within the datascape to debug his friend! This means a montage of backtracking, a lot of apologies, and a lot of apologies about apologies. Afterwards, the team will be getting to the bottom of the mystery of the journal. Well, one of them, anyway! Turns out there's a lot goi...

We're halfway through Re:coded and it's time to go on a friendship adventure! Can a data boy learn to love? Can a steamboat captain learn to hack? Kingdom Hearts says yes! We're talking about Olympus Coliseum and Agrabah this week, but really we're talking about Hollow Bastion and all the funny things that happen there. Also, Maleficent is here and she's being an evil grandma! This game was good t...

Beep boop! Time for a weird game! We're watching Re:coded, AKA Kingdom Hearts Somehow Goes Even More Off the Rails! This is a game mainly about Jiminy Cricket reading poetry in his eDiary. Who's writing the poetry? Well, that's a great question, and Chip and Dale are going to help us find the answer by... uh... Look, I don't have time to explain it all here, okay? This is the game where they go in...

Okay, this time for real - we have finished Birth by Sleep! In our final installment, we're discussing the secret ending Blank Points and the playable secret episode A Fragmentary Passage (not to be confused with etc. etc.) We've got some Cool Terra to enjoy, some sad-hopeful Aqua, and basically no Ventus. There's even a special cameo from Roxas, Axel, and some girl we don't remember! Also we comp...

It took her entire route, but Aqua's story is finally getting interesting! This week, we're wrapping up Aqua Time with a trip to the Keyblade Graveyard, then starting Aqua Time 2 with a trip to Radiant Garden and uhhhh maybe somewhere else. Hopefully somewhere good! Next week, we're finishing Birth by Sleep for real for real with Aqua Time 3, also known as A Fragmentary Passage, not to be confused...

We've been wondering what Aqua's character is, and the game has kindly provided us with some answers! It turns out, first and foremost, she's a bootlicker! Oh, okay! Let's watch in horror as Aqua takes a tour of four Disney worlds and intensely respects anyone and everyone who orders her around in them. Is this really what her game is about? Xehanort, can you please give her something else to do?...

We're entering the endgame of Birth by Sleep, which in this case means we're entering the beginninggame of Aqua's story! As is tradition, it starts with a whole lot of Disney nothing! She's going on a tour of the worlds, learning about love or something? She just likes to watch people kiss. At least there's some good action to keep us entertained... or there would have been if the Fairy Godmother...

Two boys down! That's what happens in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, thanks to Xehanort's machinations. In our third and final Terra Time, we're taking a quick trip to Neverland to fight the final boss, and then everything gets very bad for Terra very fast. What happened between him and Eraqus after Ventus got hucked? What was he up to at the top of that mountain with Xehanort? Nothing good, it t...

Terra's story is flying by like a Keyblade hoverbike chasing a race car-shaped Unversed on a racetrack! We've got a few Disney worlds to get through this week, but what we're really here for is our funny guy Braig. Have you ever wondered what happened to his eye, or what else happened to his eye? You'll find out about one of them this week! Sam | Drew | Twitter | Cohost

Oh, gosh. Well, it looks like it's time to meet our favorite little quiet boy man, Terra. He may not have passed his Mark of Mastery exam, but what he lacks in control over his inner darkness, he makes up for in lack of control over his inner darkness! The Disney villains are gonna have a field day with this guy. Somebody, please, for the love of Mickey, help this Keyblade himbo. Sam | Drew | Twit...

I hope you're sleepy for birth (????) because it's time to wrap up Ventus's story already! We'll miss this sweet little mouse disguised as a boy, but we've got two more friends to get to know over the next few weeks. For now, let's enjoy this thrilling conclusion featuring some extreme sicko Xehanort Reports, a Braig cameo, and the story of from whence Vanitas was riven. Sam | Drew | Twitter | Coh...