My take: The only problem I have with Riku in this game is that he has very little screentime on Destiny Islands at the start of the game when compared to Kairi. Because of that, it's harder for players to discern the roots of his character arc, which causes his turn to the dark side to feel incredibly abrupt and under flimsy justifications. It seems to be because Sora has "replaced" him as a best friend with Donald and Goofy, but this doesn't make sense because Sora is clearly arguing with Donald in favor of letting Riku join them, and Riku himself later still offers Sora a chance to join him in saving Kairi. In truth, Riku's feelings of jealousy and insecurity are because Sora is now out of his shadow, is self-sufficient, and above all, wields the Keyblade. Riku is talked up by the other kids on Destiny Islands as the best and the coolest, and he let that go to his head, and it was made only worse by his innate feeling of destiny, that he was meant for something greater beyond this tiny home world of his...which, of course, was being the chosen wielder of the Keyblade. Sora appears to be taking all that away from him, leading him to an existential crisis that leaves him open to the influence of Maleficent, Ansem, and the darkness in general. It's a good, downward spiral type of character arc that ends on a touching note of sacrifice from him, but it needed to be better established at the start since otherwise it loses some of its effectiveness.
In addition I'd like to add the fact that I feel like Riku cared more about finding kairi, maleficent was his best bet at the time. It seemed like sora was just wandering to worlds and solving other people problems. This is clearly shown in the monstro whale when Sora chooses to save pinocchio vs helping kairi.
@@eliz0101 it really feels like riku was jealous of kairi stealing soras attention and so he twisted those feelings into a weird desire for kairi romantically, just to spite sora and make HIM jealous in return
My main problem with Riku is he's too easily manipulated. He's suppose to be the smartest in the group however we see him to be the weakest mentally. Good thing they buffed em in KH2 he was a real prick in this game lol
I'm able to forgive Riku a little easier for that seeing as he's a hormonal teenager clearly jealous of Kairi taking his boyfriend Sora away from him. Terra on the other hand I think is the poster boy for "How could you be this easily manipulated by obviously EVIL people"
Looking back on all my experience playing this game I always wished they gave us a side story that covered his journey across the worlds as well as Sora’s.
6:52 The way Riku was manipulated this entire time literally makes me so sad. He was just a kid dealing with rough emotions and the villains came and isolated him and manipulated him I just wish the best for this kid.
Lol u hv no idea. When I first heard about Sasuke before I watched Naruto, I literally said out loud: "Wow this Sasuke person sounds a lot like Riku." Now it's the other way around lol
Riku is and always was much stronger then Sora in heart, skills and so on. But without Sora "pushes" he would fail/be_dead like million times. He don't need to rely on luck to make great makes/acts/dealings, thanks to Sora support and his recklessness and fearless he is the most able to come in_just_time/very_last_moment
U also forgot the part when RIKU was at hollow bastion rising falls and calling out sora's name and that's how malefient met him. It was in between keyblade and chance reunion.
No. The seeds of jealousy were already there. Seeing Sora with new friends after trying to find him and Maleficent's prodding is what really kicked things off.
Remember, Ansem Seeker of Darkness existed as Brown Coat on Destiny Island and was following the Keyblade's Chosen. So, he was manipulating Riku from the beginning. Kairi was send to Destiny Islands because of "Ansem". Ansem SOD told him about the "Door". And Riku has the X of Traitors and Dark vessels on his chest.
Not even close. I'm really tired of this comparison. Riku Actually was Sora's friend, unlike Sasuke who was NEVER Naruto's friend, and was just an asshole to Naruto.
Every other upload i see has a shorter version of this cutscene which concludes at 10:50 and doesn't show Riku turning and watching the door... WHAT THE FUCK?
This cutscene basically has a mini arc, the first cutscenes appear in monstro, but the last one where he turns around appears after Neverland if I remember correctly
I think it would be cool if sora wouldn’t look that weak but I‘m okay with it. But when you look in many other games, huge muscles are a very overused feature in character design and I think it is a bit smarter to design the characters powerful but not in the most obviously way.
stopping of gigantic spread of Heartless monstrous [even more then was shown in the game] army, that will bring only destruction to existence, disappearing of variety, leaving nothing more but darkness/nothing/no_colour
it's normal reaction for first-timers. Kids often don't understand rock-singers with long hair [Tokio Hotel, many more] [hate to admit, at my time I thought Tal from Sudeki was a female in the thumbnail too, that just decided not to focus on prettiness] This is get fixed with drawing exercises, though.
My take:
The only problem I have with Riku in this game is that he has very little screentime on Destiny Islands at the start of the game when compared to Kairi. Because of that, it's harder for players to discern the roots of his character arc, which causes his turn to the dark side to feel incredibly abrupt and under flimsy justifications. It seems to be because Sora has "replaced" him as a best friend with Donald and Goofy, but this doesn't make sense because Sora is clearly arguing with Donald in favor of letting Riku join them, and Riku himself later still offers Sora a chance to join him in saving Kairi.
In truth, Riku's feelings of jealousy and insecurity are because Sora is now out of his shadow, is self-sufficient, and above all, wields the Keyblade. Riku is talked up by the other kids on Destiny Islands as the best and the coolest, and he let that go to his head, and it was made only worse by his innate feeling of destiny, that he was meant for something greater beyond this tiny home world of his...which, of course, was being the chosen wielder of the Keyblade. Sora appears to be taking all that away from him, leading him to an existential crisis that leaves him open to the influence of Maleficent, Ansem, and the darkness in general. It's a good, downward spiral type of character arc that ends on a touching note of sacrifice from him, but it needed to be better established at the start since otherwise it loses some of its effectiveness.
In addition I'd like to add the fact that I feel like Riku cared more about finding kairi, maleficent was his best bet at the time. It seemed like sora was just wandering to worlds and solving other people problems. This is clearly shown in the monstro whale when Sora chooses to save pinocchio vs helping kairi.
@@Volcanic_Eruption i always assumed riku was jealous of sora and kairis relationship lmao
@@mikotoh this makes sense
@@eliz0101 it really feels like riku was jealous of kairi stealing soras attention and so he twisted those feelings into a weird desire for kairi romantically, just to spite sora and make HIM jealous in return
@@mikotoh i love this coment(s) lmao and you are so righ new head canon lol
KH1: "there can't be two keyblade masters"
KH3: "You get a keyblade! You get a keyblade! And you get a keyblade!"
Psh...they threw that out long before 3
Khux that came out before KH3: 👁👄👁
KH3: Sora literally rides a literal storm of ancient keyblades lol
I LOLD
They where ignorant of it since they just learned about what a keyblade even is
I'm flattered.
love you ❤️🔥
I still can’t get over Riku and Sora’s designs. These are the most Nomura designed characters I have ever seen.
22:16 can we just appreciate that goofy used ultra instict to save sora in less than a second
My main problem with Riku is he's too easily manipulated. He's suppose to be the smartest in the group however we see him to be the weakest mentally. Good thing they buffed em in KH2 he was a real prick in this game lol
I'm able to forgive Riku a little easier for that seeing as he's a hormonal teenager clearly jealous of Kairi taking his boyfriend Sora away from him.
Terra on the other hand I think is the poster boy for "How could you be this easily manipulated by obviously EVIL people"
Solidus-Skully they’re one and the same Terra and Riku
@@reallyhimongod You're right about that, they're just Terra-ble
this complaint is overblown, 8:50
he's telling maleficent this AFTER being promised kairi's heart
If anyone's wondering, the words "heart" and "heartless" were said about 37 times in this video
38*
@@angealastral8616 I'm not surprised I undercounted, thanks for correcting me!
16:30 don't mind me just bookmarking this for later
How do they even run with those shoes lol
Giant feet
@@timy9197 😂
it's the clown energy
Looking back on all my experience playing this game I always wished they gave us a side story that covered his journey across the worlds as well as Sora’s.
6:52
The way Riku was manipulated this entire time literally makes me so sad. He was just a kid dealing with rough emotions and the villains came and isolated him and manipulated him I just wish the best for this kid.
I Love how Riku is basically the Sasuke Uchiha in this universe, well to me
To me he's more like Itachi by the end of all the games leading to KH3 (when he saves Sora and becomes a Keyblade Master)
Dead ass
Lol u hv no idea. When I first heard about Sasuke before I watched Naruto, I literally said out loud: "Wow this Sasuke person sounds a lot like Riku." Now it's the other way around lol
Please don't insult Riku.
@@haileyharmon5298 Sorry lol.
5:08 is the best part of this entire video hahahaha
Sora's ^v^ he's so goofy
The voice acting is so much better than the later games
Sora just glitched around 9:21 on the right side LOL
No
@@angealastral8616 yes lol
Riku is and always was much stronger then Sora in heart, skills and so on. But without Sora "pushes" he would fail/be_dead like million times. He don't need to rely on luck to make great makes/acts/dealings, thanks to Sora support and his recklessness and fearless he is the most able to come in_just_time/very_last_moment
U also forgot the part when RIKU was at hollow bastion rising falls and calling out sora's name and that's how malefient met him. It was in between keyblade and chance reunion.
So, Donald caused the issue of Riku becomimg evil basically?
No. The seeds of jealousy were already there. Seeing Sora with new friends after trying to find him and Maleficent's prodding is what really kicked things off.
EmptyMan000 Okay, so Riku is just a bum.
Remember, Ansem Seeker of Darkness existed as Brown Coat on Destiny Island and was following the Keyblade's Chosen. So, he was manipulating Riku from the beginning.
Kairi was send to Destiny Islands because of "Ansem". Ansem SOD told him about the "Door".
And Riku has the X of Traitors and Dark vessels on his chest.
the way riku was just played and manipulated T T
8:20 He really loves her 💗😭(as a friend)
He just wanted to be with both his friends exploring the worlds together 😭😭😭
U forgot the part when RIKU saw in realm of darkness he was about to give up hope until Mickey persuaded him to have hope for sora
When was this?
The Adventurer's Guild Entertainment it was supposed to be in between riku resistance and closing the door
Thank you! You have helped my timeline immensely. I am doing the whole series in chronological order over on my channel
The Adventurer's Guild Entertainment your welcome
I think that's only in FM
*Riku sees Sora and Kairi kiss*
Let the keyblade choose it's true master.
when i first saw Riku i thought he was a muscly girl LOL
i then heard his man voice...
Riku reminds me so much of sasuke
So riku is basically Sasuke
Not even close. I'm really tired of this comparison. Riku Actually was Sora's friend, unlike Sasuke who was NEVER Naruto's friend, and was just an asshole to Naruto.
I think you skipped the scene where he wakes up in Hollow Bastion (unless you're not counting the final mix)
16:41 Sora, surely you can think of something better to say, considering you're about 15
the character every goth girl loves
Every other upload i see has a shorter version of this cutscene which concludes at 10:50 and doesn't show Riku turning and watching the door...
WHAT THE FUCK?
This cutscene basically has a mini arc, the first cutscenes appear in monstro, but the last one where he turns around appears after Neverland if I remember correctly
Riku is a bit of a poopy head.
i never understood why riku was muscular and sora was scrawny
I think it would be cool if sora wouldn’t look that weak but I‘m okay with it. But when you look in many other games, huge muscles are a very overused feature in character design and I think it is a bit smarter to design the characters powerful but not in the most obviously way.
Genetics.
Sora created 365 accounts to like this video multiple times.
6:20 what the? Hey!
I would’ve liked a better game then the Riku part in ROM . Favorite character
What was the purpose of closing that big door?
stopping of gigantic spread of Heartless monstrous [even more then was shown in the game] army, that will bring only destruction to existence, disappearing of variety, leaving nothing more but darkness/nothing/no_colour
I think Riku was in love with Kairi but she was in love with Sora.
They both like her since she's the cute girl in the group, but he wasnt in love with her. That was Sora.
Why is it so over saturated? Can’t you leave it normal?
Rikus legs look weird
I think it’s just his pants lol 😂
@@abbydupuis4759 his pants over his pants
@@gravel35 lol yea
I thought riku was a female in the thumbnail
finally im not the only one who thought Riku was a girl when i first saw him
Eh Don’t see it, even with long hair I can still see the difference between a boy and a girl.
it's normal reaction for first-timers. Kids often don't understand rock-singers with long hair [Tokio Hotel, many more] [hate to admit, at my time I thought Tal from Sudeki was a female in the thumbnail too, that just decided not to focus on prettiness] This is get fixed with drawing exercises, though.
Pinshe jelous el Riku xd
Sora sounds like an anime girl lmao🤣
9:19