Here I am supposed to be working on my final tasks when Square Enix decides to release a trailer for Kingdom Hearts III opening movie, completely distrupting my workflow and launching me into a full-on fanboy mode. Naturally, instead of getting back to work, I decide to write a blog post about it.
Shortly put, Kingdom Hearts is a crossover video game series that mixes Disney with Final Fantasy, although the latter's presence has largely faded from the series, as the original cast of Kingdom Hearts has grown larger and more prominent. There are currently seven major titles in the series, along with various remakes, remasters, mobile games, demos and collections. The third "main" game Kingdom Hearts III is scheduled to release on January 29th 2019.
So, today a trailer for the opening movie for Kingdom Hearts III was released:
These opening movies are a big thing for Kingdom Hearts. Most games in the series have their own pre-rendered openings that recap earlier games and foreshadow the upcoming events, with a song by Utada Hikaru playing in the background.
As expected, this opening too recaps the events of earlier games by showing all the main characters and main villains relive their most memorable moments. For those unfamiliar with the series, it probably looks confusing and somewhat ridiculous ("Why are Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck fighting alongside these anime characters?"), and I completely get that, but to someone like me, who has loved the series for well over a decade, it's full of pure hype and wonder. Seeing all these characters I've cared for a long time in such a high-quality animation again feels simply amazing.
This time the song is a collaboration with Utada and Skrillex, which worried me quite a bit as I don't particularly like Skrillex's style. Now that I've partially heard the song, however, I'm glad my worries were mostly unfounded. Most of the song sounds great, and even though the part from 1:02 onwards isn't exactly my favourite, it might (and probably will) grow on me.
What I especially love about the opening is the visuals, and more specifically dark aesthetic of it. The last few openings have been fairly bright in their color use, with occasional spots of darkness during scenes that illustrate the more dramatic events, but here even the general aesthetic uses lots of dark blue and purple. This, in addition to the chess motif and the constant flashing to the main antagonists, truly gives me the sense that the stakes are high and the end is coming, at least for this major part of the series.
Unfortunately the full version of the opening won't most likely be released until mid-to-late January (at earliest). Even if it is a bit silly at times, this series is something very special to me, and I genuinely can't remember the last time I was this excited for a game release. January 29th better come quick!
That Mickey is so cute... I totally understand that the fans of Kingdom Hearts must be super excited, in trailers all games are always made to look so cool that even someone not interested in games starts to consider playing... The opening scene was especially pretty. I feel like nowadays games are made even prettier than movies.
ReplyDelete