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Summary
Six years after its launch,Kingdom Hearts 3doesnt have the best reputation.
Rikus character arc in particular suffers due to a mistranslation in an important scene in KH3.
Riku then repeats Strength to protect what matters… in agreement.
While the English still gets across how Riku feels and the strength that hes gained, its vague.
What is it that matters?
What is he protecting?
The Japanese script, however, doesnt leave you with a question - its crystal clear.
Instead of what matters, the phrase used in Japanese is taisetsu na hito - an important or preciousperson.
In isolation, its frustrating that a phrase originally about a specific person has been turned into something ambiguous.
Guess what Japanese phrase the person I love most comes from?
Yep,taisetsu na hito.
So why wasnt Rikus scene translated in a similar way?
Even something like someone important would have been closer to the original intent than what matters.
The big difference between these two moments is the gender of thetaisetsu na hitotheyre talking about.
Hercules is talking about Meg, whereas Riku is talking about Sora.
I wanna be strong one day.
[…] I know its out there somewhere - the strength that I need.
Throughout the series, Riku slowly learnswhyhe wants this strength andwhohe wants this strength for.
To achieve the secret ending of DDD, you have to answer three questions correctly as Riku.
His canon answer to “What is the one thing you care about more than anything else?”
is “My close friends.”
The English translation dilutes this completely.
People say their best friends are important to them all the time.
Kingdom Hearts key theme is the strength of our connections.
It wouldnt have been out of place for Riku to say Sora is important to him.
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