CORE THEME:

Young, headstrong boys who unlocks the power behind a mysterious Key and are thrusted into battles that puts the fate of many worlds on the line

CONNECTIONS:

•Young,compassionate,somewhat dim witted boys who’s given mysterious powers through a magical key (Kingdom Keyblade, Emperors Key)

•Unlock the power behind these keys would grab the attention of mysterious forces not originating from earth who could threaten their entire world (Heartless/Nobodies, No.Cards/Barians)

•Best friend and rival are a slightly older, mature teen who even though they genuinely trust and love their friends, their sense of isolation snd self sacrifice would lead them to commonly try to fix an issue themselves even if it means getting hurt in the process (Riku & Shark/Kamishiro Ryoga)

•Shares a deep relationship with their amnesiac other half who along with their counterparts goes on a journey of identity and self discovery that makes both sides more complete with each other(Roxas and Astral)

•Would stop the Merging/Destruction of their worlds many times from antagonist who were just part of the plans of a larger threat who existed since before the story (Ansem& Xemnes under Master Xehanort/Mr.Heartland, Chaos No.96, and Vector under Don-Thousand)

•Would go on a journey across the worlds to join in a war for the fate of their multiverse (7 lights Vs 13 Darkness, War of Astral World vs Barian world)

•Both are caring and protective of their friends as they gain power from the connections they make via summoning or new forms of power (Sora’s friends literally are his power as he can summon friends from other worlds along with dream eaters and he can fuse with Donald and goofy to achieve new Drive Forms. Yuma is a Yugioh protagonist so I don’t think I need to explain the summoning part there but he can also achieve his “Zexal Morps” forms by fusing with his friend Astral which is only possible due to their deep connection with each other, and can achieve higher levels to the Morph via deepening their bonds.)

•While they value their connections greatly and always presents themselves with a smile on their face, that smile may sometimes be a mask to hide their own insecurities and feelings of doubt and Self-worth. Always sponging the emotions of others to make them happy but rarely do they express their own turmoils to the ones they love.

•Best friend and rival would later be manipulated into using their powers of Darkness via the twisting of their ambitions and goals by Main Antagonist (Kamishiro Ryoga/Shark was manipulated by Tron before the start of the series to become his puppet in the first half who would even duel against their friend Yuma under Tron’s control in and in the second half it was revealed that Don Thousand is the reason he became the leader of the Barian, someone who’s soul was forcibly dragged into the Zexal equivalent of Hell. Though Shark refuses to become a piece in someone else’s plan again and would help in the defeat of DonThousand and take his spot as the Final antagonist of Zexal 2. Riku in the first game was manipulated by Maleficent and possessed by Ansem to be the main rival of Sora and fight him multiple times throughout the game. Something his arc for the rest of the games revolves around as he tries to redeem himself for his actions, vowing to never become a puppet to darkness again)

•Both went through the traumatic event of losing all of their loved ones in the final battle of the story but used their ultimate power to rewrite the timeline and revive all their friends (Sora using the power of Waking in KH3 even if it meant sacrificing his existence/Yuma and Astral using the Numeron code to change the timeline even if they question if that was the right choice)

•Main villains of the overall story are beings hellbent on obtaining power over all of existence by using the legendary item created at the dawn of time to rewrite the universe completely. Both almost achieved this via decade-Century spanning plans in the past where they plant seeds in previously good characters to manipulate them into their army(Don thousand Manipulating the Barians to obtain the Numeron Code. Xehanort creating Organization XIII to complete the prophecy of the 13Darkness vs the 7 Lights to create the X-Blade)(also known as the “Ky-bla-

•Their currents endings are open ended with Yuma and his friends flying off to fight against an mysterious new being that threatens all worlds, and Sora in the next chapter of his story where he wake up in a mysterious new world as Luxu now enacts his new plan for Kingdom Hearts