I don’t replay Kingdom Hearts, I rewatch it on YouTube

polygon.com:

Getting caught up on Kingdom Hearts is a heck of a task. But nothing makes me laugh and cry quite like the crossover fever dream that is this series, no matter how many times I’ve experienced it — and that’s why, whenever I want to revisit the games, I just rewatch all the cutscenes on YouTube instead.

The Kingdom Hearts series is mostly made up of RPGs, and although they aren’t 100-hour time sinks like Persona 5 or Dragon Quest7, they’re about 30 hours each. I’m not that into the combat grind in these games; the acrobatic Keyblade swinging looks cool in action, but it doesn’t take much more effort than pressing the attack button over and over. That’s all good if you want to sit back and listen to a podcast, or turn your brain off entirely — but the story of Kingdom Hearts is the part I love the most.

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I know what you’re thinking. “Really, Maddy? You like the story in Kingdom Hearts? This is the game with corny Disney movie crap in it. How does that mesh with your love of horror movies and Metroid?” First of all, reader, it’s impressive how well you know me. Second of all, Kingdom Hearts is a comedic masterpiece, and I will go to my grave defending its bizarre setups and oddly paced dialogue.

If you watch all of the cutscenes on YouTube, I’m pretty sure you’re going to agree. You’ll start out laughing at Donald Duck’s retorts and Squall’s gruff-voiced seriousness; there is also nothing like watching Aerith and Goofy carry on a conversation about the nature of existence and magic. But then, at some point, after the first hour or two of patently absurd character juxtapositions, you might realize you like the original characters in this story, too: the childlike joy and innocence of the protagonist Sora, or the