I Wish Kingdom Hearts’ Sora Was More Like Yakuza’s Ichiban Kasuga

gameinformer.com:

Working for a video game website, I engage in many playful, though sometimes heated, debates about games with my co-workers. We recently discussed the best Kingdom Hearts characters, and, surprisingly, several of us excluded Sora from the cream of the crop. However, a defender propped up Sora’s one defining good trait, his overwhelming positivity. In response, I jokingly said if optimism is all Sora offers, he should be replaced by a superior beacon of positivity: Ichiban Kasuga, star of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. We had a good laugh and moved on, but the idea lingered in my brain. 

I’ll preface my next statement with this disclosure: I like Kingdom Hearts. Now that blowback immunity is activated, I think Sora is lame. He’s a good kid with a great heart, and he’s fun to use in Super Smash Bros. However, Kingdom Hearts III made me finally accept that I haven’t really been into Sora as a personality since (maybe) Kingdom Hearts II. Much of that probably has to do with his dialogue; it’s unbearably cringe-worthy at times. Not to mention he’s also got a bad case of Ash Ketchum syndrome; the dude is umpteen games deep, and he still isn’t an officially recognized keyblade master? More than anything else, though, I find Sora bland. 

Let’s paint a hypothetical picture where Square Enix decided to retire Sora alongside his goofy clown shoes and decided to get wild. I can’t think of a better replacement than Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s Ichiban Kasuga. Why? In short, he’s pretty much Sora but cooler and vastly more endearing. Like Sora, he values his friendships, is fiercely loyal, possesses an inspiring can-do attitude, has a great moral compass, and is a complete dork. Plus, I’d love to see Ichiban interact with all of the Disney