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Anyway, it's interesting how as early as CoM riku is getting messages of "hey it's okay to have Depression (darkness) it's part of you and the more you accept it the easier it is to live with" while sora is Constantly being barraged with "don't be sad!! Don't stop smiling!!"
I'm curious to see if we'll get to see any explicit reflection on this in the game. By kh3 we see riku has made massive strides in terms of his confidence and self-acceptance. Meanwhile we saw sora start the game with a bit of a broken spirit and end it even More broke
Even re:coded is all about sora having to be willing to take on the pain if other people, but... he doesn't really... have any tools to cope with that. So... The seeds are there but will it be made Explicit. Or will the story just continue to tell us sora exists to smile.
bonus: would argue that by kh3 sora has stopped sharing as much of his emotional thought process with his friends. he catches himself reflecting too deeply and moves to distract or change the subject. even when d+g Ask him whats up hes not super willing to share
he'll tow the party line about hearts and friends and light all day long but Sora's Emotional State? he'd rather not think about it.
also lets not forget ddd. lord. SO MUCH HAPPENS TO SORA IN DDD. he has so much emotional development in that game and ALL of it is negative
okay last thought: i am endlessly pleased with the choice to isolate sora for the next part of story for all the above reasons. he's at the point where he Cant grow and reflect because he's always trying to take care of/relying on friends. isolation gives him room to grow.
its kind of like kairi. she CANT grow around sora, or riku. her interactions with them are the same as they always were. i never get my hopes up about kairi but i do think the decision to have her choose to spend time with Different people signals something positive
