Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)
Encyclopedia
is a fictional character
from Square Enix
's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts
. Having first made cameo appearances in the game Kingdom Hearts II
, Aqua was introduced as one of the three main characters from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
, a prequel of the series released in 2010. In the title, Aqua is introduced as Keyblade-wielding warrior living in Land of Departure training under Master Eraqus alongside her best friends Terra
and Ventus
. Following the disappearance from Master Xehanort, a comrade from Eraqus, she and Terra are tasked with searching for him as while protecting the worlds from creatures known as Unversed. However, she is also told by Eraqus to watch over Terra's development and bring back Ventus who left the Land of Departure.
Unlike Terra and Ventus, Aqua was the only protagonist from Birth by Sleep who did not have a base for director Tetsuya Nomura
to design, and thus Nomura had pressure on how to make her appealing to gamers. While her outfit was based on Terra's, her movements were meant to contrast his and Ventus' to make her specialized in magic attacks. Aqua has been voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi
in Japanese and Willa Holland
in English. The character of Aqua has received mixed critics by video game publications based on her personality and role in Birth by Sleep as well as her gameplay mechanics having which differed from the other characters.
. Moreover, her Keyblade and armor appear in a room from Radiant Garden in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, which Xemnas, the "Nobody" of Xehanort, often visits calling the armor "friend".
In Birth by Sleep, Aqua appears as a Keyblade apprentice in Land of Departure training alongside Terra and Ventus to gain the title of Keyblade Master. Aqua takes the Mark of Mastery exam along with Terra and becomes a Keyblade Master. When Xehanort goes missing, Eraqus instructs Terra and her to find him while also protecting the worlds they visit from creatures known as the Unversed. Following Terra's departure, Eraqus asks Aqua to watch over Terra to see if he succumbs to his inner darkness and also bring back Ventus who suddenly left the world. As she travels across the worlds, Aqua starts doubting about Terra's actions in the worlds, while Ventus decides not to return home until Terra is safe. When she meets Yen Sid, an acquaintance of Eraqus, Aqua is told that the latter was killed by Xehanort with Terra's assistance and goes to the Keyblade Graveyard to face him. Later, Terra explains to her how Xehanort tricked him into fighting Eraqus, while Ventus reveals that Xehanort plans to use him and his apprentice Vanitas to create a Keyblade known as the χ-blade. The three are then confronted by Xehanort and Vanitas, and proceed to battle. When Terra goes to battle Xehanort, Vanitas takes possession of Ventus' body to create the χ-blade. With help from King Mickey
, Yen Sid's student, Aqua fights the possessed Ventus until the χ-blade explodes. After learning that Ventus has lost his heart while facing Vanitas, Aqua locks his catatonic body in Castle Oblivion created from the ruins of the Land of the Departure with Eraqus' Keyblade. Aqua then tracks down Terra to Radiant Garden, only to find that he was possessed by Xehanort. In the ensuing battle, Terra's presence manifests, causing Xehanort to stab himself in the internal struggle and fall into the Realm of Darkness. However, to save Terra's body, Aqua saves him by sending her armor and Keyblade with him back to Radiant Garden. As a result, Aqua ends up trapped in the Realm of Darkness. Sometime after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, she meets Ansem the Wise, the former ruler of Radiant Garden, and learns about the events that occurred in her absence regarding Sora
, the new Keyblade bearer. Knowing that Sora will rescue her friends, Ansem, and herself, Aqua sheds a tear and utters Sora's name with renewed hope.
In Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
, Aqua is revealed to be one of the many people connected with Sora's heart, causing Mickey to ask Sora to rescue them.
In contrast to Terra and Ventus, Aqua did not have a base to design her, leading Nomura to call a completely new character. Her outfit was based on Terra's Japanese-inspired clothes which are meant to expand the student-and-teacher bond shown in the game. Aqua's outfit was altered three times during the game's development. Since Nomura felt that the outfit she was wearing during the Tokyo Game Show 2009 was too revealing since her entire back is exposed when she jumps in the air, he modified her outfit to create a design that was neither too conservative nor too revealing. As with Terra and Ventus, the making of Aqua's outfit brought issues to Nomura due to how she would be able to summon her armor. Therefore, an "X" was added to their clothes as a means to activate the armors. When designing her, Nomura was worried about her possible lack of popularity due to her lack of connections with other Kingdom Hearts characters unlike Terra and Ventus. Therefore, he decided to make her a strong girl as he mentions he did the same with Xion
for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
but in a different way; while Xion was made a brave girl, Nomura wanted to keep her feminine despite her strength. While still unsure how she would be received, Nomura later stated she became popular within fans, remarking Megumi Toyoguchi
's work as her voice actress. Toyoguchi had already worked with Nomura in Final Fantasy X-2
voicing Paine, one of the game's protagonists; while Toyoguchi used a low tone with Paine, she used tone closer to her original voice when voicing Aqua, something which Nomura praised due to her representation of the character.
Ever since the game started development, the staff decided it would be divided in three scenarios, with Aqua's being the last one written. The original ending of her scenario showed her trapped in the Realm of Darkness, but said part was moved to the game's "Last Episode" playthrough in order to reduce the dark tones from the three regular endings. In gameplay perspective, Aqua was designed to be a character gamers would take some getting used to, and recommended them use her as the last one in order to understand the game's story better, as he points that scenario with the intention that Aqua would be the last character to leave the Land of Departure. The staff had in mind which when developing her movements, while her personality was described as a serious and dignified young woman.
, Chris Antista commented that he did not understand the importance of him and the other characters being briefly featured in Kingdom Hearts II, although it could be explained once the player finishes Birth by Sleep. Videogamer.com writer Emily Gera stated that players may know little about them due to their role in Kingdom Hearts II, but with Birth by Sleep, players will able to know about them. Prior to her initial revelation in trailers from Birth by Sleep, 1UP.com
's Jeremy Parish stated that fans speculated that Aqua would be a male character. Having played a demo from Birth by Sleep as Aqua in the E3 2010, Ryan Clements from IGN
enjoyed her character due to her gameplay mechanics.
While reviewing Birth by Sleep, Adam Ghigiino from PALGN
criticizing her "idealistic" dialogues, finding them repetitive. PlayStation LifeStyle's Thomas Williams found the trio as welcome additions to the franchise, finding their stories enjoyable although the three travel to the same worlds. Kevin VanOrd from GameSpot
gave praise to Aqua's character, based on her personality, how it counterparts Ventus' as well as Holland's voice acting. 1UP.com's Steve Watts found Aqua's gameplay as the weakest from all the three characters as in contrast to Ventus and Terra, she specializes in magic techniques which are weak during the game's start. On the other hand, Bob Miur from Destructoid
found it appealing due to how it contrast previous fighting styles seen in the Kingdom Hearts series. Aqua's story was also found less entertaining than Ventus', but still find it less predictable than Terra's. Following Square's advice of using Aqua as the last playable GameInformer writer Bryan Vore liked how her actions were played with Ventus' and Terra's. However, Bore still cited Aqua's playthrough as repetitive if played as the last one, and also called its plot as weakest from all of them. Alongside Ventus and Terra, X-Play
found Aqua similar to the protagonists from Kingdom Hearts with her being compared with Kairi. In contrast to Van Ord, RPGFan's Ashton Liu found Aqua's voice "bored for almost the whole game", citing how it is notable when comparing her with other voice actors such as Mark Hamill
and Leonard Nimoy
. In an ASCII Media Works
poll, Aqua was voted as the twelveth most popular video game character from 2010. In a Famitsu
poll from 2011, Aqua was voted as the fourth most popular Kingdom Hearts character.
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
. Having first made cameo appearances in the game Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
, Aqua was introduced as one of the three main characters from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix and Disney for the PlayStation Portable, serving as the sixth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series. The game was released on UMD in Japan on January 9, 2010, in North America on September 7, 2010 and in Europe on September...
, a prequel of the series released in 2010. In the title, Aqua is introduced as Keyblade-wielding warrior living in Land of Departure training under Master Eraqus alongside her best friends Terra
Terra (Kingdom Hearts)
is a fictional character from Square Enix's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts. He was introduced in the 2010 video game prequel Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as one of the three main characters...
and Ventus
Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
, commonly nicknamed , is a fictional character from Square Enix's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts. Having first made cameos in Kingdom Hearts II and other related titles, Ventus was introduced in the 2010 prequel Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as one of the three main characters...
. Following the disappearance from Master Xehanort, a comrade from Eraqus, she and Terra are tasked with searching for him as while protecting the worlds from creatures known as Unversed. However, she is also told by Eraqus to watch over Terra's development and bring back Ventus who left the Land of Departure.
Unlike Terra and Ventus, Aqua was the only protagonist from Birth by Sleep who did not have a base for director Tetsuya Nomura
Tetsuya Nomura
is a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix , best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.-Time before Square:Nomura was born in Kōchi, Japan...
to design, and thus Nomura had pressure on how to make her appealing to gamers. While her outfit was based on Terra's, her movements were meant to contrast his and Ventus' to make her specialized in magic attacks. Aqua has been voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi
Megumi Toyoguchi
is a voice actress, born on January 2, 1978 in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. She is employed by the talent management firm 81 Produce.-Trivia:* Toyoguchi is the only seiyū to have the distinction of appearing in every anime in the Saturday 6 p.m...
in Japanese and Willa Holland
Willa Holland
Willa Joanna Chance Holland is an American actress and fashion model. She is best known for her role as Kaitlin Cooper, Marissa Cooper's devious younger sister, on the television series The O.C.. She also appeared as Agnes Andrews on The CW series Gossip Girl...
in English. The character of Aqua has received mixed critics by video game publications based on her personality and role in Birth by Sleep as well as her gameplay mechanics having which differed from the other characters.
Appearances
Before her introduction in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Aqua made small appearances in the secret endings from Kingdom Hearts II and its re-release, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. Both events depicted Terra, Ventus and her fighting Xehanort and his apprentice VanitasVanitas
In the arts, vanitas is a type of symbolic work of art especially associated with Northern European still life painting in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, though also common in other places and periods. The word is Latin, meaning "emptiness" and loosely translated...
. Moreover, her Keyblade and armor appear in a room from Radiant Garden in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, which Xemnas, the "Nobody" of Xehanort, often visits calling the armor "friend".
In Birth by Sleep, Aqua appears as a Keyblade apprentice in Land of Departure training alongside Terra and Ventus to gain the title of Keyblade Master. Aqua takes the Mark of Mastery exam along with Terra and becomes a Keyblade Master. When Xehanort goes missing, Eraqus instructs Terra and her to find him while also protecting the worlds they visit from creatures known as the Unversed. Following Terra's departure, Eraqus asks Aqua to watch over Terra to see if he succumbs to his inner darkness and also bring back Ventus who suddenly left the world. As she travels across the worlds, Aqua starts doubting about Terra's actions in the worlds, while Ventus decides not to return home until Terra is safe. When she meets Yen Sid, an acquaintance of Eraqus, Aqua is told that the latter was killed by Xehanort with Terra's assistance and goes to the Keyblade Graveyard to face him. Later, Terra explains to her how Xehanort tricked him into fighting Eraqus, while Ventus reveals that Xehanort plans to use him and his apprentice Vanitas to create a Keyblade known as the χ-blade. The three are then confronted by Xehanort and Vanitas, and proceed to battle. When Terra goes to battle Xehanort, Vanitas takes possession of Ventus' body to create the χ-blade. With help from King Mickey
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
, Yen Sid's student, Aqua fights the possessed Ventus until the χ-blade explodes. After learning that Ventus has lost his heart while facing Vanitas, Aqua locks his catatonic body in Castle Oblivion created from the ruins of the Land of the Departure with Eraqus' Keyblade. Aqua then tracks down Terra to Radiant Garden, only to find that he was possessed by Xehanort. In the ensuing battle, Terra's presence manifests, causing Xehanort to stab himself in the internal struggle and fall into the Realm of Darkness. However, to save Terra's body, Aqua saves him by sending her armor and Keyblade with him back to Radiant Garden. As a result, Aqua ends up trapped in the Realm of Darkness. Sometime after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, she meets Ansem the Wise, the former ruler of Radiant Garden, and learns about the events that occurred in her absence regarding Sora
Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Square Enix's best-selling Kingdom Hearts series. Introduced in the series' first game in 2002, Sora is a cheerful teenager who originates from Destiny Islands and has been best friends with Riku and Kairi since early childhood. When they plan to...
, the new Keyblade bearer. Knowing that Sora will rescue her friends, Ansem, and herself, Aqua sheds a tear and utters Sora's name with renewed hope.
In Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Kingdom Hearts coded
is an episodic puzzle video game developed and published by Square Enix, in collaboration with the Walt Disney Internet Group for mobile phones. It is the fourth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series and is set after the events of the Kingdom Hearts II. The story focuses on a message written in...
, Aqua is revealed to be one of the many people connected with Sora's heart, causing Mickey to ask Sora to rescue them.
Creation and development
For Aqua's first appearance in the secret ending Kingdom Hearts II, director Tetsuya Nomura stated he still did not design her appearance, having focused on what her story would be. While unwilling to explain her identity, Nomura pointed that Aqua's, Terra's and Ventus' scene occurred prior to the events from the first game. Following the release of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Nomura revealed more details about Aqua such as a connection with the character Xemnas, wishing gamers to hint more about them. He also revealed her name as said by the Lingering Sentiment in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and explained that her name follows the "water" theme brought by Kairi's name. However, a connection with Kairi was not intended, but rather with the series' main characters whose names bear various themes.In contrast to Terra and Ventus, Aqua did not have a base to design her, leading Nomura to call a completely new character. Her outfit was based on Terra's Japanese-inspired clothes which are meant to expand the student-and-teacher bond shown in the game. Aqua's outfit was altered three times during the game's development. Since Nomura felt that the outfit she was wearing during the Tokyo Game Show 2009 was too revealing since her entire back is exposed when she jumps in the air, he modified her outfit to create a design that was neither too conservative nor too revealing. As with Terra and Ventus, the making of Aqua's outfit brought issues to Nomura due to how she would be able to summon her armor. Therefore, an "X" was added to their clothes as a means to activate the armors. When designing her, Nomura was worried about her possible lack of popularity due to her lack of connections with other Kingdom Hearts characters unlike Terra and Ventus. Therefore, he decided to make her a strong girl as he mentions he did the same with Xion
Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
is a fictional character from Square Enix's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts. She was introduced in the 2009 game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days as the newest and fourteenth member from the group Organization XIII which is composed of Nobodies, beings created from people who lost their heart...
for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
is an action roleplaying game developed and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS with assistance from h.a.n.d. It is the fifth installment in the best-selling Kingdom Hearts series, and serves as an interquel beginning near the end of the first game, Kingdom Hearts, and covering the period...
but in a different way; while Xion was made a brave girl, Nomura wanted to keep her feminine despite her strength. While still unsure how she would be received, Nomura later stated she became popular within fans, remarking Megumi Toyoguchi
Megumi Toyoguchi
is a voice actress, born on January 2, 1978 in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. She is employed by the talent management firm 81 Produce.-Trivia:* Toyoguchi is the only seiyū to have the distinction of appearing in every anime in the Saturday 6 p.m...
's work as her voice actress. Toyoguchi had already worked with Nomura in Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy X-2
is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation 2. It was released in 2003 and is the sequel to the best-selling 2001 game Final Fantasy X...
voicing Paine, one of the game's protagonists; while Toyoguchi used a low tone with Paine, she used tone closer to her original voice when voicing Aqua, something which Nomura praised due to her representation of the character.
Ever since the game started development, the staff decided it would be divided in three scenarios, with Aqua's being the last one written. The original ending of her scenario showed her trapped in the Realm of Darkness, but said part was moved to the game's "Last Episode" playthrough in order to reduce the dark tones from the three regular endings. In gameplay perspective, Aqua was designed to be a character gamers would take some getting used to, and recommended them use her as the last one in order to understand the game's story better, as he points that scenario with the intention that Aqua would be the last character to leave the Land of Departure. The staff had in mind which when developing her movements, while her personality was described as a serious and dignified young woman.
Reception
Aqua's character has received mixed response from video game publications with initial comments focused on her, Terra's and Ventus' brief appearances in Kingdom Hearts II. Writing for GamesRadarGamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
, Chris Antista commented that he did not understand the importance of him and the other characters being briefly featured in Kingdom Hearts II, although it could be explained once the player finishes Birth by Sleep. Videogamer.com writer Emily Gera stated that players may know little about them due to their role in Kingdom Hearts II, but with Birth by Sleep, players will able to know about them. Prior to her initial revelation in trailers from Birth by Sleep, 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
's Jeremy Parish stated that fans speculated that Aqua would be a male character. Having played a demo from Birth by Sleep as Aqua in the E3 2010, Ryan Clements from IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
enjoyed her character due to her gameplay mechanics.
While reviewing Birth by Sleep, Adam Ghigiino from PALGN
PALGN
The PAL Gaming Network is an Australian based video game news and reviews website that focuses on the videogame industry and culture in PAL territories, particularly Australia and the UK. It was launched in 2003 by a group of PAL forum members on the IGN message boards who were disenfranchised by...
criticizing her "idealistic" dialogues, finding them repetitive. PlayStation LifeStyle's Thomas Williams found the trio as welcome additions to the franchise, finding their stories enjoyable although the three travel to the same worlds. Kevin VanOrd from GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave praise to Aqua's character, based on her personality, how it counterparts Ventus' as well as Holland's voice acting. 1UP.com's Steve Watts found Aqua's gameplay as the weakest from all the three characters as in contrast to Ventus and Terra, she specializes in magic techniques which are weak during the game's start. On the other hand, Bob Miur from Destructoid
Destructoid
Destructoid is an independent video game-focused blog based in San Francisco, California that was founded in March 2006. It has since grown into one of the most widely read video game sites on the Internet, reaching more than 3 million unique visitors per month...
found it appealing due to how it contrast previous fighting styles seen in the Kingdom Hearts series. Aqua's story was also found less entertaining than Ventus', but still find it less predictable than Terra's. Following Square's advice of using Aqua as the last playable GameInformer writer Bryan Vore liked how her actions were played with Ventus' and Terra's. However, Bore still cited Aqua's playthrough as repetitive if played as the last one, and also called its plot as weakest from all of them. Alongside Ventus and Terra, X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
found Aqua similar to the protagonists from Kingdom Hearts with her being compared with Kairi. In contrast to Van Ord, RPGFan's Ashton Liu found Aqua's voice "bored for almost the whole game", citing how it is notable when comparing her with other voice actors such as Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
and Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
. In an ASCII Media Works
ASCII Media Works
is a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group which formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company...
poll, Aqua was voted as the twelveth most popular video game character from 2010. In a Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
poll from 2011, Aqua was voted as the fourth most popular Kingdom Hearts character.