Are you wondering if Kingdom Hearts Riku is gay? It’s possible, given there are a few subtle hints about his sexuality throughout the series – but then again, there is more evidence to suggest the opposite. Are we making too much of this? Is Kingdom Hearts Riku a gay icon, or is it all wishful thinking on our end?
The Kingdom Hearts games combine seemingly incompatible strains of JRPG gameplay with the kind of contemporary and fourth-wall-breaking storytelling found in Western cartoon shows like Adventure Time and Rick and Morty. This means that there are tons of queer characters featured throughout the games and its manga spin-offs.
While Riku’s sexuality is never explicitly stated in the series, fans can read between the lines regarding his relationship to Roxas, his interactions with Saix, and his gendered usages of language in Dream Drop Distance. Never afraid to push buttons and play with subtext, there are a lot of things that suggest Kingdom Hearts Riku is gay. Read on for all the evidence.
Is Riku gay?
There isn’t a single line that explicitly states that Riku is gay, or bisexual, or any other sexuality, but this doesn’t mean there are no hints in the Kingdom Hearts games. As with any interpretation of media that barely hints at its main character’s sexual orientation, this one comes with a caveat: take it with a grain of salt. The Kingdom Hearts series is so large, and its writing so spotty, that Riku’s sexuality could be nothing more than a tossed-off avatar joke, never to be talked about again.
But let’s look at the evidence, starting from the very beginning.
Is Riku gay? Actually, there’s a chance that he’s not. This innocuous scene in the first game gets a lot of play when it comes to discussions about Riku’s sexuality. Sora, inquisitive about the romantic legend of sharing the paopu fruit with another person, teases Riku (“No, I’m talking about Riku. Do you like him? Does he like you? Will you share with him?”) before challenging Riku to a race to share the fruit with Kairi. It may be the most forced conversation in the entire game, but it’s loaded to the brim with those gay subtexts.
In the second game, Riku says: “In our world, people change their looks all the time. But when you are a part of them, your looks become… their memories. I’m nobody. You’re just a duplicate of a person whose heart I stole.” This statement begs the question: whose memories are Riku including himself in? And what exactly ‘becoming’ a nobody entails? If anything, nightmares and loneliness aren’t exactly something specific to the LGBTQ+ community, but you never know.
In Dream Drop Distance, Riku teases Sora about romance once again, begging the question: is Riku still teasing Sora about his relationship with Kairi, or is Riku teasing Sora about his relationship with Axel? Voice actor Jesse McCartney teases Riku’s possible relationship with Axel in the audio commentary for that scene in the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts III.
And then there are the signs that Riku is gay throughout Dream Drop Distance. In that same game, he gets all flustered when Ienzo calls him ‘prince’ and is quick to correct him. Riku also assumes a traditionally feminine role during different scenes in which Aqua and Kairi take charge. After being held captive by the Darkness for thirteen years, his timidness shows through whenever he’s out of his comfort zone, which is when he desperately thinks about getting his ears pierced for some reason.
Riku’s treatment of Roxas is the most telling social media-subtext-laden clue. It’s implied in the game that Roxas’s own encounters with Organization XIII members play a role in the opening of the Keyblade. After Riku asks Roxas whether he is a nobody or not, he tells Roxas that he can become his own person now.