Kingdom Hearts (2015 TV series)

Kingdom Hearts (キングダムハーツ Kingudamu Hātsu) is a Japanese-American anime television series and sequel of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, based on the video game series of the same name by Square Enix. It was animated and produced by Madhouse and Tatsunoko Pro.

It was first broadcasted in the U.S. on July 12, 2015, by Freeform. Official English dubbed episodes can be found on Hulu though only available within the United States thus far.

The series took on more radical changes for the character designs ditching the style animation always used previously in favor of more traditional animation similar to Marvel Anime: Iron Man or Heroman.

Also, according to this series' composer, Adam Berry, this series was to take in a wider age group and was aimed to teenagers aged 13 to 21. This is why the characters are much older (ranging from teenagers to young adults), the story is much darker.

Plot synopsis
In the year 2003, it is the last day of school before the summer break, Sora and his two best friends, Riku and Kairi seek to leave their homes to explore new worlds and have prepared a raft for this purpose. One night, the islands are attacked by darkness and shadow creatures.

Sora seeks out his friends, finding Riku first; Riku disappears into darkness, curious about what it contains. Soon after, Sora obtains a mysterious weapon, the Keyblade, to defend himself. Using it to fend off the creatures, he heads for a secret cave, where he finds Kairi near a door. She turns to him, saying his name as the door behind her blows open. The ensuing blast of darkness sends Sora and Kairi both out of the cave. The islands are soon destroyed, and Sora is left adrift, Riku and Kairi's whereabouts unknown.

Meanwhile, King Mickey has left his world to deal with the increasing power of darkness and left instructions for mage Donald Duck and knight Goofy to find the "key". Donald and Goofy use a Gummi Ship to travel to a parallel universe, where it happens Sora has also drifted to. Sora encounters the creatures again in Shibuya, Tokyo, and eventually meets Leon, a mysterious swordsman who explains they are Heartless, creatures that consume hearts, and that the Keyblade is the only weapon capable of defeating them and Commander Folsom who also explains a team called the Ultimate Avengers about a rogue dragon called Naga was tempted and decided to take the red and blue core and 6 Infinity Stones to rule of both Vestroia and the Earth alongside with Bega.

The king of Leon's homeworld, a man named Ansem, is said to have studied the Heartless. Donald and Goofy are approached by Aerith, who also tells them what they may be looking for. Soon after, Sora meets the Avengers, Donald, and Goofy rather hastily, and they take down a large Heartless, members of A.I.M. and Dr. Drakken but he got away. From there, they decide to work together: the Ultimate Avengers to find the Infinity Stones and the blue core in order to defeat Bega, Donald and Goofy to find Mickey, and Sora to find Kairi and Riku.

Three years later; Sora, Donald, and Goofy have been asleep in order to regain their memories. When Sora awakens, he eventually arrives in Twilight Town, the place where a mysterious boy, Roxas, lived before he suddenly left.

Gaining new clothes and powers, Sora continues his quest by unlocking paths to new worlds, learning of Nobodies and fighting the Heartless, as well as facing the remaining members of the mysterious Organization XIII. Meanwhile, the mysterious disappearance of Finn Winston makes a 17-year old Theodore Detweiler restore his powers, as well as forcing him to search and locate Deka. At the same time, he must enlist the help of the Inhuman kids and repel attacks from a new enemy, the Highbreed.

In an effort to undermine Xehanort’s plot, Sora, Donald and Goofy search for seven guardians of light and the “Key to Return Hearts,” while King Mickey and Riku search for previous Keyblade wielders. Not only that, but some creep called Wiseman has appeared with ancient Bakugan called the Nonets.

Ultimate Avengers/Champions

 * Ace (Sora)
 * Donald Duck
 * Goofy
 * Shadow (Riku)
 * King Mickey
 * Kairi
 * Lea
 * Aqua
 * Ventus
 * Terra
 * Roxas
 * Xion
 * Osmosis Jones (Marcus Simpson)
 * Dragonoid (Drago)
 * Kiba (Thomas "Tom" Weasley)
 * Skyress
 * Tomoe (Yumi Aizawa)
 * Dranzer (Theodore "T.J." Detweiler)
 * Vincenzo (Vincent "Vince" LaSalle)
 * Madame Fist (Ashley "Ash" Spinelli)
 * Tigrerra
 * Rescue (Gretchen Grundler)
 * Gorem
 * Nebulator (Gustav "Gus" Griswald)
 * Wade
 * Preyas
 * Angelo/Diablo
 * Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)
 * Snow Girl (Celia Yamamoto)
 * Sparrow (Jenny Nocturne)
 * Songbird (Melissa Gold)
 * Homura (Laura Kinney)
 * Ironheart (Riri Williams)
 * Daichi (Ren Takachiho)
 * Shun (Ray Lo)
 * Mai Chen
 * Dexter Riley
 * Bridget Verdant
 * Eliza
 * Joey Lee
 * Wavern
 * Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
 * Sam Alexander
 * Vivian
 * Brawn (Amadeus Cho)
 * Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green)

Avengers/Supervisors

 * Capitan America (Steve Rogers)
 * Iron Man (Tony Stark)
 * Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
 * Hulk (Bruce Banner)
 * Thor Odinson
 * Falcon (Samuel Wilson)
 * Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)
 * Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
 * Yen Sid
 * Zadavia
 * The Kingdom Avengers
 * Stan Lee

Bega/Organization XIII

 * Naga
 * Hal-G
 * Kurata Akihiro
 * Xehanort
 * Masquerade (formerly)
 * Hydranoid (formerly)
 * Maleficent
 * Pete
 * The Highbreed
 * Nomad Mechtogans
 * The Nonets
 * Wiseman

Cast
Some members from the original cast of Square Enix, Disney and Marvel Anime returned to reprise their roles; a name in italics indicates a returning actor.

Episodes
Main article: List of Kingdom Hearts episodes 

English Opening Themes

 * Kingdom Hearts instrumental theme by Tetsuya Takahashi: episodes 1-160

English Ending Themes

 * Kingdom Hearts instrumental theme ver 1 by Tom Erba: episodes 1-71
 * Kingdom Hearts instrumental theme ver 2 by Kevin Manthei: episodes 72-160

Changes in the American version
The English staff had made changes to the episodes when it was aired internationally. The following are:
 * Localization of names such as Masaru Shinpuson to Marcus Simpson and Phoenix to Skyress, among others so International Viewers can understand the Story.
 * Replacing Japanese BGM (composed by Takayuki Negishi) with the English version, given out in the background for the characters in season 1-5, like flute is played in the background for Sora and rock is played in the background for Marcus. Musical background status have change for season 6-7, as they don't play separate for different characters.
 * When the dubbed episodes 1-131 aired on Sundays, on Freeform, they were edited and censored for blood, language, violence, and references to death are removed until the airing on Hulu.
 * Tetsuya Takahashi composed the score for the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts. Tom Erba (2015-17) and Kevin Manthei composed a new background score for the international release "for both artistic and commercial reasons."

Trivia

 * The show has been moved to Hulu after the 131st episode.
 * The English version episode 132 onwards now stream uncut on Hulu.
 * This will be the second Anime collaboration between Square-Enix, Disney, and Marvel.
 * Like the game series, most US Disney voices have reprised their roles.
 * Most non-Disney characters have reprised for their roles with some exceptions (for example being both Miyu Irino and Haley Joel Osment due to their busy schedules).
 * These series are rated: TV-PG; later TV-PG-LV
 * The show shares the same animation style with Tokyo Disney Resort CM: Yume ga Kanau Basho.