Album Cover of Hikari
"Simple and Clean" is a song heard in many installments of the Kingdom Hearts series. It is written and sung by Utada Hikaru and it is featured in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and their remakes. It is also featured in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.
Opening[]
Kingdom Hearts[]
The opening starts with Sora telling the audience that he's been thinking about some "weird stuff" lately, like whether anything is real or not. We then see him falling through a black, empty watery void, creating bubbles as he descends.
Suddenly he wakes up on Destiny Islands's beach, and is blinded by the light. When his eyes finally adjust he sees Riku standing in the water. He goes to meet him, but suddenly stops when he realizes the tide is going out. A massive wave forms behind Riku, but he doesn't seem to mind, as he gestures to Sora to come to him. Sora tries to rescue Riku, but he is too late and he gets knocked under the water by the wave. He looks up to see Riku still standing in front of him, gesturing him to come with him. Sora tries to reach him, but the current pulls him back to the beach.
Sora emerges from the water to see Kairi at the beach, waving at him. He meets with her, and the two laugh, before they see shooting stars and something falling from the sky. Sora realizes it's him, and almost immediately finds himself falling from the sky. Kairi tries to reach for him, but disappears is a ripple like transition.
Sora then plunges into the ocean, and we see him falling in the black void we saw him in at the start. Sora eventually lands on something. He tries to look around, but as soon as he takes a step a flock of doves fly out from under him, revealing that he's standing on a mural of Snow White.
Chain of Memories[]
The opening acts as a recap montage of Sora's adventure in Kingdom Hearts that ends when Sora and Kairi get separated at the end.
Birth by Sleep[]
The opening starts with Aqua, Terra and Ventus watching a shooting star, but it is inter-spliced with them in their Keyblade Armor getting ready for their final battle in the Keyblade Graveyard. At the battle Terra runs forward to attack, but is thrown into the air by a rock pillar appearing beneath him. We suddenly cut to Terra's sparring match with Aqua in the Land of Departure, and the two clash.
They pull away and we see Ventus, who sees Master Xehanort and Vanitas arrive at the Land of Departure. Vanitas gestures to Ventus to come to him, similar to how Riku did in the first opening, and the camera gets pulled into Vanitas' helmet, where we see a hollow looking Ventus holding what appears to be a small heart, which he then drops.
The heart transforms into a Aqua's Wayfinder, which falls into her hands. We see the other two holding their Wayfinders with her, before they shoot up into the sky, revealing that they are in the Keyblade Graveyard. The Wayfinder turn into murals depicting Aurora, Snow White and Cinderella before they become key chains on Star Seeker.
We then cut to Terra's fight with Xehanort, him getting smacked across the arena. Xehanort then grabs Ventus by the head and begins to crush his helmet. Aqua then gets a vision of Terra walking passed her, and gets a look of sadness as she clutches her heart, her face appearing in a terrified Ventus' eyes.
We then see Terra running down a white hallway, as a wave of darkness chases after him. We then see that Ventus is running in a similar hallway filled with scenes from the game, except his is black and appears to be getting erased from behind him in a wave of whiteness, which eventually catches up to him. Aqua appears to sense this, as she gets very upset.
We then cut back to the Keyblade Graveyard, with Aqua holding a frozen Ventus and Xehanort summoning Kingdom Hearts. Terra takes off his helmet and sees this, his eyes turning yellow with rage.
Suddenly we see both Terra and Aqua falling in a shadowy void. Aqua sees a mural depicting Ventus, which then keys shattered by the Kingdom Key and Soul Eater, sending Ventus falling into the void too. Ventus then turns into a shooting star. We then see a young Sora and Riku sitting on the beach on Destiny Islands, the shooting star shoots across the sky and appear to land in Sora.
Re:Coded[]
The opening acts as a recap montage of Sora's adventures in Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II that ends with Sora and Kairi reuniting on Destiny Islands, Kairi briefly turning into Naminé.
Dream Drop Distance[]
The opening starts with Mickey stepping onto a conductors podium in his Fantasia outfit. A collection of books fly around him as he conducts the music, commanding them to fly above him. From Sora, Donald and Goofy emerge from three of the books and begin flying. Sora and Donald seem to be enjoying their flight, but it takes Goofy a few seconds to realize he's falling.
Another book opens and we see a pop out version of Destiny Islands. Sora, Donald and Goofy land on the pages and Sora is blinded by the light, turning the pages into the real Destiny Islands. Sora meets with Riku and Kairi and they play for a bit, but the world gets surrounded by darkness. Riku gets swallowed by the darkness and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness appears behind Kairi. Ansem releases a pulse of energy that sends Kairi flying into Sora, but she suddenly disappears. A gust of wind sends Sora flying into another book and he falls down a spiral staircase in Castle Oblivion. Kairi reaches to help Sora, but she suddenly turns into Naminé in a ripple transition. Sora closes his eyes and falls into a Memory Pod.
We then see Roxas fly back from the Memory Pod, only to be be confronted by Xion pointing her Keyblade at him. We see a moment of Axel, Roxas and her hanging out on the Twilight Town clock tower before she fires a shot at Roxas. She disappears in a flash of light, only to be replaced by Axel. They summon their weapons and the two fight each other. This is immediately followed by climatic fight of Sora and Riku vs Xemnas, the two friends eventually over powering him and defeating the Nobody.
Sora and Riku then find themselves in the Keyblade Graveyard, where Xehanort appears before them. Mickey panics and jumps into the story and attacks Xehanort before he can attack the two, turning Xehanort into pages. Xehanort raises the ground beneath him to get away from the Keyblade Weilders, but Mickey chases after him followed by Sora and Riku. Mickey is then seen trying to put pages back into a book, but the book burst more pages out from it, releasing Roxas, Terra, Ventus, Aqua, Donald and Goofy. They all land on the rock pillar and prepare to fight, Sora leading the charge as they unleash a spell that surrounds all of them. The opening ends with the title, as dream Sora and Riku are seen gently falling passed it.
A fragmentary passage[]
The opening starts with a view at the bottom of the ocean. We then see a young Sora, Riku and Kairi paying on Destiny Islands. Under the water is Aqua's Wayfinder is under the water, Sora seems to sense this and reaches down into the water.
At the bottom of the ocean in a spot light is Aqua, holding her Wayfinder. She holds it to her chest before falling backwards, deeper into a sparkle filled void. She then comes across a glowing mural of Sora, which seems to give her hope. The three Wayfinders then plunge into the ocean, accompanied by a montage of the battle with Xehanort in the Keyblade Graveyard. Two of the Wayfinders explode, leaving only Aqua's to fall to the shadowy depths.
The Wayfinder then lands in Aqua's hands, she shows it to Terra and Ventus, who show her theirs as well. She is happy to be with them, but they dissapear, their Wayfinders landing in a watery substance below Aqua, revealing their reflections, which turn away and disappear too. Aqua tries to reach for the other two Wayfinders, but they fly out of her reach. Ventus' Wayfinder turns into one of five shadowy shooting stars, that swirls around the Castle of Dreams, causing all the lights to go out. Thirteen lights then land on the same number of seat, and glow brightly.
Terra and Ventus' Wayfinders then land in the Keyblade Graveyard. Aqua approaches what she thinks are them, but they turn around to reveal themselves to be Terra-Xehanort and Ventus-Vanitas, and attack her. She fends them off for a bit, but they soon over power them. The Sora mural then shines a bright light on them, and Mickey comes to help her. She is happy to see him, and they fight and defeat the possessed friends.
Aqua is then seen falling from the sky, trying to catch the Wayfinders. They turn into Terra and Ventus, and the three hold hands as they fall. But the thirteen seats surround them, and Xehanort smiles wickedly at them and releases a pulse of dark energy, which separates them yet again. Aqua casts barrier on her two friends before she falls into the depths again.
The last thing we see is Aqua's Wayfinder drift to the bottom of the abyss. But a blright light shines on it, and we see Aqua inside the Wayfinder see Sora's hand reach for her, and she reaches out to grab it.
Lyrics[]
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| Simple and Clean | |
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Other versions[]
"Hikari" is the original, Japanese version of "Simple and Clean"; it was originally released on Utada's Deep River album. It was used in the Japanese versions of Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. The name Hikari (光) literally means Light in Japanese, a universal force in the Kingdom Hearts universe. The melodies of "Simple and Clean" and "Hikari" remain exactly the same, except from the verse "When you walk away..." up until "don't go." which varies slightly between the two different versions of the song.
PLANiTb made remixes of both "Simple and Clean" and "Hikari". This remix is heard during the opening movie of Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, and Kingdom Hearts Re: coded. The PLANiTb version is faster, shorter, and has more of a dance mix feel to it than Utada's original song.
-Ray of Hope MIX- is another remix of both "Simple and Clean" and "Hikari". It is heard during the opening movie of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue.
In addition, an orchestral arrangement of "Hikari" can be heard in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Final Mix in the opening menu cinematic which appears if the player lets the opening menu sit for about fifteen seconds. The orchestrated version is also featured at the end of each scenario of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, during the closing cinematic of Kingdom Hearts III, the opening of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and most recently, Sora's reveal trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Opening Sequences[]
