#a traditional magical girl like usagi/sailor moon doesn’t have to be taught to see shades of gray

[daylighteclipsed]

So, in my experience, a shonen anime can have these things and in many cases does. I think what mainly differentiates a shonen from a magical girl anime is that shonen places emphasis on physical strength and magical girl anime places emphasis on emotional strength.

Kingdom Hearts is unique in that it’s pretty much a shonen protagonist running around in a universe that operates on magical girl values. Sora begins as a 14 year old boy who wants to get stronger, to physically best his rival Riku. Sora spends much of KH1 relying on the Keyblade’s might, eager to put his battle skills to the test and become a hero.

But Sora doesn’t really become a hero until he declares that his power doesn’t come from his weapon but his friends. He doesn’t need a sword. He has his heart.

From here on, the series consistently demonstrates that the heart is always mightier than the fist. But Sora himself struggles to see the value in compassion and understanding over physical prowess and capability, thereby failing to recognize his own inherent strength.

They are without a doubt his greatest strengths, but he still perceives these traditionally feminine values as inferior to the masculine values someone like Hercules, at first glance, represents in the face of a fight. The height. The muscles. The godly strength. Sora wants to be just like Hercules.

(Which is ironic since Herc’s whole thing is how a hero isn’t measured by the size of their strength but the strength of their heart. But it’s not like Sora has watched the movie.)

This is why the aftermath of failing the Mark of Mastery Exam is such a blow to Sora’s self esteem. Why the taunting by villains about how puny and weak Sora is gets to him. Sora thinks he’s useless if he can’t fight. He thinks learning the Power of Waking is all about getting his physical strength back.

And while physically grinding like he does in KH3 doesn’t hurt; war is upon them, after all… it doesn’t really bring him closer to the Power of Waking, right? Because the PoW has nothing to do with how well you can throw a punch, swing a sword, cast a spell.

It’s strength of heart. Strength of feelings and connections. Again, the things Sora is gifted at. Mastering the PoW in KH3 would’ve been a breeze if Sora wasn’t thinking like a shonen protagonist and instead recognized and accepted his inherent, “feminine” strengths.

All this is to say, I think it’s hard to define Kingdom Hearts as shonen or magical girl because it really is like, hey let’s throw this shonen protagonist into a magical girl story and see what happens! And what happens is Sora lmao

Nobody understands Kingdom Hearts that well cause everybody compares it to shonen anime when it's actually a magical girl anime because it has:

-A protagonist who is an ordinary lad who got given a special power that could save the universe

Teammates that the protagonist can lean on and who help the protagonist with said special power

A love interest heavily involved in the plot that both motivates the protagonist and is motivated by the protagonist

A monster of the week format that has its own standalone conflict that eventually leads to the next major plot point in the story

Overarching themes about love and friendships and connections and identity