Is Aqua the "primary" protagonist in Birth by Sleep?

[BlackOsprey]

Not like Terra is a very nice person...?
I mean okaaaay, he doesn't willingly choose the path of darkness in the beginning, but he's still caught in between light and darkess, yet they didn't treat his eyes special.

Terra's still never actively antagonistic. Most of the bad stuff he did was because of dumb misunderstanding or active manipulation. The only time he fights someone he cares about (Eraqus) was to defend Ven. KH1 Riku on the other hand... Sure, the darkness might've been eating at him a bit, but he still, without any mind-control involved, kidnaps several people and tries to personally murder Sora. People didn't hate him because he was stupid, unlike Terra. :I

 

[Sephiroth0812]

I just find it really funny how we've got the Xehanorts, which are supposed to be the same person (same heart, same mind, it's a main plot point!) and yet they all look different, while on the other hand, we've got protagonists who're supposed to be completely separate and unique individuals... AND THEIR APPEARANCES ARE (almost) IDENTICAL.

Also. Riku's eye color was changed? Since when?

Technically the only ones who are truly "identical" like actual twins in terms of appearance are Ventus and Roxas. They do have one physical trait to separate them (Roxas has brown eyebrows like Sora while Ven has blond eyebrows) but that is so minor it flys over most people's heads.
The data-boys, Riku Replica etc. are literal "clones" so they're supposed to look like that.
Sora and Vanitas can be differentiated by hair and eye color (that and Vanitas has a slightly more muscular build).

Meh, sorry. I said that wrong.
What I mean is: He is the only relevant character with a different eye color than anyone else.

Depending on the lighting Riku's eye color can come over as different shades of green or blue, but I think the actual color is a shade of aquamarine or teal.

He's not the only relevant character with non-blue eyes though as Axel/Lea as actual true green eyes and Kairi's blue is a darker shade than the others.

 

[VoidGear.]

Terra's still never actively antagonistic. Most of the bad stuff he did was because of dumb misunderstanding or active manipulation. The only time he fights someone he cares about (Eraqus) was to defend Ven. KH1 Riku on the other hand... Sure, the darkness might've been eating at him a bit, but he still, without any mind-control involved, kidnaps several people and tries to personally murder Sora. People didn't hate him because he was stupid, unlike Terra. :I

Yeah I didn't mean to say they should treat them the same, but I still feel like...I dunno, it's just weird. I'm fine with the Xehanort-connected guys having golden eyes, but blue eyes are getting boring.

 

[BlackOsprey]

Technically the only ones who are truly "identical" like actual twins in terms of appearance are Ventus and Roxas. They do have one physical trait to separate them (Roxas has brown eyebrows like Sora while Ven has blond eyebrows) but that is so minor it flys over most people's heads.

Yeah, the twins were the only ones that were really on my mind when I typed that. But regardless, so far, every single Nort we've met looks visually distinct from the others. Even a casual viewer could tell the difference between each one. Why couldn't we pull that off between Roxas and Ven? :U

 

[VoidGear.]

He's not the only relevant character with non-blue eyes though as Axel/Lea as actual true green eyes and Kairi's blue is a darker shade than the others.

Yeah, I kinda let it slip that Axel / Lea is relevant, too. And also a keyblade wielder as of now. Heh.
As for Kairi, that's the same as with Ventus / Roxas to me. Sure, I can tell them apart because of their clothing etc, but I'd never pay much attention to their EYEBROWS if I weren't like a big fan of the series. And an extremely slightly darker blue...meh. xD

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Yeah, the twins were the only ones that were really on my mind when I typed that. But regardless, so far, every single Nort we've met looks visually distinct from the others. Even a casual viewer could tell the difference between each one. Why couldn't we pull that off between Roxas and Ven? :U

Considering how easy it would be to accomplish by just having one physical trait that is more visually obvious than eyebrows done differently one can only assume to pull this off was not wanted by the responsible parties.
In terms of personality they are actually rather different and Jesse McCartney also voices them pretty differently, but these are of course no visual help.

Both Xion in comparison to KH 1-Kairi and Vanitas in comparison to Sora do show that it would be easy to achieve a visual distinction if it is wanted.
Who knows, maybe Rox and Ven looking almost completely identical will eventually become a plot point somehow?

 

[khluva010]

For me, I feel like BBS did a great job in giving each character relatively the same amount of gameplay and story. I feel Aqua's story is the most unique compared to the other two. While Terra & Ventus' stories and character parallels are close in relation with Riku and Sora's respectively, Aqua's story doesn't really parallel with Kairi's in the same way, her character has similarities to Kairi's but there are significant differences between them in some ways. I think she's a great character, would I consider her the main protagonist out of three in this game? I'd say they're pretty equal. Depending on whose perspective you're looking through, one could argue that any of the three are the main protagonists.

You know what, I completely forgot about this. There's another aspect that I've identified not with just the BBS trio (but with all three of the key trios in the Kingdom Hearts series).

The Heroic One
Sora: Primary Protagonist
Roxas: Saves Xion from being used by Xemnas, tries to stop the Organization's collection of hearts
Aqua: Saves Ventus after the Ventus/Vanitas forge, saves Terra from being completely consumed by Darkness

The manipulated and deceived one
Riku: Manipulated by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Maleficent to give in to Darkness
Axel: Manipulated by his former friend Saix to have Xion be for her true purpose
Terra: Manipulated by Master Xehanort to be used as a vessel for harbouring his heart

The connection to set events in motion
Kairi: The Seventh Princess of Heart. She is connected to the other Princess of Heart as beings of pure lights
Xion: The personifications of Sora's memory of Kairi manifested into a being. She is connected to Sora's memories
Ventus: A being of pure light after being divided by Master Xehanort. He is connected through the forming the X blade

Ohh looking at this is reminding me of the Star Wars Ring Composition theory with these connections and parallels, good stuff.

KH1 Riku on the other hand... Sure, the darkness might've been eating at him a bit, but he still, without any mind-control involved, kidnaps several people and tries to personally murder Sora. People didn't hate him because he was stupid, unlike Terra. :I

It can be said that Riku was manipulated by Maleficent (and then later Ansem SoD) quite actively and then on top of that blackmailed to save Kairi. By the time he faced off with Sora, he was pretty far gone into the darkness as Maleficient was trying to warn him to not let it overcome him which it ultimately did for awhile. Though I can see what you mean in relation to Terra who was pretty actively mind controlled against his will the majority of the time, the parallels can become a bit blurred between them in certain aspects.

 

[ultima-demi]

If only Aqua had violet eyes.

 

[Zul]

Technically the only ones who are truly "identical" like actual twins in terms of appearance are Ventus and Roxas. They do have one physical trait to separate them (Roxas has brown eyebrows like Sora while Ven has blond eyebrows) but that is so minor it flies over most people's heads.

The eyebrows seem identical in color in KH3D though.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md7c9dU7uS1qft94fo4_500.gif

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md7c9dU7uS1qft94fo2_500.gif

I wonder if the darker "brown" of Roxas was just the color looking darker because of a slightly older model.

In any image of roxas in a black coat, his eyebrows seem darker.

http://www.kingdomheartsunion.com/newsimg/kingdom-hearts-iii-might-bring-back-roxas-and-ventus.jpg

 

[Deleted member]

The eyebrows seem identical in color in KH3D though.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md7c9dU7uS1qft94fo4_500.gif

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md7c9dU7uS1qft94fo2_500.gif

I wonder if the darker "brown" of Roxas was just the color looking darker because of a slightly older model.

In any image of roxas in a black coat, his eyebrows seem darker.

http://www.kingdomheartsunion.com/newsimg/kingdom-hearts-iii-might-bring-back-roxas-and-ventus.jpg

In KH3D they used the exact same facial model for both characters, but previous to that they were a little different.

 

[Zul]

The difference I'm seeing isn't between Roxas and Ven, but rather Old Roxas and New Roxas(final mix).


http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l273/Sorade/roxasoldface.png

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l273/Sorade/RoxasNewFace.png

They just used the new Roxas face for Ven instead of the old, the old one seems to have darker eyebrows.

 

[Zeto]

It is true she has more gameplay, and "outlives" more or less the boys, but... I felt that Ven was the protagonist. Maybe because of his connection with Sora, and also the fact that he's the one to forge the X-blade with Vanitas. Plus Aqua's true role is limited until the end. I dunno. The 3 of them can be considered protagonists in their own way, I think.

^ This.

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[Chuuya]

I agree that Aqua would be a primary protagonist. Aqua does play a major crucial role in the story like how Ven does.

 

[Launchpad]

Aqua's shoes are so stupid. They're so unbelievably weird. I feel like people don't look at them closely enough.

 

[Chuman]

Aqua's shoes are so stupid. They're so unbelievably weird. I feel like people don't look at them closely enough.

they have rearview mirrors. i always tried to ignore them.

 

[Taochan]

You're just jealous you don't have blades jutting out of your shoes.

 

[Chuman]

You're just jealous you don't have blades jutting out of your shoes.

blades go on the bottom, she would make a terrible skater

 

[VoidGear.]

TAV's shoes were stupid overall. :S Like, sure, they fit the armor, but other than that...

 

[Muke]

Aqua's shoes are so stupid. They're so unbelievably weird. I feel like people don't look at them closely enough.

I actually loved TAV's shoes. They really felt 'old', if you get what I mean, lol. Also, yeah, they fit the armor, so that's a plus.
she could've used those shoes to cut mx in pieces but she decided not to