The "Simple and Clean" Experiences That Keep Us Going

[KH_Is_Light_999]

Hi everyone. I had a Kingdom Hearts related experience at work the other day that I personally thought was neat. It helped me feel happy and helped me to keep going in life, like a lot of small and simple positive experiences do. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post something like this, but I wanted to create a thread in which people can share "simple and clean" experiences they've had related to Kingdom Hearts as a series or in general, that have helped them feel happier when they were down, or just helped them keep going like the experience I had did. It doesn't have to be a grand experience, and it can be something simple like a positive interaction with someone either in person or online related to Kingdom Hearts, or anything like that you can think of.

I'll go ahead and start by sharing the very simple, but positive experience I had at work related to Kingdom Hearts. Where I work, we have the radio playing all day with all kinds of different songs. In honor of national video game day here in the United States (it's not a big deal of a day, really; just a simple recognition of video games), a few different iconic video game themes were played at different parts of the day over the radio. I heard things like the Super Mario Bros. theme song and The Legend of Zelda theme song. Both were really great to hear at work, but I was starting to wish they would recognize a little more variety as well.

As I clocked out of work that day, the radio was still going for the night crew. Someone from another store had called the station and requested that they play Utada Hikaru's "Simple and Clean" for a friend. Suddenly, Simple and Clean started playing over the work radio, and as I walked out of the store that evening, listening to that iconic and special representation for Kingdom Hearts, I was filled with happiness and the rest of my evening went well. I was so happy to hear Simple and Clean playing over the radio where I work!

While this was a very simple and small experience, for me personally, it helped brighten my mood and helped me to keep going. It reminded me that although the fanbase for Kingdom Hearts is only a few million at most, we are still a few million strong. It showed me that there's Kingdom Hearts fans all over the place, and you never know when you might run into one. We all have different likes and dislikes about different Kingdom Hearts games, but I feel there's one thing we all share in common: all of us fans have some amount of love and passion for Kingdom Hearts in some way.

Anyways, I just wanted to share that, and I wanted to invite anyone who sees this thread to share their own "Simple and Clean" experiences related to Kingdom Hearts, that have helped them keep going, brightened their day in some way, or just made them feel happier. I feel like Kingdom Hearts has a great fanbase, even if it isn't as big as some other fanbases. If you would like to share a positive "Simple and Clean" Kingdom Hearts experience you've had, please feel free to do so.

 

[Face My Fears]

One time when I went with friends to get sushi, the restaurant was playing Japanese music. Suddenly "Passion" played and I got all excited and no one at the table knew why. That was probably the first and only time I ever heard a KH song played without me being the one playing it out loud.

 

[Soldier]

On my birthday last year, I decided that of all things, I wanted to see Toy Story 4. An odd choice for a 20 year old, but i've always had this weird connection to this film series. Some people have even stated that I look a lot like going away to college Andy in the 3rd film, which actually played the day before my first day of college funnily enough.

I went with my mother and sister to the local mall, and I was decked out in what little KH merch I had at the time (a crappy metal crown necklace that I had received from the licensed Sora outfit from last year's halloween). My sister was wearing a shirt featuring the organization members from KH 2 with "Organization XIII" and the word in kanji beneath it. This clearly wasn't a licensed product, but there are so few objects out there that depict Demyx to begin with that I had to get it for her. As we approach the concession stand, the guy behind the counter recognizes it and says "so what did you guys think of 3?". At the time (June 2019) the game had been out for a while and everyone was still getting used to a post KH 3 world where fans were more abundant, so we talked for a bit on how far they've come and how the ending is disappointing. As we're watching the film, I point out to my sister that the brief shot of Andy's room in the film is perfectly replicated in KH 3, down to the smallest details on the corkboard. Out of all the worlds in KH 3, the Toy Box is easily the best one in my opinion. The fact that Pixar allowed Square Enix to have so much creative liberties with the world and make it a part of the movie canon just goes to show that they've come a long way.

 

[mouflon]

I love this idea! It’s great when something you love pops up in life randomly like that and gives you a little shot of joy.

KH’s biggest impact on me started in late 2015. I quit my job due to being in a really bad place, mentally speaking. I wasn’t super into KH again but had gotten a bit more into the series thanks to the HD re-releases on PS3. With all my free time, I decided on two things: getting the Platinum trophies for all the KH games and getting into art again.

I actually began a KH webcomic. It was awful and super cringe-worthy (even at the time I was drawing it I thought so, let alone in retrospect!) but I was dogged to keep going with it since it was fun and I was learning. I was finally DOING something, sticking with something, learning from it.

Falling in love with KH helped me fall in love with art. I actually spend more time drawing nowadays than playing games, which would’ve seemed utterly bonkers to me before I quit my job in ’15. One of my goals this year was to take my first art commission and someone actually approached me about it on DA last week! So yeah, not only do I now super-love KH, it’s even spurred me on to other things I love.

Unfortunately I deleted the comic pages ages ago, including from the one site where I’d uploaded them. Even though they totally sucked and there were only about 15 pages, I’d have loved to have kept them. I hate you so much embarrassment, haha.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Just something silly. I went to Red Robin with some friends after a work day to see Promare. My phone case at the time was a KH3D Sora & Riku design by Sara Kipin and I had my phone sitting face down on the table.

Our server came by and took our order then looked down at my phone and freaked out because he loved Kingdom Hearts. He even had a tattoo if I remember correctly. He was really sweet and brought us extra garlic fries that we didn’t order on top of our free regular fry refills.

After we ate but before we started heading to the theater, I opened my purse and found a KH Keyblade keychain I had gotten from a blind box so I ran back inside the Red Robin, found him, and gave him the Keyblade. I think it was Mickey’s Star Seeker...

 

[Clue.Less]

I had a pretty bad breakdown during confinement and shut myself off in a KH/FF7R coping marathon, during which my SO had a lot of time alone with my mom and apparently explained to her what the hell I was doing all about Lucky Emblems and how "IMPORTANT" they were. SO had started hunting down Lucky Emblems in our apartment and outside to cheer me up.

A couple days later, my mom was texting a friend about their house plants and, out of the blue, I got this from her:



...

She'd even asked my SO what the phrase was in the game so she could surprise me!

 

[Absent]

Mine happened on my birthday. My friends took me to this very expensive sea food restaurant and reserved a room so it could be casual. I just happen to wear my Kingdom Hearts shirt, as soon as the waiter saw my shirt he lost it. He begged to take a picture with me and so we did. My friends told him it was birthday and the dude paid for my plate and dessert! That guy had a big heart and we geeked out about Kingdom Hearts 1 together.

 

[KeybladeMasterJr]

My KH moment is when I met my wife, it was like a fairytale when we met

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

My KH moment is when I met my wife, it was like a fairytale when we met

If you are ever open to sharing the story, we’d all love to hear it!

 

[KeybladeMasterJr]

I dunno if I can it’s a long story ☺ but... here goes nothing, *takes deep breath* ok so I was going to college and one day this beautiful of a women...no a Angel! Starts appearing around school and it was love at first sight, I dunno what compelled me to try to ask her out since she was out of my league I still tried, Though it was many weeks now and I rehearsed the lines in my head at home, I couldn’t put myself to do it, I felt hopeless , then one day I was at the wrong place at the right time, before class starts she came right through my class room door and walks straight up to me at my table (my heart was pounding at this point!) and She says, “can I sit next to you?”, I look around seeing how she could easily sit anywhere else and said, “Y..you want to sit next to me?” and then we became friends! After words we started hanging out and I learned more about her...and she had a boyfriend! But in time she broke up with him and I saw it on Facebook her status changed to single! it was my chance! So when it became lunch time I literally ran to her class room and asked her out...she said no...and everybody laughed at me, then one of her friends asked why would I even ask at this time? I saw my future wife eating yogurt and said “So you can remember this beautiful moment when you eat yogurt”, then her friend said now she will remember saying no instead! I went home discouraged and cried in my bed but afterwards I told myself I can’t give up, I have to try harder! so I literally montaged myself better and worked out more, wore new clothes, did my hair and I was ready, next time she saw me she asked me out! Omg I couldn’t believe it after all that time! then afterwards we went to lunch and accidentally got 2 sandwiches out of the machine as if this relationship was blessed by the divine...after I shackily put the dollar bill because I was so excited she was finally mine