Abstract
ABSTRACT: The premise of Kingdom Hearts (2002), a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) produced by Square that features Disney characters, led fans to question the game’s genre and reveals the tenuous connection between JRPG and the Japanese racial identity. The irony that Kingdom Hearts both inspires doubts about the Japanese-ness of JRPG and is widely associated with the Japanese auteur Tetsuya Nomura alludes to the industrial structure that deracinates JRPGs to render them exportable. This article elucidates the racialized labor behind Kingdom Hearts by reading Nomura as an anti-auteur who subverted Disney’s control to make a game that aligns with Square’s brand of JRPG.
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