Countdown post features Lea asking Kairi to call him "Axel" and reminder that the Kingdom Hearts III commercial will air at the AFC Asian Cup

[KHWaterBlock 296]

Today marks another day down on Kingdom Hearts III's countdown! Each day until January 25, director Tetsuya Nomura is making an announcement. Today, he reminded everyone that the two-minute Kingdom Hearts III commercial will be uploaded after it airs during the AFC Asian Cup tonight on TV Asahi (the program starts at 10.:20PM and ends at 12:30 AM JST on January 18). The media he shared featured Lea and Kairi, where he's accepted the name Axel even as a somebody.

Quote

Call me Axel from now on. Got it memorized?

 

Here you can see Goldplanner's translations!

 

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[Ultima Spark 753]

I really hope that’s just his form of, well, special treatment/teasing/what-have-you towards her, and not something more foreboding.

[Movies798 1,359]

And I'm still calling him Lea. I wish the characters call him his real name Lea instead of his Nobody name.

[HM890 0]

yeah but most characters know Lea back when he was Axel and if you look closely that bit with Kairl's face is when she's on the Destiny Islands most likely her scene with Sora.

Edited January 17, 2019 by HM890

[Azure Flame 670]

If it starts on the 18th at 10:30 PM JST, then won't that actually be tomorrow?  I just looked it up and it's about 9:16 PM on the 17th right now in Japan.

[RikuFangirl2008 1,368]

They're becoming really good friends. That's good. That really makes me feel better to see this. 

[ITzDarthLordRevan 291]

I'm not going to stop calling him Lea, though. I bet you if Ven remembers him like it was confirmed that Lea remembers him in the one translated screenshot, Ven and probably Isa will at least call him Lea.

Edited January 17, 2019 by ITzDarthLordRevan

[Arion Moschetta 0]

Bad characters, next

[Kinode 3,056]

1 hour ago, Azure Flame said:

If it starts on the 18th at 10:30 PM JST, then won't that actually be tomorrow?  I just looked it up and it's about 9:16 PM on the 17th right now in Japan.

Definitely a mistake here, since the previous post said Jan 17. And the game is going on currently

[ITzDarthLordRevan 291]

2 hours ago, Azure Flame said:

If it starts on the 18th at 10:30 PM JST, then won't that actually be tomorrow?  I just looked it up and it's about 9:16 PM on the 17th right now in 

18 minutes ago, Kinode said:

Definitely a mistake here, since the previous post said Jan 17. And the game is going on currently

According to my time zone, yes, it is in fact going on right now. Somebody just seemed to have made an oopsie.

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by ITzDarthLordRevan

[SweetYetSalty 330]

I refuse to call Lea by Axel, because he is not Axel lol. But it's cool to see Lea form a friendship with Kairi. If there is a Saix boss battle with Sora (most likely) it would be cool if Lea and Kairi were the party members for the fight. The hype for KH3 continues.

[Green Sparrow 795]

I honestly don't even think about it. Sometimes I call him Lea when he's actually Axel. Sometimes I call him Axel when he's actually Lea. Besides the technicality of the matter, it's the same person either way. I doubt he'd care what I call him, since he's a fictional character lol

He might be telling Kairi to call him Axel because they're becoming friends, but I think it's something deeper.

Based on the canon drama reading (facepalm) and the handful of clips from trailers, it's obvious that spending time with Kairi is giving Lea... "flashes" of Xion. I hesitate to call them full on memories, but he's definitely remembering SOMETHING about Xion, and Xion has only ever called him Axel. So Lea is probably having Kairi call him Axel to hopefully "unlock" the Xion memories or something.

Just my two cents.

[KeybladeMasterBalo 504]

54 minutes ago, Green Sparrow said:

I honestly don't even think about it. Sometimes I call him Lea when he's actually Axel. Sometimes I call him Axel when he's actually Lea. Besides the technicality of the matter, it's the same person either way. I doubt he'd care what I call him, since he's a fictional character lol

He might be telling Kairi to call him Axel because they're becoming friends, but I think it's something deeper.

Based on the canon drama reading (facepalm) and the handful of clips from trailers, it's obvious that spending time with Kairi is giving Lea... "flashes" of Xion. I hesitate to call them full on memories, but he's definitely remembering SOMETHING about Xion, and Xion has only ever called him Axel. So Lea is probably having Kairi call him Axel to hopefully "unlock" the Xion memories or something.

Just my two cents.

Really nice guess Sparrow! I definetely think this could work for him and in the story! I love this idea and it makes sense

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Thank you for showing this to us, KHWaterBlock!

Interesting. I think that perhaps the reason that Lea wants Kairi to call her Axel is due to some symbolic significance, or like Balo mentioned, it could be that he's slowly remembering Xion's existence, and therefore calling himself Axel again could unlock those sleeping memories within! It's totally plausible!

[Javelin434 3,164]

I still haven't forgiven him for kidnapping Kairi, but I do appreciate good character development when I see it!

I'M NOT LETTING MY GUARD DOWN ESPECIALLY AROUND HIM

[ienzo628 548]

On 1/17/2019 at 9:11 AM, Green Sparrow said:

I honestly don't even think about it. Sometimes I call him Lea when he's actually Axel. Sometimes I call him Axel when he's actually Lea. Besides the technicality of the matter, it's the same person either way. I doubt he'd care what I call him, since he's a fictional character lol

He might be telling Kairi to call him Axel because they're becoming friends, but I think it's something deeper.

Based on the canon drama reading (facepalm) and the handful of clips from trailers, it's obvious that spending time with Kairi is giving Lea... "flashes" of Xion. I hesitate to call them full on memories, but he's definitely remembering SOMETHING about Xion, and Xion has only ever called him Axel. So Lea is probably having Kairi call him Axel to hopefully "unlock" the Xion memories or something.

Just my two cents.

I think I saw one of those leaks about Axel being around Xion and a dual wielding Roxas.