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March 28th, 2016 marks the 14th anniversary of the release of Kingdom Hearts in Japan. In order to commemorate this anniversary, the Japanese Kingdom Hearts Twitter account posted a short "Thank You" message from series director Tetsuya Nomura. Along with the message comes a brand new screenshot of Daybreak Town from Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. You can view the screenshot and a translation of the tweet thanks to Aru Akise below: What do you think of the new screenshot? What are some of your favorite Kingdom Hearts memories from the past 14 years? Let us know in the comments below!

Update 1: On April, 3rd 2016, a new theme song for a Japanese TV show called Toto Nee-chan was uploaded to YouTube. This theme song, titled "Hanataba o Kimi ni", was performed by Utada Hikaru, thus officially putting Hikaru back on the music scene! You can view the video and hear the song below thanks to YouTube user halkichi sakamoto: Update 2: Utada Hikaru has officially updated her YouTube channel with two songs, Manatsu no Toriame and Hanataba wo kimi ni. None of the songs are related to Kingdom Hearts. You can listen to both songs below: Manatsu no Toriame https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASl2cluuyIU Hanataba wo kimi ni https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VyKWWb46oQ Update 3: On July 8th 2016, Hikaru's website was updated with news of the release date for her new album set for September 28th of this year. This is her first original full album since her last Japanese-language album Heart Station released 8 years ago. The new album, title unannounced, will include previously-released tracks such as "Hanataba o Kimi ni","Manatsu no Toriame", and "Sakura Nagashi." The original article follows. <3 Utada Hikaru, known for performing the opening songs "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary" for the Kingdom Hearts series, has officially announced her return to music. Hikaru has been on a 5-year hiatus that is now officially over. Via Hikaru's website, she is currently working on two projects: The first song she announced is the opening song titled "Hantaba wo Kibi ni" for the NHK drama Toto Nee-chan and the second is going to serve as the ending song for NTV's news program News Zero. This song's title will be released later on. Both of these songs are scheduled to be used by April 4th, so look forward to hearing Hikaru's new songs then. In celebration of the musician's return, she has launched a new website that features an animated Cherry Blossom tree. As fans use a special hashtag on Twitter (#おかえりHIKKI or #WelcomebackHIKKI) or as fans buy her new songs, the animated tree will grow more and more flowers. This is a charity event called the "New-Turn" project. Money raised as part of this project will go toward planting cherry blossom trees in areas affected by the 2011 Tohaku earthquake and tsunami. Of course, this does not confirm Hikaru's involvement in Kingdom Hearts III, but her official return to music is certainly a good sign. Now that Utada Hikaru has officially returned to music, what are your hopes for her involvement in Kingdom Hearts III? Would you like to see her return, or would you rather have someone else? Let us know in the comments below!

In response to a fan on Twitter, voice actor Steve Burton, the voice of Cloud in the Kingdom Hearts series, claims he will be recording for Kingdom Hearts III "in a few weeks". This would obviously mark the return of Cloud in Kingdom Hearts III, and seems to validate recent remarks from Jim Cummings and Bill Farmer, who both also claim they have done some recording for Kingdom Hearts III. You can view the tweet itself below: What do you make of all these English voice actors claiming to be recording for Kingdom Hearts III? Are you taking this all with a grain of salt, or is Kingdom Hearts III closer to releasing than we think? Feel free to discuss in the comments below!

The latest Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] story update introduces a new character named Skuld, who happens to be a female Keyblade wielder with connections to Ephemera. Also in this story update is the continuation of the clash between the foretellers. You can view the lastest story clip thanks to Everglow, with translations provided by Kayla Copeland (nichiei.translations@gmail.com).