Riku

Riku

Riku (リク) is Sora’s and Kairi’s best friend, and character created by Tetsuya Nomura for the Kingdom Hearts series.Nomura has stated that Riku’s name can be interpreted as “land”;the Japanese on’yomi pronunciation of land is riku (陸).Riku is voiced by Mamoru Miyano in the Japanese version and by David Gallagher in the English version. As a child in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, he is voiced by Eiji Shima in the Japanese version and Ty Panitz in the English version. He is playable in the second story mode of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and as a world-specific ally in Kingdom Hearts II. In 358/2 Days, Riku is playable in the multiplayer mode and also serves as the final boss in the game’s story mode. He also acts as Sora’s main rival, both in combat and winning the affections of Kairi. The latter, however, might be just Riku playfully provoking Sora, since heand Kairi just appear to have a brotherly/sisterly relationship.