The Kingdom Hearts series celebrated its 23rd anniversary on March 28, 2025, and series creator Tetsuya Nomura shared a secret about the name of the Paopu fruit. A post by the official Kingdom Hearts social media account in Japan revealed the origin of the fruit’s name over two decades after the release of the first game.
In the post, the Square Enix PR team asks Nomura if there are any undisclosed stories about the Paopu fruit, to which Nomura replied with “About the Paradise of promise?” The developer then questioned himself on whether it was “paradise of promise” or “paradise of pure.” The message revealed that “Paopu” is a blend word. Aside from sharing this trivia, it seems like Square Enix doesn’t have any plans to celebrate the series’ anniversary this year.
In the Kingdom Hearts games, the star-shaped Paopu fruit grows exclusively on the Destiny Islands, where Sora and Riku grew up in and where Kairi moved in as a child. The legend tells that if two people share one their destinies become linked forever. Sora and Kairi shared a fruit in Kingdom Hearts 3.
The Kingdom Hearts series is readily available on PS4, Xbox One, Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, and Nintendo Switch via cloud streaming.
Published: Mar 28, 2025 05:00 pm