Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)

Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)

Aqua (Japanese: アクア, Hepburn: Akua?), also known as Master Aqua (マスター・アクア, Masutā Akua?), is a fictional character from Square Enix's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts. Having first made cameo appearances in the game Kingdom Hearts II, Aqua was introduced in the 2010 prequel Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as one of the three protagonists. In the title, Aqua is introduced as Keyblade-wielding warrior living in Land of Departure training under Master Eraqus alongside her best friends Terra and Ventus. Following the disappearance from Master Xehanort, a comrade from Eraqus, she and Terra are tasked with searching for him as while protecting the worlds from creatures known as Unversed. However, she is also told by Eraqus to watch over Terra's development and bring back Ventus who left the Land of Departure.

Unlike Terra and Ventus, Aqua was the only protagonist from Birth by Sleep who did not have a base for director Tetsuya Nomura to design, and thus Nomura had pressure on how to make her appealing to gamers. While her outfit was based on Terra's, her movements were meant to contrast his and Ventus's to make her specialized in magic attacks. Aqua has been voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi in Japanese and Willa Holland in English. The character of Aqua has received mixed critics by video game publications based on her personality and role in Birth by Sleep as well as her gameplay mechanics which differed from the other characters.