Oh no! The water! I'm in big trouble if I don't fetch it!
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This article is about the ice cream. You may be looking for general Ice Cream, the Gummi Ship Blueprint, or the manga chapter. |
Sea-salt ice cream (シーソルトアイス Shī soruto aisu ) is a type of ice cream found in Twilight Town and Radiant Garden. It appears throughout the Kingdom Hearts universe, but made its first appearance in Kingdom Hearts II. Kingdom Hearts II is also the only game in which the ice cream features as an attainable key item. The ice cream's flavor mixes both a salty taste and a sweet taste.
Development
Tetsuya Nomura explained in an interview that he first tasted sea-salt ice cream at a trip to Tokyo DisneySea, a smaller resort of Disney's parks in Japan.[1] He liked the ice cream very much and decided to work with Disney to have it put into Kingdom Hearts II. He also said that the idea to put the dessert into the game came to him when he was thinking about what the kids in Twilight Town do and eat over summer vacation.[2]
Story
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Following Terra-Xehanort's defeat and their subsequent ejections from Hollow Bastion, Lea buys two sea-salt ice creams from Scrooge McDuck and gives the other ice cream to Isa.
Blank Points
After Terra-Xehanort is taken in as an apprentice, Ansem the Wise and Ienzo eat sea-salt ice cream together while walking down a hall of the castle in Radiant Garden. Axel, Roxas, and Xion are also seen eating sea-salt ice cream together in Twilight Town as they had during their days in the Organization. Roxas and Xion then say Sora's name in unison.
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
Shortly after his birth, Roxas passes Hayner, Pence, and Olette in Twilight Town. The trio each has their own bar of sea-salt ice cream. He later eats his own along with Axel on top the clock tower.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Axel treated Roxas to sea-salt ice cream on the Twilight Town Clock Tower, saying it was "icing on the cake", after Roxas completed his first mission and reminding him they sat there the first day Roxas got his new name. He then suggested that he and Roxas should meet each other to eat ice cream every day after they completed their missions, stating going back and forth to the Castle That Never Was was boring. After Axel left for his mission in Castle Oblivion, Roxas invited Xion to join him. Soon Roxas, Axel, and Xion began eating ice cream together after their missions. Sea-salt ice cream is Axel's favorite flavor.
On Day 118, Roxas is sent on vacation and has no idea on what to do. After rejecting Xion's offer of practicing with the Keyblade, he once again looks at the notice posted in the Grey Room. While looking at the notice that said "Operations Closed for Vacation", Roxas thought, "What to do? What to do?". Then he concluded the scenario saying the word "Ice cream". This perhaps shows that Roxas had learned to like ice cream ever since Axel had given him one.
Axel first notifies Roxas that some ice cream sticks have the word "WINNER" (あたり Atari ) on it, and can be redeemed for a free ice cream bar. On one of their later meetings, Roxas found a WINNER stick, but kept it secret. He later bestows the stick to Axel as a farewell gift when he leaves Organization XIII.
It also acts as a symbol of the friendship between the three of them, most notable when Roxas asks Xion who he will eat ice cream with as she vanishes.
Kingdom Hearts II
Hayner, Pence, and Olette also enjoy this ice cream, usually eating it together. In one of Roxas's memories, Axel offers him a stick of sea-salt ice cream before their parting. After Riku steals the digital Olette's Munny Pouch from Roxas, he asks DiZ what to do with it, and DiZ jokes that they could use it to buy ice cream.
When Sora arrives in Hollow Bastion, he sees Scrooge McDuck, who is trying to recreate the recipe for sea-salt ice cream. Through subsequent visits, Scrooge comes closer to reinventing the flavor and ultimately succeeds.
Riku left a sea-salt ice cream with a picture of Roxas and the gang from the Simulated Twilight Town as clues for Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Donald took an immediate liking to the ice-cream, and ate it.[3][4]
Ansem the Wise was very fond of this ice cream, and often ate it while conversing with King Mickey, and later used it as the password for his computer in the Old Mansion, which Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey use to enter the Simulated Twilight Town.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Axel and Roxas eat sea-salt ice cream in Lea's dream just before his awakening.
Kingdom Hearts III
During their training in the Secret Forest, Lea and Kairi share some sea-salt ice cream to celebrate them becoming Keyblade wielders, but Lea drops his after seeing a vision of Xion and sheds a tear.
Before the final battle, Lea eats sea-salt ice cream on the Twilight Town Clock Tower. Saïx arrives and discusses his past life with Lea and talk about a girl they made friends with. Saïx also points out that Lea bought an extra ice cream for someone else besides Roxas, although Lea cannot recall whose it for. After Xehanort's defeat, Lea, Roxas, and Xion sit on the clock tower when Isa shares ice cream with the trio, along with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. After eating the ice cream, the gummi ship picks up the group and takes them to the Destiny Islands to celebrate their victory.
Other appearances
DuckTales (2017)
In the season one finale "The Shadow War!", Mrs. Beakley makes Huey, Dewey, and Louie a dessert using sea-salt ice cream, saying it was Scrooge's favorite and a "common farewell ice cream in certain parts".[5]
Gallery
Xion and a black coat moogle with sea-salt ice cream on the cover of the second volume of the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days manga.
- Shiro Amano The Artwork of Kingdom Hearts 07.png
Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette eating sea-salt ice cream in an illustration from Shiro Amano: The Artwork of Kingdom Hearts.
Sprite of sea-salt ice cream in Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi.
Notes and references
- ^ Kingdom Hearts II Ultimania, Interviewer: "I heard it was you who suggested to insert the sea-salt Ice-cream in the game." / Tetsuya Nomura: "Yes, I did. When the Tokyo Disney Sea opened and I went there by invitation, they were selling sea-salt ice-creams at the time. You would think "salty ice-cream" seems a pretty weird idea, right? I was like 'What is this?', so I tried it out and it turned out to be very tasty. My impression of it back then was so strong that I thought of sea-salt ice cream when I thought of Disney." Translation via KH2.co.uk.
- ^ Kingdom Hearts II Ultimania, Tetsuya Nomura: "Besides, Roxas's story is set in summer break and I wondered what I ate back in summer breaks when I was a kid and I remembered 'Ah, of course, ice-cream.'" Translation via KH2.co.uk.
- ^ Kingdom Hearts II, Sora: "Yeah, the one Donald ate up."
- ^ Despite Donald eating the ice cream, the key item remains in the inventory.
- ^ DuckTales references Scrooge McDuck's love for Sea-salt ice cream in Kingdom Hearts