Indigenising Mickey Mouse: Yōko Shimomura's Renegotiation of Disney's Musical Aesthetic in the Kingdom Hearts JRPG Franchise

Transmedia franchises have become cornerstone strategies for both the Hollywood system and Japan's "media mix" model. The Kingdom Hearts video game franchise, a collaborative endeavour between Square Soft and Disney, stands as an ambitious crossover, uniting characters from the Final Fantasy series of Japanese Role-Playing Games (JRPGs) and from the some of the most iconic Disney animated films. Central to this creative fusion is the musical contribution of composer Yōko Shimomura, who bridges these distinct worlds through a soundtrack that blends rearranged tracks from Disney's original films with her own original compositions. This presentation examines the interplay between Shimomura's own compositional style-prominent in her other works and most evident when the non-Disney elements of the franchise dominate-and different influences drawn from her Western sources. Central to the analysis are two idiomatic elements of Shimomura's original music: stylistic eclecticism and piano-driven symphonism. A classification of the soundtrack is proposed, mapping the tracks according to their proximity or divergence from Disney's musical models. This analysis highlights the relationship between stylistic eclecticism and the evolving formula of the franchise, alongside the technological affordances offered by the various gaming platforms for which Kingdom Hearts has been developed. By exploring this dynamic, the presentation sheds light on how Shimomura's work navigates and negotiates the musical identities of two distinct cultural domains, contributing to the broader understanding of transmedia music in global entertainment.