Does the common Kingdom Hearts fan get the story?

The first Kingdom Hearts game stands up there with my all time favorites. It was really brilliant and creative. I can distinctly remember picking up Kingdom Hearts 2 and going: .."What in the actual hell is going on"

From then on it's always been "You need to have played This, and understand This to get the story" But the more I try to get it the less I understand.

Does the common Kingdom Hearts fan actually understand what's going on, on the same level as, say, Metal Gear fans understand the story of the MGS series?