Chain of Memories Kairi got a new VA? What the hell?

I've recently gotten my KH interest back and learned the English version of Re:COM has a new voice actress for Kairi.

Did Hayden just refuse to do anything more with KH or something?

I certainly hope Alyson Stoner doesn't voice Kairi when KH3 comes along. Ugh. If they HAD to replace her, at least have someone who sounds somewhat like the voice Hayden used. (To pick from the "Disney library", Debby Ryan would at least be better than Alyson)

 

I can kinda understand why she got a different VA; Hayden is a main character on Heroes and that probably has priority to a remake of a video game where she doesn't really have that huge of a part.
There may have been a conflict between her voicing for KH and filming for Heroes.

 

It's probably for the same reason that Naminé has a different one. They're just younger. But then that brings up a new question: Why keep Sora's voice actor the same? If you ask me, KH1 Sora model+KH2 Sora voice=Bad Move.

 

This. She's getting fairly popular and if I was her, being in a Disney video game wouldn't be high on my to-do list.

I doubt that they would find new voice actors just so that they seemed younger. I don't think that they tried to make a big deal out of Re:CoM, and there are so few actually voice scenes that voice acting wasn't a big part of it.

As much as I love Hayden's voice for Kairi, I think the new one should be fine.

 

I think that if she had more lines than those 30 seconds in Reverse-Rebirth, she might've bothered. KH is a fairly popular franchise after all.

Namine actually sounded older than in KH2 :\

Re:CoM was mostly released as a publicity stunt to keep people aware of KH again before they released Days. The same day Re:CoM was released, Days was announced for an English release.

Here's to hoping they'd pull the same thing for the FM+ and BBS.

The new one did Xion in Days. She needs to work on it a bit more, but I loved her as Xion. I have to wonder how she'd do as Kairi though as the two girls act nothing alike.

 

I think the main problem with celebrity voice actors/actresses sometimes is that if they become TOO popular, their priorities are shoved to on-screen appearances first (movies, TV shows, etc.), anything else is non-sequential. Sure there are a lot of us gamers and anime junkies that would prefer the celebrity to return to reprise their role (such as Christopher Lee as DiZ), but if they were originally an on-screen performer, the celebrities would need to appease the fanbase they had before they starred in a video game first.

The only reason Sora and Riku still have their same voice actors is because...well, when's the last time you've seen them acting outside of voice work? (Roxas doesn't count. He sings. :p)

I loved Hayden as Kairi (and hopefully she returns in KH3 if Kairi's still alive), but all actors/actresses deserve a break to return to their normal jobs. Christopher Lee didn't appear in Re:CoM, but he came back for 358/2. Maybe it'll be the same for future games.

To sum it up: less popular on-screen = more free time for voice-over roles.

 

she may not have wanted to act in it because kairi only has a couple lines in it