My thoughts on Sora and Kairi

Did anyone say it was wrong? No... seriously, I havent read all the post on this thread... did they?


If so, then yeah, you have a right to defend her.

But whats wrong with Kairi is there is no character depth to her.

But Kairi is a major character, with no personality. She only has like 8 or 9 speaking scenes in KH2.

 

Being 'feminine' isn't a crime for either males or females in my opinion. The problem with Kairi is she is a Mary Sue with little impact on the story but for some extravagant events like changing Sora from a Heartless back to normal or for helping bring Sora and Riku home from Darkness. She has a very weak developed character that just finally started growing right at the end of KH2 when she is with Riku and then joins back up with Sora and says she's not going to be left behind anymore. Before that, she had no character real development beyond looking like jail bait, giggling, getting kidnapped etc. There's nothing wrong with being feminine, but there is something wrong with the fact that KH is supposed to be centered around 3 characters: Sora, Kairi and Riku.

Noting that the story is supposed to be around the three, you expect to see more promise in all three. Even though Riku is more behind scenes, he still does a lot more than Kairi. I do pin some of the wussiness of Kairi though on Sora and well, the view that a girl didn't need to do anything offensive before the time was right which was KH2 when she went a-bashing those Heartless with her flower power Keyblade. Her 'confidence' is also amusing. I laughed when Saix said "If I had a Heart, this is where I would die laughing" because it was so true. Namine and Kairi were the most not physical beings in the game. Even AERITH did not run like a priss and yet you see literally Kairi and Namine 'prancing' down the stairs. It was so awful. Also...maybe it's just me, but Kairi's clothes in KH2 were rather bordering on ****tastic. You can even in a scene on the Altar of Naught see her underwear if you pan the view right. It's aquamarine colored. What is the problem with Kairi wearing something that wouldn't make her walk like a stick so her undies don't show? Her leap off the balcony there also should have had her land flat with how she dove off...but yeah, she's showing more she can be competent physically in some ways but really...the way she has been designed makes her a Mary Sue and that includes her choice of wardrobe.

This isn't to say I dislike Kairi really, but it certainly cannot be pinned on Disney that she is the way she is. I also agree with Zandyne that it is Nomura's doing and not Disney's doing as to why Kairi is the way she is. She fits the motif of girls in FF worlds to a T. Nomura has been known to cast girls this way. It's also stereotypical to never see a male Healer in FF because that's apparently a female's field. Females are white mages. Terra and Celes were the only two females I can recall that actually carried -swords-, while Tifa is the first martial artist female. Just about every other female tends to be wussified somehow. I think Terra, Celes and Tifa were seen clearly as females despite having prowess with weapons that are 'man' weapons according to FF and they are and probably always will be the 3 females I think are my favorites. They aren't trying to be 'men' despite what they can do. Kairi fits the motif of the traditional FF female with healing capacity, Holy Light power etc and being 'pure of heart', but she hits like a little girl and runs like one too. She's starting to now show some backbone but really for a -main- character, she's the least developed. We do need to see more of how she turns out and well, it will be nice to see her take charge and become more of a competent fighter because then Sora can back off of her and let her do things. She was denied going to help Riku because Sora felt it was no place for her in KH1. Now that she put her foot down, she's going to have to prove herself. She has the -power- to but physically she wanes.

Also, Sora and Riku are in no way gay. The fanfics are sometimes funny but really, neither ever showed a sign they were gay at all and seemed to both like girls. Anyone can tell Sora had a crush on Kairi and vice-versa. When the dance with Belle and Beast was going on, it's certainly not Riku Sora wishes was there. When he nearly gets choked up, it's Kairi he's thinking about and when he blushes it's Kairi he's embarrassed and shy over. Sora only hung on Riku's arm (after Kairi told him to stop Riku as well) to prevent Riku from going away. After all, he had been told Riku was gone to Darkness, he'd searched for him for a year and he wanted all 3 of them to go back home. He was emotional and any true friend would have been. I didn't see him leap in Riku's arms and give him a hug. There is no yaoi but in fanboi/fangurl's dreams. It's very easy to see Sora and Kairi have crushes on one another and although I think Riku liked Kairi, he didn't feel as strongly about it as Sora and was willing to tease Sora to do what Sora wanted to any way, which was tell her how much he cared. Riku did feel that Sora and Kairi would be happier together and that obviously gets missed too. Why would Riku tease about the Paopu Fruit if he was gay? He had no grand conspiracy to be malicious or get Sora to like him. Riku even brushed off Sora when he was grabbing at his face to make sure he was real. I absolutely do not see anything above friendship that those two boys have for one another. They've been as close as brothers. I swear anymore, if two guys are good friends or two girls, people auto-assume they must be gay and if a guy and a girl are friends, they must be hitting it off. It's like no one can just have friends and people just assume there has to be some kind of sex thing involved. Excuse my rant please, but man...two people, regardless of gender anymore can't just be good friends! When Sora blushes, shows some sign of affection for Riku that is open in a loving sexual manner at all, then I'd buy it. I just don't see it at all.

 

Repliku, that post was god-like.

I totally agree with you on Kairi's character. She was barely developed and often played the role of damsel in distress in many cases and didn't start to show any change until the end of KH2. I understand that they want to portray Kairi as slightly dainty, but they didn't have to go as far as making her wear a ****ty outfit and run like a pussy. She would have been viewed in the same way, if not better, if she wore some less-****ty clothes and ran normally. And for the Riku and Sora being Gay debate...Oh lol, no, just no, they're not, you're so right.
​

 

I'm sure Kairi will be more of a bad*** fighter in KH3. I mean, look at Yuna in FFX-2.

 

I couldnt agree more!

 

For the record. Miyu Irino Sora > Haley Joel Osment Sora.

In fact, many of the KH-exclusive characters I felt were better portrayed in the JP version of the game. It's been that way since KH1.

That's why I imported both KH1 and KH2 when they first came out in Japan.

And no, unfortunately Sora won't ever be like Ichigo from Bleach as long as it's a Disney game. Ichigo has a foul mouth that just won't ever make it onto a Disney script, Square-Enix collaboration or not.

Irino Miyu's Sora is portrayed very much like the other roles he's had in the past: Niwa Daisuke from DNAngel, Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. He's not badass--he was never supposed to be. His speech patterns are also very casual and informal most of the time when he spoke with others, and in general, Irino Miyu brought the mischievous side of Sora to life far more effectively in scenes where the Key Bearer engaged in silly shenanigans. Haley, unfortunately, just made those scenes annoying and pathetic to watch most of the time. Again, Irino's speech pattern and the intonation of how he interpreted the script was far more accurate and expressive in my opinion. This 'speech pattern' and 'register' of course can't be replicated very accurately in North American renditions, and for the most part, Sora in the NA version took on a more 'formal' speech pattern if I were to gauge the English language similarly.

To me, Sora is Irino Miyu, not Haley Joel Osment.

Can't say I was too thrilled with Kairi's character either. What saddened me most was she has a lot of potential that just isn't being realized or being exercised. So much that it's precisely that annoyance that sparked me to start my KH3 fic (which is on Chapter 18 by the way in Creativity Corner; yeah shameless advertisement, sue me). At their roots, and what I personally see them capable of, Sora and Kairi are awesome, but KH2's execution of Kairi's character and Haley Joel Osment's portrayal of Sora in both KH games have fallen short of anything I'd consider great. But hey, maybe that was their intention. I'll stick to my fanfiction.

 

^ Agreed.

It isn't so much that I don't like most of the information they've given on Kairi, (Well, some of it I don't like.) but more that they just made her to plain and didn't give enough info about her, which Soush's fanfic does explain. The only problem is that it is updated once every 5 months or so. D<

If they'd just give Kairi some background and make her be less girly-girl and a little more "I want to fight" type attitude, she'd be an amazing character, probably one of my favorites.
​

 

if u hate kairi and sora some much why do u play the game? and the keyblade wat was riku sopposed to giveher a big long heavy 1 with skulls on it. no. shes would thow it down and give him a very bad look.
just saying wat I feel
khero

o p.s. i was tlkin to the person who started this thread not orange orange is my friend! :)

 

kairi and sora is pretty much a given, and if you dont like it, then great. other people do like it.

 

I think kingdom hearts is tht greatest games ever made.Its awesome the way they make it.

 

I can't agree with you more!

 

I wish donald and goffy got new clothes , cause sora and kairi did and riku did also........

 

They might in KH3.

Frankly, I'm hoping Kairi gets something more ahem, modest also.

 

Yeah, that 3 zipper dress thing there was not so modest. There's even the part at the Alter of Naught where you can see she has aquamarine/teal underwear if you pan right. This is called fannism. I really do hope next time she wears something more battle ready and less enticing. A girl can look good in decent clothes too.

 

Well the color is alright, but some shorts/pants would go well.

 

i can relate totally to sora, i am 16 and act exactly how he does and it brings comfort to me XD

optimism isnt a bad thing in a character but I must agree that kairi's roll was awful in kh2, all she did was serve as something for sora to try and save

 

I agree with you all, except for the deal with the clothes. Kairi didn't really know she was gonna go leaping off a balcony, or get kidnapped, or whatever else happens to her. But, speaking of her clothes, did anyone else think that skirt actually got shorter throughout the game?

What bothers me the most is how Namine is so better developed than Kairi. Almost to the point that I felt they were shoving Namine in my face.

 

I AGREE WITH U IN SO MANY WAYS ITS NOT FUNNY...hehe...
but seriously, i dont get it, whenever i say the same things about sora to other people, they think im being cruel...or insensitive...but the fact that hes constantly corrected by goofy... thats pretty sad...i think thats y so many people like roxas, they really like sora's abilities and think the fact that he can fly is cool...but they really like roxas' personality
sora's abilities+roxas' personality= cooler sora...

and kairi...ive always hated her...in kh1 she just kind of was a mess on the ground all the time without a heart...she gets one, saves sora...always does what shes told...always sees through the darkness to the little light inside...seriously man, i hope aqua doesnt turn out like kairi...

 

Lefolane, you are the first RikuXKairi fan I've ever seen. I was actually expecting to find alot more.

 

I'm an extreme Riku/Kairi fan, just reaallly terrified to admit it half the time.