Their friendship being quite forced and unexplored is one of the biggest issues I have with this ship, truth be told. Would be a lot easier to believe Kairi is the girl Sora cares the most for if in KH1 they portrayed her as something all that unique and amazing.
This is very true, since most of their relationship is actually implied by mainly fans, rather than solid canon evidence like
most other popular ships hold.
For instance, part of why CloTi works compared to CloAe is that both relationships are developed, but CloAe has Zack holding it back and quite a strong 'mother' motif to it, breaking the romance, but it's not like you're left with a 'default'. CloTi is based and established in its own right with a childhood promise and them both doing their very best for each other.
I absolutely love you for bringing this up. ;_; Part of the reason why I can't really see SoKai in a romantic light (apart from their lack of development in the relationship) is because it seems so sibling like, in a lot of ways, like how Kairi talked to and treated Sora. It was like a sister teasing and messing with her brother, from my point of view. It's like how I saw that how Aerith treated Cloud was like how a mother treated her son (It's like Yuki x Tohru from Fruits Basket, in that way), while with Tifa there
was something else. And, just because Kairi is Sora's supposed "most important person" and his "light", that doesn't mean that he
loves her as anything more than a sister. A person's most important person (redundant) doesn't need to be a lover, it can very well just be someone who holds a significant place in their heart --- in a
platonic way.
SoKai on the other hand you barely get their friendship expanded upon in KH1. Hell it's more or less shot down by Tidus, Selphie and Wakka when they praise the very ground Riku walks on and are already planning RiKai's freaking wedding. Sora's never really good enough and the one who seems interested at all, even if for teasing manners, is Riku.
They were very strong RiKai supporters, weren't they? I hadn't realized that until you typed that down, and it is pretty true. Part of the reason why pairings are so supported by fans comes from outsider's support, like teasing, straight out telling the pair they should get together, choosing favorites in some ways... SoKai doesn't really get that at all, do they?
I'll give you the Paopu drawing bit in the Secret Place but seeing the non-romantic meaning the Paopu can also have and how the whole thing became a home-symbol for Sora, I'd sooner relate it to his insecurities about the journey than SoKai, friendship or not.
And then what? She vanishes and he has to save her. WONDERFUL basis for romance right there, wot? And I'm supposed to believe that after I spent most of my time on DI play-fighting TSW, that if any of them were to vanish that Sora wouldn't have gone after THEM?!
True, true, true. I've brought this up before, but Sora didn't leave to find
just Kairi. It was for Riku, too. And vice versa. It's just Sora-like to try to save his friends that are the close to him, it's not him needing to save the girl he loves with all of his heart or whatever.
Oh and of course her Heart being in his vessel biz. Contact between Hearts is what got Sora to be basically Ven and for Riku to become Rikunort. While on a lesser scale, excuse me if I doubt that Kairi's Heart coming into contact with Sora's had NO impact on the kid :V Especially with how glorious the coincidental circumstances were, how as soon as Kairi's Heart was out of Sora's body it was "oh derp, Kairi, you'd get in my way, stay here and then on DI while I go chase Riku".
I actually kind of laughed when I read this - in a good way. The only evidence that Kairi's Heart coming into contact with Sora's did anything to him was him hallucinating/hearing Kairi herself. That's... just about it, while the other two examples had
significant impacts on Riku and Sora.
And then more than one bit where it's implied Sora's a freaking RIKAI SHIPPER. Excuse me if I don't think he'd go after Riku's girl.
No problem with thinking that, since it's probably true. This is Sora, after all.
Thanks xD