But this is entirely prefaced on the fact that the series has actively put Kairi off to the side to focus on Sora’s bond with every other character but Kairi. KH3D could have been the perfect time to advance their relationship. If Kairi is Sora’s light, why did this not come up again when Sora was literally falling into darkness? The narrative knowingly ignored her in lieu of making Riku Sora’s sole guiding light while ignoring earlier established dynamics.
In Re:coded when Data Sora is going through Castle Oblivion, it would have been another perfect chance to reiterate that Kairi is one of Sora’s strongest bonds. Instead, we see Namine and Roxas as his guides (rightfully so, but that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have written things so Kairi could be a focal point as well) and Kairi is only mentioned in reference to Riku and their “hurtâ€. Even before that point in the game, Kairi is more of a footnote of Data Sora’s journey despite her importance in KH1.
The cheap and unearned opinion of others isn’t coming from nowhere. It’s because there have been 4 full games that have released once KH2 and out of the two that featured Sora and could have helped move Sora and Kairi’s relationship forward even a little, neither of them even stop to try. The landscape of the series has grown so much since KH2 and so many characters and relationships have seen a lot of growth, but Sora and Kairi’s relationship remains just as we knew it in 2005/2006.
And this is the previous games' fault, and I have no shortage of criticism about them and how they handled things.
But since I don't believe in sins of the father I find that using previous mistakes to call out on a story that has still to come out as something that WILL be forced and bad is uncalled for.
How DDD dropped the ball can raise concerns, sure, concerns that I share; but KH III it's its own thing.
There is no way they can make many of us believe Sora and Kairi’s relationship without it feeling unearned because there is no way they can focus on developing them without taking away from something else in KH3. There has been too little focus on it. Their relationship would have to become a focal point to give it the development it needs, and there is too much going on in KH3 to do that.
I disagree: I've seen other media recover from worse situations.
I may think it's unlikely, but I don't think there is just no way.
This might not be the exact same scenario, but Star Wars VIII, as polarizing as a movie it was, was a good example: the fact that the franchise spent SEVEN movies singing praise of the Jedi and how the Skywalkers were the only thing that mattered didn't stop VIII for being very different and spreading a complete opposite message.
Regardless of if you loved it or hated it, it's undeniable VIII was different and had very little setup to be, considering where VII left it.
I wouldn't even say Sora and Kairi have nothing to feel their relationship earned: the first chapter was enough to convince me, and reading through the lines CoM was a great love letter to the couple, in the ending especially.
I'm not going to pretend we didn't have TWELVE years of Kairi being nothing and that it isn't a huge problem, but I also remember when (for me at least) her and Sora had a nice thing going...
*darko you're doing a decent job explaining yourself, don't throw it all away by being cheesy please*
...forgotten, but not lost.
*goddammit*
We have to step back and unpack these relationships differently, of course. The only way we can interpret these relationships is through gender and societal coding on how these types of relationships are viewed (which is usually heteronormative), but as alexis.anagram said, society has advanced to a point where we are much more critical of these relationships now.
I agree, it's actually something that worries me.
I have a personal fear that for many different reasons (perceiving many old romantic tales as sexist, the overly saturated industry of anime and the likes chugging out cliched and bland love stories, Internet redefining and confusing relationships between people) we developed a defense mechanism against some of these thematics that sometimes might get out of control, prompting us to reject even the entire concept of love at times, like it's something unnecessary or that cheapens the entire thing.
Sometimes it's true, sometimes it might be people's contrarianism in play.
Just because Sora and Kairi is coded to be romantic doesn’t mean it’s earned it. It’s reliant on how characters in the same archetypes as Sora and Kairi should end up in the end. Sora is the hero and Kairi is the heroine. 9 times out of 10, these relationships turn out romantic because that is always how the hero and heroine end up in stories.
It just because that is always how it is doesn’t mean we should be expecting it and just want them to end up together. There should be cohesive, believable development between them.
And for me they have it. Or rather, for me a romantic story at this point wouldn't be just mashing my Barbie doll with my Ken doll, but the coronation of what I've always felt was the inevitable conclusion.
Just to be clear, I don't put them together because hero and heroine: I like what they already have, or had.
I'm perfectly aware the only response at this point is "well, that's just your opinion then" and I agree, it really is just that.
I respect others not feeling it, or believing it's unrealizable in KH III without it being forced or bad. I just have hope.
The series can’t have Kairi as Sora’s light or Tifa as Cloud’s light, but then turn around and have Riku call Sora the same thing and have Riku serve that roll for Sora without opening itself to a romantic interpretation or having the series completely redefine the term to let it be applied to any meaningful relationship.
I'm literally discovering just now that some uses/sees "this person is this other person's light" as a romantic element, which I never did.
By all means, obviously I know that it's probably supposed to be romantic when Saix says that about Kairi and Sora, but they also use that metaphor in many other situations, such as Aqua and Mickey needing to be Ventus' lights to bring him back home and similar instances.
Maybe this is why it never confused me when Riku says that about Sora: of course he's his light, after all that transpired.
This is not a critique of who sees this metaphor as romantic or thinks it confuses how relationships work, however. I can see that. I sometimes hate how KH speaks in circles.
And viewing Sora and Riku’s relationship as platonic is probably the accurate reading that was intended by Nomura (but who knows). For others who might not have the same world view as you, they will see Sora and Riku’s relationship and interpret it as romantic or familial or something else entirely.
It’s one of those things that will never stop being debated on since it all depends on how people see relationships…
Yeah, it's the whole gist of it, as I've said before: this whole debacle is really up to one's interpretation.
And this is what makes it interesting, for me: sometimes what's good about art is each one's interpretation rather than the creator's.
