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I think people went too far to hate Kairi.



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Nukara

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I have already done a similar topic, but I recently encountered another toxicity in youtube comments regarding Kairi.
When people openly insulted each other because of this character.
Yes, I agree that Kairi deserves more cutscenes and moments in KH3.
However, I do not understand those people who expected that this character would be cool and fight on the same level with Sora and Riku.
The effect of high expectations triggered because of what some people overestimated the character too much. Maybe that's why I took Kairi in KH3 quite adequately because I didn’t expect much from this character because of what I wasn’t upset like so many other fans.
As for me, I think that Kairi will not sit on the island as before, if only because she has a keyblade.
I just wanted to speak out because this negative around this game is slowly killing a franchise fan in me. ((
 

Veevee

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That kinda reminds me of all the Sakura haters in Naruto. She wasn't popular among the makers of Naruto (I know it's only one author, but there are also other people involved) and she never got a chance to shine. Her buildup was very similar to Kairi's - she also felt left behind by her two boys (one of which she loved) and tried and promised but still couldn't do more than schoolbook jutsu in the regular Naruto. In Shippuuden, she got a strength buff and healing skills which didn't get her far - to her defense, at some point EVERYONE in the series completely relied on Naruto for everything so Naruto did everything (similar to Sora in KH3). In the end, people found her useless and annoying and hated her even though she at least had pretty much character and a lot of screentime. That's just how fandom goes. Don't let it get to you. Lately, I've seen an old post in a thread here where someone praised Sora for being lovable in DDD which I disagree with, but still liked a lot. Just go to the right places and read the right things, it'll keep your fandom ab.

Personally, I also don't like Kairi. I think she's terribly bland and lost all her spunk after KH2 and was reduced to just being nice (and a bit brave, but that never plays out) and I think it's pretty terrible character development if a character isn't much more than nice. Her whole character revolves around another character, Sora is all she ever speaks of, which would work for a 90s Disney princess, but not today. But, oh well, while I think she's terribly uninteresting and should either get SOMETHING or just completely disappear from the series (in a nice way, not dying or so), I don't think she's to hate. It's the Internet, it's all exaggeration.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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I really don’t think you should let the feelings of others hamper your enjoyment of KH3 or Kairi as a character.

I think you should also understand that criticisms about how a character is handled doesn’t not necessarily mean people hate the character, only that they hate how she has been handled.
 

SuperNova

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I wouldn’t let others opinions affect how you see Kairi or that you use KH as a series. As for me, I don’t hate Kairi, I never have. She is brave, kind, curious, determined, and spunky. But the problem is she is never given anything to do. She fights for all of 2 seconds in KH3, and then is killed, when she died I didn’t feel anything for her. I felt more concerned for Sora. And in the end when Kairi was left alone, again I felt indifferent towards her. I again felt more sad about Sora disappearing. The problem here is the writers never let her develop, she is a convenient plot device, that’s about it.
 

kirabook

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Whether it's Kairi or Sakura, when you build up, advertise, and hint at this character going beyond what they have in the past, then you need to delivery and deliver hard. in Sakura's case, she actually did get to do amazing things, but no matter what she did, the fandom still hated her and mostly for shipping reasons. She never escaped shipping hatred and in the end, she was basically replaced with a side character.

In Kairi's case, I do not believe most Kairi hate stems from shipping. Yeah, I'm sure there are some rabid SoRiku fans from back in the day that based Kairi for "getting in the way", but they are not the majority anymore (the same attitude they shared for Namine and Xion. I feel like the cycle wasn't broken until Aqua and then it all calmed down).

Kairi fans and non-fans alike were hoping for way more than we got and it wasn't just baseless hope. Kairi joining the fight was a secret ending for DDD. In KHUX, they were hyping up all her medals at ridiculous levels as if alluding to something more. Even just recently the official KH twitter posted something about her stepping up to the plate and this is post release....

I don't think people were asking for much, but at least Xion and Aqua, the other two fighting girls, were on equal standing with their respective guy pals. They got their stand out moments (even if they were disappointing for some people, there's way more positive opinions about them than negatives) With Kairi, we got the same old, "She believed hard enough and made impossible things happen with no explanation and no attempt to do so whatsoever." And then when the going got tough, she was once again taken out of the fight before she really got to show off anything and then killed.

I think even if she hadn't managed to pull off a great feat (greater than "I believed therefore you're alive because reasons"), people would have been more ok with it... had she not been kidnapped and killed off just to make Sora sad.

I don't think most Kairi "hate" is hating her at all, it's her writing and disappointment in Nomura and team.
 

allenleonardo

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I do believe that Kairi has served the exact same position that she did in the other games. A deus ex machina that uses her unexplained PoH powers passively to save the main character in some way and otherwise be a damsel in distress.

But I also believe that with how Nomura and advertisement showed her, that maybe this would be the game were she finally was more than that. So I can understand completely why people hate how she was potrayed and were disappointed in that.

First she somehow was the only one that still got their PoH power. Something which was shown to be quite powerful on its own. It was also somehow enough to hold Soras form together in the final world (but people give her more credit there because some are saying that she rewrote the history but we know that it was Sora who did this). So that power alone could have huge potential. Then on top of that she also got a keyblade and was training with an experienced fighter in a place where time does not matter.

Keyblade + PoH, this should have made her a powerful fighter. Yet in cutscenes she was the weakest of them all. She did not draw her Keyblade when Terranort went towards her and needed to be protected by Axel and Sora..its not that she should have defeated him, but at least try to block an attack on your own.

Then we dont see her kill much afterwards. And the PoH power was again just a passive safer..she just believed and the rest was done by her power without her direct actions. If we saw her using it knowingly then this again would be a different situation.

Then they could have used her to show the power of the PoH by having her being the one that creates a path not Yen Sid. This could leave her exhausted thus the kidnapping makes more sense. (And wouldnt it be more shocking to suddenly see her next to Xehanort after we thougth she would be save with Donald and Goofy?) Heck if you show her being kidnapped even in the story we had right now, why not let her struggle a bit. Let her try to use Light magic or something to get free and then be taken out. Or give her a final battle which she loses and dies then.

There could have been many ways to show her without making her too powerful or giving her such a passive role..and that is probably where most hate comes from.

Then of course you will always have those that just her hate her character anyway but honestly doesnt that happen in every game out there? I am quite sure that a lot of us have characters they dislike or maybe even hate in some way. And why should Kairi be different in that?
 

AdrianXXII

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I agree that I don't think people so much hate Kairi as they hate how she was treated. I don't know why but ever since I was little I've really liked her character, which makes her treatment in the last 13 years really annoying for me. I see a character with a lot of interesting potential being benched and pushed aside.

While frustrated I'm trying to remain hopeful and believe that Nomura realized that by the end of KH3 Kairi is left in a position ripe for character development and exploration, with her coming to terms with her role in the war and what happened to Sora.

I do believe that Kairi has served the exact same position that she did in the other games. A deus ex machina that uses her unexplained PoH powers passively to save the main character in some way and otherwise be a damsel in distress.

But I also believe that with how Nomura and advertisement showed her, that maybe this would be the game were she finally was more than that. So I can understand completely why people hate how she was potrayed and were disappointed in that.

First she somehow was the only one that still got their PoH power. Something which was shown to be quite powerful on its own. It was also somehow enough to hold Soras form together in the final world (but people give her more credit there because some are saying that she rewrote the history but we know that it was Sora who did this). So that power alone could have huge potential. Then on top of that she also got a keyblade and was training with an experienced fighter in a place where time does not matter.

Keyblade + PoH, this should have made her a powerful fighter. Yet in cutscenes she was the weakest of them all. She did not draw her Keyblade when Terranort went towards her and needed to be protected by Axel and Sora..its not that she should have defeated him, but at least try to block an attack on your own.

Then we dont see her kill much afterwards. And the PoH power was again just a passive safer..she just believed and the rest was done by her power without her direct actions. If we saw her using it knowingly then this again would be a different situation.

Then they could have used her to show the power of the PoH by having her being the one that creates a path not Yen Sid. This could leave her exhausted thus the kidnapping makes more sense. (And wouldnt it be more shocking to suddenly see her next to Xehanort after we thougth she would be save with Donald and Goofy?) Heck if you show her being kidnapped even in the story we had right now, why not let her struggle a bit. Let her try to use Light magic or something to get free and then be taken out. Or give her a final battle which she loses and dies then.

There could have been many ways to show her without making her too powerful or giving her such a passive role..and that is probably where most hate comes from.

Then of course you will always have those that just her hate her character anyway but honestly doesnt that happen in every game out there? I am quite sure that a lot of us have characters they dislike or maybe even hate in some way. And why should Kairi be different in that?

To be fair it's not really clear how Kairi kept Sora together or how everyone else didn't fade away and maintained a humanoid shape. This could be tied to Kairi's princess of heart power, it could not be

We also don't know if Kairi kept her PoH powers after dying she could very well have lost them after being struck down. It'd be a wasted opportunity so I hope not. I still can't believe we have had a main character with this super important role/power since the beginning and we have yet to explore or define it.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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To be fair it's not really clear how Kairi kept Sora together or how everyone else didn't fade away and maintained a humanoid shape. This could be tied to Kairi's princess of heart power, it could not be

In the Japanese version of the game, the Journal makes note that it was by the power of the light of the PoH that Kairi is able to hold Sora's body together. In the Japanese version it also becomes more clear that Riku's words are what keep Sora's heart from letting go and passing on past the Final World.

It's really sweet to me that it was Kairi and Riku's belief in Sora that held him together and had the localizers paid more attention, they could have really made that shine in the translation. The English version kinda muddles the message of Riku's role in the discussion between Sora and Nameless Star/Strelitzia(?) and outright cuts the info about it being Kairi's PoH light powers being part of what saves Sora, sadly.

We also don't know if Kairi kept her PoH powers after dying she could very well have lost them after being struck down. It'd be a wasted opportunity so I hope not. I still can't believe we have had a main character with this super important role/power since the beginning and we have yet to explore or define it.

I don't think she'd lose her power from being killed. I think that would be the one thing that would transcend her death, in fact.
 

allenleonardo

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To be fair it's not really clear how Kairi kept Sora together or how everyone else didn't fade away and maintained a humanoid shape. This could be tied to Kairi's princess of heart power, it could not be

We also don't know if Kairi kept her PoH powers after dying she could very well have lost them after being struck down. It'd be a wasted opportunity so I hope not. I still can't believe we have had a main character with this super important role/power since the beginning and we have yet to explore or define it.

Oh I knew that it was her PoH power but she again only used it passive. Just how she hugged Sora in his heartless form to protect him from other heartless and somehow this activated her power. And how somehow her letter ended up in the RoD which was surely not something she actively chose to do. So having at least a scene where we see her in darkness and then calling onto her powers to actively do it instead of praying that he was somehow save, then this would already make a difference.

Exactly how it would already feel different for me if she tried to block Terranorts attack with a keyblade instead of just watching him like a deer caugth in the light. Or when she was captured let her try to summon some magic (Sora could use magic in KH1 without his keyblade) but Xemnas takes her out right away.

Just more active stuff even if it fails. No passive deus ex machina power (Soras power kinda fell into that too but at least he had to fly after the hearts and defeat the Lich) that somehow works how the plot wants it to work and otherwise her just standing around and calling Soras name.
 

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In the Japanese version of the game, the Journal makes note that it was by the power of the light of the PoH that Kairi is able to hold Sora's body together. In the Japanese version it also becomes more clear that Riku's words are what keep Sora's heart from letting go and passing on past the Final World.

It's really sweet to me that it was Kairi and Riku's belief in Sora that held him together and had the localizers paid more attention, they could have really made that shine in the translation. The English version kinda muddles the message of Riku's role in the discussion between Sora and Nameless Star/Strelitzia(?) and outright cuts the info about it being Kairi's PoH light powers being part of what saves Sora, sadly.



I don't think she'd lose her power from being killed. I think that would be the one thing that would transcend her death, in fact.


Localizers, ya all had one job damn it! <_<
But also, weren't there a new set of PoHs? I thought all of them passed on that power.
 

Griewer

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Kairi’s didn’t pass on because she did not use her powers to close the door to darkness like the others.

I can accept that, though I didn't think it'd work like that to be honest. So... can we say that her power passed on now that she had used it on Sora?
 

Oracle Spockanort

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I can accept that, though I didn't think it'd work like that to be honest. So... can we say that her power passed on now that she had used it on Sora?

No, these are just her latent, unexplained abilities as a PoH. There seems to be an intended purpose for the PoH (i.e. being the key to locking and unlocking the DoD), and theoretically only when they fulfill that purpose that is when their power passes on.
 

AdrianXXII

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In the Japanese version of the game, the Journal makes note that it was by the power of the light of the PoH that Kairi is able to hold Sora's body together. In the Japanese version it also becomes more clear that Riku's words are what keep Sora's heart from letting go and passing on past the Final World.

It's really sweet to me that it was Kairi and Riku's belief in Sora that held him together and had the localizers paid more attention, they could have really made that shine in the translation. The English version kinda muddles the message of Riku's role in the discussion between Sora and Nameless Star/Strelitzia(?) and outright cuts the info about it being Kairi's PoH light powers being part of what saves Sora, sadly.

Well that's interesting to know, seems the localisation team dropped the ball there in that case. It is kind of important infor considering how much in KH already goes unexplained.

I don't think she'd lose her power from being killed. I think that would be the one thing that would transcend her death, in fact.

Well I honestly used to think that was the only way for the powers to pass on, for the previous ones to have died and the worlds needing a new one, kind of like with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I honestly don't even really think I understand the PoH anymore. I used to think they were just 7 people born with hearts of pure light that couldn't contain darkness in them and therefore can't turn into heartless or be hurt by the realm/corridor of darkness.

However KH3 implies this is a power that can move from one heart into another. Does that mean the heart that used to be pure suddenly grow some darkness and the ones that used to have darkness become completely pure?

Oh I knew that it was her PoH power but she again only used it passive. Just how she hugged Sora in his heartless form to protect him from other heartless and somehow this activated her power. And how somehow her letter ended up in the RoD which was surely not something she actively chose to do. So having at least a scene where we see her in darkness and then calling onto her powers to actively do it instead of praying that he was somehow save, then this would already make a difference.

Exactly how it would already feel different for me if she tried to block Terranorts attack with a keyblade instead of just watching him like a deer caugth in the light. Or when she was captured let her try to summon some magic (Sora could use magic in KH1 without his keyblade) but Xemnas takes her out right away.

Just more active stuff even if it fails. No passive deus ex machina power (Soras power kinda fell into that too but at least he had to fly after the hearts and defeat the Lich) that somehow works how the plot wants it to work and otherwise her just standing around and calling Soras name.

Well at the moment we honestly don't even know, if the power has an active application. Like the most active use we saw was of the other six holding the darkness at bay, which really only had them standing around passively. And this apparently was enough to consider their job done and the power to pass on.

The PoH powers are really poorly defined. At the moment we only actually know a few implications, they can be used to keep people from fading as seen in KH1 and KH3, kind of restore a body (KH1 with Sora's heart projection) and it's main function of pushing/holding back darkness. I assume there's more, but so far most people with the power were mostly unaware of it, so they aren't skilled in using it.

Yeah, having Kairi even try and summon her Keyblade or cast a spell would have gone a long way to making her seem less incompetent and the lessen the blow of most of those scenes that did her dirty. I'm still amazed that this is the first game where both Kairi and Riku can be your party members and yet we don't have them team up with Sora together at any point in the game.
 

Phoenix

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I both love Kairi and hate what KH3 did to her. Even ignoring her kidnapping, did they *really* have to have someone become her human shield every single time an attack came her way? KH3 had to choose between writing her as a Princess of Heart in need of protection, or as a Keyblade Wielder that protects others, and they decidedly went with the former.
 

alexis.anagram

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I just wanted to speak out because this negative around this game is slowly killing a franchise fan in me. ((
The negative treatment of Kairi by the person who created her rather quickly killed the franchise fan in me. And Kairi, of course.

That kinda reminds me of all the Sakura haters in Naruto.
It's a tough call who gets it worse. Kairi is useless and dead, but Sakura ends up with Sasuke, and that's likely a fate worse than death.
 
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