About Kairi’s future role in the series

[Vulpes XIII]

Do you think that this whole going to train with Aqua thing is just something Nomura wrote so he doesn’t have to bother with writing Kairi again and that later down the line he‘s going to come up with another reason why Kairi not allowed to do anything? Aqua is one of those characters who I believe there story has been finished and is not needed in the future so perhaps Kairi training with her is something Nomura wrote so she at least appears like she going to be useful in the future. Honestly looking at Kairi and at the last several games she felt like she was just there to fill in a spot in the Keyblade Graveyard and later a plot device which probably explains why her treatment in the Keyblade Graveyard was so bad. As for Re:Mind I know she got a segment where we could play as her because Nomura got a lot of complaints for not doing it in the base game but isn’t that similar to what happened to Leon and the others and I highly doubt we are going to see them again. Finally even in her own game she was once again stopped from doing anything important by Riku because Nomura doesn’t want her to go to the place where all the plot going to happen, also she was not allowed to fight Xehanort, we ended up playing as Sora instead and although Mickey‘s going to Scala ad Caelum and will probably need some back up at some point its probably going to be Ventus who fills the role so he can meet with all the rest of the Union X characters. Thoughts?

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Square Enix are very receptive to fan feedback as evidenced by ReMind so we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[SweetYetSalty]

I'm still not thrilled at Kairi needing to train before being allowed to do anything. The only training I wanna see Kairi do is at Olympus Coliseum while on a adventure of her own. Her being stuck in Land of Departure sounds boring, I want a world tour adventure, and I don't like how KH is getting restrictive with this Keyblade hierarchy. Still I'll just have to wait and see what KH4 has in store for her.

 

[Swing]

At this point, I can not see her getting any development anymore. They had their chance with MoM, but they just didn't could come up with anything to redeem her as a character. She is still nothing more than a price to collect. Do you remember in Banjo-Kazooie, when Banjo collects a Jiggy and does this cute little dance? The same thing we can do with Kairi at this point because she isn't a real character in my eyes, she is more of a collectible item in a video game. Maybe SE and Disney can come up with Sora's own little dance when he rescues Kairi?

Also, I have the feeling, that Kairi was some sort of prototype for the female lead of the KH-series, which is Aqua at this point. Naminé was a better written Kairi, Xion a better written Naminé, and Aqua seems to be now what Kairi should have been.

This is sadly how I see Kairi now. She and Sora make a cute couple, I like her design, I like her big feet, I like her fiery-red hair, and her cute half-tomboy-half-girly-girl-personality, but as a character, she can not really be used for anything more.

 

[Sign]

Do you think that this whole going to train with Aqua thing is just something Nomura wrote so he doesn’t have to bother with writing Kairi again and that later down the line he‘s going to come up with another reason why Kairi not allowed to do anything?

Yes.

Tbh I'd rather that happen than for him to continue dangling Kairi in front of us like a carrot. If he doesn't like her or can't figure out what to do with her, then just set her aside and focus on other characters or something.

But props to y'all who have more patience than I do and am willing to wait however long it takes for Kairi to get her dues.

 

[Zettaflare]

Not sure what else to expect from Kairi at this point. Re:MIND seemed to be going in the right direction and then came the end of MoM. I thought it was ridiculous she didn't join with Sora and Riku in DDD and Nomura went and did it again. By the time Sora returns and Kairi finishes her training with Aqua what other excuse can there be to shaft her?

 

[Vulpes XIII]

At this point, I can not see her getting any development anymore. They had their chance with MoM, but they just didn't could come up with anything to redeem her as a character. She is still nothing more than a price to collect. Do you remember in Banjo-Kazooie, when Banjo collects a Jiggy and does this cute little dance? The same thing we can do with Kairi at this point because she isn't a real character in my eyes, she is more of a collectible item in a video game. Maybe SE and Disney can come up with Sora's own little dance when he rescues Kairi?

Also, I have the feeling, that Kairi was some sort of prototype for the female lead of the KH-series, which is Aqua at this point. Naminé was a better written Kairi, Xion a better written Naminé, and Aqua seems to be now what Kairi should have been.

This is sadly how I see Kairi now. She and Sora make a cute couple, I like her design, I like her big feet, I like her fiery-red hair, and her cute half-tomboy-half-girly-girl-personality, but as a character, she can not really be used for anything more.

I never thought about the idea of Kairi as a prototype before, but honestly it might of worked if they gave her manga Kairi’s personality because I do enjoy that version of Kairi, but seeing both version side by side I have to wonder how did Nomura mess up so badly?

In my opinion it not like he incapable of writing a good original female character as although I’m not a fan of Aqua I’ll admit she‘s a good character and I think he did a good job with Xion and Larxene also Naminé,Ava,Skuld and even Strelitzia ( if she ever comes back) all have potential to be good characters, but for some reason Kairi is the only one who is an exception.

Speaking of Naminé I can honestly see the possibility of her receiving more character development in future games instead of Kairi.

 

[Face My Fears]

At this point, I can not see her getting any development anymore. They had their chance with MoM, but they just didn't could come up with anything to redeem her as a character. She is still nothing more than a price to collect. Do you remember in Banjo-Kazooie, when Banjo collects a Jiggy and does this cute little dance? The same thing we can do with Kairi at this point because she isn't a real character in my eyes, she is more of a collectible item in a video game. Maybe SE and Disney can come up with Sora's own little dance when he rescues Kairi?

Also, I have the feeling, that Kairi was some sort of prototype for the female lead of the KH-series, which is Aqua at this point. Naminé was a better written Kairi, Xion a better written Naminé, and Aqua seems to be now what Kairi should have been.

This is sadly how I see Kairi now. She and Sora make a cute couple, I like her design, I like her big feet, I like her fiery-red hair, and her cute half-tomboy-half-girly-girl-personality, but as a character, she can not really be used for anything more.

I don't get how MoM was their one and only chance to fix Kairi. There's like 20 minutes of cutscenes total. Before MoM was released, I thought there was going to be at least an hour's worth of cutscenes, so I could understand the belief that MoM could fix Kairi pre-MoM (that's what I thought). But clearly the intent of MoM was to set up the actual sequel game to KH3, while being primarily a fun side game to celebrate the Dark Seeker Saga's music.

I really didn't like that Kairi didn't go with Riku and that this was the ONE TIME that logic was applied about characters "needing training". I would have much preferred if Kairi had put her foot down and said NO I AM GOING WITH YOU, MY HEART IS TELLING ME TO. I'm sure if Sora or anyone else said that to Riku, he would have been like fine. My one hope is that Nomura surprises us all and makes the next game a three person playable game in Quadratum where you can play as Riku/Kairi/Aqua.

If he doesn't do that since this was the perfect time to make Kairi playable and have an adventure of her own. I need AT LEAST an hour opening tutorial with playable Kairi training under Aqua, where we get cutscenes with them both talking. I would love to see Kairi ask Aqua what it was like being in the Realm of Darkness for so long, then hearing the pain in Aqua's voice, then Kairi realizing that Sora is going through that in Quadratum and that she needs to train harder to save him.

 

[AdrianXXII]

Not sure what else to expect from Kairi at this point. Re:MIND seemed to be going in the right direction and then came the end of MoM. I thought it was ridiculous she didn't join with Sora and Riku in DDD and Nomura went and did it again. By the time Sora returns and Kairi finishes her training with Aqua what other excuse can there be to shift her?

Well I pretty much expect Kairi reach Master level, but be still left behind because Riku and Sora reached Master of Master level and everything is still too dangerous for poor little ol Kairi and you know she'd just get in the way, so best stay back and do some more training...
No I'm totally not salty that even after all the training and time passed she was told again she couldn't come and would just be in the way.

Never mind that Sora and Riku will probably get reset in whatever the next game is and the excuse that she's not strong enough yet won't hold any water like her exclusion in DDD.

With our current set up, I guess we are to expect/believe that she'll train under Aqua and rejoin Riku and Sora once she reaches Keyblade Master level. But as others have put it, if her whole training is just on Land of Departure it'll be pretty boring and we most likely won't see any of it. I partly hope that Aqua decides she'd learn more on the feld and the two of them go on a world tour of their own.

 

[Cumguardian69]

The fight we were robbed of:

Christ Nomura.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

"About Kairi's future role in the series"
- None.

Nomura's more excited to deal with the MoM, Luxu, Foretellers, KHUx cast, KHDR cast, Quadratum, Sora and Riku, than with Kairi. I concur with the notion that he precisely set her aside to that end: have an excuse to not touch her or give her development. She's just gonna be a copy/paste character: we need her in X event, okay, put her from here to there.

Is this bad for Kairi's character?
Yes.

Do I care?
No.

If anything, the series is moving from SRK to just SR. Since KH2, it feels like Kairi's character ark ended with the ark established from KH1: Sora finding his friends. It all feels now exactly what KH2 established: Sora and Riku versus the world:
• Sora and Riku versus the Organization
• SR vs the Xehanorts
• SR versus whatever comes now

Nomura doesn't give any flying effs for Kairi. That's demonstrated when her "own game" was an afterthought, seeing as how Chirithy was originally MoM's narrator. If anything, he used whatever semblance of popularity Kairi has in order to better market the game.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

The fight we were robbed of:

Christ Nomura.

If we ever get a PS5/Xbox Series X remaster of Kingdom Hearts III, it'd be nice to have Riku, Roxas, Aqua and Kairi as playable characters in the Limit Cut data boss battles.

 

[AdrianXXII]

If we ever get a PS5/Xbox Series X remaster of Kingdom Hearts III, it'd be nice to have Riku, Roxas, Aqua and Kairi as playable characters in the Limit Cut data boss battles.

I feel it'd be really cool, if we'd get that option. Honestly after seeing some of these mods I'm kind of getting interested in figuring out how to do it myself.

 

[Face My Fears]

Kairi and Aqua need a game together. Point blank. The only good thing about packaging Kairi with Aqua is the fact that Aqua is mega popular, so maybe that will help revitalize Kairi's role in the series. In terms of treatment, ReMIND, MoM, then being a package deal with Aqua is way better than what she got in past games. It also paints a more positive future than say the end of KH2.

 

[Chie]

Personally I think it has less to do with Kairi and more this kind of inexplicable fluff shonen writing that has been much more present in the series since KH3. To whoever wrote it and keeps writing it (I don't know if that's Nomura or one of the various co-writers), making a long list of which characters are going to do what menial task must seem like writing because it's giving the characters something to do, and having characters go do "training" must also seem like writing because it's... giving the characters something to do. When in reality, I'd argue this is all fluff, filler dialogue that means nothing for the characters or the plot, especially if it's not going to lead to actual storytelling.

In this respect, Kairi going to do meaningless "training" is about as bad as "donald, goofy, it is your job to tell all the other characters that ansem randomly came up with the concept of fiction" - if neither one leads to a story being told, or something happening for those characters, it may as well be mentioned offhand in a journal (and we all know nothing is going to happen character-wise to Donald and Goofy, unfortunately). Though with how they've pulled this exact trick with Kairi several times now, it does make it much more egregious and mean-spirited with her, but one fears that this is just how ALL writing is going to be (I have a bit more confidence than that, though).

And like, I apologize for this cynical post, because I'm the opposite of the kind of person who thinks a long-running series like this just "gets bad" - indeed, there is still dialogue and direction I very much like in the recent entries (Xehanort's mysterious speech to Kairi in the pod, most everything to do with Xigbar or the Master of Masters), and I feel there's plenty of opportunity for the next game to be good. I just get actively frustrated with this nothing dialogue, and I do think it's a bigger problem than any one character. (Fans caring about nonsense like 'power levels' probably doesn't help either, since the only thing worse than fans caring about that is the actual story caring about it; is fan reaction driving some of this awkward dialogue, as has been speculated on other threads? I don't know. I legitimately believe that if Kairi was just kept off to the side until she had a major role instead of spending pages of dialogue faffing about BS like "training", very few people would be as upset.)

Though I do totally share the pain because I've been wanting to play as Kairi since I was an actual child.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Kairi and Aqua need a game together. Point blank. The only good thing about packaging Kairi with Aqua is the fact that Aqua is mega popular, so maybe that will help revitalize Kairi's role in the series. In terms of treatment, ReMIND, MoM, then being a package deal with Aqua is way better than what she got in past games. It also paints a more positive future than say the end of KH2.

Every Mark of Mastery exam has had two pupils against each other, it's likely we'll see another Keyblade Wielder alongside Kairi in training.

 

[Megavoltage]

Every Mark of Mastery exam has had two pupils against each other, it's likely we'll see another Keyblade Wielder alongside Kairi in training.

Oh, fuck! Didn't even think of this! So obvious in hindsight. It'll probably be Ventus, right? He would want to take the test to prove himself and regardless of his own want for the title he's just a super nice guy that would be happy to be Kairi's training partner/friend. And them being tied together might assure Kairi's involvement with Ven's upcoming adventures involving his old life, sounds good to me. Ya know, I bet Ven's old life drama would come crashing down on them during their training because surely it'll have some sort of snag like what happened to Sora in DDD.

I wonder if Terra will be involved in this process. He probably still has issues with the title of Mastery, he might want to find something else to do. But Terra spending time with Kairi could be interesting, especially since Melody of Memory brought up her awkward history with 'him'.

 

[Face My Fears]

Every Mark of Mastery exam has had two pupils against each other, it's likely we'll see another Keyblade Wielder alongside Kairi in training.

Oh then Nomura needs to make the obvious choice here and book Xion with Kairi. He needs to think about the characters that need a boost in ratings and relevance. Most fans are ready to bin Xion and Kairi, so packaging them with Aqua to give them a storyline and a rub of top level character treatment will be best for them. It will also allow for a representative from each trio to be in the new game, so fans of the trios will get something.

Oh and throw in Namine as the Jiminy of the group.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

I feel like y'all are fantasising too much about the possibilities of what can be done with Kairi under Aqua's tutelage and could be delivering yourselves to disappointment (like with Kairi's inclusion in MoM, but that was honestly deliberately done/marketing). The only precedent we have with Kairi's dealing as a character is the flopping Nomura has done ever since KH2. DDD's ending did tease her on a much more important role, but it ended underdelivering.

But I'll be objective and say that I think that KH3's ruined year or two of dev made Nomura rush whatever plans he had for her in KH3.

---

Edit:

I forgot to mention:

We keep forgetting that the plot line of the New Seven Hearts include Kairi. So there is a possibility she is going to have a more active role in the future (assuming the New Seven Hearts plot line gets to be developed or it was just a nice name to give to the newer generation of Disney Princesses).

 

[Chie]

Personally I hope they never bring up the Mark of Mastery again (outside of Dark Road obviously)