So, like a few others have said, Nomura doesn't even really have a good handle on the friendship aspect of the series at the moment. He overloaded himself with a ton of characters and it has made it difficult for him to balance them all out. I'm not talking about TAV or RAX when I am talking about this, but rather the interpersonal relationships between all of these characters with each other and in relation to Sora.
Sora has a very thin connection to them all but he considers them all his friends, but how am I supposed to believe Ven and Sora are friends and not just...heart buddies? There are no scenes to show that they have any connection to each other in any other way than the convenient roles they served each other. Sora was Ven's bed for 10+ years and Ven was there to whip out a deus ex machina when Sora needed it.
Or let's look at Terra and Riku as another example. They have a connection. Terra is one of the motivations for Riku wanting to leave Destiny Islands. He is the one that eventually made it possible for Riku to even have a Keyblade. He apparently was in his heart at some point since Terra is the Guardian and Riku had the Guardian when he took on the appearance of Ansem: SoD. We see meaningful moments interspersed here and there but they never once actually interact in KH3.
Or Ven and Roxas. They just had that look and that was it.
There are no cohesive interpersonal relationships being developed and it is all passive and only has the illusion of being friendship.
This isn't me complaining about KH3, but rather just laying out that there is a genuine lack of development for these characters on their own and in relation to others throughout the entire series that would help to sell these friendships better.
Which leads me to my next point.
If Nomura can hardly balance all of these characters as friends, how in the world are we supposed to trust him to develop any romantic relationship without it being just as surface level as everything else?
I already personally find SoKai to be a dreadfully developed potential romance, with 90% of it being because Nomura can't seem to care enough to develop Kairi into something more than Sora's potential love interest or a plot device for convenient use whenever he needs somebody to fill that role (and at this point he's been using so many other characters like this that Kairi really doesn't even have this going for her anymore)
The only relationship with any meaningful and good development in this series, regardless of if you see it as friendship or in a potential romantic light, is Sora and Riku. They are the only two Nomura has really poured all of his attention into and it shows. It makes it hard to really enjoy any other relationship in this series that didn't have its own game to be developed (i.e. TAV, RAX) because these two have set the bar so high.
Nomura has to fix a lot of problems with his writing before he can even think to have any textual canon romances.
I'm fine living in my corner with soriku, terraqua, leaisa, replinami (?), namixi (?) and nothing being canon. I just want Nomura to write some really good development for everybody and make them all actual friends.
Well, they kind of already did pull the trigger on SoKai in this game. The sharing of the paopu fruit was the final step in locking their destinies together and becoming intimate with one another. It's not a kiss, but I actually think it's a much more original and unique way to display that kind of affection, and I'm really happy Nomura went with that instead of a kiss which, to me, would have just felt kind of off in this series.
I completely disagree with this. The paopu scene was awkward and hardly sweet or romantic in my point of view. It came off as a bit like something Nomura was checking a box over.
Sad, but true. SRK hardly feel like a trio anymore, which is a shame since the first game sold their friendship better than most others in the series.
This is the most disappointing part about that trio. Every time there is space to develop them, Nomura just doesn't. He'll develop Sora and Riku's friendship up to the moon and back (which I'm not complaining about. if I had it my way, they'd be the canon pair of this series but I don't have any hope about this), throw a bone for Sora and Kairi in the most non-passionate way every main game, and show Riku and Kairi together maybe every now and then, but they don't even exist as a trio at this point and that's just so disappointing and sad and altogether a waste.
I don't think they should shy away from showing relationships if it's deemed relevant, but actually exploring it? No thank you.
Agreed. Exploring it is absolutely the worst idea, not only because I think it would only further bloat and distract from a story that has a hard time focusing itself sometimes, but also it just doesn't sound appealing? Most of what is appealing about seeing relationships in media is the lead-up to the relationship and the fleeting hints about it, not so much the actual relationship.
I kind of have a soft spot for Terra x Aqua so I'd be fine with that couple becoming Canon, lol. Especially after their reunion in KH3
This is the ONLY het couple I can realistically believe in.
I am not opposed to the relationship, provided that these are couples to which hints were made, like Sokai or RokuNami (a hint was made in credits 2.8), TerraAqua, no matter how much I liked this shipping, has no romantic basis.((
However, I probably would not mind if their relationship began to develop.)
Roxas and Namine aren't really being pushed as a pair anymore. It seems to be leaning more toward Namine and Replica Riku.
Well if Sokai is Canon as implied by the ending it might be something that is addressed in the next saga.
We've seen romance with the Disney couples so maybe it won't feel too out of place. Of course since Sora and Kairi are separated next game it may not be something we will see for quite a while, lol
Eeeeeh, the ending didn't really imply anything, though. It's very much a sweet and sad moment but I hardly find it to be proof of them being canon.
The difference between romance from Disney couples and romance by Nomura is that they have source material to follow for the Disney couples. They are established in their own films and media, and then injected into KH so we already have that association with them. Also the films (usually) do a better job of selling those characters as couples way better than Nomura could ever do to sell people on any other couple.
No. They can even get the Disney-FF crossover aspect right anymore.
Exactly.
