That's an interesting way to put it. You're quite the poet Sephi.
I could care less for the romance, too. I find the bond between all the characters that they make in order to save their universe much more interesting and beautiful. I think it's wonderful that Sora helps everyone with their problems in every single world, as if each matter counts.
It's less poesy, lol, but rather my experiences on how media stories often work out.
In 90% of the cases it is always main male hero gets together with main female heroine and that relationship is then treated as more important as anything else going on in the work at hand.
I definitely apologize if that came off as diminishing any other dynamic in the game as that certainly wasn't the intention. Eclipse, I think, was the wrong word. What I should have said is that this dynamic stands out because of things that occur right in the game; Kairi's heart goes to Sora upon her losing it and later it is the absence of his memories of her (which are said to be the ones most important to him) that prevent him from waking up because they've gone to Xion. To me, these circumstances symbolize a special bond between the two characters and the same could also be said between Sora and Ventus (by the way, I definitely look forward to those two meeting and dynamic being explored as well)
As far as Sora and Kairi though, highlighting this bond and relationship further doesn't have to diminish or take away from anything else if done correctly. It's okay if you would rather not see that side - or relationships in general - emphasized in the game at all; I would even go as far to say that I'd rather see it not done at all rather than done incorrectly or in bad taste.
Text doesn't always convey intent, but yes, it came off somewhat in this vein. Good to see that clarified.
I can fully agree that there is something of a special dynamic hinted at, although the issue of Kairi's heart going into Sora could be argued with him just being at the right place in the right time. Aqua's spell took care that when she would be in danger, her light would lead her to that of another, which just happened to be the light of Sora and Riku on Destiny Islands.
It were mostly the memories of Kairi that were messed up by Naminé in Chain of Memories to begin with, so of course those were the first Xion could absorb through Roxas.
If you say though that this all symbolizes that Sora and Kairi have a special bond and that the
same could be said about his bond with Ventus, I can only wholeheartly agree to this statement. The bonds between Sora and Kairi and between Sora and Ven also have in common that they're pretty pale in presentation when compared to Sora's bond with Riku or even his bonds with Donald and Goofy.
It's funny you mention the bond Sora has with Ventus out of all those he has, which while stated to be one of the closest in the series (metaphysical-wise), is probably also one of the least explored in the whole series as they have so far never even met once in the actual physical world.
It's also amusing Naminé reasserts this in Re: Coded, but neither this game nor even DDD go anywhere with this bond.
Re: Coded said:
Naminé: Yes, two of them, you have met. As for the third...I never realized it, but...you and he share a very special connection.
If we go by the premise that the three closest relationships/bonds Sora has are Ven, Riku and Kairi (in order of when he made them), it is somewhat telling that only one of those is sufficiently explored.
Oh yes, I'm certainly in for highlighting Kairi's bond and relationship with Sora further as well, I just don't see why it
has to be the romantic kind of bond.
With this, I will also ask the question out more in general (not just directed at you) as to
why specifically his bond to Kairi has to be romantic in nature? Because he's a boy and she's a girl?
Let's imagine a what-if-scenario in which Sora would be a girl, would then his bond to Ventus
have to be the romantic one, or the one to Riku?
If everything in the whole series would be the same except Sora being female, would still everyone be gung-ho for Sora/Kairi as a romantic bond or would then Sora/Riku or Sora/Ven the "standard" to go with? Would the "paopu-fruit-drawing", Riku's teasing in KH 1 about sharing the Paopu, the dance-imagination in KH2 have the same effect on shippers (and normal people) if Sora and Kairi would be both girls? Would Sora crying for Riku and getting on his knees in KH 2 seen as less "barf"-like if Sora would be female? Imagine the whole scenario of DDD, including the big hugging-puppy Sora at the end with Sora as a girl.
Wouldn't then the Sora/Riku "proponents" have much more leverage and influence simply because they're opposite genders and Sora/Kairi having less because they would be the same gender,
despite all (more or less obvious) hints given out by all games staying the same?
Or turn it around and have Riku and Ventus being girls while Sora stays male, the series still playing out completely the same otherwise, would Sora then be the mega-pimp who has three girls because they all share a special bond with him? Polygamy for the win? Sora has three keyholes for his key...ahem? The dream of nearly every pubescent straight male coming true?
Third possibility, we change Kairi into a boy while Sora, Riku and Ven all stay male too. Now Sora has to be
the definite Gaylord of the KH universe right? The Yaoi fangirls would be in seventh heaven and Kairi would probably get
extensively less hate in general.
Uh...yea...
got carried away a little...
That last sentence is a real good one, mainly because I think almost everyone knows that the writing staff of the KH series is only mediocre at best and I would be more than 70% sure that they would do it incorrectly or in bad taste, thus another reason for why I am wary of the whole issue.
Ditto. I've never given much of a darn for Sora/Kairi, it was too cliched for me and I much prefer Sora and Riku. Although I doubt they'll go in that direction, they're great as bros to me, and Kairi is too uninteresting a character (so far) for me to like the idea of her being paired up with Sora. Also the other bonds between other characters- Axel and Roxas, Roxas and Xion, Terra and Ven, Sora and Riku, Mickey and Ven, and so on- are so much more powerful and impactful, that they make SoKai feel like a high school crush.
I would personally like it if they didn't end up together. I loved what they did with the Legend of Korra, where Korra was into Mako for the entirety of the first season but the series ultimately took a very different direction with Korra's relationships by the fourth season. I would like to see Sora fall for someone other than the obvious choice, the only girl in the trio.
You see, while I too don't give a damn about Sora/Kairi as a romantic couple and
especially not about the notion some people seem to propagate that Sora should put her over everyone else he loves, I
do want to see the relationship between Sora and Kairi becoming
equally important as his close relationships to other characters.
Before that though, Kairi has to become a fleshed out character in her own right
without any dependence and focus just on Sora.
One of the things that irks me most about Kairi is that while she is a character with potential, she is so goddamn uninvolved with everything that we do not even know something as simple as her
opinion on the whole mess that happened throughout the entire series.
The manga may not be canon but Amano included Kairi way better than any of the games ever did, her interactions with Axel in the KH 2 manga are top-notch.
The reason that all these bonds between the other original characters feel so much more powerful is because they actually get attention. Kairi has close to zero actual attention to characters outside Sora and it is somewhat a pity that even the relationship between Mickey and Ven, which had three or four scenes at best, is better fleshed out than anything in regards to Kairi.
We get glimpses of Kairi connecting with Hayner and his gang, but nothing more. In a later scene in Twilight Town Hayner says: "Of course we did. Kairi's our friend, too, ya know.", but we never actually get so see them interact with Kairi in a focused manner.
Well, lol, strictly spoken, the hints towards
romantic SoKai can indeed be interpreted as just that, a crush (or an ideal). This is especially noticeable in KH 2.
While I haven't watched Korra in any shape or form, I do know that they did a refreshing change to the usual cliché of main male gets main female in the end.
As far as I know Korra though cannot be completely compared to KH in the romance-department because romance in itself had already a much stronger presence in this series than it has with KH, but I can see where you're coming from by giving this example.
I personally would prefer having Sora not "falling" for any single person in particular at all, as this would fit in much better with Ansem the Wise's assertion of Sora's essence in DDD:
That is a statement to the love in his heart for other people, and the bonds that tie them together.
I understand people do not like romance, that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the recent discussion that a romance between Sora x Kairi would somehow diminish the other friendships in the game.
Try looking at it from a writing viewpoint and from how romance is handled
in fiction in general rather than real life.
Most media which depict romance elements totally
do diminish other friendships and other forms of love (or at least push them to the side) to portray the romantic love as THE most important bond and "best" form of love that there is in the respective work at hand and with the dubious quality of KH's writing there is a
great chance that KH would go down this route as well.
The only thing that comes somewhat close in the typical cliché writing is blood-related family, which gets also very often superelevated over other relationships. If no romantic love is involved, blood family is often treated as THE most important thing that there is.
The Kingdom Hearts series, for all its flaws, is a rather refreshing departure in this regard as it (so far) keeps romantic love strictly in the ambigious, hinted ballpark while blood family is completely ignored.
