Why is there so much hate for Sora

[Stevie Goodwin]

[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Why is there a lot of hate for my favorite character Sora? When i looked up in wikipedia, I found " Sora's character has received generally positive critical response due to his warm personality and adventurous spirit." I see people say he is a stupid character or something and they like Roxas better or Sora is like Naruto. Is Sora relatable? I heard his friends try to screw him.[/FONT]

 

[VoidGear.]

Why is there a lot of hate for my favorite character Sora? When i looked up in wikipedia, I found " Sora's character has received generally positive critical response due to his warm personality and adventurous spirit." I see people say he is a stupid character or something and they like Roxas better or Sora is like Naruto. Is Sora relatable? I heard his friends try to screw him.

How much is "so much"?
I generally hardly see anyone who really dislikes Sora, let alone hates him.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

If you've found that Sora has received generally positive critical response, I don't see why you think there's so much hatred for him. Note that the opinions you see here on the forums (and even here it's not like everyone hates Sora) hardly represent the entirety or the majority of the whole KH fandom. For one person who thinks Sora is/became dumb, I'm fairly sure there are fifty or more that still love him.

 

[DarkGrey Heroine]

He is my favourite character after Vanitas.
There's a huge jump from Vanitas to Sora, so it must mean I love Sora very much. And I do.
I truly do see him as our Hero of Light and whenever he's on screen I can't help but smile. He's just that precious, to tell the fewest words.

In all my years in the KH fandom, outside of KHI, I didn't see much hate for Sora. There's a lot for Xion, Terra, even Roxas and the list goes on, but Sora generally is everyone's sunshine. Which is good for a protagonist in the context of KH.

And so what is he's like Naruto? Even though Naruto went through a lot more things than Sora ever will. Naruto happens to be one of my all-time fav characters anyway, so that isn't a negative argument at all imo

 

[VoidGear.]

And so what is he's like Naruto? Even though Naruto went through a lot more things than Sora ever will. Naruto happens to be one of my all-time fav characters anyway, so that isn't a negative argument at all imo

I guess when people compare him to Naruto, it's mostly his typical shounen-boy characteristics that a lot of people can't stand (I don't mind them mostly, so I can't relate to that).

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Ironically, Sora and Naruto are the same for me: great at the starting point, and progressively worse as time went on.

 

[DarkGrey Heroine]

I guess when people compare him to Naruto, it's mostly his typical shounen-boy characteristics that a lot of people can't stand (I don't mind them mostly, so I can't relate to that).

Yep, it's because of those traits, which to me are fine and I like seeing them in a character. Quite a lot. Really shows that I grew up with Dragon Ball and love Son Goku from the bottom of my heart ♥

Ironically, Sora and Naruto are the same for me: great at the starting point, and progressively worse as time went on.

Depends if you really consider that Naruto became worse character-wise as time went on, after Shippuden. I have to disagree.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Depends if you really consider that Naruto became worse character-wise as time went on, after Shippuden. I have to disagree.

I'd say it's the writing quality that made both of their characters worse.

Naruto started as an underdog who would defeat enemies far more talented than himself by pure effort and guts, all in order to become Hokage.
Shippuden Naruto is the son of one of the greatest ninja genius who ever lived and heir to a clan renowed for having amazing genes and loads of chakra, which makes all his "unlike me you're a genius yet you still lose" speeches pointless.

Also the focus about him chasing his lifelong dream gets almost completely trumped by him chasing after Sasuke.
Now, "Naruto and Sasuke" is a dangerous topic and I'm not gonna challenge anyone's tastes, but narrative-wise it felt like it overloaded the entire story and forgot how and why the manga even started. You can count the times Naruto states he still wants to become Hokage/accepted by all in Shippuden on one hand. Everything else is Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke.
One can easily quit reading after Pain if all he wanted was to know whether or not Naruto will become Hokage, I'd say by that moment is all set in stone.

There are a lot of counter-arguments to what I've just said, I'm well aware. I myself am still a defender of Naruto as a whole.
But in my opinion Naruto as a character only became less deep and varied as time went on.

Likewise with Sora, there are many that still argues that DDD Sora went in some directions: and I agree, but I still think those were the wrong ones.

 

[Deleted member 246005]

Why is there a lot of hate for my favorite character Sora? When i looked up in wikipedia, I found " Sora's character has received generally positive critical response due to his warm personality and adventurous spirit." I see people say he is a stupid character or something and they like Roxas better or Sora is like Naruto. Is Sora relatable? I heard his friends try to screw him.

Careful with that last sentence bro.... Kingdom Hearts is for kids (kind of)

Kingdom Hearts / YMMV - TV Tropes

According to this page, Roxas/Xion fans tend to hate Sora because their characters had to die for Sora to live. Granted Sora himself doesn't like this so its just the emotions talking. Maybe KH3 would change their mind?

There are also people who don't like original characters/plot and are just here for the Disney worlds. Another side to that is fans who lost interest in the core plot. I'm like that because DDD killed my interest and now I'm more excited for Toy Story than whatever cryptic stuff Xemnas was telling Sora.

I know what he's talking about I just don't care that much:frown:.

Although I'm curious on how it all turns out and maybe KH3 might change my mind. After all I did like the plot back in KH2 and I gave myself my own Organization name:wink:. There are a lot of cool Organization OCS on deviantart that i wish were canon and they put Xion to shame (step up your game Nomura).

I prefer Roxas/Ventus/Riku over Sora as characters but that's because I thought they had stronger internal conflicts and wider range of character traits where Sora felt one-note in comparison. They took Xehanort's description of Sora as a dull ordinary boy too seriously and made him generic.

I don't mind him wanting to save his friends and just chill out but that's not all he should be. It's cool in the beginning but not really something you build a series on (BLEACH suffered from that).

 

[Stevie Goodwin]

Was Sora really rude/one note in KH1? I always found him friendly espcially at the 100 Acre Wood.

 

[raccoonscity]

Was Sora really rude/one note in KH1? I always found him friendly espcially at the 100 Acre Wood.

He wasn't rude or one-note. In KH1, he was more sad than in other games. I mean, he got excited about things and had fun, but he was sad underneath it all because he was looking for Kairi and Riku. He finally got to go on this great adventure to other worlds and meet all kinds of new friends, but Kairi and Riku weren't there; he didn't know if they were safe. When he did find them, Riku was working with the bad guys and Kairi was asleep.

Except for DDD, his characterization was pretty consistent -- he was cheerful, friendly, helpful, a little reckless, and sometimes got sad/angry (but that's natural). He handled things really well for a kid his age with no idea what he was really getting into. He tends to pretend he's happy and eternally optimistic but he never really handles his emotions. He's not a bad character at all, although he hasn't really had a strong arc like Riku or Roxas.

DDD on the other hand is the only Sora that I ever see get any hate... because they make him too cheerful, too trusting, too "dumbed down". It's not really anyone hating on his character, but on that particular characterization of him.

 

[DarkGrey Heroine]

I'd say it's the writing quality that made both of their characters worse.

I agree with this, the writing is what did "damage" to the characters.
And the things about Saucekey and all that, it's all true, it was barely bearable to watch after around, say, episode 300, for the anime-followers. The writing and the plot was all over the place, but if we take Naruto as a person strictly out of it, he's still that one great guy, much like what happened to Sora, even though DDD almost forced him to play the naive dummy.
Hmm, another example comes to my mind, thinking about Darker Than Black. Season 1 and the OVAs were brilliant, and Hei (the protagonist) was a great character to follow, but Season 2 made him just so hard to love/like anymore, the story and his portrayal were so ... inelegant that it almost hurt to watch, though it was worth following till the end.

 

[Precursor Mar]

He used to be my favorite character, until he devolved into a flanderized shonen cliche with an IQ that's lower than his shoe size. DDD Sora in particular was such an egregious misunderstanding of his character that it's impossible for me to watch him without cringing hard.

It also doesn't help that his voice acting got worse after ReCoM.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I don't think people hate Sora, but rather how he has been handled as the series has gone on. KH2 was really the start of the downfall of Sora's characterization. You can choose to interpret Sora's actions in KH2 as him hiding his sadness and confusion (which is what I choose to believe), but for the most part people see him as being carefree and going with the flow like most shounen heroes of the 2000s.

The thing is that we've seen Sora portrayed with mental and emotional intelligence, capable of learning from the events that happen to him and the results of his actions. I'd say BBS is probably one of Sora's more profound characterizations outside of KH1, in fact.

It feels like KH3D took the simplified aspects of Sora (carefree, happy-go-lucky, air headed at times) and made them the only thing Sora could be, rather than drawn on all of Sora's experiences and emotions.

Story-wise, it could be reasoned that Sora had grown cocky over his own abilities so he wasn't really taking anything seriously until it was too late. The problem with that is that it implies a willful ignorance from Sora, which feels very out of character for him considering everything that has happened so far and the seriousness he had in BBS when he said he wanted to do what he could to help those that were in need of help.

Development-wise, this is clearly a result of the writer perhaps not knowing how to handle Sora's character, Nomura perhaps not thinking much about it in lieu of focusing on Riku's character development, and probably a million other factors that we can't even begin to take into account.

But whatever the reason may be, it has lead to weakening Sora's impact as the main character of the series.

The thing is, I still see so many people who love Sora online and in real live so don't think that the discussion surrounding Sora is a reflection of people's actual feelings for Sora. You can love a character but hate how they are handled.

 

[ImVentus]

I never thought people hated Sora (ouch, I don't) but more felt he was either out of character or very bland to some people's opinions. I did however know that some people simply ranted on him cause he didn't have it as painful as Roxas. Which ok, but still I don't like that excuse. Guess some people aren't too much of a fan on cheerful boys.

I've never felt any dislike towards him as a character. Except for a few bits in RCOM & KH2 but they are rare. I mostly find him to be either a likeable guy, or interesting protagonist. I don't mind him being more cheerful in DDD, but I wasn't feeling too keen on him being extremely gullible, that was rather cringy.

However I can see why people might not like him, but that only makes him more human when you think about it. No one's perfect after all.
I think he's going to be at least an improvement in KH3 from DDD. Over the course surely he will grow and change a bit. A lot rests on his shoulders for now.

 

[Pokie]

Wait ? People hate this cute boy ?

It also doesn't help that his voice acting got worse after ReCoM.

That's not Joel Osment's fault though. Imagine being in your mid to late 20's and trying to sound like a young teenaged boy still.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

The thing is, now we're stepping into philosophical territory. When do you hate a character and when you hate how it's being handled?
If I'm bored and dislike basically every Sora moment in DDD, I'm still just hating the new direction or have I embraced hating the character?
I'm not being sassy or anything, I'm legit curious.

Naturally if you hate a character from the get-go you're probably just hating the character and not how it's being handled, but I'm not sure if the opposite is also true.
I don't know if what I dislike is how Sora is portrayed now or just the character himself.
I'd also like to add: far from being a rule, but real people also change. Kingdom Hearts has been around for more than 15 years now and that means children became teenagers and teenagers became young adults and so on. It is entirely possible our own tastes are changing regarding characters and motivation, I was a huge Roxas fan in my "no one understands me I wanna escape from this reality" adolescent years, but that fire has dwindled since then.

I agree with this, the writing is what did "damage" to the characters.
And the things about Saucekey and all that, it's all true, it was barely bearable to watch after around, say, episode 300, for the anime-followers. The writing and the plot was all over the place, but if we take Naruto as a person strictly out of it, he's still that one great guy, much like what happened to Sora, even though DDD almost forced him to play the naive dummy.
Hmm, another example comes to my mind, thinking about Darker Than Black. Season 1 and the OVAs were brilliant, and Hei (the protagonist) was a great character to follow, but Season 2 made him just so hard to love/like anymore, the story and his portrayal were so ... inelegant that it almost hurt to watch, though it was worth following till the end.

Ah, I hear ya. Naruto's still a great dude, absolutely.
Haven't seen Darker Than Black yet, I'll catch up eventually

 

[Precursor Mar]

That's not Joel Osment's fault though. Imagine being in your mid to late 20's and trying to sound like a young teenaged boy still.

That wouldn't be a problem if they just let him use his deeper KH2 voice.

 

[Chuman]

That wouldn't be a problem if they just let him use his deeper KH2 voice.

HJO: i got some real good material, been taking voice acting classes to improve my range
voice director: hope they were youth coaches, because sora’s gonna be 6 in the next one!!
HJO: oh for diddlys sake
voice director: see we cant have any of that in the studio my guy

 

[ImVentus]

HJO: i got some real good material, been taking voice acting classes to improve my range
voice director: hope they were youth coaches, because sora’s gonna be 6 in the next one!!
HJO: oh for diddlys sake
voice director: see we cant have any of that in the studio my guy

Wow haha, what if that was true! It sounded really forced in 2.9.
By the way why did they make HJO sound so non natural in 2.9? Compared to how he sounded in BBS ending.