Kairi, the main female protagonist in the KINGDOM HEARTS series, is a character we have all grew to love (or hate in some cases) has often been questioned about her relevance to the story. With some hardcore fans being pro Kairi , we find just as many fans being completely against the young Princess of Heart. Yet, why is this? Why is Kairi the only character of the three being question? In my opinion Kairi is completely useless. She served only two purposes in the entire series: 1) Being a PoH 2) Getting captured 95% of the time. Sora is a reactive character and also the main character of the series. Riku is a proactive character and it just seems like Kairi is just, well just there. At times it feels like Nomura is just throwing her in roles because he, himself has no idea where she belongs. Kairi seems to be a struggling character, in really an already struggling series. Although, that is just my opinion lets take a brief look into Kairi’s role in each game.
Kairi – KINGDOM HEARTS
Kingdom hearts, the game that started it all and my personal favorite in the series. The simplicity and strength of the story was enough to keep me wanting more and to make it better it was meshed with the magic of Disney and Final Fantasy (A combination that no one thought would work, but it did). The reason why this game is my favorite, is because of the story. Back then, everything was simple. Two friends, Sora and Riku desperately chasing their goal, to save Kairi.
Not saying I hate her completely, that is far from true. I would even go as far as to say that Kairi is the reason why the first game was so amazing. Not because of her screen time or actions. It’s because she was an excellent support character for both Sora and Riku, despite her having little to no screen time. It almost seemed like she kept the friendly competition between them, even though they followed different paths. Not to mention the ending in this game. We see Sora, finally getting what he wanted, his friends all back together, just to see them ripped away once more. The scene between Sora and Kairi at the end is almost heart breaking and too hard to bare. As Sora yells out: “Remember what you said before, I’m always with you too. I’ll come back to you, I promise.” their hands separate as Kairi responds: “I know you will.” with great certainty. The screen then switches to a scene of our strong-willed PoH with tears in her eyes. Making us who felt that emotion wanting more. That alone could have been a great time to start developing Kairi as a character.
Kairi – KINGDOM HEARTS: CHAIN OF MEMORIES
This has to be my second favorite game of the series (because its the only “inbetween” game I enjoyed). The card-based battles system was amazing and brought something new yet, challenging to the game, with more strategic game play. Yet, Kairi did not appear in this game physically. Some may even say this is where she started decline. I don’t believe so, at this point she still served as the light for both Sora and Riku in Castle Oblivion. Not to mention her connection with Namine. Although, I believe they could have given her a bit more of a key role in the game.
Kairi – KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2
Kairi did not play a major role in this game. She was seen in a few flashbacks. It is suggested around this time frame of the series she is still awaiting the return of Riku and Sora. Yet, her memories of Sora are very vague.
Kairi – KINGDOM HEARTS II
Kingdom Hearts II, the long awaited sequel to Kingdom Hearts. Takes place 1 year after the events of the original game. We find our selves playing as a mysterious boy Roxas. Who seems to have a connection with Kairi through Sora. Though, Kairi received more face time than she ever has in any other Kingdom Hearts game, her character was dull and boring. The lack of character development was almost unacceptable. At times, when the three finally reunited Kairi was kind of, well just there. There was nothing to her, all she did was, again get captured. Toward the end of the game, she found use by hitting a few heartless in the head with a keyblade that given to her by Riku. Most people thought it was good, but why was it necessary? They keyblades were supposed to be scarce around that time, now everyone can have it? It is kind of like they said “Give her less lines and a keyblade”, because they have no where else to put her. It just seemed like a way to make Kairi a bit more relevant. Yet, she wasn’t crucial to the story at all.
Kairi – KINGDOM HEARTS: BIRTH BY SLEEP
Chronologically the first game in the series, it shines a small glimmer of light on Kairi’s mysterious past. Birth by sleep shows us a young Kairi, in her home world of Radient Garden. There she has an encounter with Aqua after being chased by a group o “unversed”, in which she touches Aqua’s keyblade and accidentally preforms the “Keyblade inheritance ceremony”. Answering the question of “How Kairi received her keyblade.” This gives us a bit of character development, but not enough for me to really care. (As I don’t agree with her having a keyblade)
Kairi – KINGDOM HEARTS: DREAM DROP DISTANCE
While Kairi appeared in two different trailers for this game. She had very little relevance in it. Though, her future may look bright as during the secret ending of this game Yen Sid sends Riku to bring her to the Mysterious Tower, so she can start her Keyblade training so that they can complete the 7 defending lights army. This also giving her a chance to defend against the newly assemble Organization XIII. This almost promising a better character development with Kairi.
While I’m not the biggest Kairi fan, I wouldn’t mind seeing her become a bit more relevant in the series (Since shes going to be there anyway). Maybe her receiving a keyblade is just the right spot for her. I would love to see the only original PoH develop into a character who is essential to the story, especially given her title as one of the Princesses of Heart.
Stay tuned for more character reviews, x3pic out!
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