This contains spoilers for the ending of Melody of Memory.
Melody of Memory is out now, and we now know the setup for what is to come. Riku has gone to Quadratum on his own to save Sora. Donald and Goofy are going to tell everyone else to stop their searches for Sora. Kairi is going to finish her training under Aqua, and King Mickey is going to Scala ad Caelum to learn more about the ancient Keyblade Masters. I think that this is a lot of exciting setup, including the setup for Kairi to train under Aqua. However, I can understand how not everyone sees it that way. It seems like Kairi is getting the short end of the stick again.
Despite the fact that Kairi is probably one of the most poorly handled characters in the Kingdom Hearts series, I still defend her. To me, issues with her only start to appear in Kingdom Hearts III, but even then, the only thing that I really took issue with was that she was captured by Xemnas way too easily. She didn't even put up a fight. However, Re:Mind addressed the criticism of how Kairi was handled by showing her fight in cutscenes and by letting you play as her in the final boss fight. It looked like they learned their lesson and that Kairi would have a bigger role going forward. So, I will agree that it is a bit confusing that they are having Kairi train more instead of going to Quadratum with Riku.
Even though I don't think this was the best decision, I still think that there is reason to be excited that Kairi is getting trained under Aqua. Aqua is a fan favorite character and one of the most powerful Keyblade wielders that exists right now. The fact that they are having Kairi finish her training under Aqua leads me to think that they do still have plans for Kairi. Yes, it may appear that she is just being tossed aside again, but unless they plan to do nothing with the Wayfinder Trio either, then I think we will still get to see more of Kairi and that she will soon get her big moment in the sun that will (hopefully) make everyone happy.
That being said, I do think that Kairi could have been handled a bit better in this game when it came to the final boss fight. While it was cool to get to see Kairi fight Master Xehanort in a cutscene, I thought it was a bad decision on their part to have you play the final boss fight as Sora. I honestly didn't mind that much, but I thought it would have been better if you played the boss fight as Kairi, and Sora coming to rescue was just a cutscene. Another possibility could have been if the final boss was two phases, the first as Kairi and the second as Sora.
So, long story short, I think that there is reason to be excited to see Kairi get trained under Aqua, but I think that this is their last chance. If they continue to handle Kairi poorly after her training with Aqua, then I will finally give up hope, but I don't think that will happen. I think they have a plan for her, so let's all wait to see what it is.
This contains spoilers for the ending of Melody of Memory.
Melody of Memory is out now, and we now know the setup for what is to come. Riku has gone to Quadratum on his own to save Sora. Donald and Goofy are going to tell everyone else to stop their searches for Sora. Kairi is going to finish her training under Aqua, and King Mickey is going to Scala ad Caelum to learn more about the ancient Keyblade Masters. I think that this is a lot of exciting setup, including the setup for Kairi to train under Aqua. However, I can understand how not everyone sees it that way. It seems like Kairi is getting the short end of the stick again.
Despite the fact that Kairi is probably one of the most poorly handled characters in the Kingdom Hearts series, I still defend her. To me, issues with her only start to appear in Kingdom Hearts III, but even then, the only thing that I really took issue with was that she was captured by Xemnas way too easily. She didn't even put up a fight. However, Re:Mind addressed the criticism of how Kairi was handled by showing her fight in cutscenes and by letting you play as her in the final boss fight. It looked like they learned their lesson and that Kairi would have a bigger role going forward. So, I will agree that it is a bit confusing that they are having Kairi train more instead of going to Quadratum with Riku.
Even though I don't think this was the best decision, I still think that there is reason to be excited that Kairi is getting trained under Aqua. Aqua is a fan favorite character and one of the most powerful Keyblade wielders that exists right now. The fact that they are having Kairi finish her training under Aqua leads me to think that they do still have plans for Kairi. Yes, it may appear that she is just being tossed aside again, but unless they plan to do nothing with the Wayfinder Trio either, then I think we will still get to see more of Kairi and that she will soon get her big moment in the sun that will (hopefully) make everyone happy.
That being said, I do think that Kairi could have been handled a bit better in this game when it came to the final boss fight. While it was cool to get to see Kairi fight Master Xehanort in a cutscene, I thought it was a bad decision on their part to have you play the final boss fight as Sora. I honestly didn't mind that much, but I thought it would have been better if you played the boss fight as Kairi, and Sora coming to rescue was just a cutscene. Another possibility could have been if the final boss was two phases, the first as Kairi and the second as Sora.
So, long story short, I think that there is reason to be excited to see Kairi get trained under Aqua, but I think that this is their last chance. If they continue to handle Kairi poorly after her training with Aqua, then I will finally give up hope, but I don't think that will happen. I think they have a plan for her, so let's all wait to see what it is.
Edited by Dagesh Lene