Why Kairi Isn't Useless

[OveliaGirlHaditRight 2]

Why Kairi ISN'T Useless - Kairi Defense 2 - YouTube

I feel a little nervous posting about this, not even gonna lie... but I made a video detailing all the reasons I don't believe Kairi is useless here, for anyone who might be interested in it.

Thank you so much!

 

[DestinysUnion 23]

Very nice video! Thank you for speaking up about her character. And awww, I never noticed Kairi pulling Mickey back from that explosion! XD It was also really cool to see the comparisons of her from KH1, KH2, and KH3.

I always felt Kairi never deserved the hate she got (although I don't think any character ever does lol). The truth is Kairi is not useless at all, people just overlook that fact because she's rarely playable and a lot of her moments are subtle and not in your face. Plus, nowadays there's this extremely shallow viewpoint on characters (especially female ones) that they're useless or unlikable if they can't fight (or aren't considered "tough").

I think a lot of people like Aqua just because she can fight and she's pretty. Several times, I've seen people completely miss the fact she's so feminine and instead stereotype her as some tough chick, and they forego her compassion and gentle kindness (especially toward Terra and Ven) and just want her to be this "I'm so tough, I can fight alongside the guys"-type of character. When people do that, they must only like her for her fighting capability, because they miss everything else about her. Kairi's in a similar boat, but the opposite situation; she's stereotyped as being "unable to fight," so that's all there is to her. Her personality doesn't matter or her connections or what she does for others: she can't fight and that's it.

The whole theme of the KH series is "connection," and everyone remembers Sora's "my friends are my power line" and how he gets strength from his friends, but no one seems to realize that includes Kairi; she's been giving him strength and supporting him since game one.  ...On second thought, I think a lot of people miss the meaning of that line, actually. lol Regardless, I think people who complain a character is useless or unimportant in a series about connections and friendship are equatable to the people who complain because they think the Beast's human form in Beauty and the Beast is ugly: you missed the whole moral of the story!

I don't think all the critique towards Kairi is shallow and unfounded, though. I understand that some people probably had this idea where in KH3 (or MoM) Kairi would toughen up a whole lot, be playable for a good portion of the game (or at all in base KH3's case), and be this great fighter alongside Sora and Riku. I can imagine some could've been hoping for that as a sort of "Take that" to the Kairi haters and others who had given them grief about her, so when she wasn't everything they wanted her to be, of course there was disappointment. And I understand some people want her to be playable more and get more screen time, and that's completely fine. The problem is that so many are shallow about it and completely miss what was there for her character and that she is a good character, even though her development and such aren't in the foreground as much as other characters'.

Another thing people misunderstand is that Nomura does not hate Kairi. So much of the fanbase does not understand how Nomura works: his aim with KH is to expand the lore and the world, and to pull off and explain the crazy plot points that happen. Unfortunately for fans like myself, showing more of and adding extra depth to all the characters are not at the forefront of his goals. He doesn't have anything against Kairi, her playability just doesn't fit directly into his plans for the series right now. I legit think all of the characters have depth and are thought-through and equally cared for, we just don't always see it from what the game needs to show and for some characters we might need to look and think a little harder to understand them. And just because a character is absent doesn't mean Nomura has anything against them. There was a line of his back from around KH2 where he said Luxord was his favorite Organization member, and that guy doesn't get much screen time and no special treatment. lol

Sorry for the ramble and the text walls. lol Long story short: Kairi's great and people can be very shallow.

[OveliaGirlHaditRight 2]

@DestinysUnion Aww! Thank you so much for such an in-depth comment! I agree with everything.

One of my issues with this fandom definitely is how they seem to think that if you can't fight, you're worthless: which is they're issue with Kairi, you're right, and why they try to right off things about Aqua. It's sad. And Naminé for the longest time was a great example of how you could be more passive but still important in this series, but now you rarely see people talking about her anymore and she's disappeared from the series. Alas.

And I definitely agree that people seem to be okay with Sora having "his friends as his powers", but get mad when Kairi does. How is that fair? And I also think a lot of people don't really understand or appreciate that line. And you would think a series about friendship would have fans that are a lot more... friendly.

Indeed. Nomura's more of a mystery box guy than anything else, and all the character sort of fall by the wayside that way. Especially with so many, where it must be hard to juggle them all. But he definitely seemed interested in Kairi and her mystery around the KH1 days--she was almost playable there, after all--and seems to have found that fire again, in creating a new arc for her. Which is great. And you can tell in some interviews and stuff, that he cares for her: when some scenes with her are his favorites in the games. So, here's hoping it all goes towards a great future for her!

Thank you so much for the wonderful comment!