LazyDurian

Kingdom Hearts 4 screenshot did NOT feature Kairi. So apparently, she will be shafted once again. I'm keeping my wallet closed.

@FadedSparkle I never said she needed to be BAMF character. If my Mary Sue analogy threw off, then that's my bad. But it's time to accept KH is too stuck on shonen trope. And I will stand on my point about Kairi being Sakura. Sakura character development is a complete failure as well. Kairi is suffering the same fate because these stupid writers genuinely think shonen writing is good. Here's my hot take: Kairi being buffed again and becoming BAMF doesn't sounds so bad. Her character is already ruined. So wouldn't it be better that they try to do damage control than cement her as a permanent damsel-in-distress? IMO, it's far better of trying to return to form by reminding fans they care about Kairi; stop this shonen trope and clean their murky past.

This is like the 3rd time I write about Kairi, but I really need to say this; I have a good feeling that Kairi will be the most important character in Kingdom Hearts 4, but not for the reason you'd expect. The reason why Kairi will be important is not because she is about to have the biggest turn-around. It's because she NEEDS the biggest turn-around. I'll die on my hill to say that her current trajectory of character development is an utter FLOP. Her 20+ years of slow burn (too slow) and lore dump has done nothing but colossal damages. She is the character with the worst treatment in Kingdom Hearts. Writing has completely failed her from beginning to MoM. And with no new KH news at all, Kairi's future remains uncertain. While some Kairi fans remain hopeful, many others already jumped the ship and abandoned KH. They are seriously doubtful about KH even caring about Kairi at all. It's a huge shame that Kairi, the embodiment of Disney princess and main KH character, has been butchered to oblivion by poor writing and incompetent management. She gets undeserving hate because KH has failed her character arc. Kairi fans desperately need Kairi to have a better treatment, but based on history of Kingdom Hearts, it certainly doesn't look like it's going to happen. That being said, Kingdom Hearts 4 is where Kairi will be in the main spotlight. Everyone will judge if Kairi will actually have a good development or she will be yet another victim of "damsel-in-distress" Japanese trope. Kairi has been the pillar of Kingdom Hearts ever since KH1. Contrast to other opinions, she is what makes Kingdom Hearts special. The future of Kingdom Hearts from KH4 to onward all depends on how they treat Kairi. Considering how Kingdom Hearts is still a Disney game, Kairi needs to have a big payoff if Square Enix wants Kingdom Hearts to be different from typical misogynistic Japanese trope writing. Not to mention, Square Enix completely lost Kairi fans' trust by fumbling hard with KH3. If Kingdom Hearts wants to regain their trust, they need to correct the course big time. They need to actively show they care about Kairi fans by making Kairi (1) playable for significant time, (2) give her actual good development, not the current one that is constantly failing her, and (3) have her become a main driving force in new KH arc instead of shoving her to the side. While Sora is the focus of Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix needs to go back to the theme of Kairi's importance. But they also need to vastly improve how the writing handles Kairi. That's the only way they will retain (or maybe even bring back) dwindling faith of Kairi fans. Here's my take: Kingdom Hearts 4 is already close to becoming a record flop due to long delays and dead hype. But the main breaking point for the game will be Kairi. If they fumble her character again, then they will lose Kairi fans forever. While some fans might not think Kairi is important, she is indeed the most important character in many ways, both in-game and outside of the game. Her involvement in KH4 will determine the fate of future of Kingdom Hearts, and that's more than you'd think.

So you basically want her to just suffer again, become another damsel-in-distress, has no payoff, and let her rot down to the most hated and most poorly written character. Sure sounds like that's what you mean by "completing her arc" The moment you said Kairi doesn't matter to you, I figured. I guess you're just another Kairi hater, then.

You still don't get it, do you? Backpedling was the worst decision they made because it painted Kairi, yet again, as damsel-in-distress figure. What they should've done was male her actually win the fight against Xehanort, even if it's an illusion, to show her actual progression. Or at least have Riku actually take her with him to Quadratum, not straight-up shoving her to the side. Her defeat was the very definition of nerfing. Taking a break did nothing but add an insult to injury. AGAIN, VISUAL REPRESENTATION. They needed to give Kairi a victory in MoM to give her a successful start of the arc. Guess what, they didn't. And if you want to pull that "Kairi chose her own direction in MoM", don't even think about it. It was yet another catastrophic failure of writing. It's most likely KH team and Nomura just hate her, but anything goes. And if they genuinely thought this slow growth was going to work, it didn't. They don't understand why Kairi fans are frustrated. They don't want fancy writing. They want actions. To be frank, that should've happened in KH3. MoM was a definition of failure when it comes to Kairi development. Now we're way past two decades, it's too late What makes Kairi fans any hopeful when they know Kairi had this much records of being sabotaged and fumbled for 20+ years? Why should they be any helpful when they know the writing absolutely botched her character arc/development? I dare you to give me an answer that can actually give Kairi fans some hope. Trust me, you won't. P.S. you almost sound like another Kairi hater who deliberately want her to be weak and useless.

Did I sound like I was insulting Sakura? She's known for her damsel-in-distress trope and I was using her as an example of how Kairi could've broken away from it. What, you don't get the context? Why so butt-hurt with simply omitting facts about Sakura? "Survived characters like Kairi", What does that mean? Typo? "Backpedaled" - See there? This nerfing is why Kairi fans are tired. They're being stereotypical and judgmental when they see Kairi not succeeding again, sure. But do you really blame them after 20+ years of exhaustion? They want Kairi to have some progress. Re:Mind was perfect and it should've been integrated in MoM. But no, writing can't help but hate on her again. If you don't know how Kairi fans are really feeling, maybe try to think before you speak. "Tired of waiting" - Exactly. All Kairi fans are. They aren't waiting any longer. "Continue developing her" - It's no longer a development, it's an unnecessary drag-out.

Whether you like Kairi or not, if you played Kingdom Hearts long enough, it’s quite clear that Kairi’s charcter development (if there’s even one) is a complete FAILURE. I’ve been a long-time Kairi fan, and while I enjoy her shining moments in Re:Mind and possibly in MoM, I truly think Kingdom Hearts and Nomura absolutely failed her. Ever since KH1, she’s been a troubled character because of shonen-type cliché writing and misogynic vendetta against her. Not to mention, her whole build-up toward KH3 has been utterly demolished because Nomura couldn’t help but have her kidnapped and dismantled… again. Even in MoM, her OWN game, she’s been sidelined in favor of Riku while she should’ve had more development and highlights. It's like either Nomura (and the entire KH team) doesn’t know how to write her properly. OR, they just blatantly hate her. I genuinely think it’s both. Why? Because there are other female characters in Kingdom Hearts who were with the series since the very beginning. And they had more development and care, while Kairi, the main character, has been shafted over and over again. It’s just genuinely frustrating to see Kingdom Hearts betraying Kairi fans’ trust after having them stick around for 20+ decades with no payoffs at all. Now you might have some high hopes after seeing her deciding to train with Aqua. But think about it. She had infinite time to train in KH3 and she’s gone back to training. AGAIN? Don’t you think it’s a bit weird her story is going this way? Why does she need more training when we know she are strong and combat-capable? In my honest opinion, it’s just another sinister excuse to shaft Kairi again because Kingdom Hearts clearly doesn’t care about her anymore. But let’s pretend (even if we know this is completely false) that Kairi will actually get some development in KH4 and onward. Let’s pretend her character growth is about moving away from her old self (which is scared to move on and wants to stay in her perfect world without changes) and give herself agendas for self-improvement. Well, it’s a FLOP. If Kairi is really going through this route, then it’s too late. She should’ve been a flushed character since KH3. Her Re:Mind moments and “training with Aqua” teaser don’t do her enough justice. Nomura clearly is too stupid to realize these two key points: 1. ESCAPISM: In real world, people are constantly tormented by thoughts of feeling weak or not competent enough to strive themselves toward success. So they often idolize characters who are confident, strong, and victorious. Contrary to what some people think, there’s a reason Mary Sues and super-power female characters are endorsed. While they seem unrealistic, they give us satisfactions the real world cannot give. They are embodiments of what women (and even men) want to be. That’s why Sora and Riku are so endorsed. While their journey and power level might not make sense at all, they are symbols of triumph and escapism. Kairi should’ve taken that route of “fantasy” route but instead, she has become yet another Sakura trope character in many eyes. Her development based on “realism” doesn’t help anyone, knowing women are often criticized for being weaker or less competent than men. Not to mention, Kingdom Hearts is a game of Disney (where Disney is all about female/princess representation) and shafting her only makes Kairi fans (who’ve been tortured for 20+ years) can’t help but think Kairi is straight-up abandoned. That leads me to another point: 2. VISUAL REPRESENTATION: Humans are simple creatures. We judge something by just looking at it from outside. “Don’t judge books by their covers” is a fallacy. People don’t like characters by their hidden development and theoretical growth. People like characters because we visually see them do something and thrive. Again, this is why Sora and Riku are so endorsed. If Kairi actually had a playable segment and more highlights/screentime, she would be more endorsed. But NO. Her character development is more toward her own themes of not wanting to grow up and meanings of being princess. So people are definitely going to judge her by comparing to how other characters performed in Kingdom Hearts. Her actual performance was abysmal. Unlike what other people think, Kairi fans want her to fight and win. They want her to become Mary Sue, whether others like it or not. VISUAL REPRESENTATION MATTERS. Kairi will go nowhere if Kingdom Hearts keep giving her Sakura treatment where she is shown at the 11th hour to save the day. Kairi fans (as well as others) want her to actually do something. That’s where Kingdom Hearts and Nomura failed big time. By showing her kidnapped and defeated constantly, her reputation has been tarnished forever because they deliberately showed how stagnant she is. That being said, Kingdom Hearts had every chance of making Kairi break away from shonen trope and break away from damsel-in-distress after years and decades. Instead, Kairi development has been nothing but disaster. They don’t understand that in the end, Kairi’s secrets and mysteries (which gives her more depths to what could come next for her) mean nothing. What matters is, AGAIN, VISUAL REPRESENTATION AND ESCAPISM. Nomura and Kingdom Hearts fumbled the bag hard. So many Kairi fans jumped the ship because their favorite character is basically abandoned at this point. Without any Kingdom Hearts 4 news nowadays and no sign of actual Kairi game, I’m certain whatever KH4 brings will disappoint Kairi fans even more. I hope this reaches Square Enix some way, somehow. This is not a suggestion. This is a warning. It’s time for them and Nomura to accept this slow “20+ years burn” for Kairi development is an absolute FAILURE. Kairi fans aren’t waiting any longer. They need her to become a driving force, not some another Sakura or background noise. They need to correct the course for Kairi NOW. They need to actively show Kairi fans that they care for them by making Kairi playable and give her the majority of screen time instead of shafting her. They need to swallow their pride and actually listen to people who will support their work for years to come. Kingdom Hearts 4 is the breaking point for Kairi fans because if they fail Kairi again, Square Enix will lose them forever.

I can't help but think Kairi is doomed forever going forward. Her character has been fumbled from the beginning. She was built up to have her shining moments in KH3 but she got wasted so bad. Re:Mind did not do enough justice for her. Then MoM, her own game, did her dirty again and sidelined her in favor for Riku. It's like Nomura and KH team just hate her. Xion, Namine, and Aqua are well-developed characters. But Kairi had nothing but failures after failures. She's been under excuses of "training" just to be sidelined. She is the most poorly written character because apparently KH teams don't care about her anymore. My biggest fear is that Kairi's training under Aqua will be yet another let down. She will be sidelined or be harmed again in KH4. Or maybe she won't show up at ALL in future Kingdom Hearts. Out of all KH characters, she is the most victimized one by poor writing and hatred from pretty much everyone. It's such a shame how Kairi has fallen down from her glory in KH1. As a long time Kairi fan, I think I should just give up. I don't see her ever being redeemed. It breaks my heart and I love Kairi to death. But KH clearly does not care about her anymore. I'm so saddened to see the current state of Kairi. I want to be hopeful, but at this point, I lost all hope.