I wish to apologize for my lack of quotations, I didn't think anyone was going to be posting in between me and Muke and thought my posts would just go right underneath his xD
VOIDGEAR FIRST:
VoidGear said:
Why? What more could have been done? We've seen her how she got to destiny islands origin story in BBS, and while they are flashbacks (pretty much everyone was a flashback), we saw a snippet of her in DDD with the Aqua/Kairi role foreshadow, and confirmed that she is the most important person to Sora in CoM (CoM was a mess though let's admit that).
voidgear said:
She's supposed to be a protagonist, too, not just a catalyst. They're supposed to be a trio, not two protags with a female semi-sidekick.
Ehhhh they are a trio yes but I don't see a rule anywhere that suggests that Kairi's role in the games up until now needed to be on par with Sora and Riku. Then the whole story would have changed wouldn't it?
voidgear said:
Because there is a big difference between showing and telling. Most important stuff about Kairi in the games is told in flashbacks, memories or scenes where the player is not even around. There's close to no interaction between Kairi and other characters. We have no idea what she thinks about everything that's going on.
A lot of the stuff I listed were shown in game. They may not be in depth with the plot, but they are relevant to Kairi's relationships with Sora and Riku. The stuff that was told that is relevant to Kairi's character was pretty much in CoM and DDD, as she was there during BBS. I always agreed that her time was small, but still important.
Now Muke!
muke said:
Definitely not. I forgot millions of times as a kid that this "Kairi" even existed.
Not me, I remember tearing up when Kairi woke up and saw Sora disappear ;w;
muke said:
]But KH1 and 2 aren't the only main games. So are BBS and DDD, what did she do in those? Right, nothing. (though, I admit, nobody did anything in BBS other than being too stupid).
You are correct, I should have clarified further that manufacturing wise, KHI and II are the only main console games and thus were able to contain more content. BBS and Days were a bit smaller games, and their platforms could only hold so much information, so less, more confined story content meant to develop outside plot that will reinforce ideas in KHIII. Which is why I don't find a problem making Kairi more prominent as it was not meant for her entirely.
muke said:
Again, DDD is not a side game. And yes, it definitely is. She is part of the main trio, the trio we all got to see first. And her being the only one out of that trio to do NOTHING is really a shame. Hell, even Xion has more screentime and developement than her! And she only is in one game!
See above about the game, and my response to VoidGear about the trio thing.
But Kairi did do something, otherwise I wouldn't be able to list anything!
Does Xion really count though? Technically she is another version of Sora, and everyone sees her differently (Xigbar saw Ventus, not Xion etc.) So it would make sense for her to develop as the story pretty much revolved around her. And besides knowing that she was yearning to be somebody, be Roxas' and Axel's friend, and return to Sora...what else was there? Is she really that good of a comparison? I would say that Xion is a good example of screen time /= development. Just because she is there more often doesn't mean we get to know her on a deeper level apart from moving the plot and helping Roxas discover the secrets. I would say Namine wins in terms of beating Kairi, and is a much better comparison. What do you think?
muke said:
I said those moments get overshadowed easily. It just feels so… not-special-at-all to me kinda. Compared to other characters, I cannot fully acknowledge anything she does.
I don't know about this...I still can't see how everything else can take a player away from Kairi's letter, the very thing that helps market the franchise among the fandom (you know how many gif sets I've seen of that, and Sora's memory speech? A lot!) I can only attribute this thought process to personal choice and taste, based on your experiences in the game. Which is cool ^^
muke said:
Sorry I generalized again ^^;
It's something I see floating around the internet, if you look at some youtube videos of the DDD secret scene you may come across some of it.
And I do not mean that Kairi shouldn't be given a key blade or that she can do just fine on her own. I meant that for her role in the story as a non-fighting supporting character, she did fine and did many things that were relevant
at the time. Now that she is being more involved, she's going to have to wield a keyblade, otherwise there won't be much use for her. Hell, they even did that with Axel. No point in bringing him back unless he can aid in the battle. I just don't agree with people when they say that Kairi was never an actual character (or a prop like come on), or that her interactions ALTHOUGH SMALL, held no importance to some of the characters in the game or the plot. That's just false, and I already listed what interactions were important despite being overshadowed.
kirabook said:
has yet to put Kairi above the other princesses in terms of power
I think so, I haven't seen any other princess able to bring back someone from being a heartless.
kirabook said:
Kairi is never going to be able to become a character like that in this fanbase. Too many people hate her for dumb reasons, therefore, she's not popular like Lea/Axel and others that would make her a character like that
Actually, from all my years knowing the fandom I would say the hate has definitely died down. I remember when people were drawing kill art and writing soriku fanfictions of one the boys killing her or whatever. Dark times. I haven't seen too much of that lately. Just valid criticisms and hopes for her future character development.