You're telling me some of you were interested in Roxas/Kairi? Where were you when you were needed the most. Lol.
On another note, I still like the idea, but it's been slightly hampered by KHIII. What appealed to me about them, aside from it being a hot-looking ship cause they barely spoke to warrant anything else, were the potential dynamics. Roxas is rather edgy when pushed, and Kairi was a confident, spunky spirit with a bit of sass.
Keywords: was.
Until they stripped them away from her and now...and now she blends even
more with the female cast.
Think that ship got torpedo'd after Days was released lol
Why after Days?
@*TwilightNight* I feel like Riku really coerced Xion into it, as he told her her memories really belonged to Sora and that she had to think of what was best for everyone. Blah, blah, blah. And it's heavily implied that if Xion hadn't gone with the idea of returning to Sora herself, he would have forced her back into him.
And Naminé told Roxas the truth about himself, that he held half of what Sora was and that he needed him. She also told him he was never supposed to exist.
After years of debating the RokuNami pairing in my head, I'm way more okay with them than I used to be. Unlike Rion, I can actually ship them. I GET why Naminé said and did all of this. She herself was also a victim and brainwashed, essentially, and told Roxas what she really thought the truth and best thing for them would be. And she didn't force him to do anything she didn't do herself. But sometimes they still make me really uncomfortable because of some of this stuff. Which is why they're more a secondary pairing for me. I ship them after RokuShi and Namiku. And I also have issues with how canon handled their relationship as a "love at first sight/in love after five seconds together" kind of deal. But canon COULD fix that, if it wanted to. Though I do have my fears that if Nomura ever brings RokuNami back--and he could--he'll give them no further development, and have them kissing the first time we see them again or something (maybe not that far, since not even SoKai have kissed yet. And they might not ever. But you know what I mean). Which is why I think I can mostly enjoy RokuNami in fanon sometimes--as fans DO develop their relationship naturally; and have the deal with the issues I think they'd need to work out before becoming romantic--but not in canon.
What you've described isn't really forcing Roxas to do anything. That would be something Diz and Riku would be responsible for -- they captured him
against his will, locked him in a data world, and would have ultimately pushed him to return to Sora while living out a lie. Naminè was the one that threw a wrench in all of this. Just because she had to be the one to deliver the truth to him, which
he wanted (and someone finally respected him enough as an equal to tell him), doesn't mean she forced him into anything. Roxas sought
Naminè out to get explanations after all. To add, Xion also expected Roxas to get back into Sora once he began to "feel" him, but you don't see
that being mentioned or Xion being villainized for it. Both girls agreed about Roxas needing to return to Sora. And Xion forced Roxas to "kill" her via attacking him. It feels to me like it's a lot of picking and choosing.
People tend to ignore that these characters found out the information they needed and made a final choice.
Roxas and Naminè aren't in love with each other. That's just people overthinking and focusing too much on the subtext. Did they maybe find each other attractive? Maybe. Attraction can happen in a second, it happens all the time.They clicked and connected well. Yet unless you can show me exactly where the romantic interest was, then it's a bunch of hogwash. I was just talking to another user about this take too and how it's exaggerated.
Let's define
subtext: an underlying and often distinct theme in a piece of writing or conversation.
Did Roxas and Naminè have subtext? Yes. But subtext doesn't translate into the actual character's feelings. It's more for the audience, and the message they were aiming to imply was that this would possibly be the next romantic pairing. The actual people involved do not feel that way. Yet. So there's wiggle room.
It took how many games for Sora and Kairi to get to the point they are in KHIII. I doubt they're going to quicken up another set like you're saying they would. All they can do, especially considering the plot so far and who's going to be prominent or not, is to follow up on the bond Roxas and Naminè shared.
As for Riku and Xion...
Riku waited an entire damn year for Xion to make a decision (which shouldn't have normally been the case, but it's Days, and they needed to drag it out). He protected her from the Organization when
she wanted to fly off willy-nilly because they somehow allowed tools to be granted that much freedom despite that it could ruin their plans (which, again, shouldn't have normally been the case if the antagonistic cast weren't made passive fools). At the time of the battle, it was not confirmed who Xion was, just that she was wielding a Kingdom Key. They just happened to fight and he kicked her ass in a fair one on one. It's also his best friend's livelihood on the line. I found the fact that he danced around it for so long and allowed her the time to contemplate
out of character actually, let alone that he and Xion came to understand one another because they both desired the same thing (their friends) and hung out for
days.