Personally, I love Naminé. Not as much as Larxene, as she's officially my favorite Kingdom Hearts girl (that would be presented in the proper thread, whenever I get to it), but she's probably the only one of the Kairis I appreciate. Kairi herself doesn't strike me as "out there" enough for me to pay attention to - if any of the accusations about her is true, is that she's underdeveloped and mostly put aside. Therefore, I haven't really gotten to know the character herself, despite that I've understood her personality and actions. I don't hate her, I don't dislike her, but I don't love her, or like her either. For the moment, she's okay/neutral. Xion...I can go on about paragraphs and paragraphs as to why I just hate "her", but anyone who's seen me respond in the topics know my feelings. Aqua has yet to make a rank, considering I don't know her, but it's looking good so far.
It's hard to believe that the main girls (well, including one gender ambiguous one) that we have been stuck with have been this lackluster for a video game. They are either not used much, or just executed and written badly. And when you are going up against great male characters who they actually put time into, it's difficult to surpass them.
Generally, Naminé's a sad person, and appears to be a walking white ball of low self-esteem. Weak-willed, a pushover, quiet, keeps to herself, etc. Unlike others, this doesn't make her sympathetic, in my opinion, but sort of pathetic instead. Makes sense in her background: being born in Castle Oblivion, alone, stuck in a room to be watched over, used, and perhaps never seeing the outside in all her life until the end of CoM. It's this that propels her to summon Sora; the feeling of solitude, of having no one to care for her, to be there for her, to be a friend. Even with being forced to by the members (and aware that it wasn't right and acting right away when she got the chance), there's no doubt that a part of her wanted Sora to be by her side, to make her be a priority for him like he was for others. The result of it was just not the way she expected things to go, and it was her selfishness that got him into this problem in the first place. Hence, the guilt. This was truly shown when, despite agreeing to help fix Sora's memories in the final scene, you see a hope inside her that maybe, just maybe, he would choose to keep the experience of Castle Oblivion - no, her. When he didn't, she was visibly disappointed, but shrugged it off with a smile, saying along the lines, "who needs false memories anyway?" But got an oath that her and Sora can be real friends in return.
From then on, she had worked relentlessly to piece everything back together in dedication...and also as a means of redemption. She felt sorry for those who had to sacrifice their selves and freedom, and tried to help them, at least in the case of Roxas mostly (Xion was one moment, and even then, it was explaining the factors), as much as she possibly could in guidance. At the same time, she was tied to the promise of helping Sora recover, and while she didn't force the decision, she didn't convince them not to go inside him either.
It's THESE flaws, real flaws, including her frailness (negative trait like no other), that made me already like her in general as a character. Here's a girl who seems like a pure angel, dressed in white on the outside, but not so perfect on the inside, and liable to make mistakes out of her own personal, natural desires. I don't care if she's sweet and nice in positive terms. I like to see more beyond that, or else, it's just the angel incarnate, which is boring. That's not human.
Her growth was also done very well. She was fragile throughout the whole game, putting her head down, and just being there instead of doing something. It wasn't until Axel let her go that she found the first spark of strength to put a stop to all of it. Actually, it feels like she was mostly helpless due to being held back and trapped by the Organization, perhaps because of fear and lack of ability to do anything about it. Once that adversity was removed, she put herself on the line after witnessing all the damage she had to see. Kind of like someone in real life who was bullied, but was tired to see another suffer, and mustered up the courage to finally step to the plate. It continued when she placed herself as a shield in front of Larxene, trying to stop her from doing any more damage. And it further continued, in a sort of self-discovery, when the truth of what she had done was told to Sora, and he forgave her. There's this person who she really could have messed up completely to the point of being a mindless puppet (if it wasn't for Axel being a double-agent), who knew she had lured him to the danger by her own admittance, and still gave her forgiveness. Once Marluxia ordered her to finish the job, now having even more incentive to work for after that (and after hearing Sora stating it's alright to do what he says), taking example, she refused to do it anymore, coming full circle in standing up for herself.
When all was said and done, she came from being this little puppy, to understanding Sora's decision to get his real memories back, to disobeying Diz, breaking into the Data regardless of the consequence, and aiding Roxas in his time of need, to getting Kairi out of her cell, and to putting fists up at Saïx. She was still sometimes delicate and hesitant, but compared to before, it was a much needed progression. I also like how calm she is, the type of person who can read and see right through you, and comprehends the feelings involved. She was always mature, so it didn't surprise that she took going back to Kairi at ease. It's probably what she wanted, to be whole, than fading into Darkness. Naminé's importance to the series is also astronomical, more seen with Coded (which can be...bad, in some cases, because she's becoming the "know-all" omniscient presence) what with her ties to memories of the CHOSEN ONE and able to manipulate them. It's what also makes CoM crucial, in a way - it's what occurred there that caused the domino effect on 358/2 Days and KH2. (including them uh, building it happened in and what's in there) And since memories itself are a central topic now, it speaks for itself.
She escapes my Xion hatred of story because she was actually in a sequel to a game, rather than being put in between two games that would have mentioned her if she existed. Even when she was down in the dumps, it really wasn't concentrated on. Her introduction didn't take over the whole game, to steal the spotlight - she rarely appeared until the climax. A strong, key force behind the installment, but pertaining to that spot, and being nothing more to the extent of overshadowing everyone else, along with the hero and main character in question. Then again, CoM was overall well executed without leaving forced pity or contrivances. Now she escapes my Kairi neutrality, because she's, honestly, more interesting.
tl/dr: Yeah, I fcuking like the girl \m/. So far, it's Larxene, her, and possibly Aqua that I have no problem with.
About the art skills, she was never described as being Van Gogh or Picasso, you know. She just likes drawing as a hobby.