it would probably be best to have her start her development in the next saga.
That would have been the best decision in the first place since in the new saga we won't have any pressing issues like saving a bunch of people and stopping a crazed lunatic from sparking a total war right off the bat as KH III will have.
They mucked that up with including Kairi in the DDD secret ending already though, so it can't be helped that they
have to include her somehow now.
I just hope they manage to strike a balance and make her inclusion actually meaningful without overdoing it.
Bingo, think of this and I am basing this on another series:
Say Kairi was missing for two years and finally came back, finishing the story arc that involved her disappearence and people would expect "Hey, she came back, does that mean she's a main now?"
No, she's supportive and most supportives have limited roles as you know you won't see them in every scene, like expecting Kairi to be in every world. A balence of Sora, Riku, and Kairi in each world would be a better idea.
And if she was dead and came back too, people would complain that her being brought back 'ruins' Sora and Riku. Bring a character back is another issue and that leads to more trouble as to involving characters who haven't be in the series much.
I will agree and disagree with both sides, as I want her, but I don't want her.
I don't know which series you are referring to, but the main issue with Kairi is that she is not a support character (like i.e. Leon, The Beast or Yen Sid) but that she is
supposed to be a main character.
Not on the same importance level as Sora(Protagonist) or Riku(deuteragonist) but I'd say her
intended role would be at least on the same importance level as TAV, Roxas or Naminé.
I WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT! There's also a little thing called "overexposure" (hi thar KH2 Sora).
*sobs*
Considering from what I heard from the interview made with Nomura at E3 just minutes ago, Sora is apparently slated for overexposure in KH III again, lol.
Kidding aside, I realized this with quite some characters, especially "butt monkeys" and other intended "comedic" character types. They tend to get way more screentime than necessary for their own peril.
Yup, yup, the important thing is time management, quality over quantity. You can give a character really good character development and a meaningful presence in just five minutes if you know how to use the time right but give another character 10 hours worth of screen time and not have it mean diddly squat.
I can't say for sure yet because, obviously, KH3 isn't out yet but looking at what we have now I don't think they took the best approach with Kairi. They know that Kairi hasn't done much per say, hence, using her as "shock value" in 3D's secret ending when I think they could have handled things a lot better than: "OMG LOOK KAIRI MEANS BUIZNEZ NAO BECAUSE SHE CAN WIELD!!1!" :I
Basically the execution was really off. They either should have built her up earlier or waited for the next saga to make her wielder status more prominent because now it feels last minute.
That's actually something I hope they will fix in KH III that bothered me heavily in KH 2. As it looks like Riku and Mickey will do stuff apart from Sora who will be stuffed with the two stooges for the majority again. In KH 2, Riku, Mickey, Axel and Naminé were also doing stuff and that
happened all just backstage without we ever seeing what they were doing!
I hope they will give at least some quality time to let us see what Riku and Mickey are actually up to.
I think it's in general to early to speculate that detailed on what will happening and how the characters, Kairi included, will contribute to the plot of KH III. The story summary we got is at best a rough overview over the general goals and setting, nothing more.
Exactly this, I would have welcomed either solution, as seeing Kairi train at the tower (maybe with Mickey) during the events of DDD in some scenes would also have been a good build up.
The secret ending could then have easily been either about something the Xehanort's are up to or Riku and Mickey actually deciphering Ansem's Data and realizing they need the "key to return hearts" for it to work, setting the stage for KH III even better.