I know a lot of people doubt Nomura, but I feel like his plans post-KH3 will heavily revolve around Sora/Kairi's relationship. Sora's statement about how his journey began the day Kairi left did not seem random at all. Especially because that statement comes at the end of the game, I feel like Nomura wanted to hold off on anything Kairi related until he decides what to do with her (whether she is Ava or somehow connected to the foretellers).
I just assumed that Sora hand holding and crying for Riku was just because he was his best friend, but Kairi is a girl. So I thought the context immediately changed for her. Whenever he is teased about Kairi in a romantic context, he blushes or gets flustered. He may not have actively admitted these feelings to himself UNTIL he sees Kairi die in front of him. Maybe he was avoiding Kairi for this journey because he was trying to focus on ending the chaos?
They're not falling in love with each other - Kairi already loves Sora and Sora realizes his feelings when Kairi dies. The romance story can officially start after KH3. I don't see why it's so hard to buy that.
It would be bad writing imo if he takes their relationship on a next level after KH3. Because he should have used KH3 to show it more. Yet the opposite happens. Sora does not think about her
once on his journey! That is the same guy that thought about her in KH2 in romantic scenes, yet in this game even with lovers around him, he never mentions her, the rest also never teases him about it. Heck even his reaction at the end of KH2 was already off.
Then you have the Paopu scene which was feeling off too. He finally has time alone with her, yet he is seemingly sad that Riku is not with them..I mean fine mention it at the beginning but if you want to make it a believable romantic scene then Sora should have been way more happy about the fruits and not just stare at it until Kairi says that its just so that she can be part of his life "thats all". This could have been the perfect scene to make the pairing canon but if we can believe the VAs (and I doubt that they would tell lies) then Nomura did not want this scene to be romantic at all.
I am also not seeing how he realized his feelings when she died. He had a perfect chance to realize it when he visited those disney worlds and saw different kind of couples but he never does. He recalls some of those scenes later but they also had Anna and Elsa in this, thus it was not really all about romantic love. He may have just realized that you can do everything if you care deeply for someone but that does not mean in the lover kind of way. He broke down and cried when she died, but that is completely in character for him. I would even say that he would react the same if it had been Riku, Donald or Goofy. And of course its also his character to try to save her. That again does not mean romance. He is a selfless guy that would do a lot to save the people he cares for and he even endangers himself to help out strangers. It would be OOC to not try to save her. His last words also just showed that he wished to share more days with her, something that you kinda want to do with people you care about.
In the end Nomura had quite a lot of games after KH2 to show them as believable couple. Yet Kairi was barely in them, and even in this game the romance seemingly just comes from Kairi. (Lets not forget that Sora has no problems showing his emotions when he found Riku again, had no problem going towards Namine in CoM and be the one to take her hands and yet when he should be even more mature and should know even more about love he suddenly does not think about her, mention her and gets not teasing at all about this)
What does that even mean? Because she's a girl he can't cry over her? What does her gender matter when Sora's cried over way less?
What I took from KH3 is that Sora values his friends above himself, and that unconditional love for them all is Sora's undoing and also his greatest strength. Now that he has died for them and fallen into the abyss, the next project is about Sora learning how to love himself and that he is strong without his friends. Perhaps even learn that sometimes you can't save everybody, and that some sacrifices cannot be made.
I agree I dont understand why he would not be emotional just because she is a girl? Sora never was someone that could hold back such emotions. Which is exactly why Donald and Goofy noticed his affection for her in Kh2 (which is one of the few games that show this). So why should he suddenly stop? I mean he had no problems talking with Kairi on the island, she had no problems with calling him a lazy bum. This never felt like a relationship where he was too afraid to be around her because of his feelings. It was only when he was teased that he was a bit flustered.
In the end he had no problems with falling on his knees and cry when he knew that Riku was save...and at least in our world it honestly feels more like its harder for guys to show their feelings for other guys, so I really dont understand this argument.
And I also hope that he starts learning to love himself more..because him being ready to die all the time for his friends is not healthy imo. Try to save them but be aware that you cant always do it. Maybe thats why I like the sleeping realm theory..because it hints that Sora was only trying to visit Kairi one last time which would go perfectly with the message that the pirate world gave him and would give him some development because he would accept that he cant save them all. (And it is a bit strange that the japanese version seemingly have him say that he will be back, which is different from our version because there he says that he and Kairi will be back)
Anyway for the sake of Kairi I hope that there is no future romance subplot. Let her be her own character and not someone that mostly has just Sora on her mind.