Well yeah I seem to think so. The main character goes through some stuff, something happens to him, he attempts to deal with it but he fails, and eventually he grows out of it. That is an example. I have NEVER seen Sora get upset from anything that happens to him. You would think that becoming a heartless would be a traumatic experience for someone, but he forgets about that shit lol even another chance for this, when he found out that he was sending hearts to kingdom hearts in the first place. He gets sad for a bit, then it apparently never happened. I wanted to see those two actually be relevant. He is just... too perfect for me.
There you go, you think the same thing as me then. It's not the act of suffering, but what the character actually takes away from it that counts as character development. Sora has suffered plenty; he just hasn't changed much because of that.
I disagree, I think suffering is what makes a character grow more. If ANYONE goes through anything painful, they come out a changed person in the end. In a more extreme case, if a character keeps losing family members one after another, you think that won't change them?
Not when it comes to writing stories, though. The writers get to choose how the characters react to situations, and if they choose to make the characters not change because of them, then they don't.
Especially when changing a character could mean changing the entire tone of the series.
He doesn't react understandably. Riku was drawn into darkness, and it changed him dramatically for the better. He comes out learning something out of his struggle with the darkness. Sora goes through hardships, but he doesn't fcuking react to it.
But see, Riku made mistakes and Riku had pretty serious character flaws, like his insecurities, that caused terrible things to happen. It was the feelings of guilt and need to atone that made Riku develop as a character.
There's not really anything Sora has done wrong to feel guilty about. Yes, he had to kill all the Nobodies and he fell into a few traps but he was working for good intentions: he wanted to save his friends and the universe. And he did. So it's not like he failed at anything or gave into weaknesses and evil (like Riku did) so he can't try to change into a better person; he's already a good person.
It seems there are two types of character development, then.
+coming to terms with and slowly working to atone for flaws and becoming a better person
+being affected by horrible situations that aren't your fault and becoming a harder and more jaded person
Sora would only qualify for the second, in that case. And if Sora is changed by the horrible things that happen to him, then the series would lose a hell of a lot of nostalgia points.
One of the reasons that Kingdom Hearts is so great is that feeling of wonder and magic from the Disney worlds, and if Sora was no longer the bright kid with an unshakeable belief in his friends and in his own ability to save anyone, then playing as him wouldn't feel the same any more.
The whole point of Sora's character is about never giving up and never losing faith and always keeping a touch of innocence and grace even in the deepest darkness. That's how come Sora is able to save the universe, that's how come 'he's the boy who can connect to people's hearts,' and that's how come other, more developed characters want to protect him.