Lol I only made that bad joke because I find Kairi the most stereotypical/borderline sexist female character in series, especially compared to the other female characters (Aqua, Xion, Namine, or hell even Olette) who are more their own persons with their own drives that exist outside of filling in the role as the male hero's object of saving and default love interest. The writers themselves couldn't think of an actual purpose for her past KH1/CoM because her archetype purpose was already fulfilled in the first game, which they didn't have or plan a solid sequel for.
Just speaking for myself, I definitely see where you're coming from with this, and it helps your comment read more as warranted sarcasm regarding her characterization than a spurious drag on Kairi's femininity. Like Spockanort said, I'm sure I've engaged in my own fair share of bad jokes at the expense of good dialogue, so I ought not be throwing stones here. That said (again, just speaking for myself), my previous comment wasn't aimed at you specifically but more at that general perspective of Kairi as a sexist archetype and nothing more, which I'd like to touch on, prompted by your quoting of Sephiroth:
Sephiroth0812 said:
Almost like as if parts of the fandom are trying to "make up" for her character's constant neglect by "canon" by pushing her into the forefront of fandom discussion in every conceivable way.
So while I think there's truth to this, I also think it's worth acknowledging that within the fandom there is an equally or arguably more vocal portion who insist on reducing her position in the series to, inevitably, a damsel-in-distress or romantic object by pushing a face-value reading of the canon which is, I think, not totally consistent with the internal messaging of her character arc (which is itself, I'd concede, not consistent). What I mean by that is: while I acknowledge the problematic nature of her presentation in the material, I think there's a meatier conversation to be had about her actual role as it has played out, and how a number of important lessons have been invested through Kairi which help broaden KH's definition of heroism. I think that a sort of fandom-wide consensus has projected a gendered reading of her narrative upon her which conjures up this spectre of objectification which seems superficially applicable but isn't really so compatible upon a second or third glance at the defining contexts of her journey.
I say this because the fundamental consequence of objectification is the removal of voice and agency-- and I think KH only qualifies as doing one of those things (with intent). Kairi is peculiarly, even troublesomely, quiet for a character intended to be viewed as a lead protagonist. She's rarely an active part of the most important conversations and developments in the series and when she is left out (as in DDD or the climax of KH2), her presence is actually missed. It feels like there are moments throughout the games where she ought to be and there's a Kairi-shaped void which lends to an understandable inclination to view her as "sidelined" and underdeveloped. Even so, as far as her agency is concerned...that has actually been preserved pretty well. When I think of a character who lacks agency, I think of one who has no clear purpose or directive, and/or lacks the means to achieve one through no fault of their own-- a character who is being strung along and propped up by the hand of the writer as a matter of convenience to the plot.
Kairi, however, has a directive which is made clear in her earliest appearances: to protect Sora. And she is demonstrably good at that. Whether it's her half-joking bid to get Sora to leave the Island with her when she becomes uncertain about the person Riku has become, or the ways her heart emboldens Sora to fight when he's most confused and distraught, or the way she refuses to give up and let him disappear upon rejoining her heart and body (her first instinct when facing the Heartless in HB is, after all, to shield Sora's Heartless with her own body), giving him her good luck charm to take into the unknown and making him promise to bring it back to her (like a wish, or maybe a blessing)...the examples are numerous. In KH2, her journey is (like all of the characters in that game) moreso one of self-actualization which reverses their roles: just as the search for Kairi was Sora's preeminent motivator in the first game, in the sequel Kairi leaves the Island in search of Sora. She's captured by the Organization, sure, but it isn't Sora who breaks her out: in spite of his conviction that he has to go to her rescue, it's
Kairi who does that, by literally making a connection with her missing spiritual half. More to the point, Sora and Riku are also components of her spiritual makeup (and vice versa), and it's their reunion which naturally enough provides each of them with resolution to the central existential quandary of their long-term separation. That moment is shepherded by Kairi, bringing full circle her position from the "girl who came between them" (blegh) to the unifier. That might seem quaint in any other series, but in KH the most important kind of strength is the ability to bind hearts together and forge or repair those spiritual connections between people: it's no wonder that Namine is gifted with the ability to tinker with the hearts of Sora and people connected to him, as that's clearly derivative of Kairi's own influence as an agent of protection and spiritual guardian for Sora-- I'd even say that Kairi's heart, upon being removed from her body, didn't only seek out Sora's in order to take refuge, but because it was led by her will to be actively present within him and give him courage and guidance when he most needed it. This dual, shared purpose is symbolized by the finished portrait of the two of them exchanging paopu fruit in the Secret Place: it is, of course, Kairi who completes this picture in reciprocation of Sora's earlier additions, conveying her intentions in kind.
That's an awful lot of personal direction for a character who exists only to fulfill a romantic archetype. It's why I have to kind of raise my eyebrows at comments like this:
This is such a good exposure. And the wooden sword training too, I can relate and nothing is worse than poor reflexes and posture. Dare I say especially for girly girls (Kairi is a sassy girly girl, not a buff Natsuki tomboy. She NEEDS that Yen Sid training).
While I think I understand the intent of this statement and it's well contextualized by the rest of
DarkGrey Heroine'
s post, it's this basic mentality which I think is so confounding for the writing of female characters and it goes right to what I meant about projecting gendered ideas. This logic specifically targets feminine traits in characters like Kairi such that it's as though both the audience and the writers are expected to work a dozen times harder to justify her physical prowess than they would for a conventionally "masculine" archetype. Moreover, within the KH canon, there are already examples of strong, feminine personalities like Larxene, Aqua, Xion, Skuld, and Ava, so I'd say this goes a bit deeper and becomes, ultimately, a question of gender where a female character like Kairi, with several games' worth of continuity to back her up, can be cast against a masculine persona such as Lexaeus who appears in maybe two scenes and
still lose out to his readily-accepted reputation for might despite the disparities in their development. I don't think this has to do with people being consciously super sexist, but a double whammy of culturally internalized ideas about some imagined complexity in the relationship between women and strength, and a fundamental misreading of the series which doesn't adjust for the fact that in KH, physical strength is
thematically meaningless. The body is just the place where the heart takes refuge from the elements; spiritual resonance (with forces of light and dark, and with other people) is the defining factor in contests of strength. This is stated like, so many ways in the series that it's almost redundant. It's the
entire premise of Riku and Sora's repeated encounters with one another in KH1.
Kairi isn't going off with Lea and Merlin to train her
body: she's going to be training her
heart to synchronize with the will of the Keyblade the same way Sora worked to earn Riku's Keyblade over the course of KH1; the difference is that Kairi
isn't Sora and the way in which she came into the Keyblade was through an affirmation of her personal resolve rather than a crossing of wires where one heart accidentally and suddenly won out over another. In other words, she's starting out way ahead of where Sora was in KH1, because spiritually speaking she was
always ahead of both Sora and Riku, and that's reflected throughout pretty much all of her interactions with them. When Sora asks Kairi whether she wonders where she came from in their very first scene together, her response is nonchalant: unlike Riku, who can't subdue his own jealousy for Sora and desire to prove himself through some great feat, or Sora, who can't "read" Riku's real feelings or intentions and has to learn over the course of the first game how to really put his heart to use, Kairi is centered in her connections with her friends and is capable of seeing both of them as they are, and is comfortable with both her own and their collective place in the grander scheme of things. Where Sora is very nearly spiritually broken over the course of CoM through the loss and substitution of his memories, Kairi is unconcerned that she is missing some of her own because she knows the bond she shares with others is more important than that. Kairi's got everything it takes to be a Keyblade wielder.
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