With how little RiKai's own friendship was established, we're left with what is there more - SoRi's issues.
Because the center of the game is SoRi's issues? Just because the focus isn't on something doesn't mean it's not there.
I agree with you, for example, that TAV's friendship could have been fleshed out more, but this doesn't invalidate their friendship.
Riku didn't seem half as concerned about Kairi's fate neither on DI nor in Traverse Town until he saw Sora with Donald and Goofy and his jealousy kicked in.
Because he thought she made it off?
He says it in Traverse Town.
And he says on DI, "Kairi's coming with us."
You're misconstruing this when he was doing nothing more than being ignorant.
Maleficent herself didn't seem half as bothered with telling Riku Sora replaced THEM, but more how he replaced RIKU.
Uh, yeah? Malficent said Sora replaced Riku, so what?
Riku made it abundantly clear that later on that he thought Sora replaced Kairi too.
It was only then all those nice quotes you brought up started pouring in but by then Kairi was the prize and the goal to reach in his race against Sora. Monstro was a point in between where Riku moved from shrugging her off to trying to use her to lure Sora to work with him. But then Sora refused and egads, Riku didn't mind that Sora refused to help Kairi, but that Sora chose a puppet over Riku. That was the last straw.
Interesting how you cover up his comment in Monstro about joining forces.
Show me some tangible evidence of Riku seeing Kairi as the "prize" here as opposed to your own fanatical analysis of reading in-between the lines for something that isn't there, especially when the dialogue itself explicitly says otherwise.
And don't you dare look to Destiny Islands and say how he regarded Kairi as a "prize."
He was teasing Sora because he knew Sora had a crush on Kairi. I don't see him acting that way once he finds out what happened to Kairi.
Taking care of Kairi ties in nicely. As she was the means to hurt Sora with, Riku telling Sora to take care of her means he accepted he was being an idiot and Sora's allowed to have other friends.
How emotional. I never looked at it from that perspective, but it makes that scene all the more poignant. The last thing Riku says to Sora before they close the door and are separated is effectively, "You can have other friends."
God forbid it actually meaning, you know, that Riku wanted Sora to take care of Kairi.
Namine appearing as Kairi - A very interesting question is whether or not she could've appeared as anyone else. If not, what with being Kairi's Nobody - the whole thing becomes redundant as far as basing the 'friendship' goes. And then we have Namine's own issues regarding the girl. More so than it being how Riku trusts Kairi and would listen to an apparation of her that appeared out of thin air, it was the only person Namine, who perceives herself as Kairi's shadow, could choose to appear as.
If it really wasn't a matter of trust, then she didn't have to appear at all. She could have simply called out to Riku.
Or, hell, you want to talk about redundant, if it's not a matter of trust, she could have just chosen to appear as, uh, herself. Because otherwise there's not much point in her appearing as Kairi. And if you say, "But Riku didn't know her," then you're already admitting that the transformation does have to do with trust- with a familiar face.
And as for saving Kairi on both occasions - the girl he thought Sora cared for, and Namine was with him (in TWTNW at least, and in DI as well going by the novels, IIRC). He'd have had enough reasons to stick around even without direct concern for the girl's own sake.
After all, if the Org got their hands on Kairi, Sora'd be in a pinch too. Granted, he failed, but that's the same if he did it for Kairi or someone else.
Let me get this straight, you think that the reason why Riku saved Kairi in KH2 is not because she was in danger, because he didn't really care about her, but because he knew that Sora cared about her and it would put Sora in danger.
I'm not even going to respond to that. Just let it sit there.
I love this fandom.
Seeing the name and the Paopu Keychain, the Keyblade is without a doubt related to DI - the place Kairi ended up in. So Aqua got the Keychain because of where Kairi'd end up at, and Riku got the Keychain based on where Kairi ended up at which was his home.
To be nitpicky, Sora got the Starseeker after knowing Yen Sid for what, half an hour? and Aqua got it after what, a similar amount of time? So it's not like Keychains indicate any form of a long lasting bond either.
They absolutely originally intended for its design to originally focused on DI and then retconned that in BbS, but as far as
meaning goes, it's the same.
When the keyblade transforms, it either has a motif of the people or the places Sora goes to, but in both cases it's still focused on the connection Sora made to the people. It's no different for Destiny's Embrace. There's a reason Riku thought it belonged to her. If it was more revolving around DI than Kairi, then he
wouldn't have had that feeling, I mean, hell, he's more tied to DI than Kairi. BbS just solidifies that it has to do with Kairi by retconning the intent of the design.
Also, Yen Sid is a fucking retired Keyblade Master, it shouldn't be surprising that he gives Sora that keychain but for the most part, yes, it DOES indicate a bond between people. In any case, Sora didn't get a feeling that the keyblade belonged to Yen Sid and then hand it to him.