shibazami looked fine as hell here

Do you remember the early days?

I needed to draw them in those outfits!

coconut head

young sephiroth and young angeal!

Frogmore Cottage, Windsor, England by Howard Carshalton

heres the thing abt kairi. i don't think she's poorly written, i think she's poorly executed. like there's a conflict/lack of cohesive vision for her and they're trying to shoehorn her into a role she does not fit.

I love this analysis so very much, because even from a metagaming standpoint Kairi is put into fights that she has no business being in.

For example, in the KH3 DLC players are given the opportunity to play as Kairi in one of the endgame fights, and she simply does not have the stat block to win it. She is not leveled up At All, and has had very little in-story time to do so. Her stats reflect her place in the story, which is cool, but it puts pressure on the player to play their best not only with unfamiliar abilities but with the stats of a newbie keyblade wielder. Contrast this to Aqua, who is a verified Keyblade Master and is given the HP and MP blocks to prove it!

It was a fun fight either way, but I think it highlights Kairi's weird place in the narrative.

Yoooo okay THIS is fascinating because I hadn't even considered her actual in-game stats and how they might also have something to say about Kairi's role in the narrative so far. I wonder if that was done intentionally? And if so, what are we supposed to take away from that. That's very interesting.

heres the thing abt kairi. i don't think she's poorly written, i think she's poorly executed. like there's a conflict/lack of cohesive vision for her and they're trying to shoehorn her into a role she does not fit.

Actually from early beta content from the second game we know Nomura wanted Kairi to absolutely go fight for her man and from what he's said in this previous interview he just did a lot of the beta concepts of Another Side Another Story are coming back to play.

I believe, in my heart, that Nomura knows he has to use Kairi sparingly because when she's with Sora he can do anything.

Fairy Godmother told Aqua in BBS that they can't fight the darkness with light, this being that they are two sides of the same primordial coin, and she very not so subtly alludes to fighting darkness with love. And what are these to if not truly in love in canon?

So honestly keeping her away from Sora has always been a meta reason to keep the franchise going.

Yes I'm aware the concept art for KH2 had Kairi with a keyblade. It's pretty unfortunate that she got very little chance to actually use it in that game, it would've set the standard going forward for her to take an active role.

heres the thing abt kairi. i don't think she's poorly written, i think she's poorly executed. like there's a conflict/lack of cohesive vision for her and they're trying to shoehorn her into a role she does not fit.

I agree with some points except the fact Kairi having a keyblade isn't really a shoehorn in plot.

From concept Kairi, Riku and Sora were all original gonna have their own keyblade. Do I think Nomura doesn't really put much thought into yes but I think that stems from the fact her role changed from how she was in concept. From her being a after thought in alot of the games. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have plans for her. Especially with taking into account the interviews. One interview he stated there's more to explain with Destiny Embrace and more.

This is coming from a soriku shipper (who personally think Soriku has a chance of being endgame) but Kairi as character despite representing the childhood friend that you slowly drift apart from does have a role. After all she does end up causing events whether she ment to or not.

Her showing up on the islands being one of those. Or the fact she and Riku together are the only reason Sora was able to walk around the final world the way he does.

My personally theory is Kairi is there to but a guiding light to follow in the light sorta like Master Ava. While Riku is the light within the dark. Kairi clearly does have alot we don't know about her and I do think Nomura does plan to address it at somepoint but just she isn't the main focus of the series like Sora and Riku doesn't really make her character progression inconsistent. I generally just think people try to say she's a main character when she's more likely than not in a position that Ventus, Terra, Xion and for argument sake Aqua is in where she's a character that will get developed but doesn't have to be in the fore front.

But that might just be my opinion. Also the fact that we still don't know alot about Namine (who is able to create dark corridors, many memories and is referred to as a witch) Kairi some how and some form gonna be developing or related to that based of Namine being her nobody.

Especially if you interact with the little ponds in kh2 they say they've been used but who were they used for before Sora Donald and Goofy and why was Namine able to have access to them.

Namine and Kairi both are stuck in mystery. Like for some weird reason. The fact Riku gives Kairi her keyblade who's to say Namine didn't summon it first kh2 we don't get to see her after Riku let's her and Axel escape there's also the fact in kh2 Kairi is reference to escape Axel twice before getting caught by Axel. (Not saying she spawned her Keyblade) but the fact we don't know alot about both characters seems like Nomura just planing to either use them later.

There's also other things in interviews that Nomura has stated about Kairi if I find them I can send them but I don't think she's gonna just always be stuck representing the childhood friend. (I personally hope we get a side game cause I liked her combat where she's learn self worth cause she compares herself to both Riku and Sora to much wanting to catch up.)

Also want to make this clear I don't mean this to come off as attacking you. Just wanted to point out somethings that you might not have considered.

Hello!

how it feels knowing that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall

— Nicole Lyons

angel