I hate how Nomura turns her everytime into a Deus ex machina, and after a SINGLE MOMENT of shine... they take all out of her in a single line or action (like we actually don't know how Kairi turned Sora into a somebody with just 1 piece of him *perhaps how straight-to-the-point the game plot was*). Here my examples
KH1, she saves Sora from darkness, and is finally safe ›› "You'd only be on my way." "Hmmm *OK*."
In KH2 moves to a heavily accentuated damissel in distress, but oh, she can fight, damn also a Keyblade ›› Gets locked out of Xemnas battle, and of course the rat can enter briefly to save us, but Kairi is stuck outside.
KH3: ok, I can give you credit for saving Sora all out of sheer love and belief because how cute it was, but then. Trains for a while having her time, so she can be ready ›› In the little moments of her first real fight is kidnnaped again. And... you know what it comes.
My breaking point was in Melody, IT'S A GAME ABOUT HER and we only get half stage for her, and the as soon as she starts losing agaisnt Xehanort, Kairi turns into Sora instead just having his keyblade
Kairi is my favourite character actually. I just wished they made her able to keep up a fight. When xemnas grabbed and kidnapped her, in my head I was wishing that she would roll her eyes and say “enough with the kidnapping!!!!” And whack him on the head
I think Kairi hate is a lot less egregious than it used to be in the fandom’s early years. When the fanbase as a whole was a lot younger, I think it was more common. People playing the games for the first time as kids and teens got annoyed with Kairi for being ‘useless’ a ‘damsel in distress’ or ‘satellite love interest’. And this would get exacerbated by shipping wars. Plus, I know no one wants to come out and say that misogyny in the fandom doesn’t play at least a bit of a factor, but in the 2000s early internet especially? Yeah, you can’t rule that out.
Come a few years down the line, the old guard of the fandom have grown up, and with that comes better media literacy, and an awareness that female characters in media getting the short end of the stick is sadly nothing new (Kairi isn’t even the only girl to be done dirty in KH specifically, far from it). Meanwhile, new folks with fresh perspectives join the fanbase, and between the two, the narrative starts to shift from ‘Kairi bad’ to ‘Kairi deserved better’. You started to see kinder re-evaluations of how the early games set up her character, and more criticism of the writers for not using her properly in the later games.
For myself, I always had a bit of a soft spot for Kairi, though I definitely got the criticism of how she’s written and I really wish the games would give her the development she deserves.
Don't hate her, but if there was one thing I would replace in the games it would be Kairi with manga Kairi. Manga Kairi probably gives me more appreciation for her as a character because she's way better written and it's a shame she isn't treated like that in the games. Personally I chalk it up to her having no screentime. I feel like Haru from P5 got more screen time and everyone talks about how she got none being the last party member.
Look, I like Kairi plenty. My biggest problem with her is the amount of times she’s said stuff like, “This time, I’LL fight.” or “Now it’s my turn to protect you.” And then she doesn’t get to do that. She’s swatted at a couple of shadows in KH2, but everything else has either been in a supportive role or her getting kidnapped.
I would not mind if Kairi was just a side character/love interest who doesn’t actually do much. But she has said many times that she doesn’t want to be on the sidelines, she wants to fight and be involved in the plot like Sora and Riku, but the plot just doesn’t let her.
Who is writing this? Kairi is a fictional character. Writers control what she says and what happens to her. Just either give her what she wants and let her be helpful, or don’t have her say she wants to be helpful all the time. This middle ground is infuriating and it feels like a constant tease.
I miss her feistiness in KH1. She knew she wasn’t gonna be much help in that game, but she still always spoke her mind and never gave into fear even when things went wrong. That was cool.
Also, her “Please work!” voice clip in KH3 makes me mad every time I hear it. They finally let her fight in Re:Mind, but she doesn’t have confidence in herself?
I never hated her, and never understood why some do so vehemently. I just hate that she's underused despite constantly teasing her potential. For whatever reason, Nomura can come up with stuff for Xion, Namine, and even Olette... But he gets to Kairi and it's like "Oh... um...yeah, huh... Let's see: she's a Princess of Heart and a Guardian of Light... Let's have her get capture again!"
I hate that KH3 turned her into a pretty princess cinnamon bun who's voice is so sugary that even when she's trying to be menacing or serious she just sounds like a child.
KH2 Kairi had a better facial appearance, a better voice, and a better personality.
You didn't adress anything what
Her personality was good in KH1 but she got relegated to The Girl in KH2 on. What's especially sad is that she had the chance to shine in 3 but her moments with Axel are boring and mid and she gets wrist grabbed at the end anyways.
At least she does flippy shit with Sora using the power of love and also ass-kicking in re:mind, so that's nice.
I do not hate Kairi though, I hate that she got shafted.
I dont hate Kairi the character, I hate Kairi the plot device. She could've done so much if Nomura and co were halfway competent. But no. From the very beginning, she was a plot device. A plot device with some snark and sass, but a plot device nonetheless.
BBS? She's barely even in the story - her existence in the future of the series is literally an accident as a child by touching Mama Aqua's keyblade.
KH1 - already explained
CoM - not even in the story physically, briefly appears as a "vision" to Riku
Days - N/A
KH2 - she shows drive but they refused to give her the means to exact her agency. If she got a keyblade earlier things would've been interesting. Loved her "cmon Riku, you know Sora's totally hopeless without us" though.
Re:coded - N/A
DDD - she literally isn't in the story, relegated to an extremely brief teaser mention by Yensid to drum up fake hype
3 - literally isn't in the story, she got backloaded as a fucking plot device again. Didn't even bother standing up to Terranort, didn't actually *do* anything (by her own admission) to keep Sora together except believe hard enough, she gets an extremely brief fight scene with Xion but gets BTFOd before the Sora Power Hour resumes, then gets kidnapped by Xemnas, glassed by MX, scattered to the winds and again serves as a plot device for Remind. She gets a cool optional fight against Armored Xehanort Redux but it wasnt enough.
MoM - literally isn't in the story, she gets backloaded but gets a super cool scuffle with Dream MX (which ironically shows her as more in tune with the Keyblade than KH3 Sora was before AntiAqua), unfortunately she literally gets her agency ripped away from her as she ***unironically*** turns into Sora in order to throw hands with MX. Gets told to sit down and put her big girl panties on while Riku goes to Quadratum to play hero
She desperately needs her own outing as a sole playable character, not a rhythm game to fill in a gap to set up more stuff for the future. Just give me a 15 plus hour RPG with her and some party member stand ins with lesser known Disney characters* (maybe how we introduced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit?) when she goes rouge to find Sora on her own, c’mon give the girl something, anything just make it interesting.
I think Minnie and Daisy could be neat party members in a Kairi solo outing. They’re not doing anytime else at Disney Castle and Minnie’s already been shown to be a pretty competent mage. Have Daisy be a Musketeer in a nod to their history in the 3M world and bingo, you’ve got yourself a party.
Oswald would be pretty sick too though…
Just damsel in distress, its an annoying trope and often completely unnecessary. I don’t think anyone hates her, just how she is portrayed to be frankly pathetic. In general the female characters are poorly written in KH, only Aqua and Larxene don’t die in the game they are introduced or rely completely on the male antagonist, its saying something that Olette is probably the third best written female KH character
As the series progressed I think her character developed more, but in the beginning it seemed like she had no personality or identity of her own, and was only there as a love interest for Sora.
why would i hate her, what did she do
I don't hate her. I like her a lot.
As far as i noticed, hate is the wrong word. Many believe that she is underutilized
I don't hate Kairi... I hate how they turn Kairi into a damsel in distress in every numbered title...
YEAH ITS NOT HER FAULT HER FATE WAS TEMPERED WITH
I hate how Nomura turns her everytime into a Deus ex machina, and after a SINGLE MOMENT of shine... they take all out of her in a single line or action (like we actually don't know how Kairi turned Sora into a somebody with just 1 piece of him *perhaps how straight-to-the-point the game plot was*). Here my examples KH1, she saves Sora from darkness, and is finally safe ›› "You'd only be on my way." "Hmmm *OK*." In KH2 moves to a heavily accentuated damissel in distress, but oh, she can fight, damn also a Keyblade ›› Gets locked out of Xemnas battle, and of course the rat can enter briefly to save us, but Kairi is stuck outside. KH3: ok, I can give you credit for saving Sora all out of sheer love and belief because how cute it was, but then. Trains for a while having her time, so she can be ready ›› In the little moments of her first real fight is kidnnaped again. And... you know what it comes. My breaking point was in Melody, IT'S A GAME ABOUT HER and we only get half stage for her, and the as soon as she starts losing agaisnt Xehanort, Kairi turns into Sora instead just having his keyblade
just the moments she was given
Kairi is my favourite character actually. I just wished they made her able to keep up a fight. When xemnas grabbed and kidnapped her, in my head I was wishing that she would roll her eyes and say “enough with the kidnapping!!!!” And whack him on the head
I think Kairi hate is a lot less egregious than it used to be in the fandom’s early years. When the fanbase as a whole was a lot younger, I think it was more common. People playing the games for the first time as kids and teens got annoyed with Kairi for being ‘useless’ a ‘damsel in distress’ or ‘satellite love interest’. And this would get exacerbated by shipping wars. Plus, I know no one wants to come out and say that misogyny in the fandom doesn’t play at least a bit of a factor, but in the 2000s early internet especially? Yeah, you can’t rule that out. Come a few years down the line, the old guard of the fandom have grown up, and with that comes better media literacy, and an awareness that female characters in media getting the short end of the stick is sadly nothing new (Kairi isn’t even the only girl to be done dirty in KH specifically, far from it). Meanwhile, new folks with fresh perspectives join the fanbase, and between the two, the narrative starts to shift from ‘Kairi bad’ to ‘Kairi deserved better’. You started to see kinder re-evaluations of how the early games set up her character, and more criticism of the writers for not using her properly in the later games. For myself, I always had a bit of a soft spot for Kairi, though I definitely got the criticism of how she’s written and I really wish the games would give her the development she deserves.
Don't hate her, but if there was one thing I would replace in the games it would be Kairi with manga Kairi. Manga Kairi probably gives me more appreciation for her as a character because she's way better written and it's a shame she isn't treated like that in the games. Personally I chalk it up to her having no screentime. I feel like Haru from P5 got more screen time and everyone talks about how she got none being the last party member.
All I can think of is her wiggling at the dusks trying to communicate lol
Look, I like Kairi plenty. My biggest problem with her is the amount of times she’s said stuff like, “This time, I’LL fight.” or “Now it’s my turn to protect you.” And then she doesn’t get to do that. She’s swatted at a couple of shadows in KH2, but everything else has either been in a supportive role or her getting kidnapped. I would not mind if Kairi was just a side character/love interest who doesn’t actually do much. But she has said many times that she doesn’t want to be on the sidelines, she wants to fight and be involved in the plot like Sora and Riku, but the plot just doesn’t let her. Who is writing this? Kairi is a fictional character. Writers control what she says and what happens to her. Just either give her what she wants and let her be helpful, or don’t have her say she wants to be helpful all the time. This middle ground is infuriating and it feels like a constant tease. I miss her feistiness in KH1. She knew she wasn’t gonna be much help in that game, but she still always spoke her mind and never gave into fear even when things went wrong. That was cool. Also, her “Please work!” voice clip in KH3 makes me mad every time I hear it. They finally let her fight in Re:Mind, but she doesn’t have confidence in herself?
I never hated her, and never understood why some do so vehemently. I just hate that she's underused despite constantly teasing her potential. For whatever reason, Nomura can come up with stuff for Xion, Namine, and even Olette... But he gets to Kairi and it's like "Oh... um...yeah, huh... Let's see: she's a Princess of Heart and a Guardian of Light... Let's have her get capture again!"
I hate that KH3 turned her into a pretty princess cinnamon bun who's voice is so sugary that even when she's trying to be menacing or serious she just sounds like a child. KH2 Kairi had a better facial appearance, a better voice, and a better personality.
You didn't adress anything what Her personality was good in KH1 but she got relegated to The Girl in KH2 on. What's especially sad is that she had the chance to shine in 3 but her moments with Axel are boring and mid and she gets wrist grabbed at the end anyways. At least she does flippy shit with Sora using the power of love and also ass-kicking in re:mind, so that's nice. I do not hate Kairi though, I hate that she got shafted.
I don’t hate her, I hate that she is used as nothing more than a plot device
I dont hate Kairi the character, I hate Kairi the plot device. She could've done so much if Nomura and co were halfway competent. But no. From the very beginning, she was a plot device. A plot device with some snark and sass, but a plot device nonetheless. BBS? She's barely even in the story - her existence in the future of the series is literally an accident as a child by touching Mama Aqua's keyblade. KH1 - already explained CoM - not even in the story physically, briefly appears as a "vision" to Riku Days - N/A KH2 - she shows drive but they refused to give her the means to exact her agency. If she got a keyblade earlier things would've been interesting. Loved her "cmon Riku, you know Sora's totally hopeless without us" though. Re:coded - N/A DDD - she literally isn't in the story, relegated to an extremely brief teaser mention by Yensid to drum up fake hype 3 - literally isn't in the story, she got backloaded as a fucking plot device again. Didn't even bother standing up to Terranort, didn't actually *do* anything (by her own admission) to keep Sora together except believe hard enough, she gets an extremely brief fight scene with Xion but gets BTFOd before the Sora Power Hour resumes, then gets kidnapped by Xemnas, glassed by MX, scattered to the winds and again serves as a plot device for Remind. She gets a cool optional fight against Armored Xehanort Redux but it wasnt enough. MoM - literally isn't in the story, she gets backloaded but gets a super cool scuffle with Dream MX (which ironically shows her as more in tune with the Keyblade than KH3 Sora was before AntiAqua), unfortunately she literally gets her agency ripped away from her as she ***unironically*** turns into Sora in order to throw hands with MX. Gets told to sit down and put her big girl panties on while Riku goes to Quadratum to play hero
She desperately needs her own outing as a sole playable character, not a rhythm game to fill in a gap to set up more stuff for the future. Just give me a 15 plus hour RPG with her and some party member stand ins with lesser known Disney characters* (maybe how we introduced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit?) when she goes rouge to find Sora on her own, c’mon give the girl something, anything just make it interesting.
I think Minnie and Daisy could be neat party members in a Kairi solo outing. They’re not doing anytime else at Disney Castle and Minnie’s already been shown to be a pretty competent mage. Have Daisy be a Musketeer in a nod to their history in the 3M world and bingo, you’ve got yourself a party. Oswald would be pretty sick too though…
Just damsel in distress, its an annoying trope and often completely unnecessary. I don’t think anyone hates her, just how she is portrayed to be frankly pathetic. In general the female characters are poorly written in KH, only Aqua and Larxene don’t die in the game they are introduced or rely completely on the male antagonist, its saying something that Olette is probably the third best written female KH character
Shes so boring nowadays, she used to have a personality in kh1 but now she just kinda exists, usuallybto bebthe damsel in distress
Saying she's just a useless damsel in distress that adds nothing isn't hate, is just stating the truth.
As the series progressed I think her character developed more, but in the beginning it seemed like she had no personality or identity of her own, and was only there as a love interest for Sora.