Response to Kotaku article (KH2)

[kingdomlanelover 494]

Kotaku recently wrote a thought provoking article about Kingdom Hearts 2 and male intimacy. While I personally believe that Kairi and Sora have somewhat of a romantic relationship, her thoughts towards Sora and Riku were something I had never thought about before. What are your thoughts? 

 

Article: http://kotaku.com/kingdom-hearts-ii-is-full-of-bad-romances-and-rad-broma-1796340042

[Kaweebo 3,617]

The romantic connection between Sora and Kairi is most heavily implied in the first game. The way Kairi teases him about leaving Destiny Islands together - without Riku, Riku teasing him about sharing a paopu fruit and Sora scribbling his affection for Kairi on the cave walls. Not to mention his literal sacrifice to free her heart and her attempted sacrifice which ended up causing Sora to become reborn through her love and memories of him alone. It's all there in the first game!

 

But that's the thing, their connection is most strongly focused on in the first game. (EDIT: And now that I think about it, despite looking for Riku in Castle Oblivion, Sora's foremost motivation for what he does as he climbs the castle is due to his feelings for Kairi getting mixed up by Namine!) Sora and Riku are best friends but its their rivalry that is most focused upon in that game because that's the foremost point between the two. By the sequel, both Sora and Riku have matured beyond petty rivalry and after their struggles in the game before, of course their reunion is focused upon more than Sora's with Kairi's. Their relationship healing itself hadn't been focused on enough!

 

There was never a doubt that Sora and Kairi would be reunited (at least until she's kidnapped by Axel and the Organization) so he focused on Riku and the King. Once she is, though, he went so far as to bow down before Saix (which, in Japanese culture, is apparently a very low gesture) just for the chance to see her. The writing accounted for both of them.

 

I'm not saying there's not a close intimacy between both Sora and Riku and that their love for each other as friends, brothers and, essentially, platonic soul mates, is unquestionable but I wouldn't degrade Kairi's character further by belittling what screen time she's gotten so far, either. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Kaweebo

[Komali 594]

Of course there is an intense bromance relationship between Sora and Riku and mostly because KH is a game about friendship. Love just takes a secondary role. But the author completely ignores the circumstances the characters are in.

 

Sora had no idea about Riku's whereabouts, while Kairi was safe on Destinys Island. Of course Sora could have visited her, but it didn't make sense for plot reasons. After Kairi was kidnapped, he tried everything to safe her and Riku equally. Just look at the scene with Saix.

 

The writer of the article doesn't consider that male and female act differently towards the other gender. I can't express my feelings to a girl so easily, that's only natural. The relationship between boys is something different, because they have the same mindset and it's more easy to say what they think. Boys compete with each other while liking each other, so there is always a certain tension. And remember: Sora knows Riku way longer than Kairi.

 

The sole existence of Xion proofs that Kairi is the most important person for Sora, even if the bond between Sora and Riku takes the spotlight for most games. But this is understandable, because this is something normal in Japanese media I think.

 

By the way, if Sora and Kairi kissed at the end of KH2, we wouldn't have something to look forward for in KH3. The scene in the ending of KH2 where they return in Destinys Island was amazing and emotional. In the ending of KH1 there is also a clear focus on Sora-Kairi relationship. The ending of KH3 won't be different.

 

Male-male relationships are easier to express and to write about throughout media, but male-female relationships are more about teasing us.

[KairiKeybasH 851]

There's a difference of Bromance and Romance i'll admit this is a friendship game, not a lovers game.

 

And i'm the only one who sees Sora and Riku like they're almost brothers? Well not by blood, but you know what i mean.

 

But you know everything is this and that because people say so.

Edited June 28, 2017 by KairiKeybasH

[Dustin Lübbers 933]

There's a difference of Bromance and Romance i'll admit this is a friendship game, not a lovers game.

 

And i'm the only one who sees Sora and Riku like they're almost brothers? Well not by blood, but you know what i mean.

 

But you know everything is this and that because people say so.

hmmm now that you say it..when I think about it Riku does tease sora like his litte brother and it reminds me of my own. Maybe that was even the original Idea in the first game as it would underscore the whole Dichotomy between them even more but thats just my geuess

Edited June 28, 2017 by Dustin Lübbers

[BlankShell 638]

I'm not sure most people are getting the point of the article... the idea is that the intense friendship they share IS a form of intimacy without being romantic. At least in KH2, Sora undeniably expresses a much greater range of emotions for Riku than he does for Kairi; some of that is circumstantial, some of that is curious writing that places a heavy emphasis on it.

[kingofnowhere 70]

Well, I read the article and I couldn't understand it this way. Does the article defends the idea that there's something romantic between Riku and Sora? I couldn't see it like this. As I can remember it says that even though there's the romantic relationship between Sora and Kairi, the focus in the game is the love between Riku and Sora and this love is not romantic. 

 

Some people may disagree but I believe that their friendship is pure and innocent. If someone sees any ''sexual'' thing between Sora and Riku (Axel and Roxas too!), the thing is not with them, but with our society that can't hardly experience such a deep and true friendship and has its mind so dirty nowadays.

 

Someone once told me that the Japanese sees friendship like this. They give a huge importance to this relationship... 

Edited June 29, 2017 by kingofnowhere

[Headphone Jack 1,147]

i actually like how the series never really goes all out with a romance plot between the characters, at least concerning Sora, Riku and Kairi. adding a romance element to it feels like it'd be a bit forced among all the world saving and bad guy fighting. i could see some kind of romance element working if they developed it with the help of Disney worlds based on movies that featured romance heavily. 

 

as the series stands now though, i'm fine with them just being really good friends with one another. i think it works well.

[LightKeyDarkBlade 72]

I'm not sure the intent of the article but I totally disagree with the statement "Sora's fervour for Riku far outweighs his fervour for Kairi."

 

Sora cares for both Riku and Kairi equally. They are both his best friends. The author is taking things out of context.

 

Kairi was saved and she returned to the islands at the end of KH1. Sora promised to return and he didn't have to worry about her anymore. Ever since they closed the Door to Darkness, Sora and his gang were looking for Riku and King Mickey and that's their sole mission (until they found out more about Organization XIII and Kairi's kidnap).

 

"Riku, the King...and now I lost Kairi again, too." – Sora

 

Before Sora met Riku-Ansem, he had no solid confirmation on the whereabouts and the condition of Riku. Mickey refused to relay any information due to a promise he made with Riku. Saïx taunted Sora not to "end up like Riku." Then, Sora and the gang received some clues left by Riku but they didn't know it was him. Sora found out that it was Riku in the black coat at The Land of Dragons but due to Xigbar's presence there also in a black coat, there's no proper assurance. Roxas later on informed Sora that he defeated Riku, making Sora doubt Riku's condition even though Donald and Goofy told Sora that it was just a trick.

 

As for Kairi, Sora thought that she's safe back on the islands but he's told that she appeared in Twilight Town before being taken away again. After learning from Saïx that he had Kairi, Sora showed Saïx how important Kairi was to him by performing dogeza, a form of high degree prostration in Japan. When Saïx had the confirmation that Sora really did care for her and he refused to let Sora see Kairi, Sora immediately got furious. Finally, at The World That Never Was, Sora found that Kairi's safe and was fighting Heartless. This made him to stop worrying about her. They had a brief reunion and a hug and that's enough.

 

Again, before meeting Riku-Ansem, Sora has never found and met Riku formally and has no assurance on his safety and whereabouts. After "Ansem" apparently helped Kairi, Sora even forwent all his anger and hatred towards "Ansem" and thanked him for saving Kairi. This again shows the importance of Kairi to Sora. Then, Sora discovered Riku's identity and has finally found him after all this time and wept that he looked everywhere for him.

 

That's the reason why Sora was weeping. It's not because of "Sora's fervour for Riku far outweighs his fervour for Kairi." It's not because Riku is more important than Kairi to Sora. Sora was still looking everywhere for Riku ever since the end of KH1 while Kairi was already saved. It's only that in midway, Kairi appeared to be in trouble and this actually further distressed Sora.

 

Kairi IS the fire that feeds Sora's anger. Saïx has proven that. But I'm not saying that there's a clear romance between them. Perhaps there is but it's not explicit enough. Nonetheless, Sora's care for Kairi is equivalent to Riku.

 

The article emphasises on bromance and friendship, which is good since Kingdom Hearts is all about the power of friendship and the connection one makes to defeat the darkness. It also mentions the relationship between Axel/Lea and Roxas. However, it seems that the author is trying to bring down the romance between a male and a female in favour of bromance, with a biased view to attempt to overwrite Sora and Kairi's relationship with Sora and Riku's bromance. That, I cannot allow.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Kenneth Choo

[Elfdemon_ 695]

Good article, but there’s something that’s worth noting. Sora knew Kairi was safe on Destiny Islands but he didn’t know whether Riku was even alive or not. The last he saw him was in the Realm of Darkness. They said their dramatic goodbyes to each other as if Riku would probably die or never return. Which would explain why Sora was much more emotional over seeing Riku than he was seeing Kairi.

[Alja 61]

I started reading the article, but to be honest, I don't think I actually finished it. It was really well written and I agreed with a lot of it, but I'm getting tired of people misinterpreting the reunion of Kairi and Sora. Kenneth Choo already summarized it perfectly, there is a vast difference in how Sora approaches Kairi and Riku because their situations are different. I also want to add that Sora feels awful about breaking his promise. He promised to come back to her and he promised himself to bring Riku back. He failed at both and Kairi found him first and he is so ashamed by it that he looks away from Kairi once he realizes how he "messed up".

 

I am all for emphasizing how important Riku and Sora are to each other, because they are. They are an amazing team, they kind of act like Yin and Yang toward each other, but that doesn't mean that we have to drop Kairi to make this observation. It also doesn't mean that we need to lessen the importance of Kairi to both Sora and Riku, something a huge part of the fandom does. It is infuriating, disingenuous towards the game and insulting towards Nomura and the team. It might be a very delicate difference, one people might overlook accidentally, but to be honest, most only gloss over Kairi because she didn't get a huge role in the later games. As if it wasn't enough that the actual developers treated her badly, the fandom started to treat her badly, too, that's kind of sad.