Alyson Stoner comments on voicing Kairi in Kingdom Hearts III: "This was the most fun out of all of them...You'll see why!"

[KHWaterBlock 296]

On her most recent YouTube video, Alyson Stoner replied to some fan comments asking questions about her career and personal life. One of these comments, made by the user jurdinb, asked her, "How was it voice acting Kairi in Kingdom Hearts III?" Alyson replied, "Incredible, as always!!! This was the most fun out of all of them, definitely. You'll see why!"

Alyson Stoner is known for her voice work as Kairi in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Xion in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and most recently as Kairi in Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-.

Are you excited to hear her reprise this role in Kingdom Hearts III?

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[Movies798 1,359]

That's a damn shame. Worse casting news in my opinion! Wish it was Hayden Panettiere (the real Kairi) as Kairi in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Movies798

[Lerine 4]

I absolutely adore Alyson as Kairi's voice and I cant't wait to see Kairi in action! :)

[youyousuf 23]

Better than Hayden that's for sure.

[Allwil13 754]

I always preferred Hayden Panettiere, myself. I find Allyson Stoner doesn't have much emotion when she's voice acting. Just my opinion, but I find Hayden to be a better fit. But obviously Hayden is no longer connected to the series for some reason. She didn't record any new stuff for the collections, so her last true involvement was in the original KH3D back in 2012.

[ocean's rage 774]

i imagine it was the most fun cause kairi's gonna be fighting in this one

[Green Sparrow 795]

I think both Alyson & Hayden are good voice actors and did fine jobs voicing Kairi. Voices actors change for a multitude of reasons, and you just kind of got to keep rolling with it. You can have your own preferences certainly, but I personally never understood the unhealthy attachment some people have with VAs. There are some people who still think that Billy Zane is the only TRUE Ansem Seeker of Darkness and that Brittany Snow is the only TRUE Namine, even though each only did ONE game for their respective characters. As long as the VA doesn't give a trash performance, I focus on the character, not necessarily the voice.

Alyson, if you happen to find your way to this forum (probably not), please ignore some of our...um, "passionate" fans in regards to you voicing Kairi, you're doing great

[RikuFangirl2008 1,368]

Although it's a bit sad to see Hayden not voicing Kairi in KH0.2 and KH3, Alyson is doing a great job voicing her. Who knows. Alyson would possibly voice Xion as well if she shows up in KH3. 

[DJ369 183]

I miss Hayden Panettiere, but Alyson Stoner is actually a good voice actor, and does a decent job as Kairi. I look forward to hearing her in KH3

[itsDON 66]

Love Alyson Stoner to the moon and back but No. Unfortunately I cannot get excited about this when Disney and SquareEnix completely blindsided and disrespected Hayden Panettiere. They never even asked the woman if she was willing to come back for KHIII that is NEVER okay. Now I'm starting to worry about David Gallagher and Jesse McCartney. Neither of them have been confirmed to reprise their roles as Riku, Ventus and Roxas respectfully for KHIII.

[Mio-chan 42]

I don't remember any of their voices. Can someone put a link to clip of each of the voice actresses?

[RikuFangirl2008 1,368]

18 minutes ago, Mio-chan said:

I don't remember any of their voices. Can someone put a link to clip of each of the voice actresses?

 

[KeybladeMasterBalo 504]

Even though I like Alyson's voice work I would have preferred to have Hayden as well. I was comparing both voices and they do sound alike, the big difference is that Hayden shaped Kairi with a sweet, calmed voice whilst Alyson made her sound a bit more cheerful and energetic, something added due to a higher pitched tone of voice, this just made the character lose a bit of nature to what we were used to and hence it was the reason many didn't like it. I say we have to see more in the actual game to give a straight answer and decide if Alyson did it well or not. I guess we'll see soon enough.

[Hero of Winds 2,576]

As much as I love Hayden taking on the role. I actually feel like Alyson suits Kairi's overall character archetype more. She was meant to be a bit spunky, energetic, and sweet all at one time. In all honesty, Alyson delivers on that front where Hayden never could. 

[Tyranto Rex 277]

I like both of them. I'm really excited for what Kairi does in KH3. Fingers crossed she gets the screentime she deserves.

[Mio-chan 42]

1 hour ago, RikuFangirl2008 said:

 

Thank you!!

Yeah, I like more Hayden's voice, but I am still looking forward to hear more work and lines from Alyson

Edited November 26, 2018 by Mio-chan

[Merilly 438]

3 hours ago, itsDON said:

Love Alyson Stoner to the moon and back but No. Unfortunately I cannot get excited about this when Disney and SquareEnix completely blindsided and disrespected Hayden Panettiere. They never even asked the woman if she was willing to come back for KHIII that is NEVER okay. Now I'm starting to worry about David Gallagher and Jesse McCartney. Neither of them have been confirmed to reprise their roles as Riku, Ventus and Roxas respectfully for KHIII.

While I don't follow news about stars and idols, I did hear that Hayden Panettiere had quite the amount of personal problems to deal with and I think SE/Disney don't want to switch back and forth between VAs to adjust to that, even if her situation is stable now. I think they are operating on some sort of "if you can't do it anymore it's fine, but don't expect to be the first to be asked to reprise the role since we had to resort to someone else" basis.

Personally, I can understand that practice. It might not seem fair and personal problems naturally always come first, but Disney and SE have to choose them from a business standpoint and she's probably not regarded as reliable anymore, apart from the fact that they'd probably like to have a consistent VA. It is not disrespectful but simply how companies need to operate. They couldn't wait for her to get better and now they aren't obligated to ask her first when she's been out of the picture for quite some time.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the others. Just because they're not confirmed doesn't really mean much since there's currently little reason to believe the characters have been recast. Of course it's not completely out of the question, but I don't see any circumstance surrounding them to prevent their involvement.

5 hours ago, Green Sparrow said:

Voices actors change for a multitude of reasons, and you just kind of got to keep rolling with it. You can have your own preferences certainly, but I personally never understood the unhealthy attachment some people have with VAs. There are some people who still think that Billy Zane is the only TRUE Ansem Seeker of Darkness and that Brittany Snow is the only TRUE Namine, even though each only did ONE game for their respective characters.

That's probably the truest statement I've seen so far regarding VAs. A lot of people cling to them because of nostalgia or because it's subjectively better but at times, there's no choice to replace them and as long as the voice work is decent, I'm content.

For example, few voices can compare to Leonard Nimoy but as long as the new one manages to capture the character, it's okay because there's little we can do. People die, have other commitments or simply can't make it due to personal reasons. 

Of course I'd be sad if some voices would be replaced, but there's little point in trying to push one person into the role as if they own it even though they didn't voice that character in years. I'm not diminishing Hayden's work or the opinion of others here but what's worse than replacing a VA is jumping back and forth between them.

Disney and SE couldn't delay the games just because one VA couldn't make it. And some need to stop acting like she has a right to voice Kairi again just because she's available again. That's not how it works. She forfeited that when she couldn't voice her. I'm sympathetic toward personal problems in particular, but a VA is not important enough to postpone the release of games and just allow her to return when it's suitable for her. They moved on, and so should the fans.

As you said, it's okay to prefer one over the other and be sad if one had to be replaced, but to some even the best replacement wouldn't be suitable because there's apparently only one real VA for that character. And I see no reason to let the game experience be lowered by something which cannot be changed.

Give others a chance. For example, I like Ansem the Wise's new VA a lot better in terms of intonation and how feelings are delivered.

[Iscreamer1 100]

8 hours ago, Movies798 said:

Firetrucking bulls**t! Worse casting news in my opinion! Wish it was Hayden Panettiere (the real Kairi) as Kairi in Kingdom Hearts 3.

*sigh* Me too.

[Scsigs 119]

14 hours ago, Movies798 said:

Firetrucking bulls**t! Worse casting news in my opinion! Wish it was Hayden Panettiere (the real Kairi) as Kairi in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Ok, calm right the hell down, dude. This isn't the end of the world. This isn't gonna stop you from buying the game, is it? No? Then calm it down. It's not a major selling point, so calm it down.

13 hours ago, Allwil13 said:

I always preferred Hayden Panettiere, myself. I find Allyson Stoner doesn't have much emotion when she's voice acting. Just my opinion, but I find Hayden to be a better fit. But obviously Hayden is no longer connected to the series for some reason. She didn't record any new stuff for the collections, so her last true involvement was in the original KH3D back in 2012.

Realistically, her appearance in DDD was a cameo at best, considering Xion didn't appear much in that game. Literally her last appearance as Kairi was KHBBS, which was also a cameo, since Ariel Winter voiced her more in that game than she did.

10 hours ago, itsDON said:

Love Alyson Stoner to the moon and back but No. Unfortunately I cannot get excited about this when Disney and SquareEnix completely blindsided and disrespected Hayden Panettiere. They never even asked the woman if she was willing to come back for KHIII that is NEVER okay. Now I'm starting to worry about David Gallagher and Jesse McCartney. Neither of them have been confirmed to reprise their roles as Riku, Ventus and Roxas respectfully for KHIII.

YOU need to calm down too & stop worrying about things that make no sense to worry about.
First of all, blindsiding & disrespecting her? She hasn't voiced Kairi in 8 years. Frankly, I'm surprised people are surprised that Stoner's their now-defacto VA for Kairi in KH. It's not being disrespectful or blindsiding when they haven't had her do anything for them in even 6 years when she voiced Xion in a cameo for no reason in DDD. I'm surprised they even got her back for that.
Second, they got David Gallagher back as Riku & Jesse McCartney back as Roxas & Ventus. Just because they aren't confirmed doesn't mean they're not in it. Hell, I have an entire thread dedicated to predicting the VAs in this game & I've been 95% accurate thus far & the 5% was only from me underestimating who they were gonna get from Big Hero 6, Toy Story, & Pirates of the Caribbean. If they didn't record when some of the trailers came out months ago, they're definitely recording now. Not bringing them back, since their voices are pretty distinct (hell, Jesse uses his regular voice for the role, which would be pretty hard to imitate) would be just bad. These guys were even more recently brought back for 1.5, 2.5 & 2.8 (for Gallagher), so if you seriously think they wouldn't bring them back, you're stupid.
And before anyone says so, I know Stoner & Panettiere's Kairi voices are somewhat distinct, but it's not enough to where it makes the difference  like a male voice or another female voice in the series would be.

Edited November 27, 2018 by Scsigs

[Allwil13 754]

16 minutes ago, Scsigs said:

Realistically, her appearance in DDD was a cameo at best, considering Xion didn't appear much in that game. Literally her last appearance as Kairi was KHBBS, which was also a cameo, since Ariel Winter voiced her more in that game than she did.

That's actually a good point. Basically Hayden hasn't been heavily involved since KHII. I wonder if there was some friction with her contract or something so they decided to cut her loose. It's odd that they would just replace her for no apparent reason.

[IAMME 158]

Doesn't she also voice xion?

[Scsigs 119]

2 minutes ago, IAMME said:

Doesn't she also voice xion?

Stoner originally voiced her in 358/2 Days, then Panettiere voiced her in DDD.

[Movies798 1,359]

4 hours ago, Scsigs said:

Ok, calm right the hell down, dude. This isn't the end of the world. This isn't gonna stop you from buying the game, is it? No? Then calm it down. It's not a major selling point, so calm it down.

Dude calm down everyone has the right to express their opinions on something. I'm still going to have fun and enjoy this game because is one of the most anticipated games in 2019. But that doesn't mean I can't express my disappointed that Hayden Panettiere won't come back to voice Kairi. Especially since she said that Disney themselves didn't even tried asking her to reprise Kairi again in KH3. I have nothing against Alyson Stoner, but in my in opinion, Alyson Stoner's voice is better as Xion than as Kairi. Of course voice work is not the majoring selling point but I just prefer Hayden Panettiere over Alyson Stoner as Kairi. Anyway I know Alyson Stoner will do a decent job as Kairi. So I'm done with this topic and already move on.

[Movies798 1,359]

4 hours ago, Allwil13 said:

That's actually a good point. Basically Hayden hasn't been heavily involved since KHII. I wonder if there was some friction with her contract or something so they decided to cut her loose. It's odd that they would just replace her for no apparent reason.

Hayden said on her Twitter that Disney didn't call her to voice Kairi again. So pretty much the studio just replace her.

[Scsigs 119]

46 minutes ago, Movies798 said:

Dude calm down everyone has the right to express their opinions on something. I'm still going to have fun and enjoy this game because is one of the most anticipated games in 2019. But that doesn't mean I can't express my disappointed that Hayden Panettiere won't come back to voice Kairi. Especially since she said that Disney themselves didn't even tried asking her to reprise Kairi again in KH3. I have nothing against Alyson Stoner, but in my in opinion, Alyson Stoner's voice is better as Xion than as Kairi. Of course voice work is not the majoring selling point but I just prefer Hayden Panettiere over Alyson Stoner as Kairi. Anyway I know Alyson Stoner will do a decent job as Kairi. So I'm done with this topic and already move on.

I was perfectly calm. YOU were the one who wasn't. Don't turn that back on me, dude. Read your original post back to yourself. I know that you're entitled to your opinion. However, swearing, even censored, at the fact that something's happening that you don't like isn't really indicative of someone whose opinions are really made to be reasonable. If you react like that with, & I quote, "That's bullsh*t" (which, nice editing your original statement to come off with a different tone after I told you to calm down, but a little too late), then proceed to say Panettiere is the real Kairi & this news is, "the worst casting news", I think my response is justified.

44 minutes ago, Movies798 said:

Hayden said on her Twitter that Disney didn't call her to voice Kairi again. So pretty much the studio just replace her.

And? Disney doesn't really have any obligation to call her back in. Neither does Square. They just needed a suitable actress to play her, which Stoner is. Square DOES have a tendency to get as many original actors & actresses back as possible & even cast based on factors like certain ones having dub actors in anime in the West (like how they wanted Chris Sabat to play Garland in some of the FF spin-offs because he played the same character the Japanese actor did in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood; Major Alex Louis Armstrong), but they don't always do that. Alyson's a good actress anyways.  You said it's not a deal-breaker, so what's the problem? Should the have gotten Panettiere back? Maybe? Should anyone lose sleep over her not being called in? No.

And, they didn't just replace her out of the blue. They replaced her a LONG time ago. First with Re:Chain of Memories, then 358/2 Days, then 0.2, now this game. Adding up all of the places where both actresses have voiced Kairi or Xion, Stoner's got her beat on the Kairi front, since, like I said, Panettiere las voiced Kairi in 2009/10 for BBS & even then, Ariel Winter had more lines than her as young Kairi in that game. This decision isn't one they made cold-heartedly, nor one out of spite. They probably just thought Stoner was the more logical choice for the game, since she has a more close working relationship with them & Disney. By the way, she's not a bad actress either. If you consider her bad in these games, blame the voice direction, which is often hit-or-miss.

As you said, though, you're done with this. I'm just clarifying my points.