Why all the Kairi hate?

[Darkfire1408 43]

I've seen a lot of people complaining about Kairi being kidnapped again and not accomplishing much in KH3. Honestly, I never expected anything else from her. In fact, I would have been suprised if she wasn't kidnapped. The only suprising part for me was that Xehanort killed her.

 

I mean, Kairi is basically Square Enix's version of a Disney princess. She's meant to be compared to them. They're always getting kidnapped, or stumbling into danger, or otherwise having some large problem their true love has to help them with. Their prince is defined by their efforts to save them. Aladdin showed Jasmine a whole new world, and saved her from marrying Jafar. Eric saved Ariel from Ursula, and, well, showed her a whole new world. Prince Kit (Charming) searched the kingdom for Cinderella, and saved her from her wicked stepmother and ugly stepsisters. Prince Phillip literally fought a dragon and woke Aurora from an eternal sleep. Kairi's no different. She lost her heart, and entrusted it to Sora, who brought it back to her. She was always written to be Sora's princess, and that theme has been constant.

 

Besides, her role, and what happened to her was tragically poetic, and beautifully so. The whole series, Sora's whole journey started with finding and saving her. KH1 and 2 mirror and build up to this as well. After Sora finds and saves Kairi in KH1, she in turn saves him from being a heartless. In KH2, she goes looking for him, even though she doesn't remember who he is, and by doing this, she ends up reuniting him with Riku again. In KH3, she joins the fight, she's the only one who survived the demon tide the first time, and she led Sora back to the Realm of light, and the living. Then, she was kidnapped again. Xehanort killed her to forge the X-blade, and in the end, Sora gave his life to bring her back. Now she's left alone, and it's her turn again to save him. Even Sora commented on this. This whole journey was about saving her, and it's not over until they're together again.

 

It's not that Kairi's weak and can't stand up for herself, or that Nomura wrote her poorly. She's extremely well written. She's the light that Sora needs to protect. Saving the universe three times was a happy accident. It was never about saving the worlds, it was about saving his. She defines Sora in a way that no adventure, power, or responsibility ever could.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Darkfire1408

[Allwil13 754]

I agree. I mean, she's never really done much, and honestly I think she did more in KH3 than in the rest of the series combined. But like you, I wasn't really expecting much from her anyways. Honestly, the thing that does bug me about Kairi is that she just isn't very interesting. Unlike Sora and Riku, who have very clear character traits and personalities, Kairi is... nice and sweet. And... that's it. That's why I think the series needs an entry where she is the main playable character. Give the girl an adventure to go on, Nomura, and let us go with her! I want to get to know this girl.

The only thing I really hated about Kairi was her voice actor in KH3. I imagine a lot of people will pounce on me for this but I just cannot stand Alyson Stoner. I think she's just terrible and when I learned she would be voicing Kairi in KH3 my heart sank. I know she voiced Kairi in a couple of other entries but that was only a collective 4 or 5 lines. Then again, this isn't hate for the character herself, just her voice.

But I don't want to start a rant about that. I do agree with you that she does have a purpose, and it's an important one. I think people just wanted to see her become a strong fighter like the rest of the wielders of light. 

[Novayon 192]

1. Not many people actually "hate" Kairi, because hating a character is silly.

2. Being the damsel in distress 3 games in a row is probably why people were annoyed. Also, just because previous games did it, doesn't excuse it now. In fact it makes it worse. It's an "oh, not again" situation.

3. People wanted Kari to do something, not just be something. Most of her good moments seem to be passive, and just a result of who she is as a princess of light. A lot of people want to see Kairi do something cool or badass, because marketing made it seem that she would.

4. Imo, Kairi's character is pretty poor and she's more of a plot device than a fleshed out character than Riku. And I'd say her personality has regressed since KH1.

[Allwil13 754]

1 hour ago, Novayon said:

4. Imo, Kairi's character is pretty poor and she's more of a plot device than a fleshed out character than Riku. And I'd say her personality has regressed since KH1.

OMG, it totally has! In KH1, Kairi was actually so interesting and had a genuine personality. She was really bubbly, sweet and playful. She was also pretty brave, shown when she shielded heartless Sora in the entrance hall of Hollow Bastion. 

Then in Kingdom Hearts 2 she was... just kinda there. 

It's such a shame. She was so fun in Kingdom hearts 1 and now she's just kind of...blah. Not good, not bad. Just... boring.

[Darkfire1408 43]

I guess that's the part I don't understand. She did a lot this game. I mean, like I said, she's the only one who didn't die to the demon tide. She's the sole reason why light didn't expire as foretold. She was able to hold on and help everyone else hold on to who they were. Sora couldn't have saved their hearts without her, and Namine couldn't have contacted Terra, changing their fates. Their entire victory lies on Kairi's strength. Without her, Xehanort would have destroyed the worlds and killed everyone and everything, and no one else would have had a chance to stop him. She was super important to the final battle.