#Aromantic Sora would be heckin' wholesome though

[hestzhyen]

Complicated Platonic SoRiku Feels

Hi again internet void. Please allow me to vent into your uncaring ear. I've been struggling with understanding why platonic SoRiku would be a disappointment to me. Maybe you can help? Let me try to do this succinctly...

SoRiku has been coded in an overwhelmingly romantic way. It's gotten to the point where Nomura showed us only the Fairy Godmother was good enough to send Riku off to fulfill his literal dream of finding Sora. ALONE. SoRiku fans constantly lament that if either Sora or Riku was a girl, then the romance angle would be obvious to the point of overdone. And if the big moments in their relationship weren't enough, check out all those direct comparisons to Disney couples across multiple decades. At this point, platonic SoRiku will only make sense to me if Sora is aromantic. It's drifted too far from the credibly platonic bond we saw in KH1 to be anything but romantic now- especially from Riku's side.

So I guess that's why I don't jive with the general fandom sentiment of "any SoRiku ending is good". It's not and I'm tired of telling myself I should be grateful if it happens in any capacity. I'm not going to be okay with yet another case of writing a romance and refusing to acknowledge it as one. Saying "platonic SoRiku is good" without Sora being aro feels like hedging my bets against being baited again. KH has been built different ever since CoM's aitsu and shared promise shenanigans- don't try to wriggle out of that with "they're the most special guys with the most unique and incomparable bond ever".

Man. I've got even more thoughts about why setting Riku up to be rejected would be cruel and unfulfilling/pointless from a narrative perspective but no one wants to read an essay. I want to hear what other people have to say but asking for someone to read this is less realistic than canon SoRiku ha ha. So thanks for hearing me out, void.