#but ultimately that same sentiment applies to 90% of desired KH dynamics

[mirror-to-the-past]

Hi! Wanna hear me rave about how I really appreciate Kairi as a character, particularly in what she represents?

This was born partly from Kairi swimming around in my head regarding how much I like her (I hope it shows), and partly because of me generally looking at YouTube comments (dangerous, I know) where I was surprised to see people calling Kairi useless, unimportant, etc. I've also seen opinions lamenting about Kairi's minimal usage (which is totally fair- who doesn't want to see more of their favorites?), but it's to the point that some have said it's bad writing or that the writers don't care about her or something.

Every person's reading of a story and their preferences are ultimately their own, and I acknowledge my scope of fan opinions is limited to wherever I end up on the KH internet, but I just thought I'd throw my two cents in about what I think of Kairi's utilization as a character.

And the verdict is... that I'm actually really satisfied with how her character is executed, amount of screen time and everything! Why, you ask?

Before playing Days, I was still very moved by Roxas in just his KH2 opening debut, yet his amount of overall screentime in comparison to all of the characters of the other games prior to that was very limited. But- I still liked him because I thought that with the little he had, it was done so effectively and with stellar atmosphere.

Personally, I think the same of Kairi.

Across the games, practically every scene she *is* in has her stealing the spotlight. At the end of KH1 where she wakes up from her sleep, she really emotes her heart out. When Sora disappears right in front of her, she just yells "I won't let him go!" Which was a pretty poignant and steadfast thing from a disoriented kid. I thought it was touching. She holds herself to that, and actually brings Sora back. It's sweet as all hell. She says the (retrospectively) very tonally setting line of wondering "You think it'll ever be the same again between us?" when referring to her, Sora, and Riku's friendship. In Kairi's first cutscene in KH2, I was over here like:

My heart was being SQUEEZED, man. I already talked a bunch about it, made a fanfic about it and everything, and I still didn't get my wiggles out over that scene, evidently. After all that time, she had to come to grips with the complete MIA state of her friend group, and how she doesn't even recall one of them outside of vague notions of emotion.💥 Misery. But she still holds on, because that's Kairi, for better or for worse. She takes that same steadfast nature when she turns her KH2 kidnapping into an Organization infiltration and beats some antagonistic ass. Her wishes saved Sora and Riku from a slow death in purgatory. 🎊

Off to KH3, she's still holding on, and her motivation to stick her neck out and become a Guardian of Light isn't even necessarily to save the world or do some grandiose mission like her other friends are doing. It's so she can stick to her friends who are so insistent on leaving their homeworld behind for dangerous exploits. So she can finally be there with them in their harrowing moments and not just be stuck in the nerve-racking in between of unknowing.

So, what I'm getting to is this...

I feel like Kairi, for what she represents, is portrayed well. And to me, she represents grounding. In a series that's as metaphysical as KH, it's a wonder to have a character as rooted in stability as Kairi is. People like to tout Sora as the mascot of "friendship is power," and he is in many ways, but while Sora is the feeling, the empathy of seeing someone who needs help and loudly saying they're besties now because he's moved by you, Kairi is the one who holds out for you simply because she should. The one who's left out of the loop that still shows up when you need someone in your corner. She's the reminder of home, and the person who follows through on the promises. She's the person who holds in her mind the images of her childhood friends, and no matter how they change, she still remembers what they were like at their core- when they were small and simple- and will always hold affection for that. She's if a friendship bracelet was turned into a human.

And like a friendship bracelet, she's nostalgic. She's what feels like the most important thing in that first friendship at 7 years old, that you wear proudly and promise to be good to forever and ever. And like a friendship bracelet, she often will end up lost in a cubby hole a few years down the line, or falling apart.

It's why in KH3, when she tries the metaphorical friendship bracelet again with the Paopu Fruit, she's affirming that, even if it seems like Sora's really grown away from his home, she's the reminder of his foundation and where he came from- what he was like before everything spiralled into confusion and everyone got older. It's a soft promise that says "even if you've changed, Sora, there's one person who won't forget the *you* you were. You worry about your future, I've got your past."

And for a coming of age story, I think that's a beautiful and tender execution of that kind of message. Kairi has made me think, which is all I really want from a character at the end of the day, of what things I've unknowingly left behind as I've grown older. And it stings. It hurts, but it's a good hurt. She makes me realize that, when it's not stopping my growth, there's no harm in my remembering the things that have made me, me. I don't want to be stuck in the past, but who says I should lose my core, either?

🎊Kairi🎊