Kingdom Hearts meta
Oct. 29th, 2010 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cypsiman2So, we're all familiar with 'that scene', yes? The one where Sora is notably stilted when he reunites with Kaira, but falls to his knees in tears when he reunites with Riku? And how even those people who don't care much for Sora/Riku or Yaoi in general found this scene to be pretty...you know? But I've recently gone through that segment, and I feel that there is a lot of a lot of context that is being ignored here.
First, the general context of Sora in Kingdom Hearts II. Throughout the game he seeks to be reunited with Kairi and Riku in equal measure. When he meets up with King Mickey, and Mickey refuses to tell him where Riku is despite clearly knowing, this makes Sora very, very worried about his best friend. And why not? After all, the last time Sora saw Riku was when Riku was being locked behind the door into the Realm of Darkness; who knows what could have happened to Riku while he was in there? And around the same time, Saix appears before Sora and tells him that they've taken Kairi hostage, and in demonstration of what Sora's willing to do for her, he gets down on his hands and knees, begging for her release. And indeed, upon finally reaching The World That Never Was, every other word that comes out of Sora's mouth is either 'Kairi', or something to do with Kairi.
Second, the big reuniting scene is not actually the first time that Sora saw Kairi; that actually took place shortly before the battle with Xigbar, when Saix sends a swarm of Heartless after Sora in an effort to get him to provide just a few more hearts for their artificial Kingdom Hearts, and Sora sees Kairi on the upper level. Here, he is so excited that he completely loses track of what's going on around him, and is immediately jumped by a dozen Shadow Heartless. This, I feel, counts as the sort of big display of emotion that people believe was absent in the hugging scene. And speaking of awkward hug, what most people neglect to mention is that just before the hug, Kairi said that she was tired of waiting for Sora and Riku, so she went out looking for them, and Sora feels bad and thinks that Kairi is upset with him. So when she grabs him in that big ol' hug of hers, it completely blindsides him! And as he puts his arms around her, he begins to close his eyes, which generally indicates that this is a hug you're pretty into. I'll grant you, Sora closing his eyes is a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but it is there, and in any event, they stand and just hug each other for a good long while, which you generally don't do if the hug is really that awkward.
Third, the scene where Sora reunites with Riku. What one must remember is that Riku looks like Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem the Seeker of Darkness. Sora, still believing that this guy is the one who nearly destroyed all worlds, tells him that while he's definitely still mad at him, helping save Kairi is a big plus in his book. Again, a big significant moment glossed over by the fandom. Also, Kairi had to show Sora that this was Riku, and I don't know about you, but if I found out that the mortal before me was actually my best friend in disguise...yeah, I'd probably tear up too. I'll give you, it was a bit overdone, but honestly, you take all in context, and it's not nearly the way fandom likes to characterize it. None of which is meant to impugn anyone who ships Sora/Riku, as even with that context, there's plenty of fuel for the fire anyway. :)
So yeah, those are the thoughts that I have regarding that scene.
I believe that Kairi is going to play a much more active role in Kingdom Hearts 3 and the other spinoff, the one after Kingdom Hearts 3D. Heck, she could easily be the main playable character for a while. Now, I'm aware that a lot of people were upset that the Blank Points video had Sora asking Kairi to stay behind on Destiny Islands, but the Re:Coded secret ending video establishes that it is Sora and Riku who are being summoned to perform the test for the Mark of Mastery. So it's less 'stay in the kitchen' and more 'honey, my friend and I are going to take our test to become firefighters, we'll be back as soon as we can'. Not all that much point Sora can see in bringing her along when she wasn't invited, and besides...we know what happened the last time Sora left Kairi behind on Destiny Islands, so why should this time be any different? Second, Birth by Sleep lays down a lot of the groundwork for Kairi to become more actively involved especially through the scene where Kairi and Aqua meet; it is confirmed that when Kairi touched Aqua's keyblade the Rite of Succession was performed, which is how Kairi is able to wield her Keyblade at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. Furthermore, seeing as Aqua herself is one of the most popular characters in the franchise, Tetsuya Nomura can now be confident that the fandom will be willing to embrace a more active Kairi. Also, it makes sense from a gameplay perspective to run around as Kairi for a while, since it facilitates starting back at level one again without having to screw around with Sora's memories yet again.
Well, those are my reasons for thinking that Kairi is going to get to kick some Heartless butt.
First, the general context of Sora in Kingdom Hearts II. Throughout the game he seeks to be reunited with Kairi and Riku in equal measure. When he meets up with King Mickey, and Mickey refuses to tell him where Riku is despite clearly knowing, this makes Sora very, very worried about his best friend. And why not? After all, the last time Sora saw Riku was when Riku was being locked behind the door into the Realm of Darkness; who knows what could have happened to Riku while he was in there? And around the same time, Saix appears before Sora and tells him that they've taken Kairi hostage, and in demonstration of what Sora's willing to do for her, he gets down on his hands and knees, begging for her release. And indeed, upon finally reaching The World That Never Was, every other word that comes out of Sora's mouth is either 'Kairi', or something to do with Kairi.
Second, the big reuniting scene is not actually the first time that Sora saw Kairi; that actually took place shortly before the battle with Xigbar, when Saix sends a swarm of Heartless after Sora in an effort to get him to provide just a few more hearts for their artificial Kingdom Hearts, and Sora sees Kairi on the upper level. Here, he is so excited that he completely loses track of what's going on around him, and is immediately jumped by a dozen Shadow Heartless. This, I feel, counts as the sort of big display of emotion that people believe was absent in the hugging scene. And speaking of awkward hug, what most people neglect to mention is that just before the hug, Kairi said that she was tired of waiting for Sora and Riku, so she went out looking for them, and Sora feels bad and thinks that Kairi is upset with him. So when she grabs him in that big ol' hug of hers, it completely blindsides him! And as he puts his arms around her, he begins to close his eyes, which generally indicates that this is a hug you're pretty into. I'll grant you, Sora closing his eyes is a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but it is there, and in any event, they stand and just hug each other for a good long while, which you generally don't do if the hug is really that awkward.
Third, the scene where Sora reunites with Riku. What one must remember is that Riku looks like Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem the Seeker of Darkness. Sora, still believing that this guy is the one who nearly destroyed all worlds, tells him that while he's definitely still mad at him, helping save Kairi is a big plus in his book. Again, a big significant moment glossed over by the fandom. Also, Kairi had to show Sora that this was Riku, and I don't know about you, but if I found out that the mortal before me was actually my best friend in disguise...yeah, I'd probably tear up too. I'll give you, it was a bit overdone, but honestly, you take all in context, and it's not nearly the way fandom likes to characterize it. None of which is meant to impugn anyone who ships Sora/Riku, as even with that context, there's plenty of fuel for the fire anyway. :)
So yeah, those are the thoughts that I have regarding that scene.
I believe that Kairi is going to play a much more active role in Kingdom Hearts 3 and the other spinoff, the one after Kingdom Hearts 3D. Heck, she could easily be the main playable character for a while. Now, I'm aware that a lot of people were upset that the Blank Points video had Sora asking Kairi to stay behind on Destiny Islands, but the Re:Coded secret ending video establishes that it is Sora and Riku who are being summoned to perform the test for the Mark of Mastery. So it's less 'stay in the kitchen' and more 'honey, my friend and I are going to take our test to become firefighters, we'll be back as soon as we can'. Not all that much point Sora can see in bringing her along when she wasn't invited, and besides...we know what happened the last time Sora left Kairi behind on Destiny Islands, so why should this time be any different? Second, Birth by Sleep lays down a lot of the groundwork for Kairi to become more actively involved especially through the scene where Kairi and Aqua meet; it is confirmed that when Kairi touched Aqua's keyblade the Rite of Succession was performed, which is how Kairi is able to wield her Keyblade at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. Furthermore, seeing as Aqua herself is one of the most popular characters in the franchise, Tetsuya Nomura can now be confident that the fandom will be willing to embrace a more active Kairi. Also, it makes sense from a gameplay perspective to run around as Kairi for a while, since it facilitates starting back at level one again without having to screw around with Sora's memories yet again.
Well, those are my reasons for thinking that Kairi is going to get to kick some Heartless butt.
