#Kai struggling to make and maintain friendships is a pretty underappreciated character trait I think

[spicyicymeloncat]

Headcanon/theory: Kai had no friends pre-pilots and suggestion: all his arcs are focused around his dynamics in the team and honestly should have got more focus.

So Kai’s arc in the pilots show him having to learn to work in a group dynamic. He takes up a lancer/loner type role who has to learn to put aside his own first impulses and work with the team to tackle the problem. His true potential in s1, is also about him putting aside his own ambition to be the green ninja to fulfil his role in the team as one of the teachers and protectors of the green ninja.

What would’ve been a great arc for Kai in s4 would’ve been him having more of a role in getting the team back together. I mean s4 was framed like a Kai season, it was about the team getting back together, the start of the season highlighted Kai’s reoccurring character flaw of feeling like he’s on his own or he’s the one (when he says it should’ve been him to be sacrificed to the overlord and Lloyd tells him that he’s only thinking about himself - I’m reading that scene as not Kai being selfish per say but Kai only being able to consider himself in the picture, he doesn’t think about relying on his friends or being there later for the rest of his friends, and that he thinks he can solve things on his own, idk if this makes sense lol), we even get a revisit of Kai’s green ninja gripes, and ofc Chen perfectly foils Kai’s togetherness arc by being the guy who drives people apart.

And then we have s5 where Kai promises to protect Lloyd (in place of Garmadon) which kinda shows how far Kai’s come in terms of his relationship specifically with Lloyd. I will say in general also but I know someone’s going to say that Kai already does this with Nya so it’s not like this is new or proof of character growth. I think this is character growth tho, and I don’t think he was as idk parental of Nya in a sense that he had to take care of her and was put in a position of authority over her because idk they’re what, two years apart (also they had a babysitter who looked after them, so like Kai didn’t just parent her at age 4 yknow)? And apart from the pilots, in which she got kidnapped, Kai hasn’t really needed to be protective or really, parental with Nya. He’s very chill when he finds out she’s Samurai X, in the first few seasons she kinda acts like she’s older just because she’s a little more put together (I mean, she studied engineering in her free time). In fact I’m pretty sure Nya had more friends than Kai, since she mentions knowing people in s2, where as Kai’s character arc seems to be him getting friends and dealing with it. And when Kai promises to watch over Lloyd, he mentions how Nya watched over him, not the other way round. So to sum up that side tangent, Kai’s dynamic with Lloyd is definitely different to his dynamic with Nya, and that Kai is only starting his nurturing and guiding brotherly nature in s5. Although I think s5 is supposed to conclude Kai’s teamwork arc, since I don’t think it’s all that relevant in the rest of the show.

So yeah I think it makes sense that Kai didn’t really have friends pre pilots, as a lot of his arcs can be seen as him working on that area of his life and getting used to being with other people. His character arc was becoming friend shaped.