#sora is his favorite for reasons no one understands besides him being adorable

[ideasofkingdomhearts]

kh au where lauriam woke up in destiny islands instead of where he does in canon and becomes like a big brother to sora, riku, and kairi

🌹🏰 / ⭐️🏝

[zdbztumble]

But What About Kairi, Or: Today’s KH Ramble, Part II (KH III Spoilers)

Meanwhile...

My play-through of KH III has taken me through the last of the Disney worlds, Big Hero 6. Besides reminding me of why I’m not the biggest fan of that movie, its day/night options make for a fun mechanic, and the layout of San Fransokyo is great. Baymax has some cute battle dialogue, and Donald’s reaction to “Keyblade Hero 3” was a good laugh. Of all the non-Pixar worlds, it’s also probably the best-integrated into the main plot. The reappearance of the Replica Riku, and the revelation of yet another plot, this time a burgeoning rebellion inside the real Organization XIII, nearly made my head explode, but on balance, it’s a solid level. The unorthodox beginning to the last Gummi zone was a pleasant surprise too, though I’d say that the Gummi ship sequences were at their best in KH II.

But then we come to the Badlands of the Keyblade Graveyard, and...ooh boy.

The battle that opens this level is fun, and a worthy successor to the battle with a thousand Heartless in KH II. I may have been a bit over-leveled for it, but it was still a good time. The cutscenes that followed, on the other hand, had me sputtering in disbelief. To begin with, the fact that all of that was a cutscene is baffling. All seven Keyblade Wielders facing down Terranort doesn’t sound like a good boss battle to anyone? Or hell, just Terra and Aqua? They’ve got the real stake in that fight. And Donald’s surprise spell, which I gather was a big Final Fantasy Easter egg, made for a cool moment that would have been much cooler as something that appeared in the course of battle. But that cutscene was also baffling on a story level. The Demon Tower becoming a Demon Tornado certainly made it bigger, but all the characters reacting to it with such despair was hard to follow when the distinction between the two isn’t all that great. Sora’s total collapse was especially out-of-character. The staging of this cutscene, it’s choice of camera angles, action, and pacing, all failed to sell the supposed magnitude of this threat. Coming off of a single battle, massive though it was, didn’t help.

And then...there’s Kairi.

I’m struggling to think of another series where a character supposedly of the main cast has been so consistently mishandled the way Kairi has since the end of KH II. The writing for her has been absolutely abysmal. And it’s in abysmal in a way that, rather than souring me on the character (which has happened in other series), I’m increasingly sympathetic towards her in a critical sense looking at Kingdom Hearts as a story.

That sympathy doesn’t come from Kairi being a favorite of mine. I don’t see how Kairi could be considered a favorite character, because I don’t consider her a complete character. The best way to describe Kairi IMO is as a potential character. She has tremendous potential to do great things in this series. Her wholesome, “girl next door” personality gives her a charming if rather conventional starting point, and the fact that she’s a freakin’ princess - one of the Princesses of Light, no less - who can’t recall her past offers a wonderful hook into stories. I said before that I’d revisit the idea of a KH prequel game, and IMO, the best choice for a prequel story is to explore Kairi’s past. Imagine that; a BbS, or equivalent game, that explored her life as a princess in Radiant Garden, how she came to lose her memories and end up on Destiny Islands, and why she could wield a Keyblade at the end of KH II. Was her personality still the same before she lost her memories? Could the confederation of Disney villains been aware of her and the other Princesses even then? If the prequel must expand on the Xehanort saga, then could Kairi have had anything to do with Ansem the Wise’s research, and could that explain her amnesia?

KH III has, so far, suggested that’s going to deal with at least some of this. Eventually. Maybe. If it gets around to it. But the point still stands that fleshing out one of the main characters of the series instead of inventing three new ones and pulling a third twist with the villain seems like the much more sound storytelling choice to me. A prequel game that focused on Kairi could also contain a hook that, combined with Maleficent’s unresolved fate at the end of KH II, would’ve provided a much more organic segue into a KH III story than pulling all sorts of stunts to re-open the Xehanort saga.

But that didn’t happen, and we’re left with the reality that Kairi’s backstory has barely been touched upon since the first game. Kairi herself is barely present for Coded, BbS, or DDD. In the latter case, that being a game primarily focused on the Destiny Islands gang sans Disney battle partners, Kairi’s absence seems a terrible wasted opportunity. That could be made up for if the revelation that she was training as a Keyblade Wielder had a payoff, but so far, KH III has yet to provide. She’s had two cutscenes with Axel, neither of which actually show any training, and then what little you see of her in the Badlands (more on that later.)

Once again, this feels a wasted opportunity, because this series has a precedent that would allow for Kairi to have more of a role early on in the game. Remember the Roxas segment at the beginning of KH II that served as an extended tutorial? Why not have Kairi’s training be the tutorial of KH III? It would make sense story-wise for her to be the player character as you learn or review basic controls, there would have been opportunities for cutscenes to flesh out her character (and Axel’s, much as I hate to admit it), and a clever bit of writing could’ve passed the torch on to Sora right on time for the story to begin in earnest. And why not turn the swarm of enemies battle that opens the Badlands into a multi-party affair? Start off playing as Sora with Donald and Goofy, switch after a certain stage to playing as Riku with Mickey, then to Ven with Aqua, and then to Kairi with Axel. You could go back to Sora for the finale, but this way, everyone gets included, and the character in most need of material gets to shine for a moment.

Instead, Kairi is probably the least-featured member of the party in all those cutscenes. In the moment when Aqua directs her, Mickey, and Goofy to get the wounded to safety, Kairi isn’t even in the shot. Pretty much the only time she’s in frame in that cutscene is when she’s either being saved or reaching out to Sora.

And here’s where we come to a tricky part of the issue, because I’ve seen some rather strange commentary on Sora and Kairi’s relationship. One school of thought seems to hold that Kairi becoming Sora’s love interest is what costs her any opportunity to stand as a character unto herself. I can’t follow this line of thought, for several reasons. The first being that Kairi can’t exactly “become” a love interest when it’s clear from the start of the first game that Sora has a thing for her. Being a love interest and a solid character in your own right aren’t mutually exclusive either. But I also don’t understand this argument because Sora and Kairi’s relationship has been neglected just as Kairi herself has, and that’s a real problem given its importance to the series.

In KH I, Kairi serves as the stakes and as the prime motive for both Sora and Riku. While she herself doesn’t have much to do, she is pivotal to the story, and her bond with Sora being so strong that her heart takes refuge in his, that she can restore him from a Heartless, and that they somehow find a way to promise to see each other again even as they’re separated in the finale, is the reason why. Kairi indirectly serves as the prime motive in CoM too, with Sora’s memories reworked to replace Kairi with Namine. And while she shares the role of motivation with Riku in KH II, Sora is still mindful of her throughout the game, even slipping into romantic thoughts at least twice.

Now, lest you think I have nothing but praise for the early games in the series: in those games as in the later ones, Kairi is still underdeveloped as a character. She is basically there as the love interest and little more. Being a lifelong huge sucker for first love/young love subplots in fiction, I’ve been taken by Sora and Kairi’s relationship since my first playthrough, but it works as well as it does almost entirely because of Sora. Sora is developed as a character throughout the games, as well as being the protagonist and the player character. Because he is such a charming and likable character, and because he cares so much about Kairi, that carries over to the audience, or at least this member of it. It would be a stronger relationship if Kairi were more developed as a character, which is all the more reason to do so.

But even if you accept their relationship remaining on the level of “hero and love interest,” there’s been a terrible case of neglect since KH II. It wouldn’t be a factor in BbS, naturally, but by leaving Kairi out of nearly all of Coded and DDD, the relationship drops out of the story. Cut to KH III, which does want to present that relationship as being as important as it’s ever been, and the long dry spell is felt. It doesn’t help that KH III is so densely packed with other material, much of it devoted to Organization XIII either taunting Sora or sniping at each other. Several of the Disney films selected offer parallels to Sora and Kairi’s relationship that aren’t noted, even as previous games did so and this one draws parallels in other relationships.

Which brings us back to the cutscene in the Badlands. Sora’s desperation to save Kairi is evident, and an earlier cutscene where they finally share paopu fruits was adorable, but neither has the same impact as they would have had if Kairi had remained prominent as a character, and if her relationship with Sora had remained relevant in previous games. It speaks to how well that relationship was presented in the first three games that it can still exert some sway over the heartstrings despite that, but there has been real damage done to one of the central bonds of the series by the neglect, and nowhere is that damage more apparent than when the story stresses Kairi more than anyone else when the Demon Tornado swallows up the party.

Now, I left off just as Sora emerged in Olympus after literally putting himself together, so perhaps some of this will be addressed by the end of the game. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. And in the meantime...that whole Final World sequence was trippy as all hell and those Soras damn hard to catch, but I loved it. Absolutely no idea what that cat thing is supposed to be though.

[demenior]

get to know the blogger night: top ten ships you have and why they're great. [you can do five if you want i just thought you might find it hard to choose]

Top 10 Ships in No Order:

Dean Winchester/Castiel

Steve Rogers/Sam WIlson/Natasha Romanova/Bucky Barnes

Shiro/Ulaz

Jake/Cassie

Rachel/Tobias

Derek/Casey

Rose Tyler/The Doctor/Jack Harkness

Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter

Sora/Kairi/Riku

Larka/Kar

Reasons below, cut for length!

Dean Winchester/Castiel from Spn

I will always love these two. The narrative set them up so incredibly well. They were both raised by absent fathers to be soldiers and to never question orders. But where Dean started to realize the abuse his father heaped onto him and was working away from this, Castiel remained loyal to an increasingly corrupt system. Their early interactions, where Dean is afraid of the powerful creature hiding in a human body that Castiel is, and Castiel’s absolute faith in Dean and curiosity about humanity, which leads to them slowly dancing around one another and ultimately forming such a strong relationship that the forces of heaven rushed to rip them apart rather than let them realize they could create their own destiny!!! just!!! end me i love it.

They are totally a case of ‘both think the other is way out of their league’ but at the same time don’t expect each other to be perfect, and accept one another for whom they are. And one is a human with the weight of the world on his shoulders, who’s been forced into so much evil that he doesn’t think he’s capable of being loved, and the other is an indescribable force of nature and love that took a human form just to meet him :))))

I’ve long-since moved on from Spn but I’ll always be fond of the dynamic of Cas & Dean. 

Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson/Natasha Romanova/Bucky Barnes (and any combination of) from the MCU

My ot4. My loves. CAtWS ruined my life and gave me this dynamic 4-some that are all broken and hurting in one way or another and find some support in each other. They’re all such wonderful characters and the idea that they could find what they need in each other just delights me. I want them all to be happy!!!

Shiro/Ulaz from Voltron: Legendary Defender

This is nearly a crackship, considering Ulaz dies the same episode we meet him.

But Shiro is nearly my ideal character-- someone striving to be good and be solid ground for others in constantly-changing, difficult times-- who also suffered unimaginable hardship and suffering. Shiro’s not a character that we see opens up much, and yet he nearly threw himself at Ulaz when they met. He argued against all possibly logic that Ulaz had to be a friend, had to be trustworthy, and even though the group had never met a friendly Galra at this point, Shiro (who, again, was held captive and tortured for a year by the Galra) was the one who advocated for him.

From there, the best part about them is the potential. Why did Ulaz free Shiro in the first place? What were his intentions? Was he honest in the things he said to Shiro or was he playing a deception and Shiro believed it?

Also, height differences. And alien differences B^J

Jake/Cassie from Animorphs

While Animorphs is primarily a story about the horrors and the consequences of war, it also deals with the rammifications of how the battlefield destroys personal lives as well.

I love all of the Animorphs kids, but we all know Jake is my special darling child. Jake and Cassie are childhood sweethearts that everyone knows like each other. Sometimes they even sit beside each other on the bus!! Even if they don’t know what to say. Just, ah, my darlings. It’s such a sweet setup. They’re going to date, get married, and be happy together forever.

Except, war happens. And Jake is forced to become someone Cassie’s not sure she can love. That’s a lie- I believe Cassie still loves Jake, but she won’t be happy with him.

Jake’s proposal, at the end, when he knows he’s about to paint his hands red with his family’s blood and win the war through attrition, and he hasn’t told anyone else yet... he reflects on all they’ve been through in 3-4 short, long years and who they are and he, he wants to go back. He wants to hope they can still have a happy ending. 

Jake and Cassie forever give me heartache because they both did get their best possible ending. And it wasn’t together. 

Rachel/Tobias, from Animorphs

How could I talk about Jake&Cassie and not mention these two? The (arguably) beta couple who fell in love with the dichotomy of each other, who loved each other to oblivion. They wrestled with huge issues like Tobias’s body, Rachel’s bloodthirstiness and yet despite it all they loved each other until the end. 

He wore a human face so she could see him mourning her before she died. Her last words to him were ‘i love you’ and he carried-- the description that he actually struggled to lift the urn always breaks my heart-- he took her ashes to spread them as his final goodbye. These poor kids didn’t deserve the harsh hand fate dealt them, but they made the best of it with one another.

Derek/Casey from Life with Derek

THEY’RE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER. DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT. HE’S A REBEL AND SHE’S A GOODY-TWO-SHOES. THEY COMPLETE EACH OTHER.

[they’re also step-siblings thru marriage and IT’S MEANT TO BEEEE]

Rose Tyler/The Doctor/Jack Harkness from Doctor Who (primarily 9th Doctor)

I love the dynamic of these three so much. There’s a huge fondness in my heart for how the three of them normalized what was, the show was hinting at, essentially an open relationship. From the show I believe it was to remain un-consummated and ‘will-they-won’t-they’ but the dialogue and body language of all three always indicated they these three were more than just friends.

More fun with aliens!! You can never go wrong!!! Also, Jack is involved and y’all should understand the huge imact that Jack Harkness had on wee Dem.

Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter from NBC Hannibal

I love the incredibly awful way these two come together, fall apart, and sew themselves up again. I love the dynamics of this show in general. But how refreshing to have leads-- antagonists, often-- who are also in love with each other but also in love with life and morality and the meanging of emotion. These two mainly went into otp status after the ending of Hannibal, in which it was confirmed that the whole series was/is essentially a long, dark, macabre urban fantasy love story/fairytale. 

Sora/Kairi/Riku from the Kingdom Hearts series

Again, all childhood best friends who end up in the middle of a war that’s been happening since before they were even born. They were all naiively chasing adventure, and then found themselves seprated across different worlds, part of all sorts of manipulations and, in Riku’s case, eventually falling into darkness trying to protect the other two.

The first game started off almost setting them up to be a gross love triangle, and while elements remain, it’s actually become a story about three friends who adore each other and want to be together and protect one another.

The three of them spent three whole games trying to get back to one another. Sora gave up all of his memories and was locked in a coma for a year, Kairi lost her heart/soul and then her memories (and then she gaind them back because she loved them so much!!!), Riku eventually gave up his own body and became what he feared the most in order to protect Sora and Kairi. The three of them united KNEW Riku even when he had the face of their enemy and they all bawled at being together again and I bawled too.

I love these three so much.

Larka/Kar from The Sight

The Sight is my absolute favorite book of all times and I usually reread it at least once a year. 

Romance isn’t the forefront of this story either, but love itself- in all it’s forms- is continuously shown to be one of the strongest forces in the universe. 

Larka and Kar endure a lot of ordeals together, and he is pivotal in saving her life several times including her depression after most of her family dies and she is under the impression it is because of her. Kar is the only one who can bring Larka back from the dead! When she travels to the red meadow to gain answers, and wants to stay with her family where she won’t have to suffer anymore. But she returns!! Because Kar pours out his heart and calls her back!!!

And in the end, Larka knows she is going to her own death. And has accepted it. But at the last moment she looks up and sees Kar waiting for her to come back to him, so they can have a life together, and it’s her love for him that makes her fight against fate and destiny to get back to him.

And, to loosely quote the scene because it’s beautiful, “between Larka and the cliff, between hope and fairy tale, stepped reality. What really happens. Larka missed the ledge, and they all watched as she fell towards the rocks below”

And now excuse me while I cry.