Drop Me Down To The Dream Below.
Riku is so in love with Sora. He's so in love. I just can't get over it. Why was my terrible Kingdom Hearts fic when I was fourteen about Sora being in unrequited love with Riku? I was a fool.
(In my defence, Dream Drop Distance had not come out when I was fourteen.)
He can never let go of the things he did in his past, but Sora is able to make him feel like he's worth something. Rikuuuuu.
I found myself thinking 'they're such a wonderful duo' earlier, and then it struck me that that was an odd thing to think, because they're not supposed to be a duo; they're supposed to be two points of a trio. In my defence, I'm not the only person to have forgotten that; so, I'm fairly certain, have the creators of Kingdom Hearts.
Poor Kairi. The way the series has handled her has been such a mess. Half the Kingdom Hearts games seem to forget she exists entirely, and the others occasionally go 'OH, YEAH, KAIRI, SHE'S REALLY IMPORTANT, WE SWEAR, now back to the characters the writers actually care about.' They've poured so much time and effort into building an intense relationship between Sora and Riku, but they've forgotten that this is supposed to be a trio!
It's as if Harry Potter kept going, 'Harry, Ron and Hermione are a trio! Harry's relationship with Hermione is SO IMPORTANT.' But Ron's relationship with Hermione is barely mentioned, and Hermione never goes on their adventures because she's busy doing homework in the common room, and there are three books in a row in which Hermione's name only appears twice.
No matter what they do with Kairi in Kingdom Hearts III, it's going to feel weird. If they continue to neglect her, we'll go 'but she's supposed to be an important character! How did you forget about her so entirely?' But, if she's suddenly prominent and there's a lot about her relationship with Sora and Riku, it'll feel odd because there's such an imbalance leading up to it; there's so much development of the Sora/Riku relationship, a few nods to the Sora/Kairi one and barely anything on the Riku/Kairi front.
We've seen so little of the Riku/Kairi relationship, in fact, that when I think 'what's their relationship?' the first thing that comes to mind is that scene, early in the first game, where Kairi goes, 'Hey, Sora, let's sail away and leave Riku here.' That's not what you want people to remember when you're telling a story about the power of friendship! There are a couple of nice moments between the three of them in Kingdom Hearts II, but even in that game, which is probably the best in the series for the Sora/Riku/Kairi relationship, Sora and Riku fight the final boss without Kairi and then have a 'hey, might as well live alone together in the void forever' moment.
The Kingdom Hearts series has built such an intense bond between Sora and Riku that giving Kairi the prominence in their relationship that she should have had from the beginning risks making her feel like an intruder. It might work if they have the trio acknowledge they haven't been spending enough time together, and we see them making an effort to push through any awkwardness in that and rebuild their relationship. I doubt they will, but it's a thought.
If they go 'well, we've been neglecting Sora and Kairi's relationship, but SORA/KAIRI IS CANON NOW, WE DON'T NEED TO PUT ANY EFFORT INTO THIS, THEY'RE OPPOSITE-GENDER CHILDHOOD FRIENDS, WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED,' I shall be very unhappy.
How much of this is genuine storytelling concern, and how much is fourteen-year-old me fighting her way to the surface, going 'RIKU/SORA OTP >:( NO KAIRI ALLOWED'? Troubling. Kingdom Hearts does feel like it forms a bridge between my current self and my past self, in a way; it's a work of fiction I've followed since my early teens, and it's still putting out new content with the same characters I fell in love with all those years ago.
There's definitely room for Kairi in my heart, if they're prepared to give her the screentime she deserves at last! That shot in the opening of Kingdom Hearts II where Sora, Riku and Kairi are all lying on the beach, holding hands, is one of my favourite moments in the entire series. I'm still really hoping for a Kingdom Hearts III world in which Riku and Kairi are your battle companions.
(I keep thinking 'at some point I'm going to run out of Linkin Park lyrics to use as entry titles' and then realising I have something eerily suited. 'Drop me down to the dream below'? I never realised that 'Castle of Glass' was written about Dream Drop Distance.)
(In my defence, Dream Drop Distance had not come out when I was fourteen.)
He can never let go of the things he did in his past, but Sora is able to make him feel like he's worth something. Rikuuuuu.
I found myself thinking 'they're such a wonderful duo' earlier, and then it struck me that that was an odd thing to think, because they're not supposed to be a duo; they're supposed to be two points of a trio. In my defence, I'm not the only person to have forgotten that; so, I'm fairly certain, have the creators of Kingdom Hearts.
Poor Kairi. The way the series has handled her has been such a mess. Half the Kingdom Hearts games seem to forget she exists entirely, and the others occasionally go 'OH, YEAH, KAIRI, SHE'S REALLY IMPORTANT, WE SWEAR, now back to the characters the writers actually care about.' They've poured so much time and effort into building an intense relationship between Sora and Riku, but they've forgotten that this is supposed to be a trio!
It's as if Harry Potter kept going, 'Harry, Ron and Hermione are a trio! Harry's relationship with Hermione is SO IMPORTANT.' But Ron's relationship with Hermione is barely mentioned, and Hermione never goes on their adventures because she's busy doing homework in the common room, and there are three books in a row in which Hermione's name only appears twice.
No matter what they do with Kairi in Kingdom Hearts III, it's going to feel weird. If they continue to neglect her, we'll go 'but she's supposed to be an important character! How did you forget about her so entirely?' But, if she's suddenly prominent and there's a lot about her relationship with Sora and Riku, it'll feel odd because there's such an imbalance leading up to it; there's so much development of the Sora/Riku relationship, a few nods to the Sora/Kairi one and barely anything on the Riku/Kairi front.
We've seen so little of the Riku/Kairi relationship, in fact, that when I think 'what's their relationship?' the first thing that comes to mind is that scene, early in the first game, where Kairi goes, 'Hey, Sora, let's sail away and leave Riku here.' That's not what you want people to remember when you're telling a story about the power of friendship! There are a couple of nice moments between the three of them in Kingdom Hearts II, but even in that game, which is probably the best in the series for the Sora/Riku/Kairi relationship, Sora and Riku fight the final boss without Kairi and then have a 'hey, might as well live alone together in the void forever' moment.
The Kingdom Hearts series has built such an intense bond between Sora and Riku that giving Kairi the prominence in their relationship that she should have had from the beginning risks making her feel like an intruder. It might work if they have the trio acknowledge they haven't been spending enough time together, and we see them making an effort to push through any awkwardness in that and rebuild their relationship. I doubt they will, but it's a thought.
If they go 'well, we've been neglecting Sora and Kairi's relationship, but SORA/KAIRI IS CANON NOW, WE DON'T NEED TO PUT ANY EFFORT INTO THIS, THEY'RE OPPOSITE-GENDER CHILDHOOD FRIENDS, WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED,' I shall be very unhappy.
How much of this is genuine storytelling concern, and how much is fourteen-year-old me fighting her way to the surface, going 'RIKU/SORA OTP >:( NO KAIRI ALLOWED'? Troubling. Kingdom Hearts does feel like it forms a bridge between my current self and my past self, in a way; it's a work of fiction I've followed since my early teens, and it's still putting out new content with the same characters I fell in love with all those years ago.
There's definitely room for Kairi in my heart, if they're prepared to give her the screentime she deserves at last! That shot in the opening of Kingdom Hearts II where Sora, Riku and Kairi are all lying on the beach, holding hands, is one of my favourite moments in the entire series. I'm still really hoping for a Kingdom Hearts III world in which Riku and Kairi are your battle companions.
(I keep thinking 'at some point I'm going to run out of Linkin Park lyrics to use as entry titles' and then realising I have something eerily suited. 'Drop me down to the dream below'? I never realised that 'Castle of Glass' was written about Dream Drop Distance.)