It has been about a month since Square Enix announced that Kingdom Hearts 4 is in development. Considering that 19 years separated the second and third game in the main series, fans were pleasantly surprised but also skeptical. During the 20th Anniversary Event, developers showed an incredibly smooth alpha build of Kingdom Hearts 4, complete with a hyper realistic cutscene showing Sora in Quadratum.
Alas, despite the excitement behind the announcement, there are still plenty of big issues that Kingdom Hearts needs to fix. While the series holds a special place in many players' hearts, it isn't without its gaping problems that keep the games from fulfilling its potential. One such problem is the character of Kairi.
Kairi's Treatment in Kingdom Hearts
Kairi is technically a tritagonist of the Kingdom Hearts games, and has been a major character from the very start. However, despite being part of the Destiny Island trio, she has unfortunately been ignored in every Kingdom Hearts game over the past 20 years, often only acting as motivational fodder to Sora. Even Xehanort acknowledges this in Kingdom Hearts 3 just as he's kidnapping her.
According to an interview held with Nomura in the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania companion book, Nomura had considered making Kairi a playable character in the original game. He wanted to "depict Kairi's personality" alongside Sora and Riku, and even further flesh out her past. However, this never came into fruition "due to circumstances." This line of thought never saw the light of day until the Kingdom Hearts 3: Re Mind DLC, where players could either play as Sora or a Keyblade-wielding Kairi as they team up against Xehanort.
What makes things even more ridiculous is that Kairi is the only female Kingdom Hearts character that gets this treatment. Aqua, who looks to be Kairi's mentor in the future, was given more depth and even had a leading role – an opportunity to shine – as a protagonist in Birth by Sleep. Kairi's Nobody, Namine, and her technical clone Xion (since she was created from Sora's memories of Kairi) are a lot more fleshed out as characters despite being side-characters in the series as a whole.
Throughout the games, Kairi had never been portrayed as anything more than a 'nice girl' who just happens to be friends with Riku and Sora. All this is despite the fact that Kairi is a Princess of Heart who actually play a key role in unlocking Kingdom Hearts, and a Keyblade wielder – which isn't something just anyone can be. These are two majorly important functions within Kingdom Hearts lore, yet there has been nearly nothing surrounding these aspects of her story.
Many Kingdom Hearts fans on Reddit seem to say that Kairi is more likeable in the manga – and just as many are surprised that she is given the treatment that she gets in the games. In the manga, she is given a lot more room to grow as a character and is even portrayed more like her cheeky-self in the first game. Note that the manga feature stories told within those of the released games, so with that nugget of information, it truly is surprising that Kairi has only dulled as a character within the Kingdom Hearts games.
If Kairi isn't a proper, playable character in Kingdom Hearts 4 with more than just a semblance of depth, then Square Enix should at least allow her to have her own game within the sure-to-be complex 'Lost Master Arc' series of games. While Melody of Memory is technically a Kairi-focused game, players barely get to play as her, and that must change soon.
Kingdom Hearts 4 is currently in development.
Source: Reddit