Kairi is Not a Keyblade Master

Near the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts II, once Kairi, Riku and Sora have been reunited and prepare to take on the final Organization members, Kairi receives a keyblade and then proceeds to do absolutely nothing with this miraculous gift. While this is a video game, I have a degree in film studies and learned how to critique and analyze storytelling effectively and to me, this feels like a copout. Giving Kairi a weapon that was created and welded specifically by the chosen ‘keyblade master,’ as seen in the fact that when others pick up Sora’s keyblade, it vanishes and goes back to his hand, it makes me ask suddenly, why is she so special now? Kairi was already found out to be one of the Seven Princesses and that I never had a problem with, but that doesn’t make her a keyblade master out of nowhere! In fact, from a story point of view, it makes it look like they were trying to boost Kairi’s popularity with gamers and make her role more useful in the story, which it can’t be argued, wasn’t very critical to the plot of the second game.

Why it Works for Riku and Not Kairi

Unlike Kairi, who was safe, fine and otherwise just a normal girl once she was rescued in game one, Riku continued to be important to the Kingdom Hearts story, as he is basically a mirror of Sora, should he have chosen the darkness instead of the light. It made sense that Riku should obtain a weapon similar in use and appearance, as he was in the beginning, Sora’s number one enemy. While in the soon to be released game, Birth By Sleep, which features three new characters known as keyblade apprentices, may explain why multiple keyblade wielders can exist more than the current games do; it does not currently explain Kairi’s sudden keyblade.

Non-Essential to the Game’s Climax

She literally received the weapon in order to aid her friends but as we can all recall, did nothing in the final scenes. Despite her appearance at the location and clearly holding a weapon, she is ignored. Riku is instead put on the team, allowing gamers to once again battle with a character whom has proven his worth time and time again throughout the second story within Chain of Memories. This is the crux of the problem with Kairi receiving a keyblade. Not only is she not a chosen master, but she is given the item merely to give her an excuse to be in another world and nothing more. If this were a wise decision on behalf of the storytellers, then both Riku and Kairi would have been put on Sora’s team, but that never happened.

Emphasis Taken Off Sora

Instead of writing in a good scene which allows us to accept Kairi’s presence and reunion with her friends, the keyblade thrown at her without just cause actually makes Sora’s less important and this is upsetting, as he is the hero of the game. Forcing her importance when it is clearly uncalled for makes me instinctually want to repel her character, which is a shame. As a gamer, I shouldn’t want to dislike one character in replace of another, but that’s what I feel has happened for a lot of players. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of grief for this article, as there are some hardcore Kairi fans out there, but my opinion still stands firm as to Kairi’s keyblade being completely uncalled for.

Accepting a New Character Isn’t Always Easy

Since the debut of Chain of Memories, and most certainly Kingdom Hearts II, fans have been intrigued, delighted, even obsessed with the Organization XIII member, Axel. What exactly is his appeal to gamers? His curious appearance, the bad boy attitude, the deadly weapons, or maybe his mysterious background? I’ve thought about this and came to the conclusion within just a few short minutes that it must be all of the above. This assortment of attributes Axel came parading in with are ideal traits for a new role-playing character to be accepted into an already begun story.

A Humanized Antagonist

It’s no question to anyone who has completed their playing of Kingdom Hearts II and 358/2 Days that Axel is not only an important icon in the birth and progress of the plot, but he is also key in the emotional stability of the main protagonists, that being both Sora and Roxas. Axel’s layers create a well thought-out and complex man, someone who isn’t in the Organization just because. Before the release of 358, it was quite obvious throughout Sora’s meetings with the redhead that the member hid frustration and fear for the safety of his friend, Roxas. This makes him appeal to the gaming audience because a character who is essentially supposed to be our antagonist now shows hints of humanity and suffering that we can relate to and understand. Now that we have attached to him emotionally, we become intrigued by his mysterious life and how he came to be.

Drawn to the Flame

In regards to his appearance, Axel embodies all aspects of fire, an element that is both beautiful and powerful. He has weapons that radiate fire on top of their already deadly appearance. His red and spiky hair causes him to stand out from every other member of the Organization and its inability to be kept under control appears to be much like his attitude. Axel does what he pleases, despite the ramifications from his superiors, although for as much as his bad boy personality is used to get him out of sticky situations and jobs he wants to take on, it’s also used as a guard to hide behind. There has always been an appeal to viewers, or in this case gamers, of the lone wolf’s hard, outer shell being slowly dismantled to show off a more gentle person. In these regards, that would be the meeting of Axel and Roxas.

A Great Addition to Kingdom Hearts

Axel is a very well balanced character with enough of that unique twist and mysteriousness that grabs at RPG players. With his dangerous appearance and brash personality coupled with a kind nature hidden deep inside, it’s no surprise that he should be one of the more popular characters introduced after Kingdom Hearts I.

As expected the event focused heavily on both Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts but other titles such as Sigma Harmonics and The 3rd Birthday (Parasite Eve III) were also there.

So lets take a look at the release dates for the Kingdom Hearts games which despite being tentative are still a good indication of when these games might be available for release.

The dates mentioned are of course for Japan only so when and whether these games will be released outside of Japan still remains a mystery. In fact whether Coded will even be released in the West seems quite doubtful as unlike Japan where mobile gaming is quite popular, the west is still very far behind. 

For more information and articles surrounding the event be sure to check out some of the other sites such as IGN, GameSpot and KHInsider which have more details on the actual games, stories and trailers that were presented at the event. We’ll keep you posted on any major updates.