The Kingdom Hearts series offers a vast number of characters for you to meet, all of whom are compelling and bring something fun to the table. So, many people may ask, “Why does this character deserve a game dedicated to them when there are all these other characters that could get one?”
It’s a fair question, but one that I believe can be answered primarily due to how Kairi has been positioned to be in a spot that screams prime opportunity for an entire Kingdom Hearts entry dedicated to her journey.
As should be expected, there are significant spoilers for the series all the way up to the most recent release, Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.
She’s Been in the Series Since the Beginning
5 Reasons Why Kairi Deserves Her Own Kingdom Hearts Game
Kairi is a member of the original trio, the Destiny Islands trio. She’s been at it since the very beginning. While the other two members are treated as much more critical to the series, with Sora as the main character and Riku as the lead secondary character, Kairi has been much more of a supporting character. Despite this, she is still supposed to be an emotional weight for players, primarily through the eyes of Sora. So, it would have been great to have already been given more reason to care about Kairi’s story throughout the series’ run. She should have already been a lead character, but better late than never.
As was made clear in Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, Kairi has a much deeper history to explore. With it being revealed that Terra-Xehanort had been the one to send Kairi to Destiny Islands, though brief, these scenes with Terra-Xehanort show that both himself and Kairi have relations with the new world of Quadratum, which is set to be a major location in Kingdom Hearts 4.
Clearly, with this recent development, the series is looking to go even deeper into this history, and a full game would be the perfect step to do this. Not to mention, it could also explore her feelings and experiences in previous games, giving the player her viewpoint as opposed to Sora’s, and giving players a way to see and explore previous installments in updated graphics.
She Deserves Redemption for KH3
5 Reasons Why Kairi Deserves Her Own Kingdom Hearts Game
No matter how you feel about Kingdom Hearts 3, it pretty much goes without saying that Kairi was treated poorly by the game’s script. She’s barely around because she’s off training with Lea/Axel, which goes mostly unseen. Then she is given only a few critical moments, all of which are tied to Sora. The worst offense then comes when during the Keyblade War, she is kidnapped by Xemnas and later killed by Xehanort in order to motivate Sora into attacking him. In other words, Kairi gets fridged.
For someone who is supposed to be playing such an integral and important role in the plot, this doesn’t feel great. It’s clear that Square Enix is aware that people weren’t happy with her treatment, as they even added in scenes with Kingdom Hearts 3: Re Mind that make her kidnapping go down a tiny bit easier for Kairi fans. Then they make Kairi playable for the first time at the end of the DLC and have the story of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory center around her. However, this is very brief and players only actually play as Kairi for all of 10 seconds, which is a start, but Kairi fans deserve better.
Having a Kairi game could rectify many of the hurt feelings players had with her treatment, especially if the game provides a fun and thrilling story and gameplay.
She Was Fun and Unique to Play as in KH3: Re Mind
5 Reasons Why Kairi Deserves Her Own Kingdom Hearts Game
For those of you who need gameplay reasons as to why Kairi deserves her own game, look no further than Kingdom Hearts 3: Re Mind’s final boss battle. With the final boss battle against Armored Xehanort, players get the option to choose between Sora and Kairi. Players who chose Kairi were treated to finally play as a character who has never been playable before, with a unique play style.
Kairi has been shown to have some standard attacks and magic. However, unlike other Keyblade wielders, Kairi can attack by also throwing her Keyblade and teleporting to where it is. She dodges with what feels like a mixture of ice skating and teleporting. Her shotlock has her barraging her enemy with light as she flies past the site of her attack. These skills are incredibly unique, so it’s unfortunate that we have only experienced them in a boss battle. A game focusing on Kairi could rectify this by showing not only how Kairi handles bosses but also how she handles the smaller enemies.
She also does have team attacks that she performs with Sora, which are amazing to behold, especially visually. However, we would want this game to stay away from this and give Kairi her own time to shine.
Overall though, Kairi would be able to provide a unique feel to her combat, something that would make her game feel different enough to warrant a game not only because of story reasons but also for gameplay reasons. It would be amazing to see how her fighting and maneuverability translates to a full-fledged game, not just a single boss battle in a DLC.