Kingdom Hearts II Is Kairi useless?

A friend of mine pointed out that Kairi is a useless character and Kingdom Hearts is better off without her if shes killed off somehow. She said she is a come-save-me character in KH1 and KH2 which is true but it wasn't really her fault. My friend likes Namine but if I remember correctly she was in the same position in Chain of Memories.
She also pointed out Kairi has about 30 minutes or less worth of screen time while the others have hours worth of screen time all together in the games(does it even matter?).
In KH2 she gets a keyblade and wants to help Sora fight and not sit back and wait for Sora but my friend still calls her useless.
If Kairi wanted to try out for the Keyblade master test or want to try out using magic would she be useless? Or is Kairi better off being the person to wait for Sora?

 

She's important because she serves as a goal for Sora in KH and KH2, without her that poor little pineapple headed boy simply wouldn't have a strong enough reason to return to the destiny isles and would eventually devolve into a aimless everwandering killer of heartless.

Also she's a red head and red heads are awesome.

 

_MOVED
to the Kingdom Hearts II section.

Well, on the first count, even though Kairi is a "damsel in distress" character, that still is a literary role. It gives the hero (Sora) a purpose to continue on his journey--at first just to bring Kairi back to the island, but later to return her heart to her, which is when she fully transforms into the role.

And Kairi's lack of screen time in the first game really isn't her fault, she was unconscious for 90% of the game, haha. Even so, she appeared to Sora in Merlin's house, she was physically at Neverland, Hollow Bastion, brought back to Traverse Town & spoken to in the waterway, and finally, End of the World & Destiny Islands. She was mentioned even more (i.e. I'm looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi). One could argue that she is spiritually in the game at all times but that's getting just a bit too campy, even by Kingdom Hearts standards, haha.

As for Kingdom Hearts II, she was a much less significant character; she was mentioned/hinted at quite a bit, especially on the second visits to each world, and did eventually have the kidnapped subplot, but it wasn't really heavy stuff. Even so, she is a love interest for Sora, which is by no means insignifcant.
Kairi does get a Keyblade but you can't really blame her for not running off to stab Xemnas, she doesn't really have the training/experience that Sora and Riku have.

I don't believe Kairi will take the Mark of Mastery Exam, mostly because she doesn't appear to be in Dream Drop Distance, which is what (iirc) the game is focused around. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility of her character gaining a more active role; I think she's got a lot of potential.

 

Yeah sorry about that Misty, I was thinking of a different section when I originally posted this subject. Happens all the time right? haha
I think you are right, like maybe she will have a important role in KH3 like a "Ha! Im useful you haters!" type of plot twist or something haha.

 

I thought of this sometime ago and I think that Kairi should go into battle such as how Aqua is. I have to agree with the OP for her being mario-princess peach kind of role. I want her in action! Like Riku, Sora, and Kairi. Kairi being the support player that does heals and all kind of buffs.

 

Not a problem at all. =]

My only reservation with this is that it might detract from the badass factor of Aqua--I think part of the reason she is such a badass is that you're like "woah competent female character in a Kingdom Hearts game? what is this nonsense."

Then again, there could be room for more than one Strong Female Character... you never know.

 

she seems more like she'll become like the White Mage of the group, or something like that.

But Kairi does play an important role in the whole of the Kingdom Hearts games. Sure we haven't seen much of her, but she was the motivation for both Riku and Sora in the first game. In Chain of Memories she was sort of in it, because Namine was there and every thing......yeah never mind, I can't think much for CoM.
But in KHII she did play a bigger role. After all, Sora was all about getting back to the islands and seeing her, and at the second part of the game it was all about helping her again. And this time, she was actually able to do soemthing worth while.

In any case, she's basically one of the forces that drives Sora and Riku for some things, so I would say she's a lot more than useless.......and I just stole Pete's line from KHII, didn't I?

 

There is still something to be said for that though. Sometimes with characters that aren't physically there much you almost get a sense of "who is she again?" that just doesn't happen in Kingdom Hearts 1.

I do feel like she was kind of staple plotted into KH2. The game could have been virtually the same without her being kidnapped.


I like Kairi's personally, I just find it sad that she is kinda stuck in the damsel in distress role. By personality she is one of only a few characters that I know that pull off being tough and feminine pretty well. Most of the time you end up with them being too tough and they end up being a masculine character in a female body, or they remain too girly and seeing them fight seems out of place. With Kairi I felt there was a good balance but they've kind of killed it. I mean in KH2 she's courageous, but she ends up failing badly enough that I feel like in the end it just made her look more incompetent. And then her not going with to the Mark of Mastery is pretty much a spit in the face to her character. Even if she wasn't going to participate she should have come for support just like Ven did.

In my eyes she can still be redeemed but she needs to actually fight in KH3. Preferably not with any importance until a decent way in because despite her attempts to fight her actual combat experience is very low. But she has always been wanting to fight, and now she has some means, so when trouble comes in KH3 she better go down fighting.

 

My thoughts exactly.


This may be kind of specific, but I would also like Kairi to fight in the game like every one at Hollow Bastion did against the heartless in KH2. Just one epic part in the game where Sora, Kairi, and Riku are all involved.

 

I think I've mis-expressed myself here. What I meant was like @Kisala said, a White mage kind of role for Kairi. I didn't want her to be like Aqua per say. I just think that she should be included in the battle. I think that being a healer/buffer is perhaps the most important role in any game. In fact, my favorite class is a priest class for mmos. :D

Since you guys mention Kairi being one of the princesses of heart, I think it is highly doubtful that she'll get a new role. But who knows, by KH3, we might see her save Sora instead xP
hint hint, I am talking about FF13-2 on how Serah became a good fighter. :D

I didn't really like Aqua that much lol, I am more of Ven/Roxas person.

 

She really isn't in my opinion. She plays a major part in KHII, especially near the end of the game after

Spoiler

her kidnap by Axel, and what happens in Hollow Bastion with the battle of 1000 Heartless, which allows us to get to TWTNW near endgame, but Xemnas also plays a role in this as well.

Although she may be a slight damsel in distress, she's an important one, she is a

Spoiler

keyblade wielder

and plays a major role for fuelling Sora.

 

In KH 1 it showed she wasnt useless and had a lot to do in the story. Sora may have been looking for both riku and kairi but once he noticed that riku wasnt himself he then mostly wanted kairi safe/to get her heart back. however in KH 2 she wasnt that important and thats probably because she was already safe on the island as to how sora wanted and theres nothing more she can do but to wait on Sora and Rikus arrival. By making her being captured puts her again in the story so she wouldnt be left out.

I believe kairi isnt cut out for fighting. Just because she fought that one time when Riku gaved her the keyblade doesnt mean shes ready to fight along side Sora and Riku. She still has a lot to learn and would be unfair that if she would be a master that fast compared to all the work Aqua had to do to be one.

 

She is one of the most important characters around.
Even though not physically there half the time, she is the most important part of Sora's journey, she is the half the motivation Sora has to complete his quest. "Get back to Kairi".

 

As kayate said ,for the most part she's physically useless. even though she does now have a keyblade , she's not experienced as sora and riku , but towards sora she's a motive. He wants to protect her if in danger and to get back to her if seperated , the other half of the motive would be riku. but it think kairi or more of a mental help for sora that keeps him going. :D

 

As much as I hate to say it, no. She actually is the key to most of the major plotpoints in KH and KHII.

• If she hadn't arrived at Destiny Islands, Sora and Riku never would've been motivated to make the raft and find other worlds. Hence, the entire series is irrelevant.
• If Sora and Riku hadn't been looking for her in the first game, they never would've split up during the Traverse Town Second Visit, and Riku never would've ended up in the position he was in.
• Without Kairi, Sora never would've given up his own heart, so Roxas and Namine never would've been created, making CoM, KHII, and Days irrelevant.
• Namine never would've messed up Sora's memories in CO, making CoM and KHII irrelevant.
• Roxas never would've been able to help Organization XIII create Kingdom Hearts during the events of Days, making KHII irrelevant.
• Xion might never have been created since Sora might not have ever ended up with the Keyblade, making the whole series irrelevant.
• Riku never would've had to fight Roxas during Deep Dive, leaving Ansem's darkness in his heart untouched. This would just create SO many problems, as Riku never would've TRULY conquered his darkness.

You get the point. She's essential in the long run, but we all see her as a useless character.

 

Is she useless to the story? No. Not by any means. She played a major role in KH1 which caused the creation of Roxas and Namine, and she's what keeps Sora going. Plus a bunch of other stuff i don't feel like mentioning.
Is she useless in a fight? Absolutely. She fought a few heartless...once...with Riku helping her...and she didn't even summon her own keyblade. She's hardly ready for combat by any stretch. Just because It was ok for Aqua doesn't make it ok for Kairi. Aqua was a badass keyblade wielder from her introduction into KH and trained for years to get that way. Kairi has been the damsel in distress from her introduction, so making her automatically good at fighting would pretty much be like spitting in Aqua's face.

 

In KH1 she is incredibly important

In KH2 however, I think she's not really that important, she was just there as a generic "damsel in distress" character.

 

I already explained most in class but let me do it again

1. Even if Kairi wasn't in the story Sora and Riku were still Keyblade wielders therefore they WOULD want to save worlds n discover them! x.x

2. Malificent and all the other people on the dark side would have split up Sora and Riku either way and Riku would have been convinced to go against Sora either way.

3. Sora has too many damn Heart within him so either way they'd be born they'd just look different lol

4.They woulda found someone else to mess up his memory e.e

I personally think Kairi is important but it's just something to think about... How would the story change if Kairi wasn't there o.o' and would people act differently? Would Sora be the one to be consumed by the darkness? o.o Because isn't Riku the original Kingdom Key wielder? =o lol let me stop i'm confusing myself e.e' lol

 

Well, I think Kairi is better off in the series. This is sorta like if Klonoa: Moonlight Museum was worth the making.