Hi, FFN anon here again. KHMOM is out and I'm losing my mind because I just want to be able to complain about Kairi being written misogynistically without So/Kai fans coming onto my posts and telling me to "stay positive." It's driving me nuts.
Hello again!! Well, KHMoM isn’t out yet everywhere, as at least in America we have to wait until tomorrow. But we shall see how that goes. (I want to be optimistic, but frankly, I have been burned by this series too many times to hold out much hope.)
As I’ve stated quite a few times, the thing is, while at this point any improvement in the way they write for Kairi would be much appreciated, it’s impossible for them to completely fix everything. Even if MoM delivered us the absolute best, most mind-blowing story for Kairi ever, packed end to end with character development and agency, it still wouldn’t be enough to undo the years upon years of terrible and shallow writing. One game alone cannot fill the deficit of seven other games completely and utterly failing to deliver even halfway decent writing, and that instead seemed to almost go out of their way to shaft Kairi as much as possible. Even if MoM is full to the brim with incredible awesomesauce for Kairi, it will not retroactively fix the, as you’ve said, misogynistic writing of KH1, KH2, KH3, Re:CoM, Days, Re:coded, or KH3D.
I really, truly, honestly hope that Melody of Memory doesn’t disappoint. But either way, whether it’s bad or good, it will not be a magic wand that’ll wave away the need for much-deserved criticism. Even at its best, all it can ever truly be is a band-aid slapped onto the gaping open wound left by the rest of the series.
All this to say: I see and hear you, Anon. While at least a part of me can understand where the S*Kai fans are coming from, I wish they could understand that “staying positive” is not a tenable solution or mindset that a lot of us can have. Because, really, when have these writers ever demonstrated any kind of respect for Kairi as a character? When have they ever shown any kind of respect for her agency, or treated her as anything more than a hollow prop for the stories that they seemingly actually cared about? Why on earth should I have any faith in them, given that they’ve failed to deliver in every single game Kairi’s ever been in thus far, and have squandered every opportunity to improve for eighteen goddamn years?! I’m sorry, but you’ll have to excuse me if I find it a bit difficult to drum up any trust, at this point.
So, yeah....I’m sorry that I have to say it. But while I hope MoM is good, it will not be a magic fix-it button for the criminal mistreatment of Kairi and S*Kai. If we’re still getting an anime, then maybe if they’re willing to stray away from the game canon and add in all the missing connective tissue and improve things, then maybe we can wipe the slate clean and they could have the opportunity to do right by Kairi this time. Hire the manga writer(s) to handle Kairi across all the KH mediums from now on, and maybe then we’ll talk.
