So, it seems that fans on the Kingdom Hearts topic page on Twitter recently started reevaluating the nature of some of the relationships between the main characters of the long running series. Taking a break from bringing some crashing issues players have been experiencing on the recent PC release of Kingdom Hearts, fans began sharing their given justifications for the two most popular ships among the community, SoKai and Soriku.
For the uninitiated, SoKai and Soriku are the fan names for the romantic relationships between Kingdom Hearts protagonist Sora and Kairi, as well as one between him and the bad-boy rival Riku. While only one of the relationships is generally accepted to be canon, namely the one between Sora and Kairi, that hasn't stopped fans from latching onto their favorite, with one scene in Kingdom Hearts 2 acting as a major catalyst for this discussion.
However, breaking down that specific scene from Kingdom Hearts 2 might help players on both sides of the fan wars get a better idea for how the series has built these relationships between the trio of teenagers. Specifically, we're going to look at what had lead up to that moment and see how Square Enix tried to earn the tear-jerking from the reunion of Sora and Riku more than from either of them finally finding and rescuing Kairi. This will also be a great time to explore what the trio's friendship more accurately amounts to, as well as possibly explain some of Kingdom Hearts' continued misuse of Kairi.
Ansem is Revealed to be Riku
Thanks to the HD rereleases of nearly twenty-years worth of Kingdom Hearts titles, fans now have a name for this pivotal scene that the in-game theater for Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix calls "It's You!" for an obvious reason. To start pulling the scene apart, this is the moment after the fight against Xigbar where Sora finally reunites with Kairi, which culminates in some awkward dialogue as they come to terms with the changes from the last year of their lives. Then, Sora prepares to confront Ansem for his actions in the first game, as well as thank him for having saved Kairi, but then the big twist goes ahead and confirms that this has actually been Riku all along.
Glossing over the whole Ansem/Xehanort thing, something that would only get more complicated as the games went on, the important bit here is that this is the first time Sora has seen Riku for the entire game. With Chain of Memories being out of Sora's memory, this would put the moment as the first time he has seen his best friend since having locked him in the Realm of Darkness and been told repeatedly that something horrible has happened to him. This comes not long after Roxas had already claimed that he had defeated Riku and others like Mickey and Saix vaguely referring to some unfortunate twist of fate for the character.
So, when Sora's response to finally finding Riku is to cry, it's completely justified, especially after having spent the first half of the game chasing after him and the second half chasing after Kairi. Whether or not players are going to take the moment seriously or not is totally up to each individual as they get to that point, and the whole moment is dripping with the angsty melodrama that resonated with young Kingdom Hearts fans fifteen years ago. However, as far as the question of whether or not it makes sense for Sora to break down when seeing Riku, but not when seeing Kairi, there's more to the buildup of Riku even being alive at that point in the story.
Kingdom Hearts Has a Kairi Issue
Of course, the lukewarm reception that Kairi gets in this moment, where Sora kind of awkwardly greets her before they hug and he needs to take a moment before hugging back, does highlight a different problem. As much as Kairi's future in Kingdom Hearts is starting to look better as she starts making the transition to true Keyblade Master, she is little more than a background character in the first two games in the series. In fact, one of the scenes from the early series that best showcases her relationship to Sora is from a daydream in Halloween Town where he imagines dancing with her in the snow.
As fans like the one above like to point out, Square Enix seems to view Kairi as more of an afterthought to much of the plotting, rather than as a fully fledged character. A lot of that blame tends to get put on Director Tetsuya Nomura, since he's the creative lead for much of the series, but it should be noted that there are a lot of places where character development can fall short in AAA development. Regardless of who is responsible, these types of moments where Sora seeing Kairi for the first time is treated so differently from him reuniting with Riku has definitely added some fuel to the debate over the years.
Where Fan Shippers Stand on Sora's Relationships
For a lot of fans, the shipping of these characters is far less important than simply waiting for any new information to come out about when Kingdom Hearts 4 will release. However, for the parts of the community that latch onto official canon, head-canon, and everything in-between, moments like Sora holding onto Riku's hand and sobbing can be a huge indication that these two are more than friends. Others choose instead to look at the intended canon and look past Kairi's minimal character development and understand that at the end of the day her and Sora are going to wind up together.
In the case of some fans like in the above Tweet, the relationship between Sora and Riku is still a hot topic, with specific consideration given to the "brotherhood" angle of their friendship. At the end of the day, its up to each fan individually to interpret the friendship however they care to, and there's plenty of evidence in either direction.
Kingdom Hearts 2 is available now for PC, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.