#ask kiryn

What do the boys in her harem offer? Zilch. The fiance wants her around because he finds her interesting, a spice for his boring life. Her adopted brother is an obnoxious obsessive siscon who does all he could to cockblock the fiance. Alan plays music that she appreciates but doesn't care that much, and the emotionally stunted Nicole is nothing more than eye candy. Waste of space, those boys are.

..................................Okay then, I guess we’re doing this. But listen, I do not think I am the right audience for espousing the opinion you seem to want me to. I mean, obvs, you do you, and you’re entitled to your own opinion. But like........literally, one of my recent asks went like this:

me: I hope the show ends with the full poly harem (w/ qpt Keith/Cat), and I like all of the harem ships except for Keith/Catarina, as I’m Conflicted on it bc incest is :///

you: but fuck the boys, amiright?

So like......I don’t know why you think I’ll agree with you?? Bc, yes, I do absolutely think that the girls all suit Catarina the best, but that doesn’t mean that I think the boys have no merits whatsoever. 

Well, okay, I do agree a bit about Keith, who is probably my least favorite character in show due to the fact that all he inspires in me is Conflicted Feelings. The biggest part of the reason for that is obviously bc incest is always :////, but also bc yeah, possessiveness is never going to be my favorite flavor for romance. But even w/ Keith, I feel that, if he just wasn’t her goddamn brother, then his relationship w/ Catarina would be perfectly fine, and perhaps even a contender for the best one of the boys, as he does know her very well. (And I think it’s telling, that of all the fantasies in ep 8, Keith’s was the only one that involved giving Catarina what she was later shown as desiring, even if I personally highly disliked the sexualized manner in which he did so.) The only flaw is, of course, that he is her goddamn brother, and as such, is a glaring, critical enough flaw that it completely kills what would otherwise have been a good ship.  

Geordo’s probably the next most Problematic character after Keith, and yes, you’re right that the reason why he fell in love w/ Catarina was bc she brings zest and color to his life. But he’s also been shown to be genuinely earnest in doing things for her that’ll make her happy, despite knowing that he’s unlikely to get what he wants from her in return, and no matter how that runs counter to everything he’s been taught of what’s ‘appropriate’ in their high class society. He’s protective of her, but also trusts her judgment, as shown in the finale eps, where he lets her take the lead on how to resolve the situation w/ Raphael, instead of asserting any kind of superiority. He also clearly respects and loves her for who she is, and like everyone else, goes along w/ her weird interests and hobbies despite how ‘undignified’ he may find them, and he has no interest in trying to change her to being more ‘respectable’, or whatever. And for all his jealousy and possessiveness issues, he never takes it out on her, or does anything w/ it aside from quiet mild complaining and a bit of bickering w/ Keith. 

I’ve already gone on record as saying that Alan’s the Best Boy for her. Yes, she appreciates his music, but he also plays to her competitive side in a way that no one else does. And to say that he doesn’t care that much about her is pretty ridiculous, imo. Did we not have an entire episode where EVERYONE was pretty much having a breakdown over the idea of losing Catarina? Or, if you were trying to say that Catarina doesn’t care about Alan’s music much, I also don’t think that’s true, considering how much she gushes about it. Alan and Catarina also just have quite a lot of quiet and really sweet moments together, like that ending scene to ep 8, when they’re sitting in that tree. 

Nicol definitely has had the least amount of focused attention or screen time, which is something I hope they address more in season 2. But then again, he can’t exactly do much, bc every time he tries Catarina pretty much faints on him, so that’s hardly his fault that she’s just too attracted to him, now is it?

but yeah pretend that everyone who dislikes the ship is sexist >_>

Right about everything, huh? A dangerous power you’re giving me, there. XP Anyway, I do not mind, so rant away!

Well, there probably are people out there who hate Kairi and subsequently SoKai bc of sexism, or at least out of internalized misogyny (I know for a fact that there definitely were back in Ye Olde Fandom Days, but admittedly I don’t know how much has shifted in the cultural landscape of the broader fandom in the past few years). And it’s always a good idea in general to keep track of exactly where your salt is coming from, bc sometimes things like misogyny, homophobia, racism, and the like can seep in through cracks that we didn’t realize were there. 

But on the other hand, it’s silly for them to refuse to admit to the obvious flaws in canon SoKai, and to equate genuine criticism with just bashing. And how is it sexist to say that Kairi deserves more narrative respect and better treatment by the writers? Like, can all you SoKai shippers look me in the eye and tell me that you’re perfectly happy with the current state of affairs? That you don’t want better writing and development and more screentime for the relationship? Can y’all honestly tell me that you think it’s 100% perfect as is, with absolutely nothing that you’d change? Really? Because that’s the part that I genuinely struggle with to understand, myself. I don’t understand how you could possibly be content with the scraps you’ve been given for this main canon romance, especially one that’s literally never had any barrier standing in its way. And that’s the part that really kills me, bc it’s not like this is a queer ship fighting against homophobic censorship, so they’ve had all the time and opportunity in the world for this ship to flourish, and they could’ve reserved all of the best writing for SoKai, and they just........didn’t. And I will literally never understand why. 

(I ship katarina with maria 😍)

Congratulations on having excellent taste! ;P

If we’re sticking with non-polyamory options, then my top ship for Catarina is also her w/ Maria, bc they’d be perfect for each other, and also, this ship just ticks every box for me, especially in regards to what I like in my femslash ships. However, I also pretty much love nearly all of the possible ships for her in the show, with the exceptions being Keith/Catarina (which I have many Conflicted feelings about, bc incest is :////), and I’m currently neutral on Raphael/Catarina (I don’t have any beef w/ it, but I also haven’t really seen enough of their dynamic yet to decide whether I want to come aboard or not). Currently, my order of preference for the Catarina ships would be Maria, Sophia, Mary, Alan, Nicol, Geordo, Raphael, Keith. 

But really, if we’re talking about how I’d want things to shake out in the show? I really would want the Ultimate Polyamory OT8 (maaaaybe the OT9 if s2 can invest me in Raph/Cat); tho queerplatonic is the farthest I could go for Keith/Catarina. If we can’t have the full OT8, then I at least would like to get the OT4 of Mary/Catarina/Maria/Sophia, bc I really do love all of the femslash ships SO MUCH (and not just the ones involving Catarina XP), and while Maria/Catarina is my top fave, Sophia/Catarina and Mary/Catarina are not that far behind. 

So....yeah, this was probably more than was necessary to answer the question, but there it is XD 

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. 

👏👏👏

Also, just to clarify, I do like Kairi. She is by no means one of my favorites, but Kairi herself is fine with me. It’s just the writing that I hate, the fact that the writing for Kairi has been terrible across the board, and that she more than literally any other character in this series has been shafted away from any kind of character development or growth, depth, or even basic agency in the story. In basically all of the games, despite all the potential her character has, she is either non-existent or nothing more than a glorified plot device, a literal MacGuffin in human shape. But what aggravates me is that Ven, who in many ways is the equivalent of Kairi’s role in the plot of BBS, with the major difference being that he was actually given agency and his own narrative, and that kills me bc I think it proves that these writers are fully capable of giving Kairi at least the same amount of agency, but they just don’t, and as I often complain, for absolutely no reason that I can discern. Basically, I want to fully love her, but I can’t bc the writers only give Kairi a few crumbs, and nothing of any real substance. And that really fucking sucks, so I’m left with anger and frustration.

(p2) I don’t like kairi tbh bt thats -MY- opinion ?? I get so pissed off when they keep trying to defend her n making me look like a monster for “hurting” their precious girl. Makes me hate kairi evn more tbh

Hey there, I don’t mind at all!! (sorry this is such a late reply, but so it goes with disability ://) Sometimes you just need to let the salt flow a bit, and I totally understand feeling isolated in situations like this. And you’re welcome to stop by here any time! (just, you know…..be aware that it may take me a while to be able to respond, but i promise i will do my utmost to get there eventually XDD)

Shipping is such a tricky thing to navigate sometimes, bc like….I both do and do not get SoKai shippers, in particular. Bc on the one hand, I absolutely do get feeling defensive of your ship, and sometimes you’re just plain not in the mood to want to hear criticism, and just want to sit with whatever joy you can get from your ships. I can respect that, bc I get those urges too from time to time. But on the other hand…..idk, maybe it’s just bc I’m a pretty analytical person by nature, and no matter how much I may love a particular thing, I am absolutely going to critique the shit out of it, and call it out if I think it did something wrong or could do better, so I don’t really get it when ppl are in denial about the presence of flaws in whatever the Thing is. And on a fundamental level, I just believe that criticism isn’t the same thing as bashing, and it’s not me hating on the Thing by saying that it could do better, you know?

But yeah…..the more ppl double down on it, the saltier I get, ngl XDD Personally, I wouldn’t say that I hate SoKai itself, or Kairi, but I do absolutely hate the writing that’s been inflicted upon them, and am just…….forever baffled by it, bc it’s like the writers can give at least decent writing to literally anyone in this goddamn series except for Kairi, and I do not fucking understand what their damage is with this, lmaooo. 

But yeah, diehard Stans of anything are typically annoying to deal with, and the idea that you’re “hurting” Kairi by not liking her is pretty ridiculous. I mean, of all the characters, Namine’s probably the one I’d “Stan” the most, but you know what? If you don’t like her, fine by me! I’m not gonna lose sleep over it, and ppl just have different preferences, and that’s okay. And I think it’s perfectly valid if all this terrible writing has forever put you off Kairi and SoKai. God knows that, as it stands, canon SoKai has kinda ascended to the level of a NOTP for me now, not bc I hate either of them, but bc I’m just filled with so much frustration about how much of a disservice the writers have done to both of their characters and their relationship, and I’m furious bc it could have been SO EASY to fix this, and that they’ve literally squandered nearly every opportunity for it. >_> (ftr, i’m still okay with them in fanfic when there’s decent writing and it’s a full sorikai polyamorous ship XP) But that’s me, and I can absolutely see why other ppl are completely done with it all, bc frankly, the writers haven’t exactly given much in the way of trust that things will improve in the future (tho if melody of memory is truly a kairi-centric game, then i do have the tiniest sprig of hope for it, even if it’s only the tiniest of steps; and if we are indeed getting a kh anime, then depending on how willing they are to deviate from game canon, then i have a seed of hope for that as well). In any case, I think being able to recognize and be vocal about flaws as consumers is never a bad thing, and the sooner that fandom can learn the difference between bashing and genuine critique, the better. (also, you can still totally like flawed things ppl!!! having flaws isn’t the end of the world!!! besides, what do we gain by refusing to be honest about it?? you’ll eventually suffocate under all that sand XP)

(also, pro-tip to all shippers: dog piling on anyone is never going to work as a way to endear them to your ship, and really is only going to make them resent it and you even more, so pls stop doing it /end psa XP)

I definitely agree with this….like, it’d be one thing if it was just never mentioned again, and left as an unresolved plot thread (that would have been super annoying, but whatever, it happens sometimes, especially with a series like KH, which is both long-running and gets new installments sporadically). But they keep bringing it up in some way in every game after CoM (timeline-wise, anyway, bc obvs it wasn’t in BBS XD), even if it was only in the Final Mix version of KH2, so the pressure and expectations and importance keeps on building, and it’s like………as I’ve said before, I genuinely don’t understand why Nomura keeps putting off this resolution. ://

I know there’s been a bit of speculation about potential roles that Namine could play in the next arc of KH’s story, now that the Xehanort/Darkseeker’s arc has ended, like that theory of her being Ava or whatever, so like…..if that is the case, I guess he could be holding off for that?? And like, I get the fact that there need to be some plot threads left open for the series to continue, most notably Sora being missing and the Mysterious Girl, but….idk, I don’t think the SoNami resolution should have been put off until The Next Arc. 

So, hear me out….I don’t particularly like Sora’s death/disappearance, bc I felt that a lot of the circumstances surrounding it were forced and contrived (particularly the injustices they did to Kairi’s character), and if Kairi’s ‘death’ must have happened, I feel that there are a whole lot of ways in which it could have been done better (Kairi making a heroic sacrifice, Sora and Riku coming full circle with KH1 and resolving to save her together, etc, etc), and I feel that the way it was done meant it came at the cost of other characters and plots (like a resolution for Sora and Namine’s friendship), etc. 

But……what if Sora and Namine had gotten to fulfill their promise? And then (a better written version of) the events with Kairi played out, and Sora still had to do his sacrifice? I think, after finally having gotten to be with Namine at long last, only to lose her again (even just on a friendship level), would have given the finale an even greater emotional punch, at least in my opinion.  That way, there could at least have been some advancement with it, while still providing an additional hook and incentive to carry on with the next arc.