SoKai vs SoRiku

Ship War
ShipWar:	SoKai vs SoRiku
Date(s):	2002/2004-present
Location:	FanFiction.Net, LiveJournal, DeviantArt, YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit
Fandom:	Kingdom Hearts He is Mine ! by pun-riii (2018)
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SoRiku vs Sokai a ship war in the Kingdom Hearts fandom between shippers of two Sora pairings: SoKai (Sora/Kairi) and SoRiku (Sora/Riku). It takes place on most websites where fan activity occurs.

Due to the length and notoriety of the ship war, the war itself is sometimes referenced in memes and fanworks created by fans of the series, ranging from jokes mocking the war itself to writing fanfic that directly comments on the conflict.

Overview

SoRiku and SoKai have been the most popular Sora ships since the release of the first Kingdom Hearts game in 2002, where his relationships with each of them played a key role in the plot. The ship war was already considered an infamous hotbed of toxicity during the 2006-2010 period, an especially active era in the KH fandom's history. The ship war entered a new phase when Square Enix released sequels that gave more interactions and screentime to Sora’s bond with Riku than to his bond with Kairi, particularly the game Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (2012).

Many fans feel that Kairi has been framed as a typical love interest according to the common tropes and cliches of various media, including JRPGs and shounen animanga. As a result, Kairi is most commonly seen as Sora's genre-standard love interest, even among fans who don't consider themselves shippers or as invested in any romance subplot. While the interpretation has never been explicitly confirmed by either canon media or word of god, as of 2024 it has yet to be jossed either. Thus, while SoRiku has an equal or higher volume of transformative fan works compared to SoKai fan works across various websites, the majority of casual fans treat SoKai as canon by default, regardless of their individual shipping preference (see: r/KingdomHearts, etc).

Many SoRiku shippers, even those that agree with this interpretation, argue that SoKai as presented in canon is forced and underdeveloped. They see the pair’s portrayal in the games as being pushed into a romantic relationship simply for the sake of having a het romance. Some feel that Kairi’s lack of screentime makes her feel more like a plot device than an actual character, and that the way the narrative treats her falls into the sexist trope of a female love interest being treated as a prize for the male protagonist. Others point out that while Sora clearly cares about Kairi, neither of them explicitly voice whether they define their relationship as romantic or non-romantic in canon, despite many characters acknowledging how important they are to each other. Some fans who don’t ship SoRiku agree that the portrayal of Sora and Kairi as a potential romance is forced, regardless of whether or not they personally ship SoKai.

Due to the assumption that SoKai is canon by default, some fans are hostile toward SoRiku shippers because they consider the idea of Sora not having romantic feelings for Kairi to be a willful misinterpretation of canon and a lack of respect for the franchise’s creators. Theories and meta written by SoRiku shippers are commonly dismissed as crack theories or tinhatting on the assumption that the author is misrepresenting canon in order to justify their ship, even when the theory or analysis has nothing to do with SoRiku. Meanwhile, the ideas that SoRiku shippers present in their meta are often more likely to be taken seriously by other fans when presented by someone who doesn’t ship Sora/Riku. Fanworks and social media posts related to SoRiku also frequently receive unprompted comments claiming that SoKai is canon and/or that SoRiku is not canon, even when nothing was said in the work or post about either ship’s status. Some have also call for future games to definitively remove any chance of SoRiku ever being canon, whether by explicitly confirming SoKai or by rendering Riku ineligible as a canon love interest, in the hopes that this will make SoRiku shippers give up interpreting the pair as a couple. Other fans deliberately tag SoRiku on posts and tweets containing SoKai art and headcanons, as well as screenshots they consider to be proof that SoKai is canon, resulting in SoKai content showing up in searches for SoRiku posts on sites like Tumblr and Twitter. A few SoKai shippers have even sent Direct Messages to SoRiku shippers containing spoilers for upcoming game releases in an effort to demoralize SoRiku fans by sending out-of-context clips that they claim are proof that SoKai has been confirmed as canon.

Meanwhile, many fans opposed to SoRiku deny the existence of any romantic subtext in Sora and Riku’s relationship, frequently referring to fans who do see the pair as romantic as “delusional”, friendless, mentally ill, taking drugs, or otherwise detached from reality. Other fans acknowledge that Sora and Riku’s relationship has potential romantic subtext but insist it's only there by accident; For example, some argue that the SoRiku only seems more romantic than SoKai because Japan has different cultural norms than the United States when it comes to platonic and romantic relationships, while others agree that SoKai is underdeveloped but insist that it’s only because the writers are incompetent at portraying romance in comparison to friendship and that nothing will change about the ship’s chances of becoming canon.

Some fans will also comment on SoRiku-related content to try and discredit romantic interpretations of the pair by providing alternate explanations for how Sora and Riku are, often without regard for canon facts; For example, many SoRiku fanworks and social media posts discussing the Kingdom Hearts II reunion scene will receive comments claiming that Sora’s reaction to Riku is so much stronger because he already knew that Kairi was safe, despite him having specifically come to the Castle That Never Was because the Organization kidnapped her. Meanwhile some fans will comment on SoRiku-based discussions of game elements that are confirmed in-game or by word of god to exclusively represent Sora and Riku to argue that those elements are not actually about Sora and Riku, but instead represent Sora and Kairi or the Destiny Trio as a whole.

Others attempt to justify Sora and Riku’s closeness by arguing that Riku’s bond with Sora after his own redemption arc is that of a protective big brother. This headcanon started receiving pushback from SoRiku shippers after it was jossed in 2020 by the official Kingdom Hearts Character Files guidebook, which featured short stories by Tomoco Kanemaki - author of all official KH novel adaptations who has also been working as a writer for the games since 358/2 Days (2009) - where Sora and Riku each express that siblings is not an accurate label for their relationship. However, due to the book only having been available for 3 years as of this writing, the contents of the short stories are not common knowledge. After learning of the stories in question, many fans who support SoKai either dispute the canon status of the guidebook and/or the novelizations, or attempt to argue that the wording of the stories still leaves room for Sora and Riku to see each other as siblings in canon.

Some fans agree that Sora and Riku’s relationship in canon has romantic undertones to it, but claim that it’s only there to draw in audiences and isn’t something the writers intend to ever be endgame. Others have argued that even if the game developers have the desire to make Sora/Riku canon, they will inevitably be held back from doing so by corporate executives at Square Enix and/or Disney so that the companies can continue to make money off of the series in markets that are hostile toward depictions of queerness. While social acceptance of LGBTQ identities and representation of them in fictional media has increased since 2002, this argument remains a widely accepted viewpoint within many Kingdom Hearts fan spaces as of 2024, even among many SoRiku shippers.

Meanwhile, as a result of SoKai being treated as canon by default, many early SoRiku shippers active when the first few games released saw Kairi as an obstacle to Sora and Riku being able to get together. Some created fanworks that kill her off and portray her negatively in order to remove her as a competitor, as was especially common in slash fan spaces during the 2000s. However, many other SoRiku shippers have and continue to view her as a supportive wingwoman who happily supports Sora and Riku's romance, such as when she helped Sora see through Riku’s transformation into Ansem and reunite them Kingdom Hearts II. Some headcanon Kairi as having a crush on Sora that she eventually gets over after she realizes that he doesn’t reciprocate. Others headcanon her as experiencing comphet and have her realize that she’s a lesbian, with SoRiku fanworks typically pairing her with either Selphie or Olette, most frequently as a background ship or Pair the Spares ship.

Some fans who don’t support SoRiku will interpret Riku as gay and having an unrequited crush on Sora, however most pair him up with another female character in order to argue against queer interpretations of Riku. Due to his interactions with them in Chain of Memories (2004), and KH2, most non-SoRiku fans ship Riku with either Namine or Xion. Following the release of Kingdom Hearts III in 2019, many fans began claiming that the scene during the ending where Riku arrives in Radiant Garden to pick Namine up after her being given her own body again was confirmation that the Riku/Namine ship was going to be canon. These claims persist even after series creator Tetsuya Nomura stated that Riku was only fulfilling a last request to the Riku Replica and the scene was edited in 2020 to remove Riku and Namine’s smiles after the release of the game’s DLC.

Due to Kairi’s lack of screen-time in comparison to Sora and Riku, many SoRiku shippers write meta about what Kairi’s role in the story is if she isn’t a love interest and speculate on ways to increase her involvement in the story. Some like the idea of Kairi actively accompanying Sora and Riku on their adventures, while others portray her spending time away from them out of a desire to see her have more on-screen friendships with other characters so that she has more going for her than just being Sora and Riku’s best friend. Regardless of what they prefer for Kairi going forward, most SoRiku shippers emphasize in their meta and speculation that Sora loving Riku romantically doesn’t mean he doesn't care about Kairi or that his relationship with her is not important.

Following the release of Dream Drop Distance in 2012, some fans began promoting the idea that Riku had nothing left to contribute to the story now that he’d fully completed his redemption arc, and that he should be killed off or sidelined in order for another character to receive more focus. When the Secret Ending and DLC for Kingdom Hearts III (2019) instead set up Riku as the key to finding Sora in Quadratum, some fans began demanding that the focus of this storyline be given to Kairi and her relationship with Sora instead.

Interpretations of canon

The fact that both sides have different interpretations of the story and what various aspects imply about the writers’ intentions is a source of further conflict in the ship war, as neither side agrees on what certain details canonically mean. As a result, what some fans consider to be evidence for their own ship is not viewed the same way by fans of the other ship. Due to the length and scope of the series, there are a wide variety of topics that spark such arguments, however there are some that are fought over more commonly than others:

Paopu fruit

The paopu fruit is a star-shaped fruit native to Destiny Islands. It is introduced in Kingdom Hearts (2002), in which Riku explains that sharing it intertwines people’s destinies and ensures that they will always remain a part of each other’s lives. The following day, he challenges Sora to a race, with the prize for victory being the opportunity to share a paopu with Kairi. In a series of optional conversations that same day, Selphie tells Sora that she thinks sharing a Paopu with someone is a romantic thing to do, and encourages Sora to hurry up and share with someone before Riku beats him to it.

Sora updates a cave drawing of themselves that he and Kairi made as children to show himself offering her a paopu, and Kairi updates the drawing at the end of the game to show herself reciprocating, which Sora discovers during the end credits of Kingdom Hearts II.

In Birth by Sleep (2010), Aqua creates good luck charms based on the legend and describes the fruit as representing an unbreakable connection between friends. A paopu fruit is the keychain on the Combined Keyblade that Sora and Riku summon together in Kingdom Hearts 3D.

Fans who favor SoKai argue that Sora and Kairi in the first game each using drawings to express the desire to share a paopu fruit with the other is proof that the two are in love and destined to end up in a romantic relationship together, with many fans subscribing to the headcanon that the pair finally sharing paopu fruits in Kingdom Hearts III was the moment they officially became a couple.

Fans who favor SoRiku point out that Aqua’s platonic use of the legend in Birth by Sleep indicates that the paopu fruit is not automatically proof of romance, though other fans argue that Aqua is not a local of the Destiny Islands, and she may not have the same cultural understanding of the paopu.

In discussions of the paopu sharing scene in Kingdom Hearts III, soriku fans who see the pairing as endgame point to various details in the scene and other subsequent material as evidence that Sora and Kairi sharing the fruit was not romantic, including:

• Kairi saying in the loading screens for the DLC and the original Japanese release of the base game that it was a charm to avoid being separated.
• The fact that one loading screen for the DLC shows a screenshot of them sharing the fruit with a caption from Kairi talking about never being apart from Sora, while another shows a screenshot of the cave drawing with a caption from Sora talking about how they’ll be in each other’s hearts even when they’re apart.
• The fact that Sora’s Japanese voice actor Miyu Irino stated in an interview that he didn’t see sharing the paopu fruit as a declaration of love, as well as that he had recorded an alternate version of the scene where they didn’t share the fruit which series creator Tetsuya Nomura had considered using in the game instead.
• The fact that Sora is focused on Riku for the first part of the scene and is caught off guard when Kairi tries to hand him a paopu fruit, and that he hesitates to take it until she clarifies her intentions.

SoRiku fans also argue that Sora’s facial expressions when Kairi first hands him the fruit in KH3 reflect discomfort at the potential romantic implications of the gesture, and argue that he only smiles after hearing Kairi’s intent because her words are meant to convey that they’ll be sharing it platonically. Meanwhile some SoKai fans interpret Sora’s expressions after being offered the paopu as either bashful or determined.

Some fans claim that a proper sharing of the paopu must involve eating from the same single fruit, rather than feeding separate fruits to each other as Sora and Kairi did in KHIII.

Theme songs

Both SoRiku and SoKairi shippers believe that the three theme songs to the main numbered installments are supposed to be about their respective ships.

SoKai shippers cite an interview in which Nomura seemed to indicate that "Hikari" is about Sora and Kairi as "hero" and "heroine". After the release of Kingdom Hearts III, they point out that "Chikai" plays when Sora and Kairi feed each other paopu fruits, and a screenshot of them is included with the sheet music in the KHIII Ultimania.

SoRiku shippers cite an interview in which Nomura stated that during development, he had requested for the theme of KHII to suit Sora and Riku's reunion, and serve as a sequel to "Hikari". Soriku shippers also point to the fact that the lyrics of "Chikai" make repeated references to sunrise, a recurring symbol of Riku's character arc.

Destiny Trio reunion in Kingdom Hearts II

One of the most frequently discussed topics in debates about which ship is canon as well as conversations about the ship war itself is the contrast between Sora’s individual reunions with Riku and Kairi at the Castle That Never Was in Kingdom Hearts II. When he reunited with Kairi, Sora greeted her by saying that she’s different, but that he’s glad to see her. After she runs up and hugs him, he acts surprised, and hesitates before reciprocating. When Sora reunited with Riku, he fell to his knees and cried while clutching his friend’s hand and talking about how he look everywhere for him.

Non-SoRiku shippers argue that situational differences can account for the differences in Sora's emotional reactions. Kairi had been safe on their home island before being kidnapped for a relatively short amount of time, and then soon rescued; whereas Sora hadn't seen Riku safe for a year since Riku had been possessed by an evil entity, sealed in the Realm of Darkness for what was predicted to be an indefinite and potentially endless amount of time, and then later trapped in the physical form of the main villain. Fans interpret Sora's apology to Kairi and shock at her hug as expressions of his shame at failing to bring Riku home as well as failing his promise to Riku to keep Kairi safe; Sora's reunion with Riku isn't only a reunion between the two boys, but also the first reunion of all three childhood friends together as a trio since they were separated in the destruction of their world at the beginning of the first game.

Fans also point out that Sora was eager to reunite with both of them in the first game, after the trio had been initially separated; and Sora's reunion with Kairi was more emotionally charged and high-stakes compared to his more lighthearted reunion with Riku earlier.

SoRiku shippers argue that the situational differences justification contradicts what is shown in the game, pointing out that Sora had already received confirmation that Riku was safe and out of the Realm of Darkness earlier from both Mickey and the Emperor of China, and had even encountered Riku himself from a distance; meanwhile, he had spent half the game trying to get into the Organizations castle to rescue Kairi, and reacted with excitement when he saw her from a distance just a few cutscenes prior to their reunion. Based on the fact that Sora had daydreamed about Kairi earlier in the game and imagined her in her KH1 appearance, many SoRiku shippers view Sora's reaction as shock at how his mental image of her no longer matches reality. Some SoRiku shippers see Sora as having had a puppy crush on Kairi in KHI that faded by the time they reunited, and headcanon his reaction to her hug in their reunion as the moment he realized that he wasn't attracted to her anymore. Others believe that any potential romantic subtext between them prior to that moment was the result of comphet—that he thought he liked her romantically because everyone around him kept assuming he did, but that in this moment he realized that the way he felt about her did not match how someone in love was supposed to feel.

Some shippers dismiss the reunion sequence in KHII as evidence that Riku and Kairi cherish each other as friends, and instead theorize other explanations that would support the headcanon of them being bitter love rivals who only tolerate each other for Sora's sake.

Parallels with canon couples

Fans on each side point out parallels between their respective ship and canon couples from Disney movies and the Final Fantasy series to argue that their ship has more canon support.

• Fans arguing for SoKai point to the scene in Kingdom Hearts II where Sora daydreams of himself dancing with Kairi in place of Jack Skellington and Sally.
• During the credits of Kingdom Hearts 2.8, a montage of canon Disney pairings is shown; among these couples, Sora and Kairi are also displayed. Non-SoKai shippers point out that Roxas and Namine, Peter Pan and Wendy, and Cloud and Aerith are also included in the montage, and they aren't confirmed couples.
• Some fans see Sora, Riku, and Kairi (especially as they are characterized in the first game) as respective parallels to Cecil, Kain, and Rosa in Final Fantasy IV.
• SoRiku shippers point out scenes and plot-lines in multiple games that parallel Sora and Riku's bond and their interactions in each game with Belle/Beast, Ariel/Eric, Phoebus/Esmeralda, Hercules/Meg, Aladdin/Jasmine, Mulan/Shang, Simba/Nala, Aurora/Phillip, Snow White/The Prince, Cinderella/Prince Charming, Rapunzel/Flynn Rider, Anna/Kristoff, and Cloud/Tifa.

How Kairi and Riku feel about each other

Because the ship war revolves around which of them is Sora's true love interest, how Riku and Kairi feel about each other is a recurring source of conflict in the ship war.

Most fans view all three as being best friends who all care about each other equally, which has resulted in other interpretations being treated as a deliberate misinterpretation of the characters. However, some believe that she and Riku are not as close to each other as they are to Sora based on the fact that the two are rarely ever shown interacting with each other one-on-one onscreen, as well as her joking at the beginning of the first game that she and Sora should take the raft that Riku had built and leave him behind. Since these beliefs tend to be more popular in SoRiku communities, other fans frequently perceive it as an attempt to demonize Kairi in order to justify SoRiku.

Among fans who support this interpretation, opinions vary as to the specifics of how Riku and Kairi feel about each other, some interpret them as actively disliking each other and only tolerating each other for Sora's sake, while others see them as friends of Sora who hang out together when Sora's there and get along just fine but otherwise aren't close friends with each other.

Another contingent argues that while Riku and Kairi were close friends growing up and clearly still care about each other in canon, their lack of one-on-one interactions and the fact that Kairi never shown apologizes for her joke indicate that they've grown distant from each other due to some unresolved issues between them. Fans of this theory often headcanon that Riku somehow overheard Kairi's joke about leaving him and that this contributed to his decision to open the door in the Secret Place and cause their world to fall into darkness. The fact that Kairi's comment has not received any follow-up in canon is headcanoned as Kairi and Riku each being afraid to bring it up due to their individual insecurities and mutually choosing to avoid the subject rather than address it.

Some fans view this headcanon as pinning responsibility for Riku's villain arc on Kairi by contriving hurt that she never canonically caused, and undermining his subsequent redemption arc.

People are free to ship whatever configuration of ships makes them happy, but it’s silly to act like the third member would just abandon the group if two of them got together

Yeah, you could OT3 it and that’s fine. But nobody’s gonna convince me that Riku wouldn’t be super happy if Kairi and Sora got together, Kairi wouldn’t be the biggest supporter of Sora and Riku if they got together, and Sora wouldn’t be the loudest proponent of Riku and Kairi’s relationship, at least as of KH3 now that all of the relationship drama from KH1 has worn off

Would the person left out be disappointed? Yes. But they’re also still all close friends and there’s no amount of romantic drama that could break that up for me

Accusations of Misogyny

For a major part of the fandom's existence, especially in the 2002-2010 period, Kairi has been a character infamously subjected to overtly misogynistic vitriol from KH fans; Kairi was commonly labeled as a "bitch", "whore", and "slut". She was bashed as a mean girl queen bee fueled by jealousy and malice in her personal quest to deliberately sabotage Sora and Riku's relationship; and she was the subject of some infamous fan works in which she was gruesomely killed as punishment for these unlikable traits. Among Kairi's haters, SoRiku shippers gained a reputation for being an especially vocal and even toxic contingent. Some SoRiku shippers have agreed that excessive hate toward Kairi has been a problem among SoRiku shippers.

relation to the KH fandom, I'm a little miffed and frustrated by the running theme of 'zomg Kairi is a bitch!!1!!11', and the fact that it gives the slashers a bad rap in a lot of other people's eyes.

I don't hate Kairi. Kairi is a great character, as they all are. The fact I enjoy shipping the boys together does not change that.

Nor does the fact I write fanfiction about Sora/Riku and Axel/Roxas mean I automatically slaughter their characterisation to make them do what I want.

I for one can't stand all the terrible fanfiction that exists in those ships. I hate ghastly OOC-ness, character-bashing, OOC character bashing... (yes, I'm talking about Kairi. Some people who ship Riku and Sora -do- get the fact the three of them are close friends who went through a lot together and thus Kairi is not the antichrist, the boys -don't- hate her, and she is not the worst thing about the entire game)

It frustrates me most of all that there are people who don't like said ships -because- of all those things. We don't all do it. It's not fair to group us all together. >.<

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not inherently against Soriku. It's by no means my OTP, but I have seen many a Soriku fanart that I've snickered and awwwed at its cuteness and/or smexiness. The subtext is there, yes, this I will fully admit. And when done right, it can be quite fun.

But I seriously CANNOT stand the Kairi!Hate that often goes along with it. The idea that Kairi is a bitch/whore/whatever whose sole purpose is to separate Sora and Riku from their TWU WUV is absolutely MADDENING because it has NO BASIS in canon or even in *subtext* and is essentially a way for fanits to "get Kairi out of the way" of their Sora and Riku shagging each other. If nothing, this trying to get *rid* of Kairi is a testament to just how important she is to Sora (and to Riku, for that matter!)

Overt misogyny became less common and accepted in online spaces during the 2010s. However, the history of misogyny toward Kairi among the series' fanbase still colors the dominant image of how SoRiku shippers are perceived by the rest of the fandom in the 2020s.

[Anonymous asked: How did SoRiku shippers even get labeled as misogynistic anyways So not shipping a girl with a guy is misogynistic now?]

I’m sure that’s not the intended message.

I mean, this is another one of those stupid “us versus them” mud-slinging things, but what it stems from, I think, is the perception that Sora/Riku shippers — or at least the least enlightened and most openly, deeply, bitterly vitriolic among their number — have essentially just found one more way to cut Kairi out of everything, to minimize her importance, and to make everything even more about just the boys than it already is, and some people see that as fundamentally indefensible.

In reality, of course, it is perfectly possible to ship Sora/Riku without disrespecting Kairi's character, so, like I said, it’s all a case of shameless mud-slinging and blanket accusations and really pointless feuding, and that’s never okay, but...to answer the question, no, I don’t think it’s coming from a place that says, “Anything other than a guy/girl ship is inherently misogynistic.” I think that's a bit reductive.

The "misogynistic yaoi fangirl" remains one of the most common stereotypes of fans who ship Sora with Riku, to the point where some many fans who support SoKai treat shipping SoRiku as inherently synonymous with hatred of Kairi as a character. This has led to several instances where fanworks and social media posts by SoRiku shippers have been falsely accused of hating and vilifying Kairi simply because the original poster ships SoRiku, regardless of whether it's a meta about Kairi, or a post just talking about SoRiku that doesn't mention her. Others have accused SoRiku shippers of attacking other fans and trying to start a fight simply for making a post that interpreted Sora and Kairi's bond as platonic.

In the 2020s, many Kairi and SoKai fans complain that SoRiku shippers still downplay key moments in canon that emphasize Kairi's bonds with Sora and/or Riku, ignore her achievements, misrepresent her character, and promote sidelining her even more than she already has been in order to elevate an exclusive bond between Sora and Riku—resulting in a female character being further erased from an already male-dominated narrative.

Am I the only one slightly concerned that every Sora or Riku thread at some point derails into really sappy honest SoRiku-consideration / -dismissal talk, while all Kairi gets is "woman in the kitchen" clichés?

At the end of dream drop distance, Sora and Riku’s friendship was so solid. It was so close and so sweet. But in kh3? It’s like they purposefully watered Riku down just to make sokai a thing. Like are you fucking kidding me? They advertised Riku with Sora so much leading up to kh3, and yet you only see Riku like, less than a handful. And then, at the end, Riku sacrifices himself, again, for Sora… only for Kairi to get the credit for saving him! Because… deus ex machina, I guess?

Throughout the worlds, there was this recurring theme: acts of true love. Almost all of them require sacrificing oneself. Hercules and Meg, Anna and Elsa, Repunzel and Eugene, even Will and Elizabeth Turner. Let’s see, who has sacrificed themselves for Sora? Oh right. Riku. Kairi has never once shown this kind of love for Sora. And yet at the end, it seems like Sora has decided Kairi is this true love…? He looks into the light when he’s floating with Kairi like he gets it, but all it takes is one braincell to see that this parallel simply doesn’t work with Kairi!

I guess you could count the moment Sora shields Kairi from the incoming blow (though, why he hugged her instead of blocked the hit with the keyblade, I don’t know) and the moment Kairi shielded Sora as a heartless in KH1, but I would argue that Sora shielding Kairi is just him upholding his promise to protect her, not an act of true love or sacrifice; and Kairi was in no real danger when she protected heartless sora so it really doesn’t have the weight. These moments are nothing in comparison for what Riku has done for Sora every game since kh1. And I guess what bothers me so much is that for all my theorizing (probably another post, or I’ll just link to others’ posts about the theory), that probably is just it: they are going to sweep Riku’s sacrifices under the rug and claim that sokai is true love just for those two weak moments. It’s a slap to the face. It laughs and says, “its not that deep”. Essentially, they are saying “hey all that character development Riku and Sora got in dream drop? Don’t matter. Keep scrolling.” Its so cowardly it makes me sick.

The only hope I have now is that all of this was purposefully misleading. The fact that Sora and Kairi didn’t even share the paopu correctly; the fact Sora seemed confused and hesitant around his connection to Kairi; Sora’s mission to bring her back & his seeming success before disappearing; the secret movie.

and Kairi was in no real danger when she protected heartless sora so it really doesn’t have the weight.

Might wanna revisit that scene - Kairi and Sora both were absolutely in danger at that moment. And even the shielding of Sora didn’t have weight as much as what happened as a result - Sora getting his body back - and that Kairi’s refusal to consider Sora a goner was what enabled Sora to keep his feelings and consciousness even as a Heartless ‘cause his heart’s connection to her’s was that fucking strong. Only topping that would be in KHII how Kairi and Riku both were able to divert all the Shadow Heartless’ attention away from Sora which pretty much forced Xigbar to involve himself, how Kairi stopped Riku from leaving and was able to make Sora see through his heart to recognize Riku as he truly was, thus reuniting the Destiny Trio at last, and how just Kairi’s message in a bottle for Sora was able to create the Door to Light from Sora’s heart to save his and Riku’s lives and get them back home to Destiny Islands ‘cause again, their hearts’ connection was so fucking powerful and pure.

And then, at the end, Riku sacrifices himself, again, for Sora… only for Kairi to get the credit for saving him!

Um, why the Hell would Riku get the credit for saving Sora? His sacrifice failed, Sora was immediately killed after Riku was. Kairi got the credit for saving him because she’s the one who saved him, even if the way she did so was nebulous, passive crap.

Let’s see, who has sacrificed themselves for Sora? Oh right. Riku. Kairi has never once shown this kind of love for Sora.

First off, this is wrong. Kairi not only WAS in danger when she shielded Sora with her body in KH, but she jumped off a freaking tall balcony to deliberately bait an endless-seeming Heartless swarm away from Sora, again at great personal risk. Also, equating “sacrificial acts of True Love” as always romantic love is a fallacy. Not only was that not the case with Anna and Elsa, but it hasn’t been the case for other characters, like when Goofy sacrificed himself for Mickey in KH2.

Some SoRiku shippers argue that the accusations of downplaying Kairi’s importance are making her out to have a larger role in the plot than she actually does due to nostalgia. Soriku shippers point to her lack of focus compared to the rest of the cast and comments from the developers which state that the series is about Sora and Riku’s bond as evidence that while Kairi is still important to the story, she does not have the level of importance that other fans believe she has.

I'm not saying that with malice. I like Kairi. I love Destiny Trio. But the creators themselves have stated Kingdom Hearts is about the relationship between Sora and Riku and how it develops. Thus the story we've been given. Kairi is a supporting character. That's just facts.🤷‍♀️

The whole team: The series is about Sora and Riku

Us: The series is about Sora and Riku

Literally everyone else: Wow I can’t believe you’re pushing this false narrative to exclude Kairi

SoRiku shippers also view accusations of mischaracterizing Kairi as being based on fanon perception of her rather than canon facts, arguing that fans have constructed an interpretation of Kairi as an confident girlboss who has no flaws and is incapable of doing anything wrong.

They want her to be the perfect badass princess that is sweet and nice and has no flaws. When that’s not her. KH is basically a twist on Disney movies/tropes in general. She’s not a normal Disney Princess.

The problem is they view any insinuation that Kairi should be able to have real character flaws, like jealousy and resentment and insecurities, as “hating” her, when these are the things that would give her something relatable to overcome and make her a truly good character.”

Some SoRiku shippers in the 2020s argue that fans who accuse their communities of being misogynistic toward Kairi are using the 2006-2010 era stereotype as a strawman rather than actually engaging with their opinions in good faith, and that many fans who favor SoKai base their opinions about soriku-leaning meta on hearsay rather than actually reading the meta for themselves. As examples, SoRiku fans point to multiple instances where complaints about meta written by SoRiku shippers allege the meta contains opinions that were never expressed.

It doesn’t matter how many times we say we don’t think Kairi is evil or a villain or trying to hurt Sora does it? People will always give the most bad faith interpretations to anything we say because our ideas of how Kairi could be better written conflicts w/ their image of her.

Other SoRiku fans have complained that the fandom applies a double standard to SoRiku shippers’ opinions about Kairi, arguing that fans who favor SoKai are able to criticize the way she's written in canon, portray her as a jealous yandere toward Sora or create fan theories where she turns evil without being labeled misogynistic, and that analysis which is called misogynistic when shared by SoRiku shippers is praised as objective fact when presented by sources that are not perceived as supporting the ship.

Still just a bit bitter about how popular dudebros can fantasize about dark twisted semi evil K//airi meanwhile Sor//ikus can’t even gingerly suggest that she was used as a pawn exactly like virtually every single other character in the series without getting called misogynistic

Sorikus got called Kairi haters and mysoginists for making theories about Kairi possibly being manipulated and then now everyone is on board about Kairi being canonically manipulated and we are understandably annoyed at people's double standards

Others counterargue that there is a distinction between depicting Kairi as jealous for comedic purposes—or generally creating dark AUs in which a character falls to corruption—and an infamously prevalent practice of inventing negative qualities in Kairi as a way to demonize and devalue the character for the promotion of SoRiku.

A few even argue that the accusations of misogyny in the 2020s are hypocritical, and that fans who equate shipping SoRiku with erasing Kairi are acting as if she has no value to the narrative outside of being shipped with the male protagonist.

sorry for so much ranting today but the way people view shipping soriku as hating/erasing kairi’s character by extension is insane. ohhh ok so you’re admitting you measure Kairi’s worth through shipping… ok

However some SoKai fans argue that SoRiku shippers are guilty of treating Riku the same way.

the soriku fandom in particular has a long history of hating kairi, and their flimsy justification for it is that she only exists to be sora’s love interest and how it’s pathetic that her existence revolves around nothing but him. they then turn around and do the exact same thing to riku’s character, and make everything about him revolve around his relationship with sora. so he winds up getting mischaracterized as someone who doesn’t have connections to any of the other characters and is even straight up uncomfortable around girls, because haha gay guys hate women amiright!!

this fails to take into account that uh… riku actually has deeper and richer connections to most of the cast’s girls than sora himself does, even though fandom has no problem characterizing sora as bi. to clarify, i do not mean this in a romantic ship sense. riku’s bond with kairi is VERY important to the plots of kh1 and kh2, equally important whether you interpret it romantically or platonically, because this series is at its core about friendship, and seeing fans say “oh that’s just comp het, he actually can’t stand her and did everything for sora” leaves me flabbergasted, especially as a lesbian who has experienced vicious comp het. [...] this isn’t to say that you have to ship him romantically with any female character, that’s not what i’m suggesting at all, but to outright and explicitly say “he has no connection to these characters at all ew how could you say that this OBVIOUSLY gay-coded male character has female friends you fucking homophobe” is. downright insane.

[...]

okay this is getting long lemme tl;dr: mischaracterizing riku as tragic gay caricature who exists to do nothing but pine after sora and has actually always hated kairi is such a bad fucking take that it makes my blood boil. kh is about bonds, particular bonds of friendship, and to insist that riku only has a bond with sora and that it HAS to be romantic or else we’ve been queerbaited for years… goes against everything the series has always been about. it’s also hypocritical as fuck that they cherry-pick evidence that kairi’s role in the game is ‘only’ to be sora’s prize to be won at the end, and then turn around and treat soriku the exact same way. i’m over it.

Some SoRiku shippers in the 2020s complain that talking about Kairi in any capacity is a no-win situation for those who ship Sora with Riku; that when they restrict their discussions about her to private spaces instead of sharing their opinions publicly, they are accused of trying to erase her and her relationship with Sora; but that when they do share their thoughts about Kairi on public platforms, non-SoRiku fans automatically accuse them of bashing and vilifying her, even when their opinions of her are positive, simply because they interpret her bond with Sora as platonic and/or they interpret her character differently than SoKai shippers do.

talk about kairi in any way? horrible mysoginists! how dare you talk about her flaws and potential as a character!! or see her as anything other than an epic badass warrior princess who’s gonna save the day!! don’t talk about kairi? oh you silly shipper, i’m here to remind you that sora has two hands! peace and love~ <3

What people think the Kairi doc is: Kairi copies Riku's personality to be mean.

What the Kairi doc actually is: Kairi been coping with trauma in the worst way possible since she was 4.

Accusations of Homophobia

Because SoRiku is a slash pairing and a large portion of its supporters are LGBTQ+ themselves, the ship is frequently subjected to both overtly homophobic vitriol as well as homophobic dog whistles from other fans; For example, many negative comments about SoRiku attempt to frame the ship itself as inherently taboo and immoral and fans who support it as sexual predators – commonly by either promoting the double standard that queerness is inherently sexual and therefore inappropriate because of the characters’ canon ages while straight romance is inherently safe for children, or by using the headcanon that the two are like brothers to imply that romantic interpretations of their bond are promoting incest.

Never forgot that Twitter mf;

Gets mad because someone tweeted the possibility of Sora liking a man.

Answers about how it’s wrong to “““sexualize””” a 17yo teenager.

Proceeds to answer someone else about how Sora will “eat out” Kairi’s.

really suspicious how people compare to unrelated men to siblings to make reading their relationship as romantic gross and taboo without being blatantly homophobic about it if you ask me

like you can’t just say “i think shipping these two men is gross” so you have to tack on that it’s because they’re PRACTICALLY brothers because of how close they are so shipping them is like yucky incest like…just say you think men being romantically intimate is gross and go.

Other comments promote double-standards against queer pairings and representation; For example, some KH fans claim that Sora and Riku becoming a couple would ruin the story’s themes because “the series is about friendship", but have no issue with - or even support - the idea of romance between Sora and Kairi. Others argue that various interactions between Sora and Riku commonly seen as romantic by SoRiku shippers are not proof of romance, but also use the same type of interaction between Sora and Kairi as proof of romantic feelings.

some jabroni on yt commented on a soriku vid that riku tossing a paopu to sora in kh1 didnt count as them sharing one and when i said their combined keyblade has a paopu as the charm they went ‘oh i never noticed that but its platonic obvs bc sora is all about making connections with people’

and so i went ‘so then by that logic him and kairi sharing them wasnt romantic either?’ and they were like ‘no it was bc kairi and soras romance was built up since the opening of kh1′

and i was like ‘you dont think riku and soras relationship was too? you know, with riku holding out his hand to sora and sora desperately trying to take it?’ and they were like ‘that was platonic tho’

and i just

yall really be out here saying so and so interaction between kairi and sora is romantic but when the same thing happens between riku and sora suddenly its platonic…

Many fans will also complain that people can be friends without it automatically leading to romance, yet react to platonic interpretations of Sora and Kairi’s bond as if the only alternative to him loving her romantically is not caring about her all.

The post: sora realizes that he doesn’t love kairi romantically but still loves/cares about her platonically that’s why the awkwardness is gone

The comments: HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT SORA DOESNT CARE ABOUT KAIRI ANYMORE?!?

Many fans are also hostile towards anything that associates Sora and/or Riku with the LGBTQ community in any capacity. Social media posts that headcanon either character as queer or feature them decorated in pride flags without mentioning a specific ship will receive comments asserting that their interactions with a female character such as Kairi or Namine are proof of canonical heterosexuality.

Some fans who support SoKai agree that the homophobia toward fans who interpret Sora and Riku as a couple is a problem among SoKai fans.

Some fans feel that SoRiku shippers who accuse people of being homophobic go too far and make such accusations over any disagreement with their own opinions, even when the other person is also a SoRiku shipper. When accused of homophobia for their responses to SoRiku content, some will also argue that they cannot be homophobic because they are LGBTQ+ themselves and/or they ship a different same-gender pairing.

Other fans, whether they personally ship SoRiku or not, have countered that being queer and/or shipping non-straight pairings does not exempt people from holding anti-LGBTQ biases, and feel that fans who use it as their defense are doing so in order in order to shield themselves from being criticized for their behavior. Some have also said that it’s not the difference in shipping opinions that people are accused of being homophobic for, but the fact that they go out of their way to comment their dissent on any SoRiku fan works they find.

Get this, anyone can harbor homophobic attitudes without even realizing it. Not all homophobia is explicit hate and hurling slurs at gay people on the street.

Do you also jump onto posts of people talking about a S//ora and K//airi romance and try to shame them for “pushing romantic ships on a game with children”? No? Why is that? Why the double standard? Maybe it’s something you need to examine. Just a thought.

I've seen this happen multiple times where straight guys will use LeaIsa as the gay ship to prove they're not homophobic. Its just so annoying when we all know that they're only 'comfortable' with LeaIsa because they're side characters with not a lot of screentime. 💀

My two cents about recent dicussions: I am sure dudebros only use Leaisa to prove they're not homophobic because they have been a duo so far. The second subject x was introduced, some of them already debunk leaisa because "Isa is in love with her" so its the same old story 🙄🙄🙄

No one would be calling you homophobic for seeing them as brothers (despite being canonically incorrect) if you would just stop telling sorikus your unawarrented opinion every time we make a post about them being gay

Opinions on the War

The SoRiku vs SoKai conflict represents only a portion of the Kingdom Hearts fandom.

Ship wars has always been part of the fandom since KH1. Nothing new there, really. It's more a subsect of fandom than a super huge part of it since KH's fandom generally is more about lore discussions and theories and stuff like that than romance because it's so downplayed in KH.

I will say though that I do find that newer fans do seem far more obsessed with the idea of something being canon or not compared to my experiences of the old. Most older Soriku fans are of the belief that SoKai is clearly the intended canon romance but believe SoRiku is a more developed and interesting relationship. Newer fans seem very fixated on the claim that actually SoRiku is canon and everything is building toward it being endgame and Sora is on the verge of realizing he doesn't feel that way about Kairi after all, etc.

Either way though, it's just a certain part of fandom. If you're not super interested in shipping it's pretty easy to avoid.

Among the general fandom, the most common perception of the ship war blames new incidents on SoRiku shippers being overzealous in their desire to prove that their ship is canon, or believes that both sides are equally at fault for the latest instance of shipping wank.

In the 2020s, some SoRiku shippers and other fans feel that the content algorithms on social media sites such as Twitter or Tumblr are to blame for continued hostilities between the two sides, pointing out how the tabs for trending topics display posts regardless of context, causing posts intended only for the original poster's circle of mutuals to be exposed to a much larger audience that lacks the context to recognize when the original poster is making a joke or being serious. Others blame it on fans opposed to SoRiku actively choosing to interact with SoRiku-focused content instead of using whichever filtering tools are available to them on a given website to avoid content for the ship.

Y’all love talking about how we start shit when we’re just minding our own business but then YOU decide to jump onto our tweets to tell us how wrong we are because you didn’t like our version of the story. If you’re upset by it, block us. Ignore us. Scroll. It’s not that hard.

“riku is in love with sora”

“cool! but—“

no. i didn’t ask for buts. if i wanted content that wasn’t exclusively this statement i would’ve asked for it. i see that all the time. why can’t ppl just agree or disagree (and not say anything) to a finalised tweet? smh

Many fans, regardless of shipping preference, have expressed a desire for both sides to stop fighting and get along. In an effort to promote compromise between SoRiku and SoKai shippers, some fans advocate for everyone involved to ship SoRiKai so that neither side feels that their OTP is being excluded, frequently using the phrase "Sora has two hands" to declare that Sora loves both Riku and Kairi equally.

Both of these approaches have been criticized by SoRiku fans for ignoring the homophobia they've experienced for interpreting Sora and Riku as queer, as well as the hostility they've faced from SoKai shippers toward the idea that Sora has romantic feelings for anyone other than Kairi.

Fans promoting SoRiKai have been criticized in particular because of how they deliberately jump into the comments of posts that exclusively ship SoRiku in order to push their own ship, but rarely ever do the same to SoKai or RiKai shippers. This behavior has also been criticized for treating polyamory and bisexuality as a shield to frame their ship as inherently morally superior. As a result, SoRiku shippers who have received comments promoting SoRiKai on their SoRiku content complain that the fans advocating this come across as SoKai fans who begrudgingly recognize the queer subtext of Sora and Riku's bond but refuse to tolerate a platonic interpretation of Sora and Kairi's, rather than people who genuinely enjoy shipping the Destiny Trio as a romantic polycule.

In response, some SoRiKai shippers have accused SoKai and SoRiku shippers of being biphobic and mononormative due to supposedly disproportionately intense backlash against a bisexual polyamorous ship.

Meanwhile many SoRiku shippers in the 2020s have complained about how supposedly outdated fandom stereotypes from 2004-2010s are used to demonize SoRiku shippers and justify automatically treating everything they say as either a continuation of the stereotypical bashing of Kairi, or as a tinhat conspiracy theory twisting or ignoring facts to prove that their ship is canon:

Dude someone gets introduced to soriku and the replies are like OH GOD OH NO THE SORIKUS

sorikus: talking about nature, cats, dogs and birds

Like seriously i get curious what do they think we are gonna do to someone lol

For that matter, what people they think we ARE?

Dear people who hate sorikus:

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe - just maybe - instead of mocking us, shit-talking us behind our backs, treating us like we're insane...you could actually listen to us? Engage in genuine conversation? Get our side of the story- (1/4)
-before immediately assuming the worst? Especially when we use clips and screenshots to back up whatever we're saying to prove that we're not making things up. Instead of accusing us of "twisting narratives", you could actually hear us out, with an open mind? (2/4)
Everyone else in this fandom is free to talk/theorize about whatever they want, but for some reason, we're the ones who get frowned upon no matter what we say. If you want this fandom to be more "tolerable", you could start by treating us like we're part of it. (3/4)
No more one-sided discourse, please. We're tired of you putting words in our mouths to make us look bad. And we're tired of feeling the need to defend ourselves from people making us out like we're literal villains. We're just trying enjoy what we enjoy, like you. (4/4)

Soriku shippers discussing the meta of the paopu scene on their own accounts is not discourse, is not 'ship bashing', is not 'character hate'. Please stop twisting 'people interpreting canon in a way i dont like/agree with' to fit your narrative of 'toxic sorikus'. Im so tired.

Some SoRiku shippers have also criticized how even fans that present themselves as neutral and wanting people to co-exist still feel the need to emphasize the assumption that all SoKai interpretations are canon and all SoRiku interpretations are fanon.

Meanwhile, many LGBTQ fans of SoRiku have expressed feeling hurt and unwelcome in Kingdom Hearts fan spaces because of how often they're told that they're delusional for interpreting Sora and Riku as queer.

The more valid and possible and blatant Sora and Riku’s feelings become, the more painful the queer phobia is. It’s not that we just think they’re cute together—we see ourselves in this narrative.
By saying we’re delusional for seeing/hoping for this.... people are saying our experiences and how we feel and understand love is delusional. And that’s not “opinion” anymore. That’s fucking hurtful.

Other SoRiku shippers who have been active for multiple periods of the fandom's history have also argued that the homophobia from SoKai shippers is worse in the 2020s than it was in the previous decades.

As a result, some SoRiku shippers in the 2020s have begun to resist labeling the conflict between SoRiku and SoKai fans as a ship war due to their own experiences consisting exclusively of SoKai shippers going out of their way to attack SoRiku shippers for interpreting the characters as anything other than heterosexual.

it doesn’t feel like “fighting over ships” when one side is just asking the other to stop jumping on our posts to tell us how wrong we are for enjoying the gay

Meta

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

• Kingdom Hearts "shipping" analysis - an essay arguing that SoKai is the creators' intent (2 May, 2017)
• A reblog chain of SoRiku blogs on tumblr discussing the comments they receive for believing that SoRiku has a chance at becoming endgame. (23 June, 2022)
• The Kairi Question - an analysis of what Kairi's role in the story is if Sora and Riku are meant to become a romantic couple. (22 July, 2022)
• It’s my birthday so I decided I’m allowed a little salt. As a treat. – a collection of memes venting about how many arguments against SoRiku from SoKai shippers blatantly disregard canon material and Word of God statements. (28 July, 2022)
• Well I haven’t seen this happen in a while – a SoRiku fan explaining why many SoRiku shippers dislike SoRiKai shippers forcing their poly Sora headcanons into SoRiku-exclusive conversations. (29 November, 2022)
• SoRiku vs SoKai ship discourse generator by palizinhas

In fan works and fanon

• Jealous Kairi, evil Kairi, yandere Kairi.
• Kairi dies, sometimes after being gruesomely tortured and murdered for her crimes
• Fans headcanon that Riku overheard Kairi's joke about abandoning him and running away with Sora, and that this contributed to his decision to open the door in the Secret Place which triggered Destiny Islands' fall to darkness; their lack of onscreen one-on-one interactions in later games is used as evidence that they never properly talked about how she hurt him with that comment. Some headcanon this moment as evidence of Kairi scheming to drive Sora and Riku apart.
• Riku as a mere cheerleader for Sora and Kairi's romance.
• Riku and Kairi don't actually like each other, and they only tolerate each other for Sora's sake.
• Some fans in the 2010s and 2020s headcanon that Riku is being built up to die or be sidelined now that his redemption arc is complete so that Kairi and her relationship with Sora can receive more screentime.

Gallery

• 

  KILL KAIRI by TheNinjaKitty (2004)

• 

  :KH: Possessive by kitsune-nilde (2006)

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  KH2: Kill Kairi by TigerStripedTeaPot (2006)

• 

  simple KH2 4 panel comics...^WBM by kimchii (2006)

• 

  Kairi beating Sora by Mikeinel (2007)

• 

  KH FANFIC STEREOTYPES by jade-of-impala (2016)

• 

  panel of a humorous meme by CastleOathkeep1 about Soriku artists being accused of lying to new fans about the ship's status in canon for posting art of Sora and Riku together (2022)