As someone who's had SoKai as her ultimate OTP for eighteen years, this makes me really, really happy. And even outside of shipping, the art is just
gorgeous. Everything about it. Like, the slight curl to the bottom of Kairi's hair is making me like her KHIII hair for the first time ever. And I swear Nomura just gets better and better at art: and that's saying something.
I'm also hoping Kairi making it here--as well as things like her being playable and perhaps defeating Master Xehanort now--means good things for her in the future... And not to get too much into the shipping discourse, but if Nomura is going the SoKai route--which, to be honest, I think it's pretty obvious he has been in KHIII--I wouldn't mind if Kairi now being in this art maybe means their relationship will get a
bit more focus in the future, too, so people can maybe find more reason to care about them if they don't.
This version of Dearly Beloved is beautiful, too, but sort of melancholy... which fits what's going on with them in this DLC, I suppose, since even after Sora finally saves Kairi, he's just going to fade away and leave her heartbroken for a moment before she goes to look for him (as I
do think she's looking for him as well, and that's why Riku says "
we've been looking everywhere for Sora")
Edit: This image also makes me think that the theory floating around for a while now, that KHIII was the start of Kairi's journey to save Sora like KHI was his for her, might actually be true... God, please let it be: at least in
some capacity.
