DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Some quality journalism from The Gamer in celebration of Pride Month 2025
Growing up as a deeply closeted lesbian who didn't even really know gay people existed until I was in my teens, not knowing what 'love' is or what it should 'feel' like is something I have all too much experience with. I watched a lot of animated Disney movies growing up. Just like Sora, I saw these couples fall in love. But something just wasn't clicking when I watched them. I could never see myself in the position of Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Aurora, or any of the princesses who fell in love with a prince. 'Love' just felt alien to me.
When Kairi presents the paopu fruit to him, Sora physically recoils, and Kairi has to explain that she wants to share it so they won't be separated in the final battle before Sora relaxes and finally accepts. After all this build up, something that Sora perceives as romantic is finally happening between him and Kairi, and all he can do is… look visibly uncomfortable?
Sora's behaviour in this scene reminds me exactly of myself when I was 15. I could daydream and picture the heterosexual life that I thought I was supposed to lead, but the mere possibility of anything happening beyond that? Absolutely not. The pressure of compulsory heterosexuality affected a lot of my interactions with my peers, even without me knowing it, and it seems to be the same for Sora.
Tl;dr Sora acting like a clueless dork when it comes to love & romance isn't because of corny shounen anime writing, it's because he's a closeted queer just like the author.