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Kairi (カイリ?) is a best friend of Sora and Riku, and one of the seven "Princesses of Heart". She is an original character created by Tetsuya Nomura for the Kingdom Hearts series. Nomura has stated that Kairi's name can be interpreted as "sea"; the Japanese on'yomi pronunciation of sea is kai (海?). She is voiced by Risa Uchida in the Japanese version of the series. In English, she is voiced by Hayden Panettiere in the main series and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, and by Alyson Stoner in Re:Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days. She is voiced as a child in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep by Sumire Morohoshi in Japanese and Ariel Winter in English.

Sora (ソラ?) is an original character created by Tetsuya Nomura, the protagonist of the series and the character that the player directly controls through a majority of the series. Sora's weapon is the Kingdom Key Keyblade. Though not the original one chosen to wield the Keyblade, Sora was ultimately chosen over Riku because Sora's heart was stronger, while Riku's heart became vulnerable and temporarily weak. Nomura has stated that Sora's name can be interpreted as "sky"; the Japanese word for sky is sora (空?). He is voiced by Miyu Irino in the Japanese version and by Haley Joel Osment in the English version. As a child in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, he is voiced by Takuto Yoshinaga in the Japanese version and Luke Manriquez in the English version. The Kingdom Hearts games feature well-known voice actors for the Japanese and English versions of the characters. The Japanese version featured Miyu Irino as Sora, Mamoru Miyano as Riku, and Risa Uchida as Kairi. Kingdom Hearts II introduced Kōki Uchiyama as Roxas, Iku Nakahara as Naminé, and Genzō Wakayama as DiZ. The English release of the Kingdom Hearts games featured many of the Disney characters' official voice actors. Wayne Allwine (later Bret Iwan after Allwine's death), Tony Anselmo, and Bill Farmer voiced Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy, respectively. Several high profile actors provided the voice acting of the main characters. The first game featured Haley Joel Osment as Sora, David Gallagher as Riku, Hayden Panettiere as Kairi, and David Boreanaz as Leon. Kingdom Hearts II saw the return of the main character voice actors and added Jesse McCartney as Roxas, Brittany Snow as Naminé and Christopher Lee as DiZ, with Alyson Stoner as Xion in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep also introduced several new actors to the cast, such as Jason Dohring as Terra, Willa Holland as Aqua, Leonard Nimoy as Master Xehanort and Mark Hamill as Master Eraqus.

The inclusion of specific Final Fantasy characters was based on the opinions of fans and the development staff. Another criterion for inclusion was whether the staff felt the characters would fit into the storyline and in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Initially, Nomura was hesitant to use characters he did not design, because he was unfamiliar with the background work of such characters. For Kingdom Hearts II, he changed his mind after receiving pressure from his staff. Throughout the development of the games, Nomura has often left certain events and connections between characters unexplained until the release of future games. Nomura did this because he feels that games should have room for fans to speculate and use their imagination. He stated that with speculation, even though a game may get old, people can still be happy with it.

The series centers around the main character Sora's search for his friends and his encounters with Disney and Final Fantasy characters on their worlds. Players primarily control Sora, though there are numerous characters who join Sora's party as computer controlled members. The majority of the characters were introduced in the first game, Kingdom Hearts. Several new characters were introduced in the sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, which also features alternative versions of previous characters created from Sora's memories. Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep added more Disney and Final Fantasy characters, as well as introduced new antagonists.

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (formerly Square). It is the result of a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive Studios. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various Disney settings based in a universe made specifically for the series. The series features a mixture of familiar Disney and Final Fantasy characters, as well as several new characters designed by Tetsuya Nomura. In addition, it has an all-star voice cast which includes many of the Disney characters' official voice actors.

Kairi was originally a resident of Radiant Garden as one of the seven "Princesses of Heart." She has an encounter with Aqua in Birth by Sleep and is given a protective charm to keep her safe from darkness, which leads to her being sent to Destiny Islands when Xehanort performs an experiment where all six apprentices of Ansem the Wise cause the invasion of darkness; in addition, she inadvertently gains the power to wield the Keyblade after touching Aqua's Keyblade.