Holy crap! I would have never expected to get 2.5k views in the first week of this being uploaded! Thank you to everyone who's watched this and supported me so far, I'll try to make more fun stuff in the near future ❤Don't forget to suggest characters/series I should cover in the future! 😎👍
While this is a good video, I would like to suggest to have more energy in your videos. It’s good writing don’t get me wrong, but it sounds like you’re just reading a script. But who knows, im just a child🙃
Kai really needed a season to himself. He hasn’t had one in like forever. Kai is boring now. He just says something every now and then and doesn’t really do much anymore
I love Kai. He feels so real and down to earth. I think out of all the main cast him and Cole are the two I would want to go bowling with or some random activity.
Ive always suspected that Kai's obsession with being the green ninja and attacking Garmadon couldve also been deeply rooted in Nya's kidnapping. After a traumatic incident like that, I dont blame Kai for nor trusting Garmadon. Especially with how Garmadon was acting towards him. And the fact garmadon was responsible for nyas kidnapping. Maybe Kai wanted to be the green ninja and wanted power was because he was scared of losing Nya again and not being strong enough to save her. I agree 100% with what you said in the video but maybe that had something to do with it as well. Also i just wanna say the fact Kai chose the son of the villain who kidnapped his sister, got him in trouble and hated for a while over the fangblade, what he belived would give him what he wanted most in life is amazing character development
Thanks for watching! I really enjoy Kai and Garmadon's rivalry, I think you're right that he may have this personal hate towards Garmadon for kidnapping Nya. I really like the idea that he wanted the power to not lose Nya again.
This arc has a nice little post-conclusion conclusion in Dragons Rising, with him teaching someone else the same lesson, as well as openly admitting that he's flawed
one thing i want to say that adds to this is in season 2. Where Kai and Lloyd are the last ones left on the tower about to face the overlord. Kai: Nya! Im gonna draw her fire so you can make it to the top. Lloyd: No dont! We can do this together (Lloyd who despite not wanting to be the green ninja, not wanting to be the best, but was forced to become the best (great power great responsilbility type of situation, shows how he still doesnt want the glory and doesnt want to have to fight alone.) Kai: No, theres only one green ninja. This is your fight. (Kai who despite wanting to be the best accepts that he isnt for the fate of saving the world. A very good parallel. And tbh I think kais first arc only really ends after s2 with training lloyd, fighting in the final battle, and giving the final speech of the show (when it was originally supposed to end).
@@tophatgeo yes I loved the vid lol. But I don’t think Kai’s arc ever ended. I mean if you break up his character into multiple arcs then yeah. But Kai is still getting tons of great progression to his character to this day in Dragons rising 👍
I really liked this video! Really great discussion of Kai here, its a shame he never really got another character arc as cohesive as this after S1. Sidenote: do you watch TheRealJims? Your editing style reminds me alot of his vids
Thank you so much! TheRealJims was definitely a big influence for the writing style/editing of the video. Glad you picked up on it! (By the way, I've seen your video on how Ninjago tackles resurrecting characters and I really enjoyed it!)
This was a really good video. Oh my god. Really enjoyed the deep dive into Kai as he is also my favourite character. He is just so interesting as a character in the early years. something I do kind of enjoy is that in season 4 (spoilers if you somehow haven't watched it just in case) After Zane defeats the overlord and all the ninjas just split up to handle their grief Kai kind of went to a place where he would fight and be their champion. Like you mentioned with Kai's insecurity he feels like their grand champion In that ring or arena to make him feel better about himself when he is actually feeling really sad. He feels like he should've been the one to sacrifice himself and not Zane because they all love Zane but I feel like it hit Kai the most. Jay went on to do a gameshow and Cole decided to cut trees but that was obviously because of Zane's death but also as they mentioned it's because of that god-awful love triangle. Kai literally took up drinking "Really sugary drinks" and fighting to keep his mind elsewhere. Lloyd also mentions him always wanting to be "the one". First with the green ninja and now wanting to be the one who sacrificed instead of Zane. I feel like those feelings of Kai wanting to be the green ninja for the most part went away, but they still exist somewhere in there. I think in the scene where Kai gets the staff of elements and the power corrupts him and he is mad with power and yells "I SHOULD'VE BEEN THE GREEN NINJA". that really messes with his head especially because he is conscious. It's kind of the same way Nya didn't want to be the green ninja because she saw Kai's obsession with it. Kai finally sees those emotions explode and comes to the same realization that Nya did. By the time season 5 rolls around he has moved on and he could be thinking about his realization of protecting the green ninja and taking that to heart when Lloyd mentions he is scared about where he is heading. Helping him become the main character as you say in the video. sorry if you read my weirdly long essay comment lol.
Thanks so much for this comment! You managed to get into a ton of elements I didn't get to explore here. Kai's desire to be "the one" and special and sacrifice himself in the place of others is a trait he exhibits multiple times in early seasons. I think that it takes until Possession for him to fully work through that aspect of himself and be completely ready to support Lloyd.
@@tophatgeo its okay it didnt make it into the video. I just love getting to think back and re-experiencing ninjago in new perspectives that you really need to dig deep to find. Thanks for reading my comment. And I wish you luck with your channel and life in General. Everyone needs a little good luck so yeah I try to spread a bit of luck hopefully. Again thx for reading the comment
I think it's no coincidence Kai's feelings about being the green ninja came back after Zane's death. The survivors guilt and Kai's insecurity probably got him thinking wasn't a good enough ninja to protect his loved ones, and that if he had been given a chance with the green ninja power maybe things would have been different. Maybe, unlike Lloyd, he would have decided to keep the elemental powers to himself but in doing so be powerful enough to sacrifice himself instead of Zane. It would have been so cool if season 5 was about him finally moving on from the green ninja identity and learning to value himself for who he is, and not how good of a ninja he is. Morro was the perfect foil for this! Also, I love how we all just agree those were absolutely *not* sugary drinks being served at an underground fight club 😂
Definitely my favorite ninja when I was a kid, he was so relatable to me as I am kind of a hot head, impatient and I hate losing. And of course I wanted him to be the green ninja. But now.. Kai is just not as serious and just a comic relief character which sucks.
Here before it blows up... This is a pretty well done video, and a topic that I wanted someone to discuss Also I would love a Ronnin video as he is my favourite side charachter and is actually very well written Keep it up man,. you definately earned a new subscriber 😁
Hey Geo. ( im Futte from AJ's server btw). Really great video. i dont know anything about Ninjago, but you sold Kai's character journey really well. im looking forward so seeing more videos from you in the future :D
he always should have been the main character. I was so angry when in season 7 he finally got the limelight back only for the season to be cut short because the show was renewed.
He's my favorite ninja, and one of my favorite characters. It's a shame that he really declined after season 10. You can argue that he went down starting with season 8, but that was more so that he just didn't have much screentime. In season 9 he got some good moments.
(it is I! the Oz!) Geo I did not expect this to ever see you do a Ninjago youtube video of all things, but this is pretty cool! If I had the power I'd make a video of my own, lol
Hi Oz! It's definitely a bit of an odd topic but it got me interested enough to make a video which I think is fun! I'd recommend giving it a shot if you want to make a video, once you learn the very basics it can be pretty fun
kai is my favorite the way he is he would give anything and everything for anybody and he is the best big brother and best friend he's the best father his jealousy made him the person he is today we know lego messed him up after season 8 but I still see the strong ambitious fun but broken boy he is just the best ninja overall🥹
Kai deserves a solo season I mean he was the focus ninja in the pilot but it's a 44 minute special and not a season, he had season 4 wich felt like a kai season during the first 8 episodes but once you reach the last two episodes of the season he very much got sidlind in his own season in favore of focusing on Lloyd and garmadon in the last two episodes, he had season 7 and I thought kai was at his best in season 7 but sadly he shared it with nya, secrets of the forbidden spinjitzu was marketed as a kai season but let's be real secrets of the forbidden spinjitzu is not a kai season, fire chapter was a team season and the ice chapter was a Lloyd season so yeh we really need a solo kai season, the closest thing that we got to a kai season was season 4 with him being the focus ninja for the first 8 episodes but he got sidlind in his own season during the last two episodes so yeh he really deserves a solo season cause he is a great character
New Casting Ninjago Movie Characters: Kai Smith Lloyd Garmadon Nya Smith Jay Walker Zane Julien Cole Bucket Skylor Chen Master Wu KoKo Garmandon Emporor Chen Clouse Garmadon (cameo) #TheLEGONinjagoMovie 🎥 🔥✳️💧⚡️❄️🪨💥
Kai is still my favorite ninja tbh, wish they made him as serious and more main character focused man. Also wish they didn’t change their designs and pitch up their voices smfh..
You have some really excellent opinions, and I wish I could watch a video, but your profanity is a powerful limiting factor. It’s really a shame, and I wish things were different.
Holy crap! I would have never expected to get 2.5k views in the first week of this being uploaded! Thank you to everyone who's watched this and supported me so far, I'll try to make more fun stuff in the near future ❤Don't forget to suggest characters/series I should cover in the future! 😎👍
You deserve it man. This what I have been waiting for someone to talk about why Kai was such a great character back in the days.
While this is a good video, I would like to suggest to have more energy in your videos. It’s good writing don’t get me wrong, but it sounds like you’re just reading a script. But who knows, im just a child🙃
He's my favorite ninja, shame he's not serious as before
Kai really needed a season to himself. He hasn’t had one in like forever. Kai is boring now. He just says something every now and then and doesn’t really do much anymore
Same,so true...
I prefer dynamic characters over static ones tbh
Dragons Rising is redeeming him imo.
Dragons rising redeemed him for me ngl
Kai has always been my favorite and I loved his relationship with Lloyd in season 5 when Kai promised to look after Lloyd.
I feel like Kai's partnership with Wildfyre was one of the best decisions with him in the mentor role.
Agreed! It's a really exciting development for him in Dragons Rising
I love Kai.
He feels so real and down to earth. I think out of all the main cast him and Cole are the two I would want to go bowling with or some random activity.
Ive always suspected that Kai's obsession with being the green ninja and attacking Garmadon couldve also been deeply rooted in Nya's kidnapping. After a traumatic incident like that, I dont blame Kai for nor trusting Garmadon. Especially with how Garmadon was acting towards him. And the fact garmadon was responsible for nyas kidnapping. Maybe Kai wanted to be the green ninja and wanted power was because he was scared of losing Nya again and not being strong enough to save her. I agree 100% with what you said in the video but maybe that had something to do with it as well.
Also i just wanna say the fact Kai chose the son of the villain who kidnapped his sister, got him in trouble and hated for a while over the fangblade, what he belived would give him what he wanted most in life is amazing character development
Thanks for watching! I really enjoy Kai and Garmadon's rivalry, I think you're right that he may have this personal hate towards Garmadon for kidnapping Nya.
I really like the idea that he wanted the power to not lose Nya again.
@@tophatgeo oh no problem. Kai is one of my favourite characters in the series so I'm glad I found this video
This arc has a nice little post-conclusion conclusion in Dragons Rising, with him teaching someone else the same lesson, as well as openly admitting that he's flawed
Love this video, Kai has always been my favourite
one thing i want to say that adds to this is in season 2. Where Kai and Lloyd are the last ones left on the tower about to face the overlord.
Kai: Nya! Im gonna draw her fire so you can make it to the top.
Lloyd: No dont! We can do this together (Lloyd who despite not wanting to be the green ninja, not wanting to be the best, but was forced to become the best (great power great responsilbility type of situation, shows how he still doesnt want the glory and doesnt want to have to fight alone.)
Kai: No, theres only one green ninja. This is your fight. (Kai who despite wanting to be the best accepts that he isnt for the fate of saving the world.
A very good parallel. And tbh I think kais first arc only really ends after s2 with training lloyd, fighting in the final battle, and giving the final speech of the show (when it was originally supposed to end).
Thanks for the comment! I find it really interesting to see where people draw the line for where Kai's arc ends
@@tophatgeo yes I loved the vid lol. But I don’t think Kai’s arc ever ended. I mean if you break up his character into multiple arcs then yeah. But Kai is still getting tons of great progression to his character to this day in Dragons rising 👍
@@iswiftyfox8997 And THAT is a good character arc. They never truly end.
Why ao many parentheses
It's three.. @@Opt1musPr1meK
I really liked this video! Really great discussion of Kai here, its a shame he never really got another character arc as cohesive as this after S1.
Sidenote: do you watch TheRealJims? Your editing style reminds me alot of his vids
Thank you so much!
TheRealJims was definitely a big influence for the writing style/editing of the video. Glad you picked up on it!
(By the way, I've seen your video on how Ninjago tackles resurrecting characters and I really enjoyed it!)
This was a really good video. Oh my god. Really enjoyed the deep dive into Kai as he is also my favourite character. He is just so interesting as a character in the early years.
something I do kind of enjoy is that in season 4 (spoilers if you somehow haven't watched it just in case) After Zane defeats the overlord and all the ninjas just split up to handle their grief Kai kind of went to a place where he would fight and be their champion. Like you mentioned with Kai's insecurity he feels like their grand champion In that ring or arena to make him feel better about himself when he is actually feeling really sad. He feels like he should've been the one to sacrifice himself and not Zane because they all love Zane but I feel like it hit Kai the most. Jay went on to do a gameshow and Cole decided to cut trees but that was obviously because of Zane's death but also as they mentioned it's because of that god-awful love triangle. Kai literally took up drinking "Really sugary drinks" and fighting to keep his mind elsewhere. Lloyd also mentions him always wanting to be "the one". First with the green ninja and now wanting to be the one who sacrificed instead of Zane. I feel like those feelings of Kai wanting to be the green ninja for the most part went away, but they still exist somewhere in there. I think in the scene where Kai gets the staff of elements and the power corrupts him and he is mad with power and yells "I SHOULD'VE BEEN THE GREEN NINJA". that really messes with his head especially because he is conscious. It's kind of the same way Nya didn't want to be the green ninja because she saw Kai's obsession with it. Kai finally sees those emotions explode and comes to the same realization that Nya did. By the time season 5 rolls around he has moved on and he could be thinking about his realization of protecting the green ninja and taking that to heart when Lloyd mentions he is scared about where he is heading. Helping him become the main character as you say in the video.
sorry if you read my weirdly long essay comment lol.
Thanks so much for this comment!
You managed to get into a ton of elements I didn't get to explore here. Kai's desire to be "the one" and special and sacrifice himself in the place of others is a trait he exhibits multiple times in early seasons. I think that it takes until Possession for him to fully work through that aspect of himself and be completely ready to support Lloyd.
@@tophatgeo its okay it didnt make it into the video. I just love getting to think back and re-experiencing ninjago in new perspectives that you really need to dig deep to find. Thanks for reading my comment. And I wish you luck with your channel and life in General. Everyone needs a little good luck so yeah I try to spread a bit of luck hopefully. Again thx for reading the comment
I think it's no coincidence Kai's feelings about being the green ninja came back after Zane's death. The survivors guilt and Kai's insecurity probably got him thinking wasn't a good enough ninja to protect his loved ones, and that if he had been given a chance with the green ninja power maybe things would have been different.
Maybe, unlike Lloyd, he would have decided to keep the elemental powers to himself but in doing so be powerful enough to sacrifice himself instead of Zane.
It would have been so cool if season 5 was about him finally moving on from the green ninja identity and learning to value himself for who he is, and not how good of a ninja he is. Morro was the perfect foil for this!
Also, I love how we all just agree those were absolutely *not* sugary drinks being served at an underground fight club 😂
I never watched Ninjago. but, that character and story analysis is wonderful!
Definitely want to see more 👍
Thanks Guzu! I'm wanting to try and branch out more when it comes to videos 😎👍
Definitely my favorite ninja when I was a kid, he was so relatable to me as I am kind of a hot head, impatient and I hate losing. And of course I wanted him to be the green ninja. But now.. Kai is just not as serious and just a comic relief character which sucks.
Great analysis bro! Kai is my favorite ninja
Really loved this video, the editing style is very fitting & i like how you explain your points. keep it up! 🙂
Thank you so much!
🔥W vid dude! Kai is my favorite character, I really hope the new show gets him back to his earlier roots(plz more Ninjago content soon)
Great analysis on Kai.
Here before it blows up...
This is a pretty well done video, and a topic that I wanted someone to discuss
Also I would love a Ronnin video as he is my favourite side charachter and is actually very well written
Keep it up man,. you definately earned a new subscriber 😁
Thanks so much!
Incredible analysis! Please do more Ninjago videos!
Hey Geo. ( im Futte from AJ's server btw). Really great video. i dont know anything about Ninjago, but you sold Kai's character journey really well. im looking forward so seeing more videos from you in the future :D
Thanks so much Futte! And thank you for your kind words and advice on the video on the discord!
Good video i really enjoyed it! You should totally make one for Nya.
Thank you so much!
Very great video! He really is something special 🔥
he always should have been the main character. I was so angry when in season 7 he finally got the limelight back only for the season to be cut short because the show was renewed.
He's my favorite ninja, and one of my favorite characters. It's a shame that he really declined after season 10. You can argue that he went down starting with season 8, but that was more so that he just didn't have much screentime. In season 9 he got some good moments.
Great analysis geo! cant wait to see if you do more! (if i can do a litte bit of critique is making the background music maybe a little bit louder)
Thanks Blaze! I'll be sure to keep it in mind next time!
(it is I! the Oz!)
Geo I did not expect this to ever see you do a Ninjago youtube video of all things, but this is pretty cool!
If I had the power I'd make a video of my own, lol
Hi Oz! It's definitely a bit of an odd topic but it got me interested enough to make a video which I think is fun!
I'd recommend giving it a shot if you want to make a video, once you learn the very basics it can be pretty fun
@@tophatgeo yeah, my only problem would be doing the editting. I can talk for a while, but editing something? bleh.
@@OzsomeScribble editing can be pretty tiring 😅i think i ended up over-editing this a bit, in future i'd definitely do less quick edits
kai is my favorite the way he is he would give anything and everything for anybody and he is the best big brother and best friend he's the best father his jealousy made him the person he is today we know lego messed him up after season 8 but I still see the strong ambitious fun but broken boy he is just the best ninja overall🥹
Kai got the worst character assassination, he became more of a comedy relief in the later season, and is not that strong, selfless leader anymore :(
The first of many
Kai deserves a solo season I mean he was the focus ninja in the pilot but it's a 44 minute special and not a season, he had season 4 wich felt like a kai season during the first 8 episodes but once you reach the last two episodes of the season he very much got sidlind in his own season in favore of focusing on Lloyd and garmadon in the last two episodes, he had season 7 and I thought kai was at his best in season 7 but sadly he shared it with nya, secrets of the forbidden spinjitzu was marketed as a kai season but let's be real secrets of the forbidden spinjitzu is not a kai season, fire chapter was a team season and the ice chapter was a Lloyd season so yeh we really need a solo kai season, the closest thing that we got to a kai season was season 4 with him being the focus ninja for the first 8 episodes but he got sidlind in his own season during the last two episodes so yeh he really deserves a solo season cause he is a great character
I recognized your comment on 2 videos!
New Casting Ninjago Movie Characters:
Kai Smith
Lloyd Garmadon
Nya Smith
Jay Walker
Zane Julien
Cole Bucket
Skylor Chen
Master Wu
KoKo Garmandon
Emporor Chen
Clouse
Garmadon (cameo)
#TheLEGONinjagoMovie
🎥
🔥✳️💧⚡️❄️🪨💥
man the writer done my boi dirty
kai is the whole reason i love red, swords and fire
Kai is still my favorite ninja tbh, wish they made him as serious and more main character focused man. Also wish they didn’t change their designs and pitch up their voices smfh..
4:33 Is that the tarry town music from Zelda
Yep! It's a remix, you can find a link to it in the description
Yes
Yeah very early when we got yellow zane. (I miss yellow Zane)
Wdym yellow Zane?
The Zane that died in season 3 lol
@@carlosdiazcastro5346 ohhhhhhhhh
@@carlosdiazcastro5346 yeah I’m not a big fan of titanium Zane
@@n8thanwithan8
Why?
Geo W
thank u overhaul
You have some really excellent opinions, and I wish I could watch a video, but your profanity is a powerful limiting factor. It’s really a shame, and I wish things were different.