I'm admittedly not the biggest Kay fan. I initially loved her as a kid, but when I replayed AAI years later I found myself a lot more meh on her

From the first game, I thought she was a bit of a flat character. I'm not saying "Maya clone", but she exists almost entirely to deliver a story we've seen so many times in this series before

I finally got playing AAI2 (which I had only experienced with dowolf's translation before) and wow, I'm impressed that Kay turned out to be a very positive part of the game. And I don't agree with a lot of the common sentiment I see about her in the game

(Allow me to play strawman for a moment--even if you yourself don't 100% agree, you've seen these statements before)

"She has nothing to do the entire game, except Case 4" - First of all, having a major role in a single case is more than most returning characters ever get. Second of all, the portrayal of Kay and Edgeworth's relationship in Case 4 is one of the best parts of this game, so it's unfair to dismiss it anyway

Finally, she does contribute plenty. Beyond the pieces of evidence she provides or Little Thief segments that are invaluable, she saves the day at the end of Case 2. She helps save Shaun in Case 5. She has her own little arc mirroring Edgeworth's where she decides to go beyond what her Dad was, and strive to be a hero

But most of all, she HAS PLENTY OF SCREENTIME. So even all the small filler segments help paint a picture of her character, and make up for the late introduction she got in the previous game. Even if you want to argue that Kay had a 100% filler role in this game, I would LOVE if one of my favorite forgotten characters in this franchise got a role even half as large as Kay did in this game (appearing in EVERY SINGLE CASE). Maya didn't get nearly the same treatment in SOJ after not being in a game for over 10 years

"Case 4 she's just a damsel in distress" - I agree her portrayal is a little too sweet and innocent, and I'm not a huge fan of amnesiac Kay as a character. I think what it does for the story though, especially her and Edgeworth's relationship, is fantastic. There's maybe one too many "just like the Kay I know" moments, but it's otherwise very sweet in showing how BOTH of them are willing to sacrifice anything for the other. A case like this was 1000% necessary at this point in the duology

But most of all this plotline intrinsically ties Kay to the larger mastermind narrative of the game, and is a big part of HER motivation in stopping the mastermind in Case 5. It seems like people forget that the mastermind didn’t just betray Edgeworth

Her banter with Edgeworth is repetitive - I agree the thief jokes get a little old, but they aren't the only joke. There are some genuine funny moments in their banter, even if there are also unfunny and repetitive parts. But I also think AAI2 has a lot of largely unfunny parts so I'm not going to pile this issue on Kay

She's a thief but doesn't steal anything, it's stupid! - She gets a temptation to steal, but she only steals the truth. It's just her thing. Her Dad was her hero, so obviously she'd follow in his footsteps and think being a thief who steals the truth is the right thing to be

Now even after saying all that, Kay still isn't one of my favorite characters or anything, but I think she's a really damn good one in AAI2. I'm really surprised that she's one of the more commonly criticized parts because I think she was utilized so well in comparison to the first game