I'm pretty sure when he designed the character he had the punk Kai in mind (talks like a delinquent, longish hair for a schoolboy), but didn't absorb the more interesting one we got on the screen (slacker-type, really a coward that only talks tough but grows beyond that). He was doing the comic in the 2000s, though!! How could he not see the character we got in the show after 20+ years?
I'm pretty sure when he designed the character he had the punk Kai in mind (talks like a delinquent, longish hair for a schoolboy), but didn't absorb the more interesting one we got on the screen (slacker-type, really a coward that only talks tough but grows beyond that). He was doing the comic in the 2000s, though!! How could he not see the character we got in the show after 20+ years?