Is Rick a racist?

[Uncle Jon]

I've never really interpreted him that way when I played the other versions as a kid, but I've heard some people jokingly call him that. I just thought Rick thought Kai was suspicious since he only visits the town during the Summer and was just overly protective of his sister. Also I found it really odd how in the N64 game Kai calls Gotz "master" in that game like as if he is a slave lol. I know it's sort of a British way of addressing someone who owns an estate similar to how a butler calls his employer master I guess.

[Metaspark]

I wouldn’t say it has anything to do with Kai’s race, just Kai himself

Rick firmly believes that his father just abandoned his family, which is why he’s so protective of his sister. When Kai comes in, it’s very likely he sees much of his father in him: a flippant, lax man who just comes into town whenever he wants and will disappear without a second thought, no matter what may be going on. He’s terrified for his sister, who shows an obvious attraction to Kai, because he’s afraid that if something befell Popuri much like it did Lillia, then Kai would just abandon her like their father did

[Kai]

Ugh, those people are just looking for something to be offended about, and raycism is the cause du jour lately. *eye rolls*
I love Metaspark's response s/he (sorry mate) summed it up really well. I didn't think of the father aspect from Rick, I just interpreted a protective older brother, since I'm an oldest sister I relate to that, but the father angle also makes a ton of sense.

[gayming_the_system]

Originally posted by Kai:

Ugh, those people are just looking for something to be offended about, and raycism is the cause du jour lately. *eye rolls*

I don't think I've ever met anyone who claimed (usually jokingly) that Rick is racist who was "looking to be offended". Maybe you should stop transplanting yer distaste for people who *gasp* actually care about ♥♥♥♥ and display empathy over people joking about a character because he happens to dislike the only dark-skinned character.

That said: It's probably Metaspark's response. Rick is being a ♥♥♥♥, but it's probably not based in race. It wouldn't really fit the mood of the game to have a character randomly be racist.

(jokingly) Let's be honest though - Rick's just mad because Kai's hotter than him and he knows it.

[funewchie]

People, enough with the real life crap.
If I wanted to read the news, I'd go to the actual newspapers. (Which are usually annoying and full of bovine plop)

I come to places like these forums to get away from all of that.

Originally posted by Darunia:

I've never really interpreted him that way when I played the other versions as a kid, but I've heard some people jokingly call him that. I just thought Rick thought Kai was suspicious since he only visits the town during the Summer and was just overly protective of his sister. Also I found it really odd how in the N64 game Kai calls Gotz "master" in that game like as if he is a slave lol. I know it's sort of a British way of addressing someone who owns an estate similar to how a butler calls his employer master I guess.

Nah.

Most people acknowledge it as Rick being over-protective of his sister.
(That said, Kai is well-known flirt, and Popuri (in this version) is childish and naive. His concern has some bearing, though it turns out Kai is harmless and really does care about Popuri.)

In the old version of the game, once Rick was married, he eventually did mellow out and gave Popuri and Kai his blessing.

His attitude made more sense in BTN, as Kai was a lot more jerkish in that version. When you first meet Kai, he cops quite a smug attitude towards you.
So...yeah, Rick's dislike of him made more sense there.
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As for 64, it's been stated that was a translation goof by Natsume (or as they spelled it "Natume").

Kai referred to Gotz with a very polite and formal expression for an employer. This evidently didn't have much of an English equivalent aside from "master".
(In the sense that you stated - like a butler referring to his employer)

Japanese has a lot of formal and polite expressions for people that don't translate terribly well into English.

[Hina]

i personally see it as Rick just being overly protective of his sister and paranoid of Kai because of his dad seemingly abandoning their family.