September 26, 2011

Kingdom Hearts, Shiro Amano

"Wait," I hear you saying, "isn't Kingdom Hearts a video game?" Yes, yes it is. It is a video game series spawning just about every game system out there, from the PS2 to the GBA to the PSP and DS and--when Dream Drop Distance (a.k.a 3D) comes out--the 3DS, not to mention mobile phones, if you for some reason played Coded in Japan and not Recoded on the DS like a normal American, because Nomura is clearly in the pay of Nintendo and Sony.

But that aside, Kingdom Hearts is also a manga series!

Overall the manga follows the same linear story line of the games, though it adds some things and presents other events from different angles. It also takes a more light-hearted and comedic approach--for example, Naminé wearing a hard-hat when Sora and Riku are running around tearing up Castle Oblivion. For those of you who've played any of the games, you probably know who I'm talking about. For those of you who haven't, well, let's see if I can encapsulate the continuous plot of six games into a relatively reasonable-sized post.

...Okay, I can't. For real, guys, this entry has been sitting on my computer for a month waiting to be posted while I try to figure how to cram the storyline of KH into a paragraph or two. It's about the forces of light battling the forces of darkness! Except when it isn't. It's also about monsters that have names that make no sense--Heartless are made solely of hearts, Nobodies are bodies without hearts, the Unversed...well, that's a spoiler (if you haven't played BBS), but they still don't make much sense.

So far there are translated versions of Kingdom Hearts 1 (4 volumes), Chain of Memories (2 volumes), and Kingdom Hearts 2 (3 volumes, technically. Volume 3 of the KH2 manga exists, and believe me we here at Mooresville Public Library are trying to get it; but the print run on it was much smaller compared to the ones on all the others that it is, shall we say, an extended [and extensive] process. It's not even for sale on Amazon at wallet-gouging prices! That's pretty bad. I'm not discounting the possibility of simply trying to buy the blasted thing at a con and donating it to the library, but currently that is plan Z.) Volumes 4 and 5 are not available in English, and the translation was cancelled when TokyoPop restructured in 2008, so those are only available via scanlations.

There are several light novels adaptations of the games, but only Kingdom Hearts 1 and the first volume for 358/2 Days have been published in the U.S. The other novels (for CoM and KH2) are not officially available in English, though there are fan translations.

There is no anime version of Kingdom Hearts, which is kind of a shame.

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