(Also before I begin I apologize for the low quality for the pics below, but than again I'm not trying to impress anyone with high quality pics,I'm just trying to do a review.)
Alright some information out of the way first, originally this Manga was released as 4 light Manga at about 100 pages each. They were later released with the Final Mix subtitle and changed into 2 normal sized Manga with some added materiel. Tokyo Pop however (as far as I could tell anyway) never released them in this format, but YenPress did during their release. Though strangely they labeled them as Omnibuses online though no where on the book itself are they refereed to as such. I'm sure it was just a simple mistake but it just seems like one so easy to notice and I think the only reason they made this mistake is because the Kingdom Hearts 2 and Chain of Memories Manga are labeled as Omnibuses. Anyway onto the review.
Our story begins with the legend of Kingdom Hearts strangely enough as we cut over to our protagonist Sora waking from his tutorial dream. Unfortunately we don't see what difficulty Sora prefers or his rate of experience or what he favors between attack,defense, and magic. We are also introduced to two other important characters Riku and Kairi, Sora's best friends. The three are making a raft that they hope will take them off there home world of Destiny Island and let them see other worlds. A rather big change between game and manga is that Kairi as well as Sora and Riku already know that Kairi is from another world, where as in the game it was stated till much later even then it wasn't really in your face. Though to fair this doesn't change much. We then switch over to our main characters classic Disney characters Donald Duck and Goofy you are the court magician and guard captain of Disney Castle, however this is never stated in within the Manga. We learned that Mickey who is the king of Disney Castle is missing, as it turns out he ran off to the Wastelands because he decided to be a jerk and dethrone Oswald who rules over Faux-Disney Castle. On actually as it turns darkness is destroying worlds and Mickey is finding a way to save the worlds, and he tells Donald and Goofy to look for someone he refers to as the "Key". We are also introduced to Daisy,Minnie,Pluto, and Jimmy Cricket who don't really do much in the story. We cut back Sora who after being lost in flashback is visited by a unknown man in a brown cloak, I would say who this is but seeing how this was changed in Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance I'll save your sanity. Later Destiny Islands is attack by the Heartless(the darkness Mickey was talking about) and Sora is left helpless as he watch both Riku and Kairi are lost to the the darkness. As Sora is about to be consumed by the darkness he is saved by gaining the power of weapon called the Keyblade. Here's a question about the Keyblade, is it sharp or is it blunt? Than again Keyclub doesn't have the same ring to it as Keyblade. Anyway with Keyblade in hand Sora begins to fight back against the Heartless and the darkness in general, his battle also pits him against Darkside a Heartless boss from the game. Unlike the game Sora doesn't need to wait around waiting for Darkside to lower it's head so you actually attack it, as he just needs to run up it's arms(off screen mind you) to take it out in one hit. Though to be fair this is a decent way of showing a boss fight without being like other Manga and dragging on battles, it just would have been nice to see Sora running on screen.
Unfortunately defeating Darkside doesn't save Destiny Island which is lost to the darkness and Sora himself is sent to a world called Traverse Town, at the same time Donald and Goofy arrive but two walk right past the alley that Sora is in. After waking up Sora explores the surrounding area and comes across a..prostitute?
First Marvel than Star Wars and now prostitutes, what other unlikely things will we see next in Disney next?
However right after this unexpected encounter some Heartless attack and we get a pretty gruesome scene as a solider Heartless thrust it's arm into the prostitute's chest and rips out her heart holding it in it's hand..........................................................................................uh yeah I don't care if there was no blood or gore this is pretty disturbing. In the game the scene is just a solider attacking some random guy who falls over and disappears as his heart warps away.
an actually Disney film
Anyway instead of fighting the Heartless Sora runs into a random building where he meets Cid(Final Fantasy VII) who drives the Heartless away with a camera. So the Heartless are the ghost from Fatal Frame? So Sora ask him if he's on another world and Cid gives a weird look. I would say it's because Sora is showing awareness of other worlds but the whole point of Traverse Town is that it's a safe haven for people who lost their worlds(something Cid points out on the same page) it can't be because he sees the Keyblade but there is no way he could see from where Sora is standing when he asks that question. Anyway after this Sora leaves Cid's home where he soon encounters Yuffie(Final Fantasy VII) and Squall(Final Fantasy VIII) who calls himself Leon, Leon knocks Sora out so he can brought to to a safer place where he can giving some exposition, which is quickly interrupted(without exposition giving) as Heartless attack. Sora quickly meets up with Donald and Goofy, the three then team up to defeat another Heartless boss named Guard Armour. Unlike with Darkside Sora doesn't run off screen during the fight. After the fight we set up the premise of the story: Sora,Donald,and Goofy will travel to different worlds to stop the darkness from destroying more worlds, while at the same time Sora will also be looking for Riku and Kairi. Very simple and works well for a game and and adventure so it no surprise this was adapted into another media. We are also introduce to one of our main villains Maleficent, and while we don't see them physical till some time later Maleficent is also joined by Jafar,Hades,Captain Hook, and Ursula. Before setting out Sora is told not to say the three of them are from other worlds which was not brought in the games and doesn't really amount to much here so it's pointless. Anyway our trio travel on a spaceship know as a Gummi Ship(maintained by Chip and Dale) which is powered by smiles, I'm pretty sure that line was in the game but the manga takes it very literal.
The first world our trio travels too is Wonderland, and plot wise it follows very closely to the game. Alice as been accuse of trying to steal heart of the Queen of Hearts while Sora and company try to get proof it was the heartless. Here the search for the proof is condense to them getting a box with a Heartless in given to them by the Cheshire Cat. Like in the game Alice has disappeared after this and while searching for her they come across another Heartless boss know as Trickmaster. It's here where we our biggest changes to the plot, unlike the game the Cheshire Cat helps Sora defeat the Trickmaster by helping him use magic. After the fight our heroes discover a mysterious Keyhole that appears inside the mouth of the Doorknob, which is quickly sealed by the Keyblade. Our heroes also learn from the Cheshire Cat that Alice is no longer in Wonderland and that she is now on another world, we also learn that the other villains had tried to recruit the Cheshire Cat to their ranks but he wait what? Yeah in the manga they actually had the Cheshire Cat almost in league with the villains. This is such a random thing, for starters who looks at the Cheshire and thinks "oh yeah of the greatest Disney villains" and also it's never brought up again. It is then reveled that Alice as been captured by the Disney Villain Gang(yes that's what I'm calling them).
After leaving Wonderland Sora crashes the Gummi Ship(off screen again) into a meteor forcing our heroes to return to Traverse Town to have Cid repair their ship. While the ship is being the trio meet up with Leon again who explains that each world has a heart which is access via a Keyhole,so if the Heartless find a world's Keyhole they find it's heart thus having the world consumed by darkness. We are also introduced to Aerith(Final Fantasy VII) an ally of Leon and others, she is also the most obscure Final Fantasy character who is remember for absolutely nothing. Our heroes also learns that a special Gummi piece they found after defeating Trickmaster is a navigation Gummi that will help them find other worlds, something that is really only brought up in the first game. The three are than ask to delivery a book to Merlin who also trains Sora in magic, which sees a little pointless as Cheshire Cat already did this. After meeting with Merlin and setting up a side quest of collecting torn pages for the book which is The 100 Acre Woods, this however will not be brought in the main story instead it is concluded in a bonus chapter which I believe is only in the Final Mix version of the Manga so this was completely pointless. After this pointless meeting Sora is reunited with Riku who seems to find be at first but soon disappears after seeing how close Sora is with Donald and Goofy, it is quickly revealed that Riku is in league with Maleficent. We also learn that Maleficent use the Heartless to destroyed the world and another side quest is introduced as it revealed that Maleficent is trying to find reports written by a researcher know as Ansem, which was not a thing in the game, though unlike 100 Acre Woods this will be brought up the in the main story again. And finally finally after all this stuff being thrown in our faces Sora and company is back on their journey.
Our next destination is Agrabah where we are properly introduced to Jafar who is using the Heartless to search for Jasmine and the Keyhole. Maleficent makes a cameo stating they need Jasmine because she's one of the princesses they need to open the final door they will let them control all the world. And lo and behold Jasmine is off in the distance being hidden by Abu, however the two are quickly set upon by Heartless. Meanwhile our Trio is stuck inside quicksand while Aladdin is to busy going on about his girl troubles before summoning Genie to save them,hahaha they could have died. After the rescue Genie goes over his story of granting wishes and having to be sent back to the lamp until someone else finds his lamp, after hearing this sad story Aladdin question if he could wish for Genie's freedom. Our heroes are soon found by Abu who tells them about Jasmine being capture, but oh on it was a trap so Iago could steal the lamp from Aladdin to wish Genie to take him to the Keyhole leaving our heroes to fight some Heartless. At the Cave of Wonders,where the Keyhole is located we learned that Jafar plans to use Genie and the Heartless to not just take over Agrabah but every world. Maleficent shows up to collect Jasmine as our heroes show up to stop Jafar, Aladdin tries to save Jasmine but he fails and Jafar wishes Genie "crush these street rats" which translate to zap them with electricity.During Genie magic barrage Aladdin is most likely screaming "SHIT SHIT HOLY SHIT". Since Genie fails on purpose to kill our heroes Jafar wishes to become a genie himself, fortunately this is his downfall as Sora realizes that like Genie Jafar is bound to a lamp and after getting it away from Iago(off screen yet again) he returns Jafar to his lamp along with Iago, who is no doubt saying "OH WELL at least we tried". So Jafar is defeated, the Keyhole is sealed, and Aladdin wishes for Genie freedom as his last wish(he used his second wish to save Goofy who almost died as they were escaping the Cave of Wonders) because "A deal's a deal" even though there was no deal Aladdin just ask if he could wish for Genie's freedom, but whatever. Our trio leave promising Aladdin they'll find Jasmine and receiving Genie's lamp show they want to summon him into battle.
Next after a quick scene of Riku in Maleficent's lair revealing she has Kairi our trio head fo Olympus Coliseum. No you fools you have to go to Deep Jungle first so you can learn Cure it make Olympus Coliseum much easier. After a out of nowhere cameo from Jimmy Sora tries to enter the games but is refused by Phil because he doesn't have an entry pass. Lucky after leaving the coliseum entrance the trio run into Hades who gives them a entry pass as he wants Cloud(Final Fantasy VII) to kill both Sora and Hercules in the games.
Everything but capiche"
After a training montage we are introduced to Hercules who looks kinda off, I can't say why but Hercules has always been a Disney character that just seems off in these manga.
Anyway Sora and company enter the games and defeat several Heartless but lose to Cloud(yet AGAIN off screen) who is immediately betrayed by Hades who unleashes Cerberus on him when he questions the Keyblade. Hercules arrives to save the day to fight off Cerberus with only one hand because he's carrying an unconscious Cloud, our trio escapes but Sora wants to go back and help Hercules fight Cerberus. And so volume 1 ends with our heroes running off to fight Cerberus while Hercules gets Cloud to safety.
OK I get into how this work as a adaption and overall story when I talk about volume 2 so instead I talk about the artwork this time. I really love Shiro Amano artwork on the Kingdom Hearts manga series, all the characters translated really well to manga,aside from a couple Disney characters and despite some actions taking place off screen we do get some really well drawn actions scenes which will get better in later series. As I questioned in the title why are these chapters so short? Except for a couple each chapter was less than 10 pages long and no starting with volume 2 the chapters will be about 15 pages each, I couldn't find any information online while the first half had such so short chapters and it will make even less sense when we get to other series when the chapter are about 20 pages. Anyway we'll conclude Kingdom Hearts Final Mix next Friday(or Saturday whatever) till than this is WinterDeathPeach saying peace out.
