General Kingdom Hearts Manga Discussion

[KeybladeLordSora]

Well.
Fuck.
That sounds dreadful, and so uncharacteristic of Amano to drop the ball this badly.

Mans didn't even draw Sora's hand reaching for Aqua's. So it's basically Aqua drowning and somehow waking up on the Islands.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

It could be Amano’s editors asking them to hurry up with the story and get to the climax, which is a shame but somewhat understandable. But I have to say this, when it came to Anti-Aqua.


This is intimidating as all getout, an a good way to distinguish this as different from being a Xehanort heart tank. They don’t have Bleach Hollow eyes. This feature actually would’ve been cool to see in the game

 

[WaltK]

It could be Amano’s editors asking them to hurry up with the story and get to the climax, which is a shame but somewhat understandable.

I don't really get why that would be the case. Does Amano have other commitments? If not, then I don't see why he wouldn't be allowed to take the same amount of time as he did with KH2. I could've seen the story getting wrapped up in another two, three years tops if he had been allowed to cover Monstropolis and San Fransokyo.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

I don't really get why that would be the case. Does Amano have other commitments? If not, then I don't see why he wouldn't be allowed to take the same amount of time as he did with KH2. I could've seen the story getting wrapped up in another two, three years tops if he had been allowed to cover Monstropolis and San Fransokyo.

I don’t claim to know what’s going on with Amano or Gangan Online. And I agree, this manga could’ve covered Monstropolis and San Fransokyo if given enough time. But it could be a case of the manga not getting a high enough readership. And if I remember right, usually manga that aren’t doing well get the axe, and are only given so many chapters to wrap it all up.

All we know for certain is this. When asked on Twitter in English if worlds would be skipped, Amano responded:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1684450129313693696

I don’t know how different an online publication differs from a printed anthology, but if they’re anything alike, it may be that KH3 is on the rougher end of the rankings. I’m hoping that’s not the case, and that Amano is just switching things up to bring in the aforementioned worlds, but who knows.

 

[KeybladeLordSora]

Just saying, if he actually skips the remaining three Disney worlds he's just gonna have more baggage on his plate in terms of Org members and plotlines

Especially the Riku stuff cuz uh...Amano fuggin cut Repliku's appearance from the Anti-Aqua segment

 

[OrionGold]

I have been told by a Discord friend that this adaptation basically sucks.

 

[2 quid is good]

Kinda disappointing, I've always preferred the manga versions and was looking forward to how Amano would tackle KH3

 

[WaltK]

You know, with the fact that the reference to him earlier was left out, I'm almost half expecting Repliku to be left out of the manga entirely.

 

[KeybladeLordSora]

You know, with the fact that the reference to him earlier was left out, I'm almost half expecting Repliku to be left out of the manga entirely.

Amano cut him out of the remaining CoM plot and made him a joke in a bonus chapter of the CoM manga soooooo...


Seems the only Repliku references he didn't cut are the obvious one so Riku could tell Sora what Replicas are and probably Repliku speaking to Riku after he got nabbed by the Darknado, but I can't tell about that one cuz no one bothered fan translating after chapter 14.

Besides let's not forget how Amano treated Repliku's plot after the reveal in the CoM manga.

Like the only time in the manga where Repliku didn't act like he was Riku befiee this was in his introduction where he barely did anything before being forced into having his memories messed with. And his mere creation was treated as both a joke and an act of failure at the expense of Vexen simply cuz he couldn't get the real deal.

I honestly think Amano doesn't really like Repliku at all.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Seems the only Repliku references he didn't cut are the obvious one so Riku could tell Sora what Replicas are and probably Repliku speaking to Riku after he got nabbed by the Darknado, but I can't tell about that one cuz no one bothered fan translating after chapter 14.

Can confirm we do have the Repliku talking to Riku scene after Riku gets grabbed by the Darknado, but there’s no mention from Riku of his “other me” when he puts down his Way to Dawn. He does it while contemplating Aqua’s situation, and asks her to hold on a little longer. Then Mickey mentions to Riku that Aqua’s like Sora in strength of heart(after some clairification) which eases his worries.

I honestly think Amano doesn't really like Repliku at all.

I don’t know if I’d agree with that just yet. It’s all gonna depend on how the next few chapters and the Keyblade Graveyard arc as a whole are handled.
And to be fair, at the time the Chain of Memories manga came out, we only had 3 games out and nobody expected Repliku to have a role in the climax of the Xehanort saga, let alone that the Replica concept would be expanded on with both him and Xion. The focus of the manga was on Sora’s adventures in Castle Oblivion, while also checking in on Riku’s time there. And not long after that, if not the month after CoM’s manga wrapped up, Amano was jumping right into KH2’s manga.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Well, it looks like the KH manga has a new licensor? But not in the way I was expecting.

So, I was trying to find any possible info on an expected release date for the next KH3 volume, still nothing on that, but I came across this:

Kingdom Hearts

After a terrible storm shatters the peace of his tropical island home, a young boy named Sora is set adrift from his world and his friends, Riku and Kairi. Meanwhile, Disney Castle is in an uproar

abdobooks.com

I’ve never heard of ABDO Books before, but looking at their site it looks like they mainly focus on publishing books with libraries in mind. No mention of any other KH titles on there, though I did notice they had sets of IDW Sonic comics, so it’s likely that they’re not replacing Yen Press as a licensor for KH manga.

What interests me though, is that they’re showing 4 volumes on there, published in hardback just this month. I‘m guessing they’re re-releasing the Tokyopop version? If anyone buys these, or sees them in their local library, can you confirm which translation they use?

 

[WaltK]

I‘m guessing they’re re-releasing the Tokyopop version?

Nah.
As you probably saw with their IDW Sonic listings, they're doing the individual issues as hardcover books, presumably because they just like doing smaller books for libraries, so the same logic likely applies with these.

What I can't get my head around is that price tag. Is paying up to $100 for around 80 pages worth of reading material a thing that libraries do? Why not just buy the original books?

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Nah.
As you probably saw with their IDW Sonic listings, they're doing the individual issues as hardcover books, presumably because they just like doing smaller books for libraries, so the same logic likely applies with these.

That’s what I was thinking too. But then I saw their preview pages on the individual volumes:
This is straight up the Tokyopop version, on all 4 volumes.

What I can't get my head around is that price tag. Is paying up to $100 for around 80 pages worth of reading material a thing that libraries do? Why not just buy the original books?

The only possible reasons I could think of for the high price is that A)it’s a hardcover book as opposed to paperback which would cost more to produce, and/or B)the original Tokyopop version is out of print. But that second one would just raises further questions.
And I agree, it’d be much easier to just buy the omnibuses for the libraries.

 

[WaltK]

The only possible reasons I could think of for the high price is that A)it’s a hardcover book as opposed to paperback which would cost more to produce, and/or B)the original Tokyopop version is out of print. But that second one would just raises further questions.
And I agree, it’d be much easier to just buy the omnibuses for the libraries.

It's the same for the IDW Sonic issues.

 

[KeybladeLordSora]

That’s what I was thinking too. But then I saw their preview pages on the individual volumes:View attachment 16223
This is straight up the Tokyopop version, on all 4 volumes.

This ended up reminding me how both Maleficent fights and the Riku-Ansem fight were cut out completely and it made Sora's sacrifice look more like being fooled by Ansem.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Well, it looks like we got another delay on the manga. The next KH3 chapter was supposedly coming out in 2 weeks, on September 14th, now it’s been pushed back to the 28th.

 

[KeybladeLordSora]

Well, it looks like we got another delay on the manga. The next KH3 chapter was supposedly coming out in 2 weeks, on September 14th, now it’s been pushed back to the 28th.

Wonderful....

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Aaaaand another delay Looks like it’s been moved back to October 12th. Hopefully this means Amano’s using this time to plan out how the manga is moving for the next few chapters.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Aaaaand another delay Looks like it’s been moved back to October 12th. Hopefully this means Amano’s using this time to plan out how the manga is moving for the next few chapters.

Wild since we are in the end game now

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Wild since we are in the end game now

Eeyup. Hopefully it will be back on track sooner rather than later