Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Vol. #01

By Julie Rosato     October 16, 2006
Release Date: October 10, 2006



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Shiro Amano
Translated by:Not Available
Adapted by:Not Available

What They Say
The sequel to the bestselling Kingdom Hearts manga series!
The door to Kingdom Hearts was sealed, dealing a blow to the heartless and restoring the worlds to normal, but Riku and King Mickey were trapped inside! Now Sora, Donald and Goofy's search for their friends leads them to the mysterious Castle Oblivion, where a hooded figure tells them, "Ahead lies something you need, but to claim it, you must lose something dear." But what could be more dear than one's own memories?

The Review
Thought Sora found all the answers on the other side of the door? Guess again!

Packaging:
TOKYOPOP uses the original wrap-around coverart featuring Sora and his traveling companions Donald, Goofy and Jiminy Cricket. While still generally faithful to the original, TOKYOPOP did tweak several small aspects of the cover design. They've added effects, such as a chain-link border down the right side and the volume number done in the card motif, and they've also added images of the trio in the card motif to the back. None of these changes look bad, but neither were any of them necessary. The globalized Kingdom Hearts logo is used on the front for the title. Color plates are reproduced in black and white, as they were in the original tankouban. There is a small bonus section at the end with illustrations and paper-doll faces for Sora, as well as a preview of the upcoming Kilala Princess manga.

Artwork:
The artwork here looks much the same as it did in the original Kingdom Hearts series, although faces are a bit rounder. This makes the characters appear even younger though they should be getting older, but otherwise the designs remain generally faithful to their originals. For the majority of this volume there is more focus on the Square-Enix characters, though familiar Disney faces start popping up once Sora and Co. begin moving through the stages of the castle. There's a good bit of humor mixed into the character interactions too, so there's a sketchy quality or chibi-effect showing up every so often. Action sequences look a bit better this time around with the increased page count giving Amano a bit more time to draw out what's happening. There is not as much art going on in the backgrounds, but you don't really notice it missing and there are plenty of game details still present to remind you where you are.

The major difference this time around: The printing here is about as good as it can get with TOKYOPOP, which is a considerable improvement over that of the first series. While things are still typically a bit on the dark side, the nuances of shading and tonework are not nearly as lost this time around.

SFX/Text:
SFX are left totally untouched and untranslated. While I generally consider the work incomplete without their translation, the SFX are, once again, often deeply integrated into the panel art and flow, and so I am almost glad for this omission. As much as I'd like to see it, subtitling the text would crowd already crowded areas and TOKYOPOP lacks the retouch finesse of some other publishers for the larger occurrences. The translation overall seems good, the gags work, and dialogue flows fine. I was pleasantly surprised to see a "Doraemon" reference left in, though it wasn't footnoted. I'm happier with the script in this second series so far, although no translation credits are listed in the book, which leads one to believe Disney provided it once again.

Contents:(please note the follow may contain spoilers)
Chain of Memories begins where Kingdom Hearts left off - Sora and the gang are on a road between worlds searching for a way to reunite with Riku and King Mickey. Ahead of them lies Castle Oblivion, where an organization of mysterious robed figures wait, and where Sora must go to find what he seeks. To do so will require him to lose something precious though, and with only this small piece of cryptic knowledge to guide him, Sora surges forward.

Castle Oblivion is built on memories, and so upon entering Sora, Donald and Goofy begin to lose theirs. A robed man named Marluxia warns them that as they press on they will forget more, but promises link strong hearts and our heroes know they must go forward if they're to keep theirs. They begin to travel through the worlds of their memory, first Traverse Town and then Agrabah, but no one remembers them and there are no signs of either Riku or the King.

See, the real story takes place in the halls of the castle (or floors, as they're broken into), with the interactions in the worlds between them offering little more than cryptic hints to pull Sora along (or deceive him, as the case my be). Our heroes' mettle and abilities are tested in turn by the members of the Organization, at least one of whom (Axel) appears to be a mystery all unto himself. So far they've passed the Organization's "tests" but are unsettled by the strange castle and still don't understand just what's going on. Trusting in their hearts, rather than their steadily failing memories, Sora, Donald and Goofy decide to continue on their search. As long as they've got each other, it doesn't matter what else they forget.

In the middle of all this, the story shifts focus to the events happening simultaneously to... Riku! He's being tested too, only he must war with his own heart and the darkness within it. From deep within himself he is issued a challenge of darkness by Ansem (yes, none other), but King Mickey's intervention grounds him in the light. Unable to tell for certain which one is his path, Riku decides to run from neither - and hopefully find his true self and reunite with his friends in the process.

But wait, that's not all! With Riku's awakening we also meet some more members of the Organization -- Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion -- who're exceedingly interested in Riku's dark powers and who have an agenda entirely different from those busily courting Sora up in the castle proper. Oh, and one more thing - who's that blonde girl Sora sees when he thinks of Kairi?

Comments
Confused? Feeling teased? Well, don't worry, you're not alone. Now, that sounds like a bad way to start a positive review, but stick with me. For all it doesn't answer, this manga makes up in capturing those same elements of the game. There is lots of mystery, déjà vu... and more than a little frustration. The questions keep us turning the pages, despite our understanding slipping further away as we do. Normally, this sort of approach might have reviewers balking, but is this not just how Sora feels? Genius, really! Telling the Reverse/Rebirth (Riku) storyline in tandem with Sora's trip through Castle Oblivion is also a terribly clever way to adapt the two segments of the game, and a great way to keep things moving. The story can only run on cryptic dialogue, philosophizing and filler (let's face it, revisiting original worlds is filler) for so long, and giving us all three "plots" to follow at once is probably the best way to perpetuate it. The result is actually a pretty good volume of manga. Oh yeah, and it's funny.

The story told in Chain of Memories (the game) is little more than a very non-linear bridge between Kingdom Hearts I and II, but when paired with the manner used to adapt it here, it becomes a manga more interesting than the original series. So for now, and especially if you haven't played the game, don't worry about figuring out the mysteries (or maybe, what's happening at all), just sit back and enjoy the ride. Or consider instead its purpose, as both a bridge and a story that unfolds backwards: to provide a series of answers so that one will ask the right question.