[BOOK REVIEW] Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix Volume 2 by Shiro Amano

Title:  Kingdom Hearts:  Final Mix Volume 2

Author:  Shiro Amano

Genre: Comedy / Adventure / Sci Fi / Video Game



Year Published: 2013



Year Read: 2013



Series: Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix #2


Publisher: Yen Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 9+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

After reading the first volume of “Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix,” I just had to check out the second volume of this fantastic manga series! Behold, I had finally managed to read the second volume of “Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix” and man was this volume just as brilliant and exciting as the first volume!

In this volume, Sora and his new friends Donald and Goofy continue to search for King Mickey and Riku and they ended up going to more new worlds!  They meet up with Pinocchio and his father in the belly of Monstro the Whale, end up in Atlantica and meet Ariel, go to Neverland and meet Peter Pan and ended up in Hollow Bastion while meeting the Beast!  Also, Sora will soon discover that his best friend, Riku might have turned to the dark side and Sora will have to find a way to bring Riku back to normal, while defeating the heartless!

Shiro Amano has done it again with the stellar writing and the hilarious and dramatic artwork for this story!  I loved the fact that this manga series remains faithful to the video game it was based off of as the characters act exactly the way they did in the games (except a little sillier in some places) and the situations from the games play out so brilliantly in manga format!  I loved the fact that we get the mystery surrounding the heartless solved in this volume and after I discovered the true purpose of the heartless and the person who was responsible for creating the heartless, I was truly taken aback and I started enjoying the story even more then!  Shiro Amano’s artwork is truly hilarious and dramatic at the same time as the Disney characters are drawn extremely well! I really loved the artwork of the characters from Neverland and Atlantica, especially the images of Ariel and Tinkerbell as they are the cutest looking characters in this book!  I also loved the way that Shiro Amano drew the dramatic scenes of Sora and his friends trying to fight the Heartless as the scenes look truly intense and at times frightening!

Overall, “Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix Volume Two” is a fantastic conclusion to the “Kingdom Hearts” series and a possible beginning to a new story (in the form of “Kingdom Hearts Two!)”  I definitely cannot wait to check out the second part of the “Kingdom Hearts” series in “Kingdom Hearts Two” and this is definitely a series that fans of “Kingdom Hearts” should check out!

[BOOK REVIEW] Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix Volume 1 by Shiro Amano

Title:  Kingdom Hearts:  Final Mix Volume 1

Author:  Shiro Amano

Genre: Comedy / Adventure / Sci Fi / Video Game



Year Published: 2013



Year Read: 2013



Series: Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix #1



Publisher: Yen Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I just want to say that I am a huge fan of the “Kingdom Hearts” games, as I played all of them (at least, the ones that came out on Playstation) and I enjoyed the game play and the storylines involved.  So, imagine my surprise when I found out that they were making a manga series about the famous “Kingdom Hearts” games and I just had to pick this series up to see if it is just as good as the games were!

In this volume, Sora is separated from his friends Riku and Kairi when a terrible storm hits his home island and he is thrown into another world.  In that world, Sora meets up with Donald and Goofy, who were travelling to other worlds to find King Mickey, who had suddenly gone missing.  It was then that Sora, Donald and Goofy decided to work together to find both King Mickey and Riku and Kairi while Sora defends the world from the monstrous Heartless, using his newfound Keyblade.

Shiro Amano had done a fantastic job at adapting Tetsuya Nomura’s concept for the “Kingdom Hearts” video game series into manga format.  I loved the fact that Shiro Amano made the manga faithful to the original games, with a few changes here and there, and it was great seeing my favorite characters from the “Kingdom Hearts” games come to life in manga format.  I also loved the strong friendship built between Sora, Donald and Goofy as it was a hilarious yet heartwarming type of friendship as they were bonded when they were all trying to find people that they care about and I loved how this story emphasized the importance of friendship, even during rough times.  But, what always intrigued me about the “Kingdom Hearts” series was the fact that we are able to see our favorite Disney characters intertwine with the characters from “Final Fantasy” and such.  Even though Sora was a made up character for the “Kingdom Hearts” games, it was great seeing him mingle with other Disney characters such as “Hercules,” “Alice in Wonderland,” and “Aladdin.”  It was also interesting that Shiro Amano made the manga version of “Kingdom Hearts” much funnier than the original games as Sora seems to act more childish in this version than in the games and I really enjoyed the hilarious bantering between Sora, Donald and Goofy.  The artwork for this volume was extremely well done as the characters look both realistic and slightly exaggerated, which gives this volume a dramatic yet comedic feel.

Overall, “Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix Volume One” is a fantastic volume for anyone who is a huge fan of the “Kingdom Hearts” games and I will definitely be checking out the second volume to this series!  I would recommend this volume to children ages five and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this volume.