Will our heroes manage to emerge from Castle Oblivion with their memories intact?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Shiro Amano
Translation: Althea and Athena Nibley
What They Say:
“Ahead lies what you seek… but to claim it you must lose something dear.” When a mysterious hooded stranger confronts Sora, Donald, and Goofy with these words, leading them to an ominous castle, the trio is sure they’ve stumbled onto an important clue about rescuing Riku and King Mickey after they were trapped in the darkness. But what looms ahead is Castle Oblivion, and to walk through its doors is to pay a heavy price. What are Sora, Donald, and Goofy willing to give up to be reunited with their friends?
Technical:
The cover here is a nice, goofy image of Sora, Donald, and Goofy over a red and black checkerboard background, giving a good look at the book’s art style. The back cover is a rather bland continuation of the background and a quick summary, with the single amusing detail of Jiminy hanging off the edge of Sora’s keyblade. Paper quality feels solid, and the book is rather thick. Color pages and short bonus comics are also included. The text reads smoothly, sound effects are subtitled, and honorifics are not used. The artwork here is definitely interesting. It’s usually fairly soft and a little goofy, and often slips into something even goofier, but it also does a surprisingly solid job with more serious scenes as well. Backgrounds aren’t terribly frequent and are usually a little simplistic, but it’s nothing particularly distracting. And of course, the artist does a good job of capturing the style of the Disney characters. It’s not a stunningly beautiful book or anything, but it does have a definite style to it, which is nice to see.
Content:
After quick recap of the first game/series’ events, our heroes find themselves approached by a mysterious stranger in a black coat. After some goading, they find themselves entering an ominous castle, where they begin losing their memories. This castle, Castle Oblivion, may contain hints to finding the King and Riku, so our heroes proceed, but their journey will clearly not be without danger.
Upon entering the castle’s first door, Sora and company find themselves transported back to Traverse Town. However, they soon find that none of their friends there are able to remember them. Even so, Leon and company feel a strange connection to them, and they are able to become friends all over again. Though they are able to find no clues in this repeated world, they do at least pop into the man in the black coat once again. He explains that that Traverse Town was an illusion created from Sora’s memories, and reveals himself as Axel before going on the attack. After deciding that Sora’s skills were enough for him to “pass,” Axel leaves and meets up with his comrades, all part of the mysterious Organization XIII.
Afterwards, Riku finds himself waking up in the castle as well, and soon finds himself confronted by Ansem regarding the darkness in his heart. However, Riku rebukes that darkness and starts exploring the castle, while another group of Organization members keep an eye on him. From there, Sora and friends meet up with Aladdin once again, Sora starts to “remember” a mysterious girl named Naminé, a Riku clone is created, and a number of fights ensue, even amongst members of the Organization.
As things start to reach a climax, Naminé herself appears before Sora, revealing that she’s slowly been working her way into his heart with fake memories and replacing Kairi, all part of the Organization’s plan. The Organization members start to fall to Sora and Riku, the leader of the Castle, Marluxia, reveals that he has been plotting treason against the Organization with the castle group, and Axel reveals himself as a traitor to that treachery. Axel decides to leave the cleanup to Sora, who in turn takes down Marluxia. With all the enemies defeated, Naminé offers to restore Sora’s memories by putting him to sleep, even while realizing that doing so will ironically make him forget her entirely. Riku finishes up his story as well, meeting up with the King and the mysterious Diz in the process, finally bringing the book to its conclusion.
In Summary:
This book makes for a decent read, collecting the entire story of Chain of Memories in a single volume, but like the game itself, it really suffers a little for being shoved between more major entries. Unfortunately I haven’t read the adaptation of the first game to say how much the sections repeating “worlds” from that game feel like retreads, but even regardless of that problem those sections feel just a tad empty. Similarly, the Organization members make for interesting and rather amusing villains, but we also don’t get a great feel for them or their motivations here, more of a rough outline. Even so, this book DOES do a good job alternating between silly and serious, with the members of the Organization in particular stealing the show. Furthermore, the way things alternate between Riku and Sora works rather smoothly, which is nice to see. It’s not a fantastic book, but it’s still fairly enjoyable and definitely a nice adaptation.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: June 25th, 2013
MSRP: $18.99
