Creative Staff
Story/Art: Shiro Amano
Translation: Althea and Athena Nibley
What They Say
Nobodies: empty shells created when a person’s heart is lost to darkness. The Nobody Roxas, created when Sora released his heart to free Kairi’s and who knows nothing of his past, joins the mysterious Organization XIII soon after his birth. With the help of Axel, another member of the organization, and the mysterious Number XIV, who is also missing her memories, Roxas slowly begins to learn what it takes to be a part of Organization XIII… and what it means to have a heart.
Technical:
The cover here has a nice little image of Roxas staring innocently, holding his keyblade and ice cream. The back cover is left as a simple logo and synopsis, which gives the book a decently classy look overall. Some colored pages at the start and a goofy bonus story at the end are included as bonuses. Paper quality feels solid, text reads smoothly, sound effects are translated in a stylized form, and honorifics are not used.
Like the rest of the Kingdom Hearts manga series, the artwork here uses a simple yet expressive style. It captures emotions and actions fairly well, and gives the book a cute look that fits it well. It’s not an amazingly beautiful book, but it certainly has a nice style going for it.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
On his seventh day with Organization XIII, the young Nobody known as Roxas awakens, finally becoming more than just an empty shell. Furthermore, a fourteenth member of the Organization named Xion joins, apparently a special wielder of the keyblade, just like Roxas. Thanks to the expressive Axel, Roxas is able to learn the ropes about his job, gathering hearts in order to complete Kingdom Hearts. With their day’s work complete, Axel and Roxas eat sea-salt ice cream together, and Roxas starts to gain a few emotions. As he meets the rest of the Organization he learns that there are both good and bad Nobodies amongst the eccentric group, but Axel is the only one that tries to offer him friendship.
Just when they’re getting close, though, Axel is sent off to Castle Oblivion alongside approximately half of the Organization. In exchange, though, Roxas ends up finally talking with Xion, learning in the process that she’s actually a cute girl who seems oddly familiar. Having been taught by Axel, Roxas now extends a hand outward and becomes her friend, bringing her along to eat sea-salt ice cream as well. Before things can get too happy, though, Roxas learns that the Organization members at the castle were terminated, and he fears for his friend. Unable to handle the loss of Axel, Roxas breaks down and sees a flashback where he is called Sora, and ends up falling into a coma.
While Roxas sleeps, Xion keeps on collecting hearts, always worrying about her friend. As she goes out on missions she brings him back seashells, and constantly deals with the vandalizing of his sleeping form. After Roxas wakes up and has a moment with Xion, Axel ends up popping back into his life. Unfortunately, things once more take a turn for the worse as Xion becomes unable to use the keyblade. Worried about his friend, Roxas asks to work together with her, hoping to secretly make up the deficit in hearts through sheer hard work. Will their plan succeed, or will Xion end up useless in the eyes of the Organization?
In Summary
Coming from a game with a pretty barebones plot, this book actually makes for a pretty enjoyable read. The core focus is the budding friendships between Roxas and Axel, as well as Roxas and the newcomer Xion. It comes across very well, and actually makes for a cute and touching little tale. Interestingly enough, this is a volume of the series without any Disney content, which is actually a nice change of pace considering those stories were starting to get a little worn down anyway. Hopefully the series will be able to keep on making good use of the minimal plot, as what’s presented here is a lot of fun.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 19th, 2013
MSRP: $11.99
