Customer Reviews

Kingdom Hearts II Volume 2 (v. 2)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you've read Kingdom Hearts to this point, you have noticed that Shiro Amano's manga/adaption has evolved. Back in volume one of Kingdom Hearts; she gave you a terribly short story that was not only rapid and confusing, but had little flow, with tiny but detailed and neat art. The manga was a mediocre companion to the fantastic RPG.

However, In Chain of Memories, Amano had a change of art and reversed his style. His art grew messier and less perfect with larger, clearer panels and battle sequences actually became existent. (ie: Battle with Axel in CoM:1) The pacing was still quick, ceased to be overwhelming or over-conservative. In my opinion, it was a breath of fresh air. However, instead of four tiny books, Chain of Memories was compacted into two bulky ones. Go figure.

Finally, in Kingdom Hearts 2, the long awaited Roxas finally arrived, and I doubted he looked better. However, Hayner, Pence, Olette certainly didn't. Not only did Hayner become a spaz and a loudmouth, Shiro Amano looked as if he rejected completely, the intricacy and tidiness he had exhibited back in KH1. The perspective and the beauty he had put into every character totally faded away with Sora's absence. Worse, Amano anted up on super-deformity and exaggerated faces, especially on Hayner. Compared to a regular, Greenhorn manga-ka, it's good. Compared to what I've seen Amano do, it's not. In addition, Though Axel, Diz, and Namine each shared excellent character developement, Roxas seemed left behind on everything he was in the video game. (Hey, I only said he LOOKED good.)
But this book is where it all changes.

Roxas has come alive: Never before had Roxas shown so much emotion than in KH2: volume two. All that anger, bottled up inside him from early in the beginning gushes out fantastically. Sure, Amano slacked a bit, but he certainly didn't slack when it came to illustrating Roxas's feelings. This is Roxas captured in raw passion, which you didn't see as lucidly in the RPG. Every dirty look, sliding tear, and determined grimace is perfect. Axel's portrayal is also stunning, the Axel-Roxas relationship is shown much stronger in the adaption than in the RPG.

Sadly, after Sora makes his comeback, the rest of the story feels like happy and mild; KH1 all over again. Sora is happy, (until he cries, of course,) Pete is shown as a complete doofus, and everything you expect to happen happens. The gang visits Yen Sid's tower, and there's a wonderful reunion with the Hollow Bastion gang. Exaggerated faces, Sora goes all googly, some gentle conflict. The entire second half feels dull compared to the raw energy of Roxas's story, but I can't really blame Amano for it.

In conclusion, this was an excellent addition to the series so far, though the transition was a big shift; Amano should have kept some of the soberness to linger on. But I'm more than satisfied.

Alright Amano, I'm ready to see what you've got next There's no turning back now.

I bought this as a gift for my younger brother. He has recently gotten into the whole 'manga' craze and is still young enough to think that Disney is kinda cool. I was very pleased as well as my brother. This is one of his favoritesw, if not one of the few books he actually enjoys reading. Rite now he's at the age where reading is not as fun as it used to be and video games are the coolest things ever.. this book is so great becuase it combines my brother's love of video games but still makes reading fun.

Ordered used, but It came looking new, just had to take off a sticker, and wam! I just saved 20 bucks.

I am not overly fond of the Kingdom Hearts manga in general - it frequently has a sillier tone than the games do, and the characters are altered slightly in ways I don't quite like. For example, the friendship between Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy seems rougher and more sarcastic, as opposed to the sweet group of loyal friends that they are in the games, especially in KH2. (However, it is a little cool to see the more mundane side of Organization XIII, such as when Zexion pushes Vexen's chores onto Lexaeus after Vexen was killed by Axel.)

This volume in particular is a little better than usual. I bought it because of the Roxas/Axel interaction, which is a bit more in-depth than the game goes into. You can see a few more hints of Axel's soft-hearted, friendly side, which was explored in the 358/2 Days game. Roxas is not portrayed anywhere near as silly as Sora is in the manga, and he has some depth of character that most of the others lack in their manga incarnations.

The Roxas-angst is great up until Sora re-awakens; then it's back to Sora & co. being more goofy than they need to be. There's a nice glimpse of Leon & co. at the end.

The artwork is all right, not brilliant but not bad. There are some nice drawings, such as when Roxas starts to get serious about battling Axel.

Got all 4 books and they're just great! Perfect condition, right on time, and great content. Thx!

I USED TO HAVE ALL OF THE FIRST VOLUMES BUT I LOST THEM ALL WHEN I MOVED. DAMN!!

I bought this for my 12 & 13 year old nephews and they LOVE it! They said it is just awesome and continually rave about it. They use a Playstation 2. I do not know how it would compare with "better" technology than a Playstation 2 but they are clearly awed and happy with the Playstation 2 version.

They tore up the story and the art work stinks on all characters that aren't from Disney.