Kingdom Hearts Volume 1 Review

Please note this review contains spoilers for Kingdom Hearts Volume 1!

Kingdom Hearts as a game was one of those ideas I couldn’t see happening today – Square Enix and Disney working together to create an original story utilising the worlds and characters of both the Final Fantasy and Disney universes, all whilst following original lead characters in Sora, Riku, and Kairi, as tragedy tears their friendship apart and sets them on a new adventure. The 2002 video game quickly became a classic and has since spawned a sprawling franchise that’s equal parts epic and confusing with all the entries included. 

This manga adaptation by Shiro Amano began in 2003, and was initially localised and released in the west in 2005, before seeing a re-release this year in 2025 courtesy of Turnabout and Panini Manga.

This first volume of the manga covers the game’s prologue and Sora’s introduction to firm companions Donald Duck and Goofy, as well as their foray into Disney’s version of Alice in Wonderland, based off the 1951 animated adaptation.

The early chapters see Sora, Riku, and Kairi living together on Destiny Islands as they build a raft with the goal to leave the island and explore the world beyond together. Tragedy strikes their plans as on the eve of their voyage, the Heartless (beings of darkness that act as a central enemy in the game and make up part of the overarching antagonistic threats of the game) attack and end up taking Riku and Kairi away, though it seems for different reasons.

As the Heartless seemingly get their hands on Sora too, he suddenly becomes beholden to the Keyblade, a key-shaped weapon effective against the forces of the Heartless and the darkness consuming the islands.

We cut away to our introduction to Donald and Goofy, who are instructed by King Mickey (Mouse), who has voyaged out on his own quest, to find the “key” that will act as the catalyst to preventing the further spread of darkness and Heartless invading the various Disney worlds.

Sora mysteriously finds himself whisked away from the darkness-engulfed Destiny Islands to the overall warmer and cosier Traverse Town, the hub world in the original game and a place of respite – something represented well here as, aside from the odd Heartless, Sora finds himself some new allies in Cid, Yuffie, and Squall (who chooses to go by Leon here), all from Final Fantasy VII, and VIII respectively.

Leon (who is initially rather rough with Sora) reveals that the Heartless will keep pursuing Sora as long as he has the Keyblade – and sure enough, Traverse Town comes under attack by a considerably tougher Heartless creature, with Donald and Goofy finding Sora just in time to team up for the first time and protect the citizens.

The three quickly agree to travel together in their Gummi Ship (apparently run on smiles – a nice little moment of Donald trying to cheer a worried Sora up) on the basis that their mission is to not only protect the various Disney worlds from the Heartless, but also try and locate Riku and Kairi in the process.

We get some glimpses of Riku in an unknown world, and more pressingly the presence of Maleficent, from the story Sleeping Beauty, who is shown to be  keeping a close eye on Sora and his new pals.

The manga pacing is thick and fast here and the final chapters of the first volume place the reader in the world of Alice in Wonderland, also the first world in the original game, and it’s as chaotic and nonsensical as you’d expect from the original classic, with the trio shrinking and growing in size to escape a house, and poor Alice finding herself at odds with the childish and violent Queen of Hearts, due to a theft Alice insists she had no part in.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy buy Alice some time by insisting they can find evidence of her innocence and traverse the weird world of Wonderland, encountering characters like the Cheshire Cat in a quest to save her but also seal the Keyhole of this world in order to save it from the Heartless. They succeed, but Alice is taken by the darkness and this is where the first volume concludes.

What immediately stands out with this manga is its advantage over the PS2-era game it is based off, with characters feeling overall more expressive but also with distinct designs that fit more with mangaka Shiro Amano’s style, as opposed to trying to maintain the strict designs from the Final Fantasy and Disney titles characters, though the Disney characters certainly feel closer to their original designs (likely due to Disney requesting this.)

This initial volume also trims some content – Destiny Islands notably only features Sora, Riku, and Kairi, with no Wakka or Sophie to be seen, they (understandably) cut out the part of the prologue where you grind for hours to level up Sora but I can’t say I miss that here!

This is a brisk read and as someone who enjoyed the original game, I thought it was a solid enough adaptation of the initial events, obviously editing the combat sections down to a few pages that showcase the main trio’s abilities (with Donald shown as being useful in battle, so perhaps not the most accurate representation). I also liked the little nods to the optional characters you meet in the game who pop up in the chapter opening pages like the 101 Dalmatians and Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Donald’s nephews.

Translation for Kingdom Hearts Volume 1 has been carried out by Alethea and Athena Nibley and it is solid here. The volume also includes some nice extras like several colour pages and some rough character sketches by Shiro Amano. It is also worth mentioning that this manga reads front-to-back like a typical western comic/graphic novel as opposed to back-to-front like a typical manga is presented.

Overall, Kingdom Hearts Volume 1 is a fun and sprightly adaptation of the game’s initial prologue and opening sections, and though it might seem too fast-paced in some areas, I thought it adapted the source material solidly enough to recommend further reading of the other volumes to see how they’re represented.

Our review copy from Panini was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).