Kingdom Hearts Volume 4 Review

Please note this review contains spoilers for Kingdom Hearts Volume 4!

Kingdom Hearts was a 2002 video game that 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.

Volume 4 concludes the story of the first Kingdom Hearts game, whilst also setting up future events through special shorts included within this edition. It sees Sora, Donald, and Goofy venture to Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent plots to enact her scheme involving Princesses from other Disney worlds.

This leads us to meeting the Beast, from the 1990 Disney classic Beauty and the Beast. He’s here to save Belle, the princess from his world, and aids our heroes as they face off once more against Riku, Sora’s childhood friend who has fallen under Maleficent’s influence and driven, like Sora, to save their friend Kairi. The conflict between taking the light and dark path is exemplified in this conflict, as Sora notes how “Real power comes when people care about one another – Real power comes from your heart!”

The twists come thick and fast though as not only does Maleficent’s device not work even after acquiring all of the Disney Princesses’ hearts (Kairi’s heart is seemingly missing), but Riku gives into the darkness and becomes a vassal for none other than Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, as described in the reports discussed in the previous volume, wherein he discovered the Heartless and became immersed in researching how their existence came to be. Ansem banishes Maleficent to the darkness and reveals that Kairi’s heart resides inside of Sora, and so he volunteers himself to free her.

An awakened Kairi flees with Donald and Goofy as Riku’s consciousness fights back against Ansem’s possession, and Kairi manages to find Sora amongst the Heartless roaming Hollow Bastion. As a gargantuan Heartless threatens our heroes and the now-rescued Disney Princesses, Cid arrives to lend a hand, with help from Leon/Squall, Aerith, and Yuffie from Tarrey Town, revealing that Hollow Bastion was once their childhood town before it became consumed by darkness.

Our heroes resolve to take down Ansem once and for all and must venture out in the Gummi Ship to the Great Darkness that threatens to engulf and consume everything around it. Kairi gives Sora a Lucky charm to guide him back home, and the final adventure begins. Their location is naturally a desolate world, where they find the other Disney Worlds imprisoned, including Destiny Islands. Here, they confront Ansem, resulting in the villain attempting to throw our heroes into the Endless Abyss, all while vying for the Kingdom Hearts to bestow on him the power of Darkness.

Sora refuses his requests, declaring that Kingdom Hearts isn’t and should never be darkness, and that whilst hearts may stray, there’s always a light within that never goes out, and that Kingdom Hearts is light, not darkness. Ansem becomes consumed by the light and is seemingly vanquished, freeing Riku who assists Sora (with a little help from King Mickey no less). The doorway is closed for good, and the Disney Worlds returned back to where they should be. As the volume, and indeed this story concludes, Sora, Donald, and Goofy find themselves on the road again trying to track down Riku and King Mickey, though in a special short included here, they encounter a robed individual who is trying to track them down, thus setting up events for Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II.

Translation for Kingdom Hearts Volume 4 has been carried out by Alethea and Athena Nibley and again it is solid here. The volume also includes some nice extras like the aforementioned Special Shorts, with  several colour pages dedicated to the Winnie the Pooh world that is otherwise skipped in this manga adaptation, and I felt it suited being a bonus chapter better and am happy it wasn’t otherwise missed altogether. 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 4 barely stops for breath as the climactic conclusion to the first game plays out, and whilst it could perhaps have used an extra chapter or two to breathe, it makes for a fun read and a fairly satisfying conclusion to this manga adaptation – the bonus special shorts are also welcome additions!

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