Will you be picking up this final volume of the Kingdom Hearts III Manga? Let us know in the comments below!

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You can view Amano's comments regarding the conclusion of the Kingdom Hearts III manga below, thanks to our team's Ryuji and @corfidbizna: 

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"Thank you very much for the many warm words of encouragement for the final chapter. I am very sorry to all of you who have been waiting such a long time for it, but the publication was postponed for a long period of time, and was not fully drawn. I would like to thank all of our readers and everyone involved for watching over us until the very end. I hope this manga motivates you to enjoy the game, the game covers everything."

Currently, there seems to be no word on Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind content receiving an adaptation through the manga, and no word on a Western release of either volume 3 or the final volume of the manga. 

The Kingdom Hearts III manga had initially began releasing in April 2019, and has been releasing chapters over the past 5 years via Gangan Online. Volumes 1 & 2 of the manga were published through Yen Press for release in the West, while Volumes 1, 2, and 3 were available for Japan. 

What do you think of the conclusion of the Kingdom Hearts III manga? Let us know in the comments below!

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WHY DID RIKU DIE TO THE HEARTLESS TORNADO? WHY was his Heart all glassy and fading and had to be saved by Sora?

In KH1, when Ansem SOD kicked Riku's Heart out of his body, it fell into the Realm of Darkness but Riku's will was so strong he retained himself and kept existing there without becoming a Heartless!

But in KH3, he loses his Heart to the tornado attack...and just DIES and has to be saved by Sora?

Riku should have been strong enough to survive it even as just a Heart, like Kairi did! Riku has a prior feat to back it up even!

I guess it's just more KH3 PIS...so the story could happen...

Take a closer look at the Kingdom Hearts III Knitted Plush King Mickey in our gallery below

Will you be picking up this new plush to add to your collection? Let us know in the comments below!

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Then, the manga's Japanese retailer, Gangan Online, revealed that Chapter 28, releasing on their website on March 16th, 2023, will feature Arendelle. Currently, their app has that same Chapter, with Chapter 29 planned to launch on April 6th, 2023. 

Further, the third volume of the Kingdom Hearts III manga was announced with a cover featuring the cast of Toy Box. So far, Square Enix Japan has the volume available for ¥790. 

You can view the third volume's cover art below:

Lastly, the Kingdom Hearts III manga artist, Shiro Amano, has shared a new illustration to commemorate the third volume's launch. 

Check out the articles for the previous chapters by clicking on the links below!

• Chapter 0 Prologue Japanese English
• Chapter 1 The New Departure Japanese English
• Chapter 2 Olympus Coliseum Part 1Japanese English
• Chapter 3 Olympus Coliseum Part 2 Japanese English
• Chapter 4 Olympus Coliseum Part 3 Japanese English
• Chapter 5 Olympus Coliseum Part 4 Japanese English
• Chapter 6 Olympus Coliseum Part 5 Japanese English
• Chapter 7 Olympus Coliseum Part 6 Japanese English
• Chapter 8 Olympus Coliseum Part 7 Japanese  English
• Chapter 9 The Dark World Japanese English
• Chapter 10 Unbreakable Connection Japanese English
• Chapter 11 The Self inside the Mirror Japanese English
• Chapter 12 Reunion Japanese English
• Chapter 13 Warmth Japanese English
• Chapter 14 Destiny Island Japanese English  
• Chapter 15 Remaining Light Japanese English
• Chapter 16 Tracking the Bond Japanese English 
• Chapter 17 Following the Heart's Guidance Japanese English
• Chapter 18 Twilight Town [1]  Japanese English
• Chapter 19 Twilight Town [2]  Japanese English
• Chapter 20 Toy Box [1]  Japanese English
• Chapter 21 Toy Box [2]  Japanese English
• Chapter 22 Toy Box [3]  Japanese English
• Chapter 23 Toy Box [4]  Japanese English
• Chapter 24 Toy Box [5]  Japanese English
• Chapter 25 Lea and Kairi
• Chapter 26 Kingdom of Corona 

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In KH3 when Roxas comes back (It's going to happen), him and Lea will finally be together again. To make the Keyblade War climactic and dark, Lea should die. This will make people take the war very seriously, it is a war after all. To add, Lea should die in Roxas' arms, this will add to the tragic element of Roxas' life and create character development for him. It will also remind the player of how Xion died in Roxas' arms. Heck, Roxas could even start getting flashbacks of Xion's death.

This will isolate Roxas and push him further away from the cheerful side of his former 'other half'.

Roxas could then go off and focus more on himself rather than surrounding himself with other people. He'd become the opposite of Sora in a sense. He could even try to attain Kingdom Hearts from Master Xehanort in order to revive his fallen comrade. 

In the credits, Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura is given credit for Hero's Fanfane, which is being heard with the gameplay.

The synopsis for the movie reads as follows:

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"Chang, a 16-year-old Asian American high school student in band, bets the school basketball star that he can dunk by homecoming. But before he can rise up, he'll have to reexamine everything he knows about himself, his friendships and his family."

Chang Can Dunk is available to watch on Disney+.

Let us know what you think about this cameo in the comments below!

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Take a look at some of the important bits of the interview translated by our team's Ryuji! We will update this article once more parts of this interview are translated.

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Famitsu Interview with the Musical Production Team of KINGDOM HEARTS III

Interviewer: Finally, the long-awaited KHIII Soundtrack is going to be released soon. The album contains 8 CDs, which is an impressive volume, if I do say so myself.

Shimomura: Combining the amount of tracks in the "numbered KH titles" [that is, KH1 and KH2, not counting BBS, Days, etc.] was around 100. However, since this time around we decided to include all of the songs in the entire Seekers of Darkness saga, as well as the tons of different arrangements and versions, I imagined it would pass 100 songs easily, and not fit in a single disc....To be honest, I didn't even count how many soundtracks were in total. (laughs)

Interviewer: There are new arrangements, but there's also the songs that left a strong impression on fans, such as the track that plays during the Keyblade Graveyard fight. Now that one was very heated!

Shimomura: Thank you. The soundtrack that plays during Xemnas, Ansem and Xehanort, "Forza Finale" [means "last force" in Italian] was composed by Yasunori Nishiki, and even I was truly in awe when listening to it. The soundtrack that plays during Master Xehanort's final fight in KH3 [specifically, during the part where he summons the χ-blade], "Dark Domination", was a collaboration between original melodies I wrote in the past and new elements from Ishimoto, and I believe it turned out to be an amazing song!

Interviewer: The disc also contains the songs that play in the worlds. There are some beautiful songs among them.

Shimomura: The battle songs and the field songs of each world were separated across different discs, and I honestly disliked such a thing. I proposed that each world's songs should be compiled together, and not separated like books in a library. Especially since the arrangement of the battle song is similar to the one you listen to in the world, so why separate them?

Interviewer: Did the recent Coronavirus outbreak affect negatively the production of the soundtrack?

Shimomura: Before the outbreak even began, most songs were already done, and since most of us would record in a studio and then listen and fine-tune at home either way, I don't think there were many critical issues.

Interviewer: Have there been any times where you had to do a re-take of a song?

Sekito: No re-takes were necessary on KH3's songs but if there's one song that got so many retakes, it was Kingdom Hearts Unchained X's [Now called Union Cross]  "Mission Complete!" I remember we had to re-take that song EIGHT times. (bitter laugh)

Shimomura: You see, the KH series can't be too "Final Fantasy-esque" so I think that was probably why the song had to be redone so many times.

Interviewer: What was a soundtrack that you feel needed extra attention in its composition? (Sekito's answer)

Sekito: For me, that would be the song that plays during the dancing minigame in the Kingdom of Corona, "Sunshine Dancer". Since that song starts with a very fast tempo, and I wondered: "Is this even possible to play?", I went out and asked Mitsushiro Ota.

Interviewer: If I recall correctly, he had worked on Final Fantasy XV's soundtrack, correct?

Sekito: Yes. Since the song had its roots in folklore, I asked his team to play the song. Guitars, violins…everything was played by his team. The song came out perfectly. If you get the soundtrack, please listen closely to it, as I know you'll feel the professionalism in the song.

Interviewer: What was a soundtrack that you feel needed extra attention in its composition? (Ishimoto's answer)

Ishimoto: For me, it was the Caribbean world's "Flags of Fury". I composed it with the intention to make the intro stick in your head. I would appreciate it if the intro was the part that you remember most from the song.

Interviewer: What was a soundtrack that you feel needed extra attention in its composition? (Shimomura's answer)

Shimomura: It's hard for me to pick just one for various reasons…but if I had to pick, I would choose Yozora's theme, "Nachtflügel". It's the last song I wrote for KH III and I think it came out amazing for various reasons. And it was a nice challenge after composing songs such as "Dearly Beloved", "The Other Promise", and "Vector to the Heavens". I think "Nachtflügel" represents Yozora very well, and that's important.

Interviewer: I see.

Shimomura: …Though this is not related to the song itself, I feel like if you cut a song midway, you really lose the flow. There was an incident where I was playing a song to compose and then suddenly, the power went out.

Interviewer: Oh my! Did the data get corrupted/damaged?

Shimomura: Oh, the data was just fine. It's just…I had completely lost the flow of the song, and thus, I had to replay the song from the beginning, in hopes I could get the flow back. This sort of thing happened before when I was composing "Destati" and I was like "I need to try and not lose the flow…!" but that…didn't help.

Interviewer: Why did you go for foreign language names for your song titles? (i.e. French for "Musique pour la tristesse de Xion", Italian for "Destati", German for "Nachtflügel")

Shimomura: It was our plan to release KH worldwide, so I felt that if we put the titles in Japanese, we risked losing out on their true meaning if they got translated to English or French, due to how ambiguous Japanese can sometimes be. The language also helps set the mood for the song. For example: Xion's theme, "Musique pour la tristesse de Xion" [which means "song for the sadness of Xion" in French], is a theme that has "sadness" in it, and I felt that the word "tristesse" in French fit way more than the English words of "sad" and "sadness". Yozora's theme means "Yoru no tsubasa" [night wing] in German, but translating it in English as simply "Night Wing" or "Mirror of Night" would look…too simple and not fit his character at all, I feel. Because Yozora is a character with a different perspective of the world, I thought German for his song would fit perfectly. So here's a pro tip I give: When titling your compositions, focus on giving a title that justifies the feeling of your song. And also, don't fear using puns.

UPDATE [13/12/2020]: We have updated the translation after spotting a mistake. The updated parts have been highlighted in red.

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There's one theory I've gotten especially attached to - the video game theory. I'm not the only person to come up with the idea, of course, but I think I might be the first person to put it all together and write it all down.

It's 19 pages, but it's a pretty quick read because half of it is screenshots. lol I think we're getting close to finding out whether this one is true or not, so now's the perfect time to read it! If you like it, please share it! And of course, lemme know what you think. I need answers!!!

edit: Oopsie. I had to remove my link. You can read it all right here now underneath the spoiler tag below!

Spoiler

OVERVIEW

 

Here's the gist of this theory: The world of Kingdom Hearts is a video game, the characters are fictional with a questionable amount of agency, destiny is the script, and everything in the world is made of data. Also, the Master of Masters is aware of this.

 

What initially started as a crack theory has continued to gain a concerning amount of evidence and support. I first started to question the possibility of this theory while playing khux and KH3, but I believe the idea for this concept could have began as early as KH2 or Re:coded. Before the release of KH3, Nomura had recommended that people play Re:coded and I think he might have made that suggestion for players to understand more than just the few offhand references to Re:coded that appear in KH3.

 

The simplest place to begin talking about this theory is with Toy Box in KH3, as I believe it makes direct reference to what's really going on. I recommend watching this scene (13:45) again in its entirety.

 

THE MYSTERY OF THE TWO TOY BOXES

 

How exactly did young Xehanort “split” the Toy Box world into two worlds? This is never explained. Sora assumes that a copy was made somehow, so there's the “real world” and a convincing copy. (I'm putting “real world” in quotes because it's hard to determine what “real” means when it comes to this theory.)

For some reason, in this copy of Toy Box, Buzz's blaster functions like a real weapon. The mechs can also fire real lasers. It seems like the copy world they've been taken to functions with video game logic.

 

Buzz says that the ability to split a world seems like something that would only make sense in a video game. Exasperated with the situation and tired of how Sora doesn't seem to understand how this seems ridiculous to him, he snarkily says, “Oh! That's right, you're from a video game.”

 

The implication here is that everything that's happening in Toy Box is normal for Sora. To Sora, the things that Buzz finds ridiculous (video game logic) seem to be common sense. Literally, from our perspective, Sora is from a video game. Because of the way the scene is lampshading this fact, this dialog might be more than metaphoric. It might be calling attention to the fact that our real-world truth is the truth of the game itself.

I have to wonder how true this statement is. Sora looks a little like Yozora, but he isn’t from Verum Rex.

 

Verum Rex is made by Square-Enix. The video game section of Galaxy Toys also features a large display for Final Fantasy Dissidia NT which is another game made by Square-Enix -- but it’s a real one, one that I own, even. That might be more than just a reference. The presence of Dissidia NT and the Square-Enix logo in Toy Box might be suggesting that every game made by Square-Enix -- including Kingdom Hearts -- is a video game in this universe.

 

For my own part, I'm going to assume that the copy of Toy Box was made digitally, although I'm not sure whether Xehanort fully grasps the reality of the method he used. For instance, I think there's a strong possibility that time travel in the Kingdom Hearts universe isn't really time travel. Rather, it's a manipulation of the world itself. (Don’t worry, I’m going to explain this at length later on.) The same mechanics that allow Xehanort to travel through time are what would let him do something like split a world. In reality, it's code manipulation, but it's been dressed up as something magical so as to not conflict with his perception of reality. (Who would teach it to him this way? Luxu, of course.)

 

The world order must be maintained. Everyone must stay in-character. If they became aware that reality isn’t what they thought, what would happen? ...More on that in a second.

 

YOZORA

Let's not forget about Yozora. So far, all that we know about him is that he's a video game character in the world of Toy Box. But he also appears to be a real character in the secret ending.

 

Sora and Riku might have ended up in the world of Verum Rex. That is a possibility. If we assume that to be the case, then they might be inside of a video game world, distinct from the worlds they’ve visited until now. (A lot of people think that it’s two separate worlds or the world of The World Ends With You. Even if it is, that wouldn’t change anything, seeing as how TWEWY is also a video game.)

 

Sora encountering Yozora would be the same as when Rex met Sora. Does Yozora think he's from a video game? I’m sure that when the two meet, Sora will have to face some big questions.

 

So, this brings me to my next question…

 

WHAT DID LUXU TELL AVA?

 

He told her something that revealed not only the truth about the traitor, but also, presumably, the true nature of their reality. Whatever he told her, she wasn't able to handle it. She refused to believe it. Luxu assured her that it was the truth, straight from the Master himself, but, because it was too much to believed, and because she still didn't want to believe that the Master would have deceived them, she accused Luxu of lying and twisting the Master's words.

Could he have told her something that violated the world order? Ava began acting strangely after that encounter. Whatever he told her, it must have been something that shook the very foundation of her understanding.
 

WHAT THE MASTER OF MASTERS KNOWS

We don't know much of anything about the Foretellers. They don't have faces. They don't have backstories.

 

The Master named them. He gave them their roles.

 

As a writer, I can't help but see the similarity between the Master and myself. It's like the Foretellers are a work in progress.

 

We also don't know much about the Master, but we know that he was a scientist. ...We “know” that, right? To be totally fair, even the things we think we know might be untrue. With the way he pretends to be engrossed in work when Gula visit him, I have my suspicion that he might be pretending to be smarter than he is. (What’s up, Demyx “I Don’t Have To Be Smart” Kingdom Hearts…) He’s clever, that’s for sure.

 

However, I think it’s safe to say that he was involved in the operation of data worlds. Using the information from the Book of Prophecies, he made digital copies of the worlds from the future for the keyblade wielders to traverse. One way or another, he was even able to erase their memories of the keyblade war. Kinda suspicious that he wouldn't explain how he was able to do that, huh? Presumably, it’s an ability of the Chirithies, but...

 

The Master of Masters is also the one who made the Dream Eaters. How the heck did he do that?

 

Is it too much to assume that he could make people, as well?

 

We do it.

 

When you begin your quest in khux, you create your own avatar. If the Master is aware of the nature of the world, who's to say he couldn't create his own avatars to begin his own story?

He's aware of the future – or rather, I should say that he knows the story of Kingdom Hearts. He's seen everything that we've seen. His knowledge is our knowledge. He knows that the future can't be changed because it's literally already been written. We've played it. But he can focus on what comes after by making an entirely new game.

The thing is, what he saw with the Gazing Eye appears to be different from what we saw at the end of KH3. Sora and the “light from the past” (the players of khux) changed the outcome. When the Master looked into the future, he saw an ending where darkness prevailed and light expired -- the end of the Kingdom Hearts series.

The keyblades aren’t for protecting Kingdom Hearts.

 

That’s because Kingdom Hearts can’t be protected by them. Based on the way he speaks about Kingdom Hearts in this scene, it sounds like a metaphor for the game itself. It's the players’ manifested desire for a new game. As long as there is a Kingdom Hearts, there's a story. Without that desire for a new story, their world would be consumed by darkness and come to an end.

 

Basically, I think the Master of Masters wants to start a new game. Maybe he doesn’t even care about Kingdom Hearts.

 

When you look at it this way, it makes sense how the Master could ignore how his manipulation would hurt the Foretellers. To him – especially if he made them himself – they're just characters. He isn't manipulating people. He's writing a story.

 

THE DAYBREAK TOWN CONTROL ROOM

 

In the Daybreak Town clock tower, there's a secret, hidden room filled with monitors that are tuned to locations in the various data worlds as well as Daybreak Town itself.

I think we can assume that the Master used that room to keep an eye on multiple places at once. It's probably also where the data worlds are controlled from.

 

It took me a while, but it just recently occurred to me that the room is very similar to the concept of a debug room – a “room” in a video game that can't be accessed through normal play, that's used by the developers to test the game. There was one well-known debug room in Final Fantasy VII that could be accessed via cheats. From the main hub, there are multiple rooms where the player can alter the game in various ways; changing character names, adding and removing party members (including Sephiroth!), changing your level and stats, obtaining all items, and much, much more. If you wanted, you could even go to any part of the game.

 

Doesn't that sound familiar? In a way, it's almost like time travel.

 

So far, we don't have enough for me to definitively say whether the Master is a character or a user, but if the video game theory is correct, I think he has developer access at the least. This could open up a whole new realm of possibilities... If the Master had that type of access, he could look like anyone and go anywhere – but if the control room didn't exist where he was going, he wouldn't have been able to go back. That's one way to explain his disappearance. (He might not have been able to take anything with him, either, such as the box.)

 

If you've ever played with the FFVII debug room, then you know how tricky it is. The menus are badly translated and most of them are impossible to understand. You need a guide just to navigate it. If the Dandelions used the control room to put themselves on a new world line (whatever that is), their poor understanding of how it worked might have been why some of them were sent to separate times and why all of their memories were lost. I can't tell you how many times I waltzed into the middle of FFVII from the debug room just to realize that my party consisted only of Cloud at level 1.

 

REAL OR FAKE?

Currently in the story of khux, there's been an outbreak of Heartless in Daybreak Town that look like Bug Blox. That's strange because Bug Blox are only found within the datascape. Glitches and other strange distortions in reality have also been occurring.

When discussing these phenomena, the Dandelions come to the conclusion that they must be in the real world. Even Brain agrees, but if they’re in the real world, then those phenomena shouldn’t be happening.

 

Just looking at it logically, they have to be in a data version of Daybreak Town, right? But if they were certain that they were in the real world, where is the “real” Daybreak Town?

 

They assume that the glitches might be interference caused by an unfamiliar world – Game Central Station. Compared to the other worlds they've traveled to until now, Game Central Station isn't “part of the timeline” and “didn’t exist in reality”. It's unclear what that means. Does that mean that it's a world that came from a timeline other than the future predicted by the Book of Prophecies? Or is it possibly a world from somewhere else?

They head into Game Central Station to investigate. On their way, they first have to pass through these cable-like tunnels that seem to be connected to the world. They’re uncertain whether or not the tunnels are a part of the world. In the tunnels, they run into more Darklings. The Darklings single out the player and remark that the player is “different”. That's... Interesting. It also wouldn't be the first time the player has been treated as someone special.

 

Do the Darklings know that the player isn't just a character?

The Bug Blox seem to be a problem for Game Central Station, too. When the player meets Felix, he calls the Bug Blox “outsiders”, indicating that they’re unfamiliar to him as well. So where are they coming from?

 

If the Bug Blox are there, does that confirm that Game Central Station is another projected world? But... It wasn't included among the worlds the Master had laid out for them, so that doesn't sound possible. Is it also considered a “data world” because it’s a world of video games? How exactly did it become linked to Daybreak Town?

 

At this point, I think it seems extremely possible that Daybreak Town is connected to Game Central Station the way that other video games are. If that's the case... That ought to be enough to confirm that the universe of Kingdom Hearts is a video game.

 

The fourth wall is being destroyed. You could say it's already gone. We've been a part of the game for a while now.

 

CURIOUS KEYWORDS

 

Various names have appeared recently that correspond with computing terms.

 

Scala: A programming language. It is also part of the name of Scala ad Caelum whose architecture pays homage to the Tower of Babel, a Biblical story which depicts the hubris of man and attempts to explain why there exists more than one language in the world.

Key: A password. Literally, the keyblades which are used to perform various locking/unlocking functions.

Virus: The word Brain uses to describe himself and the influence he hopes to have upon the Master's plans; an insidious foreign code that corrupts a computer program.

Black box: A device or object which can be observed from the outside but has no self-awareness of its own inner workings. For example, the human brain.

 

And... There are probably others I'm not recalling at the moment. But those ones are some important ones.

 

EVIDENCE OF DIGITAL INFLUENCE IN THE “REAL WORLD”

 

Here are some things I've noticed so far…

When Xehanort uses the No Name keyblade to elevate the architecture buried beneath the Keyblade Graveyard to create a maze, a pattern of light is briefly shown to appear on the ground. Or… Maybe it’s in the air? Hard to tell. The effects look distinctly digital and the pattern looks like circuitry. Interesting that the No Name had this ability.

Scala ad Caelum is a mystery wrapped in a mystery. So far, all we really know is that it's related to Daybreak Town. I reckon it's where the black box was hidden. I don't know why Xigbar would have even told the others about it if he knew they wouldn't find it, but that's a question for another day.

 

For now, I want you to focus on this screenshot. It's actually clearer when you see it in motion. Xehanort's image flickers in and out like static. Blink and you’ll miss it. In this screenshot, the effect is most noticeable around the white shirt underneath his coat. See how the edges look like they’re warped? It reminds me of the distortions seen in Daybreak Town.

 

Evidence of a digital framework beneath the surface are seen in these two places. There might be more that I just haven't noticed yet.
 

IN CONCLUSION

Scala ad Caelum which may have once been Daybreak Town... And the Keyblade Graveyard where the keyblade war took place very near to Daybreak Town...

 

They were data. They're still data. And everything else may have been made on top of that digital framework. What began as a game is still a game, but the truth has been carefully hidden to preserve the order and protect everyone’s perception of reality.

 

But anyway, this is just a theory...

 

The video game theory.

• “While at Yen Sid's Tower, Mickey brings the idea of retracing Aqua's steps through the worlds and finding people she formed bonds with. A great idea to revisit Birth by Sleep worlds, give Sora a clearer goal, and tie Kairi into the main plot, given her bond with Aqua and her being located in Radiant Garden.”

• “The power of waking could have been a solid reason for Sora's adventures in the Disney worlds, if it was actually tied into the Disney worlds whatsoever. Considering that Sora had lost his power from the past games, directly strengthening himself and gaining a new power from his bonds with Disney friends could not only give a sense of of progression and plot development, but also tie into the themes of a series whose most iconic quote is "My friends are my power!””

You can check out preview scans of the chapter in the gallery below.

Check out the articles for the previous chapters by clicking on the links below!

• Chapter 0 Prologue     Japanese   English
• Chapter 1 The New Departure     Japanese   English
• Chapter 2 Olympus Coliseum Part 1      Japanese   English
• Chapter 3 Olympus Coliseum Part 2      Japanese   English
• Chapter 4 Olympus Coliseum Part 3      Japanese   English
• Chapter 5 Olympus Coliseum Part 4      Japanese   English
• Chapter 6 Olympus Coliseum Part 5      Japanese   English
• Chapter 7 Olympus Coliseum Part 6     Japanese   English
• Chapter 8 Olympus Coliseum Part 7 Japanese  English
• Chapter 9 The Dark World    Japanese   English
• Chapter 10 Unbreakable Connection   Japanese   English
• Chapter 11 The Self inside the Mirror      Japanese   English
• Chapter 12 Reunion    Japanese   English
• Chapter 13 Warmth     Japanese  English
• Chapter 14 Destiny Island    Japanese   English  
• Chapter 15 Remaining Light   Japanese   English
• Chapter 16 Tracking the Bond   Japanese  English 
• Chapter 17 Following the Heart's Guidance   Japanese  English
• Chapter 18 Twilight Town [1]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 19 Twilight Town [2]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 20 Toy Box [1]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 21 Toy Box [2]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 22 Toy Box [3]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 23 Toy Box [4]   Japanese  English
• Chapter 24 Toy Box [5]   Japanese  English
• Chapter 25 Lea and Kairi

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"We have received multiple reports about defective pieces of the Kingdom Hearts Chess Set. We urge all affected customers to get in touch with us through the Support Center so that the exchange of the defective pieces can be performed."

Customers affected by this unfortunate circumstance can contact the Support Center to remedy these faults. 

There is currently no word on whether the North American and European shipments will offer similar services. As of now, the Chess Set is planned to ship from those regions in October 2022 and on November 18th, 2022, respectively.

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Sounart first talked about how the D23 fan reactions to the Toy Box world were immensely positive, fueling her with a genuine sense of accomplishment and relief considering the stigma of negativity that gaming communities are generally perceived to have. 

As for how this Pixar collaboration for Kingdom Hearts III even came about, Sounart was an integral voice in making it happen. She talked to the Pixar executives hesitant about the idea, forever altering the initially shaky prospect of Toy Story's utilization. Other topics she speaks about are cultural differences with Square Enix's team and the difficulties finalizing the Toy Box casts' animations with English voice work to make it all feel natural. 

Lastly, she reveals her dream ideas of how Kingdom Hearts implementation would work in Disneyland. 

You can listen to the full Tasha Sounart interview below, with helpful timestamps specifically labeling the Kingdom Hearts segments:

Additionally, Tasha Sounart has previously shared several comments about Pixar's involvement in Kingdom Hearts III over the years. Our prior articles containing those instances are listed below:

• Toy Box World Reveal
• Remy Cooking Minigame
• Several comments pertaining to Disney incorporation
• Tasha Sounart informing Pixar Animation Studios Story Supervisor about Kingdom Hearts

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Each delayed date is listed below:

• Square Enix JP Store - August 27th, 2022 (Initially April 30th, 2022)
• Square Enix EU Store - November 18th, 2022 (InitiallyJuily 29th, 2022)
• Square Enix NA Store - October 2022 Release Window (Initially July 2022)

We'll be sure to keep you all contintually updated regarding the shipment status of this Chess Set.

• View our announcement coverage. 

You can view images of this upcoming product via our gallery below:

Thanks to prominent Kingdom Hearts community member Churro for sharing this significant information.

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You can check out preview scans of the chapter in the gallery below.

You can also check out the articles for the previous chapters by clicking on the links below!

• Chapter 0 Prologue     Japanese   English
• Chapter 1 The New Departure     Japanese   English
• Chapter 2 Olympus Coliseum Part 1      Japanese   English
• Chapter 3 Olympus Coliseum Part 2      Japanese   English
• Chapter 4 Olympus Coliseum Part 3      Japanese   English
• Chapter 5 Olympus Coliseum Part 4      Japanese   English
• Chapter 6 Olympus Coliseum Part 5      Japanese   English
• Chapter 7 Olympus Coliseum Part 6     Japanese   English
• Chapter 8 Olympus Coliseum Part 7 Japanese  English
• Chapter 9 The Dark World    Japanese   English
• Chapter 10 Unbreakable Connection   Japanese   English
• Chapter 11 The Self inside the Mirror      Japanese   English
• Chapter 12 Reunion    Japanese   English
• Chapter 13 Warmth     Japanese  English
• Chapter 14 Destiny Island    Japanese   English  
• Chapter 15 Remaining Light   Japanese   English
• Chapter 16 Tracking the Bond   Japanese  English 
• Chapter 17 Following the Heart's Guidance   Japanese  English
• Chapter 18 Twilight Town [1]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 19 Twilight Town [2]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 20 Tox Box [1]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 21 Toy Box [2]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 22 Toy Box [3]   Japanese   English
• Chapter 23 Toy Box [4]   Japanese  English
• Chapter 24 Toy Box [5]   Japanese  English

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