News
Yen Press Releases Kingdom Hearts III Manga, Kingdom Hearts χ Novel in English
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Yen Press confirmed with ANN on Tuesday that it began publishing Shiro Amano's new Kingdom Hearts III manga on May 29 with the manga's "chapter 0 prologue" chapter. The manga is available on Amazon, Apple, ComiXology, Kobo, and BookWalker.
Yen Press added that it is not releasing the manga simultaneously with the Japanese release, but is releasing the manga periodically. The company also stated that it "anticipates" that it will be able to release the manga in print, but added, "it's a bit too early for us to make those plans as the series has only just started its run."
Yen Press is also listing that it will release Tomoco Kanemaki, Shiro Amano, Tetsuya Nomura, Kazushige Nojima's Kingdom Hearts χ light novel on December 10. The novel adapts the Kingdom Hearts Union χ smartphone game, and it shipped in Japan on January 25 with the title Kingdom Hearts χ: Kimi to Keyblade no Monogatari (The Story of You and the Keyblade).
Amano launched the Kingdom Hearts III manga on Square Enix's Gangan Online website with the prologue chapter on April 29. The first chapter then launched on June 3.
Square Enix released Kingdom Hearts III on January 25 in Japan for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on January 29 in the West. The game had shipped more than 5 million copies worldwide, including digital sales, as of February 5, and is the fastest-selling title in the history of the franchise.
Amano has created manga adaptations for Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days games. He also illustrated several novel adaptations for the franchise. North American publisher Tokyopop released all four volumes of Kingdom Hearts, both volumes of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and two volumes of Kingdom Hearts II before the company shut down its North American publishing division in 2011.
Yen Press then licensed all four manga adaptations in 2013. The company has also released the Shiro Amano: The Artwork of Kingdom Hearts artbook and Tomoco Kanemaki and Amano's Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories light novel series. Yen Press also released Kanemaki and Amano's Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep novels.
Thanks to Kim for the news tip.
Source: Email correspondence with Yen Press, Yen Press' website
[Via Kingdom Hearts Insider (link 2)]
