News ► Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Vol. 4-5 & Kingdom Hearts II Vol. 3 to release late 2014

[Oracle Spockanort]

E3 2014 might be over, but Kingdom Hearts news never stops! Today, Yen Press announced their newest licenses and upcoming releases for this and next year! Among the titles announced, the remaining volumes of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts II Volume 3 were confirmed to be releasing this year. 

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Volumes 4 + 5 will be releasing later on this year, and Kingdom Hearts II Volume 3 Omnibus, which combines volumes 6 + 7 of the original Japanese print, will come out this winter! 

Below are summaries of the manga and images of the cover art:

Left alone to ponder the purpose of her existence and desperate for answers, Xion journeys alone to find out who—or what—she really is. But little do she, Roxas, and Axel know that her quest will lead to the close of one tale and the continuation of another…

 

KINGDOM HEARTS II picks up where the previous volume left off with the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee having discovered something that could help everyone in their quest to save the worlds: Ansem’s computer. But Sora, Goofy, and Donald are in for a surprise when the computer pulls them inside of it! 

 

Source: Yen Press

 

[Zephyr]

I'm surprised how fast Yen Press is catching up with the mangas. They've reached the latest volume for Kingdom Hearts II.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

(Until 8, and I suppose 9 since 8 definitely isn't the end, comes out and they are behind again xD)

 

[Taochan]

Oh, god. I hope that's the cover for the KH2 omnibus. ;~; I adore that cover.

Yen Press is so incredible; they've been nothing except quick and efficient with their translations and releases.

I imagine it's possible they might translate 8 and then just wait for 9? That way they could be close to the Japanese release.

 

[Rydgea]

I was wondering what happened to disrupt the current localization. I think initially, these were planned for September? At least Days Vol. 4 & KHII Vol. 3 were. Nonetheless, sooo glad to see it's resumed production.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I was wondering what happened to disrupt the current localization. I think initially, these were planned for September? At least Days Vol. 4 & KHII Vol. 3 were. Nonetheless, sooo glad to see it's resumed production.

I'm assuming with their Yen On plans, they needed to probably rearrange their schedule to accomadate the time it takes to translate novels.

Oh, god. I hope that's the cover for the KH2 omnibus. ;~; I adore that cover.

Yen Press is so incredible; they've been nothing except quick and efficient with their translations and releases.

I imagine it's possible they might translate 8 and then just wait for 9? That way they could be close to the Japanese release.

It should be. They are really fantastic. Never seen a company translate an entire series that hasn't been touched in forever in just two years.

 

[WanPisu]

I was awaiting the announcement on YP's Twitter and damn, it finally came. Lovely shit.

 

[kngdmhrts2]

Hopefully once the last 2 volumes of Days are out, it'll pave the way for a possability of the BBS novels to be done next.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Hopefully once the last 2 volumes of Days are out, it'll pave the way for a possability of the BBS novels to be done next.

We can hope, but they should probably start with the first Kingdom Hearts novels if they pick up the license for them. Birth By Sleep's novels require a lot of prior knowledge to read, and it's easier to see how Tomoco Kanemaki's writing has evolved by starting with the first books.

 

[kupo1121]

I NEED TO CATCH UP!!!! GRRRRRR!!!! I'm glad they're still going strong on the mangas, after they fully catch up and the Japan's next one is awhile off, I do hope they move onto novels and the light novels Put them together even?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I do hope they move onto novels and the light novels Put them together even?

That would be the logical thing to do. They are a good size normally but it wouldn't be a good strategy to have a 20~ book series on sale. They are at an advantage where all of the novels are released already, though. They are about 200 pages each...it would be a large undertaking, but keeping each volume around 300-500 pages can cut the amount of books that would be printed down by half.

KH
CoM
KH2 x2
Days x 2
Birth By Sleep x2
Re:Coded
KH3D (personally I'd want them to be split but it would be cute to see Side Sora get the front cover and Side Riku get the back or something)
Side Stories

That'd be 11 books...Which is still a lot of work to translate and edit...It's doable. It's just a tiring affair. xD

 

[gamerobber7]

This is great news! I was starting to wonder when more would come out. These are the last two volumes of Days correct?
Also, I hope they don't change any of those covers because I like the look of all of them.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

This is great news! I was starting to wonder when more would come out. These are the last two volumes of Days correct?
Also, I hope they don't change any of those covers because I like the look of all of them.

The "cover not final" thing refers to the placement of the numbers and text, not the cover image themselves.

Yes, these are the final two of Days.

 

[Princess Marina]

Will this be the final book for Kingdom Hearts II?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Will this be the final book for Kingdom Hearts II?

No, this only covers volumes 6 + 7. There is still volume 8 which comes out in Japan in a few weeks, and many believe KH2 will end with volume 9 but we'll see how Amano approaches it in Shonen Gangan to find out.

 

[kupo1121]

That would be the logical thing to do. They are a good size normally but it wouldn't be a good strategy to have a 20~ book series on sale. They are at an advantage where all of the novels are released already, though. They are about 200 pages each...it would be a large undertaking, but keeping each volume around 300-500 pages can cut the amount of books that would be printed down by half.

Would they even be that long if translated into English? From the few novels I gazed upon in my local Japanese culture store, the novels are written like classic Japanese text, vertically. So there is often a lot of empty space on some of the pages (at least the ones I looked upon had a bit). If they translated it into English (which I would think is more condensed) that could potentially be less pages which means they might want to even condense more novels into one book.

The process would still be just as tiring though lol

 

[FangirlfromHell]

I'm looking very forward to the next volume of Kingdom Hearts II. I still have to get the Yen Press releases of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Chain of Memories to replace my Tokyo Pop copies. I'll worry about Days later. Imagine limited edition Kingdom Hearts book ends with the final release of the II manga. That'd be epic.