A Giant Shadow

« Kingdom Hearts Episode 4 »
Publisher	Tokyopop Yen Press
First published	October 2005 (TP) May 2013 (YP)
Cover date	October 2005 (TP) May 2013 (YP)
Written by	Shiro Amano
Letters by	Adriana Rivera (TP) Terri Delgado, Alyssa Blakeslee (YP)
Edits by	Alexis Kirsch (TP)
Continuity	Manga continuity
Chronology	Kingdom Hearts

Synopsis

With the Keyblade in hand, Sora becomes more confused than ever before. A Darkside then appears before him, forcing Sora to flee. Suddenly, the voice from before appears, encouraging Sora to not be afraid. Sora decides to stand and fight, proclaiming his experience through sword fighting with Riku. After fighting the Shadows to seamlessly no end, Sora realizes he needs to take down "the big one". He then leaps into the air, striking the Darkside in the head, thus defeating it with a single blow.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Entelechies	Heartless
Destiny Islands Sora (1)	Darkside (2) Shadow (3)

Errors

Continuity errors

• The episode's title "Giant Shadow" references the giant Heartless Sora battles in this chapter, although the proper name for this enemy is Darkside.

Artistic errors

• None yet identified.

Items of note

• Sora is able to destroy the Darkside with one swing of the Keyblade, but in the game, it takes multiple blows to dismantle this foe.

Kingdom Hearts references

• None yet identified.

Real-world references

• When you encounter a giant enemy, aim for the eye. No one can train one's eyes...—Excerpt from "Battle with the Bengal Tiger" written by boxer Shihoro Okada.

Collections

• 2005 - Kingdom Hearts Volume 1
• 2013 - Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Volume 1