Kingdom Hearts series (manga)

Kingdom Hearts is Shiro Amano's manga adaptation of the Kingdom Hearts series.

Kingdom Hearts
The first series was based on Kingdom Hearts. It was released in 4 separate books and was translated to English by TOKYOPOP. It, unlike the other mangas, was made to be read left to right, while the others were right to left.

Differences
Many fans have noticed the differences between the games and the manga. Such of these are listed below:


 * The story immediately starts off on Destiny Islands when Sora, the main protagonist, wakes up from his "dream".


 * The characters eventually start uttering swearwords (although the translated edition is 'clean').


 * King Mickey's letter is written differently.


 * We actually get to see a small scene on the balcony of Riku's house.


 * The cloaked man's lines are slightly different.


 * Sora seems to get all of his boss strategies from quotes out of various martial arts books.


 * The Leon-Yuffie encounter is a lot shorter in the game compared to the Cid encounter (which in retrospect is very humorous).


 * Sora meets up with Riku a lot earlier than in the game.


 * The plot tells a bit more about the events of when the Radiant Garden was over run by Heartless nine years prior to the events of Kingdom Hearts, including a small flashback of Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith as kids.


 * The worlds Deep Jungle and Halloween Town are absent in the story.


 * The story shows that Riku ended up in Hollow Bastion after he left the Destiny Islands, just as it was shown in Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix.


 * The story shows that Riku ended up on the other side of the door to Kingdom Hearts after Ansem possessed him. Like the previous scene, this scene was also created as an extra cutscene in Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix.


 * The Lost Boys make their first KH appearance here in this manga.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
The second series was based on Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. It was released in 2 chapters and translated to English by TOKYOPOP.

The Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Manga has a much lighter tone than that of the game, as evidenced by many things, including the following: Unlike the Kingdom Hearts Manga, it read right to left per reader request.
 * Sora's first confrontation with Axel is a farce (as seen when Sora crashed to the wall with Donald and Goofy).
 * Marluxia always has flowers around him.
 * Marluxia and Larxene have a small party, where they drink soda and eat chicken wings.
 * Vexen is more of a hothead as he works with Zexion and Lexaeus.
 * Zexion usually cooks (despite the job originally being Lexaeus'), and Lexaeus is seen doing many things, such as working mind benders and reading manga.
 * Though Axel said "Damn" in the game (despite it being E-rated), cursing, as mentioned above, has been edited out. On the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania site, however, the script is exactly the same for the chapter where Riku cursed for smelling like darkness, although this has changed in the publication.
 * Traverse Town, Agrabah, Twilight Town, and the Destiny Islands memory cards are the only ones shown to be given to Sora.
 * The Hollow Bastion and Destiny Islands memory cards are the only ones shown to be given to Riku.
 * Rather than the Riku Replica, the real Riku killed Zexion.
 * Riku never killed the Riku Replica, much less meet him in the story.
 * Jiminy never wrote 'Thank Naminé' in his journal.
 * Sora, Donald and Goofy try to save Jasmine by pretending to be genies. After Jafar makes an impossible wish for them to grant, Aladdin springs in to action, while Sora and co. follow suit.
 * Before Sora fights Marluxia, he uses thorns to hold Naminé in a similar fashion to being crucified. Donald and Goofy save and heal her from this painful method of imprisonment.  It is shown that this seems to have left her unconscious, possibly due to the pain.

Kingdom Hearts II
The third series was based on Kingdom Hearts II. This series will be told in 5 chapters. (Only volume one and two have been translated so far with a third volume being released soon.) Kingdom Hearts II seems to take a more serious tone than KH:COM, but still has some humorous scenes.

Differences

 * When Roxas first encounters the Dusk Nobodies, they form a sort of cage around Roxas and carry him towards a portal. Just before they reach the portal, the Keyblade appears.


 * The photo is with Roxas and his friends at the beach instead of in front of the gate by the Haunted Mansion.


 * Dusks and Assassins are seen floating around, giving Axel (who is standing on the roof of the Haunted Mansion in the "real" Twilight Town) a picture of Roxas. He then burns the picture and wonders where "the real thing is hiding."


 * The battle with Twilight Thorn is depressingly short.


 * Axel pins Roxas to the ground while telling him his place in Organization XIII.


 * Roxas falls off the Bell Tower while trying to catch his ice-cream that was sliding off of the stick (which usually says Winner! on it.)


 * In the Struggle tournament, contestants wear suits with the orbs attached to them.


 * Instead of on the train, the gang admire their crystals in The Usual Spot. Roxas realizes that his is missing while digging through his clothes, in his room.


 * Roxas and his friends only check out the haunted mansion, instead of all seven wonders.


 * DiZ mentions something about disposing of Naminé. DiZ wanted Riku to erase Naminé after her job was completed.


 * The scene where Axel appears to Roxas and tells him of the orders to eliminate him is changed. Instead, Axel appears to Roxas bringing with him snacks and offers some to Roxas; then he tells him of his orders.


 * After Roxas and Axel's fight, Axel says the same thing says up to Roxas saying "Yeah, I'll be waiting." Instead of Axel giving a remark to Roxas that he'd be in the next life, Axel just says that he'd be waiting as well.


 * Yen Sid personally ended up in combat against Pete and the Heartless instead of having Sora take care of them.


 * Maleficent is resurrected at the Villains' Vale rather than in Yen Sid's Tower.


 * There is a scene involving Yuffie and Leon disposing of Heartless, they are then given rice balls by one of the people in town. They are then shown having a conversation before Sora arrives in Hollow Bastion.


 * Sora's first encounter with Organization XIII is interrupted by Xigbar being blasted by a Claymore.


 * The Organization is shown having a meeting very similar to the ones shown in Final Mix.


 * Axel and Naminé are shown together at The Clocktower. Naminé attempted to use the corridor of darkness with limited success.


 * Sora, Donald, Goofy, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid and Merlin are all shown together having dinner. Yuffie apparently says something to get on Cid's nerves.


 * Instead of visiting each world twice the events of both visits are merged together.


 * Xaldin is fought and defeated as soon as Beast regains control of himself. He then retreats to The World That Never Was where a Replica of Vexen kills him.


 * Xigbar is the one responsible for Shan-Yu's army of Heartless.


 * When Mushu encounters Sora he wonders why Sora doesn't recognize him. He then quickly reads through the Kingdom Hearts manga and expresses his anger about his scenes being cut.


 * Shan-Yu uses The Stormrider to attack the palace.


 * Sora fights Shan-Yu on the roof of the palace and makes short work of him; after Shan-Yu's defeat, Xigbar kills him.


 * Sora, Donald and Goofy don't land in The Underworld and instead land in the Coliseum entrance where they hear Meg's cries for help and rush down to The Underworld to save her.


 * The Hydra is an opponent Sora faces in a tournament who he defeats by ring out.


 * Kairi throws her message in a bottle to Sora with much force, instead of lowering it into the water.