Review: Kingdom Hearts -Another Report-

Kingdom Hearts, for those of you who don't already know, is a popular video game franchise developed by Square-Enix (formerly Squaresoft) and Disney. The main concept is that it is an RPG that combines the worlds and characters of classic Disney films (Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, etc.) and the characters from Square's widely popular Final Fantasy series (mainly Final Fantasy VII, VIII and X, though there are others).

On March 29, 2007, the director's cut version of the third game installment: Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, was released in Japan. Those who pre-ordered the game through a Japanese retailer also received the book entitled Kingdom Hearts -Another Report-.

There wasn't a lot of information as to what the content of Another Report was going to be before the game was released. It was expected to have new interviews, artwork, a new manga installment by Amano Shiro, and insider information on the series. Not to mention the fact that it was not to be sold separately after the game's release. The book was also one of the main reasons why I had pre-ordered/bought the game in the first place, so I was expecting a lot from it. When I finally got it, I was slightly disappointed.

The book is on the small side, being the same size as the game box itself (same as a standard DVD case). However the hardcover is made of a smooth matted material with the cover illustration and text made with a shiny metal, slightly embossed look. It looks pretty impressive. The first page has a brand new image of Sora and Roxas eating a sea-salt ice cream bar, presumably in Twilight Town. This is also the only illustration to get full-page treatment, and is also the only Nomura Tetsuya (Kingdom Hearts' director and character designer) illustration to be featured in the entire book (there are very small images of concept sketches and some color call-out sheets later on in the book).

The next part of Another Report is very similar to the Kingdom Hearts Characters Report books that are available. Image-wise it's a very condensed version of the Character Reports, showing only the main characters for each world (ie. under Destiny Islands only Sora, Riku and Kairi are shown. Tidus, Selphie and Wakka are nowhere to be found.). One thing that bothers me is that Deep Jungle (Disney's Tarzan) is the only world without a proper page. There are only a couple of screenshots, no world title logo, and there are no character renders for Tarzan, Jane, Clayton, etc. In fact, the screens that are shown don't have any of Tarzan's characters in them. I would assume that this has something to do with the licensing issues that Disney has over Tarzan (like how Deep Jungle wasn't allowed to be featured in the second game installment, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories). To some this is probably a minor setback, but Deep Jungle was one of my favorite worlds and I think it also tampers with Another Report's continuity.

After the story digest section (there's only material on the first Kingdom Hearts game), there's a page devoted to the "Another Side, Another Story -deep dive-" secret movie. This page looks almost exactly like something out of the Character Reports layout-wise. Across the page are the quotes, in English and Japanese, that are featured in the short movie. There are also a couple of screenshots of Roxas and Riku in The World That Never Was (plus one of Sora at the crossroads), although they're pretty much all from before their "fight" scene. I think this is also one of the only pages that doesn't have a ton of text. The images also work well with the metallic layout of the page's background, and it all looks pretty nifty. As much as I wish there was more than one page (I loved this secret movie), it's pretty sufficient.

Then starts the "Prototype Report." This section has a lot of text, but there are also some interesting pictures. The first page shows the planning sheet for the second series installment for Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, which apparently was originally named "Kingdom Hearts: Lost Memories." The next page features planning sheets and some concept art for Kingdom Hearts II. The text is, for me, too small to read so I couldn't find out who the boy is (I would assume that it was the original concept for Roxas), and what world the shown setting is supposed to be. The images are interesting none the less. The next two pages are images of the Presentation Sheet that Nomura Tetsuya presented to Disney in order to pitch the idea for the original game.

Next comes a new interview with Nomura, containing 13 topics. There were actually some interesting bits that I didn't know before. For example, Castle Oblivion had existed way before Organization XIII had used it as their base in Chain of Memories. This interview spans 7 pages of nothing but text. After the interview are 2 chapters from the Kingdom Hearts manga, adapted by Amano Shiro. The first chapter is Sora's first visit to the Hundred Acre Wood from Disney's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The second chapter takes place at the very beginning of Chain of Memories, before Sora, Donald and Goofy enter Castle Oblivion. It shows the story from the point of view of those who were left behind at Disney Castle (Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse, specifically), while Donald, Goofy and King Mickey have been gone on the game's main adventure.

Following a page of advertisements and ending the book is the short novel "Roxas -Somewhere in Time," which is about Roxas and Axel during the time that Roxas was a member of Organization XIII. The text is entirely in Japanese, although there are translations out on the internet if you're interested in reading it (as well as translations of the previous Nomura interview).

Another Report has a lot of text in it and if you're interested in this book and you can't speak Japanese then it may turn into a bit of a problem. If you're a big fan of the Kingdom Hearts series and planning on buying Final Mix+ regardless (if you haven't imported it already), then the book may not be a bad of an investment if you're a collector. If you're looking for more of a picture book, then you're probably better off buying the Kingdom Hearts Characters Report volumes, which are packed with renders and screenshots from characters from each world (including Deep Jungle) from all three games and have hardly any text aside from in-game quotes that are in Japanese and in English. For original artwork, there is the Kingdom Hearts Visual Arts illustration book that was released a couple of years ago (which I highly recommend, by the way), and the Kingdom Hearts Complete Visual Arts book that's headed our way some time this year.

Besides that, Another Report will probably only really satisfy those who can read Japanese and/or all of those avid Kingdom Hearts fans out there who have a hunger for anything marked as a limited edition.