When I first saw this release, my first thought was, “Holy cow!!” This thing is HUGE. I think it eats other light novels for breakfast. There are more pages in this book than days in a year.
The reason the book is so thick is that it is a 3-in-1 volume. I understand why Yen Press went this route instead of separate volumes, but the length can be a downside. I would read for what felt like a long time, but yet it didn’t look like I was getting anywhere. This makes Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days: The Novel feel even longer than it is and made me want to keep putting it down since it was going to be a while before I finished. I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be faster to actually play the original DS game and complete all the missions versus reading this behemoth. (Let alone watching the cutscenes in the HD compilations.)
The story centers around Roxas, a young Keyblade wielder with no heart and no memories who finds himself drafted into a group of fellow no-hearted beings. As a Keyblade wielder, he is considered special among the Nobodies of Organization XIII, although Roxas himself doesn’t understand what that means. It’s only when he is taken under the wing of a man named Axel and teams up with the mysterious member Xion that Roxas begins to truly live.
Although, as the other members of the Organization would point out, “live” is a strange way to describe their existence. Nobodies are supposed to be unable to feel anything, and it’s a conundrum that Roxas, Xion, and Axel face repeatedly throughout the days they spend together.
I never cared for Days’ gameplay or overall plot, but its script was spectacular, and that is carried over to this adaptation. Kanemaki helped create Days‘ scenario, so it’s no surprise that this adaptation features a deep understanding of the characters, their motivations, and all the conflicts. Days excels in this area as a coming-of-age tale, where gaining the ability to feel enjoyment and happiness also means knowing what sadness and anger are. As the three friends head toward their destined separation, it may not quite be as moving as Roxas’ final line in the Kingdom Hearts II prologue, but it comes darn close. That’s saying a lot since I despise the whole idea of a forgotten fourteenth member and Xion’s Mary Sue-like qualities.
The novel helps elaborate on certain points: I know you were dying to know who does the Organization’s laundry. Kidding aside, the first arc (the first original Japanese novel) spends a lot of time covering Castle Oblivion, showing much of Axel’s espionage and better showing how events are running concurrently versus the separate, individual games.
However, the remnants of this originally being a mission-based DS game are impossible to ignore. The first volume is especially guilty of this. But throughout the volume, the trips to the Disney worlds are still as short and forced, the daily mission pairings feel random, and even the buying of equipment and opening treasure chests are silly. The most ridiculous thing is the whole “can only do one mission a day” rule. When Xion temporarily can’t use the Keyblade, there’s no reason why Roxas can’t do his mission, secretly sneak off to help Xion, and then return on their own. They may not have been able to get away with it, but there’s no reason why they couldn’t even try. Or work overtime.
However, once readers get past the very slow, seemingly endless opening tutorial arcs, the Days novel is more like a proper text version of the game than an abridged version of the story. Most lines are lifted directly from the DS game or HD cutscenes (often bouncing back and forth in the same scene), and it’s almost the best of both worlds (more detail than the HD cutscenes without the clunky gameplay of the DS game). Plus, Kanemaki’s descriptions sometimes showcase the characters better than a cutscene ever could.
By the time I finished, I couldn’t help but think this is her best work as a writer. It’s not going to make a Xion or Days fan out of me, but Kanemaki certainly tries.