Roxas is in a town with friends, but something is wrong. When he was about to be thrown in a weird hole, he summons his keyblade and manages to save himself. Later he fights in a stuggle contest, but something is going on as well... ( )

Although I don't play video games the Kingdom Hearts theme is always one I've been enamored of and was happy to find a manga rendition of the story a few years back. Unfortunately it was not a series I felt inclined to keep up with at that time, mainly due to the Westernized format and dense imagery. When I found this more traditional style and more cleanly drawn TokyoPop manga at my son's Scholastic book fair yesterday I was delighted by it.

This particular story takes place after the events in the Chain of Memories game which I know nothing about. Over the last couple months my sons both went on a spree of playing the original Kingdom Hearts game, but we don't have the second one. In spite of my cluelessness of the events leading up to this volume, I still found this manga very interesting. Here we meet a totally new character in Roxas who appears to be channeling Sora in dreams. Soon Roxas finds himself wondering what part of his reality is dream and what part is actually real. I find this ambiguous plot line fascinating. I was a little disappointed that more of the other Disney characters (i.e. Donald, Goofy and so on) didn't make an appearance but it certainly didn't deter me from enjoying the story. ( )