358/2 Days Manga + Scans

This week the newest issue of Shounen Gangan released with the Chapter 4 of the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days manga. It also featured an article on Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts coded. I’ve taken photos of the article and provided translations for the manga, please check them out.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Page One

Marluxia: So you’ve finally come, Keyblade Hero

Marluxia: Welcome to Castle Oblivion

Marluxia: I am Number 11. of Organization XIII, Marluxia

Marluxia: I am the leader presiding over this castle

Page Two

Marluxia: There’s nothing I want to fight over, I just want to borrow your power

Marluxia: Ugh, What are you doing? Stop that!
Axel: Now to gather up a report… Such a bother

Axel: Castle Oblivion was destroyed by the Keyblade Hero

Page Three

Axel: As for the members, all of the ones above me were annihilated

Axel: And now for my plan… Hurry back and eat some ice cream

Axel: I wonder if Roxas will be there…

Page Four

Xigbar: Ohoh man… This world is humid!

Xigbar: Let’s get this over with before my armpits get sweaty

Xigbar: What an idiot

Roxas: Mm…

Page Five

Roxas: Annihilation… Something that’s been erased huh…

[Flashback to Chapter Three]

Xigbar: One of the guys that went to Castle Oblivion was annihilated

Saix: I heard according to the Dusk report he was wiped out

[End flashback]

Xigbar: Uhuh, you disappear

Xigbar: After that, nothing’s left

Roxas: Is it mean… we couldn’t meet again?

Page Six

Xigbar: You got a problem with something?

Xigbar: Let me put it to you straight

Xigbar: Half the members have been annihilated, but with you and Poppet around, it’s not a problem

Roxas: Poppet?

Xigbar: I’m talking about Xion, kiddo

Xigbar: (What’s it matter anyways?)

Xigbar: Right now she’s collecting hearts… You better give it your all too, seeing as you are using the same Keyblade

Page Seven

Xion – In top shape on her own

CHAPTER 4: There’s a problem

Shiro Amano

Original Plan: Nomura Tetsuya

Page Eight

Xion: Strange…I’m moving my body on my own

Xion: Mission complete…

Xion: …

Page Nine

Xion: The Keyblade…

Xion: The same as Roxas

Page Ten

Roxas: “You got a problem with something?”

Roxas: Xigbar’s mechanical stare was piercing right through me

Xigbar: Hey!

Roxas: !!

Page Eleven

Xigbar: Concentrate, kiddo

Roxas: Sorry…

Roxas: It’s just… I do have a problem

Roxas: We’re friends

Page Twelve

Roxas: Ugh!?

Roxas: Wha… What is this?

Roxas: Augh…

Roxas: My head…

Xigbar: Hey!

Page Thirteen

Xigbar: What’s going on, kiddo!?

Roxas: What’s happening…?

Roxas: This…

Page Fourteen

Xemnas: 6 days have passed since you came here

Page Fifteen

Xemnas: The time has come

Xemnas: Sora

Roxas: Sora? I’m not Sora, who are you?

Page Sixteen

Xemnas: My name is －

Page Seventeen

Xemnas: Is he awake?

Saix; It’s a circumstance of the plans at Castle Oblivion

Saix: At this instant Xion is collecting hearts

Saix: Well then, I’ll be off, Lord Xemnas

Page Eighteen

Xemnas: …

Xemnas: So you’re still asleep…?

Saix: …

[Caption]

“What in the world do those words mean?”

Continued in Volume 1 2010, on sale December 12

The Episode 6 of Kingdom Hearts coded will take place in Hollow Bastion and we will see Goofy and Donald join Sora for the first time! Pete and Maleficent also return after their appearance in Agrahbah in Episode 5.

I wanted to thank everyone for your patience while I work on getting HEARTSTATION.ORG back up and running. Everything that could possibly go wrong has, but I am confident that we will be back with even more content by the end of the month. So please continue waiting just a while longer, thanks again!

Official KH Birth by Sleep and KH Mobile Site Updates

The official Birth by Sleep site has added two new worlds to the WORLD section:  Dwarf Woodlands and Never Land.

Snow White says "If you're a friend of Ven's then you wouldn't do that sort of thing right?"

The description tells of the Queen who is angered by the Magic Mirror telling her that there is someone more beautiful than her and is after Snow White’s life.  Snow White runs away to the forest where she encounters the Seven Dwarfs and lives with them, but the Queen’s evil magic is still to be dealt with.  The characters introduced here are Snow White, The Queen, the Magic Mirror, and the Seven Dwarfs.

Peter Pan says "Light? What are you talking about?"

Never Land makes another appearance and the description tells us of Peter Pan who leads the kids on an adventure with the pirates and his important friend Tinker Bell who gets capured by Captain Hook in the middle of it all.  The characters introduced here are Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and Captain Hook.

And a minor update for us who have no access to KH Mobile, the official site has put up the rankings for the KH Card Struggle and KH Rhythm Parade mini games.

New Birth by Sleep Scans and SE Online Shop New Items

RPGLand has posted scans from the latest issue of Dengeki Playstation which talk about The Land of Departure and Enchanted Dominion:

And KH Insider’s Lissar has provided a translation:

The truth behind these mysteries will soon be revealed!

Lots of new information about the story and system have been revealed by these new screenshots and illustrations. They’ve finally decided on a release date, so we’re closing in on finding out what is behind all these mysteries in this new game.

World Guide 1
-Land of Departure-

Our heroes’ long grim adventure starts from here.

The story starts in a new original world. Here is where the heroes train in hopes of becoming a Keyblade Master. The latest movie that was shown at TGS09 showed them taking the “Master Qualification Exam”. It was revealed that Master Xehanort watched them take the test, though we’ll have to wait and see how the story will unfold from there.

—–

Master Xehanort [er... the scan cuts off about half of the words, but it’s essentially the same as before. I will guess:]

Master Xehanort is a powerful Keyblade Master, as well as an acquaintance of Master Eraqus. He looks very different from the Xehanort we have seen in previous games. Just who is he?

Master Xehanort is giving advice to someone. Had he been planning something at this time as well?

Vanitas

He is the only apprentice of Master Xehanort, and his name has only just been revealed. In the movie that was shown at TGS09 we were able to see him talking and hear his voice. Just what face is he hiding behind the mask?

—–

He talks about the princesses of light! Where the princesses of light something that people sought after even in the past?

Our three heroes in training This is the world where they start out on. But perhaps the picture shown here is not from the very beginning of the game?

—–

Let’s look take a look at some of the things in the story we’re wondering about!

It’s quite interesting that in this game that the important characters already seem to know each other. We get to see scenes of them all talking before the problems start, and these will be the key that connects the rest of the story together. The things Master Xehanort says also have quite a few connections to previous games in the series.

Point 1 Terra and Master Xehanort
It seems that Terra trusts Master Xehanort. We see that he obeys him, but it seems that in the end he betrays him!? What is Master Xehanort after?

Point 2 Ventus and Vanitas
Is it just a coincidence, or is there some connection? We see quite a few scenes with them together. Their names also sound similar. Just what is between the two of them!

Point 3 Aqua’s Good Luck Charm
Aqua gives them charms to make sure they’ll see each other again. The charms look just like the one that Kairi made in KH!

Point 4 The search begins
The three of them are ordered to go searching for Master Xehanort, but in this scene we don’t see Ventus anywhere. Where could he be?

Point 5 What is Ventus doing?
What is Master Eraqus and Aqua looking at? It almost seems as though Ventus is acting violent…

—–

From Tetsuya Nomura
Their adventure begins here.

Though not all scenes are, most of these screenshots show the prologue to the story, in Land of Departure, where they start their journey. What exactly were Terra and Master Xehanort talking about? What is Ven doing? You’ll have to find out more in the game. Master Eraqus is Ven, Terra and Aqua’s master, and he will have a lot to do with the story. He is a new character for the series, so I’d like you to watch him closely. —–

Master Eraqus

He is a Keyblade Master with three apprentices. We don’t know much about him yet, but he seems like a calm and collected “samurai” type. The armor around his middle and his boots look similar to the other three. Perhaps he can change into armor as well? His keyblade design is rather interesting.

“Now we will be having the Master Qualification Exam.”

The Three Apprentices

Terra

A young man who is always calm and cool even under pressure. He fights with power, and can pack a lot of destruction into one attack.

Ventus

A boy who is curious and has a cheerful personality. He fights with speed, and uses light, quick actions.

Aqua

A serious young woman who both kind and strong. Her style is to fight with magic, so her attacks might be a bit erratic!?

—

System – Let’s look at two new things that have been revealed!

Command Levels – Important for growth of your commands!

Deck Commands, Action Commands, and Shoot Lock Commands all have levels. You can gain CP (Command Points) from defeated enemies which once you’ve gotten enough will raise the levels of your Commands. Levels will effect just how strong your Commands will become.

Set your Commands before battle
CP will be given to all Commands that you have set in your Deck. When your Commands level up it will tell you on the screen. You can also check their growth on the menu screen.

Support Abilities – Master your abilities to make them more powerful

Some Deck Commands will also have Support Abilities attached to them. When you set the Command you will gain the effect of the Support Ability, but if you unequip it you will lose the effect. But if you set the Command and get the ability to the highest level, your character will then have that ability mastered, and even if the Command is unequipped the effect of the Support Ability will remain.

Support Abilities will grow by gaining CP. Then you will be able to level them up.

Barrage – A Deck Command. You will draw close to the enemy and hit them with a rapid fire multi-hit attack. If you manage to press the buttons with good timing you gain extra hits.

Strike Raid – A Deck Command. You use the keyblade like a boomarang to attack your enemies. Sora has used the same attack before in the KH series.

—–

Vanitas has his face hidden, so he is even more mysterious than other characters. There is a very important reason that his face is covered, but I can’t tell that yet. I will tell you that you won’t see it until the end of the story. I chose his name first through the meaning I wanted, then when I was looking up words this one also sounded similar to Ventus. So the reason I chose this name was because it felt like he was destined for it.

And the Japanese SQUARE ENIX Online Shop has recently added two new scarfs and two new beanies.  Here’s what one of the scarfs looks like:

Check out the Online Shop to see the rest!

Latest Message from the KINGDOM from Director Tetsuya Nomura

Our friends over at Kingdom Hearts Insider have posted a translation of Nomura’s latest blog post.  Thanks Lissar!

Creator Message – Tetsuya Nomura

A blog? How modern. Or, no… I guess it’s a little late for that. Nevermind. I’m the director Nomura.

The staff asked us to write our first entry, but I was just too busy. But it was around TGS that Yasue was going to update, so I put a stop to it. I’m very sorry.

Between then and now we’ve already announced the release date. Now all we have to do is finish it. But we still have tons of things to do, and we’re in the middle of running around trying to get everything finished. Right now on my desktop I have 5 files containing work for Birth by Sleep, 4 for Coded, and 7 for other titles.

They’re listed in order of precedence, and now as I’m writing this the time for these files has finally come.

Of course there are not only written documents, but pictures I have been needing to draw have been waiting for me to get around to it. Right now the most important being the package art for Birth by Sleep.

Today I have to go to edit the Staff Roll. Since there are three main characters in Birth by Sleep, we also have different Staff Rolls for each one. We already have experience making two for Chain of Memories, but this time it’s a little bit different and we have a little bit of a trick with each, so it’s quite difficult.

In the Kingdom Hearts series when we put the music into the Staff Roll, we aren’t just lining up the music second by second, but frame by frame. So we’re working hard to find a good way to time it.

We also still have the Opening Movie, the Secret Movie, the CM and the PV to edit. But that will be on a later day. Next week we will be working on the CM for FFXIII.

So we’re working quite hard now, and I have to get going. I have to get to the editing studio. When I have another opportunity I will write again soon. Thank you.

Director
Tetsuya Nomura

Birth by Sleep Official Site Updates

Hello everyone!  This is Krystal bringing you some news about the official Japanese Birth by Sleep site!  You may remember me from my podcast Kingdom Hearts Korner.  Since I have been unable to make any new podcasts, I’ve come here to Heartstation to join the staff in bringing you all news and content.   Hopefully in the near future we’ll be able to see the return of the podcasts.  :)  Now on to the update!

The official Japanese Birth by Sleep site has added two new worlds to the WORLD section:  Stitch’s world “Deep Space”, and Cinderella’s world “Castle of Dreams”.  The description for Deep Space tells us that our heroes will be on a space ship far away in space where they encounter Experiment 626, aka Stitch, who has escaped.  The characters that are introduced here are Experiment 626 (Stitch), Gantu, Dr. Jumba, and Experiment 221.

In Castle of Dreams, we meet Cinderella who, despite always receiving cruel treatment from her stepmother and stepsisters, continues to easily believe in her dreams and our heroes help them come true.  The characters that are introduced for this world are Cinderella, Jaq, the Fairy Godmother, Lucifer, and Prince Charming.

In the SYSTEM section, they’ve added “What is KHBbS” and “Battle System”.  In “What is KHBbS”, we can read about the basic story of the three main characters which is what we already know:  the three of them go through different points of view through the same storyline and the player can choose which character to play.  As the player clears the game with their chosen character, the other characters can be chosen.  This section also tells us about how the three characters differ in battle style and you can even watch short video clips of each of them in action with speedy Ventus in Castle of Dreams, powerful Terra in what appears to be Aurora’s world, and magical Aqua in what appears to be Neverland.

In Battle System, with the help of short videos the Base Command, Deck Command, Command Gauge, Finish Command, and Command Style are explained.

Last, but not least, in the MOVIES section we can watch the trailer that was shown at Tokyo Game Show 2009!

Check it all out at the official KHBbS site!

Birth by Sleep Updates!

Many new scans featuring Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep have been uploaded recently, please check them out below! They reveal more about Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort’s apprentice, Vanitas. Many scenes from the Tokyo Game Show 2009 trailer are featured as well.

The Japanese release date and sale price are also revealed. Expect it Janurary 9 2009, selling for roughly $60. Thanks to ff-reunion.net!

Sorry for the downtime of HEARTSTATION.ORG! For now this site is the backup, to find content please use the search tool. I will update more soon, thank you for your patience. The gallery still works, so please check it out too.

Birth by Sleep – New Master Revealed

New Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep scans from Shonen Jump weekly reveal the master of Terra, Ventus, and Aqua… Master Erauqs! Do you get the pun? It’s “square” backwards, have fun trying to pronounce it. Check him out below! Scans thanks to ff-reunion.net.

The world he appears in is called Land of Departure, Terra Ven and Aqua’s starter town. In the screenshot in the above scan, he is saying “Its been said that a threat is approaching the Princesses of Light.” The three heroes are ordered to depart their home town, where they make their friendship bond with the star shaped shell charms.

The board game feature is also explained in the scan, it’s called the “Command Board”. It can be used to power up your techniques used in battle. You toss the dice and move toward your goal, gaining Board Points along the way. If you stop on a special panel, an event happens! Various characters appear on the board, you can take Board Points from your rivals.

Sorry for the shortness, I will add in more details later. Please do not repost translations without crediting HEARTSTATION.ORG.