Summary
Kingdom Heartsgames have always been followed by manga adaptations in Japan, and theKingdom Hearts 3manga is coming to an end. While it ran regularly in Japan, theKingdom Hearts 3manga is only partially available in the US — only two volumes were released in English before Yen Press ceased to publish the series due to expiration of the license with Disney in 2023.Yen Press also published the new chapters as they were released up to the end of the contract.
Kingdom Heartswas released in 2002, and the first manga ran from 2003 to 2006 in Japan (and it’s the only one originally read left-to-right because it was serialized in theFamitsu PS2magazine). It was later re-released asKingdom Hearts Final Mix. The same happened withKingdom Hearts 2. The game launched in 2005 and the manga ran from 2006 to 2009.Kingdom Hearts: Chain of MemoriesandKingdom Hearts 358/2Days were also adapted into manga. So it was expectedwhenKingdom Hearts 3mangawas announced and started serialization in April 2019, a few months after the game’s release, in January of that same year.Since Square Enix has its own publishing house, and theKingdom Heartsmanga are usually serialized under Gangan Comics imprint in Japan (the first one is the only manga that ran in a magazine by a different publisher).
The Future of The Kingdom Hearts III Manga
Kingdom Hearts 3manga will finally end in the next chapter,author Shiro Amano revealed on his X account.The last chapter is scheduled for June 18, 2025, on theGangan Online website. The series will end with 39 chapters— only the last nine chapters are not slated to be published in English.
The last manga continues the story (thelore can be a bit complicated) of the previous ones, with content not only adapted fromKingdom Hearts 3,but also fromKingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-(included in theKingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologuecollection).
Square Enix is not the only company that invests in manga for their games. It is not uncommon for games to be adapted or have extra content in manga or novel formats, as it also serves as a marketing strategy. For example, Nintendo also does that, at least for some franchises, such asThe Legend of Zelda, whose most famous manga adaptations are the ones penned by duo Akira Himekawa. It is expected thatKingdom Hearts IV,the “beginning of the end”, will also have a manga adaptation when it launches.
AllKingdom Heartsmanga were released in the US by either Tokyopop or Yen Press.Kingdom Hearts 3is the only one that is not fully available in English yet.
