KHI brought to my attention that there are two new Kingdom Hearts Novels by Tomoco Kanemaki and Shiro Amano coming out on August 1st, which are available for Pre-Order on Amazon.com in the US:

Also, the next of Shiro Amano’s Graphic Novels is coming out on October 1st:

The Boxed Set of the Chain of Memories Graphic Novels is coming out October 9th, presumably including just the two current volumes:

For those of you who missed the previous books:

TheWertle has struck again! This time with an excellent interview with Tetsuya Nomura from Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ Ultimania called “Scenario Mysteries”, in which he confirms the Enigmatic Soldier’s name as Terra!

In Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+, many mysteries are answered but many new mysteries are also born.

In this version, things relating to additional scenes are included, but during the story there are some questions that pop up, so we’ll see if Nomura can point us in the right direction.

Question: In the original Kingdom Hearts, the King searches for a Keyblade in the Realm of Darkness, but when he meets Ansem the Wise, is the Realm of Light Keyblade he has the one that Sora is currently using?

Nomura: No. The King has the ability to use Keyblades from both the Realms of Darkness and of Light. This is an important point – There isn’t just one Keyblade from each world, but just as many as there are people with qualified hearts.

Question: During the meetings, the members of Organization XIII are sitting in chairs. Is the height of these chairs determined by things like their skills and abilities?

Nomura: No. The height of the chairs is not fixated – They move. That is to say that the height is up to each person. The leader, Xemnas, is always the highest, and to be at the same height as him would give that member a pretty bad feeling, so the other members wouldn’t do that. *Laughs*

Question: At the end of Sora and Riku’s stories in Re: Chain of Memories, Roxas looks back while Hayner and the rest are walking and eating ice-cream, and without seeming to care, Hayner and the others continue walking. Is this because they can’t see Roxas?

Nomura: Well it’s just because they don’t know Roxas that they don’t notice him, not because they can’t see him. At that time, right after Xemnas explains Roxas’ name, Axel says to leave things to him. Then, Roxas seems jealous of how Hayner and the others are enjoying themselves while eating ice-cream, and Axel interprets this as him wanting some ice-cream, so he is obliged to go buy him some.

Question: In the real Twilight Town, didn’t Roxas cross paths with Hayner and the others and make aquaintances with them?

Nomura: I suppose. You can think whatever you want about that.

Question: What triggered Roxas’ separation from the Organization?

Nomura: As he kept having recurring dreams of Sora, someone he didn’t know, he felt he needed to leave the Organization to find out who these people he didn’t know were. As Axel didn’t want him to go, he didn’t tell Sora about Roxas in Castle Oblivion, did he?

Question: In Riku’s ending in Re: Chain of Memories, could you tell us the meaning of the scene where the King and Riku are walking together and Riku suddenly plops down.

Nomura: That’s because Riku realized he couldn’t completely get rid of the Darkness inside of him. The King mentioned in Kingdom Hearts II that as Riku held Xehanort’s Heartless in his heart, he disappeared from the King’s sight. It’s a sort of foreshadowing. In this scene, the King’s face looks worried for a moment because he felt that Riku might eventually no longer be there. Riku headed towards DiZ in order to restore Sora’s memories to normal, but in the end, his departure from the King was so that he wouldn’t show his preparations to use the Darkness.

Question: Could you tell us at what point Riku covered his eyes?

Nomura: When he departed from the King. You don’t know after the scene, but in Riku’s ending in Re: Chain of Memories, when he comes to wherever DiZ is, he’s already covered his eyes.

Question: Please confirm some things about Castle Oblivion. In the additional event “The Truth about the Chamber of Sleep”, you can gather from Xigbar and Zexion’s conversation that Castle Oblivion existed in the Inbetween Realm before the birth of the Organization. The Organization then found it and used it for experiments about memories and to look for the Chamber of Awakening, right?

Nomura: Yes. Since their conversation was about Marluxia’s entry, they discovered the Castle before that. In fact, its use, according to Secret Ansem Report 7, was for only 13 Organization Members. Naminé awoke in Castle Oblivion, but as she and Roxas were born at the same time, half of the Organization moved to the Castle.

Question: In the additional event “To Put an End to Everything”, Sora says “It should have been easy to say thanks to Naminé, but I couldn’t say it”. At this point in time, does Sora remember the things that happened with Naminé?

Nomura: If he remembers, it’s because Naminé’s existence was made possible by Sora, and when Naminé and Roxas return to Kairi and Sora, many things were connected. Since Sora never got to say thanks to Naminé, please think of that as a hint.

Question: In the additional event “Farewell to a Friend”, there’s a scene where Axel tells Roxas “You really do have a heart, don’t you”. What is the actual case here?

Nomura: In this scene, it ends bringing up more mysteries about Roxas, so for the answer, maybe take care to follow your hunches well. It’s also related to Xehanort’s memories, but I can’t give any specifics now.

Question: We’d like to inquire about the new secret movie “Birth By Sleep”. In the new event “The Truth about the Chamber of Sleep”, Xigbar mentions a “group that wields Keyblades”. Is he talking about the 3 armored people in the movie?

Nomura: Yes, Xigbar witnessed them when he was a disciple to Ansem the Wise.

Question: The Lingering Sentiment (Enigmatic Soldier) is the same as the armored youth in the movie, but when he fights Sora he mentions “Aqua” and “Ven”. Are those the names of the other 2?

Nomura: Yes, the blue haired girl is Aqua.

Question: What is the armored youth’s name?

Nomura: His name appeared once in code in the 2006 Tokyo Game Show Promotional Video. Also, Ven is actually a nickname, but his real name is a little bit longer. Sora, Riku, and Kairi’s names can be seen as “Sky, Land, and Sea” respectively. The 3 armored people’s names take the shape of different properties of the world, “Water, Wind, and Earth”.

Statement: Ven looks an awful lot like Roxas…

Nomura: I can’t give any specifics about that. He may just resemble him, and if there is a connection, Sora may be related too. What I can say right now is that these mysteries are all connected to the story.

Question: In the beginning, the armored youth’s eyes are blue, but at the end they change to gold. Is this revealing a change in him?

Nomura: I can’t give specifics about this either… I think everyone’s imaginations are pretty capable so please try and anticipate a lot of things.

Translated by TheWertle. I edited and corrected spelling and grammar.

• In the photo below, it shows a screenshot of the code that flowed across the screen for a moment during the Promotional Video at the Tokyo Game Show 2006. It has been decoded as:

“Master Xehanort’s Avenger, his name is Terra.”

“Not yet awakened, he is connected to those two.”

Terra
Click to enlarge

In July this year, Square-Enix is releasing the Kingdom Hearts Complete Visual Art Book in Japan. It includes some of Tetsuya Nomura’s artwork from all of the Kingdom Hearts games.

This image is of the actual cover of the book. If you click it, you’ll see a version where I put the higher quality version of the artwork from the official website over it to make it easier to see enlarged. The actual book doesn’t include the words “Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+” on the cover.

JP¥1,800.00 (~US$15, ~GB£7.50, ~EU€11, ~AU$18.15, ~CA$16.50, ~NZ$20.40)

TheWertle has done a couple more photos of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ Ultimania. The first is conceptual artwork of an armoured version of Xemnas. The second is conceptual artwork of a Final Boss Nobody named “King” in The World That Never Was. Click them to enlarge them:

Also, Zexion’s “Mirage Book” is actually called “Lexicon” (a reference book). It’s now confirmed that his element is “Illusion” as well.

Update: TheWertle also took a photo of some sketches by Tetsuya Nomura of Marluxia’s Final (3rd) Form:

Thanks to DDragonWhisper for getting the translation of the “Winnie The Pooh” story of Another Report from Kingdom Hearts Volume 4 of the Manga series: