Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance #1-2

by Tomoko Kanemaki, Shiro Amano (Illustrator), Tetsuya Nomura (Original Creator)

To prepare for the great battle to come, Sora and Riku have been summoned to take the Mark of Mastery exam and become full-fledged Keyblade masters. This time, their journey will take them through the Sleeping Worlds, where they must find the seven Keyholes to gain a new kind of power. But not long after their test begins, the two friends find themselves separated, journeying through different versions of each world. What's going on? And what awaits them at the end...?

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novel, Fiction, Comics, Video Games, Young Adult

308 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2019

Reviews

[noor · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 because I am an apologist for this game and need everyone to know it.

Where is my heart destined for?

Will I find the answer by opening the doors of sleep and stepping through? When my Mark of Mastery exam is over, will I have my answer?

I want to hurry ahead, but there's some small part of me that's still hesitating. Am I afraid?

Or is it...something else?

I'm not going to lie, the reason I decided to read this book first (instead of going in order of the games) was because I heard it had some...choice characterizations for Sora and Riku from some friends. And WOW, did Kanemaki not disappoint.

Firstly, the reason I gave this book 4.5 stars was because of the drop mechanism. While it's one of the most controversial aspects of the game, it's so sweet watching Sora and Riku trade off their journeys with one another, Sora defeating one boss and calling over to Riku, who then defeats one and tells Sora that they can do anything. It's fun watching them like this, separate but almost together, still supporting one another. Of course, this aspect would've been a hassle to write out, as it would involve POV hopping every other chapter which would make it harder to follow the character development so quietly being built (especially on Riku's part). Separating the stories into two halves is the obvious choice, but oh, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment as to what could have been.

Now, what was: the novel follows the exact same plot of 3D, adding one or two extra moments that wasn't there (specifically with Riku and his Dream Eaters, which was such cute moments... Sora is normally the one allowed to interact with them, being the more outgoing of the two, but the novel allowed Riku to play around with his and just... aww, look at him being a softy...), and the descriptions of the bosses were really funny. But once again, this novel gains insight into what the characters are thinking, and it shines in that regard, not in being a retelling.

Sora could sense darkness enveloping his body.

What's happening to me...? Am I falling...falling into darkness...again...?

"Riku..."

Finally, Sora called out to his dear friend. Riku had always come to save him. One more time... Riku. I'm sorry, Riku. I...

Sora's side: Sora gets a lot of hate in this game because he acts like 'an idiot'. And while I could go off on a rant as according to the game's lore, this is a review for the book, not the game. But even then, the book does an excellent job of rationalizing his 'stupid' choices. His moment in the Grid where he goes off to find CLU without knowing where he's going is characterized as brave instead of foolish, him not understanding the parallel worlds is characterized as Sora just being Sora and caring about saving his friends. Even Riku calls Sora a little stupid but nothing outside the realm of what we know - this book does a good job of showing us that all Sora is doing is being himself, and caring about saving everyone he can.

Sora gave the two a long look. "What are you saying? You and Goofy wouldn't have come back if you weren't ready to save him! We're friends - friends for life, remember?"

Yeah, we're friends for life. In this world and in all the rest. We'll always, always be friends. That will never change.

this entire sequence was tugging at my heartstrings, Sora loves them and all his friends so much...

And further, this novel does an excellent job of balancing Sora's Sora moments with 'deeper', more harsh feelings he's not entirely used to, given he's never processed the events of literally his entire life. He's kind and he's sweet and he's forced to reckon with these emotions that are entirely too big for him.

Roxas's smile returned a bit. "Sora, see?" he said. "That's why it has to be you."

The Nobody gripped Sora tightly by both hands. In that moment, a wave of thoughts flowed into Sora. Is this...sorrow? It's awful. My chest is aching. What do I-?

Roxas was gone. He had vanished and left only his sadness.

(What's really impressive is the fact that this is perfect foreshadowing for his breakdown in KHIII, while being written by someone who wasn't working on the games in 2012. When I say Kanemaki gets these characters, I mean it.)

And now, the moment of reckoning, Riku's side: it's perfect. I have a lot I can say about it, ranging from him being allowed to be a loser to him being allowed to be the hero. I can talk about how nicely Riku's arc is laid out on display, with there being a clear 'aha!' moment for him in regard to stereotyping the Darkness, in which he finally realizes that light and darkness need to co-exist with one another and that they do co-exist with one another, and that he's accepted who he is. I can talk about how sweet he is towards Sora (not to be a SR endgame believer, but, y'know, SR endgame), how he has so much fear in regard to losing him and yet, he just believes in Sora so much, and values him so highly...

But I'll let some quotes speak for themselves.

"Aw, at least hear me out! I'm looking for a girl named Rhyme. She's the key to the Portal. And on the other side, who knows who we'll find? Maybe even your friend Sora."
Riku looked back with a sharp inhale. Joshua had said the name as if it were nothing.

Riku how did you want him to say his name??? No one says Sora like you do,,,

I've traveled through the worlds more than once, and I've learned plenty along the way.

Light and darkness aren't seperate; they're two sides of the same coin. Those negative emotions like fear, sadness, doubt - they're part of the darkness in my heart. What's made me stronger was keeping that sadness contained, locking it away - no, by embracing it and carrying it with me.

What I especially love is how at the end, Riku corrects himself. His sadness (whatever his sadness may be, cough) isn't something he should hide away and it isn't something that makes him weaker. In regards to the rest of the KH community, Riku is kind of the 'macho man' so while Sora is the feeler, Riku doesn't really. But no, Riku feels so much sadness, and he carries it with him all the way through to his way to dawn.

Light and darkness are perfect complements to each other - the shadows are always greatest next to the light, and light shines out brightest in the dark. I know what that means now, truly.

When those dark feelings come over you, only your heart can decide whether to let them sink deeper into the darkness or to bring them out into the light of the sun. Accepting both is what it means to have a heart. It’s what gives us strength.

Even wanting to protect those you care about is a form of pride, in a way. I don’t think anyone can honestly say it’s not. Same with wanting to be stronger.

Joy and sorrow, anger and hatred - whether those feelings become your light or your darkness is for you to decide. The strength of your heart is what allows you to choose.

That’s why I choose to let the light shine onto my own darkness.

And Sora, that light is you.

I honestly don't know what else to say about this part except some incoherent screaming and keyboard slams. I GOT THOSE CHARACTERIZATIONS I WAS PROMISED... AAARKLJSDFK

Before I move on from my SR agenda, I know it's the exact same as the game, but Riku answering those three questions from Roxas, Ventus, and Xion, and them all having something to do with Sora... yeah, no, still not over it. The way it was written, with Riku just going, 'yeah. there was no other way for me to answer.'

In response to Roxas:

"Losing something that’s important."

At his answer, Roxas disappeared. Yeah. What I’m most afraid of is losing what I care about.

Riku began to walk from the bridge to the beach. He remembered playing tag here with Sora countless times.

In response to Ventus:

There was only one answer - what mattered to him more than anything and what terrified him to lose. "My close friends."

And in response to Xion:

"To recover something important that I lost."

As soon as he gave his response, light engulfed him, and he found himself back on the beach.

And the usage of the light motif that he just said is Sora?... yeah, yeah, okay, okay. holding my hands up and walking away.

In general, I have a lot I can say about Riku, but all I have to say right now is the book depicts him perfectly. Please. Please read it.

Also, one last thing, Lea's side of the story also gets narrated and it's as painful as it is good. It makes me scream, it makes me sob, so that's peak Kingdom Hearts. 5/5

Even Nobodies feared the darkness slowly taking them over, but he’d never thought his black coat would come in handy. Now he would have at least a little protection.

Yes, Axel was now truly flesh and blood, which meant that the idea of losing himself to the darkness frightened him. He broke into a smile - what a human thing to feel.

pausing here for a second, 'what a human thing to feel,' OUCH... there's been a few other stories in the KH universe where there's Nobodies waking up into their human bodies and then the first thing they feel is fear and hurt and pain and such, and they're like 'wow, what it means to be human.' something something, being human and having a heart is accepting pain and darkness and carrying on... okay, okay, continuing...

Still, he needed the power of darkness to open these corridors. Without it, he wouldn’t be able to travel from Radiant Garden to other worlds. The darkness in his heart gave him that power, and he had at least enough for this.

Was any human truly free of darkness in their heart? Wasn’t that the nature of sadness and regret? At the same time, he also harbored doubts about the claim that Nobodies didn’t have hearts.

That’s what he had been told many times, and he used to believe that was just the way it was.

But was a heart something that could be truly lost? He had felt sadness and loneliness, he knew - but didn’t you need a heart for that? Or was it just the imitation of one provided by his memories?

There was a fleeting ache deep in Axel’s chest.

Hadn’t he felt this same pain as a Nobody, too?

Like I said. It's as painful as it is good. Overall, I enjoyed this book as much as I thought I would and even more and I'm glad to own it so I can keep re-reading it and screaming.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Novelization of KH: Dream Drop Distance picks up right after the secret ending in KH: Re:coded. The plot focuses on Sora and Riku who summoned by Yen Sid to take the Mark of Mastery exam. They are to save a bunch of worlds that are still asleep, and awaken a new power. Both set out on their journey into the sleeping worlds together, but they get separated right away. Each youth travels to versions of new and familiar Disney worlds inhabited by creatures called Dream Eaters. They team up with the helpful Spirits and take down the Nightmares so that they can find seven Keyholes to become Keyblade Masters.

In the original game, KH: Dream drop Distance operated on something called the Drop system. You could only spend so much time as Sora or Riku before they would fall asleep and force you to play as the other character. The author decided to write 3D: Dream Drop Distance The Novelization as separate adventures, the opposite of the jumping around worlds in Birth by Sleep: The Novel. While this format makes it easy to follow the story, I wish the author had included a few scenes of Sora/Riku suddenly getting sleepy. (Well, outside of the initial time that the game uses as a tutorial.)

Sora and Riku only visit one completely new Disney franchise/World (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), but most of the worlds are not just rehashes. In Traverse Town, for instance, the two protagonists run into the cast of the game The World Ends With You, and Pinocchio’s Disney world focuses on Pleasure Island instead of Monstro. This helps breathe new life into the Sora/ Riku’s adventures. I love them, but it’s not nice to run into characters like Aladdin and Phil for about the 1,000th time. And unlike some of the other novels, this one covers all the worlds in the game. Hooray! It’s not an abridged version of the game!

Also great is the fact Sora’s personality shines brilliantly right from the start, like when he worries that the Mark of Mastery exam is going to be a written test on Keyblade history. The novel also shows him trying techniques like spinning on lampposts or kicking off a wall (Flowmotion). Riku’s personality is not quite as strong, but that’s partly due to his more subdued personality. The two halves are almost exactly the same length despite Riku’s story having an extra chapter plus a short epilogue, so his time in the worlds feel a little lighter than Sora’s. Both halves include a short interlude featuring a fan-favorite character, and these two are also excellent as they try to piece together what happened and the next course of action.

But I haven’t tackled the best character in the book: Meow Wow Spirit is adorable! The cover cannot capture its charm enough. Even Sora and Riku find time to give the cat-dog Spirit some well-deserved belly rubs.

On the downside, though, Dream Drop Distance Plot even in book form is still confusing regarding its overall story. Or, arguably, a mess. The more the series tries to explain things, the more questions and “coincidences” arise. Maybe it was because I knew what to expect, or that Sora and Riku think to themselves enough to break up a lot of the long exposition. but I…almost felt like I understood? Mostly? I was pretty surprised. The main ideas and revelations still probably prevent this from being a great way to jump into the Kingdom Hearts franchise, but Also acts as a great prequel to the Kingdom Hearts III game.

Overall, I would Highly recommend this Novelization to any Kingdom Heats fan, but definitely not as a starting point as people not familiar with this franchise would probably be confused by the book.

[Dara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite Kingdom Hearts games but I’m disappointed in this novelisation. Frankly it bored the shit out of me. One of DDD’s pitfalls (in my opinion) is the Disney worlds. If you’re not yawning through them (the Grid), they’re so rushed they feel unimportant, especially on Riku’s side with Prankster’s Paradise, Symphony of Sorcery, and Country of the Musketeers. Splitting their sections into separate halves of the book I think was a mistake. In this case it would’ve been more engaging if Riku’s part in each world just came right after Sora’s, so to play off of the drop mechanic in the DDD game.

I’m honestly surprised the blatant romantic subtext between Sora and Riku in the game didn’t get further expanded on. In novel format, you have the opportunity to tell the reader what a character is thinking (especially since the majority of the time they’re alone with their Dream Eaters), and this novel dropped the ball entirely. Beyond a few paragraphs later in the book, their inner thoughts are not really utilised too much. I felt both the Chain of Memories and Birth by Sleep novels nailed it in that regard.

DDD is also the game when things really started getting really confusing for me, but I’ll say this novel did considerably well in laying out the story. Overall though it was disappointing, I really gained nothing new from reading this beyond a deeper understanding of the plot.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 stars

This is only the second KH novelization I've read, and it's not hard to be better than the Union cross one, but I did like it. I felt like the story could have been organized better, like if they interweaved Sora and Riku's stories like in the game. Some of my criticisms are more with the story of DDD in general than this particular novelization, like how Sora is stuck looking stupid because his story has to introduce most of the exposition. Riku got more freedom in his chapters and better writing because of that. (I'm still feeling very emotional about Sora after KH3.) I still really liked the little details of characterization and worlbuilding that we did get. I look forward to reading the other novels and gleaning all the little details I can.

[Alex25 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love dream drops distance and I will defend this game till the day I die while fully acknowledging its flaws as I believe that some concepts are a little bit messy but I STILL LOVE THE GAME AND ALL THE MIND BOGGLING STUFF IT INTRODUCES because honestly you’ll find answers to all the stuff that “does not make sense” in previous games if you actually pay attention to the many details in them but yeah the only flaw of this novelization is the separation of Sora and Riku’s side I think it would have been more fluid and smooth to jump from Sora and Riku just like the game to form a better understanding tbh BUT I LOVE YOU DREAM DROP DISTANCE

[Kaitlyn Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most KH novelizations - DDD gives you the quick snapshot of each world visited, while trying to focus its limited read time on key plot points. DDD is the game I have most trouble keeping with the plot, but felt the novelization has helped a great deal in keeping it all straight! It even offers some additional internal monologue I don’t recall from the game that’s always a delight.

Unfortunately, and this is not the novel’s fault, I wish there was a manga too to illustrate the game’s events.

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 4 out of 5]

To ensure Sora and Riku are ready for what lies ahead, Yen Side tasks them with waking seven realms in slumber, a test where passing will prove them Keyblade Masters - but when the two are separated by supposedly parallel worlds, familiar adversaries begin to haunt their every decision...Kanemaki, Oka and Amano bring the titular game to life with another engaging adaptation of scenes new and old, its great pace and wonderful illustrations a continuous treat for fans. What will Sora and Riku truly discover at the end of their trials?

[Annalise · Rating 4 out of 5]

dude I want my culmination of several games' worth of character development to be the realization and acceptance that my love (🤔😏🏳️‍🌈❓) for my best friend was the driving factor in my fall to darkness, but now that same love gives me the strength to carry on because I want to protect him sooooooo bad. it's just not fair. ):

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

KH 3D has got to be my favorite game in the series. So I was super excited when I found the novel for it! I just wish it added a little more insight into the characters or plot that wasn't already in the game. Still nicely written!

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

We could have had it allllllllllll.

[Thibaut Nicodème · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll say, there was like one chapter with unique insight, but at this point I'm reading these novels mostly out of obligation.

[Sherry Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was so much going on and I was so confused,but it all came together!! I completely forgot Kairi could wield a Keyblade!!!

[WinterBat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highlights the issues with the game’s storytelling: the story of each world not only has to incorporate an outside character, but now 2, so there’s not enough or it feels rushed.

[Thyma · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume of the Kingdom Hearts light novels has especially nice illustrations and designs in the chapter title pages. I really like how the story is broken up into 2 parts: Sora's Side and Riku's Side. I thought the first half was pretty dull and too caught up in unnecessary descriptive details which made the story drag, and this volume is not particularly one of my favorites (mainly because a lot of the world's Sora and Riku visit here are my least favorite, such as Tron's World, La Cite Des Cloches, Prankster's Paradise, and Country of the Musketeers,and there also are less of the previous volumes' characters included in this one). The second half is much more interesting to me, since Riku is my favorite character. Overall, this book is a nice addition for those who are collecting the series.