Let’s set off on the exciting adventure with various Copy Abilities!!
"Kirby, Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight solve the cases that occur in Dream Land, a place peaceful enough to make one yawn. There are all sorts of exciting stories like original stories that can only be read at Tsubasa Bunko, Novelizations of big hit games, or side stories where Meta Knight is the protagonist!"
Kirby is a series of light novel adaptations of the Kirby games series. It features Kirby, Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight as the main protagonists.
The series is written by Mie Takase and illustrated by sisters Tau Karino and Poto Karino. Published by Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko, the first volume was released in August 2013 and is still ongoing.
open/close all folders
Books in the Kirby novel series
- Hoshi no Kirby: Abunai Gourmet Yashiki!? no Maki / Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion?! (August 12, 2013): The first volume. In this original story, Madame Parfaitsky moves to Dream Land and decides to throw a birthday party at her mansion, and Kirby and King Dedede plan to infiltrate the party so they can help themselves to her birthday banquet.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Kurayami Mori de Oosawagi! no Maki / Kirby and the Big Panic in Gloomy Woods! (March 15, 2014): The second volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Daitouzoku Dorocche-dan Arawaru! no Maki / Kirby Meets the Squeak Squad! (August 15, 2014): The third volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Meta Knight to Ayatsuri Hime / Kirby: Meta Knight and the Puppet Princess (February 15, 2015): The fourth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Pupupuland de Dai Race! no Maki / Kirby: Big Race in Pupupu Land! (August 15, 2015): The fifth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Daimeikyuu no Tomodachi wo Sukue! no Maki / Kirby's Labyrinth Rescue! (February 15, 2016): The sixth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Robobo Planet no Daibouken! / Kirby and the Great Planet Robobot Adventure! (July 15, 2016): The seventh volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Meta Knight to Ginga Saikyou no Senshi / Kirby: Meta Knight and the Galaxy's Greatest Warrior (March 15, 2017): The eighth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Kessei! Kirby Hunters Z no Maki / Kirby Clash Team Unite! (August 15, 2017): The ninth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Kessen! Battle Deluxe!! (March 15, 2018): The tenth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Star Allies Friends Daibouken! Hen (July 14, 2018): The eleventh volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Star Allies Uchuu no Dai Pinch!? Hen (August 15, 2018): The twelfth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Keito no Sekai de Daijiken! (March 15, 2019): The thirteenth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Niji no Shimajima wo Sukue! no Maki (July 15, 2019): The fourteenth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Super Kirby Hunters Daigekitou! no Maki (December 13, 2019): The fifteenth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Mugen no Haguruma wo Sagase! (March 14, 2020): The sixteenth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Meta Knight to Yomi no Kishi (July 14, 2020): The seventeenth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Kirby Cafe wa Oosawagi!? no Maki (December 15, 2020): The eighteenth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Kirby Fighters Shukumei no Rival-tachi!! (March 12, 2021): The nineteenth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Dedede Daiou no Dassou Daisakusen! (July 14, 2021): The twentieth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Nazo to Jiken no Pupupu Train!? no Maki (December 15, 2021): The twenty-first volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Starlight Theater he Youkoso! no Maki (March 9, 2022): The twenty-second volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Ame Kakeru Fune to Kyogen no Majutsushi (April 27, 2022): A novelization of Kirby's Return to Dream Land made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Kirby series. Has the distinction of not being part of the main novel series, instead being released as a standalone hardcover novel, but is still listed here for completeness.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Discovery Shinsekai he Hashiridashite! Hen (August 8, 2022): The twenty-third volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Discovery Zettou no Yume wo Uchikudake! Hen (September 14, 2022): The twenty-fourth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Manpuku, Manmaru, Gourmet Fest! (December 14, 2022): The twenty-fifth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Setsuna no Mi Kiri de Aku wo Tate! (March 8, 2023): The twenty-sixth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Oide yo, Waiwai Magolor Land! (August 5, 2023): The twenty-seventh volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Music Fest de Oohashagi! no Maki (December 13, 2023): The twenty-eighth volume.
- Hoshi no Kirby: Pupupu Onsen wa Ii Yu Da Na ♪ no Maki (March 13, 2024): The twenty-ninth volume.
The Kirby novel series provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Some of the novels based on the games add some extra details for certain characters, objects and/or places. For example:
- It's revealed in the Kirby Battle Royale adaptation that the Kirby Printer also created Waddle Dee copies before the Kirby copies were processed for eventual creation. When the printer is destroyed near the end of the story, all the copied Kirbys disappear with it (as Kirby's data was still in the printer at the time), but not the Waddle Dees.
- The Kirby Fighters 2 novel reveals exactly how the Buddy Fighters Tower came to be, thanks to both a mysterious shooting star that crash-landed on Planet Popstar and the Masks of Dark Bonds, which happened to be near the crash-site.
- The Kirby's Return to Dream Land novel directly shows Magolor excavating the Lor Starcutter in the prologue (in the game, it was only implied) and the fact that the ship has a mind of its own directly comes into play a lot sooner (as early as chapter 7).
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Most of the normal enemies from the games are just ordinary Dream Landers living peacefully.
- A Day in the Limelight: There are quite a few volumes where Meta Knight takes center stage. One volume even had King Dedede be the main protagonist.
- Artifact Domination: This is what Malice Crystal turns out to be.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Following the footsteps of the games, where for example, the crew of Halberd seem to be fine when they are in the deck while the Halberd is in space.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: If you thought that Kirby get betrayed a lot in the games, the light novel takes it to the next level, where most of the novel-only characters trick or deceive Kirby one way or another, to the point where you can count the exceptions on one hand!
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Happens a few times over the course of the series.
- The Taranza of the Dream Kingdom is influenced by the Black Mirror during the events of Kirby Clash Team Unite! The influence is broken after Team Kirby destroys the mirror.
- In chapter 13 of "Kirby Fighters: The Destined Rivals," King Dedede and Meta Knight fall victim to this after they put on the Masks of Dark Bonds. After Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee beat them up and break the masks, Dedede and Meta Knight go back to normal.
- Break the Cutie: Kirby, more often than not. In the sixth novel, Magolor betrays Kirby's trust in the end and brought him to tears. In the eight novel, the Meta Knights and Dedede force him to fight Galacta Knight against his will, making him very much uncomfortable. In Super Team Kirby's Big Battle, Kirby falls into depression because he starts to miss his friends from Dream Land.
- Cast of Snowflakes: Each of the enemies in the games (such as Burning Leo or Blade Knight) are typically represented by a single individual in the novels, meaning almost every single character is unique.
- Casual Interstellar Travel: Traveling between planets seem to be no different than driving a car here.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Zigzagged. Series starts out quite light-hearted and slice-of-life-esque, but somewhere around "Kirby's Labyrinth Rescue!" its direction shifts towards action-adventure stories with higher stakes and much darker moments, but the serious tone is kept balanced with lighthearted moments.
- Character Development: The entire main cast gets one eventually. Kirby from unreliable and childish kid who only thinks about food all the time to much more responsible and stops inhaling others to get copy abilities without their consent, Waddle Dee from helpless sidekick to Bandana Waddle Dee and Kirby's true companion. Dedede goes from selfish jerk to much more considerate and friendly ally, Meta Knight learns to respect Kirby and works on taming his wild side.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Kirby gives this frequently to the Squeaks. Even while he's asleep!
- Divided for Adaptation: Both the Kirby Star Allies and Kirby and the Forgotten Land adaptations were split into two novels, making them both the longest stories in the series yet.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: A small example, but the first novel depicts Meta Knight as flying around in a blimp rather than his trademark ship, the Halberd. Later installments feature the Halberd heavily and the blimp is never shown again.
- Egopolis: In Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion!?, King Dedede shows off a map of Dream Land. All of the landmarks are named after him (e.g. "Lake Dedede", "Dedede Plains", "Dedede River", "Mt. Dedede", etc.), and Meta Knight even notes that he erased those places' original names.
- Food Fight: Happens in the fourth novel, when Princess Marona reunites with Meta Knight.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine for Kirby, Phlegmatic for Waddle Dee, Choleric for King Dedede, and Melancholic for Meta Knight.
- Friendship Denial: Kirby and King Dedede. They eventually become Fire-Forged Friends.
- Level Ate: Madame Parfaitsky's mansion looks like an enormous cake, complete with fake "fruits" and "ice cream" built into the architecture, but none of it is edible. The garden, however, is full of artificial plants made out of sugar and mizuame, trees that inexplicably grow cookies and cakes instead of flowers, and a soda fountain (as in a huge fountain that sprays soda instead of water, not a '50s diner).
- Mind-Control Device: Malice Crystal in the fourth novel, the Black Mirror in the Team Kirby Clash Deluxe novel, and the Masks of Dark Bonds in the Kirby Fighters 2 novel, to name a few examples.
- Not His Sled: Since the novels are Pragmatic Adaptations, this is bound to happen.
- In Save the Rainbow Islands!, Dark Matter, the True Final Boss of Kirby’s Dream Land 2, does not appear at all. note Instead, Pirika is the mastermind behind the incident there.
- Novelization: Certain novels are almost straight adaptations of then recently released Kirby games, such as "Kirby and the Great Planet Robobot Adventure!" which is obviously based on Kirby: Planet Robobot. Some of the older games also have adaptations, including "Big Trouble in Patch Land", which is an adaptation of Kirby's Epic Yarn (Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, specifically) and "Lor Starcutter and a Magician of Falsehood", which adapts Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The novels that are based on the games are usually this. They can't use all the new locations, set-pieces and bosses, so they focus on fleshing out the most important aspects of the game's story. For example, "Kirby and the Great Planet Robobot Adventure!" heavily delves into the relationship between Susie and President Haltmann.
- Running Gag: Kirby would frequently mistake certain words for food.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: It turns out the entirety of Team Kirby knew Kirby was from a different world by the end of the Super Kirby Clash novel. Although since Kirby arrived because Doctor Kirby used a bell that summons heroes from other worlds, the real question was less how they found out and more how he ever thought it was a secret.
- Send in the Clones: In this continuity, all of the Waddle Dees working for Dedede are clones of Bandana Waddle Dee, made by the Kirby Printer before the events of Kirby Battle Royale.
- Sequel Hook:
- Acti Blade gives this at the end of the third novel, where she tells that she's from a country full of sweets, foreshadowing "Meta Knight and the Puppet Princess".
- Spear Cotta Knight mentions Seventopia in "Meta Knight and the Puppet Princess", a location which is relevant in the sixth novel "Kirby's Labyrinth Rescue!".
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the original Kirby: Planet Robobot game, all traces of President Haltmann have presumably been deleted by Star Dream in the climax. In the light novel adaptation, he survives Star Dream's destruction and regains his memories, leaving to mechanize other planets alongside Susie and Director Kane.
- Story-Breaker Power: In the eighth novel, Captain Vul buys an assortment of Copy Essences for Kirby. Near the end of the volume, the purple Sphere Doomer takes them with it to Another Dimension, since Kirby being able to use countless abilities whenever he wish would be extremely overpowered.
- Sugar Bowl: Dream Land is said to be peaceful enough to make others yawn.
- Totem Pole Trench: In the first novel, Kirby and Dedede disguise themselves into a woman named Dedeby by this technique.
- Unwilling Roboticisation: Happens in the Kirby: Planet Robobot novel, where the Haltmann Works Company turns almost all the Dream Landers into robots and forces them to work for the company.
