Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-9826910-20130618064245/@comment-5398287-20200112194122

You said it, not me. We've got no indication that Kubo wrote anything in these novels himself beyond basic concept outlines, nor do we have him approving it after the fact - though we do have lots of people, like yourself, assuming that he did or twisting his words to fit that narrative. So by that standard, yeah, the Hell Verse movie is more canonical than these novels - and a lot more entertaining and true to characterization, too.