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Archives for May 2021

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 36

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

I’ve mentioned this a few times before, but Rokujouma frequently has to walk a bit of a high wire, especially in the books that take place after the “ending” we saw in Vol. 29. The author still clearly wants to write more and more stories, and does not want to wrap things up quickly. At the same time, one of the joys of this series has been seeing the characters gradually grow and mature, and as such we don’t want to see them all static either. This new volume is particularly good at keeping that balance, especially for our two resident magical girls, Maki and Yurika. Maki’s past, both as an orphan sold into slavery and as a member of Darkness Rainbow, still tends to guide her actions. Meanwhile, Yurika’s self-pity sometimes verges into self-loathing, so much so that she can’t honestly see how impressed everyone is with her. The best way to resolve both of these things is to head off to Folsaria, Maki’s homeland. And who knows, maybe we can tie into the other ongoing plot while we’re at it.

We pick up where we left off, as Ralgwin has gotten away, though he does not seem to be starting anything major from somewhere else. This allows them to focus on Maki, who has been invited to join Rainbow Heart after recommendations from both Nana and Yurika. Maki certainly has the magic for it… and she’s got the “heart” as well. But can she really become one of the good magical girls after being a literal terrorist just a year or so ago? She gets a provisional task she must complete: investigate the disappearance of several men from a part of the city. This leads her not only to the home where she was born (now a ruined building), but also to a graveyard containing something that’s a lot bigger than just missing people. Can Maki rally together with all of her friends and family and save Folsaria from a hideous disaster?

I was talking about balancing character development with a certain static point, and something in the narrative really showed that off to me: when they arrive at Rainbow Heart headquarters, Yurika is given a letter explaining that all of her debt has finally been paid. Folsaria is a magical land, and Yurika should have been getting a salary, particularly given how much nof a prodigy she was. But apparently she destroyed a factory when her magic went out of control… and it was on her own time, not during work. So her wages were garnished forever to pay for it. Yurika, however, is not delighted by this at all. She fears that if she’s no longer a freeloader Koutarou will abandon her. What surprised me is that there’s no snapback at the end of the book. I was sure Yurika would end up reincurring a large debt. But no. And she’s even able to continue living frugally (so far). It’s really impressive, both for her and the author, not to fall into old habits.

Apologies to Maki, as I spent most of her book talking about Yurika. But Maki is awesome here too, gets to resolve many conflicted feelings, and becomes a real heroine at last, with a paycheck and everything. Unfortunately… the villains kinda win here. We’ll see what happens next, I guess.

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 7

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By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

Back in my fanfiction days, I used to have an argument with a friend of mine, who wrote some great stories but tended to end them a little too late. I used to call them the “And they all lived happily ever after till they died, and here’s how they died” stories. Now, I’m not sure I expect Torture Princess to go QUITE that far. But at the end of my last review, I mentioned that I was worried that the series would not be able to justify continuing after a very satisfying 6th book, which wrapped up Kaito’s plot beautifully. I’d say the answer is yes and no. Yes, it’s another Torture Princess book, with some of the most evocative writing in light novels, and I could have easily quoted a dozen passages. And I do enjoy Elisabeth’s character arc here quite a bit. Still… man, this is a downer, and has some of the most graphic horror descriptions since Vol. 1. It is a Dead Dove: Do Not Eat of a light novel.

The book picks up right where the previous one left off, with the introduction of our antagonists, who also grace the cover: A girl who calls herself Alice Carroll, the new Torture Princess, and her minder/father figure Lewis. They have killed off the two beast princesses who worked with Kaito in the previous book, and are basically here to destroy the world AGAIN. To be fair, they do have a pretty good reason they can use to justify it, but that’s not good enough for Elisabeth. Now she has to try to stop them, helped by Lute, whose job is to be the heart of the book; Jeanne, who is a girl in love, and Izabella, who has acknowledged this love but not responded to it; and La Cristoph, who has already been captured by the enemy. Worst of all, as everyone seems to be telling her… Elisabeth is getting SOFT.

This is not a completely grim book. There are lots of attempts at humor, some of which are admittedly as dark as the blackest night, but they’re there. One running gag with Elisabeth and La Cristoph actually made me laugh. But I won’t deny that there’s a lot of depressing goddamn shit here. Alice, like Kaito, is an abused Japanese girl, whose previous life reminded me an awful lot of Satoko from Higurashi, and it’s no surprise that her reincarnated powerful self is a very, very broken girl. And then there is the revenge that Lewis takes on behalf of the mixed-race peoples, which involves using a large number of purebreds as wombs for demon children. The description in this particular scene is so Grand Guignol that it almost crosses over into parody, but it’s also incredibly sickening to read about. There is, briefly, a nice little bit of hope towards the end of the book, but I still am not 100%… or even 50%… confident that this series won’t end with most everyone dead or wishing they were dead.

Still, I admit that’s not much of a change from the previous six books. I think the loss of Kaito’s POV affected the book more than I was expecting. It’s still a great series to read if you like good writing and horrible graphic images. But man… what a bummer.

Pick of the Week: It Must Have Been the Roses

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SEAN: Come on. We all know what it is. This is the last time we can pick it, so it HAS to be the 5th and final volume of The Rose of Versailles. It’s just that good.

MICHELLE: Forsooth. And we’re all so grateful the whole thing actually got released!

ANNA: Me too, it is amazing!

ASH: I agree, the pick really can’t be anything other than The Rose of Versailles. The series is absolutely one of the gems of my bookshelf. I’m so, so glad we got such a nice release.

KATE: C’mon… what did you think I would pick: Skeleton Knight in Another World?!!! I’m also on Team Oscar this week. I gotta see how it all ends!

MJ: I mean, obviously. It’s The Rose of Versailles.

The Eminence in Shadow, Vol. 3

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By Daisuke Aizawa and Touzai. Released in Japan as “Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

I think I am going to have to accept the fact that this is one of those series where I love everyone except the main character. This is not uncommon in Japanese anime and manga, of course. There are large numbers of people who can’t stand Naruto or Ichigo as characters, but love the series around them. Sword Art Online may be the best example of all. But at least all of those characters are actual heroes. A bit overpowered, a bit narrative-breaking, a bit dense, but heroes. Cid from The Eminence in Shadow is certainly overpowered, narrative-breaking, and dense. Though I think he’d get annoyed if called narrative-breaking, as he’s actually trying to create cool narratives for him to lurk in and be badass. There’s just one problem. He’s TOO annoying, even for a comedy. We’re meant to laugh at the dissonance between what he’s thinking/doing and what everyone else thinks of him, but I just sort of want him to go away, because honestly I quite enjoy this series otherwise.

This book is divided into two halves. In the first, Cid is led by his sister to the Lawless Sector, which has a lot of bad guys and three major powers. She’s there to try to get Cid a place in the Knights, but he quickly wanders off to go be cool and shadowey. Unfortunately, as always, his chuuni declarations designed to sound ominous are actually coming true: in this case, they’re trying to resurrect a vampire queen and turn the town into corpses. In the second half of the book, he teams up with one of the major powers from the first part, a fox woman with a tragic past, in order to destroy the economy of two major companies… one of which is the company literally run by his own minions. To do this, he has to invent another identity so he can be his own bad guy, because honestly, the idea of doing this appeals to him far more than the impact it might have on anyone who cares for him. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.

I suppose I should be grateful for small blessings: I hear that in the original webnovel, Cid was actually far more consciously evil about doing all this, whereas in this book most of the actions he takes in the second half of the book are just him not thinking things through or genuinely being a dumbass. But anyway, let me stop talking about Cid, as the rest of the cast are a lot of fun, and the book can be quite funny when it wants to be. Delta, who Cid thinks of as a giant Golden Retriever in the form of a woman, is possibly the only character denser than he is, and yet she’s a delight, because it’s innocent denseness. There are some strong dramatic turns here as well, believe it or not, both from Alpha and from Yukime, the fox woman Cid teams up with. And OK, the final gag with Cid digging a giant hole because he thinks he’s discovered some Mysterious Last Words is pretty funny.

So yes, I’ll definitely be reading more, but I just gotta prepare myself: Cid’s probably always going to be like this.

Accel World: Sword Sage of the Blue Flower

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By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

Accel World in general is a classic example of a series that is a lot of fun provided you don’t think too hard about much of it. This new volume was filled with scenes and moments I felt were pretty cool, but when I tried to tie them into the ongoing plot I went “hey, um, wait…”. That said, it’s not like Sword Art Online doesn’t also have that problem. If SAO is the light novel equivalent of Shonen Jump, then Accel World is its Shonen Magazine equivalent, with nice pizzazz and lots of fanservice. (Probably for the best that Haruyuki is in pig form on the cover there.) It does not help, admittedly, that we are still in the middle of this very long arc. The author promises, in the afterword, that it will end in the next book, but admits that he’s said that before and no one believes him. Oh yes, and after raising the dead, sort of, in the last book, we follow it up by… doing it again? Wow, raising the dead is EASY.

Everyone is still discussing the big plan to take out the massive sun-like enemy that’s keeping all the kings trapped, and Haruyuki’s new sword, with its heat resistance forced by the Blacksmith of Eternal Peril, seems to be the answer. He can also get training from the mysterious presence that helped him last time… but wait. If he finds out who she is in the real world, can he do for her what was done for Orchid Oracle? We then get a training montage, which is pretty cool but is, nevertheless, a training montage, so I don’t have much to say about it. And then, finally, the big confrontation, in which Haruyuki is very cool and the day is saved… oh dear, here comes the villain for another cliffhanger.

My favorite scene in the book was the party that all the girls (and Takumu, sorry, Takumu) threw him to celebrate his being the point man on this mission… and the fact that he shows up with another new girl, who just happens to be a rival for those who’ve been in Brain Burst the longest, showing up after being gone for years. You’d think there’s be a lot of jealous stares, but the mood seems to be more “Of course he has another girl to add to his pile, it is Haruyuki after all”. Actually, the biggest danger to Kuroyukihime in this book is not Centaurea Sentry, his new mentor, but Rin Kusakabe, who has apparently been reading Devil Is a Part-Timer in her spare time because she wants him to remember she confessed, and not just let it slip his mind just because he happens to still hate himself. If I weren’t reminded occasionally that everyone in the cast is between 9 and 14 years old, this would be a great romantic harem series. Alas.

I am not expecting the bad guys to win or anything, but the main Kings are certainly in a tight spot with the cliffhanger. Indeed, cliffhanger endings has proven to be one of the stronger parts of Accel World. Might have to wait a little longer for the next volume, though, as we’ve caught up with Japan mostly.