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Manga the Week of 7/7/21

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SEAN: July! Manga! Too hot to be glib!

ASH: So, so hot in so, so many places.

SEAN: Airship, in print, has the debut of Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter. There’s also the 3rd volume of I’m in Love with the Villainess.

MICHELLE: I managed to read the first volume of I’m in Love with the Villainess recently! Definitely the best light novel I’ve tried so far.

ASH: I really need to get around to finally reading it myself; I’ve heard nothing but good things.

SEAN: Airship also has an early digital debut of a title we’ve seen the manga for already: My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s. Take a wild guess at the premise. They’ve also got Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs in early digital.

Ghost Ship debuts Devilish Darlings Portal Fantasy (Isekai Seikatsu no Susume), which ran in Takeshobo’s Kissca and is a one-shot. It’s basically an isekai with more nudity, though I hear it’s cuter than it sounds.

In print, J-Novel Club gives us Slayers, Vol. 1-3, a nice hardcover omnibus of the first three volumes of the classic series.

ASH: I know quite a few people who are looking forward to this release.

MJ: I didn’t know this was coming, but now I’m excited!

SEAN: They’ve also got Ascendance of a Bookworm’s 6th manga volume, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 13, I Shall Survive Using Potions!‘s 4th manga volume, Infinite Dendrogram 13, My Next Life As a Villainess 8, and a 2nd omnibus of Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles.

Digitally, we get not only Ascendance of a Bookworm’s 8th manga, but also the first volume of the Ascendance of a Bookworm fanbook. See illustrations, Q&A from the author, and a new short story! We also see Altina the Sword Princess 9, Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower 2, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 17, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! 3, and Record of Wortenia War 11.

ASH: It makes me happy that Ascendance of a Bookworm is doing well enough that we’re getting material beyond the main series.

SEAN: Kodansha, for print releases, has the 7th APOSIMZ, Fire Force 23, Orient 3, and Shaman King’s 3rd omnibus.

Digitally we get 2 debuts. Fate/Grand Order -Epic of Remnant- Pseudo-Singularity III: The Stage of Carnage, Shimousa – Seven Duels of Swordmasters exhausts me just to type out. It runs in Kodansha’s Magazine Pocket. The plot… is FGO.

ASH: That is quite the title.

SEAN: That’s My Atypical Girl (Asper Kanojo) is a seinen manga from Comic Days, and thanks for avoiding that Japanese title, I approve. A manga artist gets a visit from a fan who’s just a bit different.

Also out digitally: The final 7th volume of 1122: For a Happy Marriage, Bakemonogatari 9 (the print came out two weeks ago), Girlfriend, Girlfriend 4, Guilty 8, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 9, My Dearest Self with Malice Aforethought 6, Shaman King: The Super Star 5, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 5, Smile Down the Runway 19, Those Snow-White Notes 8, With the Sheikh in His Harem 3, and Ya Boy Kongming! 2.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading several of these digital releases.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. Great Pretender is a manga based on the Netflix anime, and runs in MAGCOMI. It’s not quite Leverage: The Manga but close.

The other debut we’ve technically seen before. Kageki Shoujo! ran for two years with Shueisha, and we saw that omnibus come out last year. Then it jumped ship to Hakusensha, where it runs in their josei magazine Melody. And this is the start of that run! Takarazuka fans will love this.

MICHELLE: Oh! I didn’t realize there was more coming. Nice.

ASH: Looking forward to reading more of this series!

MJ: Oh, hello!

ANNA: I need to read it!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Dai Dark 2, Muscles Are Better Than Magic 2, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 13, The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent 3, and SUPER HxEROS 3.

ASH: I somehow actually haven’t managed to read the first volume yet, but hooray for more Dai Dark!

SEAN: Tokyopop has three titles: Her Royal Highness Seems to be Angry (Oujo Denka wa Oikari no You Desu) is the debut. The digital version came out a while back, and it runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo. It’s sort of a reincarnation story AND a villainess story.

We also get Laughing Under the Clouds 2 and Futaribeya: A Room for Two 8.

No debuts for Viz, but we do get the final volume of Oresama Teacher. I know Nozaki-kun gets all the love, and rightly so, but this is also awesome, and I will miss it, even if it does end up going the teacher/childhood friend/sadist route.

MICHELLE: I admit I prefer Nozaki-kun, but I do intend to finish Oresama Teacher, too.

ASH: I need to catch up on Oresama Teacher, but I’ve greatly enjoyed what I’ve read so far.

ANNA: I also need to get caught up, but I have many stockpiled volumes.

SEAN: Also from Viz: D.Gray-Man 27, Dr. STONE 17, Idol Dreams 7, Love Me, Love Me Not 9, Moriarty the Patriot 4, My Hero Academia Vigilantes 10, Platinum End 13, Queen’s Quality 12, and Undead Unluck 2.

ASH: I’m behind but I’ve got my eyes on a few of these, too!

ANNA: I’m stoked for my very occasional volume of Idol Dreams especially!

SEAN: That’s it! Seems like less than usual? Have I gotten used to it?

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: The Crimson Magic Trials

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By Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Possibly the funniest part of this book is when Kazuma and Megumin end up getting chased in the woods by one of the villains, and while trying not to spoil too much, said villain’s mission is to destroy all “reajuus with harems”. Leaving aside that the publisher/translator is expecting all KonoSuba readers to know what reajuu means, the idea that this describes Kazuma is, at first, hilarious… until you think about it. Isn’t he actually quite content with his life right now? Doesn’t he have a lot of real-life friends, a fulfilling career, and a cute girlfriend? As well as other girls also in love with him? Slowly but surely, Kazuma has become Kirito and no one noticed. That said, technically this is Yunyun’s book… although, because she is Yunyun, most of her plot is spent offscreen and she’s mostly embarrassed. Still, in the end, she achieves her wildest dreams… sort of. Because maybe the real Yunyun wants the friends she meets along the way.

In the last book, also offscreen, Yunyun had Megumin aid her in taking the Crimson Magic Trials to determine the next chief… and both times Megumin blew everything up. It’s not made clear if this was accidental or on purpose, but Yunyun now has only one chance left, so will NOT be taking Megumin this time. Taking first Darkness (disaster, but passed) then Aqua (disaster, but passed), theoretically Kazuma should be helping with the final trial. However, there is a “mad bomber” running around the area who likes to blow up folks that look Japanese, so Megumin – who is absolutely not jealous or making this all up, nosirree – forbids him from doing it. As Yunyun ends up getting “help” from a supporting character we haven’t seen in years (no, not Dust), Kazuma and Megumin try to solve the Mad Bomber problem and also deal with the fact that they’re both very awkward virgins who are not really ready to have sex yet.

This is not the longest story in the world, even for KonoSuba. Indeed, we essentially start the next book in the final chapter, as everyone returns to Axel to find a new priestess, Serena, who claims to be Kazuma’s “fan” and seems to be better than Aqua at, well, everything. It does allow us to have one last fun time with the biggest village full of dramatic dorks ever. Megumin’s mother is all for her daughter getting it on with Kazuma, who has to repeat Megumin’s age a lot (fourteen) to remind himself why he’s not doing this yet. There is a bedroom scene where they get awfully close, as she offers to help “relieve his tension”, but, needless to say, events ensue that prevent this. As for Yunyun, well, she does end up getting her dream come true, but eventually realizes that “Megumin’s greatest rival” is more important to her now than “chief of the clan”. She also gets the second best joke in the book, when an imprisoned and somewhat humiliated Megumin whines at Yunyun, telling her to “go ahead and laugh”, and Yunyun does just that – and points, too.

Given how this book ended, I expect Aqua will be the featured character for the next volume. We’re getting pretty close to the end here. KonoSuba fans should have a lot of fun.

The Detective Is Already Dead, Vol. 1

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By nigozyu and Umibouzu. Released in Japan as “Tantei wa mou, Shindeiru” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

Sometimes I sabotage myself. I hear vague things about a title, like how acclaimed it is or how the premise sounds cool and does not have anyone be transported to another world, and I get inflated expectations. Let’s face it, I thought this title was going to be a lot more serious than it actually is. The color pages started to clue me in, and by the first scene in the book I was snarking as if this was a new volume of In Another World with My Smartphone. Fortunately, around the halfway mark of the book, the author stops pretending to be another author and buckles down to an actual story and it gets better – the back half easily outstrips the front. I’m saying this right away so that folks won’t abandon the book when it has the heroine reach into the hero’s mouth and say things like “I’ll double-kill you” (something which, I counted, she says three times). This is especially jarring as she’s otherwise nothing like H*tagi S*njogahara at all.

Our hero is Kimihiko, who has a knack of getting involved in sticky situations. Four years ago, on a flight, he met Siesta, a detective who asked him to be her assistant. Sadly, Siesta was killed a year ago (it’s not a spoiler, look, it’s in the title), and now he’s trying to live a normal Japanese high school life. This lasts literally half a page, and then he runs up against a) a young woman with a recent heart transplant, who is looking for something but she isn’t sure what; b) a famous idol singer who needs someone to protect a very expensive and valuable sapphire; and c) Siesta’s OTHER former assistant, who gets along with Kimihiko about as well as oil and water, and who is searching for her legacy. And of course, none of these are actually the main plot, which is that Kimihiko and his friends are being hunted by an evil organization… the same one who killed Siesta.

As I said, this starts badly. The nature of Nagisa’s dilemma is easily discovered, and she loses any sharpness she had in her character after this is discovered. (You could argue this is because of the resolution of her internal dilemma, but it’s not presented that way.) Then it gets better. Yui is a deliberate take on the cutesy teen idol, but she’s hiding several secrets. The back half turns into an action movie, and also really draws out the fantastical elements of the book, which I was also not expecting. Throughout this we get flashbacks to Siesta and Kimihiko working together, and see how close their relationship was. (It also gives Siesta a bit of humanity that she’s somewhat lacking through the rest of the book – note the only times we hear about her being silly are offscreen and in third person from Kimihiko.) The book also ends with a nice “this can now become a series” plot extension.

And indeed it has. If you like action series like Strike the Blood, and don’t mind dialogue that sometimes sounds like it was written for the screen rather than to sound natural (also like Strike the Blood, come to think of it), this is a good, solid read. Just try not to think of Bakemonogatari when you first meet Nagisa.

Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire, Vol. 1

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By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

You have to find something to latch on to, when you’re reading all these light novels. So many reincarnations, and overpowered swords being wielded, and magic determining your lot in life, etc… all of which this book has in abundance. If your goal in reading a new light novel series is to find something different from what’s come before, keep walking along and try to find something else. But as I said, you look for the little things. Things like our hero, now reincarnated as a rather voluptuous teenage heroine, feeling extremely uncomfortable at walking into a room and getting leered at, something that rarely comes up in these kind of books. (To be fair, there are normal “let me massage your boobs” bath scenes as well, so it could just be a coincidence.) More importantly, though, is that our heroine, Inglis, is… well, a bit of a battle thirsty meathead. No interest in power or money or romance… she wants a good fight. Meathead heroines might keep me reading.

Our hero is a king who united the land and won the day, and is now dying late in his years. A goddess comes to grant him a wish, and he asks to be reborn as simply someone who doesn’t have to worry about ruling or politicking, but can just FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. He gets his wish… but is rather surprised that he’s reborn as a girl. Inglis rapidly grows up to find that things are not really the way they were back in her previous life… indeed, her own kingdom is now forgotten in the mists of time. On the bright side, this means that she can call upon aether and mana that others don’t have a clue about. On the downside, she has a magical blessing of zero, so cannot become a knight. That’s fine, though, She sets out to become a squire to her cousin Rafinha, who can become a knight. After all, Inglis is here for only one thing: honing her blade.

The book has a lot of the sort of things you’ve seen in these sorts of books before. There’s a group of arrogant nobles that abuse the common folks and keep slaves, and the one example of them who’s not that sort is promptly sabotaged. We’ve got to go off to knight training school, which I’ve no doubt will keep the second volume very familiar as well. But I dunno, it was pretty good. Inglis is a nice mixture of an old male king and a young teenage girl, and I was amused that she has a hobby of admiring herself in the mirror – it’s nice to see a hero with actual vanity. Her cousin Rafinha, unlike other books of this sort, is also quite powerful, and together the two of them take out monster and bad guys with ease. If you think that’s boring… well, so does Inglis, and that’s why she’s searching for fights.

So it’s not essential, but it’s good enough. I’ll pick up the next volume.

Pick of the Week: Detectives, Brides, and Linguists

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SEAN: What’s that, you say? A new light novel series that isn’t a) a fantasy, b) an isekai, or c) a high school romcom? And it’s highly acclaimed? And it’s getting an anime starting next week? Sold! The Detective is Already Dead is definitely my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely interested in The Detective Is Already Dead, but I’ll choose the final volume of Atsumori-kun’s Bride-to-Be. It had something of an old-school shoujo feel, a la Itazura Na Kiss, and I have enjoyed it quite a bit.

ANNA: I don’t usually go for light novels but The Detective is Already Dead sounds quite intriguing.

KATE: There’s a LOT this week, but I’ll be honest: not much of it is in my wheelhouse. The one title that caught my eye was Heterogenia Linguistico, which sounds like the kind of manga that will make my nerdy heart sing. A monster linguist? Yeah, I’d read that.

ASH: Since this week is its debut, my pick goes to The Detective is Already Dead, but monster linguistics is certainly a strong contender, too.

Sword Art Online, Vol. 22: Kiss and Fly

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By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

After the cliffhanger for the last volume of SAO, a lot of people were anxious for the continuation, in particular wanting to see more of a heroine who’d only shown up in the Progressive series before now. Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Argo is here, and gets a supporting role at the start of the book. The bad news is that the role is in a short story, and indeed this is a short story collection, taking the various pieces Kawahara wrote as DVD/BD extras in Japan and stitching them together to make a book. This is not necessarily a bad thing – the first three stories are decent enough, and the final story I’d go so far as to call excellent. But I have to admit, starting a brand new arc, the first thing the creator has done that wasn’t published online… and then switching to the first short story collection since Vol 8? The reader cannot help being a bit bummed out.

The cover art cannot entirely escape Kirito – he’s there in the bottom left corner – but does show off the heroines of the various short stories (including one who should be a spoiler). In The Day Before, Kirito and Asuna go to buy the log cabin he’s had his eye on before getting married, but run into Argo, who’s got a big problem. In the Day After, Asuna is having trouble getting her avatar used to ALO – far more trouble than everyone else. Could she be… haunted? Rainbow Bridge is a sequel to an anime extra episode that showed off the cast in swimsuits – here they try to figure out why the quest they did was so unsatisfying. Finally, Sisters’ Prayer is a prequel to the 7th book, showing us how Yuuki, her sister, and a friend they meet who also has a terminal illness decide to start their own guild.

As with most short story collections, the quality varies. I love Argo, but she did not really have a lot to do here, and you get the sense Kawahara wrote her in as she was added to the anime episodes at the last minute. The Day After is better, benefiting from a lack of first-person Kirito and also tying up one of the loose ends of the series, showing us that Kirito’s first love is fine with Kirito’s current love. Rainbow Bridge is the slightest story in the book, but does give Leafa a chance to show off her Norse Mythology nerd-ness, and also allows for a cool action sequence. The best story is the last one, a bittersweet yet uplifting tale of Yuuki and her sister, playing in a “safe” VR game for terminal patients, finding out that there are better ways to live your life even if you can’t leave your hospital room, and helping another girl who wants to be in SAO with her friends so badly she is OK with dying to do so. It’s really fantastic.

So yes, this is definitely worth reading, and I enjoyed it. But it does not solve the growing need for the next volume of Unital Ring. That comes in the fall, alas.

Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons, Vol. 1

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By 616th Special Information Battalion and Wuhuo. Released in Japan as “Doushitemo Hametsushitakunai Akuyaku Reijou ga Gendai Heiki wo Te ni Shita Kekka ga Kore desu” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shaun Cook.

Gotta be honest, I got the premise to this one mixed up. I am reading far too many of these villainess stories lately, and I had thought this was a “Peggy Sue” sent back to the past story like Tearmoon Empire. But no, it’s a “I’m the villainess in an otome game” story like Bakarina… in fact, clearly inspired by Bakarina in many ways. That said, while this is mostly light fluff, the choice of the author to start things off with an ominous, bloody prologue filled with death and a genuinely evil villainess for once had me raising an eyebrow… then raising the other when it’s never brought up again. Instead, for the most part, this is a pretty fun story of a military otaku, brought into an otome game world, who, like Katarina, tries to avoid her bad endings that will happen in ten years time. *Unlike* Katarina, she does so by making lots and lots of guns.

After the ominous introduction I mentioned before, we’re introduced to Astrid, a promising 4-year-old with a lot of magic talent and the daughter of a duke. She also, as you may have gathered, has memories of a previous life in Japan…a college girl who was a serious military otaku. What’s more, she knows this is the world of an otome game she once played… and that, yup, she’s the villainess who gets exiled in the end. As with Katarina, the idea of “being nice to everyone and not being evil” rarely occurs to her (though it does on occasion). Instead, she’s going to be spending time figuring out how to introduce rifles, pistols, shotguns, and grenade launchers via the power of magic, imagination, and the spirits that end up doing whatever she wants. Now if only she could avoid all those pesky love interests, who for some reason seem even more fascinated with her.

Obviously, there’s a lot of Bakarina here. The heroine is clueless about why all the love interests seem drawn to her, though Astrid is slightly more self aware… but that’s only a matter of degree. I’d argue that another good comparison is The Eminence in Shadow, as you see Astrid for most of the first half of the book just go nuts making and using all kinds of weapons, to the horror of her maids and family (with the exception of her mother, who seems to know everything Astrid is thinking… mostly as her poker face is terrible). The first half of the book is better than the second half, which shows Astrid as a six-year-old and then eight-year-old, going through school, studying advanced blood magic methods, helping other students, and trying to figure out why the prince in her class won’t leave her alone. In other words, it has far less dakka, and that’s not something you want to hear from a series like this, which depends on its gimmick of “Astrid’s Got a Gun”.

Still, it is interesting enough that I’ll pick up a second volume. Astrid desperately needs an injection of common sense, as she researches ways to affect the brain so that she won’t suffer from PTSD when she has to kill people to avoid exile. Realizing that she’s only creating her own fate now rather than avoiding it is beyond her narrowly focused mind, alas.

Super Cub, Episodes 1-12

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Written by Toshizō Nemoto, directed by Toshiro Fujii for Studio Kai. Based on the light novel written by Tone Kōken and illustrated by Hiro, published in Japan by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America on the Funimation Streaming Service.

I review anime series on my site basically never, but something about Super Cub makes me want to talk about it. It wasn’t the most popular series of Spring 2021 – that’s probably Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song. It doesn’t have an amazing original music soundtrack – though the sound design is incredible. It doesn’t have an all-star cast – indeed, the lead role goes to a relatively new actress. It lacks exciting battles or romantic drama (no, sorry folks, much as I enjoyed teasing about it, this is not a yuri series.) And yet for a select few folks, every Wednesday suddenly became Super Cub Wednesday, a time to sit back and watch an introverted, quiet, and depressed high school girl slowly find friends and a purpose in life thanks to the purchase of a Honda Super Cub.

Contrary to the belief of a lot of fans of the series, it was not created by Honda as an advertisement for their Super Cub line, though I’m sure they were delighted to sponsor the series. It’s based on a still-running light novel series about a high school girl named Koguma, who lives alone in a small apartment in a small town in Yamanashi Prefecture. When we first see Koguma, her life is very sterile. She gets up, shower and gets dressed in her uniform, makes a simple breakfast and a simple lunch (which she will eat cold, as there’s always a line for the microwave), and then ride her bike to school, which involves a hill and exhausts her every morning. After being passed by faster bikes and scooters, one day she decides to turn towards a motorcycle store, where (after seeing new scooters are 100% too expensive for her) she buys, quite cheap, a Honda Super Cub. Over the course of the next twelve episodes, we follow her and her Super Cub as her life grows larger and more enriching with every episode.

There are so many things I could talk about. The cast of the series is minimal – while there are supporting characters, for the most part it’s three girls. Koguma; Reiko, a pretty but distant girl in her class who turns out to be a massive Cub otaku (and also a very eccentric young woman); and Shii, a very small girl in Koguma’s class who rides an Alex Moulton bicycle and gradually begins to idolize Koguma and Reiko. With the exception of the cliffhanger to one episode, the series never gets too big or dramatic. It relies on small, realistic moments, like Koguma’s fear when her Cub doesn’t start after midnight in the local convenience store (out of gas), or Koguma’s part-time job, which involves a 45-minute commute each way; or Koguma and Reiko’s increasing struggles with the elements and nature.

I do love the other two characters. Reiko is delightful and wacky, even if she’s a little too happy to walk around naked in a “this novel is for guys” sort of way. She gets her own focus episode where she tries to climb Mount Fuji with her Hunter Cub, and it’s a delightful examination of sheer stubbornness and perseverance. Shii’s story takes up much of the back half of the series, and leads to the series’ only real cliffhanger, where her desperate attempt to stay on the same pace as the “cool kids” leads to an accident. She has the emotional journey of the series, and seeing her, at the end, buying her own Little Cub, a vehicle as adorable as her, warms the heart. That said, Koguma is the star, and Koguma is the character that I was most invested in, every episode.

Koguma, after buying her Super Cub, gains new friends, has new experiences, shows more of a rebellious side, and also shows off her delightfully understated sense of humor, which was one of the high points of the series. At the same time, she does not change all that much. While we do see her smile more and more (and her smiles are delightful, trust me), her default setting is still quiet and emotionally guarded. She is careful about money, tries not to have to trust other people, and tends to deflect any and all praise of her actions, increasingly crediting the Super Cub with anything she did herself. The Super Cub, as Koguma herself admits in the final episode, is not a magical girl mascot that can heal all your issues – issues Koguma still deals with even towards the end of the series.

That leads to the series’ most controversial moment, when Shii, taking a “cat path” shortcut to go shopping, ends up crashing her bike into a stream off the side of the trail. Looking in a lot of pain, she calls… no, not her parents. No, not 119. She calls Koguma, the girl she has put on a massive pedestal by this time. And Koguma comes to the rescue in her Super Cub, getting Shii out of the water (slapping her to keep her awake), struggling to hoist them both back onto the path, and then… sticking Shii INTO her Cub’s front basket (Shii is teeny weeny) and driving her back to her apartment for a hot bath. This, to put it mildly, upset fans. Why did she not call for an ambulance? What was she thinking? To me (and several others), it seemed far more obvious: Koguma hates relying on anyone else, ambulances and hospitals might mean paying money she doesn’t have, and Shii seemed to mostly just be cold. You could argue it was a bad decision, but: a) who says characters have to always do the correct thing?, and b) we’d literally seen Koguma disobey her teachers – twice! – in a previous episode. She is not a good citizen sort – she’s an introverted teen worried about her friend. (Oh yes, and Shii’s trail was apparently 500 yards from Koguma’s apartment.)

Let’s talk about the animation and sound design. Super Cub does not do anything flashy – it’s fairly standard animation, not a lot of CG work or 3D flashiness like So I’m a Spider, So What?. That said, there was never any moment in the series where I felt “ah, this was the cost-cutting episode” or “this is where they ran out of time” – unlike, say, So I’m a Spider, So What?. It had a shtick which worked wonderfully throughout the series – it used muted colors, but when Koguma had a “Eureka moment” or emotional revelation, the colors would brighten. It was terrific. Meanwhile, the sound design was so good it was being praised immediately even by people who did not normally notice things like that. The soundtrack mostly consisted, at dramatic moments, of public domain classical music, ranging from Debussy and Vivaldi to Erik Satie. But the show was not afraid to have long stretches with no music at all, featuring Koguma silently starting her day, with the cooking of rice and buttering of toast showing off the quiet depression that is her existence as she starts the series.

I would definitely argue Koguma is depressed as we start the show. It’s a very quiet, normal depression, the sort that you wouldn’t even notice if you were a classmate (and indeed they don’t). Koguma describes herself as a girl with nothing in the first episode – no friends, no family, no goals, no plans for the future. At the end of episode 12 (to the consternation of some folks who wanted her to acknowledge what Reiko and Shii mean to her), she repeats the exact same monologue – but says that she now has a Cub, which gives her the determination to find those things. It calls back to the previous episode, where Shii, devastated at the fact that her bike was destroyed in her crash, begs Koguma to take the winter away, to make this season just stop. After a long pause, and it sounds like she HATES to say this, Koguma admits, “that’s not something my Cub can do”. That said, the very next episode, she does decide – yes, we ARE going to take Shii to Spring, and while the Cub is the means, it does not make the decision – she does. The Cub gives her confidence and energy that she completely lacked before.

I could go on – indeed, I have, this is much longer than my light novel and manga reviews. But that’s just how much I got out of this superlative anime. I don’t expect it to win any awards or anything, but if you like character-driven pieces with strong writing for teenage girls and a lack of “message” moralizing (unless that message is to buy Honda products), then Super Cub is a must-watch. I hope the series gets licensed for Blu-Ray release, I’d love to own this to rewatch for years to come.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: 4th Squad Jam: Finish

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By Keiichi Sigsawa and Kouhaku Kuroboshi, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

OK, this turned out better than I had expected. I probably should have trusted in the author more. Keiichi Sigsawa is a man who knows what his strengths are, and in the case of Gun Gale Online, that is “cool action sequences that you want to see filed”, not “Karen has to find a way to get out of a marriage she doesn’t want”. As such, the actual plotline that brought us to this epic 3-part story is dealt with perfunctorily in the final chapter, and if it has a bit of a “sad trombone” feel to it, that’s fine. What folks are really here about is the gunfights, though, and boy howdy do we get a lot of that here. Not only is this the third part of an epic gun battle, but the book is also one of the longest in the series. It’s giving you excellent value for money. As for who comes off looking cool? Honestly, pretty much everyone.

We pick up right where we left off, with the huge battle between SHINC and Llenn being interrupted by Fire’s minions, all of whom are there to make sure that Llenn loses. (Llenn, throughout this book, points out she is under no obligation to marry this guy even if he does beat her in the game. No one listens to her.) As SHINC begins to lose members one by one, LPFM gains two back, as Shirley and Clarence come riding to the rescue – literally. We then move onto a train, then across a frozen lake – which of course starts to crack – and even deal with DEATH FROM ABOVE before we get into the final battle, which takes place inaside a massive deserted shopping mall – and only pistols are allowed. Can LPFM and what remains of SHINC hold out against two teams of the enemy? And can Karen finally tell Fire she’s just not interested?

The worldbuilding in this little universe is really good. Even if it does mean that we sometimes get pages at a time going into the history of guns and rifles. We have a seriously broad definition of “pistol” once we hit the mall, and most of the enemy takes full advantage of that. I also really liked the concept of the robot horse, and how it relates to Shirley’s real-life skills. (Shirley in general is terrific in this book, getting actual character development, and a wonderful final scene which shows off that this is a GAME, and she’s not actually a revenge-filled sociopath. And I admit I did find the ending a bit amusing – Fire, having decided that Karen is the woman he wants to marry to the point of setting this all up so he can “defeat” her, is scared off because Llenn is simply too damn terrifying – and Karen says that Karen and Llenn are both “her”. Oh no, strong women, flee!

There is a Vol. 10 out in Japan, which we should get in the fall, but after that we’re caught up with Karen’s story. There *is* more Sword Art Online Alternative to license, though. (hint, hint) In any case, fans of action movies will love this.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 16

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Borque.

Fans of this series have been reading it for a long time now, and know that this is the first book in a new arc. As such, we keep wondering when things are going to turn terrible again and when nightmarish, hideous things are going to start happening to Subaru. And, I’m not gonna lie, that does indeed happen. By the end of the book, we’re back in familiar territory. The wonderful news is that it’s the END of the book – which means we get an entire volume of everything simply being fun and relaxing. Now that all of Camp Emilia are on the same page, and we’ve had a timeskip (it’s been a year since the prior volume ended), the book can lean hard on what the main cast does best: Subaru being the tsukkomi, Beatrice snarking, Emilia being so earnest you want to look away, Garfiel looking for a good fight, and Otto stressing out. Almost all of those things happen in this book. Sorry, Garfiel. There’s always someone better.

As noted, it’s a year later, and Emilia’s group (minus Ram and Roswaal, who it seems sit this arc out) are invited to Pristella, the City of Water. They’re invited by Anastasia, and it turns out that invitations have been made to (almost) all the other factions as well. This allows the entire cast of the third arc to finally meet up again, and in what is essentially a bizarre combination of Venice (the city) and Japan (the inn they’re staying at – which is deliberately Japanese to such an obvious degree that Subaru is certain that someone else isekai’d into this world before him is responsible.) Now Subaru can try to make nice with Julius (semi-success), we can mete up with Crusch (still awesome, but in a 100% different way than how she used to be) and Felt (still kicking against the pricks). We might EVEN get a grandfather and grandson to reach towards reconciliation… or we would if a very uninvited guest didn’t drop by.

So basically we have a bunch of fun setup and scenes with characters interacting in either a) hilarious, b) heartwarming, or c) infuriating ways, and it’s bliss. (This does not count the final few scenes in the book, which are appropriately horror-filled and ghastly.) Subaru is confident now and so is Emilia, and everyone can see the change. We also meet up again with Liliana, the minstrel whose stay at the manor and subsequent chaos everyone remembers from the first short story collection… hang on, I’m getting something in my ear… what? Still unlicensed? Oh well, the author tries to describe what happened. Erm, you had to be there, I guess. It’s also nice to see the five candidates battling it out again after so long – what with the fight against the White Whale, and ALL of Arc 4, I would not blame readers for needing a refresher. And then there’s the villain – they’re on the cover, on the right – who is seriously screwed up and evil and I really hope something can be done about them next time.

That may be tough, though – Subaru’s not going back a leisurely couple hours or day or so as before. That said, till the next book, enjoy one of the best light novel series out there, with everyone being really happy and confident, including the author.