Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Blog

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, Vol. 3

by

By Kei Sazane and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan as “Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

Some authors are really good at plotting and worldbuilding. Some succeed at depth of characterization. Some write amazing dialogue. And then there’s Kei Sazane, who does none of those things, but that’s OK, as they have one thing that they do better than most anyone else: crafting cliffhangers that make a reader want to get the next book. I spent most of the second volume of this series thinking I would drop it after I finished, only for a last-minute plot twist that made me want to read more. Unfortunately, little is made of the plot twist here, mostly as the characters are two-dimensional. And once again I got to the end thinking, “yeah, OK, interesting did not happen, dropping this” only to get an epilogue which made me say, “Hrngh, now I want to know what happens next.” It’s a praiseworthy skill, and very well done. Of course, I wish that the skills had been used on a better light novel series.

Last volume ended with the revelation that Iska’s captain and designated dojikko Mismis now had an astral crest after basically falling in a pit of magic. So they have to figure out a way to keep it hidden so that she’s not imprisoned for life at best and executed at worst. I suspect skin-colored bandages, tried here, are not going to work well. It doesn’t help that, aside from one or two flashes of actually being a commander, Mismis is a fluffhead of the first order. (The author loves to write those types – more on this later.) Fortunately, they have a reason for her to be away from the Empire and using an Astral Crest – they have to infiltrate the enemy territory. Unfortunately, everything goes south when, for once, it’s Iska who gets to be the designated idiot, sipping a drugged drink provided by Alice’s maid and now taken prisoner in the hideous… honeymoon suite of a first-class hotel.

Last time Alice and Iska never met up, this time they’re together most of the book. It’s not really a great thing for Alice, as, like Mismis, the author loves to write her as a fluffhead, in this case a girl in love who doesn’t actually realize it. The ‘kidnapping’ wasn’t her idea, and she prefers to settle things on the battlefield in a one-on-one fight, of course. Unfortunately, the Empire is also trying to break out a top security prisoner (who is basically Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay Night only with magic instead of swords), and so everyone needs to rush off and stop everything ending in fire. Including Iska, who is, of course, also slowly falling for Alice in his own stoic lunkhead sort of way. Both Iska and Alice excel at combat scenes, where they’re both allowed to be ridiculously overpowered and cool, rather than enacting A Child’s Garden of Romeo and Juliet Scenes.

There’s no actual bad scenes or writing here – everything is very competent but empty, and reminds me a lot of Strike the Blood or Asterisk War in that it feels like it was written as a novelization of an anime. The main cast are all pretty likeable, and as I said, there’s a great cliffhanger that will probably make me read the 4th book in the series. I’ll be grumbling as I do, though.

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 4

by

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.

I had mentioned that I was reading this new volume on Twitter, and someone replied to me “isn’t that just torture porn?”. It’s a reasonable question, given the title of the series and a good deal of the content. This fourth volume has slightly less grotesquery than previous ones, but that’s only by degree: there’s still many scenes here meant to disgust you. That said, I would argue it isn’t torture porn for the good reason that anyone reading this series ONLY for the gore is bound to be disappointed. The start of this book delves into mystery briefly, as Kaito and Hime try to discover what or who is slaughtering villages of beastmen. The end of the book, meanwhile, opens the Pandora’s Box of its lore and mythology, showing us that there’s far more disturbing creation myths than we really expected. The gore is there to drive the plot like all the other elements. And, once again, we have a book that is well-written if a bit off-putting because, well, intestines.

There’s also, surprise!, another Torture Princess, who we see on the cover here. Fate/Zero fans may have a head start on this one, though fortunately she doesn’t (so far) share her historical namesake’s fetishes. Jeanne de Rais was created much as Elisabeth Le Fanu was, only her sacrifices were 100% consensual. She’s thought to be the one behind the village massacres, but it turns out to be far more complex than that. She actually ends up being more of a guide/mentor figure, gathering everyone to a place the Church does not want to be seen and then showing them all what’s inside. She’s a fun new villain, though her method of speech takes some getting used to; half the time she sounds emotionless, the other half she talks like a foul-mouthed cowboy.

As for the others, well, fans of Subaru and Rem who want them to get it on will want to read this one, which may be as close as you’re going to get. (it does cut away before coitus ensues, so those reading for THAT will also be disappointed.) Kaito and Elisabeth continue to get very angry with each other for trying to sacrifice themselves so the other can live on, in a way that is half heartwarming and half hilarious. Izabella continues to be a trope that Japan loves, which is the one true believer in an increasingly corrupt Church. Sadly, she’s having a very bad last few weeks. And then there’s the Butcher, who has sort of been a comedy relief figure so far in the series, but here is shown to have a FAR larger role in everything that’s occurring, being a sort of combination of Judas and Mary Magdalene. I wonder what he’ll be doing going forward.

The book ends with a series of revelations about the world’s past religious history, and I suspect that the next book will involve the Church condemning absolutely everyone who found out about it to, well, torture. that said, with Elisabeth AND Jeanne on the same side, I doubt they’ll get far. Torture Princess can be grotesque, and is not for the faint of heart, but it’s far more than mere torture porn.

Manga the Week of 6/17/20

by , , , and 2 Comments

SEAN: It’s mid-June. Is it hot where you are? It’s certainly hot where I am. Have some manga.

We start with light novels, though, as J-Novel Club has a debut. Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess is another series by Ichiro Sakaki, author of Outbreak Company. The description makes it sound like “straight man surrounded by wacky people and situations”. Think broad comedy. It’s 3 volumes total.

J-Novel Club also gives us Her Majesty’s Swarm 3.

Kodansha, in early digital releases of print titles, gives us Boarding School Juliet 12, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 13 and Witch Hat Atelier 6.

ASH: I’ll be waiting to pick it up in print, but I am very pleased to see all the love Witch Hat Atelier is getting these days!

ANNA: Totally collecting Witch Hat Atelier in print too!

SEAN: Digital-only has a LOT more. The debut is Men’s Life —Her Secret Life in The Boys’ Dormitory—, a Betsufure series by the creator of L♥DK. Introverted girl, extroverted brother, she has to disguise herself as him… you know the drill.

MICHELLE: I will at least give the debut volume a look, but I didn’t realize it was by the L♥DK creator. I tried the first volume of that and didn’t like it much.

MJ: This sounds potentially awful? I’ll wait to see what Michelle says.

SEAN: There’s also (deep break) Dolly Kill Kill 3, Domestic Girlfriend 25, GE: Good Ending 6, I’ll Win You Over Sempai! 5, Kakushigoto 4, Saint Young Men 6, Shojo FIGHT! 11, The Slime Diaries 3, and That Blue Summer 6.

MICHELLE : Both That Blue Summer and I’ll Win You Over, Sempai! are enjoyable shoujo. This is also the final volume for the latter. I really need to catch up on Shojo FIGHT! as well.

SEAN: One Peace has an 8th volume of Hinamatsuri.

Seven Seas has a couple of debuts. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear gets its manga in print. It also gives us the 2nd novel as an early digital book.

The other early digital debut is Love on the Other Side: A Nagabe Short Story Collection. The Girl from the Other Side is the author’s most well-known work, and these are short stories (unrelated to his other series) about supernatural love.

MICHELLE: I will definitely be reading this!

ASH: Likewise! I’m very happy to see more of Nagabe’s work being translated.

ANNA: Sounds great.

MJ: Here for this!

SEAN: In ongoing print, we see Classroom of the Elite 4.5, Masamune-kun’s Revenge 11, Satoko and Nada 3, and Tomo-chan Is a Girl! 7, which also now has all its volumes available digitally! I love both Satoko and Nada and Tomo-chan.

ASH: Satoko and Nada is a great series.

SEAN: Other digital first titles: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 9, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order 2, and the 2nd Invincible Shovel light novel.

Sol Press has a 2nd digital volume of light novel Redefining the Meta at VRMMO Academy.

Vertical debuts, digital-first, the manga version of Weathering with You, another Makoto Shinkai multi-media franchise. The manga runs in Afternoon.

MJ: I loved the movie, and have historically enjoyed the manga versions of Shinkai’s work, so maybe?

SEAN: Viz Media gives us the 8th 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition, Blue Flag 2, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 8, the 3rd Drifting Classroom Perfect Edition, and Golden Kamuy 16.

MICHELLE: I am chastened to admit I have not read Blue Flag yet! I will rectify this forthwith.

ASH: I’m following quite a few of these series, but Blue Flag is what I’ll be reading first. I think you’ll like the series, Michelle.

ANNA: Blue Flag is wonderful.

MJ: I also have not read Blue Flag, but I guess I should!

SEAN: Lastly, remember a few weeks ago when we were talking about Nightschool and wishing we could see more of it? Good news! The Weirn Books seems to be a reboot of the series aimed at readers of her Berrybrook Middle School series. The first volume from Yen Press is subtitled Be Wary of the Silent Woods.

ASH: Oh, nice!

ANNA: Sweet!

MJ: Oh, interesting!

SEAN: Good things come to those who wait. What are you waiting for?

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 15

by

By Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu. Released in Japan as “Yakusoku no Neverland” by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Satsuki Yamashita.

This is the last time I’ll be able to write ‘serialization ongoing’ in the header, as the main manga ends this Sunday as I type this. Of course, that still means another 5-6 volumes to go here. More importantly, though, this volume is around the time when we start to see The Promised Neverland lose some of its initial audience. This series started out as pure horror/suspense, and grew quite popular based on that. Even as Emma and company escaped and tried to find out the secrets of this world, those two genres were never far from everyone’s mind. But here, in this 15th volume, when Ray and Emma meet up against some hallucinatory rooms and dream skeletons, it’s frankly a bit of a relief. Most of this volume is made up of political intrigue (albeit among demons) and moral/ethical arguments. It’s well written, and I think this is a very good volume. But is it what people are really reading this series for?

If Emma is the ‘idealistic’ hero of this series, then Norman falls into the ‘realistic’ side. This is amusing if you recall the start of the series, where it was definitely Ray who fell into that category, with Norman being the balance between them. But Norman’s had two years on his own, whereas Ray’s been with Emma the whole time. As a result, there’s been nothing stopping Norman from getting very dedicated to killing some demons. As I said in my last review, this is perfectly valid. The demons have done horrible things, and murdered many of their friends. That said, when the reveal becomes less “they need to do this or they die, so there’s no good answer’ and more ‘there is a good answer, but politics won’t let them use it’, there’s less of a moral leg to stand on. Emma gets this right away, and innocently asks why everyone can’t simply use the solution Mujika has. Norman (and Ray, who is now the middle ground) understand the real reason: power.

Norman, who has been planning everything for SO LONG, is not inclined to stop it just because Emma wants everyone to live happily ever after in peace and harmony, so she and Ray try to find a way to get him to compromise. There’s also the problem that even if they win, they don’t know if anything beyond the Seven Walls is an escape. So they’re going to go beyond the Seven Walls and find out, giving everyone a reason to move forward – and possibly one that might not involve genocide. Of course, it’s not that simple – they end up seemingly back at a deserted Grace Field House, only to find that it’s an amalgam of nightmares and bad memories. This section of the book is where the art really shines, and as I said before adds a nice bit of surrealistic horror to the proceedings. The question is, can they find the real entrance from here?

This is not the Promised Neverland we started off with, and that’s a good thing, even though I do get nostalgic for the old suspense novel feeling. It’s still well worth a read.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 16

by

By Satoshi Wagahara and 029. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

This series is finally ending in Japan this august, so we know that after this book there’s only five more to go. As such, it does appear that this “defeat God so that Alas Ramus can have an awesome birthday” plotline is going to be the final one, assuming that it’s not “oh hey, guess I am in love with Emi/Maou after all”. As for this particular book, we’re faced with another “power through a weak first half, because the second half is spectacular” volume. Maou was barely in the last book, so he gets a lot of time at the start of this one. Sadly, everyone ELSE isn’t around, so most of the first chapter is him admitting that he now has bonds with other people and feels very lonely when they aren’t constantly around. (Acieth is around, but sadly he takes no comfort from her very annoying antics.) It doesn’t help that Valentine’s day is coming up, and Chiho is, well, avoiding him as he’s still waffling about her, to EVERYONE’S irritation.

As I said, the first half of this book is not that hot, mostly as the reader is well aware of what character development Maou and Emi need to have happen to them, but the writer wants to drag it out until the main non-romance plot is done. As such, Maou is again too nice for his own good – this time accepting some seeming “obligation” chocolate that is too expensive to really quality as that. Chiho has decided that, having made her feelings clear – again – she’s not going to add to the pressure by getting him chocolates, and was thinking maybe something like miso for his stressed-out stomach. And Emi, of course, is freaking out at the very thought of possibly giving chocolate to the guy she supposedly can’t forgive, and ends up justifying things by figuring out that Alas Ramus can give her daddy candy. None of this is all that interesting.

Where the book takes off is when we go to Enta Isla, where, owing to various plot explanations that I’m not going to get into (don’t worry, the other cast will), Chiho has to participate in an archery competition as part of a contest to be the next chief of the Northern tribes. She’s not aiming to be a chief, but winning the archery part will allow the team to steal a powerful weapon that is also an iconic monument. The reason that it’s so good is that it features Chiho wanting to come out from the shadow of the more powerful characters… both because of her accuracy with the bow (which isn’t super duper – she’s helped by the fact that archery in this world is not nearly as advanced) and because she’s sick of being “the girl defined by her liking Maou”, which honestly is how a lot of fans tend to see her. We know she isn’t winning the Maou sweepstakes, so this is an important step to allow her to become her own person. Also, she’s badass.

There’s other things to enjoy in the second half too, such as a badass granny and Bell getting an unfortunate nickname. That said, it does remind me that I tend to like this series better when Maou is not par-timing. Or angsting.

Bookshelf Briefs 6/8/20

by , and Leave a Comment

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 26 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The fall season has begun! Furuya is wearing the ace number and dominates the first game, much to Eijun’s distress, since he’s still suffering from “the yips” after striking a batter with an inside pitch. Thankfully, Miyuki and Coach Kataoka arrange for Chris to drop by and teach Eijun a new trick, which seems to help get him out of his doldrums. Meanwhile, Furuya’s performance begins to deteriorate, rumors about Coach Kataoka’s imminent departure begin to circulate, and the guy who’s been observing them (but who is probably Kataoka’s replacement) plans to focus solely on cultivating Furuya the ace and objects to how much time and effort Kataoka devotes to the other players. I mean, I can only assume that this guy is going to get sent packing at some point, but I definitely appreciate that Terajima-sensei is able to make me this anxious about his presence. Perennially recommended. – Michelle Smith

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 3 | By Kazuma Kamachi, Yasuhito Nogi, and Kiyotaka Haimura | Seven Seas – The first half of this volume is a giant flashback, and you know those are always bad in the Indexverse. Expect dead kids, dead adults, and a whooooooole lot of evil science. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot here that relies on the reader knowing one of the antagonists is from New Testament Vol. 11… which we have not seen in English, and might never see. Too much continuity. Junko continues to be laughably retroactively strong, going toe to toe with a level 5 here. And there’s the bond between her and Misaki, which may be “master and servant” but is also a close friendship (and yuri tease, as Misaki herself demonstrates). Railgun fans will like this. – Sean Gaffney

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 8 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The eighth volume of The Girl from the Other Side is unbearably sad—so much so that I struggled to finish it, as watching Shiva come to terms with losing Teacher is a shattering experience. Compounding my sense of anguish were the final chapters, in which we learn why the Inside world was so desperately interested in Shiva. The parallels between her situation and our current health crisis are impossible to ignore, reminding us about the human cost of capitulating to fear, ignorance, and superstition in the face of a pandemic. In a less fraught moment, I’d be inclined to recommend The Girl from the Other Side for the lessons it imparts, but I think it’s OK to decide that Nagabe’s allegory is a little too on-the-nose to offer insight or comfort right now. – Katherine Dacey

Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, Vol. 3 | By Aki Irie | Vertical Comics – After two messy but interesting volumes that see-sawed between mystery and travelogue, Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest finds its groove in volume three. Michitaka—who disappeared from the previous volume—takes center stage in the latest installment, as Kei inadvertently stumbles across some important clues about what happened to his aunt and uncle back in Japan. Though Kei’s discovery propels the story in a new and unexpected direction, the latest plot twists feel earned; the sometimes awkward shifts in tone and genre that characterized the first two volumes are smoothed over by new revelations about Michitaka, and a new sense of urgency about solving the trail of gruesome deaths he’s left behind. The result is a compelling story that has the trappings of a Scandinavian crime show but the soul of an X-Files episode. Recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Vol. 3 | By Kouji Kumeta | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Whereas Zetsubou-sensei made a point to seemingly attack everything in the world for leaving the author (and, by extension, Nozomu) in despair, Kakushigoto is zeroing in on the manga profession in particular. Here we get mysteries answered, such as why are the pages of weekly magazines colored differently, who determines the order the stories go in, and what is the exact nature of a deadline? We don’t get real answers for any of these, as it turns out things are very fluid. As for Hime, she’s still cute, and still investigating things with her not-Zetsubou girls mystery club. And there’s still that flashforward threatening us with the death of Hime’s father. Will the series get that dark? – Sean Gaffney

The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants, Vol. 1 | By Shu, Kayaharuka, and Yoshinori Shizuma | Square Enix – This isn’t my usual fare, but I hoped it would help with my Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun withdrawal. And it actually did! Anoth Voldigord was the all-powerful demon king, but sacrificed himself to end a perpetual war with humanity, pledging to reincarnate in 2000 years. When he does so, he’s invited to a school attended by his many descendants but nobody believes he’s who he says he is because his magic is too vast to be measured and all of the facts about his reign have been distorted or forgotten over time. Anoth isn’t too likable at first, but the fact that his smug announcements of superiority garner no reaction, his jokes fall flat, and he must deal with a pair of doting and dimwitted human parents all help to humble him a bit. I guess it sometimes pays to venture out of your comfort zone! – Michelle Smith

My Senpai Is Annoying, Vol. 1 | By Shiromanta | Seven Seas – Thankfully, the senpai is not annoying in the way that I feared—this is all on her. Futaba is a new OL at a company who is so short she looks about twelve years old. She also has a near-terminal case of tsundere. This mostly comes out when around Harumi, her senpai at the company, who is huge, nice, helps her with her work and occasionally lightly teases her, and she is absolutely not ready to deal with it. This manga has one joke—Futaba is embarrassed and gets mad to hide it—and if you like that joke, it can be fun. It’s also based on a webcomic, with most “chapters” being about two pages. Towards the end, there’s longer original content, and that works much better. Recommended for those who like 4-komas and tsunderes. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 9 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – You got the sense that Kou wasn’t going to stay in France forever, and sure enough, she’s back by the end of this volume. There’s some nice stories here about not-quite-rivalries between her and Aoba’s friend Hotaru, and of course the inevitable yuri tease between Kou and Rin, which will never rise above a certain level but that level is pretty damn high. Other than that, a big part of this volume features the danger of farming out parts of your game to outside companies to complete, as they’re harder to control and can easily affect quality in ways that need to be fixed somehow. We also see Aoba continue to grow into her role as a real adult, even as she continues to never quite take the starring role. Cute. – Sean Gaffney

Primitive Boyfriend, Vol. 1 | By Yoshineko Kitafuku | Seven Seas – Kamigome Mito is popular with the boys at her school but feels nothing for any of them, finding them all insufficiently manly. Mito is lamenting her circumstances while working on the family farm, when she suddenly receives a visit from Spica, Goddess of the Harvest. Mito’s hard work has not gone unnoticed and as a reward, Spica sends her back in time 2.5 million years to meet her soulmate, a member of the species Australopithecus Garhi. He takes care of Mito, she falls for him, and when she’s sent home just as his life is in peril, she’s desperate to return. It’s pretty fun, I guess, if you don’t let yourself get bogged down in the realities of how their relationship will never work. Thankfully, it’s also only three volumes long. It’s short, it’s unique, and thus I will keep reading to see how it all plays out. – Michelle Smith

Species Domain, Vol. 8 | By Noro Shunsuke | Seven Seas – The series has now reached the Culture Festival, and seems like it might slowly be gliding to an ending, which in a series like this means pairing up more people. The “joke” confession that wasn’t in the last volume gets revisited here, with much embarrassment all around. Kazamori’s desperation for other girls to be attracted to Ohki may end up getting her in trouble down the road. Mikasagi explains why he isn’t ready to commit to anything, etc. There’s also an extended bathhouse scene, for those who like fanservice, which includes discussion about where Mizuno should be, on the men’s or women’s side. Again, I appreciate the care they’re taking with this character. Fun. – Sean Gaffney

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 3 | By Kousuke Oono | Viz Media -As I have said in previous reviews, you read this series for its one gag, and should not expect more than that one gag done extremely well. Beyond that, here we see that our househusband is not the only former yakuza trying to make a living doing mundane everyday things, and that it’s much easier to change what you do than how you act. We also see why he’s such a good husband, manipulating things a bit so that his wife can meet some live action Pretty Cure actors (or rather the non-copyright violating Pretty Cure knockoff). That said, I think it’s Santa’s appearance that is absolutely the highlight of the volume, along with the stunned reaction of all the children. Hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Relationship Blues

by , , , , and 1 Comment

SEAN: I am somewhat torn between more Wotakoi and the debut of How Do We Relationship?, but since I’m sure I’ve picked Wotakoi before I’ll give it to the latter.

KATE: Two words: Blank Canvas! It’s a hilarious, wise, and rueful look at Akiko Higashimura’s professional journey from naive high schooler to budding manga-ka, warts and all. It’s hands down one of my favorite series of the last five years.

MICHELLE: I face the exact same dilemma as Sean. I really love Wotakoi, but the promise of a yuri series that focuses on sustaining a relationship rather than establishing one is just too good to pass up. How Do We Relationship? for me.

ANNA: There’s a lot of great manga coming out this week, but I’m going to go with Requiem of the Rose King, it is such a unique series.

ASH: This will be a very good week for me and manga (but not my wallet) – I’m actively reading many of the series being released, and am interested in more than a few of the debuts. For my picks, I tend towards debuts, so I’ll mention one that hasn’t yet been named yet that I’m particularly curious about (since the series it’s based on is a favorite of mine): The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru.

MJ: I’m interested in every single book listed so far! I don’t know how to choose! I’m especially a fan of Requiem of the Rose King. But I suppose, more than anything, I’m in the mood for romantic comedy, so I’ll join Sean and Michelle in giving my pick to How Do We Relationship?

Beatless, Vol. 2

by

By Satoshi Hase and redjuice. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ben Gessel.

Another long, long book – the longest light novel I have digitally, in fact – and again, I feel it would have been fine if Beatless had been four lengthy books rather than two huge ones. That said, the author clearly thinks of it as one story, as the second volume just picks up where the first one left off and moves forward. There’s lots of cool action set pieces, lots of dead extras, lots of dead hIEs (who then come back to life quite a lot), and a whole lot of philosophizing on the nature of artificial intelligence and the way that it interacts with humanity. If this sounds like I’m parroting my last review, it’s no surprise, this really doesn’t introduce new themes or concepts into the book, it’s just more of the same. This is not to say the book gets dull – there’s always something happening – and the characters are quite interesting. But the book is making a point, and spends several hundred pages making that point.

I’d mentioned that the hIEs tend to die but not really be dead, most of that due to the very nature of how they live – it’s not like hitting their “heart” will kill them. Kouka spends much of the first quarter of the book having a Last Stand before she’s finally taken down, only to be rebuilt into twelve Kouka clones for the finale. Snowdrop is killed, then returns, and then is killed again, and returns again, to the point where she starts to resemble Jason Voorhees more than anything else. She’s easily the creepiest of the five main hIE cast. Methode spends her time being absolutely furious at anything and everything, and unfortunately is the least interesting because of it, though she doesn’t deserve her fate. (OK, I will admit, Mariage is the least interesting, but that’s mostly as her owner doesn’t let her do much of anything – it’s hard to be a major player when you aren’t in the battle.). And then there’s Lacia.

I admit that the nature of how Lacia attacks is quite clever, the best idea in the book, and the seeds were planted earlier with her work as a model. She and Arato make a great couple, to the point where we hate it when he loses his nerve and distrusts her, even though everyone and their brother points out why she’s incredibly dangerous. It all comes down to the question of how do you want humanity to move forward? Standing on the backs of the machines they created, or holding the hands of said machines? Honestly, I think humanity made this decision when they decided to make hIEs look like people. Their role is strangely sexless – Lacia again mentions functions she can’t use with Arato till he’s 18, but honestly there’s never any sense that anyone uses hIEs for sex – and also quite undefined, by design. Even the computer that runs everything, Higgins, is frustrated, to the point where he engineered all this just to be able to move forward.

I haven’t seen the anime, but I understand that the novel and anime end slightly differently, so you may want to check both out. I enjoyed Beatless, but, much like the hIEs themselves, I enjoyed it in a strangely emotionless way. There’s little humor – in fact, the only really good joke in the book comes right at the end – and little passion aside from the slow burn of Arato and Lacia. If you like futuristic SF, I’d give it a whirl.

A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vol. 15

by

By Kazuma Kamachi and Motoi Fuyukawa. Released in Japan as “Toaru Kagaku no Railgun” by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Nan Rymer.

In my last review I extolled the praises of Uiharu, whose mad hacker skills were impressive enough to break someone out of an unbreakable prison. Sadly, it turns out that she got noticed by the Dark Side of Academy City, as she’s kidnapped here. Unfortunately, she’s pure peril monkey for the rest of the volume, so it’s up to the other three members of the cast to step up. Do they rescue her? Not yet. Are they badass? Aw yiss. We get to see Mikoto, Kuroko and Saten all show off their best sides as they fight to rescue their friend. Which is not so impressive for Mikoto – it is her series, after all. And we’ve seen Kuroko be badass before, both here and in Index. The more Railgun manga we see, though, the more I remain convinced that it’s an excuse to show off Saten rather than any other Biri-biris who might be lying around. She doesn’t even have a baseball bat this time, but is amazing.

The first two thirds of the book are well done and yet will feel familiar to the Railgun reader. The bad guys here are all teenagers, for the most part, and Index/Railgun has hammered home over and over again that their lives are basically experiments for various bad adults. As a result, Mikoto gets a chance to try to talk the enemy down, which… well, doesn’t work, but hey, she tried. I like the fact that the enemies by now are expecting Mikoto to be, well, a goody-goody, and while she insists that this is Touma’s job and not hers, it’s more or less accurate anyway. Also, salt-based attacks allows for more Biblical imagery in this Bible-heavy series. As for Kuroko’s battle, well, she’s cool and clever, but the “my yuri fantasies can beat up your yuri fantasies” bit was as ridiculous as ever.

And then there’s Saten, who discovers that Uiharu has been kidnapped and begs her friends to have her come along and help. This proves sensible, as while Mikoto and Kuroko both pursue leads that turn out to be false, Saten does what she does best – play detective. She’s questioned for the fallout of the battle between powered folks that happened around her, and, due to various plot-related reasons, this is done in the very prison we’d seen before… where, as it turns out, our enemy is really based. Sadly, they have the world’s dumbest prison guards there, and as a result Saten is able to break out pretty easily. Of course, getting to where Uiharu might be requires jumping between two buildings that are not that close together, and Saten is, as she reminds us, a Level 0. Does she make it? Of course. She’s fighting for her girlfr— erm, best friend!

Again, I suspect Saten is in this story, along with Hamazura in the main Index series, to remind us that Academy City’s “Level” system is complete and total bullshit. That said, I’m fairly sure she’s not gonna rescue Uiharu all on her own. This is shaping up to be another big arc, so we’ll have to wait a month or two… or ten… to find out what happens next. (And with the Index novels now seemingly over in North America, we’re not even getting to tide ourselves over with the main series.) Still, this was an excellent volume. If you take away anything from it, think of Saten, leaping between those buildings and making it – bear-ly – due to the power of conviction and borrowing other people’s technology.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 11

by

By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

After spending the last volume having all the weddings, it’s no surprise that we’re starting to see the fruits of that labor, so to speak. No, not Souma, although he does bed three more of his wives in this book (it cuts away before the sex, sorry). Instead we have Poncho, whose two wives are already pregnant, possibly as they are banging so much he is literally getting thin because of it, and Hal, whose childhood friend Kaede is also pregnant. Fortunately, the sex and babies is only a tiny part of this book, which is otherwise devoted to integrating its new problem children into the kingdom. Sometimes this is easy – everyone loves Ichiha, the milder climate means he’s healthier, and he’s written the most important book in years. Sometimes it’s a bit more difficult, as with Yuriga, who is not only a budding tsundere in training, but is also writing her brother every week telling him what King Souma is doing. What is Souma doing? Oh, y’know, starting bicycle message services, doing a Day of the Dead costume parade, staging mock battles to cool anime music. The usual.

As you can see from the cover, the other big plot twist is that Roroa has de-aged, and is now attending school. OK, no. In fact that is Lucy, a merchant’s daughter who adores Roroa and models herself after her, to the point where she’s nicknamed “mini-Roroa” in story. The other addition to the schoolchildren ranks is Velza, the dark elf that Hal rescued who has fallen madly in love with him. It’s a bit too soon for her to be going after anyone, though, so in the meantime she join’s Tomoe’s posse to get some learning. As always with this series, part of the fun is seeing not only how Souma introduces things like sewers and the like to Friedonia, nut also normal Japanese things – in this case the idea of school clubs, who recruit just as violently here as they do in Japan. The kids are cute, and we’re seeing them start to grow up – Tomoe has a bit of a crush on Ichiha, and is also trying to be more mature in general.

Arguably the more interesting part of the book is Souma giving a symposium on monsters and what they’ve learned due to Ichiha’s drawings and analysis. Publicly, it discusses classifying monsters more easily and studying them to try to help prevent things like stampedes and the like. Privately, things are more disturbing – evidence points to the monsters being ‘created” rather than born, and if that’s the case, then what about say, the beastmen, or the sea serpents, or any of the sentient races currently living reasonably peacefully with humans. The last thing Souma needs is adding racism to a world that’s trying to get rid of it. And this doesn’t even get into the potential war with the demons they have coming up. The back half of the book is, therefore, lots of talk, but it’s interesting talk.

This book takes place back in Friedonia, but apparently in the next one we go off to another country and meet some more new characters – because honestly the cast is too small, don’t you think? Till then, this gives the readers what they want, and I enjoyed it. Though for God’s sake, stop citing Machiavelli.