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Koyomimonogatari: Calendar Tale, Part 01

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By NISIOISIN and VOFAN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Daniel Joseph.

This originally came out in Japan as one giant volume, but I totally understand why Vertical has decided to break it in half. The Monogatari books feel long and wordy enough as it is with their 280-300 pages per volume, but this one would be around 500, and that’s just too exhausting. That said, it does present a bit of a dilemma in that I feel the book is meant to be appreciated as a whole. Without spoiling the second volume, there is a very definite cliffhanger to this book, and it puts everything we read before into stark relief. But we don’t have that, so it has to be said: this feels meandering even for a Monogatari volume. Being a short story volume, even less is “happening” per se, so you’re entirely dependent on the conversations. Which is fine, as honestly dialogue is why we’re reading NISIOISIN in the first place. If you like snark, these stories will give it to you in spades. There’s also some nice foreshadowing here, as most of them take place at or near the start of the series.

“Koyomi” is not only Araragi’s first name, but also the word for “calendar”. The conceit of this volume is that we get twelve short stories, one for each month of the year. They start in April, immediately after the events in Kizumonogatari but before Nekomonogatari Black, and move forward in the timeline from there. Each story has Araragi conversing with one of the female leads, in the order he met them (not counting Shinobu/Kissshot). They serve as an examination of each heroine’s story (particularly in Sengoku’s case), but are also about the fact that, despite what you may think, not everything that Araragi happens across happens to be related to the supernatural. There are several puzzling things in this book that turn out to have ordinary, prosaic meanings – as is normally the case. Usually it’s NOT the immortal vampire.

Naturally, each story ends up sounding like its heroine, to a degree. Senjogahara’s is filled with caustic banter between two kids who agreed to date the other day but have no idea how to actually be a couple. Kanbaru’s has another cleanup of her messy room, is filled with innuendo, and has probably the best ending of the book, if only as it sounds perfectly in character. Sengoku’s has an ominous tone to some of it, taking place after her first arc but before her second, and hinting at events to come. The weakest stories in the book are probably the first and the last ones – Hanekawa before all her character development just comes across as Ms. Exposition, and Karen is simply not nearly as interesting as her brother and younger sister. Oh yes, one minor translation quibble – why is everyone cursing in this book? Normally I gloss over that sort of thing, but there sure are a lot of shits and fucks in here. When it’s Araragi it doesn’t jar as much, but Hanekawa saying “bullshit” does jar quite a bit, especially pre-Nekomonogatari Hanekawa.

This is a decent slice of Monogatari life, and will make the reader happy, but honestly if you can I would advise putting it off and reading it with its second part.

Takane & Hana, Vols. 8 and 9

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Takane and Hana, Volumes 8 and 9 by Yuki Shiwasu

At 9 volumes in Takane and Hana continues to have story arcs centered on wacky shenanigans, but since those shenanigans seem to be prodding along the romance between Takane and Hana at a glacial pace, I tend to just sit back and enjoy the story.

Most of this volume is taken up with Hana’s realization that she actually cares for Takane, and stumbling through events like Valentine’s Day and dinner with her family while she’s burdened with newfound awareness of her own feelings. There are still plenty of moments of culture shock as Takane isn’t sure what to do the first time he encounters insufficiently marbled beef. There could only be so long that Takane could survived in forced poverty in the position of a mediocre salaryman, mostly because while he is an emotional idiot, he’s actually exceedingly good at business. His current company ends up creating more of a manager role for him, and he’s clearly moving up.

Takane & Hana 9

Takane’s grandfather is pleased with the success of his machinations to force his grandson to grow through vicariously experiencing poverty, but now he’s worried that there will be no time for Takane’s romance to progress. Since exercising familial authority through housing worked so well the last time, he decides to provide Hana’s family with an elaborate mansion to live in as part of a made-up “testing program.” They all move in, only to find out later that they are also required to live with Takane. Takane and Hana end up setting some rigid boundaries around their new living situation, but they aren’t rigid enough for Okamon. Okamon has been lurking on the margins with his carefully deadpan expression, but he hasn’t weighed in on Takane and Hana’s relationship before. I was delighted that volume 9 finally featured Okamon being more direct and also presented a chapter from his point of view. While Okamon may firmly be fulfilling the role of “second lead guy” so familiar in Korean dramas, and I don’t think that he represents a serious threat to an eventual resolution for Takane and Hana, it was a nice change of pace to get to spend more time with him in this volume. I’m expecting that Takane and Hana cohabiting in a mansion will provide plenty of antics for at least 2 volumes.

Pick of the Week: Present and Future Manga

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SEAN: Most of the debuts I was looking forward to picking this week got schedule shifted away, and I’m left with a lot of “Hrm”. So I’ll go with Teasing Master Takagi-san 5, always a favorite and with two fantastic chapters bookending the volume.

MICHELLE: I’ll go with the third and final volume of Love in Focus . This is the second short series from Yoko Nogiri that I’ve liked more than anticipated. I hope she writes something longer someday!

KATE: Our Dreams at Dusk is just about perfect with beautiful art, great characters, and a compelling story that allows readers across the spectrum to appreciate just how difficult it can be to come to terms with your own sexuality.

ANNA: Honestly the main thing I’ve been thinking of this week is the fact that we had a Rose of Versailles cover reveal! So I’ll pick Rose of Versailles even though it isn’t coming out for a long time, and also reserve the right to pick it again.

ASH: I am in complete agreement with Kate. Our Dreams at Dusk is such an incredible series, I’m making it my pick even when this week’s other releases include another of my favorites, To Your Eternity.

The Irregular at Magic High School: Double Seven Arc

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By Tsutomu Sato and Kana Ishida. Released in Japan as “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

The author states in the afterword that this was written to be serialized in Dengeki Bunko’s magazine, rather than as a stand-alone novel, and apologizes for its sloppiness. It’s certainly sloppy – its saving grace is that for once it wasn’t split into two for length, because as a two-volume set this would have been unbearable. On the downside, this means that this is an incredibly long volume where almost nothing happens. There are rumblings of a plot in the background involving the media attacking magicians, and there is foreshadowing of future events. For the most part, though, this book functions to start second year for Tatsuya and Miyuki, and to introduce the new freshman who will be semi-regulars going forward. Chief among whom are the twins on the cover, Mayumi’s little sisters Kasumi and Izumi. The title of the arc comes from them – “Saegusa” has ‘seven’ in its family name, and they are twins, hence ‘Double Seven’.

The twins are not the only new regulars introduced. We also meet Takuma Shippou, who is essentially Shinji from Fate/Stay Night without a sister to abuse. He’s meant to be unlikeable, and he certainly is – reading scenes with him was like eating glass. It will be interesting to see if he actually matures or if he stays an antagonist – Mahouka tends to fall into “you’re either with Tatsuya or against him” character dynamics, and I suspect any maturity might take a long while. There’s also Minami Sakurai, who has moved into the Shiba home to be Miyuki’s protector. Given that’s basically Tatsuya’s job, there’s more going on here, and I suspect it will play out in future books. Sadly, she’s a nonentity here, though I do give her credit for being against the Tatsuya/Miyuki ship – she’d be very happy if Tatsuya hooked up with Mayumi. (As would Mayumi, come to think of it.) Oh yes, and we also meet Kent Smith… erm, sorry, Kento Sumisu (his mother, Jennifer Smith, is a teacher at the school, so I can only assume he’s romanized this way as Tatsuya hasn’t made the connection), who seems to be Saika Totsuka from Oregairu transported to this universe.

The school has invented a new Magical Engineering course so that Tatsuya doesn’t have to put up with the “first/second” prejudice for another year. (Note that the first and second classes are still around, but sine the new freshman don’t involve Tatsuya, we don’t get to see if any of them are bullied.) It also has a couple of magical duels to attempt to solve arguments – one between Shippou and the twins, the other between Shippou and his upperclassman. This allows the author to do what he loves best, which is lovingly describe the magic system he’s invented in terms that make it sound like cook science instead of cool magic. To be fair, he is pretty good at this, and I imagine this would be a treat animated. Oh yes, and we get the highlight of the book – and possibly the entire series – when Tatsuya dresses as Batman for one of his espionage missions. No, really, there’s a picture.

It feels like I’m reading this series out of habit now. You know things are bad when I get excited at the prospect of a tournament arc, as the next volume seems to be. Till then, enjoy the new cast members being introduced over the course of a lot of pages but not making nearly as much of an impression as our stoic Batman.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Upheaval

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By Yoshiki Tanaka. Released in Japan as “Ginga Eiyū Densetsu” by Tokuma Shoten. Released in North America by Haikasoru. Translated by Matt Treyvaud.

Yang Wen-Li may be dead but Legend of the Galactic Heroes goes on, even if Yang’s ghostly presence hangs over much of this volume. Julian is trying to do things the way he thinks Yang would have wanted to, even to the point of hearing Yang’s dialogue in his head. He’s still got revenge on his mind, but it has to take a backseat. Much to his frustration, the fight against the Empire also has to take a back seat – he has in mind now trying to get the Empire to become more of a parliamentary democracy, but that’s a long-term plan, and also unlikely to happen with Reinhard in power. So Iserlohn is placed in a bit of stasis this volume, with its most dramatic decision being that of letting the Empire’s fleet pass by unmolested so that it can attack von Reuentahl’s fleet, as the long-foreshadowed rebellion is finally upon us. Oh well, at least it looks like he might be getting a tsundere girlfriend soon.

The “rebellion” is interesting, as it’s a setup, von Reuentahl knows it’s a setup, and yet he goes along with it anyway, partly as he’s fairly sure he wouldn’t be believed if he denied it but partly because, without Yang there to be the noble enemy, there’s nothing really stopping von Reuentahl from attacking the next best military genius – Reinhard. Of course, the joke is on him, as for once Reinhard allows himself to take a back seat and let Mittermeier handle things. They go about as well as you could expect, which is to say very badly for von Reuentahl, who can’t even bleed to death quietly in his office without being presented with his newborn child, the product of yet another love affair. This leads to one of the most bittersweet moments in the series, as a dying von Reuentahl asks the child be raised by childless Mittermeier and his wife. I wish it hadn’t gone this far, but at least there’s some good coming from it. Oh yes, and Trunicht was finally killed. That was great, he deserved it.

The book is not all doom and gloom, though it is mostly serious as always. After being verbally attacked for the massacre that happened about 7 books ago, Reinhard is in a mood and feeling depressed, and asks Hilda to stay the night with him. We don’t see the love scene that follows (though it’s made clear that they’re both dorky ignorant virgins, so it can’t have been that breathtaking), but we do get the aftermath, with Hilda fleeing back home saying “WTF have I done?” and Reinhard immediately showing up to propose. This whole section is actually very funny, and it’s nice to see Reinhard as a lover is about 1/100th as successful as Reinhard the military genius. That said, Hilda is “lucky” enough to get pregnant after this one-night stand, so after taking care of his little rebellion Reinhard proposes again, and this time Hilda accepts. Like most LOGH romances, this has been both obvious and incredibly slow burning, so is very satisfying to finally see.

The main story ends with the 10th and final volume next time. (There are more books with additional stories, but it’s not clear if those will be licensed.) With its huge cast getting smaller and smaller, what fresh new deaths await? Or can we finally achieve peace?

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 5

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By Soichiro Yamamoto. Released in Japan as “Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Monthly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Taylor Engel.

After reviewing the first volume of this charming series as a full review, I did Bookshelf Briefs for the 2nd to 4th volumes. I’m still loving it, but there’s usually not a lot to break down over the course of 500-plus words. Takagi teases Nishikata, he tries to overcome it/turn it back on her, he fails, next chapter. It’s a formula, much the same way that My Neighbor Seki follows a similar type of formula. And we do get several chapters here that show off that formula. Nishikata’s desire to beat Takagi in a school run is foiled by his ignorance of the fact that girls have to run shorter distances he’s tricked into helping Takagi pick out a swimsuit (this is a two-parter); and Takagi sees him pretending to be a wizard during a typhoon and mocks him for it, which may be the funniest chapter. But the first and last chapters are why I wanted to give this a review.

I’ll start with the last chapter of the volume, ‘Critical Hit’. This starts off pretty normally, with Nishikata thinking this is his day to finally win against Takagi because his horoscope and blood type fortune were both super lucky. Takagi knows his star sign AND blood type, of course, so shuts this down right away. But he tries anyway, as his horoscope says he’d get a “critical hit” today. So when his friends want him to go buy a game he wants with them, he rejects them and, not wanting to say the real reason, tells Takagi that he wanted to walk home with her. He DID it! He ALMOST won! Technically, he did win… but he’s too embarrassed at the implication, can’t look her in the eye, and backs off. And we see what he didn’t – Takagi is blushing. An important chapter as it shows Takagi is vulnerable and not perfect, and that Nishikata could win if he had more confidence and less second-guessing.

Then there’s the first chapter, Memories, which takes place well over ten years after the main storyline, and shows us Takagi as an adult with her daughter, Chi. The series is about Takagi being someone who likes to tease, but it doesn’t HAVE to be Nishikata. Here, she teases the reader, reminiscing about her middle school yearbook and implying that Nishikata is either a) dead or b) she didn’t end up with him. Any reader who looks at Chi and sees her daddy’s eyes is not going to be fooled, but, like most of Takagi’s “teasing”, this isn’t meant to be hard. She’s just having fun, and sure enough, at the end of the chapter, we see who she’s married to. This chapter is important as it shows us that things are not going to be static forever – sure, the manga may not end with a confession or anything like that, but we see that eventually there is a happy ending. This also helps make the teasing more fun.

Chapters like these are worth ten of Takagi teasing Nishikata about drinking coffee to be more “adult”, and are a big reason I still adore this cute series. Also, it’s now out digitally as well!

My Next Life As a Villainess! All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 4

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By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung.

This is a stronger volume than the previous one. The reader gets the sense that the author has decided on a forward path after previously ending the series with two volumes and then extending it out. Now, arguably there might be some frustration with Katarina getting confessed to at the end of the last book – and the end of THIS book – and being able to forget about it merely by being mildly distracted. It borders on disbelieving. But this is the sort of series we are reading, and we all know that the moment Katarina realizes everyone loves her and she has to do something about that, the basis of the series would stop. So on that front, things are much the same. Fortunately, we don’t add another person who falls madly for Katarina’s dense yet forthright personality this time around. We do get what seems to be an ongoing villain, though, and we also see that Katarina might be able to do more than just be really nice at people until they give in.

The premise for this book is that Keith is kidnapped by forces unknown, who leave behind a note saying he is running away from home. No one really believes he would do this, except of course Katarina, who is already getting hammered by her mother and servants for being too… well, too much like herself. So she resolves to go find him, and a crack team heads out composed of herself, Jeord (who is still trying to get her to react to his declaration of love), Maria (whose light magic is super useful here), Larna (who remains entertained by Katarina, but also wants to see what’s really going on) and Sora (the villain from last time, he’s now there basically to get in Jeord’s way so everything remains status quo). Oh yes, and Alexander the Ugly Bear, a magical device/familiar that really does not like Katarina, and the feeling is mutual. Can they find and rescue Keith/ And is there more dark magic at the cause of this?

As I noted above, the book feels more confident in its characters. Katarina can still be a blockhead much of the time, but there is a sense that she is maturing, just not in the field of romance. She has minimal talent in Earth Magic, but one scene towards the end suggests that, with the help of certain artifacts she happens to buy at a flea market, she can do a lot more to fight the forces of evil. This is important going forward, because clearly she’s going to join the Ministry, and “because she makes me laugh” was not really a good enough reason. There needs to be more to Katarina’s life besides “who will she end up with?”, and this is a very good start. I also liked the brief look we got at the series’ new villain, Sarah, who feels incredibly creepy and broken and who I suspect might be a tough nut for Katarina to crack.

Not quite as deeply silly as it has been, I still greatly enjoyed this volume of Bakarina. Will everyone finally graduate in the next volume? I want to find out.

Manga the Week of 7/24/19

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SEAN: It’s too hot to be outside. Stay indoors and read manga.

ASH: That is a really good idea.

SEAN: Dark Horse gives us the third volume of Eromanga-sensei.

J-Novel Club has a quartet of releases, including the final volume of If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, which will tell us once and for all if it’s Bunny Dropping us or not. (The cover says yes, the blurb implies no.) We also get Amagi Brilliant Park 6, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 3, and Lazy Dungeon Master 6.

ASH: “Bunny Dropping” is such an evocative turn of phrase.

ANNA: I know that Bunny Dropping is something I wish to avoid.

SEAN: Kodansha, in print, has Gleipnir 3, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 2, Love in Focus 3, The Seven Deadly Sins 33, To Your Eternity 10, Waiting for Spring 11, and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches 19-20, which is at the “we don’t publish sales numbers but it’s down to twice a year and omnibuses? Yikes” stage.

MICHELLE: Love in Focus has been pretty cute and I look forward to its third and final volume. It’s been a while since I’ve read any Waiting for Spring, too.

ASH: I agree, Love in Focus has been been pretty cute and enjoyable so far. And yikes indeed in regards to Yamada-kun, et al. I really got a kick out of it initially, but the series unfortunately couldn’t seem to sustain itself after so many restarts. To Your Eternity, however, remains astonishingly good (and frequently devastating).

SEAN: Kodansha, digitally, debuts The Great Cleric (Seija Musou), which is based on a light novel and is about a salaryman who suddenly finds himself in another world. The sheer originality of the plot has won me over.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: It also has has the 10th and final volume of Can You Just Die, My Darling?. There’s also Boarding School Juliet 11, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 15, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 7, My Boyfriend in Orange 7, and Tokyo Alice 13.

Seven Seas wraps up The Bride and the Exorcist Knight with the fourth volume, and Citrus with the 10th. There’s also a pile of other titles. Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare 2, Dreamin’ Sun 9, Toradora! light novel 6, A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy 2, New Game! 6, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen manga volume 2.

MICHELLE: I shamefully admit I still haven’t read the first volume of Our Dreams at Dusk.

ASH: The first volume was phenomenal; I’m really looking forward to the second and subsequent volumes.

ANNA: Just tried to order it for my library!

SEAN: Udon has the 10th Persona 3 manga.

ASH: I’ll admit, I enjoyed what I’ve played of the game more than I enjoyed what I’ve read of its manga adaptation.

SEAN: And Vertical gives us a 12th Witchcraft Works.

Viz has Children of the Whales 1-11 out digitally, as well as élDLIVE 10.

Yen has pretty much divided most of their releases into two weeks, this being the first. Almost all the debuts got shifted late, so we mostly get ongoing series next week.

Yen On has 86 ~ Eighty-Six~ Vol. 2, Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch (If You’ve Got a Ringer) 4, Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks)? 3, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 2, and WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us? 4. They’re also releasing A Sister’s All You Need 1-4, previously a print-only title, digitally.

On the manga end, there are two debuts that did not get shifted. One is a spinoff, Goblin Slayer: Brand New Day. The other has perhaps the most awkward manga title I’ve ever seen, as it’s called Divine Raiment Magical Girl Howling Moon. This runs in Bessatsu Dragon Age, and is by the writer of Trinity Seven and the artist of Highschool of the Dead and Triage X. Eeeeeeeee. Despite this, I will attempt to give it a try. It’s apparently about a morally ambiguous magical girl. NOT HELPING MY ANTICIPATION.

ASH: That is quite the title and premise.

ANNA: Huh.

SEAN: In addition to those, there’s Angels of Death 7, BTOOOM! 25 (second to last, please end please end please end), A Certain Magical Index’s 18th manga volume, DIVE!! 3, Nyankees 3, The Saga of Tanya the Evil’s 7th manga volume, and Teasing Master Takagi-san 5 (as well as 1-4 digitally, as this was also print-only till now).

ASH: Interesting to see something released in print before being release digitally these days!

SEAN: What manga cools you off?

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 7

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By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

I have a bit of a shameful confession to make. I don’t really care that much about the plot of Make My Abilities Average. Well, that’s not true. The girls’ ongoing adventures interest me, and I definitely want to read the 8th book to see Mile going home to where Adele came from. But all the stuff with Gods and millennia-old ancestors and the like kind of put me to sleep. It’s nice that the author wants to show there’s a genuine reason behind Mile getting reincarnated this way, but I feel it’s a bit unnecessary. It doesn’t matter what the religious cultists who kidnap Mile’s favorite catgirl are after, what matters is that they do it and Mile now has to stop them. It also doesn’t help that Mile goes to interrogate the cultists – and thus find out bits of the aforementioned plot – while wearing a school swimsuit, something so mind-bogglingly stupid even the rest of the Crimson Vow ignore it out of pity and just go back to bed.

The book is still funny, though most of the humor can be divided into two parts. The first is funny characters and situati0ons, as you want and expect. The second are scenes that all end with someone saying or doing something overpowered and the rest of the cast saying the equivalent of “Nandeyanen?!”. Boke and tsukkomi humor is clearly very important to the author, and it helps that any of the Vow, not just Mile, can be the boke at times. It does feel a little tiring after a while, though. Mile is also filling her observations with otaku humor as always, including references to Thunderbirds and The Rocky Horror Picture Show that I suspect may have been adapted away from some really, really obscure Japanese thing. We’ve also gotten so used to the cast that some of the funniest moments come when they don’t act as you’d expect, such as Reina becoming all soppy.

It’s not hard to see why Reina does this, though. Hot-tempered and stubborn as she is, she’s also the most “normal” of the Crimson Vow, and it’s wonderful seeing her boggle at the teamwork of the Servants of the Goddess, who are also all women and the same rank as the Vow but get through battles using their meager skills and perfect teamwork, as opposed to our four overpowered idiots just smashing through any obstacle. It’s exactly the kind of hunting party Reina dreamed of before she met Mile, and thus it’s no surprise that she starts to see the leader of the other party as a big sister figure (well, no surprise to us, it certainly surprises the rest of the Vow). The Vow also helps to fend off a very dangerous enemy: Mavis’ family, who want to marry her off. This problem is solved through the simple but hilarious plan of talking up Mile, who is even MORE awesome than Mavis and has even MORE of a noble background. Mavis isn’t too happy about that, though…

The humor might not be as top-tier as it once was, but this is still a lot of fun, and I definitely want to see what comes next.

Full Metal Panic!: Rampaging One Night Stand

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By Shouji Gatou and Shikidouji. Released in Japan by Fujimi Shobo. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

The FMP! novels mostly seem to have the same conceit for their titles: a Japanese word, followed by an English phrase. (OK, I think “Fighting Boy Meets Girl” was all English.) This is translated for the benefit of the English-speaking reader, and can, of course, lead to thwarted expectations. There are no one night stands as the word is commonly used in this book. The title refers to the fact that the main action in the book takes place over the course of one evening. And there certainly is a lot of rampaging, as the premise involves a huge, skyscraper-sized AS called the “Behemoth”, which is awkward but unstoppable, especially when piloted by Takuma, a troubled young man who is also somewhat mentally unbalanced. Things aren’t helped by the fact that, due to various attacks by Takuma’s terrorist friends, Sousuke’s commanding officer, Tessa, is forced to hide out in his apartment. And much as the action is interesting, it was Tessa meeting Kaname that provided the best part of this book.

Last time I mentioned that Kaname is a rare “angry girl heroine” who fans actually love, and Tessa is along the same lines, the “nice girl” rival character who, while not disliked by fans, has almost no one shipping her and Sousuke instead of Kaname. This book helps to show why, as I had forgotten how much it contrasts Tessa’s excellent command skills (and her abilities as a Whispered, something only hinted at in this book) and Tessa’s mediocre-to-poor skills as a girl falling in love. Indeed, the “nice girl” part of her is absent a lot of the time, as her pretending not to be Sousuke’s commanding officer in order to piss Kaname off is rather mean (and she has to apologize for it later), and she and Kaname have far more of an antagonist stance with each other than I’d remembered from when I first experienced this years ago. Heck, Tessa even declares her rivalry to Kaname at the end. Add to this her feelings about her brother Leonard, and she’s a fascinatingly complex character.

As for Kaname, use of her Whispered abilities are kept to a minimum here, meaning she spends most of the time as the bright, refreshing normal girl. As with the first book, she’s alternating between being attracted to Sousuke and finding him the most aggravating person in the world. This is not helped by his attempting to apologize to her by offering her heroin, so she can sell it for money. Yes, this is an actual thing that he does, and I’m pretty positive the anime cut that. Sousuke, while still doing things like this, has at least developed a finely-honed “Kaname is about to get really angry” sense, though most of the time – like when Tessa comes out of his shower while Kaname is there – there is nothing whatsoever he can do about it. That said, the “which of the two ladies do you like better?” choice offered by the villains doesn’t even register with him, as he makes the choice based solely on combat reasons.

Unlike a lot of action series with a romantic sideplot, most people read or watch FMP! for the romance. They won’t be disappointed with this one, a solid second volume that establishes a love triangle but also makes it clear who the winner will be.