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The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 7

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By Gamei Hitsuji and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

Well, clearly someone did have a talk with the illustrator since my last review, as there is now a new illustrator, and there are lots of interstitial art pieces, which is good, as I’d honestly forgotten that Lefille wears that hat. That hat is not something that should be easily forgotten. On the prose side, this is perhaps a book that is overbalanced towards the back half. The start of the book features a lot of magic lectures, even for this series that seems to be almost entirely magic lectures. The middle third deals with our heroes having to prove themselves to the Elite Guard who will be fighting with them, and needless to say by the end of it the Elite Guard is not so elite. Even Mizuki’s alter ego hands them their asses (actually, her final power move may be the funniest moment in the book). Things end on a more serious note, though,l as the “this is somehow connected with Suimei’s home world” plotline that’s been suggested comes into full flower.

There is a sense in this volume that the author is starting to settle in for the long haul, and thus starting to do something about the supporting cast. I’ve mentioned before that I appreciate that Reiji, the nominal hero, is not written out of the book or made jealous of Suimei, but that does mean that he’s been a bit bland. That doesn’t change here, but he does try to double down on his heroic qualities, realizing that he has to get stronger in order to keep up with everyone else – “rely on others” only feels like good advice if you can rely on yourself sometimes too. Likewise, Felmenia is starting to feel left out, being the defense expert among a group of attackers, and wants to learn how to have a mana furnace like Suimei does – and if that means becoming “inhuman”, so be it. Unfortunately, the actual scenes of her doing this aren’t in the book itself, but we do at least see the results, and she kicks much ass.

Though the author is trying to think ahead and develop characters, there are still a few problems. While this book *is* meant to have a cliffhanger – the mastermind helping the demons and what their relation to Suimei is – I don’t think it’s meant to feel quite as open-ended as it does. For one thing, the Lefille fight with the demon who cursed her is completely abandoned, and I’m not even sure if she made it back to be with the others. Speaking of that fight and the others like it, seeing our dragonewt antagonist and his party show up and announce “we’re helping you, don’t ask why” begs to be followed by “because the author couldn’t think of a good reason”. Oh well, at least the fights are decently written, particularly the duels midway through, and Lefille is no longer a little girl size, though I’m sure that won’t last. As for where we go from here… who knows? The next volume is the last one in Japan to date.

Bookshelf Briefs 11/12/18

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Chihayafuru, Vol. 12 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The Mizusawa karuta team returns to the national tournament and this time (so far), they do not have to forfeit on account of Chihaya falling ill. It’s a battle to keep her focused, however, since she’s convinced Arata is present (she’s right), but they end up prevailing in their first two matches. The first is against a team of Japanese-born foreigners who love the game as honestly as anyone, despite their looks, and the second is against a team of quiz-bowl champs who are ostensibly using karuta as a memory aid but who secretly love it, too. It may not be the most exciting volume out there, but it’s solid and takes us a little bit closer to a reunion with Arata. I look forward to volume thirteen! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 29 | By Haruichi Furudate | VIZ Media – I realize that any sports manga is going to involve its protagonist getting better at their chosen sport, but with Haikyu!! that is somehow more rewarding than most. I think part of it is that, instead of acting on pure athletic instinct, Hinata is actually really thinking now and others are picking up on that, even critical people like Tsukishima and Kageyama. I loved that Hinata was able to mimic a particularly bothersome blocker he’d faced in the past as well as execute a passable emergency set and that he was really keen to have a chance to play defense, whereas before he was obsessed with scoring. I also nearly cried when Yamaguchi nailed a service ace. So, in short, I am a major sports manga fangirl and this volume was my jam. – Michelle Smith

Idol Dreams, Vol. 5 | By Arina Tanemura | Viz Media – Even if she’s not doing anything about the fact that she’s masquerading as a 15-year-old and having boys fall for her, Chikage still does quite a bit right in this volume. First of all, she helps Tokita to move on from her (even if she’s not aware he’s moving on) and reconcile with his girlfriend, whose own lack of self-worth in school has led to her making bad choices now that she’s blossomed into womanhood. I was impressed that the two worked it out, and really felt Chikage did a great job. On the idol front, she also wins by putting on the better “performance,” even if she’s not necessarily the better or more talented idol. Still expecting a train wreck, but at least it’s been put off a bit. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 5 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – There’s some great comedy here, involving things like telling fortunes, gutting a fish in class (in which Fujiwara shows she simply cannot avoid trying to help Shirogane, even as it goes as badly as she expects), and such. But for once, the best parts of Kaguya-sama are about the drama, as it’s summer vacation, and Kaguya’s strict father is not letting her go see the fireworks with her friends. The solution to this, and the emotional roller coaster that follows, is fantastic, even if Shirogane looks back on it later and is hideously embarrassed. More to the point, you realize that once these two idiots finally get together (which isn’t going to happen for a long time), they’ll be a terrific couple. – Sean Gaffney

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 4 | By Afro | Yen Press – At long last, the entire group is camping together, including the club, Rin and Saitou, and their new teacher/advisor, who is the drunken camper we saw last time—and she takes the opportunity to get drunk again. There’s lots of interesting camping talk, including discussing Saitou’s expensive sleeping bag and the different kinds of grills that you can use. For the most part, though, this volume is about showing Rin that it can be just as fun to camp with friends as it can be to camp alone, and drag her out of her shell. It’s mind, to be fair, mostly as Rin is not solitary because of any trauma—she just likes being by herself. But honestly, if you’re going to hang with Nadeshiko, you’re going to have to get used to people. Cute as heck. – Sean Gaffney

Little Witch Academia, Vol. 2 | By Trigger, Yoh Yoshinari and Keisuke Sato | JY – This is an adaptation of a very cartoon-ish anime, and it’s appropriate that the art style is very cartoonish and exaggerated—my favorite example of which is when Akko charging ahead literally breaks Andrew’s word balloon warning her not to. Andrew is introduced here, speaking of which, and he’s your classic British boyfriend type, though given what I’ve heard about Akko and Diana, he may be out of luck here. For the most part we continue to watch Akko Potter trying to succeed at magic school, and she’s having a lot less luck than Harry did—her grades are so bad she can’t even attend the banquets. Will she turn things around? This is marketed to kids, but all ages should love it. – Sean Gaffney

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 10 | By Koyuki and Mamare Touno | Yen Press – Last time I wondered if this was the spinoff’s final arc, and it’s pretty clear that it is. It’s one big fight scene this time around, and things are going very badly for our heroes, though they’re trying their hardest. We continue to filter things through Soujirou—both why he loves gaming and doing what he does, and also why he has so many girls fall in love with him. The eventual solution they come up with, to seemingly drive the monster crazy by information overload, is a clever one, though it’s not clear whether or not it worked. This series started out as a somewhat lighthearted (sometimes TOO light hearted) comedy, but it’s gotten more action oriented at the climax. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 2 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – The end of this volume features what seems to have been the pilot for the series, and I’m glad it was included, as it shows off how much it was improved to make it the sweet and amusing series it is today. Takagi’s eyes being “evil” makes her teasing seem more mean-spirited, especially given Nishikata is more of a schmuck here. Nishikata works best when he’s sort of that Charlie Brown “this time I’ll kick the football” sort of guy. Likewise, Takagi’s teasing works best because you absolutely get the love that she has for him, and that she does see him as a great guy—who’s simply really fun to tease and to watch reaction faces of. This series makes me feel warm and fuzzy. – Sean Gaffney

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 2 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – Despite the subtitle of the series, I rather easily fell in love with the first omnibus volume of Wotakoi. The manga was funny and charming with adult characters who, to me, were immediately endearing. The second omnibus continues the trend of the first while introducing a new character, Ko, who manages to be both heartbreakingly and heartwarmingly socially awkward and anxious. Ko is paired with Naoya, but it remains to be seen whether their relationship will evolve into a romantic one. I suspect that at some point it may—after all, Wotakoi is at least in part a romantic comedy—but then again they could simply be destined to be close friends. The emphasis that Wotakoi places on friendship is actually one of the things about the series that I find particularly appealing. In fact, while arguably little romantic progress is made in the second omnibus, friendships are strengthened. – Ash Brown

Pick of the Week: Yotsuba & Picks!

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SEAN: A ridiculous amount of stuff, as I said. I’m interested in Bakarina, and the final volume of Frau Faust. There’s always a place in my picks for Requiem of the Rose King too. That said, given it’s been TWO AND A HALF YEARS since the last volume, I feel I can only pick Yotsuba&! this week.

KATE: Any week that brings us new installments of Delicious in Dungeon and Yotsuba&! is a good week! ‘Nuff said.

SEAN: Right, and Delicious in Dungeon, which gets more disturbing and dark by the volume (in a good way).

MICHELLE: Oh, man. So much great stuff this week! Since some of my other faves have been acknowledged, I reckon that frees me up to go with the final volume of Frau Faust, which I am looking forward to very much. It wasn’t until I’d read the first few volumes of Frau that I went to check out Kore Yamazaki’s The Ancient Magus’ Bride, and I love it so much that it now makes me sad Frau Faust is so short. Oh well. I bet it’ll be a humdinger of an ending.

ASH: Delicious in Dungeon is definitely one of my favorite series currently been released, but then so is Requiem of the Rose King. It seems like it’s been longer since I’ve had the chance to read Requiem of the Rose King though, so I’ll happily make that my official pick.

MJ: I absolutely have to go with Requiem of the Rose King. I missed my chance to flail with excitement during the last “Manga the week of,” so I’ll do that here instead. *flail*

ANNA: Requiem of the Rose King is such a special series, any week it comes out it will always be my pick.

Onimonogatari: Demon Tale

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

Every once in a while there comes along a volume where NISIOISIN shows off exactly why people are turned off by his writing so much, and I think that Onimonogatari may set a record there, as it’s extraordinarily difficult to get through. While Araragi is the narrator again, a large chunk of the book is told by Shinobu explaining past events to him, and helps to show off (as she herself admits!) why she’s a bad storyteller and why the rule that “aberrations shouldn’t narrate the series” is a good one. Moreover, given that the main interactions Araragi has in this book are with Shinobu (who looks eight), Hachikuji (who looks ten), and Ononoki (who looks twelve), we really get far, far too many pedophilia jokes, and having the other girls be really pissed off at him for them really doesn’t help, no. That said, the book isn’t a total writeoff, and you get the sense that a lot of this book is the author realizing they need to have a genuine backstory and goal for the series, and creating one on the spot.

We’re back in August again in the Monogatari timeline, and the events of Kabukimonogatari have just finished. But Araragi still can’t go back to school and actually start classes, as he and Hachikuji are being pursued by a mysterious darkness that consumes all in its path (well, seemingly all in its path). After being rescued by Ononoki, they end up holing up in the abandoned cram school, where Shinobu tells Araragi and the reader about her first visit to Japan four hundred years ago, which led to her first encounter with “the Darkness” and also the backstory with her first thrall, Araragi’s predecessor. Unfortunately, the Darkness is really good at coming after them – or more accurate, after Hachikuji, who seems to be its goal. Can Araragi figure out what’s going on and save her? If only there was someone who knew everything to offer even MORE explanations…

NISIOISIN has often taken the advice “show, don’t tell” and stomped all over it in hobnail boots, but this book may take the cake in that regard, as there ends up being very little action and a whole lot of talking about the problem, both from Shinobu (who, as I said, is not a good storyteller) or by Izuko Gaen (who is deliberately written to be arrogant and uncaring). “The Darkness” may tie into the ongoing plot – is it related to Ogi, who it turns out Araragi has been narrating the entire book to? We also get discussion of MORE events on that busy August weekend that haven’t happened yet, which I assume will be in a future book. Where this book does succeed is a) it’s meta-humor, particularly Shinobu shilling for the Kizumonogatari movie, which is especially hilarious as it ended up coming out five years after the book did – and b) the ending, which I won’t spoil but is touching and a bit heartbreaking.

A necessary read if you’re interested in the world of Araragi and company, in the end I found Onimonogatari to be a bit of a slog. The book teases that Senjogahara will be narrating the next book in the series, but let me spoil this and say: no she doesn’t. As for who does? Well, it’s not Araragi either. We’ll find out.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 7

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By Fujino Omori and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Liv Sommerlot.

First of all, I apologize, as it turns out I’ve been crediting the wrong illustrator for this series all along. The main series does indeed have illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda, but this side story uses Kiyotaka Haimura, the illustrator of the A Certain Magical Index series, instead. Honestly, it’s pretty obvious if you just look at the style – it feels very Index-ey. As for the content, this takes place just before the events in the 7th book of the main series, and involves the Loki Familia hunting down more evidence on the Evils and the other things they’ve spent the last six books trying to deal with. Unfortunately, though most of the book is a dungeon crawl, it’s not the main dungeon they have to deal with here, but one created by Daedalus, and it proves to be far more deadly for the familia than the lower levels of the main dungeon.

Ironically, though Aiz is alone on the cover, this isn’t really her turn to shine – she actually gets beaten up worse than ever here. In fact, that sets the tone for the book itself, which is separated into halves. The first half shows our heroes getting into big big trouble and dealing with seemingly insurmountable odds. The threat is made significant by taking out Finn early on, meaning everyone is having to rely on their wits rather than do what they’re much better at doing, which is following orders. That said, the second half shows our heroes regrouping and kicking much ass, though they don’t so much win as survive. Several of the more minor characters show off their strength – though Raul showing off his strength just leads everyone to laugh at him, alas. But it gets the point across. Unfortunately, not everyone is so fortunate – a few minor characters who’ve been around since the start are killed off in a brutal last-minute downer ending. This is not Loki Familia’s finest hour.

Loki Familia is joined in their quest by Filvis, and in case it wasn’t really obvious beforehand, Filvis has a massive crush on Lefiya that everyone but Lefiya can see. Honestly, I think that Lefiya would be much better off with Filvis, but a key running theme in the Danmachi books is that the most obvious pairing isn’t going to happen because we cannot control who we love. Lefiya loves Aiz. Likewise, as much as Finn is correct that he and Lilly would be a really awesome pairing, she loves Bell, so oh well. Much of DanMachi’s harem elements run on frustrated unrequited love, and the author is good at simply letting it speak for itself without belaboring the point.

The next volume is supposed to focus on Bete, which I’m not all that wild about, but he’s much more tolerable in this side story. I also hope that it’s just a bit lighter in tone. The last two volumes have been pretty damn bleak. For those who enjoyed DanMachi, this is a very good side story, even if you didn’t like its adaptation.

Silver Spoon, Vol. 5

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By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

I am fortunate enough to say that I am not one of those people who is naturally good at organization and so ends up completely buried when everyone comes to them and asks them to help/supervise/do everything. However, I am the son of such a person, so I am very familiar with how it works. It seems like it will be OK to take on something, and then one thing leads to another, and you find yourself taking on five other things. This is the dilemma that Hachiken is dealing with here. He’s nice, and competent, and doesn’t know how to say no, and everyone is independently asking him for help and now realizing that he’s getting piled on. So far everything seems to be holding up, but judging by the narrative, we’re headed for a nasty fall soon. But we’re not there yet, so we can all also revel in the joys of preparing for a cultural festival, ag school style.

There’s a big highlight in this book, as Hachiken is still learning how to ride that horse that seems to have it in for him. He’s not used to animals, and doesn’t understand how to interact with them or see that they’re even more important than the rider is. He thinks of horses like you would a car. As such, there’s a number of great scenes in this volume showing how much love and trust Mikage and the other riders give to their animals, and it helps him to see what’s missing from how he treats Chestnut. This also ties in with his self-esteem, as we see him freaking otu as everyone but him is able to manage the jumps – he’s seeing this as falling behind in class, and it’s VERY UPSETTING. Fortunately, Mikage and the others are able to show him what he’s missing. (There’s some romantic tease, but at this point Silver spoon isn’t really about that.)

Mikage and Komaba are still dealing with their own issues, though fortunately things seem to be OK betwen them and Hachiken again. (That said, no one has figured out why it happened – lack of communication is still a major obstacle among the main cast. Komaba is pouring his struggles into baseball, which is terrific… provided the team continues to win. Mikage seems to simply be giving up and accepting she won’t achieve her dream, which is even ore depressing. Dreams are important, even for a group of kids whose goals – take over the family farm – seem to be set in stone from the moment they’re born. This is why Hachiken arriving at school is great for both him and the other kids, as it leads to new perspectives. And also pet dogs. Because, as you’d expect from the running theme of this volume, Hachiken can’t say no to ANYONE.

Will we get a successful festival next time? Will Hachiken end up stressing out about everything? Will he and Mikage ever really talk to each other and not at each other? Not sure, but I can’t wait to find out.

True Tenchi Muyo!: Yosho

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By Yousuke Kuroda and Masaki Kajishima. Released in Japan as “Shin Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-o-ki” by Kadokawa Shoten. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Lillian Olsen. Adapted by AstroNerdBoy.

The three novels in this series came out around 1997-99 or so in Japan, which was between the 2nd OAV series (the one that came out here when Tenchi was still huge) and the 3rd OAV series (which came out here when Tenchi’s popularity was waning). As such, they serve as both a ‘filling in the blanks’ backstory for what we’ve already seen and a ‘taste of what’s to come’ teaser for future episodes. The first book was something that I enjoyed but it didn’t reach out and say “that was great”, partly as I don’t find Azusa all that likeable. The second volume is a much better book, partly as Yosho may be staid but he’s also a lot of fun, and partly as this volume features Ryoko’s attack on Jurai and everything that comes along with it, so the book ends with an epic battle sequence before it settles down on Earth. We’re also introduced to Airi, who is Yosho’s first love… well, OK, second love, but first consummated love.

Yosho is the 12-year-old crown prince of Jurai, and is being sent off to Galactic Boarding School, essentially, mostly as he’s developing a crush on his stepmother, who has no sense of personal space. (If this surprises you, you’ve never seen Tenchi, which uses incest as a spice – liberally). While there he meets Airi, an older student who’s there to show him around and also comes from a planet of religious zealots. The book balances its time between Yosho coming out of his shell and he and Airi falling in love and the political machinations of Jurai, which is still dealing with the shock and horror of having Funaho as the First Empress. Their relationship is a bad idea politically, at least for now, and what’s more Ryoko attacks Jurai at the behest of Kagato, so Yosho rapidly vanishes to that he can bring her down – and also, it has to be said, to get away from the repressive heritage that he really doesn’t want to deal with.

Lest you think the book is all romantic drama and action movie sequences, there’s also a great deal of humor here as well. Airi is a loud, blunt girl who tells you that she likes you by putting you in a wrestling lock, and she pairs very well with Yosho, who even at his most emotional exhibits a certain Mr. Spock quality. There is a repeated sequence with puppies that is both adorable and hilarious. And I can’t not mention Funaho’s drunken duel with someone who insulted her son, which shows off why you should never, ever get Funaho drunk. In other words, it’s very much still a Tenchi book. It also shows off Ayeka’s massive crush on her brother, and why he finds it uncomfortable (because it reminds him of his crush on Misaki). I haven’t seen the 3rd OAV series, which I understand has Airi in it, but for those who only recall 90s Tenchi, this is also a great read, with a good look at Ryoko’s personality pre-Tenchi.

There’s one last book in the series, which will focus on Washuu. I’m looking forward to it. These books have been a real treat for Tenchi Muyo fans, especially because it reminds them of the time when the series walked the anime fandom like a colossus.

Manga the Week of 11/14/18

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SEAN: Here we go again, folks. 62 titles next week. Please cry with me.

ASH: Those are tears of joy, right?

SEAN: Dark Horse has a 7th Blade of the Immortal omnibus to start us off.

ASH: A great way to collect the series since many of the single volumes are out-of-print.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!. They’re marketing this to men as well, and it does have a sizeable male fandom here, but Bakarina (as it’s known) is actually from a female-oriented publisher. The premise might seem familiar – a woman wakes up in the body of the villain of the otome game she’s been playing, and has to figure out how not to die or be exiled – but I’ve heard very good things about it.

ANNA: Hmmmm.

SEAN: They also have the latest in the Ao Oni series, subtitled Grudge, a 2nd Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, and a 2nd volume of Amagi Brilliant Park.

In terms of print, there’s no debuts from Kodansha, but they do have Frau Faust 5 (which Amazon seems to be shipping a bit late on Amazon), Golosseum 4, L*DK 12, Land of the Lustrous 7, Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai 5, the 2nd Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, and the 9th Waiting for Spring.

MICHELLE: I’ve been eagerly anticipating the final volume of Frau Faust!

ASH: Oh, I didn’t realize it was the final volume! I’m definitely picking it up, though.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is Alice’s Diet Quest, a Bessatsu Shonen Magazine title about a priestess in a fantasy world who wants to lose weight using any method she can. This… sounds a bit too similar to Plus-Sized Elf for my tastes.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: And we have Boarding School Juliet 6, Kamikamikaeshi 5, The Prince’s Black Poison 8, Tokyo Alice 5, and The Walls Between Us 2.

MICHELLE: I’m already behind on the latter two. Sigh.

SEAN: One Peace has the third volume of the Mikagura School Suite manga.

Seven Seas has only one title, believe it or not: the 2nd Devilman Classic Collection.

ASH: I really liked the first collection, so I’m looking forward to the second.

SEAN: And Vertical Comics has the 9th Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

Viz debuts Record of Grancest War, which is a fantasy manga based on a light novel with lots of warring states and the mage and knight who try to stop it. It runs in Hakusensha’s Young Animal, so I suspect will also have fanservice or gore.

There is also The Complete Art of Fullmetal Alchemist, which is… what it says.

ASH: Should be great, is what!

ANNA: Yay!

SEAN: Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, we have the 3rd Fullmetal Edition omnibus, a 2nd Radiant, a 9th Requiem of the Rose King, and a 28th Rin-Ne.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Requiem of the Rose King!

ASH: I really love this series.

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: That just leaves Yen, who are shipping most of their titles a bit early this month. JY has the 2nd volume of Little Witch Academia.

Yen On has, believe it or not, only the 2nd silliest light novel debut this month, with The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor in Another World. I believe this is just one volume, and corners the market on pizza isekai stories.

Yen On also has A Certain Magical Index 17, Magical Girl Raising Project 5, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 6, Sword Art Online Progressive 5, and WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us? 2. So Elf Pizza is not the longest title this week.

On the manga side, we debut Interspecies Reviewers, a monster girl title that runs in Kadokawa’s Dragon Age and looks… um… designed for teenage boys needing to relieve some stress. If you know what I mean.

There’s also two spinoff debuts, as we get the first volume of the manga adaptation of DanMachi’s Lyu sidestory, and also Sowrd Art Online: Hollow Realization, a manga adaptation of the video game that runs in Dengeki Maoh.

Speaking of light novel adaptations, next week we also have the 4th Goblin Slayer manga, an 11th High School DxD, the 4th Hybrid x Heart Magic Academy Ataraxia, a 7th KonoSuba, the 10th Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, the 8th Overlord manga, and the 5th volume of Re: Zero’s 3rd arc.

And in titles not based on a novel, we have ACCA 5, Akame Ga Kill! ZERO 8, Angels of Death 5, Chio’s School Road 2, Delicious in Dungeon 6, Dimension W 12, Forbidden Scrollery 5, Fruits Basket Another 2, Laid-Back Camp 4, Love at Fourteen 8 (honestly, they’re almost 16 by now), Mermaid Boys 3, No Matter How You Look At It, It’s You Guys, Fault I’m Not Popular! 12, The Royal Tutor 10, Tales of Wedding Rings 4, Trinity Seven 15, and last but not least, a 14th volume of Yotsuba&!.

MICHELLE: There are several things in that list that I’ll be checking out, but Yotsuba&! for the win!

ASH: Indeed! Delicious in Dungeon and ACCA are very high on my list, too.

ANNA: Been a long time since there was a new volume of Yotsuba&!.

SEAN: This is a lot. (Yen pushed back eight titles two weeks, or it would be even more.) Are you getting anything, or just staring in horror and disbelief?

Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, Vol. 1

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By Tomo Hirokawa, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Maoh. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Stephen Paul.

Fair warning, this review contains spoilers for the video game Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization. And while the average reader may be staring at their screen now and saying “DUR!”, believe me, they came as a surprise to me. I have not played any of the SAO games, but assumed that this adaptation would not really have a lot of barriers to me picking it up and just reading it. And that’s… somewhat true? The main issue being when all the other girls in Kirito’s life start showing up. There’s our usual main harem, but then I ran into a girl who I was pretty sure died tragically in one of the prior books, and Yui’s little sister, and a sysadmin helping the group, and… I had to run crying to the Sword Art Online wiki. Not a pretty sight. So yes, for readers of the manga who have NOT played the game (and its prequels)? You will be confused.

The premise is that Kirito and company are beta testing a new version of SAO based off the original game… but without the ‘trapped and dying’ parts. They immediately run into a few NPCs, including one who appears to be more of a blank slate than you’d expect, particularly as the NPCs here are more lifelike and real than had been seen in SAO previously (let’s leave Kizmel to the side for the moment). Asuna names the NPC Premiere, and we begin to watch her slowly develop wants and needs, such as the desire to protect herself. And she certainly needs to protect herself too, as players are going around killing NPCs for their stuff… and the NPCs don’t return afterwards. Can our heroes help Premiere achieve sentience while also stopping the ‘it’s just a game’ PCs and a creepy swordsman named Genesis?

The concept of NPCs being more than what they seem is something SAO (and indeed many other ‘trapped in a game world’ series) has come back to many times, especially since Kawahara began the “Progressive” series. In fact, one of the very first SAO doujinshi the author wrote, back when it was still a webnovel, featured Kirito and Asuna arguing over whether it was OK to sacrifice NPCs in order to clear a level. Clearly the story is meant to have us rooting for Premiere and her fellow non-players, and I’m fine with that – she’s cute and likeable without being overly cloying. As for the rest of the cast, they all show up, but mostly it’s the Kirito and Asuna show, which is fine by me – there’s lots of “they’re so in love with each other” interaction that makes Lisbeth and company a bit ill. (Quiet, Liz, the artist was very kind to you.) And as I indicated there’s a few extra girls who also show up here, and if Mother’s Rosario left you wishing that it could have gone differently… you might want to check this out, though you’ll be whistling for explanations – “buy Lost Song” is apparently the answer.

Overall, this is a fun tie-in manga that I suspect will appeal more to those familiar with the game, though (as I’ve shown) you can read it without any game knowledge and just be slightly confused.

No Game No Life, Vol. 7

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By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Daniel Komen.

Until I read the afterword of this volume, I was going to comment a lot on how this volume’s release was delayed, I believe, four times, to the point where I’ve forgotten almost everything that came before it. But the afterword indicates that it was delayed in Japan the exact same number of months, which made me suspicious and wonder if it was delayed here deliberately. Probably not, but given the nature of this series, you can never be too paranoid. Things are not helped on the “remember what happened previously” end by the fact that Volume 6 was a flashback, and also the best volume in the series, which Kamiya sheepishly agrees with – he had writer’s block trying to top it. Sadly, I don’t think he did here, as this 7th volume of NGNL is bout 3/4 irritating and wordy faffing about, and it only really picks up towards the end. That said, if the ending is doing what I think it’s doing, the 8th volume may be much better. It’s out in February. Theoretically.

We start off in media res, which is a difficult thing to pull off for a normal writer, and even more difficult when you’re this writer, who tends to expound about eight times more than is necessary. Sora, Shiro and the rest of the cast have apparently agreed to play a game against an Old Deus, with the shrine Maiden’s life at stake. This surprises them, as they have no memory of having agreed to the game. It’s a dice game with complicated rules, which Sora says is based on a game from Earth but which I was mostly blank on. Much of the volume is spent with our heroes (and Steph, who sadly is reduced to a cliche here) whining and being creepily fetishistic as the dice board is the same size as the world, which is to say it takes days to travel across spaces. And they also gain or lose age depending on the dice they have, meaning a lot of 2-year-old Steph here. And when you arrive at a space, you have to do a task that another player has assigned, which can be very difficult and dangerous.

I’ve talked a bit about the translation before. I don’t think it’s the worst thing ever, like some NGNL fans do, but it’s not doing the prose any favors either. Kamiya, as I said earlier, tends to expound a lot, and Sora and Shiro also speak in a jaded gamer sort of way. Add to that the fact that, unlike a lot of other translations, there’s very little “Sora said” or “Steph replied” added to the text to help the reader, and you get a book that feels like a slog much of the time. Thankfully, this changes towards the end, when we see a) Plum trying to become a full-time villain in the real world, and b) Jibril challenging [ ] to a game where SOMEONE is going to have to die. Actually, the nature of the game she’s challenging them to intrigues me quite a bit, and I’m interested in seeing how it’s handled.

Unfortunately, looking forward to Vol. 8 does not make Vol. 7 better. Kamiya was right in his afterword, this is a step down from the previous book. Still, if you enjoye NGNL, you’ll need to read it anyway.