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Accel World: The End and the Beginning

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

The past coming back to haunt people is a running theme in Accel World. In real life, past trauma is how you get Incarnate attacks to use in the game. And events that have happened in the game have also had traumatic repercussions, particularly for Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki. Still, as our heroes continue to attempt to try to defeat the ISS kits, I was not prepared for the past to literally come back. Everyone’s still feeling out why this is happening, but in a meta way, I think part of it is that Reki Kawahara knows when he has a good idea, but then proceeds to come back to that good idea over and over again like a favorite toy until everyone else involved just wants to move on. In Sword Art Online that idea is Laughing Coffin, the Guild filled with player killers who have proved to be behind almost everything in the series. And in Accel World its’… well, that’s the cliffhanger ending, isn’t it? Is it a real cliffhanger if the reader groans?

This is another volume that is essentially one big fight, staying inside the Accelerated World as Haruyuki and company take on the Accelerated Research Society, which is not only destroying Ash Roller with its ISS kits but has also kidnapped Nico, planning to use her for some nefarious scheme. (Nico stays unconscious for 95% of the book, though thankfully she does at least wake up and get angry for the last few pages.) Our heroes divide into two groups of four, as half go after Nico’s kidnappers while the other half stay to try to get to an exit point to unplug Nico in the real world. Unfortunately, the kidnappers are very good at what they do, and the battle is mostly fought to a standstill throughout. Also unfortunately, the exit to the real world turns out to be inside a monster… a monster that is capable of a lot of awful stuff. And, as I noted before, bringing back bad memories. Literally.

This leads to the most interesting part of the book. The killing of Red Rider was sort of the spark of everything that happened in the series, and we’ve seen it in flashbacks a few times. Now we get to see Red Rider “return” as sort of a memory copy, and you can see why everyone was upset – he’s a nice guy, and seems like the shoujo hero of a book starring a shy, insecure girl. His presence, though, allows Kuroyukihime to show how she’s grown past who she used to be and has reforged her bonds, and found new ones. It’s cool to see, and the emotional beats on her side of the book are more satisfying. As for Haru and company, they get a lot less sympathetic memory copy to deal with. The first really nasty villain of Accel World is here to chew bubblegum and be snide, and he’s all out of bubblegum. Unfortunately, he’s just a memory copy, and so unable to control combining with Nico’s stolen equipment very well, which leads to… well, the cliffhanger I was carping about.

This is still a good volume of Accel World, particularly if you like action sequences. We still have more to go, as once again the arc is not finished. Will Nico be permanently depowered? Will our heroes save Ash Roller? Will Kawahara keep playing his Greatest Hits? Only one of these is certain.

Manga the Week of 10/17/18

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SEAN: Neither rain nor snow not gloom of night can stay Manga Bookshelf from looking at next weeks’ releases.

We start off with J-Novel Club, who have three new novels. An Archdemon’s Dilemma 2, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 11 (In which I hear things are all sunshine and rainbows forever), and I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse 10, where our hero tries to deal with the world of theater.

Kodansha print? There’s Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network, with stories by Western writers based on the Japanese classic.

ASH: I really liked the Attack on Titan anthology, so I’m looking forward to this volume!

SEAN: Elsewhere in print, we have the Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 1 box set, Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition 5, Fire Force 12,and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 8, which everyone seems to like more than I do.

The digital debut this week is Tokyo Revengers. Its plot… sounds like Erased, only edgier and more Weekly Shonen Magazine oriented, to be honest.

ASH: I do get a kick out of it, but I’m even more interested in the Battle Angel Alita finale.

SEAN: And we have: Beauty Bunny 8. Cosplay Animal 8. DAYS 10. Giant Killing 14. And Perfect World 7. Can a few of these come out less often, please. ^^;; I need to catch up!

MICHELLE: DAYS and Giant Killing, as always.

SEAN: One Peace debuts The Reprise of the Spear Hero, a light novel spinoff of The Rising of the Shield Hero, which seems to be Re: Zero only with no actual deconstruction.

Seven Seas has a debut. It’s Fairy Tale Battle Royale (Otogibanashi Battle Royale), combining beloved children’s stories with blood-spattered survival horror. If ever there was an anti-Sean title, this is it. All it’s missing is “whoops, I spilled milk all over my face!”. It’s a Kadokawa title from Gene Pixiv.

There’s also an omnibus release of the first 3 Boogiepop novels.

ASH: I’m so happy to see these back in print!

SEAN: Ongoing series include 2nd volumes for How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s manga version, as well as twisted weirdness with The Voynich Hotel. There’s also a 3rd volume of the Kanna’s Daily Life spinoff from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.

ASH: I still need to read the first volume of The Voynich Hotel. It seems like something I would appreciate.

ANNA: Oh yeah I was meaning to check it out too.

SEAN: Udon gives us an 8th volume of Persona 4.

Viz debuts a Junji Ito collection, this one featuring Frankenstein, among other things. A must for horror manga fans.

ASH: Yes!!

ANNA: Good stuff!!

SEAN: If you never read Tokyo Ghoul, there’s now a complete box set of the first series. And there’s also a 7th volume of Tokyo Ghoul: re.

Lastly, there’s a 3rd Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction and a 4th Fire Punch. I prefer the former to the latter.

ASH: Same here.

ANNA: Also need to catch up with the former.

SEAN: Assuming you’re not affected by weather, what are you getting next week?

Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 1

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By Io Sakisaka. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret (“Betsuma”). Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Emi Louie-Nishikawa.

This is a shoujo manga, so most of you should probably be unsurprised that it is about teenage kids in high school falling in love. Actually, it starts off in middle school where we meet our hero and heroine, who meet cute, work up to going on a date… and then he never shows up, and transfers soon after, and it all falls apart. It almost feels like a one-shot, but that would be far too bitter a pill, I think, so instead we jump forward to high school, where Futaba is now slightly more outgoing and “one of the girls” (though it’s clear that she’s forcing herself), Kou returns, only he too is different from the young boy he was, and seems uncomfortable with seeing Futaba once more. Or is it just that he’s uncomfortable with seeing the company Futaba is keeping?

High school is a difficult period, and many people are still finding out who they really want to be. This is especially true in Japan, where your high school cast can be completely different from the people you knew in middle school. Futaba is a “nice normal girl”, but high school being what it is, this means that she has to smile and nod while her friends pick on the ostracized girl for being too cute and attracting the attention of the guys too much. Honestly, even without Kou breaking in and saying that her friends are fake, this was not a friendship built on a strong foundation. It’s clear that the two other girls (who I suspect we may simply never see again) were also feeling uncomfortable with Futaba in the group, and were waiting for it to break up. I really liked that the author made it clear that even though the cliche is that this is what young girls are like, she got the idea from two guys working in an office. Twisting the cliche to use it for good.

Speaking of good, the highlight of this first volume is the relationship between Futaba and Kou. Even after they reunite and she realizes that he’s become incredibly moody, standoffidh, and, well, teenage boy-ey, the chemistry between them really resonates well. This was also true of Strobe Edge, Sakisaka’s previous series, which I also enjoye4d. Futaba is seeing working to try to improve and stay true to herself, at first befriending the bullied girl “on the sly”, then defending her despite what it costs her. As for Kou, clearly the issues surrounding his family’s split are going to be resonating through the volumes to come. Hopefully then we will also get more information on the bullied girl, who seems like a sweetie pie, as well as the standard shoujo ice queen with long black hair, who seems to have an overenthusiastic boy trying to get her to make friends.

In other words, this is just the start of a long ride, which fits in nicely with the title. Fans of shoujo romance should absolutely check this out, as it’s got interesting characters and a sweet nature to it.

The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc, Part 1

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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.

Nothing quite says “The irregular at Magic High School” quite like introducing one of North American’s top magician agents, almost ungodly in her strength, speed, and power, and then having her get crushed by Tatsuya and Miyuki as a reminder that it’s their series. There are various “outs” given for Miyuki, as Tatsuya has to remove the limiter she has on him to let her fight with the strength to defeat Lina, and the occasional reminder that North America does have the occasional magic tech that Japan does not have (to Tatsuya’s irritation), but for the most part the first of this three-volume arc is meant to introduce a new girl and then show how she’s not QUITE as good as the dynamic duo. This is not something limited to this series, of course, it’s pretty standard in light novels/anime/manga. But there is a certain smugness in Irregular at Magic High School’s narration that makes it grate just a bit more.

As you can see by the cover, Lina is out new American transfer student, who is also not so secretly a soldier with the North American forces sent to Japan to try to find out who was responsible for what happened in Yokohama two volumes ago. She’s a terrible spy, as she herself admits, but she’s better as a supersoldier, complete with secret identity superhero costume, which helps her feel very “American”, along with her stubbornness and desire to see everything as a competition. It’s more of an exchange program, so we also see Shizuku leave the stage and go off to UC Berkeley for (I assume) the remainder of this arc. This is a shame, as I quite like Shizuku, and also with her gone Honoka does not get much to do except have a crush on Tatsuya. The plot is about a “vampire” who is killing magicians, though it turns out that it may be more than one.

Irregular at Magic High School is not at the point (and I don’t think it ever will be) where it can kill off one of its regulars to amp up the drama. But some drama is required, so Leo runs afoul of the ‘vampire’ folks and is hospitalized for the rest of the book, and it’s noted that without his monstrous (and bioengineered) constitution he’d likely be a lot more dead. This leads Erika to start prowling the streets as revenge for what happened. The relationship between Erika and Leo continues to be very odd – the rest of the group seems to treat them like they’re going to be a couple and are just in denial about it, but if that’s the case there’s a curious complete lack of romantic tension between them. We see Erika flush in embarrassment later on, but that’s when she gets her outfit torn to shreds in a fight and is showing off to Tatsuya and Mikihiko a bit more than she feels comfortable with.

The Irregular at Magic High School continues to be a series that’s easy to read but hard to like. At times it feels like, just like its main character, the author seems unable to write strong emotions beyond the surface. Still, this is just the first part of a long arc, and I’m hoping for stronger depth next time. Mahouka fans should enjoy this – or enjoy complaining about this.

Bookshelf Briefs 10/9/18

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The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 9 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – Well, the author does indeed seem to be trying to establish Chise and Elias as a romantic couple after all. That said, she seems aware that there was a hideous power imbalance involved, and most of this volume involves Chise working independently to try to rescue Stella and deal with Cartaphilus and his long, long live and mountain of complexes. As for Elias, he has to figure out how to apologize and stop doing things for Chise’s own good—even if that does mean she runs him ragged. Their relationship is a lot more equal by the end of this book, and I’m less wary of it. And now we apparently enter a new arc! Oh yes, and since I haven’t said so in a while, the art is utterly gorgeous. – Sean Gaffney

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 20 | By Kazue Kato | Viz Media – We still don’t know Shiemi’s secret, but we’re getting closer to having Yukio and Rin learn their own secrets. Despite the fun of a Christmas party (which gets wiped out by one Rube Goldberg-esque flipover from Shiemi’s familiar) and Renzo’s infinite family relations, complete with wedding, the gravity of Yukio’s pain and rage envelops this volume. Rin knows something is wrong but can’t help. Shiemi tries to comfort but can’t. He’s taken off active duty because he’s a loose cannon. And finally, in a shockingly brutal scene, he shoots himself in the head. This being Blue Exorcist, he’s not actually killed, but it’s still hard to read. This is starting to get to a point where we need another release of tension soon. – Sean Gaffney

Fate/Zero, Vol. 7 | By Gen Urobuchi, Type-Moon, and Shinjiro | Dark Horse – Spoiling the cliffhanger from last volume, no, Tokiomi does not actually do anything. Instead, as you can see from the cover, we get a lot more of Caster and his master, though mercifully there’s slightly less (though still some) child murders and lots more philosophizing on the nature of God. Everyone’s taking stock of who they are—Waver feels useless, even when Rider tries to pep him up. Iris’ body is having issues that remind me of what happened to Shirou in some FSN arcs, and Archer spends a lot—a LOT—of time psychoanalyzing Kotomine. There is so much talking in this book that when Caster summons a Giant Sea Beast to destroy everything, it’s a mercy. Recommend for Fate fans. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 26 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – The team shokugeki between Central and the resistance continues. The resistance swept the first bout, eliminating three members of the opposing team, but in response Central has sent out their heavy hitters. Yukihira sits this round out as Kuga gets his opportunity for a rematch against Tsukasa (but is not too proud to accept help from a teammate) and we learn a little bit more about two uber-manly students whose individual specialties are ramen and sushi. This volume is somewhat more fanservicey than the series has been of late, which I don’t love, and ends on a cliffhanger as all six chefs participating in the second bout prepare to have their dishes judged, but it’s still fun. Too, I appreciate that there are now some truly impartial judges overseeing things. I’ll still be happy when this arc is over, though. – Michelle Smith

Golden Kamuy, Vol. 6 | By Satoru Noda | Viz Media – The first half of this book, which is essentially a horror-comedy set in a hotel with infinite winding corridors, is hilarious, if grotesque. It’s reminiscent of an English farce, with lots of opening and closing doors and people missing each other—at one point we get a cross-section of the hotel to show this off. The second half doubles down on the violence, though, as Hijikata’s group is trying to find tattooed skins and also help a young pregnant woman avoid being used as a hostage. It’s a letdown, but that’s only because the first half of the book was so much fun. It also lacks Sugimoto and Asirpa, who are still the best reasons to read the book. Very little cooking this time around, too. – Sean Gaffney

The Manga Cookbook, Vol. 3 | By The Manga University Culinary Institute and Ryo Katagiri | Japanime – The third volume in the Manga Cookbook series collects twenty-five or so recipes (depending on how one counts variations) described as Japanese fusion food. The various dishes, ranging from drinks to dinner to desserts, all incorporate ingredients and flavours from or inspired by Japan. The Manga Cookbook combines food with a little bit of fun. Each recipe is associated with a character that could have come straight out of a manga (mobile suit pirate, personal butler, class president, etc.) and is preceded by a one-page comic which introduces both the character and dish in a humorous fashion. The cookbook is intended to appeal to young adults and is largely suitable for beginning cooks–the fully-illustrated recipes aren’t overly complex but are still intriguing, ready substitutions are recommended for some of the ingredients that might be more difficult to find, and even I learned a few new tricks and techniques! – Ash Brown

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 22 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – I love stories with Natsume, Tanuma, and Taki, as I’ve said about eighty times, and so was delighted to see a two-parter starting this volume off which has them visiting an inn with some old yokai documents, which turns out to be guarded by a yokai who loves the view. Like most Natsume stories, it’s beautifully told, and what seems bittersweet becomes sweet later on. Things turn sad later on, though, with a flashback to Reiko’s first victim in the Book of Names, and her reluctant bonding with a young high school girl who at first I thought was dying of some wasting disease but apparently not. Reiko is always going to be prickly and difficult, but seeing her compassion in spite of that is terrific. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 5 | By Yuki Shiwasu | VIZ Media – Normally, I don’t read a manga and think, “Man, this needs to be an anime,” but I had that thought a few times during the opening chapters of this volume, which include some great scenes with Takane at Hana’s school festival. I was a little worried when a bratty cousin and clinging love rival are introduced one after another, but each scenario yields something valuable story-wise. In the former, Hana learns a little bit about Takane’s family situation and in the latter, she’s forced to finally say out loud that she likes him and, in the end, recognizes that the rival’s feelings are genuine, also. Too, kudos for a reasonably good handling of this rival’s secret, which is probably the best I’ve seen in manga so far. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable volume. I hope Takane & Hana keeps going strong for a long time! – Michelle Smith

Eromanga-sensei, Vol. 1

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By Tsukasa Fushimi, rin, and Kanzakihiro. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics. Translated by Dinky Spatz.

I’m pretty sure most of my regular readers are surprised to see me reviewing this title at all. I do try to give most Vol. 1s a chance, but let’s face it, this is by the author of OreImo, which reminded fans that yes, incest ships CAN sometimes piss off a fanbase. It features another brother/sister romance combo, only they’re stepsiblings so it’s “safer”… but they’re also far younger. There’s an obnoxious princess-type rival, also very young. If I’m going to be honest, my favorite character in the first volume is the editor, and that’s half because she resembled Bazett from Fate. And of course the final indignity, I have to type “Translated by Dinky Spatz” with a straight face. Even the pseudonyms are mocking me. Now, with all of that said… if this IS your sort of thing, I see nothing wrong with reading it aside from the occasional “Christ, how old are they?”. It does its job.

The premise has a young high school writer, Masamune, trying to deal with the fact that his stepsister Sagiri hasn’t left her room in about a year. He brings her food and attempts to get her to leave the room, but no dice. He’s also dealing with the fact that he recently ended his light novel series and has to start another one, despite mediocre sales and a 4-chan style board that is tearing him apart. In fact, it turns out that the instigator of the online abuse is none other than his illustrator, who goes by the name Eromanga-sensei. I will now pause to see if the reader can guess the stunning plot twist. (pauses, sips tea) Yes, that’s right, the illustrator is none other than his shut-in sister. After discovering this, he slowly attempts to break her out of her shell, and she starts to open up to him, though her heavy tsundere personality is not really helping. Can he get her to school? Can he establish a familial bond. Or… something more?

Please God, not something more, though I know I’m likely fighting a losing battle there. In any case, I was not entirely grumpy. Masamune’s approach to getting Sagiri out of her room is respectful and subtle, and he seems a lot more “with it” than most protagonists of this sort. Nor does he have an immediately obvious little girl/little sister fetish, which is sadly refreshing in this genre. The classmate of Sagiri’s who goes to the house to try to get her into school takes a refuge in audacity that made me laugh in a horrible sort of way, and her solution on how to get Sagiri out of her room was dead on. And the ojou rival girl is also over the top in an amusing way, and I liked the way not-Bazett shut her down and threw her out when she grew too arrogant.

This is based on a light novel series, which mercifully is not licensed here. I think it may work better in manga format anyway. There is an audience for this sort of title, and if you are that audience, or enjoyed OreImo, then this is definitely a title worth picking up. It just hit all the wrong buttons for me.

Pick of the Week: Satoko and Nada

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MICHELLE: I am completely unable to resist a tale billed as “a charming tale of friendship between a Japanese woman and her Muslim roommate.” Slice-of-life hilarious adventures involving mutual respect? Yes, please!

SEAN: Same. Seven Seas has done wonders this year to make everyone sit up and pay attention to them, and this is one reason why. Satoko and Nada is definitely my pick this week.

ANNA: This sounds absolutely adorable. Looking forward to checking out Satoko and Nada.

ASH: As usual, there are a few things I’m interested in this week, but nothing else has quite captured my attention like the debut of Satoko and Nada! It should be a delight.

KATE: Ditto!

MJ: I was so determined to find something different and unpredictable to say here, but yeah. It’s Satoko and Nada for me too. All the way.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 10

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

I debated copying and pasting the start of my review of the 9th volume of Strike the Blood into this one, because the verses and chorus are the same. We get a new girl in peril, this time a Latin American girl (or the Strike the Blood equivalent) who is the titular Bride of the Dark God, and who gets mailed to Kojou in a suitcase to keep safe. She’s abusive and rude to Koujo, but gradually warms up to him after he keeps trying to save her life. Meanwhile, we get a new girl added to the “help Kojou summon a new Beast Vassal and regenerate to 100% health” rack, as Kanon (and Astarte, for added erotic appeal) allows him to drink her blood. And he and Yukina spend the entire book avowing that they aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, while acting exactly like a couple would. There are no surprises, there is no ambition. It’s a predictable story, well told.

The cast is starting to get a little large and unwieldy, and so we winnow it down a bit for this book. Kojou and Nagisa’s dad takes Nagisa off for a shrine visit for the duration of the book, and Sayaka doesn’t even get mentioned, much less make an appearance. As for Asagi, who can’t actually leave the island, she ends up being locked in the computer room for her own safety, much to her annoyance. This allows Kanon and Astarte, who had not really done much at all lately, to make more of an impact. And then there’s Vattler, who sparks the plot here but doesn’t really show up till almost 2/3 of the way through the book. You get the sense he’s trying to be a trickster mentor to Kojou, putting him in life-or-death situations so that he can finally come into his own as the Fourth Primogenitor.

There’s also Celesta, the new girl I mentioned above. Her fury towards Kojou has a bit of the “Latin Spitfire” cliche to it, but she’s also the weak point of the book, as she’s a normal girl, so mostly exists to get into peril. Unlike a lot of the other heroines we’ve met in previous books, I’m not sure if we’ll actually end up seeing her again. Her peril does lead to some well-choreographed fights, though, and I expect that when this was animated it turned out quite well, given (as I’ve also said before) this reads like an anime novelization. She also resonates with Yukina in the “call Kojou a pervert” running gags, which are as tiresome as ever – I wouldn’t even mind the standard shonen jealous girl stuff if it were done well, but it’s tedious. The author is much better at drama than comedy, as most authors are.

So, in the end, Strike the Blood 10 doesn’t bring much new to the table. It’s a book to read if you’ve read the previous nine. But if you’ve read the previous nine, you won’t be too disappointed.

After the Rain, Vol. 1

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By Jun Mayuzuki. Released in Japan as “Koi wa Ameagari no You ni” in two separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Big Comic Spirits. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

In general, when reviewing manga that involves a relationship between a young girl and a much older guy, I have been pretty wary. This is because for the most part it’s either had the older guy be a replacement father who ends up with his adopted daughter, a trope I can’t stand, or the guy exists in a position of power over her, such as the classic student/teacher romances that litter shoujo manga. But After the Rain’s restaurant manager and waitress is not all that big of a power imbalance. In addition, the discomfort involved in such a relationship seems to be the point with this series – Masami is well aware that Akira is still only 17 years old, and that he is 45. What’s more, the audience sees that Akira is desperately searching for a purpose in life after an injury forced her to quit sports. Is this romance just a passing thing?

I’d mentioned that Akira’s face on the cover reminded me a lot of School Rumble’s Yakumo. It gets even worse when I read the series itself, as Masami is a very close match to Captain Goto from Patlabor. It feels a but like I’m reading someone’s AU crossover fanfic. That said, behind the character designs is some very pretty art and deft panel work, and you can see why this title won awards when it was coming out in Japan. Akira starts off dealing with her crush and trying to hide it, but resolves herself to confessing fairly quickly – especially for a series like this. That leaves the latter half of this omnibus for us to see how Masami (entirely referred to as “Boss” throughout by Akira, in case you wanted the power imbalance shoved in your face) deals with it – as he is very well aware what the world would think. That said, he’s not exactly unattracted to Akura either.

The audience is helped by Akira’s other romantic options, which range from pathetic (her hopeless male classmate) to loathsome (the playboy chef, who blackmails her into going on a date with him, smugly creeps on her throughout fully knowing she dislikes it, and straight up says that he feels that her love for the manager is not going to work out. The fact that he’s likely right about the last one is particularly galling, and nicely sets up the audience to root for the couple despite the age difference – we want them to prove this smug ass wrong. Unfortunately, I really don’t think Akira is in a position where romance is good for her right now. A scene where she sees her track friends running and having fun, and flees in raw shame and self-hatred when they try to resume their friendship – shows she’s in a very delicate place now. I think Masami knows this – so what does he plan to do about it?

We’ve got four more omnibuses to go, so I think the drama will play out for a while to come. What’s more, this apparently was made into an anime at some point, so I think most readers are well ahead of me in knowing what happens. Still, this was good solid seinen drama, deftly handling an uncomfortable subject. I want to see what happens next.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: Second Squad Jam: Start

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

If you read the first volume of this series and thought “I’m here to read deep characterization and cool gun battles, and I’m all out of deep characterization”, then I’ve got some good news for you. Now, there is some attempt at character, which I’ll get into later on, but for the most part you are not here to see what makes Pitohui tick or reading about Llenn’s desire to save her. You are here to read about guns, and fights, and gunfights. And in this regard, the Second Squad Jam offers just what the first did, and does a very good job of it. There may be a few too many long descriptions of makes and models for my taste, but the concept and strategy of what’s going on here is top notch. You can tell this is the main thing Sigsawa wants to write – in fact, he wrote so much of it that this is a two-parter, with the second half due out early next year.

On the cover we see Llenn with a new partner, Fukaziroh, who is Karen’s real-life best friend Miyu. Miyu is not meant, so far, to have much depth. She is in this book to be FUN, and she succeeds admirably. She’s bubbly, extroverted, acts before thinking, and is also hellaciously strong in game, so is a good contrast to Llenn’s speed and agility. Llenn’s former partner, M, can’t pair up with her as he is pairing up with Pitohui, and this Squad Jam is – stop me if you’re surprised in a SAO title – a matter of life or death for the both of them. Why that is has a lot to do with Pitohui’s twisted personality, and also a lot to do with the original Sword Art Online, which Pitohui was not involved with – in fact, that’s the problem. This is handled pretty well, though if I hear yet another thing tying into Laughing Coffin again I may scream. M has a plan to fix things, though we don’t hear the specifics, for the sake of suspense.

These are not the only returning characters, of course. The squad of huge muscular women who turned out to be cute Japanese schoolgirls is back, and anxious to have a rematch with Llenn. That may have to wait, though, as Llenn is on a direct course to confront Pitohui, who we finally see in action, and it is both amazing and terrifying. She’s sort of broken, but the fact that this really IS just a game means that her cruelty and callousness comes off merely as cool rather than as any form of sociopathy. We also see the paramilitary unit, as well as the machine gun idiots. Now that we’ve gotten the plot out of the way, I expect the back half of this two-parter to be incredibly cool fights from beginning to end. As this is the first volume, there’s a lot of necessary setup that gets in the way.

Still, this is frothy fun. It’s never going to win awards for depth or emotion, but if you need a light novel equivalent of Pixy Stix, then by all means this SAO spinoff is absolutely the title for you.