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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.

Accel World is about a group of elementary and junior high school students fighting battles to the death, and the novels are not afraid to show you the emotional fallout from such a situation. In fact, the first quarter of this book is devoted to a giant flashback to several years prior (when the best you could do is Level 5), where a young couple who have fallen in love in the Brain Burst world (despite not knowing who their real life identities are – oh, and she’s dying in real life as well) discover one of the seven Big Powerups in the game, and as a result are quickly turned on by their supposed friends and fellow players. It’s played for maximum tragedy and drama, and helps to explain why the Disaster Armor currently infecting Haru has a mind of its own.

And these are kids, even if they supposedly have more emotional maturity from all the time they spend in accelerated time. Nowhere is that more clear than with the confrontation Haru has with Takumu at the end of the book. Takumu’s jealousy of Haru was, of course, part of the plot of the very first volume, and it’s actually good to see that it did not magically go away, because those sorts of things don’t. It’s also not being helped by the new ISS pseudo-Disaster program, which is corrupting him so it’s hard to tell if these are his own thoughts or not. But you also see it with Haru, who is also still just a kid, and whose desire to punch hope into Takumu somehow is shown in the end to be just as foolish and short-sighted in a world where nothing is ever quite as easy as you expect. Which of course, means this is not a two-book series, but an arc, and we’ll see what happens next time.

Elsewhere in the book, Haru and Utai manage to at least get closer to escaping from the Imperial Palace world they’re still stuck in in the Unlimited section, helped along by a mysterious samurai-type who happens to have been in the section all along but refuses to tell them how he got there. It’s fairly clear this young boy is supposed to be a member of the Imperial Family (which explains why he’s there – he lives there), but Kawahara is being very coy about it for reasons that are also fairly clear. And Haru and Kuroyukihime get some nice shippy moments, much to the frustration of Chiyuri and Fuko, which leads to probably the book’s funniest moment (and also makes me think that Fuko is more interested in Kuroyukihime than Haru). And of course Haru remains marked for death, both from the Kings and from a group that has put a bounty on his head, as we realize that the flashback we see at the start of the book may come full circle.

This is mostly a setup book that will likely pay off with big fights in the next volume, but as always it’s eminently readable, and for once the cover is not something you have to hide from the outside world. And there should be less of a wait for the next one – the series seems to be shifting to four times a year.

By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

This is a highly anticipated light novel title, for many reasons. First, the anime proved quite popular in the West, and people wanted to see how the original was, particularly as the anime apparently compressed 11 books into 26 episodes. Secondly, Shogakukan has a number of popular light novel titles, but haven’t really licensed to the West before now except maybe via Viz. But most importantly, this series does not feature anyone trapped in a fantasy world, or trapped in a fantasy game, or anyone acquiring amazing superhero-like powers, or immortals, or dullahans. Heck, there’s not even a girl who eats books. No, instead we get something a bit more down to Earth: a Japanese high school where a cynical and belligerent young man with a sullen face is ordered to join a club devoted to helping others.

Of course, just because there’s no fantasy content does not mean that this series is not going to remind long-time anime and manga fans of other series. The retorts between Hachiman and Yukino may remind readers of the caustic relationship between Araragi and Senjougahara in the Monogatari series. And the idea of the club itself, as well as it consisting mostly of people who have difficulty interacting, is a lot like Haganai. But the title of the book si not wrong, at least not right away. Araragi starts off pseudo-cynical but quickly drops that as he gets swept up by events. Kodaka may have the face of a thug and the social kills of a newt, but he is fundamentally a nice guy. Hachiman, on the other hand, is an obnoxious dick throughout much of this book. He spends much of his time disparaging the people around him, including his teacher, his sister, and even the cute popular girl who seems to have taken a liking to him, who he refers to as a “slut” when they first meet. Enjoying this series requires getting over the very difficult hurdle of the hero’s mentality.

If you can get past that, though, there’s much to enjoy. Because the series is (at least at this point, no doubt it will change later) avoiding any serious romantic interaction, we can sit back and enjoy Hachiman, Yukino and Yui spit venom at each other (well, the two girls seem to like each other, they save their venom for him). The insults and comebacks here are very amusing, and don’t rely as much on the obvious ‘tsukkomi shouting’ as some other series. And of course there’s the fact that underneath his obnoxious, caustic front Hachiman does actually seem to want to help people, as he does throughout this book, usually complaining all the while. He’s not rewarded for it, as that would defeat the purpose. But there’s a spark that will no doubt catch fire as the series goes on. Till then, enjoy the fact that the most romantic tension he has in the whole book is with the cute bishie guy, who he can’t stop thinking about.

I suspect this is the sort of series that will reward more as it goes along, much like many series that begin with unlikable protagonists. Till then, I will at least enjoy these somewhat broken high school students snipe their way through their day, while also helping others along the way. And the fact that, at least through one volume, the youth romantic comedy is indeed kept on the back burner.

By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

It is not uncommon for long-running harem comedy series to introduce a new girl who quickly captures the hearts and minds of fans who have grown weary of the natural staticness of a typical harem plot. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for Hayate the Combat Butler iteslf, as Athena grew quite popular when she was introduced, but she was part of Hayate’s tragic backstory, and also heralded a certain amount of drama. With Ruka Suirenji, a pop idol who apparently likes to sell doujinshi on the side, we get something more akin to the typical Hayate heroine, and much of the first half of this volume is about showing off how cute she is and how much chemistry she has with Hayate. Who she thinks is a girl, something that I’m sure will go bad for him later on.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the old favorites are getting ignored. To no one’s surprise, Athena has returned, though only for a brief cameo before we get introduced to Alice, a cute young girl who looks just like Athena did when she and Hayate were kids – a fact not lost on him, and clearly there’s some magic age-regression going on here. This ends up leading to some ship tease with Hinagiku after Alice (Athena’s child form) decides that Hayate and Hina are her mama and papa. (Best joke of the volume has Hayate wondering if it was that time when–and getting cut off by Hina with a sword to the head, as jokes about her chastity are a bit much even for her.) And even Maria, who’s been so absent from the manga lately that she’s slipped to 5th in the popularity poll (Athena is second, for the curious) gets a sweet ‘let’s go to the public baths’ scene with Hayate, who for once does not get accused of peeping.

This volume sees Hata starting to balance out his ongoing storylines and his desire to write gag comedy a little better than he has before. Aika appearing as Alice’s minder ensures there will always be a snarky comment handy, and even though she regresses a bit, Nagi is still able to see what a really dedicated writer of bizarre incomprehensible doujinshi can do. And there’s still room for one-shots, such as a typical day in the apartments implying that Hayate survives on one hour of sleep a night, or a drunken Yukiji winning the attention of manga artist Ashibashi (who we now see is actually named Koji as if it wasn’t obvious enough who Hata based him on). Rest assured that things are still funny, even as the plot grows more complex.

By now I highly doubt that Hayate is winning new readers, and its die-hards likely support the manga while also reading the scans online, which are about five years ahead of Viz’s release. But it is worth supporting This is a funny title that also has doses of sentiment and even a bit of action. It remains an underrated treat.

By Tsukasa Kawaguchi and Nobuhiko Yanai. Released in Japan by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Flapper. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Elina Ishikawa. Adapted by Rebecca Schneider.

I’ve mentioned before that Media Factory publishes both my nemesis and my weakness. They put out two magazines for young men, basically sister publications. Comic Alive and Comic Flapper. Comic Alive tends to produce series, usually based on a popular franchise, that I can’t abide, with the worst otaku pandering, fanservice-laden drivel. Comic Flapper also, of course, publishes series based on popular franchises, but it tends to skew a bit weirder and less mainstream than Alive. And as a result, despite some problematic things, I usually find myself enjoying a Flapper series. Lord Marksman and Vanadis is a fantasy series based on a light novel with a cool hero and a bunch of girls, so I admit I was a bit wary. But sure enough, Flapper wins again. This was a good start, and I want to see more of it.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is service here. We get not one but two ‘walk in on someone bathing’ scenes, a ‘we are fighting and I accidentally grope your boob’ scene, and another nude scene when the childhood friend of the hero cleanses herself to go to the temple and pray for him. But the series, at heart, is grounded in its plot and worldbuilding, which is always the way to win me over and get me to read your harem series starring your really cool guy. Tigre is a young Count called on to fight in a territorial war for his lord against a rival kingdom who have a Vanadis with them – who are apparently young women who can fight with amazing weapons. We find out how amazing when Tigre’s group is almost completely wiped out (honestly, I thought it was a complete massacre bar him, but a couple of the named characters show up later). He’s subsequently captured and brought to the Vanadis, who wants to test his skills, given his archery actually caused her to make an effort in the battle.

Our heroes are types that you will see in most fantasy manga and light novels, but they hew towards the ‘sensible’ end of the spectrum. (The exception is the bodyguard, Lim, who is allowed to be the tsundere hair-triggered temper girl that Elen herself cannot be because she is the Vanadis. Also, we need SOME comedy in here.) Tigre’s capture, as well as the death of his lord in the battle, leads to real consequences as various territories vie to see who can gain the most power, and decide that Tigre’s village is the perfect one to raze off the map to do so. I knew he was going to have to escape to deal with that, and also knew that he would be stopped. I’m impressed that he actually asked his captors to help him defend his village, though – it’s the sort of ballsy decision that makes you see why Elen likes him so much.

So there’s not much original here, but it’s well told, and avoids most of the wretched cliches of such genres while skating past the ones it can’t quite avoid. Our hero is cool and amazing in archery, but is shown to be useless in most other forms of combat. As for Elen, well, it’s only the first book, I’m sure we’ll find out her weaknesses later. If you enjoy this genre, it’s a very good start.