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By Ryohgo Narita and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

I’ve mentioned before that some multi-volume arcs, particularly in light novels, can be seen as “the author just wrote a really long book and they had to cut it in half”. This book, the first of a two-part arc, is not that. We get the start of the story, but some characters are introduced and then forgotten as if they were meant to be minor characters, while others take center stage but then vanish 2/3 of the way through. But that’s OK, because this is one man’s journey to show some courage, defeat the bad guys because it’s the right thing to do, kiss his girlfriend for the first time ever, and also, yes, smuggle a huge amount of explosives into New York City in order to sell it off, as they are a gang as well – this is Baccano!, after all. Yes, this volume’s heroic journey is all about Jacuzzi Splot.

If you find the name Jacuzzi Splot to be somewhat unusual, or even laughable, well, you aren’t alone. Many people in Baccano! have odd names, but Jacuzzi’s is pretty much the one that gets folks talking. More to the point, you may be wondering why this, the second book in a series, features almost none of the characters from the first book. Firo, Ennis, Maiza and the Gandors make brief cameos, but for the most part we meet a new huge cast, which luckily proceeds to get violently whittled down as the book goes on, though in general the named characters seem to do pretty well for themselves. It all takes place on a luxury train going from Chicago to New York City, which has the misfortune to be taken over by a) black-suited terrorists who profess they’re trying to get their leader, Huey Laforet, released; b) white-suited psychopaths, led by a mobster’s nephew, who are here to kill people because it’s fun, and c) the aforementioned delinquent gang, the closest we get to good guys here.

We also get Isaac and Miria, who are the thread that draws the two books together. They’re on the train as well, having decided to rob a mafia gang in order to buy Ennis an expensive present to cheer her up, because that’s the sort of people they are. As always, they’re hilarious, but as with the first book, the novel gives them occasional hidden depths, such as Isaac’s rather subdued reaction to a cabinful of corpses, as if he’s used to this. They’re at their best when inspiring others, though, particularly Jacuzzi, who is the sort to take crappy lines like “there’s a gun… in everyone’s heart!” and take them completely seriously. In general, the new characters hold up well and deserve your attention. Goose is an exception. As a villain, he’s very flat, and probably the weakest part of the book, mostly as he pales next to the evil flamboyance that is Ladd Russo, who is jaw-droppingly horrible in a riveting way. Also, due to the nature of the book, several characters seem to be very underdeveloped, namely the unfortunate child Czeslaw Meyer, and Ladd’s passive to the point of being disturbing girlfriend Lua.

So yes, like Jacuzzi at the end of this book, the reader still has questions. Why did Ladd suddenly disappear midway through the book? Why was a child cut to pieces and tied to the bottom of the train? Who is the Grey Magician and why was he cut from the anime completely? And if the woman in fatigues isn’t the Rail Tracer, who is? (The anime reader is at a disadvantage here, knowing the answers to all but one of those questions. The book reads better if you don’t know the true identity of several people.) We will find out in the third book, which tells the same events as the second but from several different perspectives. In the meantime, smile with Jacuzzi, laugh with Isaac and Miria, and wonder who the hell Claire Stanfield really is.

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.

Multi-volume arcs in light novel series are nothing new, and quite popular. The usual thing to do is a two-volume arc, though they can balloon up to 5 (Baccano’s 1935 arc) or even 10 (SAO’s Alicization arc). It’s rare to see a series begin with a two-volume arc, and as you read the second volume of Mahouka (as the series is commonly abbreviated to), you guess why – this was originally one huge book that the publisher demanded be cut in half. The author admits this in the notes at the end. As such, it’s not something meant to be taken in on its own, and doesn’t try to be. It’s the second half of the first book, with a few more terrorist attacks and less school prejudice.

There’s a lot of talk in these volumes, both in regards to how magic works in the world and in how the political landscape is affected by it. The narration is very much down on the side of those with magic, but at least tries to understand the viewpoint of one who does not have such magic skill, and has to look on in envy and frustration at those who do. In fact, I felt one of the biggest flaws of this book was towards the end, where it was revealed that the cute kendo girl who was working for the bad guys was doing so mostly due to simple mind control, rather than her own misguided beliefs. I suppose the author wants to keep her around rather than expel her, but still, you’d be surprised how often misguided beliefs are a good enough reason on their own and don’t need extra help.

I said this last time, and I will again: I have no idea how the anime handles Tatsuya’s thought process, which is constant throughout the book, but if it simply cuts it and goes with what he’s saying out loud, that’s a horrible mistake. There’s several times throughout this book where he’ll say something and then think to himself that he’s saying that just to go along with the flow, or put people off their guard, and that his feelings are almost the opposite. This even applies to the unfortunate incest subtext that’s still hanging around. It’s not all on Miyuki’s end, and we can see that she and Tatsuya both play it up to the hilt because they know if they exaggerate it that others will dismiss it – as Erika seems to here. Of course, this does not mean it isn’t there.

There’s also a lot of fighting towards the end, and it’s reasonably well done, though of course it does point out that Tatsuya is, shall we say, good at nearly everything. This is not going to change anytime soon, and he’s hardly the worst offender in light novels, but it can be frustrating to an audience that is seeking out a more flawed hero. It’s especially frustrating when combined with his stoic personality, though that can also be a blessing, as imagining Tatsuya as some shonen hothead but with the same abilities gives me a headache. In the end, this was a decent if flawed start to the series, and the next two volumes (this time seemingly intentionally written as an actual two-book series) look to show off an athletics festival between the various schools. Note this comes out in North America at the exact same time as A Certain Magical’s Index’s 2-book athletic festival series, which is an amusing coincidence. Fans of Index, SAO, or magic schools might find Mahouka worth getting.

By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “To Aru Majutsu no Index” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

For the most part, the Index series has Kamijou Touma as the viewpoint character, with most of the books being from his perspective. The exceptions we’ve seen are the 5th book, which has a substantial chunk from Accelerator’s POV, and this novel, which has Shirai Kuroko taking center stage, though honestly the way the book is framed also seems to imply that she really shouldn’t be doing this. Not that she isn’t badass and awesome – she does a number of amazing things throughout the book – but the book puts her through even more damage than Touma, and suggests that this is sort of the thing that happens to protagonists. In addition, she and Touma have the same general outlook as to why they’re getting involved, at least when Misaka is involved – protect her worldview. And if Misaka is an optimistic girl who thinks people are basically swell except a few bad apples, then by god it will be so. Which is fine, except Touma is much better equipped to take on said world, which has a lot more to it than Misaka’s clone experiment.

Introduced in this volume: Uiharu Kazari, Kongou Mitsuko (For once I refuse to acknowledge Yen’s official spelling), Musujime Awaki. Technically we’d seen Awaki twice before, but we didn’t know it was her. Continuity-wise… eurgh. This is the volume where it’s very clear that this is being written before A Certain Scientific Railgun has really gotten off the ground – it comes out a full year before the Railgun manga debuts. As such, Uiharu’s characterization seems very odd with her obsession with being ladylike. The “teasing Kuroko” thing is still around, though, and Kuroko still does not react well. This is right around the time Kongou is introduced in the Railgun manga, which is why it sounds like she’s meeting Kuroko for the first time, and talking about Cliques. That said, in the anime, where she’s introduced much earlier, this makes no sense. This is why spinoffs give me a headache. Oh, and Accelerator and Last Order are still in hospital, being watched by Aiho, who it’s revealed here is friends with Yoshikawa Kikyou.

Whenever I’ve discussed Kuroko before, I’ve said I’ll save my beef with her till this review, and here we are. So let’s face it: Kuroko is a “Comedy Lesbian”, something much beloved among Japanese anime and manga authors. Kuroko is a bit more single-focused than many others, but exhibits the same symptoms – a constant desire to get into Misaka’s pants, even if that means sexually assaulting her without her consent. This is OK to the reader because it’s clearly meant as “comedy” scenes, not to be taken seriously, and Misaka always fends her off. It drives me nuts. It particularly drives me nuts as whenever she’s not in that mode, Kuroko is quite a nice character, devoted to keeping the peace as part of the student task force “Judgment”. At least I won’t get as much of it in the novels, where Kuroko is a minor character by dint of simply not being all that involved with Touma.

The storyline itself ties together many of the loose ends from Books 3 and 5, as Awaki helpfully notes, being very much in the “school of villains who love to hear themselves talk’. She is very clearly set up to be a dark counterpart to Kuroko, right down to similar hairstyles and similar powers – they’re both even Level 4! But Awaki’s villainy is based around selfishness and fear, and Kuroko’s heroism, comedy lesbian antics aside, around selflessness and pride. There is much discussion of the powers that Academy City is developing, and how students who are found to have that kind of power really feel about them. There is also a LOT of technobabble, and Kamachi’s flaws as an author sometimes become apparent in that he will get more excited about his worldbuilding than he will about what’s actually going on. That said, the fights in this are top notch, and Accelerator vs. Awaki at the end has a great quotable line.

So another good book for Index fans, and quite short too – I think it’s the shortest in the series to date. Next time won’t be that, though, as we get Index’s first two-book arc, devoted to the Citywide School Athletic Festival.