By John Rohman and ttl. Released in North America by J-Novel Club.
This is another of the J-Novel Club Original Light Novel contest winners. In fact, this is the Grand Prize Winner. That said, I had put it off, mostly as the description made it seem sort of futuristic sci-fi dystopia, which is generally not my genre. And it certainly is that genre, but there’s more going on here than that. This is a story of two seemingly ordinary people who really aren’t, forced into a role that emphasizes how special they actually are. There’s a lot of prejudice and class struggle in this world (we see that on the “her” side), but even if you are comparatively privileged you can still end up being forced into things by those richer and more powerful than you (the “him” side). Of course, there’s also things familiar to light novel/anime fans here. Super sentai armor, lots of cool shonen battles, and powers that remind me a whole lot of My Hero Academia. That said, the main reason to read the book are her and him. They’re great characters, and even better when they interact with each other.
Calli is a young woman struggling to get a job in his world that is very prejudiced against those with her hair and skin. She’s a Stratan, and got an opportunity to make something of herself, which she is trying to do so she doesn’t have to crawl back home as a failure. Unfortunately, all she can find is temp work, and her co-workers mostly hate her on sight. Then she’s offered a special job. Meanwhile, Genesis is a young man who’s in charge of a loading dock where an explosion occurs. He got everyone out without injury, miraculously. A bit TOO miraculously, though, and the richest man in the city took note of it and wonders if he’s hiding a secret. A secret that might also give him a different job. Can these two people who end up opposing each other find common ground? And can you really meet cute when you’re a cop and a terrorist – sort of?
I won’t lie, this book starts slow as it serves up its worldbuilding, and I found the flashfoward at the start (which we never catch up to) somewhat pointless. But it gets better as it goes along, especially when it gets to the first big action sequence on the train. The best scene, though, is when Calli and Genesis meet cute for the SECOND time, and finally give in and decide to go grab some pizza. What ensues is a fantastic conversation as the two of them try to bitch about their respective new jobs without giving anything away… all while not realizing that they’d been desperately fighting each other earlier that day. Despite essentially being a terrorist for the money, Calli has a good head on her shoulders and cares about people, but she knows that sometimes you have to survive. As for Genesis, he wants to be a real hero, but finds his job doesn’t want that, and also some of the most famous heroes out there are just in it so they can beat the shit out of “bad guys”. Ideals are tough.
This ends the way most contest winners do, I assume, as it has enough of an ending to satisfy while still clearly promising more. I enjoyed her. And him.