banished from the hero's party

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I admit I had sort of hoped that this volume would be entirely devoted to Red and Rit’s wedding, given the cover. And there are a few bits with everyone being really happy for them, getting the wedding dress made, etc. And yes, it does end with the wedding. But sadly this has always been a slow life series where the slow life struggles against the rest of the universe trying to drag everyone back into its troubles, and so the bulk of this book is trying to resolve the demons and God. That said, how it’s resolved ends up being pretty slow life in the end, as it’s just Red using… not his blessing, because that’s the whole point, but winning by being clever and strong. I am hoping, though, that this is the last we see of both sides of the conflict, and that the honeymoon volume (the final one) really is slow life.

A letter arrives from Yarandrala saying that she’s coming back to Zoltan. As such, Red and Rit realize that the time has finally come to set a date for their wedding. They’re try to keep the news quiet… which lasts about three seconds till everyone they know is screaming “they’re finally getting married?!?”. Unfortunately, there’s a nasty cold going around… or is it just a cold? Investigating, Red finds a mysterious plant near where the tomb they raided was. He also finds the demon lord and his aide, who Red and Rit have a long history with. We’re told that they’re trying to be heroes now, and certainly they’re saving villages and giving good advice about the sickness… but can they be trusted? And will Demis simply give up and let Ruti live her own life?

Demis has never been anyone’s favorite, and I think that applies to the readers as well as to the cast of the series. Here they possess a long-forgotten minor villain, Eremite, in order to make their point. Unfortunately for Demis, as with a lot of gods in fantasy series like this, they’ve long since lost the “I must help humanity because it’s the right thing to do” part of their godhood and are left with the “why does everyone not simply do exactly what I want them to?”. It feels thematically appropriate, if a bit pat (the fight goes ludicrously well) that Red is the one to defeat both Demis and Taraxon. On the bright side, this means the wedding happens (relatively) smoothly, without needing to worry about anyone’s blessing suddenly turning them evil. Best of all, Ruti allows Red and Rit to get married with not one single incestuous remark! Let’s hope it’s an excellent sign of maturity. Maybe she won’t even go on the honeymoon with them.

The next volume is the last, and honestly, this series has gone on a bit too long. But not to the point where I’m annoyed reading it. This was good.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

There’s a very startling beginning to this book, which is the very, very perfunctory final battle against the forces of the demon lord. Now, yes, I am aware that there’s actually a plot involving Ruti and her blessing that will be going into Vol. 14, which involves the demon lord, but in terms of the plot of this particular book, it’s all about the end of the war and what comes after. This means that our main cast in Zoltan are ready to settle in and find something they’re going to do for the rest of their lives, but it also means that those who have spent years on the front lines – those who are still alive – are coming home, and many of them are dealing with PTSD at the very least. That’s right, this is the Banished from the Hero’s Party version of The Best Years of Our Lives, and Ruti, for one, is not really sure how to cope with it.

It’s fall festival time in Zoltan! Rit suggests trying to push some of their medications by putting them in nice-looking wooden canisters, so she and Red have their booth all set. Ruti admits that her farm of medicinal herbs is going into the red, so she, Tisse, and Mister Crawly Wawly are going to have a food booth to show everyone how they can be used without needing the Cooking Skill. And Habotan, who is still doing her level best to be a ninja fangirl, is going to sell shuriken and other ninja tools that look really cool. The festival runs into the aforementioned end of the war, though. One man comes back to tell his aunt that her son will not be coming home to her. A young woman was given the fantasy equivalent of morphine on the front, and has developed an addiction. And, of yes, there are still demon lord plans. Which I’m sure won’t impact Red and Rit’s wedding at ALL.

This is very much a book of two halves. Though we hear about the end of the war at the start, the first half is concerned with the series’ usual slow, relaxed pace. Mister Crawly Wawly now has a suit of armor he can control so he can be an adventurer (He has a card with a name. The name is AAAA.), and he and Red investigate forest fires with a mysterious cause. Ruti and Red then go to investigate a very loud mad scientist whose entire plot feels that it was written to pad out an already short book. The latter parts of the book, though, are much better, showing us soldiers that are still dealing with flashbacks, or drug addition, or depression that ends up leading to sexual assault. And while Red has some good answers, Ruti finds she doesn’t feel confident in hers. After all, she left the battlefield… something that comes out at the end of this book as well.

The next book will have the wedding (Yen says it’s the finale – is 15 an “after story” that’s not part of the main license?), so we’re almost done. Still, this book did a mostly good job of emphasizing the “war is hell” part of the series as well as the “relaxed happy life” part.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The good news is that there’s a lot more relaxing in the countryside in this volume. Oh, don’t get me wrong, everyone still gets a chance to kick ass, and we also get the start of the plot that will presumably form the 13th and 14th volumes (I am assuming that 15, already announced to be the final volume, will be Red and Rit’s wedding). But there’s also lots of showing off exactly why Red and Ruti settled down in Zoltan, and how they aren’t alone. Not everyone in this town has been banished from the hero’s party, but it does seem to be pretty full of people who used to be in a violent, adventure filled life, and then they decided to just… stop, and come live here and do whatever the hell they want. That said, sometimes what they want is to save people and protect them, because while it’s bad to be forced to be a hero against your will, being heroic is still OK.

Yaralandra has decided she wants to build herself a modern ship. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of shipwrights who can do what she wants locally, so she gets everyone to join her in revisiting the ship they sank in the last book. While there, they end up seeing ANOTHER ship that is clearly on its last legs, and therein they find a princess of the Jade Empire, near death, and her plucky ninja protector. They manage to get them back to Zoltan, where the princess, Torahime, can recover. This leaves the gang with no choice but to take in the ninja girl for the next few days. That said, the ninja girl seems to lack a lot of common sense, and in many ways seems a lot more childish than you’d expect from someone protecting a princess. What’s really going on here?

The plot twist in this book is so obvious as to be visible from space, but that’s fine. The main purpose of this book is twofold: to introduce us to a fun, if somewhat annoying, new character in Habotan (who even speaks in overly polite speech just to make her extra grating), and to help Ruti realize that just because she is no longer the hero controlled by God does not mean that she can’t be a hero for someone else. There’s also a heaping helping of “sacrificing your own life to protect someone you care about may not, in fact, be the best solution” here, as this honestly is a world where everyone tends to be ludicrously self-sacrificing and we’re trying to get away from that. The last few pages are very much “building up to the final battle”, complete with an old enemy returning one last time.

That said, there’s still plenty of Red and Rit gazing softly into each other’s eyes. There may be less time for that in 13, though. Oh, and we get to see Mr. Crawly-Wawly wear tiny little spider sunglasses on top of his head.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I did not intentionally line up two books in a row where the plot is “the author tries to write a light and fluffy vacation volume, but cannot help hammering on the more serious plot”, it just turned out that way. So yes, if you read Seven Spellblades and this series, you may want to stick something else in between them. As for the book itself, it’s quite good, continuing to hammer on the main themes of this series (destiny vs. free will, fighting god, etc.) while also trying to let our heroes get in some swimming and beach volleyball. That said, when you have to remind yourself to make happy memories, there’s something going wrong, and it’s arrived in the form of the latest antagonist, who is (what a surprise) on a mission from God. The end of the series has been announced in Japan, but I think that Red and Rit will be battling till the end.

It’s the height of summer, and Zoltan is far too hot, meaning no one is shopping for apothecary items. Perfect time to take a vacation, right? They can also invite along Tanta, who we just discovered has the blessing of the Cardinal, which definitely gets in the way of following in his parents’ footsteps. Heading out to a remote island, they get in some swimming (and fighting sharks), some boat building, some fishing, and some barbecue. Unfortunately, also on the island is an ascetic woman who has blinded herself to better serve her faith for God, and she’s clearly very suspicious, and very eager to talk to Tanta. Can he really achieve his dream of being a carpenter? Or is he going to have to be indoctrinated by the Church, (and, it’s implied, have to fight Ruti and Red)?

There’s a lot of good stuff here. The series themes are handled very well, with some good discussion of how to work with your blessing without letting it control you, and Eremite is seen as someone whose family couldn’t do that, and she is course correcting far too much in the other direction. She makes a very good one-book antagonist, though she may come back. Tanta is the real winner here, being forced to use his skill points for healing (which puts him on the fast track to the Church, not the house building), but his response about what he thought when he saw the family in that collapsed house is wonderful. As for the “little things” in the series, Red and Rit are cute and flirty, Ruti is badass, Mister Crawly Wawly is fantastic, and there is, thankfully, zero incest subtext this time around.

There’s a prologue I skipped over, and now that we know we’re in the final third I’m sure it will be relevant in future books. For now, though, I’m still quite pleased with this slow life series that, like most of them, struggles for every relaxing moment.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

This is one of those books where the color pages spoil… except, of course, they don’t. Anyone reading this series has been waiting for Red to propose to Rit since the first book, and the fact that it’s now happening gets a “finally!” rather that annoyance at the plot being given away. More importantly, that’s not really the focus of the book, it’s more of an epilogue. The focus of the book is wrapping up the Van plotline and going into those Elf ruins one more time. There *is* a big spoiler for that, so I’ll wait till after the cover art to discuss it. I will note that, unfortunately, the author and his Japanese audience are once again at odds with the English speakers I’ve seen. Ruti being a brocon does not interest us. We want Ruti to give up and get married to Tisse. Sadly, that won’t be happening. Expect more incest subtext in future books.

In the aftermath of the battle with Van, he’s at a loss for what to do next. And Red and company also want to investigate those Elven ruins again, though Ruti and Tisse are not allowed to come along given that last time they went there Ruti tried to kill everyone. So instead we get a team of eight: Red, Rit, Yarandrala and Danan as Party A, and Van, Lavender, Esta, and Albert as Party B. Together they will try to figure out what the hell is actually going on in those ruins, what it’s meant to do for the hero, and once again try to figure out exactly who benefits from a war between humanity and demons, and what the Blessings are supposed to do. Unfortunately, in order to do that, they may have to fight God.

Which I was expecting, honestly, but not this soon. Honestly, light novels that have the Church or God as the villains are as common as muck, and this series has not shied away from the concept. That said, there is a bit more nuance here, at least in regards to the Church and those in it. (The God of this book can go jump in a lake. He sucks.) We see a push and pull throughout the book of trying to work with your blessing even if it means going against what you believe, and that there has to be a balance in order to have someone be happy. Van isn’t sure what that will be, which is why he heads off at the end of this book to find out what being a hero is for him. Red and Rit’s is getting married, with children being brought up several times as the next step after that. And then there’s those who get a blessing like “Cardinal” or “Priest”. Are they required to side with God and oppose folks like Red and Ruti?

We may find that out next volume (hi, cliffhanger!). Will we get a wedding next time? Probably not. But I suspect it will be a BIT more of the “Quiet Life”.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The review I did with the last volume indicated that I expected the main thrust of this one to be a big battle between Van and Ruti, and Ruti’s smiling presence on the cover art might seem to indicate that she is victorious. Which is kind of true, but it’s rather remarkable how little Ruti is in this book. the bulk of the story here is spent trying to do two things: 1) get Van to actually listen to other’s advice and be a bit less sociopathic, and b) have him not find out this is where Ruti is. They’re unsuccessful on the second one but manage to mostly succeed on the first one, because of course this book isn’t about the hero, or even the former hero, it’s about that guy who was banished from the hero’s party and living a quiet life in the countryside. As such, it’s Red/Gideon who saves the day, by going back to his roots.

Van has temporarily left Zoltan, but he’ll be back very soon, and they need a way to try to get through to him. Their instinct is to try to go through his two most stubborn allies. Red will try to talk to Ljubo, the corrupt cardinal from the Church who is trying to guide Van on the hero’s path, and Rit will attempt to reason with Lavender, the killer fairy who has a severely maladjusted idea of what love is. Both these negotiations go fairly well, all things considered, perhaps the first one better than the second. Unfortunately, things completely go to hell when a girl is accidentally led into danger by a fairy dragon, and Van thinks that, even though the fairy dragon has apologized and the girl herself doesn’t want it, the only solution is murder. And unfortunately, his blessing has decided to stop speaking to him…

The best part of this book, as I hinted above, is Red going back to being Gideon temporarily and being the Guide for the newest Hero. He realizes that the best way to try to break Van is to make him MORE emotional, not less, and this actually works, as eventually Van gets so angry and frustrated that he simply snaps, which makes it much easier to fight him, as he doesn’t really do anything other than “attack head on” and rely on healing powers. That said, the book also shows signs of the back half being rushed. Ljubo, the cardinal who is persuaded by Red and his allies to dissuade Van from destroying Zoltan, ends up being brutally murdered by Van… and then is literally never mentioned or heard about again. I get that he was a bad guy, but still, at least acknowledge that Van did a murder.

the next book in the series promises Van aftermath, though, so it may come up there. That said, I do hope we get back to Red and Rit wuv wuv time, as while there was some of that here it wasn’t really enough. The quiet life is the point.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The main thrust of this series is supposed to be the quiet life, but of course we also need to kickstart the next arc, which is basically “the new hero is broken”, and so this volume tries to have it both ways, with half the book being Red, Rit and Ruti on vacation doing things like making curry for the first time, or doing emergency appendectomies. The other half shows us the new hero’s party, and his arrival in Zoltan and interaction with the cast that remain in that sleepy town. Unfortunately, this created the main issue I have with this book, which is that the dissonance between the two plotlines is too great. I was unable to enjoy Red’s mountain vacation because I kept waiting for the evil things to start happening, and it put me on edge in a way I was not particularly fond of. Slow Life is there to be enjoyed, after all.

The start of the book is definitely in Slow Life mode, as Danan has recovered from his injuries and wants to celebrate by fighting Red in a spar, mostly to make sure Red hasn’t lost his edge by retiring to this backwater town. While this is happening, the Hero’s Party advances towards Zoltan, and we get a good look at Van, the new Hero. One gets the sense that The Gods were a bit annoyed with Ruti’s pesky ethics and morals, as Van does not have any of those. Hero is a job, and his only goal. Saving people is not part of that goal, nor is even being nice to them. Their job, according to him, is to battle the demon lord and die. And, in Zoltan, he finds an entire town full of people who don’t want anything to do with the battle against the demon lord. Uh-oh.

There was an interesting prologue to this book, showing the villain of the previous arc, Leonor, being shown the future that “should” have been, where she feels remorse at the end. (Said future also has Gideon being dead, and I get the sense that is what God wants more than anything else.) Leonor’s reaction is to basically say “fuck your redemption” and refuse to repent for anything. I respected that. But yes, “we have to kill God” definitely looks like it’s going to be the endgame of the series at the rate we’re going. Van is frankly terrifying and difficult to read, he makes your skin crawl. On the bright side, I continue to enjoy the author making Mister Crawly Wawly a genuine supporting character in this book, getting his own dynamic entrances and moments where he saves the day. In any other series he would be the adorable spider mascot there to show Tisse is a bit weird, here he helps humanize Tisse, who’s still probably my favorite character.

I would love to see more relaxed slow life stuff next time, but that’s not going to happen. Van vs. Ruti, coming soon. I just hope I can plow through it.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

A lot of people, particularly since the anime debuted, have discussed the way that this series handles its Divine Blessings. Indeed, one might say that how to handle them is the point of the entire series. It comes down to how much is pre-determined and how much is free will, so is naturally going to be a bit contested by readers. That said, I think the series is trying to navigate an interesting middle ground, showing that in this world you have a role but you can manipulate that role how you like. Admittedly that’s easier for some than for others – see Ruti’s entire plot for the first four books. But even then, once she was able to free herself from the blessing’s stranglehold on her, she’s been saving people in the way she wants to, rather than the way she’s destined to. Leonor, though… oof. There’s trying to fight fate and then there’s ignoring fate.

We pick up where we left off last time. There’s pirates and princes in Zoltan, and its reputation as a backwater town where nothing happens is in jeopardy by an impending war. Red and company manage to work things out with the pirates, though admittedly the tragic backstory that is revealed helps an awful lot there. Leonor, though, is a very different matter. She will not stop until she destroys everything. And what’s worse, we discover that she and Red met back when he was a young knight, and she really, really, really took a liking to him. So she’s now determined to have him as well as destroy her sister and also make sure that her kingdom is taken over by demons. As for the demons themselves… they’re just doing what demons do, really. They may not have blessings, but they enjoy being jerks.

The outcome of the battle is not really in doubt. Zoltan has Ruti, who is basically this series’ equivalent of “we have a Hulk”. But it hits the right beats anyway, showing how well Rit can command a force even though, as she repeatedly says, all she wants to do now is live her lovey-dovey apothecary life with Red. Red shows off how well actual practice and skill can trump “Oooh, I’ve got a cool blessing”. And we also see that people do not HAVE to be beholden to what their urges tell them to. Tisse is an assassin. She’s really good at killing people. But here we see her take the Cooking skill, just so that she can join Red in making really good food. Heck, Mister Crawly Wawly also takes the Cooking skill! I am hoping that “Tisse and Mister Crawly Wawly write a spider cookbook” is a genuine subplot in this series, as that would be awesome.

Unfortunately, Slow Life may have to wait – again – as there’s a new hero in town, and I get the sense that the Church wants to make his first mission “destroy the old hero who dared defy us”. Still, for now peace reigns again, which is all we can ask. And hey, Season 2 of the anime coming soon.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

It’s become a commonly known thing by now that Slow Life books, for the most part, aren’t really. They’re “I started with a slow life and then” books. No one is going to read 200 pages of JUST farming beans. You need to get a wide variety of cute young women, old friends trying to drag you back into fighting, monsters threatening your peaceful farm, etc. That applies even to a seies like this, where all the hero work was at the start and now Red and Rit are just trying to run a small apothecary shop and find the time for occasional hot wolfgirl sex. But Ruti is different, and the book is continuing to let us know that her deciding not to have her entire life destroyed for the sake of her hero blessing is not something that is simply going to be accepted. The world needs a hero.

Yes, Rit can turn into a wolfgirl, though honestly that’s the least important part of this book. On the heels of the three assassins seen at the end of the previous book, a massive ship appears in the harbor, there to block all trade until they get what they want. What they want is to search the church records of everyone in the town till they find a specific blessing, something the Church finds abhorrent. Ruti and Tisse start to investigate, and find the story of a prince who is searching for his birthright, a kingdom in turmoil, and a pirate elf woman who just wants to protect what she already has. Now Ruti has to try to play detective without simply solcing everything the way the hero would, and Tisse has to go after some former assassin classmates who have gone rogue.

You may notice I did not mention Red and Rit there. They’re both very much still the stars of the book, but are content to leave the dangerous stuff to Ruti and Tisse – their own job is to try to find alternatives to the things that the town can’t import anymore, like oil. It’s refreshing and heartwarming seeing them deliberately not help out with the monstrous plot on the horizon. Now, yes, this is clearly the first of a multi-book arc, and I know they will both be dragged into it in the next volume, especially since Red seems acquainted with the current Queen of Veronia, who has all the signs of being, if not a Big Bad, at least the gateway to the Big Bad. But that’s next time. For this, it’s about finding out how to get oil from coconuts, trusting your sister and her wife and their spider to handle things, and investigating new fetishes you’ve just discovered.

The book feels a bit slight, but that’s not uncommon with the first book of an arc – or of this genre in general. The slow life may go away eventually, but it’s winning for now.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

Sometimes you just can’t balance a book so that the coolest, most exciting stuff happens at the climax. Oh sure, you do your best. There’s an insurmountable monster that has never been killed before, that can easily take on the magic of your two strongest characters. Good stuff, everyone has to work together to achieve victory, lots of near death experiences, etc. But then the readers get to the book and no one is talking about that. They’re all saying “Did you see the part where the tiny spider rides to the rescue on a horse? Because that is a thing that happened.” I’m not even sure how you could top that in future books. The victim being saved is even a former bad guy, and so there’s a “we’re friends now, bond between brothers” scene. Again, one of the characters in that scene is a small spider. Mr. Crawly Wawly is the real hero here.

As you can see by the cover, this book reunited Red and Rit with Yarandrala, the high elf who helped the hero’s party for a time and also had some romantic ship tease, though she is quite accepting of their relationship. In fact, she’s there to invite both of them, as well as Ruti, to come live with her in the elf kingdom… because humans will betray your trust. Yeah, she’s still not over the whole “banished from the hero’s party” thing. As for Red, he wants to get the perfect gem for Rit’s engagement ring, but that involves a long journey to the land of giants, which may not even work out. Still, it’ll be fine. Rit is with him. And Ruti. Oh, and his dwarf friend. And the former mayor of the city, who happens to be a mage. And then Yarandrala shows up with Tisse, Godwin, and Mr. Crawly Wawly. This party is even bigger than the Hero’s Party!

Despite the action sequences, this book is trying its best to be a bit more slow life than the previous one. Ruti is still trying to search for a purpose in life (yay!) and also wants to become lovers with her brother (boo). Fortunately, Red has enough common sense that I’m sure this will go nowhere. Red and Rit are by now sickening everyone they come across with their flirting, even if they’re unaware of it. There’s even time for a visit to a natural hot spring, and the whole book ends with a citywide festival. That said, there are hints that we’re starting to set up for a second arc, as the epilogue has assassins in town, and we also get a long prologue reminding us of the large number of other kingdoms that are also trying to defeat the demon lord. Ruti may be adventuring only when she wants to for now, but can she keep that up?

Overall, good book, and those who watched the anime can start here. Long live Mr. Crawly Wawly.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The author promises a lot more slow life to come, which is good, because this volume absolutely did not have it. That’s not unexpected, given the end of the previous volume, but yes, this book wraps up almost all the plots that we had flailing around. Indeed, it was supposed to be the final book in the series, but, well, you know how it is. Fortunately the author is also good at writing desperate battles in underground caves, which is what a good 75% of this is. The Hero’s Party is finally reunited, but it doesn’t feel so good, because at least half of them are enemies, be it due to arrogance, religious belief, or what have you. And the pressing question through all of this is a familiar one to many: do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Or the one? Banished from the Hero’s Party is here to tell you the answer to that.

Covers don’t always spoil, but honestly they give away a lot here. If you’ve been reading the series, you’ll know why this particular cover is very strange. Still, in the end I think it was worth it. The idea of the Hero needing to sacrifice their own happiness just due to being born with a blessing is one that deserves to be pushed back on, and as Red notes, there are so many other people who could unite to take out the forces of evil. Ruti is quite content to move to the same sleepy town as her brother and live with her not-wife and spider-in-law. Red and Rit are both quite happy as well, both having come to terms with their past and accepting that they still occasionally might have to go save the world, provided the world saving is nearby. They also finally consummate their relationship, in a very sweet scene.

That said, there’s one big character that needs to be discussed, and I apologize for giving them short shrift in earlier books. Given the name, you would normally assume that Mister Crawly Wawly is a cute “mascot” sort, there to give Tisse some depth and also occasionally cheer her up. But the book has never really thought that. The author is not seeing Mister Crawly Wawly as a subtle running gag, they are seen as a friend and party member. As such, when all is almost lost in the battle against Ares and Shisandan, and all our heroes get a chance to shine and also a chance to almost die, Mister Crawly Wawly is involved in the entire fight, and indeed all would have been lost if they had not stepped up to lend a web. I’m not even being ironic here, it’s a genuine fist pump moment. There may be another “best spider” in town, folks.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Ares. Bye, Ares. In any case, this was a great final volume, and like a lot of great final volumes that have many volumes coming after it, we’ll see if it can reinvent itself. Till then, please believe in Mister Crawly Wawly (and watch the anime, airing as we speak.)

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

As far as I can tell, this entire volume had one purpose: to make me feel guilty for calling Ruti terrifying over and over in my previous review. I mean, not to say that she still isn’t a bit much – waltzing past deathtraps that would have destroyed anyone else, taking the killer drug from the previous volume and having it only affect her slightly, and of course saving people when she runs across people who need saving… whether she wants to or not. Indeed, even her companion Tisse, who starts off the book sticking with Ruti seemingly because she’s being forced to, suspects that Ruti is going to turn on her beloved pet spider and kill it, which… isn’t actually true. (The spider’s name is Mister Crawly Wawly, which probably says a lot about Tisse, but let’s move past that.) But in the end, what this book is here to remind us is that behind her hero’s blessing, Ruti is a lonely young girl who HATES being the hero.

In fact, the majority of this volume, at least until the cliffhanger ending, is meant to undercut the previous two. After seeing Ruti as the stereotypical “yandere little sister” sort, she finally is told her brother and Rit are together, and… is not all that happy about it, but does not going on any killing sprees whatsoever. She arrives in town trying to get more of the drug that can kill her blessing, though it’s working pretty slowly so far. It *is* working, though – Ruti’s emotional range widens considerably throughout the book, which also helps to sell what she’s been forced to go through. After two volumes where a “slow life” start was followed by dark content and action scenes, this volume gives us slow life right to the end, with lots of Red and Rit being lovey dovey to each other, etc. Unfortunately, there is that ending… the rest of the hero’s party arrive in town.

I suspect the long term goal for Red and Rit might be figuring out a way to get rid of blessings entirely, though they may earn the ire of the church by doing so. They’re SUCH a liability in this world, with folks who are happy with them outnumber4ed in the narrative by folks who are not. Just as Ruti’s shy, introverted side is transformed by the hero blessing into an emotionless behemoth, so Tisse is an assassin because… well, if she doesn’t kill people, bad things will happen to her, so what choice does she have? (She levels up big time in this book as well, thanks mostly to her emotional support Mister Crawly Wawly.) Everyone is starting to question whether free will is an illusion or not, and this is a fantasy world where that questio9n is very much up in the air. That said, as long as Red is on the side of good they should be fine.

This volume was mostly all slow life, but I doubt the next book will be, as it looks like Ares is going to be having a huge fight with Red. Or Ruti. Or both. Till then,l this remains an excellent example of its genre.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The second volume of Gap Moe: The Light Novel. No, hear me out here. It’s nothing to do with any of the characters, but rather to do with the two moods of the book which are pulling on each other. the majority of the book is quite serious and rather dark. There’s drug addiction, beatings, child abuse, lots of death, demons possessing people, and, in the end, a cliffhanger which promises an absolute nightmare descending on Red and Rit in the third volume, especially if the Hero has as much of a brother complex as I suspect she does. And this is contrasted with the schmoopiest romance I’ve seen this side of SAO: Sugary Days. Rin and Rit are deeply in love with each other, have grown and matured enough to get past the self-deprecating or tsundere masks they’ve been hiding behind, and are here to be as sickeningly sweet as you can possibly imagine. It’s pretty great.

While Red and Rit go on a lakeside picnic, buy a double bed, and sit in each other’s laps a lot, other things threaten their bliss. Al, the kid from last volume with the weapon blessing, is still having trouble reconciling his feelings with his blessing. Then his parents are attacked by the kid who bullied him previously, who was supposed to have turned over a new lead. Could this be related to the new, highly addictive drug going around that changes your blessing for you? Could it be related to the ongoing class war that still infests the town? Or could it be related to the fact that the local slumlord kingpin has made a deal with a demon to rule the city? Oh yes, and the Hero’s Party continues to fall about without Gideon, Ares is desperate and pathetic, and Ruti gets even more terrifying by the page.

As you can see, the idea that this is Slow Life is hogwash… except that Rin and Rit are determined to make their own little world exactly that. They’ve got the apothecary, they’ve got the day-long dates, they’ve got still being too shy to even grope each other properly… really, I’m not exaggerating, it is SICKLY sweet. But that’s good, because without this the rest of the book would just be grim. And the grim stuff gets equally good attention. This town may be where Red and Rit have chosen to reside, but it’s an ugly little town. Albert, the creep knight from the last volume, shows up here and is even worse, and it’s darkly hilarious that the demon cannot fulfill his contract because this city is too lazy and halfassed to be properly conquered. As I said last time, my one complaint is that it really goes into ridiculous detail about its worldbuilding, the blessings in particular. And honestly, I’m well aware that for most readers my complaint is their high point.

So yes, this is an excellent light novel, and you should read it. And I really hope that Ruti does not kill Rit stone dead in the next book, as that would make the rest of the series rather short.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I probably should not have read this only a few weeks after Roll Over and Die, as the first thought that came to mind is that when the woman is leaving the party she’s branded, sold into slavery, and left for dead, but when it’s the guy he just moves to the country, opens a shop, and gets a girlfriend almost instantaneously. That said, the whole “you are a disgrace to the party, go!” plot is apparently also a big thing in Japanese webnovels now, though so far it’s been less “the party” and more “that one asshole guy in the party”. In any case, our hero starting up his apothecary and hooking up with his former ally is only part of the story here, as we also flash back to the party in action, get a few glimpses of life as the hero, and, perhaps most importantly, talk endlessly about the magical systems in place in this world.

This is not a “game world” per se, but the plot hinges on a common game element: Gideon, the banished guy, was born at Level 30, and is the very definition of “the strong guy who joins your party early in the game to help you level up”. Unfortunately, when the party grows strong enough, this type of character usually leaves, and Gideon doesn’t do that – mostly as the Hero is his little sister. So when one of the party with a hate on for Gideon and a crush on the hero tells him he’s useless now, Gideon quietly accepts it, leaves the party, changes his name to Red, moves to a backwater sleepy town, and opens an apothecary. Luckily he’s helped in this by Rit, an adventurer and princess whose kingdom the hero’s party saved earlier. Rit has had a not-so-secret crush on Red since that time, and essentially invites herself into his shop, his home, and his bedroom. Together the two grow closer and have a nice quiet life. But what of the hero?

I’ll start off with the negatives: Red/Gideon is not the most magnetic hero. He fits the stock “boring adventurer guy” a little too well, and it feels ridiculous that he’s just quietly listen and leave the party without, y’know, asking anyone else in the party about it. There’s also a heaping helping of explanations about “blessings”, which are essentially the powers that people have, as well as the weak points that come with them. (Gideon, for example, cannot go past the Level 30 he was born with.) It’s interesting in regards to the ongoing story, but also tends to go on a bit too much. On the bright side, Rit is genuinely likeable. We get a large number of flashbacks showing her being a giant tsundere towards Gideon and everyone else, but now that she’s grown up and accepted her feelings, she’s quite fun and cheerful, and their romance is very sweet. Most importantly, though, are the last few pages. We learned very little about the little sister hero throughout the book except that she had something of a brother complex and was relatively emotionless. Towards the end we see the emotionlessness is a result of the many, many blessings she has, and that it has not been good for her mental health. I am definitely hoping to see more of her later on.

Overall, this does a good job trying to balance the “slow life” that its audience likely bought it for with actually having a plot and future character development. I do hope it has Red become a little less of the stock light novel hero in future books, though. But I’ll be reading more.