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Reviews

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, Vol. 2

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By FUNA and Touzai. Released in Japan by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Sol Press. Translated by Lukas Ruplys.

When I reviewed the first volume of this light novel… 19 months ago… I remarked that it was relatively mild in terms of the eccentricities of its author, FUNA, and their other works, I Shall Survive Using Potions! and Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average!. I regret that now. This, the second novel in the 80,000 Gold books, is absolutely bananas. Mile and Kaoru wish they were this overpowered. Our heroine stops a war using modern artillery, gains a domain of her own to rule, and sets about ruling it, all the while flitting back and forth between this fantasy world and modern-day Japan. Can she keep it a secret? LOL. Not at all, and by the end of the book dragons are now “real” and Mitsuha is telling readers about the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine. The good news is that the book remains a lot of fun provided you don’t believe in gritty realism, and Mitsuha has toned down her fourth-wall breaking tendencies… somewhat… so is a far more tolerable narrator.

When we last saw Mitsuha she was running her little shop that sells shampoo and other luxury items. But that’s more a job for the heroine of her other book; Mitsuha has bigger things to do, even if she really doesn’t want to. She befriends the princess, who is a cutie and also loves to escape her guards, and from there the king. This means that she’s also called in when the country goes to war, and after an assassination attempt wounds her and mortally wounds Alexis, Mitsuha decides to stop holding back and calls out her friendly mercenary friends to destroy the enemy army (with has orcs, ogres, and teenage dragons) with modern-day tanks and rocket launchers. Her reward for all this is becoming a viscountess and gaining her own territory, which she spends most of the rest of the book sprucing up. And if that means bringing in experts from Japan to help her with the harder stuff… and indeed just selling the rights to the world in auction… well, that’s how Mitsuha rolls.

In the first book there was a great scene where Mitsuha, talking with her “newly adopted” family, suddenly remembers her dead parents and starts to cry without realizing it. There’s a similar scene here, after Mitsuha is shot with a crossbow and Alexis ends up taking several other crossbow bolts to defend her, where she just has a complete freakout. The author is good at this sort of scene (Potions has also used them), and it helps to un-smug Mitsuha, which is occasionally needed because most of the time she is pretty smug. I was rather startled at how fast her “I can travel to a fantasy world and back” thing became public, though at least she’s managed to hide that it’s “Mitsuha Yamano” who is doing thing. (This also leads to the funniest joke in the book, where the merc squad nicknames her Nanoha, because there’s no kill like overkill.) In between these parts there’s a lot of ‘building my little fiefdom’ sections, which are not as exciting but are fun for those who like Realist Hero and its ilk.

The other good news is between the first volume and this one, Sol Press learned to format digital books properly. As a result, there are no issues with the interstitial art and everything looks fine. As for the book itself, again, if overpowered – LUDICROUSLY overpowered – heroines annoy you, stay well away. But I found it relaxing, goofy fun, despite the very high body count. Mitsuha may be nicknamed Nanoha, but she’s not “befriending” her enemies.

Slayers: The Ghosts of Sairaag

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By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Like virtually every English-speaking fan, I was exposed to Slayers via the anime long before Tokyopop put out the novels way back when, and also long long before J-Novel Club rescued them. This means that more than anything else, I am surprised at how short and plot-heavy these books are, having absolutely no time for anything that would count as a breather. The author’s afterword in this book talks about the fact that he frequently sketches out hints of backstory that he then never gets into, because doing so would “make the world smaller”. Which is a very fantasy author way of thinking, I suppose, but it also means that character development and depth take a backseat. No one suffers more from that here than Sylphiel, the newly introduced priestess, who gets to be nice, have a seeming crush on Gourry, and that’s about it. Now, to be fair, that’s all she was in the anime too, but at least it took 8-9 episodes to show us that.

The book starts badly, in misogynist fantasy “of Gor” territory, with Lina and Gourry captured by some goons who decide to rape her, and Gourry convincing them not to by implying Lina has syphilis. It’s meant to be funny, but isn’t. It turns out that EVERYONE is after them lately, as there’s a wanted poster with their faces, as well as Zelgadis, on it… and the bounty for their capture is being paid by Rezo the Red Priest. Which is a surprise to Lina, who killed him in the first book. Getting of the bottom of things takes them to the woods outside Sairaag, a city that was destroyed in the legendary past but has now recovered and is a bustling metropolis. They meet up with Lantz (remember Lantz? From Book 2?) and a bounty hunter named Eris, as well as Sylphiel, who Gourry had met previously in an adventure that is frustratingly never explained to us. Can they escape the Red Priest again? And is this really him?

There are some strengths here. Sometimes the humor does work – there’s a wonderful part where Lina and Gourry fend off a fishman by simply changing their clothes, as Lina says they can’t tell humans apart… then she fails to recognize Lantz because he now has a beard. Rezo – if that is who this really is – makes a suitably creepy villain, especially at the end, and the artwork showing him off is horrifying. And the reveal of another villain is pretty well handled and surprising. Unfortunately, the book’s shortness as well as its deliberate avoidance of depth means that other things meant to be tragic and horrifying just aren’t. Our heroes never enter Sairaag or see anyone in it, so its destruction – again – lacks any impact, especially as Sylphiel recovers pretty fast from the loss of everything she’s ever known. It desperately needs fleshing out, something that anime actually did… well, not much, but at least they actually go to the city!

Basically, more modern fantasies have spoiled me for character depth, and Slayers can sometimes seem lacking as a result. This is the danger of iconic series who have been imitated a bit too much. In the meantime, for those anime viewers wondering where Amelia was during all this, well, the anime swapped book 4 and 3. Which means next time we get to see both Amelia AND Phil, something that makes me happy no matter how short and outline-ish the book ends up being.

Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 3

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By Nozomu Mochitsuki and Gilse. Released in Japan as “Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by David Teng.

When we last left Mia, it appeared that she had managed to avoid her dreadful fate – indeed, the author says what we all guessed in the afterword of this book – it was supposed to be two volumes originally. But the series grew to be quite popular (there’s even a live-action stage musical coming out in Japan), and so Mia’s story lives on! Because Mia may have avoided the guillotine as a young bratty princess, but that doesn’t mean she can’t later be killed off as an adult! And so we now get Mia’s granddaughter Bel, who has traveled back in time to avoid her own horrific fate, because 50 years on or so, the whole of Tearmoon Empire has gone to hell again. There’s only one way to fix this and keep Mia from a horrible fate… she has to defeat the Saint, Rafina, and become Student Council President!… wait, what?

Most of the book has what made the first two books so much fun. Mia trying to act selfishly and failing; Mia’s actions being completely misinterpreted by everyone around her. The snarky narrator is there but does not seem quite as mean or nasty to Mia this time around. That said, Mia is not magically a good and noble-hearted person; she’s still growing up and trying to mature, and it’s a slow process because she doesn’t want to. When it’s suggested that she can use negative campaigning to win the election against Rafina, she’s thrilled, as the idea had never occurred to her! Of course, this is then balanced out by her realization that this sort of thing was also done against her in his first life, and she absolutely hated it. As a result, she refuses. She also has an excellent memory for names… we see her groping to recall someone’s name a few times in this book, but unlike other heroines of this type, she always gets it right. Her instincts usually steer her correct.

As for the rest of the cast, I was rather surprised at how little an effect Bel had on the plot. As Mia’s granddaughter, you’d expect her to be taking over having to replace the timeline, but she is there mostly as she ran away rather than to fix things, and she’s also four years younger than Mia. As a result, she’s there to be cute, occasionally tell Mia what life was like in the future, and be cute. (Yes, I said cute twice.) The other major character here is Rafina, and the reader gradually realizes, before Mia, why Mia’s winning the election is so important – Rafina is stretched too thin and has no one she can trust as a friend. In the future, this leads to tragedy and hardens her heart. Here (again via misunderstanding Mia… stay on brand, Tearmoon) she realizes what Mia is trying to do and acquiesces. There’s also a sneering villain sort of character (no, the book really describes him as this) who gets taken down by Mia, almost accidentally, immediately. Both he and Rafina benefit from having “please forgive me for my own mistakes” be thought of as “please forgive OTHERS for their own bad choices”.

Another thing I really enjoy about this series its its forays into the ‘Bad End’ pasts (or rather futures) of the characters. Anne visiting Mia in prison is a short story that is truly sweet and tearjerking. And Dion gets most of the last fifth of the book – first in the second bad future, showing him fighting to the death so Bel can escape to allies, and then in the present, as he delivers a missive to Mia and also has her show him around the city. It’s a good reminder that, while Mia is usually pretty good at covering up her airheadedness, not everyone is 100% under her spell – Dion does misinterpret her actions, but he also thinks that her face is that of someone “not thinking anything at all”. This also leads to the other tearjerking moment in the book, when Bel hugs Dion and thanks him for saving her, something which he is rather nonplussed by (as he hasn’t done it yet). Tearmoon Empire can be hilarious, but I also love the sweet heartfelt bits.

This is not quite as top-tier as the second book in the series, but it’s definitely a solid read, with well written and translated prose. The fourth book suggests Mia’s school she set up in Book 2 is not going as well as hoped. The good news is that we only have to wait three months rather than 5 for the next volume. Highly recommended.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima, Vol. 4

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By Ikuto Yamashita. Released in Japan as “Shin Seiki Evangelion Anima” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Dengeki Hobby. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Michael Rachmat. Adapted by Peter Adrian Behravesh.

I will be honest, midway through this volume I was getting exhausted, and not in the good way. Fortunately things turned around, but let me tell you, you can only draw out an apocalypse so far before it grows wearying. To be fair, things were not helped by current events – a large part of the book features a series of earthquakes, and it was written about the same time as Japan was also dealing with deadly earthquakes, so things had to be delayed. As such, a large, large portion of this book is the main cast all having a giant fight on top of a chunk of the moon headed for Earth. This includes Shinji (who is now in the Torwachter that stole his heart – don’t ask, it’s convoluted – and about to start Third Impact, three different Reis, Asuka, who is finally becoming herself again, and Mari, who isn’t. The result is fantastic if you love mecha battles and nothing else.

The biblical imagery in the book is still there, but it feels more like Star Trek technobabble than anything else. What’s important is that, by three quarters of the way through the book, Shinji is .83 seconds from dying – and him dying will bring about Third Impact. For reasons that are somewhat murky but likely involve the late Rei Cinq, who seems to also be Yui, most of the cast end up at the old high school classroom, dressed in uniforms from Yui’s time, possibly so that the illustrator can draw the Reis in a different uniform style than the usual. Shinji, unfortunately, is perfectly happy to be there, though others soon vanish. What’s needed is a strong, forceful presence to get Shinji out of his dream sequence torpor. And fortunately for the readers, she’s back and she’s pissed off.

I cannot emphasize enough how much having Asuka back to her old self means for this series. Aside from a couple of amusing parts during Rei Six’s adventures on the moon, where she honestly sounds like Little Orphan Annie, this was a book seriously devoid of snappy dialogue. Asuka can fix that. The best bit involves Mari, who was trying to either add Asuka to her pack. She’s now lost the pack and is dealing with not being a feral child as best she can – mostly by sobbing. Asuka’s response is to save her, so that she could “see what being around me is *really* like”. This is funny stuff! She also gets to be badass – after hearing about Shinji’s dream sequence school, she promptly shows up (with her hair cut short!), saunters into the room like a model, and smashes his reality to bits. I love her.

The next volume is the final one in the series, and it’s due. I hope that we get a slightly better ending than Shinji and Asuka strangling each other on a beach, but this is Evangelion, so who knows? Till then, enjoy your fearsome mechs and headscrewing philosophy.

Last Round Arthurs, Vol. 3: The Snow Maiden & The King Who Killed Arthur

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By Taro Hitsuji and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

I must admit up front: I did not enjoy this book as much as the last two. There’s a big reason for that: Luna, who is probably the best reason to read the book, spends most of it sidelined by the latest villain, and the series is simply far less fun when she’s not around being the Big Dumb Girl With A Good Heart. The other reason is an odd one, as the afterword explicitly lays it out for me: Rintarou changes over the course of the book, becoming far more of a shonen hero-type of character rather than the grumpy cynic he’d been so far. The author says this is a common development in manga and light novels, but I’m not sure it’s as common as he thinks, and I’m not sure it fits the character well. I don’t really want to see Rintarou become Touma. Other than that, though, the book is doing what it does best: lots of Arthurian backstory, lots of big shonen battles, and lots of betrayal.

The titular snow maiden is Nayuki Fuyuse, who readers may have forgotten was introduced in Book 1 as Rintarou’s mysterious classmate. The fact that she’s part of all this is not that much of a surprise. The fact that she’s secretly in love with him is also not that big a surprise. What *is* a surprise is that Rintarou, who is usually fairly clever, does not immediately realize who she is when she says the one thing she can’t do is tell him who she is. All he has to do is think of the person who betray4ed Merlin back in the day and bing! There’s your answer. In any case, she’s more support here. The actual King candidate is a whiny young creep named Hitoshi, his Jack Sir Tristan, and a mysterious young woman named Reika, who seems to be a mass murderer but there’s more to her than we think. And, as always, Elaine is pulling all the strings.

Apologies for spoiling a bit, but to be fair, it is in the book’s subtitle: the best part of this book is the subplot with Mordred. There is rare subtlety in the writing at her portrayal, and I particularly liked her own Jack, Sir Dinadan, casually mentioning that all the King candidates she’s supposedly murdering are not actually dead yet. It also reminds us of the story’s Arthurian background, and the fact that Arthur basically fell from grace, as it were. Unfortunately, there’s one more big minus in this book, and that’s the villain, Hitoshi. If Last Round Arthurs is a Fate ripoff, then here’s Shinji, whining, demanding, and threatening to rape the cast. What is it with light novel writers and their desire to make all the villains super, super, SUPER bad?

This is still a quick, easy read, and I might get the next volume, if only to see if Kay (barely in this book) will do anything at all. But I must admit this volume is no more than a C+.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 10

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

This may be a first for this series. For the first time, I got through an entire volume without wanting to throw Hachiman out a window. This isn’t to say that he’s all smiles and warm fuzzies, but his cynical “this is what teenage life is really ,like it’s a jungle out there man” monologues are kept to a minimum and his attempts to solve the problem of the book involve actually talking with people about the problem rather than, say, throwing himself under the bus again. This volume was adapted into the final chunk of Season 2, so also is probably the calm before the storm that will be the final arc of the series. Things are moving pretty slowly – you can tell the author wants to wrap this up before they become third years – but we are starting to think about the future, which in Japan means what “track” will the kids be taking, arts or sciences?

Haruno is on the cover, and actually has a significant presence in the book as the “not quite evil but close” antagonist. The main focus of the book, though, is Hayama, who is the perfect boy that everyone wants to hang out with/date, but he’s refusing to say whether he’s taking the arts or sciences track, which has thrown his group into turmoil. Particularly Miura, who has a crush on him but is also concerned for his well-being – nearly everyone by now can see that Hayama is wearing a mask to hide his real self. She asks our heroes to find out what his choice is, which proves to be a very tough nut to crack, and mostly involves Hachiman doing a lot of detective work. In the interim, though, there is an ominous cloud on the horizon, and we see part of that cloud here, as we meet Yukino and Haruno’s mother, who is exactly what you’d expect she would be like. Oh yes, and there’s a rumor that Hayama and Yukino are going out which has spread like wildfire.

It’s pretty clear that Yukino’s family issues are gonna be the series’ endgame (which is bad news for Yui, and indeed she once again doesn’t have much of a role here – this love triangle is a bit imbalanced). For the moment, though, we’re dealing with Hayama, whose feelings for Hachiman are very conflicted – at one point he holds out hope that Hachiman is concerned about him as a friend, only to realize that it’s for his Service Club after all. It comes to a head in the school’s marathon, where Hayama bluntly talks about how he hates Hachiman, who may be Hayama’s opposite but also has managed to draw people to his actual self, crappy though that self may be. I was also very amused at the discussion of arts vs. sciences, some of which is “what am I best at” but a lot of which is also “how can I improve my social image?”.

So yes, this was a strong volume in the series, and I also really love the brother/sister relationship between Hachiman and Komachi, which is realistic and sweet. I am totally ready for Book 11. Sadly, the author is not, so get ready for 10.5, more short stories, next time.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 8

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jasmine Bernhardt.

There are many times during my reading of the Killing Slimes for 300 Years series that I realize that not only are the characters treating this world as an excuse to relax and do inconsequential things, but so is the author. The author has many, many light novel series under their belt, some of them running simultaneously via different publishers, and you get the sense that this series is the one where the author can just kick back and not have to worry too hard about plot or characterization. It’s essentially a short story collection. The biggest thing that happens in this book is that Beelzebub has finally gotten the side stories that appeared in Books 5-7 farmed out to her own official spinoff (which has already been licensed over here for the spring) and so the last sixth of the book or so is devoted to Halkara, who gets a spinoff, seemingly set before the main series, where she… reviews restaurants. Don’t expect this to get spinoff novels anytime soon.

A breakdown of this book: Sandra goes through a Flowers for Algernon-style transformation after some super fertilizer turns her into a teenager with a high IQ (that said, there’s zero angst here); Pondeli invites the cast to the new Demon Arcade that she’s opening, whose games are hit-or-miss; the hippie pine spirit who does weddings finds that the flaky God who brought Azusa over is muscling in on her territory; that same God tries to reason with a fellow, more traditional God in order not to lose followers (and Azusa ends up leveling up EVEN MORE); they return to the ghost nation’s temple and tell ghost stories, most of which have a familiar bent; Azusa gets stranded on a desert island and meets what she thinks is a native tribe; a strange butterfly woman insists of staying with Azusa a week for no reason whatsoever and not because The Crane repays A Debt or anything; and Pecora starts a Youtube stream service from the demon world.

That last one may drive home the point that, aside from having elves, dragons, and slimes, this series is absolutely uninterested in building its own world, but would much rather leech off of Japan’s own past and present. The ghost stories Azusa tries to tell, common ones from Japan, are also very well known here. the cuisine Halkara samples is essentially variations on what you can get in any mid-sized town, complete with a conveyor belt sushi place. It’s… very low bar, to be honest, but it’s also relaxing for the reader, who might get a bit annoyed at streamers being a thing in this land of Gods and demons, but will likely quickly get over it. The stories are all basically about the same – cute – though I might have critiqued the desert island one more had it not ended how it did. (At least the natives did not go “unga bunga bunga’ a la Bugs Bunny.)

It’s cute, it’s fuzzy, and you will forget about it the moment that you finish it. And sorry, yuri fans, Azusa still insists that her house is home to family, and not, and I quote, “a special, gay dimension”.

Banner of the Stars: The Screech of Space-Time

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By Hiroyuki Morioka and Toshihiro Ono. Released in Japan by Hayakawa Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Giuseppe di Martino.

In the Afterword for this book, published in Japan in 2004, the author apologizes for taking so horribly long to write it (the previous book had come out in 2001). Which makes me wonder how the next book, which came out in 2013, is going to top that. It’s also been a while since the last volume came out in English, but that’s OK, because the reader is dropped right back into one of the main features of Banner of the Stars: Epic Space Battles. Sadly, that is a mark against it for me, as I’ll be honest: I find a lot of the space battle writing in this book tedious. It is no doubt more realistic than, say, the ‘let’s fall out of our chairs’ battles in Star Trek, but there is a certain sterility to it all. Actually, this volume has quite a few marks against it. Jin and Lafier end up playing smaller roles, which is a shame as they’re the reason I read the books. More to the point, the Abh are still just not that likeable.

As I said, a lot of this book is space battles, as it reminds us that the Abh are at war with the various human federations that vie against them. But that might change soon – one of the minor players on the other side wants to negotiate a deal that might actually shift the tide and lead to the end of the war. This is good news, despite all the Abh talking about how much they love being in battle. That said, can the deal really be trusted? It helps that the idea for the deal came about watching the way that Jint handled his own planet recently, giving everyone ideas. As for Jint and Lafier, as I said, they don’t get as much time together as before, and what little there is is more down to showing off how Jint is still trying to assimilate and not quite making it. That said, given the cliffhanger the two of them will soon have much bigger things to worry about.

As I said, I like Jint and Lafier, and I like their scenes together here, but there are simply too few of them. We get a long stretch devoted to the current Empress and her discussions with aides on whether to accept the offer they’re being handed. It’s good f you like political realism, but again shows us that the Abh, in general, are simply too blase and matter of fact about everything, and it does not make for the most scintillating writing. It reminds me of bad Star Trek books that tried to write Vulcans but fell too hard on the “logical” side. At least there’s banter, and we’re reminded that the Abh basically run on it, but that’s sometimes not enough, especially when it’s not really clear if we’re meant to see them as the enemy or the protagonists.

Fortunately, we do not have a nine-year wait for the next book to come out. Unfortunately, I get the feeling I’ll be seeing a lot more space battles in it, given the events towards the end of this book. In the meantime, more Jint and Lafier being an obvious couple but never doing anything about it, please.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 15

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By Fujino Omori and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Paul Starr.

This volume is similar to Volume 8, in that it is essentially a short story collection with wraparounds. The stories are all (almost) on a basic premise, which is “let’s lay out the backstories of how everyone arrived in Orario and how their lives have improved 8000% now that they have family and friends”. As such, there is an air of melancholy to this book, as while we do admire how far everyone has come, we’re seeing a depressed Bell, a rejected Hestia, an abused Lilly, a disillusioned Eina, a frustrated and angry Welf, a bitter Lyu, and… well, we’ve mostly gone into Mikoto and Haruhime’s stories already, so theirs is the exception to the rule. And then there’s Aiz, who doesn’t show up till the end, but who provides the perfect capper to the book, even if it leaves you with an ominous feeling. After several volumes in a row that are just dungeon fights, this one also seems happy to give everyone a chance to rest.

Bell and Hestia are on the cover, and they get the first flashbacks, as they (independently) recall how they arrived in the city. Their stories are downbeat, but end on a high note as they meet each other. There’s a later mirror of them with Lyu’s story, which features similar beats – she really needs to join a Familia, but her preconceptions and prickly nature are driving everyone away. Lilly’s story was a high point – showing off how wretched her life has been from the moment of her birth (sorry, Soma, giving Lilly potato puffs once does not make me forgive you) while contrasting it with the glee and happiness she feels as Hestia tells her that she’s gone up to Level 2. That said, when it comes to her past, she’d still prefer to deal with it indirectly rather than confront it head on. Which is her own choice, of course.

Welf’s story is fairly predictable, and Haruhime and Mikoto’s suffers from being the ‘light’ story in the book (though it is nice to see Haruhime slowly try to get herself out of “clumsy foxgirl” status – the maid stuff really doesn’t help). The epilogue, though, is the true best part of the book. It features the one day a year when the city mourns all its fallen, something that has to be explained to Bell (who, we are reminded, has not even been there a year yet). Seeing the funeral elegy being sung by everyone – even those such as Freya – was hauntingtly beautiful. That said, Bell and Aiz are not headed down the same path, and this epilogue serves to underscore that. Aiz is not here to be anyone’s hero. And, while Sword Oratoria readers already have a good inkling of her past secrets, here Bell finally connects the dots, and is stunned.

Unfortunately, the 16th volume only came out in Japan two months ago, so we may have another long wait. And, given the cover to 16 has Syr and Freya on it, Aiz may not even be the focus. Still, for a collection that was written as “take the short stories from the anime releases bonus DVDs and create wraparound material”, this is surprisingly solid.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 1

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By Bokuto Uno and Miyuki Ruria. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alex Keller-Nelson.

This was one of the two “big names” licensed a while back, and it had a huge amount of buzz to live up to. It not only lived up to the hype, it sailed over any other hurdles. This book is good. Really, hard-to-put-down good. This is all the more surprising given that it runs on some very common fantasy novel themes. Our heroes are first-years who are arriving at a prestigious magic school in not-Britain. Most of the characters will be a recognizable type, but this doesn’t make them annoying or boring, rather it makes it easier to identify and sympathize with them. The exceptions are our two lead protagonists, both of whom clearly have a lot more to their backstories than our first meeting would initially suggest. They go to school, learn magic, learn swords (more on that in a bit), and end up in trouble about every 30-40 pages or so. That said… this is surprisingly dark.

Our group of first years are: Oliver, the main protagonist, a serious young man with a talent for intricate spells; Nanao, the other main protagonist, a foreign student who knows nothing in the world except fighting to the death; Katie, the daughter of demi-human rights activists who shares their activism; Guy, a goofy everyman sort; Pete, who comes from a nonmagical family and is here to study and prove himself; and Michela, the noble girl with princess curls who, for once, turns out to be the nicest person in the book. They get into adventures right off the bat when a troll goes berserk at the run-up to the opening ceremony, and can’t seem to stop stuff happening to them after that, from getting trapped in the labyrinthine hallways after school to fighting a duel that goes horribly awry to finding that most of their upperclassmen are completely, 100% bonkers.

As I said, this book is darker than you’d expect. It’s made very clear at the start by the headmaster that a lot of the students die. We also see several fourth and fifth years who are happy to torture, battle, or experiment on anyone that catches their fancy. It’s also a school that combines swordsmanship with magic, after a magical duel in the past ended in death because the mage was no good at up-close fighting. The “spellblades” in the title are legendary blades that are essentially “one hit kill” blades, and there are not many on the world at all. It’s not hard to guess who’s going to be spellblading by the end of this book, but that’s OK. Plus there’s a lovely twist at the end that throws a lot of what we were assuming about one of the characters out the window, and makes me wonder if this cute romance I was hoping for is going to end at all well.

There’s more I could talk about. Nanao is, as I said, trained only for battle, but she’s surprisingly innocent and goofy otherwise. There’s a nasty rival character who appears to be set up to just be a constant antagonist, but then is dealt with and starts becoming a better person. There’s everything about Chela, who may be my favorite character in the book, despite essentially being Rin Tohsaka with Luvia’s hair. (There are a lot of characters who you could say are “essentially __________”, and you will note I have avoided mentioning a certain series that will come to mind.) Most importantly, the book is gripping and makes you want to read fast and immerse yourself in the world, despite being pretty lengthy (it’s over 280 pages). This is absolutely worth the hype.

Love Me, Love Me Not Vols 4 and 5

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Love Me, Love Me Not Volumes 4 and 5 by Io Sakisaka

With the conclusion of Ao Haru Ride, I’m glad that the Shojo Beat imprint has another Sakisaka series running with Love Me, Love Me Not. This series doesn’t quite have the layers of meaning I was finding in Ao Haru Ride, as the love quadrangle in this series lends itself more to more of a chill teen soap opera feeling with plenty of slice-of-life elements that makes this a soothing series to read, even as the protagonists deal with plenty of romantic complications.

In the fourth volume, there’s the fallout of Rio kissing Akari to deal with. While Akari has been dedicated to putting up emotional walls since they became step-siblings, Rio hasn’t been able to detach from his previous feelings so easily. Along the way Akari has to deal with a boy at school who has a crush on her who turns hostile after she turns him down. Inui is around to help her deal with things, but Akari wonders just how much he understands about her situation. Akari gets self-conscious and starts avoiding Yuna, who is dealing with her own feelings for Rio. Really, the tangled relationships ensure that there’s plenty of drama to come. However, one of the reasons why Love Me, Love Me Not remains interesting is that the characters actually talk about what’s bothering them and evolve and change. Yuna calls out Rio for his actions and points out that he’s not being considerate of Akari, and she then messages Akari so they can have a chat as well. Being active in her friendships and talking to the boy that she has a crush on show how much Yuna has evolved from the shy and self-contained girl she was in the first volume of the series. Rio even comments to her that Yuna is “growing into the person you want to be” while he hasn’t progressed much beyond the person he was in junior high.

The fifth volume features that staple of shoujo romance, a festival! Rio is haunted by the fact that he had a dream about Yuna, which makes him finally start to be interested in her romantically. Akari continues to be intrigued by Inui, and she and Yuna engineer a double date to the festival. Out of all the main characters, Inui has been a bit of a cipher, occasionally dropping by to make enigmatically mature pronouncements and then moving on. I was happy that this volume featured a little more of his self-reflective moments, making it clear that he’s only steering clear of Akari because he doesn’t want to hurt Rio. I really like the way some of Sakisaka’s illustrations shifted to reflect the characters’ feelings in this volume. Yuna has a few panels of looking absolutely adorable, because Sakisaka is showing her from Rio’s point of view as he appreciates her more and more. It is particularly fun to see Rio in a somewhat tortured state throughout this volume as he struggles with his new feelings, since he was originally introduced with such a self-assured, flirtatious personality that was all on the surface. While the characters are all suffering through the foibles of teenage romance, there’s no question in my mind that there will eventually be a happy ending, which makes this a great comforting manga to read when I feel the need to de-stress a little bit.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 26

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By Mizuho Kusanagi. Released in Japan as “Akatsuki no Yona” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by JN Productions, Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

It can be hard to find the perfect cliffhanger o end a manga volume. Of course, with most ongoing series there is a cliffhanger of sorts, particularly in action series such as Yona of the Dawn. There are several obvious examples in this volume alone, each of which could probably have served perfectly well as the cliffhanger, particularly the second to last chapter in the volume. But there’s something so deliciously satisfying about this one, the sort of ending that gives the reader what they have wanted all along but not ENOUGH of it. Yona of the Dawn is usually a pitch perfect blend of political intrigue, action adventure, and a dash of romantic tension, and for most of Vol, 26, the focus is definitely on the first two. Even when we get to the romantic tension, it looks like the usual “misunderstandings abound!”. So we are both cheering and also laughing hysterically at how said misunderstandings are cleared up. You DESPERATELY want to read more.

As for the politics, not to spoil too much, but there is one less death than I was expecting when I finished Vol. 25. As it turns out, things can mostly be resolved with negotiation, though it takes a few more sacrifices and also everyone ganging up on the evil priest. This actually leads to the other great moment in the book, one that relies very much on Su-Won and how he is choosing to rule. The priest (whose name I keep forgetting, mostly as I tend to call him Wormtongue in my head) points out that Kouren captured and imprisoned the Legendary Dragon Warriors, to which he gets a “so what?” response. The priest is stunned that he does not want to use their magical cool powers to strengthen his position. (Technically this is what Yona is doing, but she is not doing it in the way the priest wants it to happen. The priest’s stunned face as Su-Won cuts all his arguments off at the knees is hysterical.

Other things to mention: Riri is here and awesome, though not as awesome as her retainers, who manage to gang up on Kouren and make sure she can’t tragically die leaning against a building or some other samurai thing. The other guys spend most of the book unable to move, alas, though they’re on the road to recovery by the end. It also helps sell that this is a problem that CAN be resolved with discussion and negotiation, rather than “I have a guy with a big hand, medusa eyes, a big kick, and Zeno.” Although it led to Yona’s misunderstanding, I really liked Hak’s chatter among his Wind tribe friends – she’s right, he acts like a totally different person around them, and while I don’t think it’s entirely her fault she’s never seen it, it does show off why they’re still not quite ready to get any closer than they are.

OR ARE THEY? Cannot wait till the next volume, which thanks to my backlog is already out. There’s always so much to talk about and love with Yona of the Dawn.

The Asterisk War: Struggle for Supremacy

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By Yuu Miyazaki and okiura. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

Ooof. We are deep into “tournament arc” here, folks, which means that a) the books are really not doing anything aside from showing off some cool fights, which means I have very little to write about, and b) it is fairly easy to guess who is going to be winning each of those fights. Ayato and Julis are not going to be losing at this point in time. Heck, even the “trying to figure out what the bad guys are doing” plot takes a back seat here, though it does lead to one of the funnier not-really-a-gag moments in the book when Orphelia straight up tells the other villains “oh yeah, I told Julis our plan six months ago.” After basically being absent from the last book, Julis gets more to do here, including what ends up being the best fight, but I suspect she is going to continue to be very unhappy for the next few volumes. Fortunately, the book has a secret weapon: Saya, aka Best Girl.

Claudia is on the cover, but barely in the book itself at all. Though she fares better than Kirin, who is totally absent. We get a series of fights, after briefly seeing Julis win her Round Four battle. First we see Ayato take on Rodolfo Zoppo, an arrogant ass who we dearly want to see get the shit beaten out of. Sadly, all of Ayato’s fights in this series have involved him barely winning, and that’s what happens here. Lester fights the Black Knight, and wins, but unfortunately is too injured to continue, so Julis gets a bye in Round 6. Speaking of Julis, as stated, she gets the best fight, taking on Xiaohui, who has returned from his Vision Quest and gotten stronger thanks to an old man on a mountain who doesn’t train him but lets him watch his everyday life. It’s a good reminder that Asterisk War runs on cliches. Saya takes on a girl who’s too amusing to take seriously. We get Robot vs. Robot, and the more evil robot wins. Silvia wins her match, which amounts to song vs. dance. And Orphelia manages to not only take out Hilda, but Hilda may in fact be permanently removed from the stage – her ending is ominous.

Apologies for the spoilers, but again, none of this is a surprise. You knew most of these people were going to win. Aside from Julis, as I noted, Saya gets the best moments, as she has the 2nd best fight, but more importantly is there to deliver a pep talk to Claudia and Rimcy, who are both feeling depressed and useless. Saya points out that she is an Unlucky Childhood Friend who spends every day handing around a hot tsundere princess and a meek sword prodigy, and also has to deal with the world’s top idol singer. They are all probably better fighters than her. They are all more likely to get Ayato’s love than her. But, as Saya wonderfully puts it, “so what?”. She refuses to simply stop trying. It’s not quite the end of the book, but it makes for a great emotional climax.

Unfortunately, it’s not enough to make up for 170 pages or so of fight after fight after fight. And I suspect we’ll get more of the same next time, though the cliffhanger does at least promise some emotional torture of Julis as well. Good times!

Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 4

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By Hitoma Iruma and Non. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Lee.

Since my last review, the anime has been running, and it’s due to adapt up to this volume if it keeps at the pace it’s been using. The anime has helped me come to terms with Shimamura’s monologues somewhat – it cuts out the boring bits, which is to say 80% of them, and leaves us with what is essentially a teenage girl who is constantly doubting that she is even a functional human being. Given the evidence of this book, she is correct to worry. Not that Adachi is any better, as the start of second year shows, to her horror, that despite the “I want to be BEST friends!” of previous books, just a mere class change can mean Shimamura will be happy to drift away from her without another thought. So Adachi is ready to take the initiative. Confess? A ha ha ha no. But she’s ready to ask if they can eat lunch together, and later even ask if they can have a weekend sleepover. Baby steps, really.

As you can possibly see from the cover art, Shimamura has stopped dyeing her hair and let it settle back into her natural ‘slightly lighter than Adachi’ brown. They’re in second year now, and Hino and Nagafuji are now in another class. (Not to worry, the two get their own little subplot, though I continue to wonder whether the author is also making them a couple or just having them be goofy.) Adachi is still in her class… but is still suffering from Adachiness. As a result, when three other girls ask if Shimamura can join them for lunch, she says sure. What’s more, her old childhood friend, Tarumi, has called up again after their disastrous February date, and really, really wants to try again. They hang out. They get matching bear bookbag charms! And Tarumi, as with Adachi, runs up against the massive wall that is Shimamura’s blithe indifference to almost anything.

I mentioned the subplot with Hino and Nagafuji, and there’s one with Yashiro as well. Indeed, it has been brought to my attention that almost every single character in the book who is not a regular – a fortune teller Adachi meets who gives her courage, another seeming alien girl that Nagafuji meets at Hino’s estate – is from one of Iruma’s other books. Hell, even Yashiro straight up says here she’s not the same Yashiro as the one from Denpa Onna. This is almost entirely lost on English-speaking readers (I had to have it all explained to me), but it does show off how these books are filled with “treats for the fans”, sometimes to the detriment of the actual plot. I also left out the start of the book, which is probably the best part of it, in which we realize that something important happened much earlier than we expected. It is a sign of how much this book is obsessed with the transient nature of teenage relationships that nobody remembers this.

That said, the biggest takeaway for me from this book is: man, everyone is trying their hardest to indirectly shout “I love you!” at Shimamura, but indirectness just is not cutting it. It does make me wonder how much longer, or how many more crossover cameos, this series can do before it begins to wear on the reader. Someone needs to tear down Shimamura’s wall.

Korea as Viewed by 12 Creators

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This anthology of twelve short stories, six by Korean artists and six by French, follows the same basic template as Japan As Viewed by 17 Creators, offering brief, impressionistic scenes of contemporary Korean life. Though 17 Creators is a uniformly excellent work, its companion volume is not; the stories run the gamut from pedestrian to brilliant, with the Korean artists making the strongest contributions.

The unevenness of the collection is attributable, in part, to a home field advantage. Artists such as Choi Kyu-sok and Byun Ki-hyun tackle deeper, more penetrating topics than their French counterparts, exploring homelessness (“The Fake Dove”), sexual discrimination and violence (“The Rabbit”), and the decay of traditional social networks (“The Rain That Goes Away Comes Back”). Though the artists’ ambition sometimes outstrips their allocated space, all three stories boast beautiful, detailed artwork that suggests the rhythm and feeling of modern urban life. The French contributions, by contrast, are travelogues of one sort or another: in “Beondegi,” for example, Mathieu Sapin imagines what it would be like for a French-Korean woman to return to her parents’ home country, while in “Letters From Korea,” Igort offers brief descriptions of places he visited in Seoul. The weakest of the collection is Catel’s “Dul Lucie,” an uneventful travel diary filled with observations about “doll-like” and “sensual” Koreans that — in English, at least — leave a bad aftertaste of exoticism. Though the other French artists are not as patronizing, the stories feel shallow; imagine an essay about New York City written by someone who only visited Times Square, and you have some idea of how superficial these artists’ appreciation of Korea seems to be.

Two stories make this collection a worthwhile investment. The first is “Solgeo’s Tree,” by Lee Doo-hoo, in which a monk paints a mural so life-like that birds attempt to perch in its branches. Told with almost no dialogue, the story relies heavily on Lee’s exquisite pen-and-ink drawings to impart its Buddhist moral. The second is “A Rat in the Country of Yong,” Herve Tanquerelle’s playful, wordless story about a mouse visiting Seoul. The surrealistic imagery — skies full of dragon transports, streets filled with animal-eared people, pools inhabited by monstrous carp — and Chaplin-esque physical comedy evoke the strangeness and excitement of visiting a new city without falling into the trap of essentializing its people. Both comics attest to the vitality and richness of the “as viewed by” concept, and suggest what might have emerged from this sometimes insightful, sometimes banal French-Korean collaboration.

This review was originally published on September 6, 2010.

Korea as Viewed by 12 Creators
Edited by Nicholas Finet
Fanfare/Ponent Mon, 222 pp.
No rating