By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert.
On the bright side, this is one of the short story volumes coming out in the same order it came out in Japan – this book was released after the 12th volume. So I don’t have to worry about events in this book spoiling future volumes of the main series that came out here first (Re: Zero, Index,. etc.). On the down side, I doubt I’ll have to worry about that anyway, as I think this is definitely one of the short story books you do NOT have to read in order to appreciate the main series. It’s made up of various stories that were released as bonuses when you purchased books at a specific bookstore, or a DVD/Blu-Ray release, etc. There are one or two stories new to this book, of course, but for the most part the ‘Alter.’ of the title is meant to show that this is a volume where we don’t have to worry about characters dying. That said, we do get a lot of dead characters in it. It’s just they’ve already died.
The book is largely divided into five chunks. The first bit deals with the cast back in the Republic, around the time of the first light novel. The second has events after getting to the Federation, both before and after Lena joins them. The third has a few stories set in the United Kingdom during those volumes, and the fourth has short stories that take place after that arc, basically filling in bits of Books 8-10 or so. The final story is a bonkers fourth-wall breaking paintball battle royale featuring every single character in all the novels, alive or dead, and can best be described as “what if Among Us relied on being able to pick out the right perfume?”
So this is fine, it’s just very hard to review. Leaving aside the final story, which is not meant to be taken remotely seriously and thank God for that, the stories can be divided into 1) Funny slice-of-life; 2) Sweet, heartwarming slice-of-life; 3) The 86 are just like this; and 4) Melancholic dream sequences involving the dead. The last of those probably hit the best for me. I really liked a story showing Shin celebrating a sakura festival by drinking sake, joined by Kaie and all the other comrades who were killed off over the course of the first book. It’s pointed out that if this had really happened while the team were alive, it could have been water, but in Shin’s imagination he can have a full-scale viewing party. And this is followed with a very funny scene where Lena, after drinking some of the sake, shows she’s a very bad and clingy drunk. The weakest part of the book was probably the birthday stories, which felt the most like they were being written to order.
Still, I would not mind a second one of these. Perhaps after the main series itself is over, though. Luckily, we’re back with 13 in a month or two, ominously titled The Deer Hunter. Please, let’s NOT have Lena and Shin playing Russian roulette.
Speak Your Mind