By Fujino Omori and Kakage. Released in Japan as “Astrea Record Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

There are some pretty nifty scenes in this final book, but in the end, I think I will best remember this series for what it was: an adaptation of a video game spinoff. It suffers a lot from being a prequel, meaning that when we see folks we remember from the main series or Sword Oratoria, we know that they’re going to survive, whereas when we meet new people, we know they have a low chance of it. This volume introduces three older, veteran adventurers from Loki Familia, the ones who were training Finn and company when they were just starting out. They have names, but I could not help but imagine them saying things like “this is my last job, after this I’m retiring and buying a boat”. As for Lyu and her familia, well, we get to see them make a decision that will end up being Very Bad, but for the most part they get to be cool, as they fight to determine what justice is.

The book is basically a 270-page fight, which we are very used to with this author. Everyone is getting their secret weapons ready, including Lyu’s new sword, which is made from the gift of her late friend Ardee… erm, Adi (don’t you hate it when the Japanese publisher tells you the name has a different romanji AFTER you start the series?). First things go very well for our heroes, and very bad for the Evils… then everything swings the other way and all hope is lost… then the cavalry arrives, etc. You know the drill. What we most focus on are Zald and Alfia, who explain why they’re doing all this: failing to defeat the black dragon and having their familias destroyed broke them, and they think the current generation of adventurers suck, so they want to go back to a Golden Age where there were real heroes. Yes, that’s right, it’s the DanMachi version of Invasion of the Dinosaurs from Jon Pertwee’s final series.

I was once again irritated that we were getting a teenage version of moral dilemmas, so was amused when the “main villain” pointed out that this is exactly what it was, and the way to defeat the trolley problem is to come up with ways to defy it and work around it. As for the whole “we want to return to a golden age” thing, it’s also mostly bullshit – as I expected, but which isn’t confirmed until an epilogue, it’s more of a “we are testing you to make sure you are ready to face the strong enemies that are to come, and we must do this by being evil ourselves”. Which, again, is very “for 15-year-olds” logic, like the rest of this spinoff. There are a lot of really cool scenes and character pieces in here, and I liked hearing about Bell’s mother, but in the end this wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, and was too depressing most of the time.

We’re not done with Lyu yet. The next spinoff will bring us the story that was cut from Book 18 because it was already 600 pages long – Lyu’s journey to see Astrea. I don’t think that comes from a video game plot, so I’m looking forward to it a bit more. Though… hasn’t Lyu become the main heroine in terms of appearances by now?

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 Dale DeLucia.

I needed this almost as much as Bell did. I suspect there are a few people who will be disappointed by this volume. After the highs and lows of the last few arcs, something like this, which is a deliberate “let’s do something totally different” thing, might feel out of place. But the volume is also filled with hints that we’re getting close to, if not the end of the series, then at least the beginning of the end of the series. Bell is being prepared for heroism, and he is going to be a hero. He’s being forced to pay attention to the world outside of Orario, and we see m,any signs that things outside Orario are not happy and peaceful. And, of course, despite yet another addition to the harem this time around, there’s still one main couple that is holding everything back. (Aiz is entirely absent from this book, pointedly so.) So yeah, let’s do it, why not a magical academy volume?

We pick up after the end of the last book. Freya Familia is no more, and in fact a large number of them are now staff at The Benevolent Mistress, presumably to watch over Syr, who is getting absolutely worked to death by irritated gods who are still upset about everything Freya did. Another large number of them are watching over Haruhime, whose secret level up powers are now known to all, and Lyu, who has returned from seeing off Astrea and has made peace with her past at last (and joined Hestia Familia) in order to make sure they are not kidnapped. Bell thinks his Familia,. now with added Lyu, should head right back into the dungeon, but Eine tells him it’s a good time to relax. It has been (good lord) six months since the start of the series. That’s a LOT to happen to Bell in that little time. He deserves a break. He deserves… to be abducted by Hermes and forced to infiltrate the massive floating school that’s just docked at Orario for the next few months.

There’s almost a deliberate lack of originality here. After nearly getting caught infiltrating the high security school, Bell has to disguise himself as an ordinary Level-1 rabbit boy and pretend to be meek and still learning. And then he promptly gets assigned with all the class losers, who can’t work together to save their lives, even though they’re powerful. Also in the group is Nina, Eine’s younger sister, who is having a lot of trouble living up to her sister’s standards and it’s crushing her. Her scenes with Bell are some of the best of the book. I also enjoyed seeing Bell studying hard, and his studies later proving useful in actual dungeon battles. Bell was always naive and inexperienced, but he was never stupid, and now that he’s no longer inexperienced (we’ll put a pin in naive for now), his smarts are really impressive.

Basically, by the end of this book you definitely see WHY the gods are pinning all their hopes on Bell. Unfortunately, we’re caught up with Japan again. Fortunately, we’re getting the last volume of depress-o-thon Astrea Record soon, as well as the first Sword Oratoria light novel in over four years. So there’s plenty of stories to be told in this world. This is just a “Bell is a student” one.

By Fujino Omori and Kakage. Released in Japan as “Astrea Record Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

I hate to break it to the author of this series, but the core readership are not 15-year-olds. They, I think, would get the most out of Lyu’s angsty rage and Erebus’ ridiculous trolley problems. The core audience of this series are the ones who have followed it since it began, which means my guess is most are in their thirties. And those folks might find Lyu’s emo teen phase just a little annoying. Or indeed a lot annoying. It’s very true to teenage life, I will admit, but I mean, having Lyu throw a shitfit is baked into her backstory already, do we really need for it to happen again, especially in a novel based on a game story that cannot actually affect canon? Fortunately, there are good parts to this book, including several rousing speeches. But honestly, if you want a light novel version of the “yet you participate in society! Curious. I am very intelligent!” cartoon by Matt Bors, you’re in the right place.

The cover shows Lyu looking down at the ground, despondent and despairing. Behind her is Ardee, who is smiling broadly, possibly as she’s dead and therefore doesn’t have to be in this book. Ardee’s death weighs heavily on a lot of people in this book, and she’s not the only one who’s died. The Evils are on the loose, and their goal is to make the adventurers give up. Lyu, being one of the shiniest and most idealistic of them, is the perfect breaking point, so Erebus is determined to break her. In the meantime there’s tons of fights, deaths,. gore and despair, but also some really cool life-saving, desperately never giving up, and some strong speeches by Finn, who has either been reading Churchill or Henry V. Who will win? (This is a prequel taking place 7 years before the series begins. We know who will win. And yet.)

There is one point in this volume that is easily the best by far, and it’s when Lyu, who is acting like a child, runs into 9-year-old Ais, a literal child, and the two of them have what is basically the sword version of a slapfight. I especially love Riveria, who stops the fight not by yelling at them, or by getting in between them, but by bonking Ais on the top of the head like she’s in Yotsuba&!. It was a lovely break from the rest of the volume, which is made up of half “Become vengeance, Lyu. Become wrath.” and half “I know you’re still in there so fight, damn you!” Astrea Familia gets a lot of time on the page, but I’d argue that the stronger moments go to the characters we know from the main series. There’s nothing wrong with Astrea’s folks, they’re just don’t have the raw impact of, say, Syr cheering them up while also handing out soup to everyone (a moment that works even better after the events of Book 18).

There’s one more to go, and hopefully we’ll get some answers about the Zeus and Hera bad guys, because let me tell you, I do not give two shits about any of the other villains. Still worth it for Danmachi fans, but prepare to be frustrated.