Sword Art Online Alternative: Clover’s Regret, Vol. 2

December 15, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Soitiro Watase and Ginta, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

So, I’m still enjoying this spinoff, but I will admit that I’m enjoying it despite one of its subplots. Actually, more accurately despite its main plot. When the series is showing off the Asuka Online game, its horror events and the cast debugging things, it’s great. When it’s got them solving mysteries of absent fathers and mysterious support dolls who are not named Yotsugi, it’s also great. When it has its real life subplot about Nayuta gradually moving in with Kurei, making him food, and acting like a wife, while blowing off the fact that she’s been spotted with him and that people at her school are asking questions about it, that’s less fine. Now Kurei spends most of the book insisting he hasn’t done anything improper, which is true, but that’s not the point. The point is that Nayuta is underage and Kurei is in a position of power and we’re both supposed to be rooting for these two to admit their love and get married. Which, eh.

The book is divided into two short stories and one novella. The first story has Nayuta and Koyomi join Klever as he tests a vacation resort that will be used for events, meaning it’s an excuse for the cast to fool around in a luxury hotel. But what’s with the staff… or lack thereof? The second story has them participate in a fun event where you get to snuggle cabyparas, and find the wombat hidden among all of them. This is mostly pure fluff, but also has them discovering an AI android that appears to be part of a part of the game still being argued about, named Onihime. In the final story, they meet a young girl named Mahiro, who is searching for her missing father, who might have gotten called up in something criminal. What’s more, the girl looks a LOT like the android AI they just found…

Koyomi continues to have the depth of a sheet of paper, but she’s fun, and she’s also a necessary ingredient in a cast that otherwise consists of two very serious people. She also has Nayuta’s best interests at heart, and he constant battering of Klever about his “intentions” towards Nauyta masks a very real worry that she could be taken advantage of. Nayuta has an abnormal trust of Klever/Kurei, and while the reader is, I think, meant to assume it’s because they’re destined, it’s still uncomfortable. The other thing about this book is its examination of AI – it seems to be mostly pro-AI, but in the world of SAO I can see why that makes more sense – we already have Yui, for example.

This has one more volume to go, but doesn’t really have any plot points to resolve besides “when Nayuta turns 18 she will simply propose”. Let’s home it’s a little more complicated than that. For SAO fans.

Filed Under: reviews, sword art online

86 –Eighty-Six–, Vol. 13: Dear Hunter

December 14, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert.

Yes, the “Dear” in the subtitle is spelled correctly, as the author states in the afterword. As for the book itself: I would like to remind readers, before I continue, that I do think this is an excellent series and I eagerly await reading the next book. That said, reading this was like being punched in the face for 318 pages. Each of the volumes has built on what has gone before, and here it reaches a crescendo, as everything completely falls into chaos, leaving our main cast in a situation exactly where they were at the start of the first book. It’s not quite “everything is for nothing”, but it’s close. The book has never been subtle about choosing kindness over prejudice, but here it reminds everyone that choosing to be kind is hard and requires constant vigilance, whereas being prejudiced is easy, and if a person is under stress or furious, easy is what happens. In among this, we do have time for another part of the secondary romance in the series, but even that is dramatic and bittersweet.

We open the book with a group of young girls preparing to go on a journey. They’re all part of a group, and we find that some of that group aren’t joining them. We then discover that this group are girls who were experimented on by Republic scientists and turned into living human bombs, who will go off at certain times. As this comes to light, along with the fact that it was Republic scientists who were responsible, rumors start flying. The “human bomb” thing is contagious. Everyone from the Republic is a secret enemy. Everyone who is foreign in any way is a secret enemy. And, of course, the Eighty-Six are secret enemies. As this goes on, the military falls apart, as all the soldiers turn on each other. Now Shin and company have to try to at least make sure there’s a base for them to come back to, as well as try to stop the Legion, who are helping all this along. And they have to do it without Lena and Annette, who have been “detained”.

In the middle of this nightmare is the story of Anju and Dustin. Dustin, as it turns out, is the childhood friend of the girl who is the “head” of these human bombs, and was unaware what happened to her until it’s revealed. The obvious narrative choice would be for him to desert, making a dangerous trek over the battlefield and reunite with her right before she does so they can have a tearful reunion. But not only would that go against literally everything that the Eighty-Six series has ever done, it also would not be fair to Anju, who has finally managed to acknowledge moving on from her first love and finding a new one with Dustin, and now there’s all this. I did wonder if Dustin was going to die, and spark the final chaos. It doesn’t work out that way, but an Eighty-Six *does* die, and that leads to the cliffhanger, and to the final arc, where everything has to be fought for all over again right from the beginning.

Yyyyyyyeah. Really well-written. Great philosophical points. Feels very relevant to today’s world. But also: A BUMMER.

Filed Under: eighty-six, reviews

My First Love’s Kiss, Vol. 2

December 13, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Hitoma Iruma and Fly. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Hatsukoi Aite ga Kiss Shiteta” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kiki Piatkowska.

So there’s a huge cliffhanger plot twist at the end of the book, and I’m gonna have to discuss it, so let’s put it after the picture and plot summary. In the meantime, let’s talk about the only reason I really am keeping up with this series: how does it tie into Adachi and Shimamura? Last time it was hinted that Chiki was somehow connected to Hino’s extended family, and a prologue in this volume continues to hint that’s the case. This volume, desperate to find out more about the woman that she’s become so besotted with that it’s become obsession, Umi does detective work and manages to infiltrate Hino’s vast estate, and gets the information she needs, mostly thanks to the timely arrival of Nagafuji. I joked that I would scream if this series ended up getting Nagafuji involved in its tawdriness, and the good news is that she and Chiki never meet. Indeed, Umi sees Hino and Nagafuji’s friendship and envies it. The bad news is the rest of the book.

We open, after a prologue showing a young girl deliberately injuring herself and blaming a family member, with Takasora confronting Umi and Chiki. Chiki, highly amused by all this drama, admits they’re going to a hotel, and then invites Takasora along, to have a “girls’ sleepover”. To Umi’s horror, Takasora accepts, and they all spend the night in a swank hotel room, though sex does not happen, or at least not while Takasora is awake. The next day, while Umi is asleep, Takasora (who has confessed her love, and been rejected, as expected) has a long chat with Chiki, who reveals her real name is Shiho Chitaira (which Takasora doesn’t really believe), and not to tell Umi. A couple days later, Chitaira takes Umi out on a date, shopping and buying her a seemingly expensive ring. What Umi doesn’t know is Chitaira is also taking Takasora out on reluctant outings, playing on her jealousy and self-loathing and preying on her just as she’s preyed on Umi.

So the artist on this is Fly, and it has to be said, the characters in the series do tend to look alike, particularly Umi and Chitaira. I wonder if Iruma saw the art and decided on the plot twist at the end of this volume, and said “hey, since they already look like sisters…” So yes, this volume’s cliffhanger ending was a twist and a half. I had assumed that the book would end with Umi’s rage at Takasora for getting caught up in Chitaira’s scheming, and there is a bit of that. That’s the normal “toxic yuri hell” part of this book. Then Umi’s mother shows up, greeting Chitaira warmly, and wonders why she never said she’d introduced herself to Umi. And then says “Umi, this is Shiho, your older sister.” Honestly, if that came from Chitaira I wouldn’t have believed it, thinking it would be another weird scheme to create more drama. But it’s coming from Umi’s mother, who we’ve seen throughout the series has all the scheming ability of a cream puff, so I have to assume it’s the case. I didn’t think anything could make things worse, and I was oh so naive.

If this were a longer series, I would nope out. But it ends in the next book. I had idly wondered, midway through this volume, if the final twist would be Umi managing to actually get Chitaira to genuinely stay with her, but obviously the end of this book has blown that out of the water. I now wonder if the series will end with everyone alive.

Oh, for the curious, Hino, when she shows up, talks about meeting a kid in a spacesuit while fishing, if you’re trying to figure out where this is in the Adachi and Shimamura timeline.

Filed Under: my first love's kiss, reviews
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