Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 11

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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.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 11

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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 Andrew Cunningham.

Even when the author is trying to write a light, fluffy heartwarming volume to balance out the trauma and awfulness in Book 10, they can’t quite pull it off. Oh, there’s lots of fun stuff in here, especially at the start. Seeing the main six in the cast, with plus ones Marco and Teresa, going on boat journeys, getting completely hammered in a “fun drunk” way, seeing Katie’s family home, meeting Chela’s mother… this is all great stuff. There’s a scene with Katie forcing everyone into a deeply Nordic sauna experience that’s both heartwarming and hilarious. And yet at the same time there is the undercurrent of “how long until Katie finally turns and has to be put down like a dog”, as well as “I am already not going to live much longer than five years so I might as well continue to help you”. And that’s not even getting into the faculty trying to find their killers. That, said, this is genuinely fluffy compared to last time, I promise.

So we’re now three teachers down, and in the faculty meeting discussing things the voice of reason, new faculty member and Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams points out that there must be something they have in common, and it’s probably related to Chloe Halford. As for the students, well, it’s end of term, and for once everyone is actually going home. This includes Marco, who is coming with Katie to meet her folks and the local trolls, and Teresa, who Oliver has invited along so that she can experience the world outside of Kimberly. They’re beset by pirates (who are defeated ludicrously easily,), and then they meet Katie’s parents, who are very nice but also have some very pointed questions for Oliver Horn. They then meet Chela’s mother, the elf Mishakua, who wants to see how they measure up in terms of a potential match for Chela. (Oliver fails badly.) Sadly, the ongoing Tir incursion ruins our peaceful fluff of a book.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – this series is fantastic at showing a truly wonderful polycule, with six people who are all wonderful in their own way, while also making you understand that there is no way the series ends with them all graduating and moving into a big house to start their own detective agency or something. I especially appreciated Guy, who gets a bit more to do here, and is starting to shape up as the emotional center of the group, along with Chela. I especially liked his relationship with Katie, where he’s there to be her comfort hug for a while because she can’t bear being near Oliver when he and Nanao are, well, CLOSE, but he draws a line and says she has to actually confront him about it. (Which she… doesn’t quite do.) But, I mean, this series started as a grand revenge story, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to go out that way too, and grand revenge stories do not end well for the revenger. That said, he may live longer than Katie, who even has her parents thinking she’s going to need to be killed by her friends to prevent her turning towards the Tir side.

I’m not sure if we’ll continue the grand tour of everyone’s home in Book 12 or just cut back to the next year at school, but it doesn’t matter, because next up is a Side Story. We’re going to get a good look at the past of Alvin Godfrey, who just graduated in the main series. Till then, this is fluffy fun. Ish.

A Certain Magical Index NT, Vol. 2

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By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Shinyaku To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

I’ve talked before about how much I don’t like Kamachi trying to be funny. His idea of good humor for the books is very much in the “whoops, I just fell into your boobs and you hit me so hard I became a star in the sky” sort of humor. That doesn’t happen here, but we do get about ten different love interest attaching themselves to Touma like lampreys, Itsuwa beating her superior officer to death in order to help him save face, seemingly every single female character grading themselves on breast size, etc. That said, it didn’t grate on me quite as much as usual. Maybe I’ve gotten used to it, but I think it’s more that it was needed in this book for a greater purpose. No, not to balance anything depressing. But rather, to balance out Leivinia Birdway Explains It All For You. She’s got an exposition hammer and she’s gonna use it, and even Index can only go along with her and chime in. Oh, hey, it’s Index! Hi, Index.

Introduced in this volume: Maria Kumokawa, Mjolnir. And by the end of the volume we know the next major antagonist group will be GREMLIN, and so no doubt they’ll start popping up as we go along. This takes place immediately after the first book in NT. As for the plot, well, Touma’s back in Academy City, and all his love interests are very relieved, though not above biting his head. (To be fair, Touma asked for it.) Eventually, he, Accelerator, and Hamazura end up back at Touma’s dorm room, where, as I noted above, Birdway (with occasional interruptions from Index) explains the differences and similarities between magic and science, the goals of each side, how World War III started, and what happens next. What happens next is the plot with Kaori Kanzaki, who is trying to stop a Colony Drop in the making.

I will admit, I left out a bit of humor in the list above, mainly because it was not “this is a wacky anime” style humor and also because it was genuinely funny. I laughed out loud, but also cringed. Mugino introducing herself to Fremea by saying “Hi, I’m the one who killed your sister” is jaw-droppingly awful but also deeply in character, and it was glorious. That said, the rest of ITEM, as well as Accelerator’s double Misaka combo and Touma’s own original flavor Misaka, take a back seat. Again, though at least Mikoto is trying to stop it in regards to the next book. Instead we get our three heroes coming together to save Academy City, each using their own strengths. And if it’s badass action you want, Kaori has it covered, with a fight against a Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. She is quite badass. Shame no one sees it.

It appears the next volume will head over to America. Will Mikoto manage to succeed in getting Touma to take her along while he tries to save people “for his own sake”? Will the cast get even more unwieldy? We’ll see. Till then, enjoy the humor that is the spoonful of sugar to help Birdway’s exposition go down.