High School DxD: Durandal of the Student Council Election

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By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

As we are nearing the end of the series, it’s nice to see that it has actual character development for multiple people and is not just “they got stronger, so that is their character development”. We see that Kiba is still filled with righteous fury over his past. We see that Asia still struggles with self-confidence issues, even though she’s now the president of the Occult Research Club. And then there’s the cover girl for this volume, Xenovia. When she arrived, she was the sort to just go all Leeroy Jenkins on whatever problems she had. But over the course of the last several books, we’ve seen her try to grow from that and apply actual strategy, sometimes even using different weapons or trying other ways to attack. So one of the best jokes in the entire book comes near the end, when she’s told “no, that’s not what the real Xenovia is. You need to not think more. You just charging ahead is MORE effective because it is you.” And it’s true. Xenovia is all vibe.

As Xenovia prepares for student council elections, where she’s running against Sona’s hand-picked candidate, the cast is met with a new crisis. After the events of the last book, a considerable portion of folks on the side of the angels – literally – are very unhappy with the whole “make peace with demons” thing, and believe the only good demon is dead. Which, to be fair, these are mostly the ones who had demons kill everyone they loved. They’re also led by three cardinals – a really strong one, a really strategic one, and a mascot kid. OK, he’s also really powerful, but that’s not a role he serves here. They’ve decided to attack DxD, who are basically a symbol of everyone they hate. As such, try to contain your shock, the back half of this book is one big fight.

One thing I really liked about this book, one of the better ones in the series, is that the fight is very performative. It’s a fight that has to happen to teach a lesson, rather than one that has to end with one side dead or near dead. (We get that in the cliffhanger, to be fair.) And the cardinals not only accept Irina, Xenovia and Asia working for the other side, but they’re still happy to see them. Kiba finding out he’s not the sole survivor of sword experimentation, and Asia getting all her fan mail delivered to her at long last, these are really heartwarming scenes, and they were great to see. As for Xenovia, as the author notes, she’s in “Cool” mode here rather than “Cute”. Her speech to the school, where she had something well-prepared but kinda dull and decided to ditch that and wing it, is also very her. And an “I love this school” student council election speech is, of course, very shonen, just like this series.

Unfortunately, Ravel is now dead. Right? I’m sure that must be what happened. Also, the afterword says the next book will be a new spinoff devoted to short stories, but I don’t know if Yen Press will agree. We shall see. In the meantime you do you, Xenovia.

Fleet-Footed Dungeon Delver: Tune in for Magical Girls and Motion Blur!, Vol. 1

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By Ameko Kaeruda and U35. Released in Japan as “Shinsoku no Dungeon Seeker ~Speed Kyokufuri Haishinsha wa Subete o Buchinuku~” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Faye Duxovni.

(Spoilers within for the back half of this book.)

I did wonder, you know. Despite the fact that this is written by Ameko Kaeruda, the author of Sexiled. And illustrated by U35, the artist for Buying a Classmate Once a Week and that Voice Actor Radio series. I wondered if this would just be slice-of-life. Or worse, if it might have a male lead. It wasn’t tagged by the publisher, either. Fear not, this is yuri. Of *course* it’s yuri. That said, as with other Kaeruda series, the yuri is the spice, but the point of the book is something else. We meet a teenage girl who is trying to escape an oppressive family, and her discovery of another girl who’s the survivor of a terrible tragedy. Except, as we discover, Nodoka is far more than just the survival of a terrible tragedy. It ends up being the question of the book. What *is* Nodoka? We just don’t know.

One day, a meteor hits the Earth and everyone dies… but the planet Earth (and everyone on it) is immediately reincarnated! And you know what that means! It now has dungeons! And sometimes the dungeons go haywire and escape into the real world, killing whole towns. A survivor of one of those disasters, Nodoka, is trying to make a living delving into dungeons. And she wants to stream it! Unfortunately, technology seems to hate her… her stream always crashes. Then she meets another dungeon streamer, Subaru. Subaru is an up-and-coming streamer who likes to take on dangerous challenges (don’t worry, if you’re IN the dungeon, you don’t die, just respawn). She’s in danger from a monster, but Nodoka saves her… thanks to SUPER speed. Speed so fast the cameras can’t pick it up. Subaru has an idea. Why not team up?

The yuri, as I said, is just a spice. The main reason to read this, as with all of Kaeruda’s works, is the worldbuilding. It’s pretty nifty. We learn about Nodoka’s past bit by bit, as well as the young woman she’s trying desperately to catch up to. But we also learn about what a world with dungeons all over can be like… and how the dregs of humanity can abuse this. Respawn abuse, in particular, is both terrifying and plot relevant. The “reincarnation” thing ends up being far more out there than I was expected in terms of just who is reincarnated. There’s also a Mexican-Japanese family who are all adorable and fantastic, and while they’re mostly there to be rescued and give the book tension, I appreciated them anyway. And again, I like how the author allows the characters to casually admit they are in love and ready to date without a single “B-B-But we’re both GIRLS!” at all. It’s also simply fun to read. The time flies by.

This is numbered Vol. 1, but there’s no sign of 2 yet, and it’s self-contained and could end here. With DRE Novels, you never really know. I’d love to read a second, though.

Fired? But I Maintain All the Software!, Vol. 3

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By Yuki Kashirome and icchi. Released in Japan as “E, Shanai System Subete One Operation Shite Iru Watashi o Kaiko desu ka?” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Minna Lin.

Content warning: This review will be discussing a book that deals with multiple companies that use AI, and it discusses AI throughout the book, usually in a positive way (though it does emphasize AI without humans making decisions is a disaster). Reader discretion is advised.

This is still good, but we are starting to reach the point where I tell the author “you know this is not a sustainable idea for a long-run series, right?”. This book introduces a new person who feels their dream can never be achieved, and then marvels at Ai making it happen using both her computational prowess and her sunny, cock-eyed-optimist personality. A personality that she can only use on others and not herself, as Ai continues to struggle with self-confidence issues. We see her kicking herself that she doesn’t have a dream like everyone else, and she still doesn’t really feel like an adult. This is despite Tsubasa proposing to her (one of the most casual proposals ever), Megumi calling her a God, and Kenta, having returned from his sabbatical, seemingly reinventing his entire ethos because of her. Actually, that may be Ai’s biggest problem, and I suspect if this book does come to a close, Ai vs. Ken may be the final battle. Because she’s not happy with what he is now.

Now that they have Ai’s Smart Glasses and Megumi’s Megumi Arm, our small little startup needs to take the next step, and that’s virtual idols, which are a big thing. Ai and Megumi vow to find a fantastic virtual idol to be their collaborator, and they do find them, and eventually, after much angsting and worrying, recruit them. Unfortunately, Kenta’s become all about the profit now, and his idea involves teaming up with the company behind the biggest virtual idol group in the country. Which means that Ai’s friend won’t get their big debut after all. He’s become a big meanie, that Ken! But, he’s also correct in terms of what it takes to make it in today’s world. Can Ai find a solution, possibly involving an even bigger collab? And will the technology hold up?

We get a lot of that other company in this book, headed by their own version of Kenta, Kawabe. He and Kenta are after the same thing, but Kawabe also wants to be best and crush any potential competition, and is also a bit of a brat, so you know he’s going to fail. I did like that, when we meet the rest of Kawabe’s team, they all sound like eccentric personalities in and of themselves. We don’t spend any real time with them, but they feel like they have lives outside the meeting they had with Ai and company. I was also amused at Matsuri Komari and Megumi swapping tragic backstories, because everyone in Ai’s orbit has a tragic backstory. But again, the main feeling I got from this volume, even as the end of it was pretty triumphant, was “this ends soon, right?”.

There’s a fourth volume out, so it doesn’t end yet. And that volume has Kenta on the cover, not Ai. We’ll see what happens.