Monthly Archives: April 2018

Accel World: Signal Fire at the Water’s Edge

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By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

A lot of what I’ve seen in Accel World has been the author recognizing, lampshading, and attempting to either fix or downplay the faults that we’ve seen in his previous series, Sword Art Online. The lead here, Haruyuki, is if anything even more powerful than Kirito, but while Kirito does have inner turmoil (something the anime was not that great in bringing out), Haruyuki is all inner turmoil. Kirito spends most of his time in SAO either solo playing or reluctantly partnering up; Haruyuki cherishes working with people and forming friendships. Also, while Kirito may be your typical light novel hero and amass a harem of girls who like him, Haruyuki is short, stout, and has twice the number of girls after him. And what’s more, with the exception of the current Alicization arc, Kirito’s problems tend to be easy to solve, while the Accel World narrative never quite wraps anything up, and things just continue to snowball forward in one broad narrative.

Niko is on the cover, and it has been a while since we’ve seen her, even though the book is filled with reminders that the last several books or so have only happened over a period of a few days. She shows up as some other Brain Burst user, who seemed very similar to Kuroyukihime, was being evil, and thus some of her legion took it upon themselves to challenge Nega Nebulus (which now has a new addition as another old face we’re already familiar with returns to the fold). It’s all a misunderstanding, but reminds us that the Acceleration Research Society is still trying to get their way, which involves parasitizing as many users as possible with ISS kits, including sadly a very familiar face. Niko shows up in order to apologize for the rash actions of her legion and also add some muscle in their fight, along with Pard. And they’ll need the help, as they decide they can’t afford to wait any longer, they have to attack Metatron NOW.

The book, as always, is well written, with lots of funny moments, good fights, and emotional scenes. My favorite scene was probably the most chilling, though, which is where Niko notes how safe they feel around Haruyuki. She’s quite to point out that it’s not that he’s a “nice guy” per se, it’s just all female-type avatar users have a certain fear of being found in the real world, and Haruyuki, who knows a ton of them, doesn’t trigger that fear. He cares about what they think, and listens to what they say. For an author who I have yelled at for going to the “rape as drama” well far too many times, this is a surprisingly nuanced take – and all the more chilling for it, as all these girls are 15 years old or less by definition. It’s something that girls have to deal with every day in our real world, and it’s sad and yet very realistic that even in the future, female gamers still risk getting attacked.

The author lets us know this is going to be another multi-book arc, though honestly, as I noted above, this book feels far more like one long narrative than SAO ever did. I really want to find out what happens next. The 14th book better arrive soon.

My Boy, Vol. 1

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By Hitomi Takano. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Shounen” by Futabasha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Monthly Action. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian.

When this title was announced by Vertical, I raised an eyebrow. The concept seemed a bit… dangerous? That said, I probably should have trusted them. My Boy is an award-nominated work in Japan. And, much as it might look at it at times, it is most definitely not about the love story between an adult office lady and a 12-year-old boy. Instead it seems to be about found families, about how much you can support someone when technically you aren’t responsible for their upbringing, and the difficulties of child abuse, particularly “is this abusive enough to actually do anything about?”. And it’s also about how abuse can affect your basic mindset, to the point where you see acts of kindness as huge, impactful things that you need to repay rather than just everyday niceness. It is a good, meaningful work, told with a deft hand.

Satoko is an office worker dealing with an ex-boyfriend being a colleague at her job (and also showing off his new girlfriend), who takes her temperature every morning even though she can no longer seem to recall why. She runs into Mashuu, a pretty long-haired boy who is lurking at the local park and trying to play soccer by himself – badly. She gives him a few pointers and moves on, but he’s there again the next day (and easy prey for potential molesters), so she gradually learns more about his life. It’s not a pretty life – his dad works late and doesn’t seem to care enough to even make sure he’s changed clothes. His younger brother is named Ryouichi (ichi means “first” in Japan, and is not usually a name you give a second child). Little acts of kindness and caring make him cry. He’s a product of a neglectful home. As the days go by, Satoko gets more and more involved in his life, taking him to soccer games and a sushi restaurant. Is this what she wants in her life? And what *is* this?

The book is self-aware enough to know what some readers might be thinking. There are news reports at the start about abduction and molestation of children, and a creeper attempts to do the same to Mashuu until Satoko intervenes. Satoko and Mashuu’s relationship feels more familial, and the title “My Boy” suggests a parental substitute might be what’s going on here. Mashuu is a sweet kid, even at school, when he’s talking to the shy classmate who realizes there’s something going on, but he desperately needs basic affection and care, and right now only Satoko is the one that can give it to him. But of course she isn’t his mother. It’s implied, though I’m not sure if this is the case, that he’s from a previous marriage or similar. In fact, we never even see his family – the book, with the exception of the scenes at Mashuu’s school, is focused on the relationship between Satoko and Mashuu, and how it’s changing both of them.

Now, it’s possible this could develop in a different direction, and I’ve been wrong before – hi, Bunny Drop. But this doesn’t feel like a romance. It feels like a family story, about about how sometimes the family you make is better and more loving than the family you have. That said, I’m pretty sure there will be more drama in future volumes. I also recommend skipping the author’s notes at the end, which do play up the “older woman/young boy” fetish, to my annoyance. But definitely read My Boy. It’s a touching, heartaching story.

Me, a Genius? I Was Reborn into Another World and I Think They’ve Got the Wrong Idea!, Vol. 1

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By Nyun and Sakana. Released in Japan as “Isekai ni Tensei Shitandakedo Ore, Tensai tte Kanchigai Saretenai?” by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shaun Cook.

When I first saw that this title was licensed, I noted the lengthy title, the fact that it was an isekai that WASN’T a dungeon crawl or similar, and that it was a comedy and got a certain idea in my head of what it would be like. I though it would be ordinary boy in ordinary family, but reincarnated, coming up with common sense ideas from his old world that no one in this new one had heard of, and thus being mistaken for brilliant. Laffs follow. Now… to a certain extent, I’m not wrong? Well, except for the ordinary. The ordinary in that last sentence is so wrong I’m surprised I wasn’t arrested when I wrote it. But, as the author says, he enjoys writing stories based on everyone misunderstanding everyone else. And that includes the reader. I misunderstood Me, a Genius, which is one of the loopiest light novels I have ever read in my life.

Kouki is a former researcher who dies and is reincarnated in another world, certainly. He actually has his full memories from even before he’s born, which is unusual in this genre, mostly because even the most isekai of authors would try to work that one our realistically and go “ummmmm”. He’s born in a world with its share of problems – World War II started early, a plague devastated Europe, etc. It’s now 2091, and Kouki is an ordinary boy in a… OK, look, his mom is a former quantum mathematician turned housewife, and his dad is in a secret UN special ops unit. In Kouki’s mind, he’s doodling as a child, trying to research the history of this world, and occasionally do normal things like weed the lawn in his mobile suit. To his mom, he’s a terrifying prodigy who solved quantum equations, created devastating pesticides in his spare time, and is HER LITTLE BOY WHO MUST BE PROTECTED. Luckily, there is a school for the incredibly brilliant that he can be sent to when he hits 16.

A word of warning: this book requires you to throw out the window any consistency of character, particularly Kouki’s character. Sometimes he’s a normal schlub you’d see in a harem romcom. Sometimes he does feel like a guy who did research a lot of complex things in his former life. And sometimes he feels like what everyone thinks he is, the product of a marriage between two clearly brilliant people who is even more insanely brilliant. For all that the series is supposed to be about “misunderstandings”, sometimes Kouki’s “common sense” makes you want to beat your head against the wall. The book’s tone is also occasionally inconsistent – when it’s being gonzo it’s fine, but sometimes it takes a breather and does things like investigating the school’s seven mysteries and turns deadly boring. Fortunately, mostly it’s gonzo.

Everyone in this book leaps to the silliest possible conclusion not only about what Kouki is thinking, but about what everyone else in the world is thinking as well. I’ve seen light novels where the protagonist is normal and everyone else is eccentric. I’ve seen books where the leads are eccentric but there’s one normal person. But here everyone is, in their own way, amazingly bonkers. The mom is threatening the United States president with war should her son be in danger, and he can only cower. Kouki’s friend (and later girlfriend) Alice has a gobstopping plot revelation dropped about 3/4 of the way in… and then nothing ever really comes of it, nor does Kouki discover it. There are cockroaches who do work nanomachine style. Heck, at one point Kouki really does end up in a fantasy world and defeats the demons, picking up a pet dragon as a reward.

This book series is only three volumes long, and thank God. This is not the type of series that could sustain itself over the long run. It also has hideous plot and character flaws – anyone who takes light novels seriously might get an allergic reaction to it. But I was laughing throughout, and kept thinking “Damn, this is fun. Ridiculous, but fun.” Please enjoy this story of a boy and the world he’s reincarnated into, where every human alive just talks past one another.