Monthly Archives: July 2018

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 6

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By Fujino Omori and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Liv Sommerlot.

I am frequently amused when I find that my own thinking as I read a book has mirrored the author’s. As I read this new Sword Oratoria volume, which focuses on Tione and Tiona, the twin Amazons from Loki Familia, I remember thinking that I didn’t really think much of them beyond “loves Finn” and “kind of an idiot”. And sure enough, in the afterword the author states that they had the same thought, and writing the book involved finding their character to an extent. Fortunately, it works out great: this is one of the strongest books in the Sword Oratoria series, with not only the usual excellent fights and seeing Loki be clever, but also some terrific backstory for the twins, whose live growing up was horrific and has left its mark on… both of them, though it’s not surprising that Tione thinks at first that it’s just her.

Here we meet a new goddess, Kali, as well as her followers, who the twins split off from years ago. As you may have guessed, Kali is bloodthirsty and desires endless war, so her children participate in a battle royale event from the moment they can walk, fighting each other to see who is strongest. (There is a chilling age reveal at one point that was handled fantastically.) Of course, it’s not just the new people – the series continues to also mirror what’s going on in the main one, and we’re nearing Book 7 on the timeline, so Ishtar Familia proves to be very active behind the scenes as well. This is unfortunate for Aiz, as the frog-faced battle warrior of the family, Phrynne, has a hate-on for Aiz for being… well, powerful and beautiful. And there’s another God involved as well, which surprised me, especially after reading the Lyu spinoff.

That said, Tione and Tiona are the stars here. We’ve seen Tione angry before, but here she spends almost the entire book in an incandescent, uncontrollable rage. I’ve never been a big fan of her goofy crush on Finn, but it works here because it’s actually weaponized, and also serves to remind Tione of what she’s gained since leaving the Amazons. As for Tiona, she absolutely knocked it out of the park for me, taking “smiling idiot” and showing how it can be one of the most powerful, heartwarming things ever – as well as showing that the idiot is not as true as it seemed. Tiona’s very clever here, in many respects.

This book lacks Bell Cranel for the most part, which works in its favor. As for Lefiya, well, she’s peril monkey here, sadly, but at least is shown to be more upset about her ongoing magic advancement and less about her crush on Aiz. The book is on the larger scale, so you’ll need to set aside from time for it, but if you like DanMachi, and particularly Loki Familia, you’ll love this.

Hanamonogatari: Flower Tale

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By NISIOISIN and VOFAN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Daniel Joseph.

First off, I can’t help but notice that I haven’t been crediting VOFAN in my reviews of the Monogatari series. This may not be surprising – Monogatari is not a “light” novel per se, and there are no interstitial illustrations – we get cover art and one large piece at the start of the story. But the art is not only gorgeous but can also be a signpost as to what type of story we’re getting. Kanbaru here – be it in the original cover or the one VOFAN did for the North American release – is looking very serious, not at all like the suggestive and leering girl we’ve seen in previous books narrated by Araragi. And sure enough, as we get a book written with her narration, we see that she is at heart an overly serious and earnest young woman, and that most of her banter with Araragi is a facade. “Playing the fool” is something she’s actively called out about. Even worse, this book takes place in her third year, so she can’t even count on her (now graduated) friends.

That’s right, we’re jumping forward in this book, as Hanamonogatari takes place sometime after the events of all the other books in the series. Araragi, Senjogahara and Hanekawa have graduated and moved on – though Araragi does play a small role here, mostly to give Kanbaru emotional support. Which she desperately needs. Her friend Higasa knows nothing of aberrations. Kaiki Deishu shows up, oddly enough, claiming to know her mother, and is actually quite helpful, but given his behavior regarding Senjogahara, Kanbaru wants nothing to do with him. And then there’s Ogi (and believe me, that romanization pains me as much as it does you). I hadn’t mentioned Ogi in my review of Kabukimonogatari – she showed up at the start to harangue Araragi about stoplights, and seems to hold him in contempt. Now Ogi is a male student – this is lampshaded a few times in case we don’t get the gender switch – and haranguing Kanbaru, though there seems to be less venom in his tone this time around. Ogi is clearly a puzzle that we’ll have to solve in future books, but for now let’s just go with ‘annoying underclassman’.

As for the main plotline, you won’t be surprised to hear it has to do with Kanbaru’s main issues – her “devil’s hand” and basketball. An old middle-school rival, Roka Numachi, has shown up, and like Kanbaru she’s injured and doesn’t play anymore. Also like Kanbaru she seems to be somewhat fluid in her sexuality, though this book indicates that most of Kanbaru’s happy “I’m a lesbian!” to Araragi was part of her front – her experience is near zero, though there’s definitely sexual tension with Roka. As with a lot of the Monogatari series, the plot itself seems to be laid out in a couple of long expository monologues – if you get bored easily, this is not the series for you. The resolution works well, though, and seems to point to Kanbaru maturing and moving forward, made explicit by her cutting her hair short again at the end (it has been growing longer as the series has gone on, as anime fans no doubt noticed.)

Anime fans, speaking of which, may be surprised to see this book coming so soon – this was the original Japanese release order, but the anime delayed its production till after the next three books were adapted. If you like Kanbaru it’s essential, and even if you don’t it’s still a good volume of the series, mostly as it lacks the “filter” of Araragi’s narration. Next time we’ll move back a few months and see why Sengoku Nadeko is this series’ most polarizing character.

The Irregular at Magic High School: Reminiscence Arc

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By Tsutomu Sato and Kana Ishida. Released in Japan as “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

Last time I was feeling a bit grumpy about the all-consuming black hole that Tatsuya was, removing moments of characterization from others in order to betetr serve the dramatic battle scenes. That’s not an issue with this volume, which flashes back three years to show us Tatsuya and Miyuki in middle school. Sure, there are battles, and endless numbers of dead magician mooks, but the thrust of this book is to show us how Miyuki’s feelings for Tatsuya changed into what they are at present, and also show us their relationship with their mother (who is dead in the present series, I believe) and their aunt (who is very much not dead). It does a good job at the latter, but unfortunately the former doesn’t quite work as well. I get that we’re supposed to see how Miyuki notices what Tatsuya is suffering through every day, and what he’s doing for her sake, but it reads more like “I finally saw him really fight, and he’s so cool!”.

The book is interspersed with moments from just after the last book, with Tatsuya reporting to Maya and being asked to leave school and Miyuki. (He refuses – no surprise there.) The bulk of the book follows Miyuki’s viewpoint, though, as a typical pampered 12-year-old who is mostly pissed off at her brother because she doesn’t understand him. We see Tatsuya fight off a bunch of military brats, hear about him getting injured fighting someone while Miyuki was sleeping, and then see him really break out the whoopass once Miyuki is almost killed. Miyuki is also informed by her mother about the essential lobotomisation that was done to Tatsuya when he was young, and the fact that he has no strong emotions other than “loves Miyuki like a little sister” as a result. Miyuki is understandably horrified, and this is what has led us to our current situation of Tatsuya and Miyuki trying to push back against the Yotsubas as much as they can.

The most interesting part of the book is probably the last short story at the end, which goes back still further to show us Miya and Maya as 12-year-old girls. Sadly, it’s not a happy time when they’re playing cutely together. Maya was kidnapped by (please hold your surprise in) an evil Asian organization, raped, and experimented on for three days. (We thankfully do not see this ourselves, just hear about it.) Maya is broken by this, and the family ask Miya to fix it using her own powers. What follows is what led to the rift between the two sisters, as well as, to a degree, the main plot of the series – my guess is that a lot of the machinations we’ve been seeing are related to Maya’s trauma and her attempts to deal with it. It explains a lot, and makes compelling reading, but, much like the battle Tatsuya gets into as a middle schooler, it’s not particularly fun to read.

Like Tatsuya, I felt a bit emotionally dead after reading this volume. It’s well-written, and I want to see what happens next. The fights are nice provided you don’t mind knowing there’s no way they’re ending in anything but Tatsuya winning handily. But the reason that we stay with the high school and the students within it is to have their emotional center, which Tatsuya lacks – and Miyuki to, to a large degree. Thankfully, the next three books are a big arc that takes place at the school. Till then we have this, which basically says that brother-sister incest is the least of this family’s troubles.