Yearly Archives: 2018

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 17

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

This is essentially a series of short stories taking place right after the events of the last two volumes, and is therefore as light and fluffy as you can imagine. Everyone goes to the beach, then everyone goes to a festival, then everyone goes to an amusement park. When the group aren’t going places, we see Yurika struggle to do all the homework she completely forgot about in two days, and we also see Koutarou’s father, who hasn’t shown up since the first volume, drop by to check on his son and meet his nine new daughters. I’m kidding only slightly, as the series is starting to make the not-too-shocking chess moves to allow this to be a full-fledged harem in the future. It’s always had this somewhat implicitly, but here two of the girls agree that if one of them marries Koutarou, the other is allowed to cheat with no worries. Honestly, at this point I think fans would be angry if he DID choose only one girl.

We do seem to have capped the number of girls at nine, however. Elfaria was certainly in love with Koutarou back when he was in the past, and it’s fairly obvious that she still harbors feelings for him, but she also knows that she can provide a role for him that the other girls can’t, which is to be a mother figure. Rokujouma is never really all that subtle with its character development, and has had the other girls talk about everything being on hold till Koutarou emotionally matures enough to be able to accept and move past his mother’s death. That said, given the rest of the girls are putting ‘Koutarou’s family’ first, it makes sense that Elfaria is thinking about being a mom for him, something the others aren’t able to do (Kiriha could pull it off, I think, but likely wants Koutarou romantically too much for that to happen).

Koutarou has developed since the series began – something the series is unashamedly fond of spelling out, as his dad tells him straight up in the last story how the old him would never have allowed himself to get this close to all those other girls. That said, my favorite chapter was probably (try not to be surprised) the Yurika one, which also shows off how much she has grown and changed despite still being the author’s go-to when he needs someone to whine and be pathetic (as we can see in the beach chapter, where she proves to be a hammer). Sure, she needs some motivation, mostly from Koutarou (he does a stick, then a carrot, which works very well), but I really did admire her refusal to get “magical help” to finish the homework, or to give up. I also liked that Shizuka noted there were errors in the work, but didn’t correct them – Yurika has to improve enough to get into college with Koutarou and Harumi, and that means fixing her own mistakes.

Of course, it also means dealing with the other evil magical girls, and the ending implies that the next book will feature their return. Rokujouma continues to truck along nicely, and even this slight volume provides smiles and chuckles.

One Piece, Vol. 88

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

Ah, it’s *another* one of those “200 pages of fighting” One Piece volumes. As ever, though, there’s stuff we can talk about. Let’s start with Luffy, who spends much of this volume facing off against Katakuri, the seemingly stoic villain who Luffy can’t do anything against… except he can, because Luffy has been analyzing the fight as he goes and figuring out how the powers are being used. The dialogue literally calls out Luffy for being clever, but it’s worth saying out loud, because the reader tends to associate Luffy with the classic dumb shonen hero whose solution to everything is to punch it. And, well, that is still Luffy’s solution some of the time. But training with Rayleigh has forced him to mature and be clever, and it’s finally beginning to pay off here. I also liked his advice to Nami about the mirrors (and seeing how Nami immediately trusted Luffy). Luffy is finally evolving into someone we thing CAN become the Pirate King.

The rest of the cast also seem to be at their best when inspired by Luffy, but of all people to level up and start kicking eight kinds of ass, Carrot is not who I was looking at. Turns out, though, that she’s a were-rabbit of some sort, and when the full moon comes out becomes a combat nightmare. Similar to Chopper, except she’s meant to be badass rather than terrifying, and doesn’t lose her reason. That said, she helps but Big Mom’s pirate crew is HUGE, and they’re still nowhere near being able to escape. This despite the triumphant return of Al Capone…. um, Bege, who not only decides he’s going to rescue his wife but goes out fighting with their baby at his side. It’s ludicrous yet also heartwarming, like the best One Piece moments.

And, I am forced to admit, Sanji is pretty cool in this volume. I’ve talked before about my ambiguous feelings about Sanji, whose “pervert” personality stopped being funny about 75 volumes ago. But here Sanji has to be serious and cool in order to support Oda’s current running gag, which is Pudding’s romantic feelings whenever she sees this. Honestly, I don’t think the two of them are really going to end up together, but if they did, they certainly have a similar vibe, both being made up of one core personality the readers like, and one annoying personality that Oda likes. Also, together they can make an impressive cake, which is good, as Big Mom is still on the warpath, and the lack of sweets seems to be making her smaller and smaller (she’s merely a “very large woman” by the end of the book), though I’m pretty sure she’s just as dangerous. Will they have to abandon the Sunny to get away from her? Either way, I’m pretty sure the arc’s not ending in the next book, so get ready for more fighting, and more of me being able to talk about it anyway. That’s what makes One Piece still good after all this time.

The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 7

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By Gamei Hitsuji and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

Well, clearly someone did have a talk with the illustrator since my last review, as there is now a new illustrator, and there are lots of interstitial art pieces, which is good, as I’d honestly forgotten that Lefille wears that hat. That hat is not something that should be easily forgotten. On the prose side, this is perhaps a book that is overbalanced towards the back half. The start of the book features a lot of magic lectures, even for this series that seems to be almost entirely magic lectures. The middle third deals with our heroes having to prove themselves to the Elite Guard who will be fighting with them, and needless to say by the end of it the Elite Guard is not so elite. Even Mizuki’s alter ego hands them their asses (actually, her final power move may be the funniest moment in the book). Things end on a more serious note, though,l as the “this is somehow connected with Suimei’s home world” plotline that’s been suggested comes into full flower.

There is a sense in this volume that the author is starting to settle in for the long haul, and thus starting to do something about the supporting cast. I’ve mentioned before that I appreciate that Reiji, the nominal hero, is not written out of the book or made jealous of Suimei, but that does mean that he’s been a bit bland. That doesn’t change here, but he does try to double down on his heroic qualities, realizing that he has to get stronger in order to keep up with everyone else – “rely on others” only feels like good advice if you can rely on yourself sometimes too. Likewise, Felmenia is starting to feel left out, being the defense expert among a group of attackers, and wants to learn how to have a mana furnace like Suimei does – and if that means becoming “inhuman”, so be it. Unfortunately, the actual scenes of her doing this aren’t in the book itself, but we do at least see the results, and she kicks much ass.

Though the author is trying to think ahead and develop characters, there are still a few problems. While this book *is* meant to have a cliffhanger – the mastermind helping the demons and what their relation to Suimei is – I don’t think it’s meant to feel quite as open-ended as it does. For one thing, the Lefille fight with the demon who cursed her is completely abandoned, and I’m not even sure if she made it back to be with the others. Speaking of that fight and the others like it, seeing our dragonewt antagonist and his party show up and announce “we’re helping you, don’t ask why” begs to be followed by “because the author couldn’t think of a good reason”. Oh well, at least the fights are decently written, particularly the duels midway through, and Lefille is no longer a little girl size, though I’m sure that won’t last. As for where we go from here… who knows? The next volume is the last one in Japan to date.