Yearly Archives: 2018

Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 31

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By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

To the displeasure of a majority of Western fans, Nagi Sanzenin is the lead heroine in the Hayate the Combat Butler manga. And given that its hero is basically perfection in a butler costume, it makes sense that a large part of the plot development would involve forging Nagi to grow up and develop as a character. But Kenjiro Hata, the creator, knows two things: first of all, that he has to drag this out as long as possible so that the series can still run, and secondly, that people who have Nagi’s basic flaws and issues don’t change easily at all, and constantly fall back on the easy, the lazy, and the quickest way out. And, at the climax of the manga competition, that’s exactly what we see. Nagi is intelligent and can get things done, and her idea for SELLING is excellent, even though it objectifies Maria. But the point was CREATING, and there, Nagi fails. Again.

It’s telling that Nagi’s rival is Ruka, who is similar to her in many ways. They both have a thing that they are naturally excellent at, but all too easily fall into fannish habits: playing games, watching anime, and (in Nagi’s case) sleeping. But Ruka is seen here to buckle down and take Hina’s good advice, and her doujinshi (which Hata reproduces at the end of the volume) is short and cute. More importantly, it makes sense and attracts the reader’s eye, which nothing Nagi has ever created has done. Nagi does make a profit, but only after she gives in and allows Maria’s sexy candid photobook to be sold separately without her manga, which people are throwing in the garbage. (Maria has been reduced to a comedic character who gets humiliated for a while now, but this volume may take the cake.) The arc ends with Nagi saying next time we’ll do better, but… we’ve heard her say that before.

It’s very frustrating, and very true to life. That said, I suspect readers of Hayate the Combat Butler don’t really want true to life. Perhaps the new girl who is introduced near the end might help, but we know nothing about her. As for the other heroines in the book, mostly they stand to the side. Hina does a good jjob helping Ruka (and offers Izumi the same “hardcore” help later on, but Izumi’s drive to succeed is even lazier than Nagi’s). The other real subplot here is Wataru finally manning up and telling Isumi that he… loved her, as he seemingly is able to let go of his one-sided crush and move on. I’m not sure how I feel about Wataru and Saki as a couple, but you get the sense that the only thing preventing it from happening is the 20 volumes we have to go before the end.)

Hayate the Combat Butler is still funny, and enjoyable provided you don’t take the harem too seriously. I do not know of a single Hayate fan who does not take the harem too seriously, though, and that’s the rub. Still recommended for Hayate fans, though. You read the scans, now support the official release.

Outbreak Company, Vol. 2

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By Ichiro Sakaki and Yuugen. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Sometimes when you’re reading a novel, particularly if it’s a series, you find that it’s not paced exactly the way you want it to be. You’d really like the author to focus on the hints he dropped at the end of the last book, and he eventually does and it pays off quite nicely. But he’s content to wait around to do that, and instead meanders through various other plots that you don’t care about so much. Of course, the entire point of Outbreak Company is the enmeshing of the two plots, so you can’t say I shouldn’t have seen it coming. For all that I’m in this for the political intrigue and drama, Outbreak Company is about a man introducing a fantasy world to the wonders of otaku life. Manga, light novels, games… and the fandom wars that ensue when you have a bunch of people arguing about manga, light novels, and games. It’s certainly working out pretty well. In fact, it might be working out a bit TOO well, as Kanou realizes with a growing horror.

We do get a new character introduced in this book, a very bad spy who also turns out to be a very good artist. Elvia is a beast-girl, much to Kanou’s delight, and again what is thought in their own world to be a trait that inspires prejudice and hatred is looked on by our resident otaku as simply really cute. Throughout this book, Kanou is seen winning over everyone simply by virtue of being nice and not having pre-existing biases. He doesn’t look down on elves, dwarves, lizardmen, or beastgirls. The one flaw he has he shares with the rest of the Japanese forces, which is that he assumes that just because this country is based on “fantasy medieval kingdom” rules they’re a bunch of rubes. Instead, it’s Japan that ends up getting handed their asses, even when they try to threaten Kanou with the safety of his family near the end. These are not the brightest bulbs.

The main cast is excellent. Kanou may be an otaku, but his reasoning is very logical and thought out, and his solution to how to avoid having Japan simply steamroll over everyone is quite clever. Myucel is sweet and kind and helps Kanou when he’s at his lowest ebb, and also packs a mean magic punch. We get a bit more depth to Petralka, seeing why she’s so driven to succeed as the ruler and why her fuse is so short. She also gets possibly my favorite moment in the book, just by speaking a single sentence in Japanese. If there’s one drawback, it’s that, given this is written in Kanou’s first-person POV, Minori comes up a bit short. The author is at his most comfortable writing her as a BL fangirl – when he has to write her as a member of the JSDF, it works less well, and I wish we had a bit more of her own thoughts and feelings on this situation.

These are pretty short books – the anime dispensed with this one in a mere two episodes – but I think that works to their benefit, as otherwise I worry that the series would get bogged down in shout-outs to other anime and manga series and otaku trivia (which I understand the anime does). If you’re looking for a light, breezy read with more depth than you’d expect from its premise, Outbreak Company is a very good choice.

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 1

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By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America digitally by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

A lot of the transported/reincarnated to another world titles tend to follow the same series of events. If reincarnated, there’s sometimes a talk with and apology from God. Then the hero shows up at the standard vaguely medieval town, starts fighting fantasy monsters, and slowly amasses a group of young women around him. Oh, and is also ludicrously powerful. With this particular series, the hero is a heroine, but for the most part the exact same thing happens. The former Misato, killed rescuing a girl from being hit by a truck, is allowed by God to reincarnate in a fantasy world with magic and monsters and the like. That said, in her former life in modern Japan she was a talented, gifted girl good at anything… except making friends. And so she begs God to just make her an average girl in this new world. Hilariously, God has a ridiculously literal take on the word ‘average’. But that’s OK, as the heroine is just as ridiculous.

For the most part this story is a comedy, and the source of the comedy is Misato, who in this new world is first named Adele, and later takes on the name Mile. As she wanders through this new world like a bull in a china shop, you realize that even if God HAD made her an ordinary human she’d still have managed to stand out regardless. What she finds is that she’s average, not compared to the typical human, but average against everything in the world, including elder dragons. As such, she has super strength, super magic powers, and super reflexes. This horrifies her, and she spends most of the book trying desperately not to stand out. She is incredibly bad at this, to a ridiculous degree. Fortunately, she is a bit better at actually making friends this time around, first at the Academy for Slightly Lesser Nobles she is sent to, and then later on at the Hunter Academy when the series reboots itself.

The big flaw in the series, of course, is that it was originally a webnovel, and feels like it. As I said, about a third of the way through the book the author clearly decides that they have a better idea of what to do with their heroine, and so Misato/Adele ends up in a new country with a new name and at a new academy, but the situations she’s in are much the same – she even gets three other friends who seem wary/annoyed with her at first but quickly warm up to her after realizing that she’s less of a snooty genius and more of a hot mess. The reader may wonder why the first section wasn’t simply excised in editing. Once things do settle down, though, we get a number of fun, entertaining and funny scenes. Mile and her friends form a nice cohesive unit, and I like how she tries to teach them how to be more powerful by working the magical system this world has while also telling them it’s SUPER SECRET. And, of course, we see her being ridiculously overpowered, which is so ridiculous it turns out to be contagious.

The book tends to meander a bit, and anyone who gets annoyed by “OP heroes” should steer well clear. That said, I found reading this book an absolute hoot, and it was also nice to see a standard “other world” series where the focus is on a girl and her friendships and not possible romantic interests. The print book ships in June, and given that the second book is slated for August, I’m hoping we can read it digitally earlier than that. Also, what with this series, Walking My Second Path in Life, the upcoming I’ve Killed Slimes for 300 Years, and (sort of) So I’m a Spider, So What?, we’re finally getting a decent number of light novel heroines who are women. About time.