Monthly Archives: October 2021

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 7

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By Toshio Satou and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shonen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

This volume attempts to answer that dangerous question: what happens when the new person’s goal is to break the premise of the series? We met Anzu in the last volume, and here she makes good on her threat to get Lloyd to her kingdom. Unfortunately, well, Lloyd is Lloyd, as the main cast points out. So she decides to train him in such a way that he gains confidence ANYWAY, even though he’s already ludicrously strong. Unfortunately, as Maria breaks the fourth wall to point out, Anzu ends up being yet another comedy character whose goal is to scream loudly whenever Lloyd does something beyond all human ken again. What’s more, he keeps accidentally breaking her country. And even more amusingly, he keeps accidentally breaking the villain’s plans. Over and over again. It’s Lloyd’s gimmick, and thus you can’t really train him out of it. If he realized what he’s really like, the series ends… at least till the last few pages.

We begin with Anzu, in disguise, heading to the Azami Kingdom… and accidentally running into the entire cast and all of their bad character traits, including mistaking Allan for a hero, Merthopan’s dangerously flappy loincloth, Selen and Micone competing to see who can be the creepiest, and Riho trying to disguise her tragic flaw: donuts. Once we actually get the main cast (minus Micona, thank God, and also minus Alka – again, thank God) to the Ascorbic Domain, various plot-related things happen. There are two other factions trying to overthrow Anzu, each of whom is, of course, a different anime cliche; it turns out that this is where Eug is now, and she’s got a new Very Clever Scheme to cause war between all the countries; Lloyd proves impossible to train; and, most importantly, Phyllo is at a loose end after the events of the previous volume, and it’s making her fighting weak.

Aside from the last few pages mentioned above, Phyllo was the best part of this book. She’s depressed and angry with herself through most of the volume, as everyone and their brother is pointing out how she no longer has a purpose and it’s showing in her now very readable moves. The problem is that the events of the last book were good, right? Her mother isn’t dead, her family is whole again… why does this leave a big hole inside her? The resolution of this is very organic and feels very much like Phyllo, who is not really a character given over to long tormented inner monologues. Seeing her snap out of it is great – and, of course, only adds to the love polycule. As for those last few pages, let’s just say that someone actually manages to find the right way to train Lloyd and give him advice that works. It not only makes him even stronger, but he gets told the right way to build confidence. It’s honestly fantastic, I cheered.

That said, do I think it will last? No. No, I do not. But we will get at least one more volume before we have to go back to the default settings. In the meantime, this book is definitely recommended for Phyllo fans, and fans of the other characters should enjoy it as well. Well, unless you’re a Micona fan. In which case, WHY?

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 5

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By Riku Misora and Sacraneco. Released in Japan as “Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

Churchill once said “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried”. Leaving aside his own legacy for the moment, there was sort of a minor fandom kerfuffle at the idea of the prodigies coming into this world and introducing the people to the wonders of free elections. It felt a bit condescending, to be honest, and the cynicism that some of them seem to wear around them at all times did not help. This volume serves to try to balance that out a bit. Democracy is happening, but what actually comes of it is anyone’s guess. We see the formation of two factions, one isolationist and one interventionist, and they both have good points. Certainly the interventionist one would be better for our heroes of their won. Sadly, they’re already corrupt from within and loaded with people who want perks and bribes… which is, let’s face it, another part of democracy.

There’s actually an extra story taking up most of the first third of the book, where some “bandits” have taken over a stronghold and are wiping out the military trying to stop them, mostly as the military still isn’t used to fighting against modern weapons. Ringo could fix things immediately, but instead Tsukasa leaves it up to a child genius girl, who is very much the classic princess curled OHOHOHOHOHOHO! sort, and also sadly has invented one of history’s most infamous weapons. The book proper is devoted to a plea from one of the Yamato princesses to save her country. Tsukasa is not interested in that, but might be interested in saving her people… if she’s telling the truth. And for once the prodigies are not united – the fellowship is broken as Masato and Tsukasa disagree on their next step, and he heads off to a port as part of his own agenda.

Unlike previous books in the series, this one does not have any glaring horrible bits in it, it’s very readable. Though I wish that all the talk about saving Roo’s dream had been done with Roo in the room… or even in the book, which she isn’t. There’s a sense throughout the book that we’re setting things up for the back half of the series (we’ve halfway done by the end of this book), and indeed the Yamato problem is not remotely resolved by the end of it. Everything else seems to be simmering but not boiling over as well, including Tsukasa’s love triangle, which is a very awkward one indeed giving he’s ignoring both love interests… well, the love part, at least. There is a crisis of conscience from Prince, who feels weak and feeble compared to the others, but I gotta be honest, I find Prince dull so it didn’t really resonate with me. And the illustrations are laden with service, though I was amused at Shinobu literally calling attention to her own shower picture in the novel text.

This feels like the sort of book that will feel better after the next book is out. Till that, I’m giving it a B minus.

My Hero Academia: School Briefs, Vol. 5

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By Kouhei Horikoshi and Anri Yoshi. Released in Japan by Shueisha. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Caleb Cook.

There is a certain give and take with adaptations like these. The author of these light novels is Anri Yoshi, not Kouhei Horikoshi, and they are allowed to do some things but not others because, well, this is an ongoing manga and there is a limit to what one can do in a side story that won’t break the main story. Thus, in the last volume we saw Shinso look disparagingly at Mineta and wonder why he wasn’t expelled yet, but that’s all he did because the actual answer is Horikoshi has admitted he loves to write Mineta. This volume dances around the many revelations about the Todoroki family we’ve had since the last one, but does not actually allow the family to meet up in full again, because, well, the manga covers those times. That said, there’s still good stuff here. We see Izuku and Bakugo bond as much as they’re ever going to. We see the reader struggling to remember which classmate Shoji is. Oh yes, and we see Monoma straight up almost murder 3/4 of the cast, then try to cover it up.

The book has 5 larger stories interspersed with short vignettes of Jiro, Asui, Uraraka, and Yaoyorozu going home for the holidays. These are mostly short but cute, with some ship tease (and ship sinking) and a brief horror when you realize Momo’s parents are even worse than she is in regards to money sense. In the main stories: a) ida, Kirishima, Shoji and Tokoyami explore an underground dungeon under UA, filled with weird traps; b) The faculty all try to give Eri Christmas presents at the same time without waking her up; c) The Todoroki siblings get together for New Year’s, and Shoto realizes he is a terrible cook; d) Izuku and Bakugou try to mend the relationship between two fighting kids which is a mirror of their own; and e) after the 1-A hot pot party begins (as seen in the manga), 1-B show up and the party becomes a competition, then a yamanabe party… with potentially fatal consequences.

The stories get better as they go along, with the start of the book being the weaker side. The best are the stories with our “main three” heroes, as they dig into the deeper characterization we’ve seen from the manga and examine the tortured relationship Endeavor still has with his family (and the book does not shy away from using the word abuse). Bakugo too is very well used here, still angry at Izuku for anything and everything but realizing that this is mostly on him and trying not to actually make it worse. The most bonkers story is the last one, where Monoma accidentally feeds poison mushrooms to 3/4 of the cast, then the ones not affected have to go out into a blizzard and find the antidote. It’s good development for Kaminari, and has the best joke in the entire book (Shiozaki’s ingredient for the yamanabe), but I felt the author had trouble finding the balance Monoma desperately needs to be fun and not irritating, and the “please cover this up” ending left me slapping my head.

Still, overall I thought this was a decent volume in the series, which can never be as good as its source but is good enough.