By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

This series does, believe it or not, have a bit more to it than simply a lot of cool fights and all the women in it fighting over who gets to be Allen’s #1 girl. We get lore dumps every volume, and this one is no exception, and while that can be difficult sometimes (all the old great families of yore had last names ending in -heart or -field, and while that’s aesthetically pleasing it does mean I wish this had a more comprehensive wiki), it also lends this story an epic take, a bit of gravitas that, frankly, it really needs so as not to overbalance into harem antics. 500 years ago or so was a lost age of powerful families and races that are mostly long gone, but the relics and dregs of the age still survive, and they’re either fighting to regain power or preparing to pass that power on to the next generation. Of course, finding where the power is hidden can be even more difficult…

In the aftermath of the death of apostle Io, the hero’s brother Igna, and Grand Marshal Moss Saxe, Allen can’t put it off any longer: he’s got to get a last name and some perks for saving the world – again. He tries to pawn this off on someone else as usual, and even when he figures something out it manages to be something beneficial for all – Allen simply doesn’t have many worldly desires, as those trying to get him to love them most know very well. Now they have to go off to the north to try to find another Sealed Archive so that they can gain access to a sealed book. It makes sense that Tina plays a big role, given that her late mother Rosa was the one who did most of the research into this. But why on Earth does business genius Felicia need to come with them? Only the cat knows…

I would normally avoid talking about spoilers, but it’s literally on the cover. Just as the last time Allen faced a secret archive he had Stella possessed, we now get Felicia’s body possessed by Anko, who has been lurking around this book as a black cat but of course turns out to be far more. That said, mostly what this battle serves to do is to make Felicia realize that in terms of girls who loves Allen, she’s at the bottom of the list. Allen, who is hated by a large portion of the population for various reasons, most of which are bullshit, needs someone at his side who can keep up with him – which means fighting, and Felicia is far better suited to, well, being a businesswoman. While she doesn’t say it to his face, she’s basically removing herself from the Allen sweepstakes here. As for the others, well, the title character might make more strides if she stopped acting like a child, but that seems impossible for her for now.

This was a solid volume, though I am starting to feel that this is being dragged out a bit too much. If the author wanted to make sure the series kept going till after the anime, no fear, feel free to wrap it up now.

By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

Aside from the incredibly complicated plot, and the “who will Allen end up with” parts, for the most part this series’ most interesting subplot has been “when will everyone finally succeed at making Allen into a noble?”. Admittedly, one of the biggest obstacles to pulling this off has been Allen himself, whose genuine low self-esteem is matched only by his crafty ability to try to escape getting credit for things. Because he has experienced what people think of the beast tribe, and also what people think of him personally. Man, a lot of people just hate Allen on site, don’t they? Allen tends to be famous for a few things: 1) being the one who made Lydia who she is today (and is now doing the same with Tina); 2) Allen solving every single major incident of the last year or so; and 3) Allen having a very small amount of mana. That last one, possibly even more than his bloodline or lack thereof, is what leads folks to be absolutely furious at him. And in this book, that proves fatal.

Despite the aftermath of the previous volume, the aforementioned fatalities, and a really big fight near the end, for the most part this is the relaxing volume I had hoped for. The entire cast ,minus Ellie (who gets a scene showing how far she’s come but you still sense the author doesn’t know what to do with her) and Cheryl (back being a princess) are headed to the Yustinian capital, there to meet an Alice who is increasingly getting unable to perform her hero-ly duties (and trying to hide it) and her brother Igna, who has a bad case of jealousy and envy, and it’s all pointed at Allen. Also coming along is Lily, and we get a lovely flashback showing how they first met, and giving a little more insight into Lily’s desire to be a maid (which, I remind you, in this world is basically “assassin/spy/soldier who serves tea”). Oh yes, and the Emperor wants to see Allen and Caren, commoners or no. That might be hard.

I was actually faked out by one scene in here showing Lydia, Stella and Alice all agreeing to something after looking through ancient laws no one uses anymore. A lot of folks have been divided into camps in terms of “which girl will win”, and we know which camp I’m in. I had assumed this was some sort of polygamy thing, and was surprised Lydia went along. But in fact it’s nothing of the sort. If Allen can’t get a title or a noble house in his own country, well, let’s give him one from a different country. He really can’t weasel out of this, though he tries. It’s not helped that his sister is over the moon about it (and we’re also reminded how much she’s done to save the world – really everyone in Allen’s generation is a superhero. Caren knows that an Allen with a title is an Allen who will get the recognition he deserves. Though she may be less wild about Allen needing to get married, which I think may also be an issue.

And bad news to fans of the books: if you’ve seen the anime running this summer, you now have to preface recommending them with “It’s better than that, I promise”. Still, readers of Book 16 will definitely enjoy Book 17.

By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

This is a long series already – this is the 16th volume – and we’ve just covered everything that’s happened since Allen got baited to flunk out of the academy. I’ve talked before about how I wish we could have seen Allen and Lydia’s years at the academy, and we have finally gotten a few decent flashbacks showing that, though we’re still missing most of the actual important scenes. But it can be easy to forget that this is not a world that has been at peace for years and it’s only with this generation that the world is going to hell. This is a world in a constant state of hell. There’s a reason all of the parents and grandparents of our heroines have fancy titles and superpowers of their own, and that’s because they’re needed all the time in order to make sure that things don’t just explode. Unfortunately, we’re near one of those explosion points again, and even as Allen gets some exposition explaining what happened long ago in the last, the enemy is a step ahead of him.

Battles, battles, everywhere! There are so many battles, in fact, that you’d think we wouldn’t have time for the usual harem banter, but rest assured we do, as even in the most dire of circumstances the girls cannot help but try to get Allen to praise them and say how lucky he is to have them. More lucky than usual this time around, as it turns out he needs almost the full group of potential love interests (sorry, Ellie, you’re still being sidelined) because the bad guys are also bringing their full force of bad guy-ness to bear. There’s corrupted former princesses, ghosts of long dead founders, and of course that pesky wyrm, which doesn’t stay frozen for long, and has to be put down again. To do so, they’ll need to have yet another spell gain sentience and turns into a cute girl… because let’s face it, that’s also the sort of series this is.

There’s a cliffhanger which suggests that one of the good guys is about to be killed off, but I’m not too worried – I think if the author had meant to kill them they’d have done that as the cliffhanger. Plus he has a fiancee. It does make me wonder how the author is going to try to keep the stakes higher and higher while also making sure that no cute girls who are in love with their man suffer too much. Most of them, that man is Allen, and unfortunately for him, the main villain seems to be obsessed with him… and also all her plans revolve around him winning at the last moment. Which he’s been doing. So arguably he’s playing right into her hands. On the bright side, Lydia gets to do an absolutely killer move that makes him blush heavily, and he also calls her his partner again, so she’s still in the lead, for those who are only here for that.

This is another solid volume in the series, though I would not say no to a breather that has less fighting next time.