By Bokuto Uno and Miyuki Ruria. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

I’ve talked before about how my desire to see the main six cast members live happily ever after is warring with the narrative, which keeps underlining how Oliver and Katie are doomed. With this episode, I get the feeling that we’re going to be adding everyone else to that list as well, and make this an All Or Nothing type of series. The two characters who have gotten the least focus get attention here, and while Pete is mostly setup for future volumes (with one huge exception which I’ll get to later), Guy’s arc is looking to be a lot more dangerous and potentially fatal. Generally speaking I’ve always thought of Guy and Chela as “the sensible ones”, and this book is here to throw that out the window and remind me that absolutely everyone in that group is weird as hell. Of course he survives – none of them will die till at least Oliver explains what he’s doing. But yikes, I don’t wish what he has to go through on anyone else… wait, absolutely the wrong way to put that.

Despite the fact that Guy and Pete get much more focus here, the publisher still knows who its big sellers are, so Oliver and Nanao are on the cover again, along with new teacher Rod Farquois, who will be taking over astronomy, is a reversi just like Pete, and absolutely no one knows what they’re up to – it’s very clear they’re not here at the school’s request. As for the main plot, half of it … again, we’re coming to it… but the last half of the book is a rescue arc, as Guy, Ursule Valois’ twin attendants, and forgotten first book teen bully Annie Mackley are trapped on the second floor of the labyrinth, which is dealing with someone consumed by the spell, and he’s turned the floor into his own cursed treehouse of horrors. Everyone will be going there to rescue Guy/the twins (sorry, Annie, no one really likes you), but can they do it before Guy makes an irreversible decision?

I hate to be a broken record, but my god this series is horny. It’s baked into the plot, as it’s hinted that one of the main reasons that our heroes are suffering so much right now is that they’re not banging each other on the regular. Pete, at least, takes care of that in one of the more startling scenes in the book, where he confronts Oliver in his female body and takes him to bed. Oliver, of course, is doing similar things with Nanao, and Chela helped him earlier. Katie loves Oliver, but knows he’s rejecting her, so is snuggling Guy every chance she gets. Guy likes Katie, so is helping her with this. Third-year Rita likes Guy too, and is angry at Katie. And we also meet Leoncio’s sister, a third year who is absolutely his distaff counterpart, and who seems to be constantly aroused. I don’t think that all Oliver’s problems would be solved with an orgy… unless?

This is another book that ends WHAM, no epilogue at all, so I’m not sure what happens next. The cover to Vol. 13 sure looks like a “Breaking of the fellowship” situation, though, huh? In any case, please read about these powerful and pent-up idiots.

By Bokuto Uno and Ruria Miyuki. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru Side of Fire – Rengoku no Ki” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

This does not have a ‘1’ on the cover, and the book ends with the words “The End”. That said, I would not be remotely surprised if we get another volume of this prequel/side story. It’s a book that serves to show off some of the more popular supporting cast before the events of the main series, but it’s also there to remind us that Kimberly Academy did not begin when Nanao and Oliver arrived – and, in fact, the reason that they are able to do as well as they are is because the way was paved. It was paved by Alvin Godfrey, of course. And he has his own close-knit group of friends (though not, it has to be said, quite as close knit as our main cast), all of whom we have seen before, and some of whom are now dead. It’s also an opportunity to see the teachers as caring (to a point) educators, and not the next people Oliver has to kill.

Alvin Godfrey is having a bad time. His magic is rather pathetic, and his father resolves to disown him unless he gets into a magic academy. He proceeds to take 18 exams, and fail 17 of them. But it’s Kimberly, the most prestigious, that accepts him, as they see what he can’t – that he’s been taught wrong from an early age, and that he is, in reality, far more powerful than he’d ever expect. As we see his first and then second year, he realizes how much he hates the current student environment, and how he’s going to change it by the power of being really nice and helping people. Fortunately, he has his androgynous best friend Carlos, the always angry but also righteous Lesedi, temperamental and unhinged poison maker Tim, and abused and bullied Ophelia. Can they change the academy?

I admit I did wonder if this would take in everything we’d seen from the main books in its one volume, and thus was watching Ophelia carefully. But about halfway through I realized that it wasn’t going to end quite that far ahead, so I was pleased to have it read like… well, honestly, like the main series. Alvin and company are trained by Kevin Walker to survive in the Labyrinth, and they get help (but not too much) from Vera Miligan. And, frankly, the fact that in the main series Ophelia has become an antagonist is something that could still easily happen in the main series, given Katie’s subplot. Oliver may have his Great Cause, and I get that, but he’s not special – there are other protagonists in their own story. I also liked the climax, where we discover that sometimes you can’t assign meaning and definition to everything. It doesn’t quite say “shit happens”, but the thought is there, and it allows someone to be saved, if not to survive.

All this plus another reminder of how well-hung Leoncio is, in case you forgot which series you were reading. Fans of the books will definitely want to get this.

By Bokuto Uno and Miyuki Ruria. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

Even when the author is trying to write a light, fluffy heartwarming volume to balance out the trauma and awfulness in Book 10, they can’t quite pull it off. Oh, there’s lots of fun stuff in here, especially at the start. Seeing the main six in the cast, with plus ones Marco and Teresa, going on boat journeys, getting completely hammered in a “fun drunk” way, seeing Katie’s family home, meeting Chela’s mother… this is all great stuff. There’s a scene with Katie forcing everyone into a deeply Nordic sauna experience that’s both heartwarming and hilarious. And yet at the same time there is the undercurrent of “how long until Katie finally turns and has to be put down like a dog”, as well as “I am already not going to live much longer than five years so I might as well continue to help you”. And that’s not even getting into the faculty trying to find their killers. That, said, this is genuinely fluffy compared to last time, I promise.

So we’re now three teachers down, and in the faculty meeting discussing things the voice of reason, new faculty member and Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams points out that there must be something they have in common, and it’s probably related to Chloe Halford. As for the students, well, it’s end of term, and for once everyone is actually going home. This includes Marco, who is coming with Katie to meet her folks and the local trolls, and Teresa, who Oliver has invited along so that she can experience the world outside of Kimberly. They’re beset by pirates (who are defeated ludicrously easily,), and then they meet Katie’s parents, who are very nice but also have some very pointed questions for Oliver Horn. They then meet Chela’s mother, the elf Mishakua, who wants to see how they measure up in terms of a potential match for Chela. (Oliver fails badly.) Sadly, the ongoing Tir incursion ruins our peaceful fluff of a book.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – this series is fantastic at showing a truly wonderful polycule, with six people who are all wonderful in their own way, while also making you understand that there is no way the series ends with them all graduating and moving into a big house to start their own detective agency or something. I especially appreciated Guy, who gets a bit more to do here, and is starting to shape up as the emotional center of the group, along with Chela. I especially liked his relationship with Katie, where he’s there to be her comfort hug for a while because she can’t bear being near Oliver when he and Nanao are, well, CLOSE, but he draws a line and says she has to actually confront him about it. (Which she… doesn’t quite do.) But, I mean, this series started as a grand revenge story, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to go out that way too, and grand revenge stories do not end well for the revenger. That said, he may live longer than Katie, who even has her parents thinking she’s going to need to be killed by her friends to prevent her turning towards the Tir side.

I’m not sure if we’ll continue the grand tour of everyone’s home in Book 12 or just cut back to the next year at school, but it doesn’t matter, because next up is a Side Story. We’re going to get a good look at the past of Alvin Godfrey, who just graduated in the main series. Till then, this is fluffy fun. Ish.