Category Archives: reviews

Rise of the Lowborn: Ascending the Ranks by Crushing Incompetent Nobles, Vol. 1

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By Kosaka Hanane and Kurogiri. Released in Japan as “Heimin Shushhun no Shōkan, Munō na Kizoku Jōkan o Jūrin Shite Nariagaru” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

Yes, it’s time for another episode of “Sean reads a title way outside of his wheelhouse”. Much to my surprise, there isn’t a specific event here that necessitates our protagonist spending the rest of the series getting revenge. Instead, it’s merely the crushing weight of disappointment and betrayal from his previous life that has led him to regard this one with disdain. But make no mistake about it, this book is basically “you know your boss who lords his status over you? Or those rich kids at high school who mock you when you can’t afford the nice things? Wouldn’t it be great if you could destroy them forever?” Hazen is especially good at doing this, and is frankly a villain in all but name. Fortunately, he’s surrounded by one or two interesting characters, but I have to say, much of this reads like a teenager’s spite diary.

After graduating third in his class at the military academy… but getting his diploma last because he’s a filthy commoner… Hazen briefly talks to his two (2) friends, verbally destroys an arrogant noble who drops by to mock him and then heads off to his new assignment, a frontier post where commoners have been assigned for some time now and “mysteriously disappear”. Hazen is not like those other commoners. He’s different. He arrives, is assigned to the worst unit on the frontier, and proceeds to take command by cutting off the heads of two of the worst sergeants in charge, forcing everyone to actually be physically fit, and generally treating the soldiers like human beings… provided they’re not nobles. He also manages to make peace with the local native tribe, and then prepares to invade the fortress that no one has ever been able to invade. He does all this with 100% no emotion whatsoever. It’s all logic. His twisted logic, but hey.

First off, as always I warn readers, there’s slavery in this. In fact, there’s slavery used as comedy – the schmuck of a noble that Hazen spends the entire book destroying is told the only thing he’s good for is being a slave, and that he’s probably not even good enough to be a high-grade slave. Hazen’s shtick is that he’s utterly blunt about everything, but assumes people will be OK with that since he’s just telling the truth. It also helps that he’s almost all-powerful at magic and combat, too. Fortunately, the book has a few upsides. At one point he finds an orphan girl whose sole purpose is to be a tsukkomi and yell at Hazen, and she does it very well. I also liked his bodyguard, the massive woman on the cover, who he realizes will be ground up by the military machine, so he makes her his bodyguard so that he can use her but not grind her up. (In case you’re wondering, the third girl on the cover appears in the book for about 3 pages, despite multiple color pictures and a bio. This is odd, as there is a plot-relevant woman who could be on the cover but she doesn’t even get any art at all. Possibly as she’s one of the native tribe and not a green-eyed blonde.)

If you .like series where the hero always acts with “cold logic”, with the exception of one or two moments where he goes “you know what? That makes me mad” like Droopy, this should be like catnip for you. I’m not sure I plan to read any more, though. Hazen is just not fun.

High School DxD: Durandal of the Student Council Election

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By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

As we are nearing the end of the series, it’s nice to see that it has actual character development for multiple people and is not just “they got stronger, so that is their character development”. We see that Kiba is still filled with righteous fury over his past. We see that Asia still struggles with self-confidence issues, even though she’s now the president of the Occult Research Club. And then there’s the cover girl for this volume, Xenovia. When she arrived, she was the sort to just go all Leeroy Jenkins on whatever problems she had. But over the course of the last several books, we’ve seen her try to grow from that and apply actual strategy, sometimes even using different weapons or trying other ways to attack. So one of the best jokes in the entire book comes near the end, when she’s told “no, that’s not what the real Xenovia is. You need to not think more. You just charging ahead is MORE effective because it is you.” And it’s true. Xenovia is all vibe.

As Xenovia prepares for student council elections, where she’s running against Sona’s hand-picked candidate, the cast is met with a new crisis. After the events of the last book, a considerable portion of folks on the side of the angels – literally – are very unhappy with the whole “make peace with demons” thing, and believe the only good demon is dead. Which, to be fair, these are mostly the ones who had demons kill everyone they loved. They’re also led by three cardinals – a really strong one, a really strategic one, and a mascot kid. OK, he’s also really powerful, but that’s not a role he serves here. They’ve decided to attack DxD, who are basically a symbol of everyone they hate. As such, try to contain your shock, the back half of this book is one big fight.

One thing I really liked about this book, one of the better ones in the series, is that the fight is very performative. It’s a fight that has to happen to teach a lesson, rather than one that has to end with one side dead or near dead. (We get that in the cliffhanger, to be fair.) And the cardinals not only accept Irina, Xenovia and Asia working for the other side, but they’re still happy to see them. Kiba finding out he’s not the sole survivor of sword experimentation, and Asia getting all her fan mail delivered to her at long last, these are really heartwarming scenes, and they were great to see. As for Xenovia, as the author notes, she’s in “Cool” mode here rather than “Cute”. Her speech to the school, where she had something well-prepared but kinda dull and decided to ditch that and wing it, is also very her. And an “I love this school” student council election speech is, of course, very shonen, just like this series.

Unfortunately, Ravel is now dead. Right? I’m sure that must be what happened. Also, the afterword says the next book will be a new spinoff devoted to short stories, but I don’t know if Yen Press will agree. We shall see. In the meantime you do you, Xenovia.

Fleet-Footed Dungeon Delver: Tune in for Magical Girls and Motion Blur!, Vol. 1

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By Ameko Kaeruda and U35. Released in Japan as “Shinsoku no Dungeon Seeker ~Speed Kyokufuri Haishinsha wa Subete o Buchinuku~” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Faye Duxovni.

(Spoilers within for the back half of this book.)

I did wonder, you know. Despite the fact that this is written by Ameko Kaeruda, the author of Sexiled. And illustrated by U35, the artist for Buying a Classmate Once a Week and that Voice Actor Radio series. I wondered if this would just be slice-of-life. Or worse, if it might have a male lead. It wasn’t tagged by the publisher, either. Fear not, this is yuri. Of *course* it’s yuri. That said, as with other Kaeruda series, the yuri is the spice, but the point of the book is something else. We meet a teenage girl who is trying to escape an oppressive family, and her discovery of another girl who’s the survivor of a terrible tragedy. Except, as we discover, Nodoka is far more than just the survival of a terrible tragedy. It ends up being the question of the book. What *is* Nodoka? We just don’t know.

One day, a meteor hits the Earth and everyone dies… but the planet Earth (and everyone on it) is immediately reincarnated! And you know what that means! It now has dungeons! And sometimes the dungeons go haywire and escape into the real world, killing whole towns. A survivor of one of those disasters, Nodoka, is trying to make a living delving into dungeons. And she wants to stream it! Unfortunately, technology seems to hate her… her stream always crashes. Then she meets another dungeon streamer, Subaru. Subaru is an up-and-coming streamer who likes to take on dangerous challenges (don’t worry, if you’re IN the dungeon, you don’t die, just respawn). She’s in danger from a monster, but Nodoka saves her… thanks to SUPER speed. Speed so fast the cameras can’t pick it up. Subaru has an idea. Why not team up?

The yuri, as I said, is just a spice. The main reason to read this, as with all of Kaeruda’s works, is the worldbuilding. It’s pretty nifty. We learn about Nodoka’s past bit by bit, as well as the young woman she’s trying desperately to catch up to. But we also learn about what a world with dungeons all over can be like… and how the dregs of humanity can abuse this. Respawn abuse, in particular, is both terrifying and plot relevant. The “reincarnation” thing ends up being far more out there than I was expected in terms of just who is reincarnated. There’s also a Mexican-Japanese family who are all adorable and fantastic, and while they’re mostly there to be rescued and give the book tension, I appreciated them anyway. And again, I like how the author allows the characters to casually admit they are in love and ready to date without a single “B-B-But we’re both GIRLS!” at all. It’s also simply fun to read. The time flies by.

This is numbered Vol. 1, but there’s no sign of 2 yet, and it’s self-contained and could end here. With DRE Novels, you never really know. I’d love to read a second, though.