Category Archives: reviews

Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools, Vol. 11

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By Hisaya Amagishi and Hachi Komada. Released in Japan as “Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by A.M. Cola.

Entirely unintentionally, I suspect, this volume of Dahlia came out so that I read it on New Year’s Day, and its own plotline is about celebrating the New Year. That made me smile. It’s a more leisurely book in general, with few ominous hints for the future beyond people with tremendous amounts of power and influence reminding everyone that Dahlia is not to be messed with. If we can’t get Dahlia to acknowledge her own worth, well, at least she has everyone else in multiple countries in her corner. I also owe Dahlia an apology. I’ve put the bulk of the blame for her utter lack of romantic progress on her complete lack of self-esteem, and while that’s true, there are two people in this relationship. And somewhere between Volf running around the training grounds in a giant wolf onesie and starting snowball battles with local children, I realized that Dahlia may need to wait a bit for her handsome young best friend to have the childhood he never got as a child but is having now.

It’s the New Year, and Dahlia and Volf plan to go around the festival together eating all the food. They’re convinced to go as a couple and wear the special masks made for couples to avoid unwanted attention. really. I’m sure that’s the only reason. Meanwhile, Dahlia and Lucia come up with some silly-looking but comfy nightwear for her, and Volf accidentally sees it one day. And then suddenly it’s become a huge invention, and they’re introducing various kinds to the Beast Hunters which they’re not only using to sleep better at night, but as camouflage when they fight monsters. Jonas’ father comes for a visit, and while Jonas wants to avoid him, Dahlia ends up meeting him and being thanked for being Jonas’ friend. And possibly more than friends? Finally, Irma gives birth safely and the twins are fine, much to everyone’s relief, especially Bernigi, who, with the help of Jonas, arranges a serious injury that requires that he and his wife go to the temple to get healed, where by pure coincidence Marcella and Irma are located.

Dahlia in Bloom’s sense of humor is usually more “put a smile on your face” than making you laugh till you’re sick, but the scene with the Beast Hunters all trying on their animal onesies and going outside to test and see if the flying squirrel one can make them fly… that was pure comedy gold. There’s also plenty of heartwarming here as well – Dahlia makes Volf a new magic sword, which as it turns out resembles his late mother’s a great deal, filling him with glee. (Though, as Jonas darkly notes, when used by someone with evil intentions it would be a fantastic assassination weapon.) And there’s dark tragedy here as well – each volume to date has ended with a flashback to Dahlia working with her father on something or another, but they’ve gotten closer and closer to the present each time, and with this volume, we finally see Carlo’s death. It’s well written and will make you choke up.

All this plus zero romantic progress! But that’s why we read Dahlia, of course. (Oh, and her big New Year’s gift is essentially a wine-of-the-month club, in case you worried she and Volf weren’t still drinking like fish.)

The Tanaka Family Reincarnates, Vol. 5

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By Choko and kaworu. Released in Japan as “Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru” by Dragon Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sasha Schiller.

So yeah, I was wrong about more than one thing in my last review. To be fair, when it comes to one of those things, the rest of the cast got it wrong as well. When we hear there’s a new saint, we, and the King and prince, assume that it’s going to be Emma. I had wondered if the plotline would be that Emma had to move to the country of religious zealots. But no, it turns out that the saint is someone totally different. More to the point, I had said that this series was first and foremost a comedy, and while that’s still true, it does show that it is not afraid to get involved in drama when the need arises. Or in this case pure horror. For a number of pages we know nothing about what’s going on except that Emma and her brothers are terrified, to the point that Emma can’t even walk. And the explanation is not only eerie (though even it gets used comedically later) but also asks what the saint position even does.

After debating just staying forever, and William having to deal with his mother and sister being BL fans, the Tanaka family are returning to their capital… only to find this have changed while they’ve been gone. The Church has declared a new saint, Juana (who we briefly saw in a prior volume, but don’t worry if you forgot her, so did everyone else). And there’s a rumor going around that Emma was in fact a FAKE saint, and a lot of students are following Juana around and disparaging Emma. For the most part, this doesn’t really bother Emma and company, as those close to her are still her friends, and she doesn’t really run into the new saint. Until she does, and when Emma and her brothers see Juana’s face, Emma has a complete nervous breakdown and the entire family retreats to their estate. Which starts even MORE rumors.

Rest assured, there’s some good comedy here. The bizarre Church edict about buying new underwear makes the Tanakas boggle just as much as the audience, and the Tanaka Family themselves are always good for fun scenes, especially when we get a few of their uncles and cousins. But the book shines when we discover why Emma is so horrified about Juana’s face, and the nightmare that she has is harrowing and (possibly) may have led to real disaster were it not for their giant cats. More to the point, the Church and the Saint are trying to start a real war with real consequences, and it takes most of the book for the country to even realize it. Now, I’m fairly sure that things are back on the upswing, but it’s a good sign of how the Tanakas have sort of accidentally become the lynchpin that holds this world together – especially Emma.

This is basically “Part 1 of 2”, so we’ll see how it resolves next time. A great volume, with some nice depth.

A Certain Magical Index NT, Vol. 5

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By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Shinyaku To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

I’ve been dealing with a very bad cold the last few days, which might explain some of this, but not all of it: there were a few points in this book I was genuinely laughing out loud. Longtime readers will know that I find Index, much like Strike the Blood, to be rather pathetic when it comes to actual humor, mostly as the humor tends towards the usual shonen harem “whoops I just groped you ha ha” jokes. And indeed, there’s one of those in here too, and it’s not funny. But there is a scene in this book where Mugino is trying to bake something from a cookbook, and the entire scene is just so bizarre and out there I could not stop laughing. It’s the good kind of funny. Likewise, this is the good kind of Index book. Touma runs all over creation, gets everyone mad at him, tries to save a girl, and gets shot in the chest multiple times. OK, that last one is new.

No, that’s not a new character on the cover. You’ve seen Headband Girl before, and if you really want to feel like a nerd, go and look for her page on the Index wiki. Wait, you mean the blond bishie? Yeah, he is new. That’s Thor, looking nothing like Chris Hemsworth. Thor is technically part of GREMLIN, but he’s not very happy with them at the moment after the events of the last two books. As for Touma, he’s dealing with having been away for so long and it being festival time – which means he should be at the school doing prep. Unfortunately for Touma, not only is Ollerus trying to stop and explain the plot and backstory of the entire series to him (Touma is mostly uninterested), but Thor wants to save a girl named Fräulein Kreutune, and gets really pissed off that Touma is no longer a one-dimensional caricature of himself. What’s to be done?

Fräulein Kreutune does indeed look to be the latest girl that needs to be saved, but I’m fairly certain it’s not going to be Touma doing it, especially as she’s befriended Last Order and Fremea. Right now she’s creepy and monotone, I suspect that won’t last. She and Thor are the big new characters, but there’s also a bunch of returning favorites, some of whom I suspected and some of whom are a genuine surprise. I’m fairly positive that whatever is confronting Mugino is NOT the vengeful ghost of Frenda back from the dead, nor do I think Frenda is actually Not Dead After All, so we’ll see what’s up with that next time. The return of Kakine delights me far less, but I’m more worried about the woman telling him to go wild than I am about him personally. As for Touma? Well, he gets himself shot multiple times in the chest as a distraction to confuse the enemy. Which is par for the course.

This is a 2-parter, so we’ll have to wait till the next volume to find out what happens. If you like Index hijinks, this is for you. It even has Mikoto in it! She doesn’t do anything, but hey. And it has Index in it! She doesn’t do anything, but hey.