Category Archives: reviews

One Last Hurrah! The Grayed Heroes Explore a Vivid Future, Vol. 1

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By fukurou and johndee. Released in Japan as “Jiji Baba Yuusha Party Saigo no Tabi: Oita Saikyou wa Iroasenu Mama Mirai e Susumu you desu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Vasileios Mousikidis.

I was looking forward to this title from the moment it was announced, and I’m pleased that it did not disappoint. It’s not that surprising, but that’s not what you want from a series with this premise, which is comforting and happy, even when it’s dealing with terrible people who are murdering squads of faceless guards. I especially enjoy seeing elderly men in their 60s and 70s, who are among the most powerful in the world, suddenly becoming shy fanboys in front of their senpais when faced with the titular characters. Every grand master was once a young boy or girl, and the same goes here, where we meet the powerful mage’s teacher, or the guy who taught the incredible swordsman what he knows. It also helps to underline the other point of this series, which is that those folks are, while mind-numbingly powerful, at least on the human scale. Our protagonists not only left that behind long ago, but were never like that.

Once the world was on the brink of destruction. The sky was blood-red, monsters were everywhere, many died, and everything was about to fall to the Demon Lord. Then the Hero and his party won the day, the sky turned blue again, and they all lived happily ever after. Now, over seventy years later, the hero and his wife the saint, now in their nineties, decide that they are going to be dying soon, and want to see their great-grandson for the first time before they do. He’s not on that continent, so it’s time for a journey. Along the way they meet the other surviving members of the hero’s party – a drunken swordsman and his witch wife, a bald “exhibitionist” monk with a muscle fetish, and a lying merchant who keeps changing his name. They’re all incredibly old… but I would advise against thinking they’re feeble.

There’s a lot of shonen stereotypes here, as you may have guessed. There’s one character who reminds me a lot of Usopp, but he has a surprising backstory, and also a surprisingly hidden power. The big guy who loves muscles and walks around with only a loincloth comes up a lot (I saw it in Last Dungeon Kid, and it wasn’t new there). That said, the main thing is that all of them are now called “eccentric” but back then had nastier names applied. Ferd the hero is so powerful that after the final battle he has to live on a remote mountain as almost no one can get near him, Elrica the saint was literally built to fight against evil (and has all the cliches you’d expect from that role), and Sazaki the swordsman is from the school of “If I sword good enough, I will be best at sword”, with an added drunken master aspect. This shouldn’t work as well as it does, as they’re all such types. But it does, as they’re all fun. I love it when Ferd and Elrica play at being a feeble, elderly couple. I also liked seeing the next generation of heroes, who are far more “normal” than Ferd and company but also appear to be writing their own story.

I’m not sure how much more of this we’ll get, but there’s at least a second volume out. Given the first book ends with them actually starting out to see the grandkid, I’m not optimistic we’ll get there. But I’m gonna love the ride. On a robot horse carriage.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: The Divine Gun, Piercer of Darkness

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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.

A Tale of the Secret Saint, Vol. 9

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Kevin Ishizaka. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

There are many examples in the light novel genre of “slow life” books, where the main character seemingly spends the entire book farming, or running a store, or petting fluffy animals, and not much of substance happens. After reading nine volumes of Secret Saint, I’m starting to wonder if the writer of this series is actually from another world, and was reincarnated in this one to live the slow life putting out the plot one drip at a time. The author actually anticipates this, writing defensively in the afterword about how we all have to be patient. But come on. It helps even less that, as usual, this book is 60% main plot and 40% side stories. We get one major plot beat here, which actually functions as a cliffhanger into the next book. Little sister is still in a coma. Fia’s cover is still not quite blown. Everything is moving forward very, very, very slowly. Fortunately, Fia is an airheaded savant, so it’s all very readable.

After the events of the last book, Fia is spending part of her days in the royal garden, trying to get the roses to have the magical power to wake Colette from her coma. She’s also meeting the other saints, who are… well, in a power struggle with each other, as the position of saint these days is very political and those whose powers don’t measure up find themselves sent to the remote countryside very quickly. Meanwhile, the Queen Dowager is returning to the capital. She’s the head saint, and she has chosen a woman who is sure to be the next head saint. This comes as a surprise to Fia, who was expecting the grumpy but good deep down Priscilla to get the job. That said, Fia is even more surprised by who the king reveals will be his candidate. (Fia is the only one surprised by this.)

The side stories in this book are based on the 2nd character poll, with the top 6 getting a story of their own. It includes the ZERO spinoff, so no surprises, Sirius is in first place. It actually feels a bit odd to see the younger, Serafina-focused stories in the main series now that she has her own spinoff to play around in. As for the book itself, it’s mostly fun, aside from the Queen Dowager, who has “end of level Boss” vibes to her, does not seem to like either of her sons, and I suspect will really not like Fia once she sees what Fia can do. There’s a ton of humor here, especially when Fia decides, for no good reason, that walking around with her pet dragon on her shoulder will be fine after all. Fia is all heart and no head, and that can be a bit frustrating, both for the reader (if she figured things out this series would be over by now) and for the romantic leads (she doesn’t recognize a date even when told “this is a date” and she’s given presents).

If you’ve been following this series, well, don’t expect huge plot and character development. But it’s fun.