Category Archives: reviews

Unnamed Memory, Vol. 5

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By Kuji Furumiya and chibi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Tangney.

The six books in this series are divided into three books each, and this is the middle one of the second arc. As such, it tends to mirror the middle one of the first arc, in that it’s a bunch of shorter events that happen to our two leads rather than one big storyline. Of course, there’s a lot going on in those shorter events. The author describes this book as the lighter, fluffier one before the final book, and that does make me a bit worried, because this book was not all THAT light and fluffy. That said, there are many sweet moments in here, as Oscar accepts Tinasha’s love and they get engaged. We also get to know more about Travis and his relationship with Aurelia, which is also adorable in its own twisted way and I really hope does not end badly. But there is an ominous core to this volume that definitely will continue to the next: time travel made things bad, and the world needs to reset itself to its proper place.

We start things off with Tinasha solving the curse that’s on Oscar and (presumably) making him able to have children again. She’s then able to return to her coronation… but has a big announcement to make that will upend Tuldarr. We see Tinasha solve a particularly nasty incident at a magical academy, and help to fight off an invasion by another country, who are primarily using zombies as troops, which is annoying. Unfortunately, Valt is also still around, and he explains to Tinasha what the two orbs currently locked up in the two kingdoms do. Fortunately, we won’t have to deal with that particular subplot till Book 6. Oh, yes, and we also meet the Witch who cursed Oscar in the first place, and she’s very unhappy with everyone… and a lot more familiar to some than was expected.

Probably my favorite story in this volume was the academy one, which was simple tragedy with no purpose except to show that this world still has a tendency to run on death. It even gives us a little side plot with three students talking about the disappearances, and you wonder if we’re going to take a detour into a side story, but alas no. I also really liked Aurelia, who has a touch of the Maria Campbells to her but (like Maria) also a strong cure. She also works well with Oscar, which would create a love triangle in any book which is not this one. This book is all about the OTP. As for the witch, well, it certainly opens up Oscar’s past, which we finally get to see for the first time, and explains why his late mother has never dwelt much in his thoughts. But the key takeaway from that is “Oscar should be dead”, and I expect the final book may try harder to push on that.

This is another very solid volume. If you’re sick of the usual light novel brand of fantasy, you should absolutely be reading this.

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 6

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By Reia and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andria Cheng.

It would be more accurate to call this volume, and apparently the two following it, “Accomplishments of the Duchess”, as we now begin an extended side story telling us about Iris’ mother Merellis. Featured in the first few books of the main series as a caring mother who seemed the sort to speak with her mouth behind a fan, the final book in the series showed us that behind all that etiquette is a dangerous swordswoman who will cut you down as soon as look at you. I said I wanted to hear her story, and it turns out iris does as well. Merellis’ past had never been revealed to her daughter, so Iris asks and Merellis tells up about her childhood, starting with the tragic murder of her mother by bandits, which sets her on a path leading to revenge and… well, revenge. What else does one need? the book was excellent, but fans of the series who loved it for the economic theory might be a bit thrown off.

After her mother’s funeral, Merellis is consumed with rage and a desire to take revenge on the bandits who did this to her family. Her father decides to train her in the sword to at least try to distract her, and, although from her own perspective the gains she makes and slow and inadequate, it’s actually rather terrifying how quickly she takes to it. Soon she is Mer, impersonating her own body double and rising through other guards, then knights, rapidly becoming an amazing military commander. Unfortunately, when all your life is dedicated to one goal, there are obstacles that are hard to overcome, such as your father getting his own revenge for his wife’s death and leaving you with no purpose in life. If only there was a guy her own age she could talk to about this…

As I said before, this feels like a completely different story. Merellis is not a meathead swordswoman, and very much shows she can take charge on a battlefield, but the book shows her worldview gradually opening up, as she goes from “I only care about my revenge” to “now what the hell do I do?” to “I want to protect my family” and then to “I want to protect others around me so that they do not suffer as I have”. At her side, though they’re not a couple yet (the two haven’t even hit puberty by the end of this first novel in the subseries, though the inner artwork may not have gotten that message) is Louis, son of the Prime Minster and Merellis’ future husband. She’s fairly smitten with him by the end of the book, but they also fight,as he tries to get her to see the bigger picture.

I suspect the next book will feature a lot more nobility and gowns and less fighting, but who knows? Merellis was clearly a little hellion until she got married (and then became a big hellion). This is a great book, but it’s nothing like its parent series, except maybe as it regards the greater good and how to move towards it.

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 12

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By Ryo Shirakome and Takayaki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen

It was about 18 months in Japan between Vol. 11 and 12, and it’s been about the same here in the West as well. I was briefly worried that I’d forget literally everything that had been happening before, but that was before I remembered what series I was reading. Arifureta is not particularly interested in its own plot, or even that much in its characters. Arifureta is interested in people powering up and getting new special moves. The author has clearly drowned himself in Jump series as a kid, and as a result this book, especially the back half, can be summed up by using the “It’s over 9000!” meme over and over again. That said, there is a little bit of character stuff in the front half, but I was less happy with that, as it leans too heavily into an evil cliche stereotype I dislike. This is also NOT the final volume of the series – we’ve got one more to go after this. Fortunately, it’s scheduled for the fall in Japan.

Kaori gets a nice cover art picture, which makes it a shame that she’s the only one not in the main book, getting left behind to guard everyone else and make sure they’re not killed. (She gets a nice short story at the end to make up for it.) The rest of the book is divided almost exactly in half. In the first part, Shizuku, Ryoutarou and Suzu head over to try and beat Kouki and Emi up and return them to their senses. Only one of them actually gets beaten up enough to have that happen, and you can probably guess who. But hey, Suzu gets to say goodbye. In the back half, Hajime is sent ahead to go rescue Yue (which will clearly be most of Book 13), so we get Shea and Tio taking on a whole bunch of apostles and monsters, as well as Freid. Unfortunately, the bad guys seem to have forgotten how our heroines are basically nightmares themselves by now.

So yeah, we get Eri’s backstory here to explain why she’s incredibly evil, and it’s because her father died saving her from getting run over, her mother blamed her and abused her, and she was almost raped by her mother’s new boyfriend. Getting abused as a child leading to a bad person later in life is something we need to see less of. Kouki, meanwhile, remains a shallow parody of the standard shoujo boyfriend, so it’s no surprise that once the mind control is removed and he’s punched a lot he manages to recover what wits he has… though we’ll see what happens when he sees Hajime again. But really the majority of this book is exactly what I said earlier: yelling out attacks, just barely avoiding lethal moves, pulling off near lethal moves in return, and lots of shouting.

The return of everyone’s favorite Zero protagonist at the end of the volume is interesting, and I wonder if she’ll help Hajime in the next volume. Till then: boy, this sure was a volume of Arifureta.