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Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 13

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By Shoji Goji and Saku Enomaru. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Andrew Schubauer.

This is, for the most part, a “rest” book after the main plot that we just went through with the Church (which Haruka has re-invented as a sort of healing disco that plays Vocaloid tracks). There’s lots of dungeon crawling, of course, and leveling up our latest Dungeon Emperor. There’s lots of sex that’s written for comedic rather than erotic effect, so the book just about gets away with it. The sex, of course, only involves the three dungeon emperors, much to the frustration of the girls, who are trying to get across their attraction to h8im while also sort of admitting none of them are ready to take the next step yet (certainly not Class Rep, who gets an internal illustration of her rearing back in shock after seeing Haruka has “grown”, so to speak). Basically, this book is about hijinks. Yes, there is a hint of what is to come – there’s apparently a couple more really deep dungeons out there – but right now, let’s just watch Haruka run wild.

This cover is meant to mirror the first one (complete with the alternate cover featuring Haruka, though in this volume he has his back turned to the reader), and I suppose it feels appropriate. We’re back in the frontier, we’re back to dungeon crawling, and we even got back to the forest for a bit, to see Haruka testing his new body movin’ on some goblins. See, Haruka had most of his skills, which he spent months perfecting (a reminder that we’re still only four months since they arrived in this world), because they got folded up into other skill trees that he has most decidedly NOT mastered. As a result, he can barely move without falling all over himself, and has to learn how to walk, run, and fight while controlling his body like a puppet. Which, again, reminds us a lot of the start of the series.

I don’t have to tell you that there’s tons of unreliable narration here, but we’re at least getting to the point where the narrators are allowed to admit they know they’re full of it. The first 50 pages or so of the book are all from Class Rep’s POV, and while she tries to frame things as “oh, that wacky Haruka, how can we control him?”, there’s also moments of sheer fury when she sees the disrespect he’s getting from the locals (disrespect which he himself has engineered) to the point where the other girls have to hold her back. Even the locals are allowed to wade in the waters of overly dramatic obfuscation, as we see the guild master agonize for page after page about having to send poor innocent Haruka and his low levels into the most horrible of dungeons… all while his second-in-command says “yes, yes, we know he’ll just go there anyway, so sign the paper”. This world is terrible (as we see several times here), and Haruka and the girls are dead set on improving it while protecting each other (the girls admit here all their lecturing attacks on him by now are them testing to make sure he’s still unable to lose to them). At the same time, this world is overdramatic and loopy, and adding Haruka and the girls does not change that in the least.

The next book seems to have a festival, judging by the cover. Knowing Haruka, it may be more of a carnival. Recommended to those who know what they’re getting.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 14

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By Fujino Omori and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

So, this wasn’t bad. It didn’t do anything wrong, and the climax moves up to “pretty good”. That said, it’s been a while since I last read a volume of Danmachi and my main reaction was “eh”. I think I can put some of this down to the basic premise, and how little it deviates from the expected. If I was to tell you that the plot of this book is “we find out how Finn, Riveria and Gareth ended up joining Loki Familia”, and asked what you thought would happen in the book, I bet you’d come up with something pretty similar to this. It hits the beats it needs to hit. Finn is clever and smug, Riveria is powerful but haughty, Gareth is strong but stubborn. And Loki is, well, Loki. This gives folks the backstories they wanted, but it has exactly zero surprises, unless you count Eine’s mom (who, as Loki tells us a few times, has got it going on).

Loki Familia is having a big celebration – though admittedly one close to home, as they’re short on cash to go to a bar right now – to celebrate the big news. Finn, Riveria and Gareth have all hit Level 7, and they did it at the same time, too. After a raucous feast with the whole family, the three of them and Loki have a quieter drink afterwards, and get to reminiscing. We see a Loki who’s just come down to the human world and has zero followers. She meets Finn, who has a tragic backstory but is also determined to show the world not to look down on prums, even if he has to give up his first love to do so. Riveria is shown as a princess who’s trapped in the forest with the high elves, and her escaping with her attendant and best friend Aine, despite her father and the other elves pursuing her. And we see Gareth in a small, poor mining town, doing his best to make sure everyone can live even though he’d really rather be out adventuring.

As always with this author, the fights get better as they go along, which means Gareth’s story is probably the one that hit best for me. I could have done without Loki’s sexual harassment, but honestly I’ve seen worse from her, and I know by now it’s meant to be her THING. I did mention Aine, and she does not do much, and clearly is not suited to be part of Loki Familia. Unfortunately, we don’t see how she married a human here – maybe there’s a side story or game that talks about it. The bulk of the book is “elves and dwarves hate each other”, with a side order of “hobbits are weak” – sorry, prums – and about the three of them learning to get along and discovering how strong they are as a fighting team. And Loki does manage to be clever once or twice in amongst being a horny brat.

So yeah, this is exactly what it says it is, no more, no less. The next book promises to tie back in with the main series, and also have more of Ais.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Dum Spiro, Spero, Part 2

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By Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki. Released in Japan as “Youjo Senki” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by James Balzer.

It’s been quite a while since the last volume of these in English, even though in Japan, the two volumes came out only one month apart. That said, this is also the final volume of the series to date, as we have not yet seen the 15th volume in Japan as of this date. I don’t really blame the author, as it can be rather tricky to get the right tone for this series. It’s an anti-war but pro-military series, and it has to show us that war is hell while also managing to convey that reading about a good firefight is a hell of a lot of fun. It also can’t really kill off too many named characters – for all that we hear about people dying in this book (including, possibly, the greatest comedy character in the series, who returns in this book), the core of Tanya’s unit are still around. Even if they’re tired. So very, very tired.

The bulk of the start of the book is the aftermath of Tanya’s faked retreat orders, and how everyone seems to be disbelieving – not surprising, given everything we hear about the Empire. Fortunately, after Grantz flies all the way back to the capital and tries to avoid various court-martials and treason accusations as he barrels along, Zettour gets the message and is able to confirm – carry out those orders. Of course, that’s easier said than done, and Tanya and her group don’t even have that luxury – while the army retreats, they’re tasked with flying into the Federation attack, stopping supply trains, hitting disguised air bases, and trying not to die. And then after THAT, they get to take almost every mage in the entire not-German army on a suicide mission to take out various Federation strongholds. And then the worst possible thing happens – the enemy blows up their kitchen. (No really, think about it, surviving while exhausted on dry rations is TERRIBLE.)

I’m mentioning the exhaustion a lot because it really comes across here. By the end of the book Tanya’s comrades are dead on their feet, and even she sometimes gets to the point where fatigue is making her a little loopier than she normally is. They’re doing things that shame soldiers, as while they’re advancing on the enemy, they have to leave their own fellow soldiers to die – they cannot save them and attack at the same time. it’s frustrating, unless you’re Tanya, who coolly explains why it has to happen. The only one who seems firmly in her camp all the time is Visha, who is more worried about Grantz, who’s gotten more to do lately, replacing her as adjutant. Tanya reassures her. Weiss, meanwhile, thinks they’ve both “turned rotten”, and he’s not wrong. By the end of the book, they’re being sent off to fight again… but not in the East! Tanya may finally get an opportunity to defect.

Assuming we get the next book, of course. For now, the Empire still hangs on. We’ll be waiting to see if it makes it through Book 15. For fans of… well, the light novels, really. Fans of the anime should probably try the manga first. And fans of Isekai Quartet may just hate this.