Category Archives: reviews

A Mysterious Job Called Oda Nobunaga, Vol. 2

Leave a reply

By Kisetsu Morita and Kaito Shibano. Released in Japan as “Oda Nobunaga to Iu Nazo no Shokugyou ga Mahou Kenshi Yori Cheat Datta Node, Oukoku o Tsukuru Koto ni Shimashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alex Wetnight.

I feel like this review should be very short. It should essentially be “everything I said last time, but EVEN MANLIER”. I’ve said this about a few light novels in the past, but the Job Called Oda Nobunaga series really does feel like it’s written for a very specific type of fan. They hang out on internet forums, wondering why the male leads in these books are all such weak-ass wimps. They read harem manga and ask themselves why he doesn’t just bang everyone. They want a hero who kicks ass, takes names, makes love… I have very good news for them. Aside from cutting away before actual sex scenes, this book is basically exactly what they’ve been yearning for all this time. Alsrod, over the course of the 6-7 years or so this book takes place in, ends up as Regent to the King that he’s basically helped install, while finding time for some more wives and lovers.

Last time I mentioned that Alsrod had finally met someone who also had a famous Japanese warrior as their profession, and wondered if they might actually force him to fail or do badly at something. I feel embarrassed for even mentioning it, because by Page 7 or so he’s already won her to his side and bedded her. Over the course of the book he also takes as a lover his werewolf spy, weds the King’s younger sister (who, thankfully, has to wait for the loving – apparently 15 is old enough but 13 is not), is enchanted by a dragonewt tea merchant who he also beds and proposes to (she says no), and towards the end we get a meek and self-deprecating young woman, the daughter of another of his vassals, who simply wants to be a good mother to strong children. Given all these women (remember, he still has his childhood friend, the strong-willed daughter of another Lord, and another concubine from a northern area), it’s a wonder he finds the time to keep conquering. However, no fear, there’s plenty of that as well.

Again, this falls into the “this sounds absolutely vile but is strangely readable” category. It helps that most of the women he ends up with are also in major positions of power – indeed, his childhood friend and the Akechi Mitsuhide general both don’t want to be an official wife because they want to fight at his side. Oda Nobunaga is there as well, of course, in the back of Alsrod’s head, but he is getting strangely less and less relevant, and as the book goes on his advice is getting heeded less and less. Possibly the most interesting part of this book is that we meet three more “occupations” along the same lines – Kunitomo Shuu, Sen no Rikyuu, and Takeda Shingen – and it seems that this land is essentially an afterlife for these famous folks. As for the battles… well, they’re OK. They’re sword fights. You know how it goes.

The end of the book has another rival appear, Takeda Shingen, but given Alsrod has already captured the girl with that “job” by the end of this book, I suspect she will simply be added to the pile of wives. That said, I’m not entirely certain this book will end with Alsrod triumphant. It continues to mirror somewhat events in Nobunaga’s life… which did not have him winning the day in the end. The third book is the final one – will it actually kill Alsrod off to teach readers a lesson about hubris? Or will he stand victorious with his many, many women at his wide? If this were a long-runner I’d be dropping it, but three volumes seems just about right.

Accel World: Sun God of Absolute Flame

Leave a reply

By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

In general, one step forward and two steps back is the Accel World way, so I will admit that when we finally got to the big villain reveal here I was half expecting that they had in fact sabotaged the video card that Chocolat Puppeter had, or altered the footage, or what have you. Fortunately, Kawahara still knows how much is too much and how much is just enough. This may come as a surprise to those of you who just read ten straight volumes of Sword Art Online: Alicization, but hey. But yes, the plan to reveal White Cosmos as the masterminds of all the bad things in Accel World is finally borne to fruition here. Of course, there’s just one slight problem with that, which is that in order to do so, all the major players in Brain Burst are gathered in one place. It’s the perfect time to do some culling. And White Cosmos is super powerful, even though, to my annoyance, Kuroyukihime’s sister did not show up for this big battle. Basically, expect deathtraps.

There are a lot of the things I like about Accel World here. The cast all get some cool things to do. Chocolat Puppeter gets to fulfill her role as the one with the evidence. Sky Raker and Silver Crow end up making a great flying team, and Fuko in general gets a lot to do in this book. There’s suggestions throughout that there was a lot of history in this game Haruyuki missed before he was given it, and while he knows a lot of it, he doesn’t know all of it. (In particular, every single player seems to think of themselves as Fuko’s rival.) Haruyuki’s “gosh, why am I so weak and bad” mindset is virtually absent here, mostly admittedly due to the fact that there’s no time to think in this book, but the ending is fantastic, with his realization that Kuroyukihime is in fact upset and depressed, and his overture of food to cheer her up is very sweet – that said, I doubt that the cliffhanger ending we see here is going further than snuggling.

Of course, this is still Accel World, so there are also several things I wasn’t too fond of here. I’m never going to love Hima’s oversexualized tweens artstyle, and the fact that the series seems determined to show the girls “naked” behind their avatars (while Haruyuki gets to keep his shirt) and the huge chests of some of them – the fanservice in this series is ludicrous to the point where it’s hard to read in public without getting arrested. And Kawahara admits this next one himself – we’re spending more time in the game, which is okay – I mean, it’s the subject of the series – but at the expense of the real lives of these characters, and he’s absolutely right – I do want to see the group all go to Haruyuki’s farm, or the elections, or all the things he set up that have been in stasis because of these endless fighting arcs. It can be grindingly exhausting.

That said, this problem may be solved very fast unless Silver Crow and Sky Raker can do something, as most of the rest of the good guys are in a nasty deathtrap that will be hard to escape. Fortunately, we get Vol. 23 soon, and let’s look at the cover art… (sighs, slaps forehead). Maybe we’ll get 23 soon.

Baccano!: 1931 Another Junk Railroad: Special Express

Leave a reply

By Ryohgo Narita and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

It’s nice to see Baccano! returning to the 1930s, which has always felt like Home Base. This volume has an odd history (get used to me saying this). Before the anime came out there was an audio drama of the Flying Pussyfoot books, and Narita wrote a short novel as a bonus for the CDs. The short novel was then used by the anime when it came out the following year for three OAVs at the end of the story. Then, two years after that, he expanded the short novel into the novel that you see here. And given that it was always meant to be something of a bonus feature, it’s no surprise that this book is filled with references to past novels, even above and beyond the fact that it’s a semi-sequel to the other Railroad arcs. Indeed, I would say that if you read Vols. 2 and 3 and then try to jump ahead and read this as a pure sequel, you will be very unhappy. Because this is also a sequel to several other books.

As with all Narita novels, there are several things going on at once in this book, but the “main” storyline is Chane trying to figure out life after her father has been taken into custody by the FBI. She’s left a message for Claire, but it’s unclear what the message means… to both him and in her own mind. What’s more, Chane, who has spent her entire life being betrayed and used, even by the one man that she wholly trusts, finds the very idea of Jacuzzi’s idealistic niceness baffling. Later books in the timeline (which we’ve read earlier in the series) show how joining up with Jacuzzi’s crew and falling in love with Claire is the best thing that’s ever happened to her, and this book shows that evolution. We also get introduced to Graham, who, again, we’ve already been well acquainted with in previous books. More importantly, the fact that this is Book 14 in the series allows Narita to reveal a couple more immortals who happened to be on the train that we never saw…

Now that Narita is allowed to have his bad guy front and center, he’s clearly reveling in it. Fermet is simply terrible throughout this entire book. We know, having read the 2002 books, that he will be terrible in the future as well. And, given that Huey explicitly says that Fermet killed his wife, we know that he’s going to be terrible in the past. Fortunately, Elmer is here to help out somewhat (and there’s a tie-in to the Baccano! DS game here as well, which I won’t even get into…), but given that Elmer is broken as well, that’s not exactly a comfort. Fortunately, this is balanced out by the sweetness surrounding Chane and Jacuzzi’s gang, as well as seeing an epilogue for Rachel, who is allowed to dress in something other than khakis (though the anime missed that) and give love advice to Claire.

So, having been thoroughly spoiled by this book and the previous one, it’s time to go read the ending no one wants to read. Well, that’s not quite true. In all of Baccano fandom, the next book and 1711 may be the most awaited books in the entire series. Back to 1710 next time, where everything is smiles and happy times. Till then, enjoy this book that feels like a DVD extra but is still a lot of fun.