Category Archives: reviews

Banner of the Stars: What Needs Defending

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By Hiroyuki Morioka and Toshihiro Ono. Released in Japan by Hayakawa Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Giuseppe di Martino.

I think that I’ve mentioned before that this series reminds me quite a bit of Legend of the Galactic Heroes in places. They’re both Space Operas, but more importantly, we’re meant to root for the Empire much of the time. In LOGH we have Yang Wen-Li and company to balance that out, but the enemy in Crest/Banner of the Stars rarely gets any face time at all, and so naturally we root for the Abh because they’re the POV characters, even when they’re doing things that may be seen as rather heartless or odd. And while Jint may not have been born an Abh, a lot of his emotional reactions to things, particularly in the first half of this book, is starting to feel very similar. Admittedly, he’s helped out by the situation he’s placed in, a plotline which will make the reader cry out for more space battle banter. We get a bit of that as well (thank heaven for Sporr), but for the most part this is a story about a sordid little prison planet and their rebellion.

Jint and Lafier end up coming across this planet, one of the ones in the Abh’s freshly conquered territory. It’s divided into thirds: all men, all women, and mixed, with the men given vasectomies so that the prison won’t be overrun with children. All this overseen by a warden and guards. But now there’s a rebellion, helped along by a nasty drug trade on the planet as well as the men-only group deciding that they want to go over to the women-only group and start making babies. (The novel takes an emotionally distant approach to this – the word ‘rape’ is not mentioned in the book, but it’s clearly what the men, for all their talk about fatherhood being their dream, want to do, and Jint and Lafier do make sure the women-only side of the prison is evacuated first.) All sides want to get off planet, even to other prison planets. Jint is caught in the middle… and when a revolution does come, Lafier, who is dealing with the space battle end of things, cannot stick around to save him.

As always with this series, it’s the interpersonal relationships that make it good, particularly Jint and Lafier. Little things like a near-death Jint writing poetry in Abh on the walls of where he’s hiding for Lafier to find, or the whole “Abh do not cry’ thing that’s a running thread throughout the book (and, unsurprisingly, total bullshit). By the end of the novel they’re closer than ever. And I do love the caustic yet hilarious relationship between Sporr and Cfadiss (and was very surprised at Sporr basically sacrificing a LOT to help Lafier here). That said, while I do appreciate what the author wants to do with the Abh linguistics and the space battle logistics, when the book is NOT about interpersonal relationships it can get quite boring. Sometimes it can even get annoying, particularly when one side of a group of prisoners is arguing about their inalienable rights to rape the other side.

As such, I’d call this volume more ‘variable’ than anything else, though the Jint and Lafier moments are fantastic. Next time they apparently return to his original homeworld. That should be safe and fun! But at least they’re going together.

The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker, Vol. 2

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By Tôwa and Huuka Kazabana. Released in Japan as “Sekai Saikyou no Kouei: Meikyuukoku no Shinjin Tansakusha” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

As you might imagine, this is not quite as hilariously bad as the first volume was. Many of the same elements are in play, and now that we’re familiar with them, they don’t provoke hilarity as they once did. That said, there is a certain amount of amusement taken in counting the number of times that Arihito meets a new woman and has them fall in love with him almost immediately. We add two more members to the party in this volume, though we met them in the first book: merchant Madoka (who has sisters named Manami and Kurumi, making me wonder if the author had been watching KOR while writing this) and monster dissector Melissa, whose mother turns out to have been a demi-human, which explains (I guess) her emotional reserve. Oh yes, and there’s a Guild Savior, Seraphina, whose job it is to save those who are in big trouble. Which is not Arihito: he’s always got this. That said… I dunno, this series remains hard to dislike.

Our party starts the book having risen to the top of the rankings, which is good, as there’s a monster breakout they have to deal with, as well as rescuing another top-level party from a dangerous monster forest, where they ran into a Named Monster that ended up possessing 4/5 of the party. And after that they have to deal with another giant loot box, which they are warned (by the goddess who now supports them) has a dangerous weapon inside of it. None of these pose TOO much of a problem for Arihito and company – indeed, they spend far more time figuring out what new skills to pick now that they’ve leveled up than they do actually fighting. They don’t even have to take the test to get to the 7th level – which they party they rescued were doing – because they’re that fantastic. But they all remain humble, generally shifting praise to other people in the party while downplaying their own strength and saying how much of it was pure luck. Arihito especially does this, as befits a light novel protagonist.

I just reread that paragraph, and God, it makes this sound wretched, doesn’t it? But as you’re actually reading it, it’s surprisingly relaxing and peaceful. This isn’t really a ‘slow life’ book – far too much happens (indeed, the events of this very long second book take place over only two days) for that to be the case – but at times it does sort of feel like a slice of overpowered isekai life. The girls are falling for Arihito more and more every day, mostly due to the usual Japanese protagonist reason of him being nice to them, but there’s precisely zero romantic rivalry. They’re suggesting who gets to bathe with him, but washing backs is all anybody does. For a book with an overpowered hero and the nine or ten different girls who are all devoted to him, it’s surprisingly wholesome, with a few “wow, those breasts are large” exceptions. And Theresia, the demi-human lizard, continues to be the best thing about the novels – her emotional range and interactions with the others show a deft touch in the writing which is completely absent from every other part of the book.

At the end of the book everyone (including Louisa, their handler, who is not about to lose the greatest party that’s ever happened to her) move up to the next level, where things are supposedly much tougher. That said, they arrive at the level being Rank 294 out of 10,000 parties, so they’re already able to afford the mansion they’re used to. What happens next? God knows – I’m guessing more leveling up, more choosing skills, and more women to add to the pile. This is hard to take seriously, but also hard to hate. I’ll be reading more.

Sweat and Soap, Vol. 1

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By Kintetsu Yamada. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Morning. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Matt Treyvaud.

I will note right off the bat that the lead couple get together very fast in this manga – which makes sense, as the first chapter was written as a one-shot. It’s also a good thing, because if this had been a slow-burner I might have dropped it. There’s a weird consent thing going on at the start, where Asako, the heroine, is clearly uncomfortable with the attention of Kotaro, but also finds him immediately attractive and magnetic. He’s also doing his best to hold back while also begging her “let me smell you every day!”. Fortunately, there’s a better reason in this manga than the usual one you’d expect. Also fortunately, once the manga settles in beyond one chapter it becomes less about smelling this woman’s natural body odor and more about a shy and awkward woman navigating her first romance, with all the highs and lows that this entails. It ended up being quite a sweet read… especially as it does end up doubling back and talking about when things are appropriate and wne they aren’t. Mostly.

Asako has grown up sweating a lot, which caused her to be a bit of an outcast as a kid, and now as an adult she still has the same issues. As a result, she’s happy to be working at Liliadrop, makers of soaps, toiletries, and other bath products that help her get through her day. Then one day she runs into the chief product developer… who can smell her natural scent. And really likes it. Like, really REALLY likes it. To a somewhat inappropriate level. Of course, he’s also attracted to her as a shy, sweet girl. And so, after saving her from a subway creeper, they go back to her place and make love. Now she has to negotiate this new relationship in reverse, getting to know Kotaro and finding boundaries where he can feel free to smell her but perhaps not when it’s too embarrassing. That said, he’s very popular at the company, so she chooses to hide their relationship for now. A choice she may regret…

I really liked the two leads, which was a bit of a surprise given one of them is introduced by “I’m not going to hurt you, I just want a good sniff”. But Kotaro is merely socially inept, and when he realizes how uncomfortable he’s making Asako, he backs off… mostly. Well, somewhat. Fortunately for the reader, the artist is good at drawing embarrassment, and Asako is very cute. The best chapter is the one where they go on a date, and we see a) Kotaro trying to stop himself smelling her in public, and consequently getting more and more uncomfortable, and b) Asako thinking this means he’s having a horrible time. In the end, it’s about good communication, as always. The manga is not that explicit, but it’s worth noting that there are a couple of sex scenes here… including the morning after where we see blood on Asako’s bedsheets, something not normally seen in titles like these.

So yes, there is a bit of fetishism here for the natural body odor of a woman. But come for that, and stay for the attractive leads and their adorable if hella embarrassing romance.