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The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious, Vol. 1

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By Light Tuchihi and Saori Toyota. Released in Japan as “Kono Yuusha Ga Ore TUEEE Kuse Ni Shinchou Sugiru” by Kadokawa. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matt Rutsohn.

As I was reading this book, the one thing that came to mind over and over was that this was aimed squarely at the KonoSuba crowd – at least here in North America. It’s not QUITE accurate to describe it as “KonoSuba if Aqua were the narrator”, but it’s probably a decent starting point. Ristarte is a young, somewhat shallow goddess whose job it is to summon heroes and assist them in saving worlds. This time around, though, the world she has to save is in need of a very, VERY strong hero. So she summons Seiya Ryuuguuin, a handsome Japanese man whose stats are much better than the other starting heroes. It does say that his personality is “overly cautious”, but Rista just glosses over that. As it turns out, he IS a very capable hero… it’s just that his personality is appalling, and, as we said, he’s overly cautious. Will he even bother to save the world? And will Rista go bald before he does?

First things first, if you hate tsukkomi, drop this title right now. About 90 percent of it is 1) Seiya does a thing; 2) Rista screams “Why are you doing the thing?!?!” over and over again. This can get a bit irritating after a while, and honestly I would normally wish that Rista would simply be quiet and accept Seiya a bit more… except he really does inspire shouting. He’s not socially inept per se, but he doesn’t care about politeness of niceties, and his paranoia and need to be prepared have led him to attack allies just as much as he does enemies. He’s not a very likeable person, and you can absolutely see why Rista is the narrator. That said, she’s a bit flighty herself, and also frequently pauses to imagine herself and Seiya in a romantic mood, as he is quite handsome. But just being around Seiya for more than five minutes will tell you this isn’t going to happen.

The humor is mostly character-driven, which is good. There are a number of other goddesses that show up, including one who hints that Seiya’s past may not just be “typical Japanese guy” (in fact, we learn absolutely nothing of his past). There’s also two dragonborn teens whose job it is to help the hero on his quest and also grow and get stronger… except Seiya is so ludicrously strong that they’re reduced to carrying his things, which crushes their spirit. That said, there are hints that Seiya is not, in fact, a complete monster, he’s just completely unable to frame an action in any way that makes him look kind of helpful. (The author hopes to develop this in the second book, showing that they are well aware of how exasperating it can be.) There’s enough here for me to try a second volume, but I do feel that the Cautious Hero was more exhausting than humorous at the end of the day.

And I will admit, sometimes when he says “I’m perfectly prepared” he does look a bit cool.

Animeta!, Vol. 1

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By Yaso Hanamura. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Morning Two. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by T. Emerson.

Learning how to be an animator is the name of the game here (the title even reads “Animator” when read out loud), though it’s not quite as bad as the foodie manga that are out these days – there are a few interstitial pages of instructions about pencil type, etc. but for the most part this is meant to entertain. Well, entertain and warn. Our heroine is Miyuki Sanada, a freshly graduated girl who was sort of wandering through life without much of a purpose until she saw a magical girl anime that CHANGED HER LIFE. Now she wants to be an animator, and has decided to try out at the studio that created it. She gets past the first stage, so must have some drawing chops, but she’s woefully unprepared for what lies beyond. And even if she gets hired, it’s just gonna be cleaning and inbetweening, and the wages aren’t enough to live on. Can her love of anime be enough to power past all the reasons to get a better job?

And so the thrust of Animeta! is twofold. On the one hand, you see that this is not a career for those who are really good at drawing and need a career. It’s thankless, the pay isn’t great unless you’re a god-tier animator, and, as Miyuki finds out, everyone seems to be better than her. She’s a pure newbie, so doesn’t even know what cleaning and inbetweening are, and her drawing speed is far too slow for what they need to do. What’s worse, her instructor is of the “I am going to be as blunt and rude to you as possible to see if you quit” school of teaching, though rest assured we do see the heart of gold underneath. Everyone else in the company is wondering why Miyuki was hired at all, but… we the reader know she has that certain something. And yes, it’s something beyond “I really love anime!”.

That’s the thing I liked best about this first volume, which is mostly introductory; it’s got a great balance in Miyuki. Her love of anime may be what keeps her going, along with a few notes from a “mysterious” helper (mysterious to her, we guessed), and I liked her perspective at the end when the crew are looking for mistakes in the animation and she keeps pointing out the things that were really great. But there are also signs that with proper development she could be a real talent. It’s why the director hired her (he saw her quick memory when some change was dropped), and also why the woman teaching her is also intrigued – she may not be very good at inbetweening, but her art shows that she might be better when it comes to key animation – what inbetweeners dream of graduating to.

So Animeta! is a fun workplace manga, and you want to see Miyuki succeed. It’s out digitally at the moment, but a print release is due in the fall. Recommended for those who imagine Noa Izumi from Patlabor as an animator.

Outbreak Company, Vol. 9

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By Ichiro Sakaki and Yuugen. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Honestly, returning to Japan for a visit was an obvious plotline. So obvious, in fact, that the anime (which I haven’t seen) apparently also used it in an original story. This time Shinichi hears that his light novel author dad is hospitalized and worries, so he asks if he can return to Japan, despite the fact that the Japanese government recently tried to kill him. But there’s been a regime change since the series began, and maybe he’s not quite as wanted? So he returns, with Minori as his guard, Myusel and Elvia also has his bodyguards (and disguised), and Petralka hiding in the luggage so she can come too. Fortunately, his dad is fine. Unfortunately, that leaked soccer game footage has led to everyone in it being wanted by most major world governments. As a result, Minori is captured by the Russians, while Shinichi and the others are menaced by Chinese and Americans. And worst of all, his sister has turned into a tsundere!

The first three-quarters of this book is set up for comedy, and it’s decent comedy, with only one of two instances of “dur… boobs!” from our hero. Shinichi’s parents are just as over the top as they were in the first novel, and his dad in particular is amusing and reminds me very much of Shinichi himself. As for the little sister, you can see why she’s frustrated with her entire family, but also why “Shinichi’s gone to India to find himself” did not really fly. Not sure how much more we’ll see of her, but she’s cute. The sections in Akiba are also fun, with Petralkas getting lured in by gatcha games, Myusel maid fangirling, and Elvia really REALLY wanting some expensive artbooks. It’s only as they get surrounded by more and more people who recognize them that you realize how foolish it was to return (and really, Minori should have realized this would happen) and things get very serious very fast.

We are unlikely to see more Outbreak Company animated, which is a shame, as the car chase that is towards the end of the book is top tier, and shows Elvia, Myusel and Shinichi all being pretty damn badass. The book ends on a cliffhanger as, having returned home for lack of other safe havens, they are surrounded by more bad guys. There are also a few other odd hints here and there that Japan and Eldant may be meshing together a bit as, while magic mostly does not seem to work here as it does there, there are moments where that does not seem to be the case – in particular, moments where the girls who can’t speak Japanese are acting like action heroes. Also, how much of an international incident is everyone going to make of this? And is Minori OK? We never saw her after she was captured. It’s a good thing this series is light-heated in nature…

Outbreak Company is a fast-paced comedy that also has some really good character beats. I still enjoy it.