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Sword Art Online, Vol. 16: Alicization Exploding

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By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

Thankfully, this is a much stronger volume than the previous one. It helps that this time around we have very little POV of Gabriel Miller, though the little we get shows he’s as awful as ever, and has a new reason to be after Alice. There’s also no Kirito POV, as he spends the entire book still comatose. This allows a number of characters to get POV scenes, which Kawahara admits in the afterword he’s not really used to, but it plays out pretty well, as we’re introduced to a number of Integrity Knights, as well as some villains, and get a little more into what makes them human. Which is good, given that the entire premise of this arc is that the cast of the Underworld are meant to be just as important and sentient as our heroes, even if Alice is framed as the most special of all. And, coming down as a gift from heaven – literally – Asuna joins the fray, with God-tier powers and an immediate rivalry with Alice, because the author never met a cliche he didn’t like.

Unfortunately, sometimes that means cliches that shouldn’t really be used. I sighed when we got to the Integrity Knight with a massive crush on Fanatio, who was forced to become a knight because she fell in love with another woman, falls in love with Fanatio while a knight, and is promptly killed off protecting her. I should be grateful she wasn’t framed as evil or predatory, I suppose. The ‘bad guy’ cast also ranting about the “white iums’ (aka the good guys) also rankles, though I know that it comes from a fantasy base where white = good and black = bad, and was no doubt written into the Underworld by the developers. Better handled was the cowardly Knight who decides to hide from the final battle, and unfortunately for him ends up in the same tent as Ronie, Tiese and their unresponsive charge, and he is forced to learn the true meaning of Christmas. Or at least that some things are worth fighting for.

Most of this book is a fight sequence, and there are some good ones, particularly a battle between a stoic and (mostly) silent Integrity Knight and a Pugilist (who are basically a bunch of Hercules guys) on the opposite side who find that each has an equal bloodlust for a good fight. That said, we can’t avoid the plot entirely. Asuna is in the game now, but she won’t be enough, as the villains have hacked it to allow a bunch of Americans to log on – not telling them these are anything other than NPCs – and let them kill everyone. Fortunately, Yui – who laments the fact that she’s not as good an AI as Alice and company while at the same time surpassing her own limits, a scene that’s very deftly handled – is bringing in a few more ringers. Yes, at last, we’re getting the rest of the band back together, as the other “main” cast members prepare to enter the Underworld as well.

We have two more books to go in this arc, and I will be very surprised if the next one does not end with Kirito ascendant. But there’s no denying that things are tough right now. Fortunately, with the power of More Deban on its way, we can likely find a way past it. That said, SAO is every five months now, so be prepared for a slightly longer wait.

One Piece, Vol. 90

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

One Piece is ninety volumes long over here, in case you missed the title of the review. And it’s been running in Japan for twenty-two years, meaning many parents who started reading it in East Blue are having their kids pick it up with Cake Island. And while Oda tries his best to make everything accessible to casual readers, he really has his work cut out for him with this book, which sees the country’s leaders from all over the land get together for a meeting. The Celestial Dragons will be there… wait, who were they again? And Wapol’s back! … wait, who was he again? Even Oda knows that we can’t really recall everyone in every single volume. As result, not only does each chapter have ‘recap’ panels reminding us who these people are, there’s also an inserted 7-page ‘guidebook’ style entry going into even greater detail. You can’t tell the players without a scorecard. Especially since Oda seems to be reintroducing EVERYONE.

Of course, some characters don’t really need reintroduction, either because they’re still relatively new (Rebecca), hard to miss (Princess Shirahoshi), or iconic (Vivi). There’s an amusing scene where they all talk about how much Luffy did for all of them, and more people fall over themselves to talk about what a debt they owe the Straw Hats. Of course, not everyone reintroduced is a good guy. I mentioned Wapol before, though honestly he doesn’t seem that bad anymore, and I think is merely there to face off against Dalton and Kureha. No, I’m talking about the Celestial Dragons, particularly Stelly, the bratty kid who ruined Sabo’s childhood, who is now an even brattier adult. And of course there are the five elderly guys who run everything, who we rarely see but whenever we do it isn’t good. Worst of all, though, is the Dragon who appears riding Bartholomew Kuma like a mount. Sabo won’t take that lying down, and neither will Bonney, who’s infiltrated the party.

That said, it may be a while till we get back to this meeting, as we also have the Straw Hats, who have finally escaped from Big Mom, at least for the moment. Sadly, they’re without Jimbei, who has to stay behind to hold off the enemy, but he does resolve to join them soon, and I think we can safely say he’s a new crew member. And then we go off to the country of Wano, which allows Oda to bring out every single Meiji period cliche that he can. It also allows us to catch up with the cast who’ve been missing for a long, long time. Some are doing what they’ve always done (Franky is a carpenter, Usppp is lying), some are taking on tough new roles (Robin is a geisha), and some are… being executed? Well, at least they try to convince Zoro to commit suicide for the “crimes” he’s committed. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

So we’re kicking off a new arc, and Luffy seems to be once more separated from everyone else after the ship runs aground on the shore of an uncharted desert isle… wait, no, runs aground in Wano Country. What happens next? And when will we get back to Vivi and company?

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 1

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By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by Media Factory. Released in North America Yen Press. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

I do try not to be glib in my reviews too often, but I will admit it was tempting to have my entire review of this volume be “Loved the princess, hated the torture”. Honestly, it was a surprise to many people that I started this at all, given my wariness of overly dark and bloody titles. But I was on one of my “read the first volume of everything” kicks, so I worked my way through it. It was difficult at times, I will admit. The torture is no lie, and this isn’t even the pointless “torture them to get information” that you see in other, more annoying works. This is torture for the sake of gore, torture porn. Fortunately, the book also has three very distinct, likeable leads with expressive character voices and interesting through processes. I liked the way they went, and I want to see more of them. That said, it’s hard not to read this and think “the author wanted to write pages of torture description, so wrote a book around it”.

Kaito is a young man who has suffered at the hands of his abusive father his entire life, and finally is killed by said father. However, he ends up being transported to the land of the Torture Princess, Elisabeth Le Fanu. She brought him there to be her servant, and help (or at least watch) as she defeats thirteen demons and the people who have sold their souls to said demons. The demons enjoy torture and despair, and (seemingly) so does Elisabeth, so there’s an awful lot of it going on, and for a while the somewhat stoic Kaito is simply going with the flow. After a while, they also gain a robot maid, Hina (OK, a ball-jointed doll who is sentient maid, but for all intends and purposes she functions as a robot maid) with a devotion to Kaito that borders on the obsessive… well, OK, has moved into the obsessive and set up a knickknack shop there. Can they stop those contracted with demons from torturing innocents? Well, no. But they can at least punish them after the fact.

I will admit, I found Elisabeth, Kaito and Hina a lot of fun. Despite her name, Elisabeth is not a vampire, but she shares some of the same character traits, and the relationship between her and Kaito reminded me at times of Shinobu and Araragi from the Monogatari series. Kaito is snarky but not too much so, and most of this first book is seeing him regain a desire to actually find happiness and a purpose in life. And cliched as Hina is, she’s also hilarious and fun… and also provides the heart of the book, right near the end. It’s a good solid basis for a series. That said, dear sweet merciful Christ, after a while you will start flipping pages as you read about people lying in various bits, or having limbs chopped off, or being staked by demon crows, or… it almost went beyond exhausting to boring. It fits the florid Elisabeth’s Grand Guignol style, but that does mean that this is a book I can recommend only to the strong of stomach.