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Last Round Arthurs, Vol. 1: Scum Arthur & Heretic Merlin

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By Taro Hitsuji and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan by Fujimi Shobo. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

Even the author knew what people were going to be thinking. In the afterword, he describes getting the premise from his editor and thinking that it had been done to death. The words “Fate/Stay Night” did not get mentioned explicitly, but the implication was certainly there. Actually, it appears the editor and publisher were really stepping up to the plate for this one. The author is known for Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, a very popular LN series with a manga out over here. They also brought in Haimura as the illustrator, who’s already busy drawing Index and DanMachi Sword Oratoria. All that and a series about a bunch of King Arthur wannabes fighting each other in a battle to the death to see who can be the Last Round Arthur (see what they did there?). The obvious flaw in this series is that it reeks at times, especially in the first half, of being written to be a franchise rather than a story. Fortunately, it gets better, especially in the last third.

The premise is essentially Mallory’s Arthur legends meets Fate/Stay Night meets Haruhi Suzumiya. Rintarou is a young man who is perfect at everything he’s ever done since he was born, which makes everyone think that he’s a monster – including his parents. He hears about a competition between those with the blood of King Arthur, a battle involving Kings and their “Jacks”, essentially a summoned Servant a la Fate. The winner takes over the world… which isn’t all good, as there’s also a reality incursion they’ll have to deal with. Rintarou wants in on this competition, and finds the weakest candidate – Luna Artur, a seemingly arrogant young woman who’s taken over the local Camelot High School and made it her plaything – and sold her Excalibur for cash. Despite thinking Luna is annoying and possibly bonkers, he becomes her vassal, mostly so that he can stop being bored with life. Of course, things aren’t going to be easy, as Luna’s childhood friend is fighting for the prize as well. And Rintarou also has a secret… which the title of the work may in fact give away.

Luna starts off as a weird mix of Haruhi and Gilgamesh from Fate, and it can make her hard to like until her true self shines through. In reality, she wants to see everyone happy and wants the power to achieve it. This does not mesh very well with Rintarou, who tends to be the pragmatic “let’s sacrifice their lives and sneak up behind the enemy” sort, but they eventually do get along quite well. I was less enamored with Sir Kay, Artur’s beleaguered Jack, but that’s the fault of the author, really – Kay is nice enough, but she’s Mikuru Asahina with a sword, and unfortunately I have no confidence she’ll rise above “comedy relief” in future books. The fights were well described and tense, which is good, as I think they may be the main reason people will read this. There’s also a few surprise revelations that AREN’T in the title, some amusing jokes, and some setup for the future.

When that future is I’m not sure – unlike the other July Yen debuts, Last Round Arthurs doesn’t have another book scheduled yet. It’s not fantastic, but it’s worth a read if you like modernization of Arthurian legend or just want a Fate book with the serial numbers filed off.

Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1

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By Honda. Released in Japan as “Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san” by Media Factory, serialized in the magazine Gene Pixiv. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

I had (shocking, I know) not actually seen the anime that is based off of this manga and took the internet by storm a while back. As such, I was a bit surprised to find that the skull face is actually irrelevant. No, this is not about a walking skeleton who works in a bookstore. The protagonist is the author, and the skull face is a mask that hides their identity – all the employees of the bookstore have different types of masks, for exactly the same reason. When you’re basing things on a true story, but don’t want to actually upset any of your colleagues, this is a good way to go about it. Moreover, it focuses the reader’s attention on the faces of the customers, which are gloriously well-done and expressive. No, instead of walking skeletons we just have life at a large bookstore in Japan, and insight into what’s going on behind the scenes. That does not mean this title is not fascinating, because it is.

Actually, the large bookstore also surprised me. I’ve seen manga about sleepy bookstores where a customer walks in once in a while, and the huge chain bookstore is usually the villain in those titles, trying to crush the mom and pop store and its individuality. But no, this manga is about a LARGE bookstore and its MANY employees – in fact, just the employees of the manga department of the store. It’s not made clear where it is, but given the large number of Westerners who wander through it, it has to be somewhere in Tokyo. Most of the time we see Honda-san at the front counter, helping customers find the manga they’re looking for, no matter how embarrassing, confusing, or impossible the request is. It doesn’t help that, as I mentioned earlier, many of the customers are foreigners with little concept of Japanese, and Honda-san’s English is also iffy. Still, service is the important thing, and we can’t leave a customer unhappy – though they may change their objective a bit.

Among the ‘types’ noted on the cover of the manga are ‘801 girls’, and a large chunk of the start of the book is devoted to BL manga and those searching for it. Sometimes they’re at sea, such as a dad whose daughter has asked for Gintama BL doujinshi, something Honda-san has to tell him isn’t sold at this bookstore. Sometimes you get a feeling of being “the Ugly American” in a sense, such as Honda-san watching the very loud American BL fans gushing about the types they like in the middle of the store. (That said, there’s no judgment given, and Honda-san seems to admire their forthrightness.) We do also meet several other employees, who tend to run the gamut from busy and harried to harried and busy, but the emphasis here, apart from Honda-san, is on the customers. (One exception is the class Honda-san has to take on customer service, where he meets a gorgeous young woman from another store who has trouble smiling for work – it’s amusing.)

I’ll be honest, this almost reads like a travel documentary about the Book Buyers of Shinjuku or something. It can be a bit exhausting (Honda-san reminds you time and again how painfully busy and overworked they are), but the stories and faces of the people involved are worth it. Even if they come in looking for shoujo manga and end up buying Berserk.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 1

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By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

These days, whenever a light novel is licensed that does not in some way shape or form ground itself in fantasy, I take notice. This is the “isekai boom”, and even the titles released that aren’t isekai seem to involve fantasy worlds, adventuring, and demon lords. We have seen a few normal “romantic comedy” LNs – Toradora!, My Youth Romantic Comedy Etc. – but they’re in a tiny minority, and were licensed well after the anime became popular. So Tomozaki, a high school kids title with no fantasy and no anime (at least not yet) was a surprise. I wondered what attracted Yen to it, especially as the publisher rarely deals with North America on their light novel end. I ended up being very happy with it. The novel starts slow, but as both it and its main character gradually find their feet it gets more and more interesting till a final quarter that was fantastic. This is especially interesting because of the odd little genre the book turns out to be: it’s a self-help guide.

Tomozaki is our title character, a quiet and sullen young man who is fantastic at gaming – particularly ‘Atafami’, the current hot new game – but not so good at everyday social interactions. His narrative voice will remind a few people of Hachiman, though he’s not as clever or misanthropic. (In fact, let’s get that out of the way – this is going to get compared to OreGairu, and some of that is by design. Even the cover art styles look similar. There’s even a reference saying that Saitama (where the books take place) can beat Chiba easily (OreGairu’s territory) that made me think the author is well aware of what he’s doing.) In any case, Tomozaki ends up playing a really good player online, and they arrange to meet up. To his shock – and hers – she’s his classmate Hinami, the cute and popular girl. Meanwhile, she’s incredibly disappointed in him, as she assumed he’d be as cool in real life as he was in the game. When he goes off about how life is much harder than a game, she decides to tutor him in how to life.

The first half of the book, as I said, feels like someone wanted to write a self-help manual for the introverted Japanese high schooler but make it interesting. To my surprise, the gaming talk did not bore me at all – it’s made relevant to the conversations throughout, and even when we’re watching characters play Atafami, it doesn’t drown us in stats unless that’s the point. Hinami explains how to make Tomozaki’s real-life character better, starting with learning to smile, then posture, then a new outfit, etc. And conversation. He has to get better at that as well. As the book goes on, it turns out that he and Hinami have a lot more in common than you’d think, and that she’s not explaining this from a superior position – she continues to do every day just what she’s telling him to do. Constant practice, just like in a game.

The book gets better when we start to see the results of her tutelage. Tomozaki doesn’t get perfect immediately, of course, and he’s still socially awkward much of the time. But once he starts treating these tasks – “have two conversations with a girl in class every day”, etc. – like a game that he needs to beat, he shows that he can be very good about it. He’s also observant and speaks his mind, like most LN narrators. And so he can spot that the over-the-top genki girl is putting on something of an act, or that the overly serious girl never starts conversations herself. Towards the end of the book he starts teaching another girl to play Atafami (so she can impress a guy) and he’s now the one giving the excellent advice – and also applying it to life, telling her that it’s never too late to change your character if you don’t like it. His growth is both astonishing and not surprising at all, given his gaming skills.

The book was clearly written as a stand-alone, but there’s more to come. I want to read it. The cast is all likeable (in fact, it’s a safe bet that Hinami, the female lead, is likely the least popular, as always happens in “harem” stories like this) and Tomozaki is relatable without being overbearing or irritating (well, he’s irritating to start with). It’s been called a “kinder, gentler OreGairu” and that’s simplistic but not a bad starting point. I had a ball reading it.