Category Archives: reviews

High School DxD: Extracurricular Daywalker

Leave a reply

By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

Generally speaking, when I write my reviews of this series, they tend to either talk about the sheer depths of boob-obsessed sleaze that Issei possesses, or I talk about how it really hammers the shonen beats in 4-4 time to the point where it’s an ur-example of the genre. That said, we’ve now reached the point where the two are deeply intertwined with each other and cannot be separated. The book opens with a follow up to the silliest story in the previous volume, as Xenovia, Irina and Asia strip naked and force Issei to play the eroge they bought for him. Asia’s familiar requests that it be allowed to eat her school swimsuit before it helps our heroes. And the entire plot revolves around the fact that Issei’s obsession with breasts has allowed the villains to realize they can invade other worlds, because his Breast Goddess clearly was not an angel, fallen angel, demon, or anything else from the DxD universe. Even the dragons are going along with Issei’s perversion now. The boobs are the genre.

This is essentially a continuation from Book 14, as there’s been a coup in vampire society, so now our heroes have to go and rescue Rias and Kiba, who are now essentially under house arrest. As it turns out, the coup is being engineered by the Khaos Brigade (no surprise), but also involves Gaspar’s childhood friend Valerie, who is the new puppet queen and has a grail inside her, meaning she can now hear the voices of the dead. Oh, and one of the strongest dragons is also here as hired muscle. The vampires end up being taken care of fairly quickly, mostly as they’re easily manipulable and don’t know what “deal with the devil” really means. Unfortunately, the devil is Vali’s grandfather, who had been missing for ages, and he’s now back… because he heard about what happened to Issei, and now he wants to run wild in other dimensions.

This is Gaspar’s book, and he gets the big (and somewhat terrifying) power up, but he doesn’t get as much focus as the girls (for some strange reason, coughcough). Gaspar’s birth and upbringing are garden variety abusive for this type of series, as is his rampage of revenge after Valerie suffers a horrible fate (don’t worry, she’s not dead – DxD is not the sort of series that is ready to kill off a girl who is basically Vampire Asia – but she’s comatose). Issei also gets a power up that was fun to see him play around with, but we’re used to that from him. No, the biggest moment of the book for me was the finale, when all the groups team up to go after their new, far greater enemy, and decide they need a team name. Koneko suggests “DxD”, and I could swear you hear triumphant music. It’s a title drop!

Surely next time it’s Irina’s time to shine!… no, sorry, it’s Rossweisse next time. Ah well. For fans of the series only, but this was pretty good.

Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 6

Leave a reply

By Matsuri Isora and Nanna Fujimi. Released in Japan as “Silent Witch” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

So, first of all, a word of warning: this is the first of a two-parter, and the second part has not been scheduled in English yet. Secondly, for those folks who felt that perhaps Monica was getting a bit too relaxed recently, no fear: this volume has her in a state of constant stress and panic for nearly the entire book. From the first volume, the danger has always been that Monica has to keep her identity as the Silent Witch secret, and that any number of things come along to try to break her cover. This volume has attacks on that coming from multiple angles, and having to try to avoid all these people who know who she really is has made her a scared, twitching mess. And, the most important thing, we now have ALL of the Seven Sages in the same book at the same time. And their infighting may be what destroys Monica’s mission once and for all.

The book starts still at New Year’s, after Monica has gotten such a huge response from the crowd she literally passes out standing up. Later, she meets the last, missing witch, who feels like “what if Luffy was a gardener?”, and also confronts Duke Clockford, who she is fairly certain was responsible for her father’s execution but can’t prove it. He, of course, is trying to use her like he does everyone. Then, when she returns to school, she finds two horrible transfer students. Robert Winkel is merely annoying, trying to force Monica to play chess with him and acting like the geekiest geek ever. Far more dangerous is Huberd Dee, an old classmate of Monica’s from the magical academy. He’s been held back twice for essentially being a sadistic lunatic, and his one goal in life is to duel Monica Everett forever in magic battles – and if she’s here as Monica Norton, well, too bad.

This isn’t quite as funny as previous books, though Monica’s reactions can be amusingly over the top in an anxiety disorder sort of way. The highlight there is definitely Robert Winkel, who suddenly has awakened to liking girls and takes his four older brother’s horrible advice – which ranges from “show her how buff you are” to “write her a poem” to “tell her you’ve got a big dick”. Monica, thankfully, doesn’t get his meaning on the last one. As for the actual plot, it’s strong, with the villain turning out to be another witch, and the witches’ position in general is precarious enough that they need to take care of this quietly without it blowing up into a scene, because if it does Monica will be under the thumb of the man who had her father killed forever. And Felix, well, he doesn’t do much, but I suspect that to change when the seventh book comes around.

Unfortunately, the seventh volume is not scheduled yet. Fortunately, there is a spinoff out next month focusing on out favorite annoying witch, Louis. That will help tide us over.

Goodbye, Overtime! This Reincarnated Villainess Is Living for Her New Big Brother, Vol. 4

1 Reply

By Chidori Hama and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō, Brocon ni Job Change Shimasu” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Rymane Tsouria.

This book feels very different from the three books that preceded it. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the core of “incest? Or no? I’ll keep you guessing because I hate you” from the author is still in place. However, Alexei is absent from the bulk of this novel, which allows it to not only lean into Ekaterina basically making everyone around her fall for her even harder, but also allows her to lean even harder into her past life, the death, and Japan in general. This world has gods, after all, and they notice she’s different. This also leads to leaning harder on the environmental concerns as well – the deforestation had already hinted at this, but it’s emphasized even more. That said, I’m burying the lede here, which is that there’s a dragon and he’s here to make sure that the reader has someone to root for who isn’t incest boy or a wussy prince. The dragon is cool.

Alexei is VERY busy after the events of the third book, to the point where he can’t make a pilgrimage to the mines to visit his uncle and greet the gods. So Ekaterina volunteers to do it for him. Of course, she has to go with a retinue of knights and attendants, because everyone around her is overprotective. And, well, this book is exhibit A for why they should be overprotective. On the way there, they encounter a monster and Ekaterina learns she does not like to kill monsters (especially if they’re mandrake sugar beets that she immediately assigns personalities and backstories to). She learns the tragic backstory of a local legend, and then runs into said legend herself, who is the bride of death. The gods warn her that the local volcano is going to erupt… sometime. And then she meets the dragon, who is so impressed with her that he proposes.

As always, the best reason to read these books is the main character. The most interesting moment in the book comes right after the dragon proposes (where he also points out the very good reasons to marry him), where her Japan-persona completely breaks down… and the original Ekaterina, who is still a terrified child dealing with her family trauma, comes to the fore. This was the biggest surprise of the book, and I hope it’s picked up on in later books, because I had assumed that Ekaterina’s Japan side basically “won”. The other thing I liked is something I also enjoy in other series with characters like this, which is trying to see how others view her. “Goddess” is thrown around a lot, her genius uncle thinks she’s a genius, and the idea that she might have been abducted by a dragon sends the previously 100% stoic Mina to completely freak out. She’s rapidly become the most valuable asset in the world, and that’s concerning. Though possibly good news for those who worry she’ll just marry her brother.

Which is still in play, but I hope it doesn’t go that way. I’m fine with it kicking the can down the road. Next time we should see the return of the rest of the cast. An excellent volume.