No Game No Life, Vol. 12

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By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Richard Tobin.

After a few volumes where I found myself sayhing “I know, I know, it’s skeezy as hell, but you just gotta power through it”, this new volume ends up being one of the strongest in quite some time. Now, this does not mean that it’s not filled with exactly what you’d expect from No Game No Life, after all. There’s tons of Steph being humiliated, especially in the back half, and there’s also two of Sora’s “harem” giving him what amount to naked selfies so he can masturbate. It’s still not something you’d recommend to your grandma. But this volume does a great job showing off the good points of the main characters, particularly Sora and Steph, while also continuing to set up the massive conflict teased in the previous book, and also possibly setting up for a major fracture between [ ] and their strongest ally in the next volume. The whole point of these games has been “no one actually dies” – that’s why they were created. But can someone get around that?

We begin with a massive 7-day celebration of Sora and Shiro’s one-year anniversary in arriving in Disboard, as well as a birthday celebration for both of them. While neither of them are wild about this at the start, it ends up being a fun and touching party… that is interrupted by the arrival of Schira Ha, here as a representative of the Devil, and announcing that their army will finally be destroying the world. Which, um, they’ve tried before, and it hasn’t gone well. Also, the Devil is represented in Disboard by a cute little puffball thing. That said, they do have a massive tower where the goal is to get past all 100 levels, and the reward is the race piece of all the devils. The game itself is a dungeon crawl, which Sora and Shiro should have no issues with, but the game requires hope… and that’s more of an issue.

If you know my reviews of prior books, you know this is where I talk about Steph. She’s terrific at the start of the book, being emotionally sensitive, highly capable, and also knowing Sora and Shiro better than anyone else. Naturally, seeing this, I knew we were in for a giant string of “Steph gets humiliated” later on, and that’s just what happens, as she’s forced into bikini armor… which then gets destroyed, leaving her naked. But I also love the idea that SHE is the powerhouse of their dungeon group, rather than any of the far more powerful others, mostly as, while she’s certainly gotten embarrassed and exasperated and irritated, Steph doesn’t get depressed. Which leads to a heaping pile of hope. That said, the ending of the volume, where Sora has to tell her that this game will be ending with them actually having to kill someone, promises that will change soon.

All this plus their nation is losing people by the day as everyone runs away! It’s a nasty cliffhanger, and we may wait another 18 months to get it resolved, but for fans of this series, this is a must read.

I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 7

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By Sarasa Nagase and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

This is a short story volume, but it contains the basic theme for the entire series, which is that when Aileen is doomed, or on the verge of execution, or otherwise has to work really hard to achieve anything, she’s fantastic, amazing, stupendous. When she’s surrounded by her loving husband, loyal allies and BFFs, she has a tendency to… well, there’s no getting around it, she’s a sub. The end of the book discusses Aileen and Claude’s first time, which we briefly heard about at the end of Book 6, and it’s immediately apparent that Aileen is in terrible denial about the fact that, in bed, Claude can not only wrap her around his… not-so-little “finger”, but she also just gives in to him, which embarrasses and humiliates her. And also turns her on, we’re meant to understand. If this is a surprise to you at all, this must be your first volume. That said, there’s more to this volume than that.

The short stories in this book are in chronological order, with the earliest happening after Book 1 and the latest ones taking place at the end of Book 6. Most of them are short, and it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that they were extras with a store exclusive or DVD release. There are bulkier ones, though. One goes into much greater detail about how Walt and Kyle went from the Church’s honed weapons who are there to kill the Demon Lord to his most trusted bodyguards. (If your response is “because the Church is evil, congrats, you read Japanese light novels.) Because this is an otome game world, Valentine’s Day exists, and we get to see the ladies of the book (minus Lilia, who is notably absent from most of this volume) dole out candies and chocolates to all. And, as I mentioned above, Aileen and Claude have had their first time. He’s very, very happy. She’s a wreck.

I mentioned the lack of Lilia. She does show up at the very beginning, in a scene taking place before the start of Book 1. It mostly just shows off her perfect heroine vibes that she’s deliberately cultivating. More interesting is the end, where we see all the main couples do something. Aileen and Claude consummate, Isaac and Rachel decide to elope (their parents are against it) and buy a house. Auguste proposes to Serena, who reacts in exactly the way you’d expect a furious tsundere to react. Roxanne gets reassurance that she’s not just “the top of the harem” but the only wife. And Sahra… um, exists, I guess. They can’t all be gems. But Lilia is determined to avoid her fate. She declares she’s staying “All Ages”, despite being married to Cedric. What’s more, the thing that gets her over the moon more than anything this volume is not Cedric doing anything, but Aileen re-enacting, just for her, one of the villain CGs from the game. Lilia is far more like Maria Campbell than we’d expected, adn Cedric is still coming in second to the villainess in her heart.

So that was not essential, but it was pretty fun! Claude fans will love seeing him 100% in charge here. Presumably back to more “if Aileen doesn’t fix this immediately she’ll be executed” next time.

The Magician Who Rose from Failure: Tales of War and Magic, Vol. 6

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By Hitsuji Gamei and Fushimi Saika. Released in Japan as “Shikkaku Kara Hajimeru Nariagari Madō Shidō! ~ Jumon Kaihatsu Tokidoki Senki ~” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

So many series these days are some form of “magic academy” that it actually feels like a step backwards for The Magician Who Rose From Failure to go there. I mean, Arcus has invented the magic thermometer! He’s taken part in a major war, and killed bad guys! He’s even survived his uncle’s arduous training! But of course, all of that doesn’t mean much to the population at large. Especially since the royal family wants to keep the invention a secret for now, to make the impact greater later on. And Arcus is, to the population at large, that kid with almost no aether, the disgrace of the family, a worm who does not deserve anything. Certainly his family (minus Licia) still think so. And, well, we’re going to a magic academy. So here we are, back to the beginning in some ways, with everyone bullying and belittling Arcus. Fortunately, he has his sister and his future wives. And, well, we may need to add more wives to that stack.

The first quarter of the book is taken up with a very awkward party, where the royal family greets people while Arcus has a series of encounters ranging from irritating and upsetting (his father) to irritating and discomfiting (the various foreign leaders, many of who Arcus knows, trying to lure him to their country). After this Arcus takes the entrance exam to the magical academy, where he hopes to gain some new knowledge in his quest to learn more about magic. And he does! It’s just that, well, he runs into teachers who try to “publicly execute” him (Arcus’ words) for his low aether, to the granddaughter of the school’s Headmaster, who regards Arcus’ mere presence at the academy a farce, and demands a duel so that, if she wins, he has to leave the school. She’s never lost before.

Let me get my biggest annoyance with the book out of the way first: all of the girls who started this series around the age of 10 years old have hit puberty, many of them with a bang, and it has become apparent the artist really enjoys drawing large breasts in a thoroughly awkward way. Not a fan. Aside from that, and the fact that this is a magical academy story at all, this was a decent volume in the series. Sue didn’t show up till the back third, but when she did she made her appearance count, and I enjoy the fact that she and Charlotte know they’re rivals for Arcus but also don’t hesitate to team up when there’s a threat from someone else. I also really liked the scenes of Lecia and her pet demon, who I suspect is going to make life a lot more difficult in the future, but honestly it’s just good seeing her get something to do at all. And there’s a new girl, Setsura, who seems to be written in as “the annoying one”. And, well, she is.

So on the whole, I’m pleased that we got more of this series, but I wish it was going in a different direction. And got a new artist. Oh well. I still want to read what comes next.