So I’m a Spider, So What?, Vol. 15

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By Okina Baba and Tsukasa Kiryu. Released in Japan as “Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon.

We now know that the series will be ending with the 16th volume. We know this because in Japan, the 15th and 16th volume came out one month apart, because the author and editor thought that the 15th book was all setup and no payoff. Unfortunately for English-speaking readers (but perhaps fortunately for the translator), Yen On decided not to do this. The final volume of Spider is currently scheduled for June 2023. As such, well, we get this book, where there’s one fight, and it’s 4/5 of the way through the book. Instead, what we get is functionally a class meeting to discuss their circumstances. That part was OK, I didn’t mind it. It was boring, but… I like the human part of this book more than most fans. With one exception. That exception is unfortunately back as well, and since Potimas is finally dead, there’s a new character riding to the “most hated” list. Hi, Sue. Please stop trying to screw your brother.

After the events of the previous couple of books, the elf village has seen better days. White and her crew now have a) a demon lord who’s used up most of her life, b) a giant pile of corpses littering the landscape, and c) a bunch of prisoners-of-war, aka the students who got reincarnated here from Japan. Explanations would be good, but unfortunately, White is terrible at speaking, and Sophia is terrible at caring about her fellow classmates, so things go badly. Then suddenly the endgame starts. White must now battle “Black”, aka Guliedistodiaz. The Demon Lord has to rush to the place where the series began, the Labyrinth, to try to save Sariel. The leader of the Church is trying to get humanity to reject Sariel so that they can be saved. And all of this is being watched over and influenced by a very amused D.

The scenes with Sue and Shun are awful, especially since they come after we’re reminded that she a) killed her father, seemingly under mind control but she doesn’t seem to care at all, and b) sided with evil so that she could get into Shun’s pants. She’s AWFUL. Things are not helped by a tug-of-war with her, Yuri (who is no longer evil but still not right in the head) and Katia (who the author, having resolved her plotline in Book 4, seems to no longer care about). This isn’t the only thing wrong with the book, of course. Hugo/Natsume’s “sorry I was evil, better now” shtick made me roll my eyes, as did everyone’s non-reaction to it. And while I like the students, hearing them argue about who had the harder life in their reincarnated world was, frankly, boring. As for White… well, she’s the bad guy. The funny parts of the book are her justifying that in the usual manic narration she has, but she’s essentially the Final Boss – as she says herself.

I wouldn’t have liked this even if Book 16 did come a month later, but as it is I’m left with very little desire to read on. I will read Book 16, as it’s the last, but this spider has worn out her welcome.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 20

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

We have now reached the end of the 5th arc! That said, as the author notes, this is less of a resolution and more of a change of scenery. In terms of achievements, our heroes do not make out very well this time around. They do succeed in stopping the destruction of the city, and they capture one of the archbishops. But before this arc there were five “camps” for the Who Wants to Rule The Country?” sweepstakes, and two of them are decimated after it finishes. Even the fights here are bittersweet rather than satisfying, with the exception of Garfiel, who gets to unleash his inner shonen protagonist. Reinhard gets to finally tell his wife what he never managed to say, but it’s hard to call that happy or heartwarming. Al doesn’t win but merely survives. Otto is grievously injured. Crusch is still not healed. That said, I think the Anastasia Camp wins the prize for “Bad Things”. Oof.

The bulk of the book is fighting, as we basically get the fights that were happening while Subaru and Emilia were busy with the previous book. Garfiel is fighting (and losing, most of the time) to the eight-armed legend, but his fights run on pure shonen, as I said, so he’s good. We get a double dose of Gluttony, which goes very badly for many soldiers who get their names stolen, though Otto manages to figure out something about how their powers work. Wilhelm is forced to realize – again – that this is a fantasy world, and therefore hard work hardly works. Fortunately, Reinhard is there to finish off his grandmother. Unfortunately, their relationship is not magically healed. Al is fighting Lust, which mostly involves a lot of banter and a truly excessive amount of property damage. And then there’s Julius and Anastasia… let’s save that for the next paragraph.

This is one of those series I do tend to spoil myself on, given we’re still so far behind Japan (and also you never know when a short story volume may be relevant to the main series, cough), so I was aware something was going to happen with Anastasia. It’s not nearly as bad as Subaru or the reader feared, though that reveal is a killer. And at least this was done with Anastasia’s consent. But it’s still depressing, as I liked her, and I fear it will be a while before we see her again. Julius is a pure gutpunch, though, and meant to be the truly devastating consequence of this arc. At least he has Subaru, who (like Rem) can remember who he is. And , unlike Rem, he can at least walk and talk. In any case, we’re all now going to consult with the Great Sage to see how to solve everyone’s problems. I’m sure it will go fine.

Rem is, by the way, still in a coma and no one remembers her. We’ve now had far more books with Rem than without Rem. I fear the fans may have forgotten her. In any case, this is well-written, but intentionally leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 22

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

Strike the Blood remains, to the end, a very good action series and a really lousy harem series. Kojou, despite the bloody nose indicating arousal, is one of the most asexual harem leads I’ve ever read about, and frankly I have no idea how he’s going to sire the two future children that we know about. The scenes towards the end where he does some sort of weird vampire mojo thing and makes all the girls have an orgasm (not explicitly stated, but implied) made me roll my eyes. But when it’s being a Shonen Jump style series, or when it treats his cast as an extended family, it’s much, much better. This pretty much wraps up all the outstanding plotlines with the exception of “who does he end up with”, which is left vague but implied to be twelve wives. Only one of whom bothers to say the words “I love you” directly to him in this book, so nice job, Asagi, you’re the winner in my eyes.

Yeah, for those hoping the final volume would have the entire cast on the cover, or at least more than one girl, I don’t know what you were expecting. In any case, the terrorists who have been driving the final arc’s plot are here, and they want Itogami Island. Kojou, who now has vampiric blood vassals again, is the logical choice to negotiate with them, though it’s worth noting that the obvious solution as to how to stop the terrorists is in fact “destroy the island”, not good. Meanwhile, Avrova is attending an upside-down high school in the sky… which makes no sense until halfway through the book or so… and then there’s Japan, who of course have several agents working for the government on the island, who saw what I said two sentences ago and agree with me.

Without question, the best scene in the book is halfway through it, when Natsuki, Yukina and her mentor, and Koyomi head down to the keystone holding the island together to destroy it. They can evacuate everyone in time, and with no island, the terrorists lose. The trouble with this idea is that literally everyone else hates it and regards it as giving up on Kojou, so the rest of the cast go to war against them. (This includes Sayaka, who is mind controlled into fighting, but it’s implied she would have agreed.) Seeing Yukina’s anguish and frustration as she ends up fighting half of Kojou’s love interests at once could almost sum up the series. As for the rest, yes, we get the “no, sempai, this is our fight!” line, so we’re good. The Nod stuff was a bit less interesting, with apologies to Those Two Girls And Their Dragon. It also comes with an almost literal Deus Ex Machina, as the daughters from the future help to do a spell that essentially makes everyone forget who Kojou is again. Well, except his love interests, of course.

The author says this series went on much longer than expected, and I can’t say it was entirely deserved. Still, in the end, Strike the Blood was exactly what it wanted to be, an action adventure series with vampires, girls kicking ass, and the occasional “whoops I walked in on you in your underwear” harem bullshit. Who could ask for anything more?