The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker, Vol. 7

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By Tôwa and Huuka Kazabana. Released in Japan as “Sekai Saikyou no Kouei: Meikyuukoku no Shinjin Tansakusha” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alexandra McCullough-Garcia.

Last time I suggested that things might get a lot more interesting now that bad things have happened to our heroes. Sadly, I was overoptimistic there, and I forgot how, no matter how bad things may get, the general tone of this series remains “cozy”. Yes, Theresia was cursed by the Shinimg Simian Lord, but she’s not immediately turned evil, it’s a slow-acting evil curse, so she spends most of this book merely being herself and occasionally shuddering as it corrupts her. And Elitia is of course devastated that she got everyone into this in the first place, but after a suitable period of angst and wallowing she’s allowed to be reborn as a far better person and swordswoman. And, of course, nothing can ever take away from the true purpose of this series: watching everyone ask Arihito what new skills they should buy. Even the author says that this is more a video game than a book at this point. That said… I’m still reading it, so something must be going right.

On the cover are two new characters, Ivril and Viola, who introduce themselves but not much else. But they look cool, right? As for Arihito’s party, after the disastrous battle in the Blazing Mansion they have a new problem; they not only have to rescue Elitia’s comrade but also cure Theresia from her curse. This requires research, as well as battling some undead horrors, in order to reach a curse-breaker who reminds everyone of Ceres (they’re not related, apparently, but have a past history). They also join another battle to help out two wayward seekers who got separated from their party during a retreat, and they take on yet another sentient weapon at the end of the book, which pops up when trying to open a black treasure chest. Do they go back and fight the simian lord? Not yet. See you in Book 8.

Again, these books meander. Chapter 2 goes from Page 54 to 122 in my copy, and it’s nothing but looking at Expedition Results, Level Ups, and choosing new skills. I also left out the delicious meals they eat (including a chef who wants to cook food with the rare fruits they got recently) and of course all the sexual innuendo, as this remains the filthiest G-rated book in light novels. (Kyouka has a dream she’s married to Arihito and is wearing a naked apron for him.) That said, as noted above, it was nice to see Elitia finally figure out how to master her blade, which essentially turns out to be “trust that I won’t use it to murder allies”. We get a bit more of her backstory here, and see that her brother has been manipulating it – after the Simian Lord his group may be the next fight.

No one is reading this for depth, and if you’re reading it to see when anyone will have sex, despite all the innuendo, you should also find some other series. But if you’ve enjoyed rearguard so far, you’ll enjoy this.

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, Vol. 2

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By Hiromu and raemz. Released in Japan as “Chitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund.

I’m enjoying the Chitose series a great deal, but if there’s one thing that worries me it’s that I don’t know what the series’ overall plot is. Other series have ‘each volume has a girl in distress” about them, most notably Rascal Does Not Dream Of (insert girl here), but we know by the end of Book 2 what the basic thread of the series is (the supernatural manifestations of psychological trauma). I suppose it veers closest to My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, which also features a lead guy who will throw himself under the bus to solve a problem, but I think if I tried comparing Chitose with Hachiman the latter would be very angry with me. The question is, are we meant to be figuring out who is “best girl” in a romantic sense? Is this about ripping Chitose’s mask off? Or is it just a series where a group of high schoolers give an excuse for a plot of the week, like many TV shows?

As you might have guessed, the girl on the cover is the main girl of this book, Yuzuki Nanase. She’s lately been worried that she has a stalker, and asks Chitose to pretend to be her boyfriend in order to either drive them off or draw them out. He’s the obvious choice as the two of them are extremely similar, and so she knows he won’t be getting any misconceptions about what this relationship is about. Unfortunately, her fears turn out to be quite justified, as delinquents from a different school are forcing her to revisit an incident from her past that she’s been trying to bury. In the meantime, the fact that he’s now dating Nanase has Chitose in a spotlight he’d rather avoid, and he ends up having ANOTHER guy that he tries to give life advice to.

The other similar series I didn’t mention in the first paragraph is Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, and there is an element of that here in Chitose’s trying to hammer home the idea that girls are not pure fantasy creatures and fart and masturbate and everything else that’s normal. But, as with the first book, one of the big draws here is that the popular kids are the leads, allowing the ability to tell a different kind of story. Even something like Tomozaki relies on the outsider who has a past where he always thought “goddamn normies” to get past. Kenta, the nerd from the first book, is still here and is now part of their group, but he’s not the narrator and doesn’t drive the plot. This is a story of popular kids dealing with a specific popular girl problem in a way that, say, Hachiman would be unable to pull off. Good thing, too, as this book also gets more serious towards the end, with suggestions of sexual assault in both past and present.

So I’m still not sure where this series is going, but I’m greatly enjoying the ride. That said, I suspect that all the potential romantic interests for Chitose, including Nanase, are going to have to take a back seat to his upperclassman crush, and the cover for Vol. 3 suggests we’ll get a lot more of her next time.

Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense, Vol. 6

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By Yuumikan and KOIN. Released in Japan as “Itai no wa Iya nano de Bōgyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

The Bofuri series does have a pretty good supporting cast, and I enjoy reading about them. That said, most people who picked this up are here for one reason and one reason alone, and that’s Maple breaking the game by doing awesome unpredictable shit. Good news, the 6th volume is here to help you. It definitely doesn’t hurt that this 6th book involves the 6th level of the game, which is entirely related to ghosts and the supernatural. As such, except for one disastrous attempt to get over her terror, Sally is pretty much absent, grinding on other floors so she can avoid being Shaggy in an episode of Scooby-Doo. This allows Maple to solo several events, or team up with Mii, or experiment with rewards in strange and brilliant ways. It’s the sort of thing that will look great animated if Season 2 ever happens, but that’s still sadly far in the future at this point.

We start by Maple getting her new favorite toy, which is a literal throne that she can sit on while attacks do nothing to her. (The downside being that she can’t use “evil” attacks while on it – i.e. most of her repertoire). She uses it a lot in the next stratum, which as noted above is one based around ghosts. Sally, who sees there are lots of cool things she could get if only she got over her fear, tries… and fails miserably. So Maple tries to get some nice rewards that she can give Sally, as well as some rewards that will specifically benefit her build. Finally, we get the Seventh Event, which fortunately does NOT involve ghosts, and so Maple wants to go old-school on it: only her and Sally vs. the toughest opponents.

A lot of the humor in this volume comes from the occasional times we cut back to the developers, who have either designed things to be anti-Maple that she proceeds to win out over by doing something bonkers, or else they’ve designed things that would be lethal difficulty for anyone else that Maple strolls through even though it wasn’t designed to get her interest at all. The rest of Maple Tree, of course, have simply given up on being surprised, with Chrome just sighing and helping Maple to control her ghostly hands that can wield other shields, etc. It helps that Maple’s not doing this for any reason other than “it’s fun”. She’s gotten better at thinking things through… just… but most of her gaming still seems to be “do whatever the hell I like”. This includes lunching with Mii, who can drop her roleplay facade around her, or fending off Frederica, who’s trying to duel Sally and wondering why she’s not on the 6th floor. Maple is simply too nice to get angry with.

This isn’t essential reading, and fans of the anime can probably wait for whenever it continues, but I still quite enjoy Bofuri. It’s a relaxing, quick read.