Sword Art Online, Vol. 24: Unital Ring III

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By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

Given that this series has now been running for twenty-four volumes, it’s no surprise that the current arc is seeing a lot more discussion of what has come before. This is especially true now that Kawahara has caught up with himself and no longer has to quietly edit the crappy things he wrote when he was 20 years younger. There’s a lot of interesting stuff that never really got developed in the past that can now be looked into at more leisure. This is the concept behind the Progressive series – which these books pretty much make clear have sort of usurped the original first volume as being canonical – as well as the movie, which also gets referenced here. The line between canon versions of Sword Art Online is blurring. And given that, it’s no surprise that, despite the current death game-esque plot of Unital Ring, complete with a Death Collar of sorts for Kirito, we’re still heading back to the Underworld, which may be 200 or so years into the future but still manages to ask the important question: is *he* REALLY dead?

(Man, covers always spoil, huh? So much for my trying to be ambiguous…)

Kirito is having a bit of a rough time at the moment, though honestly compared to “I am in a coma” it’s going pretty well. In Unital Ring everyone seems to be trying to kill his party. Someone has apparently dived into the Underworld without authorization, which means there needs to be an investigation. And, most importantly, it’s Asuna’s birthday and he has to get just the right present. Frankly, he’s pretty much a dumbass about that, and it’s a good thing that Argo is back in his life to give him enough hints that he can do the right thing. Argo and Alice get to spend time with Kirito in Unital Ring this volume, as Argo has finally given in and ported her character in. Good thing too, as it turns out that it’s not just SAO, or ALO, or GGO, it’s lots of other virtual reality games. Meaning we also get GIANT INSECT BATTLES!

I suspect there may be some fans who are a bit grumpy about the supposed reveal towards the end of this book. That said, “Nobody dies in Bleach” is the phrase, not “nobody dies in SAO”. There have been important characters killed off. So I think we’re allowed to give the author a bit of rope here, especially as there’s no confirmation that it *is* who Kirito thinks it is. That said, I cannot help but be reminded of the separation of Alice Zuberg and Alice Synthesis Thirty and go “Hrrrm”. Aside from that, I continue to be amused, given his reputation as the all-powerful light novel hero, how much of this book shows Kirito being mocked or screwing up. I mean, yes, he does some cool things, but that’s mostly because his human strategy guide is back. Of course, he fares better than Asuna, who has an incredibly cool battle… recapped for us as it’s offscreen. Bleah.

This arc is settling in to be another long one, but at least it has the entire cast this time, so fans should be a bit more happy than Underworld. Till next time: d’awwww. sugar maple tree.

When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace, Vol. 2

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By Kota Nozomi and 029. Released in Japan as “Inou Battle wa Nichijoukei no Nakade” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tristan K. Hill.

So this was a nice improvement on the first volume, though I will continue to say that I hate it whenever this book has a real plot that it wants is to care about. It’s at its best when it’s just shooting the shit and riffing on Japanese media cliches. Unfortunately, when we run into Chuuni and the Chuutones towards the end, I groaned and wished that Hatoko would simply vanish and reappear back at school. Fortunately, this is precisely what happened. I suppose I’ll have to deal with them more later, but I seriously do not care, whereas I do care about the main cast. Even Andou – I can’t tell if he was far less annoying in this book or if I just got used to his antics, but he worked far better in this book, especially when we get to the relationship between him and Hatoko. Because yes, THIS is the book with “that scene”, and it’s pretty damn epic. Worth the read, definitely, especially given the stress buildup we see all book.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but this is a book of two halves. In the front half we feature once again Kudou, the student council president and vague antagonist from the previous book, who has taken a letter of challenge as a love letter thanks to Andou’s over the top verbiage. Needless to say, she’s the sort to immediately go over the top herself, and Andou has to struggle to find a way to break things to her gently before he breaks her. That said, the confession comes as a shock to the rest of the club, especially two girls who we know have feelings for him. Given her presence on the cover, and the fact that most of the chapters begin with her narration before switching to Andou’s, you can assume Hatoko is especially confused by all this. But, whatever. She wouldn’t understand it anyway.

The book threatens to be drowned out by Hatoko’s rant, which is beautiful, but it also highlights the gulf between them. That said, we see in the flashbacks that this is not for want of trying from Andou – he was attempting for years to get her to understand his way of thinking. But sometimes people just don’t vibe the same way, and the best part of the book is when both of them are told that, in fact, they don’t HAVE to understand each other deeply – they can just be friends because they are friends. The other highlight of the book is the short story competition, which is absolutely hilarious – Hatoko’s grimdark romance, Chifuyu’s incoherent foreign mess, Andou’s summary and character descriptions with no actual text, and Sayumi simply dragging Andou out behind the shed and shooting him in the head. Glorious.

Again, there’s a plot here somewhere, but I plan to ignore it, just as I ignore Andou’s friend Sagami, who is the absolute worst in a way that is clearly deliberate but also I don’t care that it is. Recommended if you use the word “weeb” as a term of honor.

My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex: “Even If We Aren’t Dating…”

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By Kyosuke Kamishiro and TakayaKi. Released in Japan as “Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gierrlon Dunn.

This is very much a book of two halves. The first half is essentially more of the same stuff that we saw in the initial volume, with our two leads bitterly grousing at each other while also showing that eventually, when they get their heads out of their asses, they will once more be a terrific couple. The second half introduces a new girl to the mix, set up to be a rival love interest. That said, the author knows what the genre is. This is not the old school genre of “guy and the 100 girls who really, really etc. love him”, it’s part of the more recent “we are cute couples who flirt adorably” genre, with the twist that they aren’t a couple anymore and their flirting is bickering. As such, sympathy in the book stays solely with Yume, though the new girl is very nice and sweet, which is a plus, and possibly makes up for the fact that Akatsuki is still in this.

Mizuto and Yume continue to stubbornly not get along, despite the fact that their entire life is a series of light novel romcom moments (as is literally pointed out later). There’s seat changes in class, which brings back awkward memories; a Mother’s Day event which brings back sad awkward memories; a sleepover with their mutual friends which turns hideously awkward when it turns out that said friends live next door to each other; and a battle over best grades in the school that goes beyond awkward and into painful. We are then introduced to Isana Hagashira, who hangs out in the library, loves light novels, is socially inept, and has really large breasts (something she will point out, as she regards it as one of her few interesting features). She and Mizuto bond immediately, leaving Yume forced to confront her own repressed feelings.

Isana reminded me not a little of Kotomi Ichinose from Clannad, and the smile she gives on the cover art doesn’t really match her in this book, where she’s mostly rather expressionless, as part of her social difficulties. She’s really sweet, and I enjoyed seeing Akatsuki and Yume slowly force her to realize that she’s fallen in love with Mizuto. Unfortunately, framing her character as having crippling self-esteem issues and then having to have her forcibly rejected due to… well, due to the plot of the series… seems a bit mean. That said, it’s not nearly as mean as forcing us to spend time around Kagure and Akatsuki, who are there to remind us what a really toxic couple are like. Not that they’re dating, but this certainly is not the “if we just admitted we still love each other everything would be solved” of our two leads, there’s some real hatred here. I fear we will learn more about it later.

So yeah, this series still works best when it’s about the main couple. Fortunately, they’re the stars of the book. Recommended with reservations.