Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight, Vol. 11

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By Hyougetsu and Nishi(E)da. Released in Japan by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

The last couple of books have been trying to explain why Veight is as successful and beloved as he is, and that it’s not simply “he is an incredibly strong and powerful werewolf”. As Veight notes in this volume, he could immediately solve the problem in the kingdom of Kuwol if he simply killed Zagar. He’d be justified in doing so. Zagar killed the king and framed Veight for it. But doing that would plunge the country into chaos, which is absolutely not what Veight wants. Zagar is certainly strong, and can kill anyone who is suddenly no longer useful to him. But all he wants is combat, which means he’ll never be satisfied. Veight, on the other hand, has spent the last ten books making the kingdom safe for both humans and other races, and all he wants to do is settle down with his wife and child. He investigates thoroughly. He takes the opinions of commoners into advisement, but also thinks of the nobles and their pride. He’s just really good at this.

No, don’t worry, that’s not Veight’s unborn child on the cover, but the late king’s, who it turned out had a favorite consort. This volume picks up where the last left off, as Veight tries to figure out how best to unite the nobles, stop Zagar, and not have everything explore into war. He’s helped by the return of Parker, who may have gone missing but was never really in danger, and who is perhaps at his least silly in this book. With the help of a mountain tribe and a cleverly placed fake… as well as, admittedly, the power of modern laser guns… Veight is able to win the day. This allows him to hurry home, as he’s gotten an unfortunate prophecy about Airia, who it turns out needs to have a cesarean section (completely unknown in this world) or else the touch of death may strike her and their child. Can Veight and company save the day? And will the prophecy come true anyway?

This is not the final book in the series – J-Novel Club has licensed at least through Vol. 13, and the rights to the novels were just sold to Square Enix, who will be releasing more. But it’s the end of the “main story”, and the author says that the rest of the books are essentially going to be side stories. (They’re even changing the illustrator to reflect the books “lighter feel” starting next time.) Certainly this seems like the “end of one age, stat of a new one” sort of book, especially with the last few pages of the main story showing off Veight and Airia’s child as well as the return (sort of) of a very old friend. This is why Veight is not Zagar. Zagar cannot be satisfied unless he’s fighting an enemy. Veight, though, once he’s managed to protect what he wants to, and helped others to thrive as a nation… he’s ready to relax and be a husband and father. In fact, he looks forward to it. Well, and a simple vice-commander, of course. He’ll always be that.

I have perhaps enjoyed this series a bit more than it really deserves (it might be the medium – J-NC has licensed the manga and I find it near unreadable), but I do think it rewards readers who like this kind of thing. I look forward to a more relaxed tale going forward.

Slayers: Gaav’s Challenge

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By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Slayers is Lina Inverse’s series, and that goes doubly for the original novels. The story is told from her first-person perspective, and while we’ve had a supporting cast around her for most of the books, I’d argue only Gourry is the one that can’t be replaced… as we’ll find out in a couple book’s time. Thus, it should not particularly be a surprise to find that this one sorcerer is actually on the mind of almost all the demons in the world, being it wanting to kill her as part of some as yet unknown plan, wanting to kill her because the plan is unknown, wanting to kill her because she killed some of their friends earlier, etc., Lina’s got a lot on her plate right now, to the point where “find out why everyone is trying to kill me” is number one on her bucket list. And yet, I’ve got to say, it’s STILL a shocking moment when an elder dragon casually asks Lina if she’s a fragment of the Biggest of Bads in the series, even Lina is shocked. (Note we never find out if this is the truth.)

This may be the most hilariously inappropriate cover art ever. First of all, Slayers does not have a lot of romance in it. Second, almost all the romance it DOES have, including any crushes Amelia might have on Zelgadis, stem from the anime – the author has stated he avoids romance as he’s bad at it. Thirdly, Amelia is actually pretty badass in this book, punching a demon till it explodes, so I’m not sure why we get the “fair maiden” shot here. (Any Amelia fans who were always grumpy about how she was overused for comedy in the anime should definitely check out the novels.) Likewise, Zelgadis does occasionally get angry in this book, particularly when he discovers Xellos’ actual identity and the fact that Lina knew about it, but I can’t see him making this face in the novels ever – like Amelia, he’s simply far more sedate and put together.

The Slayers novels are not exactly what I would call fluffy, but this one in particular is pretty grim, with the city Lina and company are in getting devastated. Early on Lina is hunting down rumors and meets a little thief kid, who lays out some bits of plot for her. He even gets interior art, and I was wondering how he’d show up later on. Then, while fleeing the burning city, she comes across the boy’s body – he’s dead. It’s the sort of thing you rarely see this blatantly in Slayers, but it helps to show off one of the book’s main points – in a battle between demons, humans are irrelevant. When an elder dragon protects Lina from being killed, the demons trying to do it are stunned that he would bother, as humans are there to be meat shields, allies or no. This is a very dangerous world to live in – particularly if you’re Lina.

The next volume wraps up the first major arc in this series, and should be a lot of fun, as our crew tries to defeat Gaav – who I didn’t even mention in my review, despite his being in the title. Plus we’re almost at the books that never came out in English before!

The Ideal Sponger Life, Vol. 2

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By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Jyuu Ayakura. Released in Japan as “Risou no Himo Seikatsu” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT.

I get the sense that the author is well aware that his core audience may not yet be here for the politics. Sure, in a volume or two the readers will be into that, but here in the second volume there’s still a lot of horny guys taken in by the premise and the title. What’s worse, Aura is pregnant throughout most of this book, so we can’t even write in her and Zenjirou making love. As a result, there are, frankly, a heck of a lot of descriptions of Aura’s large breasts, to the point where it gets to be vaguely annoying. Indeed, it’s almost a plot point – to the typical reader of this series, Aura’s tall, red-haired muscular and stacked body is exactly what they like, but in her own country, she’s not considered attractive compared to the more willowy and mild women that Zenjirou gets introduced to here. Even her own trusted aide is amazed how much Zenjirou is attracted to her. It’s hard being the Queen.

Still, while the audience may not be here for the politics, that is what they are going to get. Aura’s position is still very precarious. Zenjirou begins to emerge into actual public appearances, and the moment he does various factions try to manipulate him so they can gain power and influence. Usually this involves offering him women to be his concubine, something which is not only common here but actually expected, which leads to friction in many ways. Zenjirou is not comfortable with taking on another lover, Aura knows it’s necessary but isn’t happy with it, and then there’s the fact that he likely has the blood of two different kingdoms in him, which means their child might also have two different kinds of magic powers – a big deal in this world. Get ready for negotiation madness!

Zenjirou is far more adept and clever at this than he likes to admit to himself, but he does find it exhausting, and I don’t blame him. He’s offered a military bow, which naturally he can’t use, and is able to finagle himself out of it but comes off looking weak. Then there’s all the concubine business, which is off the table for now due to the multiple magics problem, which is ALSO solved by making him look weak and pitiful. Aura is unhappy with this, as she has rapidly come to fall in love with Zenjirou for real, but sadly, politics. that’s almost the motto for this volume, honestly. Fortunately, Zenjirou does have a few aces up his sleeve. Glass marbles, which he brought from Earth, are considered immensely valuable here (though learning how to make glass proves a bit more difficult), and his abilities at contract negotiation help when the Queen has to negotiate with another country regarding the life of their child and how they will be brought up going forward.

Fortunately, at the end of the book the child is born, healthy and hearty. I’m not sure where we go from here, but I will continue to read the light novel series with the biggest dissonance between its title and what actually happens.