Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 15

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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 Jeremiah Borque.

This book slid in RIGHT under the wire in avoiding spoiling English-speaking fans. The book came out literally the day before the episode aired which animated the first part of it. It also brings to an end the 4th arc in this series, in a mostly satisfying way. Some of the beats feel very obvious, but as always with Re: Zero, they feel that way because we’ve spent so long setting up those beats with the previous go-rounds. This series also does a very good job of keeping all the fights it has to have here interesting, either through breaking them up by moving from the Sanctuary and Emilia’s trials to the mansion and Subaru’s pleading and back again, but also because, much like Banner of the Stars, this series runs on banter and there is a lot of that. Still, by the end of the book our heroes have won the day, though… not without some cost with a last minute bitter sting in its tail. And we’re ready to move on to a new arc!

Beako is on the cover, and deservedly so. Garfiel, Emilia and Ram/Roswaal’s stories also come to a conclusion here, but there’s no real surprises in any of them on an emotional level. Emilia’s trials two and three feel almost anticlimactic – after failing so hard at the first trial over and over, she sails through them. But that’s to be expected, as she has moved past the trauma that held her back. Garfield too had most of his issues resolved in earlier books, allowing him to be the muscle that’s required in order to beat the immortal nightmare that is Elsa (who gets a shred of backstory here, but honestly I think works best as simply a grotesque impossible to stop enemy). But Beatrice’s story is the one that needs Subaru, and, true to form, he fails over and over again to convince her to leave the Library of Forbidden Books and come with him. Not even the entire mansion burning down can sway her.

The high point of the book, as I just said, is Subaru and Beatrice, and I loved every scene with both of them in it. The rest of the book does not QUITE reach those heights. Emilia, in particular, suffers from the author wanting her to grow up and move past her trauma but also being an innocent boke who knows nothing about anything. Sometimes this is hilarious – her comment on “Ryuzu’s mother” may be one of the best jokes in the series – but announcing she’s pregnant because she and Subaru kissed fell a bit flat to me. (Presumably he explains later – or more likely Ram does). Oh yes, and there’s another character who I thought was gone for good who shows up again to help kick Roswaal’s ass, which was great. Actually, there’s a scene which mentions that the entire cast take turns punching Roswaal at some point, and I deeply hope this gets like an entire episode devoted to it in the anime.

Where will this go next? There’s apparently the series’ first time skip coming up, and presumably we’ll see more of Anastasia, Priscilla and Felt. Till then, though, please enjoy Garfiel punching forever, Subaru and Otto being bros, and Emilia being even more earnest than Rem, if that’s even possible. (Technically Rem is in this book a lot, but sorry, she still does not wake up.)

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: The Lich’s Proposal

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By Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

It is the nature of a long-running series that it tends to accrue supporting cast members. The longer the series, the more cast members it has to support. Now, KonoSuba has never made it a secret that it is, at heart, a story of four people: Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin and Darkness. Now, this series has a bit of an advantage over many others in that it is popular enough to have scored a slew of spinoff books. We’ve seen one of them, which focuses on Megumin and Yunyun before and during the events of the series. There’s another, unlicensed series (by a different author) that follows KonoSuba through the eyes of Dust and his party (which also has a large helping of Yunyun, who is pathetic enough to get entangled in Dust’s life). But really, though we’ve learned a bit about her past, there has not been a huge focus on adorably pathetic shop owner Wiz. That changes now!… though this does not really mean Wiz will come off looking good.

As with a large number of KonoSuba books, the actual main plot does not really start up till about halfway through the book. There’s also a fake plot – Yunyun has to take the test to be the next chief of the Crimson Magic Clan, and wants Kazuma’s help. Megumin refuses to let this happen, of course, and instead helps Yunyun herself – with offscreen results, but results you can probably guess. There’s a treasure hunt to clean encrusted jewels off a turtle’s shell, and Darkness once again tries to seduce Kazuma, who makes it clear that he’s only willing to go through with it if he’s forced, so he can blame her. (They’re both caught, of course.) That said, the main plot is what folks are here for – a mysterious stalker… erm, stranger arrives and seemingly proposes marriage to Wiz! Or at least that’s what Kazuma and Wiz herself believe. Only Vanir knows the truth, and he finds it absolutely hilarious.

As you might gather, fans of Kazuma being a complete scumbag will be well-served here by his behavior here, though again this is the slightly less appalling version we’ve seen from Vol. 9 and later. I was highly amused where Megumin offers to sneak into his room and he, having just gotten laid via succubus sex workers, indicates he’s not in the mood – the joke being Megumin was unaware men could EVER be not in the mood. The main plot itself is amusing, but if you aren’t a fan of the series kicking Yunyun when she’s down, you may not enjoy it as much, as Wiz is absolutely an airhead here, getting completely into the idea that someone has proposed to her and acting like a lovestruck maiden. Vanir heaps abuse on her, probably because all her love-love feelings are making him cranky. That said, spoilers, but Wiz does not get married. Sorry to ruin that for you hopeful readers.

Speaking of Yunyun, the cliffhanger involves that she will finally drag the main cast back to her chieftain trial, which is at its third (and presumably final) attempt. We’ve got four more books to go after this one, so you can see the series starting to dot its I’s and cross its T’s. This is not really as deep or heartwarming as some prior volumes, but it’s a lot of mean, kick-them-when-they’re-down fun.

In the Land of Leadale, Vol. 2

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By Ceez and Tenmaso. Released in Japan by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jessica Lange.

Last time I jokingly said that the series was “Overlord meets Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear”, and I was not expecting that to be doubly true in the second volume, which features Cayna serving as a guard/guide to students going out in the woods for the first time (Kuma Bear), but also searching for other “players” and starting to discover that she is not the only one who ended up in this supposed game world far into its future (Overlord). Surrounding this are scenes of Cayna getting pissed off when getting called “grandmother”, Cayna having absolutely no knowledge of current currency at all, and Cayna one-shotting various terrifying monsters that would normally take 15 high-level people to take out. In other words, it’s a slow life series without the actual slow life. It FEELS like a slow life series in both the meandering pacing and Cayna’s somewhat blase personality, but there’s far, far too much going on here, and too many mysteries still to be solved. It is a lot of fun, though, and very quotable.

We pick up where we left off, with Cayna arriving at the capital of Helshper to deliver a message for Mai-Mai. The message turns out to have been a ruse, as it was going to the leader of the largest merchant house in the world… who is also Mai-Mai’s son, and thus Cayna’s grandson. Oh yes, and her granddaughter is a member of the city knight brigade. Cayna doesn’t like surprises like this (she’s also not fond of being called grandma given she still feels like a 17-year-old), but hey. The city is having a bit of a bandit problem, and as Cayna helps with it, she finds out that yes, there ARE other players trapped in this “post-game” world, though whether they think it’s a game or real depends on the mindset. Elsewhere, she gains a small fairy helper, continues to go to the other top player bases, and, to the disappointment of her children, decides to settle and build a house somewhere AWAY from the big city.

So yes, Cayna is not alone in being in Leadale as a gamer, though she does seem to be late – the other players have been there for years, and it’s suggested this might have something to do with the fact that she died in the real world before the game shut down. That said, she’s still far and away the most overpowered person in the entire world, and we see examples of that throughout this book – anyone who dislikes overpowered characters… well, should stop reading Japanese novels, really. Cayna’s delivery continues to be a treat, be it when she’s angry, happy, or otherwise, and I like how her priorities are simply nothing like what anyone else expects them to be. She finds out that another of the top players she knew had an NPC daughter who wants to meet her , and her reaction is “sounds like a pain, so no”. Keina spent half her life in bed on life support. As Cayna, she has absolutely no fucks to give.

So yes, another enjoyable volume in the series, and I definitely recommend it more to those on the Kuma Bear end of the spectrum rather than the Overlord end, though there is a suggestion of malevolent things going on in the epilogue. Cayna’s a treat.