Zoku Owarimonogatari: End Tale (cont.)

Leave a reply

By NISIOISIN and VOFAN. Released in Japan by Kodansha BOX. Released in North America by Kodansha Books. Translated by Ko Ransom.

Yes, this is about 3 months late, but now that it’s come out digitally, I can actually catch up with it fairly easily. The final book in the ‘Final Season’ arc, we get to have one last visit with most of the characters we know and love… or do we? Having graduated AND solved the whole Ogi Oshino problem, Araragi is at a bit of a loose end, especially as he doesn’t have his exam results yet. And then as he gets up one morning he finds himself taking a trip through the looking glass… literally. Finding himself in a seeming mirror world, with most of his reliable allies missing, changed, or unhelpful, can he find a way to get back to his own world? Or wait, is this even a mirror world at all? This final volume has all the usual NISIOISIN traits, and rambles on a lot, but mostly is here to show the growth that a lot of characters have or haven’t gotten, and where they could end up in the future.

Featured on the cover is Sodachi and… also Sodachi, and while the alternate selves in this book are largely played with lightly, Sodachi’s own arc in here is tragic, as it has to be. Featuring a girl who was adopted by Araragi’s parents, presumably after discovering her parents’ abuse, she’s well-adjuster, teasing, has a wonderful relationship with Araragi, and is, above all, happy – all things that elude the Sodachi we are all familiar with. In a book looking at things Araragi has regretted, this is his biggest regret, along with Nadeko, and just like Nadeko there’s not much he can do except just stay away from her in the long run. The other reverse character taken seriously is Kissshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade, who isn’t a vampire in this world but that doesn’t mean she isn’t powerful… TOO powerful, as Araragi witnesses.

Not to spoil anything that’s not already obvious, but the best gag in the book is the fact that, while everyone else in the book is showing their “hidden” other side, Tsukihi is exactly the same because she has no hidden sides. As Ogi said in the previous volume, she lives eternally in the moment. The second best joke in the book is Yotsugi’s sudden expressiveness, a gag that, much like the reverse writing we get for the first few chapters, has to vanish because it’s too much of a pain in the neck. And of course we finally get our first look at Toe Gaen, Kanbaru’s mother and Izuko Gaen’s older sister, who may be dead but that’s not stopping her taking a bath with Araragi, because this is just that kind of series. The book suggests she’s there as a symptom of Izuko’s own regrets, rather than Kanbaru’s, which probably explains why she’s less nasty here than she is in Kanbaru’s dreams. Oh yes, and kudos to Senjogahara for having moved on from imitating Hanekawa on her dates with Araragi to imitating Mayoi.

And so, having fulfilled its final duty to its author – dressing Araragi up in a girls’ uniform, just like Ii-chan in Zaregoto (who is namechecked), the Monogatari Series has come to an end. Oh sure, there’s like 10 more books after this one, but they don’t have an anime, and they are all, with the possible exception of Musubimonogatari, not essential additions to the canon. Not to mention Vertical is now Kodansha Books, who seem a bit more interested in Pretty Boy Detectives and cooking/language books. Will we get more? I’d say it’s as likely as Index: New Testament! Wait, is that good news?

Girls Kingdom, Vol. 2

Leave a reply

By Nayo and Shio Sakura. Released in Japan by GL Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

For those of you who sighed with relief when Kirara got her heart’s desire at the end of the last volume of Girls Kingdom, hoping that now she would be a normal character that would not make you want to throw yourself out the nearest window whenever she appeared on the page, well, I have some bad news for you. Turns out that’s just her, and everything she does is designed to make us cringe and cringe hard. Honestly, it’s almost a relief when, several times in this book, she’s left at the mercy of the twin Ayakas, who are of course also terrible but they are terrible in a far more acceptable yuri light novel way. Fortunately, Kirara is not the focus of this book, it’s still Misaki, who remains a great protagonist, desiring to improve herself in the present while, admittedly, having very little regard about her future. Which, again, contrasts her with everyone else in this school whose entire purpose she was completely ignorant of when she applied.

After a prologue where our newly minted maids make a grand tour of all the other hot spots on campus, which is good in that it gives up a quick character sketch of most of the cast but also leans a bit TOO hard on the wacky side, the story essentially has two main plotlines. The first involves Kirira’s mistress Kagura, who plans to start a sporting goods store after graduation, and her desire to have the school’s star volleyball player, Minako (yes, it went there – she even has a ribbon in her hair. No talking cats, though) promote the company. Minako, though, already has an agreement with a mom-and-pop store, and is stubborn about dropping it. The other story involves the restaurant we saw in the first book, which is always empty and gets few return customers. What are Erisu and her admittedly eccentric and goofy staff doing wrong?

Kirara only features in the Kagura plot, mostly out of desperation to get promoted as soon as possible, and drags Misaki along with her. Fortunately, the bulk of the book is still reflected through Misaki, a decidedly non-rich girl (her backstory helps make more sense of the whole “I saw there was free room and board so did not bother to check why” phenomenon) who provides sensible solutions to problems. She is the sort who, when told she is doing something wrong, does not furiously deny it or sink into depression, but thinks hard about how to fix that. She works well with Himeko, a young lady who has to have her own thinking process explained to her multiple times. The yuri here is still mostly on the MariMite level, though I doubt Yumi and Sachiko ever bathed together as much as Misaki and Himeko do. There’s even a side story towards the end of the book about two other residents of the Sky Salon who I would go so far as to call an actual couple.

So, one frustrating character, but overall I still quite enjoy this series, which knows what its audience wants and delivers it with all the subtlety of a pie to the face. But it’s tasty pie.

Slayers: The Darkness in Vezendi

Leave a reply

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.

We are slowly starting to edge towards an ongoing narrative, even though for the most part these books still try their best to be books that can be read entirely on their own. That’s harder here, as we get the villains from the 2nd and 4th books seemingly teaming up to try to take out Lina… and the others, but mostly Lina. This should not be surprising – as Lina has been going around the countryside wiping out more and more people, even leaving out the Dragon Slave and Giga Slave, she’s attracted a name for herself, and there are a few folks who want her to stop doing that – particularly demons. Unfortunately for them, Lina feels no real need to change any of her habits – she still gleefully goes out bandit hunting at night, and while she can justify it to Amelia as needing traveling funds, there’s no denying that she also does it as she loves beating the shit out of people. Good news for her, then, this book is full of fights.

Zelgadis is on the cover, and those of you know know light novel cover art know what that means. Right – he does very little in this book. The plot involves Zuma, the hired killer from the 4th book, suddenly reappearing saying that he never finished the job he was hired for, mysteriously having two whole arms again, and demanding that Lina travel to Vezendi or innocents will die. Despite the fact that their party is one larger than expected (Xellos is back, and Amelia and Zelgadis are furi… well, actually, no, they take it quite well), they arrive and are hired as guards to a local merchant who Zuma says he’s going to kill. Oh yes, and Seigram, the villain from the SECOND novel, is also back… somewhat randomly… and trying to kill Lina. Do all of these things have a common element? Can Lina avoid getting killed? And can Lina avoided getting savagely roasted by her “friends”?

It is somewhat interesting still to see the differences between the novels and their far better known anime adaptation. I’ve talked before about Lina’s narration, and how she frequently skews things to make herself look better, but it’s actually a bit more than that: her inner thoughts are very cool, logical, and collected, even during a fight. The girl who will explode if you look at her wrong shows up sometimes, but it’s far rare than the anime. Amelia, as well, also feels “cooler”. While she does go on about justice, she is also not above beating the crap out of bandits, and literally says to Lina that if she dies Amelia will loot her corpse. WOW. She’s also far more competent in these books. And Gourry… OK, you’ve got me there, Gourry has been getting dumber by the book, and now appears to have reached anime levels, though he still sometimes steps in as the voice of common sense when needed.

The epilogue is not so much of a cliffhanger as an “ah, there it is”, and it comes as a surprise to no one, least of all Lina. I’m interested to see what happens in the next book, which is the final one in this loose “arc”. That said… these are still books that function more as a tasty snack than as a full meal.