Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima, Vol. 4

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By Ikuto Yamashita. Released in Japan as “Shin Seiki Evangelion Anima” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Dengeki Hobby. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Michael Rachmat. Adapted by Peter Adrian Behravesh.

I will be honest, midway through this volume I was getting exhausted, and not in the good way. Fortunately things turned around, but let me tell you, you can only draw out an apocalypse so far before it grows wearying. To be fair, things were not helped by current events – a large part of the book features a series of earthquakes, and it was written about the same time as Japan was also dealing with deadly earthquakes, so things had to be delayed. As such, a large, large portion of this book is the main cast all having a giant fight on top of a chunk of the moon headed for Earth. This includes Shinji (who is now in the Torwachter that stole his heart – don’t ask, it’s convoluted – and about to start Third Impact, three different Reis, Asuka, who is finally becoming herself again, and Mari, who isn’t. The result is fantastic if you love mecha battles and nothing else.

The biblical imagery in the book is still there, but it feels more like Star Trek technobabble than anything else. What’s important is that, by three quarters of the way through the book, Shinji is .83 seconds from dying – and him dying will bring about Third Impact. For reasons that are somewhat murky but likely involve the late Rei Cinq, who seems to also be Yui, most of the cast end up at the old high school classroom, dressed in uniforms from Yui’s time, possibly so that the illustrator can draw the Reis in a different uniform style than the usual. Shinji, unfortunately, is perfectly happy to be there, though others soon vanish. What’s needed is a strong, forceful presence to get Shinji out of his dream sequence torpor. And fortunately for the readers, she’s back and she’s pissed off.

I cannot emphasize enough how much having Asuka back to her old self means for this series. Aside from a couple of amusing parts during Rei Six’s adventures on the moon, where she honestly sounds like Little Orphan Annie, this was a book seriously devoid of snappy dialogue. Asuka can fix that. The best bit involves Mari, who was trying to either add Asuka to her pack. She’s now lost the pack and is dealing with not being a feral child as best she can – mostly by sobbing. Asuka’s response is to save her, so that she could “see what being around me is *really* like”. This is funny stuff! She also gets to be badass – after hearing about Shinji’s dream sequence school, she promptly shows up (with her hair cut short!), saunters into the room like a model, and smashes his reality to bits. I love her.

The next volume is the final one in the series, and it’s due. I hope that we get a slightly better ending than Shinji and Asuka strangling each other on a beach, but this is Evangelion, so who knows? Till then, enjoy your fearsome mechs and headscrewing philosophy.

Last Round Arthurs, Vol. 3: The Snow Maiden & The King Who Killed Arthur

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By Taro Hitsuji and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

I must admit up front: I did not enjoy this book as much as the last two. There’s a big reason for that: Luna, who is probably the best reason to read the book, spends most of it sidelined by the latest villain, and the series is simply far less fun when she’s not around being the Big Dumb Girl With A Good Heart. The other reason is an odd one, as the afterword explicitly lays it out for me: Rintarou changes over the course of the book, becoming far more of a shonen hero-type of character rather than the grumpy cynic he’d been so far. The author says this is a common development in manga and light novels, but I’m not sure it’s as common as he thinks, and I’m not sure it fits the character well. I don’t really want to see Rintarou become Touma. Other than that, though, the book is doing what it does best: lots of Arthurian backstory, lots of big shonen battles, and lots of betrayal.

The titular snow maiden is Nayuki Fuyuse, who readers may have forgotten was introduced in Book 1 as Rintarou’s mysterious classmate. The fact that she’s part of all this is not that much of a surprise. The fact that she’s secretly in love with him is also not that big a surprise. What *is* a surprise is that Rintarou, who is usually fairly clever, does not immediately realize who she is when she says the one thing she can’t do is tell him who she is. All he has to do is think of the person who betray4ed Merlin back in the day and bing! There’s your answer. In any case, she’s more support here. The actual King candidate is a whiny young creep named Hitoshi, his Jack Sir Tristan, and a mysterious young woman named Reika, who seems to be a mass murderer but there’s more to her than we think. And, as always, Elaine is pulling all the strings.

Apologies for spoiling a bit, but to be fair, it is in the book’s subtitle: the best part of this book is the subplot with Mordred. There is rare subtlety in the writing at her portrayal, and I particularly liked her own Jack, Sir Dinadan, casually mentioning that all the King candidates she’s supposedly murdering are not actually dead yet. It also reminds us of the story’s Arthurian background, and the fact that Arthur basically fell from grace, as it were. Unfortunately, there’s one more big minus in this book, and that’s the villain, Hitoshi. If Last Round Arthurs is a Fate ripoff, then here’s Shinji, whining, demanding, and threatening to rape the cast. What is it with light novel writers and their desire to make all the villains super, super, SUPER bad?

This is still a quick, easy read, and I might get the next volume, if only to see if Kay (barely in this book) will do anything at all. But I must admit this volume is no more than a C+.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 10

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

This may be a first for this series. For the first time, I got through an entire volume without wanting to throw Hachiman out a window. This isn’t to say that he’s all smiles and warm fuzzies, but his cynical “this is what teenage life is really ,like it’s a jungle out there man” monologues are kept to a minimum and his attempts to solve the problem of the book involve actually talking with people about the problem rather than, say, throwing himself under the bus again. This volume was adapted into the final chunk of Season 2, so also is probably the calm before the storm that will be the final arc of the series. Things are moving pretty slowly – you can tell the author wants to wrap this up before they become third years – but we are starting to think about the future, which in Japan means what “track” will the kids be taking, arts or sciences?

Haruno is on the cover, and actually has a significant presence in the book as the “not quite evil but close” antagonist. The main focus of the book, though, is Hayama, who is the perfect boy that everyone wants to hang out with/date, but he’s refusing to say whether he’s taking the arts or sciences track, which has thrown his group into turmoil. Particularly Miura, who has a crush on him but is also concerned for his well-being – nearly everyone by now can see that Hayama is wearing a mask to hide his real self. She asks our heroes to find out what his choice is, which proves to be a very tough nut to crack, and mostly involves Hachiman doing a lot of detective work. In the interim, though, there is an ominous cloud on the horizon, and we see part of that cloud here, as we meet Yukino and Haruno’s mother, who is exactly what you’d expect she would be like. Oh yes, and there’s a rumor that Hayama and Yukino are going out which has spread like wildfire.

It’s pretty clear that Yukino’s family issues are gonna be the series’ endgame (which is bad news for Yui, and indeed she once again doesn’t have much of a role here – this love triangle is a bit imbalanced). For the moment, though, we’re dealing with Hayama, whose feelings for Hachiman are very conflicted – at one point he holds out hope that Hachiman is concerned about him as a friend, only to realize that it’s for his Service Club after all. It comes to a head in the school’s marathon, where Hayama bluntly talks about how he hates Hachiman, who may be Hayama’s opposite but also has managed to draw people to his actual self, crappy though that self may be. I was also very amused at the discussion of arts vs. sciences, some of which is “what am I best at” but a lot of which is also “how can I improve my social image?”.

So yes, this was a strong volume in the series, and I also really love the brother/sister relationship between Hachiman and Komachi, which is realistic and sweet. I am totally ready for Book 11. Sadly, the author is not, so get ready for 10.5, more short stories, next time.