I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 8

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jasmine Bernhardt.

There are many times during my reading of the Killing Slimes for 300 Years series that I realize that not only are the characters treating this world as an excuse to relax and do inconsequential things, but so is the author. The author has many, many light novel series under their belt, some of them running simultaneously via different publishers, and you get the sense that this series is the one where the author can just kick back and not have to worry too hard about plot or characterization. It’s essentially a short story collection. The biggest thing that happens in this book is that Beelzebub has finally gotten the side stories that appeared in Books 5-7 farmed out to her own official spinoff (which has already been licensed over here for the spring) and so the last sixth of the book or so is devoted to Halkara, who gets a spinoff, seemingly set before the main series, where she… reviews restaurants. Don’t expect this to get spinoff novels anytime soon.

A breakdown of this book: Sandra goes through a Flowers for Algernon-style transformation after some super fertilizer turns her into a teenager with a high IQ (that said, there’s zero angst here); Pondeli invites the cast to the new Demon Arcade that she’s opening, whose games are hit-or-miss; the hippie pine spirit who does weddings finds that the flaky God who brought Azusa over is muscling in on her territory; that same God tries to reason with a fellow, more traditional God in order not to lose followers (and Azusa ends up leveling up EVEN MORE); they return to the ghost nation’s temple and tell ghost stories, most of which have a familiar bent; Azusa gets stranded on a desert island and meets what she thinks is a native tribe; a strange butterfly woman insists of staying with Azusa a week for no reason whatsoever and not because The Crane repays A Debt or anything; and Pecora starts a Youtube stream service from the demon world.

That last one may drive home the point that, aside from having elves, dragons, and slimes, this series is absolutely uninterested in building its own world, but would much rather leech off of Japan’s own past and present. The ghost stories Azusa tries to tell, common ones from Japan, are also very well known here. the cuisine Halkara samples is essentially variations on what you can get in any mid-sized town, complete with a conveyor belt sushi place. It’s… very low bar, to be honest, but it’s also relaxing for the reader, who might get a bit annoyed at streamers being a thing in this land of Gods and demons, but will likely quickly get over it. The stories are all basically about the same – cute – though I might have critiqued the desert island one more had it not ended how it did. (At least the natives did not go “unga bunga bunga’ a la Bugs Bunny.)

It’s cute, it’s fuzzy, and you will forget about it the moment that you finish it. And sorry, yuri fans, Azusa still insists that her house is home to family, and not, and I quote, “a special, gay dimension”.

Banner of the Stars: The Screech of Space-Time

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By Hiroyuki Morioka and Toshihiro Ono. Released in Japan by Hayakawa Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Giuseppe di Martino.

In the Afterword for this book, published in Japan in 2004, the author apologizes for taking so horribly long to write it (the previous book had come out in 2001). Which makes me wonder how the next book, which came out in 2013, is going to top that. It’s also been a while since the last volume came out in English, but that’s OK, because the reader is dropped right back into one of the main features of Banner of the Stars: Epic Space Battles. Sadly, that is a mark against it for me, as I’ll be honest: I find a lot of the space battle writing in this book tedious. It is no doubt more realistic than, say, the ‘let’s fall out of our chairs’ battles in Star Trek, but there is a certain sterility to it all. Actually, this volume has quite a few marks against it. Jin and Lafier end up playing smaller roles, which is a shame as they’re the reason I read the books. More to the point, the Abh are still just not that likeable.

As I said, a lot of this book is space battles, as it reminds us that the Abh are at war with the various human federations that vie against them. But that might change soon – one of the minor players on the other side wants to negotiate a deal that might actually shift the tide and lead to the end of the war. This is good news, despite all the Abh talking about how much they love being in battle. That said, can the deal really be trusted? It helps that the idea for the deal came about watching the way that Jint handled his own planet recently, giving everyone ideas. As for Jint and Lafier, as I said, they don’t get as much time together as before, and what little there is is more down to showing off how Jint is still trying to assimilate and not quite making it. That said, given the cliffhanger the two of them will soon have much bigger things to worry about.

As I said, I like Jint and Lafier, and I like their scenes together here, but there are simply too few of them. We get a long stretch devoted to the current Empress and her discussions with aides on whether to accept the offer they’re being handed. It’s good f you like political realism, but again shows us that the Abh, in general, are simply too blase and matter of fact about everything, and it does not make for the most scintillating writing. It reminds me of bad Star Trek books that tried to write Vulcans but fell too hard on the “logical” side. At least there’s banter, and we’re reminded that the Abh basically run on it, but that’s sometimes not enough, especially when it’s not really clear if we’re meant to see them as the enemy or the protagonists.

Fortunately, we do not have a nine-year wait for the next book to come out. Unfortunately, I get the feeling I’ll be seeing a lot more space battles in it, given the events towards the end of this book. In the meantime, more Jint and Lafier being an obvious couple but never doing anything about it, please.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 15

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By Fujino Omori and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Paul Starr.

This volume is similar to Volume 8, in that it is essentially a short story collection with wraparounds. The stories are all (almost) on a basic premise, which is “let’s lay out the backstories of how everyone arrived in Orario and how their lives have improved 8000% now that they have family and friends”. As such, there is an air of melancholy to this book, as while we do admire how far everyone has come, we’re seeing a depressed Bell, a rejected Hestia, an abused Lilly, a disillusioned Eina, a frustrated and angry Welf, a bitter Lyu, and… well, we’ve mostly gone into Mikoto and Haruhime’s stories already, so theirs is the exception to the rule. And then there’s Aiz, who doesn’t show up till the end, but who provides the perfect capper to the book, even if it leaves you with an ominous feeling. After several volumes in a row that are just dungeon fights, this one also seems happy to give everyone a chance to rest.

Bell and Hestia are on the cover, and they get the first flashbacks, as they (independently) recall how they arrived in the city. Their stories are downbeat, but end on a high note as they meet each other. There’s a later mirror of them with Lyu’s story, which features similar beats – she really needs to join a Familia, but her preconceptions and prickly nature are driving everyone away. Lilly’s story was a high point – showing off how wretched her life has been from the moment of her birth (sorry, Soma, giving Lilly potato puffs once does not make me forgive you) while contrasting it with the glee and happiness she feels as Hestia tells her that she’s gone up to Level 2. That said, when it comes to her past, she’d still prefer to deal with it indirectly rather than confront it head on. Which is her own choice, of course.

Welf’s story is fairly predictable, and Haruhime and Mikoto’s suffers from being the ‘light’ story in the book (though it is nice to see Haruhime slowly try to get herself out of “clumsy foxgirl” status – the maid stuff really doesn’t help). The epilogue, though, is the true best part of the book. It features the one day a year when the city mourns all its fallen, something that has to be explained to Bell (who, we are reminded, has not even been there a year yet). Seeing the funeral elegy being sung by everyone – even those such as Freya – was hauntingtly beautiful. That said, Bell and Aiz are not headed down the same path, and this epilogue serves to underscore that. Aiz is not here to be anyone’s hero. And, while Sword Oratoria readers already have a good inkling of her past secrets, here Bell finally connects the dots, and is stunned.

Unfortunately, the 16th volume only came out in Japan two months ago, so we may have another long wait. And, given the cover to 16 has Syr and Freya on it, Aiz may not even be the focus. Still, for a collection that was written as “take the short stories from the anime releases bonus DVDs and create wraparound material”, this is surprisingly solid.