The Extraordinary, the Ordinary, and SOAP!, Vol. 2

Leave a reply

By Nao Wakasa and ICA. Released in Japan as “Hibon, Heibon, Shabon!” by ArianRose. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Emily Hemphill.

It has to be said, the hero and heroine of The Extraordinary, the Ordinary, and SOAP! are firmly in the ordinary category, and I feel would not be able to carry a typical shoujo romance on their own. The feelings between the two are, thankfully, resolved in this second volume, as Lucia is finally made to realize that she is the one Celes loves, and Celes is forced to admit his feelings out loud and straightforwardly rather than hoping that Lucia magically understands his heart without doing anything. This is even resolved in a pretty typical way, involving the two being separated from the rest of the cast by a brief disaster and having to make it on their own to catch up. Don’t get me wrong, they’re cute and I’m happy to see them get together, but Lucia x Celes is not the reason this got licensed. There are a couple of other reasons, the first being the premise itself.

I said this in the review of the first volume, and I still feel this way: I really like the fact that this is an isekai that takes place from the POV of someone from the fantasy world itself. Lucia, being the heroine, is of course big of heart and able to read emotions easily (I am hoping this isn’t just because she’s the only woman in the group, but yes, it probably is), but she also has her soap powers. And those powers, as it turns out, are perfectly capable of taking care of the cursed land that they brought in Maria specifically to fix. This leads to a great crisis for Maria, which I’ll get into in a bit, but it’s also a really good look at how quick these sorts of novels are to simply reach out to modern-day Japan to grab a savior rather than trying to address things on their own. It’s made even worse given that there is a conspiracy going on about the fate of Maria, the summoned heroine.

Maria is designed to be disliked by readers at first, with the theory being that we will gradually come to understand her as she grows as a character. That’s a hard hurdle to clear, however, especially with anime and manga fans, where you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Fortunately, the series plans to follow through for us, though admittedly it does so by taking Maria down even lower. Not only has she been pulled into a scary fantasy world and threatened by deadly monsters, but it turns out the nicer, bustier maid girl can actually save the day better than Maria can. When she hears the prince and his brother discussing having her killed (it turns out later she’s missing crucial information, but honestly, not that much – I worry how the return to the kingdom will go), she lashes out at Lucia with possibly tragic consequences. Her redemption might go a tad fast (Lucia is the heroine and gets the majority of the chapters), but it is there and welcome.

This series ends with the third volume, which seems about right given we’ve purified two thirds of the points we’ve been supposed tom, and the couple have confessed. Lucia and Celes may be typical, but the book they’re in has enough spiky edges to impress.

Infinite Dendrogram: The Forms of Love

Leave a reply

By Sakon Kaidou and Taiki. Released in Japan by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

At long last, after a year’s time, including a volume of short stories and a prequel, we are back with the main plot of Infinite Dendrogram. The plot itself involves a lot of setting things up for future books, though we also get one we’ve seen before, which is that the admins do not all get along with each other, and some of them are perfectly willing to destroy people’s lives if it means that they get to see their players evolve into a higher and stronger level. Once again, you are trying to figure out: is this a game? Is this some world pretending to be a game? How “real” are the NPCs? Certainly Ray has no issue with treating them as real, something which the princess appreciates, as she’s trying to get her little sister married off and out of harms way. Sadly, she’s as socially inept as every other woman in Ray’s orbit, so goes about it in exactly the wrong way.

There is also another plotline going on, and to be honest it involves one of my least favorite parts of the short story volume, which is the woman who was spurned by her real-life lover, so goes around destroying couples. She’s finally out of jail, and desperate to meet Figaro, who everyone realizes she is desperately in love with. The issue is that everyone is pretty sure that Figaro would much rather duel her than woo her, if indeed he’s realized what she’s after at all. What follows is admittedly predictable, but also probably the best part of the book, and reminds you that it’s not always wise to assume that characters who are super-focused on one thing are ALWAYS focused on that one thing. And, if nothing else, certainly provides contrast with Ray Starling, who may be our hero but can’t even dress himself properly, let along realize how many girls like him.

It has to be said: Ray may be a college student, but in terms of emotional depth he’s more like Tsukuyo than, say, B3. He is a chuuni, something Nemesis is trying to point out to him when she desperately attempts to get him an outfit that does not scream “bwa ha ha” but can’t quite make it. Of course, it’s that straightforward chuuni part of him that also lets him win the day – going up against a villain who loves to watch people’s emotional reactions to things, especially if it’s tragedy, Ray is simply pissed off beyond all measure, and manages to not only hand the guy his ass but also terrify him. (Given he has constellation-based powers, I sort of wanted Lucy from Fairy Tail to show up and beat his ass.) Admittedly, given what we’ve seen of Shu (whose past as a sentai actor is gone into here) and his oft-mentioned, never-seen older sister, Nemesis may have a long wait.

As I said, there’s lots of setup here, and not all of it has payoff. This has the feel of a story that’s nowhere near done, and provided the anime didn’t kill the franchise, we should be able to enjoy it for some time to come.

Arifureta Zero, Vol. 4

Leave a reply

By Ryo Shirakome and Takaya-ki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Rei” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

I do sometimes worry that the author of the Arifureta series has forgotten why we’re reading it in the first place. In regards to the original series, it’s to see Hajime’s ludicrous overpowered antics and the wacky banter between him and his companions, and with Zero it’s the exact same thing only it’s Miledi. The main series has more harem romance to it than Zero, which seems content to tease only Oscar and Miledi and not have it go further, but, well, romance isn’t why I read it, at least. And, in regards to this volume of Zero, while I can appreciate the author writing some really cool battle scenes because he enjoys it, with lots of the bad guys and good guys bringing out increasingly ludicrous powers, fight scenes are not why I read Arifureta either. Sadly, that makes this volume a big ol’ slog, as a good eighty percent of it is battles.

We head into the forest that we’ve seen in Arifureta’s 2nd volume, home of the Beastmen, and here (at least at the start) at the height of its powers. Well, half the group are here. Things have gotten dangerous enough that Miledi’s Angels split up at this point, with Oscar and Vandre helping to settle everyone from the last book, while Miledi and the others head to the forest, there to meet their next potential Liberator, and also try to stop the battle, as the Church has gotten there first. Speaking of the Church, Laus is continuing to have doubts over what they’re actually doing, and things are not helped by the Church’s religious fervor taking on more and more aspects of brainwashing. Can he continue to fight for something he doesn’t believe in any more? Or should be change sides and joining the Liberators.

I will admit, which I said that I wanted more wacky antics and less fights, when we DO get wacky antics, I’m not sure they’re the ones I wanted. Lyutillus is the Elven Queen of the forest… and also a masochist. The author admits she’s meant to be a mirror to Tio in the main series, and given Tio is my least favorite of the girls in that, I wasn’t really going to be enjoying this. Better was Miledi’s usual stuff – when she’s deliberately trying to be annoying to distract the mood, it’s fantastic, and her confrontation with Laus towards the start of the book was absolutely hilarious. Laus, in fact, is the best thing about this book, as his loss of faith is very well handled. I’ve long since come to terms with the fact that the gods are villains in this world, therefore the fact that everyone in the Church tends towards being a monster is hardly a surprise. I am quite interested in seeing how this switching sides works out going forward.

…I say that, but we know how this is going to end – the main cast all dead (bar Miledi’s soul) and branded as heretics. The bad guys win is the premise of this. But we’ve still no idea how long it’s going to be, and I’m happy to see it play out. As long as it’s not just fights. Or creepy sexual gags. Sigh. Not gonna have much luck there, am I?