Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 1: Daughter of a Soldier, Vol. 3

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

Tempting as it is to have the series be 20+ volumes of Myne and Lutz sitting around and making paper, it’s no surprise that we’re going in a different direction. More accurately, the moment that Myne found out there was an easier way to get at books, she was going to go after it no matter what. Of course, Myne being Myne, she chooses the one thing that will upset everyone, as the way to get to books is to become a shrine maiden at the local temple… which is composed mostly of orphan children abandoned by society who are worked to death. No wonder the family is against it. But of course, this is the thing. Myne is weak. Even after a temporary cure of the Devouring (though it’s just putting it off), she’s still really, really weak. So honestly, provided she gets some leverage, shrine maiden might be a perfect job for her. Fortunately, finding leverage is what Myne is all about.

I will admit that I wish the religion had been given a bit more emphasis in earlier volumes. As it is, it feels like the Church comes up right about when the plot requires it to. It at least gets a bit of development, with a nice story about how the Gods work, and a prayer pose that unfortunately looks like a very popular Japanese meme image, causing Myne to lose it with laughter during her own baptism. (It also provided the inside color image, because really it deserved illustration.) On the same note, Myne finds out more information about The Devouring right when the plot requires it as well – there doesn’t seem to be a taboo on discussing it, so it’s a mystery as to why Myne just now finds out that it’s due to too much mana inside her. It is clever to show that the only reason she hasn’t died yet is due to the reincarnated memories, which allow her more adult brain to control it better.

There is, believe it or not, an actual action sequence in this very inactive light novel series, as when Myne shows up with her parents to the temple, the bishop has an attitude of “we’re taking your daughter forever now, goodbye”, and gets upset when both she and her family refuse. This allows her father to kick ass and take out several priests at once, in a sequence that would be ridiculous if it lasted any longer than the two paragraphs it does. Likewise, Myne had better start learning how to control her Devouring/mana, as in her rage she ends up nearly killing the Bishop for attacking her family. It’s a startling scene. That said, it does given Myne the leverage she was seeking out, and fortunately the High Priest is a lot more sensible than the Bishop.

So Myne is off to the Temple, but can still see Lutz and her family and innovate. Oh, and she gets to be treated like a noble shrine maiden, not a slave shrine maiden. And, most importantly, BOOKS! But will it really be that easy? We’ll find out in the next arc of Bookworm, which seems to be four books long.

Star Blazers 2199: Space Battleship Yamato, Vol. 1

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By Michio Murakawa, originally written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki. Based on the series created by Leiji Matsumoto. Released in Japan as “Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Newtype Ace. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics. Translated by Zack Davisson.

I was very much of two minds about this modern reboot of the classic 70s space opera. On the one hand, it does everything that you’d want to have done in a retelling updating Matsumoto to the 21st century. The character development gains greater depth, there’s more room for the story to breathe, there are significant female characters (and some of them aren’t even blondes!). It’s pretty good. On the other hand, it does everything you’d expect to have done in a retelling as well. The relationship between Mori and Kodai reminds me of Ranma and Akane at times, and Mori reads far more like a tsundere than I’d really want. There’s also a lot of really gratuitous fanservice, including many, many ass shots of the female cast, and one bizarre moment when they go through warp that is supposed to show it’s a mental experience as well but also mostly shows off naked breasts for the crew. So it’s pretty good, but there are issues.

The basic plot is the same as the original. The Earth is under attack from the alien Gamilans, who have basically destroyed Earth. Fortunately another alien race, the Iscander, are offering hope for the ever-popular in SF faster-than-light drive. The trouble is getting there… and that’s why we have the Yamato and its motley crew (a bit less motley in this version as it’s not being drawn by Matsumoto). We’ve got Admiral Okita, who is as good as ever as being “top Naval commander”. We’ve got crack pilot Susumu Kodai and his best friend Daisuke Shima. We’ve got Yuki Mori, who gets off to a bad start with Kodai but also has “love interest” written all over her. But there’s also a bunch of new characters, most of the notable ones women. Niimi seems like “the smart one”, the nurse Harada, who serves as a combination of comedy relief, fanservice, and romantic shipper. There’s Yamamoto, another hotshot pilot sort. And there’s also the robot, though as of yet he’s not as fun as the original.

There are lots of nice shots of space and the Yamato traveling through it, though we don’t get pages and pages of it the way the original series did. Those pages are taken up by plot and characterization, and it’s up to the reader to determine if they make the remake better or worse. I’d say “different”. Certainly I do feel like continuing the story, and I love seeing these characters all over again. It just lacks the space opera grandeur of the original – it’s not as operatic as Matsumoto at his best. But it’s also a lot longer than the original manga, so we’ll see what direction it decides to take its story in the future.

Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, Vol. 1

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By Natsume Akimoto and Kakao Lanthanum. Released in Japan as “Sentouin, Hakenshimasu!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Noboru Akimoto.

Sometimes you can have an isekai without all of that pesky dying and being reincarnated, or being transported to another world by a magic spell. It’s as easy as making the “fantasy world” on another planet, and having our heroes sent to it to see if it can be taken over… erm, colonized. That’s the basic premise of this series, which features the nameless Combat Agent Six and his android partner Alice Kisaragi sent via a teleport (that is totally tested and functional, honest) to a planet that is apparently dealing with a demon lord invasion. On the one side we have the kingdom of Grace, with knights, princesses, castles, etc. and the demon lords, who have golems and are your standard demonic types. On the other side we have Six, Alice, and their newly befriended band of misfits… erm, crack squad, and modern weaponry. Oh, yes, and one other thing that should be noted: Six and Alice work for an evil organization, and can only get weapons and equipment by doing evil acts.

Actually, one other thing should be noted: this is by the author of KonoSuba. Actually, it was written online before Konosuba, and picked up by Kadokawa after the latter’s success as a light novel/manga/anime franchise. This means, needless to say, that the best reason to get this is the comedy. It’s not a full-on parody like KonoSuba, but the humor tends to be along the same lines. (Actually, the humor can sometimes, like KonoSuba, cross a line or two – I was not all that pleased with the “take photos of the evil sorceress in a certain pose” moment, even if it’s a PG-rated version of same.) The cast may also ring a bell as well – Six is not that far from Kazuma, and Snow is basically what would happen if Aqua and Darkness had a kid. There’s a lot of great humor, provided you don’t mind the cast all being horrible people to one degree or another.

The best reason to get the book is the bantering relationship between Six and Alice. Like Kazuma and Aqua, there’s no real romantic tension between these two. Instead, they function as snark factories, ready and willing to tear down anything for the sake of evil and/or their own amusement. The other good reason to get this is the few moments when the protagonists are allowed to be cool. Because it’s not a parody like KonoSuba, the cool moments are allowed to exist without getting undercut, and actually impressed me a bit, even when they were also hilarious (Rose and Grimm’s “you shall not pass!” moment, the land mine trap, the chainsaw ending). There’s also some nice character development for Snow, who is arrogant and sword-obsessed but also has something of a righteousness to her, which contrasts well with Six, who is supposedly working for an evil organization but relies on petty, assholish acts to cover up the fact that he can’t be REALLY evil when it counts.

The color pages note that Snow is “this volume’s heroine”, so I expect the next book will focus on either Rose, a chimera girl who’s trying to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps, or Grimm, an archbishop of death who actually uses a wheelchair most of the book – something rarely seen in a light novel. (Yes, she can on occasion get out of it, but for the most part really does need it.) A must-read for KonoSuba fans, and those who enjoy comedy light novels and don’t mind characters whose default is “jerK” will also be happy.