Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!, Vol. 1

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By Makishima Suzuki and Yappen. Released in Japan as “Nihon e Youkoso Elf-san” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hiroya Watanabe.

When you have so many isekais coming out in Japan all the time, it’s inevitable that someone’s going to want to try the reverse. Take a stock fantasy character and have them experience the wonders of Japan. We’ve seen this in manga a few times, mostly for comedy (Plus-Sized Elf comes to mind), but, though there are funny moments, this new series doesn’t really have comedy in mind. Arguably you could say it’s romance – the two leads are clearly sweet on each other, but she’s too shy and he’s too dense, as always. I don’t expect a relationship upgrade anytime soon. No, the Japanese parts of this book seem to have two goals in mind: first, to show off the cuteness of its female lead and show her having adorable slice-of-life situations. And second, so show off how wonderful Japan is and how swell the people in it are. Honestly, at times when I was reading this I wondered if it was a government mandated product (J-Novel’s licensing hint didn’t help).

That said, there was far less Japan in this first volume than I expected. Our hero is Kazuhiro (“Kazuhito” in the fantasy world), a 25-year-old salaryman who’s always had the ability to travel to a fantasy world in his dreams. He’s been doing this for some time, and is now a Level 72 adventurer. He’s also good friends with Mariabelle (Marie), an elf mage who has assisted him in the past. One day they’re investigating a ruined city and accidentally get killed by a dragon that happens to live there. As always when he’s killed, Kazuhiro wakes up in his bed in Japan. But this time he was holding onto Marie when he died… and now she’s in Japan with him! Now she, like he, can go back and forth between both worlds when they sleep. What’s more, she gets to experience the food, clothing, books, and so much more that Japan has to offer.

So yes, the elf is in Japan, but there’s also a good half of the book that’s in the fantasy world, with all the usual accoutrements. There’s trying to defeat the dragon, dealing with evil bandits, etc. This just wasn’t as exciting, to be honest – it wasn’t bad, but it’s not really why I wanted to read the book. The Japan segments were much better, summed up, as I noted before, by the word “cute”. The author is good at showing the friendly, unconscious flirting between the two leads, and it’s fun without getting too frustrating – you are content to let them awkwardly fumble it out. The cast so far is small, with the only other possibly relevant members being the dragon who killed them (who turns out to be nicer than you’d expect) and a local librarian who knows Kazuhiro (and who is married, the book clearly states – there’s no love rivalries here yet).

This won’t win awards for depth, but it put a smile on my face. It’s nice to see a lead guy who works as a regular Japanese corporate officer worker, though his “fantasy” appearance is still middle school (as is his narrative obsession with breasts). It’s a relatively new series in Japan, so Vol. 2 may be a bit, but I’m looking forward to it.

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 1

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By Kazuma Kamachi and Yasuhito Nogi. Released in Japan as “Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Astral Buddy” by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Nan Rymer. Adapted by Maggie Danger.

Let’s face it, spinoffs from A Certain Magical Index are obvious. Leaving aside the fact that both Mikoto and Accelerator, owners of the two other manga spinoffs, are far more popular than either Touma OR Index, the series is simply littered with people you want to have their own series. Even if you put that aside and regard this as purely in the “Railgunverse”, which it is, there’s still an awful lot that you could focus on besides the adventures of the main four girls in the cast. The most obvious, of course, being Misaki, but she’s already gotten a sizeable role in the Railgun franchise already. So who do you turn to? Who’s the next breakout star? If you answered “that princess curl girl with no name that Misaki mentally abuses”, then you’ve cheated and read ahead. Let’s face it, no one expected this girl to lead a series.

See, even the cover artist agrees with me. Front and center are Kuroko and Misaki, posing as if they know why readers are REALLY buying this book. Way in the background is princess curl girl, who finally gets a name, Junko, and the “astral buddy” (awful pun there, btw) who is haunting/stalking her and drives the main plot. Someone is theoretically assaulting people around Misaki… only it turns out they’re assaulting people around Junko, who is a bright and shiny pile of naivete (as we’ve seen in the main Railgun series when she’s made brief appearances). Once that plot point is resolved, and Junko is assured that girls can in fact like other girls (a constant thread in this volume, no surprise given Kuroko’s all over it), we move on to Junko’s new ghost friend, who may or may not be a ghost. And Misaki’s still around, of course, but for once she’s the damsel in distress.

This takes place right around the Indian Poker arc in Railgun, for timeline fanatics. Mikoto is not in it, probably as she’d match up too well with Junko – Junko is bright and shiny where Mikoto runs on frustration and grumpiness, but they’re essentially very similar people. The rest of the Railgun core all have significant appearances, though. As for Junko herself, the narrative is a bit kinder to her now that she’s the focus of a series. We see she’s a Level 4, and her powers do indeed look pretty damn handy – it’s almost like a “quirk” from My Hero Academia. (Arguably, all of Academy City is.) Even the annoying mind control gag from Railgun, where Junko is always dieting but Misaki, when annoyed, makes her overeat to offset it, gets an “amusing” spin – Junko is gaining weight, but it’s all in her chest. The actual plotline has barely started, but that’s certainly an impressive cliffhanger.

So in the end, I was prepared for this to be the most cynical franchise cash-in yet, given it’s a spinoff starring “who?”, but it proved surprisingly entertaining, and I have new respect for Junko, who’s a bit of an airhead but sweet. Aside from the usual “Kuroko is a predatory lesbian” warnings, this should be an excellent pickup for Railgun fans.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: Second Squad Jam: Finish

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By Keiichi Sigsawa and Kouhaku Kuroboshi, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

This volume picks up where the last one left off, showing us the bulk of the 2nd Squad Jam, featuring most of the teams we saw in the last one plus a few new ones. The bulk of the book is, of course, the audience waiting for the big fight between Llenn and Pitohui. I say “audience” rather than reader as a large part of this book takes place in a bar in the virtual GGO world, where non-participants and the newly killed can gather to watch what’s going on and cheer people on. It’s a fun conceit, and helps to break up long pages of descriptions of action/descriptions of guns. Moreover, while our heroes are still the stars, the other teams also get a lot of great things to do (provided you like action – I mean, this is never going to be anything but “OMG, GUN FIGHTS!”) and show off their cool sides. And we meet a couple of characters I expect will pop up again in the future.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an author quite so gleeful about playing around in someone else’s sandbox as Keiichi Sigsawa is here. (He even writes himself in to have a pathetic “I get killed off” cameo – again.) Theoretically there should be an impending feeling of doom around the events in this game – after all, Pitohui is gaming it so that it may have real-life consequences – but honestly, you rarely get that sense because you’re too busy watching everyone have all the fun in the world. Miyu/Fukaziroh greatly helps here, and I love her addition to the cast so much – aside from being a classic “just cannot shut up” type, she’s a great foil for Llenn. Her crowning moment may be emulating the Black Knight in Monty Python when she gets her hands and feet shot off and still crawls along to try to do some damage.

The battle between Llenn and Pitohui is the climax of the book, with everything else as a mere epilogue (including the actual results of the game, which I found hilarious). Llenn’s desperation to think of something, anything in order to kill off Pitohui herself is admirable and also a bit laughable, especially when she gets stuck in a thinking mantra. She’s at her best when running on instinct, though, and when her gun finally breaks (again, and yes, it still speaks to her), she has her knife, and then a makeshift knife, and then… well, I was impressed, let’s leave it at that. After that sort of battle, the epilogue was a bit of a letdown, especially with the lamest attempt at a fakeout ever – and to be fair, Karen does not fall for it even one iota. Now that Llenn and Pitohui have resolved things, though, what’s next? A third jam? Can we combine the four leads and have the best team ever?

This is still the light novel equivalent of a sugar rush, and I recommend skipping the gun nerd prose unless you really care a lot more than I do. But otherwise the GGO spinoff offers the finest quality action you’ll see in some time. Certainly better than the main series, and I think Kawahara would likely agree.