Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon, Vol. 2

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By Hirukuma and Ituwa Kato. Released in Japan as “Jidou Hanbaiki ni Umare Kawatta Ore wa Meikyuu wo Samayou” by Kadokawa Shoten. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

It’s time for the vending machine isekai to try that difficult second album, and as you’d expect, it’s not quite as good as the first. Don’t get me wrong, Boxxo tries his hardest, but the limitations of the premise are starting to make themselves felt. The first half of the book is essentially a series of short stories revolving around everyday life in the town Boxxo and Lammis life in, as Boxxo does things like compete in a magical item competition, battle against a chain restaurant trying to infiltrate the village, and add another girl to his growing, if strange, harem – Hulemy, Lammis’ mad scientist friend from the last volume, is a major character in this book, and is intrigued by Boxxo. The second half of the book is a more standard fantasy dungeon crawl, as Boxxo accidentally ends up on the floor below and has to bide his time till he can be rescued.

Last time I noted that the harem aspects of the book were OK, mostly as Boxxo had no libido as he’s a vending machine. This does, however, cause issues when he’s placed in mortal peril or experiencing heartwarming events and has the same sort of similar “oh, that’s a thing” reaction. Boxxo is emotionally flat, and we need to rely on the other characters to be emotional for him. (Lammis excels in this regard, as her love for Boxxo has grown a bit terrifying – when he goes missing, she turns into a berserker.) He also levels up here, allowing the reader to see that Japanese vending machine varieties are truly ridiculous – he can also be an air hose and car wash, and pump out dry ice, and turn himself into a balloon vending machine or a cardboard vending machine. (Boxxo/Danbo OTP.) It’s a bit sad when your protagonist is a vending machine who can’t move on his own or talk properly and he’s still overpowered.

That said, there’s still a lot to enjoy here. Hulemy is an excellent addition to the book, as she’s smart enough to figure out what’s really going on with Boxxo – that he’s a human soul trapped in a vending machine. The consequences of this are then examined, as it turns out (in one of the few emotional funks that Boxxo allows himself to get into) that he’s somewhat wary of beeing turned back by whatever fantasy “reward” this world can give him. In Japan, he was a typical nebbish Japanese guy with a vending machine obsession but little else. Here he’s the heart and soul of the village, and one of the adventurers outright suspects that he’s a “Hero”, which is played up as a cliche in-universe. If Boxxo changes back to an unuseful guy, what will happen to his bond with everyone else? It’s a very well-explored side plot. Oh yes, and major props for Boxxo for delivering what young ladies adventuring in a swampy area in the middle of nowhere really need – a portable toilet.

I note that this series has only three volumes, and the last was about 18 months ago. I suspect this may be other of those “does not so much end as stop” light novel series – after all, if Boxxo is turned back into a human, the series has to end. Still, I’m impressed enough with the characters and worldbuilding to move on to the third book. Still better than you’d expect.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, Vol. 1

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By Fumita Yanagida. Released in Japan as “Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko!” by Star Seas Company, serialization ongoing on the online site Twi 4. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jennifer O’Donnell. Adapted by T Campbell.

When you’re doing a 4-koma series based around a very simple premise, it takes a lot of care to make sure that the audience comes back on a daily basis to see what happens next. The characters have to be interesting but not annoying, and the premise has to amuse but not bore. Tomo-chan Is a Girl! does a pretty good job of this. In Japan it’s helped by being released daily on a website, one comic at a time, much like a Western comic strip. Here, however, we read it in volumes, so the bar to clear is a bit higher. Especially when three of the four main characters are, for lack of a better word, dense in some degree or another. If you’re reading the series and thinking “man, I hope that they figure things out and get together soon”, I would drop it right now if I were you. Payoff will eventually come, but the whole point of series like these is a long, slow burn based around comedy and frustration.

Tomo is the titular heroine. She grew up as a tomboy, learning karate at her father’s dojo and hanging out with her best friend Jun. Now they’re in high school, and Tomo has grown tall and busty, but is still very much the rough tomboy sort. This is a problem, as she’s in love with Jun, but he just sees her as one of the guys! Can she make it clear that she likes him the way a girl likes a boy? And if she ever did this, would she even notice, as it rapidly becomes clear that she’s just as bad at noticing the obvious when it comes to matters of love. Indeed, Jun’s obliviousness may be played up to hide his real embarrassment over the whole thing. Added to this mix are Misuzu, Tomo’s best friend who is there to offer jibes and support, in that order, and Carol, an exchange student who may be flightier than the rest of the cast, and is definitely bustier. Will anyone end up making their feelings clear?

Not so far, but I’m enjoying the journey. The first few chapters are rougher and a bit less fun, and it’s very clear that Jun is not playing things up, something that rapidly changes as the book goes on and the author realizes he can’t keep that going forever. Tomo is a likeable yet very fallible girl, who longs for reciprocated affection but wouldn’t know what to do with it if she had it. And I know, you’re shocked) Misuzu is my favorite character, as her dry retorts and “war” with Jun over who’s closest to Tomo ground the series a bit and also adds a new vein of humor. This is 7+ volumes in Japan, so I’m not sure it can quite keep up the pace, for reasons I mentioned above. But for now I’m amused by Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, and want to see how far the series can go with its (seemingly) dense leads.

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Wayward Journey, Vol. 1

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By Yoshinobu Akita and Yuuya Kusaka. Released in Japan by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

Most of the time, when reviewing books this old (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko put out the first volume in May 1994), I have to remind myself not to think of things that may have been newer or fresher as hopelessly cliched. I had less of an issue here, though, possibly as Orphen is such an old-school fantasy it actually feels slightly fresher these days. The tropes are taken mostly from a) fantasy BOOKS, and b) your typical comedic anime cast. This means that the usual RPG nattering is entirely absent, and no one mentions hit points at all. It’s a very direct and straightforward book. Unfortunately, there is one thing the creator does that does still resonate here in 2018: the book starts to grate when it’s being “funny”. There is overly plucky girl, put-upon nerd, and above all, obnoxious, angry and “lovable coward” guy, all of whom made my teeth grate a bit as I read the book, though the first two not nearly as much as the third. But setting that aside, this was a good, solid debut volume.

As you may imagine, Orphen is our hero, though it’s a name he took on when leaving the fancy school of magic in protest, saying he’s an orphan now. (Magic is his specialty, but spelling is apparently not.) Five years earlier, he watched in horror as his mentor turned into a horrible monster, and the magic users vowed to destroy her rather than try to return her to normal. Now he roams the land looking for her. Unfortunately, currently he’s dealing with two dwarf brothers who owe him money and are very bad about finding “schemes” to pay it back, which include things like “pretend to be a merchant and marry the local rich lady’s daughter”. This ends up being fortuitous, though, as the rich family is also the home to endless ancient artifacts, one of which is desired by both the sorcerers who are still hunting the “monster” down, and the monster herself, still presumably looking for a cure.

I’m going to get this out of the way right off the bat: Volkan, one of the two dwarfs, almost caused me to stop reading this book entirely. He is very loud, very annoying, abuses his brother in what is supposed to be a funny way, is not particularly bright, and is also a coward. Now, this is deliberate. He’s meant to be annoying, and well done! But he’s meant to be annoying in a “look at this funny annoying guy!” way, and that did not happen for me. I want him to fall in a pit. Dortin, who has comedy “manga nerd” glasses and spends most of the book whining about his brother’s abuse but not saying it out loud for fear of provoking more abuse, and Claiomh, the younger sister in the rich family and (I suspect) future love interest of Orphen, who is bright and impulsive and very much a “bratty younger sister” sort, are far more tolerable. But the reason to read the book is the main plot, which deals with Orphen’s tormented relationship with Azalie, his mentor and crush, which is both admirable and frustrating, and causes him to make some teeth-grinding decisions that turn out to pay off in a well-written ending.

I’m not sure I’m going to continue with this – Volkan was THAT annoying, my friends – but for those looking for a nice old-school fantasy light novel, Orphen would be a very nice choice.