Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 6

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

Arifureta is taken from a web novel, which the author and publisher then rewrite, add to, and extend in order to make the published light novel version. As such, it seems a bit ridiculous to suggest that the author was told by the editor to move things along as they need to cut to the chase. But that’s what seems to be happening here, as several plot threads wrap up so fast that you expect some other hand behind it all. Aiko was rescued so quickly that I actually was worried that a chapter had been skipped, and the resolution of who is the traitor among Hajime’s fellow students also seemed to happen very fast (though if you looked at the cover and said “who the heck is that?”, you might have had an inkling). Other than that, this is a typical volume of Arifureta – over the top fighting, the occasional really good character introspection, and turning very bad when the author tries to be funny – something he shares with other light novel authors I could name.

The strengths of the book are quite obvious. The author likes to write overpowered fights, and is good at it. Seeing Yue and Shea team up to fight a horde of demons was fun, especially as absolutely nothing seemed to faze them. This contrasts with Hajime’s fight with an Angels sent to kill him, which goes very badly for him, mostly as he’s trying to fight while also holding Aiko. Once that problem is solved, things proceed to go Hajime’s way a lot more. Aiko is once again probably the best character in the book, as she’s forced to use her powers in order to completely wipe out the church bishops and priests (yes, her farming powers – it makes sense in context) and feels hideous amounts of guilt and shame for murdering people. The aftermath of this, and Hajime’s response to her, is beautiful, and makes the entire book worthwhile.

Some other parts don’t make the book worthwhile, sadly. As I said before, the pacing of this volume seems incredibly rushed, and a lot of it felt like the author wanted to clear the decks so he could start on the second half of the series (I think we’re about halfway through it right now). Our villain, once she gets revealed, gets to fall straight into the yandere stereotype, and is far duller than I’d hoped based on past manipulations. I’ve no doubt we’ll see her again, but I doubt she’ll have any more significant successes. And I hated absolutely everything about the scene with the okama muscle guys, which is grotesque negative stereotype central. Hajime’s harem stays the same size here, though he is aware Aiko loves him, and the narrative is aware that it’s only a matter of time for Shizuku. Oh yes, and Kaori’s now got an Angel body after being murdered by her insane classmate, meaning she gets to be as ludicrously overpowered as the others – which is what she’s always wanted, to be fair.

Arifureta is always going to have that air of “I am getting back at the bullies who tormented me in school” to it, and the villains this time round make that comparison more painfully apt than usual. Still, it’s fun mostly, provided the author isn’t being humorous, and should definitely please ongoing fans.

Devilman: The Classic Collection, Vol. 1

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By Go Nagai. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Zack Davisson and Adrienne Beck.

Devilman was one of those series that I always knew about but never got around to reading, mostly as the one spoiler that everyone knows is… well, a spoiler, but let’s just say that this sort of series is usually a bit too dark for me. But this is a really nice release, in a deluze, 700-page hardcover, and it’s the original manga from 1972, so I couldn’t really resist. And for the most part, I’m very happy to have read this series. The first 450 pages of Devilman are absolutely riveting – the storytelling is old-fashioned, but you quickly lose yourself in the world of Akira, Ryo and Miki, as well as the grotesquely bizarre demons that are attempting to retake the world and will kill every human in order to do it. It’s incredibly violent, and there’s lots of nudity, but it’s a trip. That said, I was… a lot less enthusiastic as the manga carried on.

The book can essentially be divided into three parts. The first part, about 450 pages, was clearly written as a limited series, and is very big on action sequences, fast page turning and grotesque horror. Akira is a nice, somewhat meek sort of guy who is going to school with Miki, who clearly likes him but would also like him to get a bit more manly. (She’s something of a delinquent, carrying knives in her skirt, though she tries to act the “girly girl” in front of Akira.) Enter Ryo, Akira’s best friend, who has a dark secret he needs to tell him… about demons. This dark secret leads them through a tragic family horror, ancient demons who have returned, naked hippie orgies (yes, really), and a whole lot of demons trying to kill them. The only way to save the world is for Akira to become Devilman… and hope that his innate goodness is enough to keep back the demon within him. As I said before, this entire section reads fantastically.

We then get much shorter chapters, as the series clearly has now been picked up as a regular ongoing one and Go Nagai has to come up with new stuff. The first two chapters are pretty good in a dark, horrific way, both dealing with the brutal murder of young children, and serve to show off that Devilman is a grim, bloody world where no one is safe. (Note this ran in a magazine for 12-17 year old boys.) And then we come to the final five stories in the book, aka “Akira and Ryo time-travel through history and find demons trying to pervert humanity’s destiny.” First of all, “Oh, Akira can travel through time” made me shake my head. Secondly, demons trying to crush humanity is fine, but I am not really a fan of “demons are behind history’s worst moments” stories. The chapter with a young Adolf Hitler, in particular, reaches a low that I’d call “godawful”. This was not a good direction for the series to go in.

[I have been informed by Zack Davisson that this collection is actually from several different variants of the Devilman manga, and that the ‘time travel’ chapters are from Shin Devilman, a 1979 sequel. This would help explain why they feel so out of place.]

That said, over half this volume is still a fantastic read and a good look into the twisted mind of Go Nagai. It’s not for everyone (there really is a LOT of bloody violence and nudity), but if you love classic manga you’ll want this in your collection, though I’d advise putting a bookmark at page 530 and saying “stop here”.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 9

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

After a couple of volumes that were deeper and more complicated than usual, we’re back to business as usual at Strike the Blood, Inc. That means we get a new girl for Kojou to save, lots of cool battles that do a tremendous amount of property damage, a number of blatant flirting attempts that Kojou completely misses because this simply isn’t one of whose kind of harem titles, and lots of jealous rages that allows Kojou to get snubbed for “humorous” effect, although as always Mikumo’s attempts at being funny are funny only in a 90s anime “hey, what if the girl is a tsundere!” sort of way. And yes, you know things are back to normal when Yukina says her catchphrase, though it’s slightly less of a proclamation than usual. That said, this is, as always, a solid, average volume of Strike the Blood, and those who’ve been following along will be pleased by it – while also grumbling that Yukina is on the cover again, no doubt.

The girl being saved this time around, is Yume, who seems to be a standard “child who’s lost her parents” at first but ends up being a succubus. Fortunately, given that Yume looks to be about 12, she doesn’t do any seducing herself, but instead slips into the minds of the girls and brings out their inner desires. Unfortunately, the fact that she is about 12 means we get a lot of “lol Kojou is a lolicon” jokes, though mercifully there aren’t as many as I expected once I gleaned the plot. She’s a sympathetic character, and the way that she tries to get past her trauma reminds me a bit of Beatrice from Umineko, but unfortunately the author has too much fighting going on to really give her tragic backstory much of a look-in – a flashback to her abusive parents and classmates might have helped. The other new character here is Kiriha, who looks like she’s Yukina’s dark mirror, and I strongly suspect we haven’t seen the last of her.

Speaking of Yukina, the more we delve into her agency and the various other agencies connected to or in competition with it, the more suspicious they become. Indeed, at times it feels like Yukina is the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on. After seeing Kojou’s actual secrets in the last book, here we get someone finding out the truth about Asagi – but tellingly, it’s Sayaka, rather than Asagi herself, Kojou, or Yukina, those who would be most impacted by knowing that secret. It’s unclear if Sayaka will ever reveal this secret to anyone else, but I’m going to guess probably not. On the bright side, the action sequences are always the best part of Strike the Blood, and tehre are a lot of them this time around (to the point where, as I noted before, I felt some could have been replaced with better backstory). When your “villain” is a 4km-long sea monster, you’ve certainly hit the big time. And we get a new Beast Vassal, meaning of course more sexy vampire biting.

I feel somewhat sad that after the highs of the previous two books we’re back to business as usual with Strike the Blood. But it’s still a decent title, and reads very quickly and easily. And as always, it reads like it was meant to be animated – which it has, as there are now OAVs with this volume’s story. I’ll be back next time to see where the series goes.