Infinite Dendrogram: The Lunar Society

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

Despite very much being a book of two halves, this volume has essentially the same theme, one which I suspect will carry over into the next book (yes, it’s another cliffhanger). That theme is how Dendrogram gamers deal with the real world, and balancing the player’s real life with this thing that is more than just another game. We see Reiji starting college and immediately running into people he knows (and would rather forget) from the game. We see him interacting with someone who is exactly the same in the game as in real life, and someone who is seemingly the same, only to turn out to have a hidden side to her. And the second half deals with the fact that players can marry NPCs and father children in this game, though it’s difficult, for reasons which are actually expounded on in detail. We also see a major player log back in after a few weeks offline to find that he’s essentially missed the entire book series to date. There’s a lot going on.

The Lunar Society is, as I indicated above, the subject of the first half of the book, particularly its leader Tsukuyo, played by a real-life college medical student named… Tsukuyo. She’s a cross between Haruhi Suzumiya and Ryouko Mendou, and I suspect some readers may find her irritating. Ray finds her terrifying once he meets her outside the game, and his brother explaining the reason why (which immediately resolves his fear) is one of the funnier parts of the book. As a character, Tsukuyo is not the greatest, being exactly as she seems: a spoiled princess who’s desperate for anything to stave off her boredom and will kidnap people to get what she wants. That said, I like Haruhi and Ryouko, so I found her quite fun. I also liked her butler/assassin, who is exactly what you’d expect a butler/assassin to be like.

Tsukuyo is not the only gamer Reiji meets at his college; he also runs into Kozue, who is far more sensible and reserved – in fact, when we see her character in the game, B3 (or BBB), she seems almost exactly the same as she is in real life, just like Tsukuyo. This *is* a front, though, and leads into an interesting discussion of PKing in Dendrogram. I’ve gotten so used to Sword Art Online being the be-all end-all work on player killing that I’d forgotten that Dendrogram *is* a game, and that the penalty is not actually lethal, just annoying. The PK guild we see here (whose reasons for gathering around their leader I will groan about and try to skip past) has rules about only PKing those who want to duel, essentially – those who want a good fight, with an appropriate “reward” for losing. As for B3, while we don’t get into it due to narrative necessity and Ray’s stunning denseness about women, it’s implied that PKing turns her on. There’s all sorts of gamers.

We’re caught up with Japan now, though I think the next book is out soon if not already. Those who have enjoyed the series will find more to enjoy here, as the books keep examining what it is about this game that’s different and how its reality can suck you in. Plus maybe we’ll see Nemesis evolve past her jealousy? Nah, probably not.

The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 2

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By Gamei Hitsuji and himesuz. Released in Japan by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

For all that the first volume of this did a very good job introducing its cast and showing off the basics of the world, it did not really dwell much on the demon invasion beyond it being the reason why the hero was summoned, and why he’s training. The second volume, though, takes that ball and absolutely runs with it. The demons are coming, they’re hard to defeat, and they’re nasty pieces of work, both in terms of powers and personality. I gotta admit, you really want the demon general to get his by the end of this. What’s more, their leader is not only good at murdering people but also at emotional manipulation and torture. Which is fine for Suimei, who at least has a veneer of “I am cool-headed” (which isn’t actually true, but hey). But it’s definitely bad news for the new heroine of this book, Lefille, who is a red-haired noble swordswoman who wears her heart on her sleeve.

This is very much a book that puts all its fantastic stuff on the back end. The start is all right, with Sui9mei trying to join the Adventurer’s Guild and maintain a low profile, something he screws up pretty much immediately. He and Lefille bond right away, but it’s as a good friendship, and there’s not really much romance involved here yet. But things really pick up with the actual invasion, and particularly when Lefille breaks away from Suimei to try to save the party that essentially told her to get lost earlier. This is a significantly darker book than the first volume was, and there’s a lot of brutal deaths here. What’s more, there’s a lot of misblaming going on, to the point where I wondered if it was part of a ploy by the demon general to break Lefille. But no, it’s just people getting the wrong idea and spewing dying vitriol.

I admit, I was worried that this book was not going to stick the landing. It spends a LOT of time setting up the demon general as Lefille’s enemy that she absolutely has to defeat, then breaks her utterly. This is very well done, and emotionally gripping. But when Suimei showed up and started going to town, I thought “uh-oh”. You can’t set up this sort of thing and then have the solution be “I can overcome it thanks to the powers of my cool protagonist friend”. And yes, Suimei *does* get the final shot in. But we see Lefille watching Suimei’s battle and realize what she needs to do, and find her heroic second wind, driving the demon back to the point where he has to retreat. This was very important, and makes her a better heroine than the first one. (That said, this seems like a “new heroine every book” series, so I wonder if she’ll stay on.)

The book does have flaws – Suimei’s “let me read magic wikipedia at you” narration can be tedious, Lefille has a demon curse that seems to be nothing but an excuse to have her masturbate naked on a rock for the benefit of the illustrator/readers, and the ending, where she reverts to being a little girl due to lack of spirit energy, had me going “WTF?” as much as it did our heroes. Oh yes, and please try not to have your hero brainwashing people for fun and profit. But overall, I found the suspense and character depth of this second volume to be excellent, and I’m far more on board with this series now.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 5

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

If I said that the pacing of the series had become glacial by the last volume, here it comes to a complete stop, as this is a selection of short stories designed to show off the cast and pad out the time before the new semester begins in Book 6 and the author is forced to actually advance the plot. From what I understand, the majority of this book was jettisoned from the first anime season except for the longest, most plot-relevant story, whi9ch makes sense. These are good character portraits, and show off Hachiman’s cynical yet on point analysis very well, but they aren’t really essential. They’re a meandering tale of a hot summer break. That said, we do finally have Hachiman connect the dots upon seeing the Yukinoshita limousine once more, so now all the participants know about his accident at the start of school. Getting Yukino to open up, though, will likely be another story.

Saika is featured on the cover as if he’s a heroine, which makes sense given that his short story basically involves asking Hachiman on a date. This allows the author do do his usual schtick, though fortunately Hachiman is not quite as bad as usual this time around. We also see Hachiman and his sister agree to babysit Yui’s dog while she’s on vacation, which allows us to see that Hachiman is actually quite a pet person. In fact, a lot of the se stories are good at pointing out that Hachiman has the ability to be kind and considerate, he just constantly undercuts it with everything he says. Indeed, Yui spells his personality right out to us, in another scene that makes the reader realize that she’s totally fallen for him, and is absolutely going to get her heart broken.

The story that did get adapted for the anime involves Yui inviting Hachiman to a fireworks festival (Komachi tricks him into accepting), and the evening that follows, which alternates between cute and awkward as Hachiman is constantly thinking of what normal people would do in a situation like this. I think it’s important to Hachiman that he disconnect himself from others like this – the ongoing use of (LOL) every time he says “normies” reads more like a verbal tic than a conscious choice. That said, the meat of this book is the scene at the fireworks with Yukino’s sister, who is in VIP seats, of course. Her scathing chat with Hachiman and Yui reminds us that Yukino was dragged home at the end of the previous book, and is almost completely absent from this one. The whole novel feels like it’s setting things up for an explosion once school starts.

Which is fine, though if the 6th book turns out to be marking time as well, I may throw my hands in the air. Sometimes you really do need forward development. It doesn’t help that the next book is not out till November, meaning a longer wait to find out if anything blows up. Still, fans of the series will want to get this to see what parts the anime left out, and as always reading Hachiman’s narration is an experience.