Accel World: The Seven-Thousand-Year Prayer

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By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

And so, at last, we come to the end of the Armor of Catastrophe arc, which was not only deliberately meant to be a long arc but also grew out of the author’s control, as he’s admitted himself in the afterword. The volume gives us a lot of what readers like about this series: good battles with some nice analysis from Haruyuki, some amusing harem comedy, some heartwarming romance with Kuroyukihime, and an examination of the nature of negative emotions and how to cope with them every day, because they don’t just magically go away merely because everyone believes in you really hard. That said, it also has some things that fans tend to not like as well: Haruyuki is not only the bestest person to ever be possessed by the evil armor, but he’s a shining magical beacon of hope for all. Oh, and he gets another girl confessing to him, and is caught with her lying on top of him, because harem comedy. It’s a balance.

The significant development here is a bit of a spoiler, but worth talking about. We learn the true identity of Ash Roller, which turns out to be somewhat confusing, meshing up a tragic tale of an introverted girl and her comatose brother with the nature of the neurolinkers that are omnipresent in this world. It’s left deliberately up in the air what’s going on here, whether Rin is literally being possessed by her brother while in the Accelerated world, or if she’s merely taking on his role to an almost absurd extent. (She genuinely seems to be unaware of what transpires without wearing her brother’s neurolinker, so odds are on the first.) That said, I admit to a bit of irritation at the fact that one of Haru’s only male friends turns out to really be a shy young girl who’s in love with him in real life. (The shyness is conveyed via an odd speech pattern – Rin talks in sentence fragments, and it’s unclear if this is a mental issue like Utai’s or if it’s meant to be natural introversion.)

That said, once again after a lot of harem tease we are reminded that at the end of the day there is only one who is top of the heap, and it’s Kuroyukihime. We get a little more insight into her real-life background – she lives alone in a very rich neighborhood, and it’s implied that the murder of the Red King in the Accelerated World had a counterpart in real life as well. That said, just as Haruyuki is a Pillar of Hope for All despite his omnipresent self-hatred, Kuroyukihime tends towards the perfect accepting girlfriend much of the time, listening calmly as Haru pours out his fears, getting the crap beaten out of her in the AW waiting for him to overcome the Disaster, and bushing cutely when he’s accidentally proposing marriage to her without actually realizing it.

So in the end Accel World has much the same strengths and weaknesses as the author’s other series, Sword Art Online. Which means fans of one will enjoy the other, and those who hate Kirito with a passion probably will find themselves getting annoyed at Haruyuki here. The next book should be standalone and lighthearted, and I fear that may mean MAXIMUM HAREM ANTICS. We shall see.

Hana & Hina After School, Vol. 1

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By Milk Morinaga. Released in Japan as “Hana to Hina wa Houkago” by Futabasha, serialized in the magazines Comic High and Weekly Action. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jennifer McKeon, Adapted by Shannon Fay.

This is the third of four quite similar yuri titles due out in February/March. I’ve already discussed Secret of the Princess and Kase-san And Morning Glories, and I have to save some of my energies and words for Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl. Here today we have the new series from Milk Morinaga, author of many other yuri series that have been brought over to North America. It gives fans of sweet yuri exactly what they want – these are cute girls, one short and brunette and one tall and blonde, having a difficult first meeting but gradually growing closer, and the first volume ends with a lot of “but we’re both girls” angst. It doesn’t break any rules or step outside the box, but it performs its function well.

Hana is the short one, and she’s diligent and nice but tends to overthink things, and she works after school at a shop that sells what I’ve always called tchotchkes, borrowing from the Yiddish. Stuffed animals, mugs, things like that. One day she gets a new co-worker in Hina, a tall leggy blonde who appears very standoffish and cold. Of course, this is merely Hana’s read on her. As we learn more about Hina, including her love of all things cute (to the point of almost being a cute otaku), it’s clear that Hina is acting this way around Hana to avoid getting too close – which makes it all the more awkward when the new school year begins and Hina shows up at Hana’s school – yes, the tall leggy blonde is an underclassman to the petite girl. The minimal plot here involves the fact that part-time jobs are against the rules, and this is doubly bad for Hina, who’s also a model, though she’s going to give that up.

What follows is, as I indicated above, predictable, in a way that many Milk Morinaga titles are. Hana is adorable and upbeat, and every time they interact it becomes increasingly difficult for Hina to keep her hands off her. That said, Hina also has a tragic past where she’s been called out for this before, if the minimal flashback we see is any proof, and when she asks some other classmates if they’d think a confession from another girl was weird, they say no… provided it’s just the typical admiration that Japanese schoolgirls are supposed to have. If it’s real romantic feelings… yes, they think it’s weird. And so Hina’s stuck, and stressing about it as the volume comes to a close.

Actually, I’d argue this is a step forward from some other Milk Morinaga series we’ve seen that are even fluffier than this. Real life brings real problems, especially if a girl decides she likes other girls, and they can complicate a relationship even more than “but what if she doesn’t like me that way?”. I’m hoping that the remaining two volumes of the series go into that deeper. In the meantime, this is definitely recommended for fans of yuri.

I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, Vol. 2

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By Namekojirushi and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Ore ga Heroine o Tasukesugite Sekai ga Little Mokushiroku!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Lensenmayer.

This was a surprising license for J-Novel Club. Not because of the premise – honestly, the combination of harem parody along with the genre mashing of fantasy, SF, school life, and everything in between is highly appealing to North American markets. No, it’s just that this novel series is 16 volumes long in Japan, which is pretty lengthy, especially for a budding LN publisher. Thankfully, the 16th book seems to be the final one, so we don’t need to worry about it becoming a massive behemoth like A Certain Magical Index. And to be fair, judging by the lengths of these first two novels, 16 Little Apocalypses may be the equivalent of eight Devil Is a Part-Timers. The reason I bring all this up is because we not only get three heroines introduced here, but roles also for the first book’s heroines, and the introduction of (presumably) the next heroine at the end. By Book 16, what will the pileup look like? Well, probably like an apocalypse.

Of course, not all heroines are created equal. Poor Harissa doesn’t really get to do much here except fret and use the occasional spell, and Iris is sent off until the thrilling finale requires her. Satsuki plays a larger role, but that’s more due to her magical wikipedia ability than anything else. This makes sense, given that we get three new girls here, and have fun seeing Rekka try to intertwine their stories in order to solve the problem. Fortunately, two of them are already intertwined: Tetra is essentially a shrine maiden devoted to doing something about the seal that is currently holding back a powerful monster, and Leviathan (aka Lea), the monster in question who turns out to have been imprisoned there falsely. The third heroine is more down to earth: Akane Tendo (cough) pardon me, Tsumiki Nozomuno, who family owns a failing restaurant and needs her to come up with a dramatic menu item to save the day, despite the fact that anything she cooks ends up as a poisonous black sludge, and also the fact that she’s a massive tsundere.

This volume is not quite as good as the first – I suspect the author forgets that he’s writing a parody of the harem genre at times, and when he does, things get rather tedious. The villain was quite good, but the introduction reminded me a lot of Kyubey – possibly deliberately, as I think Madoka Magica was airing when this was being written. There are funny gags, although Rekka in a magical girl outfit is not as funny as the author – and indeed the rest of the cast – think. Worst of all, R’s snark is few and far between here, though when she does make a comment it’s as hilariously sarcastic and bitter as ever. She’s still easily the best part of the book.

As I said, we get a cliffhanger ending to this book, which seems to introduce the subject of the third book. Will it limit itself to just one girl this time around? If we assume 3 girls per book, that would be 48 girls, which is edging close to Negima territory, so I’m hoping that we back off a bit. I’m also hoping for a bit more making fun of the harem comedy and less conforming to it. Still, this is easy reading and fun enough for those who enjoy the genre.