No Game No Life, Vol. 4

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By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On.

It’s always dangerous when a title that you enjoy despite its many glaring flaws has a subpar volume. Suddenly there isn’t enough to enjoy to justify wading through everything. It doesn’t help that this volume was delayed two months for unknown reasons (possibly as the translator got burnt out – it did have a 3-month schedule before this). And it’s unfortunate that this is the first volume that wasn’t adapted into an anime, so will presumably have a lot of new readers trying to see what happens next. But yes, there’s no getting around this – this is just not a great volume of No Game No Life.

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Everything seems to be just that little bit tired, starting with Sora and Shiro, who in the first volume were hideously broken people who just happened to be crazy otaku, but here the otaku part is in full swing and were it not for a few casual mentions in the text, you’d never even remember how codependent they are on each other’s presence. This is the first of a two-parter again, so it’s possible the next volume will up the ante, but it also has to be said that nothing really seems to threaten our heroes. Sure, they initially refuse to play the datesim simply because it’s just like that anathema, real-life romance, but once they’re in it, merely avoiding any love points seems to be fine with them. Sora and Shiro have been shown to be invincible, and that’s ALL they are here.

The other characters don’t fare much better. There are the usual NGNL levels of perversion, this time around involving the fantasy vampires and mermaids we see here. The fact that the dhampirs can suck bodily fluids other than blood is (pardon me) milked for all it’s worth, and the Sirens are succubuses whose lack of foresight and intelligence had better be undercut when we reach Volume 5 or I’m going to be pissed off. You don’t right an entire race of bimbos anymore just because it’s fun. And then there’s Ino, the old Werebeast grandpa, whose response in regards to winning the datesim was… memorable, but I’m not sure I get the manly part, and he was also used as a sexual gag regarding all the women he’d bedded over the years.

There is one bright spot in this volume, and that was the first scene with Steph, who has been left behind to deal with the kingdom while Sora and Shiro are negotiating with the Shrine Maiden. Having been forced to play against the two for thousands of games, and losing every single time, Steph has actually become scarily good at games, particularly the card games we saw her failing at in the very first volume. Of course, she’s not aware of this – she’s constantly trying to compare herself to Sora and Shiro, rather than, say, the average citizen. We are also reminded why Sora and Shiro left her there in the firt place – she’s really good at running a country, something they would be terrible at. Sadly, she then goes back to being a figure of mockery for most of the book, but that one brief shining moment was excellent.

It’s possible the next volume will turn this around. As I said, it is a two-parter of sorts. But I must admit that after reading this volume of NGNL I just felt tired.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Dawn

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By Yoshiki Tanaka. Released in Japan as “Ginga Eiyū Densetsu” by Tokuma Shoten. Released in North America by Haikasoru.

It’s rare to see a book that was first published in 1982 get so much excitement, but that’s exactly what happened when Viz’s SF imprint Haikasoru announced they had the first three volumes of this legendary series. The announcement was very much meant for old-school fans, those who are now in their early 40s and grew up with questionable translated fansubs of the 100-episode OAV that adapted the books (which has also recently been licensed). Why the excitement? Because it’s a really good story, showing off epic space battles and cool military tactics while at the same time showing us why constant warfare is something we should always strive to avoid. If the title sounds grandiose and over the top, it should. That’s what we’re going for here.

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The first novel divides itself fairly equally between two sides of a long-running war. The Empire are a bunch of not-quite-Germans, whose lead character is Reinhard von Lohengramm, a young, handsome and brilliant tactician who is motivated by hatred and revenge after having his sister taken as mistress to the Emperor several years ago. Luckily, he has the standard sensible best friend with him, who occasionally reminds him to not go too far. On the side of the republic, we have Yang Wen-Li, who reminds me far too much of Tylor except that Yang came first. Yang desperately wants to be a historian and not get involved in the war at all, but sadly he’s an equally amazing military tactician, so he slides upwards through the book to full Admiral, mostly by virtue of being sensible, not lusting for glory and honor, and the occasional bout of clever genius.

The book begins with a long prologue showing how the Empire came to be, with the rise of Rudolf, a Hilter expy who shows off how much worse the Empire used to be. The sympathy of the Western reader, I admit, definitely resides with Yang over Reinhard, at least at the start. As the book goes on, though, and you see the very familiar corrupt democracy who think nothing of starting a war to get votes, you realize that neither side are really able to claim to be the good guys, and there are a bunch of inept generals and foolhardy glory hounds who show off the bad sides of both groups. Halfway through the book the Empire suffers a grievous military loss, and at the end an even worse political one. The Alliance shoots itself in the foot badly and is seen at the end licking its wounds. Even worse, there’s a hint that there are other parties trying to play both sides against the middle… led by the Church. (The Church, in stories like this, is almost always evil, unless it’s run by nuns.)

Haikasoru did a good job with the translation, I feel. It’s pompous and overly formal much of the time, but that’s exactly what the author is going for, I believe – much of the volume reads like a history book, and informality would miss the point. As I said earlier, the title is not just for show. This is not a light novel – it’s an epic legend, along the lines of Wagnerian opera. The anime, in fact, used a LOT of Mahler as the background music, which is highly fitting. If you enjoy military tactics books, as well as political infighting along the lines of Game of Thrones, then this is definitely the series for you. Haikasoru has promised two more volumes (the rest depends on sales) and I will absolutely be getting them.

Umineko: When They Cry, Vol. 12

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Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Akitaka. Released in Japan in two separate volumes as “Umineko no Naku Koro ni: End of the Golden Witch” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Gangan Joker. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This review is quite late, mostly as I didn’t really want to read this volume, at all, even though I also really did. Umineko can be very difficult to read and enjoy for fun, especially if you are someone who empathizes with the pain of others. While Higurashi dealt with abuse in one of its plotlines, every single page of Umineko is about abuse on a grand scale. The daily contempt and grinding down that drives Natsuhi to the brink long before the series even begins. Erika’s joyful cruelty in removing every last shred of denial and hope in Natsuhi’s heart. And of course Bernkastel, whose loving adoption of Erika as her daughter is contrasted with the hate-filled rage seen when Erika fails, as of course she does, because there’s more of this series to go. A lot more.

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As I said above, the reader is meant to empathize with Natsuhi, because the writing impels us to do so, but saying that she’s the best of the parents isn’t saying much. Besides her emotional abuse of Shannon, we find here that she is in fact a murderer herself, having been driven to it by expectations of women in the 1960s and a general sense of self-loathing pushed outwards. She gets by in life due to the poorly expressed but genuine love her husband and daughter have for her (which Erika destroys as well – note to readers, never keep a diary filled only with bad things) and a denial of reality that feels very familiar five arcs into this series. Erika destroys that as well, of course, showing us that no, Kinzo always hated her.

It’s Erika’s supposition that Natsuhi was having an affair with a deluded Kinzo that feels like one piece of sourness too many though, a further blow that is entirely unnecessary. But that’s Erika for you. There’s also Beatrice, who does finally seem to be killed off here – twice – as befits the title. She dies broken as well, as Battler still – still! – has no idea what she’s talking about with a promise that he broke, and finally begs for death. I am aware that this is the low ebb of the series, and that future arcs, while dark and depressing, have more light than this. But even for Umineko this is just hard to take.

Thankfully Battler finally comes to the rescue, a bit too late for Beatrice, but at least he gets another chance to try again. He has finally realized what Beatrice was trying to tell him, though naturally he doesn’t tell the reader that, in case there are folks who still haven’t guessed. I felt his last battle against Dlanor was a bit rushed, to be honest – it felt like they underestimated the pages needed. (This likely led to the last two arcs having EVEN MORE volumes to play around in.) And now Battler is in charge of the game board, and the next arc – Dawn of the Golden Witch – will show us how he plans to honor Beatrice’s memory.

This is a great series to read intellectually, and if you like horror and Higurashi faces (TM) it’s also excellent, but I don’t think I’ve seen a series as emotionally exhausting as Umineko in quite some time. The break between volumes is welcome.