Saturday, August 31, 2019

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom" volume 1 (read for fun)

This is a series that I discovered on Tvtropes. I find a lot of fun stuff over there. We tropers like documenting things and this one is new (to me at least). I will examine Plot, Character, and Polish before assigning a grade. Also, I should mention that this review is specifically for the manga adaptation of the light novel.

PLOT

While the premise is simple enough, someone from contemporary real-life Japan inhabiting a role in another world, it becomes more complicated. Several twists are quickly introduced. One of these is that our protagonist finds herself in the role of a game's villain, Katarina Claes, and she realizes this seven years before the game's story begins. As a result, she resolves to avoid the "doom" that awaits her (character), and in doing so, she sends the entire game's plot "off the rails" before it even starts.

I like this development. Not only does it have a clear and focused goal for the prime story and its heroine but it quickly moves away from this origin. Katarina is no longer following the game's script so any advantage she has of such knowledge is increasingly moot. It also provides a fitting and reasonable excuse for being Oblivious-To-Love as is common for leading characters in this genre. She truly believes, with sound justification, that no one is going to fall in love with her because she's not the game's heroine but an obstacle for said heroine.

There is no preamble to get this plot going. The manga devotes one page and four panels to Katarina's past life, and only to introduce the founding idea of this past life playing the dating game, Fortune's Lover. Then Katarina quickly realizes how much trouble she could be in and takes appropriate measures. No time is wasted making her appear "ordinary" or "relatable", aside, of course, from her desire to avoid death or exile, which is very relatable.

This volume is structured as encounters with the game's love interests/capture targets and the other two rivals. They may look like loosely connected short stories but they are linked by Katarina's desire to avoid doom. Besides, they take place over years so it doesn't feel rushed or contrived. It's basically slice-of-life otherwise.

This story is a lot of fun. Katarina's doom counter-measures make perfect sense to her and are fully explained to the reader but her family and noble peers are baffled by them. Thus, hilarity ensues when she starts farming as a hobby or throws a toy snake at people. The "Council of Katarinas" is my favorite running gag. Beyond comedy, there are sincerely touching moments such as Katarina's attempts at bonding with her adoptive younger brother, Keith, and finding a romance novel buddy in Sophia.

CHARACTERS

Our heroine and the in-universe game's villain is Katarina Claes. She is a delightful character. The mixing of her memories has made her a friendly and done-to-earth sort of person, considering social debuts to be a hassle and would rather make friends than climb the social ladder.
Her sense of self and identity is interestingly crafted. We don't get any picture or idea of what her past self (henceforth referred as "the monkey girl") is like except from Katarina herself (other than the video game thing, naturally). She thinks of herself as "Katarina Claes" with eight years of memories as such. Her previous memories function like a USB data drive in that they are extra memory but otherwise don't interact with the main computer, so to speak. She doesn't mourn her death or try to return to her life as "monkey girl"; this doesn't even occur to her. Why would it? She is Katarina Claes and that is not her life (anymore).
Another part of her that is fun and interesting is the balance between opposite traits. She is quite the tomboy, enjoying tree-climbing and farming as hobbies, but knows how to act lady-like when necessary, due to her mother's diligence in teaching her decorum. She has rational and pragmatic reasons for the things she does but she also has strange behaviors such as consulting a Council of Katarinas where one of them has a mustache.

 

I could write as much about the other characters but that would take too long. I will select Alan Stuart, the fourth prince of the setting as an example.

He has numerous traits but is not defined by any one of them, thus making him more than a two dimensional character. He suffers from an inferiority complex due to comparisons with his twin brother, Jerod, which makes him weepy when they share a conversation, but is boastful and confident in situations that exclude him. He shows determination in his tree-climbing duels with Katarina but not so much stubbornness that he cannot become her friend in the process. His piano skills are magnificent (even if his brother is better).

POLISH

As this review is for the manga adaptation, I can only speak of the art work in this section. It is cute. It is soft and warm and perfectly suited for the light-hearted comedy of the story. Being as the cast are all nobles, they get some fancy clothes which the artist does a splendid job with as well.

Trickster Eric Novels gives ""My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom" volume 1 an A+


Click here for my next book review: Picture History of the American Civil War

Click here for my previous book review: Mahou Sensei Negima! Omnibus #9


Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

Friday, August 16, 2019

Mahou Sensei Negima! Omnibus #9 (volumes 25-27) Read for Fun

This is an exciting collection. Here we have the first full confrontation between the Negi Party and Fate Party (volume 25) Rakan finally bothering to tell everyone about the great pre-series war (volume 26) and the climax of the tournament arc with an epic volume finale (volume 27).

Pactio artifact vs Pacio Artifact! I must say I enjoyed seeing the Ministra Magi fight each other. It is a different form of combat then the slugfests/wizard duels between Negi and his opponents. Haruna's creation magic (Retreat-kun!) and Nodoka's mind-reading make a potent combination. We also get to see Rakan in action again in a scene that is comedic, silly and outrageous which serves as foreshadowing to how NOT silly Rakan truly is.

The man of a thousand blades comes with a thousand nicknames, among them "living computer virus" and "human nuclear warhead". He looms large here as a fighter, a storyteller and a mentor (and a clown).

The peak into the backstory was fun and interesting. With the war, and the investigation, and Nagi's contrasting personality, it was like a genre shift. Fate didn't like a child back then but age-changing magic is a thing here so it could mean nothing.

The final fight of the Ostia tournament (which, metaphysically, could be the only one given its detail) is incredible. Negi and Kotaro vs Rakan and Kagetaro is a skillful mix of fighting awesome, narrative awesome, pacing awesome, and artistic awesome.

Trickster Eric Novels gives Mahou Sensei Negima! Omnibus #9 an A+

Click here for my next book review: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom" volume 1

Click here for my previous book review: Chuang Tzu

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Chuang Tzu (read for fun)

Chuang Tzu is a book on Taoist philosophy. This particular translation is part of the Basic Writing series from Burton Watson.

The introduction written by him advises the reader against systematic analysis of the work itself because it is a mystic text. It is not to be analyzed and studied but reflected upon and understood. I agree with him.
Looking for meaning in each line, paragraph, page etc.  is bound to be frustrating. I don't see it as written that way. It's more of gestalt sort of thing. You have to read it with an open mind, without preconceptions, to get anything.

For me, personally, it resembles some of the martial art books that I've read. I see themes of the empty mind, value of intuition/muscle memory and the importance of detachment and focus.

It's been kind of hard to write this review because of the nature of the wisdom in this book. It frequently makes light of language itself by calling it "reckless" or otherwise insufficient in explaining The Way. At one point, Chuang Tzu even says that once you understand the meaning of his words you can and should forget the words themselves. So while I wrote this review I felt like I failed to really talk about the book at all. It's more like what I thought about the book which might be completely off-base.

I like this book but for some reason I don't feel like giving it an "A". Perhaps it is because some of the passages feel like nonsense. The introduction mentioned that some of the text was difficult to translate, corrupted, or something like that. It also mentioned how some of the historical text feels like it was written by a different person with less skill but that he tried to remove as much of that as possible. Although this particular copy has scribbled notes from its previous owner which function as a contrasting viewpoint, which is helpful.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Chaung Tzu" a B+

Click here for my next book review: Mahou Sensei Negima! Omnibus #9

Click here for my previous book review: Drinking Cultures

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback

 

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Drinking Cultures (read for fun)

Drinking Cultures is an anthology of anthropology. It is yet another book that I was assigned to read in a college class but did not have time for. Seriously, there is too much reading in a full load even for a nerd like me who loves reading stuff like this. Anyway,  each chapter focuses on a specific drinking culture somewhere in the world,  from Japan to San Francisco to France to Germany to Malta to Hong Kong.

 The idea of "alcohol as community builder" takes on just as many varieties, each influenced by each area's differing attributes. The wine-tasting subculture within France has the characteristics it does because of the long historical connection between "France" and "wine", and even this has its nuances with those critiquing such a view (in discussions of national identity and such).

Most of the anthropologists acquired their information through direct and personal investigation of these drinking cultures. It sounds like going to pubs, fairs, bars, and other places where drinking occurs and then observing the clientele and talking with them. More formal interviews are explicitly used in more de-centralized cases, such as the young gangs in San Francisco with the aid of people who have good relations with them, like social workers.

This is an information dense book. Each article (excluding the notes/references/etc.) is about 15 pages in length and yet it goes deep into its respective drinking. The why, how, where and other angles are covered. It is interesting and engaging reading.

Each chapter stands alone and can be read in about 1.5 hours so in this respect it is a quick read. However, I noticed something of a pattern in the way the chapters are arranged. It is as though consecutive chapters are meant to contrast each other. The first drinking culture, in Japan, has as its theme a drinking party which reinforces social roles and hierarchy and even has rules for behavior when its celebrants are drunk. The second one, in Germany, instead speaks of how the locals use the idealized "Irish Pub" as a means of relaxing from social restraints into a more loose and friendly atmosphere. The third and fourth drinking cultures, in Czechoslovakia and Norway, respectively, contrast the attitudes of public drunkenness. The former, according to this article, drink an awful lot and excuse mistakes due to drunkenness, while the latter drink regularly but in a narrow window and views silly behavior due to intoxication in a similar manner.

I had fun reading this.
 
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Drinking Cultures" an A+
 
 


Click here for my next book review: Chuang Tzu

Click here for my previous book review: Young Miss Holmes Casebook 5-7

 
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback