10/17/2014 - 7:33 PM - GMT +8
By: Seth Legaspi
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| Front Cover |
So on to the review, or my personal opinions on this (English Localized) volume.
To begin with, I'm willing to be that you my reader are quite familiar with the anime adaptation of this light novel series that is of the same name, if not, then I recommend that you look into it, it's really faithful to the novels themselves, with discrepancies that won't be too critical to the story's full experience.
Now for the specifics; there are 6 full-color pages, and around 240 pages in total. Unfortunately, unlike volumes 3-5, which I was able to get with this cool book jacket, the volumes that I'm able to buy today in bookstores and online stores don't come with that special jacket anymore... (I'll post the pics when I get to making an article about those books. If any of you know where I can get those with the special book jackets, feel free to comment it below or something!).
Written by Isuna Hasekura (You can check his website here or check out a wiki page about him), this volume focuses more on the 'fluff' between Lawrence and Holo.
Yes my friends, their relationship levels up in this book!!! Despite the author stating that he did less Economics-related ideas in this volume, I did not get disappointed or feel anything missing/out of place at all. In fact, the 'think-about it' portion at the end was something that really got me going. The pages alotted the thinking done by Lawrence, and later by both Lawrence and Holo, was actually enough for me, with the development in the two's relationship being a very welcome sight. What I have to comment on though, would be the confusion that's happening between what the pair will do next, unless this of course was intended, because it really placed me in that same confused state as Lawrence... Though he sort of had an idea later on, and I still only had a vague idea of what they were planning to do...
Then there's the sudden 'strength' of the 'Church' in the North, since I remember that it was implied in earlier volumes that they were strongest at the South, but weaker at the North. In fact, I have to simply state that it's quite illogical for the Church to do something drastic at the Northern areas to cement their presence there, since it's kinda obvious that they can prove the same thing that they want in the South area, with that Forest of Wolves and all. This just made it all really weird for me, but since Lawrence and Holo also talked about the possibility of this 'lead' being a fake, I guess I'll just go on to the next volume before I comment on it any further... So yeah.
Moving on, the illustrations were done by Jyuu Ayakura (You can check his website here or check out a wiki page about him), and his art really captures Holo perfectly. My only comment here would be that the angled perspectives seemed a bit too 'round' for me at some points. I guess it could just be the shading, if it was colored it could have worked out I guess. But other than that, he really illustrated the characters pretty well, especially her goddess, the Wise Wolf Holo.
Translation was done by the renowned veteran translator, Paul Starr. I simply have to applaud the translator, since I believe that he was able to transmit the message of the author brilliantly in the English language. There were no awkward sudden point of view changes, and the selection of words was really great, heck, the setting would sound weird if they were suddenly using words like 'conned' instead of 'swindled' for example.
If I were to find a comparison for this Volume, or something, I'll have to state: (An international business news report(complete with some professional's thoughts and all) + Some mythic story/legend + Clannad(yes Clannad[not the 'sad' parts mind you) ). It might seem a lot, but I have to state that this volume only contains some elements of the things that I stated, but not all. In fact, I could say a lot more things, and I will still say the same thing about them.
As of the moment of this article's posting, Yen Press has published and English localized 12 volumes of the Light Novel. I highly recommend this for those who like, or feel something similar, about its anime adaptation, as well as for those who have a thing for Economics, or for those 'twist-filled/action-filled' romantic adventures, it will be a truly rewarding read. It simply mixes its elements in a way that it isn't too much of one thing for me.
"Nay, my body is quite light. Something else must be weighing upon you."
-Holo the Wise Wolf
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