The heroes undertake their separate journeys!
Creative Staff
Story: Reki Kawahara
Art: abec
Translation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
After Kirito and Eugeo are separated in the Central Cathedral, Eugeo continues his quest alone-until he encounters a legendary hero he’s admired since childhood. Can Eugeo defeat him alone…?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Thanks to the splitting up of the protagonists, this volume is actually cleaved pretty smoothly into two parts that it alternates between. So first up, I’ll tackle the matter of Kirito and Alice. After being literally blown out of the tower, they end up just barely holding on thanks to Kirito thinking quickly and jamming his sword into a gap in the wall. Though it’s still quite a predicament, this gives them a bit of time to think, and our hero eventually hits on his real-world knowledge to come up with a mountain-climbing style solution to the problem. I actually like this whole sequence as it makes for a bit of a different sort of predicament for the characters to face, and provides a good change of pace. Naturally, though, eventually they get a break and Kirito and Alice naturally end up talking. I won’t spoil the specifics, but I have to say, what Alice goes through in this book and how she reacts is really, really nice. It’s easily the best scene this long arc has had so far, and also one of the best in the series as a whole.
On the other hand, Eugeo has been left behind in the tower, and he ends up deciding to keep moving onwards. It’s actually kind of funny in that he believes firmly that Kirito will manage, but still feels the need to keep pushing onwards rather than waiting for his friend. It’s the kind of decision that he’s making for the sake of the plot rather than something logical, but whatever. Anyway, as he progresses forward he naturally runs into an enemy, and it’s a big one: Bercouli Synthesis One. And this is another element that I was pleasantly surprised with. Because I mean, Eugeo’s solo venture is clearly doomed to fail, and this seemed the perfect spot for him to get absolutely trashed. But he instead puts up a fight, and it’s seriously impressive just how far he goes. It really is impressive, and I love the way that it all plays out.
Now, after most of the book goes real smoothly, though, I do take some issue with the way things end. Namely, Eugeo ends up getting brainwashed, and it’s not only really obvious through the heavy, HEAVY foreshadowing, but they also come outright and put it in one of the damn color pages at the start despite being a “big reveal” from the last few pages! I think this is the most I’ve ever seen a light novel just seriously spoil itself right at the start. More than that, though… I’m just not sure how to feel about the scene where the brainwashing actually happens. Like, first off, it kind of undercuts how Eugeo just got hyped up as a cool, determined guy pushing past his limits, especially since in this same book we’re explicitly told how much better Alice was able to resist. Above all else though, it just feels like the character is getting mentally violated, which is just a real icky feeling. That’s certainly the idea, so it’s the book fulfilling its purpose, but it’s still real uncomfortable to read regardless. So depending on how you feel about such things, it could be either seen as a positive or a negative. But regardless, I do kind of wish we could have avoided this cliché and super obvious turn of events…
In Summary
For the most part, this volume really does feel like a highlight of the arc so far, and is also easily one of the better entries in the series as a whole. Both Alice and Eugeo get some great, fantastic moments, both in terms of action and character development. And heck, we even get a real nice change of pace earlier on, throwing Kirito up against a predicament that feels fresh and new. That said, in contrast the big “twist” at the end is so cliché and obvious that it’s kind of frustrating, and I really just kind of wish we didn’t have to bother with this part of the plot. Furthermore, the mechanics of how we get there are really uncomfortable to read, though that’s the intention, so it could be seen as either good or bad depending on your feelings on such matters. Still, that bit of awkwardness is only at the tail end of the book, with the vast majority of the text really nailing it all around. Just be forewarned that this volume may not exactly stick the landing.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: N/A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 14+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 24th, 2018
MSRP: $14.00
