Exploding onto the scene of the second Squad Jam!
Creative Staff
Story: Keiichi Sigsawa
Illustration: Kouhaku Kuroboshi
Translation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
Though the official announcement of the second Squad Jam has come out, Karen Kohiruimaki barely shows any interest at all, despite being the champion of the first ferocious battle royale. Or at least, that was true right up to the moment she receives a cryptic message from a creepy stalker who informs her that on the night of the next Squad Jam, someone will die.
Now, LLENN needs to take up arms and cut through her inexplicable anguish to prevent her worst fears from coming true!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
So, with our heroine having already won the first Squad Jam, the question you may be having is just what’s left for her to accomplish. And she certainly seems to agree, as even when the second Squad Jam is announced, Karen doesn’t show any real interest in trying to participate. Naturally, though, we wouldn’t have much of a book that way, so she soon finds herself being targeted by a creepy stalker… who turns out to be M’s player! Unsurprisingly, it turns out that his goal is to have Llenn participate in the second Squad Jam… but it’s actually for the purpose of having her take down the team containing him and Pitohui, as apparently Pito will demand they commit suicide if they’re defeated in any other way. Now, I actually like Pitohui’s background given here, as it seems fitting to her character and I can certainly see someone being twisted in that particularly messed up manner. But on the other hand, this scene bugs me because M is apparently messed up enough to go along with it despite wanting to prevent things from ending in disaster… and because there’s no explanation as for why Karen’s reaction isn’t “Good lord, these people are prepared to kill themselves, I should seriously alert someone about this.” Like, I get that we wouldn’t have a plot without her going along with things, and you can kind of sort of roll with it, but it’s the sort of thing that just feels especially awkward with it being ignored. Still, it’s just a small quibble that personally happened to irk me a bit, but hardly a crushing flaw in the book.
Anyway, the book then moves into preparing for the competition, and naturally the big issue is who exactly Llenn is going to team with. And the solution, as it turns out, is to bring in her friend Miyu, player name Fukaziroh, upgrading her from a bit player in the first volume to part of the main cast this time around. And fortunately, I’d say she’s a great addition, with her chipper attitude, overwhelming stats, and especially the grenade launchers she chooses as her weapons. She’s just a lot of fun in general and plays great off of our heroine, both in terms of personality and play style.
Anyway, will our pair of two manage to accomplish their goal for this tournament? Or will the odds be too overwhelming for the small team this time around? Plus, just how will they fair in the battle royale as a whole? Well, we may not get the answers to all those questions this time around, but what we do get certainly has me looking forward to the next volume!
In Summary
The amazing first volume certainly is a hard act to follow, but fortunately, this second entry in the subseries puts up a valiant effort not to fall too far behind. The biggest issue is frankly just that this second arc is getting split up into more than one volume (as shown by the “start” in this entry’s subtitle), so this time around we get a bit much of setup and a lack of a real climax to the action. That said, what we get is far from bad, and contains a great new character, some interesting backstory, and a solid amount of great combat before it’s all said and done. There is also one minor quibble in the setup that kind of bugs me, but even with all that, this is still a top-notch book that’s easy to recommend, and definitely one that has me looking forward to what comes next!
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: N/A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: June 26th, 2018
MSRP: $14.00
