New arc, new faces, new places, new problems?
Creative Staff
Story: Tappei Nagatsuki
Illustrations: Shinichirou Otsuka
Translation: ZephyrRz
What They Say
With the Witch Cult and the Archbishop of Sloth defeated, Subaru Natsuki is finally reunited with Emilia. As soon as they reconcile though, the curtain rises on new troubles. Half of the evacuated villagers have yet to return. Hoping to meet up with Roswaal and the missing residents of Earlham, Subaru and the others head toward the Sanctuary. Waiting for Subaru there are the recalcitrant residents and Roswaal, who shows him a suspicious smile. And, residing alone on a grassy field in the dreamscape-a Witch?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the start of a new arc, this volume certainly doesn’t disappoint by introducing all sorts of new elements! And the first of those is a fresh face returning to the manor, a maid by the name of Frederica with a pointy grin not fully fitting to her character. Ultimately, though, her role in this volume is just to help setup the key focus for this volume: a trip to the Sanctuary. Oh, and we also get a bit about the young village girl Petra joining the staff as a maid in training, which also leads to the revelation that she has a crush on Subaru. Ultimately, I’ll just hope the series keeps things classy and keeps that perfectly innocent…
The real meat of the book, though, comes from the Sanctuary itself, and it certainly kicks off hard and fast with Subaru being teleported as they’re on the way there. On top of that, not long after our hero wanders into a strange structure… and once more finds himself in an unexpected situation: having a tea party with a Witch! Fortunately for Subaru though, this isn’t the infamous Witch of Jealousy, but actually the spirit of a deceased one named Echidna, the Witch of Greed. And I’ve got to say, I really enjoy not only the intriguing role she plays but also the amusing way that she plays off of our hero. Anyway, once that’s over with, Subaru reunites with everyone back in reality and is introduced to another new character, Garfiel, who… is honestly largely just sort of there this volume, though I’d imagine he’ll be playing a greater role in the future.
And then finally, we’re given the key conflict of the moment when we learn there’s a barrier around the Sanctuary that prevents people with mixed-blood from leaving. To make matters worse, some of the residents aren’t exactly happy about that, and have decided to hold onto the villagers as hostages to get help clearing the trials needed to bring the barrier down! While Emilia steps up to the challenge, Subaru naturally stumbles into it to… and the first trial turns out to be a journey into the challenger’s past, forcing them to confront it. And I’ve got to say, it’s this bit that really saves the volume from being a solid but unremarkable bundle of setup. There’s just something really nice about having an isekai protagonist forced to actually, y’know, confront his old world and the fact that he won’t be going back there head on, and to meet with his family in the process and really show just what he’s lost.
At any rate, while Subaru clears the challenge, that’s not the end of his troubles. Will he and Emilia be able to clear the various trials and break down the walls of the prison that the Sanctuary has become? And just what exactly awaits our hero back in the manor that he left behind…?
In Summary
For the most part, this volume is largely your standard setup book for a new arc. We get a good variety of new characters and places, as well as establishing the conflict and hinting at some intrigue. And that’s all handled just fine, your standard bit of interesting enough pieces, but no moments that really stand out… Except this time around, there IS a standout, in that we get a clever little dive into Subaru’s past. It’s just a really nice look back on not only the character, but also his old life, and I really appreciate the unique perspective and flavor that it adds. Now let’s just hope the rest of the arc can take this setup and really run with it!
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: N/A
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: June 18th, 2019
MSRP: $14.00
