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Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Vol. 1

February 1, 2024February 1, 2024 fantasticfictionsblog

Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Vol. 1 by Hiromu Arakawa
Series Name: Daemons of the Shadow Realm
Genres: Action, Adventure, Supernatural
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Square Enix
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-64609-186-7
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Ancient Daemons awaken to fight a new battle in an age-old war!!

In a remote mountain village under the watchful eyes of two stone guardians, the young Yuru contentedly lives off the land while staying close to the only family he has left – Asa, his precious twin sister. Asa, meanwhile, carries out a mysterious “duty” on behalf of the village while locked in a cage. Why is Asa a prisoner? And what other secrets does Yuru’s otherwise idyllic home hide?

Personal & Info

I don’t have reviews of it on here, yet, but Fullmetal Alchemist is one of my all time favorite anime and manga. This series is fairly new by the same creator. That’s all I need to be willing to try it. I’m going into this with only the information from the back of volume one.

Characters

Yuru is the older male twin of the two main characters. He has great hunting skills, and helpful nature.

Asa is the younger female twin of the two main characters. She’s Yuru’s younger sister, and little is known about her from this volume alone. All we really know is that she is powerful and she might be on the wrong side of a conflict.

Ryuu Tadera, who goes by Dera, is a seer. This means he can see Daemons. He is half of the Higashi Village retainer pair, and he acts as supply runner and liaison. He often brings medicine and other helpful things to the isolated mountain village.

Hana Danno is Dera’s partner, the other half of the Higashi Village retainer pair. She’s also a seer, but she’s never been to the village. When Dera goes up to the village, she usually waits somewhere outside as his transportation.

Gabby appears to be a good friend of Asa’s. She apparently doesn’t mind pain, and her Daemons are a set of teeth.

Jin Kagemori appears to be a higher rank up in some kind of organization. His Daemons appear to be themed around angler fish.

Various Daemons are also characters. I don’t know which ones are important enough to list, nor do I want to spoil too much by describing them in any further detail. The most important are probably Left and Right. You’ll understand that more if you read the book.

Story & Thoughts

Going into this, I had no idea what to expect. The description is vague and even potentially sounds dull. I put my trust in Hiromu Arakawa in hopes it would be worth reading, and she did not let me down. The description only really covers the introduction portion of the book. Things quickly escalate and change from there. One second it’s a peaceful isolated village expressing to the reader how they struggle for resources and to find work, and the next, people are getting their throats slit or just entirely sliced in half.

The village is quickly left behind as Yuru is forced into the modern world. The story is serious, but makes time for funny moments. Yuru knows nothing of the world outside the village, so there are amusing interactions as he adjusts to culture shock. Everything he sees awes and amazes him. I wasn’t expecting the story to go into the modern world, but so far I don’t mind.

I love the concept of the Daemons and their bonds with people. It’s cool they come in pairs. No two sets are the same. And speaking of Gabby’s teeth, I never would have thought a disembodied set of teeth could be cute.

The series has a similar vibe to Fullmetal Alchemist in all the right ways. There’s action, supernatural aspects, adventure, bloody violent ruthlessness, and comic relief. I devoured this volume and loved every minute of it. It has a bit of a tense cliffhanger at the end, so I’m glad I already have volume two. This book is a nice strong start to a new series, and I really hope it stays good.

Rosario+Vampre: Season II, Vol. 14

June 7, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 14 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7967-2
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

As with many previous volumes, is book advertises a free mini-poster inside. It’s one of the two sided types that does not fold out. One side is a cute group image of most of the important characters. The back side is the same picture of Moka as the back cover of the volume. Not as single “mini-poster” in the entire series is perforated, so I have no idea why they are even advertised as posters. None of them are worth tearing out if you don’t want to damage the book. I can’t imagine any of them would come out with a clean tear.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

San is a siren graduate from Yokai Academy who’s been living in the human world ever since she left school.

Tohofuhai is one of the Three Dark Lords. He looks like an old man most of the time, and his specialties are seals and magic.

Tenmei Mikogami is one of the Three Dark Lords. I had to laugh at the translation choice for his title. Instead of referring to him as a strategist or some other word you would expect, they chose, “maneuverer.”

Story & Thoughts

This is the final volume for the series, and it wastes no time getting started. Fairy Tale headquarters crashes into the town. Obviously the gang survives the crash, because they’re the main characters. Alucard is awake and it’s time to take him down for good. No idea why they thought human weaponry would be a good idea. Monsters generally defy logic, so that tactic seems like a waste of lives.

Despite the length, there are only two chapters in this book. The first one, containing the final battle takes up most of it. It’s an epic showdown, and everyone gets to participate. We even get to see some characters from the school and people met earlier in the series, like San.

There are some pretty awesome tropes, like two old guys getting epic for a final showdown. Tsukune and Moka get featured, too, this time with a new look for the final battle.

The second chapter is the epilogue. The gang goes back to school, and it’s ten months after the events of the battle. The silliness returns in this chapter as everyone is transitioning back to normal life. Tsukune and Moka are experiencing some changes, and everyone is fighting over Tsukune again. Life is good, but doom lurks in the future.

It’s a satisfying end, but I’d definitely like to see how the relationships play out. Does Tsukune keep his harem and have babies with everybody (because it’s pretty clear most, if not all of them want kids), or does he make Moka his one and only? They’re too young to make a final decision, but a couple possible solutions are mentioned.

I’ve come around on liking Aqua after seeing how much she genuinely cares for Moka. She’s a little psycho, but she’s not all bad. Her backstory is unfortunate, though.

The bonus comics are an extension of the epilogue, and tell what happens with some of the characters.

Tesla Note, Vol. 1

May 31, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Tesla Note, Vol. 1 by Masafumi Nishida, Tadayoshi Kubo, Kota Sannomiya
Series Name: Tesla Note
Genres: Action, Adventure, Espionage, Sci-Fi
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook
ISBN: 9781636994512
Rating: 2/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble BookWalker

Description

Botan Negoro is the seventeen year old heir to the Negoro ninja clan. She’s been trained to be the ultimate intelligence agent, and it’s time for her to help save the world with her assigned partner, Kuruma. It’s up to the two of them to retrieve the Tesla Fragments before they can be used for evil.

Personal & Info

This is another ebook I got for free from a BookWalker sale. At the time I’m typing this, the book appears to be available as digital only.

Characters

Botan Negoro is the leading lady. She’s seventeen, and has gone her entire life without standing out or making any friends due to her ninja training. She seems to like to talk a lot, and is enthusiastic about her job, as well as trying new foods.

Jingo Negoro, Botan’s grandfather, is the thirty-second head of the Negoro ninja clan. He trained her to be the best intelligence officer possible. He also appears to be the honorary president of the spy agency.

Kyohei’s position is not directly stated, but I think he is the team’s handler.

Kuruma is Botan’s assigned partner. He is proud of having an exceptional amount of muscle for his physique, even if he doesn’t look outwardly muscular. His personality is self-confident and rude, specifically to Botan.

Ryunosuke’s position is not directly stated, but I get the impression he is the information guy, or the man in the chair, as some might call it. He sits in front of a bank of computers and gives the team the information they need to do their job.

Director Toriumi seems to run the spy agency, but Botan’s grandfather has final say over him.

Story & Thoughts

The publisher description doesn’t really grab me, but the way it’s explained in the manga is more interesting. It seems like the official description doesn’t want to explain much or risk being too wordy. I like the concept more after reading the book.

Basically, Nikola Tesla, the scientist, invented many things that were too advanced for his era, so he decided to hide them away in crystals. In one hundred years time, the crystals would unlock, and hopefully the world would be ready for them. As an extra safeguard, the crystals were scattered, so no one could gather them easily. Ownership of all the crystals could give one person enough power to potentially take over the world. It is these crystals Botan and Kuruma must gather to prevent disaster. The crystal for this volume is a machine that can teleport things.

After getting a good grasp of the concept and seeing the characters explain it, I like it. It’s a cool idea. However, I don’t think the execution is as good as it could be. The story comes off as a bit dull to me. I can tell it tries to put in some action and thrilling elements, but it just doesn’t grab me. I feel no inclination to want to read more volumes. It’s likely fine and might get better, but I just don’t have the interest to find out.

The characters are great, though. Botan and Kuruma are full of energy and personality. They do well to pull you in. The rest need more volumes to get some depth. I can see the series possibly digging into Kyohei and Ryunosuke later. It looks like they try to a little bit toward the end when everyone moves into their base house.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 13

May 31, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 13 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4215-6949-9
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises a free mini-poster. As with volume twelve, and several others, this one is a fold out. It features a colored sketch style picture of Inner Moka and Aqua.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Kahlua is Moka’s older sister, and Gyokuro’s eldest daughter.

Gyokuro is the leader of Fairy Tale.

Koko is Moka’s youngest sister, and Gyokuro’s youngest daughter.

Aqua is Moka’s eldest sister. She has an obsession with Moka.

Story & Thoughts

This book picks up where twelve leaves off. Tsukune personally challenges Gyokuro in hopes of beating her before he completely becomes a ghoul. Between Tsukune and Moka fighting her, this battle takes the majority of the volume. However, before it’s entirely over, we learn a little more about the rosario and what Gyokuro’s studies reveal as its true intention.

Koko’s battle with Kahlua also wraps up in this volume. I would have liked to see her do the entire battle by herself, but unfortunately she needs assistance. It makes sense, though, because a huge aspect of the story is constantly team work. I just think Koko deserves a massive self-earned win.

Vampires have strange abilities in this series. Koko and Moka don’t seem to have any odd abilities, but that might just be because they haven’t grown into them yet. Their family members, however, have freakish abilities that I don’t think fits into any vampire lore.

I love that Kurumu and Mizore are team fighters. They’ve had a long journey through the series to become good friends. But, I don’t think their big attack for this volume makes any sense. How do they get holy water, and why does it need to be holy water? I think it was pretty clear regular water would be enough for their needs. Season one made that very clear.

The ending of this volume hits hard. It’s a blatant, “to be continued,” in the middle of trauma, tears, screaming, and impending disaster. You might want to make sure you already have the fourteenth volume at the time you read this.

The bonus comics at the end mostly focus on a few Fairy Tale members with some question and answer silliness.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 12

May 24, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 12 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5702-1
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume has a mini-poster inside, like volumes elven, eight, seven, and five, it’s a fold out. The poster features Kahlua and Koko sweeping up leaves.

I didn’t recognize Kuhlua on the cover right away. She looks obviously tan in the panels of the manga, and she even looks tan on the color fold out mini-poster. I’m not sure why she looks so pale on the cover. It makes her look like a completely different person.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Aqua is Moka’s oldest sister. She is has an obsession with Moka.

Kahlua is one of Moka’s many sisters. She participates in the family profession of assassination.

Koko is Moka’s youngest sister, and Gyokuro’s youngest daughter.

Gin and Haiji tend to be tag team fighters. We finally find out what monster Haiji is.

Gyokuro is Kahlua and Koko’s mother, and the leading member of Fairy Tale.

Story & Thoughts

Things get intense in this volume as everything that can go wrong does. Everybody is fighting somebody. It’s so close to the end of the series now, that everything is combat. Unfortunately, Mizore and Kurumu are benched for the volume. We see them unconscious toward the beginning from the events of volume eleven, but that’s about it. Yukari and Fangfang aren’t in this one much either. They appear for maybe a page and that’s it.

The first fight that takes up a large chunk of the book is the confrontation with Aqua. Tsukune finally gets his chance to use his training against her dimension sword. Moka and Tsukune fight together for this battle. It’s nice to see him be a relatively competent fighter compared to how he originally started off in the series as a whole. He’s had a tremendous amount of growth in such a short time.

Koko, whom we haven’t seen much of in a while, finally gets a chance to shine. She gets to show her improvement in skill and confidence with a battle of her own. I get that she’s been spending a lot of time training and everything, but I think it would have been nice to have her in the story more with the main group. She’s one of my favorite characters.

The bonus comics feature Kahlua. She is given a mission by her mother that requires seduction, which apparently is one of the few skills she did not learn in her assassin training.

I think there was a typo on one page when Gyokuro says, “the tide of battle is already turning against us.” I’m pretty sure she means, “against you,” because the following panels show supporting evidence of the typo.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 11

May 17, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 11 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5240-8
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises a free mini-poster inside. Like volumes eight, seven and five, it’s a fold out. This one features Mizore and Kurumu in a sort of spy pose theme. They are wearing nice clothes and posing with guns.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Story & Thoughts

This volume picks up with Fangfang’s fight scene. The first two chapters finish that off. All in all, it’s not a long battle compared to others. I’m glad Fangfang gets to shine at least a little bit. It seems like his main problem in life is he doesn’t know what he is good at. However, it must be devastating to find out Yukari can essentially master anything he can’t do within the timespan of only a month. Geniuses can really make a person feel inferior without intending to.

We see a few returning villainous faces from season one. Some we already know about, and some are a surprise. This leads to Tsukune getting a fight scene that spans about three chapters, with many cut-aways to keep up with what others are doing. There’s some recap here as well in case the reader doesn’t remember who he is fighting and what their previous interaction was.

Kurumu and Mizore get to fight, too. I think it’s cool and interesting that Mizore and Kurumu have become a team duo for combat. That has been slowly building up over time, because they seem to train specifically with each other quite a lot.

Basically, this is another high combat content volume. We’re at the tail end of the series, so it’s not that surprising. I’m fully expecting even more combat encounters in the three volumes after this. We are far away from the light hearted romantic comedy the series started out as, but the characters are showing their depth and skills, proving how hard they have trained, and how strong their friendships have become.

The bonus comics are a little random. They feature Ludie of all people, and her crush on Xilong.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 10

May 10, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 10 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4879-1
Rating: 3.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises two free mini-posters. These ones are no different than standard color images at the beginning of any manga. Like volumes nine and six, the posters are front and back, so you can only actually display one of them if you choose to tear them out and hang them anywhere. The first one is Tsukune with some kind of circuit board pattern on his arm, and the second one is a pretty picture of Ruby with a magic circle on her abdomen.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Many members of Moka’s family make appearances.

Story & Thoughts

This volume is combat heavy, so don’t expect a lot of humor and fan service. Most of the book is a single fight scene, and the start of another. The good thing about this, though, is we get to see Ruby shine. She doesn’t usually get to do much, but she’s the star of the volume. I find it surprising she’s not the one on the cover.

The gang has spent a whole month training, and it’s finally time to go save Moka. We don’t get to see what everyone has learned, but we do get to see some of Tsukune’s new abilities, and a substantial amount of Ruby’s. I don’t think I ever thought about what kind of spell caster Ruby is before. Apparently she’s a conjurer, and that’s pretty cool.

I do think this volume is a bit stereotypical. It follows the final dungeon trope of everyone taking turns fighting the strongest foes while crunched for time. I like the trope because it gives the characters a chance to show off their skills, but at the same time, it’s a cliché.

There are only three bonus comics at the end of the book, because there weren’t enough pages. They are mostly about Moka’s time in captivity.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 9

May 3, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 9 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4209-6
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises two free mini-posters. These ones are no different than standard color images at the beginning of any manga. As with volume six, the posters are front and back, so you can only actually display one of them if you choose to tear them out and hang them anywhere. One is Mizore and Kurumu is their swimsuits, and the other is Moka and Tsukune standing back to back.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Lingling Huang is Fangfang’s big sister.

Tohofuhai is one of the Three Dark Lords. He looks like an old man most of the time, and his specialties are seals and magic.

Aqua is Moka’s eldest sister. She works for a branch of Fairy Tale and absolutely adores Moka.

Ginei Morioka, also known as Gin, is the Newspaper Club’s president. Normally we hardly ever see him.

Story & Thoughts

This volume has more chapters than usual. There are six. The first third finishes the events of combat with Aqua. There are some epic and dramatic moments there.

I think the most important section is the last half of the book. It focuses heavily on Kurumu. She shines here, but at the same time it’s so emotionally tragic it almost made me cry. Kurumu does not give herself enough credit. She doesn’t get many chances to shine, so I love that for her in this one, even if it’s in an unpleasant situation.

Gin arrives at some point with Ruby and a few others when the story switches focus to training. I don’t usually pay attention to how people talk, but Gin’s speech drove me up the wall in this book. I had to read it without the…What would it be? An accent, maybe? Gin speaks in an annoying way in this volume, and I just can’t help wondering if I just didn’t notice before, or if it was a new translation choice. He says things like, “yer” instead of your and, “purty,” instead of pretty. It makes him sound really annoying, and I hate it. I swear he did not speak like that before.

Overall, this volume is another serious one. There is very little comedy, if any, but it covers a significant amount of content. As a whole, I think it might be one of the best volumes, but that’s just my personal opinion. Everything in it is important.

Dick Fight Island

May 3, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Dick Fight Island by Reibun Ike
Genres: Action, BL, Comedy, Erotica, Romance
Intended Age Group: Mature
Publisher: SuBlime/Libre
Volumes: 2
Series Rating: 5/5
See my individual reviews here:
Volume 1 – Volume 2
Get your own copies here:
1 – Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks
2 – Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description

The archipelago islands of Pulau Yang Indah are hosting their quadrennial tournament to choose the king for the next political term. But, this isn’t just any normal tournament. The archipelago’s traditions are strange and different. The competition consists of one on one matches of man against man, with the first to ejaculate being the loser.

Harto, of the jewel clan, returns from abroad to participate as his clan’s chosen warrior. He’s brought a new technique from the mainland, taught by his college roommate, Matthew. Will this new skill be enough to win him the tournament? And what about after, would Harto even want to be king?

Find out what heartwarming and erotic love stories result from this unique island tradition.

About

As far as I know, this series is only two volumes long. There appears to be some short story publication as well, but it’s a Japanese release only.

This is very much an erotic series. There are dicks and butts all over the place in both volumes. It is censored, but minorly. The books use a gray/black bar method. The bar is small, and doesn’t obscure much of anything. It’s not even used consistently. Some pictures don’t have it at all. I think it depends how detailed the image is and possibly what angle.

The consent of the tournament is a little sketchy. By entering the tournament as warriors, they’re basically consenting to the possibility of things happening, but the goal is to avoid it. Use your own discretion to decide if you’re okay with that.

Personal

I’ve been a fan of BL stories for a long time, but I haven’t been able to start a collection until recently. After hearing all the positive feedback about this one, I decided to get it and try it for myself. I’m glad I did. It’s short, sweet, and hilariously silly.

Characters

Harto is the main character. He’s from the jewel clan, and he attends college abroad. Matthew is his roommate.

Matthew Manami is Harto’s roommate from college abroad.

Pisau is from the sun clan. He trains for the tournament with Yudha.

Roro is chief of the earth clan. He has emotional history regarding Rej.

Yudha is from the warrior clan. Yudha has a crush on Pisau.

Taring is the son of the leader of the matrilineal fang clan. He is the youngest in the competition because his clan doesn’t produce many men.

Naga is from the dragon clan. He has history with Vampir regarding his eye.

Vampir is from the healer clan. He has shaman powers, and he tends to get a little intense.

Bulan is from the moon clan. The moon clan is in the northernmost island, and the members tend to be known for their beauty. Bulan has a thing for chief Roro.

Safir is the chief of the jewel clan. He currently rules as co-king with Rej.

Rej is the chief of the healer clan and rules as co-king with Safir.

Story & Thoughts

Volume one focuses on the events of the tournament. Eight warriors from the eight different islands of the archipelago come together to battle it out in the erotic competition to determine their king. Of course, romances are going on in the background. The most obvious one being Matthew following Harto all the way to his home country.

Volume two focuses on Harto and Matthew’s backstory, followed by jumping ahead to check on how everyone is doing after the tournament. Everyone has essentially paired up, whether for romance or training. This one seems to have much more “action” in it than the first one.

Negatives

Honestly, there are few negatives. I guess if you don’t like dubious consent, that’s likely the big one. Aside from that, all I can think of is probably the weirdness of Taring dating his uncle. That only gets a page or two of attention, though. It’s gross, but it’s extremely minor, so it’s easy to overlook.

I don’t consider this a negative, but apparently other people do, so I’m going to list it here and address it. The people of the archipelago do not seem to know what a prostate or anal sex are. It sounds ridiculous, but that’s the point. It’s part of the humor, and not everyone is ignorant about it. There are characters who do know about it. It’s just the ones who are inexperienced or never thought of trying something like that who don’t know about it. Just roll with it, it’s not meant to be taken seriously.

Positives

The biggest positive, in my opinion, is basically everyone gets a happy ending. Everyone is paired with somebody, and each individual relationship gets attention. The story leaves nobody out.

There are lots of dicks and butts, that’s important for this kind of story.

It’s hilarious. The story is serious without taking itself seriously. The determination of the characters during the tournament is part of why it’s so funny.

The story is so heartwarming. Characters overcome cultural differences and hidden feelings to be with people they might not have thought possible in wholesome ways. A few of the relationships might seem a little strange or possibly toxic, but that’s mostly because the characters are so quirky. It’s like a few of them don’t know how to act around the people they like. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It just means they still need to grow a little as people.

There’s also way more detail than you would expect. Not only does each character have a backstory and romance of their own, but each island has some lore.

Dick Fight Island, Vol. 1

April 26, 2023September 30, 2023 fantasticfictionsblog

Dick Fight Island, Vol. 1 by Reibun Ike
Series Name: Dick Fight Island
Genres: Action, BL, Comedy, Erotica, Romance
Intended Age Group: Mature
Publisher: SuBLime/Libre
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1720-0
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

The tournament to choose the next king of the islands is about to begin. The rules are simple – whoever comes first loses!
Participating warriors protect their mighty swords with armor that grows larger and more elaborate with each tournament. But one warrior has returned from studying abroad with a technique certain to force a pleasurable eruption! Is there a competitor alive able to withstand it? Or is this deft warrior destined to become king?!

Personal & Info

I see adds for this everywhere, so I had to order it and see what the fuss is all about. Apparently it’s highly recommended by Barnes and Noble employees as well as people across the internet.

There’s a color image of all the contestants in the front. There’s also a page introducing them all by name that tells you which island they are from, with one or two extra details. The pictures on the character page are all close ups of the penis armor they each wear. It’s silly to see, but I’m glad it’s there.

Characters

Harto is the main character. He’s from the jewel clan, and he attends college abroad. Matthew is his roommate.

Pisau is from the sun clan, which specializes in fishing. He trains for the tournament with Yudha.

Roro is chief of the earth clan. He has emotional history regarding Rej.

Yudha is from the warrior clan. Yudha has a crush on Pisau.

Taring is the son of the leader of the matrilineal fang clan. He is the youngest in the competition because his clan doesn’t produce many men.

Naga is from the dragon clan. He has history with Vampir regarding his eye.

Vampir is from the healer clan. He has shaman powers.

Bulan is from the moon clan. The moon clan is in the northernmost island, and the members tend to be known for their beauty. Bulan has a thing for chief Roro.

Safir is the chief of the jewel clan. He currently rules as co-king with Rej.

Rej is the chief of the healer clan and rules as co-king with Safir.

Matthew Manami is Harto’s roommate from college abroad.

Story & Thoughts

The story is simple and erotic, but also sweet, and overall silly. The Pulau Yang Indah archipelago islands host a rather unusual tournament every four years to determine their king. There are eight islands, and each nominates a warrior to represent them. The goal is to make your opponent ejaculate first. Because of this odd tradition, the contestants wear revealing, but elaborate, armor to protect their genitals.

Despite the unique and erotic premise, the book is actually captivating and romantic, if you don’t mind dubious consent. There are descriptions and details about each of the islands and their individual cultures, as well as the characters themselves. Each character has their own backstory and their own romance. I think the quote from Reibun Ike at the end of the book describes it best: “This is a battle manga, but also a heartwarming story.”

There is censorship, but it doesn’t cover much. It’s the black bar kind, but they’re more like solid gray bars. Usually they just cut the dick in half as if they aren’t allowed to show the full shaft, but sometimes they don’t use it at all. I think it depends how much detail is in the picture.

The biggest complaint I see going around about the book is that the citizens of the archipelago apparently don’t know what a prostate or anal sex is. It sounds ridiculous, but that’s the point. It’s part of the humor, and not everyone is ignorant about it. There are characters who do know about it. It’s just the ones who are inexperienced or never thought of trying something like that who don’t know about it. Just roll with it, it’s not meant to be taken seriously.

I absolutely love this book. It’s hilarious and sexy. Few books make me laugh as much as this one does.