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krpalmerLosing track for a while of new releases of translated-from-Japanese “light novels” to the point of receiving two volumes of Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki at once produced a few mixed feelings. Discovering the fourth volume in that series had ended on a cliffhanger I wouldn’t have to wait to resolve was a bit of a pick-me-up, though. Even so, instead of continuing straight on I did wind up first plugging through some volumes of other series just to get them out of the way. (I suppose the opening instalment of High School DxD wasn’t quite as heavy going as a few other series I’ve picked up with thoughts of seeing how their stories continue beyond their anime adaptations, but then that story isn’t particularly respectable...) As I returned to the continuing tale of a video gamer trying to improve his interpersonal skills bit by bit, I was conscious while reading its fifth volume that I wasn’t managing to get through it in quite the same solid bursts as with previous books. The story still wasn’t lacking, though, and it wasn’t suffering from the slower pace.
The first volume of the series had featured five high school girls in its colour plates inside the front cover, and now they’ve all received their own volume cover as well. I do feel compelled to believe the series is more subtle than “five romantic interests for every reader to weigh and wait to see if they win the jackpot of the author matching their pick,” but I keep having to admit to that sort of thing not grabbing me the way it does for so many others. I did at least wonder about one “another look taken” moment in this fifth volume. Anyway, approaching it I had wondered about the character Hanabi Natsubayashi (mentioned as “small” on the cast-of-characters page) not catching my attention after her first-volume introduction; towards the end of the fourth volume, though, I’d recognized at last she also went by the nickname “Tama-chan.” That was also when, in standing up to the featured character of the fourth volume being picked on in class, she started being picked on herself, such that the main character Tomozaki winds up trying to help her defuse the situation. His own personal-improvement tutor Aoi Hinami, though, complains that Tama-chan was completely in the right and shouldn’t have to change. The distinction between that and the way she’d started the series was something I pondered just a little without finding a full explanation in the story, but then I also ponder “taking interest in a story where the main character analyses his way through the interactions everyone else seems to handle with practiced instinct” without quite wanting to follow that thought all the way.
Things started off with some reminders of the “simple tricks” the tutelage had begun with in the first volume, but after that there was some development of the secondary male characters that have helped ward off thoughts of “one more ‘one guy, lots of girls’ story.” I’d also formed the impression over the past several volumes things were never quite a matter of the challenge on the back cover being resolved and that’s that; there was some impact to the new development near the conclusion, if also a definite non-cliffhanger ending this time. Yuki Yaku’s author’s afterword managed to compliment the illustrations by Fly without enthusing at length about how attractive the latest female character cover illustration was (Tama-chan isn’t casually seated with her thighs on display), and there was also a bit of bonus content that delved into two characters outside of the latest story and had a surprise of its own partway through.
The first volume of the series had featured five high school girls in its colour plates inside the front cover, and now they’ve all received their own volume cover as well. I do feel compelled to believe the series is more subtle than “five romantic interests for every reader to weigh and wait to see if they win the jackpot of the author matching their pick,” but I keep having to admit to that sort of thing not grabbing me the way it does for so many others. I did at least wonder about one “another look taken” moment in this fifth volume. Anyway, approaching it I had wondered about the character Hanabi Natsubayashi (mentioned as “small” on the cast-of-characters page) not catching my attention after her first-volume introduction; towards the end of the fourth volume, though, I’d recognized at last she also went by the nickname “Tama-chan.” That was also when, in standing up to the featured character of the fourth volume being picked on in class, she started being picked on herself, such that the main character Tomozaki winds up trying to help her defuse the situation. His own personal-improvement tutor Aoi Hinami, though, complains that Tama-chan was completely in the right and shouldn’t have to change. The distinction between that and the way she’d started the series was something I pondered just a little without finding a full explanation in the story, but then I also ponder “taking interest in a story where the main character analyses his way through the interactions everyone else seems to handle with practiced instinct” without quite wanting to follow that thought all the way.
Things started off with some reminders of the “simple tricks” the tutelage had begun with in the first volume, but after that there was some development of the secondary male characters that have helped ward off thoughts of “one more ‘one guy, lots of girls’ story.” I’d also formed the impression over the past several volumes things were never quite a matter of the challenge on the back cover being resolved and that’s that; there was some impact to the new development near the conclusion, if also a definite non-cliffhanger ending this time. Yuki Yaku’s author’s afterword managed to compliment the illustrations by Fly without enthusing at length about how attractive the latest female character cover illustration was (Tama-chan isn’t casually seated with her thighs on display), and there was also a bit of bonus content that delved into two characters outside of the latest story and had a surprise of its own partway through.