@lucaslp5 said in Grieving Soul Vol. 2 Discussion!:

@anony-mouse99 I was going to say "at least she only does that to bad people, but early in the volume we hear that children go missing in the area close to the ice cream lab/hideout and on this part we see Sitri talking about "weak materials that don't work well for her research", so... I'll just hope she isn't THAT unhinged.

The way I see it, even if she personally didn't kill the kids, she enthusiastically cooperated with whoever did it, participated in the experiments, and most likely used the "parts" left behind for her own research too. So yes, THAT unhinged.

Volume 13 (Premium Edition): 3 Bonus Short Stories Sylvia's Wrath Ema's Heart-Pounding Cooking Serge's Touchy-Feely Swordsmanship Lessons

I had gotten behind so I just finished reading this volume. One thing that blows my mind that I never saw anyone discuss in this thread was Akatsuki carrying an unconscious Kawanami around school ... and nobody questioning it. a) what the hell did she do to him (we never got an answer) and b) why did nobody care? And c) he's been described as a decent-sized guy, so we're getting more hints dropped that she's really strong, which they keep doing every so often.

In any case, she's annoying as hell, so it was actually nice to see less of her than usual in this volume.

EDIT TO ADD: I just saw the cover of Volume 8, and Kawanami and Akatsuki are on the cover, and he, indeed, is huge compared to her. That must have been quite the sight seeing her hauling him around like that.

Volume 16 (Premium Edition): 3 Bonus Short Stories Together So Long They Don't Worry About Being Seen Colleagues Are Not Necessarily Friends Misunderstanding the Black Cat and a Headache

The first color insert in this volume broke me in every conceivable way.

@Zeteni A small point, but I don't think he's actually older than them. He'd thought he was back when he thought Rook was in his 20s. He only later found out that Rook was 38 (I think when he was 7 or 8?), so if previous Yuri died before the age of 31, he'd technically still be younger than them.

You know, as annoying as extended relationship teases are in this kind of story, at least it makes sense here. The 5 party members are pretty much stuck with each other for the foreseeable future, and currently have a very stable relationship similar to a family. Light flirting is one thing, but if any two of them actually start dating for real, it could throw a wrench in the party's relationships. Not to mention how catastrophic a breakup would be in their situation. Taking that step would be terrifying; going on lengthy camping trips for adventuring work is only feasible because none of them have problems with sleeping next to each other.

Volume 10 (Premium Edition): 3 Bonus Short Stories Garyl's Date Plan Hot Springs with the Maiden Queen The General Assembly

Volume 13 (Premium Edition): 5 Bonus Short Stories Otherworldly Lotus Root Cuteness Makes the World Go Round Mukohda's Cooking Class: Eggs for Days Cooking from the Back of the Box: Soft and Succulent Honey Castella Cake Leaves and All

@afdsfafa I mean the reason for Ceres's power is the god so you can't really call a god nonsense also from what we're told she just picks things up abnormally fast if she were somehow OP she wouldn't have bothered with brainwashing or getting the prince on her said

oh and I bet the god is also somehow in a Jewel, cliché I know but it explains why she's not OP to the point of smiting mortals

as for Novem can you explain a bit? what do you mean by "I can't be with him because of who/what I am" trope

are you trying to say she's some sort of goddess trying to protecting him from the evil god? I can't really rule it out it does explain why her mana is calm compared to humans and why Shanon freaked out on her and also why she's with him but then why not actively tell him to train to face his sister if that's her goal?

but the mana thing can also be explained by the brainwashing since it's about emotions so IDK

also if she's a goddess or some protector thing then why doesn't she know about the Jewel's power? and why did she say I'm sorry? guilt for the secret training? or guilt for the eventual back stab

well I can see it going either way now but personally I thinking back stabbing him is more interesting than Lyle I was protecting you all this time now go kill your sister /save your sister from the evil god

Already from the outset, this was easier to understand than the anime was. The series might be fond of throwing out chuuni bullshit left and right, but it will take time to slow down and explain.

I like how much the books work from the reversal of the usual Golden Age myth - in the past, everybody was much stronger, but it's because the past sucked and you had to be strong to survive, and very few people who actually remember those times want to go back there.

Felt like the book has gotten more serious than the earlier volumes - there was less of the usual silly shenanigans via Anos' parents and the fan union, but also less of Anos being over the top pompous. Not that the books had any less pompousness, since Nosgalia had enough to fill the void, but with villains it just hits differently.

And in the end, it's great that Anos is the demon king of tyranny, but all the way from the first volume, you can tell that what he hates most is tragedies, and he isn't using his powers for himself, but to help others. That makes his overpoweredness a lot more bearable than his power level would suggest.

@Exkalamity Honestly, the biggest giveaway for me is that, in Volume 1, the chapter in which Sue is introduced goes out of its way to remind us that the country in which Arcus lives is a kingdom. Even though the general societal structure and the fact that Arcus lives in a kingdom is already very well-known and clear to us by this point, the author took the time to remind us of it... only for it to have no (obvious) payoff in the context of Arcus's jaunt outside that ultimately led to him meeting Sue (and Cazzy). The rest of the story is well-written enough that it doesn't seem like the author just soapboxing about the world, and it's (IMO) too subtle to be a red herring.

There are other minor things as well, like Sue promising to fix up Arcus's arm as though it's her responsibility to do so (which makes perfect sense when considering that Arcus ruined his arm protecting Ceylan), or the prince and Sue having very similar personalities when it comes to learning about new magics (Sue's reaction to Dwarf Star/Scrapped Arms compared to Ceylan's reaction to Magnetic Butterfly/Volley/Zarach Ohr), or the fact that Ceylan knew about Cazzy's kidnapping background and responded in a flustered way when asked how/why they knew about that.

But ultimately, it's not conclusively proven.

And that's it for volume 3. The extra (short story) chapter at the end of the volume ended up being the longest one. 😅

@saidahgilbert yeah author is certainly taking his time with Katou, we might get only the confession between her and Majima before the series goes into hiatus.

@Alfaerin said in Safe & Sound Vol. 1 Discussion!:

@Pieta Thank you very much for your kind words! It's a really long story (literally), but trauma is one of the main underlying themes. The primary antagonist has a grudge against the protagonists, and is very savvy in the way she acts on it. She's out to inflict as much emotional harm as she can while simultaneously avoiding any action that would result in a direct confrontation or retaliation against her. A large part of the story is exploring how all the characters are affected by traumatic experiences, including most of the antagonists. In the scene where that quote is from, the main character is responding to someone saying "time heals all wounds" by asserting that no, there are some things that time just doesn't fix.

Cool, cool! I love stories that deal with trauma properly, not just make it something you should grit your teeth and power through.

It was a fun first volume, i hope we got more but after reading some of the coments here its seems to not be the case 😢

Based on how it ended, it looks like Kurt (?) is the culprit. 🤔

Another 4 volumes before we catch up to JP.

@Terabyte said in A Royal Rebound Vol. 2 Discussion!:

Leaving aside the glaring issue with Alois's treatment compared to Reese's, we've caught up to JP.

It's time, yet again, to wait for the next volume to come out.

I read the afterward. It looks like this may be the final volume. Unless I misread the afterward.

Believe the japanese curry with apples and honey is Vermont Curry.

@Leon_97

I've read some of the bonus stories. I don't recall major plot points from them, or flashbacks of them later. If they are mentioned it is a sentence or two, like background information that doesn't have a short story. They are more like character moments, a chance to see the characters doing things outside the main plot. Occasionally worldbuilding or magic system details.

I enjoy them. I don't think you miss much plotwise if you skip them. Most of them have a quieter feel to them than the main story.

@jpwong update, I got an email reply; the gender swap was a mistake and will eventually be corrected.
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