I didn't know that this needed another volume, but it's not a continuation of the story but basically a volume's worth of side stories and extended epilogues, which is fine. More than fine. It's great!

I, for one, am happy to see the world's best tsundere princess once more; what's not to love about Lieselotte who'd ask others to have tea with her with "I challenge you! If you win, I will invite you for afternoon tea, and if you lose, you will have to have a practical lesson on tea party etiquette with me"? (-:

While it didn't rise to the heights of the previous volumes, several of the moments were genuinely touching, like how when Sieg loses his connection to Kobayashi and Endo, he genuinely misses them as friends who are now gone from his life and might not ever return; or our commentators pointing out that Fabian, despite his bad history and tendency towards mistrust, clearly feels safe with Cecilie and the Riefenstahls, and how all the sisters go and physically block off Baldur from coming closer because Fabian's not good with big men... You just feel the love they all have for each other coming off the pages.

Another good part were the excerpts from Lieselotte's diary, covering the entire time of the original volumes, and how its tone is changing as Kobayashi and Endo's efforts take effect.

I also liked how nobody, including our gods, has any idea what profesor Leon's deal is. The Fae Princess and her protegé are just too secretive to let their secrets show up anywhere, including in the game. (:

I don't comment on pictures much, but the illustration of the Lieselotte and Baldur's (training) duel is just the best. Though the pic accompanying Liese's diary, and how calm and content she looks, is also great.

@Terabyte And given that Sheera's mom is "Tari Ruu" and not "Tari ____ Ruu", she was already part of the Ruu clan, so they seem fine with cousin marriages. Though, I guess with a group of only 500 people, that's kind of inevitable.

@Soopking Unfortunately, the website displays a lot of information using formulas, and since Blade & Bastard doesn't follow our typical "stream, then release, then expire" process, the formula for the expiration doesn't reflect the proper expiration date.

The streaming expiration for Blade & Bastard Vol. 2 will be August 15, 2023.

I know I'm a little late on picking this up... But as a Indie Vtuber myself some of this feels all to true. Especially at the beginning when she's a 'normal' vtuber worrying about numbers and feeling that the world is ending when viewership is down. I'm still in that place as most people don't go viral. Heck as an Indie vtuber someone doing the kinds of streams she does later wouldn't even be unusual.

It does feel a bit strange for a agency vtuber from Japan... Most of them are nearly ruthless about keeping their vtubers seiso idols. xD

@22144418 said in Min-Maxing My TRPG Build Vol. 2 Discussion!:

but surely there is some technical explanation to why I do not enjoy the way this story is progressing that is not simply a contradiction to my personal beliefs.

I don't think it's that strange to be miffed by what's happened. The story looked like it had a trajectory and then she waltzes in and completely derails that. While I enjoy how things happen I wouldn't expect everyone to do so. On the plus side, as Shaun said, this does open some new doors and allows Erich to meet some cast he otherwise could never have plausibly met. IMO volume 2 is the weakest of the series and picks back up once he's in the capital and meets new peers.

@Mark-Logue said in Stuck in a Time Loop Vol. 1 Discussion!:

So the young king has an elder brother (Dier), but he also has an elder sister who functions as his advisor. I have questions:

Did the sister also remember Dier?

Dier only mentions missing his little brother. Was he not close to his sister?

After the dragon battle, the brothers reconnected but what about the sister?

The king remembers dier because of his power (supposedly). But you do raise an interesting question with the sister. Perhaps she is pulling the strings somehow or came into existence because dier was the only one trained in becoming king and the creation of a regent was necessary in order to fully eliminate his percieved existence.

@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.