<The Twelve Kingdoms> Book 2 - Shadow of the Moon, Shadow of the Sea: Part 2 - the utterly unlikable MC goes through some character development and becomes tolerable in this volume. Seriously, the first volume did the series no good. It would have been a lot better if the first couple of chapters of this volume were in the first volume instead. That way, readers would not be left hanging with such a bad impression of MC. The worldbuilding in this volume is outstanding. Reading it feels like the first time picking up Made in Abyss. Everything is alien, and I’ve got a real sense of adventure. It’s great. MC gains a sidekick NPC that explains everything, and the isekai narrative crutch really shines here. We don’t know shit about the world, and neither does MC, so getting things explained that should be common sense in-universe feels completely natural.
<The Water Magician>: Arc 1 Volume 5 - Oh boy… since I’ve read the last volume, the anime aired, and in it, the banter between MC and sidekicks wasn’t nearly as bad as in the books. I’m pretty sure now that the translation is the problem here, and the anime most likely was translated by someone else. So that’s the first point that annoys me. The second point is the usual goody-two-shoes MC. Explanation will be behind a spoiler tag.
spoiler
So, MC is has a couple of kids that he teaches magic to. War breaks out in the neighbouring country, and the kids get abducted. MC is then told he isn’t allowed to join the war efforts, and he jumps through some hoops to enter the war zone and rescue the kids anyway. When he finally rescues the kids, he learns that they have basically been tortured, and he gets really angry. Understandable. They’re his disciples, and the youngest one is just 10. Sidekicks around him mention how they have never seen him that angry, and that even they get scared. Instead of going home with the now rescued kids, MC joins the war effort in earnest in order to get revenge on the mage who tortured the kids. There is a lot of buildup about how angry he is and what he will do to the guy when he finds him. This brings us to the showdown. He freezes the 1000 soldiers that protect the mage, proceeds to overpower him to the point of mana exhaustion (which comes with a migraine), and then tells him more or less “and that’s how those kids have felt!”. He then leaves with the mage, just having a migraine and the 1000 invading soldiers thawing in a couple of hours (it’s magic, so they will all live, don’t ask me). It’s no secret that I hate milktoast MCs, but if they’re consistent, I can deal with that. But why is there half the volume of buildup about MC acting hyper-focused on revenge when he then just has a friendly sparring match at the end. It’s like the T-1000 just booping John Connor’s nose at the end of Terminator 2 before happily skipping home.
Hello Bookworm! I looked it up, and the Library in Alexandria — which just so happens to be the greatest in all of Yurgenschmidt, nay… even the entire world — has the following entries:
I couldn’t find a series with the name “The Twelve Kingdoms”. Maybe you should write it and send a copy to my library. In fact, I think this is a great idea and you absolutely should do so. Right now. Chop chop.
<The Twelve Kingdoms> Book 2 - Shadow of the Moon, Shadow of the Sea: Part 2 - the utterly unlikable MC goes through some character development and becomes tolerable in this volume. Seriously, the first volume did the series no good. It would have been a lot better if the first couple of chapters of this volume were in the first volume instead. That way, readers would not be left hanging with such a bad impression of MC. The worldbuilding in this volume is outstanding. Reading it feels like the first time picking up Made in Abyss. Everything is alien, and I’ve got a real sense of adventure. It’s great. MC gains a sidekick NPC that explains everything, and the isekai narrative crutch really shines here. We don’t know shit about the world, and neither does MC, so getting things explained that should be common sense in-universe feels completely natural.
<The Water Magician>: Arc 1 Volume 5 - Oh boy… since I’ve read the last volume, the anime aired, and in it, the banter between MC and sidekicks wasn’t nearly as bad as in the books. I’m pretty sure now that the translation is the problem here, and the anime most likely was translated by someone else. So that’s the first point that annoys me. The second point is the usual goody-two-shoes MC. Explanation will be behind a spoiler tag.
spoiler
So, MC is has a couple of kids that he teaches magic to. War breaks out in the neighbouring country, and the kids get abducted. MC is then told he isn’t allowed to join the war efforts, and he jumps through some hoops to enter the war zone and rescue the kids anyway. When he finally rescues the kids, he learns that they have basically been tortured, and he gets really angry. Understandable. They’re his disciples, and the youngest one is just 10. Sidekicks around him mention how they have never seen him that angry, and that even they get scared. Instead of going home with the now rescued kids, MC joins the war effort in earnest in order to get revenge on the mage who tortured the kids. There is a lot of buildup about how angry he is and what he will do to the guy when he finds him. This brings us to the showdown. He freezes the 1000 soldiers that protect the mage, proceeds to overpower him to the point of mana exhaustion (which comes with a migraine), and then tells him more or less “and that’s how those kids have felt!”. He then leaves with the mage, just having a migraine and the 1000 invading soldiers thawing in a couple of hours (it’s magic, so they will all live, don’t ask me). It’s no secret that I hate milktoast MCs, but if they’re consistent, I can deal with that. But why is there half the volume of buildup about MC acting hyper-focused on revenge when he then just has a friendly sparring match at the end. It’s like the T-1000 just booping John Connor’s nose at the end of Terminator 2 before happily skipping home.
Hello Bookworm! I looked it up, and the Library in Alexandria — which just so happens to be the greatest in all of Yurgenschmidt, nay… even the entire world — has the following entries:
I couldn’t find a series with the name “The Twelve Kingdoms”. Maybe you should write it and send a copy to my library. In fact, I think this is a great idea and you absolutely should do so. Right now. Chop chop.
The Water Magician by J-Novel Club: 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6