Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture (Light Novel), Vol. 6 by Mikage Sawamura: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture vol 6 by Mikage Sawamura

Previous book marked a turn in the story: Naoya and the professor visited the festival of the dead where Naoya had been to as a child and which had led to him starting to hear lies. This book, subtitled Dark Reflections, starts a week after those events. Back at the university, Naoya tries to come to terms with their visit to the underworld, and wonders if it was worth it. He can still hear the lies, so nothing’s changed.

But Professor Takatsuki is so upset he falls ill. The entity inside him made him forget the entire journey, because he’d learned what happened when he was abducted, and he can’t accept it. Naoya tries to cheer him up and ends up promising he’ll be Takatsuki’s memory from now on.

In an effort to cheer up the professor, Naoya makes him take a case of a haunted house in an amusement park, where people have started to see an actual ghost. He thinks Takatsuki’s reluctance is caused by his upset, but turns out it’s because the professor has already figured out what’s going on and it’s not supernatural. But Naoya gets a fun day at an amusement park with Takatsuki, Kenji, and Ruiko.

In the second story, Takatsuki’s cousin Yuuko contacts him for the first time in twenty years. (Takatsuki isn’t allowed to contact his family except his uncle who raised him.) His fiancé insists she needs supernatural help for a growth on her shoulder and wants him to call Takatsuki. Turns out, she had attended as a child the tea parties Takatsuki’s mother held where she showed him around as a tengu, and had become obsessed with him. This story took an unexpected turn, but it wasn’t supernatural either.

But it did give Naoya a deeper understanding of Takatsuki’s family situation. He even gets to meet his mother briefly and learns she’s still in denial about Takatsuki and insists her son didn’t return, after Takatsuki didn’t let her show him around as a tengu anymore. The whole situation is upsetting for Takatsuki too, but at least he got to connect with his cousin again.

In the third story, a girl contacts them about a mirror that disappeared her mother. Her father insists she left with her lover, but when Takatsuki and Naoya investigate, the truth turns out to be something supernatural—for the first time. It triggers the entity inside Takatsuki to intervene even. Naoya has a chance to communicate with it, but it leaves him with more questions than answers. But he’s now sure the entity is causing Takatsuki’s memory losses.

This was an excellent volume in many ways. The narrative felt more mature, Naoya’s inner monologue was deeper and we get better insights into him and Takatsuki both; their friendship changes quite a lot (no romance), and there was an actual supernatural case. The theme of the book was mirror and it offered some good insights into Japanese folklore and human psyche. I’m a bit annoyed that the aftermath of Kenji seeing a real ghost was skipped, but perhaps we get a bonus story about that later. There was no cliffhanger ending or extra stories. There are three more books to come and I can’t wait to read them. Though I’ll probably gobble them down in one sitting like this one too.

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture (Manga), Vol. 6 by Mikage Sawamura & Toji Aio: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture (Manga), Vol. 6 by Mikage Sawamura & Toji Aio

Manga editions catch up with the light novels out in English so far (five volumes) here. According to the author and the manga artist, there’s a pause in the adaptations after this one, but both express a hope that there will be more manga after this, as the story continues in light novels.

This is a turning point in the story. Professor Takatsuki and Naoya return to the festival of the dead where Naoya gained his ability to hear lies. They’re not welcome to the village though, especially after an old neighbour of his grandmother’s discovers that Naoya can hear lies.

The men go to investigate anyway, and stumble on a real supernatural event for the first time, landing in the realm of the dead. Problem is, Naoya isn’t meant to escape it for a second time. Luckily, they have unexpected help.

During their time in the spirit world, both Naoya and the professor remember things from their past. In his case, the professor remembers what happened when he was spirited away. Unfortunately, his mind refuses to retain the memory, and it wipes away the entire visit to the spirit world too. He remains philosophical though. He’ll just have to keep Naoya around to remember for him.

This was a good recap of the events in the light novel vol 5, though very much compacted. It’s always interesting to see a visualisation of complicated events. This is a good place to end the manga, even if it doesn’t resolve anything. But I hope there will be more adaptations, even if Goodreads only lists the six volumes so far. At least there are more light novels to come (there are eight in Japanese.) Looking forward to reading them all.

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture Vol. 5 (Light Novel) by Mikage Sawamura: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture vol. 5 by Mikage Sawamura

In this volume, we finally get to what we’ve been waiting for: Naoya returns to the village where he accidentally entered the festival of the dead and gained (or was cursed with) the ability to hear lies. It doesn’t go well.

It’s the summer break of Naoya’s second year at the Tokyo university. He has no plans, as he’s estranged from his family and doesn’t really have any friends that he’s aware of having. When Professor Takatsuki invites him to participate in the night of one hundred horrors arranged at the university premises, he agrees, even if he’s not particularly interested.

The event is held at night in candle light. Every participant tells a ghost story until a hundred of them has been told. At the end, something supernatural is supposed to happen—and it does. But to Naoya’s surprise, Professor Takatsuki isn’t showing his typical enthusiasm for the event, which has to mean it’s fake. The mystery part of the first story is about finding out who and why, which is easily solved and isn’t terribly exciting.

Then it’s time for Naoya, Takatsuki, and KenKen to travel to Nagano and the small village there where Naoya’s grandmother used to live. He is warned against going by his new acquaintance who has also attended the same festival and gained the ability to hear lies, and by Miss Sae, the mystery woman who may be a mermaid. But Naoya needs to find out the truth.

The villagers try to keep them away too, but no one tells them why. No one wants to talk about the festival either. But Professor Takatsuki is determined to learn everything. They join a similar festival at a village nearby, and on their way back at night, they finally find what they’re looking for. Everything seems mundane at first, until Naoya stumbles into the real festival of the dead, held in the realm of the dead, and accidentally pulls Takatsuki with him.

There they finally learn why everyone wants to keep them away. The mountain god collects the people who return to the festival and keeps them forever. And this time, the price for being let out is steeper than it was when Naoya was a child.

This was a good volume. The first part wasn’t terribly spooky, despite the topic, as the ghost stories weren’t recited to the reader, and it’s mostly about Naoya observing people. The second part was great. We meet Naoya’s cousin who tells stories about his childhood, and in the realm of the dead, Naoya goes over his life in flashes, and we learn that he was very unhappy and lonely as a child. It almost makes him give up, but he also remembers the good things and friends he’s made at the university, which gives him strength to fight free.

But he’s not the only one remembering his past. Takatsuki does too. He finally remembers parts of what happened to him when he was abducted. But in a cruel twist and an annoying cliffhanger, before he can tell what it was, the entity inside him makes him forget everything—including the adventure in the realm of the dead they just had. I hope he’ll get his memory back in the next volume. It would be too upsetting if he forgets the first real supernatural event he’s witnessed. I’ll definitely read on.

In the extra story, one of Takatsuki’s graduate students reflects on the professor and why she’s not in love with him even though all her girlfriends assume she must be. It’s a nice addition to the character profiles so far.

Bride of the Barrier Master, vol 1 by Kureha: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

Bride of the Barrier Master by Kureha

Bride of the Barrier Master is a cute story set in modern Japan with magic and clans protecting the country with it. Families with magic are organised by importance and magical ability, and at the top are the barrier masters who protect the five pillars that support the entire country.

Hana comes from a less-important family and she’s the least important member of it. She’s completely ignored and neglected in favour of her twin sister who is a magical prodigy, whereas Hana is almost without power. She’s emotionally detached herself from her family, so much so that when she suddenly comes to immense power at fifteen, she keeps it a secret from everyone, even though she has to endure constant scorn.

When she’s eighteen, a new barrier master, Saku, comes to power, and he discovers her secret. He needs a powerful wife to bolster the barrier, and so he coaxes her into marrying him, much to the anger and dismay of the entire community who believe he’s chosen a weak bride.

The first volume follows Hana as she changes from nobody to the most important person in the magical community. She’s depicted as selfish and greedy, but in the end she’s the one who saves the day. The romance is on the light side and will likely mostly take place in the subsequent books. Saku was a good romantic hero, though maybe a tad childish for a twenty-four-year-old. Side characters were mostly caricatures.

While I enjoyed the overall story, it wasn’t a terribly good book. The writing style was childish and incredibly repetitive, with same things repeated page after a page, especially in the beginning. It would maybe have worked better as manga. As it is, it made a very light emotional impact. I’m not likely to continue with the series, but younger fans of the genre might like it.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.