You're all too light on this volume or maybe it was me who had greater expectations, like come on, a secret weapon that require gaining time and no scorched earth tactics, or even skirmishes but rather a highway directly to the capital ?, and once the Tiger army advanced without problems because why would they have problems except for the kamikaze geezers, the secret weapon is a video ? and he needed to gain time because "editing of the video" ? no this has to be one of the worst letdowns I've ever read
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Finally got myself into reading this volume, mostly with v19 being released and the whole series ending soon. The board is set, and the final game between Souma and Fuuga is starting, first with a few large distractions and then the main campaign. We switch around points of view a few times, interesting to read, but not all that important to the overall story or even its characters (although some of it does feel a bit like reminiscing about earlier volumes in the series). Overall though it is a good volume with characters acting befittingly and Fuuga is a good foil for Souma, but yet I am not too happy with it and I haven't been for some time.
Fuuga appeared way too late in the series. It made it feel as if he was there just to extend the number of volumes, and to make it possible for Souma to marry Empress Maria. It would have worked better if Fuuga had fulfilled Maria's role from the onset I think. That I am not really behind the thought process for Souma's actions (and to be clear it is working in the story so it is not just a misguided protagonist), how people both call Fuuga irreplicable and yet say that if he is gone there will be replacements. Besides why would fanatics even believe such a thing? To that, the fact that whole delaying tactics was weird is just a minor irritation to me. I mean, if you only need 2 to 3 days, why leave the road wide open? Now if it was about Fuuga overextending himself, sure, but they never say that was the intention, mentioning that even if Fuuga would not win, the whole thing would collapse.
Anyway, decent read, and from what I see, not the worse endings for a light novel series, nor the best either though.
I can understand why some people were let down by the way things are dealt with, but it is very in line with how this series has been going all along. In a lot of ways, this volume is the climax of the whole story. The reason Souma is even in this world is for this moment. The actual war will come to a conclusion in the next volume, but by that point it is just about going through the motions and bringing us to a proper resolution.
This series had me captivated before the anime came out. I feel in love with the characters and the story so much I ended up reading slot of the books and history that was referenced in the story. Thank you Dojyomaru for a great story can't wait for the finale.
I want to give it four stars but the plot twist was so stupid that I was disappointed in the story. Other than that, I enjoyed revisiting the world in general.
I'd hoped this was the last volume, but the author's note says at least two more books to go. I find that I'm also really annoyed with Fuuga. Souma and company gave him the perfect alternative to his world (or half-world) domination goals. However, it seems like he's still going to push ahead to try and defeat Souma instead of going with the other route which is more up his alley. I get he wants to see if he can take down Souma, because while Souma isn't a fighter he's smart enough to find ways to deal with the charismatic fighter that is Fuuga which is very different than any foe he's faced. But this stupid drive will cause even more deaths. Yes, going to the Seadia may cause deaths, but at least you have a worthy goal of freeing the land of monsters for people to live there. Conquering another kingdom just to see if you can, is stupid AF in my opinion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I enjoyed it. I am looking forward to volumes 19 and 20, as it seems the authors intent to finish both the story and after story in those volumes. I greatly prefer that to a series that continues to continue...