Pandora Hearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 2

Pandora Hearts ~Caucus Race~ #2

by Shinobu Wakamiya (Original Creator, Illustrator), Jun Mochizuki (Artist)

Gaze down into the sunny garden from the veranda.
There, children run to and fro, full of life.
Two cats chase after them.
The sight calls to mind a single thought:
They seem to be racing each other.
A caucus race.
A race with no end.
If only this charming sight could continue on tomorrow and ever after...

Drawn up from the world of PandoraHearts, these enchanting fairy tales illustrated by Jun Mochizuki throw open the doors of the four great dukedoms once more...

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Light Novel, Young Adult, Magic, Mystery

274 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2012

Reviews

[Maria✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stories in this volume (6 if you count the closing scene), from which the first one took almost half the novel. It was about Elliot and Leo so no complaints from me! The theme of this novel was the relationship between pairs, so we had mainly duos in the stories; Elliot-Leo, Gil-Vincent, Oz-Alice, Break-Reim. Everything was nice to read, except probably Alice, who I can't stand reading about in this kind of written form...

Knowing what happens to some characters in the future and knowing more about their past as well, make some of these stories deeper and you can definitely feel the pain, however all of them had some light-hearted scenes to compensate.

If this book was entirely about Elliot and Leo, I would have probably given this a pure 4, but as it stands 3.5 stars is on point.

[Kristalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Final rating: 5/5 stars

Ah, this was just awesome. Might be the one i read the fastest, as it was really, REALLY, interesting to read about. I honestly missed Pandora Hearts so much and I am really glad I got these beautiful paperbacks to read.

[Azbaqiyah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot - 4
Character - 4
Writing Style - 4
World Building - 4
Art - 4
Cover - 4

Rating - 4 🌟/ 5 🌟

[Sasan · Rating 1 out of 5]

You know when you try so hard to like something, but you just can’t? Yep, that’s me with this second entry in the light novels yet again.

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I’m not going to lie, after the first novel’s immense disappointment, I went into this with rock bottom expectations since I had a hunch that although it’ll tackle other characters, the mood is still not going to be the one I love from the series. Turns out, I wasn’t far off. We once again have a collection of stories showing snippets of the daily lives of familiar characters and while I enjoyed seeing said familiar characters, the snippets themselves were unbelievably boring. It’s a shame when you have the opportunity to add actual information, backgrounds or anything remotely interesting in these extra stories, but you never take the chance to do so.

I know it’s not Shinobu-sensei’s fault ultimately, but I still can’t help how much of a wasted opportunity both of the novels felt to me so far. If, for example, these were released as extras, specials or OVAs or something along these lines, then it wouldn’t be that big of an issue given that it is usually what happens in anime/manga series, but as a novel????? It’s a damn shame when things feel this way.

I didn’t want to continue the novels with such a mindset after the first novel, but once I started reading the second novel and realized that the lighthearted mood is going to be maintained with the stories feeling somewhat pointless to read, I started looking for other things to enjoy in the stories being told. Thing is, the stories were more often than not, cringeworthy for me.

I don’t like trying to build a “comedic” situation out of misunderstandings and I really hate when girls flock around someone in an obsessive way, the same way done in Japanese media that is, please give girls another purpose in life than running after affection, it’s not everything. The rest of the stories were better than the two containing the above, but it doesn’t really change much when I’d rather be doing anything other than reading at any given moment.

I have one more novel remaining and I can only hope it’ll be better, but at this point it’s safe to say that it won’t be. Why do I love this series so much that I’m willing to put myself through this???? 😪

Final rating: 1.5/5

[Natascha Eschweiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it was tremendously better than the first volume, I still found myself caring very little (or not at all) for one or two of the stories. Still, the first one was quite enjoyable despite its length, and while I was admittedly worried about where they were going with the third story, the way they depicted Vince turned out nice in the end.
It is, however, always a bad sign when a novel makes you annoyed at characters you like in the original source material. Some of these would work much better as short animations rather than short stories.

[Emily Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elliot is my second favorite character in PandoraHearts. Xerxes Break is number one for me. Elliot and Leo's story here was my favorite. I've never cared much for Leo, I'm sorta indifferent towards his character. Elliot, though, I only love him more here. I also loved the foreshadowing of him becoming friends with Oz...

Break and Reim's story was my second favorite in this volume. Their friendship is so funny and sweet. Break caring for Sharon and Sharon caring for Break is also so sweet and wholesome.

I still don't like Vincent. But I was able to understand him a little more here.

[Carolin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 🌟

[Ray Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second light novel focuses on the relationships of some characters: Elliot and Leo, when they were on the Academy and how the Nightray kid got a whole fanclub, lol.

We also have a weird story where Alice asks Oz to have a child with her… which is confusing to everybody, until she clears what she means by that.

A little chapter with Gilbert and Vincent and how the little brother is always teasing Gilbert, but whenever Gil actually cares and gets close to him, he doesn’t know how to act.

If follows with Break drinking with Reim, the guy in Pandora who actually cares for him, and also we see a glimpse of Sharon and Uncle Oscar.

Yet, my favorite, as always, is the story between Oz and Gilbert, and how the young Vessalius wants to see fireworks no matter what (even when it’s raining). His valet does whatever he can, only to see that smile again and by the end of the night, everything is perfect.

I guess you could say, this one was a nice change of pace.

PREVIOUS REVIEWS:
Volume 1

[queen0f_hearts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This definitely is my fav volume of the three Caucus Race volumes! Mostly because of the endlessly adorable story of Elliot and Leo at Lutwidge academy! This is what a fangirl needs!

[key · Rating 4 out of 5]

(It was a while ago since I read the last one, but I'm pretty sure they are of the same quality.)

The lightnovel series serves more as additional stories for those who simply just love the characters, not so much more to add to the main plotline as a kind of... fluffy fanservice, I guess you could describe it as. Not that it's a bad thing though, I am one of those who do love the characters of Pandora Hearts a lot. And some of the stories still holds those surprising plot-twists like the main has, although of course not as great- and heartbreaking this time around.

The tone is similar to the more light-heartened parts of the series, for the most part, which I quite enjoyed and it got a couple of laughs out of me. The style was very notable to me and felt a little over the top, but when you try to imagine it as if you were reading a manga rather than a normal novel, you start to see why it's written in the way it is. You could see in front of you how it would have looked like if it had been drawn and I liked that. It annoyed me just a bit, but also had its charm due to its uniqueness. At least based on my own experience.

You should probably have read the manga before you read this one, which you probably already have but, it goes into some spoilers for the main storyline, although not as heavily as the next one will, I believe (I looked through it quickly just to have an idea of what awaits me).

[zara · Rating 4 out of 5]

- i look at the cover.... Pain....
- the first story gave an insight to elliot, leo and ada's lives as students at the lutwidge academy. this was really interesting, as we get to see ada's pov aside from elliot's. i really liked how the story directly tied into canon events of oz and elliot's first meeting.
- vincent and gilbert's story was just. really angsty. i loved it yet i hated it because wasn't manga canon enough why must you do this to me. despite how much it hurt me, it managed to show the complicated relationship between the two brothers and just how vincent is truly one of the most complex characters in the entire series.
- the very cute illustration of the main trio at the end made me very happy.

[Stephanie Jachymek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great but better than the first.
I think a lot of it had to do with having Elliot and Leo in this volume because they are 👌🏻.
Still kind of a mess overall and definitely not anywhere near the level of the main manga series.

[珊 · Rating 4 out of 5]

young sharon had been there, and shelly, and reim, and he’d been there, his heart growing more stable every day, little by little, thanks to them. into the peaceful time spent in the shade of the trees in the garden of the rainsworth mansion, under a clear blue sky.

[Heisen Nightray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I havent finished it yet but I loved Elliot and Leo's chapters.

[C.T. Yen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So it was the cat. So that's why it kept showing up in all the stories!
I kept thinking "omg! it's everywhere!"

[Sharky · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories in this book were really good as well. The illustrations were really nice

[Classical Lady · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Emily Pedigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novels are slowly getting more serious, just like how the manga did. I cried throughout at least half of the book. All my precious characters interacting in ways that I never hoped to witness in the manga.

[Kate]

Elliot!

[Abdul Mannan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just biased regarding this series though would really help if 5 stars wasnt the limit to rate things, makes it hard to set things apart...