Outbreak Company: Volume 9

Outbreak Company Light Novel #9

by Ichirou Sakaki, Yuugen (Illustrator), Andrew Hodgson (Translator)

So you’ve got the Eldant Empire, a fantasy world somehow connected to Japan by a mysterious “hole.” And you’ve got Kanou Shinichi, general manager of Amutech, a company whose whole purpose is to promote cultural exchange with this new land—using otaku stuff! Shinichi’s father is a master at churning out popular light novels, but then word reaches Shinichi that his dad’s series has been put on indefinite hiatus. Shinichi may have kept his family at arm’s length in his days as a shut-in, but he can’t ignore this, and makes plans for a visit home. His Eldant friends, worried that this is another ploy on the part of the Japanese government, convince the JSDF to let them send Myusel and Elvia along as bodyguards. Call it the first Eldant embassy to Japan—and they have a lot to learn. An unexpected interloper, a series of accidents, and more international [interdimensional?] intrigue are waiting in the wings for Shinichi and his friends!

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2014

About the author

SAKAKI Ichirou
Name (in native language): 榊一郎
Associated Name:
SAKAKI Ichirou

Zodiac: Sagittarius

Reviews

[Just · Rating 5 out of 5]

Infinite Dendrogram is an intricate world based in a VRMMO style game, following Ray Starling, Nemesis and the team in battles and adventures across the world of the same name.
Volume 9 - Blue Blood Blitz - was an interesting and wild ride after a break from reading the light novels. The information relayed in this novel between fights was not only mind blowing, but made for some interesting speculation for future reading in this world.
To start of 2022, a fantastic 5 stars from me.

[Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a kid I used to love reading video game magazines and imagine playing some mind-blowing upcoming next-gen game, something like Ocarina of Time or Morrowind.

Reading Infinite Dendrogram is a bit like that. You would think reading about a guy playing a virtual reality MMO would be boring, but it's not. The world building is fantastic, and I can't learn enough about the intricacies of the Dendrogram world.

[Gene Metschulat · Rating 4 out of 5]

So yes I started reading this book today and finished today.. This book has so many character reveals and action packed moments that made it hard to put down! It expands on the history of dendrogram extensively and the character development is spot on. There is a layer of plot armor (or convienience of tools ray has in his arsenal). So far my favorite read of the series by far

[Heli Miranda ahumada · Rating 3 out of 5]

La historia al menos esta vez estuvo bastante bien. Disfrutable.

[Jaelin Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bombshell after Bombshell!!!

The worldbuilding in this volume is amazing and I can't wait to learn more about Infinite Dendrogram. My favorite volume so far.

[kurogane shiroikaze · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty weak volume as far as things goes, this outing of Outbreak Company finally sees the author bring out the "Akiba visit" trope after 8 volumes of building up the otaku culture. The gist of the volume revolves around Shinichi getting some bad news about his family and rushes back home, so the rest of the cast join him along for the visit and make a side-trip to the holy land of otakudom, Akihabara. Unfortunately, they bite off more than they can chew and suddenly they are forced in to a major international crisis.

While this sounds like a pretty promising setup, it's kinda ruined by the hackneyed way it's set up to happen. A lot of plot holes and disregard of previous plot devices went in to this visit to Earth, so the major conflict of the volume feels like "well he had that coming!".

The majority of cliches about international espionage rings and politics suddenly get introduced as well, leaving a rather jarring feeling to things happening and most of it also felt rather contrived and preying on standard stereotypes, leading to a lack of excitement for me in terms of enjoying the plot.

This arc also gets spread over two volumes as well, ending on a pretty straightforward cliffhanger contributing to my lack of satisfaction. It really does feel like the author seems to be slowly running out of ideas to extend his original vision of the series, starting to indulge in rather standard trope plotlines which unfortunately aren't executed very well. I feel it's a sad waste of the setting.