Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7 (Manga Review)
Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 2 (I’ll even join the temple to read books!)
Honzuki no Gekokujou: Part 2
本好きの下剋上~司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません~ 第二部 「本のためなら巫女になる! 」

Well, it will be a few months before the next volume comes out in print for Part 2. Part 3 volumes are getting released. So I may as well get on with the last volume I can read.

–> Buy Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7 from Amazon.com!

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Myne is forced to sell a few copies of her new book to Benno in order to have funds for her winter preparations. She then buys winter clothing for her staff. Myne then collects her custom made ceremonial robe. Later, while in a meeting with Ferdinand, a bird flies into his office with a plea for help from the Knight’s Order. Ferdinand has Myne change into her ceremonial robe and gives her a ring.

After putting on his knight’s armor, Ferdinand takes Myne out to where other knights have gathered. Ferdinand places Myne under their protection. They use magically created flying beasts to take them to a giant trombe tree. Myne casts a blessing on the knights. A knight named Shikza (Shikikōza) has great disdain for Myne’s commoner status. As such, he abuses her, eventually cutting her. This causes trombe to immediately grow.

Myne’s magical reaction catches the attention of Ferdinand and Knight’s Order Commander Karstedt. Ferdinand stops Myne’s bleeding and leaves to deal with the trombe. Karstedt gets briefed on what happened. When Ferdinand returns, he issues punishments to the knights. Ferdinand demands Shikikōza perform the healing ritual on the land, but the knight barely causes fresh plants to grow.

As such, Ferdinand instructs Myne to do the ritual. With her vast power, she not only causes the land to recover, but to fill with flowers.

Class Issues

Myne has had to deal with class issues before. However, in Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7, they are taken to the extreme. Shikikōza (and yeah, I’m using his real name, not the trash J-Novel Club rename) clearly reflects an attitude many nobles have about commoners. What’s strange is that in my mind, a knight should never behave this way. However, I suppose that based on his attitude, he comes from some elite family or some sort.

Regardless, I appreciated how Ferdinand showed Shikikōza the error of his ways by making him cast the blessing spell. When his spell fails to do much, Myne gets to work her magic and display how powerful she is. While I thought that was cool, what amazed me more is that she didn’t lose her cool and go ape. She could have killed Shikikōza, though no doubt, this would have caused the trombe to grow more. And she would have been punished.

Speaking of punishment, I do wonder what the troop’s punishment will be. Surely, Shikikōza would have to be court martialed (or whatever this world’s equivalent is) since he didn’t follow orders. As to Karstedt, I’m sure he’ll get some sort of reprimand in his official record. Hopefully, the knight Damuel doesn’t get too much punishment, since his class status was below Shikikōza.

Myne and Lutz

Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7 really showed how deep the bond is between Myne and Lutz. I really love their wholesome relationship. Earlier in the volume, we see how Lutz takes care of Myne in a financial way by paying her what he owed. That moment was sweet as it was.

However, the fact that Myne reached out in her mind to Lutz and he heard her really touched me. Not that there was anything Lutz could do from so far away, but the fact that her mind touched his made me smile. He really is a pillar of strength for her, and I’d love for them to be a married couple down the road.

Still, I have this bad feeling that this won’t be the case, and that irritates me. I base this on the artwork I see for the franchise. Myne is older, but there’s no Lutz around. One would think he would be in some of the art if he were a part of her life. Ugh.

Translation Rubbish

And now to call out J-Novel Club for their rubbish translation choice in Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7 . I’ve previously expressed concerns over some of the adaptation choices used. I’ve let them slide. Frankly, I probably wouldn’t have known about this one except on a whim, I wanted to see how the wiki spelled his name. There have been minor differences in names in the past.

That aside, the name Shikikōza came up instead of Shikza, the name in the manga. That’s more than a minor difference. As such, I looked into it. Apparently, the name Shikikōza means “small fish/fry knight”. As it turns out, J-Novel Club wanted to rename the character to be a pun similar to the original name’s meaning. However, for reasons I’ll NEVER understand, Kazuki-sensei gave permission to rename the character IF the character’s name was similar to the original.

As such, instead of just leaving the character’s name as it was and giving some note about the meaning of the name, they came up with “Shikza”. What the actual <censored> is going on here? What kind of rubbish is this? I will NEVER accept a notion that characters need to be renamed. But when the author tells you that you can’t do your pun name, why do the rename at all? Rubbish!

I’m no fan of J-Novel Club ’cause they feel the need to Westernize Japanese products for our protection. After all, can’t have that <Japanese slur> polluting our glorious English. I’ve tolerated it for this series, but I refused to for The Slayers series. (I kept my TokyoPop volumes.)

Omake

The omake manga chapter in Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7 shows Lutz when Myne’s mind reaches out to him. The short story deals with Damuel’s first time dealing with a trombe. There are the usual notes from Kazuki-sensei and Suzuka-sensei. Then there are ads for other J-Novel Club books.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7 with some final thoughts.

• I appreciated Myne’s purchasing clothing for her staff. Their picking out something from her was amusing as well.
• Delia continues to grow as a character. I like how Myne sent her to the pig slaughter for the winter prep, and Delia enjoyed the experience. Delia may have that tsundere trait, but she’s still adorable.
• I’m glad to see magic actually getting used in this world.
• I wonder if Myne will get the knights to gather the trombe wood for her book making.

In the end, J-Novel Club aside, I found Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7 to be interesting and enjoyable.