Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 8 (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! 」

While frustrating, I understand why the Part 3 volumes of the manga adaptation began getting published in Japan while Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 was still getting its manga adaptation. It was to save time producing said adaptations. (I think there are five parts to the original novels.) Still, it did provide a bit of frustration for me because it feels like I have to wait longer for Part 2 adaptations to come out.

–> Buy Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 8 from Amazon.com!

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Myne returns to the temple after her mission, where she is greeted by her staff and Lutz, whom Myne telepathically connected to during the mission. Myne gets sick and is down for quite some time. When she returns to the temple, High Priest Ferdinand gives her a concoction and makes her wear a circlet on her head. He puts one on as well in order to probe her memories.

Inside Myne’s mind, Ferdinand explains his desire to see where she got her knowledge. As such, Myne shows him Japan, as she experienced it as Urano. Upon visiting her house and taking a proper bath, Urano’s mother shows up. Myne enjoys her mother’s home cooking of Japanese food once again. She then tearfully apologizes to her mother for not being a better daughter. After saying farewell and expressing her love for her mom, Ferdinand breaks the connection in tears.

Convinced that Myne is not a threat, she’s allowed to continue living in the temple. Benno arrives, unhappy that he had an order for new robes identical to the Myne’s (destroyed) ones. He takes Myne to meet with Frieda, where they make a deal on Myne’s book. A young teen man named Johann asks Myne to be his patron. Since he’s a metal worker, Myne agrees, wanting him to create typesets for the entire alphabet for printing purposes.

The Ink Guild expresses their displeasure with Myne’s work. As such, Myne is forced to go to the temple for protection. While there, she and Lutz create playing cards as well as Othello (Osero). Meanwhile, Ferdinand visits the Karstedt Estate. He wishes this noble and knight to adopt Myne.

Touching the Past

I gotta say, Myne’s mental trip to modern Japan really touched me in Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 8. While the omake stuff gave us a comedic look at things, the main story took things seriously. For Myne, her life as Urano is long past. Yet her memories are there, and thanks to this magic synchronization, Myne can experience things again in modern Japan as if they were actually there.

Of course, the touching moment was Myne’s reunion with her (Urano’s) mother. She got to eat her mother’s home cooking again. More importantly, she got to say goodbye to her mother. That apology she makes still makes me tear up. No wonder the normally stoic Ferdinand teared up as well.

Lutz and the Nobility

As I’ve said before, I really love the wholesome relationship of Lutz and Myne. Their bond is so strong that when Myne called out to him from the battlefield, he heard and saw the predicament she was in. Obviously, my wish is that as these two grow older, she’s allowed to marry him.

However, as I’ve also previously stated, Lutz doesn’t show up in the artwork for covers of the later works. That suggests he’s not a part of her life as she gets older. Further, considering the separation between classes in the story, Myne’s adoption would likely mean her ties to her past would have to be cut, at least officially. She would no longer be a member of her current family as she would now be a member of her adopted family.

Ideally, Myne would break the conventions of this world so that she and Lutz could marry. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards and it kinda irritates me. So at best, maybe she still has contact with Lutz from a business perspective. That assumes she’s allowed to stay in business. I presume nobles are allowed to own and run businesses.

Omake

The omake manga chapter of Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 8 goes into more detail on the synchronization between Ferdinand and Myne, allowing him to see more of modern Japanese city life.

The short story of the volume centers around Johann before he went to ask Myne to be his patron.

There are the usual notes from Kazuki-sensei and Suzuka-sensei. This is followed by a couple of 4-koma manga strips, further expounding on exploring Japan and the fact that women wore bikinis. 😂

Then there are ads for other J-Novel Club books.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 8 was a touching and lovely volume with some fun, omake manga. However, I do anticipate future stories not going they way I’d like.