Only two volumes left to go before I'm all caught up with the English translation of this great fantasy franchise. Volume 17 was about the hero Alice weakening from some vague illness and passing her status and sword over to Allen, which is a good thing because this series has way too many heroes. Now Allen has a noble title on par with the duchesses and princesses who all want to marry him, so he no longer has the excuse of being a commoner to turn them down. The new excuse is that this is no time for romance because they're in the middle of a world war, but eventually that excuse will also disappear once a few more villains are defeated. I'll certainly be interested to see who he gets with then.
In volume 17 the second apostle was killed, and in volume 18 the prime apostle was killed. The only real threat left is the Saint, so hopefully the series ends soon. In volume 18 the long-sidelined pointless character with big breasts and glasses, Felicia, is forced back into the story. A story about romancing cute little girls doesn't need flabby career women. But at least the volume served some purpose because there was a full color picture of Stella bathing. Also Tina got to flirt with Allen a bit back at the old nostalgic greenhouse they first met in, which was nice.
Volume 21 of this series will be translated into English this coming November 20th, so I can seamlessly read volume 20 and then dive right into the next volume without delay. I picked the right time to get interested in the light novels. I'm still confused why the anime didn't receive a sequel, though, given how popular the light novels are, with over 1 million sales. There's plenty of content so it can't be that they're waiting to announce a sequel -- and Allen refuses to romance any girl so it doesn't actually violate any taboos. My only guess is the first season had poor sales, but that doesn't make sense to me either, since there are obviously plenty of fans worldwide of this series, or the light novel wouldn't have 23 volumes and they wouldn't have all been translated into English by a formal company.
Unfortunately Japan never tells us what their sales figures are per series, so we never find out why they decide not to renew great anime series. It's an eternal mystery why popular works go unadapted all the time. At least we have the light novels, which do include beautiful illustrations of all the charming lasses.
The new Heaven Burns Red event appears to be a Persona 5 collaboration. Not my favorite topic but any new HBR content is always welcome.
The second episode of Ken Tensei had an amazingly well animated, fast-paced sword fight with great musical accompaniment. The seiyuu for Fran, Ai Kakuma, continues to delight. Tomorrow Item, the Railgun spinoff, which itself is an Index spinoff, will join the lineup.
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