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「夢の世界」 (Yume no Sekai)
“The World of Dreams”
For all its faults that I’ve complained about – with 2 dimensional and unreasonably evil villains – make no mistake about it. I truly love Bookworm from the bottom of my heart. Seeing Myne revitalise the devastated area with her incredible amount of mana was a sight to behold, and seeing her one up Shittycoza at the mere age of 8 was pretty damn gratifying.
Episode Impressions
But the real focus of this episode was Ferdinand’s investigation into Myne – to ascertain whether she would be a boon or a threat to Ehrenfrest. To do that, he employs a device that allows the two of them to dive into her memories. Admittedly, it’s awful that he did it without her consent. That said, he did have her best interests in mind and sought to verify as soon as possible that she’d be no threat. It’s also infinitely better to have someone trustworthy like Ferdinand parse through her memories – as opposed to the High Priest, who no doubt would have gotten up to no good.
I’ve got to say, I couldn’t hold myself back. I really wanted to know what punishment Shittycoza was going to receive. So I went ahead and purchased the ebook for this volume. Whereas the anime scenes made me feel emotional, the novel absolutely floored me and made me weep. Take that as you will – maybe I’m just more of a book person. Now this scene was still amazing. The way Ferdinand was taken aback, I could really believe that’s how someone from a feudal magic society would react to our world. In our world, science tries to explain everything, and when it can’t be explained yet, we assume the science hasn’t gotten far enough yet. In their world, magic explains everything that can’t be explained. And yes, the amount of books at the temple is pitiful. Again, you only appreciate the things you have once they’re gone. However, none of those moments held a candle to Myne wrestling with the guilt of never truly appreciating everything her mother from Earth did for her. I know that feeling all too well – taking my parents for granted before I set off for uni. Now I have perspective and hindsight, I’m able to express to them how much I appreciate what they’ve done for me. It breaks my heart imagining a scenario where I’d never get that chance – as it happened for Myne when she suddenly got killed by a falling bookshelf.
At least her ability to jump back in her memories gave her better closure regarding her life on Earth – which was topped off by a really wholesome hug between Myne and the Head Priest – who was left in an extremely sad state due to synchronizing with her overwhelming grief. With the benefit of maturity and hindsight, she is able to express her appreciation to her new family in Ehrenfrest for everything they’ve done for her. That’s a real sign of progress – not making the same mistake twice. Though it’s pretty telling that Ferdinand requested Karstedt to adopt Myne. There must be a good reason he’s genuinely fearing for her safety.
Concluding Thoughts
So what does the future hold for Honzuki no Gekokujou? Hopefully we’ll be seeing a Season 3 sometime in the future. There’s so much to explore and the premise hasn’t run itself dry yet. It’s easily one of the best isekai in recent times – breaking the mold by having a girl incarnate in another world without immediate OP abilities to jet start her life. Sure, she has considerable amounts of mana. But the fact it threatens her life early on makes for a compelling obstacle which easily beats your Gary Stu who traipses through everything with god like cheat abilities. Myne forges her way through the world by merit of her intelligence and sheer desire to see books come to fruition. It’s still wish fulfillment, I can’t deny that. But it’s so relatable and wonderfully unique compared to the isekai norm – though if I was in her position, it wouldn’t be books and more like wanting to create an other world version of the internet. Ascendance of an Internet Procrastinator when?
Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. As always, thanks for reading these posts. It was a very fun journey till the very end – and see you next time for what should hopefully be Season 3!
End Card
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This series long reminded me of “Lest Darkness Fall,” by L. Sprague deCamp, wherein an archaeologist from the 1930s finds himself in 6th century Rome. Among other things done to secure his immediate survival, he sets about “inventing” printing. That’s about the first half of the book. From there he becomes drawn into local, religious, then international politics.
So here we have Myne trying to make books, caught up in the Church then beset by nobles and their squabbles. If the mangaka didn’t read LDF, I would be surprised. This is a fantastic series and hope to see more of it.
So considering you purchased the E-Book for this Timeframe…
Knowing where Shitzuka came from, do you still consider him to be a clichee-villain or do you think his action are a little bit more comprehensible (from a motivational point of view ) due to the backgroundinformation the novel delivers?
also what do you think about the cut in the “memory-sequenz”? I may be wrong here, but in my opinion the scene does not really deliver the closure myne gets about her past life and the rollercoaster of emitions she is putting Ferdinand through.
I mean sure, its a bit hinted at but not really in the impact it has on the story and the characters.
what i am also suprised about is, that none of the anime-only viewer came to question the social dynamic between Karstedt and Ferdinand. For me that is a hint, that the anime failes to deliver on the aspect of worldbuilding and what role the church has to play in this world.
What hint? I have not read the books but it has been obvious for a while in the anime that Ferdinand was a member of the royal family. Being the former leader of the knights and the adoption talk merely put the seal on it.
I was cautiously optimistic for the finale because it would be covering one of my favorite parts of the series. I expected that the dream world sequence would be shortened but it was surprising that the anime not only cut most of it, but that the scene with Urano’s mom was even changed from the original. After the initial shock I grew to appreciate it in its own way. I liked how the changes set up a satisfying end with Myne making up for what she was unable to do as Urano by showing her heartfelt gratitude to the family she has now while she still can. I may have shed some tears..
I’m glad to see that the anime motivated you to purchase one(?) of the ebooks! From the rest of your comments I’m assuming Part 2 Volume 2 right? Myne doesn’t actually find out what his sentence is until the next volume.. so if you didn’t read that one yet I recommend it! I’m not normally a LN reader by any means but Honzuki is really special and it only gets better from here. 🙂
As for a possible season three.. I’m not sure. The story is ‘finished’ with 500+ chapters left unadapted, and obviously the anime has several current threads left unresolved(the restaurant, Myne’s other inventions, the talk of her adoption, etc) so it is possible, but at the same time there aren’t any good stopping places in the story after this point unless the whole thing will be adapted..
…which is something I’d really enjoy seeing!
It’s a shame that these great stories get truncated adaptations, but I guess
that’s the industry as it stands. Gonna miss Myne on the silver screen!
Give S3 Now
Pingback: Honzuki no Gekokujou – 26 (END) – Random Curiosity | Steamedworld News
One question – Does Myne (or Ferdinand for that matter) actually believe this religion or does she just learn it because it;s part of the job?
Given something is reacting to the prayers their is evidence for it. On the other hand it’s possibly just mnemonic magic wrapped in a religious cloth.
Honzuki is definitely one of the better (if not the best one) Isekai tales out there. No OP abilities, no harem, no Mary Stu…etc…Myne suffers through a lot of trail and tribulations and all of her achievements, though not on the grand scale of Holy Dragon Slaying, are extremely are still worth a standing ovation. You not only root for her, but you root for those who love and care for her! The, mostly, down to Earth approach of living in a world where magic exists is refreshing. I hope the entire series gets animated – though there I hope they skip a lot of unnecessary narrative plot from the novels to help move things along more smoothly. What works in the novels may not translate well into anime.
Well lets just see. Myne has:
-power enough to even surprise the knights of the order, Revitalizes the whole clearing while green hair fail knight can only manage a couple of m2
-Remembers enough about arts and crafts to not only create paper but the tools used for creating paper
-Remembers several recepies without being good at cooking.
-Can create modern construction plans without using any modern notations that would alert professional craftsmen. Just look up Hansa ship plans for the level that should be at for a middle age world
-Has a lot of men supporting her. Beno, Lutz, Ferdinand. Fran.
I think its a gender swapped non-violent isekai more in line with “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” than the anime we keep getting. It is basically refreshing because it does away with the baggage all “isekai but this time” stories have and lets the story flow organically from its premise instead of trying to tweak the premise to work with the shtick it wants to achieve.
Oh, great, your article provided me with useful information and a fresh perspective on the subject.