Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road (original) (raw)

This series of novels is much better than it had any right to be. In spite of problems here and there that would be common in fanfiction, it manages to maintain a consistent cast and an engaging story over all 7 volumes (that I have read so far, more to come). It certainly has some quirks that you need to accept in order to enjoy the story, but then it mostly uses those well, and knows when to move on from them.

The world building

The world is mostly medieval, but with a steampunk flavor. The reason for it is explained right in the pitch: using the... forbidden art of otherworld summoning, ordinary, modern-days Japanese people are pulled into this world. Over the years, some of their technological knowledge spread and mixed with local magic. Description of this world's technomagic is fun, it feels original and really gives it flavor.

Other than that, clearly the author doesn't develop any detail about this world that isn't useful to the storytelling. It can be a bit disappointing for people who crave large, epic tales in lovingly detailed worlds, but it sure makes the narrative compact and efficient.

Most of the story revolves around one major plot point: when Japanese people (called Lost Ones) are summoned into this world, they're imbued with huge powers that will drive them mad over time. In fact, some parts of the world were utterly destroyed by Lost Ones gone mad… So there are Executioners roaming the world in order to locate and kill any summoned Japanese people, whether they've committed a crime yet or not.

The characters

As the title implies, the main protagonist, called Menou, is an executioner. She's proficient both with a dagger and with spells, in order to contain and kill Lost Ones. But that's not her most important aspect.

You may find her a bit lacking in the personality department at first. Without spoiling anything, there are very good reasons for that, related to the plot and to her past. Let's just say that it's very useful, since it makes her a "social chameleon", in order to get on friendly terms with Lost Ones, get them to talk, identify their forbidden power and devise a way to kill them.

The second protagonist is Akari, a Japanese high school girl. Menou locates her near the beginning of the story, doesn't waste time and proceeds to killing her right away. I'll spoil only what happens at the very beginning: Akari's power is an instinctive ability to rewind time. So when Menou kills her, time immediatly goes backward, leaving Akari alive and unaware of her predicament. So Menou has no choice but to travel with Akari long enough to understand her power and come up with a way to kill her permanently. And protect her in the meantime, against factions that'd love to get their hands on a Lost One's power.

As with Menou, Akari isn't what she seems. You may find her annoying or dumb at first, and she is. She seems to fall in love frighteningly fast with Menou (who doesn't reciprocate) for no good reason, and she does. But once again, there are plot-related reasons for that, and it evolves over times. Understanding Akari's strange personality is actually central to the story.

Over the course of the novel, a few other important characters appear, but the cast remains surprisingly small for such a series; there are never more than 5 or 6 main characters. Some of them are villains, and the author is actually quite good at making them sympathetic… and completely unhinged.

Overall, most characters except Menou are a bit crazy and quirky. Even though the plot goes out of its way to provide justifications, it's a writing style that you'll have to get used to. Some have recurring behaviors that wouldn't be out of place in a twisted or dark comedy slice of life story and that are often played for laughs: one is psychotically obssessed and protective of her boss, another keeps killing herself in gruesome ways which triggers a resurrection spell, and so on.

The plot

It's quite apparent that the author makes things up as they go. Nonetheless, it works. It is a good mix of character-induced drama, political plots, dark mysteries from the past, big combat scenes involving weapons, flashy magic, horrible monsters and too-talkative-for-their-own-good, mustache-twirling villains. Like an old-school James Bond movie turned fantasy.

The first three books are mostly about setting things up. It's never boring, things are always happening, point of view regularly switch between characters, and so on. Most of the time, it's the world explained for Akari's benefit (and ours), or intrigues followed by Menou when Akari isn't looking.

Starting with the fourth book, the plot starts to break what's established to push the story forward. Big reveals keep happening, the statu quo is irreversibly broken and the author always finds new ways to make things exciting. I was extremely pleased that nothing is allowed to go stale.

By the end of book 6, there have been world-shattering changes (figuratively speaking) that make book 7 start in a new setting (but same characters, and same overall plot).

If I had to find a flaw, it'd be how explanations for mysteries or intrigues are delivered. Many times, instead of having the characters find those answers through investigation, reasoning or interrogation, the author takes the lazy way out: either it's a villain monologuing in the middle of the fight, or it's a chapter told from the point of view of a character who knows the truth and tells it straight to the reader.

Is it yuri?

Not an easy question. Sure, almost every significant character is female. Sure, almost from the start you have Akari and Momo who, in different ways, claim to love Menou (who probably uses the facepalm maneuver ten times a day because of it). But remember that Menou doesn't seem to have a personality of her own, and she sees herself as a villain since she kills innocent people for a living. So she doesn't reciprocate anything, even though she clearly sees both women as important to her.

In spite of this, I wouldn't call this yuri-bait, because things start to change (slowly) in later books. But I wouldn't expect a full-on, shoujo-style romance. When Menou and Akari's relationship starts to change, let's say that so far it's more magical than physical. ;)

You have some strange, ill-defined relationships between other characters, starting with Ashuna and Momo (also one involving Manon, one involving Flare…) So if you extend "yuri" to include friendship or rivalry, then yes, you have plenty of those. Some sane, some… not so sane.