By Hitoma Iruma and raemz. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Lee. Adapted by Emlyn Dornemann.
So, the rumor is that the author of this series started panicking and worrying that they would die before it was finished, and so they came up with several volumes that would feel like a final volume. That said, there is not a more final final volume than this one. and yes, I know that we still have Volume 12 and a second Short Story collection to go, but thematically, this ties absolutely everything into a nice neat bow. Unlike the SS volume, which featured 3-4 page microstories as well as one long one, this has 4 longer stories and a wraparound plot which were written for the Blu-Ray release of the anime. Generally speaking, Blu-Ray ‘extras’ tend to be a bit more involved than your typical throwaway bookstore giveaways, and it shows. This not only manages to have a lot of typical Adachi and Shimamura style shenanigans, it gets quite sad and tear-jerking at times. Be prepared to be with Adachi and Shimamura to the very end of their lives.
A brief content warning: this volume contains more Yashiro than any other volume to date, and with good reason. The wraparound story has A young woman in the very far future, on an post-apocalyptic world, being slowly led by Yashiro to her destined soulmate. Along with that, we see 1) Shimamura visiting Hino at her mansion; 2) Adachi inviting Shimamura to a hot spring, supposedly so they can finally have their first time together; 3) A Shimamura in her late eighties, with all of her family, all her friends, and her lover now dead, finding solace in playing an RPG her sister once played with, you guessed it, Yashiro; 4) The resolution of the future world, with Yashiro, her mission now done, heading out to find other Adachis and Shimamuras and reunite them; and 5) Shimamura dying, and going where she knows she needs to go.
As you may have gathered, this volume gets a lot darker than I was really guessing. The far future story is more heartwarming than anything else, and the Hino story was fairly pointless except for us to see her as an adult (sorry Nagafuji fans, she’s not in it). The hot spring story, and this is hardly a spoiler, does not end with sex. But it’s the story of Shimamura in her dotage that hit the hardest. The chapter with her looking back on everyone who left her behind is quite touching, especially as she’s haunted by her lover, who shows up to be a Greek chorus. Then there’s the last chapter, which is both a tearjerker and also a bit eerie, as Yashiro shows up to lead Shimamura to the afterlife… which has her grandparents, and her beloved dog, but that’s not where she needs to be. You know where she needs to be? Remember Adachi’s idea of heaven from the previous SS book? Yup. Shimamura is now in Adachi’s heaven, with no one else but them. Never let it be said this series is not defined by the lovable headcases that are its leads.
Possibly this worked well for me because I am overly sentimental, but I found it one of the best in this series. I’m not sure I want the 12th volume, but we’ll see if it can be more than “slice of life”, which this volume was.
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