Who Would Like this Series/Volume?
Nothing’s changed since volume 1, so: Oda Nobuna no Yabou more or less loosely retells Japanese history during its Warring States period – with all major figures being cute girls and with a modern day protagonist, who timetravelled there for whatever reason. Although the general atmosphere of this series isn’t as ridiculous as the setting might suggest, you should be able to just go with it and not expect scientific accuracy. I can’t really put my finger on what genre Oda Nobuna is exactly; however, from strongest to weak, it has adventure, action, rom-com, comedy, harem, fantasy.
Difficulty
In addition to what I said on volume 1, the narration’s gotten even more difficult and fictional, which is why I’m adding another point to the difficulty. It’s a weak eight, though; more of a 7.5.
Difficulty 8/10
Translation Where?
Again, there’s a translation for the original volume 2, as well as the anime and manga. And again, the anime follows the novel closely, so you might as well watch it.
Contents
NOTE: This volumes/series has an anime and/or complete translation somewhere. Hence, the contents section will be reduced to the bare minimum as you can get the experience more or less by yourself.
Conclusion
To me, Oda Nobuna volume 2 is the worst volume so far (huehuehue), but it’s still far from bad.
The thing is, that I feel like the storyline of volume 2 is actually more enjoyable in the anime. Here, it feels all over the place, it jumps from Nobuna’s might-be wedding to trying to conquer Mino, to trying to conquer Hanbei, to helping Hanbei, to getting Hanbei. In volume 1, it felt more like there was a certain logic to what they were doing and what was happening next, here it feels chaotic.
However, the story pieces themselves are either good or great. Nagamasa’s proposal and Nobuna’s ultimatum really makes their tsundere relationship shine. That’s probably the best idea in this volume: The latent threat of Nobuna getting snatched away by Nagamasa and her promise to grant Saru one, any wish if he manages to conquer Inabayama castle – a key stronghold to Mino – before they have to rely on Nagamasa’s troops.
Alas, it’s kinda downhill from there. A really weird adventure to snatch away Ginbei with really weird magical creatures begins from there. Its best part is that Ginbei’s “familiars” really do feel like old folklore – which they kind of are. They trick Saru into eating shit or drinking piss, one of those; literally. Doesn’t that sound like something from a folklore? It’s way too explicit and controversal to utilize in modern literature for young people, but that’s how “literature for young people” was back in the folklore days, right? I really liked this absurdity in that sense, it shows that they really “don’t belong into this world.” The Ginbei arc, however, reaches a low when she explains how her magic works. It’s literally a rant spreading across pages and pages with an occassional one-liner by Saru. In my opinion, there could’ve been a better way to convey that information, especially in a rewrite. It’s not particularly interesting either, it’s more of a “here, that’s how magic in my book works” by the author.
The large parts of this book where Nobuna and Saru are apart really didn’t work all too well and showed to me just how much the entertainment factor of Oda Nobuna depends on the interaction between its protagonist and main heroine. Did I not like it? No. But what drove me into devouring this volume anyway weren’t the isolated parts, but the lack of knowledge – if you want – between Nobuna and Saru in regards to what each other was doing, and then seeing the redeeming bombshell dropped when Saru finally – spoiler alert – takes Inabayama castle and frees Nobuna from a “forced” marriage.
I still felt well-entertained, so I was thinking of a strong 7, I did feel well-entertained for the vast majority of volume 2. It’s really darn close to a weak 8, but I just don’t feel like it’s as outstanding as an 8 would imply in my book. So until I feel otherwise, a strong 7 it is. Still a read I’d absolutely recommend, especially if you liked volume 1, obviously.
Rating 7/10
