Rave Master Vol. 2, Chap. 13: It MUST be a Glass Ceiling...

This is it. We've finally come to the last chapter of the second volume of Rave Master, lucky number 13. It moves fast, and there's not a lot of plot to talk about here. The chapter begins with Musica #2 facing off against Lance.

Lance's sword is able to create illusions of beasts when he swings it. He uses the illusions to distract Musica, and then go in to attack. After his first attack, things get a little stupid.

First, Lance stops the battle because Elie's time is up. That is, the deadline for Haru to arrive with Rave is past. Wounded Musica doesn't try to stop him, other than yelling at him. Elie, doesn't move, even though she was cut loose and her legs function absolutely fine.

Seriously. She doesn't even attempt to escape. She doesn't get up, doesn't run, just sits there and screams Haru's name. I know that she's scared, and that Haru was supposed to save her, but I don't think my last word would be my rescuer's name, especially when that rescuer doesn't show up in time. My last words are much more likely to be "Fuck you!" or "This is a cool way to die!"

Fortunately, Haru comes bursting onto the scene...through the ceiling.

This is something I thought was awesome as a kid, and ridiculous as an adult. It just leaves me with so many questions:

• How did Haru get up to the roof in the first place?
• Musica already cleared the yard of guards, why didn't he just go through the front door?
• Lance essentially invited Haru to come and bring him Rave, so shouldn't the goons be expecting him and just let him through?
• How many floors does this place have?
• How thick is that roof, that a sixteen-year-old kid can break through?
• Shouldn't Haru have some kind of injury from falling through the ceiling?
• Why the ceiling?
• Should I give up trying to apply logic to this universe?

 Musica warns Haru about Lance's tactic, but Haru already knows. Musica the Blacksmith taught him secret of Lance's sword: that it can only make illusions when it does a full swing. By blocking his attack, Haru is able to prevent him from creating any distracting illusions. Just when it looks like Haru has the advantage, Lance creates another illusion, this time without swinging his sword...

And that's it. That's the end of volume 2.

Re-reading this, I remember why I loved the series when I was younger, but I also understand why my slightly older sister said that it was dumb. The Rave Master universe is a weird, goofy place, but it's also filled with villains that don't fit the light-heartedness in the background. One chapter is about saving dogs, another chapter is about a man's family getting massacred. I think the biggest problem I have is that the darker problems get solved too easily, like Musica the Blacksmith suddenly giving up alcohol after meeting Haru. This time around, I thought Haru was dumb, rather than heroic, but I think that idealism is a big part of his character. The villains weren't very interesting, and Georco was more annoying than threatening.

Even so, it was fun to read through again.

Final Verdict: For Sale

Even though I bought it more than ten years ago, the book itself is in pretty good shape. Rave Master is an entertaining series, and I'm sure some other young otaku will enjoy it.

Starting next Monday, I'll be reveiwing a high school favorite of mine: The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer. Stick around! 

Rave Master Vol. 2, Chapters 7-8: My Sister Taught Me That!

Haru was mostly raised by his older sister, and he really took whatever she taught him to heart. I know this, because he's always talking about, "my sister taught me that!" I remember that he said something along those lines a lot early in the series, and I remember that it really annoyed me. Possibly because I was thirteen when I first read these books, and therefore my older sister - if you were to ask me - was an idiot. Re-reading these now, it still bugs me a little bit. Not because Haru's taking his older sister's advice, but because he mentions "my sister told me..." so often. The other reason is because everything that Haru's sister has taught him is completely obvious.

Take a drink every time Haru talks about what his sister taught him.

Really, Haru? Dogs are getting impaled on spikes and exploded, but you need your sister's advice to figure out that animal cruelty is bad?

Despite Elie's warnings, Haru interrupts the race again. This was Georco's plan all along, of course: to put Plue in the dangerous race and lure Haru out. Now, there is one thing, and one thing only I will applaud Georco on: he learned from his mistakes. Instead of fighting Haru out in the open, where another explosion could blow his gaseous form away, Georco traps him in a giant steel box with no way out - in other words, no fresh air for Haru to breathe. It kind of begs the question why Georco had a giant, ten foot tall box laying around in the first place, but I can forgive that, because the ridiculous trap was pretty effective. However, I cannot forgive Georco for constantly referring to it as the "Smoke Hiz-ouse". A part of me died every time I had to read that phrase.

 Without oxygen, Haru can't make explosions, and so it looks like he's screwed.

The day is saved by Elie, and I love that, purely because it's the girl saving the guy, and not the other way around. She uses her tonfa blasters (which are like side-arm cannons, I actually like them) to blow up the smoke house to let Haru escape. Plue manages to steal Georco's dark bring, so he can no longer turn himself into gas. Out in the open again, Haru delivers the final blow to Georco, thus finishing our first Monster of the Week.

With all the action, there wasn't a lot of plot in Chapter 7, so we'll move on to Chapter 8.

Now that Georco's been taken down, Haru and Elie take a minute to talk. Of course, this is after Elie nearly blows up half the stadium with her tonfa blasters.

That's actually good advice, Haru. Don't stick it in crazy.

It turns out the Elie knows where to find Musica, the blacksmith that can repair Haru's sword. She also reveals what little there is to reveal about her backstory: she has lost her memory. It's a tired trope at this point, but what I like about Elie is that she's not angsty about it. There's plenty of "waaah, I can't remember!" characters out there, but Elie is happy, excitable, and generally a fun character, rather than being mopey about it. She doesn't take up too much time feeling sorry for herself, which is nice to see. Yes, she would like her memory back, but she's also not going to let herself be miserable over it.

Haru and Elie decide to leave Hip Hop Town together. They say that Demon Card is out of commission, so they won't have to pay the fee to leave. But how does punching the daylights out of Georco take down an evil organization that's clearly taken over the town? I'm sure Georco has some underlings who would gladly take over his role as boss. Or maybe that's the end of dog racing in Hip Hop Town forever because Elie completely destroys the stadium. 

Seriously. She's so excited to be leaving town with Haru that she lets off another couple shots from her tonfa blaster and the stadium starts to collapse. Her reason: 

THAT IS A TERRIBLE WAY TO EXPRESS HAPPINESS.

The duo escape the stadium by...jumping on a chariot pulled by dogs. I'm not joking. This whole series is so goofy, though, that I think I've learned just to go with it by now.

We're nearly at the end of the chapter, but there's just one more thing I want to bring up. We get a brief cutaway to some of Demon Card's generals, hanging out in the fortress Rhapsodia. 

This is when it hit me.

Rhapsodia, like "rhapsody". Song continent. Hip Hop Town and Punk Street.

THE TOWNS ARE ALL NAMED AFTER MUSIC GENRES.

Ever since I was a kid I thought that all the town names in Rave Master were really dumb. And I never once thought there was a musical motif in the names. HOW THE HELL DID I MISS THAT?

It turns out the town names aren't dumb; I am.