Feb 25, 2019
It's done. After months of waiting, I finally had my dose of HEC. Thank you for your hard work!
At long last since we first started interacting, Kudo finally settles his grudge with Shinezu and gives him the most fitting punishment for his crimes. I really lost it when Kasara guessed that Shinezu was below level 10 before he started farming dark exp! The fight against him really made me feel Kudo and Hinota's struggle and I teared up a little when they did their good ol' combination of [Plus bomb] and [Fireball]. Naming the combo as "PlusFire" for nostalgia and because it made sense was the right thing to do! I'm hoping there will be other combo attacks soon and I also hope it won't be limited to just the duos like Kuki x Raika or Tsuchi x Mizuri.
Speaking of Shinezu, mind telling me the origins of his name? My first guess was for the combinations of the literal Japanese translations for To die (Shine) and Rat (Nezumi). If I'm wrong, tell me the answer!
Oh, and Sherald had it coming too! Nice of him to make a return only to get one of the most humilating defeats courtesy of Adonis!
I've got mixed feelings but I'm leaning more on the positive side to know that Saka has lost her dark player abilities. E-Plus already has enough members in my opinion and adding more might just make their interactions harder to follow. Her being a maid now has potential for something new, and I'll be looking forward tot hat for sure. Oh, and did the removal of her dark player traces take out her chuunibyou out as well?
That being said, not everything was a smooth ride this time. I felt like the descriptions and grammar in this volume could use some more polish and proofreading as there were some spelling mistakes as well as a whole lot of telling rather than showing such as directly telling how a character felt instead of showing it through body language. I would love to point out everything that I think could be improved just as I did before, but Honeyfeed's restriction on copying and pasting parts of chapters makes it too much of a hassle to go back and forth. The last three volumes for me had the most tremendous descriptions you've ever done, especially the one where Raika and Kuki make their debuts.
Also, regarding two of Hinota's skills [Cross Shadow] and [Fire Force]. Were those two skills foreshadowed before or is this the first time they were ever mentioned? The caught me by surprise, but not in the best way to be honest. If there was some hint to those two sometime before and I just ended up missing out on them, please let me know.
Also, I've encountered the phrase "craned their necks" way too many times. It'll probably be stuck in my head for a while. XD
So now I'm thinking, where to go now that one of Kudo's biggest issues has met it's resolution?
On the top of my head, I'm sure his conflict against the dark players will continue. Arnold has escaped and with Kudo's [Minus Clear] being the bane that throws all the dark experience down the drain, I'm sure this will bring Kudo to the very top of the bounty board for the Dark Pulse.
I was also hoping Shiro's abilities would finally be revealed but he was relagated to just a cameo. Sigh. Next time, hopefully.
One thing I've also been craving for a while is a volume that focuses more on Tsuchi and Mizuri as I feel like they're the least developed with the cast. Kudo and Hinota had volumes dedicated to them when they weren't together and Kuki and Raika had their focus in the debut. Hope you'll put that into consideration.
With all that being said, I'll always continue to support your next move. Whether it be a new volume of HEC (Yay!) or Black Witch (Yay too!), I'll be waiting!
