Review of Reprise of the Spear Hero

Japanese author Aneko Yusagi launched the amateur web novel series Rising of the Shield Hero in 2012. Japanese publisher Media Factory licensed the distribution rights to the franchise and began commercially publishing the novel series in 2013. As of this year this core novel series consists of nineteen light novels that have eleven volumes of manga adaptation, and three spin-off “Spear Hero” novels that have two volumes of adapted manga. One Peace Books is the official publisher for the English language translation of Yusagi’s “Record of Four Heroes” fiction franchise, publishing both the core novels and their manga adaptation. One Peace Books has also recently expanded its publication to include the spin-off Reprise of the Spear Hero novel series.

The “Record of Four Holy Heroes” franchise revolves around four young Japanese men from parallel earth versions of Japan summoned to the mystical country of Melromarc to serve as the country’s supreme defenders against monthly surges of demonic invaders. The original “Shield Hero” line of novels followed the cynical almost anti-hero adventures of Naofumi Iwatani, the young man assigned a magic shield as his only effective equipment.

The “Reprise of the Spear Hero” light novel series stars Naofumi Iwatani’s compatriot, the spear wielding warrior Kitamura Motoyasu. During the final battle of the core “Shield Hero” novel series, Kitamura Motoyasu is killed. His spin-off novel series begins with his legendary weapon magically resurrecting him at the very moment he first appeared in the fantastical kingdom of Melromarc. Except while everyone around him is experiencing the summoning of the holy heroes for the first time, Motoyasu is fully conscious that he’s reliving past events. So he sets about an effort to change his future, leading to a sort of sword & sorcery retread of Groundhog Day.

Unlike the dour and cynical protagonist of the “Shield Hero” novels, Kitamura Motoyasu is a shortsighted bumbling fool. In his initial lifetime in Melromarc he was an incorrigible playboy, concerned only with earning glory and adoration. After being betrayed by his female companions, Motoyasu, in his own “Spear Hero” novel series, turns virtually misogynistic, focusing his affections on his fantasy world’s fluffy monster bird beasts of burden. So the first “Reprise of the Spear Hero” novel introduces three new “filolial” transforming bird creature characters largely at the expense of other veteran characters. In the first “Spear Hero” novel, the Sword Hero Amaki Ren, Bow Hero Kawasumi Itsuki, and Princess Melty are marginalized to minor cameo appearances while Filo and Princess Malty are only referenced and don’t literally appear at all. Raphtalia appears only in illustrated supplemental reference pages that provide editorial comment on the novel’s proceedings. Naofumi Iwatani serves only as the novel’s milquetoast sidekick character and MacGuffin. He exists only as a figurative carrot on the end of a stick to motivate the brainless Kitamura Motoyasu to action.

The first “Spear Hero” novel is only suitable for readers with some familiarity with the core “Shield Hero” story despite the book’s efforts otherwise. The first “Reprise of the Spear Hero” novel contains several introductory pages to introduce new readers to the setting and context of the novel. Likewise, the book is periodically interspersed with footnotes explaining references and details that only readers familiar with the core “Shield Hero” novels would comprehend. The effort is laudable, but I can’t comprehend any reason whatsoever why any reader would start reading the spin-off Spear Hero novel instead of starting with the original “Shield Hero” novels.

Seemingly as a hybrid result of author Aneko Yusagi’s increasing experience as a novelist and the relative simplicity of the first “Spear Hero” novel’s story, the writing in The Reprise of the Spear Hero is straightforward and coherent, mostly free of the logical flaws, contradictions, inconsistencies, and plot holes that plagued the early “Shield Hero” novels. However, Yusagi’s writing is still not without dubious foible. Yusagi’s writing is roughly at a fifth grade level. The Reprise of the Shield Hero novel is typified by simplistic sentence constructions, short sentences, and a scarcity of sophisticated, multisyllabic words. Unlike the core “Shield Hero” novels that are composed entirely in first person perspective, the first “Spear Hero” novel includes a few pages of third person encyclopedic introduction. But the primary story is told from first person perspective with a practical childish focus. The novel contains virtually no detailed descriptions whatsoever. At most new settings or characters receive a single adjective of description such as “merchant town” or “pink-haired girl.” And the storytelling maintains a frustrating habit of skipping over any event that protagonist Kitamura Motoyasu, and by proxy the author Aneko Yusagi, considers irrelevant, for example, summarizing an entire night of stressful battle with the throwaway phrasing, “We’d been attacked four times during the night. They’d even resorted to arson in the end, before we drove them away.”

The Reprise of the Spear Hero novel is furthermore paradoxically offputting because despite the novel’s simplistic rhetoric and playful, comical tone, the story prominently propagates mature concepts including blunt sexism, sexual and racial discrimination, literal slavery, theft, moral relativism, and casual and indiscriminate murder. Spear Hero Kitamura Motoyasu suffers from such a pronounced narcissistic personality disorder that he practically can’t comprehend existences and lives that don’t benefit or favor him. He sees the world in a virtually psychotic polarity of people he likes and everyone else that is irrelevant and continue living only because he doesn’t bother to kill them. His party members are ethically little better because they either condone his warped perspective or selfishly tolerate it because trying to educate Kitamura is toilsome.

On the positive side, the first Reprise of the Shield Hero novel is a quick, breezy read. The first book is light on narrative substance but doesn’t aspire to be a dramatic epic, either. It’s just disposable, time-killing entertainment, particularly for fans already invested in the world setting and characters. In fact, I can’t recommend the Reprise of the Spear Hero novel to readers unfamiliar with the earlier “Shield Hero” franchise. Despite the “Spear Hero” novel’s effort to make the book accessible, too much of the book’s context requires familiarity with the earlier books to fully resonate. Established fans of the “Record of Four Holy Heroes” narrative may appreciate another dive back into the realm of Melromarc, but this novel is a different perspective and continuity, excluding many of the beloved characters that long-time readers & fans may most adore.