Accel World, Vol. 12

アクセル・ワールド / Accel World Light Novels #12

by Reki Kawahara

A new hotshot Burst Linker appears, taking Silver Crow down. Haruyuki, still struggling to obtain the Theoretical Mirror ability, sees Wolfram Cerberus as a roadblock in his larger quest to get stronger and defeat Archangel Metatron. He soon meets Chocolat Puppeteer, a duel avatar made out of...chocolate?! With her help, will Silver Crow finally grow into the fighter all seven legions need to successfully carry out their mission against Metatron?

Genres: Light Novel, Science Fiction, Action

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2010

About the author

Kawahara Reki (川原礫) is the writer of Sword Art Online and Accel World. He also uses the pen name Kunori Fumio. His hobby is cycling.

Reviews

[Tuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accel World v12, the Red Crest, provides a brief reprieve from action involving Wolfram Cerberus as it relates to the plot for most of the volume. Attention is instead put on Haruyuki learning about the theoretical mirror ability which involved the help of new Chocolat Puppeteer avatar, a return to a focus on the Accelerated Research Society, and a new female antagonist that displays an interesting human side to her that makes her multidimensional.

The major conflict of the volume returns us to the Unlimited Neutral Field. While it seemed like a spur of the moment, “Chiyuri will do her best for Haru,” subarc, it became something more compelling and involving. We were able to hear how Chiyuri is really one of the best players ever as she embraced the full aspect of Brain Burst like many of the others, hunting and hiding out in the field for long periods of time just to train and learn her ability as well as find monsters to help Haru develop. But beyond that, we also had a random run in with one of the more compelling avatar designs, the Chocolate Puppeteer, made out of chocolate. While we got the usual random fanservice scenes (Haru licking her fingers), we received deep and emotional friendship scenes and bonding with characters switching sides after going through a very hard-fought battle.

I enjoyed how this fight enabled Haru to gain a new ability and link it to the main plot so that it didn’t feel like a hastily thought together plot just for the sake of prolonging the series. Further, with the ability we were able to see that we can now tackle the elephant in the Unlimited Neural Field, the Archangel Metatron. How they will do it, who knows, but I’m hoping it involves Wolfram Cerberus.

Lastly, I’m glad Wolfram Cerberus number 1 returned in the end of the volume. I love his honesty, purity, and innocence that is so nice to see in Burst Linkers. I’m assuming something with the Accelerated Research Society is the source of his personality shifts and ability, as has been speculated by the characters previously.

As usual the volume provided an excellent opportunity to add onto the mystery of the early days of Brain Burst. Finally having the true event of the killing of the Red King displayed and how Kuroyukihime was played like a fiddle was fantastic. Even Kuroyukihime is not as perfect as is shown, and the mystery identity of who was the one that put her onto that path was mindblowing. Well done Reki Kawahara, well done.

[Noel Thingvall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of episodic plate spinning as the plot threads nudge slightly forward.

Wolfram Cerberus continues to be an interesting new adversary as his multiple personalities come into play, and the angle of him being forced to fight.

Magenta Scissor is a great new villain. Interesting design and power, and her nihilistic motivation.

Chocolate Puppeteer is definitely a fan submission because her power and design doesn't really fit the supposed rationale for how avatars are formed. I could really do without the licking scene (really, Reki?) but her character is fun, and a player forming a bond with a roaming NPC monster is interesting.

Crow's new light power is interesting, and the mental rational behind it.

I still like the idea of the parasitic ISS kits, especially now that they're being forced on unsuspecting players.

I like that we're getting backstory to the former Red King who Kuroyukihime executed, but I don't like the big revelation that she was manipulated into it by another rival king. I felt the story was stronger when Kuroyukihime made the choice to be a villain, only to regret that and try to start over fresh. This absolves her of that responsibility in a way which makes the character and story less interesting.

The loli harem elements and the shoddy art which emphasizes them continue to be the worst parts of the series, and the sleepover short story, which seems to be there just so Haruyuki can peep on the girls in the bath, and be invited to grope Sky Raker's legs, is just a stretch of gross. These are children, Reki! Keep your focus on the scifi. Or, if you do feel compelled to explore blooming adolescent sexuality, do it with a more mature and considered rationale than appealing to your base of fellow middle aged loli fans.

[Ricardo Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

So... when an author decides to do a contest and create a character based on some fan's suggestion... you get some weird avatar made of chocolate that doesn't really make much sense...
I've realised I've been looking at Accel World the wrong way: while there is a lot that could be done if the focus was on the Accel World and how personal trauma was being interpreted by the game, the author would rather focus on the easy shounen hero growing up aspect of it. A lot of potential is wasted :S
Anyway, some strong reveals about Kuroyukihime's parent, reason why she rebelled against the other leaders and why she's living by herself. If it wasn't for the last 100 pages, it would have been a 1 star.

[sugar jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kuroyukihime’s revelation was awesome asf and made me have a fit in bed as I was reading lol. Very exciting. The chocolate avatar battle was lame though I hope we never see her again. 2nd half of the book was way better, for me at least. Good entry.