ネコソギラジカル〈上〉十三階段

Zaregoto #7

by NisiOisiN

Genres: Light Novel, Mystery, Japanese Literature

601 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Nisio Isin (西尾維新 Nishio Ishin), frequently written as NisiOisiN to emphasize that his pen name is a palindrome, is a Japanese novelist and manga writer. He attended and left Ritsumeikan University without graduating. In 2002, he debuted with the novel Kubikiri Cycle, which earned him the 23rd Mephisto Award at twenty years of age.

He currently works with Kodansha on Pandora, the Kodansha Box magazine, and Faust, a literary magazine containing the works of other young authors who similarly take influence from light novels and otaku culture. He was also publishing a twelve volume series over twelve months for the Kodansha Box line; Ryusui Seiryoin was matching this output, and the Kodansha Box website stated that this is the first time in the world two authors have done twelve volume monthly novel series simultaneously from the same publisher.

In February, 2008, his novel Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases was released in English by Viz Media. Del Rey Manga has already released the first volume in his Zaregoto series. His Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Katanagatari novels have been adapted into anime series. Nekomonogatari (Kuro) has been adapted into an anime TV movie, and Kizumonogatari will be release in theaters this year. Monogatari Series: Second Season, adapted from 6 books in Monogatari Series will air in July 2013. Another of his works, Medaka Box (manga), has been adapted into a two-season anime series.

Reviews

[Kakuzō Akutagawa · Rating 4 out of 5]

After so many books, this is finally the start of the end, the first of the last, the prologue to the epilogue to the best series of books ever written

"On that gravestone, there was no inscription. No letters were engraved. No words were engraved. No names were engraved. This was... Whose grave was this?"


My thoughts after reading "Uprooted Radical (Part One): The Thirteen Stairs"
Written by NisiOisiN
Illustrated by Take

Translation:
This book was fan-translated Hikiken, and holy damn the translation was good. (It may be because of how much I liked the book) but the translation this time around was a spectacular and very good reading experience, the quality was superb. Props to the translator for doing such an incredibly good job and props to everyone who worked on this fan translation, it was the best one so far.

I'll be rereading this book two more times in the future (when vertical releases it and when I read them in Japanese), so maybe I'll update my thoughts on translations when I read them.
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The story:
After the absolutely crazy things that happened in the last volume Ii finally gets to discover what was that fox masked guy and the mysterious group going by the name of "the thirteen stairs"
↓
Enjoyment:
My god, I love zaregoto with the entirety of my being. This volume felt very distinct and different from the rest of the series, I don't know how exactly to describe it but it felt like if zaregoto was turning into something new while still being zaregoto.
This volume didn't have a murder mystery and was more focused on world-building and on the characters, with old and new characters making incredibly good appearances.
This being the first of a three-part story really makes an incredible job at setting the stage for the next two volumes, and it does it splendidly. The number of scenes that this book made me laugh out loud, the number of scenes that made me mourn, the number of scenes this book made my jaw drop, the number of scenes this book made me yell out of amazement but most important of all the scenes that made me go "I love this series, I love this book" were the best out of them all.
This is probably one of the most enjoyable books of zaregoto I've read (all of them are peak enjoyment so this one is very enjoyable even my zaregoto standards)
↓
The verdict:
The first of the final books of the series, I thought the day I would finally read you would never come, but here I am.
This book even without the classic mystery, even without the tragedy, even without a conclusion to the story was an absolute gem. All the characters reference to previous volumes and above of them all the incredible way of writing from NisiOisiN really makes me want to put this book up there in my top 10 favorite books of all time (that so far 6 of them are zaregoto), I loved, I loved, I loved every second, every word of this book. Uprooted Radical (Part One): The Thirteen Stairs is a 8/10

[Kushinaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review in French spoiler free.

Globalement l’un de mes tomes préférés. Malgré quelque petits moments de flottement au début, le rythme est agréable, surtout pour un arc aussi long.
Le plus gros point fort du tome, je pense que c’est Ii. J’adore le Ii de Kubishime, et même si il a eu une certaine évolution dans Cannibal Magical, j’avais trouvé cette évolution peut-être un peu artificielle. Toutefois dans ce tome, je trouve qu’elle devient vraiment intéressante, même si certaines révélations m’ont déçu (sur les raisons de son caractère notamment), j’apprécie de plus en plus le personnage, et j’espère que ça va se poursuivre par la suite.

D’autres personnages sont vraiment incroyables dans ce tome, Izumu bien sûr, mais aussi Houko et bien entendu Takashi Saitou, qui devient très intéressant en tant qu’antagoniste. Plein de thématiques intéressantes abordées, même si elles sont pour la plupart dans la continuité du tome 6, je trouve que ce tome les aborde mieux. Un très bon tome, qui introduit l’arc final en beauté, j’espère que la suite sera à la hauteur.

[Zakdj · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is part 1 of 3 of Nisioisin’s “Final” instalment into the Zaregoto series, the quotations are ignoring the numerous spinoff media and eventual volume 10, but “Final” sounds more conclusive.

This is a very major shift In style from the previous 6, as its now far less focused on mysteries and a lot more on developing characters and themes established in prior novels. It definitely feels like Nisio wanted to be grand with ending the series, characters from previous novels get brought back or mentioned, incidents are recontextualised, and Iichan’s development is definitely coming too a close.

Thats great, ending the series with this kind of bang is fun, but this suffers from being a setup novel like volume 4 was to volume 5. In vacuum by itself, this novels fine, its fanservicy feeling at a lot of points but is genuinely trying to setup this grand conclusion. If it lands or not is 8 and 9’s responsibility.

One shift I can see being off putting is the jump from mystery fiction to, and I don’t have a more eloquent way to put it, Jojo esque battle shonen, where people have abilities with types of categories to define what they do and names that could sound like stands if you try hard enough.
I can see this being absolutely detrimental to people’s enjoyment, as it’s a major departure, but for me the groundwork was set in volume 6 for a heavier focus on themes than mystery, with this being the full leap. My love of volume 6 has be hopeful he can pull it off again, but that remains in the future to be seen.

For now, I’m hopeful, but volume 7 by itself is entirely okay. It has interesting setup, it just needs to deliver on them.

[Kev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love when my murder mystery series just doesn't care about being that anymore...or feels like padding.

[Lybraa · Rating 4 out of 5]

9.38/10