Whoever Steals This Book Volume 3 Review
Mifuyu’s home town is cursed; when someone steals a book from her family’s prodigious library, the town begins to enact the plot of the book until the thief is caught. But the thief isn’t who Mifuyu thought it was and right now the town is enslaved by a dangerous, steampunk world, with everyone turning into foxes at an alarming rate. But when Mifuyu eventually returns the book, the townsfolk are not returned; in fact, everyone is gone! Only she and the thief remain; can the pair learn to work together and somehow break the curse once and for all?
Book 3 is the final volume of this tale, based upon the light novel of the same name, and so this volume contains the last section of the steampunk curse, before diving head first into the grand finale. Admittedly, I’ve been lukewarm towards the first two volumes, enjoying them but not in a rush to read the next volume either, but I am pleased to say that not only is the finale good, but it made my feelings for the series as a whole more positive. In my review for the first book, I made an off-hand comment that this series would make a good anime film, but I do hope that comes to pass ‘cos the ending is strong enough to make a really enjoyable family-friendly movie.
The first chapter wraps up the steampunk world, which I was personally glad to see the back of, due to my issue that all the characters were turning into foxes, meaning that it was hard to tell who was who. But the chapter ends with the reveal of the thief, who gives an intriguing backstory and reason for stealing, but their capture soon becomes the least of Mifuyu’s problems, because as soon as the curse is lifted, the town becomes deserted. One of my complaints about the previous volume was that I felt the ticking clock of the cast turning into foxes, seemed to have no purpose, but luckily I was wrong, because it did affect the plot – just not in the way I was expecting! When it’s revealed, it’s really eerie and sets the tone for the rest of the story, and raises the stakes too.
This is the point the story stops becoming an Alice in Wonderland-type story and develops into an emotional journey to not just save the town, but to figure out the depths of the Mikura Hall curse and find a way to break it once and for all. So that means it’s an emotional turning point for the story, which I honestly really did like, and it made a lot of the small dialogue between Mifuyu and Mishiro come together, as well as the reasons as to why the thief tried to steal in the first place. It’s emotionally satisfying and the ending is fulfilling, not reaching the same heights but somewhat similar in feel to the likes of Studio Ghibli and Mamoru Hosoda movies. At the end of this book, the light novel author says that ‘I always felt this story was much more immature than it was elaborate’ and I get what they mean but I also think they’re not giving themselves enough credit for what they created. Just because something is whimsical, fantasy, or even if it’s aimed at a younger audience, doesn’t mean it’s automatically immature.
The final conflict of the story is between Mifuyu and (for all intents and purposes) her grandmother. Her gran passed way before the story started, but her shadow hovers not only over Mifuyu’s life, but the Hall and her whole family. Due to her grandmother’s somewhat elitist view of both her family legacy and books, she not only created the curse but abused her family, including her son and granddaughter Mifuyu. Gran’s actions not only destroyed Mifuyu’s love of books (the one thing Gran held above all else) but also separated their family from the whole town, who also loved books, and doomed a town full of innocent people, only to satisfy her own short-sighted pride. In a lot of media, there’s a trope of ‘forgiving family no matter what’, where because you’re related to someone, you’re supposed to let bygones be bygones and forgive, with the story often painting a family’s horrid actions as ‘out of love’ or maybe ‘not that bad’ in the end, because in the end, all you’ve got is family, right? It’s a reflection of a part of our culture, and especially in Japan where ‘family above all else’ is a central part of their society. It’s a trope that I don’t particularly agree with, and I like that this story doesn’t play into this trope. Whoever Steals this Book makes it very clear that not only was Grandma wrong, but also had a negative effect on her whole family via the abuse she put upon them. Even when the final curse is lifted, and the town is back to normal, there’s not a final reunion with the grandma with hugs and forgiveness around, because she’s the one who created this mess, and now it’s Mifuyu, the new heir’s, turn to put things right and move their legacy past this dark period. Grandma doesn’t get a final say; Mifuyu does, and I like that. It shows Mifuyu’s growth as a person, and the story ends on her terms, and no one else’s.
Emma Schmacker finishes the translation with this book, and again there’s no translation notes but she brings the series to a close with a good, easy to read translation. The art by Kakeru Sora also ends strongly; there are no elaborate set pieces this time, due to wrapping up the curses and the action taking place in the town for the majority of the book, but the flashback scenes with the floating text is well done, and the final face-off, with the heavy winds and such trying to prevent Mifuyu from completing her mission, is also demonstrated well on the page.
Whoever Steals this Book is a fun, emotionally satisfying tale of adventure about how books and stories should be shared and nurtured, not kept away from everyone. It’s a three-part manga that is definitely worth picking up from Yen Press, right now.
Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
