The Spellbook Library Volume 2 Review
“You’re on the spellbeasts’ side, aren’t you?” Emel to Tohru.
Yan (onetime street ruffian) and mysterious black-haired Tohru have passed the entrance exam for the Spellbook Library and have been sent to the public relations department to work under Emel (who’s a princess by birth but a librarian by choice). No sooner have they started than a powerful spellbeast escapes (or is it released?) from its spellbook. With great presence of mind, they seal the raging beast – but to do this, Tohru is forced to use his mysterious necklace with a little spellbook attached. Summoned to appear before an official inquiry to explain what happened, Emel does her best to exonerate her team in the face of fierce opposition from the rival sealing department – but confiscates Tohru’s necklace.
Over a meal in the tavern later on (Emel has a hearty appetite for one so petite in stature!) Tohru tells the other two about the traumatic circumstances that led to him acquiring his necklace and who he really is. This leads to startling revelations about the spellbeast Shiro (who came to Tohru’s aid when sealing the beast in the library) – and Tohru’s true agenda as he confesses, “I came here to steal a spellbook. Once I got it I was going to flee at night.” As Tohru reveals more of his past – and how Shiro rescued him when he was injured and on the run – he also confesses that his aim in getting into the Spellbook Library was to steal the spellbook in which half of Shiro has been confined. The other, smaller version of Shiro is contained within the miniature spellbook on Tohru’s necklace, the only legacy from his parents. Shiro (when not divided in two) is immensely powerful, “That spellbeast, Shiro as you call him, has the power to fell kingdoms,” Emel tells him bluntly. “Were you aware of that?” To which Tohru can only reply, “No. I thought Shiro was joking when he said he was strong…” Emel warns Tohru that the stealing of a spellbook could be treated as treason and punishable by death – but if he and Yan are prepared to fight alongside her, they could revolutionize the library!
When I reviewed Volume 1 of The Spellbook Library, I felt there were promising signs of an interesting fantasy idea that was having to struggle hard to get out. The problem with setting up a story like this that’s dependent on the timing of plot revelations (and especially so in SFF) is that if you put too much out there too soon, readers will become overwhelmed – whereas if you don’t share and foreshadow enough, the subsequent reveals will feel as if they are shoehorned in and readers will not be convinced enough to buy into that story. In Volume 2, Uta Isaki gives us most of Tohru’s vital backstory in one long flashback which explains a lot but still threatens to unbalance the flow of the other chapters. While I can see why Kodansha say in the blurb that this series will appeal to fans of Witch Hat Atelier, there’s no doubt that Kamome Shirahama gets her manga off to a much more successful start, establishing the magic system of the world they inhabit and showing how protagonist Coco’s one misguided action sets everything in motion, for good or for ill. The Spellbook Library hasn’t quite achieved that balance yet so it’s still something of a bumpy ride. Even though the trio of Emel, Yan and Tohru is firmly established in these chapters and the three work effectively together as a team (in spite of the rival librarians from the elite sealing department), it feels as if Yan and Emel (pictured on the front cover) are supporting characters.
On the plus side, Uta Isaki is an experienced mangaka (even if not in the fantasy field) and even though the clothes and hairstyles are in the ubiquitous magic academy style, she lends some personal touches to her characters and a dramatic, serious tone which lifts the story above the many cookie-cutter fantasy academy manga and light novels still being churned out these days.
The translation is again by Jacqueline Fung and, aided by Phil Christie’s lettering, really helps to convey the story in a readable and engaging way. A colour picture at the start is a bonus, as are the character sketches at the end of Ruslan and Aysel (two new significant characters) as well as Shiro, Tohru’s problematic spellbeast. Volume 3 has what looks like a placeholder date of July 24th 2025, presumably because this manga is part of the experimental English-first Kodansha Reader Portal Series ‘with the latest chapters debuting for free on Kodansha.us.’ which means that this is very much a work in progress. If you create an account, you can read chapters of the work in progress (up to Chapter 11 at the time of writing) as well as two other titles in media res: BLOOD BLADE by Oma Sei and Re:Anima by Yoshinori Matsuoka.
Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
