This is one of the most anime books I’ve ever read. The main protagonist, Max, has an overpowered ability, spiky red hair and the determination to see him to the top. His mentor is called Sakura of the Golden Blade, his teacher also has spiky hair, a dishevelled outfit and constantly smokes a cigarette. There’s a girl whose thing is origami and constantly has a gerbil called Toto. They even did the bit where she lands on top of him and calls him a pervert. There’s flashbacks in the middle of action scenes. The book makes a good start at hitting all the tropes in anime and I believe, with four more books stretching ahead of it, that it can go the distance.

I love it.

Honestly it reminds me a lot of why I started to getting into anime and my thoughts at the time. This book, like all good anime, is like the characters are having philosophical discussions by punching each other. Max needs to escape the orphanage and climb the mysterious tower to find his sister. The gerbil girl wants people to take her seriously and respect her, despite her legacy. The bad guys are up to evil schemes because of their convictions (that they should rule). It all flows together naturally and none of the plot points ever feel forced.

This is not a great work of fiction or anything but it is fun. The characters aren’t particularly deep and are a bit tropey but it’s strung together in a very entertaining fashion. At this point I’ve read it three times and I never regretted it. And, if anything I’ve written sounds like something you’d be interested in, I recommend you read it too.