Kasou Ryouiki no Elysion or better yet, I just remember it as Elysion. I had first picked this up off of a certain well-known site and read the first volume. I'm writing this after about two years so I won't recall much about the first volume but let me say that the synopsis and the first volume itself had left an impact on me. When I started to read, it reminded me a bit of mahouka koukou but I persisted seeing it as it put some VRMMORPG aspects to it which is not too rare these days with SAO and the like. I want to describe the first volume as bittersweet it had the typical qualities and elements there is nothing new and are the repeatedly seen elements throughout many other series. What stood out was the emotional impact, and it was something to remember...or maybe I'm just an emotional person.
Unfortunately only the first volume was translated hence I didn't finish it back then. The emotional impact is what brought me to find this story once more, two years later. Depending on certain light novels, some never get translated or take maybe years. In the case of Elysion, I was pretty sure I stalked it a good full year but then gave up waiting and returned to anime sprees. I jump back and forth between mangas, light novels, or anime but usually dabble in the anime side if you look at my list. Now two years later I was thinking they had finished translating it but couldn't find it on the site. The Japanese title was diffcicult to remember and all I had to go off of was Elysion in the title, eventually I found it just yesterday by looking through MAL and I have just finished reading the entire series. Sorry for this little background story of mine but I wanted to point out that it was memorable and that I had looked for it again after two years, the title Elysion had in a sense haunted me.
Here's the actual review...
Elysion is just a simple decent light novel. It's not spectacular nor well-known as the author was a beginner, but the moments it has are on par to the stuff that SAO, Mahouka, Dungeon and simply any other light novel that presents a story. After all, they were written for the same audience...us! The story is quite straightforward, there was not much of any comedy besides the romantic teasings that are typical in many shows. The fight scenes are just as straightforward detailing their every moves. What Elysion focuses on is on the emotional level, in every volume the main character was tasked to save at least one girl. He doesn't give them advices he's there as emotional support and also somehow saves them from death at the same time, the characters he save also saved themselves on their own. Elysion is just a small generic shounen that didn't get as popular compared to others, and therefore ended with three volumes with an emotional wrap yet still an open-ending that can be continued off of. The characters aren't exactly unique and in the end it was a clash between falling into despair and the strong will of the heart. In the end, Elysion is just a tiny generic shounen light novel series that should get some more acknowledgment, it's only three volumes so what harm will it do if you already have read the 5/10+ volume light novel series.
Sorry and thank you for putting up with my lameass review and crazy monologue, I hope you at least give Elysion a try and enjoy it like I did.
