Time for a public service announcement:
If you ever end up in a fantasy world where there are adventurers and roles with special abilities and all that, team up with someone who fights with fisticuffs. That way, even if you set your weapons down to, for example, go tour a library, you don’t find yourself helpless if, say, book monsters attack. So always travel with a Tifa or a Yang.
Now back to your regularly scheduled review.
Cindy’s magic was going out of control last time in Final Fantasy Lost Stranger, and volume 5 opens as Shogo, Sara, and others try to help her find the will to survive. After that and some theories on magic, Shogo and his group finally remember their whole purpose for coming to Mysidia. Leaving their equipment behind, they enter the huge, huge library with a map that’s the size of a hardcover dictionary. They’re also warned about “nonexistent rooms”, rumored places where visitors can get trapped. Of course, they end up in a strange room where monsters in books start attacking, and they manage to meet a strange man who wants to wants the group to find another man in this labyrinth. And then there’s a sketchbook, a status ailment, and the Final Fantasy universe’s most worthless form of its fire summon. Oh, and Shogo finally admits to Sharuru he’s from another world!
…I thought he did already? Not that it mattered, since they knew already because Yuko told them.
Lost Stranger ends one arc and starts another in the most vanilla way possible on both ends. It’s the equivalent of really wanting a soda and you get some flat bargain brand: the drink is not bad, but you wouldn’t call it refreshing either. Like the whole secret library rooms aspect. Of course whenever there’s a rumor in an adventure/fantasy story, it proves to be true. But it happens after a boring conversation about whether to give up info on Shogo’s Libra and then the rule among adventurers to not discuss where they’re from. Not an exciting conversation, and not an exciting development right after when they — surprise! — get attacked with no way to defend themselves.
Also seems dumb that Yuko felt comfortable enough to tell Sharuru and the others that she and her brother were from another world, but she didn’t want Shogo to know. Sharuru feels open enough know with Shogo to talk a little about her own past, but it wasn’t deeply moving. It’s the most serious conversation in this volume, but you get so many of these in between meeting strangers and strange monsters that neither talk nor action shines brightly in the story.
One highlight (besides the art, including a chocobo-shaped sigh which was adorable) is the guy in the robe they’re searching for and, presumedly, his history. That could prove to be very intriguing regarding the overall plot. I also liked seeing a Boss monster who could talk and get irritated when Shogo’s big move turns out to be a bust. More of that, less of this…meh-ness. Perhaps the most significant thing that happens is one character gets stuck as a toad. Which they still will be in volume 6, and without a lot of other story developments, Final Fantasy Lost Stranger readers don’t need to prioritize this entry.