Spy Classroom
a review by enricoc01
a review by enricoc01
Ok, for starters. I found this light novel for pure chance almost a year ago. I was starting to read light novels, and the theme sure piqued my interest instantaneously: spy girls. Just that was enough to buy me. And, wow, I never expected it to be that good. I literally love all the things, from the characters to the prose.
So, what is Spy Room? To give you a quick summary, seven girls were reunited to form a special team of spies, and the objective of this group was to conclude an Impassable Mission, in other words, a mission with 99% chance of failure. And the interesting thing is that all of the girls were close to drop out of their institutional facilities. So how are they going to conclude this mission? And then the story goes.
Got interested? If yes, you can go immediately and read, or you can read my review, which I will just talk about things I like, WITHOUT spoilers. You can rest assured.
Why do I like this series?
First, it would be, obviously, the theme/setting. Spies. I love spies. I love 007, and Cold War. Oh man, I really loved studying Cold War, with all the spies, the devices and strategies. And so, after entering in the anime world, wondered: where are the spies animes/mangas/LNs? I just watched Princess Principal (go watch, an amazing anime). After this, I read Spy x Family, but it was just comedy; not actual espionage. And then I came across Spy Room. Summing up, it was love at first sight.
And then I read. And holy crap, the volume 1 was AWESOME. Incredibly well-written, with loveable characters and an insane storytelling, which contributed directly with the plot. Do you know, when you read something, that the author may has been diverting your attention? It is in the same level. It was deliberate, and it was incredible seeing the structure crumbling apart as you read more and more. Truly amazing! It has, probably, one of the most amazing plot twists I have ever seen!
After vol 1, vol 2 and 3 were equally amazing. And vol 4 ended the first season of Spy Room with an awesome volume.
Now, talking about things more specifically.
Continuing about the theme, it is espionage. And, for me, the best work of espionage I have ever seen on a Japanese media. I have yet to read a few more of it, but Spy Room sure is amazing.
It delves on devices and themes spies face, such as friendship or resolution with the mission. No only that, it shows us the steps of espionage, that is gathering intel, gathering information about everything, and then strike.
Not gonna lie, it has a bit of shonen present there. The girls have “powers”, which doesn’t exist in the real world. But it does not affect the plot significatively. They are not Deus Ex-Machina, so I don’t see a problem. On the contrary, it is really amazing how each one of them uses their power.
Now, since we are talking about them, let’s talk about characters.
Oh man, I love the girls from Spy Room. Each one of them. Sure, I have my preferences, but all of them are really loveable and entertaining to read.
And not only that, they are well-written. Each one of them has their own struggles and inner conflicts, and Takemachi develops them in a really good way. I was surprised to see Tia’s development, for example. I didn’t expect that!
And it goes on. All of them will get their development, in one way or another. My favourite is Tia. Oh man I so fucking love her. But I love all the others. Annette and Elna are sooooo cute.
Ok, enough of characters. Let’s talk about worldbuilding.
Honestly speaking, I found it a bit lacking. It is not bad by all means, but I think that we needed a bit more of geographic context to understand better the world and the threats. Albeit we do have a good explanation on the Empire, the rest of the world are a bit too vague in my opinion.
On the other hand, the description of the Republic of Deen is good. And when there is the comparison between it and The Federal State of Musaia, we see that it was really well-done.
Not only the descriptions were accurately and distinctive, the reaction of the characters posed a really heavy weight on it. For a quick example, they didn’t know what was a metro haha.
The last thing is the prose, storytelling and these kinds of things.
I would be lying if I said that it is not one the charms of this light novel. The prose was somewhat nice, not that great nor something to ramble a lot about it, but I will have to talk about the storytelling.
When something has a really good storytelling, you will know. It is not something that can pass unseen. And that is what happened with Spy Room.
The structure of Spy Room is amazing. I already talked about it a bit ago, but volume 1 was incredible, largely thanks to the storytelling. It dictated the pacing and understanding of the story, and when you finish, you will be “Oh, so that’s what it was about.”, and something “click” on your head. So you go check if you didn’t miss something, and you definitely missed, but is passed unnoticed. And that’s the time when you realize how good it was. Can’t talk too much because it is a huge spoiler, but go read it :)
Volume 4, too, had an insane structure. Vols 2 and 3 were not that remarkable, but they used the structure/storytelling on a different way, which is obviously a spoiler, so no comment.
Ops, sorry, forgot something. The illustrations! This is pretty important for light novels, so I will put some here, and be surprised, Tomari has a great art, that fits really well with Spy Room!
And that’s it! I think I already talked a bit too much, as always. So, final thoughts!!
If you want a refreshing and enjoyable light novel, with a light read and good content, Spy Room is perfect for you! The characters are great, the pacing is good, the plot and storytelling are amazing, and the theme is what really shines!
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