*drops from counter*

I'm ga—

Hello all once again to the once in every half decade update to my Random Book! Today's topic of discussion will be Forbidden Chains—

Okay, no, it's not about Forbidden Chains since that kills me a little more on the inside than Shida's spelling errors, but it's related to it.

Welcome to the 2019 retrospective of the CCEU! Arguably one of the biggest years for CCEU in it's two year run.

ALSO, MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING AHEAD. I WILL BE DISCUSSING DETAILS ABOUT THE BOOKS AND MAJOR PLOT TWISTS SO I REALLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THE STORIES FIRST BEFORE READING THIS RETROSPECTIVE.

Unless your fine being spoiled. In which case, let me blow your minds and make you want to read these fantastic stories.

I wan to sit down and take the chance to talk about the books that were written and delve into each one giving my thoughts and perspective on it. Yes, it's kind of like... seven reviews compressed into one long review, but... hear me out, okay?

And yes, this does mean I'll be jerking myself off about Z World and Generations, so I'll save that for last so you guys can skip it if you don't want to hear me shill myself. It's like masturbating, we all do it, but no one wants to watch someone else do it (unless that's your kink then by all means I stan your turn ons).

I'll just go through this author by author, and I think I'll start with the ever-so-wonderful Little_Cute_Cookie since she deserves the spotlight! (Since let's be real me and Shida are always hogging it for ourselves)

So, in 2019, Cookie has written one story (Silence), co-written another story (Re:Isekai), and wrapped up her first story (Shadows).

I'll be focusing first on the stuff that was published in 2019 for Shadows, which included 10: Settling the Score, 11: Supremacy, and 12: Truth Beneath Lies.

These three chapters were some rollercoaster of a journey. Pizza place shooting was kind of the main event, you know? Now, while Shadows' story was poorly executed and rushed, I did like the plot twist that came in 12, where all the events in Shadows was actually... well, all in Akari's head?!

Yep, this is the bit where Shadows fits into the CCEU. Akari, being the holder of a exclusive deck, Shibaru, was of course going to be a prime target of Backlion (or rather, the Void) during the story of Cray's Collapse. Luckily for Akari, she survived the assault of death at her, but unluckily, she ended up going through a bunch of traumatic events in her head, such as her deck burning, killing Lucine, and watching all her friends betray her by wearing some goofy looking fox masks for this guy named Rentaro, who, coincidentally, is the one who shipped Callum to Japan. Very CCEU cash cash money of you.

Okay, I know I'm ripping on Shadows a lot, but considering all of our first books have glaring issues (Cray's Collapse is chock full of edge and unnecessary plot threads, rushed arcs and general fuckery, and Forbidden Chains is well... for gods sake, it's Forbidden Chains) (Thunderous Rebellion's first half was a drag of slice of life while it danced around Raijin's daddy- err... family issues and we don't talk about that other certain book since I want to burn it out of my brain as much as Shida does) it's expected that Shadows had some too.

Personally, I'm more glad that Cookie decided to rush through this and complete it with the resources at her disposal, since it's allowed her to make better things like Re:Isekai and Silence, so the ending of Shadows... is pretty fine, all things considered.

Glad that it got wrapped up and was able to get a very spicy sequel—

That's right, we're moving to my wet dreams, Re:Isekai! You see, me and Cookie co-wrote this together. So, while Re:Isekai is the sequel to Shadows, it's also kind of like a spiritual successor to Shida's C4 OVA, Planet Ryuzaki, where Backlion gets yeeted to Cray... just like Akari. How's that confusing for ya?

And there's a reason why I call it my wet dreams. IT'S BECAUSE HALF OF THE BOOK IS CLARET GOING ON AN OP MASSACRE WHILE HAVING A HAREM OF LADIES! HELL YEAH!

Truth be told, this was just my testing grounds for writing like a full-fledged light novel author. I read some SAO, read some NGNL, some OreGairu and thought I could write my own light novel, for sure! I even set my deadline to before my summer holiday ended!

It didn't turn out that way.

Okay, look, I wrote most of the story. I tried to cobble together something epic, something grand. A tale of two fate-crossed lovers eventually going up against the big bad entity who's broken as fuck, Claret. I was strapped in for the long-ish ride. I had this whole plan of Claret just being broken as fuck, showing off his big dick energy, screaming at you that might is always right, and slaying Progenitors left right and centre, all while developing Backlion and Akari's relationship (which is what the focus should've been throughout my clutter).

I was too over my head, and too ambitious. I tried to execute something, and it didn't work. I had to get bitch slapped by Shida (as Chronojet) to get my head out of my ass and make things right. Claret being OP was boring. I had no idea how to write a good harem. I was slowly ruining mine and Cookie's vision.

So, I decided to change tracks... and this is how Re:Isekai turned out.

At the start, I was too obsessed with Claret Sword. So I switched gears to Backlion and Akari mid-way through. What blossomed as a result was a beautiful romance that's a bit like Romeo and Juliet. Except the Montague's are screaming Might is Right and the Capulets are lead by Luard. Yep, what a recipe for success...

But, ignoring all of that Cray-related bullshit, the book also had a focus on actual hand to hand combat. Not the kind of card game combat, but legitimate people using swords, magic, stuff like that. For my first time writing this kind of fantasy stuff, I feel like I did good. Not the best, but it was entertaining. We even had Luard and Morfessa do a genkai koete in their fights against Claret Sword. Until Morfessa died and Luard was hospitalised.

ALSO, I can't help but mention the art in this book. Yeah, I drew that art. I drew Amaterasu naked. I drew Gredora's massive titties. I drew Akari's gruesome death scene. I also gave up like half way through because the work load was too much. But it's fine! We got to see loli Kristy!

Speaking of loli Kristy, Re:Isekai let me put a very nice bridge between Cray's Collapse and Z World in chapter V. Yeah, Shida, I still remember what you said, but fuck you, the chapter lived up to what I said and you can't deny how cool it was to see Yza and Ayato back kicking ass. Before they got their asses kicked. Then Yza went epilogue mode.

While we're still sidetracked, the last chapter being a C4 OVA was 100% my decision and my decision alone. Cookie wanted a proper ending, I was like "fuck it", then made my own one. So I'm sorry for doing that like an asshole. Do I regret it? Yeah. Was it worth it? Abso-fucking-lutely. Would I write a proper ending? No. I'm done with Re:Isekai. I'm not particularly proud of it, but it has its good moments, its bad moments, some borderline hentai illustrations and was a team effort that I spent my whole summer slaving through.

All in all, I rate it a Backlion x Akari/10.

Oh right, I should talk about Backlion x Akari before I move onto Silence. Backlion x Akari is probably one of the strongest relationships made during Re:Isekai. They're both desperate, lonely teenagers who start off by hating each other, despite being the two only people from Earth (that they're aware of) on Cray. Backlion just regrets what he done, and plans to make things right by showing off his might and sabotaging Claret on the inside like some 4D chess plays, while Akari is just sticking by the only people she can trust, Dragwizards, while she searches for a way home.

Through their journey through Cray, Backlion and Akari's encounters open up questions on each of their actions, and whether if they are truly enemies or not. Love is formed when Akari tells Backlion it's okay to be himself and not to have to put up a front as a defence to protect himself from what has transpired as a result of becoming the Void. Where Akari forgives Backlion, Backlion gives Akari trust, a friend on Cray that she's always secretly wanted. Eventually, they team-up, seek out Spectral Duke Dragon (shout out to the home boy) and fight Claret in one of the most epic fights in IX. God, that was a good chapter.

Anyways, I'll probably do some essay about Backari some time in the future. But for now, Re:Isekai's cliffhanger ending transitions smoothly to Z World where—

Ah, wait. We have a couple more books to go through before we go to Z World's first half ending.

You know, I think I'll save Silence for when I talk about the big boys at the end. So let's head on over to kaiishida Spiral Terra, since from #24 onwards was all published in 2019!

Look, I've already posted a whole retrospective dedicated just for Spiral Terra, so I don't think I can really say much here when you can just... read that review and get a more in-depth thought about it. But if you want a summary-

Act I and II? Bangers. Act III? Not so banger arc, but very cha cha real smooth ending. Ryuuga? Decent protagonist. Hikaru? Best boy. Aijou? Best girl. Fights? HARUKA MIRAAAAAAIIIIIIII YEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Also, I still need to shout at Shida for naming his sequel Spiral Soul when he told us he didn't know yet. HEY SHIDA FUCK YOU FOR CALLING YOUR SEQUEL SPIRAL SOUL EVEN THOUGH YOU TOLD US YOU DIDN'T KNOW YET YOU PIECE OF LYING SHIT!!!

Okay, that's out of my system and forever etched in the history books. Yeah, roll in the hate comments, I already got one on opening 6 of Z World about plagiarism before the guy deleted it. Oh yeah, I'm rolling in your misery. I love tasting that sweet salty goodness.

Jokes aside, we're also going to save Spiral Soul for the big boys at the end, so you know what that means, don't you?

Y O Z O R A

I S

Y Z A

Welcome to Z World's portion of the book, baaaaabyyyyyyyyyy!

Let's be real, my work ethic for Z World went down the drain this year. Had a whole year to make it, but I took a hiatus from April to... September, holy fuck. I'm terrible. I'm sorry. You guys should be on like volume 12 or 13 by now, not 10! I messed everything up!!!

I messed everything up even more with my poor work ethic. Again, I'm saving that one for the big boys. Oh yeah, it's all coming together. Talk about bringing an old meme into the new decade, amirite?

Okay. Bad jokes aside, let's dissect Z World's first half which started from #36 to #49. Basically, the arc can be summed up as the arc where the Hooded Figures goes "hippity hoppity your Zeroth Dragons are my property", Ryuzaki and Callum set aside their differences and become a kickass team, and Gyze r*pes a loli with tentacles while Yozora has a mental breakdown while talking to the legendary Yza.

Let's be honest. THE GYZE ARC WAS COOL AS SHIT. You can interpret it metaphorically or literally, you can argue for either way.

You got Callum vs Gyze, where Callum realises that his once sadistic tendencies and the wish to kill others have been subdued and turn into guilt, because he refrained from murdering during the entirety of Z World and spent time with actual friends, like Izanoku. At the same time, hearing Mai's pained screams makes his PTSD comes back to him, which makes him mistake Gavrail as Mirai, and get a boost of encouragement to kill Gyze as a result, since he's only doing this for Izanoku is sake, and no one else's.

Ryuzaki vs Gyze had one of the sickest "No U" moments where Ryuzaki slapped Heritage and dodged Gyze's damage ping. It's like Chrono vs Gyze from the anime, if Chrono wasn't a virgin but the chad Ryuzaki instead. Of course, for the plot, he has to lose, but where Callum's fight was melancholic, Ryuzaki's fight was badass. Besides, it has one of my favourite OSTs, being "Lost Paradise" by Pile, where I had to translate the lyrics myself since the ones online were hot ass.

This leaves us with Yozora vs Gyze. The prose in this chapter was very nice. Metaphors were on point. I liked that Yozora had the wings of Callum and the sword of Ryuzaki as symbolism. That was cool.

WHAT WAS COOLER WAS YOZORA TALKING TO YZA CAUSING EYE-LEAKAGE! HELL YEAH!

Yozora vs Gyze was cool as shit, and 49 was even crazier. We got Yozora's mental breakdown after the fight, and the big reveal that Yozora is Yza!

Yeah, I've been saving that twist for a helluvalong time and I know some of you probably figured it out before then, but it's fine. What I'm more excited to talk about is the second half where, by some turn of fate, Yozora gets side stepped and Zeon becomes the protagonist.

And we can blame the most hated character in the CCEU, Kakusei Amehana, for this!

You know, besides ignoring the fact that Kristy was like "hey Yozora, you don't exist lol" then went M.I.A like a flaker on a good day, everyone's strangely hooked by the B Plot of the obsessive yandere Kakusei, and his war against Zeon, who's inner thoughts have been revealed through the starting monologue of each chapter.

Oh yeah, in the second half, there are a ton of monologues. Instead of weaving them throughout the chapter, like I used to, I just decided to slap it in the front since it made it clearer, set the tone for the chapter, and also explained the inner thoughts and feelings of the character in the spotlight. That way, everyone can understand that character better.

Zeon's monologue was one of the most heart wrenching for me to write personally. It's really tragic, since his whole character arc is about falling in love with a girl he can't have, and wanting to protect her from Kakusei, who keeps advancing on her regardless, despite the fact said girl has a boyfriend.

At first, when I wrote #53, revealing Kakusei's true personality, there was very little reaction over it, so I thought everyone just glossed over it. Okay, just the usual, I pull edgy plots all the time, there's no difference here. Then, out of nowhere, I'm hit with the huuuuuuge hate train that's stanning for "Kakusei is the worst character in existence" and I realise, "oh shit, people hate him!" even though he's not the main antagonist, and Ayaza is!

It's almost ironic in a way. The plot that I want to tell is less popular than the side plot. Well, it did develop Zeon, Rukia, hell even Shika, with his cuckolding of Kakusei via Hiku, and also continued where Re:Isekai left off. Backlion and Akari joined the main cast, and we even had a sick Cardfight between Backlion and Kaiko.

In the end, Z World is more character driven than ever before. With Yozora's kidnapping by Ayaza, and Zeon taking action against Shouri, the stakes are higher than ever, and the return of Yza is inevitable.

Will Yozora go out with a bang, or a whimper?

Well, I already know the results... but you guys are just going to wait.

Let's not spend too much longer on Z World, since I'd rather get into the main meat of this 2019 retrospective.

V SERIES CCEU.

That's right! On the 20th July, Spiral Soul, the continuation of Spiral Terra, hit Wattpad shelves all across the world with its explosive flash forward debut regarding Tokyo's Finest! On the 11th October, Silence, the V Series entry of Cookie, hit Wattpad shelves all across the world with its first person perspective travel to Setsuna Academy! On the 16th November, Generations Volume 1, the V Series entry of Fox (hey, that's me!), hit Wattpad shelves— you get the idea.

But the 16th November is no ordinary date. It's Yza's birthday! Pretty cool birthday present, right?

However... these three books don't deserve to just get lumped in. They deserve their own parts, because each of them are making waves, baby. Not the regular kind, but the vibing kind of waves. Basically, in filthy casual words, I'm gonna do a review on each, for what they've published up until now.

I have no idea when the first one will go out, but I'll be working on it during my spare time, if I get any. Hopefully, all three will be out before January ends. If not, then... blame my poor work ethic.

And poor work ethic is going to play a very prevalent theme when discussing one of these three books.

But, but, that's a secret for now, unless you already know what happened. But it was a good twist, right? Right?!

I try so hard... *sniff*

Okay, all the jokes, tears, and unbelievable work load aside... Happy (Late) New Years and to another decade of CCEU goodness.

Remember kids, always eat your veggies, stay in school, and read the CCEU.

That's all, Fox out!