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Please note this is a combined review of both Dance of Spring and Dance of Summer.

TL;DR. An urban fantasy that is set in an alternate version of Japan called Yamato, where the cycle of day and night, the cycle of seasons are operated by two archers and four agents, who are human beings, instead of the gods who created the cycles as they found the job too monotonous.

This series is a beautiful essay on love. Not just romantic love but everything, parental and family love, friendship, animals, and most importantly, the beauty of nature. Needless to say, the writing is very poetic too. It's simply ... aesthetic and exquisite like classical literature and a joy to read, but it doesn't feel too passé or cringey. Okay, it does get a little mushy in Dance of Spring but I guess overall it's a nice mix of action, drama, and tearjerkers.

As mentioned above, there are four agents of the seasons and two archers of dawn and dusk. With their personal guardians, making this an ensemble cast of twelve protagonists. These agents and archers are chosen by the respective gods and perform all the changing of day and night and seasons on behalf of them. The four agents also possess unique superpowers: Agent of Spring can manipulate plants, Summer can manipulate animals and insects, Autumn controls life and death, while Winter can freeze everything and create anything out of ice (Elsa? LOL).

These people might sound like some cool superheroes who are protecting and governing the smooth running of Yamato. But no, they are living perhaps the saddest lives a human being can ever imagine. Once you are chosen as an agent or archer, there is no turning back and you are basically "doomed" to live a hermit-ish life till your last breath. No more family, friends, school, bunkasai, karaoke... Not to mention, as realistic as it can be, farmers would definitely hate Winter, ski resort owners would hate Summer, yakuza would hate Dawn, etc. This created a lot of tensions, resulting in cults and secret organisations constantly trying to eliminate the agents and eradicate a certain season in Yamato. And they did! Dance of Spring retells an event where the Agent of Spring was kidnapped and held for ten years. So yes, during those ten years Yamato didn't have the season spring and it was snowing till June every year. Needless to say it created a lot of unrest and protests, and sadly the agents and their guardians became the ones to blame.

As you read further into the story, you will realise this world isn't as beautiful as it was initially introduced to you. All the characters are very adorable but they are also flawed as hell. Their roles might sound like some kind of superheroes but they are also human beings who have their urges and desires. So, this is a story of how these unfortunate people trying to survive and live a meaningful and fruitful life, while their freedom and freewill are basically taken away. It's also a story of how they seek love, no matter if it's family love, friendship, or romantic love. Dance of Summer focuses a lot on the romance of several characters and it will be an emotional, moving, but also wholesome ride.

The writing is top-notch. I especially enjoyed how the author did world building and character building. Every tiny piece of information is revealed to the readers slowly together with the progress of the story, without much info dump. As a result, it's very easy to understand and get yourself immersed in the story despite the world setting and lore are quite complicated and expansive. There are also moments when you might feel like reading poetry, and the prose could get really beautiful. However, because of this kind of aesthetic and poetic writing, the pacing is generally on the slow-burn side. Having said that, it's still a page turner to me.

The story is told from an ensemble cast of twelve protagonists / POVs as mentioned above. To be honest I love this storytelling style a lot, especially in mystery stories where I could see from the detective's, the victim's, the witnesses', or even the perpetrator's POV. I understand some people dislike this and prefer a single protagonist and POV. So, this is a heads-up for you. The writing is actually very good and smooth so it doesn't feel awkward jumping from POV to POV. It still feels like a single journey with strong cohesion between different perspectives.

Overall, it's an extremely well written series that I highly recommend, especially if you enjoy urban fantasy and romance, and of course, good prose.

First, the literal translation of the Japanese title should be "Heat Up the Pork Liver" or "Pork Liver Should be Thoroughly Cooked". I will explain why I brought this up in the Fun Fact paragraph at the end.

I just realised it's very hard to write a proper review without spoiling the story. Volume 1 ends with a huge plot twist and the real fun only begins from there. So, I will just write a post introducing some interesting features of this series so you can check if this interests you.

It's a dialogue-heavy story. Since the protagonist is a pig, there isn't much he can do. ... Most of the time he is just chatting telepathically with Jess, the deuteragonist, also his love interest. Okay okay I will further elaborate on the romance a bit later before you scream "OMG is this bestiality?" Because of this, character building of both leads is done really well, delicate and beautiful, despite it is also plot-driven with lots of focus on action and adventure.

It's full of ecchi humour. To be honest I am not a big fan of ecchi but can't deny the author has quite a wicked and witty sense of humour employing this. I guess I only find it despicable when a guy says lewd things to girls to humiliate them. But not in this series as Jess isn't a bit humiliated. On the contrary, she could say even lewder things to Mr Pig to make him feel ashamed! This dynamic reminded me a lot of Mai and Sakuta (Rascal Does Not Dream), as Mai often shuts Sakuta's mouth by saying lewd and nasty things. ? Coincidentally, another "Buta" series there.

It's dark and gruesome. I guess this would be the most WTF reaction of new readers. The cover illustration and the synopsis might give you a cute and fluffy fairytale vibe, but they are all just baits. The main plot might remind you of these anime: From the New World, 86 EIGHTY-SIX, or Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I definitely wouldn't recommend this if you are looking for a lighthearted read. This series contains quite a lot of heavy drama and is a big tearjerker. I guess this might also be why I was okay with the ecchi contents, as they are really good comic relief.

About the romance, two things first: Beauty and the Beast is also a romance, and it's well-loved by a lot of people. Period. Also, they are in a sword and sorcery world where it's quite safe to assume they will be looking for some kind of magic spell or alchemy ritual which can turn an animal back to a human being? Kind of like Grimoire of Zero, right?

To be honest, I think the romance in this series is really well executed, at least it didn't feel weird reading. In fact, I think it's very touching and probably you might be crying over them if you get yourself immersed deep in their platonic relationship. And the big bonus is, romance begins right away in volume 1. You don't need to wait volumes after volumes for that to happen.

Fun Fact: If you have read The Detective is Already Dead, you should know the series title is actually a running joke. Almost every volume of the LN ends with this phrase, but depends on the story progression, the context of it might change. And so is this series! Almost every volume ends with "Heat Up the Pork Liver!" but its meaning could change drastically depends on the plot.

Last but not the least, I would really love to recommend everyone to at least give volume 1 a try. It has way more to offer than meets the eye. Despite it ending with a huge plot twist as I mentioned above, it also wrapped up the first arc nicely which you could just consider it a one-shot if you ended up not liking it.

Official synopsis: Van, a former soldier made slave, toils away endlessly in a salt mine. An expected chance at liberation drops in his lap when a pack of infected dogs pass through, killing everyone but him and a young girl called Yuna. Van hopes to make a peaceful life for himself now that he’s escaped. However, the disease that cleared out the mine is rapidly spreading, placing him and his ward at the center of a conflict greater than any the world has ever seen.

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There are actually two intertwining stories with two protagonists in this novel. The synopsis above tells one of them and the ... other is told from the POV of a doctor/medical researcher who investigates this pandemic, or plague if you prefer a more fantasy-themed word. He is also responsible to locate patient zero and ultimately develop a vaccine to end this catastrophe once and for all.

Ah yes, everyone hates vaccines, just like our real world... 😂 But it shows this fantasy world is actually quite advanced in medical science especially when it comes to microbiology, virology, and toxicology. However, magic does not exist in this world which is quite a huge bummer. Instead, we got a lot of intriguing religions in this world ranges from those hardcore "Don't question. Just believe!" religious fanatics, to ancient and indigenous ones like mysticism and shamanism.

World building is the best feature of this novel. The author took it very seriously to set up everything about the lore and history of this world, and those (pseudoscience) facts on healthcare and medical science knowledge. It's magical and mesmerising. It has a very nice exotic feel like Avatar (American movie) or Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Japanese anime), and I enjoyed it so much! The world really feels magical even without the presence of magic!

Though this story is about a pandemic/plague, it isn't like any zombie apocalypse story that is full of screaming and running and dying. 😂 It explores more on the philosophical and social issues of this catastrophe. I particularly like those heated discussions on the two opposing medical practices which resemble our world's "Western Medicine vs Chinese Medicine" debate. Like, pharmaceutical drugs or herbal medicine? The surgical table or a yoga mat? It is quite thought provoking really!

So we have two protagonists, and they are like a polar opposite to each other. Van, the slave, is physically strong and a great fighter but also a very compassionate and caring person when he takes care of animals and children. Hossal, the medical researcher, is well-educated, accomplished, and smart but he is also very arrogant, insensitive, and cold towards people. This has a very balancing effect while reading, since their POVs are told in alternate chapters. But you could also lose track of the flow because their stories are told in alternate chapters. 😅

My biggest complaint is this novel is notoriously slow-paced! It's so slow that I kept spacing out quite a lot of times. It's true the author did an amazing job in world building but there are also times it felt like reading a thesis. But no, I didn't mean plain "info dump". The author is actually very clever to do her world building in an interesting and captivating way. It's just obscenely L--O--N--G...

I did enjoy the whole novel despite constantly spacing out... 😅 It's worth checking if being slow burn isn't an issue to you. But lastly I need to give you a big heads-up:

Heads-up: This novel has an open ending, an ending that is so open that it will torture the souls of those who prefer something conclusive. Be warned!

Am I the only one who thinks this story takes place in a flat-earth-ish world? ? If you have already watched the anime or read up to volume 3, you should have seen the world map. According to bits and pieces of info in later volumes, it does feel like a flat-world! Not that it's of great importance though.

When I said "in later volumes" above, yes, world building is indeed very slow. The first two or three volumes felt like a grounded, realistic mystery pretty much like The Apothecary Diaries. We are not told about the lore and history of this world until halfway through ... the series. From there it heads towards a more adventure/fantasy-themed direction, and it's an amazing ride too. That also leads to a very interesting development. The story begins with a lot of PvP conflicts, and as we learn more about how dangerous and unforgiving this world is, the story turns into more of a PvE struggle. And in the final volume, it almost feels like it's EvE (is there such a thing?)!!! It certainly shows how insignificant and helpless human beings are when facing the "big picture". It's horrifying, yet hauntingly beautiful.

The characters are all adorable with amazing arcs and development. As what I mentioned above, this might not be a "superhero saving the world" story. Humans are fragile and everyone has their weaknesses and flaws. There are times we see how they overcome them, but most of the times they just struggle and have to accept the fact that they are... helpless and incapable. This might sound cheesy but accepting who you really are (or who you really are not) is still some kind of redemption, however painful it is.

I particularly love the central theme of the story: freedom. Is freedom inherited or earned? How far would you go to seek for true freedom? And in the end, does true freedom grant you true happiness too? Man, that's really deep and thought-provoking, and I was constantly in tears while reading the last two volumes. Volume 7 is one of the best final volumes I have read in a light novel series.

Now I am going to shut myself off to mourn over the completion of this series. It's a terrific ride with lots of laughter and tears. And I am going to miss everyone. ❤️