[LoweGear]

Hmmm the folks at Baka-Tsuki seem to be getting interested in this one. Here's some impressions lifted from there (credits to wellis for his contact with Baka-Tsuki):

Originally Posted by BakaTsuki

...But since I enjoyed the sample of vol.1, now I have a copy of the book with me. The depth of the story is certainly more than your conventional light novels, given the adequate length and greater artistic freedom (this is originally an internet novel after all).

The scale of the story and the SDF focus reminds me of Hiro Arikawa's Library Wars and SDF Triology. As for the story, it has a flavour of Shouji Gatou (famous for FMP). The setting is in particlar similar to Cop Graft, another decent work by Gatou sharing a similar world with a portal linking the fantasy kingdom and the modern world, and with heroines from the fantasy world interacting with real-life soldiers. But then the focus of the two are drastically different. Gatou's story is a more personal one, focusing solely on character development, but this one feels like the Western epic fantasies, placing an equally great focus in establishing the fantasy world and illustrating international politics.

Also, some interesting notes about the politics of the setting:

Originally Posted by BakaTsuki

For the international politics, the author takes a Japan-centric view and leans towards the right (a regrettable thing indeed) but as a whole it is quite believable. It is said that control over the wide and undeveloped fantasy land with resources not too different from the earth may tilt the international power balance, as it was during the colonization era. Every country was therefore watching closely on every move Japan took and is anxious to take a share.

Spoiler for Spoilers:

Japan therefore was particularly careful to avoid falling into any pit hole, giving the powers excuses to intervene. It mostly stuck to its peace constitution and focused largely on the defence. The international status quo also prevented anyone from doing anything too radical, at least at the beginning of the story.

China, South Korea and North Korea verbally condemned Japan for repeating the mistakes of military aggression during WW2 but so far have withheld from doing anything else. The ASEAN didn't make any move, but was expected to join China and the two Koreas in condemnation and action if Japan showed any opening. EU was busy selling arms to Japan.

The trigger-happy US president (obviously a parody of Bush) initially planned to involve militarily, but was pushed back by his advisers due to the strain of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US was also slightly suspicious at Japan and worried that a joint US-Japan expedition would have detrimental consequences if Japan ended up doing anything funky. The final conclusion was only to assist by providing arms and ammunitions, but the president made it clear that the US must watch closely and take military action if necessary, as well as actively involve in any research being taken place in the area so as to secure future development contracts.

Specifically for the tangible and intangible resources available in the area, the large gap in technological development, the wide undeveloped land and market, the possibility of existence of rare-earth materials (by analysing the armour of captured soldiers) are all highly attractive. Still everyone also knew that it was no longer the colonial era. The benefits of the above has to be balanced with the loss of educating the local population and the cost of developing basic infrastructure.

Originally Posted by BakaTsuki

It was not much different from any ancient / medieval country that used territorial expansion as a means to garner resources and give legitimacy to their rule. It was a monarchy and the King seemed to be the one that has a final say on military and other issues.

Spoiler for Spoiler:

The Senate consisted of senior nobles and retired generals and is generally an advisory body. But the Senate did has the power to remove the King and had exercised such power previously for a couple of times. The King's weapon against such was to accusing Senate members of treason by falsifying evidences and locking the troublesome members up before they could kick start the impeachment process.

Do also note that the Empire was not the only country in the fantasy world, although it was the most powerful. Even among these countries, wars were frequent. They only unite when there is a strong external invader, such as the one from the East. (likely the fantasy-world counterpart of the Mongolian troops)

As a note:

Originally Posted by BakaTsuki

No. It is a conventional fantasy novel like Harry Potter in terms of size, price and layout. The only thing that makes it look like a light novel is its cover...

Spoiler for Spoiler:

(and maybe the fact that two of the soldiers are otaku with a moe fetish over elves)

LOL at the last part But seriously... can you blame them?