GATE - Light Novel Discussion

[quigonkenny]

Question for the novel readers. In the manga (and I assume the anime, as I haven't quite gotten to that point yet), Rory's immortality is demonstrated after the four-way onsen battle, with her wounds healing and "spitting" the bullets out while Itami is cleaning the other countries' agents' blood and gore off of her. In the novel, though, from what I've read, she never gets involved in that battle, as the agents largely kill each other off before she can get there. How then is her immortality demonstrated in the novels? Or are we just told how it works and we don't get an actual demonstration until the battle with Giselle?

[Brother Coa]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

Not enough to even bother looking into it, unfortunately. Read the manga. It has covered the first two out of the five main ("Season One") novels, and has started into a portion of one of the five gaiden novels, namely the one that happens chronologically after S1 novel two. Might have covered a bit of S1 novel three, as well.

Actually manga got to novel 3 as well.

For everyone:

There are 5 novels.

Novel 1 ( CONTACT ) - Anime season 1 + Anime season 2. ( January release )
Novel 2 ( FLAME DRAGON ) - Manga ended at the end of this ark, season 1 part 2 should cover this part as well.

Spoiler for future plot spoilers:

Novel 3 ( UPHEAVAL ) - Zorzal rise to power.
Novel 4 ( ALL-OUT ATTACK ) - JSDF colonize special area.
Novel 5 ( DARK GATE ) - have no idea what happens here but title suggests it will be full of win and awesome.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Brother Coa

Actually manga got to novel 3 as well.

For everyone:

There are 5 novels.

Novel 1 ( CONTACT ) - Anime season 1 + Anime season 2. ( January release )
Novel 2 ( FLAME DRAGON ) - Manga ended at the end of this ark, season 1 part 2 should cover this part as well.

Spoiler for future plot spoilers:

Novel 3 ( UPHEAVAL ) - Zorzal rise to power.
Novel 4 ( ALL-OUT ATTACK ) - JSDF colonize special area.
Novel 5 ( DARK GATE ) - have no idea what happens here but title suggests it will be full of win and awesome.

The manga just started novel 3, but then stopped after the intro and started Gaiden+ material which is chronologically after novel 2.
That's what he's talking about.

Also correction,

Spoiler:

Novel 4 is JSDF starting assault on Zorzal's forces, after Japan made official alliance with Emperor Malt and Princess Pina.
They don't colonize the land, they come to agreement that just the hill of Alnus and its immediate vicinity be annex to Japan.

Novel 5: as the war draws to an end, many different faction interests conflict over closing the gate.
The fight against Zorzal's forces draws to a climax, and the gate is ultimately closed prematurely, trapping thousands of JSDF members on the special region with no contact to Japan.

If you guys want me to do a more detailed summary of each book, I can, when I have the time.

[RDNexus]

You know I'm always up to summaries

[Top Sergeant]

Originally Posted by NAJ P. Jackson

What I don't understand is how did they manage to bring those helicopters and jet pass the gate. At first glance that gate did not look that big. Did they take it apart and reassemble them on the other side?

The Gate is wide enough to pass two armored columns comfortably. The helicopters can have their blades removed or brought together, depending on the model, so they can easily be towed through. I'd have to check the wingspan of an F-4 Phantom to see if disassembly would be required.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Top Sergeant

The Gate is wide enough to pass two armored columns comfortably. The helicopters can have their blades removed or brought together, depending on the model, so they can easily be towed through. I'd have to check the wingspan of an F-4 Phantom to see if disassembly would be required.

F4 Phantom II wingspan is only 38'. The Gate should be plenty wide enough. Even if the JSDF is using a variant of the US design, the difference won't be enough to matter.

[Grampa]

No problem. The Phantom can fold it's wing as this photo show

[Hata]

Phantom and helicopter are easy, helicopter’s blade can be folded to be parallel to its body length, while Phantom, a naval jet, can fold its wings down to 27.7 ft like in the above post. you don’t even need to do any disassembly to put it on the flatbed.

basically anything that can be put on a flatbed can be trucked to the special region.

the bigger undertaking, is the C-1 transport we have been seeing in the last few manga chapters, the C-1, only a bit smaller than a C-130, has to be taken apart and put back together on the other side of the Gate, the C-1 can take on 15 tons of cargo, or 60 passengers, or 45 fully equipped paratroopers, with a range of 1,500km. a great foreshadows of what the coming story would be,

(from Alnus hill to the empire capital is 600km, the last chapter we see a formation of 5 C-1. 45X5=225, almost 2/3 of a full battalion, (380) and btw, the only Japanese special force in brigade level is the 1st airborne, and every single one of them has the Ranger badge, the same as Itami.)

this is why I am so anticpating the new Gate novel, the next logical step would be to truck over a ship,

[aohige]

The first two novels are already covered in detail by the manga, so you have means to read them.
So I'll start with book 3.

Novel 3: Upheaval general summary - first half

Spoiler:

The head of the Flame Dragon is mounted on the castle walls of the capital, and empire is in confusion as to whose deed the dragonslaying goes to.
During the ceremony, the Emperor is informed of the "green men" and his companions being responsible, and announces Lelei as the perpetrator for this great deed, trying to put a spotlight on the only human of the Empire involved.
In the ceremony, Emperor Malt is poisoned and collapses.

Meanwhile Itami & co heads to the academic city of Rondel.
Lelei plans to present her findings and earn the Professor* title.
There are ranks within the academy
Bachelor, Master, Doctor, and Professor*.
Only those who have finished the Bachelor degree may call themselves a Wizard.
Other girls are shocked when Lelei tells them Itami is a Bachelor.

*Professor is the closest translation, but if I was localizing I would choose "Arch Wizard".
Seeing from how a non-magician sage is called "researcher wizard", obviously wizardry is expected, and the highest wizards should be called an arch-wizard.
It fits the theme of the academy more. I'm leaving it as professor just to be general though.

There Lelei is reunited with her half-sister, Arpeggio who is jealous of her sister's success, and gets in an argument.
Arphe (Arpeggio's nickname) specializes in mineral alchemy, a field that is so costly in research, hardly anyone wants to study.
Due to this she is eternally in poverty. Upon learning that not only is Lelei successful as a wizard, but the man she chose to be with, Itami, is a noble with massive wealth (the human sized diamond Yao gave him).
Despite having sibling love for Lelei, she is overcome with jealousy.
The two sisters duke out in mage duel, under Rory's watch and oath to not trade lethal blows.

Their match is interrupted as Grey, Pina's right-hand man, kills an assassin who was waiting for a chance to kill Lelei.
Grey and Shandy joins the group, informing of the announcement made in the capital, celebrating Lelei & co's slaying of the flame dragon (much to Arpeggio's surprise).
And that certain someone (the prince) does not approve of this fame, and has sent assassins to kill Lelei.

Following Emperor Malt's fall, Prince Zorzal has assumed control of the capital in a coup.
He dismantled much of the administration and replaced them with his own faction.
The prince orders his men to arrest them and punish the peace talk supporters, without any hearing or trial.
The prince appoints　Viscount Helm as his advisor. As they know a direct military conflict would be an unsuccessful campaign, they scheme to send troops disguised as "the green men" to pillage the villages, and place the blame on JSDF.
Zorzal adds his idea to have them rape women and burn houses to fuel hate for their enemey.

Princess Pina is overcomed with horror, and seeks out her other brother Diabo for help.
But Diabo has no intent to stay and oppose Zorzal, instead he is ready to pack up and flee the capital.
He plans to find allies outside of the Empire, as it would be impossible to find an ally in the capital at this state.
He leaves the capital, despite Pina's plea to stay and help.

Meanwhile Tuule starts to become close with Furuta, Zorzal's new chef in charge.
His honesty and kindness is a breeze of fresh air in her life, who knows nothing but hate, anger, and scheme.

Itami & co are attacked in the inn they were staying in.
The inn keeper was hospitable and welcomed the stay of Her Holiness Rory and co, and was in shock to find out his young employees schemed to kill his guests.
The young boys claim they were tricked, and was told they were told the guests were impersonators of Her Holiness, and actually were wanted murderers.
Upon hearing their testimony, it seems they were easily tricked into believing this nonsense.

Grey points out this is the workings of "The Piper".
The Piper is a famous assassin, and nobody knows his/her true identity.
He/she can appear as a human man, an elven woman, or a hag... always a different look.
The boys describe the man they met as an older, gentle looking obese man.

The Piper does not use his/her own hands to do the killing, he/she can turn an innocent girl into food poisoning assassin, or make a crippled old man jump at the target while going down the steps.
The Piper excels in convincing others to do the killing. The most dangerous thing about Piper is, there's no end to the assassination.
Unless the Piper is taken out himself/herself, the assassins will keep on coming indefinitely.

The inn keeper begs to Rory to forgive the boys, and she obliges.
Since the chance of the Piper using the same boys again is low now, they decide to stay in the same inn.
But in truth, Lelei and Rory figures the Piper likely looks for easy to manipulate targets to use as an assassin, and will likely come in contact with the boys again as they are exceptionally gullible.
That may give them the chance to catch the Piper.
Lelei mentions no one has seen Shandy's face yet, and she will be the perfect candidate to keep eye on the boys.

Next morning the group is met with huge crowd of fans who came to see the legendary dragon slayers.
The word of mouth has reached this far about the tale of the dragon slaying, although the story was changed by the Empire to make Lelei sound the main hero of the deed.
Fairies fly around Tuka bombarding her with questions, Lelei is regarded as a hero, and Rory is well, her Holiness Rory Mercury so it's expected regardless.

Meanwhile, a young beastman girl in her high teens named Norra speaks to the inn's boys.
She tells them they're idiots for missing the opportunity to catch the Piper, who much have shown up today to see if his operation was successful.
She claims she was contacted by Piper as well, but she wasn't fooled. She tells them she agreed to the assassination to fool the Piper, and tells the boys to let Lelei know to wear an armor to protect her waist, and pretend to die when she attacks.
The Piper will surely show himself to confirm the death, and that's when they can catch her.
The gullible boys believes Norra words and her scheme to "fake an assassination" on Lelei.

Shandy hears the conversation, and deduces that Norra must be the Piper.
She leaves the inn and follows Norra to track her down.
Shandi did not return that day, or the following day...

It's been 4 days since Shandy has gone missing.
Lelei was willing to postpone her visit to the Academy Society to help look for Shandy, but Shandy shows up just then.
Shandy reports that the girl named Norra was a pawn of the Piper, and not Piper himself. She lost the track of him, or so she claims...

As they head to the academy, Lelei explains the time when the academy reported their findings that the world is a sphere, not flat.
This led to angered civilians rising up in arms against the heresy. The academy had to tell them half-truths to convince them.
Even though the gods know the workings of this world, they leave it up to the mortals to find out on their own.
The story illustrates how dangerous publishing new findings could be to a world unwilling to accept new truths.

Lelei realizes that what she should be revealing in the academy is how explosives and gun powders work.
But the level of impact that could have to the world is huge, and she is cannot bring herself to do this, even though logic tells her that it's only a matter of time.
Rory agrees with Lelei's decision. Itami wonders what would happen if Lelei was to reveal this to the world, but he saw serious and dangerous look in Lelei's eyes, and in fear, he could not bring himself to ask the question.

They find Arpeggio waiting at the academy. Arphe's master reveals how Arphe was boasting about how great her little sister is to other wizards, and had sewn together new robe for Lelei in case she couldn't ready herself a formal robe.
Arphe is embarrassed and yells at her master for revealing this. It seems despite her jealousy, Arphe loves her sister more than she's willing to admit.
They are introduced to Arphe's friend, a young elven man named Flat El Coda.
The young man specializes in Astrology, which as Lelei explained earlier, is a very dangerous field of research to publish.
He plans to report his theory that the Sun is a the center of the world, not Earth, and that there is an invisible force between the Earth and the moon to maintain their distance.
(We the readers know Flat's research is in fact the truth, but this world may not be ready to hear the truth.)
His theory is not very popular with the academy, but today he says he's here to just report the newest observations. He observed some strange phenomenon happening in the skies.

Apparently Flat has proposed to Alphe, but Alphe has declined. She insists her interest is in research, and don't see him as a man.
Although being a certified tsundere, others may not be convinced at her excuse.

As they wait for the Academy Society meeting to begin, Itami apprehends a wizard standing right behind Lelei.
The man had a dagger in his hands. He screams and rambles on convinced that she must have stolen his research.
The man was obviously manipulated by the Piper into believing this nonsense, as his testimony revealed.

The Academy meeting started, and Flat reports his findings.
The council seemed uninterested in his solar system theory, but he was here to report something else.
Recently, the stars are not following a set pattern when it comes to a certain point of the sky.
It seems part of the sky is.... warped. Stars accelerate and heads to a certain point in the sky, and after passing that point, it goes back to normal course.
It's as if looking at the sky through a warped glass.

At this point, no one in the room realized how this distortion in the world will become an incredibly important point in the upcoming months...

It's Lelei's turn, and she walks up to report her findings, Norra jumps out of the crowd to attack.
Itami was expecting her, but was taken back at how unexpectedly fast Norra was.
However, this is a wizard academy, and they all were expecting an assassination on the life of the dragonslayer hero.
Norra is bombarded with countless spells, and falls to the ground in tatters.

Itami & co are relieved at preventing the assassination, and goes back to the crowd.
Just then Shandy raises her hand.... and thrusts a knife into Lelei's chest.

I'll follow up with the second half when I have the time. Maybe later this week.
Not in a rush, the manga is slow and anime isn't gonna air till January, just check back once in a while.

[RDNexus]

Speaking for myself, I won't touch the Manga until the series resumes, since I'm only using it as supplementary material to the series.
But don't worry, I'll read those summaries and then get the remaning intel from the Anime and Manga when January comes around

[NAJ P. Jackson]

Went to check out the manga and was surprise how dark the story actually is. Way different than the tone of the anime which I would say leans more into Fantasy/Adventure genre. Me likey.

I have to say Pina co lada should have known better. She's seen a glimpse of Japans stance on captured prisoners when negotiating the contract after the battle of Italica and yet she was confuse as to why Itami and the JDF reacted strongly upon learning of the captured Japanese citizen's treatment. Well I suppose she had no idea there was even Japanese prisoners being held by the empire.

Itami is very popular among the special region people isn't he.

Originally Posted by aohige

The manga just started novel 3, but then stopped after the intro and started Gaiden+ material which is chronologically after novel 2.
That's what he's talking about.

Also correction,

Spoiler:

Novel 4 is JSDF starting assault on Zorzal's forces, after Japan made official alliance with Emperor Malt and Princess Pina.
They don't colonize the land, they come to agreement that just the hill of Alnus and its immediate vicinity be annex to Japan.

Novel 5: as the war draws to an end, many different faction interests conflict over closing the gate.
The fight against Zorzal's forces draws to a climax, and the gate is ultimately closed prematurely, trapping thousands of JSDF members on the special region with no contact to Japan.

Spoiler for .:

That's bad new for them as they can't resupply their Ammunitation, fuel, firarms etc. They're lose their biggest advantage in this world.

Originally Posted by aohige

If you guys want me to do a more detailed summary of each book, I can, when I have the time.

Please and Thank you.

[WILD_LION]

Originally Posted by aohige

The first two novels are already covered in detail by the manga, so you have means to read them.
So I'll start with book 3.

Novel 3: Upheaval general summary - first half

Spoiler:

The head of the Flame Dragon is mounted on the castle walls of the capital, and empire is in confusion as to whose deed the dragonslaying goes to.
During the ceremony, the Emperor is informed of the "green men" and his companions being responsible, and announces Lelei as the perpetrator for this great deed, trying to put a spotlight on the only human of the Empire involved.
In the ceremony, Emperor Malt is poisoned and collapses.

Meanwhile Itami & co heads to the academic city of Rondel.
Lelei plans to present her findings and earn the Professor* title.
There are ranks within the academy
Bachelor, Master, Doctor, and Professor*.
Only those who have finished the Bachelor degree may call themselves a Wizard.
Other girls are shocked when Lelei tells them Itami is a Bachelor.

*Professor is the closest translation, but if I was localizing I would choose "Arch Wizard".
Seeing from how a non-magician sage is called "researcher wizard", obviously wizardry is expected, and the highest wizards should be called an arch-wizard.
It fits the theme of the academy more. I'm leaving it as professor just to be general though.

There Lelei is reunited with her half-sister, Arpeggio who is jealous of her sister's success, and gets in an argument.
Arphe (Arpeggio's nickname) specializes in mineral alchemy, a field that is so costly in research, hardly anyone wants to study.
Due to this she is eternally in poverty. Upon learning that not only is Lelei successful as a wizard, but the man she chose to be with, Itami, is a noble with massive wealth (the human sized diamond Yao gave him).
Despite having sibling love for Lelei, she is overcome with jealousy.
The two sisters duke out in mage duel, under Rory's watch and oath to not trade lethal blows.

Their match is interrupted as Grey, Pina's right-hand man, kills an assassin who was waiting for a chance to kill Lelei.
Grey and Shandi joins the group, informing of the announcement made in the capital, celebrating Lelei & co's slaying of the flame dragon (much to Arpeggio's surprise).
And that certain someone (the prince) does not approve of this fame, and has sent assassins to kill Lelei.

Following Emperor Malt's fall, Prince Zorzal has assumed control of the capital in a coup.
He dismantled much of the administration and replaced them with his own faction.
The prince orders his men to arrest them and punish the peace talk supporters, without any hearing or trial.
The prince appoints　Viscount Helm as his advisor. As they know a direct military conflict would be an unsuccessful campaign, they scheme to send troops disguised as "the green men" to pillage the villages, and place the blame on JSDF.
Zorzal adds his idea to have them rape women and burn houses to fuel hate for their enemey.

Princess Pina is overcomed with horror, and seeks out her other brother Diabo for help.
But Diabo has no intent to stay and oppose Zorzal, instead he is ready to pack up and flee the capital.
He plans to find allies outside of the Empire, as it would be impossible to find an ally in the capital at this state.
He leaves the capital, despite Pina's plea to stay and help.

Meanwhile Tuule starts to become close with Furuta, Zorzal's new chef in charge.
His honesty and kindness is a breeze of fresh air in her life, who knows nothing but hate, anger, and scheme.

Itami & co are attacked in the inn they were staying in.
The inn keeper was hospitable and welcomed the stay of Her Holiness Rory and co, and was in shock to find out his young employees schemed to kill his guests.
The young boys claim they were tricked, and was told they were told the guests were impersonators of Her Holiness, and actually were wanted murderers.
Upon hearing their testimony, it seems they were easily tricked into believing this nonsense.

Grey points out this is the workings of "The Piper".
The Piper is a famous assassin, and nobody knows his/her true identity.
He/she can appear as a human man, an elven woman, or a hag... always a different look.
The boys describe the man they met as an older, gentle looking obese man.

The Piper does not use his/her own hands to do the killing, he/she can turn an innocent girl into food poisoning assassin, or make a crippled old man jump at the target while going down the steps.
The Piper excels in convincing others to do the killing. The most dangerous thing about Piper is, there's no end to the assassination.
Unless the Piper is taken out himself/herself, the assassins will keep on coming indefinitely.

The inn keeper begs to Rory to forgive the boys, and she obliges.
Since the chance of the Piper using the same boys again is low now, they decide to stay in the same inn.
But in truth, Lelei and Rory figures the Piper likely looks for easy to manipulate targets to use as an assassin, and will likely come in contact with the boys again as they are exceptionally gullible.
That may give them the chance to catch the Piper.
Lelei mentions no one has seen Shandi's face yet, and she will be the perfect candidate to keep eye on the boys.

Next morning the group is met with huge crowd of fans who came to see the legendary dragon slayers.
The word of mouth has reached this far about the tale of the dragon slaying, although the story was changed by the Empire to make Lelei sound the main hero of the deed.
Fairies fly around Tuka bombarding her with questions, Lelei is regarded as a hero, and Rory is well, her Holiness Rory Mercury so it's expected regardless.

Meanwhile, a young beastman girl in her high teens named Norra speaks to the inn's boys.
She tells them they're idiots for missing the opportunity to catch the Piper, who much have shown up today to see if his operation was successful.
She claims she was contacted by Piper as well, but she wasn't fooled. She tells them she agreed to the assassination to fool the Piper, and tells the boys to let Lelei know to wear an armor to protect her waist, and pretend to die when she attacks.
The Piper will surely show himself to confirm the death, and that's when they can catch her.
The gullible boys believes Norra words and her scheme to "fake an assassination" on Lelei.

Shandi hears the conversation, and deduces that Norra must be the Piper.
She leaves the inn and follows Norra to track her down.
Shandi did not return that day, or the following day...

It's been 4 days since Shandi has gone missing.
Lelei was willing to postpone her visit to the Academy Society to help look for Shandi, but Shandi shows up just then.
Shandi reports that the girl named Norra was a pawn of the Piper, and not Piper himself. She lost the track of him, or so she claims...

As they head to the academy, Lelei explains the time when the academy reported their findings that the world is a sphere, not flat.
This led to angered civilians rising up in arms against the heresy. The academy had to tell them half-truths to convince them.
The story illustrates how dangerous publishing new findings could be to a world unwilling to accept new truths.

Lelei explains that what she should be revealing in the academy is how explosives and gun powders work.
But the level of impact that could have to the world is huge, and she is cannot bring herself to do this.
Even though logic tells her that it's only a matter of time.
Rory agrees with Lelei's decision. Itami wonders what would happen if Lelei was to reveal this to the world, but he saw dangerous and serious look in Lelei's eyes, and in fear, he could not bring himself to ask the question.

Lelei & co meets up with Arpeggio at the academy. Arphe's master reveals how Arphe was boasting about how great her little sister is to other wizards, and had sewn together new robe for Lelei in case she couldn't ready herself a formal robe.
Arphe is embarrassed and yells at her master for revealing this. Despite her jealousy, Arphe loves her sister more than she's willing to admit.
They are introduced to Arphe's friend, a young elven man named Flat El Coda.
The young man specializes in Astrology, which as Lelei explained earlier, is a very dangerous field of research to publish.
He plans to report his theory that the Sun is a the center of the world, not Earth, and that there is an invisible force between the Sun and Earth to maintain their distance.
(We as modern day mankind knows Flat's research is in fact the truth, but this world may not be ready to hear the truth.)
His theory is not very popular with the academy, but today he says he's here to just report the newest observations. He observed some strange phenomenon happening in the skies.

Apparently Flat has proposed to Alphe, but Alphe has declined. She insists her interest is in research, and don't see him as a man.
Although being a certified tsundere, others may not be convinced at her excuse.

As they wait for the Academy Society meeting to begin, Itami apprehends a wizard standing right behind Lelei.
The man had a dagger in his hands. He screams and rambles on convinced that she must have stolen his research.
The man was obviously manipulated by the Piper into believing this nonsense, as his testimony revealed.

The Academy meeting started, and Flat reports his findings.
The council seemed uninterested in his solar system theory, but he was here to report something else.
Recently, the stars are not following a set pattern when it comes to a certain point of the sky.
It seems part of the sky is.... warped. Starts accelerate to head to a point, and after passing that point, it goes back to normal patterns.
As if looking at the sky through a warped glass.

At this point, no one in the room realized how this distortion in the world will become an incredibly important point in the upcoming months...

It's Lelei's turn, and she walks up to report her findings, Norra jumps out of the crowd to attack.
Itami was expecting her, but was taken back at how unexpectedly fast Norra was.
However, this is a wizard academy, and they all were expecting an assassination on the life of the dragonslayer hero.
Norra is bombarded with countless spells, and falls to the ground in tatters.

Itami & co are relieved at preventing the assassination, and goes back to the crowd.
Just then Shandi raises her hand.... and thrusts a knife into Lelei's chest.

I'll follow up with the second half when I have the time. Maybe later this week.
Not in a rush, the manga is slow and anime isn't gonna air till January, just check back once in a while.

Please update as soon as possible, i can't wait to know what will happen with Lelei.....

Thank you for the summary...

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by WILD_LION

Please update as soon as possible, i can't wait to know what will happen with Lelei.....

I'm less concerned with what happened with Lelei than what happened or will happen with Shandy. What little I've seen of her in the manga, I like her. I like Lelei, too, but she has a lot more plot armor, and this isn't ASoIaF. I don't expect to see main characters getting whacked halfway through a novel. She'll be fine.

Also, for the novel readers, I'm still wondering if there was a demonstration of Rory's "healing factor" in the novels, since she apparently didn't get involved in the gun battle with the foreign agents in the novels.

[aohige]

And thank you for reminding me I spelt Shandy wrong. Shandy Gaff is her name, btw.
As in Shandygaff, the drink.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by aohige

And thank you for reminding me I spelt Shandy wrong. Shandy Gaff is her name, btw.
As in Shandygaff, the drink.

I just went by what's in the wiki and I believe the /ak/ scanlation.

[Hata]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

I'm less concerned with what happened with Lelei than what happened or will happen with Shandy. What little I've seen of her in the manga, I like her. I like Lelei, too, but she has a lot more plot armor,

it is actually very simple, remember the co-op's initial money making resource? this also turns out to be a plot device for Gaiden 3,

Also, for the novel readers, I'm still wondering if there was a demonstration of Rory's "healing factor" in the novels, since she apparently didn't get involved in the gun battle with the foreign agents in the novels.

oh, it’s coming, in fact, probably in the next one or two manga chapter you would see it, an important plot device of the dungeon arc, which is why Rory asked Itami in the last chapter “you wrote that in your diary, too?” that part is not in the novel, and is a foreshadow the mangaka throws out for us.

generally in the story not too many things can touch the current Rory now, so she is seldom hurt at all, but many times Rory's power is demonstrated when Itami got hurt.

Originally Posted by aohige

As in Shandygaff, the drink.

this author does like to name people after drinks, for some reason

[FRS]

Thanks for the summary aohige

[Brother Coa]

Also correction,

Spoiler:

Novel 5: as the war draws to an end, many different faction interests conflict over closing the gate.
The fight against Zorzal's forces draws to a climax, and the gate is ultimately closed prematurely, trapping thousands of JSDF members on the special region with no contact to Japan.

How the hell this happened?
And do they have some chance of

Spoiler for spoiler:

establishing the connection with our world again?

[RDNexus]

I think it was Aohige who explained that the deity that has opened the gate, to attract entertainment to that world, ended up closing it because it wasn't supposed to be left open for long and was causing spacetime distortions in both worlds.

[NAJ P. Jackson]

It was implied in the manga that it was Hardy, the god that wanted to marry Rory, that opened the gate. And is Hardy really female? A female god wanting to marry another female, I just find that real funny