This must be one of those rare cases where a book does not get an ISBN number. Neat!
The book has five main chapters, not including preface and afterwords. "Majo no Ketsumyaku" (Witch's Bloodline) tells the story of Ichika's parents. It is told in the perspective of Ichika's mother, so we get a lot of inner details about how she, and most likely her husband as well, feels about Ichika. The fact that Ichika is their second child should give you some idea. Their first child, lost due to a miscarriage, was going to be named Manatsu. Interesting, isn't it?
"Seisan no Shiren" (Sacrificial Offering's Ordeal) is about Sei's past, when he met Saya and Kai for the first time. To be honest, I skipped this chapter about half way through. You can't blame me for being more interested in reading about girls, can you? I will go back and finish it though.
"Kyouzou no Rensa" (Connection to Reflection) is about Satsuki. I actually had more anguish before going into this chapter then coming out of it. If you saw Satsuki's momentary flashbacks in the anime, I'm sure you would understand. What happened was apparently not what I had imagined. There still isn't an excuse for what happened, but somehow, I felt a lot more at ease after reading this. There are some extremely thoughtful moments in this chapter, such as when Satsuki realizes how the feelings of the people around her reflect that of her own, and vice versa. Again, because it's told in Satsuki's perspective, we get to understand what Ichika means to Satsuki.
"Futsuu no Yuugi" (Ordinary Friendship) is about Keiko. This is perhaps the hardest chapter to read technically because of all the politics involved, particularly in the beginning. As you know, Keiko is a daughter of an extremely powerful family. Her ordeal, as a mere elementary school student, to break out of the "cage," is, how do I say, inspirational. Again, we get to see what role Ichika plays in Keiko's pursuit of making a normal friend. What seems like such a simple thing, isn't.
"Miko no Takusen" (Shrine Maiden's Oracle) is about Michiru. This story spans a wide range of time. Among Ichika's close friends (Satsuki, Keiko, and Michiru), Michiru is by far the first to meet Ichika. At that time, Ichika, fighting for her life, wasn't even aware of her surroundings, so it may not have meant anything to Ichika, but it did mean something interesting to Michiru. We also get to see exactly how Michiru feels about Manatsu, from the time they first meet, all the way to when Manatsu disappears at the end of the summer. As a kind of bonus(?), we get a real explanation of why Michiru does not swim in the ocean.
In a way, it's really unfortunate that this book is only available in the limited edition DVD-BOX. I believe it's a required reading. There's far too much you miss just watching the anime. Watching it again with the commentaries helps a little, but not very much because Honda-san and Asano-san get too preoccupied with eating stuff instead of explaining fine points of the story. I started rewatching the show (4th time) and I'm able to pick up a lot more stuff because I'm now much more familiar with what each character is thinking. When this gets licensed for foreign releases, I hope the licensees include the translated version of the novel as part of the DVD set. Then again, most people probably won't see much beyond the costumes and panty shots anyway, so what do I care?
