"No Game No Life" volume 11 by Kamiya Yuu, featuring a reality show and a real-time strategy game.
It has been years since volume 10, readers might be forgiven for not remembering the sudden end in the previous volume. But instead of giving a recap, this volume starts with the main characters in an amnesiac state and had to infer just what led them to this predicament. I believe the three year gap between volumes 10 and 11 was unintentional, but I wouldn't be surprised if this opening was arranged to make full use of it. "No Game No Life" seemed to have made a great come back, better than the 10 year gap between Read Or Die volumes 11 and 12.
The primary game in this volume was escaping the "space where only couples are allowed to leave", which is the reality show segment of this volume. Since odd number of persons were trapped in this space, the remaining person needs to exit with a purchase of a key, funding for which came via donations from the audiences watching this reality show. With this premise, the first three chapters managed to poke fun at various romantic comedies and online streamers all in one go. Romantic relationships between the main characters actually made little development, but such developments were never the main focus of this series, it was always about the games. This romantic escape game might feel different from the previous games at first, but once the characters started playing it like a game, it was business as usual.
The focus for this series is on the games and the first three chapters dived right into it. The last chapter returns to the main story and explains why this game was the way it was, completing the connection with volume 10. The main story is actually one of world domination, and that plot appears to have progressed passed the halfway point. There is a bit of meta story about how this world came about, and book ends with the author's afterwords explaining the health reasons that resulted in the three year gap between volumes 10 and 11.
Recall that health reasons was what turned Kamiya Yuu the manga artist into a novelist (starting with No Game No Life volume 1), there is a sense of coming to a full circle with this volume. Congratulations on the 10 years since volume 1! Looking forward to the next volume.
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