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Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Vol. 1

By Riku Misora and On. Released in Japan as “Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Sol Press. Translated by Benjamin Daughety. I have to admit, halfway through the first volume of this series I was ready to trash it to hell and back. It reveled in its cliches, at times even lampshading them so that they could get even worse (I’m thinking of the “yes, we’re blood related, but I still want to do my brother” plotline here in particular). And yes, I will admit it, as someone who has read Asterisk War first, a lot of this felt like something done better somewhere else. (For the curious, Asterisk War predates this series by 10 months.) But then things started to improve, not to…

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Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 26

By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis. It’s the end of the Forthothe arc, and so most of it ends up being a big battle. Some villains are attacked and kidnapped, as are some of the heroes. And behind it all remains Vandarion, still the weak part of the book. Screaming mad villains just aren’t my thing, and after his main henchman is killed off, he loses whatever sanity he has and just screams threats for 75 pages. He’s helped by a hellmouth of some sort, which means he has the power to keep attacking the Blue Knight even after his mecha-dragon is destroyed, and indeed even after his own body is…

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Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 2: Apprentice Shrine Maiden, Vol. 1

By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof. The fourth volume of Bookworm starts a new arc, as Myne has managed to cajole and finagle her way into being an apprentice shrine maiden – and a blue-robed one at that, the elite noble sort of shrine maiden. But things aren’t all magically wonderful, despite the fact that she can now read books. She has three attendants, all of whom dislike her to some degree, and she is not remotely used to talking and acting as a noble should. Despite having an outlet for her Devouring now, she’s still sickly and weak, particularly…

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Bookshelf Briefs 11/15/19

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 5 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – We actually get a welcome reminder that Iris is a “reincarnated into an otome game” heroine in this volume, something that’s mostly been ignored aside from her accounting skills. But when her younger brother tries to apologize to her for what happened at school, her Japanese self wants to forgive him but the “Iris” part of her just can’t. It’s well handled. Elsewhere, Iris is going around looking into Yuri and also threats to her kingdom, and it’s starting to get her into trouble. She’s also falling for Dean, despite trying to have nothing to do with romance again. We end with a cliffhanger involving excommunication! Still a lot of fun—I’d love to…

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Manga the Week of 11/20/19

SEAN: There’s more November to come, and more manga as well. Bookwalker gives us a 10th volume of The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done!, which according to LN fans is still the best series that I’ve dropped after reading the first page. Lots of folks seem to have this already, but Dark Horse gives us a 2nd volume of At the Mountains of Madness, the new H.P. Lovecraft manga adaptation. Expect loss of sanity. ASH: I’ve not read the source material to know how it compares, but I found the first volume engaging and plan on reading up more. SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Altina the Sword Princess, which comes from the pen of How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s author, but I will try not to hold that against…

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The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody: The Myth-Killing Honor Student

By Myojin Katou and Sao Mizuno. Released in Japan as “Shijou Saikyou no Daimaou, Murabito A ni Tensei Suru” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jessica Lange. Sometimes I read light novels and feel that, despite the annoying main character, the ludicrous power levels, and the ongoing “horny teenager” vibes, that it’s worth it in the end because the author has something interesting to say behind all that. Sadly, sometimes I do not. Here we have a case of the latter, a series that wants to be “merely entertaining” and succeeds in the sense that I made it to the end of the book, but I was dragging my feet towards the end. Our hero is either frustratingly dense or frustratingly blase, the…

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One Piece, Vol. 92

By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul. When One Piece was a young, relatively new series, ages ago, it was relatively easy to jump right into, with story arcs that rarely bled into each other all that much. Once they arrived in the New World, though, all that has changed, possibly as Oda realized that a 92-volume series is much harder to have people jump right into with no information. As such, storylines have bled together a lot more than they used to. Law is back again, of course, and the rest of the supernovas seem to be following, as when Luffy is thrown into prison midway through this book, he…

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Short Takes: Levius/est, No Guns Life, and Ryuko

This month’s Short Takes column looks at three series: Levius/est, a sequel to Haruhisa Nakata’s steampunk spectacular Levius; No Guns Life, a sci-fi thriller whose principled hero sounds like Sam Spade and looks like a Remington; and Ryuko, a two-volume series about a yakuza assassin who’s hell-bent on avenging her mother’s kidnapping. Levius/est, Vol. 1 Story and Art by Haruhisa Nakata Translation by John Werry; Adaptation by Jason A. Hurley VIZ Media, 206 pp. Rated T+ (Older Teens) Reading Levius/est is a bit like joining a cocktail conversation midstream: you get the gist of what people are saying, but not the subtleties. Part of the problem lies with Levius/est’s publication history; as the slightly odd title suggests, Levius/est is a sequel. Since it jumped from one publication to another, however, artist…

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The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious, Vol. 2

By Light Tuchihi and Saori Toyota. Released in Japan as “Kono Yuusha Ga Ore TUEEE Kuse Ni Shinchou Sugiru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matt Rutsohn. This is very much a book of two halves. The first half is very much like the first book. They’re still trying to fight demon generals, Seiya is still rude and appalling, Rista is still screaming at him (and also lusting at him), etc. It’s funny, though not as funny as the first book, and I am reminded why I thought it would be hard to sustain over a long series. Then halfway through Rista realizes, as they head towards a major battle, that Seiya did NOT say “I’m perfectly prepared”, and everything turns very dark very…

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