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My Next Life As a Villainess! All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 1

By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung. Sometimes you come into a title with a lot of buzz and hype and are greatly disappointed. This is not one of those times. I’d heard great things about this series, especially its humor and the “denseness” of its heroine, Katarina Claes (the series’ nickname is “Bakarina”). I’m pleased to say they seem to be accurate. This book is a hoot from beginning to end, as what could be yet another “protagonist dies and ends up in a game world” series – and yes, we’ve seen this premise before here even with a reverse harem – ends up getting bulldozed by Katarina stomping across the plot like a…

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Shortcake Cake, Vol. 2

Shortcake Cake Volume 2 by suu Morishita The first volume of this series efficiently introduced the boarding house where most of the characters live, showed Ten to be a cheerfully blunt heroine, and hinted at an intriguing love triangle. The second volume provides more depth about the relationships between the characters along with some dramatic confrontations and too many flowers. As the volume opens, Riku is dealing with his feelings of rejection after Ten offhandedly asked if he liked her, and then turned him down, assuming that he was just being his normal overly flirtatious self. Chiaki quietly observes their interactions. Just when things are starting to calm down again, Rei shows up when Ten and Chiaki are walking home from school to issue the command “Be my Girlfriend!” Considering…

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The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor in Another World

By Kaya Kizaki and Shiso. Released in Japan by Shueisha. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach. First of all, you will note the lack of a volume number in the title – this seems to be a one-shot novel. And thank goodness for that. Not that I didn’t find this novel about a pizza hero and his cute, clumsy, and jealous elf fiancee (yeah, they don’t actually get married here) charming, but it’s really the sort of premise that can’t hold up over an extended period. It barely holds up over the course of this book, and it’s a very short book. But on its own, as something you’d read over an hour or so on a train ride or at the beach, it’s perfectly…

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Amagi Brilliant Park, Vol. 2

By Shouji Gatou and Yuka Nakajima. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis. This volume of Amagi Brilliant Park is not as shockingly cynical as the last volume (I suspect the author realized it might become an anime and needed to walk things back… indeed, the anime cut the surprising part of the ending to Book One entirely). That said, I also think that the story settles in a bit better for the long haul here, and while our two leads still feel a bit cliched (indeed, the prose occasionally shows self-awareness that it is a cliched light novel series), they don’t feel like they’re only made of cliches. The premise is much the same as last time – the deadline…

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Manga the Week of 11/21/18

SEAN: We give thanks for this manga, and it seems appropriate we start by giving thanks for a new manga company. Denpa is releasing its first two titles next week. The first may be familiar to Crunchyroll manga readers. Inside Mari (Boku wa Mari no Naka) is a seinen series from Futabasha’s Manga Action, where our lead ends up inside the body of the girl he likes, and has to figure out what’s going on and how to act like her. The other debut is PEZ, by Hiroyuki Asada, best known for Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee. It’s small (just 72 pages), but gorgeous, and published originally in the ROBOT anthology. MICHELLE: Welcome, Denpa! ASH: I am definitely interested in both of these (and everything else to come)! MELINDA: Exciting! SEAN:…

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Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 17

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. This is essentially a series of short stories taking place right after the events of the last two volumes, and is therefore as light and fluffy as you can imagine. Everyone goes to the beach, then everyone goes to a festival, then everyone goes to an amusement park. When the group aren’t going places, we see Yurika struggle to do all the homework she completely forgot about in two days, and we also see Koutarou’s father, who hasn’t shown up since the first volume, drop by to check on his son and meet his nine new daughters. I’m kidding only slightly, as the series is…

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One Piece, Vol. 88

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. Ah, it’s *another* one of those “200 pages of fighting” One Piece volumes. As ever, though, there’s stuff we can talk about. Let’s start with Luffy, who spends much of this volume facing off against Katakuri, the seemingly stoic villain who Luffy can’t do anything against… except he can, because Luffy has been analyzing the fight as he goes and figuring out how the powers are being used. The dialogue literally calls out Luffy for being clever, but it’s worth saying out loud, because the reader tends to associate Luffy with the classic dumb shonen hero whose solution to everything is to punch it….

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The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 7

By Gamei Hitsuji and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki. Well, clearly someone did have a talk with the illustrator since my last review, as there is now a new illustrator, and there are lots of interstitial art pieces, which is good, as I’d honestly forgotten that Lefille wears that hat. That hat is not something that should be easily forgotten. On the prose side, this is perhaps a book that is overbalanced towards the back half. The start of the book features a lot of magic lectures, even for this series that seems to be almost entirely magic lectures. The middle third deals with our heroes having to prove themselves to the Elite Guard who will be…

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Bookshelf Briefs 11/12/18

Chihayafuru, Vol. 12 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The Mizusawa karuta team returns to the national tournament and this time (so far), they do not have to forfeit on account of Chihaya falling ill. It’s a battle to keep her focused, however, since she’s convinced Arata is present (she’s right), but they end up prevailing in their first two matches. The first is against a team of Japanese-born foreigners who love the game as honestly as anyone, despite their looks, and the second is against a team of quiz-bowl champs who are ostensibly using karuta as a memory aid but who secretly love it, too. It may not be the most exciting volume out there, but it’s solid and takes us a little bit closer…

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