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I’m Running for Crown Princess, but All I Want is a Steady Paycheck!, Vol. 1

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By Yuuri Seo and Okaya. Released in Japan as “Taikouhi Kouho dakedo, Kenjitsu ni Ikou to Omoimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America digitally by Airship. Translated by Natasha Fujii. Adapted by Vida Cruz-Borja.

Seven Seas has started to do these digital-only light novels, ones that presumably are good enough to be licensed but not good enough to justify a print release. (And by “good enough” I mean potentially making money, not quality of the prose.) Most of them tend to cater towards the guy side of the line, but this one is a shoujo light novel. Possibly it doesn’t get a print release as it’s not an isekai, and magic and monster hunting barely feature in it. Possibly also because it’s a 7-year-old series and only has two volumes. (I do wonder about that second volume, more on that later.) That said, I find it very enjoyable. The lead is practical but also a bit flakey, there’s a girl with princess curls who’s more than she seems (I always love that), and the plot twist actually caught me completely flat-footed. It’s definitely worth a read, even with a few faults.

Decades ago, the Litharth family sacrificed its wealth to save their lands from a famine. They’re still nobility, but have to scrounge and save. So when a message comes that the Crown Prince is looking for a wife… and will pay a pile of money to the candidates even if they don’t win… Therese is delighted. She has no desire to be a princess, but she does want cash for her family and her subjects… and if she manages to get a job as a lady in waiting, that would be amazing! She heads off with her elderly maid, and is helped by a handsome knight and also an intelligent attendant who seems to have a bad case of backstory disease. But there’s lots of catty noble girls, seemingly the minions of the arrogant Claris. And there’s the fact that Therese isn’t quite sure what to do anyway – there’s not a series of competitions. Clearly there’s only one thing to do: create a lot of paper origami boxes and scrubbing brushes.

Therese is a lot of fun, though one of the flaws of the book is that sometimes the author needs to hit her with the airhead mallet to get the book to get the way they want. I like her better when she’s being practical and down to earth. I also liked her friend and attendant Leina, who also helps with the main issue of the book, which is that Therese is clearly the best candidate, being sensible, not full of herself, etc. And yet, also clearly any romance that’s happening here is between Therese and her guard knight, who get a lot more scenes together. Thus we need to give SOMEONE to the crown prince, and fortunately there’s someone with backstory disease. I will also admit, while I was taken flat footed by the antagonist reveal, it did lean a bit too much into “well, time to set the switch on my back to evil”. Most of all, this is, even more than others I read recently, absolutely done with the first volume. And yet…

There is apparently a second. Not sure when we’ll get that. In any case, this was fluffy fun.

Déjà Vute: Betrayal Begets New Beginnings, Vol. 1

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By Minami Kashiwa and Suzunosuke. Released in Japan as “Imouto ni Subete o Ubawareta Reijou wa Kon’yakusha no Uragiri o Shiri Kaiki Suru” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Jessica Speed.

This is the second debut in a row that features a “Cinderella” story that focuses heavily on the abuse of the main character by her evil stepmother and stepsister, and this one leans more heavily into the romance part of the equation. (For details on the first, which focuses on the abuse itself and the recovery, see my review of Keep Me Close). This one also features that ever popular plotline, getting killed off and then waking up years in the past to fix everything. That said, Déjà Vute struggled throughout its first volume to keep me from wanting to smack most of the cast around. Not just the evil stepmother and stepsister, who are joined in this series by an evil dad. But the heroine, who seems dedicated in her goal, seems to have missed several obvious signposts that might have helped her out. The first and most obvious being “hrm, I wonder if someone is withholding my mail?”.

The book starts with our main character, Freesia, being murdered by her younger sister Kalmina, who has also killed off another man to put next to her to help invent a story that Freesia had been cheating. This will allow Kalmina to marry Vute, Freesia’s fiancé, who hasn’t written her in two years. Then Freesia dies… and ends up back two years ago. Sadly for her, this is still when she’s getting abused by her family – even her previously kind Grandmother, who has turned into a vicious Education Mama. And since Vute clearly doesn’t care about her and never wrote her, she decides to break off her engagement and also go to school. This proves difficult, because Kalmina is The Saint, who protects their land from monsters, and Freesia is, well, the one who does all the prep work for Kalmina to achieve this. Even worse, it turns out that not only is Vute still madly in love with her, but he has ALSO gone back in time two years.

There’s a princess in this book, Olivia, who I quite liked, mostly as she’s the one character who has had it up to here with everyone’s drama. (In the original timeline, she dies tragically from disease, here’s hoping she avoids that this time around.) She seems to think Freesia’s attempts to get free of Vute hilarious… mostly because she knows Vute’s backstory, where he was trying to save his brother’s life and was helped by the tomboyish, outgoing Freesia, pre-abuse. (Freesia does not remember this due to one of the most suspicious concussions I’ve ever read in a book, and Volume 2 had better come back to it.) The main issue I have with this, and I feel bad about it, is that Freesia’s such a downer. This is due to the abuse, but it’s mostly made her cynical and bitter… which means she’s unable to see Vute’s reactions to being around her, which are basically “I am the one who adores you”. Meanwhile, Vute is baffled as to what’s happened, and all he has to go on is what he heard from the first timeline. And just as Freesia never thought “I wonder if my mail is being thrown out”, Vute never thinks “I wonder if the story told to me by the obviously evil girl is a lie?”.

I get the feeling this may wrap up with the second volume – it came out in Japan the same day as the 2nd book, and the books have “Part I” and “Part II” in their Japanese titles. As such, I’ll read the second one. But in the end, I found this a bit of a slog.

Keep Me Close: Finding My Home in You, Vol. 1

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By Morrinmomo and whimhalooo. Released in Japan as “Watashi ga Kaeritai Basho wa ~Ibasho o Nakushita Reijou ga “Tokenai Hyouzou” to Uwasa Sareru Ryoushu-sama no Moto de Shiawase ni Naru made~” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

Generally speaking my reviews don’t have continuity, and you should not have to read them day by day to get the gist of what I think. Sometimes, though, timing plays a major role. This week saw the release of two shoujo LNs with, if not similar plots, at least similar framing devices – the evil stepmother and stepsister, and years of horrible abuse. And they came out within two days of each other, so I am reading them one right after the other. Theoretically I could have put Housekeeping Mage in between them, but, well, that also deals with abuse destroying someone’s psyche. So this may be part one of two, as in this review I discuss abuse as a main plot point with romance being secondary, and then in Deja Vute I’ll circle round to the opposite. That said, secondary doesn’t mean minor. It’s just that in the case of Keep Me Close, the abuse drowns out the rest of the book – and that’s on purpose.

The book begins by speed-running the normal “Villainess” beginning. Claudia Innsbruck is whisked out of her home, where she had been doing servant work, and taken to the Crown Prince, who announces her horrible crimes. He wants her executed, but her stepmother and stepsister, who are so so wonderful, convince him to merely exile her to the south, to be a servant to (please read on, I promise it’s a good book) the legendary “Icy Duke”. On her arrival, Julius, who is unsurprisingly merely incredibly bad at dealing with women, and his assistant Anton, discover that not only is the selfish, spoiled daughter who embezzled all that money a broken, quivering wreck of a young woman, but that she’s suspiciously good at some things, such as finances and ledger bookkeeping. Is it possible that this is all another reminder that all stepmothers and stepsisters are evil unless proven otherwise?

Claudia is the highlight of the book, and the story does not skimp in showing what two years of abuse can do to a confident girl. We don’t see much of it, as this takes place after her exile, but we get the staccato refrain of “you will never be allowed to be happy”, which by this time she has taken to heart. Most of the book is not a typical romance as she and Julius, whose words always come out as “angry”, are just completely unable to deal with each other. I also liked the thriller aspect of the second half, as once Claudia recovers somewhat and decides to fight back, it becomes clear that it’s not just a stepmother and stepsister she has to deal with, but a much trickier opponent, who has several backup evil schemes. Fortunately for Claudia, this country has a King, and he’s not dead. Bad news for the Crown Prince. Also, while this book is mostly serious, there were a few laugh out loud moments. The king explaining to a horrified stepmother that money can be exchanged for goods and services just made me imagine him as Homer Simpson.

This is done in one, but there’s a second volume, like so many shoujo light novels. I assume that’s why the stepsister wasn’t completely removed from the story. In any case, if you don’t mind a heroine ground down by trauma, and her journey to recover, this is a very good book.

Manga the Week of 11/11/26

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SEAN: Election Day has passed! That’s good! Or bad! Delete where applicable!

ASH: Stressful, is what that was.

SEAN: Airship has a print debut. When It Rains, It Pours (Futtara Doshaburi) is a BL light novel from the creator of Yes, No or Maybe?. A guy and his girl are growing apart. Another guy has an unrequited crush on his male roommate. Can these two become friends by venting to each other?

ASH: There’s a good chance, I would suspect.

SEAN: They also have Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized! 3.

And for early digital, we get The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain 9, A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO 6, Too Many Losing Heroines! SS, and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 14.

Dark Horse Comics debuts Babanba Banban Vampire, a long-running BL series from Bessatsu Shonen Champion that also got an anime. A bathhouse worker is trying to get the heir to the bathhouse to stay a virgin till he’s 18 so the vampire can have his delicious virgin blood. Unfortunately, there’s a girl in this BL manga as well, and the heir likes her!

ANNA: Whoops! Well the vampire element is novel.

SEAN: Drawn and Quarterly have A Nobody Artist, the 6th in their series collecting all of Yoshihara Tsuge. These are autobiographical pieces.

ASH: Still thrilled that this series is being released.

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us I’m Fine With Being the Second Girlfriend 2, Imaizumi Brings All the Gals to His House 7, and Let’s Make a Harem in a Zombie World! 3.

Ink Pop has My Life as an Internet Novel 3 and Our Aimless Nights 2.

Inklore (not the same as Ink Pop) has Cherry Blossoms After Winter 5.

J-Novel Club has a bunch of print. The debut is From Villainess to Healer: I Know the Cheat to Change My Fate (Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijou), which runs in Flos Comic. A woman with dark magic is dumped by her fiancé the prince as her magic is, well, dark. So she leaves the country, uses a cheat to get Healing Magic, and proceeds to have a shoujo light novel fantasy.

ANNA: I can see how that would be a relief in these trying times.

ASH: Indeed.

SEAN: We also get An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 20, Ascendance of a Bookworm (manga) Part 2 10, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 8, Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill (manga) 8, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World Omnibus 6, and Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole 8.

Two debuts for J-Novel Club digitally, one manga, one a light novel. The manga is Crybaby Love Song (Amaembo to Love Song), a one-shot in the Knight line that runs in Chara. A music-loving kid has a panic attack during a concert, and suddenly can no longer play the sax. Worse, he has a new stepbrother who plays guitar.

ASH: Music manga will always interest me.

SEAN: Fleet-Footed Dungeon Delver: Tune in for Magical Girls and Motion Blur! (Shinsoku no Dungeon Seeker ~Speed Kyokufuri Haishinsha wa Subete o Buchinuku~) is the latest from the author of Sexiled and Dragon Daddy Diaries, so don’t be surprised if there’s some yuri in this. In a fantasy Earth, dungeons are big business, and our heroine is trying to make money streaming. Then she meets up with another girl too fast for cameras to capture.

Other light novels from JNC: The Misfit of Demon King Academy 13 Act 1, Royal Spirits Are a Royal Pain! Give Me a Regular Romance 5, and Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer! This White Mage Is One Heck of a Healer 5.

Other manga from JNC: All Eyes on Nekoyashiki-kun! Notice Me, Not My Characters 3, The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom 8, I’ll Never Set Foot in That House Again! 9, Infinite Dendrogram 15, My Tiny Senpai 7, and the 4th and final volume of What’s with the Bag, Kamiyama-san?.

ANNA: I hope that cat is careful about their eating habits!!! Josei cat manga sounds intriguing for sure.

MICHELLE: Huh! There is, in fact, quite a lot that kitties shouldn’t eat.

ASH: Very true!

SEAN: Kodansha Manga debuts The Yum Cat, Nmeneko (Nmeneko), which has run in Nakayoshi (shoujo) and Be Love (josei), but is a cat manga. A cat wants to eat everything!… but is everything safe to eat? this is complete in one volume.

Also in print: Girlfriend, Girlfriend Omnibus 6, How to Treat a Lady Knight Right 7 (the final volume), Issak Omnibus 8, Love at First Memory 4, Nezumi’s First Love 5, Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! 11, Say Hello to Mr. Wallaby! 2 (the final volume), Spacewalking With You 4, Wandance 14, and You Might As Well Be the One 2.

And digitally we see Giant Killing 60, Manchuria Opium Squad 15, and ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! 11.

MICHELLE: I am literally dozens of volumes behind in Giant Killing, at this point.

SEAN: One Peace Books has Villainess Level 99 5.

Random House World has a box set. Twisted-Wonderland: Book of Heartslabyul gets 1-4 in a box.

Seven Seas continues to complete all their danmei series. This time it’s the 4th and final volume of After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine.

Seven Seas has some debuts. Good Morning, Good Night, and See You Tomorrow (Ohayou, Oyasumi, Mata Ashita) is a slice-of-life drama from Souffle. Based on the author’s real-life experiences, it has a single woman battling with a cancer diagnosis.

ANNA: I’m always on the lookout for graphic medicine manga.

ASH: It’s great to see more of these being released!

SEAN: Me and the Prez, Drinking Under the Stars (Shachou to Sake to Hoshi) is a romantic comedy from Weekly Young Magazine. A young woman is now head of her family’s printing company, but is struggling. When she sits in a park and complains while drinking, her subordinate overhears and decides to help her.

ANNA: Sounds cute!

ASH: I’m intrigued.

SEAN: Wolfhound is a one-shot BL manga from Canna. A top host at a club finds his subordinate is behaving badly, and needs correcting. Sadly, the subordinate is a masochist, so this is all according to plan!

ASH: Seems like!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Barbarian’s Bride 8, I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons 6, It’s Just a Dream… Right?! 4, Let’s Run an Inn on Dungeon Island! (In a World Ruled by Women) 3-4, The Lord-Magear’s Apprentice 2, The Oblivious Girl and the Maidenly Man 2, Only I Know the World Is Ending and Getting Killed by Rampaging Beasts Only Makes Me Stronger 7, Reincarnated as a Sword 18, and Tease Me Harder: A Sweet and Kinky Romance 4.

Square Enix Books has the 11th volume of The Apothecary Diaries light novel in print.

ASH: I approve.

SEAN: Debuting from Square Enix Manga is Stalker Stalks Stalker (Suto Suto: Stalker ga Stalker Sareteru Hanashi), a BL series from Gangan Pixiv. Remember that Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei gag with the chain of stalkers all stalking someone else? This is that.

MICHELLE: I had thought maybe this was something psychological and serious, but it appears to be comedic.

ASH: It really could have gone either way.

SEAN: Also from Square Enix: The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten 5, The Apothecary Diaries 16 (manga this time), and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 33.

SuBLime have Given 10th Mix, an epilogue volume that wraps up the Given series. There’s also apparently a box set.

MICHELLE: Oooh.

ASH: Most excellent.

SEAN: And they have Scattering His Virgin Bloom: Love Frenzy 4, also a final volume.

Tokyopop have The Encyclopedia of Vegetable Fairies, which seems to be a fantasy cookbook?

ANNA: I hope the fairies are cooking vegetables, and it isn’t about cooking vegetable fairies.

ASH: That is an important distinction.

SEAN: And there’s also Imitation Play -dawn-, because BL for some reason would rather release 2 separate but connected one shots than a 2-volume series. It’s a genre thing, as far as I can tell.

ASH: I’ve noticed that, too.

SEAN: Retailers say Udon Entertainment has More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers 4.

Two debuts for Viz Media. Albus Changes the World (Kaiten no Albus) is a fantasy manga from Weekly Shonen Sunday. A guy who saved the world and defeated the demon lord goes back in time, because he knows he can do it faster and better.

Pokémon Adventures: Red and Blue, Deluxe Edition is… well, you know what it is. Hardcover, almost 500 pages.

Also from Viz: Akane-banashi 18, Akira Failing in Love 5, Hima-Ten! 3, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 12, Mao 26, The Marshal King 2, One Piece 113, and Seraph of the End 35.

Yen On has a pile of debuts. The Demon King Seems to Have Infiltrated the Hero’s Party (Yuusha Party no Nakama ni Maou ga Mazatteru rashii) has a guy who has NOT been thrown out of the hero’s party. It’s pretty great! Till a goddess tells him one of the party is the demon king in disguise.

ASH: A refreshing twist!

SEAN: The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria Collector’s Edition is a giant tome containing the entire series that originally came out from 2017-2019.

ASH: That’s huge.

SEAN: On the Way Home After Defeating the Demon King (Maou o Taoshita Ato no Kaerimichi de) is a one-shot from the creator of Outbreak Company. After defeating the demon king, a party member coldly leaves, and our hero realizes he knows next to nothing about any of the party.

Rise of the Lowborn: Ascending the Ranks by Crushing Incompetent Nobles (Heimin Shusshin no Teikoku Shoukan, Munou na Kizoku Joukan o Juurin Shite Nariagaru) stars a commoner who’s being sent to the front lines to deal with bratty nobles. Fortunately, he has past life memories of being a powerful mage!

The Story of the Moon Waiting for the Evening (Yoi o Matsu Tsuki no Monogatari Ichi) is another new series from the creator of My Happy Marriage. In a town full of ghosts, our heroine seemingly has no supernatural abilities. Then she runs into a young boy full of secrets.

ANNA: OOH, getting this for sure!

ASH: I would absolutely read this.

SEAN: Valkyrie Bullet is one of those “in the near future, only women can pilot the powered suits and save the world. But what if… a MAN appears who is better than them at this?” series.

ANNA: I’d rather just read about women in powered suits!

ASH: Same.

SEAN: Also from Yen On: The Azure Sword, Slayer of Distortions 2, Days with My Stepsister 8, The Executioner and Her Way of Life 11 (the final volume), High School DxD 19, I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History 5, Kusunoki’s Garden of Gods 5, Magical Explorer 12, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Short Story Collection 6, and The World’s Strongest Witch 3.

And some stragglers from Yen Press, who have Chained Soldier 15, Mad Miniscape 2, My Oh My, Atami-kun 4 and Spring Storm and Monster 6.

Did you fill in the black circle completely when you bought your manga? Can you tell this piece was written before Thursday?

Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home!, Vol. 10

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By You Fuguruma and Nama. Released in Japan as “Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

Last time I said we were caught up with Japan and I wasn’t sure when we’d get the next book in the series. Well, it turned out to be about a year and a half. And since we’re caught up with Japan again, it may be another year and a half before Book 11. On the bright side, unlike some other slow-burn romances I could name (coughDahliacough), this one is actually realizing that it’s going to be ending with Book 11 or 12 and doing something about it. The meeting with Alec’s brother, which we’ve been hearing will be happening soon for a while, finally happens. The actual suspense part of the book involves a figure from Shiori’s dark past, which she is finally able to lay to rest. They move into a larger house that ends up being a dorm for adventurers, with them as resident assistants. Oh yes, and they finally go all the way. Busy book!

There are three large stories that make up the bulk of this chunky book. In the first, Alec and Shiori are looking for a new place to live that is larger than his apartment, and discover an old boarding school that has just one slight problem: it may be haunted. Which is bad news, as that’s Alec’s one fatal flaw. In the second, a woman has been stalking Shiori and Alec, and she’s definitely bad news. She seems to know Alec, but he can’t remember who she is. And she’s got a ringer to help her out – Torre, Shiori’s old partner in her first adventuring party, is back and ready to cause another round of PTSD for her. In the last story, Alec and Shiori venture out to meet his brother (the king, in case you’d forgotten) at last, and also Rebecca, as she and Alec are finally able to apologize to each other and admit they’re both very happy with other people. This allows Alec to finally do what we’ve been waiting ten books for – propose.

Let’s talk about that middle story. I could not tell you how little I wanted to see the remaining member of Shiori’s old party… you know, the one who isn’t dead. And Shiori certainly feels the same. Fortunately, thanks to a villain even worse than he is, he gets a first-hand taste of what Shiori went through when he left her to die, and proceeds to repent. We even get a quick one page “and this is what happened to him the rest of his life” from the narrative, as if to reassure readers that we don’t have to worry about him again, either. The most amusing thing about the book for me was the sex. The start of the book shows that, while they haven’t gone all the way, they’re still doing everything short of that. We get to briefly see Nadia and Clemens, and hear about the marks all over her body, clearly from their lovemaking. And towards the enhd of the book, Shiori gets those exact same marks. These folks have very difficult lives, and so they are ready to have great sex whenever they can. And they do.

I always enjoy this series, but I’m enjoying it even more now that it’s resolving its plots and drawing to a close. I will happily wait for whenever we get Book 11.

From Bumbling Prodigy to Villainess: Will the Duke’s Love Go Unnoticed?, Vol. 2

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By Saki Ichibu and Yukako Fujimura. Released in Japan as “Munou Saijo wa Akujo ni Naritai ~Gimai no Migawari de Totsuida Reijou, Koushaku-sama no Dekiai ni Kizukanai~” by Dengeki no Shin Bungei. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Joshua C Shupp.

I have, inevitably, mentioned this before, but it is still interesting how, due to translations having to actually be translated and not just literally ported over, “Villainess” is having to get redefined in these books. Sometimes it does mean someone who is capable of doing evil things, ranging from murder to throwing wine on someone’s dress. Sometimes it’s someone who enjoys sleeping around, or toying with other men. But sometimes the “bad woman” merely means “strong woman”, and one reason why transposed Japanese otaku, or shy retiring noble girls, might admire them is that they can do things that most would not. They can stand up to men and tell them off. Even if those men happen to be in a position of power. When people say “she’s rumored to be a horrible villainess”, there’s a thrill in their words. “She lives her own life!” Of course, this is still a romance novel, there are limits.

Surprisingly for a series as goofy as this, there’s a hidden opium trade in the kingdom, and Dylan is being asked to investigate – with Avril sometimes helping out despite herself. After a masked ball full of intrigue – and reminders of Avril’s former reputation as a loose woman – the signs point to a lead in Dylan’s own domain, as one of the mistresses that his dissolute father has brought in is part of a family involved with the drug. Meanwhile, Avril is just delighted to be able to see where Dylan grew up and meet everyone in his domain… though perhaps a bit less excited to meet his father, who supposedly likes meek, shy women rather than confident brassy ones. But Avril has a way to fix that. She just has to be a villainess! She’s so good at it!

I was reminded a bit of Marielle Clarac here, mostly with the idea that the heroine is so unassuming that she is automatically assumed to be a maid rather than the fiancee of the Duke she actually is. That said, Avril is much sillier than Marielle – this is a romance, sort of, but first and foremost, it’s a comedy, and there were plenty of laughs. Not just in funny scenes, either – possibly the biggest laugh in the book for me is when someone throws themselves out a window on the 2nd floor. We also get a side story that explains how Alexandra ended up with the Prince, which is great, as I like Alexandra, but also not great, as it promotes “if you’re annoying to the one you love for over a decade, she will eventually give in and love you.” Other than that, this was solid, if suffering a bit from second book syndrome. Series are hard, aren’t they? Everything is just the slightest bit less fresh this time around.

This arc will continue into the third book, and I’m sure Avril will do something outrageous while practicing her “horrible behavior”. And you won’t have long to wait, as this series is still monthly!

The Villainess’ Journal: Newlywed Life of an Obsessive Researcher, Vol. 1

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By Len Kagizaki and Akira Shigaraki. Released in Japan as “Akujo Nisshi -Otaku na Akujo (?) no Shinkon Seikatsu-” by Maple Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Emma Schumacker.

This review does spoil the biggest reveal in the book, sorry about that.

When I saw this was coming out one month after From Bumbling Prodigy to Villainess debuted, I was somewhat puzzled. Let’s face it, the two have a premise that’s so similar it’s almost eerie. But after reading it, I can see the differences that make this one stand out. For one thing, Bumbling Prodigy has one normal guy trying to deal with his very sheltered, eccentric, somewhat autistic nerd of a wife, with help from snickering servants. Whereas this title has the exact same thing, only the guy is also a nerd. There’s an evil dad. There’s a younger sister who uses the name of her older sister in order to go out and fool around, which gives the older sister the bad reputation. And yeah, that’s exactly the same here, though the reasoning behind it is very different. And both leads are hilarious. But in the end, the difference is that Avril is a savant, while Estelle is a nerd. In a good way.

Estelle Aublanc is sitting in her bedroom researching magic circles – which she’s done for the last ten years or so – when her father shows up and demands that she get made up gaudily and go meet with a prospective fiance. It turns out her sister has dragged her name into the mud, and now a marquess with a reputation for being cold wants to marry her. Estelle does not particularly care about the marriage as long as she can study magic circles. Though her father threatening to burn all her research does galvanize her to try at least a little. Unfortunately, trying to act like a “villainess”, like her fiance has requested, turns out to be difficult as she has no idea what one does. She doesn’t want to wear all that sticky makeup. She doesn’t really have it in her to be mean to servants. And what’s a callboy anyway?

To get the bad out of the way, like many in its genre, this book suffers from a bad case of “the same scene from a different perspective.” Estelle’s narration runs about 30 pages or so, then we get 15 or so from Gerald’s perspective giving us the exact same scenes and dialogue. This was annoying in Bakarina and its imitators, and it’s still annoying here. Other than that, this is a delight. I will try not to spoil but the most interesting part of the book is Estelle’s sister Alette. The fact that Estelle is so happy to meet everyone and everything helps disguise things, as she’s exactly the same when it comes to her sister. Alette’s scheming is rather brilliant, frankly, and I like that we get a younger sister who is neither evil NOR an innocent waif. Actually, while not having any explicit on-screen sex, this book is pretty spicy, especially towards the end.

So yeah, that’s why CIW licensed this one right after Bumbling Prodigy. They’re both winners. I look forward to the second book, though unlike Bumbling Prodigy it’s not being fast-tracked by the company.

The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World: I’ll Show You That All Races Are Equal

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By Mitsuru Inoue and Suzuno. Released in Japan as “Isekai Teni Shite Kyoushi ni Natta ga, Majo to Osorerarete Iru Ken” by Earth Star Luna. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gierrlon Dunn.

It’s always a bit of a bummer when you’re reading a series and the author makes a decision about the book that you don’t like. And it’s even more annoying when it’s the entire plot of the book. This book picks up where the fourth book left off, with Aoi trying to get the guy who bullied Solare so hard he became a shut-in to apologize… only very quickly that becomes secondary to what these books always end up being about, which is how overpowered Aoi is and how her magic is super duper awesome because she knows science. The bullying part gets forgotten about till the very end (where, I will admit, we get a nice scene, and I think that framing it as Glen having to reach out works OK). And worse, we’re introduced to a new regular, and he’s bringing to the table a dish that I do not ever want to see in this series: romance.

Aoi has returned to the Elf Country, taking with her heaadmaster Glen, teachers Elisa and Strath, and student Shenley, in order to once again get Burrest and his family to realize what he did was wrong and apologize for his actions. This goes very badly at first, until everyone shows off their sorcery prowess, and then the elves quickly look on in awe. They end up being invited to the Elven Senate, who are trying to choose a new King from among four candidates… including Aoi’s mentor Owain. That said, the meeting quickly turns into everyone being shown amazing sorcery again. Including the current King, who ends up having a one-to-one battle in the sky, which Aoi wins handily. Aoi, meanwhile, discovers that Elven Sorcery uses spirits, which hers does not, so really wants to figure out what this means.

So yeah, let’s talk about the other thing that annoyed me other than everything boiling down to “Aoi is mighty”. We meet Langus, who at first is as aloof as the other elves, but once he sees Aoi in action, he becomes that worst of cliches, the guy who declares he’s marrying the girl he likes without bothering to listen to her reject him over and over again. He even goes back with her to the academy. And an epilogue suggests that the other nations are going to introduce their own guys who try to mack on Aoi, only for political reasons. I’m sure this will mostly be used for “comedy”, and there’s certainly no possibility at the moment that the series has Aoi fall in love – hell, Aoi having an emotion at all is a stretch. But I hate comedy one-sided obsession, and it’s sticking around, so grr. On the bright side, this book had lots of Shenley, which is always welcome. She’s a good kid.

This series ends with Book 8, so I’ll pick up the next one, but I hope that it has less of the annoying guy (unlikely). I don’t bother to hope it won’t all just be “Aoi is OP”, that’s sort of the point. I just wish the bullying subplot had ended with a bit more than “oh yeah, that.”

Pick of the Week: Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum

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MICHELLE: I’m intrigued by The Seaside Where Dragon Boys Dwell and The Magical Forest of Hoshigahara, but I can’t not pick Skip Beat! when given the opportunity!

ASH: Right?? There are so many great debuts and ongoing series this week. For my part, I can’t pass up cat manga from Garo and Yamada Murasaki, so Sassy Cats is my pick!

ANNA: There’s a lot of intriguing new titles coming out this week but I have to say that I’m going to have to go with the newest volume of Skip Beat!.

SEAN: I’m mostly on the light novel train right now, with choices like I’m Running for Crown Princess, but All I Want is a Steady Paycheck! or Déjà Vute: Betrayal Begets New Beginnings. But for manga? Sure, let’s go with Skip Beat!.

KATE: Two weeks, two Gou Tanabe picks? Hell yes! I’m looking forward to reading his adaptation of The Dunwich Horror, which arrives in stores this week. And just to prove I’m not on the Dark Horse payroll, I’m throwing in a second recommendation: Yamada Murasaki’s Sassy Cats. I don’t know if it will be as heartbreaking as Talk to My Back, but I’m guessing I may need a few Kleenex on hand. (I’m a certified Animal Sap™.)

Observation Records of My Wife: The Misadventures of a Self-Proclaimed Villainess, Vol. 5

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By Shiki and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Jishō Akuyaku Reijō na Tsuma no Kansatsu Kiroku” by Regina Books. Released in North America by Hanashi Media. Translated by Ethan Holms.

I did enjoy this volume a lot more than the previous one, let’s get that out of the way. With that said… there is a point at the start of this book where Charles tells Cecil that he’s going to have to do something that might look very suspicious to others, and Cecil wonders out loud “shouldn’t you tell your fiancee?” The trouble is that what this involves is a minor bad guy who’s been sleeping around and getting women pregnant, and the men in this series all want to shelter their significant others from the horrors of that. That said, Charles’ response wasn’t quite “no, I have to keep her in the dark, or else this book will be 40 pages long”, but it was close. This plot is designed purely to have the girls get mad at the boys, and even then, it’s mostly an excuse for Bertia to be mad. The trouble is, she’s terrible at being mad, but very good at being trouble.

Charles’ brother, who we’ve heard about since the first book, has been getting worse and worse in his lothario ways. Unfortunately, their father, after a throne-war struggle during his generation, does not want family drama and has already said the eldest is the next head of the family. To fix this, Charles plans to confront and interview his brother’s victims, and also try to protect them. Unfortunately, because this involves sex, cheating, and other distasteful topics, he decides not to tell Anne, and Cecil likewise wants to avoid mentioning it to Bertia as she’d just run and yell at the guy. Unfortunately, what this means is Charles is rumored to be cheating with all these girls. As such Bertia, Anne, and the other women are various kinds of furious. And nothing can be solved until the evidence is gathered, meaning this gets dragged out.

My absolute favorite part of the book was seeing Heronia again. This was hinted at in the last arc, when they found that piece of Pii, but Cecil doesn’t like Heronia, so there was no reason for him to do anything nice for her. But towards the end of this book, Bertia does something that requires another Japanese import to explain, so he’s forced to make a deal. We see that Heronia, post-villainy, is a) not putting up with any of Cecil’s shit (she calls him the “android prince” multiple times), but also b) adapting to life in the convent and helping out the younger children. I love seeing broken villainesses break out of it and do better. I also liked the other antagonist in this book, who seemed to be yet another petty brat, but turned out to have a lot more depth than I expected, and it’s set up that we’ll be seeing her again. As for Charles and Anne… eventually, they work it out. Not everyone can be as shiny as Bertia, though Anne does come close.

This series continues to have legs long beyond what it should have, and I’ll continue to support it.