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The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 10

By Gamei Hitsuji and Yunagi. Released in Japan as “Isekai Mahou wa Okureteru!” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki. First of all, let’s get rid of that elephant in the room. The 11th volume is, as of this writing, not out in Japan yet. I really hope there is not a 5-year-gap between books 10 and 11 the way there was between Books 9 and 10, thank you very much, if only as I had to try to remember things I had long since forgotten when I assumed this series had gone the way of, say, Altina the Sword Princess. Secondly, I apologize to this book for having to read it today, when I was, for reasons I won’t get into, a…

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The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place, Vol. 1

By Toryuu and hamm. Released in Japan as “Kimo Ota Mob Yōhei wa, Mi no Hodo o Wakimaeru” by Overlap Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Josh DM. Sometimes you don’t need everything to be new. Sure, we love it when there’s a groundbreaking work that creates a new template going forward, but sometimes all you need is a different ingredient to make everything not quite stay the same. There have been other light novels that are set in space, of course, but those are irrelevant to me as I don’t read those. I did give this a try, though, as part of my “every once in a while I’ll try something I wouldn’t normally read” pick. And it’s good. Not great, not something I’d recommend….

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Earl and Fairy: Awaiting a Moonlit Elopement

By Mizue Tani and Asako Takaboshi. Released in Japan as “Hakushaku to Yōsei” by Shueisha Cobalt Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns. Sometimes I don’t read the blurbs before I start a volume, particularly if it’s a series I’ve been reading for a while. As a result, I came into this book not knowing that it was a short story volume. This is good and bad in some ways. It allows for less complicated narratives that better show off the two leads, and can also venture into other areas, such as Lydia’s pre-Edgar life. (All but the last short story were collected elsewhere, and the prologue was the first thing the author ever wrote for the series at all.) On the down side, without…

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How I Swapped Places with the Villainess, Beat Up Her Fiancé, and Found True Love, Vol. 1

By BlueBlue and Meiji Anno. Released in Japan as “Danzai Sareteiru Akuyaku Reijou to Irekawatte Konyakusha-tachi wo Buttobashitara, Dekiai ga Matteimashita” by M Novels f. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by JCT. There are good elements to this book, which I promise I’ll get to later. But for the most part, as I was reading this I found myself thinking ‘we’ve finally hit the era of generic villainess books’. It’s boilerplate, and most things that it does do well (such as our heroine beating up her problems) are done better in other, more famous series and also ignored for the majority of the book. It features a super evil “heroine” character, which I have grown very bored with – if you’re going to be evil, you’d…

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A Pale Moon Reverie, Vol. 3

By Kuji Furumiya and Teruko Arai. Released in Japan as “Tsuki no Shirosa o Shirite Madoromu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Jason Li. The third volume of this series, as with the previous two, is very much concerned with people who are trying to control other people vs. people who want to live their lives freely, and it’s not a surprise that we’re very much on the free side. The bulk of the first two-thirds of this volume involves fighting against a god who really wants to have Sari do what he says, and is quite content to blow everything up if he can’t do that. We also have Xixu, hemmed in by his royal blood and his diligence to duty, who needs…

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The Frugal Priestess Becomes a Saint

By Hanami Nishine and Suzuka Oda. Released in Japan as “Isekai kara Seijo wo Yobe to Muchaburisareta Shinkan wa, Cost Performance no Tsugou de Seijo ni Naru” by Muchu Bunko Aletta. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma. I always like it when a book hits all the things I enjoy, though sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s fine because it’s fiction. The main romance here works because a) despite even the publisher labeling the Crown Prince a yandere, he’s very careful to go so far and no farther, so he gets to be extremely possessive and give chilly looks to everyone else, but around the girl he loves he’s a total soppy sweetheart. b) Fiona, our heroine, is as oblivious as a…

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Demons’ Crest, Vol. 2

By Reki Kawahara and Yukiko Horiguchi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by James Balzer. I’ve mentioned before that I am not a gamer, and what this means that most of what I know about MMORPGs and the like comes from these sorts of light novels. As you can imagine, what this has mostly ended up doing is filling me with a deep desire not to game. Because man, gaming can be boring. Or at least, gaming can be boring if it’s being written by Reki Kawahara. Usually I have no issues with his action scenes, but that’s mostly as they’re being taken care of by characters I’ve known for ten years. But this is a new series that unfortunately is not…

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Manga the Week of 11/6/24

SEAN: The start of November, and hopefully we’ve hit the temperatures going down a bit. ASH: Ours just went up again today; it was very weird. SEAN: Airship has the print debut of the light novel version of The Villainess and the Demon Knight, which they seem to have rated as Older Teen, which, um, whatever. You do you. Our reincarnated otome game villainess has been put in a brothel, and the man purchasing her for an entire night is her childhood friend. Can her life be saved by the power of amazing sex? ASH: Oh, my! SEAN: In early digital releases, Airship has Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 9.5 and A Tale of the Secret Saint 7. Dark Horse Comics debuts Cthulhu Cat (Neko no Cthulhu), an Engterbrain…

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Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Side of Fire

By Bokuto Uno and Ruria Miyuki. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru Side of Fire – Rengoku no Ki” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. This does not have a ‘1’ on the cover, and the book ends with the words “The End”. That said, I would not be remotely surprised if we get another volume of this prequel/side story. It’s a book that serves to show off some of the more popular supporting cast before the events of the main series, but it’s also there to remind us that Kimberly Academy did not begin when Nanao and Oliver arrived – and, in fact, the reason that they are able to do as well as they are is…

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