Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel!, Vol. 2

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By Rhythm Aida and nauribon. Released in Japan as “Buta Koushaku ni Tensei shita kara, Kondo wa Kimi ni Suki to Iitai” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Zihan Gao.

When one is reincarnated as the villain in one’s favorite anime or manga, of course, the natural desire is to change things so that the appalling fate is avoided. This is how most villainess stories go, and it’s how Piggy Duke goes as well. Slowe knows how this ends for him, and he’s determined to try to a) lose a bit more weight, and b) confess to the girl he loves. Neither of those things really happen in this volume, though it is occasionally remarked that he is a bit slimmer. That said, Slowe seems to be just as prone as other light novel protagonists to not realizing that changing a personal timeline might mean that other things get changed as well… which makes the anime that his past self watched pretty useless. In this case, he already knows that one knight will turn traitor down the road… and is thus rather surprised when it comes early.

After the events of the last book, Slowe’s reputation is… well, mostly the same, as no one can quite believe their ears when they hear it and he’s spent a lot more time being appalling then he has being awesome. That said, the headmaster knows what’s really going on, so calls him and Alicia, his former fiancee, to his office. A bandit group that killed one of Alicia’s relatives is still at large, and Alicia, along with two royal knights, are going to try to put them down. Why is Slowe there? Well, he’s been asked to participate in the selection process of becoming a Guardian Knight… despite the fact that his family and the Church don’t get along. Still, politics being politics, Slowe accepts. Now all he has to do is try to stop Alicia taking a dangerous risk while also seemingly acting lazy and uncaring. And then there’s Charlotte…

Honestly, I’m a bit amazed that Slowe and Charlotte have been able to keep her secret for as long as they have, particularly given that she comes close to spilling it to one of the knights in a drunken conversation. (She and Alicia are likely too young to have been drinking themselves into a stupor, but at least the narrative says that.) This also leads to the change in events from the anime… fortunately, Slowe is stupid powerful, so he takes care of things anyway, but I hope he now realizes he can’t coast on what he thinks is going to happen down the road. As for Alicia, her feelings are super obvious to everyone but Slowe, no matter how much she acts like she’s voiced by Rie Kugimiya. It’s clear as day that she was deeply in love with him as a child, and has never gotten over the feelings of disappointment and betrayal she felt. Well, except now that he’s literally saved her life twice, she’s getting over it. That said, she’s now in a pack of 3, along with the girl he supposedly loves and the busty commoner. (I mention busty because the book can’t go two pages without mentioning her chest, so best work it in on my end as well.)

This continues to be the definition of a solid enjoyable light novel that doesn’t wow but, aside from still fat-shaming as a running theme, doesn’t put too many feet wrong. Fans should enjoy it.

Pick of the Week: Saints Alive!

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SEAN: I’m always here for light novels that are not ‘variations on a popular theme’, like isekai and ‘weak to strong’… even themes I like, such as villainess titles. As such, my pick this week is Spy Classroom, which seems to be along the lines of “What if 86 was a romantic comedy with spies?”. I enjoy espionage-style titles.

MJ: I admit there isn’t a lot to lure me in this week, but I’m always happy to see a new installment of Saint Young Men, so sign me up for that!

MICHELLE: I’ll go for DAYS this week. I’ve fallen quite a bit behind, but I do enjoy it.

KATE: What, no votes for Does a Hot Elf Live Next Door to Me?! C’mon, where’s your spirit of adventure? Seriously, though, this week feels like visiting the grocery store right before a major snowstorm (or hurricane, for that matter): most of the shelves are empty, and what’s left are a few rolls of off-brand toilet paper. But in the spirit of PotW, I’ll cast my vote for Saint Young Men, a manga I wanted to like more than I actually did.

ANNA: I will make One Piece volume 97 my pick since it is a favorite in my household.

ASH: It’s Saint Young Men for me, too! Hikaru Nakamura’s manga and particular sense of humor just works for me. My experience with Nakamura’s other series Arakawa Under the Bridge was similar.

Otherside Picnic, Vol. 5

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By Iori Miyazawa and shirakaba. Released in Japan as “Urasekai Picnic” by Hayakawa Bunko JA. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

This may be the least horror-themed volume to date, with the stories in this book, with the exception of the final one, more focused on either a) the relationship between Sorawo and Toriko, or b) the nature of the Otherside as a world in which it is possible to stay, be it animal or person, and manage to avoid too much weird creepiness. The Otherside does not necessarily have to turn anything and everything into an urban legend or creeping horror… it’s just that is what it seems to do when Sorawo is around. A lot of the Otherside that we’ve seen to date seems to be very focused on her in particular, so it’s interesting to see it when it’s either literally reflecting on the relationship between her and Toriko or just showing a happy old woman and her dog staying at a swank Otherside estate. That said, there are still some scary moments in this book, particularly the final story, where, as the subtitle suggests, our heroines run into an old foe.

We get four stories this time around. In the first, Sorawo is desperately trying to recall what happened the night of a love hotel girls’ party that she and Toriko (and Kozakura, Akari and Natsumi, because Sorawo is a big chicken) were at. Was it really just “I got too drunk and did something stupid?” Or did she put the whammy on her friends with her Eye of Power? The second story, and my favorite, has Sorawo hunt down Toriko, who has been avoiding her after the party, at Toriko’s college. She finds her, but shortly afterwards becomes trapped in interstitial space, and gets a good look at how Toriko sees Sorawo. Then it’s back to the Otherside, where they spot the most terrifying Otherside denizen yet… Sorawo’s self-confidence. Oh yes, and a borzoi. Finally, the two are hired by the wife of the first man they met in the Otherside to find him… never mind the fact that he was there to find her, or that they saw him killed. Who’s the child they’re seeing hiding in a pile of garbage? And why is Hasshaku-sama behind this?

Not to spoil too much, but in the fourth volume we finally had Toriko make it as explicit as possible that she loves Sorawo, and in this 5th volume Sorawo is finally able to say it back, after literally seeing herself through Toriko’s eyes, and also realizing that Toriko is actually a normal, fallible human being and not a flawless goddess of beauty. There’s little of Sorawo’s descriptive Toriko prose here, and she seems to be (well, leaving aside the first story) more accepting of their relationship. She still has a tendency to hate herself as much as humanly possible, and I suspect the relationship is not going to get much further unless she can clear that hurdle, but hey, baby steps. We also get a good look at what the Otherside is like when it’s simply… accepted. Not leaving one spot too much, avoiding dangerous areas, etc. Turns out… it’s pretty nice. The third story was my second favorite, and I wonder if we’ll see the woman and her dog again.

That said, my big question, and the book ends with it being very much up in the air, is what’s up with that kid? (For a while I thought she was literally Sorawo as a child in some sort of time breaking shenanigans, but apparently not?) In any case, there hopefully will be less wait for the 6th volume. If the anime didn’t impress you, try the novels, they’re much better.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 6.5

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By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

As you can tell by the volume number, this is a short story collection. That said, definitely don’t read it till you’ve read the 6th book, as a lot of the back half of this volume deals with what happens in that book. For the most part, Tomozaki is not the focus of this book either, though of course a lot of it has his presence. Instead we get each heroine getting approximately a quarter of the book to get short stories giving us insight into how they think and interact with others. (The exception to this is Suzu, who’s barely mentioned here, and it feels odd she’s left out, especially as this volume is rather short.) The good news is that they’re very good stories, with one exception, and Aoi and Mimimi in particular come off with added insight into their character. Indeed, Aoi continues to worry me. I’ve said before that I find her the most interesting heroine, and that hasn’t changed, but boy, she’s set up for a breakdown somewhere down the road if she keeps this up.

The stories are: Aoi in middle school, slowly becoming the perfect girl we know and are wary of, and dealing with her first boyfriend; Aoi and Tomozaki shopping for winter clothing and learning more about fashion; the girls’ side of the cabin conversation from Book 3 (where we saw the boys’ side); Kukichi in middle school, where she discovers Michael Andi and learns to open up to others – slightly – with the help of a kind librarian; Izumi worrying that her boyfriend is cheating on her; Mimimi feeling at a loss and left behind shortly after she quits the track team, and realizing that just because she quit track does not mean she has to stop running; two other Mimimi POV stories from Vol. 6 that give us her side leading up to and right after her confession; and Tsumugi and her friends spotting Takahiro dressed as a bartender and following him… and indeed, he is working at a bar (to help his brother).

First of all, the Izumi story is the one I didn’t enjoy. “I have little self-esteem so am worried my guy is cheating on me but it all turns out to be a big misunderstanding” makes me roll my eyes at the best of times, and this one has no surprises at all. Other than that, this was quite a good book. Aoi’s “how can I manipulate this situation to my advantage” mindset is exactly as you’d expect, and is even more “impressive” given that she hasn’t even gotten into gaming yet at this point in the story. That said, we do also see a nervous middle-schooler at the core of her actions, and are reminded that being a popular girl has its own dangers. Mimimi’s stories are also fantastic, and I feel the most for her, I think, as she also tends to “put on a persona” around others, but isn’t sure how to move on or grow up the way everyone else is. Indeed, Tomozaki’s growth and development both impresses and annoys her, and likely leads to her confession… and immediate complete panic afterwards.

So yes, I do think this is not the usual irrelevant short story collection, but actually has good plot and character beats. The voices of the girls in their narratives all sounded very different as well, so kudos to the author and translator for that. Next time, presumably, we finally resolve the love triangle? Maybe?

Manga the Week of 8/25/21

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SEAN: It’s time to do the list backwards again! Which I do because I enjoy changing things up once in a while, and absolutely not just because I feel guilty that Yen Press never gets a cover art picture…

So let’s start with Yen Press, who debut Bungo Stray Dogs: Beast, a spinoff of the main series that runs in Shonen Ace. It focuses on Ryuunosuke Akutagawa.

ASH: Oh, interesting! I’ve fallen behind with Bungo Stray Dogs, but still greatly enjoy its premise and all the literary references.

Yen also has the 10th Goblin Slayer manga.

Yen On debuts Spy Classroom, which has gotten a lot of good buzz. A spy is tasked to train a crack squad into a top spy team… sadly, the words “crack squad” are used in the same way you might say “crack pairing”. They’re all useless! This should be fun.

Also from Yen On, we see the 8th volume of 86, The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten 2, Durarara!! SH 2, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 10, and Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! Bonus Story 2 (the final volume of this side story).

Viz Media has One Piece 97. Why it’s coming out this week, I’ve no idea. Get back to first week of the month where you belong!

MICHELLE: I’ve fallen a fair bit behind on One Piece, sadly.

ANNA: I’ve never even attempted it, but my kids have read through it twice courtesy of the Shonen Jump app.

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has Ragna Crimson 3.

Seven Seas’ first debut is Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers (Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life), whose light novel J-Novel Club will be putting out. It runs in Comic Gardo. The plot makes me despair to type up. This guy is a summoned hero, but he’s really weak, so everyone hates and bullies him. Then he hits level 2, and all his cheat powers show up! I don’t think this quite goes “Now I’ll show them! I’ll show them ALL!”, but hey.

The other debut is Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! (Mezametara Saikyou Soubi to Uchuusen Mochi Datta node, Ikkodate Mezashite Youhei to Shite Jiyuu ni Ikitai). Airship already had the light novel version of this. If you enjoy “seems weak but actually strong” books but want them set in space, this might appeal. It runs on the Comic Walker website.

ASH: I think space could be a nice change of pace.

Seven Seas also has the 4th and final volume of A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, The Kingdoms of Ruin 3, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear’s 5th manga volume, Love Me for Who I Am 4, Skeleton Knight in Another World’s 7th manga volume, and The Tale of the Outcasts 2.

MICHELLE: Oh, is Skeleton Knight another skeleton isekai?

ANNA: How many are there????

SEAN: (Yes, it is another example of skeleton isekai, though the most famous one is Overlord.)

ASH: Once you notice the skeletons, they’re everywhere! (I’m particularly fond of Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, myself.)

SEAN: The only print release for Kodansha is the 6th omnibus of Saint Young Men.

ASH: Oh, that one’s for me!

MJ: Yes!

SEAN: Digitally, they debut Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me (Chihiro-kun wa, Atashi Holic), a Nakayoshi series about a girl who catches the eye of a fellow student and fashion designer. He wants her to model. He wants her to pose. He wants her to strip. He may be a little obsessed…

MICHELLE: Curious, I looked this up on Kodansha’s website. The first line in the blurb for volume two is “You have no right to refuse me doing this.” So, a big NO THANKS from me.

ANNA: Yeargh no thank you.

SEAN: Also out: Back When You Called Us Devils 4, DAYS 25, Harem Marriage 8, My Darling Next Door 2, and Quality Assurance in Another World 3.

MICHELLE: Gotta get caught up on DAYS!

SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us By the Grace of the Gods 8, The Emperor’s Lady-in-Waiting Is Wanted as a Bride 2, Guide to the Perfect Otaku Girlfriend: Roomies and Romance 3, The Ideal Sponger Life 4, and The Great Cleric 4.

Ghost Ship debuts Does a Hot Elf Live Next Door to You? (Otaku no Tonari wa Elf Desuka?), which runs in Kodansha’s Young Magazine. Japan is now having isekai elves and other types moving there to see what life is like. Our hero just wants to be a manga artist, but how can he when all these hot girls keep showing up and trying to seduce him? That’s rough, buddy…

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: Ghost Ship also has Call Girl in Another World 2.

Dark Horse has the 8th deluxe Berserk hardcover.

ASH: The Berserk are taking up a fair amount of my available shelf space, but they’re looking good doing it!

SEAN: Airship has a digital-first debut. Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss! (Fushisha no Deshi ~Jashin no Fukyou wo Katte Naraku ni Otosareta Ore no Eiyuutan~) has our hero summoned to another world… and dropped at the bottommost dungeon with no powers. Fortunately he meets a girl who’ll protect him. Unfortunately, she’s undead.

Also out early digital is Classroom of the Elite 9 and Monster Musume The Novel – Monster Girls on the Job! (yes, yes, it got bumped).

Did anything catch your eye here? Also, does anyone even notice that I go in alphabetical order by publisher anyway?

ASH: It may be the librarian in me, but I do!

Baccano!: 1711 Whitesmile

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By Ryohgo Narita and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

For those who may have been expecting this book to be partly an adaptation of the 1700s episode of the anime, ht’s not. We do see everything up to the Advena Avis sailing off, though, so you can go right from this book to watching Episode 7 and depress yourself even more. That said, apart from one character, this book is fairly light on depression. Monica is still dead and a lot of people have feelings about that, but for the most part this is a standard Narita “have everything get more and more chaotic till it explodes” style book. Its best aspects are those focusing on Fermet, who continues to remain the absolute worst and you’d think the author would be tired of showing him doing even more evil shit, but no; and Elmer, who is Fermet’s kryptonite, as we discover here, and is not someone I can describe as evil but is also someone I cannot really describe as a human being, either. Elmer is disturbing. As for Huey, well… also disturbing, frankly.

It’s been a year since Monica’s death. Huey and Elmer have both vanished, but a lot of alchemists have come to Lotto Valentino for one reason or another, including Szilard Quates, who thinks all this immortality stuff is a load of crap; and Victor Talbot, who is a lot less angry and bitter than he would eventually become. Unfortunately, the town is under the control of the Dormentaires after the events of 1710. Equally unfortunately, there’s been a string of explosions and fires going on. Is someone trying to get the town to destroy itself? If so, they’re doing a pretty good job. Amidst all this, we also meet Maiza’s brother Gretto, who is basically “young dumb teenager in love”, and Sylvie, a maid at their household, who is less dumb but no less in love. Can they manage to have their forbidden love by escaping on the Advena Avis? Indeed, does the ENTIRE cast need to escape on the Advena Avis?

I’d mentioned this was a happy ending for most everyone in that they don’t have really bad things happen to them till they’re on the ship, which we saw in the anime. The exception to this is Niki, who is back and deeply in love with Fermet, which is both terrible (as Fermet is, well, Fermet, and gets off imagining her most despairing face) and also terrible in a different way (because she’s still, even after all these years, idealizing suicide). Her fate is horrible but also doesn’t make much sense timeline-wise if you look at it closely, but that’s not uncommon for Narita, who has never been good about keeping track of stuff he wrote and/or how long something is supposed to take. That said, the best scene in the entire book is right at the end, when Fermet gleefully tells Elmer and Huey about Niki’s fate… and the response he gets from Elmer makes him completely flip out. Elmer is the one person who cannot be emotionally manipulated at all by Fermet, and honestly more people should have this reaction to Elmer. It’s great.

This brings the 1700s books to an end, and we’re in the home stretch now. Narita calls the next arc the last 1930s one, and it’s the longest arc yet (and indeed still unfinished). Back to 1935 next time. Till then, enjoy the author saying “gee, what would piss off the reader more than what I did to Monica?”.

Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! ~A Sign-on-the-Line Wedding Story~, Vol. 6

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By Tsuredurebana and Rin Hagiwara. Released in Japan as “Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumei Shite Kudasai! ~Keiyaku Kara Hajimaru Wedding~” by ArianRose. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Emily Hemphill.

The previous five books in this series have all had me writing fairly positive reviews, but they’ve all had me turn around like Lieutenant Columbo and say “there’s just one thing that bugs me”. The constant focus on Viola being thin is telling. The use of the word “fatso” in a previous book. The fact that this book is very much on the side of the rich nobles doing whatever they want – even to other countries. Everyone keeping things from Viola “for her own good”. And it all comes to a head here, in the final book in the series. Except it’s not the final book – there are three more, which seem to be of the “side story” variety. But the author talks about how the books end here, and the tacked-on epilogue almost reads like a cancellation. Not that I’d blame the editors. Viola is still a wonderful character, but this book in particular belongs in the pit of shame.

Most of the main dilemmas of the series have now been resolved, with the possible exception of Viola’s superhuman inability to realize that she is loved and cherished by all around her. That will be fixed with this book, which sees the arrival of The Crown Prince and Princess of Aurantia. A country bordering their own, they’re here looking for husbands and wives, and have their hearts set on Viola and Cersis – despite the fact that Viola and Cersis are already married! Unfortunately, they’re also sort of cartoonishly evil. It’s up to Viola’s newly mastered martial arts skills and 100-meter dash abilities to try and save herself from a nasty kidnapping and a definite international incident. Once she does this… perhaps a re-wedding is in order?

So let me get this out of the way. Both of Aurantia’s royalty (also darker-skinned, but I won’t even go into that) are described negatively by Viola and everyone around her. The prince seemingly looks like a linebacker, being described as “burly” and “2 1/2 times as wide as Mr. Fisalis”. Funny, in the illustrations he looks as handsome as all the other men. This does not apply to the princess, who is called “fat”, “plump”, etc. and mocked and belittled by all Viola’s noble friends through the entire book. It’s really grating, and I’d also like to remind readers that just because a character is bad does not mean we get to start in on fat shaming them. They really are pathetic villains, and I will admit it was fun to see slim Viola shoulder throw the Crown Prince, but it still irked me. Also irking me was the constant “we’ll keep this a secret from Viola”, either due to not wanting to worry her, or wanting to surprise her, or just to tease her. I mean, literally in this book we see that not telling Viola leads to bad things in their relationship, and yet everything is STILL kept from her. Viola herself is still the best part of the book, but even she grated on me when all her friends were attacking the royal visitors in their best “catty” way and all Viola could do was inwardly say “Eek, girls are scary!”.

The book ends with Cersis and Viola having a “second wedding” now that Viola has finally admitted she is no longer a wife in name only. Then, to my great surprise, we jump forward several years for a quick epilogue, which shows Viola’s child (and another on the way) and reads very much like a Jump series that got cancelled at 3 volumes. If this were the final volume, I’d think it was the publisher’s doing, but there’s definitely more coming, so it just reads as super abrupt. I admit I will be reading the next book in the series – I like Viola’s inner narrator – but boy howdy, this book took everything wrong with previous books and put it together in one big cocktail. Recommended for those who love to see rich white men winning the day.

Pick of the Week: Beasts, Cats and Murders

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KATE: Oh man… I don’t even know where to start. I’m morbidly curious about Kaori Yuki’s latest series Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost, even though I know that it’s probably a fever dream of non-consensual relationships, lurid plot twists, and wackadoo costumes. I keep putting it in my Amazon cart and removing it because deep down, I know it’s probably bad. Two titles I did pre-order, though, are the latest installment of Asadora!, a twisty, suspenseful story with a plucky female lead, and the second volume of What’s Michael?, a wonderfully weird and funny collection of cat comics.

SEAN: It’s a VERY nostalgic week all around, so I will pick What’s Michael? this week, because it’s so strange, and because buying it might mean Club 9 if we wish hard enough.

ANNA: I am also not sure if I’m actually going to read Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost but I will make it my pick just as a nod to Kaori Yuki’s chaotic energy.

MICHELLE: Although I’m also planning to read Asadora! and What’s Michael? at some point, and have at least some interest in Kaori Yuki, this week I’ll buck the trend and pick the manga adaptation of The Decagon House Murders. I’m a big mystery buff and the novel’s been on my to-read list for years, so I’m really looking forward to this one.

ASH: In addition to the latest Junji Ito manga, I’m interested in everything that everyone else has mentioned so far, but what I’m most curious about this week is Megumi Hayashibara’s The Characters Taught Me Everything now that it’ll be available in print.

MJ: I’m going to admit that chaotic energy is basically my kryptonite, which means there’s no way I can resist Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost. If I can’t have anything new from my favorite agent of chaos, Yun Kouga, at least give me Kaori Yuki.

She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man, Vol. 1

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By Ryusen Hirotsugu and fuzichoco. Released in Japan as “Kenja no Deshi o Nanoru Kenja” by GC Novels. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Wesley O’Donnell. Adapted by Adam Lee.

Sometimes I take a flyer on a book that has a premise that sounds meh and am happily surprised… but not always. Sometimes it just presses all the wrong buttons. Sometimes it goes ways I’d rather it didn’t. Sometimes it’s just Not For Me. This is different from a book being actively bad, where I have no idea who it’s being written for. She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man (which, spoilers, I did not care for) has a very defined audience. It’s for gamers who enjoy fantasizing about their game becoming real. This is old hat by now in light novel land, but the webnovel for this series came out almost 10 years ago, so it may be suffering from “I came after all my imitators”. It loves discussing mechanics of the game and how they’ve changed. It enjoys having fun with gender confusion, which can be quite interesting, but is written here from a very “guy” perspective. The battle was OK. It’s just… not my thing.

To be honest, I should have known where this was going when our protagonist takes the name “Danblf Gandador” as his wizard character. I think we’re supposed to mock this, but… In any case, one day he spends an evening designing an alternate character skin of a young, cute girl, then passes out. When he wakes up, he finds that he’s now in a world that resembles his game… but in the body of the cute girl. Fortunately she still has all of Danblf’s skills and powers, but she’s going to have to do some careful lying in order not to get found out… especially since 30 years have passed since she was online last! Now calling herself Mira, she spends the rest of the book trying to find other gamers who may also have been trapped here (there’s quite a few, though we only meet two here), taking out the odd lesser demon with her overpowered summons, and dealing with how to use the bathroom or get dressed now that she’s a cute young girl.

For propriety’s sake I’ve tried to avoid mentioning it in reviews before this one, but dangit, Japan has far too much of an obsession with young women wetting or about to wet themselves. There’s a reasonable explanation in this book – Mira is getting used to being a girl AND being a non-game character, so isn’t really thinking about toilets till it’s almost too late – but it still reads like a fetish and I hate it. Other than that, if you read the plot description and thought “this sounds an awful lot like In the Land of Leadale, you’re right, it does. This definitely came first, but sorry, I read Leadale before it, and it comes off second best in most areas. One thing I did like was the camaraderie between the gamer characters once they’ve reunited – they really do seem like good gamer buddies, and it reads naturally. The big battle was also pretty good, with a nice scary cockatrice. I just… wasn’t enthused about much of the rest, especially the cast’s tendency to want to either dress or undress Mira as if she were a mannequin.

If you’re a gamer who enjoys this type of genre, there’s a lot to like here, and I think you’d enjoy future volumes of the series. I’m not that, so I’ll be stopping here.

The NPCs in This Village Sim Game Must Be Real!, Vol. 1

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By Hirukuma and Namako. Released in Japan as “Murazukuri Game no NPC ga Namami no Ningen to Shika Omoe Nai” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

One of the more interesting surprises of 2018 was a light novel series that, on the face of it, looked like the stupidest premise in the entire world. It was called Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon, and its plot was exactly as you’d expect. And yet it not only proved far, far more entertaining than anyone could imagine, but also very good at keeping this a realistic and well-thought out world starring a guy who is a literal, non-moving, vending machine. The reason I bring this all up is that I was not planning on giving The NPCs in This Village Sim Game Must Be Real! the time of day till I saw that it was by the same author as the vending machine story. Can lightning strike twice, I thought? Well, good news there. It wasn’t just a fluke, this is a very good author. This book, about a 30-year-old NEET bum watching a group of five ex-villagers trying to survive, is excellent.

Our protagonist is Yoshio, a man who’s spent the past ten years living at home with his family holed up in his bedroom. He won’t leave the house, he won’t get a job, his parents and sister are seemingly disgusted with him. Then one day he gets a game in the mail, asking him to watch over a sim group of villagers fleeing from monsters trying to survive in the wild. There’s Gams, the soldier defending them all; his sister Chem, a healer; and a normal not-very powerful family: Rodice, Lyra and their 7-year-old daughter Carol. As Yoshio plays the game, he begins to notice that these NPCs are far too natural and well-written to actually be computer generated. What’s the game part? Well, he’s God, and once a day he can write them a prophecy, as well as perform a miracle if he amasses enough Faith Points… which mostly come from spending real-life money. Well, typical game.

As you can see, the plot description makes a reader go “meh”, but as always the execution is where it matters. We spend just as much time concentrating on Yoshio’s home life as we do on the NPC villagers, and it turns out there are multifaceted layers as to exactly WHY he gave up on life and is being a NEET in his room. His family, too, are all dealing with their own issues. The game, therefore, serves as a way to get Yoshio to start caring about life and other people again, and it works quite admirably. By the end of this first volume, he’s opened up to his parents, re-bonded with his sister, and gotten a regular job (if only to pay for the game). The villagers are not quite as interesting as the Yoshio side (the one bit of humor in the book, which features Chem being a brocon and competing with a 7-year-old girl for her brother’s attention, I could have done without) but they also have their nuances, and I appreciates that they really do need Yoshio’s help to survive, but not because they’re innately weak or anything – this world is dangerous.

There are several hints that this may not quite be a “game” at all, mostly due to the offerings the villagers send him by sacrifice every day being then mailed to Yoshio from an address in Hokkaido. I expect the end two books in the series will go deeper into that. (Like Vending Machine, this seems to stop at Book 3.) Still, once again this writer takes a seemingly flat premise and expands on it beautifully. I will absolutely be reading more.

Slayers: The Mystic Sword of Bezeld

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By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

At long last, we are reading Slayers novels that are new to North America… though honestly, sales for the Tokyopop version of later novels in the series were pretty tiny, so I suspect it was new stuff for a lot of readers. This arc also was not adapted into an anime, as they did their own anime-original arc with Slayers Try, a decision not loved by the author, who hated the relationship between Xeloss and golden dragon Filia in particular. Instead, here we see Lina and Gourry, now a twosome again, trying to find a replacement for the late Sword of Light. Sadly, swords like that cannot be found just lying around, and so they’re reduced to chasing after rumors. This leads them to the titular sword, and also to a young girl being menaced by two mercs, two assassins, and seemingly the narrative. Will the sword turn out to be real? Will the sword turn out to be a trap? Will Sean once again spin out 500 words on super short novels that are fun to read but hard to review?

As noted, Lina and Gourry are by themselves at the start of this arc. That said, somehow Amelia and Zelgadis manage to get the biggest laugh in the book, as Gourry’s seeming inability to remember them leads to the illustrator drawing a spectral version of the duo stomping on his head. Instead we’re introduced to two mercenaries who, while they part ways with our heroes at the end of this book, one suspects we’ll be seeing them again soon, if only as they take up far more space on the cover than the supposed victim being attacked. Luke is, to put it bluntly, an asshole, but his heart seems to be in the right place, and honestly, snarking at Lina, the Queen of snark, is something that she could probably use. Mileena is a mage who seems somewhat stoic and mostly is there to be the sensible one and to shoot down Luke’s romantic overtures, though there’s implication that it’s not a complete lost cause.

As for the plot itself, boy, the average life expectancy of anyone in Slayers who is not a main character must be insanely low, and even if you live, you usually end up being homeless, villageless, or cityless. There’s a lot of wholesale destruction here, with villages set on fire, innocent assassins (erm, well, semi-innocent) getting possessed by mystic swords, and a monstrous demon with insane regenerative ability and also the ability to kill folks and keep them in a sort of perpetual zombie state. Good thing Lina has Dragon Slave… which is not good enough this time. And there’s also Gaav Flare, which… no longer works without Gaav, who was killed off in the last volume. Whoops. That said, the way that they do get rid of the big bad at the end is the second funniest part of the book, and also oh so very Lina Inverse.

So yeah, the usual Slayers novel. Good fights, good laughs, lotsa death, super short. Can’t wait for the next one.

Manga the Week of 8/18/21

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SEAN: Mid-August, and I cannot confirm this, but I imagine it’s hot. At least here in North America. Australia might be saying something different.

Airship, in print, gives us Adachi and Shimamura 6 and Mushoku Tensei 12.

Digitally, the early debut is The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe (Wagaya wa Kakuriyo no Kashi Honya-san), a fantasy about a girl who lives in a bookstore that caters to spirit people. Then one day she rescues a boy from an exorcist family! Can she convince him all spirits aren’t evil?

ASH: This appeals to me on multiple levels.

MJ: Okay, same.

SEAN: There’s also The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 5.

Cross Infinite World has a 2nd volume of the enjoyable but exhausting to say title Since I Was Abandoned After Reincarnating, I Will Cook With My Fluffy Friends: The Figurehead Queen Is Strongest At Her Own Pace.

Dark Horse has the 2nd and final What’s Michael: Fatcat Collection, rounding up the rest of what Dark Horse published from this classic 80s manga.

MICHELLE: Oh, hey! I was wondering what had happened with this.

ASH: Glad to see it finally coming out! I love the series and am happy to see it back in print.

MJ: Oh!!

SEAN: Ghost Ship debuts Shiori’s Diary (Shiori no Nikki), from Nihon Bungeisha’s Manga Goraku Special. A wife finds a diary showing evidence of her husband’s many affairs, so decides to start a diary of her own… and start having sex with others as well. From what I hear, this is more ‘high tone’ than Ghost Ship’s usual fare.

ASH: Huh!

SEAN: They’ve also got Destiny Lovers 7 and the final volume of Yokai Girls.

J-Novel Club has some nice print stuff for us this week. We get the debut in print of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, which is a skeleton isekai, but this one is a kinder, gentler skeleton.

MICHELLE: I was not prepared for the existence of the skeleton isekai genre.

ANNA: Nor was I.

MJ: Well, huh.

SEAN: Also debuting in print is the manga omnibus of The Faraway Paladin (which is also getting an anime soon). If you ever wondered what Superman would be like in a high fantasy world, this is not far off. This has Vol. 1-2.

ASH: I’m still waiting for the original novels to be released in print (supposedly coming next year!), but I’ll take the manga in the meantime.

Also out in print: Ascendance of a Bookworm 9 (aka Part 3, Vol. 2); By the Grace of the Gods 5; In Another World with My Smartphone 17; and Otherside Picnic Omnibus 2, with Vol. 3-4.

Digitally, J-Novel Club has Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! 6, Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party 6, Otherside Picnic 5, Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! 2, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Wayward Journey 13.

In print, Kodansha brings us the latest Kaoru Yuki title, Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost (Rakuen no Bijo to Yajuu). This runs in Kodansha’s Palcy, and is probably in the artist’s usual genre of “is this romance, horror, or both?”.

MICHELLE: That cover is great.

ANNA: Good to see more Kaoru Yuki coming out.

ASH: Ooooh! Kaoru Yuki!

MJ: Oh, I’m so excited!

SEAN: They’ve also got That Wolf-Boy Is Mine! Omnibus 1, containing the first two volumes.

Also in print: Blue Period 4, the 16th and final volume of Boarding School Juliet, and Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest 5.

The digital debut may be more familiar to mystery fans: The Decagon House Murders (Jukkakukan no Satsujin), a manga based on the classic mystery novel. A mystery club travels to a remote island to solve an unsolved murder… but is this really all it seems? Umineko fans will find a lot of this rings a bell.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one!

ASH: Oh, nice! I enjoyed the novel, so will want to check the adaptation out, too.

SEAN: Also out: Cells NOT at Work 4, Nina the Starry Bride 4, Undead Girl Murder Farce 3, and Will It Be the World or Her? 8.

One Peace debuts a new title: I Belong to the Baddest Girl at School (Pashiri na Boku to Koi suru Banchou-san), a Kadokawa series from Young Ace Up. A boy is being used as an errand boy and bully victim by the girl gang leader of the school… or so he thinks. She’s actually trying (badly) to confess. I am always down for banchou girls.

ASH: Same!

SEAN: Also from One Peace, the 5th manga volume of The Reprise of the Spear Hero.

Seven Seas debuts Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero (Lv1 Maou to One Room Yuusha), a title from Houbunsha’s Comic Fuz that seems to be part of the popular ‘demon lord in modern Japan’ genre.

They also have Slow Life In Another World (I Wish!) (Isekai de Slow Life o (Ganbou)), an Overlap series from Comic Gardo. A reincarnated guy does his best to avoid conflict in his new world… but he’s getting attacked, he’s getting slaves, and he’s getting more problems.

There’s also Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor 12, The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Wizard’s Blue 3, Arifureta: from Commonplace to World’s Strongest 7th manga volume, Magical Angel Creamy Mami and the Spoiled Princess 2, School Zone Girls 2, Superwomen in Love! Honey Trap and Rapid Rabbit 2, and Thigh High: Reiwa Hanamaru Academy 2.

ASH: I’ll have to admit, despite greatly enjoying the original series, I have yet to actually try any of the spinoffs of The Ancient Magus’ Bride.

Viz has a new Junji Ito manga, Sensor. Is anyone else reminded of the days when an Arina Tanemura manga would come out from Viz every month? It seems like we’re at that point with Ito.

ANNA: I would like to read more Arina Tanemura manga!

ASH: As would I! And more Junji Ito for that matter.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Asadora! 3, Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun 2, Golden Kamuy 23, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 16, Urusei Yatsura Omnibus 11, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 3.

Yen On debuts the print version of Megumi Hayashibara’s The Characters Taught Me Everything: Living Life One Episode at a Time, which had a digital version out a while back. This memoir is part talking about roles she’s had over the years and part self-help book.

ASH: I’m looking forward to this one.

SEAN: Yen On also has Baccano! 17, which wraps up the 1700s arc (and might seem familiar to anime fans), and Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 6.5, which, as you may have guessed from the number, is a short story volume.

What manga will you read no matter which continent you’re on?

I Shall Survive Using Potions!, Vol. 7

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By FUNA and Sukima. Released in Japan as “Potion-danomi de Ikinobimasu!” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hiroya Watanabe.

After essentially rebooting the series last volume, possibly the biggest surprise here is how little Kaoru has to survive using potions. They come up a few times, notably when some of the cast need to be healed ASAP, but they aren’t the running gag of “make me an ‘x’ that’s really a potion bottle’ that they used to be. Mostly her abilities have become similar to Mile’s Storage, which is to say she can whip out transport or food when needs must. This is not to say that she’s just sitting around and doing nothing however; she and Reiko are getting a business off the ground, using their two new ex-orphans as employees, and there’s also the occasional muttering about finding a husband, though even Kaoru seems to have realized it won’t happen as long as she looks that young. Indeed, most of the first quarter of the book is about starting the business… and Kaoru finding loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Then they go looking for more employees…

Kaoru, of course, always seems to think that she can disguise her absolutely ludicrous abilities and just be an average, everyday businesswoman, and Reiko seems to be going along with this. Both of them seem to have forgotten what happened 70-odd years ago, and how Kaoru was literally enshrined into myth and legend. The running gag for this book, which is quite amusing, is how all of the young kids working for her know who she is but try not to say anything because she’s clearly avoiding the subject… even as she once again does something that only the legendary Kaoru could do. Speaking of the kids, this is a fantasy world isekai, so I will warn there is a lot of child labor here. That said, they’re paid well, and it’s an improvement on the virtual slavery they were stuck with before. As with Kuma Bear, you’re supposed to regard it as heartwarming.

The other subplots in the book feature Leia, another goddess who has essentially come down to Kaoru’s country so she can see why Celes is so fascinated with it. For the most part, she acts like a somewhat naive ojou, but there’s a very nice scene at the end of the book where she starts to realize what living actually means, and it’s well-handled. The other big event, right at the end of the book, is Kyoko’s arrival, the third of the “KKR” trio from Japan. As far as I can tell, the rule of thumb of their lives in Japan was that, while Kaoru threatened her way out of trouble, and Reiko blackmailed her way out of trouble, Kyoko seems to have simply gotten into trouble – she’s presented so far as a bit of a fluffhead. She shows up in a UFO, as her ability is to be able to create literally any ship – sadly, she can’t create crew for these ships, so she’s reduced to crafts that can be used by one person. She promises to add even more chaos.

For those who miss the old supporting cast, there is a brief after story showing what Francette and Roland are up to… and the answer is “raising kids so powerful that no one can defeat them, along with a Red Sonja-esque desire to marry only someone who can defeat them”. Still, while this wasn’t as world-shattering as the last book, it was a good solid volume.

Bookshelf Briefs 8/11/21

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Sean is our hero as he shoulders the burden of this column solo.

D-Frag!, Vol. 15 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – This manga is here for romance and jokes, but the jokes are so prevalent that the romance tends to fall by the wayside. Technically there are a bunch of girls who have fallen for Kazuma, but honestly, in reality he and Takao seem to have the only relationship with actual sexual chemistry. This is especially helped by a wacky sequence where Kazuma has to dress up as a girl to avoid Takao’s protective father, and ends up being quite a believable one. Takao has now finally left Kazuma’s house (minus one bra, which becomes another running gag), but the others are still there, despite the meteor preventing them from moving back home being taken care of by the power of EEL. Deeply silly. – Sean Gaffney

The Dangers in My Heart, Vol. 1 | By Norio Sakurai | Seven Seas – This bizarre little comedy was not quite what I was expecting. Our “hero,” Kyotaro, is a wannabe edgelord who keeps narrating inside his head and dreams of killing his classmates… except no, he doesn’t, as he’s far too much of a wuss to do anything. He has a repressed crush on Anna, the “best girl” in class, who is not only popular but also turns out to be a model on the side. That said, as he and the reader slowly realize, Anna is… strange. Stranger than she likes to let on, really. What ensues are a series of short chapters where he tries to stop the other horny teens in his class from sexually harassing the girls, while also watching Anna break her stereotype. Not sure if recommended? It was OK. – Sean Gaffney

Horimiya, Vol. 15 | By Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – We’re nearing the end of the manga at last, after the misstep that was the anime (not a disaster, but not as well-received as hoped). The anime helped highlight the manga’s main flaw, which is that it absolutely will not let Hori’s temper and tendency to hit Miyamura go away, and it continues to walk a fine line between “it’s funny in a Looney Tunes way” and “this is abusive behavior and I, the author know it,” with a side of “they know they’re into S&M so it’s OK.” It feels weird, frankly. Yuki and Tooru are still the secondary not-quite-a-couple, but frustratingly, that’s all they seem to be. And of course there’s the focus on endless minor characters I can’t remember. This is still a mess, but it’s almost over. – Sean Gaffney

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 10 | By Fuka Mizutani | Yen Press – Do you love age-gap romance? Or romance that looks like age-gap romance? Then this is the manga for you… at least when it’s not focusing on its main couple, who continue to be the main reason to keep reading it. We’re not walking back the moving away yet, and it’s really hitting them both hard, to the point where they do a “day trip” to talk about how far away it will be. There is talk of them having sex (which they are quick to point out is legal between two fourteen-year-olds in Japan), but neither one has knowledge beyond rudimentary, so they back off to research it. Frankly, it’s too soon. As for the others, well, they are what they are. I do like the sad lesbian helping out her next-gen equivalent, though. – Sean Gaffney

Ran the Peerless Beauty, Vol. 9 | By Ammitsu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Resolving the cliffhanger from the last volume turns out to go exactly the way every reader thought it would. Ran is taken away by her dad and there’s a bit of “you can’t see him again” going on. It’s all mainly because her dad is sad that his little girl is growing up. Akira manages to win the dad over by basically being his usual self, and in the end Ran agrees not to have any sex before marriage, because … well, because they’re so pure, really. That said, we’re only a volume away from the finale, so it’s time for one last little wrinkle from Ran’s past to show up and stress everyone out. If you miss Kimi ni Todoke and wish you could read more of it only with even more innocent leads, this is the manga for you. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 8 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Turns out that Ikuma being a salaryman is not that big a shift from Ikuma being a contract worker, though it does mean he has to go out with his boss and get drunk more often (a staple of Japanese corporate culture, and I’ve never liked it). Fortunately, while he and Sumika still sometimes have trouble communicating their needs and desires, they still communicate better than 90% of the other married couples in manga. That said, things end with a fight here, as Ikuma’s womanizing friend has finally met a nice girl, and Ikuma and Sumika differ on whether this is a good thing or not. Their fight will probably spill into book nine, though given the cliffhanger I’m guessing Ikuma is correct here. Sweet fun. – Sean Gaffney

The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me | By Hiroki Haruse | Yen Press – This two-volume series is out here in one omnibus, and that seems to be the correct decision, because I doubt this premise could sustain a long series. A high school girl wakes up one day to find everyone in the world is now a woman, and always has been. She’s in a parallel world… and she’s straight! Or is she? If that premise makes you go “heck yeah!,” you’ll be fine with this SF series, as she and her seemingly aloof, secretly disaster lesbian schoolmate try to figure out what happened and if she can return to her own world. If you saw the premise and sighed, it’s not going to magically be any different than what you’d expect. – Sean Gaffney

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 2

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By Reia and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andria Cheng.

It’s not always easy trying to reform something. First of all, how much can you really do? Iris is the acting governor of her land, and is doing a great job of building it up and modernizing it. But what about the next domain over? What about the entire Kingdom? What about the Kingdom next door, which is not nearly as well off as you are? These are not questions one can easily answer, and Iris has trouble coming up with answers either, though she’s doing her best to try to make changes that everyone is going to want to emulate. Fortunately, as I noted in my previous review, she has a ridiculous number of allies who are there to help her make those changes. Unfortunately, she also still has a large number of enemies. The villainess otome game aspect of this continues to be a very small part, while the politicking and intrigue are definitely at the forefront. Which is for the best, really.

Iris may be the glory of Armelia, but that means little to the Kingdom as a whole, which does not know she’s behind the Azuta Corporation and thinks of her as the noble who got shunned by the second prince. That said, an invitation by the Queen Dowager to a major function helps her start to reintegrate into high society, helped along by the prince, who is being an absolute dick, and also Yuri, the protagonist of the otome game that this supposedly is based on, who is at best ridiculously unaware of everything and at worst an actual enemy agent. Then, just when things seem to be going really well, word comes from the Church that Iris has been excommunicated! With employees leaving her company and neighboring domains refusing to allow trade, is there anything Iris can do to possibly get herself out of this? If only she had a really hot assistant who was secretly the first prince…

As I said earlier, the otome game aspect of these books is minimized, but I do want to come back to the character of Yuri. I’m not sure if the author of Duke’s Daughter read My Next Life as a Villainess before starting this (there are many other examples of the genre, but Villainess did begin on the web about 8 months before this title), but it’s hard to look at Yuri and not see Evil Maria. Which makes sense, given that Iris is essentially Good Original Catarina, without the personality of the Japanese girl overwriting her. I appreciate that Iris can’t be sure if Yuri is a spy that is seeking to have the kingdom collapse simply because if she is, she’s so bad at it. There are many other ways to go about doing this rather than acting like a cliched otome game heroine trying to get all the Good Ends with the various boys. I doubt we’ll ever get anything from Yuri’s perspective, but it would be interesting.

With another crisis solved, you’d think the series would be wrapping up quickly. But alas, the first Prince absolutely does not want to marry Iris, as he’s far too content seeing her “flying free” and changing the entire world. it’s hard to disagree with him. That said, I hope Dean sticks around, if only for her own mental health. This was an improvement on the first volume, though it has the same flaws.