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Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: On and Off the List

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KATE: If you’re looking at this week’s new arrival list and thinking, “been there, read that,” why not check out Glacier Bay Books’ catalog? This indie manga publisher has been putting out a small but steady stream of manga by artists who aren’t writing stories about super-powered boys or boy-crazy teens. Though the catalog is a little hit-or-miss, Popicomi and <i<Glaeolia have some genuinely awesome material, and Glacier Bay’s new series En-Chan’s House looks promising.

SEAN: I think the digital version has been out for a few weeks now, but any excuse to pick Witch Hat Atelier is a good excuse. That said, I am also intrigued by She’s the Cutest… But We’re Just Friends!”, whose plot appears to be “I met this hot girl who loves gaming and we did not immediately fall in love.” Certainly a rare plot in Japanese media!

MICHELLE: I’m definitely intrigued by Sasaki and Miyano and The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions, but since I know for sure that I enjoy Rei Toma’s particular brand of shoujo fantasy, I’m going to choose The King’s Beast this time!

ASH: I’m very happy to back up Kate’s highlighting of Glacier Bay Books – I just recently go my hands on the second Glaeolia anthology and it looks great. That being said, like Michelle, I’m also really looking forward to the debut of Rei Toma’s The King’s Beast.

ANNA: I’m a big fan of Witch Hat Atelier, but I have to say that I’m really looking forward to Rei Toma’s The King’s Beast. I thought that The Water Dragon’s Bride was a great artistic leap forward, so I’m curious to find out what will happen when she returns to the world of Dawn of the Arcana.

The Intrigue of Marielle Clarac

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By Haruka Momo and Maro. Released in Japan as “Marielle Clarac no Mitsubou” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

At last Marielle and Simeon are married, and can go on a honeymoon. Of course, this being a Marielle Clarac book, the honeymoon does not go very smoothly. Indeed, this may be the quintessential Marielle Clarac books. From the moment that we see pirates boarding the steamer they’re taking on their journey, you know you’re in for a heaping helping of drama and thrills. There’s no sunken pirate gold, but we do get the Flauberts (Marielle is now married, of course, but the series will keep her maiden name for branding reasons) accused of smuggling, a pirate cove, and a speedboat chase without the actual speedboats. In the midst of all this, they are settling into married life – Simeon is noticeably less critical of Marielle in this book, and she… well, no, she’s as fangirlish as ever, particularly when Simeon, for lack of any other weapon at hand, uses a whip on someone trying to abduct her. The world bends itself to play to her fetishes.

After finishing the wedding and finally consummating their relationship (we don’t see it, of course, but Marielle does note that she needs to build up her stamina to keep up with her husband), Marielle and Simeon are traveling to a southern island to meet his grandfather. Unfortunately, they have several problems ensue. There’s a crabby young man on board the ship, a distant relative of Simeon’s who seems t despise him. There’s a girl with him who seems to despise Marielle, though that’s likely just because she’s married to a hot guy. There are pirates and smuggling fiascos, which I mentioned before. And there are threats of spies from a neighboring country that is trying to get its hands on some modern guns from the Flauberts’ home country. Can all these problems be resolved without Marielle getting abducted more than twice? Well, no, probably not.

First of all, and sorry for the spoiler, I was very surprised that Lutin was not appearing as usual. Perhaps he really has moved on. That said, in his place we get a far more evil version of him. As with previous books in this series, the thriller works better than the mystery – the villain was not hard to guess. I also admit, I grow weary of everyone constantly belittling Marielle’s appearance, especially as the artwork does not really bear that out at all. I guess brown hair + glasses = ugly in this world. It doesn’t help that Marielle does the same thing in her own narration. There is also some amusing comedy in this book, mostly revolving around Sasha, a “pirate” who in reality turns out to be a bratty teenage islander, and his blunt interactions with Marielle and Simeon.

Marielle ends up with several ideas for a new book of hers, which makes sense given that she went through a fun, if stereotypical, adventure. Fans of romantic thrillers… especially lengthy ones, this is quite a hefty book compared to other Heart titles… will be quite pleased.

I Refuse to Be Your Enemy!, Vol. 4

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By Kanata Satsuki and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Teki ni Narimasen!” by PASH! Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tara Quinn.

I’ve mentioned before that, aside from the basic “villainess otome game” plot, there’s very little here that could not simply be imported as is to a Western romantic fantasy, albeit one with a very military strategy sort of bent. No one is trying to make miso, and the references to Kiara’s past life in Japan are kept to longing for family and nothing specifically cultural. So, for the most part, I had this down as a book you could happily recommend to casual, non-anime fans… at least until the catgirl Festival showed up. See, one city has a legend of being saved from certain death by a cat goblin, and so every year girls put on kitty ears and wear angel wings. And then go out and look for men they might be attracted to. It’s not particularly handled in a bad way, and it doesn’t detract from the rest of the book. It just made me go “really? cat ears?” when I got to it.

We pick up immediately where we left off, and continue to slowly wage war against the enemy army. Several things happen here that are of note, though. First, after a second encounter with him disguised as a merchant, Kiara finally clues in that the helpful guy giving her advice is actually the opposing king. That said, the king has an “I am not evil” backstory, so I suspect we may be able to work things out. Secondly, Lady Emmeline, who was the savviest of the hostages we met in the last book, becomes a major supporting character, and another person for the perpetually baffled Kiara to turn to when it comes to emotions. She also makes a great general. Lastly, and most importantly, Lord Credias, Ada’s husband and the one who turned Kiara into a spellcaster, is on the battlefield, and his presence makes Kiara unable to use her magic.

I have, of course, left out Ada, who has the most interesting plotline in the volume. We get several short chapters from her point of view, as she struggles with trying to win Reggie over, her intense hatred for Kiara, and the fact that Kiara turns out to be a fairly decent person. I had briefly wondered if they might try to redeem her, especially as the book seemed to be shipping her with Reggie’s guard, Felix. Unfortunately, after the events in this book, I suspect if there is a redemption it’s going to be one ending in death. Ada is, as has been lampshaded, in the same position that Kiara was in in the original game. And, unlike Kiara’s game self, Ada actually has someone to blame for all of this. It is understandable that she does not decide to turn herself in. (There’s also a very interesting side scene from the POV of game Kiara, a few years before the game events, where she attempts to drown herself and is saved by Reggie.)

We’re now 2/3 of the way through this, and an ending is in sight, but until then there’s going to be pitched battles. At least Reggie has tried to make his feelings relatively clear… but Kiara’s romance aversion and low self-esteem are a wall that is still too high to climb. Definitely recommended for J-Novel Heart fans, though. Despite the cat ears.

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, Vol. 5

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By Kei Sazane and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan as “Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. After three straight volumes where I was ready to drop the series as being “ok but not good enough to read more” and then getting blindsided by a cliffhanger that made me want to see what happened next, we’ve finally hit a volume where the cliffhanger isn’t quite good enough, so I’ll be taking my leave of the series after this. It’s still not that bad – its action scenes are fun, its overarching plotline is at least interesting, the betrayals aren’t impossible to explain like a lot of series. No, where Our Last Crusade falls down is when it’s trying to be a romantic comedy. Its heroine is supposed to be a feared combatant and the most powerful Ice Witch around, but when love gets involved she acts like a petulant six-year-old. Her sister is not much better, and the addition of a love triangle does not add to the fun. It should stick to being serious.

This picks up right where the last book left off. Sisbell is now hiring our four heroes to be her bodyguards so that she can safely return to the kingdom. This is easier said than done. Back home, the queen is worried that Elletear, the oldest princess, is an imposter and a traitor. One of these things is wrong. Honestly, the queen herself is also somewhat sus. There’s an assassination attempt, which is set up to look like the most obvious person. And, yes, lots of people are indeed trying to kill Sisbell, and they will be perfectly happy to do massive property damage to see this happen. Fortunately, Iska is still ludicrously overpowered… as is Alice. Unfortunately, as noted above, Alice is currently super jealous of Sisbell but unable to actually articulate this, leading to an incredibly long and petulant pout.

There are a few bad habits that ar3e not in this volume. Mismis gets far less to do… well, OK, she hasn’t done much before this, but she’s definitely kept in the background except for one egregious fanservice scene to remind us she’s still a ditz. The palace intrigue is genuinely interesting, and almost made me get the 6th volume till I decided it just wasn’t quite enough. The third ‘faction’ in the Witch Nation is named Hydra, which is funny for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with the book and everything to do with Marvel Comics. One of the villains controls gravity to the point of making black holes, which forces Iska to try a bit harder. It’s just… whenever the book focuses on Alice, her unacknowledged crush on Iska, and her unacknowledged jealousy of Sisbell it’s so immature I want to stop reading immediately.

Obviously, YMMV. If you’re enjoying the “playful back and forth” between Alice and Iska, then you should definitely keep reading, there’s at least five more volumes after this. But a series that runs on Romeo and Juliet had better reach a bare minimum of making me care about the love affair. Sorry.

High School DxD: The Phoenix of the School Battle

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By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

Sigh. The second volume of High School DxD, I’m pleased to say, has the same strengths that the first volume had. Unfortunately, the weaknesses the first volume had are also here, and they’re far more in your face. This is the perfect series for horny 15-year-old boys. There’s a likeable cast, a premise of “which of the many hot women who desire me shall I choose?”, a lot of very cool fights, and smug punchable villains who are basically the ‘evil’ version of your own fantasies. It’s shonen battle manga up the wazoo – in fact, when typing the title of the book I accidentally typed “Phoenix of the Old School Battle”. Unfortunately, its fanservice, which was present but not up to annoying levels in the first volume, has now reached annoying levels. Issei will not shut up about boobs, spends a page or so describing what it’s like to feel up the heroine, has powers that strip the villains of their clothing (provided they’re girls), and declares, and I quote, “Rias Gremory’s virginity belongs to me!”. YIKES.

The premise of this one is fairly simple: Rias has an arranged marriage she’s been avoiding, to Riser Phenex, a high-born noble demon. She very clearly does not want this, and would rather stay in high school with Issei and company. So a duel is arranged between Rias’ group and Riser’s – if Rias wins, she can keep doing what she wants, if Riser wins, they’ll get married. Issei, naturally, is ready to fight for Rias, both because he’s got the hots for her AND because he’s rather upset that she’s not being treated like a person. Unfortunately, Issei, as he is now, can’t beat anyone, as is made painfully clear. There’s only one thing for it: we’ve got to have a training arc. And even after that’s done, we have to deal with the fact that Riser has the abilities of the phoenix, making him basically unkillable. How do you defeat someone like that?

This book is very much content to take as long as it wants to to tell its story. We do get more of the rest of the cast here, but they’re still relatively one-dimensional – Akeno is the ojou and secret sadist, Koneko is the short grumpy one, and Kiba is an odd combination of Koizumi, Shirou and Saika. We are briefly threatened with some backstory for Kiba in the middle of one of the big fights, but threatened is as far as it gets. I assume we’ll get more depth to them in later books, but for now they’re pretty cardboard. As for Riser and his crew, he’s meant to compare with Issei’s own harem dreams – Riser has a harem, who it’s clearly implied he’s sleeping with, and which contains various cute fetishes – twins, sword chicks, etc. – even his own younger sister, because what’s a harem without incest? And, well, that gets me back to sighing, really.

Again, fans of this series will love this. And if you’re a teenage boy, feel free to read this, as the chance of actual sex happening in it is zero. For those of us outside the age range, though, High School DxD is a series with an interesting premise and characters that can’t resist being perverse in the exact way teenage boys are.

Manga the Week of 2/3/21

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SEAN: February! The most depressing month of the year! Let’s cheer ourselves up with some new titles!

Airship has two digital-first light novels: Classroom of the Elite 7.5 and The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent 3.

J-Novel Club has LOTS of stuff. Let’s start with print, as we get two new omnibuses. Banner of the Stars 1-3 is the light novel series, while How A Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 1-2 is a collection of the manga.

ASH: The Banner of the Stars omnibus looks nice.

SEAN: Also in print: Ascendance of a Bookworm 7 (the final volume of the 2nd arc), By the Grace of the Gods 2, and In Another World with My Smartphone 14.

ASH: Hooray for more Bookworm!

SEAN: Digitally, J-Novel Club has two debuts. The Great Cleric (Seija Musou – Salaryman, Isekai de Ikinokoru Tame ni Ayumu Michi), whose manga adaptation Kodansha is already putting out here, is the first. A reincarnated Salaryman decides to try to live to a nice old age by being a healer. Little does he know…

The other debut is She’s the Cutest… But We’re Just Friends! (Ore no Onna Tomodachi ga Saikou ni Kawaii), a relatively recent series. A guy finds that the hottest girl in the school shares the same gaming hobbies he does. They quickly become best friends… so why does everyone think they’re dating? This looks cute and fun.

Also out digitally: Animeta! 5, An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 4 (manga version), Banner of the Stars 5, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 4 (manga version), Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 35, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen 10, and The World’s Least Interesting Magic Swordsman 5.

MICHELLE: Animeta! is pretty fun.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying the series, too.

SEAN: No debuts in print for Kodansha, but we do get Eden’s Zero 10, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 2, and Witch Hat Atelier 7.

ANNA: Always happy for more Witch Hat Atelier.

ASH: Yes, indeed!

MJ: I realize it’s probably a very different slime, but after playing a lot of Genshin Impact, is it weird that I’m suddenly interested in that dude’s reincarnation?

The digital debut is My Dearest Self With Malice Aforethought (Shin’ai naru Boku e Satsui o Komete), a dark title from Young Magazine. Virgin Eiji wakes up one day to find a girlfriend in his bed, his friend saying he got in a fight, and no memory of the last three days. What’s going on?

Also digital: Chihayafuru 24, Otherworldly Munchkin: Let’s Speedrun the Dungeon with Only 1 HP! 3, Our Fake Marriage 5, and The Invincible Reincarnated Ponkotsu 3.

MICHELLE: I can’t let a mention of Chihayafuru go by without saying “Yay!”.

ANNA: Wooo!!!

SEAN: Believe it or not, we now move to Viz. The debut is The King’s Beast (Ou no Kemono), the latest Rei Touma series, and set in the same universe as Dawn of the Arcana. The world isn’t great: those who are half-beast, half-human are discriminated against. So our heroine serves under the king disguised as a man. This runs in Cheese!.

MICHELLE: I really liked Dawn of the Arcana and The Water Dragon’s Bride, so I expect I will like this, too!

ANNA: I like both of those series, and I enjoy it when a heroine has to disguise herself as a man, so I have high hopes for this.

ASH: Ditto what you both said! I’m looking forward to giving this manga a try.

MJ: I admit I’m a little tapped out on “heroine disguises herself as a man” when it’s not actually about a trans person, but I’ll give it a shot.

SEAN: Shonen! Blue Exorcist 25, Boruto 10, Chainsaw Man 3, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 20, Dr. STONE 15, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 4–Diamond Is Unbreakable 8, Jujutsu Kaisen 8, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 18, Naruto: Shikamaru’s Story (a light novel), the 5th and final volume of Samurai 8, Seraph of the End 20, and We Never Learn 14.

ASH: I somehow missed reading the second volume of Chainsaw Man, so I’ll need to fix that. Also need to play some catch up with JoJo, too.

SEAN: Shoujo! Far fewer titles here. Shortcake Cake 11 and Yona of the Dawn 28. (Then again, Yona should count as 4 normal shoujo titles.)

MICHELLE: I’m happy about both of these.

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Yay, Yona!

SEAN: Yen Press has two debuts. Sasaki and Miyano runs in Gene Pixiv, is based off a webcomic, and sounds sort of like the BL version of Horimiya.

MICHELLE: That’s intriguing!

ASH: Ooooh, when you describe it like that, I may need to check it out!

MJ: Sounds like this could be great!

SEAN: The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions (Kyuuketsuki to Yukai na Nakama-tachi) is a title that runs in Bessatsu Hana to Yume. A BL title based off of a novel, with art by the creator of Baby & Me, for those who recall that old Viz series. This is nothing like Baby & Me, but has lots of hot men, hot vampires, and hot vampire men.

MICHELLE: I was just reading about this mangaka yesterday because Kodansha announced their March debits and one of them is Ragawa-sensei’s Those Snow White Notes (Mashiro no Oto). Must be her time to shine.

ANNA: I have to admit, I’m intrigued by all these combinations of hotness.

MJ: There are some things that never get old. And by “some things” I mean “hot vampires”.

SEAN: Also out next week: Bungo Stray Dogs 17, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 10 (manga version), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria 14 (manga version), and Sword Art Online Progressive Barcarolle of Froth 2 (also a manga version, though the LN doesn’t have the subtitle).

Chilled to the bone this winter? Heat up with some manga. What are you buying?

The Ideal Sponger Life, Vol. 1

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By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Jyuu Ayakura. Released in Japan as “Risou no Himo Seikatsu” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT.

I had reviewed the first volume of the manga here two years ago, and we’ve had several volumes since then. Reading the light novel shows that the manga compressed quite a bit, probably sensibly. Anyone who is reading this book for the hot woman on the cover and hoping to get some nookie is going to be wildly disappointed by the 20-page discussion of hydroelectric generators, as well as the fact that the book pretty much cuts away whenever there is going to be some loving. That said, when this series first came out as a webnovel, it was SUPER popular, and there’s a hint of why that is here, as there’s some very nice political intrigue and worldbuilding, especially once we realize that our overworked salaryman hero, despite his stated intentions, is going to be proving that title wrong fairly quickly. Indeed, he does so almost immediately, as many of the things he has brought over from Earth are unknown here, ranging from glassworks to Microsoft Excel.

Our hero is Zenjirou, a young man in his mid-20s who works at a very busy Japanese company. On his off day, as he’s biking back home with food, he finds himself in a palace in another world – transported there by the beautiful young Queen, Aura. She’s looking for a husband and father to her children. As it turns out, due to various political reasons, she doesn’t want to marry any of the candidates in her own world. Plus Zenjirou does have royal blood in him, as it turns out his ancestors came from this world in the first place. After some questions and negotiations, he agrees to marry her, and the wedding comes off relatively well. That said, he may not be able to be a layabout for long. His own overly polite and deferential manners are greatly at odds with what people think a royal should act like. And those other marriage candidates aren’t going to stop trying to gain power just because the Queen married someone else.

This first volume is mostly setup, and it does drag a bit in places. There’s a point where Zenjirou returns to Japan for 30 days to settle his affairs (after this, he won’t be able to return for 30 years due to the way magic works), and we see why he would be so willing to cut ties with things, but I would happily have cut most of that to a 3-page montage. The main reason to get this is the worldbuilding and politics, both of which are quite good. Zenjirou manages to bring over a generator and several appliances with him, and so we see this medieval fantasy world getting used to fluorescent lighting and air conditioning. Aura picked an outsider as she wants to actually reign as Queen, and knows that in this patriarchal society anyone who marries her would immediately force her out of power. That said, she and Zenjirou fall in love fairly quickly, and even if he is sharper than she might have liked, I think she’s quite happy.

Zenjirou stays mostly cooped up with the Queen and servants this volume, but that can’t last. I suspect we’ll be seeing lots of ‘lets see how he handles this situation!’ plotlines in the second volume. Till then, this is a decent isekai title, less salacious than the cover and premise might suggest, and definitely worth a read.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 4

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by M.B. Hare.

This series remains very off balance, though I do enjoy it a great deal. It sells itself as a slow-life adventure with an OP girl doing cute things with other girls, and that’s what it is about half the time. But once every volume the author wants to remind us that this world (and, it’s implied, Yuna’s past) can be dark and horrible, and it’s always tonally dissonant. Here we see Yuna stopping a gang of bandits. First of all, the bandits are really adventurers paid by the villain to be bandits. Secondly, they go above and beyond their pay, as they apparently kill everyone leaving the city who isn’t a young pretty woman, and then keep the young pretty women in their cave as slaves and (it’s implied) rape them. There’s a horrific scene where, on finding the villain has among the things he’s stolen a ring she recognizes, one of the victims attacks the villain and demands her husband back. It’s… it feels like we jumped genres.

There’s two main plotlines here. First, Yuna returns to Crimonia with Fina and buys a mansion, then converts it into a bakery. This is the more typical Yuna plotline, with lots of OP ridiculousness, lots of cute girls, and tons of bear accessories, bear names, and beat statues. (But still no bear puns. The series is doing a good job at avoiding that.) In the second half of the story, Yuna goes to the ocean in search of seafood, but finds a city under attack on both sides: there’s a kraken in the ocean making it impossible to fish or get supplies, and there’s the aforementioned bandit gang. Yuna cleans up both, though the kraken seems to give her the first hard time she’s had to date, almost exhausting her mana trying to boil it up in the equivalent of a cliffside hot pot. Throughout it all, Yuna is as matter of fact and blunt as ever… except when she realizes the ocean city has rice. And miso. And soy sauce. Then she gets really emotional.

Yuna’s mindset is the best reason to read this book. the anime softened her a great deal. It adapted both of these plotlines, but also had a final episode not in this book where Fina is lonely and Yuna has to learn how to read emotions. That’s not really here, and it’s not just a matter of Yuna being callous, but an actual deliberate character flaw. Last review I said Yuna was trying to avoid getting too well-known or famous, but after this book I suspect Yuna will try to deflect and praise or thanks thrown her way, and is desperate to not have people get too close to her. She also tends to think about this world in terms of a game – of course, it’s a world she was brought into THROUGH a game – and situations like the bandits and their captives make her remind herself this is a real world with real people. It’s something that needs a bit more reinforcement, I think.

So yes, there’s a bit more here than cute girls doing cute things. There were also some great lines in this – Yunqa’s deadpan delivery helps sell them well. Next book Yuna starts a trade route, and I may see that Yuna and Fina scene that wasn’t here.

Wataru!!! The Hot-Blooded Teen and His Epic Adventures in a Fantasy World After Stopping a Truck with His Bare Hands!, Vol. 2

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By Simotti and RELUCY. Released in Japan as “Truck Uketome Isekai Tensei! Nekketsu Butouha Koukousei Wataru!!!” by Overlap. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Seacord and Roko Mobius.

I have been known to say that the reason I don’t review light novels in the “Bookshelf Briefs” column on Manga Bookshelf is that there is always a way I can spin out 500 words on a light novel no matter what, but I will admit that some series test that to the extreme. Wataru!!! 2 is exactly what Wataru!!! 1 was, and if you liked that you should like this, though probably a bit less as the shtick is no longer new. But this is a gag series. I can’t talk about character development, there isn’t any. We’re literally told that backstories dropped on us will be totally irrelevant later in the book, so it’s OK to forget about them. This book invites anti-criticism. This volume does indeed appear to be the final one, and that’s probably for the best, as even though I enjoyed both I’m pretty sure I don’t need to read a third book of this.

The plot of the 2nd book borrows heavily from Dragon Ball. Wataru and friends are sent to fight a dragon who is destroying villages, but in order to fight him fair and square, they need to collect six orbs that are scattered around the area. Wataru does this by a) winning a hot dog eating contest, b) beating up an isekai author, c) fighting a cute young assassin who immediately falls in love with Wataru, d) solving the most obvious murder ever; e) playing a card battle game in one of the few stores Aria hasn’t been banned from; f) fighting a possessed Résistance, and g) actually fighting the dragon. Throughout all this we get the usual loud shouting, ridiculous fights, dumb gags, and fourth wall breaking. It is quite good at all of those things.

The most amusing parts of the book are probably when it tries to bite the hand that feeds it. The orc who writes OP isekai novels is pathetic, and it’s no surprise that rather than trying to impress him our heroes simply knock him out and take his stuff. That said, they each try their hand at writing a light novel. Aria’s is a typical shoujo LN, with perhaps more swords than usual; Wataru’s is an anime commercial, and Résistance writes a dark emo fantasy. The payoff is at the end, in a side story where we find Résistance’s light novel has been purchased by “Sky-Novel Club”, who get quite a few caustic comments from Aria and Wataru. Other than that, well, there’s lots of punching things, and leaping high into the air, etc. Still no real romance. Aria just isn’t into Wataru, Résistance is too passive, and Elphabelle is pretty firmly rejected. Wataru is a hot-blooded teen in the Ashita no Joe sense, not the Ataru Moroboshi sense.

Again, this is worth picmking up if you really enjoyed the first volume, or just like people shouting, getting grievous head injuries (that can be easily fixed with healing magic), and writing epic tales where Luffy, Detective Conan and Pikachu team up, but fans who like subtlety should stay well away.

Pick of the Week: Cuties, Spongers, and Magi

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SEAN: Not a lot of manga I’m really interested in this week, so my eyes turn to light novels. The Ideal Sponger Life is one of those “don’t judge a book by its cover” novels, which starts off a bit male fantasy but gets better as it goes along. I’m also very interested in the 2nd volume of Roll Over and Die, which combines yuri and grimdark in a way that doesn’t make me run screaming. Still, despite its manga being out already, Sponger Life is a debut, so I’ll go with that as the pick.

MICHELLE: There’s not a whole lot that tempts me, either, but I am at least somewhat interested in checking out Cutie and the Beast, so I will pick that this time.

ASH: I liked the first volume of Cutie and the Beast so I do plan on reading more, but my pick this week goes to Magus of the Library – I simply cannot resist fantasy librarians.

ANNA: I haven’t read the first volume of Cutie and the Beast yet, but out of everything coming out this week, that series is what I’m most likely to read next.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil: In Omnia Paratus

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By Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Emily Balistrieri.

I mentioned this a bit in my last review, but it’s even more obvious here: the ‘winning’ part of Tanya the Evil is well and truly past, and we’re likely to see more and more of the Empire losing badly down the road. This book has the Empire try what seems to be a very clever strategy, Tanya and her group do their bit fine, and it just… fails. Due to lack of supplies, because the empire is running out of everything. It’s especially interesting as this is framed around a “won the battle but lost the war” siege, in which Tanya’s somewhat smaller corps has to lay wait in a railroad station and let themselves get surrounded, then get rescued. As it happens, they pretty much are able to rescue themselves. This despite the fact that, to Tanya’s surprise, the Federation are getting much better at being mages. After the last volume, where we almost had peace but then got it kicked away, there’s no way this ends for the Empire in anything but annihilation.

The big change in this volume is that Zettour, after pissing off the government, has been demoted and is sent out into the field. Well, OK, it’s not a real demotion, but he’s not allowed to really take charge. He does anyway, though, because it’s hard to say no to a Lieutenant General. Most of this book shows off that, while the title may be “The Saga of Tanya the Evil”, Tanya is more of a pragmatist above all else – the only evil we see here is her explaining to her green recruits why looting corpses during wartime is fine. Zettour, though, can be even worse than she is. That said, he too is getting an upfront demonstration of the fact that the Federation are getting much better at waging war. It helps show off the difference between action at the front and what the leaders in the rear hear about that action.

Oh yes, Visha almost dies. I can’t recall if I’d mentioned this before, but Tanya the Evil is based off a webnovel, but the LN adds a lot of things. One of those things is Visha, who wasn’t in the original story. (This is why fans get annoyed when they hear “spoil me does Visha die?”.) So sometimes you have to worry about her, because she’s cute and less morally void than Tanya (slightly) and we like her, so her death would have impact. The interesting thing is that we don’t get this near-death from her POV, but Tanya’s, who has suddenly noticed that Visha is not reporting in because she’s busy fleeing from a crazed Commonwealth soldier. (Guess who? Yes, Mary Sue is back, and she’s as vengeful as ever. She is, however, attacking the wrong person. See, light novel artist, this is the danger of making Tanya and Visha look too much alike!) Fortunately, she survives to make coffee another day.

The book ends with Zettour ordering Tanya to help him win the war that needs to be one – the one at the capital, which is to say the war against their political leaders who are demanding total victory. I’m sure this will go well! In the meantime, enjoy what is essentially a siege book with added military theory.

(In Omnia Paratus translates to “ready for anything” and, contrary to popular belief, did not originate with Gilmore Girls.)

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 6

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By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of these books are devoted to scenes of battle, with clever tactics and lots of cool action. It’s well-written, but it does leave very little for me to talk about. I am reminded of reviewing those titles like K-On! or Sunshine Sketch, which rely on cute girls doing cute things. Here we have soldiers doing soldier things. Or, in the case of this particular book, sailors doing sailor things. The enemy is simply better at everything right now, and so Regis is sent to try to stop their supply line. This involves trying to outwit their naval force, something Regis is once again able to do with the help of some books he read once. That gimmick, I fear, will only take him so far. That said, there are more important things going on here that will affect future books: first, Regis won the battle but lost the war, and second, battle commander Latrielle has a war injury that is far more serious than anyone thinks.

The scene with Latrielle and his aide meeting up with Altina and Regis is a very interesting one. Regis notices Latrielle is acting oddly, and is puzzled, but doesn’t really get to the bottom of what’s wrong, and neither does the reader until it’s revealed to us afterward. In the meantime, Regis finally gets listened to by actual powerful people. He also gets a promotion that comes with a title, meaning he can add ‘du’ to his name – not that he plans on doing this. His attempts at remaining a quiet little adviser who reads books seem to be growing less likely every day. Altina also sticks by his side throughout the book, which is handy as he gets to explain everything to her muscle brains. (Her loathing of reading is palpable here.) We also meet a version of what the two of them would be if they were commoners, as Regis hires a boat run by the perky Narissa and her aggrieved childhood friend Phip. Altina is nice enough to forgive Narissa being rude to a princess, but is also immature enough to be jealous of her and Regis getting close.

As for the naval battle itself, we don’t see much of it from the other side except from the perspective of one ship captain, Morins, who would prefer to spend most of his time in bed with his adjutant, Laurelin. He’s clearly meant to be an antagonist who will crop up again someday, so it’s rather annoying that he’s such a sexist asshole. On the bright side, that means I’m quite pleased to see how he gets routed by Regis, who comes up with such clever strategies as “ram the ship with a rowboat full of explosives”. His seasickness means we’re unlikely to see him putting his brain to use for the Navy all that often, but it’s still impressive. Now if only he could take some pride in his achievements. Or even notice that both Altina and Clarisse are clearly in love with him.

The rather imperfect victory at the end of this volume means, I suspect, that the next book in the series will be a bit more serious. Till then, though, this is another fun example of a military potboiler, with a likeable lead couple (even if they aren’t one yet).

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 11

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By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan as “Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

This series is trying its hardest to keep a good balance between the light-hearted romantic comedy that the majority of its readers are here for and the increasingly dark backstory that is constantly threatening to become the front story as well. That continues in this book, which has an awful lot of Zagan and Nephy being incredibly blushy and goofy around each other, wearing each others clothes, being in each other’s dreams, and generally being the most adorable couple around that haven’t even gotten to first base yet. Contrasted with that is the increasingly doomed Alshiera, the plotting, sinister or otherwise, of the various other archdemons, and the continued horrors being piled upon Dexia and Aristella. Fortunately, with one or two exceptions, this remains very readable overall, even if you are only in it to see when these two lovebirds will finally get it on. (Spoiler: don’t hold your breath.)

The main plotline involves Lilith, who is a succubus that controls dreams. She’s able to give Zagan and Nephy a shared dream (that, oddly, shows them in a Japanese high school) and is also trying to rescue a boy who is stranded in a nightmare. He’s connected to Alshiera, who is still slowly dying from events in previous books, and is trying to show everyone that this is fine and that she’s content with it, ignoring the fact that there are others who are absolutely not content with it. To make matters worse, Zagan and friends may have found Azazel, who is also in Lilith’s dreamland, and is likyly going to kill Alshiera once and for all. And, perhaps worst of all, Foll is going around asking everyone what they think about love. Is there someone actually interested in her? Or is she just a normal girl? (Well, a normal powerful dragon girl).

Describing the plot is somewhat difficult, as you can tell from the preceding paragraph, but it holds together pretty well. One irritating negative is a new character is introduced, and there is some anti-trans humor about them, so be warned. Still sadly very popular in Japanese manga and light novels. Lilith is, for the most part, taken seriously, and proves to be pretty awesome when she tries. I especially liked Alshiera gently trying to push Lilith away and get her to accept Alshiera’s death, and Lilith basically saying “nope, fuck that, gonna save you”. Zagan is also awesome as always, though there is worrying evidence that he’s pushing himself too hard that may come up in future books. Oh yes, and Kuroka gets drunk and horny on catnip wine. Let’s ignore that.

The series seems content to meander along, both in its romantic plotlines and its more serious fantasy-based plots. And we’re caught up with Japan, meaning we’ll likely be waiting even longer for the next book. Still, if you enjoy archdemons and elfs being super cute together, and don’t mind the occasional tonal crash when the bad guys have a scene, this remains a good series to be reading.

Manga the Week of 1/27/21

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SEAN: The end of January still has some choice titles coming out.

Seven Seas has rolled out its Airship imprint, so given I separate Ghost Ship titles I should probably do the same with Airship. Next week we get ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! 2 in a digital-first edition.

ASH: I’m really curious to see how the Airship imprint evolves.

SEAN: Cross Infinite world has the 2nd volume of Hello, I am a Witch and my Crush Wants me to Make a Love Potion!.

A bunch of Ghost Ship titles, including Destiny Lovers 5, Parallel Paradise 4, Welcome to Succubus High! 2, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 12.

J-Novel Club’s debut is one that manga fans will have seen before, as Seven Seas has been releasing the manga. The Ideal Sponger Life, where a young man gets isekai’d to another world so that he can be the husband of the reigning Queen. This is definitely one of those “come for the romance, stay for the politics” titles, and I look forward to it.

Also from J-Novel Club: Black Summoner 3, Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party 3, and My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 3. Three is a magic number?

Kodansha has two print debuts, though one has been out before digitally. Orient is the newest title from the creator of Magi, Shinobu Ohtaka. They’re in Shonen Magazine rather than Shonen Sunday, but despite that, it doesn’t seem to have more fanservice…

ASH: I plan on giving this one a look eventually; I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read of Magi.

ANNA: One of these days I need to read all of Magi.

SEAN: The other debut is Sachi’s Monstrous Appetite (Ano Hito no i Ni Wa Boku Ga Tarinai), which runs in Morning Two. A boy loves his tall classmate, and she likes him too… because he smells delicious! Turns out she’s a monster, and monsters are drawn to his scent. Fortunately, she agrees to protect him rather than eat him. I admit I might pass on this if it weren’t in Morning Two, a magazine I respect.

ASH: There is that!

SEAN: Also in print: Fire Force 21, Magus of the Library 4, The Seven Deadly Sins 41 (the final volume), and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches 23-24, which is not only in 2-in-1 status but is also now on a YEARLY schedule. Does it really sell that badly now?

ASH: Magus of the Library has impressed me with how much reality has been accurately incorporated into its fantasy. It looks good doing it, too!

SEAN: Digitally our debut is My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 (Level 1 Dakedo Unique Skill de Saikyou Desu), which runs in Suiyoubi no Sirius. There’s a bunny girl on the cover, and the “hero” is way in the background. Should tell you everything you want to know about this.

Also out digitally: Am I Actually the Strongest? 3, Maid in Honey 5, My Best (♀) Butler 5, The Great Cleric 6, What I Love About You 2, and When We’re in Love 4.

Seven Seas’ debut manga is The Demon Girl Next Door (Machikado Mazoku), a 4-koma series that runs in Manga Time Kirara Carat. A teenage girl wakes up one morning with demon horns and a tail, and is told her job is to defeat the magical girl. Unfortunately, her power is… kind of like that of the first boss who gets killed off in Episode 3. Could be cute, could be dull.

Also from Seven Seas: The Conditions of Paradise: Azure Dreams (the third in that series), Cutie and the Beast 2, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s 10th manga volume, and Our Teachers Are Dating! 2.

MICHELLE: I hadn’t even managed to read the first Cutie and the Beast yet!

ASH: I’m liking the series, so far, and will be picking up the second volume to see where it goes.

ANNA: I’m with Michelle, I’m already behind on Cutie and the Beast.

SEAN: Square Enix tries to blast us with long titles, as we get The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants 3 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 3. (What is it with Vol. 3s next week?)

Vertical has the 11th volume of To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts.

Yen On has the 2nd light novel volume of High School DxD. Still banned from Kindle!

Yen Press did a lot of very last minute delays when I did Manga the Week of last week, and then un-delayed them even more last-minute, so some titles I didn’t mention are already out. Angels of Death 11, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 7, and the debut of Re: Zero’s 4th arc, The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed, in manga form. Don’t be surprised if I say the same thing next week.

For actual next week stuff, Yen Press has a sort-of debut – this was released chapter by chapter ages ago, and is now getting a collected-in-one omnibus. Grim Reaper and Four Girlfriends (Shinigami-sama to 4-nin no Kanojo) ran in Gangan Joker. A nebbish guy avoids being killed by the Grim Reaper by declaring he’ll live life to the fullest from now on. He writes a confession letter… in fact, he writes four of them, knowing they’ll turn him down. They all accept. Welcome to four-timing! Gotta say, this does not sound great.

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: Speaking of omnibuses, there’s also Cirque du Freak: The Manga, which is getting a new omnibus edition. Warning: Darren Shan. (Indeed, in Japan the manga was CALLED Darren Shan, as the author’s pen name is also the main character’s name.)

Also from Yen Press: Fiancée of the Wizard 2 and Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods 8.

ASH: I meant to give the first volume of Fiancée of the Wizard a read, but haven’t actually done that yet. Better get to it before I get too far behind!

SEAN: Lotsa interesting stuff. Anything for you?

Otherside Picnic, Vol. 4

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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.

Last time I talked about the fact that the narrative voice in this series is Sorawo’s, and how that makes the character of Toriko more intriguing. After this book, I’ll go even further and say that the narrative of Sorawo is vital to what makes Otherside Picnic so good, and that it’s even better because it can’t be trusted. In the first story in this book, Sorawo worries that she and Toriko are becoming desensitized to horror, but quickly shoves that off to the side, which is a shame, as yes, she absolutely is. More to the point, the horrific urban legends that she and Toriko are seeing are starting to be personally aimed at her, to the point where 3/4 of this book takes place in the “real world”. Sorawo’s past is not a pleasant one, and this book wants to remind her of it and, if ,possible, drag her back into it again. And then there’s Toriko, who is finally able to get Sorawo to stop denying what’s really, really obvious.

There are four short stories here. Two are good (1 and 3), two are great (2 and 4). The first sees our girls joining Migiwa and the rest of his organization in cleaning up the remains of the “farm” where Sorawo was kidnapped, and finding several Otherside creatures and booby traps along the way. The second sees Sorawo being threatened by something in the apartment next door to hers, to the point where she’s forced to stay first with Akari (to the displeasure of a jealous Natsumi) and then Kozakura, before finally confronting the source with Toriko. The third story sees the two (plus Kozakura) at a hot spring, which is mostly Toriko trying to make her feelings clear but also involves a brief brush with mannequins. Finally, after getting their APV upgraded, Sorawo and Toriko spend a night in the Otherside… at a crumbling and abandoned love hotel, where Sorawo’s past finally catches up with her and tries to get her to make a tragic choice.

I joked on Twitter about how Sorawo made a deal to have all that urban legend knowledge (her bookshelves are RIDICULOUS) at the expense of being unable to recognize lesbians, which is not really true, but it feels like it at times. She doesn’t seem to quite get why Natsumi is jealous of her staying with Akari, and the first half of the book has the usual uncomfortable denial of Toriko’s feelings. After a while, though, it becomes more clear that Sorawo really does know what Toriko means, but is too busy being scared and self-loathing to confront it. She can say ‘I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you” here, but that’s not quite the same thing as what Toriko wants – Toriko wants physical affection. It’s not clear where things go from here, but after confronting her past again in the Otherside (that kerosene bit – brrrr), I do think they’re in a better place to actually be in a relationship.

The anime is airing as I type this, and seems to be leaning more into “cute girls doing cute horror things” than I’d like, but for those who would like a bit more terror and a bit more yuri, this volume fits the bill perfectly.