Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

The Hero and the Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged, Vol. 4

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By Washiro Fujiki and Heiro. Released in Japan as “Eiyū to Kenja no Tensei Kon: Katsute no Kōtekishu to Konyaku Shite Saikyō Fūfu ni Narimashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Joey Antonio.

It is honestly getting a bit hilarious about how relaxing this series is. Generally speaking you want a series like this to have, well, tension or suspense. But with this series you get the exact opposite. At no point in the book’s 202 pages do you ever, EVER think anything will not go exactly the way our leads want. Their plan is a fait accompli as soon as they come up with it. And while you’d expect that to be a disaster, it’s the bread and butter that makes this go. The running gag in the series is that character tell Raid and Eluria to stop shamelessly flirting in front of them, but the audience wants MORE of that. The flirting is the point. The battle against alternate world goons from the past is irrelevant. Nothing a massive magical world tree can’t solve.

There’s a war coming, but Raid and Eluria have more important things to worry about, and I don’t just mean the massive pile of exposition at the start of the book, which even the two of them say needs to be dumbed down a little. No, I mean Eluria has to meet Raid’s family, including his overserious brother, his overzealous mother, and his incredibly strong and bonkers younger sister, who is basically “NOW FIGHT ME!” for about 35 pages. There’s also a reunion with the beastgirl Raid saved a thousand years ago, who is still alive, ruling a kingdom, and still in love with him. (Don’t worry, the amount of romantic drama is zero. She and Eluria get along great). Then we get the exams, which Raid knows will be interrupted by an invading army of alternate world suicide bombers who are also OK with killing innocents. Can they stop this without anyone dying? Have you forgotten what series you’re reading?

This was another one where, after reading the ending of the volume, and seeing JN-C had not put its usual “go to our site for the next volume!” blurb, I had to check to see if this was it. It’s not, there’s two more volumes out in Japan. But boy, it really feels like it could have wrapped up here. This despite the fact that it ends with an obvious lead-in to the next volume, with Raid and Eluria going to the alternate world to try to save it. But I could easily see that as an “and our adventures continued” ending, especially as it comes with a mutual confession of love. Still, I will happily read more of these two lovesick overpowered goofs, as well as their goofy friends, their beleaguered headmaster, and all the others. The next book may only have Raid and Eluria, but I know what to expect. Everyone lives, we banter a lot, and we’re very cute.

If lack of tension bothers you, avoid. But this is my catnip.

One Piece: Heroines, Vol. 1

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Created by Eiichiro Oda. Written by Jun Esaka. Illustrated by Sayaka Suwa. Released in Japan by Jump Books. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Stephen Paul.

It’s been a while since I’ve dipped my toe into reviewing One Piece, but here they are with a light novel. Like most Jump light novels, the content is light as air, and you can read it in less than an hour. That’s not to say it’s bad, though. The author apparently is an old hand at this, having written a number of Sasuke spinoffs for the Naruto light novel series. The artist seems to be more on the fashion end, but it’s a terrific style – Oda does not do anything besides the cover art, but I didn’t miss him, as these have a style all their own. As for the stories themselves, well, they’re a mixed bag, as you’d expect. Our main two heroines do better, but things lag a bit in the second half. overall, frankly, the book suffers somewhat from what the manga itself does at times – it wants to write cool, strong women, but it also can’t help but objectify them.

In the first story, Nami buys shoes that will supposedly let her run fast in heels, but they’re terrible. When she goes to return them, she finds an arrogant designer and his jaded girlfriend/assistant. Told he’ll give her proper good shoes if she models for him, Nami does so, but also tells the assistant she’s better off without this jerk. Robin’s story takes place while she’s with the revolutionaries, as she tries to help the crew eat some very bitter mushrooms and Koala to decipher a newly discovered lost script. In the third story, a young boy has fallen in love with Vivi and writes a letter to her saying this, but it blows away. Trying to catch it, Koza ends up in trouble when everyone thinks he wrote it. Lastly, Zoro and Perona are living with Mihawk, and have a nice interlude – and a lot of fighting – when three bottles of delicious wine wash up at their castle.

The series is best when it’s living up to its title. Nami and Robin may be praised by the narrative as amazingly beautiful and stunning, but they’re also cool and clever – Nami gets exactly what she wants, gets a bit of revenge that nets her money, and (a distant third) helps a woman realize her life has value without a boyfriend. Robin could do everything in her story herself, but does not, knowing that Koala is undergoing the joy of discovery and working something out for herself. I also loved her washing the dishes. The weak story is the third one. It’s supposed to be about Vivi, but she only shows up for the resolution, and is used 100% as an object of worship. Koza’s relationship with her means that he takes over the narrative – Nami and Robin fortunately lack men in their lives. Perona is shown here midway between her “I am a minor villain” debut and the “I am Zoro’s friend and ally” we see later, and hers is probably the funniest story – yes, it revolves around Zoro and Mihawk too, but she’s the POV, so it works fine. (She’s not praised as the other three are. Shame, she’s cute.)

So overall, two excellent stories, one funny and good story, and Vivi’s story being hijacked. Not a bad batting average. Next time we’ll have Hancock, Tashigi, Reiju and Uta. For One Piece fans.

Pick of the Week: Tamaki & Amane (and They Were 11!)

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SEAN: Of course, we already picked They Were 11! unanimously back in January when the preorder pages fooled us all. As such, of course, that is our pick this week as well. HOWEVER, we will also be picking another title in the interests of fairness. So I’m picking the new Fumi Yoshinaga, Tamaki & Amane, which looks fantastic.

MICHELLE: I can’t conceive of a time when I *wouldn’t* pick a new Fumi Yoshinaga! So, yes, same for me!

KATE: At the risk of being boring, I, too, choose Fumi Yoshinaga!

ANNA: I agree!

ASH: I adore Fumi Yoshinaga’s work, so I am incredibly excited for Tamaki & Amane. (And also Moto Hagio’s.)

From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress!, Vol. 3

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By Masamune Okazaki and Hayase Jyun. Released in Japan as “Mob Dōzen no Akuyaku Reijō wa Dansō Shite Kōryaku Taishō no Za wo Nerau” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W.

I’ve said before that the least interesting part of these villainess books tends to be “who will she end up with in the end?”. Either it’s obvious from the start, such as in Villainess Level 99; it’s obvious but the creator knows it won’t be popular so is delaying it as long as possible, such as My Next Life As a Villainess; or it’s not obvious but it doesn’t really matter as who she marries is mostly irrelevant, such as this series. Honestly, at the end of this third volume, the love interest with the biggest lead is still Lilia. The webnovel version of this series does list “GL subtext” as a warning, so they know what they’re doing, but I’m not convinced that’s an endgame – Lilia here suggests seducing Elizabeth’s older brother so that she can “be in the family” and get to be around her all the time. The good news is the worldbuilding is still pretty interesting.

There’s a new transfer student in school, and he surprises everyone by declaring he’s in love with Elizabeth and asking her to marry him. Constantly. At every possible moment. This is especially surprising to Elizabeth and Lilia, as they recognize him. Prince Yoh Won Lei is from the Eastern lands, and while he is meant to be a spy, he’s not supposed to be like this. For one thing, shouldn’t he be going after the saint? Unfortunately, as the book goes on, absolutely nothing seems to put the man off, and the other random girls in the class all seem to ship it – to the point where they set up a play of Snow White with Elizabeth – in a dress – as Snow White, and Yoh as the Prince. He’s gonna go for a kiss – everyone knows this. More importantly… what’s he really after?

This book has three real highlights. The first is the play – after so many “Sorta Cinderella” bad high school plays in manga, it’s nice to see “Sorta Snow White”, and Lilia as the fourth-wall breaking narrator is a delight. The second is early on when the four male love interests corner Lilia in the student council room and try to get her to back off Elizabeth, as she was rejected. Lilia points out, correctly, that she was rejected as she actually confessed, something none of them have done. Then there’s the climax, which not only has Elizabeth coming to a dramatic (if mostly offscreen) rescue, but also has Lilia confessing that she’s figured out what’s wrong with this world – the gods, or whoever, are trying to keep the game script accurate, but she is now too powerful for it, so can alter the script. She’s not the only one – I think Elizabeth has that power as well, she just doesn’t know it. They may both need reality-breaking powers, though, as more and more people seem to have identified Elizabeth as the reason their evil plans are not working.

The author makes sympathy whining about this possibly being the final volume, but there’s at least two more in Japan. I’ll read more, though honestly, Elizabeth’s baffled density about why all these guys seem to want to hang around her may be the book’s big flaw.

Manga the Week of 4/23/25

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SEAN: It’s still April, and there’s still manga. A lot of it.

ASH: Time is really weird these days; I could have sworn April was almost over.

ANNA: Is it the longest month? I feel like April is a full year.

SEAN: Airship has three print releases: The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 10, Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend 4, and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 9.

And for early digital there is She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 13 and Too Many Losing Heroines! 4.

Dark Horse has the 10th volume of their Hellsing re-release.

Retailers say the legendary They Were 11! (11-nin Iru!) is out next week from Denpa Books… and Ed says it’s shipping from their warehouse, so this may be close to accurate!. A shoujo story from 1975 by Moto Hagio that ran in Betsucomi, and honestly if you did not order this when you heard the name Moto Hagio, then you should probably be reading some other weekly manga releases post. Ed also says this will be the only printing.

MICHELLE: Woo!

ASH: I’ll be watching out for my copy like a hawk.

ANNA: Yay! I’m super stoked!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Creature Girls: A Hands-On Field Journal in Another World 12 and a 3rd omnibus of Do You Like Big Girls?.

Inori Books, which is to say the author Inori, is releasing Homunculus Tears: Alchemy for the Brokenhearted simultaneously in Japanese, English, Spanish and German. It’s a yuri light novel from the creator of I’m in Love with the Villainess, and is about an alchemist who finds meaning in life in fighting on the front lines of the army suddenly being told that just-created homunculi can now do all that.

ASH: I have been known to enjoy Inori’s previously translated work.

SEAN: Ize Press have two debuts. Lady Devil stars a woman who is imprisoned after supposedly ripping out her husband’s heart on their wedding night. Terrified of being married off to some schlub, she makes a deal… which transforms her twin brother into a devil!

ASH: Well now, that took some unexpected turns!

SEAN: Lover Boy is about an obsessed boy who has loved the man next door since he was three, only to be constantly rebuffed. Now he’s in college, can he finally get his ludicrously obsessive feelings across?

ASH: Is this romance or horror? Or both?

SEAN: Also from Ize Press: 7FATES: CHAKHO 7 (the final volume), Beware the Villainess! 3, The Boxer 10, Itaewon Class 5, Overgeared 7, See You in My 19th Life 6, and SSS-Class Revival Hunter 3.

It’s a quiet week for J-Novel Club, but they do have a debut. Three Cheats from Three Goddesses: The Broke Baron’s Youngest Wants a Relaxing Life (Dōyara Binbō Danshaku-ke no Suekko ni Tensei Shitarashii Desu: San Megami ni Moratta Mittsu no Cheat de, Saikō no Slow Life o Mezashimasu!) is a must-have for anyone who loves the word “cheats” in a light novel title. An overworked office worker dies and is reborn as a noble… but his family is broke and there are monsters in this world! Fortunately, see title.

For light novels, they have Dimension Wave 3, The Hero and the Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged 4, and I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic 8. And for manga there is The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World 5.

Kaiten Books has the 4th manga volume of Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant!.

Kodansha debuts, in print, Toxic Daughter: Chi-chan (Chii-chan), which is by Shuzo Oshimi and ran in Young Magazine. It’s complete at one volume. A girl who was always obsessed with insects but had been absent recently shows up at school causing a commotion. The class “good guy” decides he’s going to save her. This is by Oshimi, so I bet that will go SWELL.

MICHELLE: Snerk.

ASH: I’m sure you’re right.

SEAN: Also in print: Ajin: Demi-Human Complete 3, Gachiakuta 6, Rent-A-Girlfriend 30, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement 10, Shangri-La Frontier 16, To Your Eternity 22, and Your Lie in April Omnibus 4.

ASH: I really need to catch up with To Your Eternity! I have the books, I just need the time to read them.

SEAN: And digitally we see Drops of God: Mariage 12, Gamaran: Shura 31, and ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! 9.

One Peace Books has an 8th volume of The Death Mage manga.

No debuts for Seven Seas. But we get Black Night Parade 6, Drugstore in Another World 10, Gravitation: Collector’s Edition 5, Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! 8, The Ideal Sponger Life 18, The Kingdoms of Ruin 10, Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills 4, My New Life as a Cat 9, Reincarnated as a Sword 14, Someone’s Girlfriend 3, Tiger and Dragon 3, The World’s Fastest Level Up 5, and Yes, No, or Maybe? 2.

And for Thai novels, we see KinnPorsche 3.

ASH: I still love that we’re getting Thai novels in translation.

SEAN: Square Enix has one title, a debut. Wash It All Away (Kirei ni Shite Moraemasu ka) is a seinen series from Young Gangan, by the creator of Sankarea: Undying Love. A young woman with amnesia runs a laundry service and has heartwarming moments with those around her.

ASH: Sankarea did have its moments; I might give the first volume a try.

SEAN: Steamship debuts Virgin Marriage: A Maiden Voyage into Passion’s Embrace (Shojo Kon – Kohinata Fuufu wa Shite Mitai) is a josei manga from Choco Love. A young couple in an arranged marriage are not only virgins, but completely ignorant of sex. On their first anniversary, she wants to try changing that… This is from the creator of Loved by Two Fiancés and The Yakuza and His Omega.

ASH: Depending on how it’s handled, I could actually see this being a really sweet manga.

SEAN: Two debuts for Tokyopop. Fated NOT to Meet (Unmeidakedo Ai Irenai) is a BL title that runs in from RED. A young man is extremely angry that his top salesman title has been stolen from him by the new guy. Then he meets his new online date… and guess who?

ASH: I couldn’t possibly!

SEAN: We’re Not Cut Out to Be Lovers (Oretachi wa Koibito ni Muitenai) is also BL, and also in from RED. An auto mechanic lives next to a streamer who claims to be a romance expert, and whose streams are too loud! What will shut that guy up? A kiss?

ASH: I wonder about that.

SEAN: They also have The Person I Loved Asked Me to Die in My Sister’s Stead 3.

Viz Media has a light novel debut. One Piece: Heroines is a short story collection that originally ran as part of One Piece Magazine, each dealing with a different woman from the series. The first volume has two stories with Nami, as well as Robin, Vivi, and Perona. Who is… technically not a heroine? Well, I guess she’s no longer evil, so it’s fine.

There’s also Boy’s Abyss 9, My Neighbor Totoro: The Official Cookbook, and Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance 4 (the final volume).

Hey, remember when Yen Press delayed everything last week? Let’s start with Yen On, who only has one title, Before the Tutorial Starts 2.

Fear not, Yen Press has more than one title. They debut The 31st Consort (31-banme no Okisaki-sama), a shoujo manga from Flos Comic… or B’s-Log. Not sure, it changed magazines. A woman is the 31st consort of a king, which means that she only sees him once a month… if there’s a 31st in it. Shame she’s fallen in love with him.

ASH: Whoops.

ANNA: That sounds like a predicament.

SEAN: Bocchi the Rock! Side Story: Kikuri Hiroi’s Heavy-Drinking Diary (Bocchi the Rock! Gaiden – Hiroi Kikuri no Fukazake Nikki) runs in Comic Fuz. If you read Bocchi and wished it was all about the terrible drunk, good news.

Reincarnation Coliseum,: The Weakest Skill Conquers the Strongest Women and Creates a Harem (Tensei Colosseum – Saijaku Skill de Saikyou no Onna-tachi o Kouryaku shite Dorei Harem Tsukurimasu) is from the creator of Kingdom of Z, and runs in (of course) Dragon Age. It’s about… Christ, I can’t. I just can’t.

ASH: That’s fair.

SEAN: Spy Classroom 2nd Period: Daughter Dearest (Spy Kyoushitsu Part 2: Mana Musume) is the continuation of the manga based on the light novel, and runs in my nemesis, Comic Alive.

Tamaki & Amane is a one-shot josei title from Cocohana, and it’s by Fumi Yoshinaga. That should be enough, really. This award-winning manga starts when a mother sees her daughter kissing another girl one day. She talks to her husband about it… and he admits he had a crush on a boy back in school.

MICHELLE: I gasped. I didn’t know we had new Yoshinaga coming out!

ASH: I just found out about it recently! I’ll definitely be picking this up.

ANNA: Woah!!!!

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring 2, Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra 3, Be My Worst Nightmare! 2, Bungo Stray Dogs: The Official Comic Anthology 3, The Case Study of Vanitas 11 (there’s also a special edition with a 128-page booklet), Chained Soldier 11, Days with My Stepsister 3, The Eminence in Shadow 12, Game of Familia 6, I Picked Up This World’s Strategy Guide 2, I Want a Gal Gamer to Praise Me 4, If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love 3, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Freya 5 (the final volume), Minato’s Laundromat 5, My Oh My, Atami-kun 2, Nights with a Cat 5, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Chapter 4: The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed 9, Stomp, Kick, Love 2, Sword Art Online Re:Aincrad 3, The Teen Exorcist 2, The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions 6, Übel Blatt Deluxe Edition 2, and With You, Our Love Will Make It Through 2.

Woof. Tired now. What are you buying?

The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori, Vol. 2

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By Kaeru Ryouseirui and Natsuki Amashiro. Released in Japan as “Umidori Tougetsu no “Detarame” na Jijou” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

Generally speaking, my reviews these days tend to follow the pattern of “first paragraph discussing book, cover image, second paragraph summarizing plot, third paragraph giving good/bad/etc, epilogue”. And that’s what this will be too. That said, after reading this book I feel I have to put up a warning: I Swear I Am Not Making This Up. Because frankly, after reading the summary of this volume, I think one or two people might suspect I hated the book so much I just started making up absolute nonsense. Which isn’t true, I quite liked this book. But wow, the plot is indeed absolute nonsense… and yet, in the context of this world, it makes perfect sense. It’s true to the characters. It’s especially true to Umidori, and I have to admit, when she got that phone call asking her to guess who this was? I guessed it fairly quickly. Because this is a series that glories in being utterly unhinged. (And gay.)

Tougetsu Umidori is relatively happy, two weeks after the first book. She’s coming home from her job, telling Bullshit-chan she’ll be home soon, when she gets a mysterious call from someone who says they know her very well. Intimately, in fact. Despite the fact that they’ve never been to school or hung out together. As it turns out, we know the caller very well too. Because in the prologue for this book, we saw Umidori digging a grave in the back of her apartment complex and burying someone… and now they’re crying out to her, demanding that she dig them up. Unfortunately, at the same time, a mysterious cooking accident knocks Bullshit-chan unconscious, so she’s unable to help with the fact that the pencils that Umidori deep-fried and ate have gained sentience and can communicate with her. And love her. In fact, the love is pretty much mutual.

As I said, not making this up, and it’s not even the weirdest thing in the book. Honestly, the character of the pencils, who ends up taking the name Togari Tsukishigaoka, may be the best part of the book, wanting to help Umidori but also knowing what that help will cost her. The nature of the lies and what they can do to people’s psyches is explored further, and there is perhaps a worrying amount of co-dependency going on here, but in a series that has a girl in a love triangle with her best friend and a bunch of sentient pencils given human form, that’s probably the least of my problems. If there’s a weak part of this book it’s probably the villains, who simply are not as good as Hurt (who’s also back in this book, taking on the role of the tsukkomi/sidekick when needed). They mostly exist because we need a villain to drive the plot.

This is apparently halfway through the series, though the third volume doesn’t have a date here yet. If you’re looking for weird ass stuff with not-quite-monsters, this is right up your alley.

My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex: “There’s Only One Guy For Me”

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By Kyosuke Kamishiro and TakayaKi. Released in Japan as “Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gierrlon Dunn.

This is a really short book, even for a series that does not generally have long volumes to begin with. It’s 142 pages. I actually found myself wondering if it was supposed to have the Isana plotline going on throughout, but the main plot got away from the author, so they simply cut it out. But then, it does make sense that you’d want to keep the focus entirely on Akatsuki and Kawanami. Their backstory was always a very spiky and uncomfortable one in an otherwise mostly mild romcom series, and a lot of the books have been trying to bring them both to a point where they can finally take a step towards each other again and have it be believable. The way that it does that is by looking even further at the issues that Kawanami has with women, and how they are, in a very real sense, PTSD. As such, it makes sense that this volume feels like the series finale of M*A*S*H at times, as his own memories may not be reliable.

Kawanami wakes up one morning in his bed, dressed only in boxers. He sees a girl leaving his room in a hurry. He also has no memory of the previous evening. At the same time, Akatsuki also wakes up in her bed, in bra and panties, and does not remember what happened the previous night. A horrible thought crosses their minds: did they, y’know, DO IT? Unfortunately for the both of them, Mizuto and Yume are out of town, off on the annual family reunion that we’ve seen in a previous book. What’s worse, Kawanami goes out for karaoke and bowling with his friends, and it becomes very clear that something happened with his good friend Makoto, who is being referred to very carefully so as not to spoil the reader. As things come to a head and he has a complete breakdown, Akatsuki grabs him and the two run away to Osaka… and a love hotel.

This series has always been very horny, and the author jokes that they may have taken things a bit too far this time with that love hotel scene. No, they don’t go all the way, but certain things are done, and both of them get a nice view of each other naked. That said, the reason this is a pretty good book is the emotional catharsis that Kawanami gets, as Akatsuki points out that he’s basically cured of his reaction to women, he just doesn’t actually realize it. The bit where Mizuto points out to him the way that he’s misremembering things made it clear that this really is very similar to PTSD, and as such it’s definitely a good thing the two stopped when they did. In any case, they’re now a couple, which means we likely have only one major arc left in this series, the “what will we do after graduation?” bit.

If you enjoy this series, this is a decent read. And short. Also, while I hesitate to mention current memes in a review, it’s really hard not to look at that cover art and not think “let’s take ibuprofen together!”.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 13

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By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

There’s a very startling beginning to this book, which is the very, very perfunctory final battle against the forces of the demon lord. Now, yes, I am aware that there’s actually a plot involving Ruti and her blessing that will be going into Vol. 14, which involves the demon lord, but in terms of the plot of this particular book, it’s all about the end of the war and what comes after. This means that our main cast in Zoltan are ready to settle in and find something they’re going to do for the rest of their lives, but it also means that those who have spent years on the front lines – those who are still alive – are coming home, and many of them are dealing with PTSD at the very least. That’s right, this is the Banished from the Hero’s Party version of The Best Years of Our Lives, and Ruti, for one, is not really sure how to cope with it.

It’s fall festival time in Zoltan! Rit suggests trying to push some of their medications by putting them in nice-looking wooden canisters, so she and Red have their booth all set. Ruti admits that her farm of medicinal herbs is going into the red, so she, Tisse, and Mister Crawly Wawly are going to have a food booth to show everyone how they can be used without needing the Cooking Skill. And Habotan, who is still doing her level best to be a ninja fangirl, is going to sell shuriken and other ninja tools that look really cool. The festival runs into the aforementioned end of the war, though. One man comes back to tell his aunt that her son will not be coming home to her. A young woman was given the fantasy equivalent of morphine on the front, and has developed an addiction. And, of yes, there are still demon lord plans. Which I’m sure won’t impact Red and Rit’s wedding at ALL.

This is very much a book of two halves. Though we hear about the end of the war at the start, the first half is concerned with the series’ usual slow, relaxed pace. Mister Crawly Wawly now has a suit of armor he can control so he can be an adventurer (He has a card with a name. The name is AAAA.), and he and Red investigate forest fires with a mysterious cause. Ruti and Red then go to investigate a very loud mad scientist whose entire plot feels that it was written to pad out an already short book. The latter parts of the book, though, are much better, showing us soldiers that are still dealing with flashbacks, or drug addition, or depression that ends up leading to sexual assault. And while Red has some good answers, Ruti finds she doesn’t feel confident in hers. After all, she left the battlefield… something that comes out at the end of this book as well.

The next book will have the wedding (Yen says it’s the finale – is 15 an “after story” that’s not part of the main license?), so we’re almost done. Still, this book did a mostly good job of emphasizing the “war is hell” part of the series as well as the “relaxed happy life” part.

Bookshelf Briefs 4/14/25

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Blue Box, Vol. 14 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – At last, this sports manga has returned to being a sports manga. Not that romance is not still part of this, but the bulk of the book is devoted to either new first-years in the clubs or the sports festival. The new first-years include a younger brother who deliberately went to a different school to get out from his brother’s shadow, and a young girl who is clumsy but earnest, and who seems to really like Taiki a lot right away. Or, well, so it appears. And let’s not even get into Ayame dealing with the horrors of having to actually pursue a guy she likes rather than be pursued. As for the sports, Taiki gives off the appearance of a newbie, and there are jokes about people mistaking him for a first year, but when it comes to badminton skills he wipes the floor with the new kids. Good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Bocchi the Rock!, Vol. 6 | By Aki Hamazi | Yen Press – As with the previous volume, this is also a manga of two halves, though thankfully both halves are on the funny side. In the first half, Nijika decides to have a party/concert for her sister’s birthday, but struggles to come up with enough bands to fill out the bill. In the second half, Kita has “run away from home,” as her mother is objecting to her listing musician as a career, for sensible reasons, and also feels that this Gotou boy is a very bad influence on her daughter, which is wrong but also hilarious, especially when Bocchi actually shows up, and proceeds to be… herself. The other big thing in this book is we see Hiroi sober for the first time, and, well, she’s Bocchi. She’s Bocchi, and has found that alcohol is the cure for that. Sure feels like a lead-up to a spinoff. Good fun. – Sean Gaffney

I’m Here, Beside You, Vol. 1 | By TEA natsuno | Yen Press – Ibuki Doi learns that Mikami Baba, the boy he was in love with in high school and whom he had assumed was straight, is marrying a man. This news spurs him to get massively drunk, after which he wakes up in the past with a chance to do things over again. I normally like these kinds of stories, so I’m Here, Beside You was an instant purchase for me. Unfortunately, it was merely okay. One factor is that Ibuki quickly becomes frustrating as a protagonist, but the bigger issue is that halfway through there is an out-of-nowhere revelation that Mikami’s sister is going to be murdered soon. Given the utter lack of foreshadowing, it feels like an editorial course correction. Does the story get more interesting after this? Admittedly, yes. Enough so that I will read the second and concluding volume, at least, but I remain disappointed. – Michelle Smith

Rainbows After Storms, Vol. 2 | By Luka Kobachi | Viz Media – I’m not sure how long the “we need to reintroduce the series for new readers every chapter” thing is going to go on, but I hope it’s not for the entire series, because trust me, I know that the two of them are dating but they’re keeping it a secret from everyone else, and I also know that if you cut out the panels telling us that, this volume would be much shorter. It’s good otherwise, though, with Chidori being the one worried about their relationship this time around, as she fears that Nanoha had a past male crush, and is too afraid of what the answer is to ask about it. That doesn’t really get resolved, but we do have a lot of cute G-rated yuri situations, and I’d happily recommend it to those who like their wlw romance on the mild side. – Sean Gaffney

You Talk Too Much, So Just Shut It Already!, Vol. 1 | By Shunpei Morita and Aldehyde | One Peace Books – Tsukino Hiiragi has just transferred to a new middle school, which would be challenging enough, but she’s also deaf. Resigned to being lonely, she’s taken by surprise when her classmate Taiyo Enomoto instantly befriends her. While Tsukino can read lips, she communicates through writing and sign language. Taiyo communicates by constantly talking. Misunderstandings abound, in part because Taiyo believes language barriers can be overcome by sheer willpower and enthusiasm. This… is definitely not the case. But thanks to Tsukino’s charming nature and Taiyo’s incredible kindheartedness, things do generally work out in the end, even if both of them are completely confused. Some of the scenarios that play out in the series are rather silly—the creators don’t hesitate to favor comedy over realism—but the characters are earnest and the heart of the story is authentic. The first volume is funny and endearing; I look forward to reading more. -Ash Brown

Pick of the Week: Climbing and Clouds

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MICHELLE: I am looking forward to both Riverbay Road Men’s Dormitory and The Little Bird Sleeps by the Sea. Presumably, the latter will be much more wholesome, however, so I will pick that one for brain-balm purposes.

SEAN: Gonna have to give it to the manga with the most striking cover this week, because The Climber makes me want to see what his deal is.

KATE: That sound you hear right now? That’s me screaming with excitement over a new installment of Go With the Clouds, North by Northwest, one of the weirdest and most consistently satisfying series I’m reading right now. I’m also going to hop on The Climber bandwagon, as it looks great, if potentially vertigo-inducing. This is definitely a head-to-the-comic-shop week for me!

ASH: While I am intrigued by several of the novel offerings this week, it’s The Climber for me, too!

ANNA: I’m with Kate this week, I’ve ordered both Go With the Clouds, North by Northwest and The Climber. What an exciting week!

The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman: Ruination and Resolve, Part 1

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By Kamihara and Shiro46. Released in Japan as “Tensei Reijo to Sūki na Jinsei o” by Hayakawa Shobo. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

This review has massive spoilers, and I’m pretty sure that each review I do of this series will have to have the same thing.

When I first heard that J-Novel Club would be splitting the books in half starting from this volume, I admit I was a bit disappointed, the same way that a kid might pout when being told he can’t go on the 20-mile hike. I was looking forward to another 500+-page monster! Having finished this Part 1 volume, I admit that I’m actually grateful to them, as frankly, I’m exhausted. And so is Karen, to be fair. This series can best be described as “Everything happens at once”, and that applies even more so to this volume. The first book at least had occasional parts where a relaxed and happy Karen toured the grounds, or learned about the political landscape with her elderly husband. This volume has no time for that. It needs to run flat out to get to the cliffhanger at the end of the book. Which means resolving the cliffhanger at the end of the LAST book. Which involves… well, read on.

We open with Karen watching in horror as Sven, Nico and Doctor Emma are brutally murdered outside the mansion. Yeah, sorry, it’s that kind of book. As the rest of the cast desperately try to get to safety, it’s become clear that “bandits” are attacking and massacring everyone, and that one of the people they’ve been told to kill is Karen herself. At the end of a very long massacre, the only survivors who are able to stagger to the capital are Karen, younger son Wendell, steward Whateley… and a few townsfolk who managed to avoid being mass murdered. Karen now has to deal with trying to explain to the King how this domain got completely destroyed, try to set things up so that Wendell can inherit as her late husband wanted, and also try to secure her own future, which means NOT going back to her family. Unfortunately, it rapidly becomes clear that even staying in this country is going to be extremely unsafe…

There are some lovely pieces of prose in this series. I don’t normally read things this dark, but the writing pulls me in, which is a plus. My favorite part was probably Karen and Whateley being very angry at the Margrave for not coming back as a ghost and haunting them, so they could feel his presence still. I also like Karen trying to figure out what’s going on (which she MOSTLY does, though not in time to do much but damage control) and also figure out how to talk about what she suspects without getting straight up murdered. It helps that she and Reinald continue to be, frankly, perfect for each other. I’m half convinced that the main reason he does not have someone like her quickly taken care of is that he absolutely cannot get a bead on how she thinks – and he’s not alone. Then again, no one can get a bead on how Reinald thinks either, especially after the climax of this book.

By the “end” of this book, the nation has fallen and Reinald is greeting the invader… his younger sister. And may I remind you this was only HALFWAY through the original book. Riveting and compelling, but I believe tomorrow I will take a “no light novels today” break to rest.

The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom, Vol. 2

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By Fuyutsuki Koki and Masami. Released in Japan as “Kanpeki Sugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki Sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tiffany Lim. Adapted by Shaenon K. Garrity.

Oh dear, and it was going so well. Too-Perfect Saint hits that difficult second album, and it’s the worst possible timing for English-speaking readers, as the anime has just begun, so we’re seeing the first book come to life while we read this second volume. The things I really liked about the first book were a) the fact that Philia really struggled with expressing herself and feeling emotions like “happiness” and “hope” after an entire lifetime of abuse, and b) the fact that we had a “my parents hated me but praised my younger sister instead” novel where the younger sister was NOT evil, but was in fact the second protagonist. Now we get Book 2, and Mia gets a much smaller role where she gets nothing to do. As for Philia, she’s dealing with the romantic subplot that I predicted would happen last time. Sure hope another cartoon villain doesn’t show up – oh dear.

Philia is preparing for a giant conference of saints from various countries, which can now happen given she’s purified the world with her giant barrier. Unfortunately, saints have been disappearing one by one, and in fact Philia and Osvalt, who are out on a not-date, almost see one happen in front of their eyes. Worse still, her ex-fiance Julius has vanished from his prison cell. Fortunately, she has some new allies coming to protect her in the form of exorcist Erza and her demon familiar Mammon, who feel like they’re crossing over from a different book (they are, but that one does not appear to have been published) Unfortunately, as the convention gets underway, it’s invaded by Asmodeus, an ancient demon who has possessed Julius. He’s here to resurrect his former love… who happens to have been reincarnated as Philia.

If that last sentence made you roll your eyes a bit, well, congratulations, you had the same reaction I did. Almost every beat of this book, unlike the first which had a few clever swerves, is straight on the beat and not a surprise at all. It’s not entirely without merit. I did like Asmodeus using Philia’s parents as “hostages”, knowing she’s spent her entire life being abused by them, and her reaction – I don’t care about them at all but I am a decent human being so I will not murder them to satisfy you – is quite good. But for the most part all the emotional bits in this book are hamstrung by Philia’s calmness, which feels less like a deliberate choice and more like flat writing in this book. Her conversation with her equally reticent real mother is a low point, and her romantic confession ends up eliciting a mild smile.

This has a third volume, where apparently villains try to make Philia into the Pope. But unfortunately, this probably should have stayed a one-shot.

Manga the Week of 4/16/25

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SEAN: Yen’s April has already started to slip into May, but fear not, there’s plenty here for your Easter week.

Yen On has three debuts. Bye Bye Earth is an old light novel series from 2000. A young woman is very powerful and has a huge sword. Unfortunately, she’s the only human in a world of anthropomorphic animals. So she sets out on a journey to find people like her.

maboroshi is a light novel based on a movie that came out two years ago, but it’s also by Mari Okada, so I may actually read this one. An explosion traps a town in what seems to be a groundhog Day loop, but the day can apparently be saved by Japanese high school students, as always. Despite my sarcasm, this is apparently excellent.

ASH: I mean, it is Mari Okada; I may have to read it, too.

ANNA: Oh yeah, Okada is always worth a look.

SEAN: The Summer Hikaru Died (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu) is a light novel adaptation of the manga series, which is a nice reversal from the usual.

ASH: Oh, how interesting! I might need to check this one out, too.

SEAN: Also from Yen On: Banished from the Hero’s Party 13, The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori 2, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 11, The Detective Is Already Dead 10, I’m the Strongest in This Zombie World 2, and Sword Art Online Alternative Clover’s Regret 3 (the final volume). (Two of these got bumped.)

Most of Yen Press’s pile got delayed to next week, but there are a few books, including one debut. The Boy Who Ruled the Monsters: Before I Knew It, the Ultimate Specialized Support Skill Led to the World’s Ultimate Party! (Kaibutsu-tachi o Suberu Mono – Saikyou no Shien Tokka Nouryoku de, Kizukeba Sekai Saikyou Party ni!) is a “banished from the party” story, though at least this time two of the party join him. This is because (try to contain your shock) his ability is great after all! Now he’s going to make his own party of monsters. (Taking a wild guess that the monsters look like hot girls.) J-Novel Club has the novels, this is the manga adaptation, which runs in Isekai Comic.

And we also see April Showers Bring May Flowers 2, Rejected by the Hero’s Party, a Princess Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 2, and A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School! 16. (ALL of these got bumped.)

Viz Media debuts The Climber (Kokou no Hito), which has art by the creator of #drcl Midnight Children and Innocent. A young man is dared to climb to the top of the school building, and, after not falling, discovers a new passion. That’s right, this is technically a sports manga. It runs in Weekly Young Jump.

MICHELLE: Hm.

ASH: I am very interested in this one.

ANNA: A genre we haven’t seen before? I’m always interested in sports manga.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 7, Mission: Yozakura Family 16, Rainbows After Storms 3, Record of Ragnarok 14, Red River 3-in-1 3, Snowball Earth 5, Steel of the Celestial Shadows 6, Tokyo Alien Bros. 2, Undead Unluck 19, and Vagabond Definitive Edition 2.

ASH: For those who haven’t seen it yet, the deluxe edition of Vagabond looks really great.

ANNA: I really don’t need to buy it again, but I sort of want to? But maybe not in this economy!

SEAN: So last week I screwed up and put the Tokyopop titles that should have been on this list. Last week we actually had The Inconvenient Life of an Arousing Priestess 2 and Boys Gilding the Lily Shall Die!? 4.

And *this* is the week with The Little Bird Sleeps by the Sea (Hinadori wa Shiokaze ni Madoromu), a BL one-shot from Chara. A young man whose family have all recently died adopts his niece and moves to a seaside town, where he meets another young man who also has a tragic past. This is from the creator of Love Nest, Sayonara Game, etc.

MICHELLE: Still intrigued!

SEAN: And there’s a 2nd volume of The Margrave’s Daughter & the Enemy Prince.

Steamship gives us a 2nd volume of The Yakuza and His Omega: Raw Desire. (Note it’s from Steamship, BL fans. This is a rare M/F A/B/O.)

ASH: I’ll admit, I didn’t realize that those even existed.

SEAN: From Square Enix Manga we get Tokyo Aliens 8 and My Dress-Up Darling 13.

Seven Seas starts with the ominous title Gene Bride, a josei manga from Feel Young. A woman dealing with the horrible misogyny of her workplace is startled when a man shows up and declares that they were genetically matched as a perfect couple in middle school. The fact that this is in Feel Young means I won’t ignore it on sight, but that premise makes me go eeeeergh. (checks) Oh, it’s also from the creator of My Boy, no wonder I feel uncomfortable.

MICHELLE: Hm, again.

ASH: I could see this being very disconcerting but potentially intriguing.

ANNA: Yeah, I don’t know about this one.

SEAN: Mii-chan Wants to Be Kept (Mi-chan wa Kawaretai) is a seinen title from Ultra Jump. A stressed-out young man has recently lost his beloved pet cat, so is even more stressed. Then a hot girl shows up in his bed… and she seems a lot like his pet cat.

MICHELLE: Barf.

ASH: Huh.

ANNA: I’m not sure how much more uninterested in this I could possibly be.

SEAN: PUNKS TRIANGLE is a one-shot BL manga (though there’s a sequel) from the magazine Bloom. A fashion designer is town between a hot, sexy model and a dorky but adorable classmate.

And there’s a new danmei series from the creator of Legend of Exorcism and Dinghai Fusheng Records called Riverbay Road Men’s Dormitory. A movie director struggles to write believable characters, so rents out his house to a bunch of gay men to see if he can learn from their love lives.

MICHELLE: I’ve been looking forward to this one.

ANNA: Interesting research methods!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: 365 Days to the Wedding 7, Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon 8, Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi 3, Does it Count if You Lose Your Virginity to an Android? 5, Glasses with a Chance of Delinquent 2, I Get the Feeling That Nobukuni-san Likes Me 6, Kase-san and Yamada 4, Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari 10, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Elma’s Office Lady Diary 9, My Cat is Such a Weirdo 6, and Mysterious Disappearances 5.

One Peace Books has I Was Sold Dirt Cheap, but My Power Level Is off the Charts 3.

No debuts for Kodansha, but in print they have Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest 7, I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day 2, Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow-Up 4, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 9.

ASH: I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve seen a new volume of Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest.

ANNA: Oh, I need to read this series in the first place and also pick this up for one of my kids who is collecting it.

And for digital we get Koigakubo-kun Stole My First Time 8 and Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 16.

J-Novel Club has some print titles: An Archdemon’s Dilemma 17, By the Grace of the Gods 14, The Misfit of Demon King Academy 5, Tearmoon Empire 12, and the 11th manga volume of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

And no debuts for J-Novel Club this week, but we see, in light novels, The 100th Time’s the Charm: She Was Executed 99 Times, So How Did She Unlock “Super Love” Mode?! 3, From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob 3, Isekai Walking 2, My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex 12, and The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World 4.

While for manga we get Ascendance of a Bookworm 4-2, Hell Mode 6, Isekai Tensei 10, Mercedes and the Waning Moon 2, and A Pale Moon Reverie 2.

Ghost Ship has Ero Ninja Scrolls 8.

Dark Horse has a 2nd omnibus of Drifters, with Vol. 4-6.

ASH: That seems fast for Dark Horse!

SEAN: And Airship gives us a print version for The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain 4.

And digital for Reincarnated As a Sword 16 and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentosho 9.

What Easter manga are you getting?

ANNA: I see that Veil has been pushed back to June, so not that!

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 16

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Tristan Hill.

I was sort of dreading this volume, to be honest. This series never has anything happen to it other than adding new cast, and at the moment the 28th volume is coming out in Japan, meaning we get further and further behind every time we see it. I’m sure Yen Press is trying to renegotiate its light novel contracts to say “surely we can cancel SOME titles, right?”. But if ever there was time for a really good volume, this is the time, as the second season of the anime debuted last week, and is promising more of the same, only in animated form. Great news, though, this is actually quite a strong volume, when compared to other volumes in this series. It’s strong because a) it’s run out of CD dramas to add, so has to include another “Laika’s Schooldays” short, which are excellent. Second, there are fewer, longer short stories within, and that means they have room to breathe for once.

The stories: 1) Pecora is holding a comedy competition, and non-demons are also invited to join. Laika and Flatorte, Flafa and Shalsha, and Rosalie all compete from Azusa’s team, and her daughters ask her to write them a script, because she’s the best at comedy (note this is Japanese comedy, meaning they’re all boke/tsukkomi routines); 2) While visiting a museum, Azusa touches an artifact that turns her into an old lady for a week, and while dealing with this, she’s asked to go to a witch convention; 3) Halkara suggests taking their pet mimic for a walk; 4) Goodly Godly Goddess has written an RPG, and the *entire* cast of the series is brought in to populate it; and in Laika’s side story series, her third year begins with dealing with some delinquents who are doing the dragon equivalent of joyriding.

There’s only one weak story here, with the mimic. The old lady one is also not great, but I was highly amused with its idea of a witch convention being much like a real work convention, with cute games and prizes for the winners. The comedy one I was expecting to be bad, but it really worked well – the routine Azusa wrote and Flafa and Shalsha refined was not only surreal and creepy but also funny, though I agree with the judges that Laika and Flatorte deserved to win, as they’re both naturals. Best of all is the final main story, a giant parody of RPGs like Dragon Quest III. This is the second time that Azusa has essentially tested a game for god (something she points out), but this one is more involved and involves everyone pointing out all the cliches and poor writing that go into these RPGs where you frequently have to smile, nod, and go get the fruit so that the boy will give you a clue. I also had fun trying to figure out who would be cast as what (as does Azusa).

This is not a good book as a book, mind you. It’s a good volume of Killing Slimes for 300 Years. There’s a difference. But if you like the series, this is solid.

Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home!, Vol. 9

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

It’s always interesting seeing how light novels based around a typical “fantasy RPG’ setting handle monsters. Some of them tend to go in the direction of “monsters are people too”, particularly when it comes to demon lords, to the point the recent manga Frieren was written in part to push back against that. A lot more of them tend to see monsters as simply things that our heroes hit with their weapons for drop loot. Housekeeping Mage tries to sit somewhere in the middle. We already know about the slime familiars, and we get another familiar added to the extended family here as well. But we also get a dragon that is the subject of cruel experiments, and while they can sympathize with its plight and give it the best death possible, they still have to kill it, because the alternative is the loss of human settlements. On the bright side, that does lead to some really cool fight sequences.

Alec and Shiori are called back to Brovito, home of the foot baths, in order to investigate a rumor that there’s a fenrir in the woods. What they do find turns out to be not QUITE a fenrir, but certainly an intelligent wolf variant, one who immediately bonds with Alec as a soulmate, and is made into a familiar so rapidly it’s almost comical. The bulk of the book, though, it taken up with a crisis: an ice dragon, buried in a frozen lake for two hundred years, has woken up, and the knights are unable to handle it, so have called in the adventurers. This will take everyone’s skills, and there’s a big chance there will be some deaths. And to make things worse, this is the fault of the Empire, whose dying embers are still glowing, and who even know have grudges to settle.

The series has gradually been getting more optimistic and less bleak with each book, so I was not too surprised that after the great battle, the casualty count was low. Honestly, it’s more interested in romance, now that Alec and Shiori are lovers and ready to get married as soon as he can sort out his family issues. (His brother always seems to be on the verge of visiting but never quite makes it by the end of each book.) We also get another inevitable proposal here, as Clemens and Nadia finally make things official after he takes an arrow for Alec and almost dies. Speaking of which, the reason he doesn’t die, doctor Ellen says, is because she’s been studying harder and learning more thanks to Shiori’s example. For all that Japan loves to write about folks dying from heart attacks from working too hard, most of these books agree that if it’s a job they love which is rewarding, they want to work ALL the overtime and do ALL the things.

We’ve caught up with Japan, so I’m not sure when we’ll get the next book, but the author says it should wrap up in 2-3 more arcs. I’m still enjoying it.