Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex: “Within Arm’s Reach”

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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 the first volume taking place after our main couple have gotten together… again… and as you can imagine, it’s leading up to one big scene. That said, it certainly does meander before it gets there. This series has always played with viewpoint – from the start, the main chapters alternated between Mizuto and Yume, usually with some variation on how they used to be in love but are older and wiser now. As the series went on, we got more and more viewpoints from the POV of other characters, such as the best friends of our lead couple, or the rest of the student council. And honestly, with this volume I think we may have finally gotten an answer to the question “how much is too much”. I think everyone in the entire cast with the exception of Isana gets a look in here, and it makes the book too scattered. It’s only in the final dramatic battle/love scene that it settles down – ironically, when the POV switch is at its worst.

Mizuto and Yume are now a couple once more, but there is a slight problem – they’re still stepsiblings. As a result, they have to hide their relationship from both their parents and from everyone at school. The latter is only slightly successful – Minami and Kawanami figure things out pretty fast – but it does mean that there are a certain amount of repressed feelings that are happening. And, of course, this book also takes place around Valentine’s Day and White Day, with all the plots that you’d expect with that. We get another couple getting together here, despite some truly amazing amounts of self-hatred and loathing to get through in order to accept it – and as for Minami and Kawanami… it may be a bit longer, but they’re making real prgress as well. As for Mizuto and Yume, their parents taking an extended away trip means that they may finally be able to go all the way this time… provided this does not turn into Kaguya-sama: Love Is War again.

I will admit, I was schnookered by the author. The moment the two of them decided that this was going to be some sort of contest to see who admitted to wanting to have sex first, I was fairly certain that they were going to end up just doing nothing till their parents came back. But no, for once the two have semi-matured enough – and are prepared enough to buy nice lingerie and condoms – that they actually do end up getting past the competitiveness and having their first time. The sex, as you can imagine, is elided rather than explicitly described, but the elision is actually very clever, relying on the swapping narrative POV to give us the rhythm of two lovers coming closer and closer to a climax. Also, as with the previous sex scene in this series, the first time is not necessarily “the best sex ever” – it’s typical first sex – but they’re both happy, which is all that matters.

That competitiveness may end up returning after the cliffhanger ending to this book, though thankfully it will be in the classroom rather than the bedroom. I just hope we can get back to primarily being Mizuto and Yume’s narration.

Pick of the Week: Galaxies, Alchemists, and Numbers

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MICHELLE: I really enjoyed *Sweetness & Lightning* and have been meaning to check out *A Galaxy Next Door* since its debut. And now it’s ending, so I had better get a move on!

SEAN: I’ll be picking Management of a Novice Alchemist, because I enjoy peaceful slow life people who reveal they’re secretly incredibly badass. And I can tolerate clumsy dojikkos, which this series also has in spades. They’re not the same person, thankfully.

ASH: Number Call is the debut that particularly caught my attention this week. Wordplay, BL, and complete in one volume, so I might actually be able to find time to read it.

Fake Saint of the Year: You Wanted the Perfect Saint? Too Bad!, Vol. 4

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By kabedondaikou and Yunohito. Released in Japan as “Risō no Seijo? Zannen, Nise Seijo Deshita! Kuso of the Year to Yobareta Akuyaku ni Tensei Shitanda ga” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Rymane Tsouria.

It has gotten to the point where it’s rare that we get a modern light novel that is NOT based on a pre-existing web novel in some way, shape or form. Which makes sense – the light novel is still booming in Japan, and it’s much easier to take an author who’s gotten to the top of the rankings on Narou and edit their work into something for the mainstream than to rely on things like competitions and the like. And there’s nothing wrong with the end of this series. Fake Saint of the Year ends with this volume, and it’s a perfectly decent ending that makes thematic sense, gives a hint of romance for those who want to snatch at it while heavily implying it’s not happening, etc. It ticks the boxes. It’s just… the book ends at page 115, but the Afterword is not until page 278. That’s right. Get ready for Side Story Hell.

After dying at the end of the last volume, Ellize had expected that everyone would move on with their lives and enjoy the happily ever after. There are just two problems with that. First of all, everyone is so utterly devastated by her death that they’re in abject misery, and one or two have tried to kill themselves to “join” her. Meanwhile, guess what’s not quite as dead as expected? Well, all right, Ellize did foresee this, but she also thought that everyone would be able to take care of the remnants of the witch as they’d be on the top of their game. Instead, an entity that feels on negative feelings is facing off against grieving shells of what they used to be. Ellize sees this because, rather than going to the afterlife, she ended up back in the apartment of a dying Fudou Nito, who has to help Ellize come to terms with the fact that this isn’t a game, and that she is, in fact loved.

As said, the end of the book itself is fine. I thought it wrapped everything up nicely, had a couple sacrifices that made sense, and didn’t make Ellize wander too far out of her “I am a piece of shit” characterization beyond real character development. Unfortunately, we then get two lengthy side stories. The first has Ellize, post-ending, traveling to an alternate world… the one of the actual game, the one where Eterna dies. It’s the ending she always wished she could fix, which is why she made all those changes in her own timeline. Now she gets the chance to fix it. It’s like reading someone tagging AO3, only in real life. In the second story, Ellize discovers a rift that leads to modern-day Japan, and does eventually close it as it’s dangerous… but not before she goes back there, eats delicious food, buys modern bread so she can make French Toast back home, and meets up once more with Yamoto Tamaki… while also creating complete chaos, as she’s walking around looking like the most gorgeous woman in the world, and also a very recognizable video game icon. This was even more pointless than the previous story.

So yeah, I get that you can’t just release a book that’s Slayers-length these days, but sometimes side stories aren’t really needed, right? Overall, despite my issues with Ellize’s narrative voice and self-loathing (which ends up saving the day, to be fair), this was an OK villainess series.

A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life, Vol. 9

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By Yuu Tanaka and Nardack. Released in Japan as “Deokure Tamer no Sono Higurashi” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by A.M. Cola.

If you read this series to watch it tick boxes, this is a very good volume. As you can tell from the cover, we get to tick the box ‘beach episode’, as Yuto and his tamed monsters get to dress in swimsuits for the beach (though apparently the non-human ones have to wear one-piece suits, presumably so we don’t have to deal with penguins in bikinis) and also got to have their very own Jurassic Park event on an uncharted desert island (which, of course, he manages to complete by himself purely on instinct and luck, something which absolutely boggles the mods). Admittedly, he doesn’t come out unscathed, as there are two sacrifices for the cause… but this is a fluffy game, so when the tamed monster dies they just literally go back to the ranch. There’s no end goal to this series at all – it ends when Yuto’s two-week vacation finishes and he has to go back to being a salaryman again. The fluff is all there is.

It’s time for the Summer Event, which means Yuto and his crew get to hang out on beaches, go fishing, and try to fill up an encyclopedia of animals and insects. This is right up Yuto’s alley, as he is exactly the sort of nerd that went looking for rhinoceros beetles as a kid, though the rest of the tamed crew are a bit less enthusiastic. He also gets to (after many attempts to get past a strong current blocking the player from advancing) to an island that has prehistoric life, ranging from rare fossils to tyrannosaurus rexes to raptors straight out of that movie that dare not speak its name. (Sadly, it’s not WcRassic Park.) Unfortunately, Yuto is not really powerful enough to take on a t-rex, especially when they also come across a huge brachiosaurus. Nothing left to do but get killed… or is there a way to beat this using smarts? And what effects will accidentally streaming everything have on the event?

It’s getting increasingly hard not to call this series “the male Bofuri”, and if Maple kept to herself and got a few more animal friends, they’d basically be the same. Yuto is not trying to break the game, he just keeps doing it. It’s not just that he happened across the one way to actually win the dinosaur battle without a party wipe, it’s that he accidentally streamed it so that EVERYONE ELSE also knows. He didn’t even have to give the info to the increasingly despairing info brokers this time around (though rest assured, he still has plenty of info, and it’s still breaking their bank to buy it.) But Yuto is not really trying to get involved in major game stories. He’s here to try to catch a coelacanth, or get back to shore before he has to pay extra on his fishing boat. Like Maple, he’s simply a game-breaking force of nature, and if the teaser for the next book proves true (think sunken pirate gold), that won’t change. Looks like the head developer will have to get a divorce.

So yeah, this has no plot, and it’s never going to. It has no romance. Hell, it barely has friendships – Yuto doesn’t really hang out with other players this volume. But it’s fun. I like it.

Manga the Week of 3/13/24

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SEAN: Middlemarch, and no manga adapting George Eliot. Alas.

MICHELLE: That would be interesting!

ASH: Surely, this must exist somewhere already, right?

ANNA: I may be more curious about this hypothetical George Eliot manga than anything actually coming out this week.

SEAN: Airship has a print release of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 17, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 26 (the final volume, though sequels are coming), and Yes, No, or Maybe? 2.

The early digital debut is The Evil Queen’s Beautiful Principles (Akutoku Joō no Kokoroe), from the creative team behind Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter. A crown princess has been locked up for years, docile as a doll. Now she’s free… and suddenly her parents are murdered. This seems on the “serious” side of the genre.

ASH: It does seem that way.

SEAN: Also out in early digital: I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner 2.

For Ghost Ship, we get The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 9, Ayakashi Triangle 8, Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight! 11-12, and the 7th and final volume of Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire?.

It’s print week for J-Novel Club, as we see Ascendance of a Bookworm 23, By the Grace of the Gods 12, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 7.

ASH: Yeah, Bookworm!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has three debuts for digital release. Management of a Novice Alchemist (Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei) is one of those series that’s coming out well after the anime aired. Also, I think I’m the only one who really loved this anime. As such, I may be the only one really happy to see this book. Sarasa is a newly-graduated alchemist who’s starting her Slow Life at a shop in the middle of nowhere… but as with a lot of Slow Life series, just how slow is it?

ASH: I haven’t seen the anime, but I have a soft spot for alchemists.

SEAN: The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival (Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyō Survival) combines two current trends, as we see “reincarnated into an otome game” matched up with “death game”. A young girl living a horrible life is suddenly shocked when a person tries to kill her, and she regains her memories of what this world is and who she is. Now she’s prepared to kick ass.

The Water Magician (Mizuzokusei no Mahōtsukai) has a very similar plot to the above, minus the otome game and death game parts. A young man is reincarnated into a world with water powers, and is delighted he can live a slow life learning to use them. Sure, he’s in danger all the time and everything’s trying to kill him, but that won’t stop his slow life.

ASH: Ha!

ANNA: I aspire to have a slow life that I could attempt to protect at any cost.

SEAN: We also get Black Summoner 16, the 5th A Cave King’s Road to Paradise: Climbing to the Top with My Almighty Mining Skills! manga, Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight -Origins- 10, Earl and Fairy 5, Finding Avalon: The Quest of a Chaosbringer 2, The Misfit of Demon King Academy 6, Monster Tamer 16, the 7th Rebuild World manga, and Record of Wortenia War 23.

Kodansha Books has a 5th volume of Am I Actually the Strongest?.

Kodansha Manga has a print debut, complete in one volume. Number Call is a BL manga from Gateau about a boy named Eito who hates his name meeting a boy named Hachi (the Japanese for “eight).

MICHELLE: Hm.

ASH: I’m game.

SEAN: Also in print: Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 9 and Wistoria: Wand and Sword 7.

The digital debut is Because I, the True Saint, Was Banished, That Country Is Done For! (Shin no Seijo de aru Watashi wa Tsuihou Saremashita. Dakara Kono Kuni wa Mou Owari desu) a shoujo manga from Palcy. You’ve read this one before, basically. Saint, engaged to the prince, broken engagement, exiled, trying to live a quiet life in the next kingdom over, suddenly buried in hot men.

Also digital: Cells at Work! Lady 5 (the final volume), A Galaxy Next Door 6 (the final volume), Gang King 15, How I Met My Soulmate 2, I Have a Crush at Work 2, I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! 3, Matcha Made in Heaven 8, Quality Assurance in Another World 10, and Ya Boy Kongming 15.

MICHELLE: I really should read A Galaxy Next Door, huh?

SEAN: One Peace Books gives us a 6th volume of Usotoki Rhetoric.

MICHELLE: Yay.

ASH: Indeed!

SEAN: No debuts for Seven Seas, but we get Cat on the Hero’s Lap 2, COLORLESS 6, Delinquent Daddy and Tender Teacher 3, The Duke of Death and His Maid 11, The Knight Captain is the New Princess-to-Be 3, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 8, No Longer Allowed In Another World 5, the 4th and final volume of Polar Bear Café: Collector’s Edition, Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing 2, and Yakuza Reincarnation 9.

Square Enix debuts The Villainess’s Guide to (Not) Falling in Love (Akuyaku Reijou wa Dekiai Route ni Hairimashita!?), a manga based on an unlicensed light novel, and from the author of A Tale of the Secret Saint. An otome game isekai’d villainess is determined to stay alive by just avoiding all the men in the game. So why are they so fascinated with her? It runs in Manga Up!.

ASH: In theory, it’s a good strategy.

SEAN: Also from Square Enix: The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 17.

SuBLime has Candy Color Paradox Assorted Pack, a selection of bonus and side stories from the manga.

ASH: Sweet.

SEAN: And we get the 2nd and final volume of Pink Heart Jam, though there’s a sequel.

Tokyopop has the 5th volume of Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke and the 4th volume of Hanger.

Two debuts from Viz, both One Piece spinoffs. One Piece: Ace’s Story—The Manga (One Piece Episode A) is an adaptation of the light novel that came out a while back, focusing on Ace. It ran in Shonen Jump +.

One Piece: Shokugeki no Sanji ran in Weekly Shonen Jump, is complete in one volume, and is not quite a Food Wars! crossover, but it’s by the creators of Food Wars!.

Viz also has Animal Crossing: New Horizons 6, Call of the Night 15, Disney Twisted-Wonderland 3, Fly Me to the Moon 22, Helck 8, Mao 16, Mashle: Magic and Muscles 15, One Piece 105, and Yakuza Lover 12 (the final volume).

And that’s it! What manga is marching towards you?

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 2

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By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

There’s almost a mini-genre now that can be summed up as “OP protagonist is excessively humble, does not realize their own OPness”. It can’t simply be that they’re constantly belittling themselves and saying anyone can do what they do with a little bit of effort, it’s that when we see them in action we know that this is demonstrably false, that they really are incredibly talented and special. Several times in these books we see Beryl fighting someone or something and thinking “huh, I guess they’re not all that strong, I wonder where the real fighters are” and it turning out that no, those are the real fighters. Heck, for the climax of this new volume the opposing soldiers of the church have to literally dope themselves to even try to be able to defeat him. The hotshot disciples of the title won’t leave him alone because he’s seriously hot stuff.

After the events of the last book, Beryl is in need of a new sword. What’s more, he finds that one of his ex-students, Kewlny, is using swords far too light for her muscular body, and needs to move to a much heavier sword. Fortunately, another one of his ex-students is a master blacksmith, who took a year to learn swordsmanship in order to better his craft. (He’s also not in love with Beryl, which reassures me that the “students” he taught are not all haremettes.) As he waits for his sword to be forged, he runs into a pickpocket who is, surprisingly, able to use magic. Unfortunately, the reason she’s picking pockets turns out to have a tragic origin, and of course Beryl gets involved. Could the reason for all this turn out to be an offshoot of the neighboring country’s religion?

Yeah, evil Church again, though at least we get a good priest to show that the evil church is mostly this one evil guy and his goons. It does, however, help us to codify what magic is in this world and what it can and cannot do. The reason that Mui (the pickpocket) using magic is so surprising is because people who are magic capable pretty much get snapped up and put into the academy, so the fact that she isn’t is surprising. We also hear why the folks who use magic are called Wizards and not Mages, and it makes sense in the context of this world. What’s more, there are things magic can’t do. From the moment “resurrection magic” came up, we knew that things were going to be headed down a dark path. I wasn’t sure if it would mean vampires or zombies, but I knew it would not lead to happy people back from the dead and fine. There *are* series that do that (Delicious in Dungeon comes to mind), but this one runs on stricter rules.

All this plus almost none of the silly romantic antics I was expecting this series to have. A look at the summary of the third book tells me that may change soon, but ah well. This has become a pleasant surprise.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 4

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By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

I am frequently proved wrong when I write reviews of light novels, but it’s rare I’m proven this wrong this fast. Last volume I wondered if we could get a bit more of happy, joyful Sara because I was annoyed with cranky, grouchy Sara. I am prepared to do a complete 180 – after this volume, I think the reason I find Sara most interesting is because she’s always so bitter about everything. First of all, it helps to differentiate her as a character from various other plucky young girls who were reincarnated and now have massive amounts of power in their adorable teenage bodies, and secondly because it’s not really tied into her past life in Japan. We know she spent most of it sick, and that is why she seems to find such joy in seemingly normal things in this world (like the butterflies), but the cranky “why are you telling me what to do/including me in your drama?” is entirely her own self, and it’s just fun.

Sara, Allen, Nelly and Chris are headed towards Nelly’s hometown to get Nelly’s family to become Sara’s guardian, so that she is less likely to be forcibly abducted by the knights. On their way there, they come across a village dealing with an infestatio0n of seven-colored swallowtails, a butterfly monster whose skin can cause paralysis when touched. When they arrive in Hydrangea, Nelly’s hometown, there is some predictable family stuff, and we learn that Nelly is basically exactly what we guessed she was, but their dungeon is also having a swallowtail infestation. In addition, Sara seems to have finally realized that when she’s not being pushed into it by anyone, she really DOES want to be an apothecary, so she starts learning basic things at the guild -her education with Chris having been erratic, to say the least.

One source of Sara’s constant simmering annoyance is the fact that everyone is trying to decide her future for her, be it passively or actively. Chris, of course, wants her to be an apothecary, and that’s one reason she took so long to decide she actually likes doing that. Nelly and Allen want her to be a hunter, since she’s got fantastic power and ability for it, but, as we see in possibly the best scene in the book, she simply doesn’t have the stomach for it – she can’t kill off monsters like it’s a game, she sees them as living creatures who don’t deserve to die. I loved her delight at seeing hellhounds in Hydrangea’s dungeon, essentially putting them on the same level as her wolves from back home. Speaking of home, it’s interesting to hear that the ‘Dark Mountain” is not just a dangerous place, but a real dungeon – dungeons simply work differently in this world. So Sara was essentially reborn at the bottom of a dungeon, like a final boss. How apropos.

The cliffhanger ending of “if we can’t take her by force, we’ll take her by marriage” implies she’s going to have to go to the capital next volume, so I do not expect her snark to recede anytime soon. This remains an enjoyable reincarnation series.

Pick of the Week: Medalist Medalist Medalist

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SEAN: Medalist, it’s Medalist, you will read Medalist, go on, get it in print AND digital, look, the logo is slightly different, read Medalist.

MICHELLE: I feel this strange compulsion to pick Medalist…

ANNA: I am also going to pick Medalist!

ASH: Likewise! Now that Medalist is available in print, it’s absolutely my pick. I feel like I maybe heard from someone, or three, or thirty that it was pretty good.

KATE: I suppose I could be a total contrarian and pick one of the many isekai titles on this week’s list, but in the spirit of solidarity with the rest of the Battle Robot, I’m throwing my weight behind Medalist.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: Illusions of History

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By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter is hardly the first Japanese series to feature what are, for want of a better term, “battle maids”. They’ve been around for as long as there have been anime. Generally speaking the key two aspects of battle maids are that they are ludicrously good at combat, but also incredibly proud of being maids, also to a ludicrous degree. That said, Leinster maids also have one very important aspect to them, one that can even get in the way of maid duties or combat: they like to watch Allen and Lydia be sweet together, and gush over it. In essence, they are us, because that’s exactly what I did in the last book, and in the parts of this book that feature the same thing. Oh, yes, and as if that weren’t enough, some of the maids are also orphans, kids who were discriminated against, or in one case a literal experimental child soldier. None of that matters, though, as long as you can protect Lydia and take video of her being tsundere.

When we left off, Allen and Lydia had just lost to a hideously powerful vampire woman, who fortunately had to leave before she could take care of them once and for all. Now they’re recovering their strength, trying to research vampires, protecting the boy that everyone seems to want to kidnap, and of course Lydia is also putting in the “you’re in love with me, right?” press every second of every day. (Allen’s response is ambiguous, as you can guess, but it’s clear he’s mostly lying to himself.) Unfortunately, the vampire’s reason for leaving them was to help the Church make sure this war absolutely starts, and by the end of the book they’ve pretty much almost succeeded. While back on the Southern Continent, everyone is trying to assault an impregnable castle, and they will need to combine all their “in love with Allen and badass” powers to make it happen.

Tina, once again, gets some stuff to do but is not the focus, though that should change by the next book. The main narrator here, aside from Allen, is Lynne, who has always suffered a bit from being “smaller, more sensible Lydia”, and indeed her big spell is Firebird, only this one is not backed up by an ancient hard to control spell. Lynne, like the rest of the female cast, is mostly defined by “being in love with Allen”, and you get the sense they’re all doing this not so much to save the country as to not disappoint him. Caren also gets a lot to do here, and she and Lynne have a final confrontation against a smug Church kid, and Lynne, Caren and Tina are headed off to the City of Water for the next book. Stella is still suffering from Magical Plot Device Disease, but she’s better at being a general anyway. Only Ellie suffers, as it’s frankly clear that the story has outgrown her since Book One, but the author hasn’t the heart to get rid of her, as she’s simply too nice. (And clumsy, but only around Allen. The girls know how to abuse tropes in universe.)

So yes, after a huge arc, we’re getting another huge arc, as this war (or near war) is not ending anytime soon. If you enjoy watching girls beat the shit out of people and pine for a perfect guy, keep reading, you’ll get more of it.

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 14

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By Toshio Satou and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shonen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

I was somewhat surprised when I read the afterword to find that the 15th volume of this series is supposed to be the last. Honestly, this felt like the sort of series that could go forever, even if it did feel like it was wrapping up all the plot points. But here we are, with the penultimate volume, and the focus this time is definitely on our main Big Bad, Eve. She’s always been a fairly dislikable figure, even in the bunny suit, and the prologue we get here hammers home why she’s far more loathsome than anyone else in the cast could ever hope to be. That said, we get the next best thing: to see the narrative treat her almost as badly as the other characters in this series. (I say almost. Marie is still the worst. Sorry, Marie.) Almost every single woman in this cast has humiliated themselves because they’re in love with Lloyd, after all…

A prologue gives us the full story of what we already know: Eve has possessed the body of Vritra’s daughter Asako, who has the same incurable disease Eve has, and has been running amuck in said body since the very start of this. Now she’s blackmailing Vritra to finish her new, adult body… though when it’s finally revealed, everyone notes it’s a bit too bling for anyone to really appreciate. In the meantime, a summit is being held to accuse Eve of her crimes, held in Eve’s own country… except the king and queen are sending Lloyd and Maria as their representatives, knowing that Lloyd is a secret weapon that can defeat almost any evil plan. That said, I don’t think anyone expected this evil plan to go off the rails in QUITE this way…

So yeah, this is one of those books that’s eclipsed by its best scene, which overwhelms the rest. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some funny stuff here, and even a bit of drama, but the interrogation of Eve, and her responses to same, is pitch-perfect. Eve, of course, is baffled that she’s behaving this way, possession or no, but it makes sense: inside her rests a 17-year-old girl whose dream it is to be rescued by a prince on a white horse, and Lloyd ticks every single box imaginable. Of course love was going to come into the equation. And I appreciate that it’s the possession talking, because that’s what makes it funny rather than creepy – Eve herself may be influenced by this, but when push comes to shove, she literally concusses herself to stop it and move on with her evil plan.

So yeah, now Eve has a new superpowerful body, looks like she stepped out of a Donki, and is headed off to take out Alka and her village of oveerpowered superpeople with her anti-superperson serum. I’d be worried, except, well, Lloyd. Also, who (snicker) will Lloyd end up with (guffaw) in the end? (Come on, we know this is not resolving jack.)

Manga the Week of 3/6/24

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SEAN: It’s March, and… LOOK OUT! LION!

We start off with Viz Media, which has no debuts. But we get Black Clover 34, Blade of the Moon Princess 3, Blue Box 9, Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love 9 (the final volume), The King’s Beast 12, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible 12 (the final volume), Like a Butterfly 5, My Hero Academia 37, and Wolf Girl and Black Prince 6.

MICHELLE: I should probably read those shoujo titles…

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Udon Entertainment has the 3rd and final omnibus of Robotics;Notes.

Tokyopop debuts Cover My Scars with Your Kiss (Kizuato ni Kuchidzuke), a BL title from LiQuille. This tale combines love, “you look like the guy I’m really in love with”, and dentistry. Which sounds awesome, to be honest. More BL needs to have dentistry.

ASH: I don’t think that’s a combo I’ve seen yet!

Tokyopop also has the 4th volume of Acid Town, and the 5th volume of If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die.

Square Enix Manga has The Apothecary Diaries 11, My Clueless First Friend 5, and Tokyo Aliens 6.

No debuts for Seven Seas, but we see Dungeon Friends Forever 2, The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom 5, Kemono Jihen 10, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 18, Re:Monster 8, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 11, and Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games 6.

One Peace has a 4th volume of the manga version of The Death Mage.

Kodansha gives us some debuts. A-DO is a seinen title from Monthly Young Magazine, and it’s a recent series, but you’d get big 1980s vibes from it, given it deals with human experiments, espers, and vast government conspiracies.

ASH: Ha! It does give off that sort of vibe. Count me as intrigued.

SEAN: Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You (Douse, Koishite Shimaunda) is a print release of the digital title we’ve already seen, and it runs in Nakayoshi. From the author of I Fell in Love After School, this is straight-up reverse harem fun.

ANNA: OK!

SEAN: The other print debut is Medalist, an amazing title I’ve been banging on about since the digital debuted, and an anime is coming. Award-winning title from Afternoon about a girl trying to figure skate all on her own and a man trying to recover from shattered dreams. Are they the best thing for each other? I beg you to read this.

MICHELLE: Ooh!

ANNA: Yay! I picked up this series when it was included in a humble bundle recently and the couple volumes I’ve read so far are delightful.

ASH: I’ve been waiting for this one in print!

SEAN: Also in print: The Darwin Incident 4, Fire Force Omnibus 9, I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness 4, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 17, My Lovesick Life as a ’90s Otaku 2, Nina the Starry Bride 3, and Rent-A-Girlfriend 23.

ANNA: Yay again for print editions of Nina the Starry Bride.

SEAN: Digitally we see Blue Lock 24, How to Grill Our Love 7, Life 13, MF Ghost 18, My Wife is a Little Intimidating 7, Shangri-La Frontier 15, Those Snow White Notes 15, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 12.

MICHELLE: I keep falling further and further behind on Blue Lock.

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a 6th volume of Gacha Girls Corps out digitally.

No debuts for J-Novel Club either, but we do see Cooking with Wild Game 23, Fake Saint of the Year: You Wanted the Perfect Saint? Too Bad! 4 (the final volume), The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 2, Holmes of Kyoto 17, the 7th Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! manga volume, My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex 10, The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter 4, and Thompson 3 (the final volume).

Ghost Ship has Might as Well Cheat: I Got Transported to Another World Where I Can Live My Wildest Dreams! 7 and Rise of the Outlaw Tamer and His S-Rank Cat Girl. And in other Mature SS titles, we get the danmei title Remnants of Filth: Yuwu 3 and Succubus and Hitman 6.

Dark Horse Comics has the 4th volume of their reissue of Hellsing, and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! 6.

ASH: I really need to look into Eizouken at some point.

SEAN: And we end with Airship, which has a print debut. The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain (Danzaisareta Akuyaku Reijō wa, Gyakkō-shite Kanpekina Akujo o Mezasu) has our betrayed noble girl sold into a brothel, then, after becoming a fantastic sex worker, she dies. Now she’s back in time, and this time she’s determined to actually be a better person. (Note I edited this description from the early digital one, as I’ve now actually read the book.)

Also in print: The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 7, Loner Life in Another World 8, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 11.

Speaking of that series, debuting in early digital is Trapped in a Dating Sim: Otome Games Are Tough For Us, Too (Ano Otome Game wa Ore-tachi ni Kibishii Sekai Desu), an AU light novel where Leon catches Marie before she seduces anyone… but that leads to many, many other problems.

And there is also the 10th volume of She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man.

Were you eaten by a lion? Or did you just read manga about it?

My Happy Marriage, Vol. 6

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By Akumi Agitogi and Tsukiho Tsukioka. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon” by Fujimi L Bunko. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by David Musto.

Reading this volume of My Happy Marriage felt so different from all the previous volumes, it was absolutely like a breath of fresh air. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the other volumes are also excellent. But there’s always been this sense of suffocation to the events, a feeling that we’re waiting for the other shoe do drop. Frequently it has dropped, so we’re absolutely correct on that stage. Here, though? It’s only at the start, where Miyo is about to ,make a very dumb decision. Once she’s warded off that, though, everything unfolds exactly the way that it should. She seeks out allies, gets them to help her, researches her powers so she can use them better, makes peace with her mother, and heads off to go rescue her man from the hellish prison that he’s incarcerated in. And this works, because the climax is not “will Usui win or will the good guys prevail”, it’s “will Miyo stop hating herself and let love into her heart?” Spoilers: she does.

Miyo starts off this book by thinking the only way to do things is to just walk up to Usui so that she can get Kiyoka somehow. Fortunately, he’s powerful enough, even in prison, while being tortured, and with gift suppression all around, to create a familiar to stop her and tell her that she should actually go and gather allies to do this properly. The familiar also looks like Kiyoka as an 8-year-old boy, which leads to the cute moments of this book, as she finds him adorable, calls him Kiyo, and even lets him sleep in her bed – something I fear she will regret later when she realizes how familiars work. In any case, she goes to visit the Usuba patriarch and gets the complete story about what happened with Usui and her mother, then she goes to Kiyoka’s parents to ask his father to help her gather gift-users, and she gets Kiyoka’s military crew. Then it’s time to go do a prison break.

As I said, if you’re reading this for the thriller aspect, you may be a bit disappointed. Everything goes almost embarrassingly well, due to a combination of Miyo’s dream powers and Kazushi’s ability to hit people very hard. They literally walk into the prison because, due to everything that’s happened in the last couple books, there aren’t enough soldiers Usui trusts to guard it and also beat off the diversion that’s being fought outside. Even the one bit where things look bad happens exactly as expected – if you’re surprised at what Arata did, I’m so sorry, you must not read very many of these series. But the true climax of the book was Usui trying to talk Miyo into joining him in ruling the world, and Miyo snapping and screaming at him. That was wonderful, I will be so happy if it gets animated. Miyo may also have super powers and come from a terrible family life, but she is using her powers to make herself happy, not impose herself on others. Something Usui doesn’t get.

This isn’t the last book, and the author promises the happy marriage is imminent (though the blurb for the next volume suggests a snag). Fans of this series will love this.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 14

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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 Jasmine Bernhardt.

I had been wondering what we’d see at the end of this new volume. For most of this series, the main storyline has taken up the first 2/3 of the book or so, and the last 1/3 was taken up by a side story about another character. First it was Beelzebub, and that ended up getting its own genuine spinoff. Then it was Halkara, which did not get a spinoff but at least allowed her to be something other than “the drunk with big boobs”. And then there was Laika, probably the best of the three spinoffs, and that also got a manga adaptation. That said, we are starting to run out of characters that can carry a side series. As such, it’s probably a good idea, given that the CD dramas themselves are long out of print in Japan, to add the original CD drama scripts. The unfortunate problem with this, of course, is that CD dramas, by their nature, cannot affect anything. Unlike the side stories, there’s no character development here.

As always, this is basically a short story volume, as there isn’t an ongoing plot. We start off by Azusa and company heading to an underground city as the demons have discovered that an elder god might be released if a seal comes undone… which of course it promptly does. They then attend a demon-run exhibition about apples, showing off varieties and different scientifically grown apple-related things. They go to a cat cafe run by the ghost city, and a ghost cat ends up possessing Azusa. And then it’s time for them to run their cafe again, but since the word about the cafe has gotten out so much, they worry that it’s gotten completely out of hand and will be too big. Fortunately, the pine spirit is able to step in and help them out, and we then see the cafe (now moved to a different location) doing well with its star waitress (Laika) there. And we then get the two CD drama stories, where Azusa discovers that this world has curry, and Azusa discovers this world has ramen.

There’s not really anything to really dig into here, and I don’t think readers really want there to be. A serious, life-threatening plotline would feel grotesquely out of place at this point in the series. It’s all fluff all the time, and this volume certainly provides it. It does perhaps pretend that there’s a major crisis with the first story, but the elder god turns out to be about as threatening as all the other gods we meet in this series, and by later in the book is wandering around the town like a tourist. As for the CD dramas, it’s nice to see the scripts, but god, they’re slight. There was a bit of yuri tease that the author has been pulling away from ever since they first wrote this and realized a yuri fandom they really did not want had glommed onto it. Other than that? It’s cute, it’s sweet, it’s funny.

The previous volume of this came out in 2022, and it’s been a long time ill we got this one. The next one should be much sooner. If you wanted more of it, this certainly is that.

Bookshelf Briefs 2/28/24

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Blue Box, Vol. 8 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – After a couple of volumes that have been heavy on the sports, it makes sense that we get one heavy on the romance. Sadly, that also comes with the most dreaded of romcom manga tropes: the “helpful” friend who vows to get the couple together but has the wrong idea who the couple is. This is already leading to a heaping helping of misunderstandings… except those were already off the charts because Taiki was forced to play the Prince during the culture festival, and ended up accidentally kissing Hina because of a stage issue and because of the manga author wanting it. I think we’ve got at least another two-three more volumes now before the actual couple we want to see gets together. And that’s assuming we don’t just get another tournament arc instead. Good stuff, but man. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 13 | By Ukami | Yen Press – Oh no, it’s time for a new school year, which means it’s time to change classes. This is devastating news for Vigne, who discovers that she can’t survive thirty seconds without Gab next to her, but it’s not great news for Gabriel either, as Michael has transferred to the school, and is cozying up to Gabriel and saying they’re “more than friends.” Vigne is devastated by this new guy who’s taking her place in Gabriel’s life. Fortunately, we have Raphiel watching this with us, and she not only finds the whole thing hilarious, but decides not to spoil the “guy” thing as that will just make things funnier. Needless to say, everyone’s favorite gay angels and demons do not appear to have to worry about anything just yet. Also, snowball fights and common colds, but c’mon. It’s all about Vigne. – Sean Gaffney

Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Vol. 11 | By Nene Yukimori | Viz Media – The penultimate volume of this series continues to walk very, very slowly towards its ending, which is clearly going to be happening on the upcoming class trip. I do appreciate all the struggle that Shiraishi has had in the past, so seeing him manage to successfully say “no, I don’t want to spend our free time with our gang of friends, I want to spend it with you specifically” is nice to see. I also liked seeing Saki and Akina discussing Kubo’s tortured romance—she has at last admitted that she does like someone, which… well, they already knew—and Saki’s realization, like so many other younger relatives, that jealousy of Shiraishi actually stems from her fear of Kubo abandoning her. There damn well better be a confession in the end. – Sean Gaffney

Like a Butterfly, Vol. 4 | By suu Morishita | Viz Media – I love this author, but boy, you really have to have a lot of patience if you’re going to enjoy these two introverted goobers try to have a simple conversation. It gets the anguish of teenage romance, where even asking to walk someone home is filled with peril and danger. But this does mean that the asking can take 10-15 pages, as this is not a Hana to Yume title and the panels are beautiful but uncluttered. This is the culture festival volume, and I am a bit disappointed we did not see more of Suiren’s class, whose “bowling” puzzled me till I realized the pins were the size of a person. That must have been a lot of fun. There’s also a haunted house, misunderstandings because of embarrassment, all the usual. For fans of this author. – Sean Gaffney

Marriage Toxin, Vol. 1 | By Joumyaku and Mizuki Yoda | Viz Media – I’m not quite sure what to call this genre, mostly as I don’t want to spoil the twist within it, but let’s go with Romcom. An assassin specializing in poisons, who is great at his job but terrible at social interaction, finds that his sister is being forced to get married and carry on the family’s line… despite being gay and having a girlfriend. Now Gero decides, for the sake of her happiness, to try to get a partner. The trouble is… he really IS very terrible at social interaction. Fortunately, his next job has his target turn out to be an expert matchmaker, one who will absolutely set him up with the perfect partner. This proves to be an adept combination of humor and action, with perhaps the latter better than the former. Worth a look. – Sean Gaffney

The Secret of Friendship | By Kazune Kawahara and Aiji Yamakawa | Seven Seas –I love Kazune Kawahara and Margaret titles, so it was a foregone conclusion that I’d like this very much. Eiko and Moe are best friends. Outwardly, Moe is the cute one, though her personality made it difficult for her to make friends until Eiko came along and appreciated her straightforward nature. Eiko, meanwhile, is kind, sincere, and very insecure. When Moe breaks it off with her latest boyfriend, Tsuchida, his friend Narugami decides that Eiko is to blame and starts to harass her, only to end up falling for her instead. I liked the parallels between Moe and Narugami, two prickly people each trying to protect their friend and each, ultimately, beguiled by Eiko’s radiant inner beauty. The story is perfect as it is, but I can’t help but wish there was more of it. – Michelle Smith

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 13 | By Maybe | Yen Press – I believe this was originally supposed to be the last volume, but apparently it did well enough to warrant a final arc. Having defeated the bad guy, and realizing that politics is going to take up most of his time now, the Ring King and his brides all head on back to Japan for a honeymoon. Part of this involves, amusingly, all of them transferring into his class at school, just in case anyone is reading this title for that sort of genre. But they aren’t. They’re reading this to see him boff his remaining wives, and we’re likely going to go in order of appearance, as Nefritis is getting everything just right for her to have a perfect first time, including a hot springs holiday. Honestly, the epilogue really should just be a lot of “and then they had sex.” Frustrated readers deserve that much. – Sean Gaffney

Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 2 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – The most interesting part of this may be Utage’s utter devotion to being a FAN and not a girl/stalker/what have you. Sure, she’ll be his housekeeper, give him advice, and try to lift his spirits, but those are all part of the love she has for Tamon as an idol figure that she worships. When it sometimes seems that he might actually be starting to think of her as a real woman, she backs off and shuts him out to an extent. We also meet another member of his idol group, whose personality in this volume at least is “raging asshole.” I’m sure that will change—we already see signs he’s thinking of Utage because she’s rude to him rather than idolizing him—but at the moment I want him to fall off a cliff. The humor is still the main reason to read this—it’s hysterical much of the time. – Sean Gaffney

If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love ~ She Was All But Disowned for Her Spirit Contract, But She’s Still Competing with Her Rival ~, Vol. 2

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By Harunadon and Yomi Sarachi. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara: Nanashi no Seirei to Keiyaku Shite Oidasareta Reijō wa, Kyō mo Reisoku to Kisoiatte Iru Yō Desu” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Judy Jordan.

Last time, I said I enjoyed this more than I expected because it was a lot darker than I expected. The darkness doesn’t go away in the second book, but there’s a slight problem that makes this volume not quite as enjoyable. The book is also trying to be a sweet romance between Brigitte and Yuri, and it feels a bit jarring when put next to everything else that’s happened in the book. I would normally roll my eyes at Brigitte panicking and running away from Yuri with a red face, because it’s something we see in so many shoujo romances, but here I’m thinking “well, of course, this is all related to her trauma from everything that’s happened to her since she was five”. Which, there’s nothing wrong with that, but the author clearly is NOT expecting the reader to think that. The author is writing “look, isn’t she adorable?”.

Brigitte goes to visit Yuri’s home, where she meets his family (much to his chagrin), and also his other spirit, who gives her a handy tip as to why she can’t communicate or summon her spirit: it’s a fire spirit, and after her father’s actions as a child she’s terrified of fire. She tries to solve this by getting herself used to fire despite her fear, which doesn’t really go all that well, possibly as, when she reflects on everything that has happened since that incident, it’s not fire she’s afraid of: it’s everything. (Pantophobia!) This revelation causes her magic to simply explode into a giant pillar into the sky, seen by the entire kingdom, and when it settles down, she has a spirit! OK, it looks like a tiny yellow chick, and OK, she still can’t really communicate with it. But baby steps.

Not to spoil too much, but this would appear to be the last we see of Prince Joseph in this series, and holy shit I am so glad. If the series balances too far in one direction for cutesy romance scenes with Brigitte’s embarrassment taking center stage, Joseph is the opposite direction, as everything about him is awful and creepy. It’s laid out why pretty well – he grew up not being as good as his brothers, so wanted someone “stupider” around him to feel superior towards, then he had to manipulate Brigitte’s behavior when it turned out she wasn’t what he wanted. Worse, it turns out he really DOESN’T want someone genuinely dim – i.e. Lisa (who earns a few points here by stopping an attempted murder suicide) but merely a doormat. His last scene tosses in rape threats, murder threats, and a whole lot of arson, and he absolutely gets what’s coming to him, but again – this book needs to commit. Either be dark, or be cute, but the dissonance is too strong.

That said, inevitably Joseph is not the Big Bad, the Big Bad is the cause of all this bullshit, and he’s here for the nasty cliffhanger to this volume. I guess that ensures that the dissonance isn’t going away yet. If you can put up with it, this has some strong individual scenes.