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The Troubles of Miss Nicola the Exorcist, Vol. 2

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By Ito Iino and Kinokohime. Released in Japan as “Haraiya Reijō Nicola no Komarigoto” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Joshua Douglass-Molloy.

DRE Novels is a relatively recent imprint, and they don’t have any series longer than three volumes. So it’s no surprise that when they get a series that does really well – such as winning the Gold Medal in their light novel awards, as the first volume of this did – they’re going to tell them “hey, write more” even when the series wrapped up perfectly fine in the first book. It’s not all that hard. Nicola is, after all, a grumpy cuss, and the lack of life experience other than “exorcist” in her previous life and noble politeness in this one have left her ill-equipped for feelings of love. So she spends a bit of this book asking the other members of the cast what they think love is. That said, that’s not enough to sustain a second book. What is enough, though, is doubling down on the ‘exorcist’ part of the series and turning a lot of this into straight-up horror.

We pick up right where we left off at the end of the last book. Olivia is dead, Nicola and Sieghart like each other but she’s too embarrassed to own up to it on her end, and supernatural things still love Sieghart to death – and in some cases are trying to make that literal. Olivia’s death, unfortunately, means that Alois needs a new fiancee, and Nicola is one of only three candidates – and the top one, at that. The group decide to go on a trip to meet the other two fiancee candidates – Charlotte, daughter of a marquess and a maid who grew up starving on the streets till they were taken in and made an heir; and Elfriede, another marquess’ daughter who has been so sickly no one has seen her in years. There are a few surprises, as you might guess. Charlotte’s identity is a major shock. And what’s really happened to Elfriede is beyond the pale.

This isn’t quite as good as the first book, which makes sense given that it’s a sequel the author had to be talked into writing. Emma, Charlotte’s older sister, is far too underdeveloped a character given her role in the book’s plot, and there is a “I don’t want this to be TOO depressing” bit near the end that takes suspension of disbelief and tosses it out the window. The book excels, as you might expect, with Nicola, who remains very grumpy throughout, even as she tries to figure out what these feelings she has for Sieghart are and why everyone else already knows that she has them. There’s also the horror, especially in the back half. This book comes with a big old “child death” warning, and we see the brutality of some of these deaths. But it’s not done to shock but to horrify, and is handled very well. If the series ends here, I would not mind the author writing more horror.

Will the series end here? Well, Nicola has actually put a name to her love, but they’re still not actually married, so who knows? Till then, this doesn’t have as many dead children as Roll Over and Die, but it makes the deaths count more. (Also, why do I keep bringing up Roll Over and Die in my reviews lately?)

Pick of the Week: Affection Still Strong

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ANNA: There’s lots of great manga coming out this week, and I’m very intrigued by the prospect of a new Io Sakisaka series with Sakura, Saku. However I think everyone should be reading A Sign of Affection, so the 7th print volume is my official pick this week.

MICHELLE: I am in complete agreement with Anna!

ASH: I’ll join in with support for these selections, too, but will make Sakura, Saku my official pick since it’s the debut. (And I’ll also be making sure to move A Sign of Affection much higher up on my to-be-read pile!)

SEAN: I’m gonna join in too, A Sign of Affection is the top flight shoujo manga title of the week.

Marriage, Divorce and Beyond: The White Mage and Black Knight’s Romance Reignited, Vol. 1

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By Takasugi Naturu and kieshi akaz. Released in Japan as “Saishō Hosa to Kurokishi no Keiyaku Kekkon to Rikon to Sonogo: Henkyō no Chi de Futari wa Fūfu o Yarinaosu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Olivia Plowman.

Generally speaking, when I am supremely irritated with a book, it tends to be for a few basic reasons. “Your attempts at comedy aren’t funny” is a good one. Also “your attempts to be horny are merely deeply misogynistic”. And occasionally “your violence is so ridiculous it’s stopped being horrifying”. It’s very rare, however, that we get “your desire to show how bad things are for the heroine are so amazingly over the top that it verges on torture porn”. This book is theoretically a romance, and you do sort of get that in the last third or so. And yes, I understand that the author has an agenda, and that agenda is “hey, husbands and wives need to actually talk to each other”. But oh my god, getting through the middle third of this book was like punching myself in the face over and over again. Sheer misery. I read books to enjoy them, remember?

The book opens with the lovely wedding of Lina, a Black Knight whose job it is to fight against dragons due to the old magic she has, and Joshua, a white mage who can use his compatible magic to protect her before she goes out to fight dragons. We then cut to four years later, when she’s just received grievous wounds from a dragon because her white magic protection was inadequate – and her injuries are so bad she’s been fired. The rest of the front half of the book traces he steps before and between those points, as we see Lina struggle with a nobility that despises commoners and a tendency to suffer nobly, and her husband Joshua contends with work never allowing him time with his wife and a tendency to not be overly expressive. The result is disaster.

We’ve had evil nobility in many light novels before, but they’ve tended to be cartoon evil nobles. The prejudice and disdain in this book is played 100% for drama (there may not be a funny line in the entire book) and you just want Lina to go apeshit and start stabbing everyone. Then there’s the end of the book. Not to spoil TOO much, but essentially everything that’s been happening to Lina and Joshua since their marriage has been engineered. We find this out right near the end. The evil mastermind was… a guy we met towards the start of the book, who gave friendly advice, and who I had completely forgotten about. He references his past history with Joshua at the academy, which sure would have been nice to see in flashbacks, but no. Oh yes, and on realizing that the man who he’d asked to reform the nobility and stop the hatred of commoners is in fact an evil noble, the prince’s first reaction is “welp, I tried, guess I’d better stop reform” and he has to be talked back into it.

Lastly, it’s never a good sign when you realize that all the heart-wrenching scenes you’ve written aren’t enough, and you have the heroine dream of scenes that are exaggerated parodies of these scenes, just to make her more miserable. Fortunately, this wraps up nicely and neatly in one book, so I can cheerfully ignore the “1” on the cover and go on to read more happy, upbeat things, like Roll Over and Die.

Making Jam in the Woods: My Relaxing Life Starts in Another World, Vol. 1

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By Kosuzu Kobato and Yuichi Murakami. Released in Japan as “Mori no Hotori de Jam wo Niru: Isekai de Hajimeru Slow Life” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jade Willis.

If this author sounds familiar, there’s a good reason. We’ve already seen The Apothecary Witch Turned Divorce Agent, as well as I’d Rather Have a Cat Than a Harem, and True Love Fades Away When the Contract Ends will be out next year. So it makes sense to circle round and pick up one of the author’s earlier works. This one is definitely on the “slow life” end of the scale, as the author freely admits in the afterword. Not a heck of a lot happens here. Hell, we don’t even get to see all that much jam making. But this book basically fulfills everything you want from a a slow life title: pleasant, likeable protagonist, friends around her who help and care for her, and the daily reward of basic tasks. Our heroine is living in the woods, and her host prefers to live fairly low-tech, so it’s all just very… relaxing. That’s the vibe here. Dull? A bit. But not much.

Our heroine (who doesn’t even get a Japanese name) works at a department store, and has come in on one of her few days off, despite exhaustion from overwork, to help out in an emergency… which makes it unfortunately when a runaway truck in a parking garage kills her. Yes, that’s right, we get both “death by working too hard” *and* “truck sends me to another world”. She’s found on the side of a riverbank by a dog, but sadly being sent to another world did not heal any of her injuries. Fortunately, there’s a doctor nearby, and this world has healing magic. As she recovers at the home of the dog’s owner, a former Countess, she’s informed that she’s a Spirit Caller, meaning she can interact with fairies. Unfortunately, this also means she can’t do any magic. And also, for some mysterious reason, she can’t speak. Still, she makes do.

Our heroine being mute is an interesting idea, though I honestly feel that the conversation flows a little too well despite this, even before she gets her magical writing pad. But essentially, this falls into the standard isekai plot for women readers. For male readers, it’s all about accumulating cool powers and multiple wives, while for women it tends more towards “now I can finally relax and not be working myself to death”. Like Sei from The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, Margaret is said to look a lot younger after she’s recovered, and the running gag in the book is everyone giving her headpats, as she thinks they’re treating her like a child. As for her love interest, well, he’s a sullen young man with a tough upbringing who has become stoic and taciturn, but warms up to Margaret and falls in love with her pretty quickly. These are still romances.

This is apparently three volumes total, and I imagine the next one will have her actually visit the royal capital and finding out more about what Spirit Calling entails. Till then, let’s watch her make jam and get headpatted.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 16

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

Every few volumes, the series needs to have Yuna go somewhere she’s never been before, partly because otherwise the series would get even more boring than it already tends to be (sorry, Yuna, I really don’t care about you making omelettes from giant eggs), but also so that the audience can remember that a girl walking around in a bear onesie is not normal and does, in fact, make people think Yuna is either a child or deeply weird. They’re not wrong on the second part, but the bear suit is, of course, absolutely essential for Yuna – and she can’t actually explain why. Some folks have seen obliquely that when Yuna is not in the suit (such as the beach scenes two books ago) she’s super weak, but I don’t think they’ve connected it to “the bear stuff gives her all her power”. Honestly, if this series ever ends, that may be the final boss. Someone who steals her bear suit/gear and forces her to rely on others.

After a few introductory chapters like “let’s make pressed flowers” or “let’s make ice cream”, Yuna decides to do something she’d been meaning to do for a while: go visit the dwarves’ village. She takes Fina, because shed get lonely otherwise, and ends up picking up Luimin from the elves’ village as well. (Elves and dwarves get along fine here, confusing Yuna, who is used to fantasy cliches.) While there, they also meet Jade’s party, who are there because Toya is finally going to get his mithril sword… or at least, he would be if the blacksmith didn’t reject him for not being good enough. As for Yuna, she’s busy buying pots and pans for everyone she knows, as well as talking with the mentor of the dwarf blacksmiths she knows, who is currently refusing to make swords.

It is interesting sometimes to imagine the audience for this series. It’s filled with cute girls, so you’d think that “guys who like to see cute girls” would be the #1. That said, the book really does like to hammer home how useless the guys in it are. Yuna sometimes forgets that Fina also has a stepdad in addition to her mom. Toya is basically a punching bag for everyone else in the cast until right at the end of the volume, and his story is still going to have to wait for the next book to get resolved. Is the book for yuri fans? The author is definitely writing in more yuri tease, with both Shia and Fina indicating they’d be very happy being Yuna’s bride. Unfortunately, like a lot of yuri tease series, Yuna is always there to say things like “but I don’t like girls that way” or “that’s not happening”. Is the book fans fans of grumpy 15-year-old girls in a bear suit who constantly worry about her flat chest? That seems most likely.

This book ends in the middle of the dwarf plot, so I’d expect the next book to resolve it. Till then, this sure was a volume of Kuma Bear.

Third Loop: The Nameless Princess and the Cruel Emperor, Vol. 1

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By Iota AIUE and Misa Sazanami. Released in Japan as “Nanashi no Ōjo to Reikoku Kōtei: Shītagerareta Yōjo, Konse de wa Ryū to Mofumofu ni Dekiai Sarete Imasu” by M Novels f. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by JCT.

So there is a trend in fiction in general… honestly it’s always been a trend… to mine the tragic backstory of the protagonist for emotional trauma in the reader. We are shown how utterly, utterly TERRIBLE their life has been to date. Usually this ends up becoming “but then this happened and suddenly all my karma reversed at once”, be it meeting the prince of your dreams or just buying a Super Cub. Third Loop, of course, is one of those books. Honestly, the reason I was so looking forward to it was the sheer over the top ludicrousness of the backstory in question. Our heroine does not have a name. She’s just called “That”. That said, this particular book, while it does not minimize all of the abuse she’s gotten, is more of a Cinderella story than anything else, and most of the abuse stems from a very real place: grief.

Not only is Princess That despised by her father (who says if he ever sees her he will have her executed) and servants (her head maid is trying actively to destroy her life), but this isn’t even her first life: this is now the fourth time she’s been through this. In previous lives she’d never really experienced enough love from anyone to realize the extent of her abuse, but now, having lived in one life long enough to escape the royal estate and be taken in by a commoner family, she knows what actual love is. As such, she now decides to fight back, be it using her past memories to appear to be a genius or “messenger of heaven” or just looking really sad and crying in front of sympathetic maids and knights. And, as it turns out, she’s really quite powerful, and in this fourth life, things finally start to go her way.

For the most part I really enjoyed this. The Emperor, Feilong, was deeply in love with his wife, to the point where it actively caused political issues. (Honestly, the backstory of the previous generation sounds more interesting than the main one being told here.) Unfortunately, she died giving birth to her daughter, and in his crushing despair, he decided that his daughter killed her. That said… it does not really take much to change his mind. Honestly, everyone in this book, with the exception of the head of the inner palace, Mion (who is aiming to be the Emperor’s new wife), is relatively easily won over by the princess, because it turns out that she is not, in fact, a monster but is plucky, smart and cute. The one drawback in the book is that once her father and brother are won over, they start to have “jealous of other men who are close to her” rage, which is used comedically but made me sigh, especially since in this life, the princess is three years old for the majority of the book.

This is another one of those books that feels complete in one volume, but there’s apparently at least two more. Fortunately, the nameless princess gets a name before the end of this book. I bet they don’t change the title, though. A rewarding read if you can get past the traumatic backstory of everyone.

Manga the Week of 11/15/23

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SEAN: The leaves are dropping like flies, and so is the manga.

ASH: Ah, my favorite time of year.

SEAN: We start with Airship, which has two print books: Adachi and Shimamura 11 and Reincarnated As a Sword 13.

Early digital titles are Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 5 and I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! 4.

Denpa Books… sure, let’s go with this week, though I may be wrong… has Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack: Beltorchika’s Children (Kidou Senshi Gundam Gyakushuu no Char – Beltorchika Children). This is an alternate telling of the famous movie story that ran in Gundam Ace about a decade ago.

ASH: Denpa books come out whenever Denpa books come out.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 6th volume of Ayakashi Triangle.

And in “not quite Ghost Ship, but it’s Mature so let’s put it here”, there’s The Dangerous Convenience Store, a manwha webtoon about a part-time convenience store worker and the gangster who protects him.

ASH: Even if it’s mature, it looks pretty cute; I love the color palette on the cover.

ANNA: I mean, it does sound cute but Mature can mean many different things.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some print editions next week, as we see An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 15, Ascendance of a Bookworm 21, and I Shall Survive Using Potions! 8.

ASH: Bookworm, you say? (I am so far behind, but still excited to see it coming out in print.)

SEAN: The digital debut for J-Novel Heart is Jeanette the Genius: Defying My Evil Stepmother by Starting a Business with My Ride-or-Die Fiancé! (Kakure Saijo wa Zenzen Megenai: Gibo to Gimai ni Ie wo Oidasareta no de Konyaku Haki Shite Moraou to Omottara, Shinshi datta Konyakusha ga Hageshiku Dekiai Shitekuru Yо̄ ni Narimashita!). The title is the plot.

We also see Ascendance of a Bookworm 28, Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! 7, I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness: I’ll Spoil Her with Delicacies and Style to Make Her the Happiest Woman in the World! 2, the 6th Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World manga volume, and To Another World… with Land Mines! 8.

No new titles for Kodansha Manga, but we get Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 14, Hitorijime My Hero 14, SHAMAN KING: FLOWERS 5, and A Sign of Affection 7 in print.

ASH: I really need to give A Sign of Affection a try.

ANNA: It is so good!

SEAN: And digitally we have Ace of the Diamond 46, Cells at Work! Lady 3, The Fable 20, Gang King 11, The Great Cleric 11, and That Time the Manga Editor Started a New Life in the Countryside 2.

One Peace Books has the 5th volume of Captain Corinth.

Before we get into actual Seven Seas debuts, it’s time for Christmas Present buying, so we get a lot of box sets next week. The Ancient Magus’ Bride – Season 1 Box Set (Vol. 1-9), Dai Dark – Vol. 1-4 Box Set, and Made in Abyss – Season 1 Box Set (Vol. 1-5). They’ve also got a 2nd full color edition of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.

ASH: Oooh, The Ancient Magus’ Bride and Dai Dark sets come with posters.

SEAN: Actual debuts. 365 Days to the Wedding (Kekkon Surutte, Hontou Desu ka? – 365 Days to the Wedding) is a Big Comic Spirits title from the creator of one of the great unlicensed Shonen Sunday titles, The World God Only Knows. Two employees of a travel agency are horrified to find they may be transferred to Russia. To avoid this, they’ll have to get fake married!

MICHELLE: Hm.

ASH: People have gotten married for worse reasons.

ANNA: Alright!

SEAN: Cat on the Hero’s Lap (Yuusha no Hiza ni wa Neko ga Iru) is an Ura Sunday title that’s another cat manga. A hero needs to defeat the demon lord… or would if he could get up. But he’s petting a kitty!

MICHELLE: Additional hm.

ASH: Cat gravity manga!

SEAN: Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing (Ookami no Kawa o Kabutta Hitsujihime) is a yuri title from Manga Life Storia. A wolf-eared butler saves the life of a sheep-eared princess, and becomes her tutor. Can love bloom?

ASH: Signs point to yes.

SEAN: We also see The Duke of Death and His Maid 9, Lazy Dungeon Master 6, The Tale of the Outcasts 8 (the final volume), Time Stop Hero 8, and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 4.

From Square Enix we see Mr. Villain’s Day Off 2, The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 15, and Tokyo Aliens 5.

SuBLime debuts Love Nest 2nd, which is, well, a sequel to Love Nest. It ran in Dear+.

They also have the 4th and final volume of Megumi & Tsugumi.

The debut from Tokyopop is Lullaby of the Dawn (Yoake no Uta), a BL title that runs in the magazine from RED. Cursed young man doomed to be corrupted and die meets pure young lad.

Tokyopop also has Dead Company 2 and Ossan Idol! 7.

Viz debuts a new shoujo title, Sakura, Saku, the latest work of Io Sakisaka, so naturally it runs in Betsuma. A girl is trying to thank a boy who helped her once, so tries to give a thank you note to his younger brother. This does not work. Described as a “bittersweet” love story.

MICHELLE: I’m all for bittersweet!

ASH: Passing along notes through a younger sibling never works.

ANNA: I am HYPE for this!!!!!

SEAN: We also see Blue Exorcist 28 (the first volume in 18 months), D.Gray-man 28 (the first volume in 28 months), Disney Twisted-Wonderland 2, Fly Me to the Moon 20, Helck 6, Mao 14, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 22, and Wolf Girl and Black Prince 4.

ASH: I should read more Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle; it’s a fun series.

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has an artbook, AidaIro Illustrations: Toilet-bound Hanako-kun 2.

ASH: Nice!

SEAN: Don’t worry, Yen Press will smash us in the face next time. In the meanwhile, what are you getting?

The Tatami Time Machine Blues

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By Tomihiko Morimi and Yusuke Nakamura, based on the play “Summer Time Machine Blues” by Makoto Ueda. Released in Japan as “Yojōhan Time Machine Blues” by Kadokawa. Released in North America by HarperVia. Translated by Emily Balistrieri.

I had mixed feelings about The Tatami Galaxy as a novel, as I appreciated the story, the writing, and the other characters, but the nameless protagonist drove me nuts. We honestly spent far too much time inside his head, to the detriment of my enjoyment. If only, I probably did not think at the time but should have, there could be a book with the same cast but where events happen so fast and require so much action that the protagonist does not have all that much time to be a pretentious ass? I was probably yearning for a book just like this one. Taking a pre-existing play written by frequent collaborator Makoto Ueda before The Tatami Galaxy was written (it has a famous live-action film of its own) and putting the Tatami Galaxy characters in it is a fantastic idea, mostly as it turns this into a comedic farce. And boy do these characters work well in that genre.

This is not a sequel to the original, but more an “alternate story”. The setup is the same. The narrator lives in a dilapidated apartment complex, he has his terrible best friend, his cool beauty crush, and the annoying guy who’s been a college student for at least ten years now. The plot starts when the remote for the complex’s one air conditioner, in the narrator’s room, is broken and it’s the hottest time of the year. This is a problem, as they’re busy doing things like making Akashi’s movie about a time traveler going to the Shinsengumi period and turning them all into slackers. Then a *real* time machine shows up, and they get the bright idea to go back in time and grab the air conditioner remote before it gets broken. But… doesn’t this create a time paradox?

The discussion of time paradoxes and closed time loops is interesting, but honestly it’s just an excuse for madcap antics and the narrator freaking out at said madcap antics. The narrator has the same problem he had in Tatami Galaxy – he wants to ask Akashi out but is too much of a coward – but aside from one section in the middle he is not allowed to dwell on this, and honestly his problem ends up being solved by the time loop and Akashi, who (as in the first book) has the patience of a saint. There’s also a time traveler from the future, whose identity is so obvious that even spoiling it here would feel lame, but who allows the plot to happen. And there’s Ozu being terrible, and Higuchi being annoying, and Hanuki being a free spirit, etc. This doesn’t have the grand feel of the last quarter of Tatami Galaxy, but it’s not aiming for that. And honestly, it may be the true canon. The narrator and Akashi come up with the plot for The Tatami Galaxy towards the end, and even name it. So perhaps that’s the fiction and this is the reality.

If you enjoyed the first book, or the anime, this is a must read, and go watch the anime too. Honestly, maybe Morimi should use pre-existing plots more often.

I Guess This Dragon Who Lost Her Egg to Disaster Is My Mom Now, Vol. 1

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By Suzume Kirisaki and Cosmic. Released in Japan as “Saigai de Tamago o Ushinatta Dragon ga Nazeka Ore o Sodate Hajimeta” by M Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy this new series, which I mostly decided to read because, well, I was reading CIW’s other two debuts this month, so hey. It begins with the old chestnut of “adventuring party doesn’t see the value in strategy so gets rid of the weak guy who’s actually the pillar of their support”, though most of the time those people are merely thrown out, not butchered and left for dead. The “I’m being raised by a dragon but we can’t communicate well, can we become a real mother and daughter?” plot is arguably the main one, and it’s a lot better, reaching a few levels of heartwarming along the way. That said, the big reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did was the ghost story. Not a literal ghost, but the idea that everyone is haunted by the presence of this guy, but they can’t remember his name. That’s fantastic.

Our nameless protagonist is, as noted above, murdered by his party members. They’re on a very dangerous mountainside and decide to use his corpse as bait to get away from monsters. As he crawls towards his inevitable death, he is picked up by a dragon. Back in the dragon’s lair, she finds she’s now a 10-year-old girl, and has lost most of her memories of her past. The dragon is clearly trying to raise her as a daughter, but has no idea what humans need in terms of food, etc., so they both struggle for a bit. That said, the previously magic-less protagonist, now named Lushera, can now breathe fire and manipulate lightning and other dragon-ey things. Meanwhile, back in the town the adventuring party came from, they’re highly disturbed by his old guild badge, which has his name blocked out but has stats that are out of this world.

The other important thing about this book is that the author calls it a “transsexual fantasy”, as the male protagonist, on being nearly killed and then reborn as a dragon’s child, is now a different gender. This is handled pretty well, mostly through subtext, as we see Lushera’s discomfort when having to wear girl’s underwear for the first time, and her constant astonishment at the fact that her new body is “cute” and “pretty”. But yes, it was the “ghost story” that fascinated me. Lushera’s old life is erased by (presumably) dragon magic, but it was just her name, and everything she did – which was a lot more than the stupid party that killed her thought – is still heavily influential on those in the town. We also learn the tragic reason she and the party were there in the first place, which neatly ties in to the new relationship she has with her dragon mother, one where she struggles to admit that it’s love for a parent.

This is another one of those “there’s more to the story, but it also could easily end in this volume” sort of books. I’d definitely put it in the “better than expected” category.

Stuck in a Time Loop: When All Else Fails, Be a Villainess, Vol. 2

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By Sora Hinokage and Tsukasa Kiryu. Released in Japan as “Loop kara Nukedasenai Akuyaku Reijō wa, Akiramete Sukikatte Ikirukoto ni Kimemashita” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Andria McKnight.

There is apparently a 3rd and final volume of this coming soon, which surprises me, as right until the end I thought that this book was the equivalent of that new Shonen Jump series that is told “you have 3 chapters to wrap up all your plotlines”. This volume hits the ground running and does not let up in terms of reveals, backstories, and monster fights. Thankfully, Selene is no longer stuck in a time loop, as at least in this book she manages to make it all the way through without resetting. Unfortunately, bad things keep trying to happen to her, leading to a change in her goal: escape this time loop’ is now secondary to ‘live freely and happily and screw everyone else’. Well, everyone else except Dier, of course. The romance in this series is so mild as to be almost nonexistent, but it is there, and deep down Selene is probably “quite fond” of Dier. Just don’t ask her to say it.

Unfortunately, Selene, Dier, and the king find that even taking all the other powers from the guardians is not enough to change the mystery stone tablet. Fortunately (?) for Selene, a solution presents itself fairly quickly: her little sister Soleil has finally gained the powers of the sun, and her mother is now telling Selene to step down. Selene says no, and so the two of them have to have a fight to determine who gets to be head of house. Which… makes little sense, given that Selene is a master of shadow and Soleil just came into her power last week. What’s stepmom’s real agenda here? Well, it’s a big one, and is tied deeply into their family, the past of this country, and Selene’s own late mother. Unfortunately, none of these revelations are particularly good news, and Selene spends most of the book in battle.

I was pleased to see that little sister was not evil as I’d theorized at the end of my first review. She just has an evil mom. That said, Soleil is not all that interesting, being the standard “yes, mother” daughter who must break free of her shackles, etc. Selene is the star of the show, and the reason we’re here. I’ve mentioned her emotional walls before, and they’re still very high, making the narrative sometimes feel as if she’s reading off a phone book when she’s actually facing off against monsters who have possessed her family. The best part of the book is probably Selene’s father, who I had written off as a minor part of the series, returning and showing that, like his daughter, he does actually feel things but has tremendous difficulty expressing them. This forces Selene to have her one and only major emotional moment in the book. That said, it’s only about halfway through the book, so she doesn’t “change for the better” or anything.

The cover to the third volume, due out in Japan next month, has the characters walking into the twilight but looking back at the reader with a smile, and you know what that means. I’ll be back, and continue to hope Selene has a love epiphany or something.