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The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend, Vol. 5

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By Kennoji and Fly. Released in Japan as “Chikan Saresou ni Natteiru S-kyuu Bishoujo wo Tasuketara Tonari no Seki no Osananajimi datta” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sergio Avila.

I am reading too many of these high school romcoms, to be honest. There’s been a big glut over here the last few years, spearheaded by Oregairu and Tomozaki, but the best of them all have some motivation to them beyond “which girl is he going to end up with after finally having a clue beaten into him?”. You can’t simply ride on that alone, or you run the risk of… well, of being this series, which is running on fumes in terms of “I am not getting that these women are all throwing themselves at me”. Theoretically there should also be the film/acting subplot, and that does vaguely rouse my interest a bit. Hina is getting it ground in her face that acting is a series of failed auditions forever till your break, and Ai has gotten that break on the back of her idol work, but is dealing with the cattiness and fending off date requests that that entails. It SHOULD be interesting.

Ryou’s film is nearly finished, just requiring Ai to film some remaining scenes when she’s not doing her acting gig. He’s still trying to get Shizuka to star in his new film idea he’s had, but a) there’s no script yet, and b) she really doesn’t want to. It doesn’t help that her mother is overly worried about her, which is coming out as anger. It also doesn’t help that, as a result of that, Shizuku is lying to her. This leads to a run away from home plot!… that lasts about five pages. This series just can’t get that dramatic. As for Hina, since she’s still depressed about her failed audition, and lacking much else to do, she’s helping Ryou study for school… mostly by forcing him to do it. Ca they all get together in time for a summer festival? And will the girls manage to convince Ryou they like him?

This series is not much like Oregairu at all (Ryou wishes he had Hachiman’s narrative panache), but they do share one thing in common, which is that the relationship between the lead and his little sister is the best thing about the series. Mana remains the best character in this by a country mile, being cool, self=confident, chiding but also supporting her brother, and being friends with all his various girl friends. If she had a spinoff, I’d read it, mostly as it would not be this series. There’s nothing wrong with this except that it’s boring, and I keep waiting for a payoff that I know is a good 7-8 books away, if that. The reason that a lot of romcoms these days have the leads hook up early is that everyone got tired of series like these, where we know who will win (it’s Hina) but we have to watch Ryou being thick as a brick for ten more volumes before he gets it.

If you have to read every romcom out there, this is one. I think I’m going to drop it here.

Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense, Vol. 11

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By Yuumikan and KOIN. Released in Japan as “Itai no wa Iya nano de Bōgyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

One of the more enjoyable things about the Bofuri series is that it’s NOT ‘we’re trapped in a game’, there are no real consequences, and everyone is free to do whatever. This is important, because it undercuts dramatic character development and potential angsty trauma. In addition to Maple, we’ve also been following the twins Mai and Yui, who are trying to do with Strength what Maple does with Defense. They’ve been pretty good at it, but are starting to hit a bit of a wall. This calls for deep thought. Should they try to experiment with non-strength things? Should they finally break free of the twin thing and actually take different skills, each one becoming their own person? Should they… grow up? Or should they, perhaps, find a way to use eight giant hammers at the same time? The answer is yes, they should octo-wield. This is a dumb game, they don’t seem to have any real life issues associated with it, and octo-wielding is hella cool.

Frederica is on the cover, but barely gets any page time, alas. The bulk of this book is taken up by a new event, which can best be described as “kill as many monsters as you possibly can”. There’s no PvP element to it, so folks are free to team up, and we see a few fun pairings. My favorite is Maple, Mii, and Velvet, aka Two Chuunis and a Dojikko. There’s also plenty of Maple and Sally, as we get to see them tackle a rarely used dungeon that basically thrown the monsters from all the previous floors at once. And eventually everyone has to team up to take down the giant final boss and his orb of power. the orb is far trickier than the boss, as the boss can be flattened by the Hammer Sisters, while the orb is made of sterner stuff. Amidst all this, is there time for… a different game?

The other highlight of the book is seeing Risa try, once again, to get over her fear of horror. It’s clear that the game is going to throw “6th level monsters” at them in the future, and Sally hates that she’ll always be useless when that happens (though she does OK in one fight by simply wrapping a blindfold around her head and firing off magic randomly, which I can’t wait to see animated). Her solution is to buy a really scary horror VR game and play it with Kaede, who has no issues with horror and is always down for a new game. Needless to say, it goes pretty much exactly as you’d expect. Risa being terrified of ghosts is just funny, especially with Kaede’s blase attitude towards them. We also once again get a tiny bit of “Risa REALLY likes Kaede” here, but blink and you’ll miss it. At least, unlike other authors, we don’t get a constant stream of “I’m straight, though”.

This should give Bofuri fans a good time, even though there’s no plot or character development. There won’t be, really. And that’s fine.

A Certain Magical Index NT, Vol. 1

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By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Shinyaku To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

I will admit, the moment I saw that the new series of Index books had been licensed, my first thought was “oh, is the anime announcement coming soon?”. It’s been almost four years since A Certain Magical Index 22 came out. While sales figures are never easy to come by these days, word on the street was that it was not exactly one of Yen’s best sellers. But it *is* one of Dengeki Bunko’s best sellers, and a “flagship” title for the company. And there did seem to be some genuine excitement (and hopefully enough sales to justify the cost) of the massive 2000-page Index omnibus that came out earlier this year. So sure, let’s go. We’re jumping back into Index, featuring our favorite ditzy nun, tsundere electro girl, and schlub with a magic hand. Some bad news to report, though, as none of those three feature heavily in this book. This first volume of NT (New Testament) is about the other two male protagonists.

The return of Index also means the return of the “let’s try to keep track of things” paragraph. Introduced in this book: Fremea Seivelun, Kuroyoru Umidori. Also, though we briefly saw Leivinia Birdway in Book 18 of Index, this is her entrance to the story proper – on the 2nd to last page. This book takes place on Guy Fawkes’ Day, the 5th of November, and one week after World War III. Touma has been declared missing presumed dead. From a brief cameo we see of Index, she’s not taking it well. The Railgun manga has not gotten to this point yet. Its most recent arc is a flashback, and the most recent current arc takes place around Vol. 16 of the first series. In Japan, this came out on March 10, 2011, only five months after the “final” volume of Index. The Railgun manga had just released Book 6, so the Sisters arc. And the Index anime was just about to wrap up Season 2.

World War III is over, and peace supposedly reigns over Academy City. Of course, you know that’s not going to last. Much to the irritation of Accelerator, his attempt to stop all the “darkness” of the City can’t even make it work for one week before a new group of eccentrics is trying to use him to help cause chaos. As for Hamazura, all he wants to do is go on dates with his cute girlfriend. Sadly, his cute girlfriend comes with the other two remaining members of ITEM, who are both sadists, so instead he gets chased around the worst slums of the city by goons… and runs into an old friend of his from the gang, Hanzou. Hanzou is watching over a little girl, Fremea Seivelun, whose last name is the same as ITEM’s now-murdered member Frenda. Yup, it’s her little sister. And while Fremea may just be a Level 0, it seems everybody and their brother wants to murder her.

For the most part this “new season” of the Index series plays it pretty safe, as the entire volume is essentially a massive action movie. It’s along the lines of Lethal Weapon, though Accelerator and Hamazura are not exactly wisecracking jokers. The *real* goal of the Freshman, the latest oddly-named group, seems to be having Accelerator and Hamazura, who previously barely interacted, team up with each other to get revenge on the city for killing Fremea. Their leader is a type we’ve seen before, the smug teenager who has really awesome powers derived from scientists experimenting on children, but they turn out to not be QUITE as awesome as Accelerator’s powers. And yes, surprise surprise, Touma is not dead, and shows up at the very end to save the day, stop the villain, and get kicked in the balls, in that order.

If you’ve never read Index, for God’s sake, don’t start now. But if you’re an Index fan, put away that Baka-Tsuki PDF and go buy this.

Hell Mode ~ The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing, Vol. 4

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By Hamuo and Mo. Released in Japan as “Hell Mode – Yarikomi Suki no Gamer wa Hai Settei no Isekai de Musō Suru” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Taishi.

Most of the time, when you’re reading a Japanese light novel and all of the magic powers, combat stuff, etc. comes out in the same way as a Japanese RPG, it tends to be… not laziness, per se, but it’s a way to allow the writer to easily explain things without having to create an entire fantasy world system and let them get on with more important things, like having the protagonist be super awesome and attract all the girls. Sometimes, though, you read a book and you realize that the RPG stats are the point. This is one of those series. The Hell Mode author is not really interested in plot or characterization all that much. Heck, they’re still not bothering with romance – there’s none of it in this book. They are here to roleplay their elf vs. demons campaign, and it’s going to take 367 pages to get through it, so you’d better settle in. Hope you like stats.

We left off with Allen and friends being sent to the front lines and almost certain death just because the royal family don’t really like him. This is fine with Allen, though, who of course sees this as a great opportunity to level up. They can’t take Meruru (whose country is asking her to go to her own war front), but everyone else goes. When there, they find the elves are really on their last legs, about to suffer an ignominious defeat. Fortunately, Allen has 80 billion magical total heal things, as well as any number of summons that can destroy, maim, eat, or spy on the enemy. Honestly, through most of this book his biggest concern is Krena and Dogoro, who are still having trouble accessing the “I was cool but now I’m SUPER COOL” part of their powers. That said, the main boss we get here is enough to make even our protagonists struggle. They will need another ringer. They will need… the hero.

The majority of this book is pure fight scenes, and thus unreviewable. Aside from that, I did appreciate that Allen, who is now relatively comfortable and trusting of everyone around him, finally fesses up and admits that he’s a reincarnation from a different world. I especially liked Cecil’s immediate reaction, which was “ah yes, so much makes sense now”. Allen is a freak in a very different way to the others… is what I’d like to say, but I’m not sure it’s true anymore. All the others are equally obsessed with getting new levels, new titles, and new powers. It’s the way this world works. Either you keep getting strong and stronger and more overpowered, or you die. (Hence the title.) Also, while Cecil and Krena don’t seen romantically interested in Allen all that much yet, the same can’t be said for his summons. Ellie, aka “Spirit B”, seems to be deifying “Lord Allen” a bit, and it’s slightly worrying… well, it would be if the narrative wasn’t doing the same thing.

This will always remain a “I might read the next book if I get a gap in my schedule” sort of series to me. But if you enjoy watching Allen wave a hand and watch OP bullshit happen, this is still giving you what you need.

Pick of the Week: Friendship and Monsters

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MICHELLE: Anything by the author of My Love Story!! automatically receives my endorsement, so it’s The Secret of Friendship for me this week!

SEAN: I’m very tempted by Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!, which sounds right up my street. But yeah, of course my pick is going to be the glorious (?) return of the A Certain Magical Index franchise with its second season of light novels.

KATE: This is one of those rare weeks when I can’t limit myself to just one pick! There are new installments of Akane-Banashi, Glitch, and Marmalade Boy AND several intriguing new titles. If I had to narrow down my list to a single title, though, I’d join Michelle in choosing The Secret of Friendship.

ANNA: The Secret of Friendship it is for me!

ASH: I’m leaning towards The Secret of Friendship, too, since I adored My Love Story!!, but I’ll have to admit to being greatly intrigued by the debut of Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!, too.

Bookshelf Briefs 12/11/23

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Blue Box, Vol. 7 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – Taiki has been dealing with a lot. We do get a bit of his romance issues here, as he’s still awkward around Hina, mostly as he’s a teenage boy who has a girl who says she likes him, and even though he doesn’t feel the same way it’s hard not to feel a bit horny about it. But it’s the badminton that’s the most interesting part. He’s pushing himself far too hard, and I thought the message of the book was going to be “don’t forget to relax and remind yourself that sports are fun.” But no, this is a Japanese shonen sports series. So the message is actually “try harder, and harder, and break yourself into bits, and eventually you’ll get past that wall and victory will be yours!” And that happens here, if only in practice. Let’s see if it can translate into a real match. – Sean Gaffney

Bocchi the Rock!, Vol. 1 | By Aki Hamazi | Yen Press – I never did watch the <iBocchi the Rock! anime. Its lead character’s social anxiety—and the exaggeration thereof—ended up making me uncomfortable. Still, I’ve had this problem with sounds and images before, so wondered if the written page might be better. And I admit I was able to get through this with few issues. What I didn’t expect was that this would be because, without the anime’s directorial attempts at spicing things up and animation tricks, Bocchi the Rock! is a very normal 4-koma series in the Kirara mold, with Bocchi’s anxiety sometimes barely registering due to the tight panels of the required format. The most interesting part for me, as you’d expect in a 4-koma series like this, was the relationship between the four leads, and it’s definitely worth reading if you enjoy 4-koma. – Sean Gaffney

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 9 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – Obviously the anime did not time itself with the release of this volume in North America (it was released in Japan in September 2022), but it seems like kismet that, after a fabulous but controversial arc about the true nature of demons, we’re headed back to that well in this book. We also see the welcome return of Denken, one of the most interesting mages from the Tournament Arc, and his own regrets about seeing the city he was from turned into gold by a demon’s powers. And into this comes Frieren, who takes one look at what’s happening in the golden city and says that it’s impossible for Denken to win. This series is at its best when it examines the cliched fantasy tropes. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 10 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – Sarasa is fun, funny, and the main reason most readers are probably following this. But she doesn’t have the training that a lot of these theater kids have, and when she goes out of control (as can be seen near the end of this volume), it can not only be impossible to stop her but actually damaging to the actresses she’s appearing with. She needs to be smacked down a bit, I expect. Ai, on the other hand, is flourishing in Sarasa’s absence (the two switched rooms with the twins for the sake of the Orpheus and Euridyce performance they’re doing), and is starting to realize that not all the advice she spurned from those in her idol group years was wrong or bad. That said, the main attraction to readers for this volume might be the girls in suits. They’re amazing. – Sean Gaffney

Like a Butterfly, Vol. 3 | By suu Morishita | Viz Media – If you get frustrated when two people who obviously really like each other but are too shy/stubborn/self-loathing to actually speak to each other, then this volume of Like a Butterfly must be pure torture. Suiren keeps trying to get Kawasumi to have a conversation with her, or say a word to her, or even look her way, and he is resolutely not doing any of these things, even going so far as to stop going to the group roof lunches. This is not only frustrating to everyone else in the cast, it’s frustrating to Koharu, who likes Kawasumi and has confessed to him but can’t get past it because he won’t admit his own feelings and confess to Suiren. Basically, it’s a high school romance cocktail, and very old school shoujo manga, which makes sense given this series is ten years old. – Sean Gaffney

Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Vol. 1 | By Yodokawa | Yen Press – I enjoyed this, but it didn’t really go the way I was expecting it to. I’d heard it was a yuri series, and there’s a bit of that here, but the setup shows it’s more interested in contrasting the sensible, somewhat tightly wound manga editor Asako with the laid-back, relaxed, and at loose ends former idol Miyako. They bounce off each other well, and a lot of the first volume deals with the fallout of Miyako’s sudden retirement, be it stalkers harassing her or her grumpy grandmother trying to take her back home. Miyako is a lot of fun, even though she’s a bit of a mess. Asako is responsible and likeable, even if she’s a bit of a mess. The two clearly need each other badly, and I’m hoping future volumes capitalize on this. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 22 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – We’re starting a new arc in this book, which involves a lot of things that readers of this series love. There’s a perfume that makes people go mad and literally eat other people. There’s some sort of immortality drug, which (judging by the cliffhanger) may even work on people who are down to just a head. There’s a bunch of new characters from the FBI, including two hot women who Kuroko immediately pays attention to. That said, Kuroko does very little this volume—even the standard sex scene goes to the bad guys this time around—and indeed the plot itself seems to involve Urara getting into a huge fistfight with a monstrously huge guy. Which, let’s face it, is another thing that readers of this series love. – Sean Gaffney

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 8 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship The first half of this volume is a parody of idol groups, as all of Rentaro’s girlfriends become one huge idol group for a Culture festival event. Unfortunately, not all of them have idol group talent, and their coach wants to concentrate on the good ones and ditch the bad ones, which won’t fly in THIS series. In the second half of the book we meet the newest girlfriend, a huge girl (she’s 6 foot 7) who tends the school gardens and is a lover of all living things, to a ridiculous degree. She has a complex about her height, and she also has a complex about the fact that this is a man with thirteen other girlfriends. I think she’ll fit in quite nicely on the “sweetie pie” end of the cast. – Sean Gaffney

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 8 | By Misaki Takamatsu | Seven Seas – At the end of the last volume (my review was all about Yuzuki, sorry/not sorry), Mitsumi and Shima agreed to start dating, though they’re both so awkward about it that they call it dating for a trial period. That in itself should clue you in about how well this volume goe—if the start of the book was everyone’s dream come true, the rest of this book is like Alex Norris’ Webcomic name, as we all say “oh no.” The whole book is excruciating but necessary, and it’s really driving Shima and all of his hangups into a corner, especially when he thinks the best way to resolve a conflict is not defending Mitsumi but in not revealing their relationship at all, something she understandably gets very angry about. Fortunately, I doubt this is the end for them. – Sean Gaffney

You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story, Vol. 1

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By Makiko Nagaoka and magako. Released in Japan as “Keiken Zumi na Kimi to, Keiken Zero na Ore ga, Otsukiai Suru Hanashi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam.

Other folks have said this besides me, but I will join in: the least interesting part of this series so far is the relationship between the two leads. He’s a nice guy. She’s a sweet girl. They’re really cute together. Which is fine, but you can read more interesting versions of that in 8-10 other stories from J-Novel Club or Yen On. Where it holds up better is the “gimmick”, so to speak, where it tries to walk a fine line between telling a teenage girl she doesn’t have to have sex to be in a relationship while also asserting that there’s nothing wrong with having it once you want to. Once the author and editor had that idea, that’s what this book was going to HAVE to be, because if it became “I will save you from the terrible things you have been doing”, it would have been the worst thing ever. That said, the guy… takes a while to get there.

Ryuto Kashima is a standard potato-kun light novel protagonist, who does not have the looks or confidence to be on the cover next to his girlfriend. He’s a shy, introverted guy who pines after Runa Shirakawa, the gorgeous, trendy, and confident girl in his class. The rumor mill says that she’s gone out with a ton of guys, and they’ve even had sex with her, but none of the relationships have lasted. Ryuto, of course, is content to just pine away, but when he loses a bet and is dared to confess to her, he goes through with it, figuring she’ll reject him and he can rip the band-aid off and get on with life. To his surprise, she accepts… and that evening, they end up at her house, with her father and grandmother away. Is this it? Is he going to have sex with the hot girl?

If you were thinking that yes, he is, I suspect that light novel romcoms must be a constant disappointment to you. As it turns out, Runa (whose parents got together in middle school, and she focuses on that and not the fact that they’re now divorced) thinks that having sex with a guy is just what you do in a relationship, and is absolutely boggled when Ryuto tries things like thinking of what she wants and asking her about her hobbies. That said, she’s not annoyingly naive, and the disconnect comes from a sensible emotional place. It took me a long time to warm up to Ryuto, who has an awful lot of “no one could ever likle such a giant loser like myself” vibes that he has to struggle with. His 4-page long monologue about bubble tea shops won me over, and also won Runa over. (Runa expects that he will break up with her soon, like all guys have done, so any genuine affection for anything is amazing.) As for the other major character in this book, I suspect she will be the focus of Book 2, so I’ll save her for then.

The book does what it sets out to do, which is to say “indicate that slut-shaming is bad”, and I hear the anime (currently airing) is pretty solid as well. I just hope that Ryuto and Runa can be a bit less… vanilla in their relationship. Just because you’re not having sex doesn’t mean that hand-holding should take 60 pages.

The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, Vol. 9

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By Yuka Tachibana and Yasuyuki Syuri. Released in Japan as “Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Julie Goniwich. Adapted by E.M. Candon.

This ninth volume in the series comes out just in time, as the second season of the anime is currently airing and looks like it will adapt till the end of Book 8. So if you want to continue onward, you can pick right up where it leaves off. Of course, I will warn you in advance that you’re only getting 3/4 of a book. The manga version of this title runs in Flos Comic, but it would fit right at home in LaLa, because, like many LaLa manga, it’s packed with filler to pad out the volume. Now, this is not always a bad thing. The short stories that bookend each Bookworm volume are just as important as Rozemyne’s POV, and some of the side stories are fun. But what we get instead here are scripts for audio dramas starring the voice actor for Albert… talking to himself, as I guess “situational audio drama” means that the reader invents Sei’s half of the dialogue? Not sure, but it’s not worth it.

Sei and Albert are now engaged, and this is officially announced at a ball. Much to Sei’s surprise, there’s a second engagement being announced – Elizabeth is now engaged to the second Prince, Rayne. That said, their wedding will be a year from now, as there’s just that much pre-preparation involved. Sei is content to go back to the research labs, but then the palace gets an urgent missive from Prince Kyle’s delegation in Zaidera, saying one of the most important members was deathly ill, and help was urgently needed. Everyone suspects this is a ploy, but they can’t just ignore it, so Yuri decides to go there and take one of Sei’s panaceas, the one that healed Prince Ten’yuu’s mother. The problem is… Sei wants to go too! She’s so curious! So of course Albert goes along as well. This becomes a problem when the thing they thought was a plot turns out to indeed be a ploy.

So yes, we get the return of Prince Kyle here. Much to my surprise, very little is made of his past by the main cast. He gets a side story near the end, which shows that while to Sei and company he looked calm and collected, inside he was panicking that she was going to start getting furious with him. Setting off abroad seems to have done him a world of good, and I think he agrees. As for the story itself, it’s OK, not great. It’s mostly an excuse to delay the inevitable wedding a bit longer and take a look at this world’s version of China, complete with a few recipes a la foodie manga. The actual plot won’t really get going till Book 10, so instead we get things like Yuri being a giant magical nerd and… more of Yuri being a giant magical nerd. At least Sei has more female friends besides Liz and Aira now.

This is not one of the best in the series, but as a setup for a new arc it’s OK, and it will satisfy anime-onlies wanting to see what happens next.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 3

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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.

It can sometimes be difficult, when a series is told entirely from one person’s point of view, to remind ourselves that they may not necessarily be the best narrator for the job. Sara tells the entire story in these books, and for the most part that’s fine, but there is a good deal of snark, apathy and general grouchiness to her entire character that makes the narration fun but also reminds us that everyone else doesn’t necessarily adore her. That said, the people she’s grouchiest to (Ted, the knights) generally deserve it. As the series goes on, I’m hoping that we get more of her joyful delight at seeing the ocean, which we get at the end of this book, and a bit less of her “whatever, I don’t care” attitude when people try to railroad her into annoying things. Though she’s right, she really should settle on figuring out what to do with her life soon.

Sara and Nelly head back to Rosa to do some shopping for clothes, but end up getting sidelined by a ton of plot. The other Invited we met in the capital last time, Haruto, has arrived in the town, and is acting like a 10-year-old kid – which, to be fair, is about when he died in Japan, so Sara has a big leg up on him. More dangerously, the knights are returning to get Sara and forcibly have a noble adopt her and get her working for the state. She really does not want to do that, so after letting Haruto and fellow Invited Bradley handle the cottage on the mountain, she, Allen and Nelly join Chris is a trip to a town two weeks away that is trying to train new apothecaries. Unfortunately, when they get there it turns out almost every single apothecary has in fact left the town. Oh yes, also frogs. LOTS of frogs.

Because Sara has for the most part been living on a mountain with a mentor who does not really care about much of anything, or else in a town that is very clearly the “last dungeon” town in this fantasy world, she has not really had a normal isekai reincarnation like everyone else in this series. That’s clearly for the good, as it turns out that while reincarnates are coddled, they’re also pretty much used as government-sponsored slaves, with a name change. You can see why – Sara is really, REALLY powerful, and we see more of that here, though at last we seem to have finally hit a magic thing that makes her feel tired rather than just being easy as pie. The next book is set up by Nelly suggesting they go to her hometown to get her family (who are nobility) to adopt Sara, which should stop the knights from trying to abduct her. I’m fairly certain it will not be that simple.

So yeah, Sara’s not sure what she wants to do with her life here yet, but till she’s safe and can relax, I don’t really blame her. Also, the gimmick is that Sara attracts monsters, right? I think we all get that by now, even if the cast don’t yet. She’s a Monster Magnet.

A Young Lady Finds Her True Calling Living with the Enemy, Vol. 1

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By Syuu and Fujigasaki. Released in Japan as “Oguni no Kōshaku Reijō wa Tekikoku nite Kakusei Suru” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

As we have advanced into the 21st century, we have thankfully moved on from one of the more egregious fan terms (and one I used myself back when I was younger), the “Mary Sue”. Originally used as an example of a character created by a writer purely to be the “perfect” love interest for her favorite character, it then morphed into, supposedly, any woman who lacked flaws and was seen as too perfect. Which, naturally, meant any woman protagonist, if you’re a guy reading it. Meanwhile, male protagonists who kill all the monster, gets all the babes, and wind up leading the nation are a dime a dozen, and despite the attempt to use “Gary Stu” to describe them they never got any flak. And of course let’s not get into the “Strong Female Character”, as best seen by Kate Beaton’s wonderful comics. I mention all this because Bertine, the protagonist of this new series, starts her own business, unites warring tribes, shoots burglars with her rifle, and has such innate economic skills that she was raised by her father to be his successor. And you know what? It’s amazing.

Bertine du Jeanne, daughter of the Chancellor of San Luenne, an independent nation and financial powerhouse, is preparing for her upcoming wedding when she is told that the Empire, which their nation has been giving financial support to, has lost its war with the Federation. The Federation has demanded 1000 large gold coins in reparations. The royal family have decided instead to send them Bertine, as the new bride to the leader of the Federation, Cecilio. She is barely given time to hear this before she and her lady maid are bundled off to Ybit, one of the major cities in the Federation. There they are told Cecilio is away, that he never accepted the bride deal in the first place, and to go home. She can’t go home, though, as it would disgrace her country. So instead the staff at Cecilio’s estate decide to slowly starve Bertina and her attendants to death, and passively abuse them. Having had enough of this, Bertine chooses to leave the estate and make her own way in this new country.

I always enjoy novels that give greater depth to the main character as the book goes on. At first Bertine just seems like a basic “stiff upper lip” noble, though she does seem very exhausted by everything near the start of the book. We then learn that everything has been terrible for her since her mother died over a decade ago, her stepmother tried to kill her and is actively trying to prevent her returning to her own country, that she had *two* marriages called off before this, and that even when her sickly mother was alive, her father, recognizing her economic talent but being unable to properly express love, gave her hellish training that made her think he hated her. She tells Cecilio flat out that when she got to his estate and the staff abused her, she was near suicidal. Fortunately, the book wants us to know that but not dwell on it. What it does want us to dwell on is Bertine empowering herself, then empowering other women around her. There isn’t even any romance in this first novel, though I’m pretty sure she’s gonna end up with Cecilio by the second (he’s nicer than his staff). It’s just Bertine being badass. Oh, and the Candy Ma’am pun is hilarious, well done translator.

I had an absolute ball reading this. Is Bertine too perfect? Damn straight.