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To Sir, Without Love: I’m Divorcing You, Vol. 1, Part 2

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By Kori Hisakawa and Airumu. Released in Japan as “Haikei Mishiranu Danna-sama, Rikonshite Itadakimasu” by Media Works Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Carley Radford.

I had not realized when reading and writing the review of the first book that it’s literally half a book – the books were released in Japan as Part 1 and Part 2, and that’s what we’re getting here as well. As such, it’s not really a surprise that the book concentrates more on the political climate going on around our main couple, which is not only getting dangerous but also might implicate them personally. This is not nearly as lethal as The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman, but I was thinking of that series while reading this, and believe fans of one might like the other. Byletta is a young woman trying to run her own life and have as much freedom as possible, despite this being a world where noble wives are expected to look pretty and give birth. Arnald is someone who finds he’s fallen in love, and simply does not have the communications toolkit to deal with it. Basically, they need to talk but don’t.

Byletta, frankly, has a bit too much on her plate at the moment. She has to rush back to the flood control project because outbreaks of violence are breaking out and the nobles who own the hot springs hotels nearby claim the project is taking their water. The city where she lives is under constant threat of a military coup, with destruction, bombs, and many injuries, and the supposed person behind this coup is said to be her husband. And then there’s her own marriage, as she still struggles to understand Arnald, who usually seems cool and uncaring but occasionally shows a more comforting side. Worst of all, he’s still insisting on acting like her husband in bed at night, and it turns out that, after the horrible first time she had, he’s actually an amazing lover. Is she going to be able to get her divorce after all?

Arnald’s mindset is comparatively easy to understand, and once he realizes what he’s doing wrong, very easy to change. Byletta is a much harder nut to crack, frankly. She’s haunted by the fact that everyone sees her mother in her, she’s desperate to be her own woman, be that by learning to use a sword or start a revolutionary fashion industry, all because she does not want to be trapped by marriage. It’s astonishing how many times she refers to herself as Arnald’s whore or prostitute throughout this book – and it’s using the terms because she means them to be derogatory, she has to think of herself as that, because otherwise she would have to accept that she really is falling in love with Arnald, and in her eyes, that means giving up. She’s a fantastic character, and I appreciate that Arnald realizes the only way to keep the one he loves is to essentially give her everything she asks for. All the freedom she wants, just stay married to him. It’s sweet.

This volume ends definitively, as we see a flashforward to them living a happy life with their two children. Nevertheless, there are seven more books in Japan. We’ll see if we get more, but if we do, I’m happy to read it, even though I suspect it won’t just be post-marital fluff.

86 –Eighty-Six– Alter. Vol. 2: Fight, Magical Girl Reina ☆ Lena! Go, Starship San Magnolia!

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By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert.

This ended up being a bit of a headache for me. I didn’t mind the parody. Look at that subtitle, I was expecting a lot of goofball antics. The trouble is that it’s also trying to tell a serious story in there, albeit less serious than the main 86 story. I didn’t mind when everyone was talking about using the star grapheme when shouting the name of their colossal killer weapon, but it feels a bit off when it’s in the middle of a dramatic reunion between family, one of whom is the enemy. Which, I note, happens twice in this book. That said, for the most part this Alter is a bit different than the first one, which was essentially a short story collection. This is basically telling one big alternate universe story that combines magical girls and Macross-style space battles, where men and women get to have cute nicknames, and the 86 get to be cute l’il fairy companions. Will everyone live happily ever after? They certainly have a better shot here.

It’s 86… in… SPAAAAAACCCCEEE! Our heroes have been fighting a hundred year war against the Legion, most of whom are, as the main series indicates, the rampaging grudges of dead wartime soldiers. They’ve got huge battleships, and can use huge beam cannons. However, they also fight in person, in space, in magical girl armor. No, the guys get to wear pants, but they do have to have the ridiculous names and poses. The first chunk of the story shows us Lena and Annette as they fight their magical girl battles with the help of the 86, cute fairies that used to be soldiers. Including her new fairy Shin. In the second part, Shin is now the 86 for Frederica, who is part of the plan to end the war once and for all, despite her young age, immature ideals, and tendency to lake the star grapheme. The third story gives Vika and his family something to do, and can easily be skipped unless you love Vika and Lerche.

As noted, this is far more serious in places than I was expecting, in that it’s not a 100% parody. The basic concept is ridiculous, but it takes its worldview seriously, and when the 86 “die”, which they do (though note the quote marks), people get upset about it. That said, overall, this is very much a yay, happy ending sort of book in the end. Most of the named cast we care about are brought back in some way, shape or form, even a couple of the Legion, and the war is over. Certainly that’s wishful thinking for the cast of the main series. And while I found the tonal dissonance jarring, some of the humor was pretty funny. I liked the fourth-wall breaking noting how little we’d actually seen Vika’s family, and that one of them only appeared in an online only story. LOL.

There aren’t any more Alter novels out in Japan, but the good news is that the 14th volume of the main series came out last fall. Expect less cute magical girl names.

My Happy Marriage, Vol. 9

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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.

It’s been over a year, but we finally have a new volume of My Happy Marriage. (And it’s likely going to be another year till the next one – Vol. 10 just came out in Japan earlier this month.) We’ve now resolved most of the difficulties between Miyo and Kiyoka, and the title is no longer ironic. They’re married and happy. Which means, of course, that normally you would end the series. But the anime of this did quite well. As a result, it’s time to continue, and since you don’t really want to mess up the lovely couple – yet – we need to concentrate on the other part of the plot. As such, this volume returns us to the Earth Spider that is such an important part of Kiyoka and Godou’s backstories. It also introduces new enemies, this time from abroad, who basically want to kidnap Miyo for her powers. But most of all it reminds you that extended family is still family, and it’s really hard to get away from toxic relatives.

Now that Miyo and Kiyoka have dealt with the issues of his own family, as well as Miyo’s horrible former family, we are told that the Kudous are actually a splinter family from the main one, the Miyakoujis. As such, they have to go to the old capital to introduce Miyo to them and try to get their blessing. Miyo is nervous, Kiyoka just seems disgruntled. The head of the family is a very nice guy. The women in the family, fortunately, turn out to be great, and they quickly take Miyo under their wing. The men of the family, sadly, turn out to be horrible arrogant drunks, who are easily manipulated, especially if a passing English “shaman” is trying to stir up trouble for his own benefit. Kiyoka is also distracted because the Earth Spider has escaped from the seal that was put on it years ago, and no one knows where it is.

There’s also a little subplot about Miyo trying hard, now that she knows how powerful she is, to not use her dream powers that much. Naturally, we come across several situations where she has to use her dream powers, one of which helps a young girl (good) but also uncovers a history of family abuse dating back centuries (bad, though getting it out in the open may be good). The My Happy Marriage title and concentration on Miyo’s depression and growing love for her husband has made this feel like a romance most of the time, but the supernatural element is still very much present. Miyo is a hot commodity, and now that the series is willing to go outside Japan, I suspect it’s only a matter of time before she’s kidnapped, like most incredibly powerful people who are also introverted. Still, for the moment, she’s happy and back home.

I’m sometimes wary when a series that reached a natural stopping point keeps going, but this was a really solid volume. Fans should be pleased.

Pick of the Week: Shut-Ins, Witches, and Villainesses

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MICHELLE: Admittedly, there isn’t a ton coming out this week that appeals to me, but the debut volume of Omori intrigues me the most, so I”ll go with that, this week.

SEAN: We all know I can’t resist villainess books, and while they’re usually very talkative folks, I can get behind the alternative, so I will pick The Villainess Speaks Not this week.

ASH: Omori is the title I’ll be making sure to take a look at this week! If I look hard enough, I’m pretty sure I can find a few mini-comics from Omocat in my collection, so I’m interested in seeing this more formally published work.

ANNA: Realistically, what I’m going to run out and read is the latest volume of Witch Hat Atelier so that’s my pick!

The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival, Vol. 6

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By Harunori Biyori and Hitaki Yuu. Released in Japan as “Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyō Survival” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Camilla L.

When I started this series, I had thought it was going to run about six volumes, and here we are at the sixth volume. That said, we’re nowhere near done, and in Japan the tenth volume just came out, and it doesn’t look like the final one either. This series is stretching itself, and I don’t think it’s just because of the long, lovingly detailed fight scenes. There are more of those than ever, of course, though blissfully we have a few less stat screens than usual this time around. One thing I did notice is that now that Alia is in a grim desert town, most of her opponents tend to be about her level, with the exception of her one big showcase fight, where she takes out two hundred mooks and five strong fighters without too much difficulty. There is, rest assured, actual plot in this book, but I need to tell you, this series is here to have fights and do otome game stuff, and it’s more interested in fights.

Alia and Elena are now in the middle of the desert, halfway between the demon lands they were meant to be teleported to and the Kingdom of Claydale. They find their way to a town that’s divided into four factions: merchants, dwarves, beastmen, and yakuza, and they have to negotiate their way around them while also trying to find a way to, if not get Elena back home, at least get word to Claydale that she’s not dead. Because trust me, back home if she’s gone more than three months they will move on. Speaking of back home, Alicia is continuing to be the most irritating girl in the world; Clara once again tries to achieve something and accidentally makes everything much worse; and Karla gets religion… and promptly butchers it. Karla remains my favorite part of this series. She’s awful. I love her.

It is rather interesting noticing the development of each of the female leads of this “otome game”. Elena, originally a villainess, has started to grow and realize what a ruler needs to actually do… and that she wants to do it. Clara is determined to get the prince she loves to love her back, and if this happens to destroy everything, oh well. Sadly, employing assassins who failed to kill Alia is not the answer. Karla is an immoral nightmare, but to be fair the people she murders here are literally torturing children in the name of God, so she gets a handwave. Alicia not only is ignoring the evil voice in her head telling her she’s being too evil, but actually gets a major power up in this book, which is terrible. And then there’s Alia, who is gradually starting to realize that she has friends that she likes and cares for, and not only wants them to live, but wants to live with them. Alia and Elena get the most development, and it’s no surprise that they’re the two I expect to live till the end of the series.

The volume ends with the “rescue Elena” team arriving and being told to attack if they see dark elves or Kal’faan royals, right as Elena arrives in the city with a dark elf and a Kal’faan royal as her bodyguards. That’ll go well. We will have to wait, however, as Vol. 7 hasn’t started yet on JNC, so it may be a while. For fans of beautiful girls covered in blood.

The Devil Princess, Vol. 3

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By Harunohi Biyori and Geso Umiu. Released in Japan as “Akuma Koujo” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Julie Goniwich. Adapted by Emlyn Dornemann.

One reason that this series works so well is that, no matter how dark or serious the climax of each volume gets, or how many corpses pile up, the start of each new book is mostly fun and often funny. Yulucia spends some time in this volume at the standard noble academy, and her quest to make friends, or at least interact normally with people, suffers from everything about her presence. There’s a great side story about a young girl who also has memories of a past life, and knows that this is a “dating sim”, and is there to game the system… and runs into Yulucia, after which she reforms and we never hear from her again. You can almost hear the sad trombone. Alas for people like the second prince, they are too important to vanish from the narrative, and the second half of this book gets substantially darker, as we learn why it’s a bad idea to poison the saint and use her body to summon God.

This volume, like the others, takes in a 2-3 year period in the life of Yulucia, who is dealing with normal light novel things like “I can’t understand why this tsundere guy keeps hanging around me it can’t be love it must be something else” while also doing things unique to this book, such as eating souls in order to gain power and trying to cultivate evil people, who have the most delicious souls to eat. She also runs into the “so-called hero’s party”, which not only contains her two sisters, but also an elf, whose name is unfortunately a Japanese pun and so she can’t stop laughing. In the back half, though, she’s invited by the evil rival to her mother to come visit, and please bring the prince along as well to visit her sickly daughter. And it turns out the mother’s soul is just what Yulucia likes.

Yulucia literally eating souls is pretty evil, of course, but I will admit to loving my favorite part of the book. Cordelia is the daughter of Isabella, the evil rival woman, and she’s been trained by her mother to be a standard jealous catty bitch… till she meets Yulucia and witnesses her doing super powerful healing magic, at which point she undergoes a conversion and decides to be the best “big sis” ever to Yulucia. The funny part is Yulucia’s reaction to this, as Cordelia’s yummy evil soul has now turned all good and yucky. This author really loves playing in the “rooting for the bad guy” sandbox, and while Yulucia is not quite on the level of Karla from Otome Heroine’s Guide to Survival, she’s still pretty bad. That said, it is notable that even when she’s become a mindless monster lashing out and killing all around her, she tries to avoid killing people close to her. She’s not completely evil.

Which, as it turns out, may be the plot leading into the fourth book, where she’s likely to reunite with the demon who made her what she is today. If you like dark comedy, with the emphasis on dark, this is a good one.

Sword of the Stallion, Vol. 2

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan as “Sword of Stallion: Taneuma to Yobareta Saikyou Kishi, Ringoku no Oujo wo Netore to Meijirareru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

Last time I said that this mecha fantasy might be meeting up with a villainess story, and this second volume leans right into that. Ras goes back to his country only to find that they’re immediately returning, as it turns out that Princess Tishna has an assassin that’s been hired to kill her. So they’re moving up their plans to try and cut this off at the past, all while dealing with their own internal politics – they attend an event that features the ex-fiancee of Auriol, the prince that Fiarca is currently impersonating, which is fun – and trying to figure out exactly what Tishna, a so-called Wicked Princess who acts selfishly and horribly but whose selfish actions always turn to be the right thing to do and uncover greater crimes – is up to. Oh yes, and she and Auriol – who is really Fiarca – are getting engaged. Given all this, it’s no wonder Ras has no time to deal with his increasingly poor reputation.

If you’re familiar with my reviewing style, and see that I put the summary of the volume before the cover art, you know spoilers are a-coming. Because I want to discuss my favorite part of the book, which examines the type of plot device that most “time loop” villainess stories use. Generally speaking, for the most part, the books rarely go into the mechanics of the loop itself beyond “stop dying” or “stop being evil” – the protagonist taking actions to prevent her (it’s always her) fate are what’s enough. The main part of this volume is no secret, as it’s discussed in the first few pages – Tishna has gone back in time and is redoing this life. This also explains why she’s being “wicked” in order to ferret out corruption. But she also plans, when she’s achieved her goal, to die. But… is her goal achieved? What evidence does she have that she won’t just wind up back in time again because she died? How much of a happy ending do you need? She can’t know, and thus they’re able to stop her.

Other than that, this is a perfectly decent book that is also not really exciting in any way. I’ve dealt with this author before in Strike the Blood, so I know how things are going to go. The fights are good, the interaction is solid, the characters are types. There’s never going to be anything here that will make you go “wow!” and punch the air. Likewise, you’re never going to go “ew” and put the volume down – even the so-called premise gets undercut at every turn so that we can be assured he’s not actually a sleaze. It is very much written to be adapted into an anime down the line. Whether that happens or not I don’t know – but this is just the sort of book to read on the beach, when you need something uncomplicated.

There’s a lot left up in the air at the end of this book, so I think when I tell you this book came out in 2023 in Japan and there’s no sign of a 3rd volume, you’re just going to be annoyed I made you read the review at all. Sorry! Tee-hee. (bonks head) We can just imagine that they solve everything and he ends up with multiple partners, just like Strike the Blood.

Spy Classroom: The High Plain of Sara

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By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

After the events of the last volume, which were dark but not as dark as the rest of the series, we’re back into pitch black with this volume, which does just about everything except kill one of the main cast off – and even that’s left up in the air at the end. It turns out, amazingly, that being a spy continues to be very hard! And that one of the few things harder than that is starting a revolution. Honestly, this particular book feels very relevant to our times right now in a way that I will try not to go into great detail about. Things aren’t helped by the fact that we’re down a good two-thirds of our regular cast. The team split up to do their big job at the end of the 9th volume, and it’s now over a year later, and they’re still split. Which is good news if you’re a fan of Sara, of course, as well as Erna and Annette, but fans of other girls will have to be patient.

The book consists of one main plotline interrupted by a subplot that happened before the start of it. The main plotline continues the adventures of Erna and Annette that we saw at the end of Volume 9, as they try to incite a revolution among the people, infiltrating an underground organization, investigating a very suspicious mine explosion, and trying their best to avoid getting noticed by Nike, who is the country’s top spy, and would absolutely destroy them. Oh yes, and Erna also has the added problem of Annette, who has basically resolved that she’s just going to get more and more evil as time goes on, and eventually will not be able to be held back. The subplot involved Sara, who objects to Klaus’ plan – not splitting everyone up, but pairing Erna and Annette, which she regards as a bad balance. Klaus takes the opportunity to show Sara how far ideals go in the spy world.

This is technically Sara’s book, despite the fact that the bulk of it is pretty much Erna’s show. I feel very bad for Erna, who after weaponizing her woobiefication finds that being a woobie is something that can happen whether she wants it to or not. By the end of this book she’s a wreck, but I’m sure she’ll get more opportunities for cool things later. Sara, probably not so much. Now, I am not so naive as to think that the author is going to kill off one of its more popular characters. I do, however, think Sara will probably sit the rest of this arc out. Which is fine, as this was a really killer performance by her. The theme of “you are a very competent spy but still about 5000 times less competent than everyone else” is a hard lesson to take in when you are trying to ensure everyone survives and lives happily every after, and it’s very Sara that she accepts the lesson and then decides to be an idealist to the end anyway. It’s no wonder that “big sis” Sybilla says about Sara, “She’s such a mom.”

By now you know what I’m going to say: next is a short story collection? Yup. Still, good start to this arc, which reminds you how difficult it can be to make folks understand who are the right people to hate.

Manga the Week of 3/18/26

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SEAN: Ask your doctor whether manga is right for you. Do not read manga while operating heavy machinery.

ASH: This is good advice. Don’t ask me how I know.

MICHELLE: Oh, dear.

SEAN: ABLAZE has Neo Faust, Tezuka’s third attempt at the Faust story, which ran in Asahi Shimbun and which he was working on when he died.

ASH: I’m glad that Tezuka has found a new home in English.

ANNA: Indeed!

SEAN: Airship has a print debut. Magic Maker: How to Create Magic in Another World (Magic Maker: Isekai Mahou no Tsukurikata) is an ongoing light novel in the genre of “I am reincarnated into a fantasy world and proceed to revolutionize it as a young child because I am so amazing”.

There’s also The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain 7 and I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class 2.

Digitally we see Though I Am an Inept Villainess 10, Too Many Losing Heroines! 7, and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 12.

Ghost Ship gives us The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 17 and Parallel Paradise 25.

ASH: I still really, really, really, really, REALLY need to get around to reading Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love. I’m such a delinquent. And have no time. Which is only a construct, but still feels very real.

SEAN: Ize Press has Marriage of Convenience 3 and Solo Leveling 15 (Side Stories 2).

One debut for J-Novel Club. The Villainess Speaks Not (Akuyaku Reijou wa Shaberimasen) has a woman wake up in the body of the villainess again. This time, not only is she threatened by assassins and political rivals (she’s six, by the way), but a sickness has led her unable to speak, so she can’t use magic or even call for help. As it turns out, though, when you’re reincarnated and also know that you don’t have to speak to use magic, you can accomplish a lot.

ASH: That’s good, because that’s a lot to deal with.

SEAN: Also out next week in light novels: The Accursed Chef and His Pair of Furry Foodies 3 (the final volume), Black Summoner 22, Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- 8, Even Exiled, She’s Still the Beloved Saint! 2, Reforming an Icy Final Boss 2, The Tiny Witch from the Deep Woods 3, and The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman 4 (part 1).

On the manga end, we get The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom 7 and This Alluring Dark Elf Has the Heart of a Middle-Aged Man! 2.

Kodansha Manga debuts Omori, an Afternoon series that stars a) a young shut-in whose sister died, now starting to leave house again, and b) The same shut-in’s dream world self, who joins up with friends to try to find the missing member of their group. This is one of those “please ignore my bad description and just read it” titles.

ASH: Omocat has been on my radar for quite some time, so I’m definitely interested in this one, no matter how it’s described.

MICHELLE: Hm. I do like the ‘find the missing member’ angle.

ANNA: Sounds interesting!

SEAN: There’s also The Drops of God 3, The Ghost in the Shell: The Human Algorithm 8, Ninja Vs. Gokudo 12, Parasyte Paperback Collection 4, Re:Anima 4 (the final volume), Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement 14, and Witch Hat Atelier 14.

ASH: Oh! Always good to see a new volume of Witch Hat Atelier. Although I am now faced with a dilemma considering the gorgeous deluxe grimoire edition of the series will be debuting in May.

ANNA: Oh, man why do there have to be fancy deluxe editions too?????

SEAN: For digital we get Blue Lock 36, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 32, I Have a Crush at Work 13, and Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 20.

One Peace Books has a 7th volume of Tales of the Tendo Family.

Seven Seas has one danmei, After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine 2.

Their manhwa debut is Our Sunny Days, a webtoon BL series about a man whose ex left their child with him and scampered, Now he’s moved to a village to start over. Can the village head be of help? Can the village head remind us this is BL? Both are likely.

ASH: Excellent.

SEAN: Tonight, I Have a Date with a Serial Killer (Konya no Serial Killer to Machiawase) is a good! Afternoon series about a psychic woman who is brought in to try to stop the titular killer. Well, OK, I suspect it’s about the guy, a cop whose fiancée was a victim of the killer.

ASH: Seems like a good guess.

MICHELLE: Hm, again. Another potentially intriguing seinen offering.

SEAN: We also see A Certain Scientific Railgun 12, Chainsmoker Cat 2, Crossplay Love: Otaku x Punk 14, Dysfunctional Family Theory 2 (the final volume), I’m in Love with the Older Girl Next Door 4 (the final volume), Kemono Jihen 20, Lazy Dungeon Master 12, My Cute Cousin Always Gets Her Way 2, A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof 2, and Succubus and Hitman 10.

Square Enix has the 15th volume of The Apothecary Diaries manga. (You know, the Square Enix one, as opposed to the one Viz just announced. That’s going to be a pain.)

ASH: I’m not going to complain about more of The Apothecary Diaries, but it’s going to be interesting to see how this goes.

SEAN: Steamship has a 4th and final volume of Seduced by the Demon King: A Sensual Rebirth.

Tokyopop debuts Stan By Me (Kowamote-kun to Oshikatsu), a BL oneshot from Chara Selection. Two fans of an idol group agree to meet in real life… but one has a scary yakuza-type face!

ANNA: Will they overcome this??????

SEAN: And there’s also a 3rd volume of Eternal Covenant.

Viz Media debuts Sakamoto Holidays, a one-shot comedy spinoff of the popular Jump manga.

Also from Viz: After God 9, Dogsred 5, Fool Night 8, Haikyu!! 3-in-1 8, Kaiju No. 8 15, Kingdom 5, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 12, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 25, Sakamoto Days 21, Trillion Game 10, and Undead Unluck 24.

Yen On just has Magical Explorer 11.

What are you getting next week, assuming that you can read manga without a prescription?

To the Monster I Love, Vol. 1

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By ryunosuke and Gesoking. Released in Japan as “Bakemono no Kimi ni Tsugu” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Laura Sitzer.

I was on the fence about picking this series up, as let’s face it, I read way too many light novels, and the first I heard about it was hearing complaints about the way the title is translated. (My Japanese is not good enough to go into what it should or shouldn’t be, but the title as chosen certainly can fit the book.) As it turns out, I enjoyed this a great deal. It may be a tad grimmer than I expected, with a high body count overall, but none of those deaths are in the main cast. Instead, the main cast are defined by basically being really sweet – almost ridiculously so at times. The series is about solving crimes, but at the end of the day it’s also about a man who is in love with four women, and they love him, and while the women may not be happy with each other, they’re very happy with what they have now. Also, unlike a lot of “contest winners”, this feels like the start of a series.

We open on an interrogation, as a frankly far too manic researcher has a young man tied to a chair, and wants to ask him questions about his actions of the last month. As it turns out, Norman, the tied-up young man, acts as a detective/detective’s assistant/minder/lover to four different girls, all of whom are designated Unlaw by this city – Unlaw meaning essentially they have magical powers. We hear about how he and Shizuku, a stoic musician, solve a gruesome society murder. About how he and Eltiel, a huge and loyal blonde woman, investigate a depressing string of murders in the slums. About how he and Lonsday, a brilliant but easily bored detective, look into a “phantom thief” stealing from a museum. And about how he and Clareth, a schoolgirl, are lured into a trap involving a train car full of corpses. Is Normal really just a protagonist in a light novel? Or is it something more sinister?

I had expected Normal to be the weak link, as frankly he’s mostly a blank space that the women project themselves on to. But as we find out, that’s on purpose, and I appreciated the fact that his love for the four girls wasn’t to keep them in line, or because that’s the best way to use them, but because he really does love them all as humans, not Unlaw. The girls are, let’s face it, all types set to appeal to a light novel reader in general and a Dengeki Bunko competition judge in particular. Eltiel in particular hits about 5 or 6 buttons alone with her backstory, powers, and appearance. (She’s also the nicest of the four, although that’s by design given the type of “monster” she is.) The final scene also has a really good battle between not-so-blank Norman and the villain, and shows that deep down, the man is a sweetie pie. Though admittedly a sweetie pie who will not hesitate to kill a lot of folks to protect his loved ones.

In the end, they’re all rewarded with a detective agency, which means that the girls may have to – shock, horror – interact more in Book Two. If you like supernatural mystery books, and don’t mind that it feels like a book written to be an anime rather than a light novel, this is quite well done.