Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Blog

Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire, Vol. 6

by

By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

Several characters over the course of this series have noted an odd disconnect between Inglis and, well, everything she says or does. We, the reader, know the reason for this, i.e. she’s a reincarnation of an ancient King. Of course, that’s not entirely the explanation, because the previous King was honestly nothing like Inglis – this seems to be that King unfiltered, with “fight fight fight eat eat eat” as their main theme song. Sometimes, though, this disconnect ends up happening to the reader as well, because some of the events in this volume feel like straight up horror, or tragedy, but they’re not written that way at all. They’re written the Inglis way. Which is to say “Aw, shame that happened, anyway, next battle plz”. And the effect can be jarring. I already have tremendous trouble with remembering anyone in this series who is not Inglis or Rafinha, I need my books to be uncomplicated. And what happens here… is, but that’s the problem.

To sum up this entire volume: “what if Smaug was a woobie?”. Inglis and the others have found an ancient sleeping dragon, but it’s hard to wake him up, so they decide instead to cut off his tail and use it to feel the starving people of that area (well, and feed Inglis and Rafinha, who gets first shot). The tail grows back, so no issues there. Finally the dragon does wake up, and he’s really, really pissed off at Inglis. Sadly for him, Inglis not only really wants a good fight, but is good enough to back up her talk. What follows is almost bullying, and it’s only resolved when the dragon finally decides “why am I bothering?” and stops rising to her taunts. That said, Inglis may have a bigger problem… the folks in the town they’re staying in want to execute Pullum for her brother’s crimes.

As I said, I liked the dragon. He was clearly being led by the nose by Inglis, and his solution to the problem was funny. Even the cast thinks that her plan was “become friends with the dragon”. That’s why the sudden ending of that plotline left such a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like it should be terrifying, sad and awful, but this author cannot really seem to do convey that mood, so it comes out, as most things in this series do, as “OK, so that happened”. Similarly, Ian’s story, which is similar to what happens to the dragon’s, comes to a sudden fatal end here, but there’s no real time for any emotions or grieving because we’ve already moved on to the next crisis. I get that they’re at war, but it’s not letting the reader connect with any of this either, and the result is that we don’t care.

This is still a good book if you like meathead girls who love to fight. But it’s very, very shallow.

Pick of the Week: Poe Clan Supremacy

by , , , , and Leave a Comment

KATE: At the risk of being super-predictable, I cast my vote for the second volume of The Poe Clan. I mean… c’mon. It’s MOTO HAGIO for Pete’s sake, and Moto Hagio in peak form. Nobody brings the drama like Hagio, or makes looks being miserable look so beautiful. BRING. IT. ON.

SEAN: Yup. While I will admit Spy x Family is probably what I’ll read first, The Poe Clan is clearly the stellar release of the week.

ANNA: Poe Clan! – I’m glad the second volume is being released!

MICHELLE: Who am I to go against Moto Hagio? (Those tournament arcs, though…)

ASH: There are quite a few intriguing manga being released this week, but, yeah, The Poe Clan is absolutely my pick, too.

MJ: I mean. What Kate said.

Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 3

by

By Shoji Goji and Saku Enomaru. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Eric Margolis. Adapted by Veles Svitlychny.

Increasingly reading Haruka’s narration in Loner Life is sort of like trying to solve a puzzle. Class Rep actually lays it out for us midway through the book: Haruka simply is incapable of seeing anyone’s actions except in the absolute worst way – and that includes his own. It’s especially true of him, in fact, because – with the exception of Angelica, who he has a very different kind of relationship with – he does not want to have anyone get too close to him or even like him all that much. For all that he complains about constantly getting lectured or having no money, it’s a situation he deliberately engineers himself. And I hate to break it to him, but the ship has definitely sailed with some of the girls – Class Rep, if no one else, certainly has feelings for him. But it gets to the point where even a spy sent to see what Haruka is like gets the absolute worst impression of him… at least till everything blows up.

After getting back from the Ultimate Dungeon, Angelica in tow, Haruka and his friends now have to go around trying to clear out all the other, lesser dungeons that lie around their town. Haruka’s casual, vicious approach to this makes everyone feel incredibly sorry for the monsters who just happened to be in his way. That said, he’s also casually doing things like saving the livelihoods of a dying hamlet by getting rid of the dungeon (and also giving them medicine and food, something he fails to mention in his tortured narration) or converting the general store in town into a 5-story department store with the latest fashions (also created by him, which prompts the girls to wonder when exactly he read so much about fashion). But when the “Stalker Girl”, aka spy, arrives from the noble city that financially cripples their town, it’s Haruka who sees the larger picture as to what’s going on.

It’s not quite as jaw-dropping as the speech from When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace, but Haruka’s breakdown near the end of this book is startling in how (seemingly) out of character it is, as for once he briefly breaks his facade to try to convince the girls that they’re all in serious trouble here. The corrupt lord ruling the area is not above sending soldiers to wipe them out, and he’s also certainly going to kill the spy once she gets back and delivers her report. He spent the entire time he was dungeon crawling with the spy at his absolute trashiest and worst in order that she could go back and say that he’s not worth caring about, but when this didn’t work he finally snaps and has to fix things. Class Rep and the others get it, even if Haruka doesn’t want them to – she says he and Angelica “destroy tragedies”, and that’s as good a description as any.

One last thing: yes, this is the one with the vibration magic. Between that and Haruka’s “nighttime activities” with Angelica, the light novels are 200% hornier than the manga equivalent. The manga is still probably a safer bet, but the light novels remain a fascinating but flawed experience.

Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke, Vol. 1

by

By Ichibu Saki, Nemusuke, and Ushio Shirotori. Released in Japan as “Moto, Ochikobore Koushaku Reijou desu” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Andrew Schubauer.

The idea of the “twist ending” has gotten a bit of a bad rap in recent years. This can mostly be blamed on the films of M. Night Shyamalan, whose films got to the point where the real twist ending would be that there wasn’t a twist. There’s always the danger of alienating your audience as well – to quote Futurama, “it’s not ironic, it’s just mean!”. When done properly, though, a good twist ending can cause a person to immediately go back and look at the entire plot all over again. And, in a case like Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke, it can cause you to want to get the next book in the series. I won’t lie, this felt very much like a “villainess by numbers” storyline. Claire is more a rival than a villainess, but every single plot point in this book is predictable and right on the beat. At least, until everything turns out bad.

This book hits the ground running, picking up right as our protagonist, Claire, is rejected by her fiance, sister, and family. She quickly realizes that staying in her kingdom will do her no good at all, so resolves to escape to a nearby abbey. That said, it’s hard to escape when you’re the daughter of a duke and you have retainers that go with you everywhere. Then she runs into a young man and his group of friends, who help her ditch the retainers and offer to take her to their nearby country – which is much better off than the one she just came from. Oh, and said young man is really the prince of said country. Plus, the pitiful amount of magic she thought she had turns out to have been a massive trap. She’s really ludicrously powerful. So far so boring. But… why does she keep waking up in Japan? Is this a game? Is this a secret hidden route of the game?

Let’s start with that last part, because after a number of books where the “villainess” dies in every route, it’s refreshing to see this is the one bad route for Claire in the game. The player character, Charlotte, has a normal amount of routes and friends, and is helped by her older sister and NPC Claire, who is set to marry the prince. But if you play the secret hidden route, where you do something truly nasty to destroy Claire’s life in many ways, you get the chance to win the heart of the prince for yourself. That fits with the portrayal of Charlotte in this volume – she’s astonishingly stupid and petty, as befits a side route that was only added later for extra content, and where not as much thought was required. And then there’s the ending, which made me wonder what in God’s name the series was really going to be about. Nicely done.

That said, you’ll have to plow through a lot of “pleasant but predictable and a bit boring” to get to the good bits. it’s worth it, though.

The Manga Review, 9/16/22

by 1 Comment

In an essay for The Nation, author Viken Berberian explains how manga became one of the world’s favorite forms of entertainment. He notes that in 2021, “manga made up 76.1 percent of overall graphic novel sales in the adult fiction category in the United States,” and almost a quarter of the overall French book market. And while I might quibble with some of his historical points–Moto Hagio is clearly a pioneer, but not “the mother of shojo manga”–my bigger concern about the article is tone. There’s a strong undercurrent of condescension in his prose, as he bemoans the fact his tweenage sons would rather read Jujutsu Kaisen than The Metamorphosis, and reassures the reader that “the hegemony of manga” has not “come at the expense of highbrow comics that wrestle with thorny autobiographical and political issues.” Though he ultimately acknowledges the power of manga to tell compelling stories, his praise for Shigeru Mizuki’s Onwards Toward Our Noble Deaths feels tepid at best. Caveat lector!

NEWS

Conceptual artist Ilan Manouach just unveiled his latest project: a limited edition “book” that collects all 21,450 pages of One Piece. The press release for ONEPIECE suggests the work will encourage “artists to think [about] comics in different scales and temporalities,” though they’ll need a cool $2,000 to acquire their own copy. [The Beat]

In licensing news, Yen Press will be releasing Mokumokuren’s horror series The Summer Hikaru Died. No release date has been announced. [Anime News Network]

Also making licensing news is Seven Seas, which added My New Life as a Cat, Cinderella Closet, and Soloist in a Cage to its spring 2023 line-up. [Seven Seas]

If you’re planning to attend NYCC this year, bring a mask. [ICv2]

Brigid Alverson sifts through the August 2022 NPD Bookscan numbers, and observes that “the manga chart is very driven by new releases, much more so than the others, and you can see it here with the newest volume of Jujutsu Kaisen at the top. Altogether there are eight August 2022 releases on the chart, all new volumes in ongoing series, plus a handful of first and second volumes.” [ICv2]

FEATURES, PODCASTS, AND INTERVIEWS

Scholar Eike Exner, author of Comics and the Origins of Manga: A Revisionist History, offers a thoughtful re-appraisal of the Euro-American influence on manga. “Comics historiography is plagued by two fundamental misunderstandings regarding the history and nature of the medium,” he argues. “The first is the notion that comics in different countries are best understood through the lens of the nation, as the offspring of individual national traditions. The second is the idea that comics are the result of a gradual ‘integration of text and image’ culminating in the combination of both in a single image space (the panel).” [The Comics Journal]

Cami traces the development of Italy’s small but dedicated BL fandom. [Anime Herald]

Here’s something with licensing potential: EVOL, “an anti-superhero book that is definitely reminiscent of The Boys,” with “fast and bold” pacing “like an action-packed capes comic, but coming from the other side of the equation.” [Brain vs. Book]

In the latest episode of Shojo & Tell, Ashley and Asher tackle one of CLAMP’s most controversial series: Chobits. [Shojo & Tell]

One of the most talked-about pieces of the week was Colleen’s “Misogyny in the Manga Community,” which delves into the long history of sexism in manga fandom:

Yui Kashima interviews Fumi Yoshinaga about how she got started in comics. “I think it was when I was in my third year of college,” Yoshinaga recalls. “A friend recommended me to read SLAM DUNK, and when I saw Kogure and Mitsui, I just came up with the idea of making their story (laugh). I couldn’t stay away from that idea and decided to publish a doujinshi.” And the rest, as they say, is history. [Tokion]

REVIEWS

In this week’s must-read reviews, Erica Friedman and Johanna Draper Carlson explain why you should be reading Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. “The dialogue is simple, the scenarios are wholly about experiencing and feeling,” Friedman notes. “There is no plot here. Just have a seat and a cup of coffee and watch the grass. At the end of the world, that’s all that’s left, anyway.” Draper Carlson expresses similar sentiments: “The appeal of this series is twofold: lovely art and an acceptance of the joy of existence… It’s very Japanese in tone, but it also evokes Walden: the idea that a return to nature is soul-cleansing, and that small, everyday events are worth capturing.”

You’ll also find brief reviews at Women Write About Comics, where Masha Zhdanova critiques three new releases from VIZ, and at Beneath the Tangles, where the gang reviews a mixture of new and ongoing titles.

New and Noteworthy

Ongoing and Complete Series

Manga the Week of 9/21/22

by , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: OK, now it’s the first week of Autumn, and there’s even rain! A good week to read some manga!

ASH: Truly!

SEAN: Airship starts us off with print titles. The 2nd volume of Classroom of the Elite: Year 2, Monster Girl Doctor 9, and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 5.

And their early digital titles are Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 5 and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 6.

ASH: A mercenary sort of week, it seems.

SEAN: After a 3-year wait, Fantagraphics finally gives us the 2nd and final omnibus of The Poe Clan.

MICHELLE: Just in time for spooky season.

ANNA: I still need to read the first volume of The Poe Clan, but I own it. Maybe I’ll do a Poe Clan binge for spooky season.

ASH: So glad to see this coming out!

MJ: Yes!

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us DARLING in the FRANXX 5-6.

There’s two new J-Novel Club light novel series. The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom (Horobi no Kuni no Seifukusha – Maou wa Sekai wo Seifuku suru you desu). A man dies and is reincarnated in another world. He has a loving family, a promising future, etc. But… he knows that eventually bad things are going to happen. Now he has to figure out how to fix it.

DUNGEON DIVE: Aim for the Deepest Level (Isekai Meikyuu no Saishinbu o Mezasou) is our other debut. For once our kid who wakes up in a fantasy dungeon is desperate to get back home… because he has an ailing sister in Japan to care for. His only chance is to reach the very bottom, where the rumor is any wish can be granted.

ASH: Both of those may have potentially interesting twists on the genre.

SEAN: Also coming out: Black Summoner 10, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 21, The Misfit of Demon King Academy 2, Record of Wortenia War 16, and Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! 7.

Kodansha Comics has precisely one print volume, and it is Blue Period 9.

The digital debut is Gamaran, a Weekly Shonen Magazine title from about 12 years ago that ran for 22 volumes, followed by an ongoing sequel. It’s a martial arts series, so any plot description will be secondary to TOURNAMENT ARCS!.

MICHELLE: Man, I am weak against tournament arcs!

MJ: Honestly, so am I…

SEAN: Also out next week: The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage 5, Anyway, I’m Falling in Love With You 4, Blue Lock 15, Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me 7, The Dawn of the Witch 5, Golden Gold 4, Hella Chill Monsters 3 (the final volume), Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 10, Mr. Bride 6, A Serenade for Pretend Lovers 4, Shaman King Marcos 4, She, Her Camera, and Her Seasons 2, The Untouchable Midori-kun 2, and We’re New at This 11.

MICHELLE: I am a recent and enthusiastic convert to Blue Lock, so I’m happy I now have thirteen volumes to marathon digitally.

ANNA: Woo!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Anti-Romance, a BL title from Gentosha’s Rutile about two young men who’ve lived together for six years but are not quite more than friends. This is from the creator of Blue Morning. Seven Seas’s edition has extra material.

MICHELLE: Blue Morning was great, so I’m looking forward to this.

ASH: Same! I’ve enjoyed every Shoko Hidaka manga that I’ve read so far.

MJ: So here for this.

SEAN: His Majesty the Demon King’s Housekeeper (Maou Heika no Osoji Gakari) is from Akita Shoten’s Princess, a magazine I am very happy to see licenses from again. A girl with cleaning magic is transported to another world under an anti-cleaning curse! This sure sounds like shoujo, all right. Hopefully we’ll see more than just housekeeping.

ANNA: I enjoy shoujo and demons!

ASH: It’s frequently a good combination.

SEAN: And then there’s more BL, as we also get Monotone Blue, a one-shot from Be x Boy GOLD. This is from the creator of The Girl from the Other Side, and is a high school romance between a cat and a lizard. Well, OK, a catboy and a lizardboy.

MICHELLE: Huh.

ANNA: OK, tentatively here for this.

ASH: I do tend to like Nagabe’s manga, so I plan on picking it up.

MJ: Um. Yes.

SEAN: In continuing volumes, we get She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 6.

Tokyopop finally updated its website, so I can tell you that we see the third volume of Mame Coordinate.

Viz debuts the print edition of Look Back, from the creator of Chainsaw Man. When this came out digitally, everyone I know read it and loved it. It’s about drawing manga, but be warned: the word “poignant” applies here.

ANNA: Poignant and from the creator of Chainsaw Man sounds like quite the combination.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Alice in Borderland 3, BEASTARS 20, Crazy Food Truck 2, Golden Kamuy 27, Hayate the Combat Butler 40, Maison Ikkoku: Collector’s Edition 9, Seraph of the End 25, and Spy x Family 8.

MICHELLE: Gotta get caught up with Spy x Family.

ANNA: Me too. My household loves the anime.

ASH: So far, I’ve really been enjoying that series.

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: Three titles from Yen On: Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin 4, The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess 2, and Sword Art Online 25.

Lastly, there’s Yen Press. The debut is Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, the manga adaptation of the novel (and movie). This is complete in one omnibus.

Also coming out: the 11th and final volume of Shibuya Goldfish, Solo Leveling 5, Tales of Wedding Rings 11, and The Wolf Never Sleeps 2.

This seems more like a normal week of manga. What are you getting?

Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade, Vol. 1

by

By Maito Ayamine and Cierra. Released in Japan as “Shinigami ni Sodaterareta Shoujo wa Shikkoku no Tsurugi wo Mune ni Idaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sylvia Gallagher.

It has become very common in novels these days, be they Japanese or no, to have something that is basically “I want to write my kind of book, but it won’t sell unless I give it the current popular gimmick”. So we get isekai economic policy books, and isekai military history books, and villainess fantasy magic battle books. Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade sort of falls into that category, though the genre it’s using – generally referred to as “raised by wolves” – isn’t hugely popular. The idea is that you have a protagonist who was raised by something so outside of normal humanity that they grow up to be very weird. Technically Faraway Paladin should have been this, if he hadn’t basically grown up to be Superman. But Olivia in Death’s Daughter definitely qualifies. She is described more than once as lacking in manners and common sense. But boy, she can kill people really, really well.

Three shinigami discover a baby outside of an abandoned temple, and rather than eat the baby’s delicious soul, one of them decides to try raising them as a child. Olivia gets fifteen years of combat practice, history lessons, and not much else. Then one day her mentor simply vanishes without a trace, and she goes off to look for him. Meanwhile, the Empire is battling the Kingdom, and the Empire is winning. For some reason, while searching for her shinigami dad, she decides to join the Kingdom as a soldier, something she does by going to the nearest Empire stronghold, decapitating everyone, and presenting their heads to the general. This is good enough for them, and now we watch Olivia tear her way through enemies, befriend nerdy guys who have a good eye for tactics, and try to learn what it’s like to be human.

To be honest, that last part doesn’t happen very much. The biggest flaw in this book is that Olivia does not really develop all that much as a character. Sure, she’s introduced to the wonders of soft bread and cakes, but she still does not understand how humans think, and mostly does not bother to try. I did appreciate that her aide (and oh boy, there’s an OT3 there I’d love to see but will not) is able to get her to dress up and perform basic award etiquette, but that’s about all we get. (Also, be warned, there’s a “the chest is too tight/the hips are too loose” gag here. I thought those were banned by the Geneva Convention?) The bulk of the book, though, it military combat, with the Empire gradually realizing that the tide is now turning against them, thanks entirely to the presence of Olivia cutting down most of their important generals.

This is the sort of series where I know development will be slow in coming, so I’m willing to give it more time. Olivia is fun, and I also liked Ashton and Claudia. Recommended only if you like military histories and don’t mind a lot of battle carnage, though.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 17

by

By Fujino Omori and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The term ‘gaslighting’ has gotten so overused lately that I hesitate these days to mention it in a review. But, I mean, the definition of gaslighting is ‘manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity’, and that’s exactly what’s happening for most of this 17th volume of DanMachi, so… there we are. I expected this volume to be really dark, and indeed it was, with the first half of the book in particular being nothing but punches to the gut over and over again. But that’s something this author specializes in, and for once we don’t have to worry about the turnaround and hope spots coming in the next volume. No, this is not the end of the arc, but at least this book is allowed to come to a definite emotional conclusion, as Freya plays her last desperate card and ends up losing. Now it’s just a question of what’s going to happen to her… assuming that her Familia don’t just murder everyone.

After Syr is rejected by Bell at the end of the last book, Freya finally snaps. Hestia’s family is taken out in approximately two seconds, and Freya basically tells Hestia “give me Bell”. Hestia refuses, and Hermes reminds Freya of a rule that shows off to the reader the ludicrous timescale of this entire series. As a result, Freya decides to go all out and brainwash ALL OF ORARIO, including the Gods, into thinking Bell has always been with Freya Familia. The exceptions to this are a) Freya herself, b) Bell, who rapidly loses his mind when everyone seems to recognize him as someone else, c) Hestia, who fired off all her divine power at once to avoid this, and d) Asfi and Lyu, who were able to escape the city in time. Now Hestia has to figure out a way to stop this before bell finally breaks and accepts that he’s under a memory “curse”.

I joked on Twitter that Books 1-10 supposedly starred Hestia, but really starred Aiz, and that Books 11-20 were the same but with Lyu. Hestia has been Bell’s goddess, but as a character she’s always played a supporting role in the series, and sometimes barely shows up. Thus it’s nice to see her actually managing to save the day, and her entrance at the end is appropriately awesome. That said, once again the thing that saved Bell from cracking and giving in is not Hestia, or any of the other women in love with him, but Aiz. All of the women with strong attachments to Bell are less affected by Freya’s mind control (and bravo to Eina, who gets a great scene of defiance before she’s beaten down by EVEN MORE MIND CONTROL), but it’s seeing that Aiz is able to remember a different past with Bell, one where she trained him, that gives him hope and strength. All the other female leads are still chasing after her.

And so we’re ready for another War Game, with Freya Familiia vs… well, possibly everyone else, though I suspect the rules will winnow down the opposing team a bit. Still it, should be great fun to read whenever it comes out. It’s still not out in Japan. But this was an excellent psychological torture volume with a pump your fist ending.

Pick of the Week: Heroine Addiction

by , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: Despite the fact that I suspect this will be one of THOSE types of shoujo stories (see also: Hot Gimmick and its ilk), I cannot resist those big eyes staring at me… well, eye… and so I will make No Longer Heroine my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I am less lured in by No Longer Heroine itself than by the fact that it ran in a Margaret spinoff and I typically like Margaret shoujo. So, I’ll pick it too and we shall see!

KATE: There isn’t much on this week’s manga list that says, “Buy me!”, so I’m choosing another new arrival as my Pick of the Week: Jordi Lafebre’s Always Never, which chronicles a forty-year love story… in reverse. The artwork looks lovely, and the characters are my age (at least at the start of the book), which is a refreshing change of pace from high school angst and office lady romance.

ASH: Oh, that looks good, Kate! And like Sean and Michelle, I’m at least vaguely curious about No Longer Heroine. But since this is probably the last time we’ll see a final release for A Silent Voice, I’m making the second volume of the collector’s edition my pick. The series isn’t always an easy read due to the weight of it’s subject matter, but it is a consistently compelling and excellent one.

ANNA: I’m going to join with the general curiosity for No Longer Heroine!

Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower, Vol. 7

by

By Miri Mikawa and Kasumi Nagi. Released in Japan as “Ikka Kōkyū Ryōrichō” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hunter Prigg.

I’m starting to get the feeling that the consummation that keeps getting put off between Rimi and Shohi is never actually going to happen. Leaving aside the fact that Rimi still thinks of herself as a mom more than a lover to him, there’s also the fact that the Chancellor exists. There are other aides in this book as well, and some of them like Rimi and some of them dislike Rimi, but they all seem to see Rimi as, well, as a real human being. The Chancellor, on the other hand, regards Rimi as this sort of otherworldly poisonous creature whose mere presence destroys the Emperor and everyone around him. Leaving aside the fact that there’s a name for that and it’s called “being the protagonist”, it does mean that Rimi is going to find becoming Empress very hard to do. We already knew that, of course, but it’s getting even harder, especially with the arrival of an even bigger rival than the Four Consorts: a better political marriage match.

Rimi is delighted to hear that the court will be seeing the return of Shar, ambassador from Saisakoku. Things get less delightful when the delegation also has an extra person, Princess Aisha. The princess is gorgeous, and is clearly there to deepen ties between the two countries. What’s more, the best way to do this would be to move Rimi quietly to the side and let Aisha be impress. It’s the sensible thing to do. That said, Shohi is reluctant, not just because he loves Rimi, but also because the young princess is a little hellraiser, running around the court like a bull in a china shop and taking very badly to any attempt to criticize her. When things finally blow up to the point that the princess runs away, Rimi and company need all the allies they can get to find her. Even if that means seeing Shusei again.

This series is mostly a romantic thriller, but I do appreciate that in every book there’s always one scene which is hysterically funny, and here it’s right in the center, with Princess Aisha showing off to the four consorts in a way that is both jaw-dropping and also makes you want to find a ball to see if she can balance it on her nose. The best part of the book is Rimi and Aisha’s relationship, as, even though she knows that Aisha is there to destroy everything Rimi has done up till now, she can’t help but try to make things better because she’s that sort of person. (She does, this, of course, with a meal, in case you’d forgotten what book you’re reading.) Shohi too continues to develop and grow into his Emperor title. If it weren’t for the Chancellor, there would be very little getting in the way of their union.

Sadly, there is the Chancellor, and another vicious cliffhanger. We’ll have to wait till next time to resolve it, but I remain addicted to this series… so much so that I look forward to Sugar Apple Fairy Tale in a few weeks from Yen On, by the same author.