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Pick of the Week: Spriggan Into Action

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SEAN: It’s a super quiet week for stuff, and I’m not attracted to the debuts this week, so I’ll pick the 2nd volume of Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash, whose first novel I enjoyed far more than I expected to.

KATE: I sincerely hope Spriggan is as deliriously silly as its Wikipedia entry, because it sounds like it’s totally up my alley.

MICHELLE: I’m not especially excited for the debuts either, but there’s a pair of second volumes I’ve been eagerly anticipating! Blue Lock is very good, but Lost Lad London is excellent, making that my official pick for this week.

ASH: I’ll be joining Kate this week in picking Spriggan. I do like seeing these older, previously unfinished-in-English manga series having their licenses rescued. (And it does seem like a series I might enjoy.)

ANNA: I’ll make Lovesick Ellie 5 my pick for the week, it is consistently hilarious.

Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 1

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By Matsuri Isora and Nanna Fujimi. Released in Japan as “Silent Witch” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

A book can get away with a lot if it has a really strong main character. With that already in the bag, you can feel free to set a book at a university filled with arrogant nobles and petty bullying without worrying about the audience going “oh no, AGAIN?”. You can afford to make your love interest a sort of generic nice Prince dude who only gets vaguely interesting in the final page of the volume. You can even afford to make your book, a mystery, have an incredibly obvious villain, making the denouement a bit flat. You can do this because your main character is why everyone is going to be reading more of this. And Silent Witch (Yen On added the Secrets part, possibly to avoid a copyrighted title) is one of those series. Monica is terribly shy, terrible powerful, and most importantly terribly easy to love as a protagonist. We want to see her succeed, we want to see her very, very slowly get better at simple communication, and we want to see her kick eight kinds of ass.

Monica Everett is one of the Seven Sages, mages so powerful that they can take out a black dragon capable of destroying cities all by themselves. Unfortunately, she brings new meaning to the word “introverted”, so she normally holes up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with only her familiar Nero for company. Then one day another of the Sages arrives and blackmails… sorry, asks Monica to help him with a task. She’s to go to Serendia Academy to be a bodyguard/minder for Prince Felix, who is currently part of a faction war regarding who will inherit the throne. The idea of going back to school (she already went to magic academy) and having to deal with people every day fills Monica with horror. But it’s probably a good thing that she’s there, as the problems at school don’t just involve magic, they involve math. Which is Monica’s other specialty.

Monica is wonderful. Prince Felix compares her multiple times to a squirrel, and you can see why. She tends to be a wreck around people, and essentially is the Silent Witch because speaking incantations out loud would be too difficult for her. But put her in front of anything to do with math or magical circles and she flips on a dime, becoming laser focused and determined to the point where you could hit her in the face with a fan and she would barely react. (Admittedly, part of that is that she doesn’t want to deal with whoever would be hitting her in the face with a fan.) I also loved Isabella, part of Monica’s cover story, who gets to play the villainous ojou-sama who bullies Monica at school and is SO HYPED, having read a ton of villainess books to bone up on this. The rest of the cast are also fun, and I look forward to Monica slowly winning them over in future books.

I think everything in this series will depend on how long Monica can keep her true identity as the Silent Witch a secret. Because I think if that gets out, several big things will happen at once. But till then, I am delighted to watch this math squirrel run through the academy of arrogant noble jerks in search of cookies and places with no other people.

The Holy Grail of Eris, Vol. 2

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By Kujira Tokiwa and Yu-nagi. Released in Japan as “Eris no Seihai” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

The most frustrating thing about this volume is pretty much the same issue I had with the first one: the author is not telling the story I want to read most. Don’t get me wrong, I’m greatly enjoying seeing Connie sort of fumble around and slowly work out what happened ten years ago and why there’s a big chance it’s going to happen again. But frankly, I want the teenage years of Abigail O’Brian. I want a pirate adventure story, I want to see how she ended up at the center of everything and also a madam, I want to see how she inspires absolutely everyone around her. But I suspect all I will get will be the crumbs of backstory I get here, because the author does not want to tell an adventure story, they want to write a mystery. And this volume gives us a lot of answers in the main mystery, though the resolution is still a long ways away. And depends, most likely, on Connie, not Abigail.

Connie is getting closer to the truth, and that’s making a lot of people angry. They try to kidnap and kill her best friend to get her to stop. They murder several witnesses who would have undone all their careful planning. And they have a pesky reporter girl who, sadly, is very much an antagonist in this series. Fortunately, Connie does have a few allies. She has Scarlett, of course, who can still occasionally possess Connie when it’s for the greater good, and whose complicated backstory we learn here. She also has Randolph, her love interest, though both of them being the sort of person that love just bounces off of means that the romance part of the book is more frustrating than anything else. That said, the real selling point is what we find out here: exactly why Scarlett was executed.

I will, of course, not reveal that here – I like spoilers but am trying to get better at not saying them. Nevertheless, it turns out to be a far larger plot than Connie, Randolph, or indeed the reader had planned. It can sometimes be a bit of a stretch to realize that everyone we meet seems to be connected to everyone either in the present, the past, or both, but that’s mystery novels for you. And we also get a few detours that are tense, mostly as while the author is unlikely to kill off Connie or Randolph, they’ve shown they’re perfectly happy to kill off other characters. There actually may be a bit TOO much going on here, as there’s also the subplot of a powerful hallucinogenic drug once again becoming available among the nobility. Everything points to somebody trying to undermine the country. And the biggest bombshell is what some people are prepared to do to save the country. But again… spoilers.

The series has 4+ volumes out in Japan, but I have a suspicion that this arc, at least, will end with the next book. I definitely look forward to seeing what happens – just because the mysteries are solved doesn’t mean the problems have gone away.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Vol. 2

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By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

This is one of those books that starts slow but picks up speed as things go along. It’s essentially the second half of the first “arc” in this series, and we see Anisphia and Euphyllia dealing with the two remaining dangling plot threads: the man who kickstarted everything by publicly denouncing Euphie, and the young woman who was theoretically the cause of that. And any fan of villainess books will know that both of those plotlines are things that we’ve seen before. That said, this book does have an interesting twist that I don’t think we’ve really come across in regards to the “heroine” role. As for Anis’ brother, that’s a lot more serious plotline, and both he and Anis are forced to face up to the fact that the actions they take have far broader consequences than either of them would have liked. Although I think Algard already knew that, since… well, he has an agenda.

The book starts with Anis being forced to do a lot of things she doesn’t want to do. This includes having a conversation with her mother, who is determined enough to break past Anis’ eccentric behavior, as well as the Ministry of the Arcane, who know that Anis took down a dragon recently and want the dragon’s remains for their own use and not hers. In addition, Anis is trying to clear Euphie’s name, which means figuring out why otherwise sensible young nobles were so willing to go along with this public shaming, and what sort of hold Lainie, the former commoner who everyone has an opinion on, has over them. This will involve consulting one of Anis’ “bad friends”, Tilty, a noble who is essentially just as eccentric as Anis, if not worse.

The book’s first really good scene is at Tilty’s place, where we work out what’s up with Lainie and why she inspires the people around her to do emotionally unstable things when she’s around. It’s the sort of plot twist I’d have been incredibly impressed with if the color pages at the start of the book had not 100% spoiled it. Lainie herself is more sympathetic than I was expecting, especially once she comes to terms with the sort of person she is now. As for Anis and her brother, that’s the other really strong part of the book. Algard’s behavior is nightmarish, but it all stems from Anis’ hands-off, “I don’t want anything to do with royalty I just want to study magic” attitude, and even as she points out that he can’t act the way he is because he’s the prince, she understands that she essentially did the same thing. The question of succession is very much up in the air at the end of this book, and I hope it somehow gets resolved in a way that does not remove the yuri from this title, even if so far that’s pretty slight.

So yes, solid second volume, and it suggests that Anis is going to have to get more involved in the lives of those around her, even if it means less magical research. That said, I do hope we get a bit more “magic nerd” stuff between Anis and Euphie in the 3rd book.

The Bride of Demise, Vol. 1

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By Keishi Ayasato and murakaruki. Released in Japan as “Shūen no Hanayome” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

Sometimes an author, regardless of the material, simply reaches out, grabs you by the throat, and starts to throttle you with evocative prose. Keishi Ayasato is one of those authors. Torture Princess, their previous series, contains just about every type of thing that I normally avoid in fiction, and yet it’s one of my favorite LN series. Likewise, when I first saw the solicit for The Bride of Demise, my first thought was “ooooh, not my thing”. But then I saw the author and knew I would have to buy it. And I was right. As with Torture Princess, this series has a certain loving fascination with grand guignol horror in its writing, but this one is, and I can’t believe that I’m even typing this, a magical academy series. That almost cheapens it, and I would hate to see it compared with things like the various “Demon King Went to School and Was Super Badass” books. This is the story of a young man and his fated meeting with a living weapon.

Kou, an orphan whose parents were killed when he was young, is a Magical Research student at the academy. He and his fellow researchers learn about the Kihei, monstrous creatures who were essentially the reason this is a somewhat post-apocalyptic world. Then one day, while he ad his team are exploring a supposedly safe area to harvest kihei corpses for material, they’re attacked by some very strong kihei. Kou decides to sacrifice himself to save the others, and falls trough a glass ceiling into a garden… which is convenient, as this is very much like the dream that he keeps having during his waking hours. In that dream, he meets someone who promises she will be at his side for all eternity. Now it’s come true. She’s White Princess, she is his “bride”, and it feels like he’s known her for years.

This review will very much be talking about the first half of the novel, because the second half is a nest of spoilers that I do not want to be responsible for you learning. All the “holy shit!” moments are there, and they are fantastic. That said, the rest of the book is a lot of fun. Kou is now part of a special team of elite students, all with their own “bride”, and taught by a classic badass teacher with a dark side to him. Kou manages to befriend most of the group pretty quickly, partly because it turns out that he’s a lot better at combat against the kihei than anyone really expected. But really it’s Kou’s relationship with his bride that is the emotional core of this book. Their love for each other is very quick to develop and very strong, and also, again trying not to spoil, the cause of the entire second half of the book.

I rarely have to say “trust me” in my reviews, as everyone knows I spoil like a mad fiend. But trust me on this one. Unless you can’t abide blood and gore (you should steer clear in that case), The Bride of Demise is a fantastic debut. Indeed, my one complaint is that it feels finished in one volume. Where else does this series go? Vol. 2 is coming soon to tell us.

The Manga Review, 8/26/22

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On Wednesday, Tokyopop released Peremoha: Victory for Ukraine, an anthology of nine stories written shortly after the first Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In the forward to Peremoha, Tokyopop publisher Stu Levy explains that these comics “were created entirely by Ukranians to express their fears, tears, and anger towards ‘the Enemy,'” and to express “their resolve and will to fight.” Tokyopop will donate a portion of every book sale to RAZOM, a non-profit organization that is providing humanitarian relief inside Ukraine, evacuating vulnerable populations from war zones, and promoting “policies that strengthen and support Ukraine and its relationship with the US.”

MANGA NEWS

Shueisha is in the process of initiating lawsuits against several pirate websites. [Torrent Freak]

Coming soon to a laptop or television near you: Keseiju: The Grey, a live-action television series based on Hitoshi Hiwaaki’s Parasyte. The series will be directed by Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan), with an original script by Yeon and Ryu Yong-jae (Peninsula). No release date has been announced, but the show will stream on Netflix. [Otaku USA]

During her recent trip to Japan, Megan Thee Stallion visited the JoJo: Ripples of Adventure exhibit at the National Art Center in Tokyo. [Yahoo! News]

FEATURES AND PODCASTS

Erica Friedman files a report from Flamecon 2022. [Okazu]

Looking ahead to the holiday season, Brigid Alverson highlights three upcoming manga. [ICv2]

The gang at Honey’s Anime recommend five great manga for bibliophiles. [Honey’s Anime]

This week’s Mangasplaining episode is a veritable feast, as Deb, David, Chip, and Chris compare notes on four different series: Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma, Sweetness and Lightning, Kokkoku: Moment by Moment, and How Are You? [Mangasplaining]

The Manga Machinations crew take at look at two new releases–Kowloon Generic Romance and Lost Lad London–as well as the under-appreciated Hetereogenia Linguistico. [Manga Machinations]

On the latest Multiversity Manga Club podcast, Walt Richardson, Emily Myers, and Zach Wilkerson recap chapters 901-924 of One Piece. [Multiversity Comics]

Justin and Marcella critique the fifth and final arc of the Sailor Moon manga. [Sailor Manga]

Jocelyne Allen has the skinny on est em’s latest series, Osama no Mimi, in which a mysterious bartender buys secrets from his customers and “distills them into a liquid which he then makes fancy cocktails with.” Yeah, I’d read that… [Brain vs. Book]

REVIEWS

Over at Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson sings the praises of Cat + Gamer. “Between the portrait of a happy, well-adjusted gamer and the charming cat, there’s a lot to enjoy,” she notes. “This is a wonderful read for anyone, particularly for anyone who wants a pet cat but can’t have one. After all, fictional cats are much better behaved.” Megan D. takes Osamu Tezuka’s Bomba! for a test drive, characterizing it as “yet another selection from what I refer to as Tezuka’s edgelord phase, that decade or so where he was determined to outdo the big-name gekiga mangaka of the day by producing an endless stream of grim, complex, edgy, and frequently unsuccessful tales of troubled young men.”

This week, you’ll find short-n-sweet reviews at Beneath the Tangles, Manga Bookshelf, Women Write About Comics, and SOLRAD, where Helen Chazan weighs in on The Men Who Created Gundam, “a comic begging to be harvested for ‘out of context’ posts on social media.”

New and Noteworthy

Ongoing and Complete Series

Manga the Week of 8/31/22

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SEAN: It’s a rare 5th week of the month! Like most 5th weeks, it’s light.

ASH: Even light weeks have plenty being released these days!

SEAN: Yen On has a bizarre release. We’re getting both the 2nd AND the 3rd volumes of The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time.

ASH: Huh. Release schedule are still all over the place, aren’t they?

SEAN: And Yen Press gives us Lost Lad London 2, Love of Kill 9, The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter 2, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 4, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ways of the Monster Nation 8 and Trinity Seven 26.

MICHELLE: I really, really liked the first volume of Lost Lad London and am excited for the arrival of the second! And wow, already up to volume two on the Bean Counter, huh?

ASH: It does seem like the first volume just came out.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts SPRIGGAN: Deluxe Edition. Viz put out 3 volumes of this in the 1990s then cancelled it, now Seven Seas is trying again with 650-age omnibuses. The writer gave us Until Death Do Us Part, the artist Project Arms. It’s from Weekly Shonen Sunday, and is loaded with ancient artifacts and secret agents.

ANNA: I do find it interesting when we get license rescues like this, even though I’m sure the series I’m most interested in will never be printed again.

ASH: Same.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas is PULSE, a yuri manwha webtoon that’s getting a print release here. A doctor who keeps her sexual relationships strictly for pleasure tuns into trouble when she meets a transplant patient who refuses to get the operation.

ASH: I’m not sure I’ve actually read a yuri manwha before! It’s exciting to have the opportunity.

SEAN: Also coming out: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 4, D-Frag! 16, The Girl in the Arcade 2, Necromance 4, Seaside Stranger 4, and Tokyo Revengers Omnibus 2.

Kodansha, in print, gives us Blackguard 4, Blue Lock 2, Cells at Work! CODE BLACK 8, Lovesick Ellie 5, and Something’s Wrong With Us 10.

MICHELLE: In addition to obligatory praise for Lovesick Ellie, I’m also hyped for more of Blue Lock, which turned out to be not at all what I had expected.

ASH: Guess I’ll need to check out both of those series!

SEAN: Digitally, we have Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest 5, Guilty 10, Having an Idol-Loving Boyfriend is the Best! 2, I Was Reincarnated with OP Invincibility, so I’ll Beat ’em Up My Way as an Action-Adventurer 3 (the final volume), My Roomie Is a Dino 7 (also a final volume), My Tentative Name 2, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1 8, Oh, Those Hanazono Twins 4, and Peach Boy Riverside 11.

J-Novel Club debuts a digital light novel whose manga came out a couple of weeks ago: Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! (Meccha Shoukan Sareta Ken), about a hero who can’t seem to stop getting summoned to save the day.

There’s also Black Summoner’s 7th manga volume, Infinite Dendrogram 18, Magic Knight of the Old Ways 3, Marginal Operation 14 (digital version), Sometimes Even Reality Is a Lie! 2, and the 5th and final manga volume of Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons.

Cross Infinite World has a 2nd volume of Even Dogs Go to Other Worlds: Life in Another World with My Beloved Hound.

Lastly, Airship has early digital releases for Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut 2 and Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 2.

That’s it. Man, this feels more like a list from 2013 or something. Are you buying anything?

ANNA: Maybe not!

Sasaki and Peeps – That Time I Got Dragged into a Psychic Battle in Modern Times While Trying to Enjoy a Relaxing Life in Another World: ~Looks Like Magical Girls Are on Deck~

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By Buncololi and Kantoku. Released in Japan as “Sasaki to Pi-chan: Isekai de Slow Life o Tanoshi Mou Toshitara, Gendai de Inou Battle ni Makikomareta Ken” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

This book is a mess. Saying that right off the bat, confident that even those who loved the title will agree. It’s trying to be a mess, after all. I’m not sure what the meeting of the author and their editor was like, but it feels very much like “I have four different ideas for a light novel, but I can’t decide which one to write.” “Why not write all of them?” “Four different books?” “No, no, the SAME book!”. It’s the sort of thing that requires a delicate hand and solid worldbuilding, and the series that comes closest to this, A Certain Magical Index, still can’t quite pull it off a lot of the time. Sasaki and Peeps doesn’t even try, content to simply revel in its mishmash qualities. It does eventually settle into one of its genres near the end, which makes it both better written and less interesting. I think we’re here for the car crash.

Plot 1: A salaryman in his late thirties, Sasaki, buys a pet Java sparrow, Peeps, who turns out to be a powerful macician from another world. Sasaki goes to this world, trading Japanese tech for gold and also learning magic. Plot 2: Learning magic means he gets in the way of a battle (in Japan, he and Peeps go back and forth) between rivals espers, and he is forcibly recruited into an esper organization trying to control those with powers. This goes far less well than you’d expect. Plot 3: His middle school next door neighbor, unnamed but abused and always sitting outside her front door, has a twisted crush on Sasaki that wars with her despair and suicidal thoughts. Plot 4: There’s a magical girl digging in the trash outside his apartment. This is the magical girl on deck from the subtitle, I assume.

Smoothness is not the selling point of this book. Which is a shame, as the last third of the book, which dedicates itself entirely to the isekai plotline, is the best written part, containing several excellent plot twists and a few cool battle scenes. That said, after watching the author and Sasaki flit around like… well, like a sparrow for most of the book, it feels wrong somehow. Sasaki should be a “potato” protagonist, but there’s a certain broken quality to him that shines through on occasion. His treatment of his neighbor like a stray cat that he keeps feeding is at least not as bad as, say, Higehiro, and I appreciate he did call social services, but he’s not helping there either. The book has no real romance as of yet, which is probably a good thing, as the female cast consist of a high school girl, a middle school girl, and two children.

Mostly the main problem with this book is it cannot settle down as to what it wants to be. That’s baked into the plot so it won’t get better, but I thought I’d mention that I think the plot is bad. The plot with the neighbor and the magical girl barely feature in the book, they’re just there as flavortext so far. That said, I may read a second volume, just to see if the author can keep this up. Or to see if the neighbor kills him.

Bookshelf Briefs 8/23/22

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Box of Light, Vol. 1 | By Seiko Erisawa | Seven Seas – I’m not sure if this is meant to be a horror anthology with a minor supporting cast or a horror manga featuring the cast but also having each chapter be “the problems of one of the one-shot customers.” Unfortunately, the indecision makes it less than good. The premise has a convenience store stationed at the border between life and death, and only those who are on the verge of death can see it and shop there. This sounds darker than it is, as most of the stories are quirky rather than bittersweet, and the only customer who actually is close to dying ends up working there instead. If you like quirky supernatural stuff… there are probably more interesting titles than this. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 11 | By Ukami | Yen Press – The bulk of this volume is devoted to a single plotline, which is the class trip to Okinawa. Everyone gets to have their bit: Gabriel is grumpy and reluctant to do anything but ends up being helpful and a good person anyway, Vignette is so super hyped about the trip that when they actually return she goes into a spiral of depression, Satanya… is herself, and Raphiel shows once again that she’s trying her hardest to convince Satanya that she genuinely loves her while at the same time being a jerk and a troll about it. As you can imagine, this is not going well. That said, this series still manages to make me laugh out loud more than most other comedy manga I read these days, so is still highly recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Hello, Melancholic!, Vol. 2 | By Yayoi Ohsawa | Seven Seas This second volume, after the concert is done (and Minato takes a big step forward in interaction skills), focuses more on the other three members of the cast. It turns out that Chika and Sakiko are in a relationship!… or not, as Chika describes it as “friends with benefits,” somewhat awkwardly. Flashbacks show off how the two met and ended up together-ish, helped enormously by Yayoi Ohsawa’s incredible talent for facial caricature. After this we focus on Hibiki, who can’t really understand Minato so takes her on a date to try to get inside her head… but just ends up more confused. This was a great second volume of what has become a must-read yuri series. – Sean Gaffney

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 18 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media At some point over the course of this series, the creator was forced to answer the question “how old is Princess Syalis,” which is a question that frequently needs answering when anime girls are designed to always look like children. It turns out Syalis, while we don’t know her exact age, is “an adult,” which if nothing else makes it slightly better that she was buried in work before the demons kidnapped her. In this volume the demon castle falls to pieces, mostly due to laziness, and the princess discovers her inner talent for crisis management, which is… genuinely excellent. This is still funny, but I really enjoy seeing when the cast end up having real character development. – Sean Gaffney

Therapy Game Restart, Vol. 2 | By Meguru Hinohara | SuBLime – To simply describe the plot of this volume of Therapy Game Restart would be to miss everything that is great about it. Minato and Shizuma are planning to move in together, but Shizuma is being kept busy at the veterinary clinic. When he finally gets an opportunity to learn from the director, followed by the arrival of an emergency patient, he stands Minato up for an appointment with a realtor. Meanwhile, Minato tries to keep his insecurities and fears under control, with varying degrees of success. I adore Minato, and I think it’s the superb characterization of someone suffering from anxiety but trying to move past that and have faith in the possibility of a happy ending that makes this series so special. I already am sad thinking about this ending someday. – Michelle Smith

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 8 | By Kousuke Oono | VIZ – I hate to say it, but I think The Way of the Househusband might be running on fumes. Though this volume pulls out all the stops—a food battle, a snow storm, a movie night—the bonus material is funnier than any of the main storylines. It’s only when we get a glimpse at Miku’s favorite anime series PoliCure that volume eight comes to life. Kousuke Oono creates a deliriously silly mash-up of magical girl manga and police procedural that looks and sounds a lot like Futari wa Pretty Cure. The shift in artwork and tone are a testament to Kousuke Oono’s skills as a draftsman and parodist, and makes me wonder if he should be doing a PoliCure series instead of another installment of Househusband. – Katherine Dacey

Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, Vol. 1

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By Shimesaba and booota. Released in Japan as “Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Marcus Shauer (Medibang, Inc.).

I was not originally going to be reading this at all. What I’d heard from reviews of the anime did not really appeal to me. Kadokawa’s license of the light novel made me ask “are you going to use Mediba–yes, you are”, and sure enough, their original version did not read great, from what I’ve been told. But then Yen On licensed the actual books (Kadokawa releases only chapters), and they promised actual editing. Which, to the credit of Emma McClain and Jordan Blanco, works well; the book may be unreadable to me for several reasons, but the translation and adaptation is not one of them. So I waffled. I read a lot of these romance books lately. It stars actual adults. Fine, I’ll give it a try. Lesson learned? Trust your instincts, Sean. I want to bill the author for the dental work I’ll need after grinding my teeth through this first volume, which tries to clear a low bar but forgets about all the other bars.

Yoshida is a corporate worker who has just confessed to his boss, who promptly rejects him because bosses should not date their employees… no, wait, it’s because she says she has a boyfriend already. In despair, he gets incredibly drunk and goes home, where he finds outside his house a high school girl who has run away from home. She asks if she can stay with him in exchange for “certain favors”, he rejects the favors and notifies the police… no, he does not in fact do that, he lets her stay at his place. As the days wear on and she continues to stay, clean the house, and cook his meals, he suddenly finds that he’s sleeping better, looks more put together, and is leading a sensible life. He’s even getting attention from his cute underling… and from the boss who rejected him. Is the secret to success having a runaway underage wife?

Let’s start with my pettiest objection: I expected shaving to have far more impact on the narrative given that it’s in the title. He doesn’t even have a real beard, just… scruff that he probably shaved every third day. Moving on, one of the reasons that high school romances with a dimwit protagonist who has 8 different women who love him because he’s actually not a terrible person works is because he’s a dumb teen who’s still growing up. It works far less well with a 27-year-old salaryman. The majority of this book is from his POV, and I will admit that when the book finally switched to Sayu it got more interesting, though we never do learn why she’s run away. The book tries to critique the tropes it’s wallowing in, too, pointing out the dangers of “kind” people and also when to learn how to trust, but I still can’t get over the premise of “wow, I just need a girl to be my wife in all ways except sexual ones, and suddenly I’m a harem protagonist!”.

If this book was going to be about found family, and about Yoshida and Sayu’s relationship being more like an older brother/younger sister, I might be vaguely interested. But I have zero confidence that the author is not setting things up for her to be part of the love interests one the “high school” part is done. In the end, this is a giant cavalcade of NOPE for me.