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Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools, Vol. 5

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By Hisaya Amagishi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Osman Wong.

The fact that I still greatly enjoy this series despite it moving at a pace that would make a snail speed past it is testament to the good writing and strong characterization of the two leads. Last time I said that I didn’t feel Dahlia was quite mature enough to enter into a relationship, and that’s still true, but it has to be said that the exact same thing can be said about Volf. Plus, let’s face it, they’re essentially already married in how they act around each other every day. It just lacks the acknowledgement of attraction and desire. But boy, we’d really like to see that attraction and desire, huh? Volf is one slight step ahead of Dahlia in that he occasionally can admit his feelings (see his reaction when he hears Oswald has recommended Dahlia get a “large black-haired dog” to guard her at night. (Dahlia, of course, does not pick up on this at all, and starts asking about actual dogs.) Slow burn isn’t the word. Slow heating pad.

It’s a new volume, so we must be getting a new person who’s challenging Dahlia to verify that she’s not after Volf’s status or wealth and that she really is who she says she is. This time it’s Volf’s brother Guido, who tries to bribe Dahlia with a pile of cash, which works about as well as you’d expect. After this misunderstanding is cleared up (and Volf, who arrived late, expresses his displeasure at the whole thing), she bonds with Guido pretty quickly, as well as his bodyguard Jonas. She’s also becoming fast friends with her mentor Oswald, who is teaching her the proper, safe way to make tools (as opposed to the various not safe things she’s been doing to date), and giving her a protection bracelet made from precious materials. This triggers Volf’s jealousy… not that he’ll admit it. And she doesn’t notice it anyway.

Probably the most interesting part of the book is when Dahlia is convinced to actually outsource things so that she’ll have time to come up with new ideas. The problem with this is that the best company to outsource to is Orlando & Co., home of her ex. It is rather fitting how the company has fallen on hard times. At times you might think it’s a bit too much, and if you do I urge you to go back and read the first volume and see what Tobias did. Dahlia, of course, goes nowhere near the place, which is just as well, as she might be tempted to be too nice – indeed, she’s being too nice just subcontracting to them at all. Ivano’s scene with Ireneo is dark and chilling, both for his attitude towards the company and also for his ability to see that Tobias’ mother (who blames herself for everything that happens) is suicidal, and pauses things to make Ireneo stop her. This is a long way from “Dahlia and Volf drink and drink and drink some more”.

That said, rest assured we have that as well. (Also, have we even seen Tobias’ wife since she arrived to be the other woman? I will be 100% unsurprised if she did not bail as soon as the world turned against him.) Dahlia in Bloom remains a top-tier Heart title.

The Manga Review: Black Friday Edition

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Yet another Anime NYC has come and gone, bringing with it a raft of licensing announcements from Azuki, Kodansha, Seven Seas, and Yen Press. While most reports from the show floor were positive, The Beat’s Ricardo Serrano Denis noted that the convention suffered from some of the same issues that plagued it before the pandemic. “One thing I thought was seriously underrepresented in the 2019 show was manga and anime booths, places to acquire them,” he noted. “For an anime convention, I felt the number of booths dedicated to the medium were on the slimmer side of things. Fast forward to 2022, a whole pandemic later, and those same shortcomings are still accounted for, perhaps even worse so.” Other attendees gave mixed marks to the panels, noting that the Spy x Family session lasted a mere 30 minutes, while the online ticketing for the Attack on Titan event was marred by computer glitches and limited seating. Still, many folks left satisfied. Summarizing her experience at Anime NYC, for example, Erica Friedman observed there’s more great yuri anime and manga than ever before, noting how many vendors were prominently displaying series such as Lilies and The Executioner and Her Way of Life.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Looking for a great deal on manga or anime? Krystallina has you covered with an extensive list of Black Friday deals. [The OASG]

Mary Lee Sauder jumps in the WABAC machine for a look at the ani-manga craze of the early 2000s. [Honey’s Anime]

Over at Women Write About Comics, Carrie McClain sifts through a batch of new releases from Seven Seas, including I’m a Terminal Cancer Patient, But I’m Fine, The Savior’s Book Café in Another World, and The Titan’s Bride. [WWAC]

The latest essay at Sports Baka focuses on Gunjo no fanfare (Fanfare of Adolescence), a series about “a rich ensemble of teenage characters who, except for their common goal to become jockeys, couldn’t be more different.” [Sports Baka]

The Mangasplainers are all business this week with an in-depth look at Division Chief Kosaku Shima, a salaryman manga from the 1980s. [Mangasplaining]

Psyche Kale exposes the not-so-hidden sexism of Claymore. “Consistently, when given the chance to treat its characters with grace, to give them control of the story, to have their struggles understood, to have their humanity appreciated, Claymore chooses to undermine itself with a juvenile emphasis on unnecessary carnage, a lack of interest in the inner worlds of the characters depicted, and a callousness to their emotional suffering. And it sucks,” they observe. “For many it was the first time they saw a female protagonist in an anime or manga that was allowed the spotlight, who could fight and kill as well as anyone else, who was allowed to get beat up instead of wilting like a dainty flower. There’s still merit in those experiences, and moments of the story where it knows what it’s doing and how to give its female characters that grace and to focus on their emotions.” [Anime Feminist]

REVIEWS

Rebecca Silverman reviews Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki, arguing that this short-story anthology feels more “like a sampler rather than a full collection in its own right,” but asserts that “Inuki is a creator worth knowing, and if you’re a fan of Kazuo Umezz and Junji Ito, this is well worth checking out.” Over at The Manga Test Drive, Megan D. takes Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto for a spin. “Pluto works as both a tribute to a classic and as a stand-alone mystery,” she opines. “You don’t need to be familiar with Astro Boy to understand the story, but if you do you’ll be able to appreciate just how Urasawa adapts it for modern tastes.”

Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole, Vol. 1

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By Aloha Zachou and Tetubuta. Released in Japan as “Maryoku Cheat na Majo ni Narimashita: Sōzō Mahō de Kimamana Isekai Seikatsu” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Emily Hemphill.

A lot of new writers these days tend to start off writing fanfiction of their favorite series, or of the popular series of the time. The good authors know how to skillfully take the original world and add their own take and characterization to it. The less good authors simply rewrite the original as prose, adding the occasional difference but largely having events go the same way. I am starting to feel that way about a lot of these “reincarnated into a fantasy world with OP stats” books. They may have different villages, or dungeons, and this one at least lacks a harem of slave girls (instead having a golem daughter-figure… I’ll go with daughter as the alternative skeeves me), but for the most part if you’ve read Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, you’ve pretty much read the same sort of things that happen here. It’s not a good sign when even the chapter titles are pleasant but boring.

We start off with our main character dying and meeting God. We don’t hear a single thing about their past life, though they appear to have been a woman named Chise. In any case, God reincarnates her into a different world, and she chooses ‘Creation Magic’ as her one cheat skill that gods inevitably give dead people in this genre. Ending up in the middle of absolutely nowhere, Chise slowly begins to figure out how this world works and how her powers work. Very, very slowly. Eventually she creates a golem, and then by feeding the golem magic stones the golem evolves into Teto, a very strong and naive young woman who is deeply devoted to Chise. Together, the two of them rescue adventurers, gather herbs, fight ogres, and help a village to acquire basic survival skills.

This is from Micro Magazine’s GC Novels imprint, and I’ve talked before about how this imprint seems to have a very high miss ratio for me. I’m afraid this is another one. It improves in the second half with the village, and when it tries to focus on the fact that as a consequence of Chise raising her magic powers so high she’s also accidentally making herself immortal. Unfortunately, the first half is an absolute slog, especially for non-gamers who do not care how Chise tries various ways to kill things, or create things, or raise her magic. Also, and I blame the editors more than the translator here, one thing Chise creates to help her level up is named, repeatedly, a “strange fruit”. Even if that was its name in the Japanese romanji, or if it turns out it’s a familiar RPG thing, it should have been changed to ‘weird fruit’ or ‘bizarre fruit’ or something similar. Please google the words, or search on Spotify, if you don’t already know why.

If you’re a fan of overpowered characters who look like 12-year-olds walking around being incredibly powerful… there are STILL better books to read than this one.

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 7

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By Reia and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andria Cheng.

If the first book in the “Accomplishments of the Duchess” prequel was about discovering the hellion that Merellis once was, this volume is about showing us how she came to be the woman we know from the main series. In essence, this is also a book about her training for battle, it’s just the battles she’s going to face are in society rather than in the military, and the enemy is anyone who dares to look down on her. And, frankly, she takes to this just as well as she took to being a swordswoman. Frankly, as I’ve said before, Accomplishment of the Duke’s Daughter is not a series to read if you want to see protagonists struggling valiantly against impossible odds. For the most part, it’s about seeing women kick ass, in a variety of settings. In that regard, this volume works perfectly fine. And, in case you were worried we’d lose the awesome swordplay and butchering of enemies, no worries, we get a bit of that as well.

There is an ominous beginning, where Merellis’ father forbids her from taking up the sword and announces she’s going to be engaged to be married to the son of Duke Armelia, a political marriage. She suffers greatly over this for about five pages, but the reader is in on the joke, so we know everything will be fine once she figures out who the duke’s son is. After that it’s just a matter of shifting gears. If she can protect the most people around her through politics rather than the blade, then politics it is. As such, Louis’ mother gives Merellis a crash course in nobility, something she has assiduously been avoiding for the past several years. Just in time too, as it’s time for her to make her debut and attend the academy. Let’s hope it goes smoother for her than it did for her daughter…

I enjoyed seeing how Merellis’ training in military and the sword can be of use to her in society, particularly in how she watches the way people move and stand. Twins who are indebted to her father for saving their lives arrive at the estate, and Merellis can tell very rapidly that a) they have some basic fighting skills, and b) they’re OK to trust. These skills will serve her well. The book’s pacing is sometimes a problem, and sometimes the plots it drops can be more ominous than intended – Merellis’ old maid injures herself and is forced to return home, and there is a suggestion that she will die… which she may indeed have done, as we never hear from her for the rest of the book. It’s at times like these that the series shows off its seat-of-the-pants webnovel roots.

Fans of the main series may still be a bit put off that Iris is only in the wraparound at the start and end of this, but for those who found her mother to be a cool character, good news, here’s more of her.

Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade, Vol. 2

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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’s probably time to bring up Michael Moorcock and the series Elric of Melnibone, a series that I’m 100% sure that Maito Ayamine has read over and over again. This particular light novel series happens to feature a silver-haired protagonist who wields a sword that supposedly takes the souls of those it kills and gives them to their patron. Which, well, is exactly what happens in Elric as well. That said, Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade does not remotely have a sense of tragedy or pathos in it, running instead on “gosh, that murderous military scamp, isn’t she adorable?”. In the Elric series, you can be reasonably certain that everyone around Elric, particularly his love interests or close friends, will die. Olivia has Ashton has her not-quite-love interest, and Claudia as her “in my heart, this is an OTP” best friend/morality chain, but I have little worry that they’ll be killed off anytime soon. The same can’t be said for anyone else on the side of the Empire.

After the events of the first book, Olivia has gotten a bit of a reputation. In fact, she’s being called a monster, something she is not happy with. (Later she gets upgraded to “God of Death”, which pleases her much more). The book rapidly becomes a series of battles where the moral of the story is “if Olivia is here, or able to get here in the nick of time, we will win. Otherwise, bad things will happen.” The Empire tries sending some of its strongest warriors to fight her, and then a few of its generals. The outcome is the same. It helps that she has Ashton’s tactics, of course, which are also rapidly being appreciated more and more, by her allies if not by the Empire. Can someone come along that causes Olivia to reflect on what she has become? Or is it just “I want to eat delicious cake and butcher enemies, and this town has no cake?”.

In case it was not crystal clear, you should only be reading this series if you have no trouble with a moral void of a main character. In any other series, Olivia would be the terrifying villain. Indeed, I was sort of expecting Claudia to turn to Ashton at some point, possibly after Olivia had decided on the blood and skulls-themed family name as the one she’ll take going forward, and say “Are we the baddies?”. No, you’re not, but that’s really only because there are no goodies in this book, really. Everything can be abandoned in the name of military victory. There is some lip service paid to what it means to be a good lord of a city, in terms of protecting the people who live in that city from harm, but even there the lesson is taught by the execution of the errant lord.

Essentially, this is a very dark series, but it’s not written in a dark manner. It’s written as if this is Haruhi Suzumiya with a sword. That sort of dissonance is probably what makes it interesting.

Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke, Vol. 2

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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 author admits in the afterword that a lot of the fans of this work were very thrown off by the twist at the end of Book One, and even more by the start of the events in the second book. I can’t really blame them. Book one read like a nice, pleasant villainess story with a happy ending. A bit boring, but not actually so much so that you walk away. And now we’re back to the start, and we have to do things all over again. The trouble here is that our heroine does not quite have the self-esteem needed to try to regain her fiancee, so we get nearly an entire book of “it’s OK if he doesn’t love me this time around, I’m fine with being friends”. The other issue, of course, is Charlotte, who remains The Absolute Worst. It’s never quite made clear if she also has memories from Japan, but there’s certainly a lot of “I’m the heroine, why is everything not going my way?” to her.

After the events at the end of the last book, Claire finds herself back where she started, in her old country and about to get her old baptism. She manages to make a few quiet changes (like taking her mother’s note to her so it can’t be used by Charlotte), but for the most part everything goes as it did last time. Except… her family seems a lot nicer and more considerate? In fact, she’s being sent off to school in the country that she fled to in the last book, and can reunite with her old friends and old fiance. But there’s a hitch. Claire is not the only one that went back in time for a redo. And the forces of evil are using the power of capitalism to try to destroy any chance Claire has at getting the powerful magic she needs to achieve her happy ending.

The book keeps its feet firmly in the fantasy in this volume, with almost no mention of the “Japanese game” part of the series. For the most part, as I noted, the most interesting part of the book is Claire reacting to her family being nice to her. Claire never explicitly states this, but being treated like garbage in the previous world hurt her a lot, and it means that when her ex-fiance or brother are kind and caring towards her (indeed, the fiance is trying to fix the ‘ex’ part) it just throws her off. There is an iffy part of the book, though, which involves brainwashing someone. First of all, the setup to this is ham-handed and obvious, and I rolled my eyes. Second, even though the person being brainwashed is an antagonist, and Claire freaks out and tries to undo it, it really seems like an easy “get out of bad plots free” card. Fortunately there’s still Charlotte around to make everything worse, but still.

This book does NOT end with another loop, much to my relief, and there is a third volume in the series. I’d put this in the middle tier of villainess books.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!, Vol. 2

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By Touko Amekawa and Wan*Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuukimama na Hanayome (Hitojichi) Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Amy Osteraas. Adapted by Aysha U. Farah.

I’ve frequently made fun of the fact that many villainesses in these books, with Katarina Claes being the best example, keep constantly trying to “solve” all the problems facing them without realizing that the problems have solved themselves simply due to being empathic and kind. Because Katarina, and Rishe in this series, know the real truth: even if you are as sweet as pie, never assume that the narrative has gone away. Rishe knows that her recurring deaths, and the war that leads to them, are not something that can be solved by simply marrying the man behind it all and showing him how to be happy. There’s a lot more to it than that. This is especially true of this second volume, which brings back a number of characters from her life as an apothecary. Including one who is, for all intents and purposes, a terrorist.

Rishe remains dedicated to her efforts to live a happy, carefree life by overworking herself to death in order to get it. She takes sword training from Arnold, and when she realizes that she absolutely lacks the stamina she had in her knight life, not to mention the elite training Arnold’s knights have, she secretly disguises herself as a boy and enrolls in the knight course. As this is happening, a delegation from Coyolle, a country which has relied on its mining to help it not be taken over and destroyed by other countries, has arrived, including Prince Kyle, who Rishe knew in her apothecary life, and Michel, an alchemist who enjoys inventing things, and if they’re weapons of mass destruction, well, they need to be used. You can’t just NOT use poison once you’ve made it.

Michel was probably the best character in this volume. He’s given a tragic backstory, of course, but for the most part he is the genial mad scientist, willing to blow up the world as long as it shows that his theories are correct. He and Rishe get along surprisingly well. Then again, getting along with everyone is Rishe’s thing. And this includes Prince Kyle, who briefly makes Arnold jealous as in his country all women are meant to be venerated, meaning his attention to Rishe is, shall we say, too much for our grumpy Crown Prince. That said… war does appear to be the the first response for him, and Rishe has to work her ass off to show that diplomacy is the better answer in this case. The answer to “why do I keep dying?” is still not an easily solvable one, but at the very least Arnold finds her fascinating, and is unlikely to brutally murder her this time, unless some horrible misunderstanding happens. Which is unlikely, I mean, this is a light novel…

Fans of the genre, or just fans of shoujo romance, should find plenty to dig into here.

Pick of the Week: Kaiju, Foxes, and Apocalypses

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MICHELLE: There are a lot of appealing BL or BL-adjacent works out this week. I need to get caught up on I Think Our Son Is Gay and Sasaki and Miyano (so that I can read the spinoff), and The (Pet) Detective Agency looks pretty cute too, but quirky and retro-looking BL will always win out with me in the end, and thus my pick this week is The Gay Who Turned Kaiju.

ASH: The Gay Who Turned Kaiju is certainly one of the highlights for me this week, and I will happily be reading the others Michelle mentioned, too. That being said, I really enjoy Tomihiko Morimi’s work and have been reading a fair number of short stories these days, so I’m actually going to make Fox Tales my official pick.

SEAN: My pick this week is the yuri-ish Touring After the Apocalypse, which really, really REALLY sounds like Girls’ Last Tour.

KATE: Touring After the Apocalypse. I don’t know that I have a particularly thoughtful or well-informed reason for choosing it, but I like the cover’s juxtaposition of two totally normal, cheerful people going about their business in a hellscape. That feels like a pretty accurate reflection of what 2022 has been like for most of us!

MJ: I suppose I am also choosing Touring After the Apocalypse as my pick this week. Even with so many titles coming out, my feelings echo Kate’s this this week!

High School DxD: Pandemonium on the School Trip

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By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

This may be the least horny DxD volume to date. Which, trust me, means it’s still ridiculously horny, and filled with consensual groping and non-consensual destruction of clothing. But the title is actually High School DxD, and this volume wants to remind you of the first part, as Issei and his class are going to Kyoto. And they actually do make an effort to put in the “look, I did the research” work. There are, of course, supernatural bad things going on on their trip. And they naturally seem to center around Issei. But his teachers say to leave it to them, and to try to have a normal fun school trip. Which makes sense. Most of our protagonists are either demons, fallen angels, or angels, and “high school romcom” is theoretically not high on the list of things they have to do. Unless you’re High School DxD, of course, where Issei cannot walk two steps without having another gorgeous young woman fall in love with him. This volume’s candidate is very young indeed.

As noted, everyone’s off to Kyoto!… well, almost everyone. Rias and Akeno are, of course, one grade higher than Issei, so aren’t going, much to their annoyance. That said, everything is official and they even have special thingummies that will allow them to visit the very religious temples without, y’know, bursting into flames or the like. Things are going well… despite a growing rash of breast gropers among the populace. And the elementary-school aged fox girl who demands that Issei give back her mother, who has been kidnapped. That said, if you recall the events of the seventh volume and wonder “if this perhaps the work of the guys trying to reverse engineer balance breakers so humanity can fight angels and demons?”, you would be absolutely correct.

I will admit that the human side does have a point here, in that if you happen to know about angels and demons and dragons and the like, and they’re all fighting each other, you start to feel like a pointless statistic in comparison. That said, if you want humanity to triumph, I’m pretty sure “terrorist acts” is not the way to go. As for Issei, he’s getting better not only at fighting but also at leading, which is good because without Rias the group seems to lack anyone to give them strategy beyond “hit things very hard”. (Or heal things very hard, in Asia’s case.) I was also amused to see that Issei’s power is very similar to Izuku’s in My Hero Academia (which came out well after this book), complete with prior users who give him cryptic advice. And are also a fan of his signature breast moves. Which is a real sentence that I just typed out, and I still can’t really believe that.

So we’ve had the sports festival, and the class trip, so I think I know what’s coming next. Till then, enjoy a solid volume in this horny series.

I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 4

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By Sarasa Nagase and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

A lot of light novels, particularly in the Villainess genre, have trouble sometimes coming up with what comes next. Looking in particular at My Next Life As a Villainess, which one can argue has sort of been spinning its wheels since the start of Book 3. Fortunately, some authors are much better at coming up with compelling storylines, even if the storyline is “oh, there was another game”. It helps that we have Aileen, who of all the Villainess protagonists is probably the best at being a “villain” personality, i.e. a confident and dynamic young woman who does not take shit from anyone. Well, except perhaps her husband. That said, she gets help here from the “heroine”, Lilia, who is not exactly on her side but is not the antagonist this time, and whose gleeful fourth-wall breaking and sneering bitchiness make this book even more entertaining than it already is. They’re taking on the third game, which has an Arabian feel to it, but still involves the same old otome game tropes.

Aileen and Lilia, along with attendants Rachel and Serena, are headed on a boat trip to Hausel. A dragon went wild while Claude had amnesia, and they need to attend an inquiry to explain it. Unfortunately, on the voyage, the boat’s women are all kidnapped! They’re now in the Kingdom of Ashmael, and are part of the royal harem. Unfortunately, Aileen and Lilia both recognize this scenario: it’s the third game! The “heroine” is Sahra, a holy daughter of God who can repair the Holy Sword. The “villainess” is Roxane, a stoic and reserved woman who is Baal’s main consort. That said… certain aspects of the game seem to have already happened before Aileen and company arrive. Is someone else pulling the strings? Can Aileen avoid being unfaithful to her husband? And why haven’t they consummated their marriage anyway?!

Every time Aileen and Lilia are in the same scene it is a delight. Lilia is absolutely terrible in a way that would be excruciating in real life but is wonderful on the printed page. The fact that the two of them are forced to team up here makes it even better. As for Roxane, like the other villainesses in this series she turns out to be far more than she seems, and I hope we see more of her. We’re definitely going to be seeing more of Sahra… at least I hope we are, as her arc was rushed and lacking, the one part of this I didn’t enjoy. The implication near the end is that Cedric is going to take her in as sort of a way to keep Lilia interested, which I’m sure won’t rebound horribly on him in any way. And, of course, Aileen and Claude are adorable together. It is amusing that everyone – everyone – who knows Aileen thinks she’s cutest when she’s crying. (We also get some brief backstory drop, and wow, her family is very much “you will be awesome or you will die, no other options.”)

This is the first volume that won’t be animated by the current adaptation, and if you’re an anime-only fan it’s a great one to dive into. This remains one of the top-tier titles in the Villainess genre.