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Pick of the Week: Beasts, Zombies, and Aliens

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SEAN: I’ve always regarded Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, aka Fruits Basket for fantasy readers, so I’m going to make its final volume my pick. If you don’t mind “pure-hearted girl fixes everyone around her by virtue of being really swell”, this is a great one.

MICHELLE: I am curious about a few of this week’s debut series, but I’m not confident enough in any of them to fully endorse them as a pick this week. Thus, I’ll be safe and go with Cherry Magic!, since I know I really liked its first volume.

KATE: I was tempted to pick Boys of the Dead–who doesn’t love ZOM-BL?–but I have a feeling the marketing of this title is more clever than the actual manga, so my vote goes to A Galaxy Next Door. I adored Sweetness and Lightning, so I’m board with whatever food-flavored drama Gido Amagakure is dishing out this time around. (Sorry–couldn’t result a terrible pun or three of my own.)

ASH: Quite a few interesting debuts being released this week! Like Michelle, I’m not sure how some of them will actually play out, but I am intrigued. Two I’m particularly curious about simply because of their creators–A Galaxy Next Door and Blackguard (Ryo Hanada’s evolution as a creator since Good-bye Geist has been interesting to see). However, my pick this week goes to Sensei’s Pious Lie a series that was first brought to my attention a few years ago by Jocelyne Allen’s review.

ANNA: There’s honestly not a ton coming out this week that really appeals to me, so because I sometimes like chaos, I’m going to go with Boys of the Dead just because it sounds plenty wacky.

The Holy Grail of Eris, Vol. 1

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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.

If you think the cover art suggests a villainess story, you’re right, though this is once again a variation rather than a straight up “reincarnated as the otome game villainess” sort. That said, almost all those books, as well as many of the variations, have the same kind of scene in it. Usually near the start. Our villainess finds herself at a party or ball, surrounded by men who are sneering at her with hatred and contempt, accusing her of terrible bullying towards the “heroine” of the game itself. This public shaming usually kickstarts the plot in some way or another. But wait, I hear you say. I love those kinds of scenes, the ones that show the dark and seedy undercurrent of nobility. What if I could have an entire book filled with them? And also make it a detective thriller? If you are this sort of reader, the Holy Grail of Eris is hear for you. There’s escapades, and murder attempts, but mostly there’s so much vitriol you could probably start a glassmaker’s shop.

Constance, aka Connie, is our heroine, and frankly, she’s a bit of a drip. Her father, a viscount, is known for being sincere and honest at all times, aka an easy mark. The family is deep in debt. But it’s OK, as she’s engaged to the son of a wealthy businessman… who, unfortunately, is currently having an affair with another noblewoman. All this comes to a head at a party where Connie is shamed and accused in the proper Villainess Novel way. Sadly, she has no one to come to her aid… or so she thinks. Enter Scarlett Castiel, a duke’s daughter who was executed ten years ago for attempted assassination of the (current) Queen. Scarlett possesses Connie and solves the problem by means of a photographic memory and a heaping tablespoon of “being a magnificent bitch”. However, now Scarlett demands Connie’s help in return… to find out what REALLY happened ten years ago!

Not gonna lie, this is a heaping helping of fun, despite the almost obligatory child slavery ring subplot. (In the book’s favor, none of the main cast buy a slave.) Connie and Scarlett are both very flawed heroines, and while together they can just about solve some mysteries, Connie tends to be easily caught and also terrible at lying. But this makes them endearing and easy to root for – we’re not getting any powerhouse OP villainesses here. The other characters are also most arrogant nobles, but they come in various shades, including our love interest, who is a standard Japanese romance novel type, but I don’t dislike that. I also loved the character of Abigail O’Brien, who is several times compared and contrasted with Connie herself and also seems to be an underworld boss and super Madam (in the capitalized sense of the word).

This is supposedly over at three volumes, though a fourth one appeared in Japan last month as a digital-only book. That means we are unlikely to linger too long on the central mystery or what the Holy Grail of Eris is (the fact that Connie’s last name is literally Grail does not come up in the text, and may just be there for flavor). Still, if you like mysteries where the heroine spends most of her time getting caught, and everyone being absolutely terrible to everyone else, this is a winner.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 8

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By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

If you ever wanted to see someone trip on page 1 and spend the next 276 pages falling to the ground, then have I got a book for you. In all fairness, I should have seen this coming. Everything was going far too smoothly for our boy Tomozaki lately. He’s got friends, he’s got a girlfriend, and he’s even teaching his mentor how to not be some sort of Japanese high school girl cyborg, though signs point to that not really working. But one of those things is a very different beast from the others, and as the book goes on the reader starts to notice how Kikuchi just… isn’t in it. She shows up here and there, she and Tomozaki are cute with each other, but she’s not part of the life he’s trying to live right now, she’s a separate entity. And that leads to everything crashing down for the cliffhanger. So it’s a good thing we’re not gonna have another short-story volume next… hrm? What’s that? Volume 8.5? Ah well We must all suffer.

Things start off well, as our new couple go for a New Year’s shrine visit and run into Izumi and Nakamura, and Tomozaki gets to see what an actual long-time couple who are not worried about doing the wrong thing at all times act like. After that, though, it’s back to assignments – for both our protagonists. Tomozaki has to start working towards his next major goal, which is to be the “head” of a clique of friends. As for Hinami, he takes her to an in-person Atafami meet-up, hoping to show her the fun that can be had in gaming and that it does not have to be as analytical as possible. This meet-up is impactful for him as well; first because he ends up meeting a pro gamer who makes Tomozaki wonder if that’s a future he can do himself; and second, because a college-aged girl named Rena starts hitting on him aggressively… something he does not really handle well at all.

I’m going to be honest here: if your mentor is so emotionally broken that you’re trying to get her to have fun as a goal, why are you trusting her with your romantic thermometer at all? Every time he asked Hinami “is this OK” in regards to Kikuchi’s increasing fragility, I wanted to smack him in the face. She is the LAST person he should be asking. Sigh. But that’s Book 9’s problem, I guess, though if this new romance turns out to be only about 2 weeks long, I fear readers may get annoyed. Other than that, though, Tomozaki does pretty well here. He’s gotten better at asking leading questions without suspicion, and is forcing himself to think about his future in ways that aren’t just “college, I guess” like most of his classmates. I really enjoyed the gaming battle with the pro, not because of the endless pages of Atafami description (again, not a gamer), but because it showed off that there’s a different way of thinking you can access when everything you have is on the line.

Let’s hope Tomozaki accesses that when he tries to rescue his relationship next time. Well, next time after the short stories. Till then, this was painful but excellent.

The Manga Review, 4/22/22

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Cover of Cat and GamerBack in the roaring aughts–when earnest manga fans posted reviews on LiveJournal and Blogger–link posts were a simple, effective way to connect with like-minded readers. The widespread adoption of social media in the 2010s was supposed to make it easier to find interesting content, but the proliferation of apps and platforms has had the opposite effect, turning the search for manga news and reviews into a part-time job. Our solution: an old-fashioned column that highlights some of the most interesting manga content on the web, from creator interviews to breaking news stories and reviews. If you write about manga, we encourage you to let us know so we can keep tabs on your site, podcast, or channel; feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch with us through Twitter. Now on to the links!

NEWS AND FEATURES

The latest Mangasplaining episode landed on Wednesday, and this time Deb Aoki and Christopher Butcher take a closer look at Birds of Shangri-La, a steamy boys’ love series, using it as a jumping off point for exploring censorship in Japanese comics. Word to the wise: this week’s show is definitely NSFW. [Mangasplaining]

For an insightful and entertaining look at how girl gangs have been portrayed in anime and manga, look no further than Erica Friedman’s latest Yuri Studio! video. [Okazu]

Erica Friedman interviews Japanese author inori, creator of the popular series I’m in Love with the Villainess. [Okazu]

Do you have a young reader at home? The crack team of librarians at No Flying No Tights have compiled a helpful list of great manga for the under-twelve set, from literary adaptations of children’s classics to perennial favorites Cardcaptor Sakura and Yotsuba&! [No Flying No Tights]

And file this under Better Late Than Never: NPR celebrates the thirty-year history of Sailor Moon with an in-depth look at why the show’s messages of friendship, love, and empowerment still resonate with viewers (and readers) today. [National Public Radio]

REVIEWS

Over at Anime UK News, Sarah reviews Marimo Nagawa’s influential BL drama New York, New York. While acknowledging that some aspects of the story haven’t aged well, Sarah praises Nagawa’s “striking” art and “thoughtful,” “sensitive” exploration of “the problems faced by its gay protagonists in a society that still had a long way to go to be accepting of LGBT rights.” Yuri Stargirl posts a mixed review of Nagata Kabi’s My Wandering Warrior Existence, noting that it suffers in comparison with My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. “I’ve felt that each volume since that first one has been one of diminishing returns,” she notes. “That doesn’t mean they haven’t been good, or powerful, but with each one maybe a little bit less so.” And Good Comics for Kids contributor Johanna Draper Carlson posts an early review of the much-anticipated Cat + Gamer, in which a video game enthusiast adopts a stray kitten.

Manga the Week of 4/27/22

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SEAN: The end of April means the end of innocence, getting ready for the boys of summer, and other things that are not Don Henley songs.

We start with Yen On, who have Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie 2, In the Land of Leadale 5, and Orc Eroica 2.

Yen Press has a whooole lot. We see A Certain Magical Index 25, Days on Fes 5 (the final volume), Dead Mount Death Play 7, Goblin Slayer 11, Golden Japanesque: A Splendid Yokohama Romance 5, Hinowa ga CRUSH! 6, I Was a Bottom-Tier Bureaucrat for 1,500 Years, and the Demon King Made Me a Minister 3 (also a final volume), In Another World with My Smartphone 5, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 8, Laid-Back Camp 11, Love of Kill 7, Please Put Them On, Takamine-san 3, Plunderer 9, The Royal Tutor 16, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 15 (also also a final volume), Sasaki and Miyano 5, Shibuya Goldfish 10, and Toilet-bound Hanako-kun 13. I am getting… well, two of those.

MICHELLE: I’m at least getting Sasaki and Miyano!

ANNA: Not much there for me, since I’m not super into bureaucrats for the Demon King killing slimes after their levels are maxed-out.

ASH: I really ought to catch up with Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts; I’ve enjoyed the volumes that I’ve read. Also Toilet-bound Hanako-kun!

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts Yagi the Bookshop Goat (Honya no Yagi-kun), a BL title from Chara about a goat boy who loves to read books… and eat books! No one trusts him in a bookstore, can he convince the wolf manager to give him a shot? Honestly, this looks damn cute.

ANNA: I don’t care how cute it is!

ASH: Tokyopop keeps trying to tempt me.

MJ: Must… not… look… no. no.

SEAN: Tentai Books has a print light novel debut. You Like Me, Don’t You? So, Wanna Go Out With Me? (Kimitte Watashi no Koto Suki Nandeshou?), another high school romance between a mopey guy and the perfect girl. This genre has gotten popular lately, though usually with more irony than this has. The author also writes Are You OK with a Slightly Older Girlfriend? and When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace.

Square Enix has a 4th volume of Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!.

MICHELLE: I need to resume this series; the first volume was very good!

ASH: It’s true!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan (Saikyou no Shien-shoku “Wajutsushi” Dearu ore wa Sekai Saikyou Kuran o Shitagaeru), based on the light novel also released by Seven Seas. It’s one of those “everyone says I’m weak but I’m secretly strong” series, and runs in Comic Gardo.

Seven Seas also has Cat Massage Therapy 2, The Dangers in My Heart 4, The Dungeon of Black Company 7, Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! 3, Kingdom of Z 5, Our Teachers are Dating! 4 (the final volume), Skeleton Knight in Another World 8, and Time Stop Hero 4.

KUMA has two new titles. sick is a BL oneshot about a young college student. He’s handsome, popular, has all the girls he wants. So why can’t he stop teasing the shy boy in his class? This ran in Takeshobo’s Opa.

Also one volume is Boys of the Dead, which KUMA describes as ZOM-BL!, and I can’t top that. It ran in Canna.

MICHELLE: I am potentially here for ZOM-BL.

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Honestly, I’ve enjoyed most of KUMA’s releases, so far.

MJ: Okay, also count me in as possibly here for ZOM-BL.

SEAN: Kodansha has some print debuts. First we see Blackguard, a horror series from the creator of Devils’ Line. A mysterious virus called shojo is attacking people and… no, it’s not turning them into shojo manga, it turns each person into an identical carrier. Presumably our hero fights back. Also, given the title, presumably he’s not very nice.

ASH: Count me as curious.

SEAN: We also get A Galaxy Next Door (Otonari ni Ginga), a new series from the creator of Sweetness and Lightning. A young manga artist struggling to feed his family finds himself a new assistant, who’s almost otherworldly… and also says they’re engaged. This runs in good! Afternoon.

MICHELLE: I can’t say I’m wild about the premise but there’s enough residual goodwill left over from Sweetness & Lightning that I’ll check it out.

ASH: Sweetness & Lightning was such a delight.

MJ: Hm, yes maybe.

SEAN: And then there is Sensei’s Pious Lie (Sensei no Shiroi Uso), an 18+ series that ran in Morning Two. A young teacher is raped by her friend’s fiance, and struggles to keep it from her friend and also connect with her students. This has won awards, but as you might guess, is pretty intense and not for everyone.

MICHELLE: Sounds heavy but good.

ANNA: Way too heavy for me.

ASH: I’ve heard very good things about this series.

MJ: Cautiously interested.

SEAN: Also out in print: EDENS ZERO 16, Hitorijime My Hero 12, and Something’s Wrong With Us 8.

The digital debut is WIND BREAKER, a new manga from Magazine Pocket. I can’t believe, 20-odd years after WORST bombed in English, we are finally getting another delinquent manga about beating the shit out of other students. Awesome.

ASH: Ha! I’ll admit, I do like delinquent manga.

MJ: I mean.

SEAN: Also digital: Back When You Called Us Devils 12 (the final volume), Bootsleg 2, Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest 4, Getting Closer to You 2, and Harem Marriage 16.

Kaiten Books has a digital release, the 3rd and final volume of My Dad’s the Queen of All VTubers?!.

J-Novel Club has the 9th and final volume of Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?!, Fantasy Inbound 2, Maddrax 3, and Saint? No! I’m Just a Passing Beast Tamer! 2. On the manga side, we see Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight -Origins- 6, Villainess: Reloaded! Blowing Away Bad Ends with Modern Weapons 4, and Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! 5.

Ghost Ship has a 3rd and final volume of Shiori’s Diary, as well as Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 19.

Cross Infinite World gives us a 2nd volume of I Reincarnated As Evil Alice, So the Only Thing I’m Courting Is Death!.

Finally, Airship has the print debut of The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior, as well as Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 9, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 4, and Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling 3.

And we see early digital volumes for Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 10 and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior 2.

Want to buy manga? Or all you want to do is dance?

Bookshelf Briefs 4/21/22

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Catch These Hands!, Vol. 1 | By murata | Yen Press – I’ve been enjoying the recent upswing in yuri manga starring actual adults and aimed at adults. That said, just because you’re now old enough to be an adult does not automatically give you a free “you won” pass. A former gang leader at her local high school is seeing all her comrades getting married and having children, while she’s still working whatever job she can find. Her resting bitch face is also probably not helping. Then she runs into her old rival, now working at a clothing store… and gets asked out! What? Weren’t they supposed to be fighting? Now they’re dating? The fun of this series is in seeing Takebe’s baffled reaction to literally everything, and I hope that she continues to grump her way through future books. – Sean Gaffney

Chieko Show | By Momoto Makiru and Fukumimi Noburo | Star Fruit Books – Don’t be fooled by the cover: Chieko Show is not a forgotten shojo masterpiece, but a raunchy comedy in the manner of Mad Magazine or Beavis and Butthead. The central joke of Chieko Show is that its galaxy-eyed heroine loves making salacious comments and gestures that elicit horrified reactions from adults. Adding some extra “ick” to the punchlines is that Chieko often sounds as if she’s propositioning her family members. As someone who’s reading this work in translation, it’s hard to know if this is an affectionate spoof of Yoshiko Nishitani’s work or just a gross-out gag manga, but the author’s strenuous attempts to shock and amuse didn’t work on me. Your mileage may vary. – Katherine Dacey

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 10 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – The wonderful thing about Delicious in Dungeon, as everyone who’s become a fan of it knows, is how it can go from the silliest comedy to the most terrifying horror at the drop of a hat, and sometimes over the course of only a page or two. And we even get some drama here, seeing the backstory of our “villain,” who unsurprisingly is not merely evil for the sake of it. And everyone is still trying to save Falin, which I approve of, as every single flashback we see of her shows off what a wonderful person she was. There’s even attention paid to biology, as Laios notes how hungry she must be given her human head vs. her monster body that has to be nourished. Still essential reading, even if it’s yearly now. – Sean Gaffney

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, Vol. 20 | By Yomi Hirasaka and Itachi | Seven Seas – So it turns out you can only go so far in changing the ending. The author apparently had a falling out with his editors, publishers, and readers, all of whom were reading the book to see who ended up together rather than reading it to see the bonds of friendship between them. So he kicked most everyone to the curb (bar Sena, the only one who is not definitively rejected, though they’re still not a couple) and ends with graduation coming and going and the friendship being the impact. The manga did a good thing in taking out the Yukimura plotline of death, but, with apologies to the author, we WERE reading this for the romance, so it feels unsatisfying. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 22 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – I knew we were headed towards a climax with these characters, but I didn’t think we would get a literal one in this volume. Things start off extremely silly, with Miyuki and Kaguya’s discussion of boobs and sex being very much “only virgins have these discussions!” But then one thing leads to another, and the two are alone in his new apartment with the rest of his family out for the evening, and, well… it’s actually refreshing to see a series as popular and as funny as this one showing us that yes, teenagers still do have sex. Of course, there is still the overall “Kaguya’s family” problem to solve… as well as the fact that Kaguya has still not told Chika that she and Miyuki are a couple. That may go badly. – Sean Gaffney

Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 1 | By Naoya Matsumoto | VIZ Media – Meet Kafka Nibiro: he belongs to Monster Sweeper, Inc., a dedicated crew of professionals who clean up the streets of Japan in the aftermath of monster rampages. Though Kafka would rather be fighting monsters than disposing of their remains, he’s repeatedly failed the entrance exam for the elite Defense Forces Unit. A freak accident endows Kafka with kaiju-like strength, however, emboldening him to take the test one last time. Up until this moment in Kafka’s journey, Kaiju No. 8 feels like it’s headed somewhere new, but the exam chapters follow an all-too-familiar formula in which an ordinary person discovers his hidden strength through competition with snottier, less principled rivals. The paint-by-numbers quality of these scenes doesn’t bode well for future volumes, as its seems like Naoya Matsumoto is more interested in writing a monster-fighting manga than writing a thoughtful story about a man who unwittingly becomes a monster. – Katherine Dacey

My Wandering Warrior Existence | By Nagata Kabi | Seven Seas – This is probably the easiest to read of Nagata Kabi’s biographical manga essays, but that’s only by a matter of degree—one chapter in here is jaw-droppingly horrible in terms of something that happens to her and the aftermath of how it is dealt with. That said, most of this is the author seeing others fall in love, get married and have children and wondering how she can do this, if she wants to do this, and why would ANYONE do this? The answers do have some humor and heart in them, but they also make excellent points, and I really enjoyed the journey she takes to finding out that this is not necessarily something that has to happen NOW, and also that sometimes buying a fridge is far more fulfilling. – Sean Gaffney

The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Vol. 10 | By Tomoko Yamashita | SuBLime (digital only) – It’s always a little sad when a beloved series comes to its end, but at least The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window does so in very satisfying fashion. In this final volume, Mikado and the others infiltrate the Professor’s compound and work together to bring him down and rescue Hiyakawa. Really, the Big Bad here is hatred, or specifically clinging to hatred and using it as a power source to hurt others. Ultimately, Mikado rather easily unravels the Professor’s hatred while Hiyakawa finally relinquishes his own, confessing that what he really wants is to be with Mikado. There’s not even a smooch, but the fact that they emerge from the compound holding hands speaks volumes. Mikado tears up his contract, symbolizing that he’s Hiyakawa’s partner now rather than his employee, and in the final pages they get back to work, together. Happy sigh. – Michelle Smith

Skip Beat!, Vol. 46 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – Even though I was extremely eager for Ren and Kyoko to finally admit their feelings for one another, I must say it’s kind of a relief that they agree their relationship shouldn’t change yet, not when they’re still on the way to achieving their ambitions. (Still, “No matter where I am, my heart will always belong to you” is some squeeworthy progress!) The latter half of this volume reminds readers that Kyoko still has no idea about Ren’s troubled past, and it seems more movement on this plot point will be forthcoming. Too, there’s the threat of internet sleuths and what they might find out about Ren and Kyoko. These potential complications are certainly compelling, but what interests me most is seeing Kyoko in costume as Momiji and about to start filming that role. I’m down for a career-focused arc! – Michelle Smith

The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, Vol. 1

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By Kotei Kobayashi and riichu. Released in Japan as “Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki no Monmon” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund.

As every writer will tell you, it’s much harder to write comedy than it is to write drama. Something that is funny to one person will be boring, annoying, or offensive to four other people. It can be especially difficult when you’re trying to balance out your book, having a lot of funny things in the front half before it gets dark and turns serious. I’ve talked before about Japanese light novel authors in particular being bad at this, singling out the writers of A Certain Magical Index and Strike the Blood for putting in lowbrow harem comedy “whoops I fell into her boobs” moments to lighten up the honestly very well written action and drama in those books. The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess has comedy that is absolutely dire and painful to read, but it does eventually up the stakes and make things more serious. Unfortunately, that only improves the book very slightly.

Terakomari Gandesblood is the daughter of a renowned family of vampires, so it’s sort of a shame that she’s weak, can’t use magic, is clumsy, and looks younger than she is. Then one day a maid shows up and announces that she’s going to be one of the new Seven Crimson Lords who wage war on behalf of the Empress of their country against the other six countries that surround them. This HORRIFIES Komari, who has barely left her room in the last three years owing to a bullying incident while at school. What’s worse, she’s assigned a company full of perverts, murderers and wastrels, who are famous for mutiny against their new commanders. How on earth is she supposed to deal with this? Can she stop her new maid from being a complete pervert? And why does she have no memory of the incident from three years ago that supposedly started her shut-in days?

Saying what’s wrong with this book will take a while, so let’s dig right in. The first 40% or so is the comedy part, and it’s not funny. Lots of jokes about Komari almost peeing herself (always a bad sign in light novels), the main constantly sexually harasses Komari, the military company are all tenth-generation Irresponsible Captain Tylor rejects, and there is also a guy who raps. Through the entire book. I also dislike the main conceit, which is that they live close to what is essentially a magical resurrection thingummy, so while nearly everyone is brutally murdered in this book, no one actually dies. And once we get Komari’s true backstory and who she really is – and more to the point how it’s covered up – it feels like the villain might be a bit justified in being upset. As for the serious bits, as noted, they’re handled better than the comedy, but they’re also very predictable – the entire final fight had precisely zero surprises.

To sum up: having lesbian maids trying to grope our teenage heroine when she’s trying to go to the bathroom isn’t funny, light novel authors. Thank you.

Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin, Vol. 1

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By Kennoji and KWKM. Released in Japan as “Hazure Skill “Kage ga Usui” o Motsu Guild Shokuin ga, Jitsuha Densetsu no Ansatsusha” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash.

This is the fourth of the books that I never read when they initially came out where I had a Twitter poll to see which I should read. It came last. I can see why. That said… all the other books, after finishing them, I was immediately left with a sense of “I don’t want to read any more of this series”. The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs has a protagonist I really hate, Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra is in a genre I try to avoid, and Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World was so boring I didn’t even do a review. This one, though… if I get another gap in my reading schedule, I might try the next one. It’s in the genre of what I call “McDonald’s” books, i.e. big dumb fun. More to the point, it’s filled with fantasy light novel cliches but mostly avoids the bad ones. Note the mostly.

Roland is part of the party that has been sent to defeat the demon lord. His talent, being unobtrusive, was thought to be completely worthless but makes him a fantastic assassin. He ends up defeating the demon lord himself, though he lets the rest of the party take the credit. Now what he really wants is to retire from his assassin work and live a normal life. The trouble is he has absolutely no idea what normal is. AT ALL. He ends up in a town with an adventurer’s guild, and decides to join… as a guild receptionist. Naturally, as the book goes on everyone else in the cast realizes that he’s far more than he seems. Also, isn’t the demon lord supposed to be dead? Who’s that hot girl who’s hanging out at his house?

I was not kidding when I said this was Big Dumb Fun. It reads like one of those fanfics where the author makes the main character able to do literally anything and have any woman he wants. Unlike a lot of light novels, Roland screws his way through a lot of this book, bedding not only the former demon lord but also the head of the guild and even a passing adventurer. Also, despite his “useless skill”, he’s had so much training that he can literally do almost anything. The reason this is not absolutely unreadable is that Roland is, at heart, a nice person… but he does not ACT like one, as a majority of the OP light novel potatoes do. Roland is brusque and rude, and really does have no idea what normal is, but he not only is incredibly powerful, but he’s good at teaching other people how to maximize THEIR useless skills to become more powerful. This was probably my favorite part of the book, where we see him pinpoint exactly how an adventurer can best be utilized.

So yeah, not going to immediately pick up the next book in this series, but if I get another lull in my reading, I might try the second volume. Which I guess makes it the winner of my poll, even though it came in last.

Pick of the Week: No Skipping Pick Day

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KATE: I only have eyes for one series this week: the delightful Skip and Loafer, a manga that portrays the inner life of a Serious Girl with humor and heart. If I had a thirteen-year-old daughter, this would be required reading in my house, not least because it suggests that being smart, ambitious, and unabashedly nerdy aren’t obstacles to romance, even if those qualities can make that pathway more complicated.

SEAN: Skip and Loafer is terrific, and this is also a week with a new Kageki Shojo!!. That said, it’s A Bride’s Story all the way for me, as Mr. Smith slowly works his way back the way he came so we can see everyone again.

MICHELLE: I really need to read both Skip and Loafer and Kageki Shojo!!, and I’m also happy about a second volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, but what appeals to me most at the moment is Medalist. Some fresh new sports manga just sounds perfect.

ASH: There are some great releases this week! In addition to the titles already highlighted, I’d like to mention two more. It took years of waiting, so long that I didn’t expect to actually see either of these in print, but the beginning of The Faraway Paladin and the end of No. 5 will now be available in my preferred format!

ANNA: I’m going to go with Kageki Shojo!!. One day I will read it!!!

MJ: I wasn’t sure what my pick would be this week, but Kate won me over with her praise for Skip and Loafer, so that’s going to be the winner for me! Thanks, Kate, for making my mind up for me!

My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me!, Vol. 6

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By mikawaghost and tomari. Released in Japan as “Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

This honestly may be the best volume in the series to date. We get a plotline that was completely unpredictable and fun, development of the ongoing love triangle, a lot of great humor, seeing Akiteru try to be proactive and sympathetic but missing the point a good 3/4 of the time, and while the book does have a bit of Sumire in it, she’s mostly in school and forced to be in teacher mode, and thus no shotacon jokes for the second book in a row! The series continues to do a very good job of making everyone likeable – even Akiteru, despite being the classic punchable oblivious guy. It helps that he’s so supposedly “logical” and matter of fact, and thus a different type from the usual pleasant potato. The whole thing ends up in a beauty contest, which features gorgeous pictures of Iroha (in a dress) and Mashiro (in a suit). Sadly, I must report that the illustrator and publisher are goddamn cowards.

It’s the culture festival, which means maid cafes, as well as the school beauty contest. Before that, though, there is the problem of Iroha, who is still freaking out over the fact that she can’t be friends with Mashiro AND be trying to win Akiteru’s heart at the same time. Taking Otoi’s advice to try to see things from the perspective of people other than her own, she spends most of the book acting out the “roles” of her friends and classmates, including Mashiro, Sumire, and Midori. Unfortunately, all of this is frustrating Akiteru, who is trying to demonstrate to Iroha that she can simply be herself and does not have to be the perfect honor student OR other people, she can be as annoying as she wants to be. She’s never going to agree to that, because her being annoying is a form of flirting reserved only for him. So there’s only one thing he can do, really: dress up as a woman and enter the beauty pageant to defeat her.

There is a large amount of this book devoted to Akiteru dressing up as a woman, including some good makeup tips, and it is remarked upon how gorgeous he looks as the end product (provided he doesn’t speak, something he manages to pull off. I actually flicked back and forth over the book three times to make sure I was not missing an obvious illustration. But no, this book is written for teenage boys, and they do not want to see boys in dresses. Feh. The highlight of the book, though, is the growing friendship between Iroha and Sasara, as it turns out most of the “rivalry” stuff was simply because Sasara saw that Iroha was wearing a mask and hated it. Getting her to remove it is fantastic, and it’s nice to see that, despite deliberately ignoring romance for the time being, Akiteru’s sense of what Iroha needs is probably accurate.

As is common with this series, we get a vicious cliffhanger at the end, and I suspect the next volume will make Akiteru very uncomfortable. Till then, this is excellent high school romantic comedy.