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Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools, Vol. 1

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y Hisaya Amagishi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Madougushi Dahliya wa Utsumukanai” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Nikolas Stirling.

Just as there are people who can read an isekai and somehow be surprised that our generic-looking male protagonist ends up with overpowered abilities and women falling all over him, there are presumably people who can be surprised that a romance novel has romance in it. To an extent, I get it. This book is supposedly about a woman, jilted by her fiancee on the day before their wedding, starting anew and devoting herself to her job. You can hear readers all over the world saying “Yeah! Kick ass in your profession, Dahlia! You don’t NEED romance!”. They are bound to be a tad annoyed that the majority of the rest of the book involves her meeting and going on not-dates with a knight whose tragic flaw is that he is simply TOO HANDSOME. That said… come on. This is a romance novel. It even has an extended makeover section where we get to see how gorgeous our mousey heroine really is once she gets the right clothes and makeup. If you accept that, it’s great.

Dahlia is, by the way, a reincarnated Japanese woman who died at work from a heart attack, but her former life only really comes up in her job, as she’s more easily able to visualize magical tools due to her experience with hair dryers and Coleman stoves. She grows up in fantasy world with her dad, who also makes magical tools, and is engaged to his apprentice. Things go great (well, aside from her dad’s death) till the day before the marriage, when her fiance says he’s in love with another woman, so can they not get married? Oh, and he wants to keep the house they bought. She’s stunned, but not as devastated as she expected to be, and she gradually realizes she was never in love with him. She decides to throw all her energy into her business, helped along by most of the rest of the town, who are on her side. Then she meets Volf, the aforementioned knight with golden eyes who can’t walk through the town without starting a fight over him, and who can’t keep friends. Fortunately, both he and Dahlia are on the same wavelength, and both decide to forego romance and stay as drinking buddies. And boy, can they drink. But how long will this last?

Dahlia’s ex, Tobias, is almost cartoonishly awful, not actually evil but such a dimbulb who is lost in the thrall of puppy love that he loses any ability to think – as his older brother hammers into him near the end of the book. Your jaw drops at the callous shit he says to Dahlia, who has also been deliberately making herself dowdy so that other men won’t look at her. Needless to say, he barely recognizes the beautiful redhead she becomes. As for Dahlia herself, she’s great, and her work ethic really is a major part of the book, don’t worry. In fact, it might be a little TOO strong – she tells a story about an accident with black slime where she had to go get healed, and Volf realizes in horror she had melted her hands down to the bone without realizing it. I think we know why she may have overworked herself to death in Japan…

So yes, good book, but don’t be surprised when Dahlia and Volf decide they do love each other after all in the next volume or so. It is still genre fiction.

Manga the Week of 10/6/21

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SEAN: October! Time for scary manga!

ASH: Ooooooo!

MICHELLE: Scary manga and super creeps?

SEAN: Airship has, in print, Monster Musume The Novel – Monster Girls on the Job!, a spinoff of the popular monster girl manga series.

We also get an early digital release for Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 3.

Dark Horse has the 7th Gantz omnibus.

Denpa gives us a 4th volume of Pleasure & Corruption.

Ghost Ship debuts Do You Like Big Girls? (Ookii Onnanoko wa Daisuki Desu ka?), a series that runs in Takeshobo’s Kissca, and combines ‘volleyball manga’ and ‘borderline porn’… well, OK, the porn is like 5/6 of it, the volleyball 1/6. But at least it’s all consensual, that’s a plus.

ASH: That is a plus!

SEAN: Also from Ghost Ship is SUPER HXEROS 4. This actually jumped from Seven Seas’ main label to Ghost Ship before the last volume, so presumably the sexual content also bumped up.

ASH: Sometimes you don’t know where a series is going to go until it goes there.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has lots of stuff, including 3 titles that should have been on last week’s list, apologies, the month change confused me. J-Novel Pulp’s John Sinclair: Demon Hunter 4, The Magician Who Rose From Failure 3, and Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire ♀ 2.

As for actual next week stuff, for manga there’s Der Werwolf 3 and Marginal Operation 9.

For light novels, we get Are You Okay With a Slightly Older Girlfriend? 5, Cooking with Wild Game 14, Holmes of Kyoto 6, In Another World with My Smartphone 23, Infinite Dendrogram 15, Monster Tamer 6, and She’s the Cutest… But We’re Just Friends! 2.

Kodansha has print manga for us. There’s Boys Run the Riot 3, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 10, Orient 5, Rent-a-Girlfriend 9, That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime 17, and Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku 5.

ASH: Boys Run the Riot has been great so far. I’m really looking forward to reading more of Wotakoi, too; it seems like it’s been awhile.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more Wotakoi!

ANNA: Already so behind on Boys Run the Riot.

SEAN: Kodansha’s digital debut is Love After World Domination (Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de), a Weekly Shonen Magazine series about a hero who falls in love with a villainess. I think this is getting an anime.

Also out digitally: Chihayafuru 28, GTO: Paradise Lost 15, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 3, My Dearest Self With Malice Aforethought 9, My Sweet Girl 13 (the final volume), My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1 6, ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! 2, Saint Young Men 13, Sweet Sweet Revenge 2 (also a final volume), With the Sheikh in His Harem 6, and Ya Boy Kongming! 5.

MICHELLE: I’m most excited for Chihayafuru, of course, but I did start My Sweet Girl and liked it well enough. Probably I should attempt to finish it.

ANNA: Waves with intention to read one day at Chihayafuru.

SEAN: Seven Seas continues to push out titles after the early September lull. Lots of debuts again.

ASH: Woo! Here we go!

SEAN: DUNGEON DIVE: Aim for the Deepest Level (Isekai Meikyuu no Saishinbu o Mezasou) is an isekai manga from Overlap’s Comic Gardo. Based on an (unlicensed) light novel, its premise is the same as any other manga with ‘isekai’ and ‘dungeon’ in the title.

Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! (Salaryman ga Isekai ni Ittara Shitennou ni Natta Hanashi) is an isekai manga from Overlap’s Comic Gardo. Not based on a light novel, it has a salaryman summoned by the demon lord to keep her minions in line. This seems like a comedy.

Hitomi-chan is Shy With Strangers (Hitomi-chan wa Hito Mishiri) is NOT an isekai manga from Comic Gardo. This runs in Akita Shoten’s Manga Cross, and seems to be their attempt to do Komi Can’t Communicate with the serial numbers filed off.

Time Stop Hero (Jikan Teishi Yuusha – Yomei 3-ka no Settei ja Sekai o Sukuu ni wa Mijika Sugiru) is an isekai manga from Kodansha’s Shonen Sirius, which seems to combine the subtleties of isekai series with the sensitive and caring aspects of the 1982 sex comedy “Zapped!” starring Scott Baio.

MICHELLE: lol.

MJ: I also lol’d.

SEAN: And we have ongoing series. The Ancient Magus’ Bride 15, The Demon Girl Next Door 4, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 12, Kageki Shojo!! 2, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 2, the third and final volume of Rainbow and Black, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 2.

ASH: Oh, there’s a few ongoing series here that i’m reading; I better get ready!

MICHELLE: I could go for some The Ancient Magus’ Bride.

SEAN: Tokyopop gives us Laughing Under the Clouds 4.

Viz gives us one debut, a Shojo Beat title from Betsuma. My Love Mix-Up! (Kieta Hatsukoi) features a new author but the artist is the one who did My Love Story!!. Guy likes girl, but she seems to like another guy. What’s more, the other guy now thinks that HE likes him. Bisexuality ahoy!

ASH: My Love Story!! is a favorite of mine, in part because of the artwork, so I’m definitely planning on giving this one a try.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

ANNA: Unsurprisingly, me too!

SEAN: Viz has a new My Hero Academia: School Briefs light novel, the 5th in the series. It seems to take place right after the My Villain Academia arc (though is about the heroes, of course).

We also get Blue Exorcist 26, Chainsaw Man 7, Jujutsu Kaisen 12, Moriarty the Patriot 5, One-Punch Man 23, Seraph of the End 22, Spy x Family 6, We Never Learn 18, and Yona of the Dawn 32.

ASH: Solid showing from Viz this coming week.

MICHELLE: No kidding!

ANNA: Yay for more Yona especially.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s Yen Press, who moved a lot of September stuff to October. Yen On’s debut is The Undead King’s Reign of Peace (Fusetsu no Fushiou no Saiseiki), the story of a girl saved by the undead king, a powerful skeleton. (See, more skeletons in light novels.) Sadly, while he wants peace for all, most everyone wants him dead.

ASH: I don’t mind the skeleton trend, honestly.

SEAN: Also from Yen On: Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 3, Date a Live 3, Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin 2, The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious 7, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! 5, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 12, No Game No Life Practical War Game, Strike the Blood 19, Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 7, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina 6, and Woof Woof Story: I Told You to Turn Me Into a Pampered Pooch, Not Fenrir! 7.

No debuts from Yen Press, but we do get Adachi and Shimamura 2, Bungo Stray Dogs 20, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 11, I’m the Hero, but the Demon Lord’s Also Me 2, Im: Great Priest Imhotep 11 (the final volume), Love of Kill 4, Plunderer 8, Sunshine Sketch 10 (which, like Yotsuba&!, also had its last volume come out in 2018), The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions 4, and Yowamushi Pedal 18.

ASH: I’ve actually been binging Yowamushi Pedal lately to catch up to this volume.

MICHELLE: I really need to catch up, too! Maybe singing “hime, hime” will help me to do so.

ANNA: My kids are into Yowamushi Pedal so I gotta order that.

SEAN: I think the scariest thing is how big this list is.

ASH: It is pretty big.

Slayers: Conspiracy in Solaria

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By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Another day, another short, mostly action-filled volume of Slayers to try to expand into a review. Lina and Gourry are still searching for a replacement for the Sword of Light, and swords that can cut through ghosts are not really on the same level. Then they hear a rumor (well, beat up a goon to obtain a rumor) that the regent in Solaria is collecting magical swords and other such weapons. Heading there, Lina and Gourry find a city that has lots of armed guards, lots of buildings they can’t enter, and a supposedly friendly regent who… is being guarded by Luke and Mileena, who are also in the city. Needless to say, not everyone is telling the truth, there’s some really creepy demon shit going on behind the scenes, and it’s going to have to come down to a lot of sword fighting and magic battles to get out of this one. Fortunately, this is a volume of Slayers, so we have just the right sort of protagonists to carry this off.

In general, Slayers doesn’t really do flashbacks or prequels – at least not in the main series. There’s a separate novel series that has not been licensed that features Lina and Naga the White Serpent having adventures before she first meets Gourry, and those also got their own anime, but for the most part the two never actually connect to each other. So it’s always interesting to hear Lina talk about these sorts of things. Here one of her minor allies is someone she’s worked with before when a city was about to be destroyed, and she allied herself with several others to stop it. Which admittedly does not sound like Lina, but then this is the novel’s Lina. We also get another mention of her mysterious older sister, and her apparent love-that-borders-on-abuse of her younger sibling. Gourry, sensibly, does not pry further into what is clearly a big trauma for Lina, but we as an audience are very curious.

Speaking of minor allies, we also have Luke and Mileena, which makes me ask… what exactly is their purpose in the story? They’re not really filling the ‘replacements for Zelgadis and Amelia’ role, and for that matter it’s puzzling as to why Zelgadis and Amelia were written out in the first place. You get the sense that the author has something in mind for them, but… given that the first arc took 8 books, and was a fairly loose arc to begin with, I suspect it may be a while. We see more of Luke’s self-declared love for Mileena, and her total disinterest in same. Luke’s sort of a muscle-bound hothead, which contrasts nicely with Gourry’s muscle-bound airhead. This especially comes up when we come across the results of another horrific experiment, one which involves a lot of dead children. It would be interesting to see this developed.

And so, having managed to save the day without destroying the city for once, our heroes are free to wander once more… well, after clearing their names and doing the paperwork. Still good, but this felt like a slighter volume than usual in the Slayers series.

The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes, Vol. 1

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By Bisu and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru” by Arian Rose. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tom Harris.

It’s no secret by now that it does not take much to make me add another “otome game villainess” story to my stack of light novels. As with isekai stories, a lot of them tend to hit the exact same story beats. Unlike isekai, though, they usually are at least trying to keep things interesting as much as possible. This story has a fairly standard premise. The title is not great. It’s relatively serious, so you can’t push it for the laughs. But, as with a couple other titles in this genre, it’s worth it for the inner narration of the title character, who has just the right amount of balance in terms of talking about her old life, and who seems to have things well in hand when it comes to avoiding her fate. Honestly, the one issue she might have is that she tends to have a bad case of self-deprecation. That said, like most villainess novels, she has a strong supporting cast to buff her up.

Princess Rosemary does have it slightly easier than other examples in this genre. She is indeed killed in a traffic accident, and ends up reincarnated in an otome game. But she was only a rival in the game, not a villainess. So she doesn’t have to worry about death or exile. That said… the game sucked. It had terrible romantic routes, and the actual nice, interesting characters were all NPCs. She absolutely does not want to deal with any of these guys when they’re grown up and terrible, so decides to fix things now while they’re young and malleable. Especially as one is her younger brother and one is her fiance. You’d think this would be easy, given she’s got a good 10 years before the heroine even shows up. But this princess is emotionally mature enough to realize this ISN’T a game… and these are real people whose fates she’s affecting. Which makes it even worse when two young sorcerers arrive… and she has to try to stop actual deaths.

As noted, Rosemary’s narration is fantastic, and great translation too while I’m at it. This book has the word fuck in it no less than five times, and each one of them is well-deserved and pitch perfect. Rosemary does have a group around her who are amazed at her, but they’re not ALL in love with her, and there is a lot of attention paid to her frustration at being a good 17-18 years younger than the guy she has a crush on. She has very sensible solutions to her problems, and they work… mostly. Some issues, like her personal guard, can’t really be stopped as much as toned down. And then there’s the climax of the book, where she is forced to act maturely even when an attempted murder takes place in front of her and the assaulter lies to her face. She can’t even be there for the climactic battle. She really is a 10-year-old royal princess who is guarded constantly, and that leads her to feel powerless… despite pretty much changing history. And it’s only Book 1.

So yeah, the usual “if you don’t like this sort of book, why are you starting another one?” warnings, but if you do like this sort of book, there’s no reason not to add this to the list. It’s a winner.

Pick of the Week: Old Favorites and New Delights

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ASH: There are some great manga being released this week and, while I can’t bring myself to choose only one as my official pick, I did somehow manage to narrow it down to two. Debut-wise, I’m particularly curious about The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, which looks like it should be delightful. But I also want to highlight the final volume of BL Metamorphosis, which has been a truly wonderful and special series.

SEAN: Those are both fantastic choices, and I’m also very interested in J-Novel Club’s new shoujo light novels. But I have to pick Yotsuba&! 15, because it’s been so long, and it’s so heartwarming.

MICHELLE: There is so much good stuff coming out this week! I am really looking forward to The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, but since we can extoll the virtues of volume two in November, I’ll join Sean in choosing Yotsuba&! this week, since I might not get another chance until 2024.

KATE: I’m always down for a new installment of Yotsuba&!, but I won’t lie: I need a Masterful Cat in my life right now, since I’m just getting the hang of commuting and working with other people in person again.

ANNA: There are quite a few intriguing titles coming out this week, but the one that is going to rocket to the top of my to-read list is Witch Hat Atelier.

MJ: There’s a lot for me to choose from this week, for once! And I truly am torn, even though many of the series I’m most interested in are those I haven’t yet (but plan to!) begin. So I guess, like Michelle, I’ll take this opportunity to appreciate a long-awaited new volume of Yotsuba&!.

Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower, Vol. 3

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

If there’s one thing that’s really going to separate Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower from Apothecary diaries it’s the romance. There *is* romance in Apothecary Diaries, but Maomao’s complete avoidance/disinterest helps to keep it about the 5th or 6th most important thing. That’s not the case here, as a good chunk of this book is taken up with both Rimi and Shusei being in love with each other, but knowing that they can’t actually do anything about it. This is not particularly helped by the fact that the Emperor is also deeply in love with her. Indeed, while I would not quite call Rimi a manic pixie dream girl, her presence and way of thinking seem to have gone a good ways towards making the Emperor mature, as for once we get a “I am going to force myself on you” shoujo romance trope where the guy takes the right message from it. This is one big ol’ love triangle, but one side of it can’t really happen. Or… can it?

Most of this volume is dedicated to trying to negotiate a trade agreement with Saisakoku, a nation further to the West known for its herbs and spices. Unfortunately, Saisakoku does not particularly seem all that interested in negotiating, and the envoy they send doesn’t really care if the emperor is annoyed at this. Fortunately, they also have Rimi, who is interesting enough to attract the attention of the Envoy, who apparently likes to gather strays to his side to serve him (which makes him very similar to many otome game villainesses). Rimi really wants to find out about the Saisakokuan style of cooking, particularly as she alone is now serving the Emperor’s meals – Shusei has been delegated to essentially calm the Emperor down while the delegation is here. Can Rimi do something to break the deadlock?

I’ve talked about the romance, which is important, but that doesn’t mean that this story has forgotten about its roots – or its title. Food is very much a major character, as we continue to see shusei find things that are very good for the Emperor but taste awful, and Rimi continues to try to find ways to make it palatable. The sheer joy she shows over learning new ways of cooking wins over not only the head chef at the palace, but also the Saisakokuan chef who is there to serve the delegate spicy food, as he finds Konkokuan cuisine boring. The solution to this issue turns out to also be the solution to the trade talks, though things are also helped by the Emperor really leveling up and learning when it’s OK to ask for help. I also enjoyed seeing the four consorts now getting along swimmingly, even if I sometimes have trouble telling them apart.

There’s a cliffhanger that promises that the political intrigue that’s also a part of the series is only going to get worse, and I suspect that Rimi and Shusei will have a long and hard road ahead – this is only Book 3 of 11. Still, if you like shoujo romance, food, or happy go lucky heroines, this remains an excellent choice.

The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 3

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By Natsu Hyuuga and Touko Shino. Released in Japan as “Kusuriya no Hitorigoto” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

One of the enjoyable things about the Apothecary Diaries is that, while it will always be about the relationship between Maomao and Jinshi to a degree, if you’re completely uninterested in that sort of thing there’s still a whole lot to get out of every volume. There are the mysteries, of course, as everyone and their brother wants Maomao to apply her cunning and figure out Who’s Killin’ Who. There is Maomao herself, who has an idea of what social niceties and graces are and has decided to tell them “no thank you”. And there’s an increasingly fun cast, including the amusingly carefree Xiaolan, who spends most of the novel learning to read – and unlike what most books of this sort would do, she proves to be pretty good at it once given proper education. And then there’s Shisui, who is my new Best Girl, and is basically to bugs what Maomao is to poisons. It’s tough to be so eccentric that Maomao is mistaken for you, but this girl can pull it off.

When Maomao is not busy snarking at Jinshi or “the quack doctor”, she is helping Jinshi to try to educate the people in the rear palace, discovers a cat that is quickly named after her (sort of), deals with a caravan that is selling all the ladies fragrant perfumes… some of which are potentially dangerous; trying to solve a recent disappearance that turns into a not-so-recent murder; figures out how a sheltered young woman snuck past her guards and got pregnant; discovers that the issues surrounding Consort Lihua, which is what started this series off, have not vanished; and ends up going on a hunting trip with a disguised Jinshi, which ends up turning far more dangerous than either of them had anticipated.

As I said last time, the series rewards close reading, and having prior volumes on hand. There are several pregnancies in this book, and several chapters dealing with people who are trying their hardest to make sure that those pregnancies are unsuccessful… or are they? It *could* just all be a coincidence. On the lighter side, for those who ARE reading the book for the relationship between Maomao and Jinshi, the last quarter of the book is pure gold. Something we had long suspected is finally straight up admitted, and you will never be able to see the words “decently sized amphibian” again without laughing. Maomao herself seems more determined than ever to avoid going anywhere near this – she’s very aware of how Jinshi feels, what it would mean for her future, and how she really does NOT want to deal with it. Even if she does go gaga when he gives her the right present.

So yes, this remains essential reading provided you don’t mind that it’s got the Emperor and his many consorts, or that the heroine (not one of the consorts) can kill a man with her sharp tongue at 500 yards.)

Magistellus Bad Trip, Vol. 1

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By Kazuma Kamachi and Mahaya. Released in Japan by DENGEKI no Shin Bungei. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

This is another one of those books that starts off slow and kind of boring and only really pays off in the back half. Honestly, when I started it I kind of felt like Kamachi had gotten bored with writing A Certain Magical Index’s 245th volume and decided to transcribe his Let’s Play video and send it to Dengeki. (Honestly, given how “well” the Index books did here, it’s surprising we got this at all, though it helps that it’s finished at three volumes rather than running to an infinite number.) Taking place in a game world where anything goes as long as you make money, and starring a cool guy and his badass succubus familiar, the book oozes testosterone from every pore, and I was almost ready to give up till the interesting stuff kicked in. Fortunately, the interesting stuff IS interesting, and helps explain a lot of the plot holes that the attentive reader might have raised an eyebrow at. It makes me want to read more of the book, especially given it’s a finished series in Japan.

Kaname Suou is a player in a game called Money (Game) Master, a game with no rules or restrictions except “make money”. He is assisted by Tselika, an NPC assistant character who takes the form of a buxom succubus. When we meet then they’re pulling off a big caper that will get them a huge amount of ‘snow’, this game’s currency, which allows them access to an exclusive group trying to get a hold of a forbidden Legacy weapon, left behind by a former player who was able to make ludicrously powerful weapons. If you’re looking at this description and thinking “there’s going to be double-crossing”, you’re right, but that’s not exactly a spoiler. That said, things get more interesting when we meet Midori, the younger sister of the weapon builder, who is trying to destroy the Legacies. Oh, yes, and it turns out that this game has HUGE consequences for the real world as well – in fact, in most ways that count this game is now the economy of the real world.

So, not wanting to reveal the interesting twists too much, I will merely note that I did find them interesting, even if a few of them were a bit unsurprising. It’s not too hard to guess the identity of certain people if you know how to think like an author. Still, overall it’s a book filled with a great deal of action, which Kamachi is good at, a few stabs at humor, which he’s far less good at but at least they’re better than his attempts in Index, and a lot of thrilling intrigue, as the last part of the book involves a race against time, a big chase, and literally everyone in the world turning against our hero. Kaname is a bit generic, possibly to avoid too many people comparing him to Touma, but also because he’s playing a game character, he isn’t trapped in a game as his real self or anything. Everyone is deliberately making themselves cool and attractive in this.

So yeah, this is not New Testament, but it’s a good action thriller, and it should please fans who don’t mind a lot of cars, guns, things exploding, and questions about the nature of reality.

Prince Freya Vol. 1

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Like a well-listened to lullaby, I find myself in front of the keyboard with a manga volume beside me. And so, the song starts again. Fitting that I chose a story set in a fairy-tale world to return with.

Prince Freya is neither a Western style fable nor a Japanese high-fantasy adventure. Rather, it has elements of traditional fairy-tale stories in the Germanic-Franco style. I bet you didn’t know that in the original version, Cinderella’s sisters were beautiful but wretched and doves sent by Cinderella’s dead mother pecked their eyes out? Yeah, brutal. Well, the same kind of logic applies in Prince Freya. Freya, a young girl living with her ailing mother in a village in the Kingdom of Tyr. Nearby Sigurd is threatening to gobble up Tyr. So, secretly, her childhood adoptive brothers come back to the village to make sure a plan in Tyr’s capital doesn’t come to fruition. See, Tyr’s plan is to use Freya to sub in for Prince Edward, the ruler of Tyr. Edward is dying from poison and needs someone to pretend to be him to save the kingdom. So we’ve got elements of Prince and the Pauper, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and a few that I’ve forgotten the name of.

Freya herself is a big crybaby, borne from her constant, unstated, fear that the people she loves will be taken from her. So when Aaron and Alek, her brothers, have to go back to the castle empty handed, she overhears a plot by Sigurd’s officers to kill Aaron as payment for Tyr’s resistance. She volunteers to Edward to take his place, in one hell of a Faustian pact: she becomes the prince, even with her crippling emotional state, but even in saving those she cares for, some of her happiness is destroyed. I found the bulk of the first volume to deal with the unseen threats that she did not foresee: palace intrigue, people who follow the prince’s every orders being thrown off by “his” abrupt change of behaviour, and being a person she could never be in her old life. But underneath, she remains the person back in her home village. When she (literally) leaps into the role of the prince in front of the castle, her sense of justice is now augmented by her new-found power as the regent. So the same girl who reached out for hurt people as a child now wields incredible public power. Some people who distrust her now can be smoothed over, others must be left for another day. Give and take, political pragmatism, and discretion being the better part of valour. All these things she has to learn in hours. All the while, Ishihara keeps the darker side of the fairy tale in play because at every turn, inside and outside the castle, death lies in wait.

The two major male leads in the first volume, Alek and Aaron, are where the volume’s emotional gravity comes from. Aaron’s the older one, the one who had the Prince’s Black Knight bodyguard role, and he comes from the perspective of the practical soldier: yes, childhood was an adventure but there are evils out there, waiting to devour the unwary. He carries himself with the weight of a young man who knows the cost of friendship, family, and love. He’s prepared to pay it but can’t save those around him from heartache. Alek, on the other hand, is the prototypical foot soldier; hard-working but not made in the eyes of the court. Alek could die tomorrow and nobody in the castle will grieve. His cross to bear is that he has to rise to the challenges within and without or everyone he loves will be stolen from him. In many ways, he is his older brother but not a complete clone. Aaron seems to be certain that Freya needs to find her own way, however heart-breaking it is, whereas Alek thinks the same but yet as he sees it, who will protect Freya if they throw their lives away at the first sign of danger? Freya is not so much torn between them as she is trying to make sure they both get different levels of support from her while she battles her fear and terror at her role in this dangerous political play. Her upset is from them risking all for save her when she feels that she should do all she can to balance the scales.

The manga plays with all this and keeps the background machinations going as elements within the castle shift their weight as some know that Freya isn’t Edward and others don’t. These elements will end up colliding with Freya and the boys while she wrestles with her choices and decisions. The story hits hard in several scenes and reminded me that not all fairy tales end with the heroes making it out of every book. I liked how Freya loses more and more of who she and the boys were back in the village as they take on each terrifying moment. Ishihara has made a typical fantasy setting and made it more on what happens to Freya’s state of mind than what the world around her does. As the older stories tell us, there are worst things than death in a high fantasy.

Now, I put down this volume and reach for another. The lullaby goes on, the setting changes. See you next time, readers!

Manga the Week of 9/29/21

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SEAN: The end of September brings some nice books, but also a long-awaited new volume of a beloved series, so let’s start with that.

Yen Press has Yotsuba&! 15! Do you know when the last Yotsuba&! came out? 2018, that’s when. Rejoice!

ASH: Ah! A great series to start us off with!

ANNA: Wow!

MICHELLE: When last we left off, Yotsuba and her dad were acquiring a car, so I look forward to some fresh new adventures.

MJ: Oh!!

SEAN: Yen Press also has A Certain Magical Index 24, Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 5, In Another World with My Smartphone 3, Love and Heart 3, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story 3, and Star Wars: Rebels 2.

Apologies to Udon, who I forgot about last week. They have already out Steins;Gate 0 Volume 1, an alternate universe manga set after a Bad End from the original game. This is an omnibus of the first two volumes.

Square Enix has By the Grace of the Gods 3.

Seven Seas has been awfully quiet all month… TILL NOW. Get ready to be buried.

ASH: I am prepared.

SEAN: We start with the Bloom Into You Anthology, a collection of manga by various artists revolving around the cast of this yuri manga.

ASH: I like seeing these anthology volumes released. Once upon a time, seeing them licensed was somewhat rare.

SEAN: Hello World, the manga, is a complete in one omnibus retelling of the light novel. It ran in Ultra Jump.

Karate Survivor in Another World (Yajin Tensei) is a Dengeki Daioh title for those who wish that more isekai titles were like old-school Shonen Champion “teens fight” manga.

ASH: I am interested in portrayals of karate in manga, but am significantly less interested in isekai these days.

SEAN: The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today (Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu) is from Kodansha’s Suiyoubi no Sirius, and is about a young woman who takes in a giant cat… who’s really good at nearly everything. Better than her, at any rate. Cats and comedy, love it.

ASH: Indeed! Love a good cat manga.

ANNA: Sounds promising.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

MJ: This sounds fantastic!

SEAN: The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real! (Murazukuri Game no NPC ga Namami no Ningen to Shika Omoenai) runs in Young Ace Up, and is based on the novel. I enjoyed the novel much more than expected, so the manga should also be fun.

Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling (Tensei Shitara Dragon no Tamago Datta – Saikyou Igai Mezasa Nee) runs in Comic Earth Star, and is ALSO based on the novel. I didn’t read that one, but I assume it is cute and has dragons.

That is SIX debuts. Wow. We also get BL Metamorphosis 5 (the final volume), How to Build a Dungeon: Book of the Demon King 7, Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 6, Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn 14, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 2, and We Swore to Meet in the Next Life and That’s When Things Got Weird! 3 (the final volume).

ASH: BL Metamorphosis is wonderful; I’m so glad that it was translated.

MJ: I never managed to start it, but now is the time!

SEAN: One Peace has the 16th manga volume for The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Kodansha gives us the first volume of the updated Eternal Edition re-release of Codename: Sailor V.

Also in print: Eden’s Zero 12, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 8, Fire Force 24, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 6, To Your Eternity 15, UQ Holder 23, and Witch Hat Atelier 8, the most important of those titles. (Please buy Witch Hat Atelier.)

ASH: Yes, please do! I’m a little behind in my reading, but To Your Eternity is a favorite of mine, too.

ANNA: Witch Hat Atelier is one of the few series I’m not behind on!

MICHELLE: I totally am!

MJ: I’m… I can’t even bear to speak of it.

SEAN: Digitally, our debut is The Girl, the Shovel, and the Evil Eye (Youjo to Scoop to Magan Ou), a Shonen Sirius title whose content is not as cute as it sounds. A man dies and is reincarnated as a worker in a mining camp, without any powers, even! But when he tries to help a bullied girl, will he have powers after all?

Also out digitally: Am I Actually the Strongest? 5, Back When You Called Us Devils 5, Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me 2, Fate/Grand Order -Epic of Remnant- Pseudo-Singularity III: The Stage of Carnage, Shimousa – Seven Duels of Swordmasters 3, The Great Cleric 7, Harem Marriage 9, Mr. Bride 2, Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence 4, That’s My Atypical Girl 2, and What I Love About You 7. Half that list is just the title of the Fate book.

J-Novel Club has 4 debuts, three light novels and one manga. Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools (Madougushi Dahliya wa Utsumukanai) is a J-Novel Heart series about a woman who was isekai’d after overworking herself to death. She’s not a villainess… but she’s still dumped by her fiancee. She’s been trying to be quiet and get on with life… well, screw that. Now she resolves to make a career for herself.

Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World (TRPG Player ga Isekai de Saikyou Build wo Mezasu) is a series that features, well, an isekai’d guy using game mechanics in another world, but apparently the audience for this is more 45-year-old D&D players than teen MMO gamers.

The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes (Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru) is a villainess otome game series from J-Novel Heart. In this game, most fans agreed that the support guys were better than the love interest. Our villainess is going after one… but the heroine is determined to stop her. We shall see.

Also out as a light novel: Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill 10.

On the manga front, we get the debut of My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ—. Based on the light novel, it runs in Comic Earth Star.

We also get the 4th Record of Wortenia War.

Ghost Ship debuts Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star (AV Dan’yuu Hajimemashita), a Shinchosha title from Kurage Bunch about a young man who moves to Tokyo to enter the world of Adult Videos. It’s… harder than it looks. No pun intended.

ASH: I’ll admit to being curious.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World gives us Return from Death: I Kicked the Bucket and Now I’m Back at Square One With a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me. As you might guess, it’s a Peggy-Sue story a la Tearmoon Empire, and the title is also the plot.

Lastly, we have Airship. In print, they debut She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man, and we also get Classroom of the Elite 9 and The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 5.

And we get an early digital release of Berserk of Gluttony 4.

Ooof. The Suez is unstuck, folks, and the September of Quiet is over. What are you getting?