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Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Stepping on Roses Vol.1

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Stepping on Roses Vol. 1 | By Rinko Ueda | Published by Shojo Beat | Rated: Older Teen, Ages 13+

downloadAh, getting back to old habits can be good, no? Flexing your muscles after so long diminished is how you figure out what made you like your vocation. What am I prattling on about? I’m back writing about Shoujo again! instead of going back to Sailor Moon straight away, I’ve decided to tackle a clean title. Recently, VIZ Media opened their digital catalogue to people outside the US and I decided to buy with my money a Shojo Beat title that I’d never heard anyone talk about but that I had wanted to review blind. Was it any good? Ahhh, so close and yet so far.

Stepping on Roses by Rinko Ueda is a turn of the 19th century Japanese tail of Sumi Kitamura, a down on her luck girl taking care of four children that her dreamboat brother Eisuke keeps bringing home with him. As she’s taking care of these children, he’s supposed to be providing for them. He however, is about as helpful as a cardboard oar when it comes to money. As a result of Eisuke’s overdrawn credit, Sumi tries in vain to pay for one of the children’s medicine. Before anything bad can happen (this is a shoujo title after all), she is saved by a young man giving her a handkerchief with some money inside before disappearing into the crowd. When Sumi gets more pressure from Eisuke’s creditors, she tries to sell herself in the red light district and nearly falls into a nasty situation, only to be rescued (this is a shoujo title, after all) by Soichiro Ashida, a young, handsome and soon to be wealthy young man. Soon enough she has her money but there’s a catch: she must marry Soichiro who needs her to inherit the family silver, as it were. So, there she is in a life of luxury and hating it and wanting to get back to her kids while Soichiro goes to work changing her into a high lady of society.

OK, I’ve no problem with flights of fancy and this is an amazing flight, indeed. Sumi spends her first few days in Soichiro’s house desperately trying to find out if the children and Eisuke are ok but it’s not easy. Soichiro is cut straight out of the Charles Dickens playbook of villainy. He marries Sumi for money, treats her like harshly and knows that his friend Ijuin Nozomu is the boy she was saved by. Every time it looks like Sumi isn’t coming up to muster, he threatens to sink her to the bottom of the sea. Who even uses this kind of language in fiction? It’s too bad he doesn’t have a moustache to twirl. He barely eats anything (well, that amazing figure doesn’t tone itself I’d imagine), sleeps in silk pajamas, plots to defraud his grandfather and can now run his family’s fortune his way. So why do I like him? Hmm, I need to prepare your beforehand that I’ve only read this volume and no further in the series so Soichiro could turn out to be an edjit for all I know. OK, so Soichiro: I like him because despite all his villainy, he doesn’t hate Sumi and doesn’t hurt her in any way save dragging her across town to the church (ok, that came out all wrong). He seems to be more worried once he has control of the family fortune than he does beforehand. Every time he looks like he’s going to hurt her, it turns out to be something innocent. She thinks he’s going to have his way with her, turns out he noticed her nightdress is on backwards (through the personal space invasion is treading on thin ice). He does have this awful habit of flinging Sumi into lots of furniture: beds, sofas, chairs. That and treating her like dirt for being poor. It’s not like she could help it, dude.

Another thing that doesn’t really add up is Eisuke is a complete cad but Sumi is the nice one. So if she’s been missing for a day or two, why is Eisuke not worried? Money comes in from a mysterious person and he doesn’t bat an eyelid. Little known fact, people with less than honorable traits usually notice when something is up with someone who does have positive traits. Not here. Eisuke just rolls with it. Only when the kids pester him into it, does he decide to look for her. Who’s betting he decides to blackmail Soichiro only for a rival for his affections to notice and use it as a reason to get rid of Sumi out of Soichiro’s life? If I turn out to be right, VIZ can post my royalty checks to the editor here of Mangabookshelf. I could be wrong and this could turn out to be completely different in its execution but somehow I doubt it. I also think that Soichiro and Sumi will fall more in love with each other as the volumes progress. Why? Well, if they break up, he loses everything. If they do, Sumi is free to marry Nozomu except that I think Nozomu is in love with Soichiro. So that’s not going to happen. Do you really think Ueda is going to go full blown David Copperfield on Sumi with Soichiro? If she did, I’d eat up every volume because I root for the underdog always. But Soichciro isn’t a bad person, just makes rather mean choices. So, there is a chance of redemption for him. So that leaves Sumi and Soichiro together for the duration as they learn about themselves and about love. Now, I love that when it happens in a Nora Ephron film but here, stretched out over 9 plus volumes when I checked, I don’t know if they can hold my attention. Time will tell. So what’s the upside to this first volume?

People get slapped senseless in this book, it’s a shame there isn’t a hit counter on each page. Ueda seems to delight in having people beaten. Landlords, kerb crawlers, the main lead, the main love interest, the manservants. Just like an episode of Dallas or Falcon Crest except done in black and white. It’s awesome. There’s always tears or shocked expressions whenever it happens. Also, I love Sumi as our plucky hero. She just goes from nothing but happy to everything and depressed in the blink of an eye and this just makes her grit her teeth harder. Despite her feeling that Soichiro is a very stern and harsh person, she looks conflicted when he acts nice to her or at least it looks like he’s acting. I got the sense in the scene where he continuously kisses her to make sure she can pass inspection from their keen eyed guest, she doesn’t know what to think since their deal didn’t involve showing each other affection. Also, she looks so scared when he kisses her but still comes through to talk with Nozomu when she gets looked in her room by Soichiro. Soichiro’s manservant Gengoro provides a lot of fun in his calm demeanour being spoiled by his master giving him crazy orders like teaching Sumi how to write and read, eat in a Western fashion and walk in Western clothing in less than a month!

Artwork wise, it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. Ueda gives her cast a sweeping look with Soichiro being that classic archetype who looks good in anything: wedding suits, evening wear and so on. Sumi doesn’t really look poor, she just looks like she’s wearing someone else’s costume. When she’s dressed in high fashion, she looks stunning and Ueda loves working on her. But she frequently neglects her background characters. The only way I could tell the kids apart is when they were separated, when put together, they just are a mess. But that might be deliberate on Ueda’s part so I’ll hold off. The people in the background (prostitutes, wedding guests and so on) just look like a bunch of character models on a page. Needs more work as my old teachers would say.

Stepping on Roses problem isn’t that it’s boring or that the story isn’t good. It’s just that it feels like more of the same for me and works too hard at the scenes instead of the characters. I want to like the story and the cast but it feels like I’m watching a soap opera instead of a story. In some cases, the bubble of artificiality can work to an author’s advantage. Here, the bubble is getting between you and the story. Soichiro really isn’t a nice person but he’s portrayed as being redeemable. Sumi is a good, likable girl who is willing to sell herself but gets nervous around another stranger who’s got a contract with her. It’s a bunch of people who can’t settle on being good or bad or conflicted. Arrggh! It’s so frustrating. I’ll report back when I get volume two.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 4: Founder of the Royal Academy’s So-Called Library Committee, Vol. 2

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

If the plot of all nine of the books in this arc is 75% “Rozemyne goes to the magical academy and fun things happen” and the other 25% is “Sylvester and Ferdinand stare in horror, mouths agape as Rozemyne tells them what she did”, I will be a happy clam. Yes, once again she’s breaking rules she didn’t know existed, or breaking rules simply because she’s too deep inside a book to really pay attention to anything around her. Everyone in this book is constantly talking to her about sociability lessons and etiquette, etc. That said, they really should remember what she used to be like, as should the reader… we have come a LONG, LONG way from the Myne of the first three books. There are a grand total of zero temper tantrums here, even when you’d expect her to have them. – Benno doesn’t even noogie her! That said, one sad note for older readers, as her path back to Lutz and her old family is getting fainter and fainter.

The cover art shows Rozemyne and her attendants engaged in what seems to be a sporting match… indeed, I was a kid once, so I’ll buy the author’s explanation that she based the game played here on her daughter’s invented dodgeball variation. That said, the author is also correct that anyone who is reading the description of the match will be thinking of some other fantasy series. The match itself comes about because it turns out that the two rabbit familiars Rozemyne powered up last time are not only highly intelligent and powerful but also wanted by most of the other student cliques, and just getting them to her dorm so they can be measured for new clothes is an adventure. Getting them back is even more of one, and leads to the game of “ditter” we see on the cover, which our heroes only win because they have Rozemyne’s bag of tricks – they’re clearly outclassed in every other way.

In other news, much as she would like to try to stay out of everyone’s way and read books, that’s not going to happen, and much of it is Rozemyne’s own fault. Sure, she cannot turn down a prince when he arrives at a tea party she’s going to, but at the same time, she did not have to bluntly play matchmaker for him and tell him how far he has to go to be prime boyfriend material. She is fortunate that the advice works really well, or else disaster might have occurred. Then there’s the issue of her attendant Traugott, Rihyarda’s grandson. He’s a hothead who thinks you can get what you want through charging ahead, but unlike the other rock-stupid attendant we know and love (and Angelica is wonderful throughout, she’s my favorite after Rozemyne), he does not actually listen to or care about Rozemyne. As such… bye-bye. Mama don’t allow no mana-compression leeches in here.

I’m not sure what else to say, except that everyone should be reading this. Despite its length (each book is easily the size of two normal light novels), you’ll want to plow through it the moment you pick it up.

Manga the Week of 9/15/21

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SEAN: Gonna start reversing the list more often as, no offense to Seven Seas, I am tired of Airship getting the first image every week.

So we start with Yen On, who have a plethora of “delayed from August… and July” debuts for us! Four of them, in fact.

Bond and Book (Musubu to Hon) is a new series from the author of the Book Girl light novels, which I greatly enjoyed when they came out ages ago. Sadly, they came out before the LN boom, so sold poorly – I hope this does better. It seems to be a linked story series, as the books overall involve a young man who can “hear the voices of books”, and each book has him dealing with a specific problem. The first is called The Devotion of “The Surgery Room” (a short story by Japanese author Kyōka Izumi).

ASH: This sounds right up my alley. I, too, enjoyed what I read of Book Girl and I like book-ish type stories.

SEAN: Second we have If the RPG World Had Social Media… (Moshi Role Playing Game no Sekai ni SNS ga Attara), a series which I’m going to take a wild guess is a comedy. Would you challenge the demon lord via text?

Third we have Magistellus Bad Trip. A Certain Magical Index may be dead in North America, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a new series by the same author. A VR city with gambling and high stakes is about to be taken by a young man and his succubus partner.

Lastly, we get a spinoff from The Irregular at Magic High School, the appropriately named The The Irregular at Magic High School. Seems to be more of a continuation than a legit spinoff – they’re even keeping the numbering, as this is Vol. 17. But it has to be a new series, I’m sure.

ASH: Huh! That’s an interesting way of doing it.

SEAN: Viz Media debuts Mao, the new Rumiko Takahashi series. This runs in Weekly Shonen Sunday, and is definitely a step back towards serious supernatural/horror themed stories.

MICHELLE: Kinda curious about this one.

ASH: Same!

MJ: And me!

SEAN: Also from Viz: a double shot of Kenjiro Hata, as we get Fly Me to the Moon 7 and Hayate the Combat Butler 38. Other than that, it’s tie-ins galore, as we see Kirby Manga Mania 2, Pokemon: Sun & Moon 11, Splatoon 13, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 9, and YO-KAI WATCH 18.

Tokyopop has A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation 4.

SuBLime debuts Black or White (Kuro ka Shiro ka), which runs in Kadokawa’s Emerald. Two actors who are typecast in roles they’d rather not be doing are secretly lovers.

ASH: I’m looking forward to giving this one a try.

MJ: That does sound interesting, actually.

SEAN: Also from SuBLime, we have Jealousy 4 and Given 6.

MICHELLE: I am so behind on Given already.

ASH: I’m a bit behind, too, despite enjoying the series!

SEAN: Square Enix has the 4th volume of A Man and His Cat.

MICHELLE: Yay!

MJ: Another yay!

SEAN: Another small week from Seven Seas. They have The Ideal Sponger Life 9, Plus-Sized Elf 7, and Reincarnated As a Sword 7.

One Peace debuts Multi-Mind Mayhem (Isekai Tensei Soudouki), based on the as yet unlicensed light novel. This story of a man with three different souls in his body – his own, a Japanese samurai, and a Japanese otaku – comes from Alpha Polis.

ASH: I am possibly intrigued.

SEAN: Kodansha, in print, has Orient 4 and A School Frozen in Time 3.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed the first volume of A School Frozen in Time.

ASH: I still need to read it, but I do have a copy!

SEAN: Digitally, as always, much more. Two debuts. Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss! (Online Game Nakama to Sashi Off shitara Shokuba no Onijoushi ga Kita) is a BL title from Ichijinsha’s Gateau, about a guy who tries to destress after days dealing with his evil boss by talking with a gaming friend online. then they meet up in real life and… yeah, you guessed it.

The other debuts is also BL and also from Ichijinsha’s Gateau. We’re On Our Own From Here (Konosaki wa Futarikiride) is a high school romance between two boys, spurred on by a girl seemingly confessing to one.

MICHELLE: This looks really cute!

MJ: I’m a sucker for this type of story.

SEAN: There’s also Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 7, Ace of the Diamond 34, Giant Killing 26, Police in a Pod 4, The Springtime of My Life Began with You 4, Tokyo Revengers 22, We Must Never Fall in Love 8, and Yamaguchi-kun Isn’t So Bad 2.

MICHELLE: Lots of stuff here that I’m interested in! Mostly the sports, not gonna lie.

ASH: I’ll admit to being fond of sports manga, too.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Dragon Daddy Diaries: A Girl Grows to Greatness (Totsuzen Papa ni Natta Saikyou Dragon no Kosodate Nikki: Kawaii Musume, Honobono to Ningenkai Saikyou ni Sodatsu), a title from the author of Sexiled and A Lily Blooms in Another World, so again, I would not worry about daddy-daughter issues here. This looks super cute, and is about what you’d expect: a dragon adopting and raising a human child.

ASH: Another book to add to the list to check out!

Also on the light novel tip from J-Novel Club: The Apothecary Diaries 3, Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower 3, Perry Rhodan NEO 3, The Sidekick Never Gets the Girl, Let Alone the Protag’s Sister! 2, and A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 6.

Lastly we have Airship. In print, they’ve got How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 12 and Muscles Are Better Than Magic! 3.

Two early digital debuts. The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan (Saikyou no Shien-shoku “Wajutsushi” Dearu ore wa Sekai Saikyou Kuran o Shitagaeru). Sigh. Weak. But really strong. Betrayed. Evil? Probably, but he’s our hero. Moving on.

Planet of the Orcs is from Kodansha’s Legend Novels line, and therefore I expect it to be pretentious as hell, even though when I look at the premise all I can do is sing “ORCS WITH GUNS!” to the tune of Duran Duran’s Girls on Film.

That’s a big chunk of stuff… but is it for you?

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 20

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By Satoshi Wagahara and 029. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

Sometimes I worry that an author might be paying too much attention to their fans. This is not a bad volume of Devil Is a Part-Timer! per se, though it’s light on the series’ usual wacky comedy. As we get closer to the end of the series, Chiho and Suzuno are too busy to crack many jokes, and Maou and Emi are too stressed out. But we do get to the point where we’re ready for the final battle next time, which is good. Maou is still waffling, which is less good, but at least in the cliffhanger ending he admits that it’s because he has no idea what it means to love someone. That said, there’s a sense that the author saw a few Maou/Emi fanfics and got annoyed, because this volume definitely has the feeling of the author trying too hard. The plot is “Maou and Emi have to live in her apartment for the sake of Alas Ramus”, and they try to bond as a family, but there’s no sexual tension at all. Meanwhile, Chiho is… well, overpowered.

Maou and Emi are able to do this “live in her apartment” thing because they’re mostly being kept out of the loop, as Chiho organizes a gigantic peace summit for the express purpose of not getting left behind in Japan when this is all resolved. This involves trying to please every faction, many of whom have reason to hate the Devil King… including a few surprises. That said, Maou and Emi have a good reason to not be part of the preparations: Alas Ramus is starting to suffer what Acieth did last book, only it’s not eating but attention she wants, and it’s causing her to grow between infancy and middle school age… and also teleport. And there’s also the matter of Sariel, who is just a bit stressed out that Chiho revealed everything to the McRonald’s staff without bothering to check with him first. A lot going on.

Look, I like Chiho. I’ve even shipped Maou/Chiho since the book began, mostly as Japanese titles with a tsundere lead and a cute plucky second girl always end the same way. But… damn, this feels forced. There’s a hysterically bad section of the book where Chiho discusses talking with the student council and studying how parliament works as last-second prep for chairing a summit of supernaturally-powered factions. Yeah, even I’m not buying this. As for Maou and Emi, Chiho makes a good point when she says if anything was going to happen between them, it would have by now, but still… it’s a bit of a damp squib here, showing off all their awkwardness but none of their friendship. On the bright side, there was actual depth given to Emeralda, who is pretty good at hiding behind her speech affectations and “don’t care” attitude, but it turns out has real reasons to hate the Devil King. That said, just before the end of the series is not a good time to remind us he was supposed to be fantasy Hitler.

And so everything is prepared for the final volume, though honestly I feel that dealing with love confessions may be more difficult than an actual war with heaven. In the meantime, if you’re going to break the cliche, you might want to try a bit harder than this does.

The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?), Vol. 7

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By Toru Taba and Falmaro. Released in Japan as “Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu ~Sou da, Baikoku Shiyou~” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jessica Lange.

This series continues to do what I want it to do, and that makes me very happy. There’s some whining and complaining from Wein here, but nit’s kept to a minimum. There’s a larger role for his sister, with promises of more to come in the future. There’s a lot of very clever people trying to outfox each other, succeeding, then being upended by someone else. And in the end it turns out that the unloved son, who is the least suited for the throne, is the only one who really wins here. There’s also a lot of discussion about what it means to rule a nation… and an empire, for that matter. All of Wein and Lowellmina’s old classmates get cool things to do. Including Ninym, who continues to function as Wein’s minder and sounding board, but also shows that she’s dangerous on her own. Basically, if you like this series, you’ll really like this volume.

The throne war in the empire is heating up, and Demetrio, the eldest son, has decided to advance things by having himself baptized in the holy land, the first step towards becoming the new Emperor. Naturally, none of the other candidates, including Lowellmina, will stand for that. She invites Wein and Ninym to the Empire to discuss an alliance… but on the way there, they’re waylaid by the first prince’s soldiers, and have to pretend they’re there to answer HIS summons to discuss an alliance. Which is awkward, because a) the alliance letter was meant to be a formality, no one expected Wein would agree to it, b) the first prince is the one with the lowest chances of becoming Emperor, and c) this is probably all part of Lowellmina’s plot to use Wein to further her own interests. Fortunately, Wein had a backup plan. His sister.

There’s a fair amount of military battles in this book, and we get to show off the strategist and the swashbuckler in Wein’s “college days” party being fairly awesome. Wein himself, as with the previous book, is more of an influencer here. Indeed, he has to be, as he been put in a very awkward position. But he’s got a sharp mind, and he knows that all three factions have their own issues. (The second prince doesn’t really seem to want the job, to be honest.) It also would not be a new volume of Genius Prince without a new eccentric character, in this case the Prime Minister of the empire, who has some wonderful ideas for what makes a good ruler but also seems to ramble on about anything and everything and randomly collapse. He was fun. The best part, however, was seeing the continued development of Falanya. Events are conspiring to pit her against her brother in a civil war, even to the point where she’s hiring a vassal who’s one of Wein’s former enemies. That said, I think the two siblings adore each other too much for real conflict to arise.

So yes, good volume, and of course it has a nasty cliffhanger, as it looks like we’ll be seeing more of the secret cabal that rules over the other half of this territory. Enjoying this series more and more.

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?, Vol. 10

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By Dachima Inaka and Iida Pochi. Released in Japan as “Tsujo Kogeki ga Zentai Kogeki de Ni-kai Kogeki no Okasan wa Suki desu ka?” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

For some reason, I had it in my head that most of the last five books were short-story volumes. This isn’t actually the case, it just seems like it, but even the other short story volumes added a plot that coheres more than this one, a volume that is the very definition of “we need you to end with Vol 11 instead of 10, so can you just busk for 200 pages?”. There is a plotline introduced here, one that seems to promise that the final volume will at least not consist of stories from Dragon Magazine, but unfortunately we only see that plot in a brief prologue and in the final story. For most of this, it’s generic adventures. And, because they’re meant to slot in anywhere for readers as they’re magazine stories, that means Masato is more annoying than usual, and also more put-upon than usual, a dangerous double combination. Basically, this was hard to push through.

We open with a prologue where Shirase (in the real world, so without extra letters) is explaining to the government that they’re ready to actually launch the game – but the identity of the beta testers comes as a surprise to one of the people in the room. After this, our heroes try to stop a restaurant feud between mother and daughter, which mostly involves paying high bills and a lot of curry; the appearance of a MOD that allows a body modification leads to one of the few cliches the series had not done yet, a bodyswap between mother and son; the monsters are all getting a holiday, leaving our heroes at loose ends… well, just Masato really; our heroes team up with an overly florid grocer to try to stop a shoplifter; and our heroes film a commercial for the game, and all try to show their best sides. We know how that works out.

The final story is the best… OK, let’s be honest, the only one that did not make me want to skim the book, though the shoplifting story has its clever moments. A new beta tester, named “Hawk” arrives, led by Shiraaase. He looks 15, but his real identity is obvious to… well, Mamako and the reader, and even Masato is coming up with a good guess. Yes, it’s his dad, and he seems to be just as much of a dad stereotype as Mamako is the mom stereotype. Despite the cliffhanger, he does not actually seem to be evil or misguided here, and clearly loves his family. He’s also impressed with the growth Masato has shown, which I’d likely have appreciated more if I hadn’t just plowed through those short stories where he was more generic dipshit guy. It does serve to remind you that the game it meant to serve a purpose beyond “make Mamako an OP goddess”.

So yes, the next volume is the final one, and I’m hoping that it will not have more short stories. It will also probably bring back the rest of the cast like Hahako and the 3 evil minion kids, etc. Heck, we might even see Wise and Mehdi’s mothers again. Till then, though, the best part of the book was seeing that dad is just as big of a dork as his wife and child.

Pick of the Week: Picks New and Old

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SEAN: There’s a few debuts that interest me, but I admit by eyes keep getting drawn back to My Hero Academia, in the middle of its most brutal arc to date. What’s this heartwarming shonen title about? High school kids suffering! Can’t wait for more.

MICHELLE: Hm, yeah this is a tough week to pick. I’m intrigued by Springtime by the Window, but I think I’ll actually pick one of the other shoujo series I’m really far behind on, like Snow White with the Red Hair.

KATE: Against my better judgment, I’ll pick Springtime by the Window, if only to see what kind of manga Tokyopop is licensing these days.

ASH: I think I’ll be spending some time catching up on my shoujo series, too! But as for my pick, I tend to favor debuts, and the one by which I am most intrigued is A Tale of the Secret Saint. So, there you have it!

MJ: I’m sorry to say nothing is really grabbing my interest this week. So, thanks to Twitter, I’m thinking of rereading NANA instead. Of all things. So if you’re looking for me, check 2009.

ANNA: I’m going to pick Yakuza Lover just for the sheer insanity of it.

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 10

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By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Well, after a couple of volumes where she played a very small role, this volumes finally gives us what we’ve sort of been expecting. Altina the Sword Princess does not appear in it. Instead, we finish up Regis’ time on the side of Latrielle, as we get the second half of the big siege we started in Book 9, and also bring to an end the war with Britannia. I had sort of guessed that the war was going to end in this volume, if only as a minor character I did not expect to die brutally died brutally, and the denouement is pretty much everything you want in a military-themed light novel series. Unfortunately for Regis, he has made himself far, FAR too valuable. This is not merely a matter of taking a promotion exam and returning to Altina’s side anymore. Especially as Latrielle reveals his plans for the future of the nation, and they are absolutely terrifying. So now the big question becomes: can Regis survive?

Regis has reason to be concerned about his plans, of course. A lot of them rely on their soldier in the walled city itself, Varese, and the teenage girl who has basically decided to glom onto him and live or die with him. Unfortunately for her, that comes close to meaning dying, though I am hopeful we’ll hear from them again. As for the plan to fight the massive army, things are helped along by the mercenary corps suddenly deserting the enemy army mysteriously, which is good news for our heroes… for now. Eventually everything comes down to stopping the Queen from escaping back to Britannia, which of course means stopping Oswald, something that that Regis is thoroughly incapable of doing if it requires physical strength. Fortunately, he has a wannabe emperor at his side.

There are a few highlights in this book, but in terms of the ongoing plot I think the biggie is Latrielle’s plan for the future of the country, with Regis’ occasional interjections pointing out the difficulties. The biggest one, I think, is only alluded to, which is this kind of military dictatorship Latrielle wants is only really feasible while he’s alive. It is quite brave and also quite stupid of Regis to essentially tell the future King, to his face, “no, I disagree with everything you say, I’m going to return to my liege now”. No surprise that the book ends with Latrielle essentially ordering a halt to Regis’ future prospects. Even the romance in the book is fraught with peril. Regis does his best Catarina Claes impression when Fanrine, the noble who’s fallen in love with him, gives him the old Japanese staple “I want to cook for you for the rest of your life” and his response is essentially “That would be great. But sadly, I’m about to be assassinated.”

Still, quite a strong volume, and one that both makes me happy that the next one is coming soon and sad that we’re about to hit the series’ “end” – the author has been busy with other better-selling series like How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord for the last three years. But we have a few volumes to go till that happens. Till then, enjoy Regis the Strategist, with no appearances by Altina.

Also Laetrile’s plot would never work as he’s banned in the US! (Obscure, I know.)

Girls Kingdom, Vol. 4

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By Nayo and Shio Sakura. Released in Japan by GL Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

Because a series such as Girls Kingdom revels in its cliches, it’s not a great surprise that everything that happens in it seems to revolve around Misaki. She has Big Protagonist Energy, and thus is able to be part of events that might otherwise have gone on without her input, or, in other cases, able to accidentally wander into areas that she absolutely has no right to be in. Not to spoil too much, but there is a supernatural barrier in the forest that Misaki just blithely walks past, and the explanation that we get is something akin to “huh, well, she’s just that sort”. Speaking of supernatural barriers, after the reveal in the 3rd book, I was expecting a bit more of that sort of thing, and yet for 3/4 of this book we are once again dealing with Maria-sama Ga Miteru-style school politics and social miscues. Fortunately, when we DO get what we wanted all along, it’s possibly the best part of the book… not because it’s dramatic or action-packed, but more because it’s absolutely hilarious. This series really can go anywhere.

We pick up where we left off last time. Sakura is newly arrived at the school, and the salons are fighting to see who she joins up with. Will it be the Sky Salon, who not only offer business opportunities but also our heroine’s Big Protagonist Energy? Will it be the Paradise Palace, where she can be among other very short young ladies and eat the tastiest sweets in the world? Or perhaps the Gloriana Guesthouse, the British-themed dark horse? It certainly won’t be the Mauve Manor, and relations between Shion and Himeko seem, if anything, worse than ever. After this, we focus on Saeko, the Sky Salon’s “Number Two”, and her seemingly sadistic relationship with her Seraph, Matsuri. Matsuri has now paid off her debt, meaning she does not have to be Saeko’s Seraph anymore. Most would assume that they could thus enter a more natural Mistress and Seraph relationship, but they reckon without Saeko’s stubbornness and Matsuri’s melancholy.

As readers will no doubt note, I left out Angelica from this description. She shows up here and there, and does indeed have a plotline near the end of the book, but I’ll avoid that for now, as it’s better read unspoiled. As for the rest, it was pretty good. The second half was better than the first, and not just because of Angelica. Much as the author did their best to stir up doubt about who Sakura would choose, and how everyone was very close in the end… from a dramatic standpoint, it’s not particularly a surprise. Saeko and Matsuri is more interesting, especially because if everyone finds out about it the whole school is in danger of a Yellow Rose Revolution. It also reflects back on Misaki and Himeko, as Misaki realizes that her own arrangement with her Mistress is not so easily broken. It doesn’t help that Misaki is currently taking baths with Himeko, sleeping with Himeko, being constantly touched by Himeko, and thinking “this must be what Mistresses and Seraphs do”. She’d get along well with Otherside Picnic’s Sorawo.

The book ends with a cliffhanger, and possibly a field trip, but we’re going to have to wait – we’ve caught up with the Japanese releases. Till then, if you enjoy your yuri tongue-in-cheek and can’t get the Maria-sama novels licensed, this will do nicely to tide you over.

The Holy Crown of Marielle Clarac

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By Haruka Momo and Maro. Released in Japan as “Marielle Clarac no Seikan” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

While they have not realized they are in a series of fictional romance novels, the cast of the Marielle Clarac books have certainly figured out what’s going on around the heroine. Even with Simeon trying his best to keep Marielle away from anything remotely resembling danger and excitement, it always finds its way to her. What’s more, things can’t even be kept secret from her – she’s far too clever and makes too many connections, guessing the plot at times before it can even be explained to her. Fortunately for Marielle, though unfortunately for her husband, most of the actual physical injuries in this book happen to her husband. This is not to say that Marielle is not in peril, as she is, constantly, through much of this book. But, having knifed her in the arm in the last book, the author is content to emotionally abuse her by having Simeon shot, then go off a cliff, then get shot AGAIN. Again: potboiler.

Things that were simmering in the previous volumes are still simmering, as there’s war going on between two neighboring countries. No, Marielle isn’t going there – instead she’s off to the funeral of a very old relative of Simeon’s, who lived a long, happy life but who needs her, since Simeon can’t make it, to pay respects. Then… stuff happens. There’s a torrential rain, which causes a lot of the nearby commoners to be evacuated to the vicinity. Then Simeon DOES show up, along with the prince, as they’re looking for a missing royal… in fact, he’s the heir to the throne of Orta, though the monarchy was overthrown a couple of decades ago. Then some old enemies show up. Then the missing heir loses his memory. And then there’s the matter of the missing holy crown, which is the standard “we won’t believe you’re the heir without this” item. Is there a way to resolve everything without it all revolving around Marielle?

Well, no, but who wants to read a book where Marielle just hears about things afterward? She even muses that life has been too good to her lately, as someone who is unfamiliar with her treats her poorly and it makes her feel nostalgic. That said, as I noted, most of Marielle’s issues in this book are emotional rather than physical. She’s still seen as much younger than her age, and worries that Simeon is treating her like that as well, especially when they get in an argument midway through the book. She’s thinking about children, and wonders whether a boy or a girl would be easier for the noble succession/peace of mind (delete where applicable). And seeing Simeon is peril, and at one point not waking up after a horrible fall, makes her break down completely – for all her intellectual savvy and quick wit, Marielle is still very innocent at heart, and was not ready to see the love of her life near death.

All this and Lutin too. And he may stick around for the 8th book, which does not have a release date here yet but promises to finally have us meet the crown princess’s royal fiancee. That’ll go well, I’m sure. Safe and fun. In the meantime, if you love silly adventure stories, this is right up your alley.