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My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me!, Vol. 3

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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.

Someone needs to tell Japan that “having the rest of the cast being creeped out about the appalling character” is not a get out of jail free card for everything the character does. I’ve said in the previous books that the shotacon tendencies of Sumire are not funny but awful. Well, she’s the main character of this book, and so we get a lot more of it than even the previous two, and it’s still awful. Saying that a guy would be the perfect husband if only he were 5 years old is not a “LOL” moment. So be aware as I write the rest of this that this is a big black mark, and made me not enjoy this book nearly as much as the previous two. That said, I’m still reading it, because I do like the cast and the romantic comedy situations. With, well, one exception. Fortunately, this is not We Never Learn, so the teacher has precisely zero chance of winning the romantic sweepstakes.

We pick up right where the cliffhanger left off, as Sumire begs Akiteru to marry her. As expected, her family has decided enough is enough, and is going to arrange marry her soon… which means she won’t be able to draw anymore. This is basically the only reason Akiteru agrees to the scheme. After some “wacky” date situations, which I will not go into as they are dumb, a trip that’s supposed to be to the beach becomes a trip to her remote mountain village, where her father wants to meet Akiteru… and force them to get married immediately. Can they possibly get around the marriage ceremony with a 100% success rate? Can Iroha continue to try to cleverly juggle all these relationships in the air, given sempai is a dense MF and won’t do it for her? And can Mashiro finally admit she’s secretly their star writer?

Again, this series leans pretty hard on the Higurashi pastiche. Their game is subtitled “When They Cry”, and Sumire’s home village essentially turns out to be Hinamizawa, complete with terrifying elders and obscure rituals. Having already mentioned the volume’s big weaknesses, I do want to applaud its really good moment, when Mashiro’s editor (who we meet here, ad boy does it take some fancy footwork to explain her presence) points out to Akiteru that he needs to be able to offer his fellow game creators a reason to stay on with him, or else they’re going to look for other opportunities. What can he personally offers them? (Other than, of course, being the romantic lead who has no idea half the cast are in love with him.) It’s not a question that’s answered here, but I do appreciate it was brought up. Iroha also remains quite enjoyable, a bit less “annoying” than the first two volumes, probably as she’s trying harder to have him “get” her feelings.

That’s unlikely to happen soon, and a cliffhanger means we don’t even get this one resolved in one volume. Still, hopefully it won’t take up all of Vol;. 4. I think two volumes starring Sumire is two too many.

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 29

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By Izumi Tsubaki. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by JN Productions.

Though it’s not an explicit canon pairing, be warned I do talk about the IMPLICIT canon pairing in this review, so ‘ware spoilers.

The final volume of Oresama Teacher, a series that ran for thirteen years, and one of my own favorites, even though it will likely always be overshadowed by the still-running gag comedy Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. It’s a shonen manga that ran in a shoujo magazine, and certainly had shoujo art, but one look at the plot and characters told you this was essentially a “gang” manga at heart, and featured a lot of “new bad guy arrives -> slowly win them over through being nice and/or beating the crap out of them -> now they’re friends! -> new bad guy arrives” in a circle with Mafuyu as its pivot. We’ve had so many ridiculous situations, so many awesome fights, so many cool teenage girls and dorky teenage guys. The journey to get here was wonderful. So, should I still be disappointed if the ending is not one I personally wanted? I mean… if you exist in fandom, yes, it ruins everything. Fortunately, Oresama Teacher only has 29 fanfics on AO3.

First of all, despite the cover art, this is not an OT3 ending, alas, and we do not see Mafuyu getting married. We start off resolving the cliffhanger from last time, and if it feels a bit like it’s undercutting and mocking the drama, well, that’s what this series has always done best. Adfter this we deal with the last remaining open plot hook – what happened to Mafuyu’s memories when she was a kid? The answer, as Takaomi warns her, is not only something she will regret knowing when he tells her, but also something far less dramatic than you’d expect. It is, however, very in character for her. It even ties into the ending, as it turns out even Mafuyu can get into college if she applies herself… in the wrong way. We then get an extended “where is everyone off to after graduation” chapter, and end with a brief epilogue showing our main characters as adults.

So yeah, surprise, once again Japan loves teacher/student and jerk pairings more than the West. I always suspected that we were going with a Takaomi endgame, particularly when Hayasaka’s past only turned out to be the end of Part II rather than the whole series. Mafuyu’s memory loss ties in to her obsession with him – she couldn’t imagine living without him after he had to leave her to go to educational college, so she literally erased her own memories, somehow, to forget him. That is both in character and EXTREMELY frustrating, frankly. As for Takaomi himself, he’s far less effusive, but honestly, he hasn’t stopped her chasing after him her entire life, so why would he stop now? The epilogue shows he’s started a company (it’s unclear what it does, but it’s implied it’s a “we fix your problems” sort of company) and both Hayasaka and Mafuyu are employees there. And again, while the implication is the “they’ll always be friends!” was meant to be the emotional heft, there’s also his implication he’ll propose to her in three more years. Eh.

So yeah, not the pairing I wanted, but I enjoyed everything else about it. In the end I’ve enjoyed every single Izumi Tsubaki series. Sometimes I am alone in this (I will defend The Magic Touch to my dying day), sometimes I am part of a much larger horde (Nozaki-kun 2nd season WHEN?). Oresama Teacher fits squarely in the middle. Its fans love it, but it’s still a bit of a cult. Its huge, huge cast can give readers a headache. And you’d better love dimbulbs, because this series runs on them. I’ll miss it dearly.

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 9

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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.

I’ve been waiting for plot developments like the end of this volume to happen for some time. Regis is a bit of a Golden Boy throughout the series – that’s the point, he uses his brains and Altina’s brawn and royal presence to help seize the day, even when it’s involving a bubbling under civil war. And now he’s been noticed enough that he’s forced from her side to Latrielle, the heir apparent, and is giving him the best advice fictional books can buy. Now, we’ve seen him lose troops based on his decisions before, to the point where he almost passed out, but the advice was correct and they won the day. Here, though, not to spoil too much, his advice is good but they do not win the day. Someone has anticipated him. They lose, and there are many casualties. And this is when you realize that, for all that the country is supposed to be on the same side fighting Britannia, Regis is very much surrounded by enemies.

Of course, the book is not just about Regis. Jessica, Franziska and Martina want to rescue their brother, but can’t, and they’re deep in enemy territory. So they accept the kind offer of the man who saved them last time to stay at his place. His place, of course, turns out to be the castle, much to their shock. (Elize is there as well, but one senses the author is not really sure what to do with her.) Altina is back at her fortress, dealing with Eric’s game-breaking injury, and finds that even though Regis is away from her side he can still come up with advice to win the day – in this case, suggesting a career change for Eric that would still allow them to remain a soldier protecting Altina. We get a brief glimpse of the enemy, which is dealing with a major problem – Queen Margaret is bored with all this and therefore doesn’t care what happens.

And then, as I noted, we get Regis’ plan to defeat the enemy, which is anticipated and rebuffed. He does get in one small triumph, which allows us to meet yet another new cast member and promises to take up a chunk of Book 10, but it also involves the deaths of a LOT of men – and these are not his own troops of the Fourth Division, which is back at Altina’s side. The generals were already annoyed with Regis for sacrificing their units earlier, they’re now livid. Fortunately for Regis, Latrielle is not stupid, and knows that the plan could have worked and exactly who was clever enough to anticipate it. The generals may be angry, but they know not to argue with their future King. As for Regis, I think it’s a good lesson for him, especially mentally. Now if he can only work on his physical stamina, which is laughably pathetic.

The author already admitted the final part of this book got so long it has to finish in the next book, so we’ll see what happens then. In the meantime, this is a solid volume of Altina that shows events moving along slowly but surely – will we see the end of the war with Britannia next time?

Manga the Week of 7/21/21

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SEAN: July continues to exist, despite the best efforts of calendar cancellers. What manga do we have?

ASH: A fair bit, it would seem!

SEAN: Airship has digital-first releases for Adachi and Shimamura 6 and Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 7. In print, they debut Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!, and we also get the 4th volume of The Invincible Shovel.

Ghost Ship debuts Call Girl in Another World (Isekai demo Fuuzokujou Yatte Mita). A sex worker who works at a soapland suddenly finds herself in another world! In order to return, well, if you guessed “she has to be a sex worker in this fantasy world”, you’re on the nose. This is NOT the same as JK Haru Is a Sex Worker in Another World, FYI, and I suspect is far more interested in the sex. It runs in Houbunsha’s Comic Trail.

J-Novel Club, first of all, has all the print books I mentioned two weeks ago – they were delayed due to ongoing shipping issues from the Suez Canal blockage earlier in the year.

ASH: It’s been a rather chaotic time for the shipping industry. (And just about every other industry, for that matter.)

SEAN: Digitally, we see Cooking with Wild Game 13, The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar 16, Tearmoon Empire 5, and the 5th volume of The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap, which I thought was a final volume but there is apparently more coming from Japan. Tearmoon Empire is essential reading for shoujo light novel fans.

Kaiten Books has a lot of new print volumes for series that were previously digital. We get debuts for Gacha Girls Corps, UzaMaid: Our Maid Is Way Too Annoying!, and The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting.

They’ve also got the 2nd volume of The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting digitally.

Kodansha has a print debut that may seem a bit familiar: Battle Angel Alita is coming out with a new translation in paperback. This is the original version from 1990.

ASH: Interesting. I’d missed that this was going to be a new translation.

MJ: I guess I’m kind of interested.

SEAN: There’s also more Battle Angel Alita with the 7th volume of Mars Chronicle. And we get L*DK 16, the 14th and final volume of The Quintessential Quintuplets, Rent-a-Girlfriend 7, Sue and Tai-chan 3, To Your Eternity 14, and The Witch and the Beast 6.

ASH: To Your Eternity has my attention. (And probably the attention of even more people now that there’s an anime adaptation.)

MJ: Oh, hm. I may have to check it out.

SEAN: Digitally we get Saving Sweets for After-Hours (Sweets wa Teiji no Ato de). It’s from Kodansha’s Palcy, and stars a tall beauty who nevertheless has no romance in her life as men seem to want her to dominate them. Her fortunes change, however, when she meets a co-worker with a secret. This may appeal to Sweat and Soap fans.

Other E-Books: Blue Lock 5, Boss Wife 2, Cells at Work: Platelets! 3, the 4th and final volume of The Honey-blood Beauty & Her Vampire, I Guess I Became the Mother of the Great Demon King’s 10 Children in Another World 4, Kakafukaka 12 (also a final volume), Ran the Peerless Beauty 9, Undead Girl Murder Farce 2, We’re New at This 8, and Will It Be the World or Her? 7.

MICHELLE: I still need to get going on Blue Lock, but huzzah for more Ran the Peerless Beauty!

SEAN: One Peace has The New Gate 6.

Seven Seas has two debuts. The Dangers in My Heart (Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu) is an award-winning manga from Akita Shoten’s Manga Cross about the romance between a boy who pretends to be an edgy sociopath and the school beauty, who he longs for and who turns out to be a bit strange herself.

ASH: I am intrigued.

ANNA: Sounds like it might have potential.

MJ: Hm.

SEAN: The other debut is She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man (Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja), based on the light novel which Seven Seas has coming out in a month or so. A gamer is transported to the game world he loves… but not as the old, powerful wizard he played! He’s a cute girl instead. Can he get by pretending to be his own student?

We also get The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash and the Faerie Case Files 3, Cutie and the Beast 3, and Otaku Elf 2.

Sol Press has Redefining the META at VRMMO Academy 4.

Tokyopop has a new BL one-shot, Chéri, My Destiny! (Cheri, Unmei no Hito!). This is from Kaiousha’s Gush, and is about a candy war that turns into passion.

Viz has two debuts. The first is a Jump series, so it’s odd to see it this late in the month. MASHLE: Magic & Muscles is about a world where everyone can use magic… except our hero. So he decides to bulk up instead. This has gotten pretty popular.

The other debut is long-awaited. No. 5, a Taiyo Matsumoto title from 2001 that ran in Shogakukan’s Ikki. Viz was putting it out at the time on their Ikki website, but when the various Ikki series didn’t sell great the site kinda floundered, and this was dropped. It’s back now, in Viz Signature edition. As for the plot, well, it’s Matsumoto doing After The Apocalypse.

ASH: I am so excited to see this being released! I’ve held onto my copies of the two volumes that previously made it into print but won’t hesitate to double-dip.

ANNA: Nice.

MJ: Oh!

SEAN: We also get BEASTARS 13, Children of the Whales 17, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 9, and RWBY: Official Manga Anthology 5.

Yen On has High School DxD 4, the 5th and final volume of Last Round Arthurs, So I’m a Spider, So What? 12, and Unnamed Memory 3.

Yen Press’ debut is The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me (Watashi Igai Jinrui Zenin Yuri), a Kadokawa title from Shonen Ace about a “normal” girl who suddenly finds herself in a world where there are only women. Can she find her way back to her own world? And what is “normal” anyway? This is complete in one omnibus.

Yen Press also has Solo Leveling 2.

ASH: I’ve heard good things about Solo Leveling, I should maybe check it out before I get too far behind.

SEAN: Chunky week. Anything appealing?

MICHELLE: I’m too inundated with everything I’m far behind on to find anything that appealing, to be honest!

ANNA: Me too!!

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 6

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By Toshio Satou and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shonen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

The previous volume showed us that there really is a long-running plot arc to this book, and gave us hints that it might actually be headed in that direction. The trouble is that even the people who are trying to manipulate the plot the way they want are big goofy flakes. Our two villains are mostly big Lloyd stans, especially in this book, where you get the sense that they came up with the entire plot not to force Lloyd into his hero role but to get Lloyd’s autograph. As for Alka, we do here a BIT more about her past here, but again it takes a back seat to shanigans… as does Alka, who is thankfully absent for most of this book, though I give her credit for showing up at the end and getting the best part of the book to herself. As for the main cast… there’s here to make movies.

Despite the fact that normally technology would not be nearly advanced enough to do this, there is a burgeoning film industry in the next country over. Sending the army to investigate by disguising them as extras and crew, Lloyd is also looking a bit older. After several comments on his cuteness have him depressed about his manly status, Alka gives him a rune that makes him look in his mid-20s… and SMOKING HOT, to the pleasure of everyone in the room. As for the movie itself, the director is the King, who has a few secrets, and the lead actor… has quite a few more. Then there’s the fact that the lead actress seems very familiar to some of the cast, and also the assassin who seems to want to kill Lloyd, though clearly against her will. Can all this converge and make sense?

Well, yes, it can. It makes sense in a wacky comedy plot sense, but it all does come together. The best thing about Last Dungeon Kid is it will not ever back down from being silly. Even titles like Bakarina have the occasional dramatic moment slipped into the book to make the reader tear up, but this book subverts al that with the finest comedy timing. Fortunately, the comedy is pretty good. Alka and Maria are absent most of the book, so there’s less humiliating fanservice this time around, and Selen is honestly behaving herself as much as she ever will. The exception to this is Micona, who I almost wish was still possessed by evil, as her one-note attacks on anyone who gets near Maria are the most tiresome part of the book. I did also enjoy the serious subplot in the book all the way through, including when it had its seriousness yanked out from under it and mocked.

At the start of the book we also met a lot of kings and nation leaders, and next time around we’ll see mo0re of them. For the moment, though, this is quite good comedy, especially if you don’t expect anything more from it, like romantic resolution. That’s not happening.

Pick of the Week: One Cool Cat

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SEAN: Gee, what could it be? Moto Hagio? Cute smug-looking cats standing on their back paws? Sign me up for L’il Leo!

KATE: I’ve developed a reputation for being the most predictable member of the MB Battle Robot, and I won’t disappoint anyone by picking, say, The Hero Is Overpowered But Cautiously Optimistic or I’m Deeply Skeptical of the New Power I Just Manifested. OF COURSE Lil’ Leo is my first choice this week, for all the reasons Sean listed. But I’m also intrigued by Hello World, which is giving me serious orange vibes–and that’s never a bad thing.

MICHELLE: Any time there’s Moto Hagio, my pick is spoken for. That said, I am also looking forward to getting caught up on Ace of the Diamond and Giant Killing, both of which have new volumes out this week. The latter, being seinen sports manga about a professional team rather than high schoolers aiming for nationals, is particularly good.

ANNA: The idea of not picking Moto Hagio is inconceivable!

ASH: S’truth! If Moto Hagio is an option, that is the pick. And a cat manga, too? There really is no other choice. Lil’ Leo it is!

MJ: Moto Hagio and cats is an obvious and irresistible choice. My pick can only be Lil’ Leo!

ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, Vol. 4

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By kiki and kinta. Released in Japan as “Omae Gotoki ga Maou ni Kateru to Omou na to Gachizei ni Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou Sareta node, Outo de Kimama ni Kurashitai” by GC Novels. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jason Muell. Adapted by Brock Wassman.

So I am putting a content warning before this review, something I rarely do. This review will be talking about the plot of the 4th Roll Over and Die novel, and will be describing scenes of graphic horror involving children and infants. If this will upset you, I definitely recommend skipping the review, and the book.

You know, I’m beginning to get the sense that the cute relationship between Flum and Milkit is not really a priority in the mind of the author. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there’s a few cute scenes here. The two emotionally stunted young women are clearly in love with each other but lack the vocabulary or experience to do anything about it. We get a kiss on the cheek. Milkit gets a bit jealous. But really, if you want cute yuri there are so many other books you could read that are not this one. This book is here for one thing and only one thing: detailed descriptions of graphic horror. If you know what an Italian giallo film is, or enjoy the works of Herschell Gordon Lewis, this gore-spattered action novel might be for you. For the rest of us, it is a very long slog through endless pages of mutilated corpses, body possession, and towards the climax of the book infants literally rain from the sky and have to be butchered. It’s a lot.

The majority of this book deals with the rest of Mother’s second-generation children. Ink, the first-generation, is happy with Eterna (and, let’s face it, despite the age difference their relationship is clearly swinging romantic as well). Nekt, the child from the previous book, is dealing with her heel-face turn, and trying to get the other children in her group to join her in becoming human. Unfortunately, they’re far too tied to Mother, and would much rather perform this world’s version of “suicide by cop”, i.e. killing as many innocent people as they can before getting killed. Also unfortunately, the person who might be able to help them turn human also seems to be secretly evil. Honestly, everyone’s a little secretly evil in this book, except our main cast. Can Flum manage to save anyone? Or will the children have to be put out of their misery?

This book is not without its merits. As always, the author can write an excellent fight scene, and is very good at painting a picture of exactly what’s happening, for good and ill. The Hero’s Party (minus Jean, still deliberately left out of the plot except for one scene) are reunited, and falling over themselves to apologize to Flum, who is far more gracious about it than they perhaps deserve. There is an interesting revelation in this volume that suggests that, far from being a generic fantasy world, this world is closer to home than expected. Unfortunately,. I couldn’t enjoy any of this because I was drowning in blood and gore. Men die, women die, children die, babies die. Babies especially die, as Mother’s final battle tactic is to create babies that attack and try to possess our heroes, and have to be killed. They are butchered, hurled against walls, and blown up by magic. And by the end of the book I found it hard to really care about anyone.

There may be more in this series to come – this is the last book in Japan, and it came out 18 months ago, but there’s still lots of content from the webnovel left to go. But I think I’m done here. I prefer my yuri to not be drenched in so much blood that I can’t see the romance.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima, Vol. 5

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By Ikuto Yamashita. Released in Japan as “Shin Seiki Evangelion Anima” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Dengeki Hobby. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Michael Rachmat. Adapted by Peter Adrian Behravesh.

And so the light novel series that was written for a magazine dedicated to the selling of plastic models and toys ends the only way that it honestly could: with 250 more pages that show off just how great these Eva battles would look if you put the models together. If you love looking at Evas and imagining them fighting each other, it’s a terrific book. If you do not – and I am counting myself here – it’s a letdown. My expectations were not all that high… indeed, they mostly just involved hoping that we were done with thousands of people turning to salt. (I was wrong, alas.) And there are actual plot and character moments here. But the character moments aren’t enough, the plot is sometimes bad, and the ending merely stops, when it cries out for an epilogue of some sort. Sorry, kids, who knows what happens next, but it will be in a world where giant robots don’t fight, so who cares?

We pick up right where we left off, as everyone’s trying to figure out a way to save the day despite Shinji having .83 seconds to go till Third Impact. Mari is desperately searching for a pack of SOME sort, even if it’s not her original, and does not really give two figs about anyone else. Hikari is possessed by evil. Kaji, also possessed by evil, is being smug in Misato’s direction. The Reis are finally sharing minds again, but that may not be a good thing. The only sensible ones seem to be Asuka and Toji, and unfortunately both of them lose their sense of self as the book goes on. How many apocalypses can Earth go through before it finally gives up the ghost? Can Shinji stop it all? And will we get the weirdest Biblical imagery ever?

The best parts of the book were when it was so over the top I had to laugh out loud. Kensuke and (a now unposessed) Hikari manage to survive certain death by hiding under the Shroud of Turin, a line tossed off so casually it’s brilliant. The way that Shinji, now dead, ends up coming back is so grotesque and awful that my jaw dropped, and to be fair Asuka thinks the exact same thing I did: ew. At the same time, the reappearance of some seemingly dead characters right at the end, and reaction to same, falls absolutely flat, mostly as everything is too chaotic to stay on them for even a moment. Likewise, two characters no longer being evil is barely even given weight because, as I said, apocalypse uber alles. The book keeps such a frenetic pace throughout that you can’t enjoy anything, and then when armageddon is finally avoided (somewhat), it simply stops. The end.

That said, I hear the movies weren’t really satisfying to some viewers either, and the manga (probably my favorite version) also had its issues. Evangelion may simply be too messy a story to have a decent ending for. And these books did have some pretty cool fights. If you want another version of what happens, and aren’t really invested in any one character, this is a series to read. Sadly, my overall reaction to the series ends up being a shrug.

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 9

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By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta…” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Marco Godano.

This was a strong volume of Bakarina, despite doing absolutely nothing that I thought it would do. I thought it would be action-filled, instead it’s merely the last quarter or so. I thought it would be more serious, but it’s no more serious than any other volume of the series. But that’s a good thing, as really, who wants to see these characters suffer? Unless they’re suffering because the woman they love is as dense as lead, in which case, yes please. The book also benefits from most of the cast being absent – Katarina is on a secret mission in another part of the country, and so for the most part it’s just her, Maria and Sora. Which is bad news for fans of the other love interests, but very good news for those who love KataMari or KataSora, as both of those pairings get some good attention. As for the actual plot, it goes pretty much as you’d expect, with Katarina walking into the solution.

Katarina, along with Larna, Maria and Sora, are following up on the “kidnapped citizens” plot from last time, heading to the tow “Ocean Harbor” to try to get to the bottom of things. (I love that the name of the town sounds exactly like what you’d name a plot-point town in an otome game.) They end up at a restaurant owned by Larna’s friend… well, frenemy Regina, who uses the restaurant as a front for ferreting out stuff for the Ministry. However, since they have Maria (who can cook) and Katarina (who is not only an excellent waitress but also knows how to market), they can now run it like an actual restaurant, and maybe turn a profit! Was there something else? Oh right, the kids being kidnapped, along with the noble girl. But that’s OK, I’m sure there can be someone for Katarina to befriend who will lead them to the bad guys.

Probably my favorite thing about this book was seeing Katarina as a waitress. Everyone is blown out of the water by how good she is at it, because she’s supposedly the daughter of a duke, but honestly I was surprised as well, as even though we know she has her past life from Japan and probably part-timed as a waitress before, the temptation would be to make her bad at the job for a laugh. Instead, she turns out to be fantastic at the job for a great character moment. I also really enjoyed Katarina’s “dates” with Maria and Sora, which are basically catnip to us readers, and also features Maria once again literally confessing to Katarina and having her say “You lost me” in the best Shirou tradition. Props to Sora, too, for realizing that, rather than Keith or himself, Jeord’s biggest competition in the Katarina Sweepstakes is Maria. As for the plot itself, it proved to be resolved fairly easily, but we got to see Katarina in peril, Katarina biting someone to try to get herself out of peril, Maria being a light magic badass, and so all is well.

It’s still pretty clear that someone is trying to destabilize the countries in some way, and while the reader likely knows who’s behind it, the characters do not as of yet, so expect more investigation in the next book. Till then, enjoy Katarina Claes, waitress extraordinaire!

Manga the Week of 7/14/21

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SEAN: Now that July 4th has come and gone and terrified all our dogs, what manga do we have to soothe us?

MICHELLE: My big tabby is also not a fan.

MJ: My cats are fine, but I’m traumatized.

SEAN: Airship, in print, has Hello World, a sci-fi one shot with a “fix your past to stop a tragic death” plot. Given Seven Seas also published orange, there’s a lot of this going around.

ASH: I did like orange, so I’m far from opposed to this particular premise.

ANNA: Somewhere I have the first volume of orange, unread.

SEAN: Also in print, Airship has Berserk of Gluttony 3.

Digitally, we get the 12th volume of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation.

Denpa lists a debut on its website for next week: Lil’ Leo (Reo-kun). This one-shot cat manga is by Moto Hagio, famous for They Were Eleven, The Poe Clan, Otherworld Barbara, etc. This is about a cat who decides to go to school one day like the neighbor kid, then subsequently finds there’s nothing he can’t do. It ran in Flowers.

MICHELLE: Oooh.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to this one.

ANNA: Cool.

MJ: Moto Hagio and cats. What’s not to love?

SEAN: It’s a quiet week for J-Novel Club, as we have only Black Summoner 5 and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 15.

In print, Kodansha has Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 9, Heaven’s Design Team 5, Toppu GP 5, and Yuri Is My Job! 7.

The digital debut is In the Clear Moonlit Dusk (Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki), a Dessert series from the creator of Daytime Shooting Star. The cover reminds me a bit of I Hate You More than Anyone!, and is about a “school prince” – female – meeting the other “school prince” – male.

MICHELLE: Looks fun!

ASH: It really could be!

ANNA: I really liked Daytime Shooting Star. so I’m curious about this.

MJ: Interested…

SEAN: We also get Ace of the Diamond 33, ASHIDAKA – The Iron Hero 3, Cells at Work: Baby! 3, The Dawn of the Witch 3, Giant Killing 24, Police in a Pod 2, Shaman King: Marcos 2, The Springtime of My Life Began with You 3, Tokyo Revengers 21, and the 6th and final volume of Vampire Dormitory.

MICHELLE: I really have to get caught up on Ace of the Diamond and Giant Killing. I like both a lot.

SEAN: Two debuts for Seven Seas. The Invincible Shovel (Scoop Musou: “Scoop Hadouhou!” (｀・ω・´)♂〓〓〓〓★(゜Д゜ ;;) .:∴DOGOoo) is the manga adaptation of the comedy light novel, and features shovels. So many shovels.

ASH: That title is kind of amazing.

ANNA: I don’t know what to think about anything anymore.

SEAN: The other is Mars Red, a manga from Comic Garden that had an anime recently, about a young reporter who meets a friend of hers who a) died years ago, and b) is now part of a vampire A-Team.

Also from Seven Seas: Gal Gohan 8 and The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 3.

Square Enix has a 4th volume of Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition.

SuBLime has a debut. Bad Boys, Happy Home (Dousei Yankee Akamatsu Seven) ran in Akita Shoten’s Kachi Comi, and features a high school punk who regularly picks fights with a homeless man… then, when the homeless man is kicked from where he normally sleeps, the punk offers up his own home!

ASH: I’ll admit, I’m curious.

SEAN: Viz Media gives us, at long last, the final 40th volume of RIN-NE. I admit I long since stopped reading this, but I hope everything works out for the dumb guy and the somewhat stoic girl who (presumably) loves him.

MICHELLE: I didn’t hate RIN-NE, but it’s true that nothing of consequence ever seems to happen.

SEAN: Viz also has Case Closed 79, Fly Me to the Moon 6, and Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show 4.

Yen On has Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana 2. They’ve also got a paperback reissue of The Miracles of the Namiya General Store.

ASH: I’m still happy that The Miracles of the Namiya General Store was translated.

SEAN: Yen Press debuts The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious (Saikin Yatotta Maid ga Ayashii), a Gangan Joker title about a maid that teases the young boy who is her charge. Gonna be honest, this is by the author of Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World!, and I hated that, so…

MJ: Yen Press staying on brand, I see.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press next week: Bungo Stray Dogs 19, Days on Fes 2, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious 3, Horimiya 15, In Another World with My Smartphone 2, Interspecies Reviewers 5, Love and Heart 2, No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! 18, Slasher Maidens 3, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School 10, To Save the World, Can You Wake Up the Morning After with a Demi-Human? 3, and The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions 3.

What manga makes you calm and tranquil?