Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Blog

Yona of the Dawn, Vol 25

by

Yona of the Dawn Volume 25 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Every story arc in Yona of the Dawn eventually has a volume that delivers action and emotional devastation. As Yona tries to prevent Su-Won from going to war with Xing the hypocrisy of religions officials is revealed, Yona manages to sway people through sheer willpower, the damaged and imprisoned four dragons fight back, and everything is mostly terrible yet incredibly epic and emotionally satisfying!

The volume opens with an excruciatingly awkward scene as Yona confronts Su-Won in front of his men, some of whom seem a bit perplexed that the daughter of King Il is alive after all. If that wasn’t enough, Yona’s logic and arguments on behalf of the Xing people prompts Su-Won to actually modify his intentions after she promises that Xing will be content to endure as a vassal state. An evil priest shows up all of a sudden! Gobi is determined to manipulate the political upheaval in Xing to get rid of Princess Kouren and install Princess Tao in her place, but he’s sadly mistaken if he thinks his transparent ploys are going to work. While Yona of the Dawn generally presents villains with some nuance and character motivations, there’s some satisfaction for the reader in seeing that anyone who would underestimate women is beyond any hope of salvation. Kouren is the type of leader that inspires devotion in her supporters, and Yona has Hak, who does some fairly foolish things in order to protect her.

There’s so much action packed in this volume, I felt slightly exhausted at the end! Kusanagi’s capable illustrations are able to easily carry such a plot and action-scene heavy book, where a panel here and there will contain hints about the emotional impact for all the characters in such high-stakes conditions. There were some Wind Tribe antics to distract a little bit from the impending horrors of war, and the promise that Yona and Hak might actually talk about their relationship soon? As always, an excellent volume of Yona of the Dawn. I always find myself looking forward to the emotional aftermath just as much as any big battle the characters overcome.

The Reincarnated Prince and the Kingdom in Woe

by

By Nobiru Kusunoki and Arico. Released in Japan as “Herscherik” by M Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Seacord.

It has to be said, after a year that seems to have been filled with nothing but Japanese office ladies dying and being reincarnated in various games, it was somewhat startling to realize that’s not what’s going on here, and that The Epic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince Herscherik (the series name overall) is simply a normal reincarnation isekai – albeit one where our hero is reincarnated as our hero. If I was to ask what the ‘gimmick’ is with this series, that would be one of the three points. The second would be that the hero’s adventures in this book take place from age 3 to age 5 years old. There may be a timeskip in later books (the series is a total of five volumes), but certainly not here, where the prince needs to learn to get things done while being an even smoller bean than Myne. Possibly most importantly, there is very little to no humor in this book. The kingdom is in danger from its corrupt officials, the king is powerless, and good people die. Herscherik is going to need all his OL skills.

Unlike a lot of these sorts of ‘otaku lady in another world’ stories, the life in Japan plays a large role in the story, with Ryoko’s past life sometimes making Herscherik function almost the way Tanya von Degurechaff does, with Ryoko’s own thoughts sometimes seeming separate from Herscherik. Ryoko is a relatively successful office worker who specializes in oversight and checking to make sure everything balances. She is the eldest child, but isn’t married despite her younger sisters both having partners. But she’s reasonably happy, and has a love of games which makes her rush through the rain to get a preorder… which leads to the inevitably car accident that causes her death. There are flashbacks that show her interactions with her family, and we see what her funeral may have been like. It’s quite touching, and it’s also nice to see someone in a reincarnation isekai who got on well with their loved ones.

There is a LITTLE bit of humor in the book – I was amused at Herscherik noting how handsome he is, and then seeing the rest of the royal family, each of whom are far, far more gorgeous. That said, for the most part the book runs on intrigue and thriller, as our little prince rapidly realizes that his kingdom is going to be destroyed and that his father the King is too beaten down and cowed to do anything about it. (We get some scenes with the king, and he’s nice enough, but yeah, Herscherik is needed.) The prince may be only a few years old, but thanks to Ryoko’s knowledge he’s able to figure out who the bad guy is and who the bad guy’s minions are. We don’t take out the big bad here – this feels like a series that was entirely plotted out before it was started – but at least we get a minion humiliated and blackmailed. Oh yes, and Herscherik gets a butler-cum-assassin, who is exactly what you would expect an assassin-turned-butler to be like.

If watching Full House made your eyes roll at the precociousness of the Tanner kids, this may do the same. That said, Herscherik at least has Ryoko’s memories and life experience as an excuse. Other than that, though… this is simply well-written and gripping. Epic Tale fits it nicely.

Pick of the Week: Dogs and Cats, Spies and Knights

by , , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: I’m getting a wide variety of stuff this week, from dark yuri light novel Roll Over and Die to cute pet manga With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day Is Fun. But the honeymoon is still not quite over for me. My pick this week is the 2nd volume of SPY x FAMILY, which is badass and adorable in equal measures.

KATE: Cute pet manga for the win! I’m on team Dog AND a Cat this week, but I won’t lie: I’m also excited for Knight of the Ice and SPY x FAMILY, as well as Makeup is Not (Just) Magic: A Manga Guide to Cosmetics and Skin Care.

MICHELLE: I’m in the same boat as Sean. I’m genuinely looking forward to With a Dog AND a Cat and new volumes of various shoujo and shounen favorites, but I fell for Spy x Family so quickly and so completely that I can’t wait for volume two!

ASH: The first volume of Spy x Family was such a delight! The second volume is one of my top picks this week, too. (I’ll also be reading just about everything Kodansha is releasing in print.)

ANNA: There’s a lot of good stuff coming out this week, but as long as ice-skating josei is an option, Knight of the Ice is going to be my pick!

MJ: There’s a lot more for me to like this week than some, but I’ve heard that With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day Is Fun, and I could use a bit of that these days!

The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious, Vol. 4

by

By Light Tuchihi and Saori Toyota. Released in Japan as “Kono Yuusha Ga Ore TUEEE Kuse Ni Shinchou Sugiru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matt Rutsohn.

As I said last time, it’s been hard seeing this two-volume series continue into Volumes 3 and 4. The author knows they can’t just walk things back, but at the same time a different path forward is hard to take. For the most part in this fourth volume, Seiya is much the same as he always is – verbally trashing everyone and anyone while also creating the most perfectly prepared plans. We get a lot of that here as well. He abuses another God who’s hiding a dark secret that turns out to be more embarrassing than anything else. He distrusts almost everyone else around him, including the zombie general (who Rista is too weak to send to his eternal reward) and a machine person with the personality of a meek young girl. And of course Rista supposedly spends most of the book in ‘lower than a weed’ status, even though she’s gotten to the point where she no longer wonders why he does the things he does. That said, there’s a tiny bit here and there showing other sides to him.

This applies to Rista as well, who is not simply there to be a tsukkomi anymore (though when she is called upon, she does manage to step right back into the role – the scene with the giant Rista golem is the funniest in the entire book, and reminds you that above all this is still meant to be a comedy). She follows Seiya’s orders without questioning now. Unfortunately, she also wants to try to help in a way that is not simply following instructions, and that’s what leads to danger and trouble, as she ends up cursed by the villain simply because she took the initiative for once. (She also fails hard when meeting the God of Wealth, where her need for some way to help Seiya causes her to give in to their pyramid schemes even as she knows that’s what they are.) And she knows she needs to step up despite all this, because Seiya is clearly doing too much.

In the first half of the book, we see Seiya seemingly panicking, something egregiously out of character for him, and it turns out, unsurprisingly, to have been part of his plan all along. This makes the impact much greater in the climax of the book when he falls unconscious and turns out, yes, to be genuinely unconscious. (This leads to the second best joke of the book as well, when the instructions he leaves behind are a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style manual for every possible problem.) The villain in the book isn’t as memorable as the last few, though I will grant that she is creepy, particularly when consuming her other selves. They do leave a nasty curse on Rista, and there’s a cliffhanger suggestion that tragedy awaits (though I’m not as convinced as Rista is that she is Seiya’s Most Important Person.)

The 2nd arc ends with the next book, and it might be a good point to see whether the series is one that I should continue or not. I’m still sort of on the fence. But till then, please enjoy giant Mega Rista.

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 14

by

By Negi Haruba. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Steven LeCroy.

(Obviously this spoils who Futaro chooses, though if you read Vol. 13 you should already be spoiled.)

There has been a decided pushback in the last couple of years away from “no ending” harem series. Harem series in general are always a tough sell, because they’re wildly popular… at first… but unless you make the “winning girl” clear from the start (and even if you do – see Love Hina, for example), fans will pick their choice and get very very angry with the author when it doesn’t go their way. For a while, authors tried to avoid that by having the ending be open and ambiguous. That went so badly that it destroyed some careers (see: School Rumble). Sometimes the author is determined to have his choice win despite the fact that almost his entire fanbase wants someone else (hi, Hayate the Combat Butler). We’re even seeing right now a series which literally is a “choose your own path” ending for 5 different girls (We Never Learn). Of these, The Quintessential Quintuplets has the most “traditional” harem ending. A girl is chosen, the fans get upset, and the series rapidly comes to an end. Perhaps too rapidly.

In terms of the actual girl chosen, I liked the ending. Of the five, it was always going to be down to three (Ichika shot herself in the foot during the school trip, and Itsuki finally realized her feelings for Futaro AFTER he confessed to Yotsuba, so was a non-starter), and the author surprisingly chose the least likely of those. Miku had the “yamato nadesico’ vibe to her, and was the first girl to really show Futaro her feelings. Nino was a dark horse at first due to her actions, but proved to be the most direct of the quints, and her popularity soared. But no, in the end it went to the girl who has spent the entire series denying a) that she’s in love with Futaro, and b) when that didn’t work doing everything in her power to hook him up with one of the others. That said, when the backstory came out, showing that it was Yotsuba who was Rena (most of the time), it started to become clear that this is where the author was heading.

The biggest argument against this final volume that isn’t “he picked the wrong girl” is that it’s rushed, and there’s no denying that. Leaving aside that the author felt a need to show his homework at the start of the book, showing off all of the moments where Futaro and Yotsuba grew closer and bonded (it feels like, even though the author was careful to show that Yotsuba was his choice all along, a montage he wouldn’t need if it were Miku or Nino) the aftermath flies by, to the point where only five chapters after confessing his love Futaro is (accidentally) asking Yotsuba to marry him. Some extra time and extra angst would have been nice. That said, there are tons of lovely scenes in this book. “”I won’t let you get away!” (She got away.)” Miku’s “I’m Yotsuba”, possibly the funniest pages in the entire series. The reverse “kabedon” on the train. The other quints grinning at Yotsuba saying “Futaro” instead of “Uesugi-san”. And, of course, everything about the wedding is a giant bundle of heartwarming.

When this ended in Japan, textual spoilers made it sound like it was choosing an “it was all a dream” copout. Context shows that isn’t the case (and an epilogue helps), but still, I think the author did not need to add to his troubles like that. That said, in the end I was pleased with this series, which kept fans guessing right up to the very end, something most harem series are not able to pull off.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 13

by

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Borque.

I took a liking to Emilia from the very start of Re: Zero, and have been patiently waiting for her to live up to the potential she had. It’s been hard, let me tell you. This story has very precise and long-running character development, and when it pays off it’s marvelous, but it can take forever. The far more popular girl getting her important character development first did not help either, let’s face it. So I was ready for Arc 4, where I’d heard we would finally start to focus on Emilia. And… let’s face it, it’s STILL been hard. Seeing Emilia fail her test over and over, screaming and crying, has basically been playing into the hands of her detractors. It hasn’t helped that she doesn’t seem to have any allies. Yes, I’m including Subaru, who has been busily trying to find a way that Emilia doesn’t have to take the test, to the point where I wanted to punch him in the face (this made me nostalgic, let me tell you.) But here, in Vol. 13, we get the payoff, and the start of something new.

Admittedly, first of all we get the climax of the Witch’s Tea Party, which gets a bit Umineko after all, with Subaru at one point trying to bite his own tongue off to get out of there. The witches are, all, for once, relatively united in their desire to stop Subaru being self-sacrificing above anything and everything, and they try to explain (mostly to no avail, but it works a tiny little bit) that he needs to be selfish once in a while. That said, Echidna’s removing his ability to take the Tests is the best thing that happened to Subaru frankly. Now he can try to create a Faustian bargain with Roswaal, which tells us that we’ve seen the last of his Return by Deaths in this arc… or at least we hope so. Moreover, it helps Subaru to come to a realization: he doesn’t think Emilia can do it. He doesn’t believe in her. Neither does Roswaal, but Subaru’s the one who supposedly loves her.

This culminates in what may be the best scene in the entire series, where Subaru and Emilia confront each other in the tomb. (And yes, I am leaving out a lot here. Everything about Satella is jaw-dropping. The fight against Garfiel and seeing what drives him was wonderful. Otto is amazing and awesome and if you don’t love him we can’t be friends. Ram is fantastically sharp-tongued but also knows what Subaru is really like. And we see Puck again, probably for the last time, as Emilia is allowed to recall her tragic past and thus try to move beyond it.) Emilia is bitter and angry because Subaru promised he’d stay by her side as she slept and then he promptly left so that he could set up his multi-layered plan. The two of them have a wonderfully childish fight, appropriately given Emilia’s “mental age” is that of a teenager, and she eventually seems to accept that there aren’t conditions or logical reasons for Subaru loving her. I cannot wait for all of this to be animated.

So we’ve turned the corner 2/3 of the way through this arc, and I suspect that the next book will delve deeply into Emilia’s past. We get a bit of it here (oh dear, more Petelgeuse?), but there’s clearly a lot more to come. What’s more, I want her to triumph just as Subaru needs to. I want them to crush Roswaal’s spirit. And oh yes, stopping Elsa might be nice too. Why is there always so much packed into each volume of this. In any case, this remains one of the best light novels coming out right now. Give it to your friends who hate isekai to show them how it’s done.

Bibliophile Princess, Vol. 3

by

By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

We’ve been seeing a lot of light novels lately, particularly on the shoujo end, where it’s clear the author has a story in mind, wrote that specific story, and now the editors are telling them the story is popular, please write more and they get a little stuck. I’m not sure if that’s the case with Bibliophile Princess 3 (like the others, this does seem to have been published on the web first), but it definitely feels like that. We’re not ready for the wedding yet, and so we need to introduce more conflict. Unfortunately, the conflict that is introduced will feel very familiar to readers of the first volume, as it’s of a similar nature. Even after promising to talk to each other and not misunderstand things anymore, Christopher and Elianna are still struggling – him because he’s drowning in so much work that he doesn’t have the time, and Elianna because she is finally growing up and gaining emotional depth – for good and for ill.

She’s been going through royalty training, with Queen Henrietta trying her hardest to ensure that she’s prepared for the hardcore power politics that is life as a royal. A large part of Elianna’s teenage years was spent with Chris hiding her from this sort of thing, so there’s a lot of catch up to do. And Elianna is an introvert and wallflower (well, unless books become involved). She hears of one of her ideas being stolen by another noble family, and is shocked (mostly as it means there’s a mole close to her). There’s a Christmas ball (OK, it’s not “Christmas” per se, but everything about it reads like a Christmas holiday) where she’s supposed to dazzle everyone, and she is reluctant to be the Queen’s dress-up doll to perfect that (as the Queen has abused the privilege in the past). Worst of all, she keeps hearing about the prince’s childhood friend, and how she’s the one who REALLY should be with him.

Again, we’ve walked this journey before, in the first book. Elianna has a tendency to either downplay or simply not understand at all what she’s done for the kingdom, and we get that again here. That said, sometimes her emotional agony rings quite true, and the scene where she finally breaks down and cries in Christopher’s arms was well handled. I was not particularly fond of Lady Sharon – not as an antagonist, she works perfectly well there, being the typical bratty kid, but because she’s 10 years old and is being married off to Lord Glen, something that thankfully does not actually happen. I know back in the day such royal marriages across countries were typical, but this is not that day. That said, Sharon also led to the funniest scene in the book, when she tries to get Elianna to abandon Chris by offering an extremely rare book – and Elianna, while she eventually makes the correct decision, is sorely tempted.

So all told this is a very up-and-down volume in the series, which is struggling to try to find new ways to say the same thing. I hope in future books it finds different things to say.

Aria the Masterpiece, Vol. 5

by

By Kozue Amano. Originally released in Japan by Mag Garden, serialized in the magazine Comic Blade. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie Kimura.

It may be forgotten in these days when Aria is a classic with multiple anime box sets released to great acclaim, but the manga once seemed to be under a curse. It was originally licensed by ADV manga (ask your parents), and petered out about Vol. 3. Then Tokyopop (1st edition) picked it up and made it through Vol. 6… and then did their “sorry, we’ve decided to stop publishing manga”. Now they’re back, and Mag Garden still speaks to them, so here we are having finally caught up with actual new material in this omnibus. The good news is that Aria remains exactly what its readers want it to be, giving us gorgeous artwork, laid-back slow-life travelogues, and the occasional dab of character development. And, given the larger trim and color pages, this is a very good edition to pick up for anyone who enjoyed the anime and wants more, or who was wary of getting this a third time for fear that it would strike out. (The 6th omnibus is due out soon!)

Alice (and Maa) are on the cover, and indeed there’s a sense in this volume that the author is really trying to stop having this be The Akari Show. Now that we’ve introduced Athena and the core cast is complete, we can work with them as a group, or in pairs, or alone. The volume opens with a sea change, as during a group barbecue Aika accidentally gets her hair set on fire, leading to a need for a haircut. Given that Aika’s crush on Alicia has involved her trying to grow her hair out, this feels a bit like the author trying to metaphorically move on from that static point and have Aika grow (going to visit Al makes her all flustered – the manga is content to tease yuri ships, but will never actually go there). Alice also gets a couple of good arcs here, as she’s the youngest and most immature, so her stories can be more straightforward – although an entire arc which amounts to “you should smile more” feels weird these days.

That said, it’s hard to get away from Akari’s charm, and she is still the linchpin that the series revolves around. This despite the fact that her characterization is actually the least developed – she’s never going to stop being the somewhat naive girl who finds joy in everything, as that’s what we love about her. I’d argue she could be a little more self-aware – the chapter where she hears about a ghost who spirits women away when they take her for a boat ride, then literally does exactly that and has to be rescued by Cait Sith, makes you smack your head a bit – but heck, even everyone around her spends time simply watching her walk around. The best chapter in the volume has Aika and Alice follow Akari around for the day to see what makes her special. (The answer is “she has “slow life” powers, and also the ability to be lovely to everyone even if she’s meeting them for the first time.)

There’s much more here to talk about, including the disturbing revelation that Akatsuki’s mother looks just like Aika, but the point is that this is new Aria, and it’s awesome, and you should go buy it, if only to ensure that the entire series can finally come out in North America this time.

Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!: The Strongest Duo!’s Turn

by

By Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Bakuen wo!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

First of all, I want you to know that placing that exclamation point in the title where it belonged according to the cover art wounded me deeply.

The KonoSuba Explosion series has tried its best to be a dedicated prequel, but the end of this third volume finally has to take us into the main series proper. Most of it is spent with Megumin, on the outskirts, watching the wacky antics of Kazuma and Aqua. She’s trying to join adventurer parties, which are all desperate for spellcasters, but not her specific type of spellcaster. No one wants the girl who only knows how to fire off giant scary explosion and destroy property. Admittedly, she is faring better than Yunyun, who no one will approach because she’s too intense (read: desperate), and those who do approach her turn out to be predators. (Yunyun states she’s thirteen years old a lot in this book, a fact that I had conveniently erased from my brain but now it’s there again, being creepy and awful.) By the end of the book, after disparaging them so much, Megumin may finally be able to admit that what a girl like her needs is a party of idiots.

While genuinely a dedicated prequel, this series is also quite happy to set up events that we already know about in future books, such as Wolbach and Host, who is already having enough trouble dealing with Komekko without being forced to deal with even MORE Crimson Magic Clan folks. As is increasingly common in her character in these books (we don’t see all that much of this side around Kazuma), Megumin acts rude and nasty at times to cover up her own embarrassment at having to admit love and affection. This even applies to Chomusuke, who she at first talks about happily sacrificing before admitting that she’ll do no such thing. And of course it isn’t just her – the one major trait she has in common with Yunyun, who is otherwise a comedic punching bag, is their inability to deal with talking about who they like.

This pays off in a scene near the end, when Megumin (pretending to be asleep) actually hears just how much Yunyun respects Megumin and how cool she thinks she is. Of course, she then uses a sleep spell on Megumin so that she can go off and sacrifice herself, but it’s OK, the emotional moment was there – as Megumin will remind her over and over again. This book also has the job of separating the two here, given that when we first meet Megumin in the main series, Yunyun is nowhere to be seen, and it does a pretty good job, though not as well as it handles Megumin. Yunyun is a character that requires a certain balance to have the reader sympathize with her but also laugh at her, and the author, let’s face it, leans too far to one side much of the time. I worry, as does Megumin, how Yunyunn will fare on her own, but as seen in the main series, she’s still OK, if suffering.

And so this series comes to an end… except there’s a sequel to it out soon, KonoSuba Explosion Bonus Story!, which will tell us about events prior to Book 10 and why the princess looks up to Megumin so much. It should be silly and fun, with a small touch of heartwarming. Which is what you get with these books.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke, Vol. 1

by

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.

I was expecting great changes with this volume. When last we saw Rozemyne, she had had her past altered to make her the daughter of a noble, was then secretly adopted by another noble (who was also the archduke), and was getting ready to move to the noble part of town… while also maintaining her businesses, finding ways to employ the temple’s orphans, and assuming the role of high bishop. Some of the things that I was expecting did actually happen. Rozemyne had a bit of culture shock when she came across noble attitudes, and they in turn were unprepared for both Rozemyne’s health and her ways of thinking. She would start her high bishop duties and give lots of blessings, which would stun those who witnessed it both because of her age and then because of her ridiculous amounts of magic. What I did not expect, and this is totally a failure on my part, was Rozemyne organizing an idol concert.

Actually, there was a lot that did NOT happen in this book, which seems to want to give Rozemyne an easier time of it than the previous books. After the terrifying battle that ended book 7, this seems sedate by comparison. Rozemyne has to get used to her new family, including winning over Elvira, who is her new mother now… and it goes quite well, mostly as Elvira is a Ferdinand fanboy and will happily do anything he says, but also as Ferdinand has been grooming Myne this entire time to prepare her for her role as Rozemyne. (I will admit the grooming does worry me a bit. Given that Books 22 and 23 still show Rozemyne as a child, I don’t think romance is in the cards here, but it is suggested once or twice that Ferdinand and Rozemyne should be a couple, and please, no.) Ferdinand is even prepared for Sylvester’s spoiled son to not “get” that Rozemyne can’t run around, and has a solution – let her almost die in front of the boy.

Then there is the concert. I must admit, given what I’ve been writing about him in this review, I did feel Ferdinand sort of deserved what happened to him. That said, it’s also a terrific way to show that Rozemyne is not done coming up with innovative ideas just because she is now a noble. Her old ideas are also still going strong, of course, and I appreciated that Benno, Lutz, etc. did not simply vanish. (Myne’s old family appear slightly less, but they are also there, especially Tulli, who gets to learn manners from a most welcome tutor.) But Rozemyne needs money, and the idol concert was the best way to do it. I really enjoyed how she was able to spot, based on the reactions of the noble ladies to Ferdinand, that there would need to be attendants on hand for when they fainted. And the special final guest was also hilarious.

So far so good, then, but I expect trouble has not abandoned Rozemyne completely. In any case, if you enjoy books at all, light novels or no, this is a series that you should be reading.