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Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, Vol. 7

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By Satoko Kiyuduki. Released in Japan as “Hitsugi Katsugi no Kuro – Kaichu Tabi no Wa” by Houbunsha, serialized in the magazine Manga Time Kirara. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

It is always lovely, especially in this age of experiencing media whose endings turn out to be trainwrecks, to see a series get it absolutely right. Everyone who has been reading the Kuro books should be absolutely satisfied by this ending, which wraps up everything we’d like to see and is probably the closest to a happy ending that this series was ever going to get. Indeed, this is lampshaded by a dream sequence showing us the Golden Ending of sorts, with Kuro cured and back to working for Sen, and you realize that no, you can’t just have that. It would ruin the story. And Kuro has been all about people’s stories, both in the reader collecting then as she and the kids make their journey, and also her own self-discovery, which also comes to a head here as she confronts Hifumi for the last time. But in the end, it’s Nijuku and Sanju who take the biggest steps, moving forward in a way that’s impossible for everyone else.

This is a volume that looks back as well as looking forward, especially in a chapter where Emily, a reporter trying to track down Kuro, comes across everyone else that Kuro’s come across on her journey, and what starts off with her terrifying ideas of the gender-ambiguous, vampiric Kuro and her beast-like children ends up being a series of interviews about how much Kuro, Nijuku and Sanju changed everyone they came into contact with. Including Emily, who never does get to meet Kuro but now desperately wants to, having seen just how much she’s affected everyone. That said, the first half of the book also presages the confrontation midway through, as Kuro’s creeping blackness, which we saw affecting Sanju last volume, is getting worse and worse. And then there’s Hifumi, who is having an identity crisis but also knows what she wants – those two kids.

The final half of the volume ends in a string of attempts at self-sacrifice, as Kuro and Hifumi confront each other, Hifumi in an effort to get to the two girls and Kuro in an effort to stop her, which pretty much involves trying to absorb her. This goes about as well as you’d expect, and between the two of them we get tragedy and realization… as well as a bit of closure, which is bittersweet but still has some sweetness in it. Kuro and Hifumi have always had that connection between them, and this merely reinforces it. In the end, though, neither one of them can be the ones to give Nijuku and Sanju a future – they have to make their own choice. Which they do, and it’s innocent and also sort of impossible and incredibly odd and ambiguous. Which is this entire manga in miniature, really.

This manga has been going for over ten years, with many stops and starts along the way, and another entire series by the same author (GA Art Design Class) in between. It’s a journey that will sound familiar to anyone who’s followed the title character, whose meandering was much the same. The author says there may be an eighth volume of short stories coming soon, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Till then, though, enjoy what may be a perfect ending to this excellent series.

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 1

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Snow White with the Red Hair, Volume 1 by Sorata Akiduki

The “two volume” rule for judging manga series is something I tend to stick by because sometimes it takes six or seven chapters for a series to come together. In the case of Snow White with the Red Hair, the first volume is charming, but I was left a little confused about what the storyline would be to carry this series for 20 volumes. I’m assuming that this minor quibble will be cleared up with the second volume, or if not, it will continue to be a great slice of life series about herbalism with occasional low stakes kidnappings.

Snow White with the Red Hair

The woman with the red hair is actually not a princess at all, so the “Snow White” of the title is a bit of a red herring? What is it with red-haired heroines in shoujo manga anyway, is it a call back to Anne of Green Gables maybe? Shirayuki is an herbalist with striking red hair that unfortunately makes her a target for petty royals. In the first chapter, Shirayuki flees an overzealous prince who is determined to make her his new concubine, only to run into yet another prince – Zen, the second son of royalty for a neighboring kingdom. They immediately strike up a friendship, but in a subversion of the Snow White fairy tale, Zen eats a bit of a poisonous apple sent by Shirayuki’s would-be paramour and she has to rescue him.

One of the amusing aspects of Snow White with the Red Hair is the fairy-tale like setting combined with characters who are determined to make their own destiny. Shirayuki is devoted to the study of herbalism, and she decides that she’s going to make her own way in Zen’s country through her studies until she can become a court herbalist. Zen has a somewhat laid-back attitude to his royal position which is refreshing. I am not sure if I’ve seen a super chill prince in shoujo manga before. Shirayuki continues to be targeted, both because of her red hair and due to her new friendship with Zen. Seeing their initially quasi-platonic friendship slowly develop throughout the course of this volume made me look forward to what might happen next. On the whole, Snow White with the Red Hair reminded me a lot of the whimsical fantasy series that CMX used to publish, and then when I realized that it ran in LaLa, source of many CMX series, that all made sense to me. I’m glad that shoujo fantasy seems to be doing so well for the Shojo Beat imprint, because it is one of my favorite genres, and this series looks like it will be a worthy addition.

Pick of the Week: Beloved Creators

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MICHELLE: I mean, it has to be Blank Canvas doesn’t it?

SEAN: I love Blank Canvas, and have reviewed it. But I’m still going to make Ascendance of a Bookworm my pick, even though J-Novel Club has told me it’s more “for isekai lovers who also like books” than “for book lovers”. I just… reincarnated sickly little girl resolves to make her own paper, so she can make her own books, so she can fulfill her dream of being surrounded by books. That’s hardcore.

ASH: I suspect Ascendance of a Bookworm has a strong chance of being my pick once the print edition is released, but I adore Akiko Higashimura’s work so the debut of Blank Canvas is my choice this week, even considering that new volumes of 10 Dance and Ooku are coming out, too!

MJ: I feel like I’m supposed to be the one who gives the boost to Ooku or 10 Dance (how did I somehow blip over both of those during Manga the Week of??) but I’m also going Blank Canvas this week. Can I ever be forgiven?

ANNA: I’m going to join in on the Blank Canvas love!

Kokoro Connect: Clip Time

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By Sadanatsu Anda and Shiromizakana. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Molly Lee.

Well, I did ask for more wacky school antics in this volume of short stories, so you can’t say I didn’t bring it on myself. This is definitely a volume that gets better as it goes along. The first story, where Inaba decides to help out two teachers in a secret sort-of relationship by publicizing it over the entire school, is the sort of plot that made me think “and then the club was disbanded and Inaba was expelled”, which didn’t happen. The chapter where Yui gets confessed to by a girl and dates her alternates between trying its best to handle the subject properly and making stupid “OMG, gay!” jokes, which, to be fair, they are teenagers, but it’s still pretty excruciating, especially Aoba and Iori. The third story features Inaba, between the second and third books, working herself into an emotional frenzy regarding the love triangle. It’s fun if you enjoy Inaba flipping out. That said, the REASON to get this book is the final story, which takes up half the volume.

Those two characters on the cover next to Taichi may be unfamiliar to the reader, as they’re new first-years who the Cultural Research folks are trying to recruit to the club… sort of. It’s one of those situations where, were this a normal club, there would be no issues beyond “I like the bond the five of us have and don’t want to risk upsetting it”. But of course, this isn’t a normal club, and our main cast are unconsciously pushing the new recruits away because they are worried about bringing Heartseed into someone else’s life. This is not an easy problem to solve, but they decide eventually that they do want these kids in the club, and that they will tell them about its more supernatural aspects… provided Heartseed doesn’t get there first.

As for the new kids, well, Chihiro is deliberately written to annoy the reader, I suspect. He’s standoffish and arrogant, annoyed at the school’s “you have to be in a club” policy, and not particularly enamored of anyone in the group apart from the “gorgeous” Iori. That said, it’s pretty clear from the narration we get from hi8m that a lot of this is defensive and a front. The cliffhanger implies the next book will delve further into him. As for Enjouji, she’s a very entertaining combination of fluffhead and blunt, and I admire her dedication and her desire to be with those that she admires the most. That said, her obsession with Taichi’s voice is both strange and hilarious. They both look like good additions to the club. It’s also highly unusual to see a major plot point happening in a short story collection, and I once again emphasize that if you’re following the novels you do need to read this one as well.

I’d honestly skip the first two stories in this book (though the Yui story was popular enough to get adapted into the manga AND a PSP game). The final half, though, is very strong, and makes me eager to read the next book in the series.

In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 14

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By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

Well, you can’t blame the author for nothing happening in this particular volume of Smartphone. it’s very plot-heavy, with the Phrase coming up front and center and Touya also finding out that he’s going to be getting a lot more responsibility pretty soon. What’s more, the Reverse World gets another look-in, and that and Touya’s world may soon be much closer to each other than is really comfortable. Indeed, some of the Mutant Phrase (the ones influenced by the God) are now invading that world as well, and it doesn’t have its own Touya to come in and save the day… yet. And Touya still finds time to help out a kingdom that is at war with another. For once the entire ruling class aren’t poorly written sneering villains. But we do get a few of them. Whoever said “fat and ugly”, you sure know your Smartphone. Hated it before, still hate it. Light novel authors have to write better villains.

The main non-Phrase plot that happens here is that Touya is now the main “god” for this world, meaning that he needs to fix what’s going wrong with it (the Phrase invasion), or else the God of Destruction is going to destroy the world and everyone in it (bar Touya’s fiancees, who will be spared I suspect as they worry about his sociopathic tendencies already). This includes the Reverse World, which eventually is going to merge into the same world with Touya’s own. (Both worlds are flat, which helps.) This also means he has to get the Spirits on his side, who have mostly been absent from the series to date but as long as we’re adding to a cast that already numbers in the hundreds, why not? Getting them on his side involves the female spirits loving him and the male spirits hating him as a “harem bastard”, basically. But he can beat them up, so we’re all good. Oh yes, Touya also has his usual “ew, gay” reaction too.

I’ll gently glide over Touya’s helping two kingdoms in their war, except to note that the enemy kingdom’s chief knight turned out to be Ende, who’s become a little bit Brainwashed And Crazy. As Touya and company gets more powerful, so are the Phrase, and Ende ran afoul of another set of stock characters in these sorts of stories – Evil Twins. Fortunately for Touya, he has also now located the Phrase Princess, who is imprisoned for her own safety, but this does allow her and Ende to have some cuddle time. Speaking of which, the location of the Phrase Princess’ core, as well as getting it removed, was probably one of the more well-written parts of the book. And I also liked Yumina reassuring Touya about his godhood – Yumina is still “first among equals” among the fiancees.

Smartphone is, at heart, a very conservative series, despite the polygamy. Given I am not conservative, it’s not surprising that I frequently find myself infuriated with it. And no, everyone lampshading with a smile when Touya is ‘evil’ doesn’t help, really. That said, I can’t bring myself to drop it either. I’m hoping for less stock villains next time and more things like Touya building cars.

Ojojojo, Vol. 3-4

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By coolkyousinnjya. Released in Japan by Takeshobo, serialized in the magazine Manga Life. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Ben Robert Trethewey. Adapted by Clint Bickham.

I feel a bit guilty about this, as the author admits that this was one of their earliest series. But frankly, Ojojojo is easily the best thing we’ve seen licensed by this author, and it’s not even close. Dragon Maid is OK, but this was really, really good all the way through, keeping up the “plotless 4-koma” st5yle while actually having quite a good plot. There isn’t much of a plot, but that lets the series breathe, and allows its characters to drive things. We move towards a climax, taking in Haru’s little sister (who tries to be the bad guy, but isn’t, something that is cliched but works well), Tzurezure’s past (which reminded me a lot of Sousuke in Full Metal Panic!), and their attempts to communicate with each other better so that they can be better partners. Which, despite rich gossips and inheritance struggles, is the real enemy of this series, as the two of them just aren’t really good at communication.

(I’m using the color cover for Vol. 4, which annoyingly is not included in the omnibus, as I like it better.)

As noted, the only major addition to the cast here is Aki, Haru’s younger sister, who arrives from overseas and immediately sets out to make her sister’s life hell because, well, she’s decided she wants to play the villain for her sister’s sake. It’s amusing that almost everyone gets this immediately, despite the author’s attempts to drawing Aki with the world’s most ridiculous evil grin. As it turns out, she and Haru are both lonely rich kids at heart, so once everything is resolved they are allowed to rediscover the affection they have for each other… and Aki is allowed to tease Haru shamelessly by flirting with her man, something that works mostly as Tsurezure is so stoic about the whole thing. Akane and Chris also reach an agreement, though I’ll be honest, I like these two better as a “greek chorus” to the rest of the cast than I do as a couple. Akane as the only normal person is also very amusing.

There’s a lot getting in the way of the main pairing, though. Haru is a noblewoman, Tsurezure is a commoner. What’s more, he has a secret past, one which, if it gets out, could pose a lot of danger for them. (I forgot to mention his adopted family, who are both sweetie pies. Honestly, everyone in the series is a sweetie pie.) And Tsurezure is clearly brooding about this, to the point where he tries to run away and live in the woods, a sign that he’s not nearly as mature as he sometimes appears. Naturally Haru follows after him, in helicopter no less, and belts him across the chops for daring to decide everything for both of them. Her solution, oddly, also reads as very immature and ill-thought out… but actually works out for the best for everyone involved. In the end, they make a great couple.

So everyone lives Happily Ever After. (Well, except Aki. Sorry, Aki.) If you want a sweet romantic comedy with great characters who grow over the course of four volumes, I really recommend this. Plus Haru is frequently straight up hilarious. Especially when cooking.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 4

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jasmine Bernhardt.

In general, when you have a series that runs on “slow life”, a light novel subgenre where the characters in another world decide that they’re going to take it easy and do things at their own pace (whether this succeeds or not is, of course, a question for the author to decide), the book rises and falls on the narrative voice of its main character. Slow Life protagonists tends to be relaxed and easygoing to begin with, but it’s dangerous to make them too bland, as you risk the reader wandering off. Fortunately, that’s not going to be a problem with Azusa, whose internal tsukkomi is stronger than ever in this volume. As her bond with her extended family grows stronger, she’s becoming more “mom-like”, but that doesn’t mean that she’s above screaming at people Osaka-style, and that happens a lot here. As for the plot itself, well, we spend most of the book outside the house, believe it or not.

As with previous volumes, we get a lot of interconnected short stories here. Azusa eats a mushroom that turns her into a child, and struggles against everyone wanting her to act like one as well. The solution to this involves climbing to the top of a 108-story tree, which ends up being a hilarious parody of tourist traps. Then they meet a death metal bunny-girl musician (not making this up) who is down on her luck, possibly as her death metal is terrible. Azusa and company convince her that changing her genre would not be the end of the world, and it turns out that when she calms down and gets more introspective, she’s actually really fantastic. Azusa then finds a rice field, which inspires her to make manju and mochi for the locals, something that might get her rebranded as a sweets maker rather than a witch. Finally, she and her slime daughters go to a convention and meet… Azusa’s mother?

For the most part this volume hit all the right buttons. There were a few things I didn’t care for (the mom chapter felt a bit odd to me, though it fits in with the “found family” concept of the series in general), but for the most part we get to see a) Azusa snarking at everyone and everything around her, and b) Azusa also helping everyone and everything around her. She’s still the strongest in the land (at one point she has to fight the entire Blue Dragon tribe, who she compares to a group of high school delinquents, and mops the floor with them), so growth has to come from other directions. I was particularly pleased with the translation this time around – it’s a new translator, but the narrative voice seems unchanged, and there was a joke involving a hashtag that made me grin from ear to ear.

Yen Press has recently licensed two other series by this author for the fall, and you can see why – Killing Slimes for 300 Years is a fun, breezy read, and makes trying to do nothing interesting.

Manga the Week of 5/22/19

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SEAN: Buckle up, kids, it’s another one of THOSE weeks next week.

Dark Horse debuts a new series in omnibus form, Elfen Lied. This one may actually be more familiar to older anime fans, as it had an infamous anime in 2004, and the manga is apparently just as noteworthy. It ran in Weekly Young Jump, and this has the first three volumes. It’s a brutal, violent, dark manga. But it has a lot of fans.

MICHELLE: I seem to recall hearing that a lot of amputations occur in this series, so that’ll be a pass for me.

ANNA: Yeah, amputations are not my thing.

MJ: I watched the anime way back and survived, so maybe?

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Ascendance of a Bookworm (Honzuki no Gekokujou), one of the more begged-for LN license requests of the last year or so. The subtitle has “I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!”, so this one may also appeal to the Manga Bookshelf folks too. A book-loving girl gets her dream job as a librarian… only to be killed and reincarnated in a fantasy world with low literacy. So to fulfill her dream of being surrounded by books, well… that’s the plot. I really want to read this. The print version is coming in the fall, but digital is out next week.

ASH: Perhaps because I’m a librarian, I really want to read this, too! I’m always interested in fantasy interpretations of my chosen profession. (I’ll probably wait for the print edition, though.)

ANNA: I am also interested in this as a librarian, but I tend to only like certain kinds of light novels. I’m definitely curious though!

MJ: This does sound kind of interesting.

SEAN: Kodansha, making up for two light weeks, has quite a bit next week. In print we have 10 Dance 3, Grand Blue Dreaming 6, Love in Focus 2, The Quintessential Quintuplets 3, and Yuri Is My Job! 3.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more 10 Dance! I did enjoy the low-key shoujo title Love in Focus, too.

ASH: 10 Dance definitely has most of my attention out of that bunch. Though, like Michelle, I also enjoyed the first volume of Love in Focus.

SEAN: Digitally, there’s Ao-chan Can’t Study! 7, Defying Kurosaki-kun 9, Kakafukaka 7, and Tokyo Revengers 7.

Seven Seas debuts an autobiographical manga by Akiko Higashimura, creator of Princess Jellyfish. Called Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artistic Journey (Kakukaku Shikajika), I reviewed it earlier this week, and it’s a must-read for fans of her work.

MICHELLE: SO EXCITE.

ASH: I got my hands on the first volume and it is VERY GOOD. I really love Higashimura’s work.

ANNA: OOH, this wasn’t on my radar at all.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has the print debut of Mushoku Tensei, as well as the 2nd volume digitally. There’s also the 3rd Make My Abilities Average! manga, and Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho 6.

Udon has a 10th Persona 4. We are apparently getting close to the end.

Vertical has the 4th volume of My Boy.

Viz has Children of the Whales 10, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 11, Ooku 15, Ran and the Gray World 3, and Urusei Yatsura 2. I’m most interested in the last, but I know the MB team wants its yearly dose of Ooku.

MICHELLE: I do, but I’ll also be reading Uruseu Yatsura one of these days.

ASH: Yes, I need more Ooku! While I’m following a couple of the other series, too, Ooku is the priority for me.

ANNA: I’m excited about both Ooku and Uresei Yatsura.

SEAN: And now we have Yen. So much Yen. And not even all the Yen, as they delayed 7 titles to the week after next.

JY has the third and final volume of the Little Witch Academia manga.

Yen On debuts Torture Princess (Fremd Torturchen), which is (try to contain your surprise) where our hero ends up contracted to the title princess, who has to kill demons. The artist also does Black Bullet’s art. I hope this is slightly less bleak than Black Bullet.

In lighter fare, we also have Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki, whose manga already came out via Yen. It’s another in the ‘adaptations of movies’ line.

There’s also Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 8, Goblin Slayer 7, Overlord 10, A Sister’s All You Need 4, Strike the Blood 12, and Sword Art Online 16.

As for manga, the debut is Happy Sugar Life, which… I hate to use the word “yandere” in describing a manga, as it’s very over-and-badly used, but this series about a high school girls who falls for a sweet and pure kid and makes sure nothing gets in the way of their happy life, even if it means murder, probably justifies the term. It runs in Gangan Joker.

MICHELLE: Ugh.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: Ending with its 7th volume is Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, a series which debuted in 2006 but has only just now reached its 7th volume, which tells you a lot about its erratic publishing history. I love each volume, though I must admit “will Kuro survive?” is my primary question.

In other Yen manga news, we have Angels of Death Episode.0 2, Anne Happy! 9, Chio’s School Road 4, Dimension W 14, Graineliers 3, Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 2, DanMachi Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu 3 (manga version), Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl 9, Laid-Back Camp 6, Overlord 10 (manga version, out the same day as Overlord 10 the light novel, no doubt causing Amazon to have an aneurysm), Re: ZERO Arc 3 Volume 7, and Though You May Burn to Ash 5.

ASH: That is a fair bit!

SEAN: Aside from everything, what are you getting next week?

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 1

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By Sorata Akiduki. Released in Japan as “Akagami no Shirayukihime” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine LaLa. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Caleb Cook.

When I mentioned this title in Manga the Week of, I compared it to Yona of the Dawn, but on reading the first volume the two are more different than similar. Both have red-haired heroines, and they start out much the same, with a haircut and our heroine leaving her home. But Yona has rich backstory to detail right up front, while Snow White with the Red Hair is a typical LaLa series, meaning the first volume is essentially a bunch of one-shot tryouts that eventually resulted in a full series. This does not, however, mean that I did not fully enjoy Snow White with the Red Hair, as its heroine is a lot of fun, and the references to the fairy tale/Disney cartoon are also cute. Moreover, Yona is out to save the kingdom, but she has a lot of help from the guys around her. Shirayuki, however, is very much Herbs Over Boys, and despite the constant presence of Zen, the prince (there had to be a prince, it’s Snow White), this does not appear to be a romance. Yet.

I almost laughed at how fast the plot kicked off. By the fourth page Shirayuki has been told she’s been chosen to be the prince’s concubine (different prince), responds with a hearty “hell no”, cuts off her hair (which is highly unusual in this kingdom), and sets off into the woods. She finds a house and sleeps up against the side, but luckily is found by some dwarves… OK, no dwarves. Instead we mete Zen and his friends/bodyguards Mitsuhide and Kiki, who take her in and get to know her. Unfortunately, Shirayuki tends to stand out, so is discovered almost immediately, and gifted a present of I Can’t Believe They Aren’t Poisoned Apples. After a series of reversals, we discover that Zen is ALSO a prince (he’s one of those “I’m constantly under cover so I can see how my kingdom really works” types) and Shirayuki is safe… for now. This leaves her free to chase her dream of being an herbalist… and maybe one day she can be herbalist to Zen.

As you’d expect given the source of this story, Shirayuki tends to be in peril an awful lot. The good news is that the author takes pains to show Shirayuki doing her damnedest to get out of this peril herself, particularly in the second chapter, where she’s kidnapped and brought to a nearly escape-proof house, which she escapes from nevertheless. And then there’s the arrows being fired at her, and the Marquis who doesn’t trust Shirayuki and dislikes Zen’s attention to her. As I said earlier, this isn’t a romance yet on Shirayuki’s end, but we can see that Zen is already getting pretty smitten with her, and the two have a nice friendly bond and are both clever but overworking people. We didn’t really get to see quite as much of the supporting cast, however, two of whom I thought were simply bishie-looking men but are apparently women.

That said, the series is 20+ volumes in Japan, and so I’m sure as the cast expands everyone will get plenty to do. For the moment, I take pleasure in reading a series with a heroine who’s down-to-earth and nice, and a hero who is much the same.

Obsessions of an Otome Gamer: Middle School Years

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By Natsu and Shoyu. Released in Japan as “Ongaku de Otome wa Sukuenai” by the author on the Syosetu website. Released in North America digitally by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Charis Messier.

The first volume of Obsessions of an Otome Gamer stunned me, both in how ridiculously long it was and also how much I enjoyed it. This second volume is not QUITE as long, though it’s still about the length of a Tanya the Evil novel. But more importantly, it develops the characters from the first book, seeing them realistically learn from their mistakes, grow and mature… well, at least as much as they’re allowed to. Even when cliches are brought in, such as the rich younger sister of one of their teachers, they’re subverted, as she turns out to be a sweetie pie rather than an “ohohohohohohoho!” sort. And of course there’s the music, as Mashiro continues to have piano, not love, as her primary focus and gives the reader a crash course in classical music as well. That said, love is creeping in there, and the volume ends in a cliffhanger that will actually be decided via poll.

The title font is slightly more readable than the first volume, though I still think pink and white against a light background needed rethinking. As for the content, well, it’s Mashiro in her middle school years. After the events of the last book, Sou is in Germany, but he still hasn’t forgotten Mashiro, and she’s writing him and sending him origami trombones (far less origami in this book, alas). Kou, meanwhile, is also recovering from the bad impression he has seemingly hammered permanently into Mashiro’s mind, and I give him credit for being incredibly patient and trying his best to get back in her good graces. Since the first book came out, I have read three volumes of My Next Life As a Villainess, and it’s interesting to contrast Mashiro with Katarina. They’re both in otome game worlds and tend towards the dense when it comes to love, but Katarina is able to heal everyone’s problems through the sheer force of being her, whereas Otome Gamer is not that idealistic.

The author notes that the original title for this story was “The Maiden Can’t Save Through Music Alone”, and that brings me to Kon and her story. It’s dramatically necessary and worth it, as otherwise this sort of story would be as light and frivolous as they come, but it really is hard not to imagine that, whichever boy Mashiro ends up with, Kon is going to die. In her previous life she essentially sold her soul to Satan, and he’s in this book enjoying her despair and torment, despite the occasional setback (Mashiro recovers her past-life memories because, due to the game mechanics, she and Kon have maxed out their love and trust in each other). I would love to be proved wrong, but even Mashiro’s narrative has a lot of “I didn’t know it at the time, but…” that almost always signifies someone’s doomed. This sucks, I love Kon.

There are books for both boys being prepared, and there’s a poll that the publisher has put up so that readers can vote for which one gets published first. No, there isn’t a Kon Ending that I know of, though I do wonder if we’ll see a Bad End as an extra. In the meantime, fans of the first book and novels in this “otome game reincarnation’ genre will want to read this as fast as possible. And hey, why isn’t the publisher creating playlists of the songs for Spotify?