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The Hero-Killing Bride: The Blind-Eyed Saint

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By Aoikou and Enji. Released in Japan as “Yuusha-goroshi no Hanayome” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Faye Duxovni.

I think by now most people know that I’m relatively easy to please, and it shows at times in these reviews. And sometimes I can overly gush about things, only to look back later and say “boy, that’s kind of embarrassing now”. I really enjoyed the first volume of this series, and said the best thing about it was the main protagonist. And, on various other social medias, I got pushback from people who were expecting something better, and she really didn’t vibe with her the way that she vibed with me. Honestly, I was actually feeling a bit guilty. So I went into this volume determined to keep a clearer head. And, well, my review is going to be exactly the same. This series has a lot of flaws. But I really, REALLY like the main character. She saves this series in many ways. Despite being driven by a repressed grief into some very ugly choices. Because behind all that cynical narration is someone who cares far too much about people.

Alicia and Cion, having managed to defeat General Heavenfang, are being dispatched to The Holy City, which is currently empty of the biggest holiness, the Pope, as well as most of its knights (guarding the pope). They’re being sent there because someone keeps killing cardinals, and they’re both very strong. When they arrive, they go to great the Saint who is the highest authority there who isn’t the pope. She seems perfect… honestly, a bit too perfect. She gives Alicia the creeps, for some unknown reason. Unfortunately, Alicia also runs into an assassin who has the power of shadows, and who has a resolve to kill anything related to demons – and says that the Saint is a demon. Fortunately, Alicia has her old father figure and mentor there to talk to. Surely he won’t be viciously murdered or anything. that would be terrible! (Sorry for the spoiler, but the guy did all but say “I’m retiring in three days and buying a boat”.)

The best part of this remains Alicia. I’m sorry if other folks don’t like her, but I 100% vibe with someone who things that this is a horrible world and God can’t save you and has stained her hands with blood but still tries to do the right thing and help save people even when it defies all sense. The middle section of the book, after the death of her mentor, is absolute dynamite, as we see her completely snap and almost turn evil, but it remains framed through her bitter, matter-of-fact narration – I was reminded a bit of Sorawo from Otherside Picnic. Unfortunately, the rest of the book struggles to live up to its heroine. Cion remains a cipher, and spends a lot of the climax of the book mind-controlled, which is never great. Lastly, everything that involves sex in this book is awful and pointless, and I hate all of it. It was totally unnecessary.

But I’m still going to read the third book, as I like Alicia, and I want to see if she survives the series. For those who like The Executioner and Her Way of Life and wish there were more series in that vein.

The Manga Review: Princess Memeonoke

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If you’ve been on the internet anytime since ChatGPT 4.0 debuted, you’ve probably seen images that look suspiciously like stills from Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro. ChatGPT’s newest version—which arrived on March 26th—allows paid subscribers to create pictures from text prompts. Within twenty four hours of the new feature going live, users across the internet were directing ChatGPT to turn their pets, friends, and family members into Studio Ghibli memes. The irony? Hayao Miyazaki is on the record as describing AI-generated art as “an insult to life,” joining a long list of artists, musicians, and writers who feel violated by OpenAI’s training methods. OpenAI, for its part, claims that it’s making fair use of other people’s copyright-protected material. Until there is a definitive ruling on the legality of OpenAI’s methods, artists may need to use different legal strategies to prevail in court. One potential remedy, legal expert Rob Rosenberg suggests, is suing for OpenAI for trademark infringement instead: “Ghibli could argue that by converting user photos to ‘Ghibli-style,’ OpenAI is trading off the goodwill of Ghibli’s trademarks, using Ghibli’s identifiable style and leading to a likelihood of confusion among consumers that this function is endorsed or licensed by Studio Ghibli.” You’ll find more of his commentary here.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Katy Castillo runs down all of April’s new manga and light novels. [Yatta-Tachi]

MyAnimeList just posted its annual You Should Read This Manga list. Though some of the titles aren’t available in English yet, there are plenty of great recommendations that are, from Hirayasumi to The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy At All! [My AnimeList]

If you’re currently watching Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty, I have good news for you: Yen Press will be publishing the manga this fall, alongside five other new titles. [The Outerhaven]

And speaking of rock ‘n’ roll, Titan Manga announced that it will be releasing Isekai Metaller, the saga of a “a die-hard metalhead who, after getting electrocuted during his band’s farewell gig, wakes up in a world full of dragons, werewolves, and monsters that are just begging for a guitar solo.” Sold! [Behind the Manga]

Netflix just unveiled the trailer for The Rose of Versailles, which will begin streaming April 30th. [Otaku USA]

Trump’s new tariffs mean you’ll be paying more to import your favorite Japanese video games, manga, and merch. [Otaku USA]

This week’s must-hear podcast is an in-depth discussion of Moyocco Anno’s work hosted by Gee and Ray. [Read Right to Left]

Helen, Apryll, and Kory convene a roundtable on The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman. [Manga in Your Ears]

How does the original Mixx edition of Parasyte compare with Del Ray’s? Tim and Patrick have the answer on the latest installment of Full Manga Alchemists. [Full Manga Alchemists]

REVIEWS

Over at Anime Nation, John explores disability representation in You Talk Too Much, So Just Shut It Already!… the latest Reader’s Corner offers pithy reviews of Pink Candy Kiss, Friday at the Atelier, and Dandadan… and I finally got around to reviewing Confession, a twisty thriller that gets the job done in a single volume.

New and Noteworthy

Complete and Ongoing Series

A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO, Vol. 2

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu ZERO” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Melanie Kardas.

One thing I’ve noticed about several light novels series that feature things that are supposed to be cute is that they can get surprisingly dark, at least at the start. I’ve talked before about Kuma Bear and its tendency towards horrific backstories filled with rape and murder for some characters, which we basically never get anymore. And, in the main series that this is a spinoff of, we get how Serafina died, and it also features rape and torture. That too, as the books went on, has been, if not removed, at least rarely mentioned unless it’s very plot-relevant. And the first novel in this spinoff was firmly on the site of cute and adorable, so I was expecting the same thing here. Imagine my surprise when I got another character with a tragic backstory that reads very much like a horror novel. Monsters exist here, and it turns out that they can lead to fates much worse than death.

Serafina is out and about now that she can see, and she’s shown off her cook saint powers to Sirius. So it’s time for her to work with him in earnest, and that also means she needs a cohort of knights to guard her. What’s surprising to everyone but the reader, who knows that Sirius is absolutely obsessed with Serafina, is that the knights chosen are the best of the best, cream of the crop… and they’re wondering why the second princess needs so much more protection than, say, the FIRST princess. That said, she is pretty freaking adorable… and the “special medicine” she makes to cure Canopus’ fever works a bit TOO well. Clearly there’s only one thing left to do: go the the beach. Which, to be fair, also involves a bit of investigation, as this beachside community has been in an economic slump recently. It’s almost as if the spirit who blessed them is dying…

This is, out of necessity, a series where our heroine is six years old, so it lacks any of the romance that the main series hints at. Sure, Sirius is obsessed with Serafina, but that’s meant to be more of a dad/older brother thing, and honestly, she’s more his emotional crutch than he is hers. I did briefly wonder, though, if one of the guards was going to have a childhood friend romance with one of the saints, who turns out to be from his own hometown. Unfortunately, this isn’t a romance, and the guards only get to be as obsessed with Serafina as a powerful saint as Sirius is. Instead, the childhood friend’s plotline is a reminder of the dangers of feeling responsible for things you do as a kid that aren’t really your fault – easy enough to do here, when it turns out the things are so horrifying. (I was honestly a bit annoyed at the girl here. “I know you feel bad about your whole family being murdered, but did you know their souls may also be trapped in torment?”)

So overall, this was quite good, concentrating on the cuteness while also leaving in some darkness for those who like the contrast. It does have a dangling plotline, though, I hope that gets resolved whenever the third volume is out. We’ll get the main series first, though.

Manga the Week of 4/9/25

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SEAN: The Easter Rabbit is busy hiding manga all around the area for children to find. Let’s see what they might be…

Seven Seas is having a quiet week, and Airship has no print titles out. They do have early digital for Modern Villainess 6 and The Too-Perfect Saint 2.

Ghost Ship has World’s End Harem: Fantasia 14.

J-Novel Club also has a quiet week, with no debuts. But for light novels we see Chivalry of a Failed Knight 5, Disowned But Not Disheartened 2, and The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman 2, Part 1.

While for manga, we get Black Summoner 19, Housekeeping Mage from Another World 7, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 10, The Water Magician 4, and Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! 10.

Kodansha, try to contain your shock, has a quiet week with no debuts. In print, we see Blue Lock: Episode Nagi 3, Fall In Love, You False Angels 2, I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness 8, and Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 20 (the final volume).

ASH: A quiet week with no debuts… when does the other shoe drop?

SEAN: And in digital we have A Condition Called Love 16, Gang King 28, Giant Killing 48, and I Have a Crush at Work 9.

MICHELLE: Insert obligatory Giant Killing appreciation noises.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Tokyo Revengers Series Guide: REMEMBER YOU!, a reference guide to the series with character profiles, designs, etc.

Also from Seven Seas: 100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death 2, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 6, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 21, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 8, No Love Zone 3, The Strange House 3, and Tomo-chan is a Girl! Omnibus 4 (the final volume).

A debut at last! From Square Enix we get The God-Slaying Demon King (Kamigoroshi no Maou Saijyaku Shuzoku ni Tensei shi Shijyou Saikyou ni naru), a Manga Up! series about a man who reincarnated after almost defeating the demon king. Now it’s 500 years later, his adopted daughter is missing, and he has to do it all over again.

ASH: A dad’s gotta do what a dad’s gotta do.

ANNA: Those demon kings can be tricky.

SEAN: Also from Square Enix: A Man and His Cat 13 and My Isekai Life 18.

MICHELLE: I should read more A Man and His Cat.

ASH: I haven’t read much of the series, but I enjoyed what I did.

SEAN: Steamship debuts Seduced by the Demon King: A Sensual Rebirth (Tensei Shitara Maou-sama ni Dekiai Saremashita), a josei title from Otomitsu Mangosteen. A woman has been having a bad few weeks. Her real estate job is going badly, the guy she had a crush on at work got married… sigh. Then one day a demon lord smashes into her window and says she used to be the saint and they’re enemies. Except… he vows to make her the happiest woman in the world BEFORE he destroys her, to make the destruction sweeter. Honestly, reverse isekai smut is really rare, so I’ll take a look.

ASH: I’ve certainly encountered worse premises!

ANNA: It could be so much worse.

SEAN: SuBLime debuts Ask and You Will Receive (Sonna ni Iu Nara Daiteyaru), which runs in moment. (Too many BL magazines have ee cummings capitalization, it gets confusing.) A playboy who has a normal “daytime” life as a dull office worker is annoyed that his straight narcissist co-worker is now showing up at his favorite gay bar! Time to get out the hot seduction skills.

ASH: I can’t imagine anything going wrong with that scenario.

SEAN: Worst Soulmate Ever: Proposal (Unmei no Tsugai ni Kyuukon (Propose) da Nante) is the one-shot sequel to the one-shot we saw last December. Marriage comes up.

Tokyopop has The Little Bird Sleeps by the Sea (Hinadori wa Shiokaze ni Madoromu), a BL one-shot from Chara. A young man whose family have all recently died adopts his niece and moves to a seaside town, where he meets another young man who also has a tragic past. This is from the creator of Love Nest, Sayonara Game, etc.

MICHELLE: Hm, this looks pretty cute!

SEAN: And there’s a 2nd volume of The Margrave’s Daughter & the Enemy Prince.

Udon Entertainment has, according to retailers (sorry, Udon, you’re going in the same box as Denpa/KUMA), Veil, a josei manga from Comic Ruelle. A policeman meets a runaway heiress, and he gets her a job. This will be in full color!

ASH: I am really looking forward to this one, whenever it releases.

ANNA: I WANT TO BELIEVE!!!!!

SEAN: Viz has a couple of kinda-sorta first volumes. Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Manga – Book of Savanaclaw is another in the franchise, and runs in GFantasy. It’s a magical academy with a fighting tournament. Be still my heart.

Also from Viz, Kaiju No. 8: B-Side, the manga adaptation of the light novel spinoff.

And we see Akane-banashi 11, Beyblade X 2, Case Closed 94, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Official Coloring Book 3, Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga 3, I Wanna Do Bad Things with You 5, Pokémon: Sword & Shield 12, Splatoon 3: Splatlands 4, and Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance—Premonition (the final volume).

And we still have some March runoff from Yen, and what’s worse, they haven’t updated their website calendar. This is based off their page. Yen On has Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 6 (the final volume?), Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 13, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 11, The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey 5, and Magical Explorer 9.

And for Yen Press, we get April Showers Bring May Flowers 2, Excellent Property, Rejects for Residents 3, Rejected by the Hero’s Party, a Princess Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 2, and A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School! 16.

That started slow but picked up about halfway through. What did you find?

ASH: A relatively small shoe.

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 6

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By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

This is getting an anime pretty soon (in two days, in fact), so it’s interesting to see this volume coming out right before it, as it’s essentially starting a new arc for the series. The last volume brought to a close a lot of Beryl’s issues with his dad, and he’s now come to the conclusion that hey, maybe he *is* pretty strong after all. That said, baby steps. He still struggles with his self-deprecation coming to him automatically through this book. And in regards to his quest for a wife, he’s going to have to get past the “no one could possibly find an old geezer like me attractive” stage to get anywhere. He also straight up says that he’s not going to have any of his former students as bridal candidates, which is essentially EVERYONE to date. So it’s unsurprising that we get a new girl introduced here to offer an alternative.

After dropping by the magical academy to see how the sword magic classes are going, Beryl is called into Allucia’s office. They have to go to the estate of Margrave Flumvelk, who is holding a gathering to celebrate Beryl’s accomplishments to date. Beryl is understandably his usual self about this, but he also knows he can’t refuse a request for a noble, so he, Allucia, and a bunch of knights spend a couple weeks traveling out there. When he arrives, he finds that the margrave is one of his old students, and Allucia’s classmate. He also has a younger sister, Shueste, who he wants to have at Beryl’s side in order to fend off nobility who have designs on Beryl, is gorgeous and clever, and pairs really nicely with Beryl… much to the annoyance of Allucia.

This book is OK, but I have some issues. All the action and drama is backloaded into the last 4th, making it feel like the author had a different ending and was told to change it. We’re introduced to two knights to guard Beryl and Allucia, and one is almost killed, but they both have zero personality between the two of them. They cried out for a side story. More to the point, they do address the elephant in the room here, which is Beryl marrying someone. Warren, the margrave, admits to Allucia that he’d be happy with Beryl marrying his sister… but would also be fine with Beryl marrying Allucia. The key is that Beryl is getting older, and they want someone to carry on the line. I’m not fond of “my awesome sword abilities are genetic” stories, even though, in a world with magic like this, it may be entirely possible. Then again, merely getting Beryl to have sexual desires may be too big a hurdle.

So now we have a whole new subplot with new villains to dig into. The next book promises to finally bring back the adventurer who was one of the harem in Book 1 and then vanished. We’ll see if the anime can bump it up a bit as well.

Victoria of Many Faces, Vol. 2

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By Syuu and Nanna Fujimi. Released in Japan as “Tefuda ga Ōme no Victoria” by MF Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andria McKnight.

The first volume of this series felt very self-contained, but left open the possibility of a sequel hook for the second book. A sequel hook that remains open, because it’s not used here. Instead, this book takes place five years later, with Victoria, Jeffrey and Nonna returning from fantasy China, and is content to do much the same thing the first one did. It divides its time nicely between Victoria having slice-of-live vignettes around the city, reconnecting with the cast of the first book, and raising her daughter to be a wonderful noble girl. This is contrasted with the other half of the book, which is Victoria as spy: she can’t help but decode an ancient book, which reveals the location of a hidden secret, and she’s attacked about five different times in this book, all of the attacks very unsuccessful – she’s not even injured. But the most important part of this book is seeing how Victoria has raised her daughter to be a lovely bundle of terror.

As noted above, Victoria and her family are back in Ashbury, five years after the first book. Nonna is now twelve years old, and has spent the last five years learning Shenese martial arts, which now take up most of her time – when she hears she’s going to be reuniting with Clark, she’s far more interested in showing off her cool kung-fu moves than to talk to a boy who has now grown into a man (with a clear crush on a twelve-year-old – I’ll ignore that for the moment given that in Book 1 he was 12 and she was 6 and it was more cute). She also meets back up with Mr. Bernard, who shows her a rare copy of The Lost Crown a famous adventurer story. This one seems to have some odd typography, and Victoria and Bernard wonder if it’s actually a cipher. This mystery leads to further mysteries which take up the back half of the book.

The best selling point of the book is how matter of fact it is – both Victoria and Nonna are absolutely deadly in a fight, and neither of them are remotely challenged by any of the thugs who attack them in this volume. What’s more, the only real criticism of her daughter following her into a deadly situation and taking out all the thugs with her mother is that she was acting a little too chuuni when she did it. Honestly, the matter of factness even extends to one of the subplots, where the reader (and Nonna to, to be fair) keeps expecting Victoria or her family to win over the heart of the plucky foreign teen they rescued from her country’s outskirts, but we find that in fact the plucky foreign teen is in fact a crook who falls in with a bad crowd and is not in fact redeemed by the power of good thoughts. Sometimes you can’t really do anything about that.

As with the first book, this one ends feeling like it’s the end of the series, but there’s a third in the series out in Japan, so we/’ll see if someone can actually break through the defensive badassery of mother and daughter. This is still a great series.

Confession

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Confession is a tight, twisty thriller that reads like an episode of The Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Author Fukumoto Nobuyuki establishes the premise in a few quick strokes: two hikers—one gravely injured—huddle on a mountainside pummeled by a fierce winter storm. As they debate the best course of action, Ishikura—who is bleeding profusely—confesses to murdering a mutual acquaintance, telling Asai, “I killed Sayuri… with my own two hands.” Asai, however, refuses to abandon Ishikura, dragging his wounded friend to the safety of an abandoned cabin. As the two wait for a rescue team to arrive, it finally dawns on Asai that Ishikura might regret what he said.

For a two-hander like this to work, it’s not enough to know what Asai is thinking; we need to feel his growing sense of desperation. Kaiji Kawaguchi’s art is up to the task, creating a spare, claustrophobic environment that’s almost as hostile as the barren slopes that surround the cabin. The cabin itself is rendered in just enough detail for the reader to grasp the layout and size, as well as the lack of good hiding places. Equally important, Kawaguchi’s character designs emphasize the wide social gap between the conventionally handsome Asai and the squat, dour Ishikura, encouraging the reader to question how these two people ever travelled in the same circles.

The artwork is so effective, in fact, that some of Asai’s internal monologue feels superfluous, especially when he states the obvious: “If my suspicions are right, are you and I going to fight to the death?” (Signs point to yes!) Aside from a few clumsy monologues, however, the story never sags under the weight of too much exposition; Nobuyuki carefully doles out information about Asai and Ishikura’s past to reveal how fraught their relationship was before they went climbing, hinting at a long-simmering conflict between them. The final scene is a shocker in the best sense, challenging the reader’s perception of both characters without cheating or taking any narrative shortcuts to get there. Hitchcock, I think, would approve. Recommended.

CONFESSION • STORY BY NOBUYUKI FUKUMOTO • ART BY KAIJI KAWAGUCHI • TRANSLATION BY EMILY BALISTERI • PRODUCTION BY TOMOE TSUTSUMI, PEI ANN YEAP, AND HIROKO MIZUNO • KODANSHA USA • RATED 16+ (VIOLENCE) • 314 pp.

Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools, Vol. 9

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By Hisaya Amagishi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by A.M. Cola.

It’s been a while since we saw the last volume of Dahlia, long enough for me to think that Lucia was the real protagonist and Dahlia was a mysterious side character. But there’s a big difference between Lucia and Dahlia. Lucia may be self-effacing, but she recognizes her own talent and can take an actual compliment. Whereas to Dahlia, taking credit for anything is like being asked to walk over hot coals. We’ve joked about the slow burn between Dahlia and Volf, which at this point may be less slow burn and more a fire that has had water poured over it, but frankly, there’s no way it can go anywhere right now. Not because Dahlia is a commoner – that’s taken care of here – but because Dahlia has no sense of her own worth at all. Which may be partly Tobias’ fault, yes, but could also be due to Carlo, as his desire to protect his daughter seems to have left his daughter thinking she’s TOO ordinary.

As I hinted above, Dahlia’s commoner days will soon be over – she’s getting a barony. As is Jonas, who is equally surprised. This means that she’ll also need to make her noble debut, which will mean… shudder… conversing with others. And dancing. She’d much rather work on magical tools, thanks you, or at least spend her evenings eating delicious food and getting drunk with her bestie Volf, who is so gorgeous but doesn’t see her in a romantic light at all. Right. Dahlia’s lack of perception has never been more annoying. She also gets a tour of the magical tool facility, where she would likely be working if she had enough magic… and the residents of said facility quickly realize that ‘a lot of magic’ is not the be-all and end-all of being brilliant. She’s also helping to bring together different guilds to make better products… really, is there anything Dahlia can’t do? Other than understand her own heart?

There is a genre of Japanese novels where an overworked office worker in a horrible environment dies and ends up in a fantasy world, usually while bemoaning the horrible work standards they have to deal with in modern-day Japan. It’s a typical type of escape. This is its counterpart, where you invent a world where everyone wants to work, work, WORK SO HARD. The heads of the company have to tell their employees to work less. There are literal hypnotic machines designed to force people who have been staying up too much to sleep. What’s more, when you see people that are working incorrectly, or being uncaring or callous, there’s an easy solution. Just add Dahlia, who with a few words and frantic hand waving that it wasn’t anything she did really denials, you can move mountains and get the lions to lie down with the lambs. Or the shoemakers to lie down with the magical tool makers. Honestly, dying and reincarnating as a villainess may be a lot more realistic.

That said, as the “extra” story shows this time around, we may have to do more than just get Dahlia to be noble and somehow hook her up with Volf. She’s special, and it’s only a matter of time before her specialness impacts the plot a lot more than it is now. But till then, please have some nice food, some wonderful alcohol, and for dessert, modesty that is so ridiculous it’s become a literal Tragic Flaw.

Pick of the Week: Pink Candy Picks

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ASH: I find this week my heart torn between two debuts. The first is Pink Candy Kiss—josei is becoming more common in translation, which delights me, but we still don’t see too much josei yuri. The second is the BL title vs. LOVE, because I know it’s going to be difficult for me to resist a delinquent manga taking its inspiration from Shakespeare.

SEAN: I’ll go with Pink Candy Kiss as well, which seems the more appealing of the two yuri debuts this week.

MICHELLE: Same here (though I’m looking forward to a Tamon’s B-side binge!)

This Alluring Dark Elf Has the Heart of a Middle-Aged Man!, Vol. 1

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By Yuhi Shimano and NAJI Yanagida. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Kokoro wa Oji-san de Aru” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

It feels like it’s been forever since I last picked up a Volume 1 of something that was just plain “isekai fantasy”. I suppose there was Land Mines, but that was after I got it recommended to me, and I was a couple years later on it. This one, however, came out today. I wasn’t going to look at it at all, but I saw it had won a few awards, including the “best for middle-aged men” category. How apropos. Given I’m in that demographic as well, I figured I would take a flyer on another isekai, despite the fact that it looked worriedly like one of those “I was a schlub in Japan, but now I’m a hot elf babe” books. Which, to be fair, it is, but that’s not what it’s actually about. This is a “can I regain the sense of justice and righteousness that my life in Japan ground out of me?”. The answer to that is, so far, a work in progress.

Haruka, a middle-aged middle manager who used to be a cute kid till he discovered that being the nail that sticks up and is not hammered down is a bad idea, is startled to find himself in the middle of the woods, and also he’s not in the body of a gorgeous young dark elf. She has no idea what happened, if she was transported or died or what, and no goddess gave her instructions. Fortunately, she meets a passing adventurer, who takes her to the standard adventuring city you get in these sorts of books, and discovers how to make a living in a fantasy world that turns out to be, to no one’s surprise except perhaps her own, a lot more dangerous to someone like her than you’d expect. Fortunately, she seems to have skill at magic. A LOT of skill at magic.

This isn’t terrific, but it’s solid. Haruka is an introvert who has also been somewhat crushed by life, and she’s very god at reading emotions of others but very bad at caring about her own self. (Despite Haruka being a man who ends up in a woman’s body, there’s not too much of a trans narrative here, beyond one interlude which ends by telling us we’ll be using she/her from now on.) The author states that they tried to write some bad guys, but kept thinking of all the characters as “cute”, so it didn’t quite work out. That’s for the better – there’s not many paragons here, and we only see true villains near the end. for the most part her world consists of teenage hotheads, lotharios who are trying to explain it’s different this time, creepy lesbian stalkers who have her best interests at heart but also her worst interests, etc. One of the stronger scenes is done from the POV of the teenage hothead, who yells at her and then, when he goes to apologize, suddenly realizes that she’s completely devastated and near tears from “her own failings”. A lot of this book is Haruka putting herself back together.

The second book should see more of that journey. This is a decent isekai, with only light novel cliche I hate (dwelling far too long on someone peeing themselves in fear). I’ll read more.