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Disowned But Not Disheartened! Life Is Good with Overpowered Magic, Vol. 1

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By Riko Saiki and Baracan. Released in Japan as “Ie wo Oidasaremashita ga, Genki ni Kurashiteimasu: Cheat na Mahou to Zensei Chishiki de Kaiteki Benri na Second Life!” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Grant U.

Sometimes you get an author who doesn’t quite get why a thing is popular. They see that the Narou site has a lot of those “Cinderella” style light novels these days, starring a girl who’s been through a lot but things get better for her. Add a touch of isekai and otome game, and you’ve got an automatic winner, right? Except no, you actually have to put in the work. You cannot simply have three to four pages of tragic backstory and then have our heroine be absolutely fine the rest of the book. What’s more, you have to actually have a heroine. Plucky girl is not enough by itself, she needs to somehow grow and change throughout the book. Unfortunately, this is one of those books where the author did not get the memo. And as a result, we’re left with someone who would never be disheartened, because honestly, everything goes their way. What if Cinderella grew up with the prince?

When she’s three years old, Tafelina develops a rare mana destabilization… and then suddenly her hair and eyes change color. Naturally, her father reacts to this the only way he can: by strapping a three-year-old to the side of a horse and letting it run out of his territory. Fortunately, when we meet her, now nicknamed Lera, she’s been rescued by her uncle and has grown up in the earldom of Peylon, which she describes as being full of “meatheads” but is, in reality, filled with powerful monster slayers and magical geniuses… none more so than Lera herself, whose memories from her past life in Japan (come on, you can’t say you’re surprised) allow her to come up with amazing invention ideas that research teams can turn into money makers. Now she’s thirteen, and what do all teenagers do in books like these? They go to the academy, of course.

I kept being annoyed at the way this book did things. The Cinderella amounts to the prologue and one point in the main story where she’s shown to an attic by a prejudiced dorm head. Other than that, she’s got an adopted family who adore her, friends who admire her, and a knight who seemingly falls in love with her at first sight and is asking if she’s engaged yet. Those who dislike her are all evil cartoons, particularly the “other” Tafelina, who her father brought in to replace her after running her out of town on a mare. Most annoyingly, Lera doesn’t have enough of a personality to carry a book like this. She’s already super powerful, so doesn’t really learn much in classes, and she rarely gets angry or overexcited about anything, so we’re mostly left with a narrative “meh”. The one big conflict we’re promised, the downfall of her birth family, doesn’t happen, and is clearly being saved for Book 2.

Even the names in this book are annoying and hard to remember. Skip it.

From the Vault: Cute Dolls and Fun Dolls

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It’s been a while, reader! I had ambitious plans for The Manga Critic this year, but work got in the way of writing—so much so, in fact, that I pondered shutting down the site for good. Every time I’ve quit blogging, though, I feel the gentle tug of unreviewed books and the nagging sense that the next great manga is just around the corner, and vow once again to bring back The Manga Critic.

My New Year’s resolution, therefore, is simple: post at least 1-2 articles per month in 2025. In addition to new content, I’ll also be revisiting pieces I wrote during the first manga boom, when Cartoon Network was king, Naruto was everyone’s favorite series, and Borders was filled with teenagers browsing the latest volumes of Fruits Basket and Bleach. This month, I’m taking the WABAC machine to 2007 for a look at Cute Dolls and Fun Dolls, both of which introduced crafty readers to Aranzi Aronzo, purveyors of weird but cute characters with names like Kidnapper, Panda Bee, and Warumono.

Cute Dolls and Fun Dolls
By Aranzi Aronzo; Translated by Rui Munakata
Vertical, Inc. (Kodansha USA)

Whether you’ve dedicated an entire room in your house to “crafting” or break out in hives at the mere mention of gimp, it’s hard to deny the weirdly winsome appeal of Aranzi Aronzo’s DIY books. The latest—Cute Dolls and Fun Dolls—offer over 120 pages of patterns and step-by-step instructions for making three-dimensional versions of your favorite Aranzi friends. Cute Dolls focuses on Aranzi’s most popular characters, from the super-kawaii Brown Bunny, Grey Cat, and Munkey to the less cuddly Fish and Kidnapper, while Fun Dolls features patterns for new characters: Panda Bug (a cross between a bumble bee and a panda bear), Coffee Cup (just what it sounds like—an anthropomorphic mug), and Unmotivated Kid (my personal favorite).

Both books earn high marks for presentation. The instructions are complemented by clear illustrations demonstrating how to assemble the dolls, while the paperback binding and 8″x 10″size make it easy for would-be seamstresses to photocopy patterns. Since I nearly flunked Home Economics, it’s almost impossible for me to assess the skill level necessary for completing these projects. (True story: I stitched my shirt to the sewing machine, requiring a shears-of-life rescue from the instructor.) So I sent my review copies to someone who is handy with a glue gun and a felting needle: my younger sister Claire, an Aranzi fan and Etsy seller who can work magic in almost any medium. Her verdict? Though the instructions are easy to follow, novices and young kids may find these projects too complicated to be fun; anyone with sewing skills, however, will be cranking out Striped Dogs and Spritekins with ease.

No matter what your skill level, anyone can enjoy the books’ subversive humor. In the introduction to Cute Dolls, for example, White Bunny vocalizes every crafting novice’s worst fear when she exclaims, “You’ll suffer terribly if you don’t read this first? Scary!” And then, of course, there are the dolls themselves. I can’t imagine an American expert encouraging youngsters to sew blank-faced layabouts or trench-coat wearing kidnappers; such unwholesome characters would inspire censorious outrage from humorless adults. But it’s this mischievous, poking-fun-at-the-grownups tone that makes Aranzi Aronzo books such a welcome addition to the hobby aisle at your local Borders, and a perfect gift for the crafty friend who’s grown weary of making the holiday centerpieces and Halloween costumes in Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes and Gardens.

This review originally appeared at PopCultureShock on November 11, 2007 at http://www.popcultureshock.com/weekly-recon-111807/42924/.

A Cozy Life in the Woods with the White Witch, Vol. 1

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By MOJIKAKIYA and syow. Released in Japan as “Shiro Majo-san to no Henkyō Gurashi ~Saikyō na Majo wa Nonbiri Kurashitai~” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amanogawa Tenri.

I wasn’t originally going to try this series – again, contrary to popular belief, I don’t read everything – but I decided to pick it up after I saw it was from the author of My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Ranked Adventurer, which I quite enjoyed. That one had the author trying out the “raise a daughter that they picked up somewhere” mini-genre, though thankfully without the “and then marry them” part of that same genre. This seems to have the author trying out another genre to write in, that being the “slow life” type, though there’s also a dash of “kicked out of the party” to start us off. It’s very good at the slow life too, for good and ill. Good because I’m not really a fan of “I try to have a slow life but have to keep saving the world” books. Bad because the first half is really pretty boring. And if you’re waiting for our protagonist to do something OP, keep waiting.

Tori is part of the Platinum Adventurer group the Muddy Four Horns. That said, he’s not really a fighter, so provides backline support for them, such as cooking and cleaning. When they decide to combine several parties into one big elite one, Tori is informed by the guild manager and the rest of his party (who seem a bit reluctant) that he’s fired. As he walks along after this, he runs into a huge elderly woman, the famous White Witch, who has literally come looking for him, in order to put her life in order. Despite attempting to be bitter and sarcastic about it, Tori is whisked away to her cottage… where he finds that a) the huge elderly White Witch is a disguise, and she’s actually young and cute; and b) she’s an utter slob and her cottage is a disaster area. But a job is a job, so he gets down to work.

This feels kind of like the gender reverse of a typical shoujo manga, where a bunch of men sleep, eat, fight and make messes until a girl comes into their lives, cleans up, and forces them to straighten up. Fortunately for us, there’s no harem antics here – mostly as Euphemia, the witch, makes it very clear to her other familiars that Tori is HERS. The love story starts off a bit forced, in my opinion, mostly held back by Tori’s self-hatred and Euphemia’s lack of emotional knowledge, but her solution to “how to get him to stay with me forever” not only drives the rest of the book but amused me. If you’re going to attract a man, go big and solve ALL his friend’s problems so he never worries about them again. The other surprise is that Tori is not involved in any of the action – there’s quite a few battles here, especially at the climax, but Tori really DOES have no really good combat ability, as opposed to others in the genre, and so he stays home, cooks, and cleans. And as a reward he gets a hot witch girlfriend. This is still a title written for teenage boys.

Theoretically, this could easily be a one-shot, as it wraps everything up, but there’s a second volume coming, so I guess we’ll see. This isn’t as good as My Daughter Left the Nest, but it isn’t too bad.

Pick of the Week: Ashita no Joe

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SEAN: Easiest pick I’ve made in ages. It’s Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow. A truly iconic manga, essential for any shonen sports fan… or manga fan in general.

MICHELLE: And as a shonen sports fan, how on Earth could I resist? Ashita no Joe for me, as well.

KATE: I second Sean’s pick! When I first started reviewing manga in the aughts—the golden age of Naruto, InuYasha and Bleach—I never imagined that anyone would be interested in publishing older titles like Ashita no Joe. It’s great to see Kodansha rolling out the red carpet for this shonen classic.

ANNA: Ashita no Joe! I’m excited to finally be able to read this!

ASH: Who am I to break the streak? It’s Ashita no Joe for me, too! I was so surprised and incredibly happy when I learned this was being licensed.

The Tanaka Family Reincarnates, Vol. 1

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By Choko and kaworu. Released in Japan as “HTanaka-ke, Tensei Suru” by Dragon Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sasha Schiller.

OK, this was an absolute hoot. I suspected I would enjoy it when I first saw the license announcement, but I wasn’t aware just how much fun I would have. It’s not perfect, but the things that annoyed me are things that I tend to get annoyed at in most light novels, rather than being unique to this one (obsession with large breasts by the heroine, the lolicon stuff). Our heroine is fun, the family in general is in that “stupidly competent” genre, where people tend to magically be fantastic at everything and solve everyone’s problems while being blissfully unaware of it. There’s also a really good and deadly serious fight in the third quarter of the book, allowing the author to show that this isn’t just going to be for laughs. I even enjoyed the worldbuilding, which at first suggests this family is reincarnated from our Japan, but as the volume goes on we realize that our Japan is not quite as cat-obsessed as the Tanakas’ Japan, and that something has it in for our heroine.

The Tanakas, consisting of the 65-year-old parents and their three middle-aged children, are sitting down to dinner at the daughter’s condo when they are all killed by what seems to be a massive earthquake. Minato, the daughter and our protagonist, wakes up to find that she is now Emma, a cute 11-year-old noble who is absolutely obsessed with bugs. To her surprise, she finds that Emma’s younger brother William is her own younger brother… and yes, the rest of their family are all Tanakas as well. They’re actually quite wealthy, thanks to their silkworm cultivating, but they’re located, for the moment, out in the sticks. And now they all have past memories, particularly Emma, who was eccentric in Japan and is even more so here, and she’s going to take this new world by storm… after finding a pet cat.

The Tanakas feel like an actual family that’s grown up in close proximity, and I howled at how they all realized that they were actually all Tanakas reincarnated, rather than it just being them with some other family. The siblings act like siblings, with George and William trying desperately to not have Emma somehow blow everything up – especially as she’s a gorgeous little girl in this world, so everyone pays a lot more attention to her. I also loved the subplot with Rose, the king’s favored concubine, who after giving birth to two children is unceremoniously shipped out to the sticks, and has been having a very bad time of it. How she ends up bonding with Emma may annoy me a bit (hint: she’s stacked), but I appreciated how she no longer felt anyone saw her as anything but an extension of her children. As for the monster which leads to the biggest threat in the book, this is another reversal that relies on the reader knowing their light novel lore, and I appreciated the threat – and how it leads to permanent damage, if thankfully less than expected.

The next volume has the family all moving from the countryside into the capital, and I have a suspicion we’re getting a magic academy arc, even if magic is super rare in this world. And yes, I haven’t mentioned the giant cats, and where they come from. Or the giant spider, who would get along well with Mr. Crawly Wawly. Basically, assuming you don’t mind the usual Japanese light novel cliches, this is a huge winner, and I can’t wait for more.

I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince, Vol. 2

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By Fuyutsuki Koki and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Higeki no Heroine Buru Imōto no Sei de Konyaku Hakishita no Desu ga, Naze ka Seigikan no Tsuyoi Ōtaishi ni Karamareru you ni Narimashita” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Sarah Moon. Adapted by Veles Svitlychny.

This is a classic example of a sequel that manages to do some things right and some things wrong for the second book. Much to my relief, a lot of the broad humor that felt out of place in the first volume has disappeared, which is good, as there’s a very real threat to the kingdom going on here. That said, the tendency of the author towards writing ridiculous cartoon villains has not gone away, and I ended up calling the main villain of the book Jacob Rees-Mogg, if only as he had a top hat AND a monocle, and his inner monologue tended to end in “Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!”. There is an exception, though, which I’ll get to later, as it was easily the biggest surprise of the book for me. Oh yes, and the Chinese stereotype girl? She’s worse. I wish she hadn’t been in it.

After the fallout from the arrest of Jade Berklein, Eric and Leia are ready to do things such as visit the new popular ice cream shop, run by a mage with a talent for ice magic. Unfortunately, while they’re there, Baron Almer, one of the minor villains from the first book, is poisoned, and while Leia saves his life, evidence points to the ice cream shop being responsible. While this is going on, Eric and Dale’s father the King declares that he is going to announce the revocation of special rights to the elite families in the kingdom, and boy are those families pissed. So the King needs extra guards. Fortunately, Duke Rees-Mogg… erm, Algrene, is here to lend the King his crack mercenary troops who are totally not assassins in disguise. Can Eric and Leia manage to save the king? And what’s up with Dale anyway?

The surprise I was alluding to, which… mostly works – I give the author credit for trying it in the first place – is the presence of Jill in this book. No, she is not, as I expected, escaped and once again being the worst. She spends the entire book in a cold, damp cell. But she is visited by someone who keeps asking pointed questions, such as “why is no one coming to save you?” and “why do you think your sister hated you?”. And the lack of her mother or other people telling her how to think forces Jill to think for herself, and you can see the “Are we the baddies?” meme show up on her face. This doesn’t go perfectly – she was such a cartoon in the first book that I found her sudden turn a bit hard to buy – but certainly I like it better than just having her executed. It was also a surprise, which is nice.

The third book, judging by the wedding outfits on the cover, is the final one. This isn’t great, but it’s also not awful, stereotypes aside. Also, given she’s now engaged to the prince, we’ll get the Princess Leia joke soon.

The Legendary Witch Is Reborn As an Oppressed Princess, Vol. 2

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By Touko Amekawa and Kuroyuki. Released in Japan as “Shiitagerareta Tsuihou Oujo wa, Tenseishita Densetsu no Majo deshita: Mukae ni Koraretemo Komarumasu. Juuboku to no Ohirune wo Jamashinaide Kudasai” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

I have fantastic news. The main thing that stopped me really enjoying this series is now gone. Claudia is now eight rather than six, and while she still tends to act like a small cute child when it serves her purpose, she no longer talks like Elmer Fudd. As such, the book is much easier to read and we can concentrate on the mystery aspect of it. Because, despite the reincarnated aspect of it, this is essentially a mystery. Claudia accepts a marriage negotiation, but has no intention of really following through – the main goal is to try to solve the other kingdom’s tragic secret. Honestly, if there’s any romance here it’s between Claudia and her servant/best friend/etc. Noah, who is obsessed with her but in a cute way, because he’s 11 and she’s 19 + 8 counting the past life. OK, year, the reincarnation shenanigans means there are still issues here. Japan loves its age gap.

As noted, the nearby country of Klingate is looking for someone to marry their 11-year-old crown prince Lewis, and Claudia fits the bill. Of course, neither she nor her father are really expecting this to be a normal marriage meeting. You see, Klingate has a problem that has been growing over the years. Princesses in the royal family keep falling into comas and not waking up. Each year a new princess, and now eight of them are sleeping without waking. The kingdom, needless to say, is trying to hide this as much as possible. But Lewis himself seems a charming young man… if perhaps falling madly in love with adorable Claudia a little too quickly. That said, there’s an older brother, Stuart. He’s no longer in line for the throne, possibly as for the last eight years he’s barely left his room. And he seems obsessed with painting the sleeping princesses.

Not to spoil too much, but a lot of the climax of this book once again asks us to remember back 500 years ago to Claudia’s past life as Adelheid. She ended up sacrificing her own life in order to make sure that those who served her did not do the same, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they were all grateful and happy about her doing this. It also compares nicely to Noah, who is clearly meant as a mirror here. He’s told point blank that if Claudia were to die, he’d want to destroy the world, right? But Noah, who still has a living Claudia next to him to help, is able to say that yes, he’d want to, but he wouldn’t, as it would make Claudia sad. Instead he’d just wander off into the forest to die alone. So yes, it’s a codependent relationship, just like the ones she had centuries ago. But it’s OK, this is the “romantic” kind of codependent.

Despite its flaws, this is a stronger book than the first one, and I’ll happily read the next volume.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 20

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

I admit that I am sort of ready to give up? Not on Kuma Bear, mind you, it continues to be fine, if somewhat obsessed with its ongoing parade of children adoring Yuna. But look, this site gradually morphed into a thing where I only review light novels on it a few years back, and the one thing that’s been hardest for me to learn is that not all light novels need to have a full review. This especially goes for the slow-life ones that end up going on forever and ever, like this or Smartphone. And as readers have figured out, there are only so many ways I can say “boy, Yuna sure hates people praising her” or “gosh, this series loves to tease yuri fans while pointing out how not gay everyone is”. (Actually, this volume seems to be leaning more towards everyone staying single forever – the series’ almost complete lack of men doesn’t help.) But let’s roll up our sleeves, because I did see one thing this time I can talk about.

After the battle against the orochi in the Land of Wa, we get the traditional post-arc cooldown. Yuna is gifted a mansion to reward her for her efforts in saving the country, and the mansion being filled with hot springs leads to to actually accept the reward for once. She then grabs Fina, Shuri and Luimin and brings them over there for a lakeside barbecue as well as going around the shops, eating Wanese food and dressing up in kimonos – all things Yuna is strangely familiar with given she’s not supposed to be from Wa. On returning home, she decides to write a new volume of the children’s book series, and spends the rest of her time giving out souvenirs and candy. But there’s a competition in a country Yuna hasn’t been to yet, and Shia’s part of it, so Yuna and Noa go to cheer her on.

There were two interesting points this time around. First, Yuna’s love of natto, and the fact that the natives of Wa were baffled that she knew about it, almost caused her to give away her otherworldly origins. Yuna’s backstory, to everyone but Yuna and the reader, is wrapped in mystery, and she wants to keep it that way, partly because I think she doesn’t want to remember it very often. We do see her wish that she could invent Coke and anime so she could go back to being a shut-in, but I think Yuna’s grown past that now. The other interesting thing is the fourth picture book, where Yuna continues to rewrite her own reality to make it more palatable. Not only is she a literal bear in this series, but she also smooths things out and makes them more narratively easy to understand. The author has already been doing this with the novels themselves – it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a whiff of the sexual assault that plagued the earlier books. Yuna is not quite a self-insert, but the line is vague.

I’m not sure what will happen next, but I do know that what we’re getting next is another short story collection. Till then, this continues to be for fans who hope that when they grow up Fina and Yuna will marry. Keep hope alive, I guess.

Manga the Week of 12/25/24

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SEAN: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Best wishes from Manga Bookshelf!… wait, there’s manga out this week?

ASH: As if there was any doubt!

SEAN: Yen On has one title, and it’s a debut. Before the Tutorial Starts: A Few Things I Can Do to Keep the Bosses Alive (Tutorial ga Hajimaru Mae ni: Bosschara-tachi wo Hametsu Sasenai Tame ni Ore ga Dekiru Ikutsu ka no Koto) is a “I am the weakest, but really the STRONGEST” title combined with “I’m reincarnated as a pathetic villain” with a dash of “my sister is dying”.

MICHELLE: That’s kind of a lot.

SEAN: And Yen Press has Excellent Property, Rejects for Residents: Baths, Lavatories, and Angels Are Communal 2 and Final Fantasy Lost Stranger 11.

Viz Media has the 15th volume of Fist of the North Star.

ASH: Always happy for a new Fist of the North Star volume!

SEAN: Steamship debuts The Yakuza and His Omega: Raw Desire (Gokudou to Omega – Mukidashi no Katsuai), a josei omegaverse title from Pinkcherie. A romance writer wants to interview a famous alpha who’s also head of the local yakuza. Little does she know that… drumroll, please… she’s really an omega!

ASH: Surprise! (Still glad we’re getting steamy josei in the mix.)

ANNA: Me too, I’m glad that some steamy josei is being published.

SEAN: Square Enix has Final Fantasy VII Remake: Material Ultimania Plus, a big hardcover artbook.

I feel like sticking the Mature Seven Seas titles with Ghost Ship isn’t working, so I’ll go back to listing them with the main label. The debut is a mature BL title, Our Sweet One-Room Apartment (Sweet Our 1R) is from Magazine Be x Boy, and complete in one volume. Two college kids live together, it looks very cute.

ASH: It does!

SEAN: From Seven Seas we see Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 11, the 2nd KinnPorsche novel, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 7, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 10, Perfect Buddy 2, Time Stop Hero 11, and The World’s Fastest Level Up 4.

Kodansha has the debut of the week with Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow, the legendary 1968 Weekly Shonen Magazine manga that inspired almost every shonen series that came after it. The story of a ne’er-do-well who finds his fate lies with boxing, it’s coming out in hardcover format as a 600-page omnibus. Calling it: This is our pick of the week. And possibly the year, despite coming out at the end of it.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I’m a sucker for these “adrift person finds the place they belong” stories. Of course, I’m inclined to say “It reminds me of Slam Dunk!,” though I realize it’s the other way around.

ASH: I am so excited for this release!!

ANNA: Me too, happy to see a classic title get translated.

SEAN: Also in print: Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow-Up 3 and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 9.

And for digital we see As the Gods Will 2, Bootsleg 5, Gamaran: Shura 27, I Want To Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 12, and My Home Hero 19.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but we do see Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3 Book 4 manga, the 18th Black Summoner manga, the 5th Hell Mode manga, I Could Never Be a Succubus! 5, An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! 9, the 4th A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life manga, A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires 4, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World 9 Part 2, Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 11, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 14, Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters! 7, The Tales of Marielle Clarac 11, and the 9th Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! manga.

ASH: No debuts, but still plenty to fall behind on!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 12 and the 2nd Do You Like Big Girls? omnibus re-release.

ASH: One of these days I really, really, really, really, REALLY will give The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You a try.

SEAN: Denpa Books has, per retailers, March Comes in Like a Lion 3.

MICHELLE: I’m dubious, but we’ll see if my pre-order ships!

ASH: Fingers crossed!

ANNA: Also hoping here!

SEAN: In print, Airship has Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! (Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (Hokori)!). A former Japanese farm girl is reincarnated and becomes a maid to a poor noble family. Except… she seems to have holy magic? And men are flocking to her? Is she a heroine? Meh. Who cares? She’s a maid!

Also in print: Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes 3 and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 8.

And early digital has She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 12 and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 8.

That’s actually not bad compared to the last two weeks of hell. What’s in your stocking?

Duchess in the Attic, Vol. 2

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By Mori and Huyuko Aoi. Released in Japan as “Yane Urabeya no Kōshaku Fujin” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by piyo.

I admitted to being very surprised that there was a second volume of this very “finished in one book” series. Even the title, Duchess in the Attic, was not something that was going to make sense going forward unless something silly happened. (The author agrees with me there: it’s an artifact title, and a few jokes are made about her moving back to an attic if things with Claude go south.) So I wondered what was left to learn about Opal now that the series was ongoing. As it turns out, not much about Opal herself – she’s much the same person she was in the first book, if a bit more unforgiving of fools. But the systemic power of the nobility and the misogyny rife throughout multiple kingdoms is very much still a problem, and Opal wants to solve that. If the first book was about Opal rescuing herself, this book is about her trying to rescue others. She’s a philanthropist. Of course, there are a few things to work out first, and that’s what this book is about.

Opal and Claude are off to his new homeland, Taisei, to get married. This involves meeting some of his friends, who regard Opal as a terrible choice of spouse. And the King, who seems to be one of those mischievous kings. Many subplots are introduced, but we don’t really deal with any of them, because the bulk of the book actually takes place back in Socille, as Opal hears that Beth, her former abusive maid who was working for Hubert and Stella, has been fired because she got pregnant. Investigating, it turns out that the father is a rogue noble, Keymont, who apparently has spread his seed far and wide, and other women have children by him. Deciding that enough is enough, Opal decides to shame him at a public gathering to get child support for his conquests, only for things to blow up far more than she intended.

There is no small amount of romance in this. Opal and Claude love each other, and get very jealous when any of the opposite sex shows interest. There’s also the very awkward conversation they have where Opal tells Claude that, despite being married for almost a decade, she’s still a virgin (it’s implied he is as well). But the main reason to read this book is not the romance, it’s the politics and the worldbuilding. These are two kingdoms that are essentially right around where the late Victorian/early Edwardian period was in this world, and progress is happening so fast that it’s unnerving people. Why, it’s gotten so bad that a noble rake can’t even go around robbing common people for the lulz anymore. The other political part of the book is its feminist stance, which is awesome. I loved Opal’s reaction when Hubert indicated Beth’s pregnancy was her own fault – marveling at an Immaculate Conception.

Opal still hasn’t seen her new domain yet, and I have a feeling that the third book will have things go a lot more poorly for her than this one did. Still, I found this just as enjoyable as the first.