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Sword Art Online Alternative: Clover’s Regret, Vol. 2

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By Soitiro Watase and Ginta, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

So, I’m still enjoying this spinoff, but I will admit that I’m enjoying it despite one of its subplots. Actually, more accurately despite its main plot. When the series is showing off the Asuka Online game, its horror events and the cast debugging things, it’s great. When it’s got them solving mysteries of absent fathers and mysterious support dolls who are not named Yotsugi, it’s also great. When it has its real life subplot about Nayuta gradually moving in with Kurei, making him food, and acting like a wife, while blowing off the fact that she’s been spotted with him and that people at her school are asking questions about it, that’s less fine. Now Kurei spends most of the book insisting he hasn’t done anything improper, which is true, but that’s not the point. The point is that Nayuta is underage and Kurei is in a position of power and we’re both supposed to be rooting for these two to admit their love and get married. Which, eh.

The book is divided into two short stories and one novella. The first story has Nayuta and Koyomi join Klever as he tests a vacation resort that will be used for events, meaning it’s an excuse for the cast to fool around in a luxury hotel. But what’s with the staff… or lack thereof? The second story has them participate in a fun event where you get to snuggle cabyparas, and find the wombat hidden among all of them. This is mostly pure fluff, but also has them discovering an AI android that appears to be part of a part of the game still being argued about, named Onihime. In the final story, they meet a young girl named Mahiro, who is searching for her missing father, who might have gotten called up in something criminal. What’s more, the girl looks a LOT like the android AI they just found…

Koyomi continues to have the depth of a sheet of paper, but she’s fun, and she’s also a necessary ingredient in a cast that otherwise consists of two very serious people. She also has Nayuta’s best interests at heart, and he constant battering of Klever about his “intentions” towards Nauyta masks a very real worry that she could be taken advantage of. Nayuta has an abnormal trust of Klever/Kurei, and while the reader is, I think, meant to assume it’s because they’re destined, it’s still uncomfortable. The other thing about this book is its examination of AI – it seems to be mostly pro-AI, but in the world of SAO I can see why that makes more sense – we already have Yui, for example.

This has one more volume to go, but doesn’t really have any plot points to resolve besides “when Nayuta turns 18 she will simply propose”. Let’s home it’s a little more complicated than that. For SAO fans.

86 –Eighty-Six–, Vol. 13: Dear Hunter

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By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert.

Yes, the “Dear” in the subtitle is spelled correctly, as the author states in the afterword. As for the book itself: I would like to remind readers, before I continue, that I do think this is an excellent series and I eagerly await reading the next book. That said, reading this was like being punched in the face for 318 pages. Each of the volumes has built on what has gone before, and here it reaches a crescendo, as everything completely falls into chaos, leaving our main cast in a situation exactly where they were at the start of the first book. It’s not quite “everything is for nothing”, but it’s close. The book has never been subtle about choosing kindness over prejudice, but here it reminds everyone that choosing to be kind is hard and requires constant vigilance, whereas being prejudiced is easy, and if a person is under stress or furious, easy is what happens. In among this, we do have time for another part of the secondary romance in the series, but even that is dramatic and bittersweet.

We open the book with a group of young girls preparing to go on a journey. They’re all part of a group, and we find that some of that group aren’t joining them. We then discover that this group are girls who were experimented on by Republic scientists and turned into living human bombs, who will go off at certain times. As this comes to light, along with the fact that it was Republic scientists who were responsible, rumors start flying. The “human bomb” thing is contagious. Everyone from the Republic is a secret enemy. Everyone who is foreign in any way is a secret enemy. And, of course, the Eighty-Six are secret enemies. As this goes on, the military falls apart, as all the soldiers turn on each other. Now Shin and company have to try to at least make sure there’s a base for them to come back to, as well as try to stop the Legion, who are helping all this along. And they have to do it without Lena and Annette, who have been “detained”.

In the middle of this nightmare is the story of Anju and Dustin. Dustin, as it turns out, is the childhood friend of the girl who is the “head” of these human bombs, and was unaware what happened to her until it’s revealed. The obvious narrative choice would be for him to desert, making a dangerous trek over the battlefield and reunite with her right before she does so they can have a tearful reunion. But not only would that go against literally everything that the Eighty-Six series has ever done, it also would not be fair to Anju, who has finally managed to acknowledge moving on from her first love and finding a new one with Dustin, and now there’s all this. I did wonder if Dustin was going to die, and spark the final chaos. It doesn’t work out that way, but an Eighty-Six *does* die, and that leads to the cliffhanger, and to the final arc, where everything has to be fought for all over again right from the beginning.

Yyyyyyyeah. Really well-written. Great philosophical points. Feels very relevant to today’s world. But also: A BUMMER.

My First Love’s Kiss, Vol. 2

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By Hitoma Iruma and Fly. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Hatsukoi Aite ga Kiss Shiteta” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kiki Piatkowska.

So there’s a huge cliffhanger plot twist at the end of the book, and I’m gonna have to discuss it, so let’s put it after the picture and plot summary. In the meantime, let’s talk about the only reason I really am keeping up with this series: how does it tie into Adachi and Shimamura? Last time it was hinted that Chiki was somehow connected to Hino’s extended family, and a prologue in this volume continues to hint that’s the case. This volume, desperate to find out more about the woman that she’s become so besotted with that it’s become obsession, Umi does detective work and manages to infiltrate Hino’s vast estate, and gets the information she needs, mostly thanks to the timely arrival of Nagafuji. I joked that I would scream if this series ended up getting Nagafuji involved in its tawdriness, and the good news is that she and Chiki never meet. Indeed, Umi sees Hino and Nagafuji’s friendship and envies it. The bad news is the rest of the book.

We open, after a prologue showing a young girl deliberately injuring herself and blaming a family member, with Takasora confronting Umi and Chiki. Chiki, highly amused by all this drama, admits they’re going to a hotel, and then invites Takasora along, to have a “girls’ sleepover”. To Umi’s horror, Takasora accepts, and they all spend the night in a swank hotel room, though sex does not happen, or at least not while Takasora is awake. The next day, while Umi is asleep, Takasora (who has confessed her love, and been rejected, as expected) has a long chat with Chiki, who reveals her real name is Shiho Chitaira (which Takasora doesn’t really believe), and not to tell Umi. A couple days later, Chitaira takes Umi out on a date, shopping and buying her a seemingly expensive ring. What Umi doesn’t know is Chitaira is also taking Takasora out on reluctant outings, playing on her jealousy and self-loathing and preying on her just as she’s preyed on Umi.

So the artist on this is Fly, and it has to be said, the characters in the series do tend to look alike, particularly Umi and Chitaira. I wonder if Iruma saw the art and decided on the plot twist at the end of this volume, and said “hey, since they already look like sisters…” So yes, this volume’s cliffhanger ending was a twist and a half. I had assumed that the book would end with Umi’s rage at Takasora for getting caught up in Chitaira’s scheming, and there is a bit of that. That’s the normal “toxic yuri hell” part of this book. Then Umi’s mother shows up, greeting Chitaira warmly, and wonders why she never said she’d introduced herself to Umi. And then says “Umi, this is Shiho, your older sister.” Honestly, if that came from Chitaira I wouldn’t have believed it, thinking it would be another weird scheme to create more drama. But it’s coming from Umi’s mother, who we’ve seen throughout the series has all the scheming ability of a cream puff, so I have to assume it’s the case. I didn’t think anything could make things worse, and I was oh so naive.

If this were a longer series, I would nope out. But it ends in the next book. I had idly wondered, midway through this volume, if the final twist would be Umi managing to actually get Chitaira to genuinely stay with her, but obviously the end of this book has blown that out of the water. I now wonder if the series will end with everyone alive.

Oh, for the curious, Hino, when she shows up, talks about meeting a kid in a spacesuit while fishing, if you’re trying to figure out where this is in the Adachi and Shimamura timeline.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 6

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By Sunsunsun and Momoco. Released in Japan as “Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matthew Rutsohn.

I feel badly for Alya at times. This is, theoretically, her series. She’s the character on the cover art, she’s obviously going to be the winning girl, and she’s cute. But the overall plot of her arc is “I need to open up to others and not just rely on myself, and also I need to admit I’m in love with Masachika.” As arcs go, it’s simple. It’s not something that can carry a series. That’s Masachika and Yuki’s arc. Yuki’s not going to be the winning girl, for obvious reasons, but the screwed-up family she and Masachika are both in is what we’re going to be seeing more and more of. We get a bit of it here, and see that everyone is still carrying Expections, with a capital E, and that failing to meet them is worse than actually murdering someone. This has a lot of fluff in it, but the back half sets up darker things going forward.

The first half of this is pure fluff and fanservice, as we continue to have the school festival arc. We now see Alya dressed up as an elf, which frankly is perfect for her, and the sight blows everyone’s mind. Meanwhile, Masha is running a magician’s bar, and has some brilliant tricks… that she can’t perform in front of her sister because she’s always forced to be the goofy one in her presence. We get Ayano’s incredibly intimidating MAID SKILLS, which threaten to overwhelm Masachika when she maids a bit too hard at him. And, of course, the band get ready to perform. Unfortunately, it turns out that some mysterious person forged invitations to the festival, and there are now various pranksters, thugs, and bad guys there, who have been ordered to destroy it. Can the student council find out who’s responsible and save the day?

It’s really brought home here how this is a school for elites. Yuki, in an amusing takedown of one of the ringleaders, points out that his romantic angst would make a very poor subplot in a villainess book, and that’s kind of what we have here – not the villainess herself (though Yuki’s trying her best), but the “nobles rule the world” worldview. The elite families of many of the students are at the event – including Masachika and Yuki’s family – and they observe the chaos that’s been created with an amused eye, knowing that it will all come down to who controls the narrative and who can win the day. No great prizes for guessing who’s the man behind it all, but I did appreciate the ending, which does not revolve around Alya’s band performance (again, she’s not narratively important), but around Masachika’s, and his tendency once again to a) be miles ahead of everyone around him, and b) hate himself so much I worry he’ll end the series with a suicide attempt. Though I doubt it gets THAT dark.

The next book looks to be the athletics festival, and will no doubt once again be half otaku nerdery and half GRIPPING DRAMA.

Manga the Week of 12/18/24

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SEAN: We’re in the home stretch for Christmas buying. Let’s see what we’ve got.

ASH: I suspect plenty.

SEAN: Airship has two print titles, as we see Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills 3 (the final volume) and A Tale of the Secret Saint 7.

And three early digital titles: I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! 5 (the final volume), Mushoku Tensei: Redundant Reincarnation 2 and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 13 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: I had been meaning to check out I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!.

SEAN: Retailers say that Denpa Books has a 3rd volume of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack.

Ghost Ship has a 20th volume of Parallel Paradise.

There’s also a mature Seven Seas one-shot debuting. Wet Dream Aquarium (Ero Yume Aquarium) is a BL title from a magazine called, I kid you not, Splush. A guy has started to have erotic dreams about… sex with fish. What’s more, his wannabe marine biologist classmate is always watching him in these dreams!

MICHELLE: …

ASH: Huh.

ANNA: I don’t know about this one…

SEAN: J-Novel Club has one print title coming out: The Misfit of Demon King Academy 4, Act 2.

There’s four new J-Novel Club titles. The Countess Is a Coward No More! This Reincarnated Witch Just Wants a Break (Tensei Saki ga Kiyowa Sugiru Hakushaku Fujin datta) is a new light novel series. A young woman who’s been cowardly and bullied her whole life is now married to an Earl who’s never home, so the servants bully her. But she suddenly remembers her past life as a powerful witch! Now she’s going to turn the tables.

ASH: That’s good, or perhaps poor, timing on her part.

SEAN: Disowned but Not Disheartened! Life Is Good with Overpowered Magic (Ie o Oidasaremashita ga, Genki ni Kurashiteimasu ~Cheat na Mahō to Zensei Chishiki de Kaiteki Benri na Second Life!~). A girl is disowned by her parents when she’s THREE (Christ), but is taken in by an Earl, and soon finds herself shooting off powerful magic, playing in dangerous woods, and inventing things from her past life. That plot sounds pretty cool! Alas, this is an academy for nobles genre. Yeah, she’s off to school.

ASH: Dang, what did she do to get disowned?

SEAN: From Villainess to Healer: I Know the Cheat to Change My Fate (Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijou) is a manga adaptation of a light novel J-Novel Club has licensed but has not released yet, and it runs in Flos Comic. Our protagonist is dumped for having evil dark magic rather than good healing magic, so she goes to another country, changes her class to healer, and vows to forget all about him. (Yes, I had this two weeks ago. It got bumped.)

ASH: I thought that premise sounded familiar!

SEAN: A Royal Rebound: Forget My Ex-Fiancé, I’m Being Pampered by the Prince! (Konyakusha ga Uwaki Aite to Kakeochi Shimashita. Ōji Denka ni Dekiai Sarete Shiawase nanode, Ima Sara Modoritai to Iwarete mo Komarimasu) is the manga version of the light novel already released by J-Novel Club. It runs in Drecomics. (Yes, I had this last week. It got bumped.)

ASH: As so many things do.

SEAN: There’s also Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge on My Former Party Members and the World 9, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 5, Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 16, The Coppersmith’s Bride 4, Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character?! 5, The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 18, Hell Mode 8, Lacey Longs for Freedom: The Dawn Witch’s Low-Key Life after Defeating the Demon King 2, the 11th The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! manga, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! After Story (the final volume), My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 13, No One Gets Past This Gatekeeper: The Unwanted Warrior Guards His New Post 2, The Poison King: Now that I’ve Gained Ultimate Power, the Bewitching Beauties in My Harem Can’t Get Enough of Me 3, The Royal Hostage Has Vanished: The Black Wolf Knight Yearns for the Persecuted Princess 2 (the final volume), the 10th Rebuild World manga, and The Water Magician 3.

ASH: I accidentally started reading that as if it was all one title.

ANNA: This is a common problem because a title that long does seem somewhat plausible.

SEAN: Two debuts for Kodansha Manga. Confession (Kokuhaku) is a late 90s manga that ran in Uppers, and complete in one volume. Two men are about to die in a blizzard. One decides to confess to the dark secret he’s kept for years. Then… um, they find shelter. Now the man might be more at risk of death from his companion! This is so seinen you can smell the sweat.

MICHELLE: Heh. Potentially interesting, though!

ASH: I’m became even more interested when I realized Nobuyuki Fukumoto (Kaiji) was handling the story and Kaiji Kawaguchi (Eagle) was handling the art.

ANNA: Oh!

SEAN: Re:Anima is a series that runs on Kodansha Manga’s North American website. It’s about a world where everyone has to live underground due to the environment, but they can go to the surface in robot bodies. This, of course, leads to CRIME.

Also from Kodansha in print: The Fable Omnibus 5, The Moon on a Rainy Night 6, Rent-A-Girlfriend 28, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 25.

And for digital we see Space Brothers 44 and Yamaguchi-kun Isn’t So Bad 9.

One Peace Books has an 8th manga volume of The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic.

Seven Seas’ first debut is Beautiful Things: The Complete Manga Collection (Utsukushii Koto), a josei BL title from Kiss. A man, after a bad breakup, finds himself dressing in his ex-girlfriend’s outfits and walking the streets at night. One night he’s rescued from an assault by his co-worker, who finds himself falling for… her? Can our protagonist find it in himself to tell the truth, even after getting a confession? This started as a novel and has also been made into a play.

MICHELLE: The coworker is described as “an endearing klutz,” and suddenly I’m sold!

ASH: I am intrigued!

ANNA: OK!

SEAN: They also have HIKARI-MAN 1-2, from the creator of Homunculus and Ichi the Killer. This sci-fi series from Big Comic Spirits is about a nerdy high school kid who one day has a build up of static accidentally transfer his consciousness into his PC.

MICHELLE: For a second, I thought this said Hataraki Man, and I was very excite. This isn’t that, but still sounds intriguing.

ASH: Hahaha, same!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Party Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to an Infinite Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge 7, Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi 2, Don’t Call it Mystery 11-12, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 20, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 15, Monster Musume 18, My Androgynous Boyfriend 5 (the final volume), My Cat is Such a Weirdo 5, My Senpai is Annoying 12, Orb: On the Movements of the Earth 7-8 (the final volume), Someone’s Girlfriend 2, Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 6, Yakuza Reincarnation 11, and Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games 7.

Square Enix has the My Happy Marriage Art Book art book, a handsome hardcover featuring art and exclusive short stories.

Steamship has a print debut. The Obsessed Mage and His Beloved Statue Bride: She Cannot Resist His Seductive Voice (Yandere Mahoutsukai wa Sekizou no Otome shika Aisenai: Majo wa Manadeshi no Atsui Kuchizuke de Tokeru) is along the lines of the last LN Steamship released, at least in terms of the male love interest. Our heroine, to save the country, turns herself to stone for twenty years. Now her cute teenage assistant is an older, sexier man, and still totally in love with her.

ASH: This was a subgenre I wasn’t aware existed, though I am also not surprised.

SEAN: Udon Entertainment has a 2nd volume of More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers.

No debuts for Viz, but we see Black Lagoon 13, Dandadan 10, Fool Night 3, Haikyu!! 3-in-1 3, Insomniacs After School 8, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 5, Mission: Yozakura Family 14, Show-ha Shoten! 6, Ultraman 20, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 16.

Yen On debuts I’m the Strongest in This Zombie World, but I Can’t Beat This Girl! (Zombie Sekai de Ore wa Saikyou dakedo, Kono Ko ni wa Katenai), a post-apocalyptic romcom. A high school boy, trying to deal with a world overrun by zombies, meets his friend’s little sister. Then he’s bitten by a zombie. Thinking he’s about to die, she agrees to be his girlfriend… but somehow, he’s a zombie who’s still got his own personality?

ASH: That is a rather curious turn of events.

SEAN: We also see Agents of the Four Seasons 4, I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 9, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria 13, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World: Secret File 3, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 12, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 13, and Spy Classroom Short Story Collection 3.

Yen Press has a few debuts. Blend-S is another one of those 10-year-old Manga Time Kirara Carat manga we’ve seen lately (perhaps the contract difficulties were fixed?). Our cheerful heroine gets a job at a themed cafe… but is asked to play a sadist?

Hereditary Triangle (Seshuusei Triangle) is a series from Comic Beam, collected complete in one volume here. Three friends were in a love triangle as teens… then one of them vanished. The other two married, and now, years later, the husband wonders if his wife would still have chosen him if that hadn’t happened.

MICHELLE: This feels vaguely orange-y.

ASH: I have heard very good things about this one.

SEAN: Luciole Has a Dream (Luciole wa Yume wo Miru) is a shoujo title from Asuka. A young boy awakens from sleep to find the world ended while he slept. Now he’s alone (except for his 500-year-old archmage guardian), all alone…

ASH: That’s some powerful sleep.

ANNA: I sometimes want to sleep like that.

SEAN: Senpai, This Can’t Be Love! Brush Up is, let’s be honest, Senpai, This Can’t Be Love! 2.

Sword Art Online abec Artworks New World has artwork from Vol. 16-22 of the main series and 1-3 of Progressive, so expect some sweet Argo art.

Übel Blatt Deluxe Edition is a deluxe edition of the Übel Blatt manga. hardcover, snazzy looking, 650 pages.

ASH: I don’t know that I would have expected this series to be selected for a deluxe treatment.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Goblin Slayer 15, The Kept Man of the Princess Knight 3, and Nights with a Cat 4.

This one is almost as big as last week’s. Sheesh. (Or maybe splush.)

MICHELLE: Snerk.

The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori, Vol. 1

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By Kaeru Ryouseirui and Natsuki Amashiro. Released in Japan as “Umidori Tougetsu no “Detarame” na Jijou” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

This is one of those titles that I ended up taking a flyer on after seeing Twitter comments by Andrew Cunningham (who ended up translating it after it was licensed), and I thought it sounded pleasantly odd. The start of the book certainly makes you think that’s going to be the case. We meet Umidori, the tall, voluptuous but seemingly normal straight man, and her classmate Nara, who has a normal vocal emotional range but whose face shows no expression. This is good, that’s a quirky character for a quirky series. She then starts to talk about how someone is stealing her pencils, showing a somewhat monomaniacal obsession with them, and Umidori seemingly responding with “uh huh” and “is that so” responses. This then leads up to the payoff, when we find out the true culprit behind the theft. Even when we see WHY the pencils are being stolen, I went “OK, wow, that’s very, very weird” but it was still to be expected. Then Bullshit-chan showed up.

So yeah, as you may have figured out, Umidori is not just the straight man of this series. She’s unable to lie, to anyone, and as you can imagine this has left her upsetting everyone around her, to the point where she makes sure never to get too close to anyone – even Nara, who she is seemingly good friends with. Then Bullshit-chan shows up at her apartment, furious, and wielding a knife, and starts to explain the plot, and you realize that this is not a “eccentric high school kids” series but a “supernatural action drama with utterly messed up protagonists” series. This is compounded by Nara showing up, who talks about her own issues (which are somewhat hamstrung by the art for the series – it’s fine, but anytime you have someone who is “the most beautiful person in the world” and you have to draw them, it’s never going to work). And then the ACTUAL bad guys appear.

The main plot for the series in general seems to be to get Umidori to be able to lie, as her truth-telling is presented as a condition or “curse” rather than her own choice. I also get the feeling that it’s going to be getting Umidori friends as well – thanks to a conveniently plotted glass of alcohol, she doesn’t even remember how her words a year ago saved Nara from a fate where she too may have cast off everyone around her. (Umidori of course lives in an apartment by herself, and her parents are divorced). As for Bullshit-chan, she’s an interesting concept, but at the moment that’s all she is – I’m not as invested in her as I am in Umidori and Nara. I did like the villain – no, not the concept, but the human behind it, and her own twisted desires and how they ended up horrifying everyone (which seems to be the theme with those afflicted by the series’ concept.)

If it sounds like I’m trying to write around giving any spoilers, you’re right. This is best experienced cold. It’s good, though. Try it.

Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner!, Vol. 1

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By Kooriame and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Lady Rose wa Heimin ni Naritai” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W.

This came out as a manga from JNC well before the light novel was licensed – in fact, the manga’s six volumes all finished before the light novel was licensed. I didn’t read the manga when it came out, but I experienced it, as this was a popular title to see liveblogged on Tumblr. And from what I saw, it appeared to be a pretty broad comedy, mostly dealing with the heroine’s over the top reactions to things and her obsessive love of bread and cute young women, in that order. (The fact that all the love interests are male is neither here nor there – when she hears a rumor she’s in love, she asks which of the two girls she knows it is). I enjoy comedy. But as I read this first book, I realized that there was a lot more to it. There was mystery, as both our heroine and the reader try to figure out the plot. And there’s traumatic backstory. In fact, that’s one of the mysteries.

We open with a very familiar villainess book trope. Felicia Schwarose is condemned in public by her fiance, the Crown Prince, and dumped for a woman of a lower noble rank. This time, though, our reincarnated girl actually IS the heroine – and she has spent her entire life in this otome game world gunning for this bad end. Now she’s disowned by her family, but they give her a small house in the commoner area and some cash. This means she’s finally free of the noble training that she’s hated and can live a happy life working in a bakery – helped along by her past life, where she also did this, and is the only reason that a duke’s daughter can survive without servants. Unfortunately for her, she is the ONLY one who wants this future for herself, and she reckons without the impact she had on the rest of the cast.

I was expecting the standard “hit by a truck” death, and I got it, but it was everything else about her life that startled me. Let’s just say that a lot of what Felicia, aka Fii, has been doing is driven very heavily by her own past trauma from her previous life. Here, she’s very good at arranging things so that all the dominoes can fall in place and she can scamper off to live in her bakery, but reckons without the impact this has on everyone who knows her. Like so many other otome game imports, she sees this world as a game, no matter how much she tries to deny it, and reckons without everyone just really liking her for her actions rather than the plot. By the way, in case I made this seem more serious than it is, there really IS a goofy quality to some of it, particularly the bread jokes, and the contrast between her inner and outer voices.

There’s only three volumes to this, and I think the third one is a side story focusing on the “villainess”, so this should wrap up next time. Which is good, as it ends with an action-packed cliffhanger. I will get tired of this genre one day, but not today. This was a terrific read.

RVing My Way into Exile with My Beloved Cat: This Villainess Is Trippin’, Vol. 3

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By Punichan and Canarinu. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō wa Camping Car de Tabi ni Deru: Aibyō to Mankitsu Suru Self Kokugai Tsuihō ” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by sachi salehi.

Villainess books (and this still is a villainess book, despite increasingly looking just like a standard isekai) all tend to have the same basic setting. They’re supposedly based on “noble court” kingdoms, all of which are best described as “vaguely Europe in the vaguely end of the 19th century, only with magic”. The problem with this, and a lot of isekais that take place in RPG land, is that it’s not Japan. Now, you *could* theoretically solve that problem by writing a villainess or isekai story that takes place in 19th century Japan, but no. We’d much rather simply have another, very familiar country, just offscreen, to the east, and over the ocean, that’s got rice and miso and so many other magical things. I just finished seeing Kuma Bear doing this, and S-Ranked Daughter also discussed it. And now here we are,. Mizarie and Raoul have come to not-quite-Japan. And it’s AWESOME.

Now that she’s found out about a country which has rice, Mizarie really wants to go there. But it’s not easy, and requires her and Raoul – who has now paid off his debt but, to the relief of both of them, wants to keep traveling with her – to traverse the desert, end up at the ocean, and then somehow cross through the Scylla and Charybdis. Fortunately, this is a world with magic, so a dangerous path opens every month – dangerous, that is, unless you have an RV. Now in the land of Mizuho, they arrive at a small town and meet the village chief’s daughter and a soba seller who is clearly in love with her. But they don’t have time to wait for the plot twist to kick in, there’s slow life to be had in the capital! Mizarie can buy SO MUCH Japanese food, get a kimono, and stay in a hot springs inn with her… um… bestie?

I admit I was wondering if this one would be purely slice-of-life this time around. Mizarie finally confesses her past to Raoul (her past from this world, that is – we’re not opening up about reincarnation just yet), but for the most part the Kingdom of Richard are not allowed to be dicks and remain firmly offscreen. But fear not, there is definitely a plot twist, because we can’t have a Camper Van Villainess story without the Camper Van being the real hero. As such, we get a good old fashioned virgin sacrifice to the gods, which feels VERY out of place in amongst all the “hey, hey, isn’t Japan awesome?!” that is the rest of the book. (Honestly, that part is a bit wearying.) But it allows Mizarie to race her RV like never before, do Evil Knievel jumps, and ram a massive snake to death. After that, meeting Raoul’s folks seems easy… well, provided you’re not two shy dorks in denial.

Best of all, it appears Camper Van Villainess escapes the “end in three volumes” curse most DRE titles have! Or at least they’re not married yet. I look forward to more wacky van adventures.

Pick of the Week: Rainbows, Metalheads, and India

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SEAN: It’s really tempting to pick India Calling Me Now, but I’m sure someone else will. So my pick this week is the debut of Rainbows After Storms, one of those rare long-running yuri series. It’s great to see it over here.

MICHELLE: I’ll step up to the plate and pick India Calling Me Now, with bonus appreciation for another one-shot, The Metalhead Next Door.

ANNA: I’m with Michelle, both those series look great.

ASH: Agreed! Though The Metalhead Next Door wins out slightly over India Calling Me Now for me simply because it’s available in print. Otherwise, and if I didn’t already own all of the volumes, the Delicious in Dungeon box set would be my priority.

KATE: I teach Rock History, so I’m obligated to choose The Metalhead Next Door. (Also: it looks cute.)

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer: Short Story Collection

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By MOJIKAKIYA and toi8. Released in Japan as “Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

I admit that I got really happy when I saw the 30-page section at the end of this book. No, not the color art gallery, though that was fine if you like that sort of thing. But the definition of a short story collection like this, one that is almost entirely made up of stories that were “bookstore exclusives” from various stores, is that they do not give anything for a reviewer to grab hold of. They can’t affect the main plot, they can’t really change anyone, they’re only there to be spice. The short stories in this book take place over the entire timeline, though Bel as a youth gets the least time, as those flashbacks were in the main story. Lots of Ange as a kid. Some good ones of Ange as a newbie adventurer, which I enjoyed. A lot of “boy, found family sure is great” stuff. Fortunately, there’s also the author discussing the creation of the work.

OK, there is a little more to talk about with the short stories. I did enjoy the one or two we got for Charlotte, who started off as an antagonist but very quickly stepped into the big sister for Bel’s new child role. Here we see that she’s constantly thinking of what she did and the people whose deaths she’s responsible for, and asks herself if she deserves to be happy. In addition to Ange’s early adventuring, I also enjoyed seeing the early life of Anessa and Miriam a bit more, and Miriam’s story where we see how her apprenticeship started with Maria is great. Maria is the sort who can’t show affection normally, so would only open up to someone not willing to put up with all her bullshit anymore. I also liked seeing a lonely and sullen Marguerite, who misses everyone and is depressed in Orphen but can’t stop telling herself “this is fine:.

But the final textual part of the book is a long section where the author talks about the creation of the work and what went into it, and I wish more authors did this sort of thing (or at least had it translated over here). Unsurprisingly, this was meant to be a one-volume series, and Angeline’s backstory was not meant to be anything other than “child found in the woods”, but when you’re trying to expand a plot you need to think of things to expand. I also really appreciated that the author’s first and most important rule was “no incest”, especially after seeing so many “dad raises an adopted daughter” series fail to clear that low bar. The author also discusses having to write things in later books to help explain the plot holes from previous books readers on the webnovel site pointed out – the obvious one being the state of the guilds, and how to fix it.

So obviously, for fans only, but fans should enjoy it. Just be ready for a lot of stories that are “Bel and young Ange fish” or “Bel gets a cold” and other store exclusive type things.