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The Blessing of Liefe: Leave This Magical Letdown Alone!, Vol. 2

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By Kureha and Yoko Matsurika. Released in Japan as “Liefe no Shukufuku: Muzokusei Mahō Shika Tsukaenai Ochikobore toshite Hottoite Kudasai” by Arian Rose. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alex Castor.

In my review of the first volume I marveled at the fact that our heroine had, helping her out and in her corner, about 90% of the important and powerful people in the kingdom, which sort of made this story about an abused child even more Cinderella than those stories usually are. This volume tries to show us that there’s a reason that she needs all that support and protection. The volume begins with a flashback to the tournament she did in middle school, where we hear she simply never bothered to show up for the semifinals. Now here we see why – she’s been threatened, and it does not take a genius to figure out who has enough emotional hold over her to get her to change the entire way she’s been living to date. As such, the resolution of the confession she got in the first book is obvious. It’s hard to agree to a romantic love with the prince when you have PTSD.

So yes, as I hinted above, Yui ends up rejecting Prince Filiel’s proposal. Everyone then heads off to the training camp for strong fighters, which also has Yui and her passel of first-year prodigies along for the ride, much to the disgust of some of the other students. This disgust is not helped by Yui’s attitude throughout the entire training camp. She skips out on all the training, doesn’t care about anything but sweets, and when forced to fight, puts up a defensive wall and starts to read a book. About sweets. She’s always been fairly blase and nonchalant about things, but it’s getting a bit ridiculous. Maybe Filiel’s proposal had a lot more impact than he thought. Can everyone figure out how to get Yui to come out of her shell and try to be the prodigy she is? And can they do this with anything other than snack bribes?

We know Yui’s backstory with her father, so can sympathize with her. Well, *I* can sympathize with her. I have a feeling a lot of readers are going to bounce off Yui hard, and I get it. What’s more, to those who DON’T know Yui’s abusive backstory, she comes across as an arrogant, uncaring, overprivileged creep, due to, well, everyone being in her corner. The middle of the book, where Yui is forced to fight battles, is a tale of two halves. In the first half, you grind your teeth at how stubborn and irritating Yui is being. Then, in the back half, we see her going up against one of the strongest men in the kingdom, and she shows off WHY she’s hiding everything and trying to avoid showing her true magic at all. Yui knows very well what her father wants. He wants to use her, marry her off, and otherwise treat her like a thing. And it terrifies her, because her father is a noble, and as we’ve seen in this series, nobles kinda suck.

Fortunately, by the end of the book, she does accept Filiel’s feelings, so in future books we can… what’s that? No volumes in two years>? Webnovel also looks abandoned? Well then. In any case, I enjoyed this.

Manga the Week of 12/11/24

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SEAN: As we prepare for Christmas, publishers try to put out all – well, most – of their titles a couple weeks early. Buckle up.

ASH: Let’s goooooo!

ANNA: I’m scared!

SEAN: Yen actually delayed a bunch of their titles a week or two, but we still have plenty this week. Yen On debuts The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori (Umidori Tougetsu no “Detarame” na Jijou). What appears to be a typical school life book ends up in a web of lies and intrigue. Umidori seems to be the normal narrator type.

ASH: What sort of BS are we talking about, here?

SEAN: Also from Yen On: 86–EIGHTY-SIX 13, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian 6, The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten 8, High School DxD 15, My First Love’s Kiss 2, Riviere and the Land of Prayer 3, and Sword Art Online Alternative Clover’s Regret 2.

Yen Press has a bunch of debuts. Be My Worst Nightmare! (Dareka Yume da to Itte Kure) is a BL title from Manga Mee. A short boy discovers his crush getting rejected by a tall brute, so he challenges him to a contest! And loses. And loses. And now, for some reason, his affections seem to be shifting…

ASH: Uh-oh!

SEAN: Revenge Agent Hizumi-san (Fukushuu Daikou Hizumi-san) is a BL one-shot from B’S-LOVEY. A man whose job is getting revenge on the worst scum is hired to humiliate a cheating bastard. Which he does.

ASH: Goodness!

SEAN: Stomp, Kick, Love (Fundari, Kettari, Aishitari) is a shoujo title from pixiv Sylph. An office worker finds her only respite is going out drinking with her platonic friend, who’s a bit of a playboy. Then she ends up in bed with this platonic friend.

ASH: Whoops.

ANNA: Listen, these things happen.

SEAN: With You, Our Love Will Make It Through (Kimi to Koete Koi ni Naru) is a shoujo title from Manga Mee. A high school girl finds her class has a transfer student who is a beastman one day. She gets along with him, but her classmates don’t. Then, when they’re locked in a warehouse, his wild side merges…

ASH: Didn’t see that one coming!

ANNA: I wonder if “locked in a warehouse” can be a new trope, like “only one bed”.

SEAN: Oh yes, and we also get Delicious in Dungeon: The Complete Box Set. Comes with an exclusive poster.

ASH: Oh, very nice.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life II 2, The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess 11, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 16, The Detective Is Already Dead 6 (the final volume), The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 22, The Eminence in Shadow 11, The Hachioji Specialty: Tengu’s Love 2, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese 4 (the final volume), Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! 18, Magical Girl Incident 3 (the final volume), The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady 6, Minato’s Laundromat 4, My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress 5, No Longer Heroine 8, The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter 5, Overlord: The Undead King Oh! 12, Pandora Seven 4, The Reformation of the World as Overseen by a Realist Demon King 5, Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included 6, Sword Art Online Re:Aincrad 2, Touge Oni: Primal Gods in Ancient Times 5, Touring After the Apocalypse 5, Trinity Seven Revision 3 (the final volume), When I Became a Commoner, They Broke Off Our Engagement! 4, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 7.

Next we… oh dear, everyone stopped reading. Anyway. The debut from Viz Media is Rainbows After Storms (Hana ni Arashi), a yuri title from Sunday Web Every. Two girls are best friends, hanging out at school with their other friends. But they’re also secretly dating each other. Which is getting harder to cover up…

ASH: That’ll happen sometimes.

ANNA: Indeed.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Akane-Banashi 9, Call of the Night 18, D.Gray-man 3-in-1 Edition 9, I Wanna Do Bad Things with You 3, Jujutsu Kaisen 24, One Piece 3-in-1 34, Pokémon: Sword & Shield 11, Splatoon 3: Splatlands 3.

Udon Entertainment debuts Mr. Mega Man (Rockman-san), a slice-of-life title from Young Ace Up based on the classic game.

Two debuts from SuBLime. The Metalhead Next Door (Tonari no Metaller-san) is a Chara title starring a young gay man who is freezing outside his unheated apartment during a blizzard when he’s rescued by his neighbor, a young man always in black who looks scary. Over time, they eat together and love begins to grow… at least on one side. This is a one-shot.

MICHELLE: This looks cute! I love the cover on this one.

ASH: Agreed!

ANNA: It does look cute!

SEAN: Worst Soulmate Ever (Unmei no Tsugai ga Omae da Nante) is an omegaverse series from Dear +. An omega who’s been unlucky in love tries an agency… but ends up paired with an alpha who knows him from long ago… and hates him! This is a comedy, apparently.

Steamship has Guilty Smile (Danzai no Bishou), a dark josei title from Sonya Comics. A princess is the last one standing as the royal palace is taken by rebels… and she’s also impersonating her sister, who tormented the rebel general. Not realizing the switch, the general puts a curse on her that turns her into his plaything.

ASH: Dark josei Steamship manga, hmmm…

ANNA: Intereresting!

SEAN: Just one title from Square Enix: My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World! 16.

Seven Seas also has a pile of titles… which we’ll get to when we hit Ghost Ship. They do also have 100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death (Boku ga Shinu dake no Hyakumonogatari), a horror manga from Shonen Sunday S. A boy tries to jump out his classroom window one day, and a girl stops him by telling him a legend that if you tell 100 ghost stories, afterwards you’ll see ghosts yourself.

ASH: I’ve been curious about this one.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Berserk of Gluttony 11, The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store 2 (the final volume), The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom 8, How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? 16, Kemono Jihen 14, The Kingdoms of Ruin 9, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 10, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout 5, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 18, Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills 3, Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn 19, Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes 3, A Stepmother’s ‏Märchen 5, The Strange House 2, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 14, Too Many Losing Heroines! 2, The Villainess Who Has Been Killed 108 Times: She Remembers Everything! 4 (the final volume), and Who Made Me a Princess 8.

MICHELLE: I need to get on The Strange House.

SEAN: And for danmei we get The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish: Canji Baojun De Zhangxin Yu Chong 3.

One Peace Books has the 7th manga volume of The Death Mage.

No print debuts for Kodansha. We do get BLOOD BLADE 4, I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl 5, Noragami: Stray God 27 (the final volume), and Tank Chair 2.

ASH: The first volume of Tank Chair surprised me in a good way. Also, I should make a point to finish Noragami eventually.

SEAN: The digital debut is India Calling Me Now (Ima, Indo ni Yobarete), a josei one-shot from Palcy. A manga artist has been getting nowhere for years, and when her husband gets a new job in India, she takes it as a sign to give up and goes with him. Then he expects her to be a good little housewife. So she dumps his ass. Leaving her in India by herself. Can she find her dream?

MICHELLE: This sounds delightful!

ASH: I’m in!

ANNA: Sounds cool.

SEAN: Also digital: Drops of God: Mariage 10, Gang King 24, Giant Killing 46, Harem Marriage 20 (the final volume), I Have a Crush at Work 7, and Quality Assurance in Another World 12.

Some print titles from J-Novel Club, as we see Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 8, Black Summoner 4, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me! 10, and My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 12.

4 debuts for J-Novel Club next week. A Cozy Life in the Woods with the White Witch (Shiro Majo-san to no Henkyō Gurashi ~Saikyō na Majo wa Nonbiri Kurashitai~) is a new light novel series. A guy is banished from his party, and ends up coming across the all-powerful White Witch. Trouble is… she’s a slob! Fortunately, he excels at everything that does not involve fighting, so keeps house for her.

Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner (Lady Rose wa Heimin ni Naritai) is a light novel for a series we got the manga for some time ago. Our heroine is reincarnated as the villainess of an otome game… AFTER the bad end. Oops. Fortunately, she just wants to live happily with her true love… bread.

MICHELLE: Hee!

ASH: That is fortunate!

ANNA: I sympathize with her love of bread.

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.

The Tanaka Family Reincarnates (Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru) is a light novel series that shows an eccentric family dying in an earthquake… and reincarnated as an equally eccentric family, only in an isekai. This is more along the noble girl end of the genre.

Also from J-Novel Club: the 4th The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases manga, the 3rd Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade manga, Duchess in the Attic 2, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 6, The Legendary Witch Is Reborn as an Oppressed Princess 2, Only I Know That This World Is a Game 6, RVing My Way into Exile with My Beloved Cat: This Villainess Is Trippin’ 3, the 2nd Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight manga, the 2nd Stuck in a Time Loop: When All Else Fails, Be a Villainess manga, and This Art Club Has a Problem! 5.

Ghost Ship debuts Imaizumi Brings All the Gals to His House (Imaizumin-chi wa Douyara Gal no Tamariba ni Natteru Rashii), a seinen series from Web Comic Gamma Plus. Based on a hentai doujinshi, this stars a normal everyday high school student who happens to have three high school gyarus at his apartment. He’s living with them, hanging out with them, and yes, they’re doing that as well.

They also have Creature Girls: A Hands-On Field Journal in Another World 11 and World’s End Harem: Fantasia 13.

For mature Seven Seas stuff, we see Play Me Softly (Dolce na Bokura no Koi ni Tsuite), a BL one-shot from LiQuille. An office worker who also plays in a concert band finds that his old high school crush has joined the band.

ASH: Vaguely music themed mature manga, you say?

SEAN: Sweet Room Escape is a BL title from Qpa. A gay man seems to have it all, great job, lots of partying, great sex, and no strings. Then he meets Albrecht… and is horrified to find he’s caught feelings!

Also in mature Seven Seas titles, At 25:00 in Akasaka 2, Killing Stalking: Deluxe Edition 8 (the final volume), and No Love Zone 2.

Dark Horse Comics has the 3rd Deluxe Edition of Trigun Maximum.

In print, Airship has Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 9.5.

And for early digital, we have Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 8, I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince 2, and Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 20.

Um… Merry Christmas? Please spend over one thousand dollars on these titles.

The Former Assassin Who Got Reincarnated As a Noble Girl, Vol. 2

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By Satsuki Otonashi and MiRea. Released in Japan as “Moto Ansatsusha, Tenseishite Kizoku no Reijou ni Narimashita” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

I admit I was surprised and a little put off by the cover of this volume, which, like the cover of the first, is salacious and mostly exists to draw in the hapless reader by promising sex that isn’t actually there. That said, the cover is actually quite clever, as your eyes may be drawn to her chest but we are also meant to notice her gun, and the huge and deadly hairpin she also has. Selena talks about “honey traps” in this series, and the volume in fact opens with the rather hapless and tragic crown princess being driven half mad and out of the palace by her asshole husband bringing home a “honey trap” lover and their two children and saying “this is who will be next in line now”. Thus, Selena on the cover of this volume is meant to draw in a reader hoping for a bit of sex. There’s none of that here. But there sure is lots of death and violence. This series is dark as pitch.

We open with, as I noted above, the tragic downfall of Shahrnaz, a noble girl who marries the crown prince, has a child, and thinks that things are fine. They’re not. Many years later, Selena is told that their school is getting three exchange students: Shaghad, the son of the prince and Shahrnaz, and Ismail and Aisha, the two children of the prince and his lover, a viscount’s daughter. They’re behaving like arrogant fools, but they also have a mission: Aisha is here to seduce Prince Evan, and Ismael is here to get rid of Shaghad, who is first in the actual succession. It doesn’t help that Shaghad, who has a big helping of “my mother abandoned me and I feel depressed”, is letting them do whatever they want. Clearly another noble is not what’s needed here. This needs an assassin’s touch.

For the most part, this book has a plotline that is pretty obvious… at least until the end, which has a terrific twist that I won’t spoil. Selena spends much of the volume rather annoyed that she has to be dealing with this at all, though once she manages to get Shaghad to actually take steps to stand up for himself, and also trains him to fend off assassins, she feels better. The ongoing questions seems to be not “who will she choose, royalty or her devoted bodyguard?”, as honestly I don’t trust her not to kill both of them if she feels a need to. The writer says that they gave Selena a “dumb” friend, partly so she actually had a friend who wasn’t a love interest, but also to point out that Selena can be as grimdark as she likes, and kill as many assassins as she wants, but in the end she does care about people, and there’s no getting around that. The assassin is also a noble girl, and that’s not something Selene can accept right now.

This second volume was not part of the webnovel but requested by the publisher, and there’s no third book out in Japan, so this may end up being it. It’s an odd duck, this, and I’m not sure it could have reasonably given us a happy ending, but I liked it.

Soup Forest: The Story of the Woman Who Speaks with Animals and the Former Mercenary, Vol. 2

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By Syuu and Muni. Released in Japan as “Soup no Mori: Doubutsu to Kaiwa Suru Olivia to Moto Youhei Arthur no Monogatari” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

It’s always annoying when I read an afterword and the author essentially says everything I’m going to say. So yes, the first book in this series was about taking a broken young woman and helping her to open up to one man, leading to their marriage. This second book has as its goal getting her to interact with a much larger world, and also realizing that, while her powers may make some people scared and/or dismissive or her, this isn’t always the case, and that her powers can do good things. To be honest, she ends up saving a lot of lives here. Clearly she probably SHOULD be a royal apothecary, as she has the skills, and also can talk to the animals like Doctor Doolittle. There is just one slight problem – Olivia doesn’t want to do this. She wants to live in the forest with her husband, sister (more on that later) and many, many animals and hand out soup. Sorry, kid, you’re a light novel protagonist.

This book alternates between slice-of-life stories of Olivia puttering around her restaurant with Arthur, doing things like making health potions or healing a wounded rabbit, and the larger overall plot of Olivia’s world becoming much larger. This is mostly due to the arrival of Lara, a runaway teenager who was the daughter of a noble father and his maid, and now that the father and her mother have died the stepmother has made her life miserable. She ends up becoming the younger sister that Olivia never had, and is basically part of the story to add sometime bright and upbeat to a series that is still mostly about two sweet yet default morose individuals. She’s also studying to be an apothecary, something that Olivia is already qualified for… and she even gets a letter saying she is the equivalent of a royal apothecary. Which is good, as this is a dangerous world.

As I said above, if Book 1 is “Olivia gradually learns to care about things other than the animal world”, this one definitely shows the interactions between the animal world and the human world, and Olivia and her powers are a huge part of that. Olivia ends up getting more than one “What’s that, girl? Timmy? Trapped? Down in Dead Rock Canyon?” moment here, though the animals can literally speak to her, so it just makes things easier. Which is good, as this book is filled with deadly plagues, near-fatal road accidents, and driven insane with grief drunkards, and Olivia comes to the rescue each time. The last one is particularly hilarious, as we meet a steward who clearly despises Olivia, and think to ourselves, “Oh man, I hope he’s secretly evil”. And good news! This was the one plot that didn’t quite work for me, as it felt the most manufactured and had the most bullshit use of Olivia’s powers. But I’m not really going to criticize such a relaxed series like this for going too OP.

The webnovel of this series indicates there’s a third book, but it’s not out from the publisher yet. I wonder if it will continue trying to drag Olivia into larger and larger political spheres and away from her insular life. I can see an argument either way.

Third Loop: The Nameless Princess and the Cruel Emperor, Vol. 3

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By Iota AIUE and Misa Sazanami. Released in Japan as “Nanashi no Ōjo to Reikoku Kōtei: Shītagerareta Yōjo, Konse de wa Ryū to Mofumofu ni Dekiai Sarete Imasu” by M Novels f. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by JCT.

In the first book, we dealt with a girl who is so mistreated that she’s not even given a name. In the second book, Angelina has a name, but everyone still only regards her in terms of her position and power, rather than as a person. That continues in this third book, but it’s OK, because we have someone who’s been with her almost from the start who sees her as a person. The title is now truly incorrect. That goes both ways as well, as the plot complications mean that the emperor is forced to confront his past and accept that he really did earn his “cruel” title, while also admitting that he doesn’t really want to sacrifice it all because he was a bit of a dick, but rather wants to live with his family and do better. Both Angelina, though her loops, and Feilong, through what happens in this book, become better people. Well, Angelina doesn’t have far to go.

Angelina is riding a high. Everyone adores her, she has her best bud Ryuho, and also joining them at the academy is other best bud Hisame. Then a traveling player band of refugees from the destroyed country Yule (home of Angelina’s late mother) arrive, and they show off their shadow puppetry. Unfortunately, when their leader has Angelina try out the magical barrel organ they use to control the puppetry, it activates a horrible magic… which the Emperor blocks and takes himself. This causes the emperor to become a small child… in both mind and body! Worse still, the leader of the troupe was the only one who really had bad intentions, and he turned out to be a fake. Now the three youngsters have to try to find a way to restore Angelina’s father…which involves searching for a legendary beast who will only speak to the pure of heart. Good thing they have our main cast, who are so pure they squeak.

Angelina always works best when she’s in deadly peril. The start of the book reads a bit smug, as everyone loves her, she loves everyone, and things are all sunshine and roses. Thank goodness that doesn’t last. There’s the trauma of her past lives still weight in on her unconsciously, as she knows she still hasn’t actually said “I love you” to her father yet. There’s her father’s own actions, as she argues with an all-powerful spirit about how sometimes purging an evil family by killing them may not actually be worse than BEING an evil family. My favorite part is where it turns out that the one who’s been controlling everything in this book turns out to be a bit of a scapegoat himself, and when given the choice between “let your father die” and “let me die”, Angelina naturally chooses neither one of those. Which, well, leads to more folks being utterly devoted to her. By the end of the book she’s Queen of her mother’s now restored country, and has Ryuho proposing to her. But the most important part may be that she finally gets to go back to the pub she spend her past life in and eat its really great food once more.

This was, provided you can get over the aggressive, weaponized adorableness of its heroine, a decent, solid series. I’m glad Angelina has a name, a tiger boy fiancee, and most of all, no more timeloops. 3 more and she’d hit her 7th time loop, and that’s been done.

Pick of the Week: Farewell, My Lovely

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MICHELLE: Even though I haven’t yet managed to read any of it, since it’s my last chance to pick Neighborhood Story, I’m going with that this week. If we can’t have more NANA, I’m super grateful we got new-to-us Ai Yazawa in some form!

SEAN: Final volumes! Neighborhood Story 4 and Innocent Omnibus 3 are my picks.

ASH: Great picks, for sure, but the release I’m probably most curious about this week it Shining Diamond’s Demonic Heartbreak. What is JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure like when interpreted by creators other than Hirohiko Araki?

KATE: Add my name to the Ai Yazawa fan club: Neighborhood Story is my pick, too.

ANNA: I’m going to join the chorus in celebrating Neighborhood Story!

The Theater of Haruhi Suzumiya

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By Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito. Released in Japan as “Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekijo” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

I suspect how much you enjoy the latest book in this series depends on what you enjoy most about it. If you’re the sort who likes the sci-fi trappings and everyone trying to figure out what’s going on, you’ll be in clover, as that’s basically what this book is about, especially the back half, which features far more discussion of quantum mechanics than any light novel really needs. If you enjoy Haruhi doing funny things, Mikuru being adorably clumsy yet cute, and Nagato saving the day, this is also a strong book. Kyon’s narration is not quite as caustic as it’s been in the past, but I’ll forgive it. Unfortunately, if you read this series for character development, this is not the book for you. It’s an extension of two short stories that ran in The Sneaker 20 years ago, and seems to take place before the 4th book/movie, meaning most of the softening of Haruhi’s character is absent. It’s a fun book, but it’s not necessary as the next in the series.

We open with what looks like the most 2024 thing ever, even though it was written in 2004 – Haruhi and company get isekai’d to another world to save the kingdom from the demon lord. Haruhi being Haruhi, she proceeds to do whatever she wants, and only saves the world because Mikuru blows up the demon lord’s castle with magic. Suddenly they’re now in an outer space setting, and have to rescue two nobles from space pirates… something that’s also screwed up due to Haruhi’s gung-ho approach. Then all of a sudden they’re in a Western setting, with a shootout, and Kyon, Koizumi and Nagato are starting to realize something is wrong. Unfortunately, they can’t trust their memories, and as they go through more and more pulp fiction scenarios, the question becomes whether they can stop it at all… or even who they really are.

The idea that the cast are trapped in a bunch of tropey fictional settings is a good one. As you’d expect, the weakest part of it is the start, with the two stories written so long ago. They’re pure comedy, not really doing anything with the characters. Once Kyon and Koizumi start discussing what’s really going on, things pick up a lot more… or at least they do if you can put up with Koizumi’s philosophizing. There may be more of that in this book than any other in the series, so reader beware if you’re not in the mood for it. The one scrap of characterization we got was near the end, when Koizumi suggests that they’re likely just virtual reality mindselves, and that escaping the game might mean death. Nagato explicitly says that she wants to return to the real world, to be in the club with everyone. It’s pretty nice.

If you wanted another volume in the series, this sure is one. Still no actual continuation, but I’m not really expecting that anymore. For fans.

A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO, Vol. 1

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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 Faye Cozy and Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Melanie Kardas.

If you have a prequel series, it helps to have two really important things: a reason for the author to write it, and a reason for the reader to read it. The author explains in the afterword the reason that we’re getting this prequel: it’s a story they wanted to tell as flashbacks in the main series, but it rapidly got far too huge, so it was decided to make it a series of its own. As for the reader, I will admit I was a bit worried. The general premise of the main series is that, whether it be in the present as Fia or in the past as Serafina, our heroine is an extremely lovable goober who everyone adores. Technically that’s true here, but there’s a very important difference, which is that this is the story of Serafina at six, not sixteen (we get those flashbacks in the main series). As a result, she’s an ADORABLE lovable goober.

Sirius, the most powerful man in the kingdom of Nav, is sent out by the King to go gget the second princess, Serafina. Six years ago she was born blind, which is still frowned on when you’re royalty, and so she was sent to a detached house in the forest to stay so that she did not get bullied at the royal court. But circumstances have changed, and now she’s needed back at the palace. So Sirius and his beleaguered colleagues (who can’t keep up with him) head into the forest to find an extremely adorable six-year-old redhead. She can’t open her eyes, but she can apparently see spirits. When monsters attack, and prove too strong for most of the knights, a panicked Serafina calls on her Saint powers, regains her sight, and proves to be the Most Powerful Saint in the World.

This book has an agenda, and that agenda is CUTE. Sure, Serafina can still be a colossal airhead some of the time, but for the most part that’s explainable as her being a six-year-old who lived in a jungle all her life, rather than as her having none of the common sense of everyone she grew up around like the main series. Everyone who meets Serafina seems to adore her immediately, except (briefly) her brothers, who give in after Sirius trains them to death. We also meet Canopus here, and get a sense of the prejudice that he and his people go through… which ends up being steamrolled through the power of Serafina’s really liking him. And what do you know, he does indeed turn out to be really strong. She even manages to tame a griffon and a fenrir, which sort of serves as a replacement for the dragon she has in the main series. Basically, she’s a bundle of cute, and also packing ludicrous power, which Sirius is not yet ready to show off just yet. He’s too enraptured by her to do so.

The recent light novel rankings came out in Japan, and the main series placed a LOT higher than I had thought. Which explains the prequel. Fans of Fia will love seeing cute l’il Serafina wrap everyone around her finger.

Management of a Novice Alchemist, Vol. 3

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By Mizuho Itsuki and fuumi. Released in Japan as “Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

As I noted earlier, I watched the anime of this series before I read the novels, and I’m rather surprised at how a) the anime did a whole lot of adding/cutting and pasting in a different place, and b) how it usually worked pretty well. The anime is paced like an anime, and gives viewers a reason to be really sympathetic to Sarasa from the get go. The light novel doesn’t bother with either of those, and Sarasa can be quite a morally ambiguous character. Here, we see her having to struggle with the fact that she has friends she cares about and wants to help, even if it might lose her money. There’s never any doubt she’s going to, but just seeing her inner monologue is revealing. She cannot stop thinking of how much everything in her life costs, and how much ingredients cost, etc. It’s not quite presented as a savant thing, but she certainly would do much better with more sensible people around her. Good news there!

After the events of the last book, and a comedic interlude with raw honey and horrible diarrhea, our intrepid gatherers, along with Sarasa, go on a mission to find out why the Hellflame Grizzly stampede happened. This takes them to an inactive volcano which has fire lizards, which they can harvest, with some difficulty, for materials, but also a far more dangerous salamander further up the mountain, which isn’t being hostile so Sarasa ignores it. But when Iris’ father, a noble in charge of two villages, arrives to tell her that in order to solve their own hideous debt (separate from Iris and Kate’s debt to Sarasa), he has to marry her off, Sarasa recognizes the husband Iris is getting paired with as being related to the corrupt merchants she took out last book, and, eventually, makes a decision to help with the debt by going after that salamander after all.

When the anime aired, I heard some talk that the books were yuri, but when I investigated, the answer seems to be “eeeeeh, kinda?”. Having read this volume, I get that. On the one hand, in this world, men can marry men, and women can marry women, There are even (very expensive!) potions to allow you to change sex temporarily for the purpose of siring an heir if you are an LGBT couple. And, to solve their issues, Iris is clearly VERY happy to marry Sarasa, offers Kate as Wife #2 (which Kate seems OK with), and says “your preference might change, who knows?” On the other hand, Sarasa says she’s not interested in women multiple times, and also says she’s too young to get married. I suspect what we’re going to get by the end of this series is Sarasa married to her three wives (no way Lorea’s not getting in on this) in a familial marriage with no sexual aspect to it. I have no idea if that’s yuri or not. But it’s fine, I’m much happier with these four as a family.

Sarasa was a little less terrifying this volume, and we’re starting to see that being in the village is very good for her. Unfortunately, she seems to have pissed off the local lord, which I have a feeling will be the plot of Book 4. This is the last one that had the anime mine it for materials, and it was pretty good.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Astrea Record, Vol. 3

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By Fujino Omori and Kakage. Released in Japan as “Astrea Record Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

There are some pretty nifty scenes in this final book, but in the end, I think I will best remember this series for what it was: an adaptation of a video game spinoff. It suffers a lot from being a prequel, meaning that when we see folks we remember from the main series or Sword Oratoria, we know that they’re going to survive, whereas when we meet new people, we know they have a low chance of it. This volume introduces three older, veteran adventurers from Loki Familia, the ones who were training Finn and company when they were just starting out. They have names, but I could not help but imagine them saying things like “this is my last job, after this I’m retiring and buying a boat”. As for Lyu and her familia, well, we get to see them make a decision that will end up being Very Bad, but for the most part they get to be cool, as they fight to determine what justice is.

The book is basically a 270-page fight, which we are very used to with this author. Everyone is getting their secret weapons ready, including Lyu’s new sword, which is made from the gift of her late friend Ardee… erm, Adi (don’t you hate it when the Japanese publisher tells you the name has a different romanji AFTER you start the series?). First things go very well for our heroes, and very bad for the Evils… then everything swings the other way and all hope is lost… then the cavalry arrives, etc. You know the drill. What we most focus on are Zald and Alfia, who explain why they’re doing all this: failing to defeat the black dragon and having their familias destroyed broke them, and they think the current generation of adventurers suck, so they want to go back to a Golden Age where there were real heroes. Yes, that’s right, it’s the DanMachi version of Invasion of the Dinosaurs from Jon Pertwee’s final series.

I was once again irritated that we were getting a teenage version of moral dilemmas, so was amused when the “main villain” pointed out that this is exactly what it was, and the way to defeat the trolley problem is to come up with ways to defy it and work around it. As for the whole “we want to return to a golden age” thing, it’s also mostly bullshit – as I expected, but which isn’t confirmed until an epilogue, it’s more of a “we are testing you to make sure you are ready to face the strong enemies that are to come, and we must do this by being evil ourselves”. Which, again, is very “for 15-year-olds” logic, like the rest of this spinoff. There are a lot of really cool scenes and character pieces in here, and I liked hearing about Bell’s mother, but in the end this wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, and was too depressing most of the time.

We’re not done with Lyu yet. The next spinoff will bring us the story that was cut from Book 18 because it was already 600 pages long – Lyu’s journey to see Astrea. I don’t think that comes from a video game plot, so I’m looking forward to it a bit more. Though… hasn’t Lyu become the main heroine in terms of appearances by now?