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A Pale Moon Reverie, Vol. 3

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By Kuji Furumiya and Teruko Arai. Released in Japan as “Tsuki no Shirosa o Shirite Madoromu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Jason Li.

The third volume of this series, as with the previous two, is very much concerned with people who are trying to control other people vs. people who want to live their lives freely, and it’s not a surprise that we’re very much on the free side. The bulk of the first two-thirds of this volume involves fighting against a god who really wants to have Sari do what he says, and is quite content to blow everything up if he can’t do that. We also have Xixu, hemmed in by his royal blood and his diligence to duty, who needs to be almost killed and possessed himself before he and Sari finally agree to make the choice we’ve been waiting almost 1000 pages for them to make. Even the last third, an epilogue, features a bunch of slave traders kidnapping people, or blackmailing them into evil. At the end of the book, one open ending has an antagonist, no longer being blackmailed, simply leave the city, unsure how to be free. Sometimes control can feel safer.

There’s war in other countries, but it hasn’t quite hit Irede yet. Unfortunately, as a result of the fight she had in the last volume, Sari accidentally left behind a pool of blood for the enemy to find – which the enemy can now use to essentially create a number of brainwashed assassins. A much more down to earth problem is that there’s a new guy showing up to the Pale Moon every day, and he wants to go to bed with Sari, and he is not taking no for an answer. And of course there’s Vas, now possessed by a God and very interested in making Sari give up her humanity and making Xixu dead. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that most everything that’s been happening to date is the god’s doing. As a result, it’s probably a very good thing that, after a bit more pouting and self-deprecation, our couple are finally ready to BE a couple.

So yes, spoiling the one question that everyone who’s read the first two volumes has, they do indeed have sex. Indeed, it’s possibly the most awkward first time ever, as due to all the machinations of the plot that have been going on, it also involves some death and resurrection. Which feels very fitting in a book with so many gods going on. Xixu remains the same awkward but heroic guy he’s always been, but it’s really striking how much Sari comes alive after she’s finally chosen Xixu as her life partner. The Epilogue section in particular shows her fully in control, kicking eight kinds of ass, and freezing bad guys in ice and then shattering them to bits. She’s gotten over her worries. I also liked the plucky young royal we saw here, introduced as a theoretical threat but in reality that’s defused almost immediately and she proves to be a savvy businesswoman with a good head on her shoulders – which is good, because she gets abducted. Abductions happen a lot in this series.

Fans of Kuji Furumiya should read this, of course, but it’s also a good read for those who are sick of isekai RPG-style fantasy and want something different. It also has a lot of cool sword fights, magic battles, and giant snakes. I loved reading it. And hey, a lot less death than I was expecting!

The Frugal Priestess Becomes a Saint

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By Hanami Nishine and Suzuka Oda. Released in Japan as “Isekai kara Seijo wo Yobe to Muchaburisareta Shinkan wa, Cost Performance no Tsugou de Seijo ni Naru” by Muchu Bunko Aletta. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

I always like it when a book hits all the things I enjoy, though sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s fine because it’s fiction. The main romance here works because a) despite even the publisher labeling the Crown Prince a yandere, he’s very careful to go so far and no farther, so he gets to be extremely possessive and give chilly looks to everyone else, but around the girl he loves he’s a total soppy sweetheart. b) Fiona, our heroine, is as oblivious as a bag of things that don’t know they’re hammers, but because she’s so serious and dedicated, it’s refreshing. She lacks the ditzy quality we frequently see from this type, and it’s also very clear why she’s like this – she’s been carefully kept in a gilded cage for the last ten years. The reason for that, frankly, is not a mystery to the reader, but it is to her.

Fiona Everett is a talented priestess and aide to the pontiff. Unfortunately, the King has demanded that they summon a saint, mostly as the country next door has summoned one and he really wants to keep up with the Joneses. They already tried to summon a saint ten years ago, but it failed, and summoning one again will cost a great deal of time, manpower, and MONEY. So Fiona has an idea. Since saints traditionally have black hair, a rarity in this kingdom, and Fiona also has black hair, why doesn’t she says the spirit of the saint possessed her and she can act as a fake saint? The crown prince and the pontiff seem to go along with this pretty easily. Honestly, a bit too easily. And because Fiona is an overly serious, bookish sort, she’s decided she is the Saint of Cost Performance, balancing the books so that we see a lot more fixed bridges and a lot fewer replacement wigs.

So yeah, not to spoil too much, but Fiona actually has no memories from before she was ten years old, where she was taken in by the pontiff and also when the crown prince started doting on her. It does not take a brain surgeon to figure out the big secret everyone is covering up. The best part of the book is how the writing keeps Fiona both likeable and powerful without having to back off on her not understanding why Linus is kissing her hair, going with her wherever she goes, and having her sleep in his lap when she’s exhausted. This is played for humor, mostly in the coments from everyone around them who cannot believe she doesn’t get it, and it really is funny. Everyone calls Linus a sexual harrasser, which is true in terms of the letter of the law, I suppose, but it’s not as if Fiona ever tells him to stop either. Basically, she’s unconsciously in love with him the entire book. We also do meet another saint from a different country, who manages to be an absolute terror and makes me very happy Fiona decidedly does NOT regain her memories at the end of the book.

It’s also only one volume long, so even the series is cost-effective! If you can put up with clueless but studious heroines and handsy, possessive (but not sadistic) princes, this is a must read. Also, it has Fiona solve a problem by slapping someone in the face over and over and over again, which was glorious and I now want that in every book I read.

Demons’ Crest, Vol. 2

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By Reki Kawahara and Yukiko Horiguchi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by James Balzer.

I’ve mentioned before that I am not a gamer, and what this means that most of what I know about MMORPGs and the like comes from these sorts of light novels. As you can imagine, what this has mostly ended up doing is filling me with a deep desire not to game. Because man, gaming can be boring. Or at least, gaming can be boring if it’s being written by Reki Kawahara. Usually I have no issues with his action scenes, but that’s mostly as they’re being taken care of by characters I’ve known for ten years. But this is a new series that unfortunately is not really doing as many different things as I’d like (he says in the afterword that this is basically the SAO game system but with character classes added), and so, like so many, other light novels of this type, it reads like the author wants us to read their weekly gaming log. There’s a plot in this, which may possibly be intriguing. But we get less of it this time.

Sawa has a secret to tell everyone, which is that she is, in fact, possessed by a demon. Unfortunately, the demon only has a few minutes to tell them what they have to do next: go back into the game itself and find their childhood friend Nagi, who is still inside it. When they do so, they find that the game is a lot more realistic than it had been when they were just playing it for fun, and also that Nagi may in fact be trapped by one of the big bads, which requires them to essentially sneak in and perform a series of near-impossible tasks to get anywhere near Nagi. And this doesn’t even get into the fact that there are various other bad guys trying to stop them. And even if they do find Nagi and get back to reality, reality still sucks at the moment. Fortunately, they do have the help of the handsome playboy (well, for a 12-year-old) Niki.

There is a rather interesting plot way at the back of this. Sawa is not the only one possessed by a demon – in fact, the entire cast may each have a demon inside of them, relating to Solomon’s Demons, a popular thing in games. And, of course, the demons are quite different from the kids they inhabit, which could possibly lead some of them into betraying their friends. I’m definitely more interested in this than I am in Sugamo, who is still trying to do his own little Lord of the Flies and establish that he’s the best and everyone else needs to be executed (we all know that’s where he’s headed). As for the game world, when they’re wandering around a town and interacting with suddenly interesting NPCs, it’s fine. But most of it, as I said, is battles that don’t advance the plot beyond “they win after struggling”.

The third volume of this series comes out in Japan next week, so it will be a bit, and perhaps I will forget how much this bored me before it comes out. This sentence is here to jog my memory. Stick to Kawahara’s other series.

Manga the Week of 11/6/24

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SEAN: The start of November, and hopefully we’ve hit the temperatures going down a bit.

ASH: Ours just went up again today; it was very weird.

SEAN: Airship has the print debut of the light novel version of The Villainess and the Demon Knight, which they seem to have rated as Older Teen, which, um, whatever. You do you. Our reincarnated otome game villainess has been put in a brothel, and the man purchasing her for an entire night is her childhood friend. Can her life be saved by the power of amazing sex?

ASH: Oh, my!

SEAN: In early digital releases, Airship has Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 9.5 and A Tale of the Secret Saint 7.

Dark Horse Comics debuts Cthulhu Cat (Neko no Cthulhu), an Engterbrain title from the author who gave us Yokai Cats. This time it’s Lovecraft Cats.

ASH: I will admit to being curious as this should be ridiculous in a good way.

SEAN: There’s a debut from Ghost Ship: The Cursed Sword Master’s Harem Life: By the Sword, For the Sword (Makenshi no Maken Niyoru Maken no Tame no Harem Life). This runs in Web Comic Gamma Plus, and stars a young man transported to another world with only his two samurai swords for company. Who can talk. And transform into hot girls.

ASH: That’s quite the curse there.

SEAN: There’s also a mature Seven Seas BL title, Leave the Sacrifice at the Gate (Ikenie Monzenbarai), which runs in Byō de Wakaru BL. A boy who is doomed to be a sacrifice is rather unnerved when he finds that the god who’s supposed to eat him just wants to take it easy instead.

ASH: Okay, I’m intrigued by this one, too.

SEAN: Apologies to Hanashi Media, who I missed last week. They had The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made! 10.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but we get The Death of the Skeleton Swordsman: Dominating as a Cursed Saint 2, the 13th The Faraway Paladin manga volume, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone 4, the 2nd I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic manga volume, the 5th The Invincible Little Lady manga volume, and The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 3.

Two debuts from Kodansha. Snow & Ink (Yuki to Sumi) runs in Comic Days. A woman about to lose in her battle from the throne buys a man accused of murdering 50 people. Can they understand each other when no one else will? This one’s dark, folks.

ASH: Sounds like!

SEAN: Thunder 3 is a Weekly Shonen Magazine title that looks like it’s from 1965 but is in reality from 2022. A boy and his two buddies must journey to another world when his little sister watches a DVD that kidnaps her!

ASH: I love seeing these callbacks to older styles!

SEAN: Also in print: The Fable Omnibus 4, Medalist 5, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 14, and Vinland Saga Deluxe 5.

ASH: I still haven’t decided whether or not to upgrade my Vinland Saga collection, but these deluxe editions are SO NICE.

No digital debuts, but we see Blue Lock 28, How to Grill Our Love 11, Life 20 (the final volume), Love, That’s an Understatement 5, Matcha Made in Heaven 10, Those Snow White Notes 22, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 15.

MICHELLE: I really should get around to reading Love, That’s an Understatement, considering how much I loved Lovesick Ellie.

ANNA: I need to read more Lovesick Ellie.

SEAN: One Peace has a 2nd volume of Nukozuke!.

Seven Seas debuts the manhua adaptation of Dinghai Fusheng Records, based on the danmei novel Seven Seas will be releasing next year. Two men fated to be together, magic, exorcism, the whole nine yards.

MICHELLE: Woo! (Though, probably, I will wait for the novel.)

ASH: I do like that we’re seeing manhua translated more frequently these days.

SEAN: For actual danmei novels, we have Peerless 2.

Also out from Seven Seas: The Duke of Death and His Maid 15, His Majesty the Demon King’s Housekeeper 8, Killer Shark in Another World 2, Nightfall Travelers: Leave Only Footprints 2, Plus-Sized Elf: Second Helping! 3, and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 6.

From Square Enix we see Demons of the Shadow Realm 6 and Otherside Picnic 11.

Tokyopop debuts A Tail’s Tale (Okashiratsuki), a seinen title from Comic Zenon. A girl who struggles to fit in at her sports club as she doesn’t tan meets a boy with a tail!

Also from Tokyopop: If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die 9 and Sweet for Sweets and Foreigners 2.

Two debuts from Viz Media. Colette Decides to Die (Colette wa Shinu Koto ni Shita) is a shoujo manga from Hana to Yume. An exhausted apothecary jumps into a well, but finds herself in hell caring for Hades, who’s sick! Now she’s going back and forth between the two worlds. This was 20 volumes in Japan, so Viz is doing the omnibus route, this has the first two volumes.

MICHELLE: Huh.

ANNA: I’m intrigued!

ASH: Likewise! And I’ve heard some good things.

SEAN: Kagurabachi is a Weekly Shonen Jump title about a boy whose father is murdered trying to get revenge on the men who killed him. (That said, it’s in Weekly Jump, so shouldn’t get TOO dark.)

ASH: A story of revenge, you say? You have my attention.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Dark Gathering 10, The Elusive Samurai 13, In the Name of the Mermaid Princess 4, Like a Butterfly 9, My Special One 8, Natsume’s Book of Friends 30, One-Punch Man 29, Queen’s Quality 20, Sakamoto Days 14, Wolf Girl and Black Prince 10, and You and I Are Polar Opposites 3.

MICHELLE: Will now be the time I finally catch up on Natsume?!

ASH: And shall I join you?!?

SEAN: Lastly, some Yen stragglers. Yen On has a 4th volume of I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time.

And Yen Press debuts 86–EIGHTY-SIX: Operation High School, which is the traditional High School AU these sort of dark “everyone dies” series tend to get. It ran in my nemesis, Comic Alive.

At last, a relatively short list. What are you picking up?

Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Side of Fire

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By Bokuto Uno and Ruria Miyuki. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru Side of Fire – Rengoku no Ki” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

This does not have a ‘1’ on the cover, and the book ends with the words “The End”. That said, I would not be remotely surprised if we get another volume of this prequel/side story. It’s a book that serves to show off some of the more popular supporting cast before the events of the main series, but it’s also there to remind us that Kimberly Academy did not begin when Nanao and Oliver arrived – and, in fact, the reason that they are able to do as well as they are is because the way was paved. It was paved by Alvin Godfrey, of course. And he has his own close-knit group of friends (though not, it has to be said, quite as close knit as our main cast), all of whom we have seen before, and some of whom are now dead. It’s also an opportunity to see the teachers as caring (to a point) educators, and not the next people Oliver has to kill.

Alvin Godfrey is having a bad time. His magic is rather pathetic, and his father resolves to disown him unless he gets into a magic academy. He proceeds to take 18 exams, and fail 17 of them. But it’s Kimberly, the most prestigious, that accepts him, as they see what he can’t – that he’s been taught wrong from an early age, and that he is, in reality, far more powerful than he’d ever expect. As we see his first and then second year, he realizes how much he hates the current student environment, and how he’s going to change it by the power of being really nice and helping people. Fortunately, he has his androgynous best friend Carlos, the always angry but also righteous Lesedi, temperamental and unhinged poison maker Tim, and abused and bullied Ophelia. Can they change the academy?

I admit I did wonder if this would take in everything we’d seen from the main books in its one volume, and thus was watching Ophelia carefully. But about halfway through I realized that it wasn’t going to end quite that far ahead, so I was pleased to have it read like… well, honestly, like the main series. Alvin and company are trained by Kevin Walker to survive in the Labyrinth, and they get help (but not too much) from Vera Miligan. And, frankly, the fact that in the main series Ophelia has become an antagonist is something that could still easily happen in the main series, given Katie’s subplot. Oliver may have his Great Cause, and I get that, but he’s not special – there are other protagonists in their own story. I also liked the climax, where we discover that sometimes you can’t assign meaning and definition to everything. It doesn’t quite say “shit happens”, but the thought is there, and it allows someone to be saved, if not to survive.

All this plus another reminder of how well-hung Leoncio is, in case you forgot which series you were reading. Fans of the books will definitely want to get this.

The World Bows Down Before My Flames: The Dark Lord’s Castle Goes Boom

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By Hiyoko Sumeragi, Mika Pikazo and mocha. Released in Japan as “Waga Homura ni Hirefuse Sekai: Mao Jo, Moyashitemita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by James Balzer.

This advertises itself as a comedy, and that’s certainly true. If you’re the sort who loves to see teenage girls be horrible little gremlins, then this is right up your street. There’s funny situations, amusing banter, and a lot of hypocrisy. That said, I want to emphasize that this is a dark, cynical comedy, something that will be very obvious once you hit the end of the book. The world that our… “heroines” have been reincarnated into is absolutely terrible, and by the end of it we’ve seen a giant pile of death, some of it achieved by our main cast, because when I said that the girls would be horrible little gremlins, I meant along the lines of “committing atrocities”. Towards the end it turns serious for a bit, and I must admit I wavered. I’ll read the next one, but I hope it’s funny throughout – I don’t need each volume of this series ending with pure horror.

We start with the end of the series, with our five protagonists (as you’ll discover, heroines is absolutely the wrong word) having defeated the demon lord and burned his castle to the ground. Indeed, the fire is still burning as they bicker with each other. We then flash back to see them summoned before a goddess: POV character Homura, mad scientist Saiko… erm, Psycho, katana-wielding assassin Jin, alien robot girl Proto, and human experimentation victim Tsutsumi. They’ve been summoned to defeat the demon lord and save the world they’re now in. Unfortunately, the world they’re now in is kinda crappy, two of them look like monsters so have to hide their appearance, and the one normal girl in the cast may actually be the least normal one of all.

I’m not sure if each of the books will focus on a different girl, but this one is definitely Homura’s book. For the most part, she’s a somewhat shy, normal girl who suffered a life of bullying and abuse (and be warned, her suicide in the previous world is shown). Pretty soon we figure out that “normal” not the case, and it’s not really a spoiler, since it’s both the title AND the cover art. Actually, what is a bit of a spoiler is that Homura already had her powers before she was reincarnated – which means that, well, they’re a bit overpowered and over the top. And they also seem to influence her mind, something we see near the end of the book when she uncovers her inner bad girl. Everyone in the cast is a terrible person, and it just takes till the end of the book to figure out Homura is the worst of them. Sure, they’ll save the world, but not because they want to help people – they just like to kill bad guys.

This series is not for everyone – the most horrifying thing in the book is done by Psycho, the mad scientist – but it’s certainly striking, and I can see why it won an award. I’ll try another.

Last Quarter Vol. 1 by Ai Yazawa

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Last Quarter Volume 1 by Ai Yazawa

Last Quarter is an appropriately spooky manga for October, but it begins with a familiar story of angsty love between a Japanese schoolgirl and a foreigner who likes to lurk around Shibuya playing the guitar. Mizuki is struggling with a change in her family’s circumstances and becomes entranced by Adam’s music. Adam latches on to Mizuki as though she’s a life preserver, they quickly grow close. This type of self-destructive romance is done much much better by Yazawa herself in her later series, so seeing a similar story compressed into a chapter with less time to become invested in the characters made me just want to yell at Mizuki “Run Away Girl!!!” rather than hoping for a happily ever after scenario.

Last Quarter Volume 1

Mizuki’s story is cut short and Last Quarter shifts to exploring the ghost investigations of Hotaru and her classmates. Hotaru meets a mysterious ghost girl in an abandoned mansion. The girl has few memories of who she is or why she’s tied to the mansion, except she keeps playing the same song over and over and has strong memories of a long-lost love. Hotaru starts to investigate, and pulls in some of her friends, who are quite startled when they see that the ghost that only Hotaru can communicated with is capable of influencing the physical environment of the abandoned house. Hotaru nicknames her ghost Eve and they strike up a warm if somewhat disconcerting friendship.

Yazawa’s character designs are as always on-point and stylish, and it is nice being able to read earlier works of hers and compare them to Paradise Kiss and Nana. There’s a real sense of emptiness and distance as Eve continues her diminished existence in the mansion with only half-remembered feelings tying her to Earth. The dynamics in Hotaru’s friend group are engaging as they throw themselves into figuring out what happened to Mizuki/Eve, but Adam very much remains a cypher. I’ll be curious to see how the story continues to develop.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 12

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By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The good news is that there’s a lot more relaxing in the countryside in this volume. Oh, don’t get me wrong, everyone still gets a chance to kick ass, and we also get the start of the plot that will presumably form the 13th and 14th volumes (I am assuming that 15, already announced to be the final volume, will be Red and Rit’s wedding). But there’s also lots of showing off exactly why Red and Ruti settled down in Zoltan, and how they aren’t alone. Not everyone in this town has been banished from the hero’s party, but it does seem to be pretty full of people who used to be in a violent, adventure filled life, and then they decided to just… stop, and come live here and do whatever the hell they want. That said, sometimes what they want is to save people and protect them, because while it’s bad to be forced to be a hero against your will, being heroic is still OK.

Yaralandra has decided she wants to build herself a modern ship. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of shipwrights who can do what she wants locally, so she gets everyone to join her in revisiting the ship they sank in the last book. While there, they end up seeing ANOTHER ship that is clearly on its last legs, and therein they find a princess of the Jade Empire, near death, and her plucky ninja protector. They manage to get them back to Zoltan, where the princess, Torahime, can recover. This leaves the gang with no choice but to take in the ninja girl for the next few days. That said, the ninja girl seems to lack a lot of common sense, and in many ways seems a lot more childish than you’d expect from someone protecting a princess. What’s really going on here?

The plot twist in this book is so obvious as to be visible from space, but that’s fine. The main purpose of this book is twofold: to introduce us to a fun, if somewhat annoying, new character in Habotan (who even speaks in overly polite speech just to make her extra grating), and to help Ruti realize that just because she is no longer the hero controlled by God does not mean that she can’t be a hero for someone else. There’s also a heaping helping of “sacrificing your own life to protect someone you care about may not, in fact, be the best solution” here, as this honestly is a world where everyone tends to be ludicrously self-sacrificing and we’re trying to get away from that. The last few pages are very much “building up to the final battle”, complete with an old enemy returning one last time.

That said, there’s still plenty of Red and Rit gazing softly into each other’s eyes. There may be less time for that in 13, though. Oh, and we get to see Mr. Crawly-Wawly wear tiny little spider sunglasses on top of his head.

Pick of the Week: Tigers, Brides, Adults and Lycoris

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SEAN: This is another “sometimes you just want McDonald’s” week for me, as my pick is the debut of the Lycoris Recoil manga. Guaranteed to be less yuri than the fandom wants!

MICHELLE: I wish that the cover of Tiger & Dragon were more encouraging, but alas. I think I’m gonna go with Even Though We’re Adults this time.

ANNA: I’m going to go with the latest volume of Nina the Starry Brida as a reminder to myself to get caught up on the manga and actually check out the anime.

KATE: My vote goes to Even Though We’re Adults (or “Good Luck Babe: The Manga”).

ASH: Even Though We’re Adults is a solid pick, for sure. Debut-wise, I’ll have to admit to being curious about The Lady Knight and the Beast-Eared Child and JoJo A-Go!Go! is definitely worth mentioning, too.

The Reincarnator and the Goblin Maiden’s Happily Ever After: Using a Past Life to Keep a Joyful Wife, Vol. 1

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By Shinten-Shinchi and Tokima. Released in Japan as “Goblin Reijō to Tensei Kizoku ga Shiawase ni Naru Made: Konyakusha no Tame no Zense Chishiki no Jōzu na Tsukaikata” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Geirrlon Dunn.

Before we start, I really enjoyed one of the big twists in this book, and am going to have to discuss it, but I’ll put it after the cover image, so spoiler FYI.

And since I’m going to be talking about something I love as a spoiler, let’s start the review with something I loved less. This is, for the most part, a very good book, and I enjoyed both lead characters, their cool families, and their battle maids. But it does have a plot that I have always hated whenever I see it in both Eastern and Western books, TV< movies, manga, etc., which is the "if you're being bullied, the best thing to do is to get mentally stronger". Now, this isn't quite as bad as some – Ana's appearance is not, as of this first volume, something she can control, and we're given a real reason she doesn't simply tell an authority figure (in this case her mother). And the bullies do get theirs. But they only get theirs after Ana steps up and stops acting bullied. That leaves me conflicted.

Our protagonist is Ginorious, aka Gino. The fourth son of a viscount, he’s a commoner merchant due to being unable to inherit the title. Fortunately, he’s able to rely on his past memories from when he lived in Japan to help his business take off. Then one day his family get a marriage proposal from a duke’s family – i.e., they can’t turn this down. The family want him to marry their daughter Anastasia, who, due to a curse, has a lumpy forehead, long pointed ears, and green skin. She looks very much like a goblin, and has acquired a nasty nickname. Her other marriage partners were disgusted with her and treated her horribly the moment they were out of parental range. Fortunately for her, in his past life in Japan, Gino also had a terrible facial appearance, and spent his whole long life alone and unloved. So like hell he’ll let that happen to her.

So yeah. Let’s face it, when you hear “reincarnated from Japan”, you expect it to be, well, OUR Japan. And nothing in the first seventy pages or so says otherwise, except the occasional hint that Gino wears a mysterious ring. But as it turns out, the Japan he’s from is filled with magic, golems, etc. In fact, he was a golem engineer in Japan for most of his previous life. And what’s more, in Japan they knew a lot more about exactly what Ana’s curse is – it means she’s got far too much mana. Unfortunately, this isn’t Ehrenfest, and Ana cannot simply pour mana into various instruments until she’s better. Indeed, this world doesn’t really “get” mana that much. But it does mean that he knows a possible way forward. This was a great twist that helped distract me from “of course this will end with them curing her and she’ll be gorgeous”, which seems to be the actual long-term plot.

for the most part, this is really sweet and syrupy. It’s less good in the second half, not just from the bullying and more that I’m a bit sick to death of the school full of nobles by now. But it’s still a strong debut, and I will happily read a second volume.