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I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince, Vol. 1

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

I spent most of this book feeling that it was schizophrenic. There’s a very serious plotline at the core of this, with the prince doing his best to ferret out corruption despite assassination attempts, our protagonist suffering from an uncaring family, a broken engagement and unverified accusations, and a lot of dead bodies (at one point a puppy is murdered, for those of you who want to add this title to Does the Dog Die?). And yet throughout the book there are bouts of comedy, at times so broad that I wondered if it was parody. This comes to a climax at the climax of the book, appropriately enough, where ferreting out a horrible man and a literal murderer descends into exposing the world’s two dumbest people. The author says that it was deliberate, so well done, I guess, but I’m not actually sure if it worked or not.

Leia Westoria is the saint of the kingdom, whose magical barriers help prevent monster incursions. She’s also engaged to a duke. And she has a younger sister who is NOT the Saint and is NOT engaged to a duke, but is very good at crying on a dime and making gullible people believe what she says – which is that Leia is abusing her. This includes Leia’s fiance, who breaks off the engagement and quickly gets engaged to Jill. Then, when she’s reinforcing barriers in the forest, the crown prince, Eric, drops by to accuse her as well. Leia, finally snapping (though really her mood is “overly serious and a bit passive” throughout the book, till the end), denies the accusations and tells the prince to actually investigate. The prince is taken aback, possibly because, as we learn, investigating is what he does. So he apologizes, and asks Leia to be one of his many bodyguards to protect him against the multiple assassins that arrive every day.

Some of the humor here *is* very good. I really loved Leia pointing out that the reasons the assassins have slowed is that whoever is sending them does not have an “infinite cauldron of assassins”, if only for the mental image. There is a Chinese stereotype girl who is an odd cross of Tenten and Shampoo but who is goofy enough to not be too offensive. Leia frequently has a taste for very dry humor. And the ending is so over the top that one cannot help but laugh. But there’s a black hole in this book, and it’s Jill, the “tragic heroine” of the title and a massive spoiled brat that I don’t think I’ve seen quite so bad in any other “villainess” title. She’s worse than anyone else you might think of. We also get her POV at times, which almost made me drop the book. It’s beneficial, as it helps sell the ending – it’s hard to be a mastermind when the pawn you decide to trick is unable to carry out a simple murder plot without cocking the whole thing up. But it’s hard to read.

This is multiple volumes, and I really hope Jill does not come back and this becomes an artifact title, but the fact that she’s not dead at the end of this one leads me to think I will be seeing more of her. If you like straightforward, serious protagonists facing off against a girl so dumb she will happily murder a puppy for the guy she has a crush on, this is ridiculous enough to give you what you want.

By a Twist of Fate, I’m Attending the Royal Academy in Disguise, Vol. 2

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By Ringo and Tsukasa Satsuki. Released in Japan as “Wake Atte, Hensō Shite Gakuen ni Sennyū Shiteimasu” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Alex Castor.

The proliferation of both isekai series (which take place in a sort of vague middle-late European setting) and villainess series (which usually are more “Edwardian England”) means that we have a lot of writers who are fascinated with the concept of nobility and how it works. And trust me, most writers think it works – they are not here to revolutionize the world. Usually there’s a token evil noble, who tends to be either unattractive, stupid, or both, and they are so over the top evil that it makes all the other nobles look better. We get two of those here, both blonde women. That said, our heroine is a commoner who is (sorry to spoil) going to end up with the prince, so she has to learn why noble mannerisms are important and what they are meant to convey… and as a result, realizes why she was bullied at school. Which, if I’m being honest, makes me tilt my head and say “really?”.

This volume is neatly divided into two. the first part starts where the last left off, with Cesia being set up to take the fall for Marcus’ evil fiancee, who it turns out is far more evil than everyone was expecting. She manages to escape, and holes up with the help of Maria/Marcus (still probably the best part of this series – the resolution works here, and it’s telling that after it happens we never see Maria again). Eventually, by Marcus being incredibly stupid on purpose, they are able to save the day, and Cesia and Marcus are finally able to confess. Of course, Cesia is still a commoner, but they can do something about that – she’s saved enough nobles that one is willing to make her a baroness. Unfortunately, she and Marcus are reckoning without two people who really don’t want to see them married. One is very subtle and clever. The other… is not.

The “you were bullied for your own good” thing rankled on me a bit, but there were other parts of the story I liked. Cesia’s over-serious nature and tendency to blame herself for not being perfect meshes perfectly with the way she grew up, and I appreciated Marcus realizing that and seeing that family was absolutely what she needed. There was also the delightfully silly way Cesia’s “crime” was resolved, – it wasn’t silly how she was punished, of course, but it definitely was silly how our overly serious girl never realized that she was punished at all. The family of her evil duplicate was forced to pay a hefty fine, which no one told her, and she was under house arrest for three months – which she was told was a study camp, and no one bothered to clarify it. Given that she’s one of the most serious of the “villainess” protagonists we’ve met, this was likely for the best.

This ends with this volume, which is good – if nothing else, the title is even sillier in this second volume, which takes place years after those events.

Pick of the Week: Trillion Game

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SEAN: There are a pile of titles that I’m interested in this week, including some shoujo stuff that sounds old school (as I joked in manga the Week of), but yeah, just as Michelle goes “OMG, a Margaret title!”, I can’t help but go “OMG, a Big Comic Superior title!”. The creators are just gravy. My pick is Trillion Game.

KATE: I would read a phone book illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami–no, really, I would!–so I’m also picking Trillion Game.

MICHELLE: Same! I will probably also check out the feels-old-but-isn’t shoujo debuts, but the concept of this one’s just too unique to ignore.

ANNA: I’m very tempted by any new Margaret title, but the siren song of Ikegami illustrations is too much for me to resist, so I’m going to go with Trillion Game as well.

ASH: Likewise! While there are several debuts that have at least nominally caught my attention, Trillion Game is without question my pick this week.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 5: Avatar of a Goddess, Vol. 12

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

And so, with the exception of more short story volumes and the Hannelore-driven sequel, we come to the end of Ascendance of a Bookworm, a long but mostly very satisfying series. This volume is a victory lap, with the actual danger to our heroine dealt with in the first 50 pages or so, leaving the rest of the book to have engagements, elevations to Aub, saying goodbye to everyone and moving into the new digs. And Rozemyne is now going to get married to Ferdinand, which both of them are very comfortable with keeping as a familiar rather than romantic marriage, even if literally everyone else in the book, as well as the author, disagrees with them. I mean, I’d love for my asexual Rozemyne headcanon to be confirmed, but the implication at the end of this book seems to be “once she grows up, she’ll change her mind”, which eh. She’s theoretically mentally 40, something the author I thing tends to forget at times. Anyway.

We pick up where we left off, with Rozemyne desperately draining all her god mana and trying not to die. After this, Ferdinand takes her on a tour of her memories, via the events he was present for, which succeeds in restoring them. Including the fear of feystones, but we can’t have everything, and she’s getting better. Now it’s time to find those in Ahrensbach who weren’t on Detlinde’s side and tell them who their new Aub is, punish those who WERE on Detlinde’s side, prepare for Alexandria to be Rozemyne’s new library city, move in there along with… well, some of her retinue (poor Judithe, though I don’t blame her father), and say goodbye to everyone else in Ehrenfest. And then, in a lovely epilogue, she gets to once again meet up with her original family as Myne, because now that she’s Aub of a new city any previously made contracts can suck it. (Even the narrative voice calls her Myne again, which I liked.)

There were a ton of little scenes that I really liked, which is typical with “victory lap” ending novels. Rozemyne’s heart to heart with Elvira, as well as explaining to Aurelia that no, she will not have to be executed just for being related to the other terrorists. (We see Aurelia’s face!) She has a nice conversation with Florencia, who I honestly wished had more to do throughout, and a great scene with her siblings, showing Wilfried once again being annoying but also getting right to the heart of the matter. Even Delia gets a sendoff, as Rozemyne basically says no, you won’t see Dirk again ever, so be Big Sister to the other orphans going forward. This is not a “forgive and forget” world, as much as Rozemyne does her best. Sometimes the dumb things you do when you’re 12 years old define your entire life. Oh, and Eckhart and Angelica have the most boring “let’s get engaged again” ever. Totally in character, it was great.

Oh yes, “I *am* the precedent!” goes in everyone’s top 5 Bookworm lines.

I will deeply miss Rozemyne, Ferdinand, and company. I was also sad that Hannelore did not appear in this at all, but she does have the spinoff, where I’m sure she’ll be happy and have everything go her way. Right?

Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World, Vol. 1

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By Bunzaburou Nagano and Neruzo Nemaki. Released in Japan as “Dagashiya Yahagi: Isekai ni Shutten Shimasu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mizuki Sakamoto.

Every time I come across a “slow life” light novel series that actually *is* slow life, I get thrown off, and I have to recalibrate the way I’m reading it. I spent most of the first half of this book thinking “wow, this is moving at a crawl, and nothing’s really happening”, and that’s the POINT. There have been so many “trying to be slow life” novels published over here that they’ve almost taken over the genre. You know, where the hero decides that he’s just going to set up a shop, or run a farm, but then suddenly halfway through the book he’s got to defeat the demon lord, that sort of thing. This is not that kind of book. Yahagi is here to sell penny candy, and he’s going to sell it. Oh, he does gain new cool powers. His candy stock gets expanded, and he really takes off when he can sell cheap Gundam models that can move via mana. But, the climax of the plot? Is mostly handled by other people.

We’re barely told how Yahagi dies (truck, of course) at age 25. He ends up in essentially a “next life” waiting room, where he’s told that he’s not going to be the hero, or even a basic-ass mage, but he’s going to a fantasy world where he will be a dagashi-ya. Which means he sells cheap candy for ten yen, etc. He’s then dumped there as is, and finds he can create a store out of nowhere, but by store I mean “stand”. And he has no money. And nowhere to live. Fortunately, it turns out that his cheap candies actually give stat boosts, so he attracts the attention of a couple of cute young adventurers. And as he sells more stuff, his stand gets bigger and he gets more products. This also gains the interest of a “shinigami”, who is wearing a mask and cloak but seems to like the chocolate, and also seems to be very attached to Yahagi. Especially after he looks at a wanted poster of the Great Witch Michelle, and states she looks beautiful and is his type. Who could this mystery shinigami be?

This is a decent read, though anyone expecting originality or depth is reading the wrong series. And honestly I’m not sure I’d want those things in a series like this. The book namechecks Do You Love Your Mom?, KonoSuba and Danmachi in the first two pages, so it’s clearly geared towards otaku. The witch/love interest, Michelle, is what is usually less than politely termed a yandere, though it’s a mild version that mostly involves vague threats, with actual curses reserved for people who are genuinely terrible rather than just “making eyes at my man”. The romance in the book is sweet, though given Michelle spends most of the volume disguised as a man, there’s a lot of “OMG are they gay?” from Meryl and Mira, the other two main cast members. And, as I said, the main plot of this book, while it does involve Michelle and Yahagi, is not really resolved by either of them. Though there’s a sequel hook, of course.

So yeah, this is exactly what it says on the tin. Slow life. Lots of otaku references. A few boobs references. The implication there might be sex but there ends up being no sex. Fans of this sort of thing will enjoy it.

Too Strong to Belong! Banished to Another World

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By Kazuki Karasawa and Akane Rica. Released in Japan as “Saikyou Joshi, Isekai e Iku!” by the author on the Shosetsuka ni Naro website. Released in North America digitally by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Marissa Skeels.

How much you enjoy this one-shot may depend on how in tune with the standard comedy tropes of anime and manga you as a reader are. It stars a young woman who is not only oblivious as to her own ridiculous strength, but also oblivious to the fact that she has multiple suitors. Part of that obliviousness may be that she tends to imagine her romantic rivals are in love with each other (she’s a classic “I see everyone I know as a BL pairing” type) but most of it is that she’s so dedicated to the idea of being a “dainty young maiden” (which is to say a gender stereotype-conforming girl) that the idea that people might be in awe of her strength… or worse, afraid of it… makes her skin crawl. But it’s OK! She has a childhood friend. Who is clearly in love with her, which he has tried to communicate by hanging out with her all the time and hoping that she’ll realize his feelings by osmosis. It’s this kind of humor.

Sakurako has been having a rough year. After the death of her parents, she’s trying hard to run the family dojo with the help of her childhood friend (who also lost HIS parents in the same accident). Unfortunately, she keeps getting attacked by savage dogs. And wolves. And telephone poles falling on her. And trucks trying to crash into her. Weird. Good thing she’s ludicrously strong, so she escapes all these accidents. After she finally is killed off, the god who’s been doing it reveals that she was also supposed to die in the same accident as her parents, so they’ve been trying to correct fate. Now she’s dead… but so is Kazuya, her childhood friend, who wasn’t supposed to die. The god decides to solve this by tossing them in a world of magic and monsters. Now Sakurako can remake her life as a dainty young maiden!… who can atomize B-rank monsters with just one punch.

In the afterword, the author says this was written before their other CIW series, The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom!, and for the most part it shows. This is a weaker work, mostly as Sakurako is far too aggravating to have as a long-term protagonist. Likewise, once you realize that Kazuya could solve all his problems by actually confessing rather than expecting her to get it like every other dumb teen out there, you lose a lot of sympathy for him. That said, the fact that this is complete in one volume definitely helps, as it means that they both have to catch a clue about this before the book ends. I was also amused at some of the humor, such as the demon lord briefly assuming that all of humanity is just like Sakurako and turning into a whiny baby, and the effects of Sakurako’s magic food forcing the stoic of their party to start espousing its virtues at the top of his lungs. There’s fun to be had here.

That said, if you want to try out this author’s work, I’d definitely start with The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom! first.

The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor, Vol. 5

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By Sasara Nagase and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoshi Reijō wa Ryūtei Heika o Kōryaku-chū” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

After four volumes of absolute breathtaking drama, where you worry every single page that Jill is going to either die or end up thrust into a war that will cause everyone else to die, it’s a relief to have a volume that is comparatively a relaxing romp. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the main plotline is still “there’s a secret plot to destabilize things so that the Dragon Emperor will be forced to go to war and the timeline can go back to its old, Jill-is-dead self, but that’s the plotline of the series as a whole. Whereas this book reads like Nagase-san took a reader poll saying “Hey, if I was to have Jill in any cliched situation you can imagine, what would it be?”. And the winning entry was absolutely “I want to see Jill as the new teacher having to deal with a bunch of awful delinquent students who just need the power of someone who cares and can punch them hard.” “Can she wear a cap?” “Oh God yes.”

Jill has plans. She doesn’t want to just be a good wife to her future husband, and she doesn’t want to just punch everything in sight in his name. She wants to help him make her adopted nation even better. Towards that end, she’s come up with a plan for an academy, and wants to go to the nearby La Baier military academy in the Grand Duchy of Laika… which, coincidentally, also has another member of the royal family there – Hadis’ younger brother – as well as a noble who Jill remembers as being a schemer in her previous life. Jill is approved to attend the academy – honestly, approved far too fast – and Hadis ends up tagging along, because of course he does. Unfortunately, when she gets there, she finds not only that the younger brother is one of the worst of the delinquents, but that she’s not there as a student… but as a teacher?

I’ve said this before, but I love how this author always seems to know exactly what the audience for these books want. Yes, a lot of tense intrigue and action, with one false move and the series will end forever tension. But, more importantly, the fact that Jill and Hadis rarely feel that tension themselves. After the events of the last book, Hadis has discovered that the best way to both get revenge on Jill for ignoring him and also find her at her most attractive is to infuriate her, and also possibly side with the enemy. (The actual enemy is in flux through a lot of this volume, and will involve even more of the extended family from hell.) Everything may be going to hell in a handbasket, people’s lives are at stake, but that doesn’t stop these two nitwits from fighting like they’re flirting and vice versa. It is, frankly, cute.

Unfortunately, there’s a nasty cliffhanger that suggests that we may be back to “everyone is trying to destroy Jill’s happiness” next time around. Fortunately, the next book is out very soon, so we can suffer then. This is, almost, a fluffy respite.

Manga the Week of 9/18/24

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SEAN: Welcome to the traditional holiday of the 3rd week of September, National Yen Press Awareness Week.

ASH: Joy to all who celebrate.

SEAN: Yen On has the debut of Even a Replica Can Fall in Love (Replica Datte, Koi wo Suru). A girl is a “replica”, taking the place of another girl whenever there’s a test, or she doesn’t feel like going to school, etc. But then the “replica” fell in love with a boy.

ASH: Perhaps not the most unique premise, but it is of a genre that I enjoy.

SEAN: Hero Syndrome (Yūsha Shōkōgun) features a group of heroes who fight and destroy monsters… only it turns out the monsters are transformed heroes? Is there any way to save them rather than kill them?

ASH: Probably? Hopefully!

SEAN: Also from Yen On: Amalgam Hound: Investigation Bureau Criminal Division Special Unit 2, Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 5, A Certain Magical Index NT 3, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle 6.5, Gods’ Games We Play 3, I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss 9, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 6, and Spy Classroom 8.

Yen Press debuts From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone (Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru – Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta no ni, Taisei shita Deshi-tachi ga Ore wo Hottekurenai ken), the manga adaptation of the light novel J-Novel Club is putting out. It’s about a humble sword instructor who is now invited to the royal capital by his former students. What can they learn from an average guy like him? For those who like “Gee, I’m just a basic guy, anyone could do what I do” protagonists (hint: no they can’t do what he does). This runs in Dokodemo Young Champion.

Pink & Habanero (Pink to Habanero) is a shoujo series from Margaret. A girl and a boy absolutely do not get along at school. Then she finds out his secret… a part-time job! This feels like a series you’d see in 2004, but it’s circa 2021.

MICHELLE: Yeah, it doesn’t sound riveting, but… Margaret!

ANNA: Here for the Margaret series enthusiasm too!

ASH: Yup!

SEAN: Spring Storm and Monster (Haru no Arashi to Monster) is a shoujo series from Hana to Yume. It’s the latest series from the creator of Cheeky Brat and Stray Cat & Wolf. A girl who just wants to quietly get through life finds her new stepbrother is a rude, violent jerk. This feels like a series you’d see in 2001, but it’s circa 2022.

MICHELLE : Heh.

ASH: Everything old is new again.

SEAN: Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood is a Weekly Shonen Champion series with an anime coming soon. Our hero finds out that he has oni blood… right before his father is murdered for that fact. Now the boy wants revenge.

ASH: I do enjoy I good revenge tale.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Black Summoner 3 (a J-Novel Club imprint), Cheerful Amnesia 4, Dead Mount Death Play 12, The Executioner and Her Way of Life 5, The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend 7, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 11, God Bless the Mistaken 3, The Holy Grail of Eris 8, I Want to Be a Receptionist in This Magical World 5, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese 3, Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler – 17, Kowloon Generic Romance 8, The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious 7, Me and My Beast Boss 3, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun 15, Murciélago 24, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Chapter 4: The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed 8, Secrets of the Silent Witch 3, Shadows House 7, The Shiunji Family Children 2, Sister and Giant: A Young Lady Is Reborn in Another World 2, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale 3, Tales of the Kingdom 5, This Monster Wants to Eat Me 2, Toilet-bound Hanako-kun 20, Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet 8, and Your Turn to Die: Majority Vote Death Game 5 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: I should catch up on Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun!

ASH: Oh, good! I wasn’t just imagining I saw Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun somewhere in there!

SEAN: Viz Media debuts Trillion Game, a new series from the writer of Eyeshield 21/Dr. Stone and the artist behind Crying Freeman. After seeing two multi-billionaires enjoying their success, the series flashes back to middle school, seeing how they made their billions. This runs in Big Comic Superior.

ANNA: What??? I am a bit of an Ikegami fan due to Mai the Psychic Girl being one of the first manga I ever read. Oh, the memories!!!

ASH: Definitely interested in this one. Seems like forever since we’ve seen Ikegami’s work!

SEAN: Also from Viz: #DRCL midnight children 3, Choujin X 7, Fool Night 2, Haikyu!! 3-in-1 2, Insomniacs After School 7, and Tokyo These Days 3 (the final volume).

Tokyopop has a new one-shot, The Troublesome Guest of Sotomura Detective Agency (Sotomura Tanteisha no Manekarezaru Kyaku). This is a BL series from LYNX about a detective and his lover, who at first is just a detective’s assistant and “it’s just sex” partner, but something more is growing between them.

MICHELLE: I don’t think I can resist detective-adjacent BL.

ANNA: What exactly is the “something more” that is growing between them???

ASH: What could it be??

SEAN: Square Enix has the 2nd volume of Just Like Mona Lisa and the 12th volume of Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!.

ASH: I’ve fallen behind on Cherry Magic!, but really enjoyed earlier volumes.

SEAN: Debuting from Seven Seas is I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince (Higeki no Heroine Buru Imouto no Sei de Konyaku Hakishita no desu ga, Naze ka Seigikan no Tsuyoi Outaishi ni Karamareru you ni narimashita), the manga adaptation of the light novel which had an early digital release two weeks ago. It comes out in Comic Gardo.

There’s also Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – A Journey of Two Lifetimes, which is a sort of half artbook half guidebook dedicated to the popular series.

Also from Seven Seas: Dungeon People 4 and Obey Me! The Comic 3 (the final volume).

Kodansha has three debuts. I Cross-Dressed for the IRL Meetup (Josou-shite Off-Kai ni Sanka shite mita) is a shonen title from Twi-Sirius. A girl is happy to meet his three friends in real life for the first time, including her crush… but is reluctant to tell them she’s actually a guy. Then she finds out her crush ALSO has a secret. Another in the welcome series of debuts examining gender identity.

ASH: Love these sorts of debuts.

SEAN: Spoil Me Plzzz, Hinamori-san! (Amaesasete Hinamori-san!) is a Comic Yuri Hime title, so you know the genre. Our heroine admires her perfect, flawless, put-together sempai… then finds out the sempai is far from it, and wants attention desperately!

Tank Chair (Sensha Isu – Tank Chair) is a Shonen Sirius series about a girl who takes on assassin jobs… but she’s not the assassin. her comatose brother is, and he can only wake up when faced with murderous intent!

ASH: I had seen some passing praise of this series, but had no idea that was the plot.

SEAN: Also in print: BLOOD BLADE 3, Blood on the Tracks 17 (the final volume), Fire Force Omnibus 12 (the final volume), I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl 4, Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection 10, and Twilight Out of Focus 5.

For digital-only, we see How to Treat a Lady Knight Right 7 (the final volume), Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 22, My Master Has No Tail 12 (the final volume), We’re New at This 17, and Ya Boy Kongming! 17.

Four debuts for J-Novel Club. Accidentally in Love: The Witch, the Knight, and the Love Potion Slipup (Koisuru Majo wa Elite Kishi ni Horegusuri wo Nomasete Shimaimashita) is the manga adaptation of the light novel JNC already released, and it runs in Drecomics.

From Desk Job to Death Beam: In Another World with My Almighty Lasers (Saikyō Death Beam o Uteru Salaryman, Isekai o Yuku) is a light novel with another poor schlub accidentally murdered by a goddess. She offers him life in another world with the ability to shoot lasers AND the ability to attract cute beastgirls. What’s not to love?

ANNA: That does sound like a pretty good deal.

ASH: I’ve certainly heard of worse ones.

SEAN: Lacey Longs for Freedom: The Dawn Witch’s Low-Key Life after Defeating the Demon King (Akatsuki no Majo Lacey wa Jiyū ni Ikitai) is about a girl who THOUGHT her plotline was “get powerful magic, defeat the demon king, get married”, but then finds it’s really “broken engagement” after all. Now she can live on her own… but wait, *can* she live on her own?

Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight (Doinaka no Hakugai Reijou wa Outo no Elite Kishi ni Dekiaisareru) is the manga adaptation of the light novel JNC already released, and it runs in Drecomics.

Also from J-Novel Club: An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 18, the 3rd The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases manga, Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 15, Finding Avalon: The Quest of a Chaosbringer 4, the 5th Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts With a Village manga, I Could Never Be a Succubus! 4, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World 8, My Magical Career at Court: Living the Dream After My Nightmare Boss Fired Me from the Mages’ Guild! 5, Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 10, and Only I Know That This World Is a Game 5.

Ghost Ship gives us Into the Deepest, Most Unknowable Dungeon 9.

And Seven Seas’ mature books have two BL debuts. After School Etude (Houkago no Etude) features two men paired for ballet practice. Will love follow? (Yes.) This runs in Be x Boy Gold.

ANNA: Ballet manga!!!!!

ASH: Oh, very nice.

SEAN: And Hatsukoi Note is a one-shot from Dear +. Our hero comes across an internet diary confessing a gay crush… and he knows who the crush is! Time to play matchmaker… but will that go well?

ASH: Eventually, maybe?

SEAN: And no print titles for Airship next week, but we get three early digital books. Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord: Production Magic Turns a Nameless Village into the Strongest Fortified City 3, Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 5, and Raven of the Inner Palace 7 (the final volume).

Are you more aware of Yen Press? (And yes, they will be back next week with the runoff.) What are you getting?

ANNA: I want a ballet manga drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami, has that happened yet?

SEAN: Ballet assassins who kill rich bad people watching them from the opera box seats without anyone knowing? (This is just me suggesting, of course.)

ASH: I would absolutely read that.

Earl and Fairy: The Secret Behind Your Tears

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By Mizue Tani and Asako Takaboshi. Released in Japan as “Hakushaku to Yōsei” by Shueisha Cobalt Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

I don’t want these reviews to get too similar, so let me start off with something that isn’t the tortured romance between Edgar and Lydia for a change. Perhaps the plot itself. This book really hammers home that we’re seeing a re-enactment of Shakespeare’s Richard II in Japanese light novel form here. Edgar wants to be the Blue Knight Earl. He acts like a proper English noble, which includes caring about those whose lives he governs. He’s a good person who’s trying to do what the Blue Knight Earl is supposed to do. And he gets the reward in the end. Unfortunately, Ulysses has the bloodline in his (borrowed) soul, and so all the magical guff actually works for him, whereas Edgar is left with a reward that he cannot actually see or access. The good guys do sort of win here, but it’s a bittersweet victory, comes with a death, and its only real success was getting Edgar to finally realize that “it’s OK if I die” is not a good way to live.

We open with Lydia back in Scotland, determined to separate herself from Edgar, but missing him nevertheless… and despite the multiple letters a week he writes her. However, circumstances end up reuniting them on the island where this all began, where they are dealing with a banshee who is related to the Blue Knight Earl of a hundred years ago… and has amnesia. Unfortunately, Edgar is feeling rather depressed and morose about his inability to get his feelings across to Lydia, so goes to his club, gets drunk (and, it’s implied, also smokes some questionable drugs), then goes home, and when Lydia tries to talk to him, it goes badly. (No, not like that… though he’s initially afraid it was like that.) Unfortunately, as all this is going on, Ulysses is ma,king everything worse, as usual.

Ermine continues to be interesting, though I’m not sure how long she can keep up being a double (triple?) agent without wearying the audience. The author is being pretty good about keeping us on our toes as well, but I can’t help but notice that most of the recent cliffhangers are all “Ermine does something that looks evil”. That said, after her resurrection, I don’t think the author is getting rid of her anytime soon. If only as she’s still able to completely torpedo any efforts at Lydia and Edgar to get over their hangups and talk to each other about their doubts and fears. Edgar makes his biggest declaration of lover ever this book, but it’s a drunken murmuring of Ermine’s name that Lydia takes to be his “true” feelings, partly as I think she’s scared of her own feelings for him. Certainly she’s ready to walk into a massive deathtrap for him, as well as save his life when even he doesn’t want that. But… yeah. Still not quite a couple yet.

If you love exquisitly frustrated romance and supernatural action thrillers, this remains a must read.

I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s So Cheeky for a Commoner, Vol. 3

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By Inori and Hanagata. Released in Japan as “Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!” by GL Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Kevin Ishizaka.

(This does spoil the spinoff’s one big reveal, but not till after the picture.)

And so the I’m in Love with the Villainess story comes to an end once more – this time, apparently, for good, as the author says there are no plans to do a Claire POV for Book 3-5 of the original series. Which makes sense, because while there’s a lot of great stuff happening in those books, Claire’s character arc is the focus of this spinoff, and it comes to its head here. We see Clire’s determination in ferreting out the corrupt nobles, her horror at discovering her father is seemingly behind them all, and her stubborn nobility coming to the fore when she decides the best thing to do is to die for the sake of her country. Fortunately, things play out like the original series, so she’s free to marry Rae and have incredibly embarrassing naked apron incidents near the end of the book. And of course we have the side characters. Loretta and Pepi get resolved as well, of course. And then there’s… um… what was her name again?

I’m not going to summarize the main events of the novel, as we’ve read them before, from Rae’s perspective, in the original series. Interspersed with this we get POV scenes from others. I’ll discuss Catherine’s in a bit. Dole gets a brief scene where we learn about where his dedication to wiping out corrupt nobility came from, as well as his belief that he’s already going to hell for what he’s done. Pepi gets to defend the academy from the revolution, as well as try to figure out how to protect Loretta and not see her die. We see Manaria’s POV of what happened when she returned home, as well as what made her come back at just the right time. Lene and Misha also get scenes showing what they did during the revolution, and their own complicated thoughts on it. Loretta gets to deal with life post-nobility and the chance of a new love. And we get a flashback to Melia’s last moments, where she may not return to Claire’s birthday party but she manages to save… well, let’s talk.

There are two big things about Catherine’s plotline, and I’m going to talk about both of them, so apologies to those who haven’t read the book yet. The first, and most “normal”, is that she, as a child assassin trained by her awful father, was the one who killed Claire’s mother, something which has haunted her and crushed her with guilt ever since, especially because Melia ends up saving her life. Needless to say, Claire is a bit poleaxed when she discovers this. My favorite part of the book, though, was the revelation that Catherine can erase memories, and does so in order to protect Claire and escape from the academy. I love this because I’ve spent this entire series wondering how it is that we see Catherine with Claire so often and she never appeared in the main series at all. I was chalking it up, of course, to “because this hadn’t been written yet, duh”, but there’s a better reason now. Catherine literally wrote herself out of the narrative! It’s only after the main story has resolved that Manaria can deus ex machina things to try to once again meet her, and even then we still don’t see it. Catherine exists at the edge of the novels, a ghost in the pages who then walks off the back cover… along with her maid, because try as she might, there are SOME things that you simply can’t wipe away in a light novel series, and “saving a girl from certain death and making them into a devoted maid” is one of them.

If you’ve read the original books, this is a terrific addition. If you haven’t read the original books… well, go read them first.