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Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 4 ~after~

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By Matsuri Isora and Nanna Fujimi. Released in Japan as “Silent Witch” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

I had been referring to this as Silent Witch 4.5, which some retailers are using, likely to better differentiate it from the 4th volume. But the author states in the afterword that they did not want to have it be a .5, and I get that. Generally speaking it’s hard enough when you realize that the next volume is going to be a short story volume, and when the volume number ends in .5 it can be even more highly variable. You never know if you’re getting stuff that was too goofy or too pornographic for the main series, or if you’re getting a bunch of titles that were written for various DVDs, Blu-Rays, and store giveaways piled into one book for completists. Fortunately, this new volume of Silent Witch has none of those problems. The book could easily read as Book 5, except there’s less conflict than usual. The stories all tie together, and all influence each other, so that the climax ends up tying everything together. Which makes sense, because this time we get Monica the Detective.

We begin with a prologue, showing Louis kidnapping… erm, leading Monica and Ray to a decaying library that is filled with magic books that are starting to leak mana, which they have to rebind and reseal. We then get four short stories taking place directly after the 4th volume, in the two weeks after the festival. In the first, Monica has to deal with Nero and Ryn getting addicted to mystery novels, and Felix trying desperately to read a book (well, essay) by the Silent Witch that is in the library’s second floor. She then joins Cyril in trying to prove who stole meat from the kitchens – Glenn insists it wasn’t him, despite a lot of circumstantial evidence. After this we get Benjamin, who always falls in love with women in love with someone else, falling for Claudia – you can imagine how well that goes. Finally, there’s a “charm” going around that apparently will get your true love, meaning all the girls are now gunning for Felix. But is it a charm?

This volume continues the previous one’s evidence that Monica is slowly but surely gaining social skills and confidence. Sure, she barely knows how to sew, but she actually picks it up fast. Her sentences may be slow and awkward, but there’s a lot less stuttering and biting her tongue. She also continues to bond with the rest of the cast, especially the student council (minus Bridget, who no doubt is a final boss in a future volume, the lack of attention the books have paid to her so far is deeply suspicious). That said, Felix’s obsession with Monica Everett is very worrying. The book is written as if it will end, if it does, with a Felix/Monica pairing, but at the moment that would be very unhealthy and has high potential to go wrong. I’ve heard fans tend to prefer Monica/Cyril, and I can see why (for one thing, you get Claudia as an in-law). Felix needs to drop the hero worship. Fast.

The next volume isn’t scheduled here yet, but I assume we will get back to serious assassination attempts and Monica’s identity being at risk. Till then, enjoy an excellent example of how to craft a short story volume in a LN series.

Pick of the Week: My Gemini

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SEAN: For my pick this week I think I’ll go for My Gemini. Licenses from Asuka are pretty rare to begin with, and this dark twin mystery sounds pretty good. It’s also complete in one volume.

MICHELLE: Me, too, and for all the same reasons!

ASH: I’ll join you in picking My Gemini as the debut release I’m most interested in this week. But I’ll also admit to being rather curious about I Want You To Make Me Beautiful!, too.

ANNA: I’m not going to go against this emerging consensus!

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 18

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

Well, I got my wish. Sort of. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, like My Next Life As a Villainess, has a problem. It has cultivated a large yuri audience it absolutely does not want, but it cannot afford to piss that audience off too much as they’re one of the big reasons that it’s a success. It doesn’t help that Yuna has accumulated a “harem” of underage girls, which yes is the main draw of the series (the moe aesthetic, I mean), but also makes the yuri a bit creepy. Still, here at least we do have Yuna straight up saying that she isn’t interested in men. Unfortunately, she says it to a girl her own age who has expressed attraction to her, and Yuna’s response is “just because I’m not interested in men doesn’t mean I’m interested in you”. Honestly, as with many other series of this type, Yuna seems to be fairly asexual in general. But hey, a bone thrown to the fans. Now back to beating people up with magic bear powers.

As everyone predicted, Yuna’s discovery from the cliffhanger to 17 ends up being the Land of Wa that the author has threatened us with for so long. She heads over there on her bears, and finds it pretty much is just Japan in a vaguely fantasy setting. And I do mean vaguely. She can buy tatami mats, stay at a hotel with futons and a hot spring, and get artisanal candy shaped like animals (the bears have sold out, for some reason). Then she goes to the adventurer’s guild, there’s a quest to take out a dangerous predator that no one wants to take except her… and a very suspicious ninja girl named (try to contain your shock) Shinobu, who insists on accompanying her. Is there some secret plot going on? And does it involve trying desperately to break Yuna out of her shell of “whatever, I don’t care, I’m headed back”?

I was reminded the other day of a series I dropped .like a hot potato a while back, Wandering Witch. It has quite a bit in common with Kuma Bear, in that it stars talented people who try not to get involved in things but end up doing so anyway, and who have a large element of selfishness to their personality. For Yuna, though, this is mostly a front. When she finds out what’s happening to the country, and that it’s been predicted by the country’s prophet, she’s still fairly apathetic. But when she finds the prophet is a 10-year-old girl whose parents have died… naturally, she decides to help. Yuna rarely thinks about her parents much anymore, but there is a definite subtext of “kids need to be allowed to be kids, even when they are orphans and have to grow up fast, no one deserves the childhood I had”. She is a surrogate big sister to every girl she meets, and she will move heaven and earth for them. And then deny she did anything special.

This is a multi-part arc, so I assume next time will have lots of fighting. Till then, enjoy another review where I overanalyze a title that really doesn’t deserve it.

An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me!, Vol. 6

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By Yuishi and Kagachisaku. Released in Japan as “Inkya no Boku ni Batsu Game de Kokuhaku Shitekita Hazu no Gal ga, Dō Mitemo Boku ni Beta Bore Des” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Satoko Kakihara.

I’ve talked before about how a lot of these sugary sweet high school romance books tend to be written as a handbook for the awkward teenager reading them, who no doubt does not have a hot big-breasted gyaru girlfriend but would like to know the best way to get one. This really becomes apparent in a scene where Yoshin in checking with his online friends because Nanami is, frankly, coming on really strong to him. He’s a horny teenager, so of course he’s interested, but he wants to make sure that he’s a good boy and doesn’t push. Of course, as is patiently explained to him, if Nanami is pressing to go further and he keeps pushing back, that’s ALSO not listening to her own needs. As for Nanami, she’s getting sex ed from the school nurse… who is giving perhaps more sex ed than anyone really expected. Basically, this volume is even hornier than previous ones.

Yoshin and Nanami are still trying to figure out who left that note in her locker asking about the dare. They even confide in her parents and best friends, but they have no idea who it could be. Unfortunately, Yoshin can’t afford to get too distracted – exams are coming up, and if he manages to do well in every class, Nanami has a special reward for him… that she hasn’t quite thought through fully, but that’s Nanami for you. After this, it’s summer vacation, which means festival time! Nanami in a yukata! A yukata that falls open at a really inconvenient moment! You can tell which anime this author was watching in their teenage years. Unfortunately, their one lead on who wrote the note (which would also have tied in nicely with a previous book) turns out to be wrong. Could it be the new character we’re only introduced to this book?

First off, I agree with Yoshin. The old “I skipped a line and so all my answers are one line off so I fail” thing really does read like a bad manga, and it’s annoying that it shows up here. That said, while this is definitely a hornier volume than usual, I’m pretty sure “have a bath with me” (the winning prize) was absolutely going to lead to places that editorial does not want this relatively wholesome high school romance to go. This is despite the fact that he’s bought condoms, and that the school nurse is pretty much assuming they’re already having sex. Honestly, everyone around them assumes that they’re the closest most loving couple in the world. But for now, we get kisses (mostly on the cheek), lots of discussion of Nanami’s breasts and how big they are, and the one erotic piece in the book, where Nanami straddles him on the bed and you wonder if things might actually go farther. Sadly, there’s a knock at the door.

So I assume that next volume will wrap up the note subplot. Till then, this is a decent volume in a series that wants to push the envelope without opening it. Also, that afterword deserved to be about 8 pages shorter.

A Young Lady Finds Her True Calling Living with the Enemy, Vol. 2

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By Syuu and Fujigasaki. Released in Japan as “Oguni no Kōshaku Reijō wa Tekikoku nite Kakusei Suru” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

The thing I think I enjoyed best about this short series (it ends with this second volume) is that it is 100% dedicated to its title. This is not about a young lady finding romance living with the enemy, though the book does end with her marriage. That’s not as important, though, and the confession almost seems like an afterthought. What’s important here is Bertine coming alive in this new country, deciding that she’s going to introduce new cuisines, spices, and finally start up a hotel in order to gain financial independence and make herself happy. More to the point, her determination enables others to achieve the same thing, with one boy seemingly deciding to change the world just because he fell in love with her at first sight (this is not quite true – like Bertine, the love is actually secondary, but it is there). Oh yes, and we also overthrow a terrible royal family, for those who read light novels for the overthrow of terrible royal families. Like me.

Bertine is not only trying to do great things for herself, but for others as well. Her old friend Diana is the Emperor’s concubine, and she is apparently getting passively abused by courtiers because of it. She wants to gift her an amazing necklace to wear to cheer her up. This also allows her to meet Diana’s son Claudio, a twelve-year-old boy who is second in line for the throne but dealing with his father being distant, his half-brother avoiding him, and his mother being unhappy, so he’s not having a good time. Seeing Bertine galvanises him. Meanwhile, Bertine goes to Cecelio’s hometown, meets his parents, and discovers a ton of seafood and spices that the locals think are boring standard stuff, but to people not on the shore is utterly amazing. It’s time to charge rich nobles to eat some more. Then we get a slightly more serious plot: how about a revolution?

I appreciate that, in terms of the revolutio9n itself, Bertine serves as a passive influence on others rather than a direct part (though she is there). For Claudio, she is a reminder that he does not have to passively stand and accept bad things just because of his birth, but can seek his own fortune. This aligns with the Empire, who want to get rid of the lousy San Luenne royal family and now have a much easier way to do so. In addition, the fact that she and her former fiances (who had to break up with her because of politics) are still close allows them to navigate treacherous waters with ease. Everything is about making good contacts and being a good businesswoman. Until the end, when Cecilio says “by the way, marry me”, that’s her relationship with him as well. Partnership comes first.

That said, I’m glad this wrapped up fast. Two volumes seems just about right, especially give that Bertine accomplished so much in so little time. I look forward to the Soup Forest book, just licensed by CIW, from the same author.

Manga the Week of 4/17/24

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SEAN: Yen Press is here to bury us in titles once more.

Yen has slid some releases at the last minute, so their calendar hasn’t quite caught up yet. I believe the only debut for Yen On this week is You Can’t See the Snow (Kimi wa Yuki o Miru Koto ga Dekinai), a one-shot about a college couple who meet in the summer, but she breaks up with him in the autumn – as she has an illness that causes her to sleep half the year. This has “tearjerker” written all over it.

ASH: I could use half a year’s worth of sleep.

ANNA: I would also look forward to sleeping.

SEAN: Also from Yen On: Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 4, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 12, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 3, High School DxD 13, Hollow Regalia 4, I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 7, I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss 8, The Misfit of Demon King Academy 3 (the print version of the JNC light novel), Sabikui Bisco 7, Secrets of the Silent Witch 4.5, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 18.

Debuting for Yen Press is Fox-Colored Jealousy (Yakimochi wa Kitsuneiro), a one-shot BL title from Bloom. A cute boy who sometimes sprouts fox ears and a tail is saved from a groper on the train by a guy who loves to cuddle.

ASH: Awww.

ANNA: That sounds cute.

SEAN: If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love (Akuyaku Reijou to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara) is the manga version of the novel Yen put out several months ago. It runs in GA Comic.

My Gemini (Boku no Gemini) is a one-shot shoujo title that ran in Asuka. Twins at a school are inseparable, and frequently swap identities. When one twin is killed, it’s up to our protagonist to figure out which one.

MICHELLE: Possibly interesting!

ASH: Indeed!

SEAN: Trinity Seven Revision is – surprise – a spinoff of the Trinity Seven manga. It ran in Dragon Age.

Also from Yen Press: 15 Minutes Before We Really Date 2, Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture 3, Bungo Stray Dogs: Wan! 7, Call the Name of the Night 4, Chained Soldier 7, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 5, Goblin Slayer 14, I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 5, I’m Quitting Heroing 5, The Illustrated Guide to Monster Girls 3, Kiss the Scars of the Girls 2, Lord Hades’s Ruthless Marriage 2, Mieruko-chan 9, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! ―AO― 4 (the print version of the JNC manga), My Mate Is a Feline Gentleman 3, My Poison Princess Is Still Cute 2, No Longer Heroine 6, The Reformation of the World as Overseen by a Realist Demon King 3, Saint? No! I’m Just a Passing Beast Tamer! 3, SHY 6, So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin? 5, Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included 5, The Summer Hikaru Died 3, Touge Oni: Primal Gods in Ancient Times 3, and When I Became a Commoner, They Broke Off Our Engagement! 2.

ASH: I need to read more of The Summer Hikaru Died.

SEAN: Two debuts for Viz Media. Gokurakugai is a Jump Square series that is a “two cool guys kill terrible things” sort of series.

Snowball Earth is from Gekkan! Spirits, and stars a boy who went off to fight galactic monsters. When he returns to Earth… it’s frozen! When did an ice age happen? And can he find his friend?

Also from Viz: Jujutsu Kaisen 22, Mission: Yozakura Family 10, Record of Ragnarok 10, Steel of the Celestial Shadows 2, and Undead Unluck 15.

ASH: I picked up the first volume of Steel of the Celestial Shadows. I, uh, haven’t actually read it yet, though.

SEAN: Debuting from Tokyopop is A Beast’s Descent Into Love (Kuroki Kemono wa ai ni Otsu) is a BL one-shot that ran in from RED. Cat boys, slaves, going into heat… all the latest BL fetishes are yours to enjoy here.

MICHELLE: Pass!

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: Scarlet Secret (Hime Muko) is (contain your shock) a BL one-shot that ran in from RED. A childhood friend who is supposedly killed is actually inheriting a dangerous power. Can our hero save him?

Tokyopop also has Lullaby of the Dawn 3 and the 8th and final volume of Ossan Idol!.

Steamship debuts a done-in-one omnibus, I Want You To Make Me Beautiful! (Kimi no Te de Kawaiku Naritai! ~Genderless Danshi to no H na Gisou Renai~), which ran in a magazine called Lovebites. A woman has just found out her boyfriend is cheating on her, and he also insults her looks. At a low ebb, she runs into a hot androgynous ex-classmate. He’ll give her a makeover if she pretends to date him.

ASH: Hmmm.

ANNA: OK!

SEAN: Steamship also has Revenge: Mrs. Wrong 2.

From Square Enix we see The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses 9, and My Dress-Up Darling 11.

No debuts for Seven Seas, but we see Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Party Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to an Infinite Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge 5, Gap Papa: Daddy at Work and at Home 4, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 18, Kase-san and Yamada 3, My Cat is Such a Weirdo 3, My New Life as a Cat 5, and Obey Me! The Comic 2.

One Peace Books has Captain Corinth: The Galactic Navy Officer Becomes an Adventurer 6.

Kodansha Manga also has no debuts. But in print, we get BAKEMONOGATARI 21, FAIRY TAIL: 100 Years Quest 15, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 11, King in Limbo Omnibus 2, Orient 19, Parasyte Full Color Collection 6, Rent-A-Girlfriend 24, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement 6, and When Will Ayumu Make His Move? 15.

And in early digital we see Don’t Tempt Me, VP! 5 (the final volume), Gamaran 20, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 12, How to Treat a Lady Knight Right 4, Undead Girl Murder Farce 5, and the 16th and final volume of Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse.

It’s another quiet week for J-Novel Club. We see the 6th Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte manga volume, The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles 7, the 5th Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon manga volume, Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight 3 (the final volume), and the 2nd The Water Magician manga volume.

And Airship, in print, debuts The Evil Queen’s Beautiful Principles (Akutoku Joō no Kokoroe), from the creative team behind Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter. A crown princess has been locked up for years, docile as a doll. Now she’s free… and suddenly her parents are murdered. This seems on the “serious” side of the genre.

Also in print: Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 8.

And there are early digital volumes of Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills 2 and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 5.

(air raid siren) Warning: manga approaching! What are you picking?

Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire, Vol. 10

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By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

This is a big old sucker punch of a book, telling you that straight off the bat. And this is clearly deliberate by the author. The first half or so has us following Inglis and company to meet with the Highland’s leader, so that they can try to get Eris repaired, as well as see whether anything can be done about Rin. And despite the island, erm, falling out of the sky onto the oceans, which is surely not an ominous sign, they have a good time. Then the second half of the book hits, and you are reminded of the earlier volumes in this series, which shows the Highland folks to be horrible monsters. That’s still mostly accurate, it has to be said, though a cliffhanger shows there may be even more inner strife than expected. All of this seems designed to build character – for everyone except Inglis, of course. She doesn’t need character development. She just has to hit things.

For those of you full of hope, I have to make you sad: that cover is an utter lie. Inglis stays in her six-year-old body for the entire book. There *is* a beach scene, and we get Inglis wishing they could do it again when she’s back to normal so that she could get a gorgeous swimsuit, but it doesn’t actually happen. That said, the other three girls are attractive, and everyone is being given the deluxe tour. Leone gets an upgrade to her rune, which is now a Special Rune, which I hope does not turn out to be something she regrets later on. As for Liselotte, she apparently has such amazing compatibility with hieral menaces that they offer to make her one. She declines. As for Eris… well, she’s basically the equivalent of a Type-40 TARDIS in a world of far sleeker and more powerful machines. But it’s OK, the totally trustworthy Highland folks will fix her.

I’m gonna spoil a couple of things here, so stop now if you haven’t read it yet. Good book, will read more, but very much a book of two halves. The second half begins when a merchant ship arrives with a princess from Venefic, who is being delivered to Highland to be a hieral menace, but is far more concerned about all her followers, who were also taken up in the ship. So Inglis and the others go to try to rescue them. Yeah. No. Instead we find that most of what makes the Highland Nation go is the equivalent of Soylent Green, as humans are being taken and essentially ground up into pure mana. I actually went “Urgh” out loud. Speaking of hieral menaces, there’s a reason Liselotte has such a good affinity, and it’s not a good one – the hieral menace sent by the pope seems awfully familiar… in fact, she looks just like an older Liselotte. And has the same name as her late mother. Nothing is confirmed, but come on. This also throws everyone off their game.

Honestly, the star of the book may be Rafinha, who suffers more than the others as she tends to see things in terms of black and white, and is finding that in a situation where all the solutions are bad, nothing makes her happy. She can’t even count on Inglis here, as Inglis does not really care even if everything goes to hell as long as she gets fights. Rafinha wants peace. Possibly she’ll get it in the next book, but I highly doubt it.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!, Vol. 5

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By Touko Amekawa and Wan*Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuukimama na Hanayome (Hitojichi) Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Amy Osteraas. Adapted by Vida Cruz-Borja.

The best part of this book I already quoted on Twitter: it’s Arnold pointing out how utterly ridiculous the premise of this series and all others like it really is. They’re going back over the party that began this series, one which, 5 volumes in, is a lot more suspicious than it felt at the time, and he says, and I quote, “A one-sided dissolution of an engagement in a public venue isn’t something that should happen in the first place.” To be fair, a lot of other authors agree, and this is hardly the first book showing the whole thing is a setup. But it’s always fun seeing Rishe be very clever and then finding that Arnold has already worked this out months ago and was waiting for her to catch up. Because yes, Rishe’s denunciation turns out to have been orchestrated by outside operators, and its goal was – you guessed it – to cause war between Arnold and literally everyone else.

Rishe and Arnold are taking in the opera, which Rishe has been looking forward to. Two surprising events happen: the leading lady collapses, and Prince Dietrich, Rishe’s old fiance, is also present at the event. Rishe is delighted to get closer to Sylvia, the opera singer, who has a reputation for a string of love affairs (and is thus highly amused at a very virginal Rishe) but also finds herself falling in love for real with one of Arnold’s guards. As for Prince Dietrich, he’s mostly an object of scorn and mockery throughout the book, having supposedly run away from home to get away from his beloved Mary, who it turns out has taken over from Rishe in trying to get Dietrich to learn how to be a good prince. That said, is that really the only reason he’s there? And is there really a spy in their midst?

The other best scene in the volume has Rishe and Arnold, walking the battlements in order to try to figure out the best way for a spy to get in, accidentally running into Arnold’s father. They only see each other from a distance, but Rishe can immediately sense the murderous aura, and her first reaction was to try to draw Arnold’s sword in order to protect him – never mind that he’s a better swordsman than she is. I expect the series will end with that final confrontation. Other than that, Arnold continues to soften up, finally giving in and realizing that things work out best when he just lets Rishe do whatever the hell she wants – though he does give her extra sword lessons so that she can properly hit flying arrows out of the air with one. Honestly, of all the couples in villainess books, this may be the best power couple.

The anime had just been announced when this came out, and it’s since aired and was a relative success. And the 6th book is out in Japan as of the end of last year, so hopefully we see it soon, cause this remains terrific.

After-School Dungeon Diver: Level Grinding in Another World, Vol. 1

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By Hitsuji Gamei and Karei. Released in Japan as “Hōkago no Dungeon Diver: Nihon to Isekai o Ikiki Dekiru Yō ni Natta Boku wa Level Up ni Isoshimimasu” by GCN Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hiroya Watanabe.

So much about this book just made me angry. I probably could have saved myself a lot of grief if I’d just read the afterword first. The author states they just wrote this for shits and giggles, as opposed to the two titles that they clearly took seriously (The Magician Who Rose from Failure and The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!). And sure enough, everything about this has a feeling of “eh, this sucks, but lol” to it. The After-School premise is pointless since we never once see our protagonist interact with anyone from Japan this entire book. The level-grinding isn’t really true either, since he refuses to let the guild raise his rank (despite a high level) because it will force him to actually assume responsibilities. Even the art is sketchy and not that good (Sorry, Irina the Vampire Cosmonaut fans). And that’s not even getting into the cliches of this genre, which are dripping from this book’s every orifice.

Sometime before the events of this book, Akira and a friend of his tried to come up with a way to get isekai’d… and it worked! Now he can go back and forth as he pleases between Japan and this other world, which is made up of dungeons and guilds, you know the drill. As our book begins, he spots an elf… pardon me, long ears… girl who has been enslaved by a group of humans. Unfortunately, the group of humans has also been killed by a nasty floor boss, leaving Akira to kill the boss and rescue the girl. He can even get her slave collar off, which is supposed to be impossible. She promptly falls for him, in a “mild tsundere” style. Later, he meets a “tail girl” (beast girl) who is running from something that I can’t describe in this review without it becoming 18+, and he saves her too. She immediately also falls in love with him. Despite all this, he maintains an “I don’t care I just do what I want” attitude the entire book.

It would be quicker to list the things that didn’t make me groan and hold my head in my hands. Akira is that combination of “smug coolness” and “I will save everyone but pretend I’m not” that is super aggravating. Scrael the long-eared girl goes back and forth between “it’s not like I want to go adventuring with you or anything” to naked bathing with him and being surprised that this arouses him. Eldrid is basically a golden retriever in a human-ish body, and thus her immediate love for Akira is a bit ergh. He has a mage mentor who hides in his shadow all the time, who gives him dangerous assignments to help him grow and offers rewards like “I’ll let you feel me up”, which he takes. There is a serious side story about a young potion maker trying to survive in the cruel city, which just makes me angrier because it’s well written but is then followed by “lol, all Japanese okama are sexual predators!” as a gag. Oh, and the other world is gaga over soy sauce. Wait till he brings in mayonnaise.

Everything about this is meant to appeal to the lowest possible denominator. If that’s you, go nuts. As for me, I even feel less happy about the author’s other two series now.

Pick of the Week: A Smorgasbord of Manga

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MICHELLE: I’m pretty intrigued by The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, but am gonna choose the fifth and final Marmalade Boy release because I still love this series so much and it’s a classic for good reason!

KATE: This is one of those weeks I’ve been saving up for, as there is SO MUCH good stuff arriving at your local comic shop. I second Michelle’s pick–Marmalade Boy is gloriously silly–but I also plan to buy Akane-banashi, The Fable, Tales of the Tendo Family, and Sketchy, as I NEED a manga about women finding a sense of purpose through skateboarding.

ANNA: There’s a ton of intriguing titles coming out this week, but I’m going to make Tales of the Tendo Family my pick because I’m always here to check out a Ken Saito manga.

SEAN: I’m with Kate this week: Sketchy has such a great sounding premise that even if it doesn’t quite measure up it’s still my pick of the week.

ASH: Lots of good stuff coming out this week, for sure! Everyone’s picks are solid, and I will readily admit to enjoying the first volume of Tales of the Tendo Family, but think I’m going to go with The Fable. (If for no other reason than needing to know more about the pet parrot.)