By Choko and kaworu. Released in Japan as “Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru” by Dragon Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sasha Schiller.
So yeah, I was wrong about more than one thing in my last review. To be fair, when it comes to one of those things, the rest of the cast got it wrong as well. When we hear there’s a new saint, we, and the King and prince, assume that it’s going to be Emma. I had wondered if the plotline would be that Emma had to move to the country of religious zealots. But no, it turns out that the saint is someone totally different. More to the point, I had said that this series was first and foremost a comedy, and while that’s still true, it does show that it is not afraid to get involved in drama when the need arises. Or in this case pure horror. For a number of pages we know nothing about what’s going on except that Emma and her brothers are terrified, to the point that Emma can’t even walk. And the explanation is not only eerie (though even it gets used comedically later) but also asks what the saint position even does.
After debating just staying forever, and William having to deal with his mother and sister being BL fans, the Tanaka family are returning to their capital… only to find this have changed while they’ve been gone. The Church has declared a new saint, Juana (who we briefly saw in a prior volume, but don’t worry if you forgot her, so did everyone else). And there’s a rumor going around that Emma was in fact a FAKE saint, and a lot of students are following Juana around and disparaging Emma. For the most part, this doesn’t really bother Emma and company, as those close to her are still her friends, and she doesn’t really run into the new saint. Until she does, and when Emma and her brothers see Juana’s face, Emma has a complete nervous breakdown and the entire family retreats to their estate. Which starts even MORE rumors.
Rest assured, there’s some good comedy here. The bizarre Church edict about buying new underwear makes the Tanakas boggle just as much as the audience, and the Tanaka Family themselves are always good for fun scenes, especially when we get a few of their uncles and cousins. But the book shines when we discover why Emma is so horrified about Juana’s face, and the nightmare that she has is harrowing and (possibly) may have led to real disaster were it not for their giant cats. More to the point, the Church and the Saint are trying to start a real war with real consequences, and it takes most of the book for the country to even realize it. Now, I’m fairly sure that things are back on the upswing, but it’s a good sign of how the Tanakas have sort of accidentally become the lynchpin that holds this world together – especially Emma.
This is basically “Part 1 of 2”, so we’ll see how it resolves next time. A great volume, with some nice depth.
