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Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 11

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By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn.

The author speaks in the afterword about having grand plans for a lot of wacky fun in the second half of this arc, but as they began to actually write the book, it became apparent that wacky fun was going to have to take a backseat. This is a serious book, with lots of threats to our heroines and the city as a whole. Reirin herself is still battling her own chronic illness, and has come to terms with the fact that she’ll be dying very soon – something which absolutely terrifies Keigetsu. And then there’s the brothel they’re infiltrating, which is filled with sex workers who are trying their hardest to be the one who steps on rather than the one who gets stepped on. There’s a chilling drug that not only can give you lifelong addiction, but no one knows how it’s made! And then there’s the guys who they’ve left behind, who are ready to rush the place at the drop of a hat, and have taken their hats off and prepared to drop them just in case.

In order to help Nadir stop the drug trade and find evidence to convict his crooked aide, Reirin and Keigetsu (who remain swapped the entire book) have to infiltrate the brothel that is the most likely source of the drug. Seika is going as well, of course, because she’s come to the horrifying conclusion that her childhood friend may be there. Unfortunately, for Reirin’s plans and perhaps Keigetsu’s self-image, Reirin-in-Keigetsu is not considered pretty enough to be a sex worker, so she’s made a simple laborer while the other two infiltrate above stairs. Still, this lets her easily investigate… but she’s coming up empty. Meanwhile, things go from bad to worse for Keigetsu and Seika – not because they’re being bullied as newbies (they’ve seen far worse in the inner court, and are more appalled at how unsubtle it is), but because Kinyou, Seika’s friend, *is* there, is the one at the very top, and will do anything to throw Seika out of there fast.

For those of you not reading this as a yuri series (there are some, right? The author if no one else…), there’s a lot of good stuff here. We’ve seen subtext between Keigetsu and Reirin’s brother Keishou in previous books, but there’s even more of it here. Likewise, while they start off as enemies, fans of shoujo manga should realize that Seika and Prince Nadir’s back and forth is very familiar, and likely may also turn romantic. That said, the author also cannot stop writing the strongest relationships in this series between the women. Seika and Kinyou have what amounts to a DIY marriage ceremony before Seika departs for the inner court, and there is a lot of anguish and pain between the two of them that does not scream “besties!”. Speaking of anguish and pain, Keigetsu is still reeling from the reveal that Reirin is much closer to dying than anyone thought, and it’s not a surprise that the solution that pops into mind is “why don’t we just stay like this forever so she can have my healthy body?”. Reirin would never allow that of course… so Keigetsu has to start hiding things from her again, which I’m sure will go as well as it always has.

Reirin says she’s going to tell everyone else at court about her condition in the next book, and presumably stand down as a maiden. I’m 100% sure that won’t happen, but I’m unsure where this will go. In any case, this series remains terrific, though as always, if you suffer from chronic illness, it can be very hard to get through.

Repeated Vice: I Refuse to Be Important Enough to Die, Vol. 4

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By Kuroakawa Hitsugi and Kushiro Kuki. Released in Japan as “Repeat Vice: Akuyaku Kizoku wa Shinitakunai node Shitennou ni Naru no wo Yamemashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by piyo.

We’ve had a couple of “trapped in the world of a game” series with more than one person aware of it, but those tend to go a different way than this one is. Usually you get the main character figuring things out, trying to change their fate, etc. and we get the other character (often an evil heroine) simply waiting for their life to be the same as the game and getting upset when it is not. That’s not what we get here, as there are two people actively trying to push back against the game’s events… in a previous life, no less, so it’s a mashup of that as well… and occasionally struggling as they see things out of context. Lilka knows that Lofus is already quite different from before, and yet when she hears about him interacting with Fol, she immediately can’t help but thinking of Fol as being the same as the past world. It’s very hard to draw outside the lines of the coloring book in your head.

Lofus continues in this book to do what he does best: make everyone’s lives a much better place while being an absolute dick about it. He is, unfortunately, unable to find an easy fix for Iz’s wasting mana disease, but he does manage to forge new ties with a merchant who really likes Lofus… possibly a bit too much… and get his railroad started with the unwanted but grudgingly necessary help of Raymond, who is still trying to be the one to force Lofus back into the game plot. Meanwhile, Fol is doing her best to map the unmappable, and Lilka is continuing to be a sky pirate. Unfortunately, as love interests go, they both have one primary flaw, which is that they’re not near the hero every day. Yes, that’s right, remember how I was feeling bad for Yusurika, Lofus’ hapless bodyguard who seemed to be unable to stop him waltzing into trouble? Turns out she’s also a love interest, and moves to the front of the line in this book.

I will admit I am not entirely positive about the Yusurika subplot. Not necessarily because of the love interest thing, it’s that kind of book, I know he’ll just continue to stack up women like cordwood. And her tragic past as a cursed dark-haired girl, despite her amazing healing powers, is unoriginal but par for the course. I am merely grumpy about the old chestnut “wait, I met you years ago and became your reason for living but have totally forgotten it because for me it was Tuesday” plot, which even Lofus has to fudge and say “no, of course I remember you”. Speaking of other love interests… not, not Fran the Saint or Maylene the Mage, but Raymond the wannabe Demon Lord, who is our token BL option (sorry, fans of the merchant, but he’s clearly comedy relief). Lofus may try to avoid dealing with him and hate his personality, but there’s no denying that their hate chemistry would spawn a number of AO3 fanfics if this were in Shonen Jump.

There’s a semi-cliffhanger at the end, but I would not worry too much about Lilka. Especially as the 7th book came out in July. For fans of the “villain” genre.

Manga the Week of 9/2/26

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SEAN: As August drifts into September, new college freshmen get their very first internet account… wait, it’s not the early 1990s, nevermind.

MICHELLE: I didn’t get mine ’til grad school in the mid-’90s!

ASH: What’s the Internet?

ANNA: In retrospect, a huge mistake!

SEAN: Ablaze has the 6th volume of Gannibal.

Airship has the 2nd volume of Classroom of the Elite: Year 3 and the 20th and final (barring any short story collections) volume of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom in print.

In early digital they have Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 7 and The Neverending Winter, the Land of Broken Dreams (the 4th in the The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes collection).

And in only digital, there is Reborn as an Assassin’s Apprentice 2.

Two debuts from Cross Infinite World. Assassin Empress Bellreuge (Ansatsu Jotei Bellreuge ~Shiitagerareshi Koujo wa Ai o Ete Nariagaru~) is a one-shot about a girl who gets a proposal from a margrave with a nasty reputation. This makes her half-sister… the princess… simply furious. Fortunately, Bellreuge is good at avoiding assassins.

ASH: That is a good skill to have!

ANNA: Better than the alternative!

SEAN: From Corporate Drone to Mincemaster! One Order of Dragon Coming Right Up! (Makikomarete Shoukan Sareta Genkai OL, Guild Shozoku no [Mamono Kaitai Jou] toshite Funtouchuu ~Dragon desu ka? Mochiron Sabakemasu!~) is a story about a girl summoned to another world!… or rather, the girl next to her is. Out goes the useless girl they accidentally summoned onto the street. Fortunately, someone finds a use for her weird skill.

ASH: Another series for the monster menu subgenre!

SEAN: They also have a 5th volume of Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes.

Ghost Ship have Tamamori’s Fantasies Never Stop! 5.

Glacier Bay Books have Akari, a oneshot that ran in Flat Hero’s. After his wife dies, a man loses interest in anything. Then his granddaughter shows up.

And they have Baku-chan, a manga about a tapir coming to Japan and facing prejudice.

And they have Box Garden Beetle (Hakoniwa Mushi), which ran in AX (not the convention). This is a collection of stories by a famous alternative manga artist.

ASH: Releases from Glacier Bay Books are always worth checking out!

ANNA: Just cool to have more publishers in the mix!

SEAN: Hanashi Media gives us The Disfavored Prince is a Genius Alchemist 2 and Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy 19.

A quiet week for J-Novel Club. On the light novel side, they have Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 48, Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden 10, Revenge of the Soul Eater: Cast Out as a Weakling by My Sword Saint Father 6, and Royal Spirits Are a Royal Pain! Give Me a Regular Romance 4.

And for manga they have The Banished Former Hero Does As He Pleases 9 and Hell Mode 11.

Kana has Billy Bat 2.

MICHELLE: I still need to read the first one!

ASH: Same! I’ve got quite the backlog.

ANNA: Me too! I did buy it.

SEAN: Kodama have a giant Baki the Grappler box set, with the first 8 omnibuses. They also have Omnibuses 23 and 24 of Baki the Grappler as well.

ASH: The release schedule of this series is truly impressive.

SEAN: And there’s a 5th volume of Smile!.

ASH: I feel like I blinked and missed three volumes.

SEAN: Kodansha Manga has one print debut, How to Grill Our Love (Yaiteru Futari), a Weekly Morning series about a newlywed couple who love barbecue! We’ve had the digital of this for some time.

Also in print: Initial D Omnibus 11, MF Ghost 6, Nina the Starry Bride 17, Shugo Chara! 20th Anniversary Edition 3, Tune In to the Midnight Heart 9, and The World Is Dancing 4.

ANNA: Obligatory yay on my part for Nina the Starry Bride!

SEAN: Seven Seas, for danmei, has a 5th Dinghai Fusheng Records.

Seven Seas, for non-Airship Japanese novels, has a 6th The Twelve Kingdoms.

ASH: I still love this series so much.

SEAN: As for manga debuts, there are three. Cheeky Devil Cop! (Akuma de Fukei!) is a Weekly Young Magazine series about a cute demon who wants an evil minion, and the evil-looking human cop she meets seems perfect. But he wants to send her back to hell!

Luna Knight runs in Monthly Young Magazine. A girl runs a flower shop and waits for her missing sister to return. Then when the shop burns down, she regains lost memories.

Printernia Nippon: My Squishy Bio-Printed Pet runs in Matogrosso. In the future, you can 3D print your pets! But our lead guy screws up, and doesn’t get a dog, he gets… what is that anyway?

There’s also a deluxe hardcover version of Dai Dark coming out, covering the first three books.

ASH: It even glows in the dark!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: 10 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40 2, BASTARD 5, Dungeon Elf: What’s a Dungeon without Treasure Chests? 2, I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class 7, The Ideal Sponger Life 22, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 17, Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! 11, Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 13 (the final volume), Seaside Stranger 7, The Strange House 6, The Tale of a Little Alchemist Blessed by the Spirits 2, The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 8, and The World’s Fastest Level Up 8.

MICHELLE: Oh, I had forgotten about Seaside Stranger!

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has Always a Catch! 8.

Steamship debuts The Obsessed Mage and His Beloved Statue Bride: She Cannot Resist His Seductive Voice (Yandere Mahoutsukai wa Sekizou no Otome shika Aisenai: Majo wa Manadeshi no Atsui Kuchizuke de Tokeru), the manga version of the light novel, already published by Seven Seas. Our heroine, to save the country, turns herself to stone for twenty years. Now her cute teenage assistant is an older, sexier man, and still totally in love with her.

ASH: Cue drama.

ANNA: Whoops!

SEAN: Takumigraphics (Fantagraphics’ new manga imprint) debut On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides (Senba no Hito). This 350-page book details the lives of four people shortly after the war. I’ve heard REALLY good things about this, and it’s also a bit LGBTQ?

ASH: I have likewise heard very encouraging things about this release.

ANNA: Wow, sounds interesting for sure.

SEAN: Udon Entertainment has – take this with a grain of salt – three titles out next week. In the Manga Biographies series we get Amelia Earhart and Momofuku Ando (the guy who invented cup noodles). There’s also Blue Archive: Comic Anthology 3.

Viz have a debut. Shiba Inu Rooms (Shiba-tsuki Bukken) stars a young woman who gets an apartment dirt cheap… because it’s haunted by the ghost of a Shiba Inu! Think wacky comedy.

ASH: I’m not sure I can resist a Shiba Inu manga! Even without being a ghost, they can be delightfully extra.

ANNA: This sounds cute!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Hima-Ten! 2, I’m No Angel 2, Kaiju No. 8 16 (the final volume), Magical Girl Dandelion 3, Nana 25th Anniversary Edition 5, Nue’s Exorcist 8, RuriDragon 4, Spy x Family 16, A Star Brighter than the Sun 7, Super Psychic Policeman Chojo 5, and Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi 3.

MICHELLE: I really do need to read A Star Brighter than the Sun.

ASH: Reading Nana again is a great option, too!

SEAN: What are you reading in this perpetual September?

Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 15

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By Shoji Goji and Saku Enomaru. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Andrew Schubauer. Adapted by Rei Geronimo.

There’s a bit right at the end of this book where all the nobles ask Haruka why he’s not all that worried about the Empire invading, even though they clearly are saying they’re going to do so. And Haruka utters a stream of gobbledegook, as he always does. But when translated by Book Club President, it amounts to: they don’t want to invade, they want all their enemies to collapse from within and then waltz in as saviors. It makes a lot of sense, though Haruka is also well aware that there’s a time limit on this, and I suspect in the next book we may finally leave Omui to go somewhere else again. Because this is the third book in a row where the plot is basically Dungeon, Inn, Dungeon, Inn, over and over for nearly 500 pages. The dungeon stuff is mostly filled with Haruka’s monologues about how he’s trying to improve, why no one will let him do so, and the occasional sensible observation. As for the inn, well…

On the cover is Haruka’s new servitude victim, an archdemon that Haruka decides to name Morning Star Archdemon, after the weapon he gives her. That said, relax – not only does she look like an underage gothic lolita on the cover, but Haruka thinks she is as well. So she’s going in with the demon scythes and the chickenatrice, in that she’ll be seen fighting but will not be part of the ongoing bedroom adventures. Which is good, as those are taking up more and more of the book. The book is still somehow rated OT rather than Mature, probably as Seven Seas knows that this series is not exactly picking up any new readers. That said, I used to say that the sex was there but ignorable because Haruka’s narration mostly made it incoherent. That is mostly true, but we also now get narration from the girls, which is a lot less incoherent. Honestly, I’m impressed the author has almost made this all plot relevant – the Dungeon Masters clearly want the other girls to get with Haruka as well, but know that, as they are and as he is, he would simply break them. So there’s training instead. Which involves either a lot of “stamina training” and also consumption of some “miracle medicine”. Class Rep seems to be doing better than the others, mostly as she’s their sacrifice half the time. Anyway.

In non-sexy and dungeon-related stuff… there is a bit of it… we see Haruka trying to open a portal back to Japan so that he can send the girls back home. (He’s given up on the guys, who are either married now or avoiding getting married.) He’s thinking of their families back home, and also worries that if he lets it go too long they’ll be too inhuman to ever really return. I have news for Haruka, that’s long since already happened, even if it’s only been four months since the start of the series. The girls all know this too – they’ve explicitly told him they’ve come to terms with the isekai and are staying, but he is, of course, ignoring them, mostly as he still feels responsible for everything. The Dungeon Emperors don’t only do “sex training” with the girls, they also do dungeon training, and they’re the biggest hardasses out there. Mostly as they know the girls have the same issue they do – if Haruka gets strong enough that they can’t be at his side anymore, their hearts will completely shatter. Meanwhile, Haruka thinks the ideal solution is to not have anyone he cares about at his side. You can see why this isn’t getting anywhere.

So yeah, we read another 500 pages of wheel-spinning, as the author admits in the afterword. Will things happen in Book 16? We can but pray.

Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey, Vol. 2

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By Hachigatsumori and Nat. Released in Japan as “Yuusha no Tabi no Uragawa de” by Dre Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT.

In my last review I mentioned that the hero’s party itself barely featured in the book. That changes with this second book, and we get to see what kind of hero’s party they are. And, frankly, it’s very much towards the idealistic end of the spectrum. No one is getting banished from the party with these guys – in fact, we literally see that near the end. The hero is the sort of girl you want to be the hero who saves the world, and she’s got strength and stamina out the wazoo. Sadly, no one really trained her, so she lacks any real experience – which is probably why Rhuys’ prophesies keep showing her dying horribly before she can complete her destiny. Technically Ariagnée, who is demi-human herself, should not really be training the hero on how to kill folks like her should the time come. But alas, the bad guys reckoned without one important fact that this book emphasizes as much as the last: Ariagnée is gay as hell, and will do anything for a cute girl.

Acting on a new vision that says that the hero is going to be ambushed by assassins, Rhuys and Ariagnée try to quickly get ahead of the party to take care of things… and end up running right into them, as noted above. Ariagnée helps Lina (the hero), who is quick to learn but also a bit of a meathead when it comes to combat. Rhuys has an awkward meetup with Agnes, the party’s cleric, who is the protoge of the woman who tried to have Rhuys killed in the first book. There’s also Sierra, a typical “not the hero but very similar” warrior, and a mage who is the only guy in the group. After ditching the party, and having a quick detour at a lake (more on that later), they end up being attacked by assassins… no, not the assassins who are ambushing the hero, another, slightly less good group of assassins. Because it turns out that the hero being chosen by magic fiat upsets folks who dreamed of THEIR hero being chosen.

That detour I mentioned is basically a maguffin that allows our two heroines to come to terms with their past. They meet a guy who is trying to find an artifact that lets you talk to the dead… which gets pretty dark when you hear why she died. But then Ariagnée uses it to talk with her mother, who is rather blasé about being dead, and encourages her. Rhuys has to rely on a DIFFERENT maguffin, but also gets a bit of closure that hopefully makes her a lot less death seeking than the first book, in that it turns out only half her family didn’t care about her at all. This may be an adventure series with yuri subtext, but the world they’re in is dark, and there’s a lot of corpses stacking up, particularly towards the end. Rhuys may keep seeing vision of the hero dying, but when merchant Utile (who, by the way, looks EXACTLY like Richeh from Witch Hat Atelier) asks Rhuys to make sure Ariagnée stays safe, we nod along. Please protect Ariagnée from the narrative.

There’s no third volume of this yet, but Drecom tends to wrap series up fast rather than cancelling them unfinished, so I’m sure one will pop up. If you like subverting the hero’s journey, or just a lot of gay women (there’s at least three, and I’m prepared to go up to seven if I have to) this is a good read.

The Villainess Speaks Not: The Black Pawn and The Summoned Heteromorphs

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By Kei Yose and Ruria Miyuki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijou wa Shaberimasen” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam.

These are chunky books, with each volume being around twice the size of your average light novel. As a result, I deeply appreciate that the book starts with a “story so far” catching me up on what happened in Book One, because after that the reader is not really given any more help. There are lots of characters in this, and you need to remember who they are and which faction they’re with. More characters are introduced. Some characters we thought would be major players in this book end up being taken off the board instead. Liliana has changed a lot about the way that the “plot” of this world is supposed to go, but it feels like fate wants to railroad her anyway. Things are definitely not helped by her attempts to distance herself from the love interests, which not only fails, but actually gets worse. Basically, she’s so good at everything that she may accidentally end up as dead as the narrative wants.

Liliana can actually speak now, though she hides that from most people. And she’s much calmer and better at powerful magic, meaning she has an alive handmaiden rather than the dead handmaiden she had in the narrative. Despite this, the world keeps moving on, and she keeps trying to figure out how to fix things so she escapes her fate. Maybe it can be by understanding the complicated politics of the various countries that deal with them – especially the Empire, who seem to be actively sabotaging them. Maybe she can save the entire country when a massive monster swarm attacks the royal capital on the Prince’s birthday party. Maybe she can make an ally, and indeed hire, the assassin who’s been trying to kill her and her allies. And maybe she can get Riley to choose someone else to be his fiancee, though honestly, that’s the hardest goal. After all, he’s mostly figured out what she’s hiding.

This book has a problem a lot of light novels taken from webnovels do, which is that the big climax of the book happens a little over halfway through it, and the ending is sort of a quiet “to be continued”. I suppose it’s better than a nasty cliffhanger, but after 389 pages it can feel anticlimactic. That said, we did have lots of climaxes in the pages beforehand. The addition of Obsidian to the cast is fantastic, as every heroine needs someone who will snark at her and also try to kill her just so she can prove she’s still better than him. I also liked the subplot around Austin, who ends up going out on the monster hunt even though he’s too inexperienced. He survives, but clearly needs therapy, and I appreciate this is recognized and forced onto him. As for Liliana, I think she may need to admit soon that she and Riley are in fact a perfect couple. Then again, she still isn’t even ten years old yet.

If you like your villainess stories to be more like black coffee than sweet tea, this is right yup your street.

Pick of the Week: End of August Picks

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ASH: With all of the fantastic licenses recently announced at Anime NYC, it may be easy to overlook the excellent titles being released this week, but there are more than a few! It probably isn’t a surprise that I’m interested in Hirohiko Araki’s Manga Theory and Practice: How to Create Villains. However, the manga debut I’m most looking forward to this week is Deep-Sea Aquarium Magmell. Creatures from the oceanic depths are absolutely fascinating.

MICHELLE: Maybe this title won’t be any good, but I’m still intrigued by Then Shall I Kill in Your Stead?, so I will go with that, this week.

SEAN: I have heard good things about What Does the Fox Say?, so I’m going to make that my pick.

ANNA: There’s not a ton coming out that I’m really enthusiastic about this week, but I’m most intrigued by Hand in Hand with Mu-chan.

Anime NYC 2026, Sunday

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Sunday is usually my quietest day, and this year was no exception, as I only had a single panel. Technically it should have been two, as Crossed Hearts split up their panel as they were introducing two new imprints, but the late time of that panel would have meant I’d get home around 10pm or so. The panel also helped to remind me how old-school I am. I started covering NYCC, then Anime NYC, carrying around a notebook that I would write in very quickly as the panelists spoke, and I have leveled up to carrying around a laptop that I type on very quickly, but otherwise my modus operandi is much the same. Which can be a problem, as panels go faster and faster and the slides stay on screen for a shorter and shorter period. This was especially true with Crossed Hearts, who had the most multimedia-driven panel I saw at the convention. They were here with Tiktok-style videos, and while they were cool, it meant it was hard to be there typing away like a beaver before the next one hit.

Crossed Hearts also featured a team that seemed to be very good at everything except public speaking, so they thoughtfully hired an emcee to yell loudly and get the crowd excited. It was a good move. The actual head of the panel was Aurora Aurealis, and the description of what the company is and what it offers reminded me a lot of the Kaze panel the previous day. They don’t narrow down by genre, they’re not just interested in hits. They focus on manwha from Korea (mostly of the webtoon/vertical scrolling sort), manga from Japan, and novels (from Korea for now). Their first titles, including Baroness Goes on Strike (a Peggy Sue rewind title), From a Knight to a Lady (a wake up in the body of a noble title, sans otome game), and The Archduke’s Adopted Saint (saint abused by her family Cinderella story), but future series seem to be wandering away from the typical shoujo stuff popular right now.

Out digitally this month and in November in print is The Matchmaker’s Fiancé: My Fiancé Won’t Leave Me Alone While I’m Finding Him the Ideal Bride (“Risou no Hanayome wo Sagashite Shiawase ni Shite Sashiagemasu” to Ittara, Sokkenakatta Kon’yakusha ga Nazeka Kakawatte Kimasuga, Hanayome Assen Ganbarimasu), a Comic Brise title about a matchmaker who is convinced her fiance isn’t into her, so breaks up with him, vowing to find his ideal woman. Little does she know… The Executioner of Greminal (Grenimal no Shokeinin) is also a digital August, print November title, about two talented guys who team up to hunt vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. This somehow doesn’t even have a female lead! Out in November in print (not not digitally, the Korean stuff seems to lack digital, probably for rights reasons) is Darling, Why Don’t We Divorce?, a villainess story where her divorce is contingent on seducing a guy who hates her.

Rounding up the stuff already announced, out at the end of the year is All-Rounder Maid Connie Wille (Bannou Jochuu Connie Wille), a FK Comics title about a maid who does everything perfectly and only wants to have a quiet, dull life, but sadly the manga is named after her, so that ain’t happening. They also have two novels. These got short shrift at first, but that turned out to be because it was the first in many new imprints that the company announced, A Novel Press. The Abandoned Villainess Became a Zombie is a Korean title whose name pretty much sums it up. She has to hide her zombie status while trying to figure out how to reverse it. The first volume is already out digitally, and I’m pleased to see the ebook has been fixed to be a real ebook and not a print replica (though it still looks thrown together). The biggest reaction (it got an anime earlier) was for Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion, which also features a girl who ends up in the body of someone doomed to die and tries to change her fate. This has print and digital in December.

Time finally for new announcements. Doomsday Requiem with You is a shoujo romance about a girl trying to save her father from dying by a curse, and her interactions with the Crown Prince who seems to be behind the curses. Soul Guiders is, by the way, when their slides started to go so fast I was not able to get the information. A princess and a demon search for macguffins is what I can tell you. Chiaroscuro has a princess who has no cool powers getting involved with a sacrificial boy? These all had fancy videos that made them look cool, and possibly distracted form the fact that I couldn’t read the slide in time.

New licenses that aren’t original series included Welcome to the Rose Manor, a manwha about an impoverished noble who accepts a job as a tutor at the most haunted mansion ever. Emma and the Eyes that Bid Farewell is a manga I can’t track down the Japanese title of, but it runs on the GANMA app. A non-magic using girl enters the academy for magic users. Fortunately, she meets a hot guy. Unfortunately, a conspiracy wants her dead specifically. The Two of Them Can’t Be Mobs (2-Ren wa Mob Ja Irarenai) is also a GANMA manga, about a really hot guy and an oni girl (literally, she has horns) who want to blend into the background but can’t because of who they are. Love Beyond the Final Boss: The Hero’s Party’s Quest for Love (also can’t find the romanji, also on the GANMA app) takes place after the demon lord is defeated… and now all these isekai’d folks are going berserk. Our heroes have to stop them. This was noted as having, in addition to the main het couple, asexual, bisexual and intersex characters. That said, it appears to be for KonoSuba fans. Flirting with the Villain’s Dad is a manwha about a girl who wakes up… as the heroine’s AUNT in a tragic webnovel, and has to stop the deaths of everyone in the previous generation (i.e. hers) from dying.

The last original title before the panel got cut off by the con for going too long was Where Sea Meets Shore, and I wish I could tell you about it, but the slide went too fast. It’s an OEL title, and I am but one man with poor eyesight. It debuts next month.

Speaking of things I missed, as I mentioned, I was not at the 2:30pm panel that was the sequel to this one, where they announced new imprints. Glam Beat (shoujo/yuri stuff) and Blush Club (BL). The Devil in Me is a Thai yuri title about a priestess and a vampire, seems to be on the dark end of things. Ink Soaked into Ashen Paper is a Korean yuri novel about two countries at war brokering a peace by having a young princess marry an older queen. Fairy Trap is also a Korean novel, this one BL, about a guy who sleeps almost the entire day who finds he can dimension walk. And there’s Addicted to You, a BL title about an Angel who finds love with a human, and reincarnation is involved? This is the trouble with announcing things via Tiktok videos. Lastly, they’re joining with the Thai publisher Lily House to release more Thai yuri content in the future.

And that’s it! It was a good con!… except maybe for the DJ, whose music was FAR TOO LOUD. Looking forward to next year!

Fired? But I Maintain All the Software!, Vol. 2

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By Yuki Kashirome and icchi. Released in Japan as “E, Shanai System Subete One Operation Shite Iru Watashi o Kaiko desu ka?” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Minna Lin.

Content warning: This review will be discussing a book that deals with multiple companies that use AI, and it discusses AI throughout the book, usually in a positive way (though it does emphasize AI without humans making decisions is a disaster). Reader discretion is advised.

The second volume of this series tries to figure out what to do next, as (the author admits this) it was written as a one-shot with no real idea where to go next. As it turns out, while there’s still a lot of discussion of startup companies and AI, for the most part the series turns into Ai being a counselor and solving the mental blocks and traumas of young women. If you asked Ai, of course, she’s not particularly thinking of herself as a counselor, but that is de facto what’s happening here. We also get an introduction of a new regular, who looks so much like Megumin from KonoSuba that the book outright admits it. Oh, and we also meet a younger sister who’s tall, smart, and also indebted to Ai. The series may not be yuri per se, but Ai can’t help but draw cute girls into the fold.

As with the first book, the cover art is the first moment of the volume, as Ai gets up, still in pajamas, turns on the TV, and sees her old boss doing a press conference in cosplay. She doesn’t have time to boggle at this too much, as her company has a problem – because Ken was unprepared for Ai’s brilliance, they had to sell the Smart Frames – including the rights. As a result, Ken takes most of the book off to level up, so to speak. As for Ai, she realizes she doesn’t have a dream like most everyone else she talks to, and decides to talk with the handsome, rich, brilliant CEO she met in the last book. He immediately tries to headhunt her, but reckons without her oddly low self-image. He then directs her to a similar problem genius – Megumi Yamada, whose combination of intellect that skirts around being labeled autistic and deep past trauma and grief have left her something of a basket case – but a brilliant one. After this, Ai then meets Tsubasa’s younger sister, who has a dream she can’t fulfill and has grown jaded and weary of life. She’s also a complete genius, by the way.

A lot of the solution here seems to be “fight genius with genius”. Yes, Ai takes Megumi to a hot springs and forces her to do things like sleep, but what really fixes things is that Ai is clever enough to rapidly catch on to what Megumi is doing and make suggestions to fix the one thing that was missing. As a result, not only do they have a brilliant new product, but they have a new employee, as Megumi now wants to be at Ai’s side at all times. As for Arisa, I did come up with the technical answer for how her issues were going to be dealt with, but I was thrown off by the extended description of a sports anime that also helped wear her down and reminded her why she liked basketball so much. The solution actually combined the technology from both Ai and Megumi, making it thematically appropriate, too.

The big flaw with this series, of course, is that it’s so ridiculously idealistic it squeaks. Ai is essentially an isekai’d guy with a sword and a harem, only the sword is her computational brilliance. That said, in a genre overflowing with guys with swords, that can easily be good enough.

If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love ~ She Was All But Disowned for Her Spirit Contract, But She’s Still Competing with Her Rival ~, Vol. 5

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By Harunadon and Yomi Sarachi. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara: Nanashi no Seirei to Keiyaku Shite Oidasareta Reijō wa, Kyō mo Reisoku to Kisoiatte Iru Yō Desu” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund.

Japanese series, and fantasy light novels in particular, really love a certain kind of villain. He’s usually portly, he’s definitely arrogant, and he tends to sneer a lot. There are few grey or sympathetic villains here, most of the ones we see are kicking puppies when no one is looking. And an awful lot of them seem to be with the church. We’ve had sympathetic clergy so far for this series, but there have been factional fights, and with the death of the head priest at the end of the last volume, it’s time for them to take over, jail and torture the ones on the moderate side, and put out an all-points bulletin: arrest Brigitte and get that phoenix. Which is why, of course, Brigitte has disappeared. Even worse, this isn’t the final volume, so you know that we won’t quite wrap everything up.

Yuri and Brigitte’s friends discover she’s gone, and very quickly work out why – it’s not hard to figure out when the clergy are going around the school searching. So they decide to search for Brigitte as well, plus try to throw the pursuers off the trail. Meanwhile, Brigitte and Tonari are trying their best to hide by going back and forth between the Crack and the real world, while also having conversations about whether Brigitte might actually be a changeling and not a real human being at all. Y’know, just chatting about stuff. Brigitte does not exactly need this right now, but she perseveres anyway, as she’s plucky like that. Unfortunately, running away is not going to actually solve the problem, so we’ll go with plan B, which is deliberately get captured.

There’s a lot of good stuff here. I like that, in the end, Yuri’s family are all various shades of abusive and neglectful not because they’re bad people but because they’re all awkward dorks who are poor at communication. “I would have helped you, but you never reached out and were also kinda whiny”. Horrible, but I get it. It was also, and I hate the fact that I’m saying this, interesting seeing Joseph again. He’s been under house arrest, and has mostly given up on having anything good in his lift, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to choke Brigitte out and still being the world’s shittiest ex. Yuri wants to kill him for what he did, and, well, there’s still one more book to go, so good luck, Yuri! Speaking of that one book, unfortunately, the bad guy got away, and bad family things are happening, so gotta postpone the wedding a little longer. At least the next book is the last, I think.

This feels like it’s gone on a bit too long (the online version ended with Book 4), but I’ll keep reading it till the end. It’s mid-tier Villainess.