Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!

By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

By the time this volume came out from Earth Star Entertainment, the author already had two other series coming out at the same time via a larger publisher – I Shall Survive Using Potions! and Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement are both Kodansha books. Despite that, this is obviously the “flagship” series. I mention it because in my review of the first Potions book I mentioned that Kaoru was a lot more selfish and morally ambiguous than our sweet, lovable Mile. Which is still… mostly true? I have to say, at times it feels like Mile has sort of lost any of the few restraints that she may have had in the series previously. It’s hard to tell, mostly because Mile had so few restraints, but the chapter with the fairies especially almost features Mile in villain mode. It’s weird. I like Mile sort of sweet and cartoonishly overpowered.

Having featured Adele on the cover of the first book, and Mile on the 4th, we now get Misato on the 6th. She’s the subject of one of the short extras after the main storyline, where we meet her family and learn what she was like before her death that sent her to the world we know. It’s a very interesting chapter, and pretty much distracted me from the rest of the book. Misato’s parents are such old-school otaku that they have a reinforced house to hold the weight of all their manga/VHS tapes/games. And Misato takes after them 100% in terms of her media consumption. That said, Misato is also socially awkward to the nth degree – if it weren’t for her little sister she’d have trouble functioning. The description of her (perfect in school, perfect in athletics, no one wants to get close to her) reminds me a lot of Ran the Peerless Beauty, a shoujo manga I recently reviewed. The text also mentioned Misato has partial face blindness, which I really liked seeing as you rarely see that come up in any fiction. The story shows us that it’s the “Adele” part of Mile that has the extroverted personality, and the “Misato” part is the one with the otaku leanings and the brains.

Speaking of which, one of the stories in this book features a pun so bad that Mile has to lampshade it immediately lest the reader not realize just how bad it is. (You have to know your old robot shows.) The Crimson Vow run rampant through this book, defeating a party of demons, exploring ancient factories, curing a princess of her terminal illness (which turns out to be “she’s a picky eater” and also involves my 2nd favorite moment, when Mile’s overenthusiastic nanomachines invent multivitamins), and running into another all-female hunter team who are rather annoyed that their marriage prospects have suddenly plummeted now that the better-in-every-way Vow have come along. This series is very episodic, so for every clunker of a chapter (one chapter seems to involve Mile being the only one who realizes incest is wrong) there’s another fun one down the road (the other three Vow members trying to live for a few days without Mile, and realizing just how dependent on her they are).

I hear this is getting an anime soon, and you can see why. Each volume reminds you how much fun this is, and also how ridiculously overpowered Mile is. I hope the series survives cranky anime fans yelling about her. It should.

By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

There is something going on with this series that I absolutely love, that’s gotten stronger with each volume. We see Mile and the rest of the Crimson Vow, who have awesome strength and abilities and are a fantastic party. And throughout the book, we see everyone trying to find ways to use that to further their own agenda. And every time – Every Single Time – they are frustrated and anguished as our heroines shut everyone down and continue doing what they want to do. It’s fantastic, especially since so many of these folks eyeing the Crimson Vow are young guys thinking “ehehehe, cute young girls of marriageable age”. We even get it contrasted with a plotline about an inn being run by three young (very young – more on that later) girls who end up with husbands (mostly). The Crimson Vow, minus Mile, are all able to understand the romantic subtext, but just are not looking for that in their life right now. Mile, meanwhile, is Mile.

The start of the book features a moment we’ve been waiting for, as Mile’s main friends go back to her old kingdom and meet her emergency backup friends, which is to say Marcela and company. The main chapters give a fun and emotional reunion. An extra side story turns everything very ridiculous, as Reina and company have to battle against Marcela and company to see who gets custody of Mile. Once Mile realizes that’s what this is about she gets really angry, but till then it’s really quite funny, showing off the old cast vs. the new cast in very amusing ways. There’s two other big stories that take up the rest of the book. The first has the group hired to try to find spices for a gourmet restaurant, and Mile deciding to simply make her own capsaicin. PURE capsaicin. The other involves two warring inns…. well, one inn in trouble and another that wants to help but can’t because of stubbornness.

It is mentioned several times that the age of “I am an adult” is far younger here, i.e. it’s ten years old. Which makes sense in a fantasy sort of way, but I do mention it as we are seeing a lot of 15-16 year old girls discussing marriage, and some here who are about eight talking about getting engaged. In fact, time does seem to be passing and things actually happening here. In addition to trying to track down those excavating the past (which provides us with the cliffhanger), Mile finds out that her old kingdom has executed or exiled those responsible for her original fate, and they are in fact actually trying to find her… again, so that she can be elevated to a title and married off. Responsibilities for young women are never far away from everyone’s thoughts. But Mile, Reina, Mavis and Pauline want to carve out their own path before settling down, and that path does not involve marrying a lord and stopping. This is a series that moves.

I didn’t mention the humor this time, but there are tons of funny moments, mostly involving Pauline, who gets humiliated a lot but also seems to be a few steps away from becoming a supervillain, so it balances out. Anyone who likes seeing young women kick ass and gales of laughter should be seeking this series out.

By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Michelle Danner-Groves.

It has to be said, this book is not as funny as the first three books, and by definition is therefore not as strong, since I tend to read this series for the laughs. There’s still lots of amusing situations, Mile being ridiculous, people underestimating the Crimson Vow, etc. But the humor is also turning a little dark as well. We know that our four heroines are an unusual team, and have a certain tendency to be practical to the point of death, but the “let’s break all their legs and then break more legs because we need a complete set” gag verges a bit on sociopathy, which I’m pretty sure is not what the author intended. For the most part, this book is meant to show off how the Crimson Vow have sort of become too overpowered for the area they’re currently in. Fortunately, by the end of the book they’re moving on, touring other countries to see what trouble they can get in.

The main thrust of the plot involves our four girls going on a rescue mission, as several teams have gone to investigate in the woods and not come back. They find the teams captured in an archaeological dig that is being done by beastmen, who end up being mostly mooks for folks as powerful as Mile and company. Especially when Mile ends up coming up with the World’s Worst Stinkbomb, which is probably the funniest part of the book even if it’s also pretty gross. The most interesting part comes when we see who’s actually behind the beastmen digging for relics. It’s refreshing, after 150-odd pages of “this was going to be a dangerous fight–LOL, nope!”, to actually see Mile and company get their asses handed to them. (Honestly, when Mavis ended up overdosing on Mile’s “magical steroids” drug, I was wondering if we’d explore actual consequences, but apparently not.) That said, Mile ends up winning in the end, as she is Mile.

The discovery, once it is revealed, ends up being far more of a shock to Mile than it does the others, and it almost makes her decide she’s going to abandon the others and set out on her own – fortunately, Reina and Mavis are very good at reading Mile like a book. (Poor Pauline, though…) So now we get a world tour with the excuse of Mile trying to figure out what’s really happening with this world, and what it was like in the previous civilization. It’s implied we may run into Adele’s old companions in the next book, though we do get a short story devoted to Marcela, who is likely finding that “what would Adele do” is not alwayhs the best thought to have in any given situation, and is also a quintessential ojou-sama.

So I’m still reading this, but it wasn’t quite as fun as the previous books. I hope things tick upward next time.

By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

I don’t think I’ve read a series that’s as consistently funny as Make My Abilities Average. The author simply knows how to write humor and write it well (she also apparently makes a lot of tortured puns and wordplay jokes, which the translators make a valiant effort at adapting). The book starts off relatively sedately, but the entire battle with the Wyvern in the final third is comedy cold from beginning to end. You would think that “Mile suggests something incredibly off the wall” would get old fast, but she’s simply a walking font of ridiculous, and it helps greatly that she has three types of tsukkomis traveling with her. There is the occasional moment of seriousness, mostly involving the background for Pauline’s family, but for the most part Make My Abilities Average knows what the audience wants: laughs.

Mavis and Pauline share the third cover, which is appropriate as their backstories come back to haunt them at the same time. Pauline’s is more serious, involving the murder of her father and loss of her family business. Mavis’ family is still intact, but she is the only daughter of a Count, and as such they would rather she not be training to be the best knight she can be and get back to being a marriage prospect. And so the Crimson Vow heads off (unofficially this time) to deal with the problems and ensure that they can carry on as before. There’s some lampshading of obvious tropes here, which is where the humor is really mined. Mile shows up as Mavis’ teacher, Evening Gown Mask (yes, really) in order to take on the Count in swordfighting. Her disguise is… an eye mask. That’s it. Despite this, and without the use of magic, Mavis’ entire family fails to recognize that it’s Mile.

Then there’s the Wyvern fight, which ends up being a series of toppers. I had assumed that the high point would be the scene that is illustrated (quite well, I might add), but no, it gets better. And then gets better again. The absolute highlight may be the mastermind explaining his plans to (and for) Mile, which involves plans so deeply silly that Mile is forced to play the tsukkomi herself. I’m trying not to spoil because it was simply that funny to me. This isn’t a perfect book – as with a lot of light novels that need to pad out the word count, one of the short stories falls amazingly short, as we see Adele (yes, it’s a flashback to school #1) going on a date with a classmate, where the humor involves a) said classmate being a “nice guy” with extra quote marks, and b) the class rep being a wacky comedy lesbian. I hate wacky comedy lesbians. On the bright side, this does suggest that the series is determined not to have romance invade its fun. which is fine by me.

Last time I mentioned that the lack of a “main plot” was also a flaw, and you can say the same thing about this book – it still feels more like a short story collection that happens to be sequential. That said, the author seems to realize this, and is implying she will add more plot in the next book. In the meantime, if you want a laugh, or want to see a great all-girl fighting team, I highly recommend this series.

By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

Last time I complimented this series on its use of humor and its focus on a heroine who wanted desperately to be normal but lacked all common sense as to what that meant. It’s not really the sort of premise that can sustain a long series, and so I wasn’t surprised that this second volume, while still amusing, did not reach the laugh heights of the first book. Fortunately, even though it’s settling into more of a typical fantasy light novel, it still has strengths, which it leans on. The main heroines are all heroines, with most male characters being relegated to support. There’s also still no sign of a love interest for anyone, though one or two of the guys put out feelers that are shot down immediately. This is because the narrative treats these young teenage girls as young teenage girls, which is nice to see. And Reina, the girl on the cover, gets some tragic depth.

Mile still gets enough face time to be the heroine, of course, but I liked the balance between her and the rest of the party here. Reina is clearly impatient for their group to get powerful as soon as possible, and keeps insisting that they have to be able to kill people if necessary. I really enjoyed the way that the other three disagree with this but still don’t condemn Reina for it, as everyone has their own circumstances – for Reina it’s the death of both her birth family AND adopted family. It’s treated seriously, but because this is at heart a lighthearted series it’s not dwelt upon, and Reina’s obsession doesn’t drive her to the dark side as a more cynical light novel reader might expect. Likewise, the bandits – as well as “bandits” – that are dealt with here are a true threat that would easily have taken out anyone else… but Mile is Mile, so they’re stomped.

As I said in my review of the first volume, though irritated by overpowered heroes should absolutely look elsewhere. Despite Mile desperately trying to hide her amazing amazingness, everyone and their brother can see she’s on – if you’ll pardon the expression – a completely different level. There is actually an amusing came at the start of the book by the three girls that Mile went to Princess School with before the series rebooted itself, and they figure out exactly what she did by simulating how her mind works – which is to say, what situation uses the least amount of common sense? But as I said, Mile’s ludicrousness is more baked into the plot and characters this time, so it’s not as over the top as it was. She’s still a great heroine, though, and as I said, the bond of her party is a highlight.

The drawback with a series like this is that we’ve not really seen any signs of a plot that goes beyond “watch Mile be amazing”, and it would be nice if a recurring villain or something like that showed up. Still, at the moment I’m perfectly content to watch her be “perfectly normal” in the worst way. The third volume looks like it will focus on Mavis and Pauline judging by the cover, and I’d love to see that too. This is a series that puts a smile on my face.

By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America digitally by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

A lot of the transported/reincarnated to another world titles tend to follow the same series of events. If reincarnated, there’s sometimes a talk with and apology from God. Then the hero shows up at the standard vaguely medieval town, starts fighting fantasy monsters, and slowly amasses a group of young women around him. Oh, and is also ludicrously powerful. With this particular series, the hero is a heroine, but for the most part the exact same thing happens. The former Misato, killed rescuing a girl from being hit by a truck, is allowed by God to reincarnate in a fantasy world with magic and monsters and the like. That said, in her former life in modern Japan she was a talented, gifted girl good at anything… except making friends. And so she begs God to just make her an average girl in this new world. Hilariously, God has a ridiculously literal take on the word ‘average’. But that’s OK, as the heroine is just as ridiculous.

For the most part this story is a comedy, and the source of the comedy is Misato, who in this new world is first named Adele, and later takes on the name Mile. As she wanders through this new world like a bull in a china shop, you realize that even if God HAD made her an ordinary human she’d still have managed to stand out regardless. What she finds is that she’s average, not compared to the typical human, but average against everything in the world, including elder dragons. As such, she has super strength, super magic powers, and super reflexes. This horrifies her, and she spends most of the book trying desperately not to stand out. She is incredibly bad at this, to a ridiculous degree. Fortunately, she is a bit better at actually making friends this time around, first at the Academy for Slightly Lesser Nobles she is sent to, and then later on at the Hunter Academy when the series reboots itself.

The big flaw in the series, of course, is that it was originally a webnovel, and feels like it. As I said, about a third of the way through the book the author clearly decides that they have a better idea of what to do with their heroine, and so Misato/Adele ends up in a new country with a new name and at a new academy, but the situations she’s in are much the same – she even gets three other friends who seem wary/annoyed with her at first but quickly warm up to her after realizing that she’s less of a snooty genius and more of a hot mess. The reader may wonder why the first section wasn’t simply excised in editing. Once things do settle down, though, we get a number of fun, entertaining and funny scenes. Mile and her friends form a nice cohesive unit, and I like how she tries to teach them how to be more powerful by working the magical system this world has while also telling them it’s SUPER SECRET. And, of course, we see her being ridiculously overpowered, which is so ridiculous it turns out to be contagious.

The book tends to meander a bit, and anyone who gets annoyed by “OP heroes” should steer well clear. That said, I found reading this book an absolute hoot, and it was also nice to see a standard “other world” series where the focus is on a girl and her friendships and not possible romantic interests. The print book ships in June, and given that the second book is slated for August, I’m hoping we can read it digitally earlier than that. Also, what with this series, Walking My Second Path in Life, the upcoming I’ve Killed Slimes for 300 Years, and (sort of) So I’m a Spider, So What?, we’re finally getting a decent number of light novel heroines who are women. About time.