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The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects: The Blue-Horned Maiden

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By Fuurou and Kinta. Released in Japan as “Ryoumin 0-nin Start no Henkyou Ryoushu-sama” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

I had reached a brief period in my giant pile of reviews where I had a gap in my schedule, so asked folks what books they might want me to try that I had skipped before. This one came up first, so I gave it a try. It’s not bad. I have a few issues with one or two of the subplots (see below), but overall this fits in nicely in the “I arrive in a new place and slowly accumulate people who adore me” slow life genre. If there’s one big objection that I have to the books, it’s that the chapter titles are all locations. The Next Day, By the River. A Week Later, At the Yurt. If you’re that desperate, there’s always the option of just leaving it at numbers, you know? That said, the chapter titles don’t give much away as a result. Except that there’s a yurt. Which makes sense, given that this setting feels very much like fantasy Mongolia.

Dias, an orphan who strives to live up to his parents’ last words to him, is the hero of the most recent war, and is very much in need of a reward. The nobility decide to grant him a domain. They take him out to the middle of nothing but grassy plains, leave him with no food or water, and say “everything you can see is yours”. Then they leave. You can tell they are SWELL GUYS. He finds water, then decides to just sleep where he is. He then wakes up to find a teenage girl with a blue horn on her head (hence the subtitle) angrily asking him who he is. It turns out this land is actually part of her oni clan’s, and they’ve been at war with the city he came from for some time. That said, her horn is also a lie detector of a sort, and she can see he has nothing but good intentions. Which confuses her. See, Dias wants to be a good frontier lord. Even if he’s not sure how to do this.

Dias is one of those big dumb guys who’s good at fighting provided he doesn’t have to think (he uses a giant axe), but as it turns out he’s not all that dumb, he just tends to take time to think things through. I was fairly sure that Alna would be the tsundere sort who would slowly warm up to him over the course of the series, but I could not have been more wrong. Their tribe prizes strength over everything, and when this guy not only takes out a huge number of fantasy bison but also a dragon (or, as he insists, a giant turtle), she falls in love almost immediately, and they’re engaged (he refuses to let them be married till she’s of age) by the middle of the book. My one grump is that not once, but twice, we get situations where we think there will be slaves sold, only to be told “no, there is a lot of slavery, but these people are not slaves because _____”. As a result, Dias ends up adopting twin daughters, and a nearby sympathetic lord has a harem of adoring women. Both subplots could honestly have happened without slavery. You can just… not write the background slavery.

So overall, this was pretty good. I’m not sure I have a huge desire to read more, but if you like the genre it’s definitely worth a shot.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 8

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By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

Of all the series I was expecting to parallel the main plot in this one, Though I Am an Inept Villainess is perhaps not the most obvious choice. But it does make sense. Sara has had a life in Japan where she spent most of it ill and not being a real kid, and then she ended up in this world and spent almost all of it also not being a normal kid. Even when she met up with Allen, who is himself nothing like real children in this world, they both act relatively mature, and they’re both surrounded by adults most of the time. And now they’re 17, which is to say they’re adults in this world, but have not quite mastered the emotional heft needed to survive as an adult. As a result, when a traumatic event happens to both of them, they have their first big fight. And everyone around them suffers. Because these are GOOD KIDS.

Now that Nelly and Chris are married, they have the perfect choice for a honeymoon: go explore a dungeon, of course. And they take Allen and Sara along with them. Unfortunately, the deep floor of the dungeon turns out to be filled with gargoyles, which badly injure Chris and Nelly and give Allen near fatal injuries, which Sara has to treat by giving him a potion that either works pretty well or hastens death. Allen survives, but as it turns out he has to “take it easy” for a month or else he’ll never get back his old strength. Unfortunately, medical research is still mostly in its infancy in this world, so no one knows what “take it easy” really entails. Meanwhile, Sara, who has her barriers, was perfectly safe throughout this. Allen is realizing that “strong enough to protect her” is going to need a big re-definition.

I do appreciate that the book does not make this ENTIRELY Allen’s fault. Just mostly his fault. It’s about an 80-20 split. The main issue is that the only ones who still see Allen and Sara as kids are Allen and Sara themselves. Everyone around them assumes they’re going to be married in a few months, but the two of them still can’t quite make that jump, and when Sara goes to the capital alone, without Allen, it’s a game changer for her, and everyone comments on it and realizes exactly what’s happened. It must be depressing when everyone around you knows you better than you know yourself. In any case, Sara is a full-fledged apothecary with little more to be taught, Allen is learning how to fight properly as opposed to the hand-wavey bullshit way Nelly fights, and they are developing careers. Settling down will soon need to be a thing.

Unfortunately, the next book seems to start a new, non-romantic arc. Well, I suppose that’s fine. This is a great series. And it had a good amount of wolves this time, too!

The Hired Heroine Wants the Villainess to Gloat

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By Hanami Nishine and . Released in Japan as “Yatoware Heroine wa Akuyaku Reijou ni Zamaa Saretai” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

I was somewhat baffled at this single-volume series after reading it. On researching the title further, I am slightly less baffled. It came out in 2019, which is not in the first wave of Villainess titles, but right after, which is why it tries to play with the form a little. It’s also one of the CIW titles that they licensed directly from the author, and only seems to have appeared on the Narou website. A lot of webnovels are written on the fly. They’re week to week. They’re messy. And when they get picked up by a publisher, they tend to get heavily rewritten. This is still in the “messy” stage. It starts off almost as a broad comedy, and gradually starts to get a bit tragic as we begin to understand our hired heroine, who just wants to live happily with her mom but sometimes life doesn’t let you get what you want. Her messiness makes this interesting.

Nina Scaglione has been reincarnated in this world form Japan, but her memories are vague (she *thinks* she may have lived in the country as the daughter of a rice farmer) and she’s not remotely noble. She lives as a commoner with her mother, who is dying and in pain. Her father is also dead. Then suddenly a talking cat shows up, and tries to make a deal with her. She can’t cure her mom, but she can get medicine that will ease her mom’s pain for as long as she has. In return, she has to play out this other girl’s “otome game villainess” fantasies and be the “heroine”, who is there to be a commoner, seduce the prince, and then get publicly shunned at graduation like all the best villainess books. There are a few problems here. The first is that the prince is uninterested in her, and she in him. The second is that this villainess is really, really dim.

At first I was certain this book was a comedy. This villainess, Clarissa, is a master class at “did not think this through”, and can’t even pour a bucket of water over the heroine without screwing it up. Nina’s attempts at being the heroine are helped along by this world’s “heroine powers”, which means everyone who has not co-signed a contract with God thinks that everything she does is wonderful and perfect, and this can also get very amusing. That said, as the book goes on, Nina’s life starts to get worse and worse. Things are not helped by Nina herself, who is very much in the “I am so plain and no one would be attracted to me” school of light novel protagonists. There are some real tear-jerking scenes later on, even as the book gradually manages to barrel along its narrative. That said, the book does end happily ever after, kinda sorta if everyone works art it. Even for the villainess, who is rather flummoxed by all this.

So yes, I don’t regret reading this, and enjoyed Nina’s struggles. But it’s a mess.

Manga the Week of 8/6/25

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SEAN: Still hot. Still humid. Apologies to readers in Nunavut, who must feel left out. But what about manga?

MICHELLE: Florida is a literal and figurative hellscape at present.

ASH: It’s been pretty bad where I am, too.

SEAN: Yen Press have one debut, Guillotine Bride: I’m Just a Dragon Girl Who’ll Destroy the World (Dantoudai no Hanayome – Sekai wo Horobosu Futsutsuka na Tatsuki desu ga) is a manga based on the light novel that Yen put out last year. It’s a harem action series, and the LN was bad. This runs in Dra-Dra-Flat b.

Yen also has April Showers Bring May Flowers 3.

Viz Media debut Astro Royale, a series from the creator of Tokyo Revengers. As a gang battles to decide who their new leader is, a meteor hits, and suddenly everyone has superpowers! I think this was announced for print by Viz right before Weekly Shonen Jump cancelled it.

ASH: Ope!

SEAN: We also get The Bugle Call: Song of War 2, Colette Decides to Die 4, Dandadan 14, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu Academy 6 (the final volume), The Elusive Samurai 16, In the Name of the Mermaid Princess 7 (the final volume), Kagurabachi 4, Kill Blue 2, Marriage Toxin 8, Natsume’s Book of Friends 31, Queen’s Quality 23, RuriDragon 2, Sakamoto Days 18, Spy x Family 14, and You and I Are Polar Opposites 6.

MICHELLE: I really need to check out Colette Decides to Die and catch up on Natsume!

ANNA: Me too!!!!

ASH: Yup.

SEAN: Tokyopop has The Margrave’s Daughter & the Enemy Prince 4 and The Person I Loved Asked Me to Die in My Sister’s Stead 4.

Titan Manga has a 10th volume of Kamen Rider Kuuga.

Steamship debuts Don’t Hold Back, Lord Hades (Gaman shinaide, Hades-sama. ~Reikoku na Meiou no Jun’ai wa Michishirenai hodo Fukakude, Omoi~), a josei title from Otomitsu Mangosteen that asks “what if the tale of Hades and Persephone had more sex?”.

ANNA: There are a lot of romance novels that investigate this line of inquiry.

ASH: I’ve read a comic or two, as well. I might have to read this one, too.

SEAN: And they also have Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts 8.

Square Enix Books has the 6th volume of The Apothecary Diaries light novel in print.

ASH: Which reminds me that I need to start reading the prose version.

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has YoRHa: Pearl Harbor Descent Record – A NieR:Automata Story 4 (the final volume).

Seven Seas has a new danmei title, Joyful Reunion. An abused, neglected child one day has a man show up and say he’s the boy’s father. Now the boy is taken away to a web of political intrigue.

MICHELLE: Hm. I do like political intrigue.

ASH: Same.

SEAN: No God in Eden (Kamisama Nanka Shinjinai Bokura no Eden) is an omegaverse manga that runs in Magazine Be x Boy. Two high schoolers, supposedly total opposites, one day find that they’re alpha and omega. In fact… they’re the world’s FIRST alpha and omega.

Werewolves Going Crazy Over Me is a manwha whose premise sounds exactly like an omegaverse title, but replace omega with “mate” and you’ll get the gist. Young single mom whose child is fighting illness meets a CEO who has a secret. You can guess the secret.

ANNA: I know! Is he…..a vampire??????????

ASH: That must be it!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi 4, The Dangers in My Heart 11, Gene Bride 2, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 22, Hunting in Another World With My Elf Wife 6, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout 7, Mii-chan Wants to Be Kept 2, My Deer Friend Nokotan 6, Pet Shop of Horrors: Collector’s Edition 3, and Soara and the House of Monsters 5.

ASH: I recently read the first volume of Soara and the House of Monsters; I should probably read more.

SEAN: One Peace Books has a 4th volume of Hero Without a Class.

No debuts at all or Kodansha. In print, we get A-DO 8, Blade Girl 2, FAIRY TAIL: 100 Years Quest 18, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity 8, Kaina of the Great Snow Sea 4 (the final volume), Love, That’s an Understatement 2, Sheltering Eaves 4, Teppu 2, WIND BREAKER 13, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 15.

MICHELLE: I really liked what I read of Sheltering Eaves.

SEAN: The only digital volume is the 31st and final volume of Those Snow White Notes.

J-Novel Club has one debut, a light novel. No Wife, No Problem: A Mage’s Life with His Beloved Daughter (Kekkon wo Akirameta Majutsushi, Dekiaisuru Manamusume ga Dekita node Issho ni Shiawase ni Narimasu) stars a powerful mage who is now in his forties and lonely. He asks the gods for a daughter, and they give him one from his own blood – and this daughter is even more OP than her dad. This seems to be in the “no incest, just heartwarming” dad/daughter genre.

ASH: Oh, good!

SEAN: Other JNC novels: Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook 6, Cooking with Wild Game 29, My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 11, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 8.

For manga, they have 8th Loop for the Win! 5, The 100th Time’s the Charm 4, The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom 5, Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character?! 6, Hell Mode 7, and Rebuild World 12.

Ghost Ship has a 15th volume of World’s End Harem: Fantasia.

In print, Airship has The Too-Perfect Saint 3.

And for early digital, we get Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend 5 and Too Many Losing Heroines! 5.

What manga will you get to cool you off (unless you’re in Nunavut)?

Notorious No More: The Villainess Enjoys Feigning Incompetence, Vol. 1

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By Hanako Arashi and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Kitai no Akujo, Sandome no Jinsei de “Musai Munou” wo Tanoshimu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Jeremy Browning.

This volume is plotted out in a very odd way, though I did end up quite enjoying it. The backstory of our villainess is quickly tossed off in about a page or two, as if it’s totally irrelevant – though it’s not, and I really want to find out what actually happened in the past. The feigning incompetence part is also given short shrift, as is the “everyone at school bullies her” part. That’s all just setup for the bulk of the book, which is a test that rapidly turns into a “death game” sort of environment. But this too is a sequel to something we only see in a side story at the end, as our heroine and her fellow low-ranking students all share a close bond of trust and are a fantastic team. What, you may ask, is this book interested in, then? This book is interested in taking shallow, arrogant nobles and destroying them.

Beljeanne was, so it is said, a cruel and heartless villainess who tried to kill her rival by summoning a demon. She was killed, and reincarnated as a Japanese girl. There, she went through school, work, getting married, having children, and dying happily at the age of 86. Whereupon she is reincarnated back in her original world, two generations later. as the granddaughter of the rival she supposedly tried to have killed. With ALL her memories, of course. What’s more, her mother enjoys hitting her, her father is indifferent, her brother is priggish, and her adopted sister is the “otome game heroine who’s evil because this is a villainess book” sort of girl. Clearly there is one thing that she can do in order to get the life she wants. Yes, it’s time for sandbagging.

Given that this book has a long sequence where Laviange ends up wreaking her revenge against all the nobles who have wronged her in this life, you may be wondering how I felt about it, given that Livid Lady had a similar plot and I hated it. But Notorious No More is very careful to only go after the specific people who deserve it. The noble who is killed off in this book because of Laviange’s actions tried to use mind control magic to brainwash her while they were in a dangerous area surrounded by powerful monsters. She’s very good at being nice to those who deserve it – the one good member of that team is not only spared by Laviagne but also used as fodder for the romance novels she writes as a side job – but those who have sinned against her are (with one exception) not offered second chances. We see the second prince, who has not only bullied her but is also being seduced by her stepsister – gradually realize that he’s been a complete piece of shit and trying to fix it. He fails. Fortunately, he’s only the second prince.

How much you like this book likely depends on how much you like protagonists taking down anyone they don’t like, but the people she doesn’t like are terrible, so I’m down with it. Hopefully in the next book we might find out what really happened in her first life. For smug villainess fans.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/29/25

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Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 14 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – The bulk of this volume shows us Sarasa’s parents, why they abandoned her with her grandparents to go off and have careers, and why they don’t really regret it. Sarasa does take after her mom in some ways, but the sympathy pretty much lies entirely with her, and I was happy to see that she seems to take it pretty well. She’s moving forward so much that she breaks up with Akiya—as a text!—because she feels she needs to stand on her own now, and regards their relationship as being her relying on him. That said, maybe she should have talked with Akiya about that, as he seems happy to try to ask her out again once she’s settled in. Fortunately, the last chapter in the book gets us back to the acting, and I assume that will take up most of volume fifteen. Love it. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 34 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – The series ends with the 37th book, and as such there are a large number of students introduced here with two pages, learn what weird eccentricity they have, move on. I suspect the author is sort of wishing they had made it fifty friends, but that would not fit the folklore. Fortunately, there’s also a solid story in this volume as well, seeing Komi taking charge of the culture festival, where the class decides to run a ramen stand, and succeeds despite arguments and the rules of culture festival cooking regulations. Komi really shows off how far she’s come here, and is rewarded with a walk round the festival with Tadano… who is in women’s clothing, because of course he is. Never stop a running gag just because you’re near the end. Komi only has a few more friends to go, and also college worries. Fortunately, her romance seems to be on easy mode. – Sean Gaffney

Rainbows After Storms, Vol. 3 | By Luka Kobachi | Viz Media – Nanoha and Chidori… are keeping it a secret from everyone. But… they’re dating. I appreciated that they reversed the usual tagline! I also appreciated that it appeared a lot less. This mostly revolves around two big events. In the first, the friend group all goes to the beach, and Chidori wears a nice bikini and regrets it almost immediately, as all of her friends who are not Nanoha are leering at her. (Nanoha finds her super sexy, but is cognizant that Chidori does not like her large chest.) In the second half, there’s a school festival where Chidori’s old sempai shows up, who was her first crush and confession… but got a “we’re both girls” rejection. That said, after seeing Nanoha’s forthright “yes, we’re dating, what about it?”, the sempai is regretting things. Cute. – Sean Gaffney

Short Game: Mitsuru Adachi’s High School Baseball Collection | By Mitsuru Adachi | Denpa Books – If you’re buying a chicken sandwich, you want it to taste like chicken. As such, if you’re buying a collection of baseball short stories by the great Adachi, you know what you’re getting. Baseball triumphs, baseball failures, what happens after baseball. Lots of people who communicate strong emotions through seemingly blank expressions and relying on the other person to figure things out (the girls). The other person usually needing heavy-handed hints to figure anything out (the guys). There’s also a gag manga version of the manga Touch, which would be awesome if Adachi were popular enough to get more of his 40-year-old manga out over here. Since he’s not, I’m very happy with this excellent collection. – Sean Gaffney

A Star Brighter Than the Sun, Vol. 2 | By Kazune Kawahara | Viz Media – This one is a bit more disappointing than the first book, but that’s not the fault of the writing and characterization, which is fine. It’s just that this author is now famous enough to write long series, and therefore we simply can’t have these two talk things out, realize they’re each other’s crush, and get together this early. As such, fans of communicating with others may find this deeply annoying—though, to be fair, Sae does talk to all her other friends about this. It’s just she’s so certain that he loves someone else and not her that no one can see past her own denial. I do enjoy seeing, in a genre where timid heroines also tend to be shy wallflowers who don’t do much, that Sae takes change in class and is generally awesome. For genre fans and fans of the author. – Sean Gaffney

This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Vol. 4 | By Sai Naekawa | Yen Press – This remains very compelling but also very creepy, since it’s just drenched in Hinako’s suicide ideation. The idea seems to be, as of the fourth volume, that Shiori wants to help Hinako get what she wants to do, whereas Miko wants to help Hinako live, but that may not be what Hinako wants. This is also tied in with romantic feelings, of course. The back half of this book is the best, where Shiori bluntly says “the two of us will never be friends” to Hinako, but I think means it in a reassuring way. And we meet another monster, this one someone who normally doesn’t eat humans, but Hinako is once again said to be “just SO tasty.” Now, I can’t see this series ending with Hinako’s wish to die being granted, so I do wonder what’s going to change. Great stuff. – Sean Gaffney

A Witch’s Life in Mongol, Vol. 1 | By Tomato Soup | Yen Press – This one I knew was critically acclaimed, and it’s also very striking, with the artwork and the story combining well. A young girl is sold as a slave to a rich wife in Iran, and gradually begins to learn how to read and do science (and also falls for the young son of the household, who goes off to get more knowledge). Unfortunately, it’s the early 1200s, and here comes the Mongol Empire to ruin everything. They kill nearly everyone in the household, and they take the book of Euclid’s Geometry which everyone knows is incredibly important. Seeing Sitara, the girl who stars in this, go from sullen slave to intellectual sponge to broken captive to rage-filled young woman is quite a trip, and I absolutely want to read more of this. – Sean Gaffney

The Devil Princess, Vol. 1

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By Harunohi Biyori and Geso Umiu. Released in Japan as “Akuma Koujo” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Julie Goniwich. Adapted by Emlyn Dornemann.

Well, that sure went places. I mean, the basic premise suggested that it would. The author did too, as this author is also responsible for The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival, which is definitely a series that Goes Places. But I admit, I was kind of taken in by the narrator, as is often meant to happen. The reason unreliable narrators are a popular literary device with authors is that we are meant to trust them. it’s what narrators are FOR. First-person narrators are there to be the POV character, the one you root for, mostly. Sometimes they’re bad people, but they still are fun to read. And our heroine Yulucia is fun to read. She starts off the book as a classic “dying in the hospital from weakness” Japanese girl, then ends up as a little demon slime, who rapidly, without knowing it, becomes a far more powerful demon. She becomes the crush of the most powerful demon there is. And then she decides she wants to be human. And this is where the story really starts.

So yeah, as noted above, our little demon suddenly finds that she is a human baby. She’s also spoiled rotten… and kept from doing anything at all… so it’s hard to figure out what’s actually going on with her family. Eventually, as she grows older, she learns that she tends to terrify people who are not her immediate family and staff, likely due to her demon past. She also has tremendously powerful holy magic, and also summoning magic, which she thinks is also due to being a former demon, but the local religious folks think may make her a Saint. Eventually they can’t put it off any more, and she is allowed to go out and socialize, and make friends with other… noble children? Wait, is he the prince? Just how important is her family? And then, of course, she’s kidnapped. And THIS is where the story REALLY starts.

So the main reason I found this so fascinating is trying to figure out along with Yulucia exactly what kind of world she is now living in. It’s pretty apparent from the start that she’s rich and probably nobility, but her dad is rarely around, she’s not allowed to leave the house, and her mother also never leaves the house. She also has a head maid with powerful healing magic, which is rare for adults. And, oh yes, she’s so inhumanly gorgeous that she looks like a perfect doll rather than a human, and everyone around her is either immediately taken with her or repulsed. The other good thing about the book is Yulucia’s determination to be human, as she worries that she’s still a demon underneath, due to being scary and inhumanly beautiful and being unable to taste most food. I don’t want to spoil the last quarter of the book, but let’s just say that her issues get resolved in a big way, and your jaw will drop. I suspect things will escalate as this series goes on.

This is 5 volumes so far in Japan, so there’s certainly a lot more “and this is where the story really starts” we can get. Please keep surprising me, Devil Princess.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 9

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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.

So yes, there is a cliffhanger. Sorry. However, the cliffhanger does not mean this particular arc is ongoing. Everything hanging from the last few volumes about this arc is dealt with here, thankfully. But yeah, this was, from what I hear, supposed to be the finale, but the series got popular, so the author was asked to continue it. And it works pretty well, though I will admit that I do grow a bit weary of the “you can’t trust anyone, can you” aspect to some of this series. There is also a lengthy flashback explaining the Emperor’s past and why he’s been so gung ho about sorcerers. It’s well handled, but I’m going to be honest, I read this series for two characters, and the Emperor is neither of those two. Any time we cut away from Reirin and Keigetsu, I begin to lose interest. And that’s because they’re so dynamic and vibrant that I can’t look away.

After rescuing Reirin from her near drowning, the cast get together to check their notes and explain exactly what’s going on. We find that the Emperor’s older brother, the only sibling who actually gave a damn about him, was assassinated as part of the massive throne war that was going on. Assassinated by a sorcerer, who had been let out of prison expressly for that purpose. And the sorcerer then got away, so the Emperor has spent the last twenty-five years searching high and low. Fortunately, Reirin spots a way that they might be able to talk the Emperor down and convince him that Keigetsu can help him. But to do that, they’re going to need to pull off another really good acting job. Which is a shame, as everyone knows that when Reirin tries to imitate Keigetsu, she’s been failing miserably.

The main reason this book is fantastic is the fight that’s been coming for a while now between Reirin and Keigetsu. After the events of Book 8, Reirin thinks that Keigetsu is making other friends, and thus doesn’t need her any more. Which, unfortunately, triggers Reirin’s tendency to use “and then I sacrifice my life” as her Plan A all the time, which causes Keigetsu to lash out, scream in anger and say “I hate you”. We are reminded that these girls may be consorts in not-China, but they’re also teenage girls who have grown up unable to express emotions like normal kids. As a result, Reirin needs to be sat down and have it patiently explained to her that Keigetsu is, in fact, still her best friend and would be very upset if she died, and Keigetsu has to have it explained to her that Reirin has the emotional sensitivity of toast when it comes to their friendship, and thus cannot read between the “I’m worried about you!” lines that Keigetsu is throwing at her. They make up. It’s great. Reirin possibly overcompensates, but that’s not a surprise. But hey, everything solved…

…OK, no, there’s a cliffhanger, and so not QUITE everything is solved. Still, this was great, except the bits not about our two heroines, which was merely good.

The Bladesmith’s Enchanted Weapons, Vol. 1

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By Kazuma Ogiwara and CARIMARICA. Released in Japan as “Isekai Toushou no Maken Seisaku Gurashi” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ryan Burris.

I usually try, when J-Novel Club announces their usual pile of licenses, to try one or two that I otherwise might not. With the ones announced in April, this one piqued my interest, mostly as it did not seem to involve “weak to strong”, revenge fantasies, or harems of elves and beastgirls, the current hot new subsubgenres. This seemed to be about a bunch of sword nuts, and had a likeable cover. Why not give it a shot. And I am happy to say this is definitely on the “good” end of the “give it a shot” spectrum, leaning towards “very good”, though that comes with a caveat I’ll get to later. The biggest surprise for me was that, while this was indeed a title that featured a bunch of sword nuts, it also has a really sweet and lovely romance at the center of it, which I was not expecting. When your “ah, slow burn, I wonder how long they’ll drag it out” turns out to be “twenty pages”, you know it’s a different sort of romance.

Lutz is a struggling smith who lives in the poorer areas outside the city, and he’s just forged an incredibly beautiful katana. Perhaps a bit TOO beautiful, as while examining it he almost kills himself with it. He’s not sure what to do with it, though, and doesn’t even sign or name it. Then he has to go rescue his friend and business partner Claudia from a bunch of thuggish knights who plan to sell her into slavery, and ends up trading the katana for her (afterwards, brought together by peril, a rescue romance, and them both being incredibly attractive, they quickly become lovers, then spouses). The katana ends up attracting the attention of an old enchanter, Gerhard, who is also fascinated by beautiful blades. And when they bring in an engraver who also falls madly in love with a sword created by Lutz, we have a combination that may prove far more dangerous than anyone could imagine.

I made that sound a lot more dramatic than the book actually is. While there are some tense, dramatic moments, such as Claudia getting rescued, or hero Ricardo facing off against some dangerous creatures, this ends up being a lot lighter and more goofy than you’d think. A lot of this is due to the fact that it’s a pretty horny book. Claudia and Lutz, once they hook up, are very sexually active, which is a refreshing change from most LNs that drag things out 15-20 books. But what I actually mean is Lutz’s weapon that ends up with Ricardo, which, well, makes people want to kill themselves, and also arouses them beyond belief. Erections are mentioned more than once. As is the word ‘ahegao’. It’s also a really sweet book. Lutz and Claudia’s love is adorable, even if Lutz would sometimes rather the adorable part not be revealed for all to see.

Basically, unlike almost everything else out there right now, this doesn’t pigeonhole itself easily into a subgenre. Even the “isekai” in the title isn’t quite right – this is a fantasy world, but no one’s here from Japan, at least not in Book 1. It’s worth your time, assuming you don’t mind a slight layer of eroticism over the whole thing. These blades enchant people. Yes, like that.

Spy Classroom: Annette and Her Many Knickknacks

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By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

The author says in the afterword that this is an attempt to write a much lighter book after the events of the last arc, and I guess it is technically? There’s certainly a lot of wacky shtick going on here. There’s childhood marriage promises, There’s a search for PIRATE GOLD!, there’s Annette… being Annette, and there’s Thea… being Thea. That said, this is also darker than you’d expect, with even one of the jokes being an incredibly dark one about disposal of a corpse. There’s murders, there’s revolution, there’s tortured confessions getting brutally rejected. And there is Annette being Annette, because she is who she is, and despite the cover art changing for the first time to show her being all happy and a beachside setting, at the end of the day this is just a brief delay. We know, and Lamplight all gradually figure out, that these happy days are coming to an end, and it’s time for then to evolve further.

Lamplight are on an island resort (with an attached Naval base) taking a vacation after the events of the last three books. After partying on the beach on the first day, Klaus has one instruction for them: they can’t all gather together as one unit till the 13th day of their vacation. As a result, Grete ends up dealing with an island teenager who met Klaus years ago and wants to marry him; Thea and Sara investigate the naval base, as well as a grisly murder that is one of a string of grisly murders that have been happening every three months; Lily, Sybilla and Monika decide to try to find that legendary pirate gold, and discover a lot more than they had really planned, and Erna… fishes. (It’s OK, she gets the bulk of the prologue for the next arc.) As for Annette, she’s helping to plan a wedding at first, then loses interest and helps Thea at the naval base, then ends up finding the three pirate hunters, and then … vanishes?

The best part of this book is showing how the character development everyone got in the last few books has not vanished and is being built upon. Grete’s love of Klaus is not demeaned or made comedic, and he’s taking it seriously. We don’t know how Monika and Lily’s discussion went, but they’re treating each other the same as always, and a newly risen from the ashes Monika can now even be part of the goofy comedy relief when it suits her. Thea … OK, Thea has the grandest goal in mind for her future, but she also has the furthest to go, as this volume shows – but I did love the conflict between her and Sara and how it doesn’t damage their friendship at all. And Annette is still a sociopath, but she’s figured out how to use that as part of her job, and she’s also realized that she doesn’t want to get SO evil that her friends stop liking her. She’s growing up! They all are. The next arc, I expect, is gonna be dark again.

So get ready for… short story collection? (sigh) Short story collection. This was excellent.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 13

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By Bokuto Uno and Miyuki Ruria. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

One of the memes that goes around about Reign of the Seven Spellblades – let’s be honest, it may be the only meme – has Fred from Scooby Doo in front of a villain with “Harry Potter” as a mask, and he says “Now let’s see who Reign of the Seven Spellblades *really* is!”, and removes the mask, showing Fate/Stay Night. I have, in fact, made this joke myself throughout these reviews. That said, no volume quite hammers this home as much as this one. Shirou and Saber… pardon me, Oliver and Nanao… are competing to see who can be the biggest death seeker (OK, that’s not quite correct, but both think death within a year or two is inevitable). Meanwhile, I’ve already talked about the ways, both physical and mental, that I think Chela is like Rin, but I wasn’t expecting her to also be Sakura. And of course, if you’ve played the original Fate game, you know how explicit it gets. This volume comes close to that.

In the aftermath of the last book, Guy has to distance himself from the rest of the Sword Roses, which is particularly devastating to Katie. To make things more annoying, they’re fourth years, and now is the time when they all have to essentially “choose a major” – decide what specific course they’re inclined to pursue in detail. Oliver has not really thought about his future at all, so simply goes along with Katie to keep an eye on her. Nanao accidentally forgets the most obvious path, mostly as she too is not bothering to think about the future. And Guy is seeing if he could be a good curse breaker, and also has the folks from Book 12 he fought with – including comedy relief Annie Mackley – trying to separate him from the Sword Roses. This all comes to a head when Katie gets so uptight she needs… relief, shall we say, and Chela asks for what is an obvious solution. Things go badly.

This book reminds us of two big things. The first is that our protagonists, the Sword Roses, are all thought of as huge freaks within the rest of the school. They’re literally described as ticking timebombs, and the main reason seems to be the fact that they’ve been so close knit since they first met at the start of their first year – most friend groups in this school drift apart. The second is that, despite all of this, there’s still a lot of secrets that have never been told between this friend group. Nanao learned one of Oliver’s worst tragedies from the past, but Chela didn’t, and that ends up blowing up in her face – mostly due to Chela’s OWN backstory, which we get another part of here, and – as Chela herself points out – she and Oliver are similar yet also opposite in some ways. I’d said that I wondered if this would end with just Oliver and Nanao dead or everyone dead. I now suspect this may be an all-or-nothing series – either the six survive or they all die.

All this plus a whole lot of… well, there’s no other way to put it, mutual masturbation… reminds us that this remains a really well-written, really horny, and really suspenseful series. I have no idea what’s going to happen next.

Manga the Week of 7/30/25

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SEAN: Say goodbye to July with these titles.

ASH: So soon? I seem to have misplaced a week or two somewhere.

SEAN: Lots of print from Airship, as we get Failure Frame 12, Free Life Fantasy Online 9, A Tale of the Secret Saint 8, and Witch and Mercenary 3.

And in early digital we get Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 8 and Trapped in a Dating Sim: Otome Games Are Tough For Us, Too! 4.

Aloha Comics have a massive hardcover box set of all 6 volumes of the Heaven Official’s Blessing manhua.

ASH: I’d somehow managed to forget about Aloha Comics, but what a fantastic reminder! This set looks gorgeous.

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has a one-shot debut, The Hired Heroine Wants the Villainess to Gloat (Yatoware Heroine wa Akuyaku Reijou ni Zamaa Saretai). Our protagonist is hired by God to try and get the plot of an otome game back on the rails, despite the prince wanting to be a farmer and the villainess not being that evil.

ASH: I am amused by this premise.

ANNA: Me too.

SEAN: They also have Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra 7 and So You Want to Live the Slow Life? 5.

Dark Horse debuts Cat + Crazy (Nekottake!), which is not a spinoff of Cat + Gamer – it actually predates it – but is from the same author. A boy whose family is allergic to cats loves them, so is happy when he meets someone who is renowned in the ways of cat. This seems silly. It ran in Shonen Sunday S.

ASH: Silly cat manga has really established itself as a genre.

SEAN: Dark Horse also has a deluxe hardcover edition of Planetes coming out, and if you don’t know what Planetes is, buy this now. If you already have all the various editions of Planetes that have come out… buy this anyway.

ASH: Join me for a third time! Seriously though, this series is great and am thrilled to see it getting the deluxe treatment.

ANNA: For sure deserving of the deluxe hardcover.

SEAN: And they also have the 2nd Gunsmith Cats omnibus.

From Ghost Ship we see Betrayed by the Hero, I Formed a MILF Party With His Mom! 2 and The Witches of Adamas 11 (the final volume).

Hanashi Media has an 8th volume of Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy.

One debut for J-Novel Club: Notorious No More: The Villainess Enjoys Feigning Incompetence (Kitai no Akujo, Sandome no Jinsei de “Musai Munou” wo Tanoshimu) stars a young woman whose been reincarnated TWICE. In her first life, she was an evil mage. In her second life, she lived in Japan as an ordinary woman into her eighties. Now, she decides to take it easy by faking being an incompetent dimbulb. This is a comedy, as you might gather.

ASH: Twice, you say? Not sure I’ve seen that before!

SEAN: Other light novels include D-Genesis 9, Long Story Short, I’m Living in the Mountains 2, The Misfit of Demon King Academy 10-1, and Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time 8.

And in manga, there is Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 4 Volume 4.

No new Kodansha Manga titles. But we see The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride 3, A Condition Called Love 14, EDENS ZERO 32, Flying Witch 13, GAEA-TIMA the Gigantis 2, Honeko Akabane’s Bodyguards 4, Shimazaki in the Land of Peace 5, and Vampire Dormitory 14 (the final volume).

And for digital-only… there is nothing. You may have noticed Kodansha is trying to quietly sunset the glut of digital-only series.

MICHELLE: Pout. But my dreams for Big Windup!

SEAN: One Peace has a 9th volume of the manga version of The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic.

Seven Seas has a danmei one-shot. Astrolabe Rebirth is from the author of Dinghai Fusheng Records, and is about two young men fighting against a sci-fi dystopia.

ASH: Count me as intrigued.

SEAN: The big debut is Ichi the Killer (Koroshiya 1), a late 90s manga from the creator of Homunculus and Hikari-Man – this was their breakout hit. It’s in a 2-volume omnibus format, and is about a cowardly young man who, when he starts to cry uncontrollably, turns into a vicious killer.

ASH: I should probably make a point to read this; the film adaptation has been on my radar for quite some time, too.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has Gravitation: Collector’s Edition 6 (not QUITE the final volume, there’s an EX), His Majesty the Demon King’s Housekeeper 10, Mysterious Disappearances 6, and No Longer Allowed In Another World 9.

Steamship debuts Shindou-kun’s Tight Squeeze: Helpless Against His Alluring Touch (Shindou-kun wa Toriatsukai Chuui), a josei title from Choco Love. A young woman is in her dream job, and she’s damn good at it. But now she has to mentor the new guy, adn the new guy is better than her… both at work and in bed!

ASH: Uh-oh!

ANNA: This sounds like quite a predicament.

SEAN: They also have the 4th and final volume of Before You Discard Me, I Shall Have My Way With You.

Titan Manga has a 2nd volume of Welcome to Ghost Mansion.

Yen On debuts Lord of Mysteries, the newest Chinese hit that has an anime going right now. A man wakes up in a steampunk universe, and finds vast conspiracies all around him.

ASH: I do enjoy a good conspiracy.

SEAN: Yen Press theoretically (I can’t find it anywhere but their website) debuts Sailor Zombie digitally. Zombies and idols compete to see which genre this is. It runs in Heros.

Also from Yen Press: Super String: Marco Polo’s Travel to the Multiverse (Super String: Isekai Kenbunroku) is… sort of a Weekly Shonen Sunday title, but it’s also a webtoon, and Boichi is the artist, for those who are fans/need to be warned. “What if Marco Polo was a shonen hero and also there were beastgirls” seems to be the plot.

ASH: Huh. That’s quite the combination.

SEAN: And on that bizarre note, what are you buying?

One Piece: Heroines, Vol. 2

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Created by Eiichiro Oda. Written by Jun Esaka. Illustrated by Sayaka Suwa. Released in Japan by Jump Books. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Stephen Paul.

Given the extreme shortness of the book, and my struggles with the first volume, I was a bit worried I would have even less to say about this one. But it’s honestly not that bad! You could argue that Shanks takes over Uta’s story the way that Koza took over Vivi’s, but unlike Vivi’s story Uta is present and correct throughout, so I think it’s fine. It’s also, with one obvious exception that the author can’t do much about, a bit better at showing off these are cool, admirable characters who are not the type to go nuts over a man or to trip while running and break a heel. (The exception is Boa Hancock, and it’s not a surprise that I find that story the weakest, but that’s Oda’s fault, not the author’s.) Even the last story, which is about Nami getting upset about a tiny zit on her face, is sympathetic towards her love of her own beauty and how she uses it.

As with the previous book, there are five short stories. 1) On the island of Amazons, one of their number who had been missing for two years returns, heavily pregnant. Now she has to be interrogated by Hancock… but does not realize what has happened to Hancock in the interim; 2) Smoker and Tashigi’s boat needs repairs, so they land on a tiny island which is beset by small-time pirates. Meanwhile, Tashigi befriends a young girl who wants to become a swordswoman, but who doesn’t like Tashigi’s self-deprecation; 3) The four non-Sanji siblings commandeer a ship, but forget to have a cook on board. Aside from Reiju, the POV character, they all try to cook and then give up. Once they get to their destination, Reiju learns how hard cooking can be; 4) Shanks and an Uta who is about 3-4 years old go ashore when she can’t sleep, and end up going on a shopping spree, where Shanks tries to tell Uta what “peas and tancrillity” is without telling her too much about himself; 5) As noted above, Nami finds a pimple and gets upset, and the others try to help her out.

The Hancock story relies on Hancock being a) horny and b) dumb as a rock, so I wasn’t a fan. The Tashigi story is much better. Her tiny charge is happy to learn from Tashigi till she admits she’s much weaker than other swordsmen out there, whereupon the kid is like “oh, well, you suck then”. After getting captured (natch), Tashigi is able to show that while she can’t take on the sword powerhouses of the series, she’s still really strong in general. It also has her, again, reflecting on what the navy is supposed to do. The Reiju story is the most character driven of the four, being entirely an excuse to remind us that she’s the nice one of the siblings and also the only one who is vaguely sensible. Shanks and Uta’s story requires you to have seen the Red movie, but really, who picks up a One Piece novel and hasn’t seen Red? (Stop looking at me like that.) The Nami story shows that, even though it’s about something like a pimple, everyone knows that her appearance is important to her and no one really makes fun of her at all except to note they can barely see it. And Robin is 100% in her corner.

So a definite must for One Piece fans, and for casuals who know the series, pick up a copy of Red as well.

I Could Never Be a Succubus!, Vol. 7

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By Nora Kohigashi and Wasabi. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Succubus Ja Arimasen” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

I feel a bit guilty that I don’t think this series is going far enough anymore? I mean, I was getting mad at it for going too far only a few volumes ago. But man, this seems tame compared to the “Girl Time (in Darkness)” robots from the prior books. And I say this despite the fact that part of the climax (hah) of the book involves everyone in the Hero’s party who does not have memory loss all having far too much sex with each other in order to lower their libidos. There are two “past” chapters here, fewer than ever before, and both are devoted to being law abiding in your fetishes. Lolicon play is fine provided everyone involved is over the age of majority. Exhibitionism is fine only when you can get away with it being an “accident”, such as a public pool. The hero’s party are all law-abiding heroes, it’s just they’re also really into sex thanks to their succubus. Who, alas, is still mostly sans memories.

Liz is being taught how to use her powers by fallen angel Lilith, which mostly involves throwing her into near-fatal situations and having her try to use both her holy and hell powers without going berserk and losing her mind. They’re also still trying to figure out what’s up with Cain’s sword, which researchers have managed to figure out almost nothing about. Cain mostly uses it on instinct. The next step is to take on an ultra-hard SSS dungeon, which is rumored to have a way to get to the demon king (current) if they beat it. Unfortunately, once they reach Level 50, they discover the level is actually… Hell! Even more unfortunately, once they hit level 60, this turns into a completely different sort of parody.

I jokes about the lack of sex jokes compared to prior volumes, but there’s also a distinct lack of Liz in this book, as she gets some stuff to do at the start but for the most part is functioning as a narrator as the most interesting things are happening to Cain. Cain is, for the most part, defined by his general grumpiness and also his lack of curiosity about much of anything besides “fight villains win”, and it comes back to haunt him. The back half of this book is a massive parody of Japanese game shows, something for which Cain is singularly ill-equipped, and I admit it is fun seeing him get more and more angry. It also forces him to actually strategize, and when he does things go much better. More importantly, he has a sword that seems to be the same as the demons are using and a very vague background. He is literally prevented from winning the dungeon because he doesn’t know enough about himself. It’s a good, if somewhat heavy-handed, lead-in to the next book.

…which isn’t out in Japan yet. Time to wait! Let’s hope Liz gets to go a little more wild next time.

My Fiancé Cheated, But a New Love Rings!, Vol. 2

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By Ehito and Koyukomu. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha no Uwaki Genba wo Michatta no de Hajimari no Kane ga Narimashita” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Chris Craigo.

Lately I’ve really been getting blindsided by picking up Volume 2 of a series and discovering that the series actually ends there. It makes sense. Especially in the genre of books we see with J-Novel Heart, long-runners are not the norm. Romance novels don’t really need three-volume tournament arcs to drag things out, and those that do run forever, like Bakarina, tend to be popular for reasons other than who Katarina will end up with. On the down side, this means we are essentially done with Sophie’s old kingdom, and we do not return to see how they manage to fix things now that Sophie has abandoned it. On the bright side, this means we get a lot more of the two eccentric characters we met last time, and find out exactly what their deal is. As you can imagine, things are very fraught and complicated. Fortunately, Sophie is finding that she’s not only a magic powerhouse but also enjoys sociopathy. In small doses.

Yes, that’s right, as the cover shows, Sophie picks up a new animal familiar, and they’re huge. As Sophie, Livio, Vyce and Lunetta make their way out of the town that had the monster attack, they come across an injured monster bear, and Lunetta asks Sophie to heal it to see exactly what her magic potential is. When Sophie manages to do so, it turns out that the injured bear is really an injured god, and it’s now content to get named by Sophie and become her cuddly but powerful bear familiar. Sophie and Livio want to go to the country of not-Japan, off to the East, so that they can eat delicious food. But Vyce wants them to stop by his kingdom first, partly as Sophie is making her first friend with Lunetta, who is making her first friend with Sophie, but also has he wants to recruit them. Unfortunately, we may have to deal with Lunetta’s tragic past first.

This is not quite as good as the first book, mostly as it does not have the sheer lunacy of Sophie’s family and royalty back in her old kingdom. Vyce and Lunetta are very likeable characters, but they’re also very familiar types, so there’s far fewer surprises. Even Lunetta’s tragic past, which turns out to go back many, many generations, is less about how awful it was and more about allowing Lunetta to show real emotions and let off some steam so that she can stop being an emotionless magic nerd drone. The main reason to enjoy this series, like the previous book, is the absolute syrupy sweetness of Sophie and Livio’s love affair, which is just sugary as hell, deliberately so, and also to see Sophie gradually start to accept that she does in fact have positive qualities and is not in fact a terrible person, which, given she’s about three weeks away from a lifetime of abuse, is slow going.

Now, the webnovel is ongoing, so certainly more volumes could be in the cards. But I dunno, this feels like the end of the published version. For fans of really schmoopy couples and bear gods who are not named Shardik.