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My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 8

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

I have to hand it to the author, they are very very good at making me, as a reader, feel thrilling highs and desperate lows. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this series as a whole, each book always seems to end on a low, and so I often end up being depressed after a new volume of it. That said, I do still want to learn what happens next, even if I suspect it will once again be a journey where I grind my teeth and yell at everyone to actually have a decent talk with each other. But the nature of our three protagonists is such that that’s not going to happen – if they did, the series would have ended back at Vol. 3. Instead, buckle up for another adventure with Hachiman, whose cynical and roundabout narrative voice make me want him to meet Zaregoto’s Ii-chan someday. On the bright side, when he suggests his one solution to any problem, people are finally there to tell him to take his idea and shove it.

The soccer club manager we met in the short story volume has been nominated for Student Council President. She doesn’t want to do it, but also doesn’t want to deal with fallout of her dropping out or sabotaging herself. So she asks the club to help out. Hachiman suggests writing a bad speech so that everyone blames the speechwriter (him). This goes over like a lead balloon. Instead, first Yukino and then Yui decide to run against her, which will solve the problem, but also mean they likely would not be in the club any more. This also leaves Hachiman with nothing to do. After the middle of the book, which I will get to in a bit, he bands together with the rest of the main cast and comes up with a third option: convince Iroha that she really WOULD be a good Student Council President, thus removing the original request. Sadly, he does this without thinking of Yukino or Yui, particularly Yukino, and the result is the worst victory ever.

That said, the best reason to get the book are two scenes in the middle of it. The first has Hachiman and Hayama on the double date from hell, as his old classmate from middle school, Orimoto (the one he confessed to) and her friend want to get in with Hayama and he begs Hachiman to come along as he clearly doesn’t want to deal with this. After spending most of said date listening to Orimoto mocking and belittling Hachiman, Hayama snaps and tears them apart, pointing out the close relationships Hachiman has gained in high school. Tellingly, Hachiman is more upset by this than anything else. The second scene, my favorite, has Hachiman, at his lowest ebb, returning home and coming across Komachi, who he’d had a fight with at the start of the book. They make up quickly, and the ensuing conversation that follows is possibly the warmest, most heartwarming scene he’s had in the whole series to date, as he asks Komachi for her help and she talks about how worried she really is for him.

So the middle will make your heart grow three sizes, and the ending will make your face turn pale. But that’s typical of this series, which might better be called My Youth Romantic Soap Opera Is Wrong As I Expected. Like most soap operas, it makes you want to read the next book.

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Vol. 1

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By Nanashi. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Magazine Pocket. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Kristi Fernandez.

One of the bonuses that come with buying a volume of the manga that you’ve already read in a magazine or online is the interstitial art that goes in between each chapter. Many manga, particularly comedies, tend to have these, usually little ‘tags’ that follow the chapter, meant to add something to the reader’s perspective or give them another good laugh. Sometimes it can be fairly pointless, but sometimes it’s actively welcome. Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro is definitely a case of the latter. The interstitial art for the first few chapters shows a blushing Nagatoro, rushing away from the scene, wondering if she got her point across or took things too far. It makes it very clear that her previous actions were based on “girl who teases the guy she likes”. This is important, because, while it has righted itself by the end of the volume, the initial chapters of this series skew waaaaay too far towards the “bullying” end of the spectrum rather than “toying with”.

The protagonist is unnamed, as far as I can tell, and is generally called ‘senpai’ by the other lead, Nagotoro. He’s a bit of a schlub, and has a hobby of drawing manga. One day his underclassman, Nagatoro, discovers this and proceeds to grab his manga, read it aloud, and mock it mercilessly. As the volume goes on, she proceeds to take every opportunity possible to viciously attack him, and he is, understandably, feeling a little aggravated by this. Eventually, though, he discovers that she seems to only be like this with him, showing quite a different face to other guys that she’s around. What’s more, by the end of the book the reader, if not the senpai, realizes that she’s doing this because she’s got a crush on him. Of course, her methods may still involve bullying, but, well, that’s how she communicates, right?

There’s been a mini-genre in Japan of this sort of series, ranging from cute and innocent (Teasing Master Takagi-san) to unthinking and broad (Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out). Nagatoro takes a third tack. Nagatoro’s teasing verges on cruel, particularly at the start of the book, and if it had stayed that way I might have decided to drop it. It can be hard to get through. The tone softens as it goes along, if only a bit, though, and we start to see more of Nagatoro’s softer, more vulnerable side – and also see her get a bit flustered, particularly when she’s doing things like accidentally talking to her senpai via video chat. It’s important we come to like Nagatoro because unfortunately the senapi, as befits his lack of name, has far less character. He’s a bullied kid who cries a lot, and is quite good at art. If Izuku from My Hero Academia had given up on being a hero and gone to art school, he might be this guy.

So a bit of a mixed bag, but I like where the direction is going. We’ll see if it can keep it up.

Manga the Week of 11/27/19

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SEAN: Happy Thanksgiving! We give thanks for this bounty of manga and light novels.

ASH: We do, indeed.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 7th volume of the infamous Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs.

J-Novel Club has two debuts, both digital manga. The first is the manga adaptation of The Faraway Paladin, a favorite series of mine. It runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo, a magazine that seems to exist so that its novels can get manga adaptations.

MJ: When Sean says “a favorite series of mine” I feel like I should take note!

Sweet Reincarnation (Okashina Tensei) is a seinen manga from TO Books’ Comic Corona, which is to TO Books what Comic Gardo is to Overlap. This is the story of a boy trying to become the strongest in the world… at being a pastry chef!

MICHELLE: Huh! Sounds potentially fun.

ANNA: I will usually enjoy food manga.

ASH: Same!

MJ: Signing up to be hungry as I read, I guess.

SEAN: On the novel front, J-Novel Club has the 8th, and so far final, Amagi Brilliant Park, and the 3rd Record of Wortenia War.

Kodansha has some print releases. First among these is the Magic Knight Rayearth Box Set. This, the first of two planned sets, is a gorgeous hardcover bells and whistles edition of the manga, in larger trim size as well. It has the first three books (i.e. Season 1), which also are getting a digital release.

ANNA: Pondering this. I think I have the old Viz version in the larger size stashed somewhere in my house.

ASH: This is one of the few CLAMP works I actually haven’t read. The set looks really nice.

MJ: Here for this!

SEAN: We also get Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 6, Fire Force 17, If I Could Reach You 2, and UQ Holder 18.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed the first volume of If I Could Reach You and look forward to reading the second.

SEAN: Digitally we’re getting Altair: A Record of Battles 12, Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 6, Boarding School Juliet 13, DAYS 15, Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure 3, Guilty 2, and A Kiss For Real 9 (the final volume).

Seven Seas has two debuts, which could not be farther apart from each other. One, The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (Kyuuso wa Cheese no Yume o Miru), is one of the biggest BL titles in recent years, and much awaited. It ran in Shogakukan’s josei magazine Mobafura.

MICHELLE: So excite!

ANNA: Yay!!!

ASH: I’ve been waiting for this series for so long! For a while there, it seemed like it was going to be unlicensable. Very glad Seven Seas was able to come to the rescue.

MJ: This!!!

SEAN: The other is How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Danberu Nan Kiro Moteru?), a shonen title from Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday online magazine, just got an anime series. A girl who wants to lose weight goes to the gym, where she meets a lot of buff guys, but also the student council president, and a hot instructor. I’ve heard it takes its getting in shape quiet seriously.

ASH: I’m actually really curious about this one.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has Blank Canvas 3, the 5th Monster Girl Doctor light novel, and Servamp 13.

ASH: Blank Canvas is SO GOOD. (Granted, just about anything by Akiko Higashimura is… )

SEAN: Udon gives us a 5th Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu.

Vertical has the 3rd omnibus (containing Books 7-9) of Katanagatari: Sword Tale, from Nisioisin.

They also have the 13th Witchcraft Works.

Yen On also has a bunch of titles, though some of these are already out digitally. The debut is The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody (Shijou Saikyou no Daimaou, Murabito A ni Tensei Suru). The demon lord reincarnates but lacks a sense of perspective, and does not realize how powerful he is, or how many girls are in love with him, etc.

There’s also Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 2, The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 2, Do You Love Your Mom (and her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 4, and Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 5. Light novel titles are long, film at 11.

Yen Press’s manga debut is Seven Little Sons of the Dragon (Ryuu no Kawaii Nanatsu no Ko), a collection of short stories by the creator of Delicious in Dungeon. It ran in Fellows!, so is a must buy.

MICHELLE: Ooh! This hadn’t been on my radar.

ASH: I love Delicious in Dungeon, so I’m really looking forward to reading more by the creator.

SEAN: Ending next week is Kagerou Daze, whose 13th and final volume comes out. For those wondering what do do next, watch/listen to everything in order! The order is 1) songs, 2) manga, 3) light novels, 4) Mekakucity Actors anime.

Also out are Angels of Death Episode.0 3, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody’s 8th manga volume, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 3, The Honor Student at Magic High School 10, Is It Wrong to try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Familia Chronicle: Lyu’s 5th manga volume, Kakegurui Twin 4, Monster Wrestling: Interspecies Combat Girls 2, and Phantom Tales of the Night 2.

ASH: Ah, that reminds me I haven’t read first volume Phantom Tales of the Night, yet!

SEAN: Assuming you’re not too full of turkey, what are you getting next week?

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 2

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By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

Having started to successfully negotiate life the way that he does games, Tomozaki now runs up against more treacherous waters. Inviting a group out for a lunch accidentally turns into a shopping trip (MUCH harder for someone like him), and he has to ask his library friend out to see a movie, something that would be adorably cute but unfortunately gets derailed by the main plot. The main plot being Mimimi, the overenthusiastic and hyper classmate of his, running for Student Council President… against Hinami. As we discover that Mimimi has a long history of coming in second to Hinami, and see just how far above everyone else Hinami really is, Tomozaki decides that he wants to help Mimimi take her down by winning the election. But is he really good enough to do that now? And isn’t this just ignoring the larger issues that Mimimi has? More to the point, is being the best at everything really something you can criticize? All this, and it’s only the second volume.

We’d seen a hint of Mimimi’s hidden depths in the first volume, but the second one goes into far more detail. (My suspicion is that each girl on the cover art will be the focus of the book in question, so expect library girl to take center stage next time.) It can be hard to constantly find yourself hitting an insurmountable wall, and even harder when it’s a person. There’s a core of self-loathing to Mimimi’s behavior here, as she can’t see a way past what she’s doing without feeling angry with herself. The “what’s the second highest mountain in Japan?” question was a good way to demonstrate it to Tomozaki – with everyone watching Hinami at number one, who’s going to look at the next best? But, as we hear towards the end, Hinami has felt that anger and frustration as well – in fact, it’s what led to this entire situation. As Tomozaki says towards the end of the book, nobody did anything wrong here.

There’s also a lot of good stuff here about student council elections in Japanese schools, and how you have to balance what kids want vs. what teachers will let you talk about. The reader is absolutely meant to root for Mimimi and Tomozaki here. That said, the reader also suspects the result will be as inevitable as Hinami says it is. (I’m still not sure how the author wants us to feel about Hinami – getting a very “Medaka Kurokami” vibe about her.) And then there’s Tomozaki, who does make some good steps forward here (I really liked his buying the hair wax), but needs to stop framing everything as “this is what normies do” and putting himself outside that box. Also struck by a naïveté I was not expecting from him – even I knew what Mimimi did to Tama, but he’s baffled by it the entire book.

So, to sum up: I enjoyed the plot, I liked the characters, the writing felt smooth and readable (very good translation here), and it doesn’t feel quite as much like a self-help guide compared to the first. Overall, it was excellent. Cannot wait for the next book.

Daytime Shooting Star, Vol 3

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Daytime Shooting Star by Mika Yamomori

I’m still enjoying this manga that focuses on the subgenre of teacher-student romance, even though I think the teacher in question has terrible boundaries and the only way for this story to end happily is for Suzume to actually date someone her own age. Perhaps an elaborate time jump where Suzume and Mr. Shishio get together after she has completed college and done a stint in the Peace Corps would also work.

Daytime Shooting Star 3

I was trying to pinpoint why I like this series so much when other Shojo Beat series are more seriously tackling the nature of grief (Ao Haru Ride) or delving into teenage introspection while juggling a love triangle (Shortcake Cake), and I came to the conclusion that for some reason I’m more affected by the art in Daytime Shooting Star. There’s something whimsical about the way that Yamamori designs her characters that just causes me to find practically everyone in the manga adorable and sympathetic.

Suzume deals with an onslaught of emotions as she confesses her feelings to Mr. Shishio when he is asleep, only to realize that he was actually awake. She endures a torrent of teenage embarrassment, and her emotional state isn’t helped all that much when Shishio’s super cool ex-girlfriend starts hanging around again. While Suzume starts researching hypnosis to discover if she will be able to erase someone’s memories, she is able to process her feelings more by talking to Nekota. Suzume decides to get things out into the open with Mr. Shishio, but then ends up running into Mamura who clearly still likes her. Will Suzume’s role as the one girl who Mamura doesn’t seem to be allergic to lead to a new, more age appropriate romance? Both the teenagers and youngish adults in Daytime Shooting Star all seem to be dealing with their own emotional issues due to a variety of reasons, and it is interesting to see Suzume evolve and take charge of her life, even though she’s aware that some of her actions are going to lead to disappointment.

Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension: The Alluring Cave Baths

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By Nagaharu Hibihana and Masakage Hagiya. Released in Japan as “Isekai Konyoku Monogatari” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sophie Guo.

I had to go back and reread my reviews of this series when the new volume came out, just to remind myself what had been happening. It’s been two years since the last book, mostly as the publisher caught up with the author’s webnovel, so had to wait for him to write more. I always recall that I enjoyed this nice, relaxing series, so I was surprised when I reread the reviews and found myself pointing out so many faults. But yeah, after reading Book 6, the faults are still there. The pacing of this series is so slow as to be soporific, there’s descriptions of breasts galore, everyone is so nice that they lack real character, etc. Despite all that, and the fact that I’ve forgotten who 3/4 of the cast are (the character page at the start only shows 6 out of about 24,975 named characters in this book) I still enjoy this nice, relaxing series. It’s easy to pick on, but hard to really hate. It also makes you want to have a good soak.

Touya and his party have arrived at the country of Ares, which is entirely in underground caves, trying to find somewhere they can safely put the cyclops people that are now displaced. After getting a blessing from the Goddess of Earth’s temple, Touya now has blessings from 6 goddesses, and his bath power means the area has now become a full-fledged hot springs inn, with multiple baths and three floors. Unfortunately, while touring the country, Touya accidentally awakens the Demon Lord, the very thing he was called to this world to prevent! Fortunately, as previous books have shown, the past was significantly rewritten by the winners, and additionally the Demon Lord is not really interested in destruction so much as bonding with his granddaughter. Unfortunately, other parties may have a different opinion.

As I said, it’s been two years since I read book 5 in the series/ In earlier reviews, I complained that Touya, in addition to his bath powers, also learned various magic and things, and complained he would be too powerful. Honestly, compared to other light novel protagonists these days, that fear is someone quaint. Tou8ya is not a fighter, he’s a facilitator, something made explicit when there’s a fighting tournament midway through the book, and not only does Touya not participate, he doesn’t even attend. He has more important things to do. Like trying to help Rakti regain her followers, wwhich may also mean telling everyone about the original Goddess of Chaos, the true creator of this world. And explaining to the royal family that, in fact, their history is biased and also their prophecy was misconstrued by everyone. That will probably go less well, and indeed leads into the cliffhanger for Book 7.

When that book arrives is beyond me – the author still hasn’t finished it online, so expect another break. Till then, if you enjoyed a nice, relaxed, possibly too relaxed isekai harem series where there’s little to no conflict between the heroines (because they’re all boring… sorry, that was mean), you should find this a nice little read.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Vol. 1

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By Riku Misora and On. Released in Japan as “Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Sol Press. Translated by Benjamin Daughety.

I have to admit, halfway through the first volume of this series I was ready to trash it to hell and back. It reveled in its cliches, at times even lampshading them so that they could get even worse (I’m thinking of the “yes, we’re blood related, but I still want to do my brother” plotline here in particular). And yes, I will admit it, as someone who has read Asterisk War first, a lot of this felt like something done better somewhere else. (For the curious, Asterisk War predates this series by 10 months.) But then things started to improve, not to the point where I ended up loving it, but enough so that I was able to get to the end and thing “Huh. That got better.” In fact, it almost reads like they fired the original writer halfway through and replaced them. So while it’s not my bag, I will admit that after a shaky start this is a decent light novel for those who enjoy magic academies, harems, and red-headed tsundere princesses – though the tsun vanishes fast here.

Ikki Kurogane is one of THOSE protagonists. You know, he’s strong, brilliant with a sword, his mind is sharp and analytical, he’s handsome (in fact, his face is boyishly cute), and he’s a relatively nice, if reserved, young man. But he has no magic. As such, he’s been abused by his family most of his life, is “Rank F” at the magical academy he attends, a rank which they literally admit later in the book is there just to have students that can be abused, a la Assassination Classroom, and due to his family leaning on the faculty he failed and is a first year student for the second time. But there’s a new school director who will allow him to actually fight and defend himself, and also a new student, Stella Vermillion, who is his polar opposite in most ways – a beloved foreign princess with Rank A fire powers and, ça va sans dire, large breasts. That said, they do share the trait of working hard – in fact, Stella despises people who call her “talented” as if she hadn’t trained for years to get to this point. Now that they’re roommates, can they avoid falling in love? And can Ikki win a fight at last?

I’ve already mentioned most of the things I didn’t like about the first half, but mostly it just felt like it was actively courting the typical LN fan without really trying. Things pick up with the arrival of Alice, who is the roommate of Ikki’s sister. (I’ll just skip his sister if you don’t mind.) Alice is a woman who was assigned male at birth, and this fact naturally freaks Ikki out a bit, as he’s a light novel protagonist, and therefore there’s a bit of “but I’m not gay!” here. But he rapidly adjusts, as does the audience, and the novel uses Alice’s preferred pronouns throughout. I was impressed. It helps that Alice is a “voice of reason” character among eccentrics. The final battle was also good, delving into Ikki’s repressed emotions and showing that, now that he’s allowed to fight, he has to open up or he’ll be crushed. Fortunately, he has Stella. The relationship arguably starts a bit fast, but honestly given most light novel hero and heroines that’s actually refreshing.

Gonna be honest, I read too many LNs these days, so the improvement is not enough to get me to continue this series. But it certainly seems like fans of the franchise should definitely enjoy it, and the presentation is fine. Tempting as it is to end this by saying “for fans of Asterisk War”, I know that would be mean. :) For fans of brooding boys and fiery girls.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 26

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

It’s the end of the Forthothe arc, and so most of it ends up being a big battle. Some villains are attacked and kidnapped, as are some of the heroes. And behind it all remains Vandarion, still the weak part of the book. Screaming mad villains just aren’t my thing, and after his main henchman is killed off, he loses whatever sanity he has and just screams threats for 75 pages. He’s helped by a hellmouth of some sort, which means he has the power to keep attacking the Blue Knight even after his mecha-dragon is destroyed, and indeed even after his own body is vaporized. It’s meant to be a terrifying show of willpower, but I have to say I wanted the cast to just kill him off already. Especially as the clever parts of the plan (kidnap Green, then use her to kidnap the royals) was quite good and well handled. Heck, even the henchman’s death was handled pretty well. I get the sense that Takehaya was trying to pad out the battle.

As for what finally kills off the villain, naturally it’s the power of Koutarou and all of his girls. The power of the bond they have between each other is strong, and can repair his giant killer swords to be even more giant and killer. That said, it’s the middle of a space battle, so we unfortunately do not have time to get deeper into Koutarou’s psyche – his mental scars still seem to be in place. It’s only the fact that they might die doing this that prompts the girls to say that while they know that he loves them as family, they want him to love them as women. His reply is said under high emotion, and is not really dwelt on. The series is ongoing after this, so I’m sure we will get back to it. Koutarou needs to be taught to be romantic – and yes, sexual. But not here.

Elsewhere, Elexis and Maya also join in the final battle, helping Koutarou at the cost of their ship and (seemingly) their lives – they’re last seen drifting off into space and can’t be found at the end of the book. That said, I will be VERY surprised if we never see them again. (They also profess their love for each other, though like Koutarou it’s under duress and not particularly sensual – this is a very pure harem series.) Darkness Rainbow’s homeworld makes an agreement with Forthothe, which means that the dark magical girls have achieved what they need to do. All that’s left is to go home and explain why they were gone for two months to their school – I have a sneaking suspicion this will go well for everyone but Yurika. That said, next volume is short stories, which honestly is welcome after an arc this long. It was very good, but I’m happy to see the end of it.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 2: Apprentice Shrine Maiden, Vol. 1

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

The fourth volume of Bookworm starts a new arc, as Myne has managed to cajole and finagle her way into being an apprentice shrine maiden – and a blue-robed one at that, the elite noble sort of shrine maiden. But things aren’t all magically wonderful, despite the fact that she can now read books. She has three attendants, all of whom dislike her to some degree, and she is not remotely used to talking and acting as a noble should. Despite having an outlet for her Devouring now, she’s still sickly and weak, particularly when she’s reading so much she forgets to eat. The temple has an orphanage that is a nightmare, and Myne has to deal with the fact that if she wants to do something about it, she can’t just half-ass it – she needs to be a benefactor. Can she overcome all this, plus the fact that every time she finds a “solution” to a problem, it creates five more?

Myne may have the knowledge from her past life, but even her past self tended to be a bit flighty, so one of the biggest roadblocks she faces is her acting the way that a normal kid would act – acting on something as soon as she sees it, without thinking of the consequences. This has always been a headache to Benno, but now it’s a headache for the High Priest as well. Honestly, things would go far smoother if she was to simply ask more “common sense” questions about nobility, but “tell me what I don’t know” is hard to answer. I was rather amused when, towards the end of the book, when trying to resolve the issues with Lutz’s family, she’s given a magic device that literally means no one else can hear her talk. Oh, if only this existed in real life.

As for the three attendants, honestly, Myne wins them over fairly rapidly. One is disturbed she’s not acting like a noble and also worries he’s been demoted; another is a bratty kid who’s just never gotten praise for good work before, and the third is the High Bishop’s planted spy, who is trying to stay on the one path available to her, even though “mistress to a noble” strikes Myne as not something to strive for. We also get the usual inventions and ideas from Myne, as we make pizza, create clothes hangers, and discover that the fruits used in a festival event actually can become the rare paper-giving trombes if mana is poured into them – something that could also have huge ramifications down the road, as now the commoners would have a way to fight the Devouring. Myne has to (once more) be sat down and lectured, as life is not as simple as “now no one will have mana poisoning!”.

Those watching the current anime know this is a slow-burn series, and this volume is much the same, despite Myne also becoming an orphanage director. At least she’s reading books… though her revelation that she doesn’t really retain anything she reads boggles my mind. It really is pure pleasure for her, isn’t it? This new arc is four books long, so I look forward to seeing how Myne makes everyone around her smack their foreheads in future volumes.

Bookshelf Briefs 11/15/19

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Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 5 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – We actually get a welcome reminder that Iris is a “reincarnated into an otome game” heroine in this volume, something that’s mostly been ignored aside from her accounting skills. But when her younger brother tries to apologize to her for what happened at school, her Japanese self wants to forgive him but the “Iris” part of her just can’t. It’s well handled. Elsewhere, Iris is going around looking into Yuri and also threats to her kingdom, and it’s starting to get her into trouble. She’s also falling for Dean, despite trying to have nothing to do with romance again. We end with a cliffhanger involving excommunication! Still a lot of fun—I’d love to read the novels. – Sean Gaffney

Anne Happy, Vol. 10 | By Cotoji | Yen Press – This final volume doesn’t really “wrap up” the main plot—there is no magical anti-bad-luck MacGuffin that can fix things. We do get a very small flashback of their teacher which shows that she had perhaps worse circumstances than the rest of them, but has learned to keep happy and carry on, so to speak. Which is the moral of the series, really—smile even though life is bringing you down. Hibari is the one who needs that lesson here, as a chance at a family reunion is once again fouled up by her parents’ busy lives. That said, we do see here that luck can also be changed through determination, which is nice. And is that some slight yuri at the end? Anne Happy was never anything but fluff, but it was highly entertaining fluff. Good ending. – Sean Gaffney

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 10 | By Ichigo Takano | Seven Seas – Well, I did it. I persevered to the end and finished Dreamin’ Sun. To the end, I never was fully convinced by the relationship between Shimana and Taiga, and that includes the big finale here, in which the gang is able to get Taiga’s dad to stop meddling in his son’s affairs—we never really get a good explanation why Taiga has remained under his thumb for so long—and thus Taiga is able to go to college (alongside Shimana) and finally pursue his dream of becoming a teacher. They also get married and I must boggle at the detail that they do so after having only kissed once, two years ago. I don’t expect realism in shoujo romance, but I guess my credulity has its limits. I did like Zen and Saeko, though. In the end, this never came close to measuring up to orange. Oh well. – Michelle Smith

Durarara!! re: Dollars Arc, Vol. 5 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Aogiri | Yen Press – Izaya is setting up his plots again here, when he’s not fighting with his sisters, but the real villains this time around are Ruri’s psycho fans, who bat Shinra bloody and also attack Anri. Fortunately, she is saved by her two best frie3nds. Unfortunately, one of them, Mikado, is revealed to now be the leader of the Blue Squares, much to Masaomi’s horror. You know all this from the light novel and the anime—once again the manga gets third place. Still, some of the fight scenes are good, and if you’re looking for a manga version of the story, this is that. Damning with faint praise. We’re still only up to book eight or so, too. You really should try the light novels, which have now finished. – Sean Gaffney

Fruits Basket Another, Vol. 3 | By Natsuki Takaya| Yen Press – The first chapter of this final volume once again irritated me for burying me in next-gen cast all at once (along with Hiro’s sister, who again is not a main character so gets to be seen). It gets better as it goes along, with a serious look at not letting your parents’ abuse become your own fault. Sawa, it turns out, is connected to the Sohmas in a far more serious way than she remembered, and one flashback scene verges on terrifying. (Shiki says “she slipped on snow,” but that’s not what we see.) Notably, the situation is not resolved—she’s still living with her mom in the end—but then, we also learn it didn’t resolve itself for the Furuba cast either—Ren is making Shiki’s life miserable, because she’s like that. As such, this justifies this spinoff’s existence—barely. – Sean Gaffney

Fruits Basket Another, Vol. 3 | By Natsuki Takaya | Yen Press – In this final volume, we learn more about Sawa’s psychotic mother, including that she had some involvement with the Sohma family in the past. When Sawa asks about this, with much dread, Mutsuki reveals the full story and that everyone knew who she was all along. In fact, Shiki was central to this past event and, with Ren continuing her reign of terror he felt kinship with Sawa and worried about what had become of her. The Sohmas were indeed trying to help her, but they were also trying to help Shiki, too. In the end, this did come around to being genuinely compelling and I wish there were more, because as Sawa notes, she still hasn’t made it out of her horrible situation. If only we could’ve been spared one last appearance by Takei-sensei. Sigh. – Michelle Smith

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 5 | By Riku Misora and Kotaro Yamada | Yen Press – The start of this book gives all the fanservice that four was missing and more, as we get naked massages before a bath. Half of this is tolerable, as Ringo tries to find it in her shy self to go on a date with Tsukasa, and we get her tragic past, which (surprise!) involves a lot of child abuse. The second half involves making more medicine since the penicillin isn’t prevalent enough—time for sulfa drugs. Sadly, there’s an evil doctor who’s in the way, so our heroin doctor, um, lobotomizes him? And this is presented as good and/or humorous? Yeah, OK, I’m out. This was a mildly entertaining take on the isekai fantasy with an entire group of OP geniuses, but what the hell? – Sean Gaffney

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 1 | By Maki Enjoji | Viz Media – Several of Enjoji’s manga series are now available in English, but An Incurable Case of Love is actually the first that I’ve read. Five years ago, Nanase was inspired to go into medicine after meeting an attractive and accomplished young doctor in the hopes of meeting him again. Unsurprisingly, Tendo’s not quite the person she expected him to be when she finally gets the chance to work with him. In reality, her idealized prince has a harsh and exacting personality. Even though Nanase’s original motivation for becoming a nurse was perhaps less than pure, and while it may not be immediately obvious to some, she really does take both herself and her chosen profession seriously. Had it been otherwise, I don’t think I would have liked the manga, but the first volume is a largely enjoyable start to the series and I’m always glad to see more josei being translated. – Ash Brown

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 4: Diamond Is Unbreakable, Vol. 3 | By Hirohiko Araki| Viz Media – One of my initial exposures to Araki’s aptly named manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was actually through a tangentially-related work, Rohan at the Louvre, which features the character Rohan Kishibe, a rather intense genius manga creator. Rohan made his first appearance in Diamond Is Unbreakable, so I’ve been looking forward to his introduction since I started reading the series. His debut happens towards the end of this particular volume, following several other short story arcs including one, much to my delight, that proves any manga can indeed be a food manga. This volume has a fair amount of humor to go along with its strange brand of horror and absurd action, too. As a whole, this part of the series comes across a bit more episodic and perhaps slightly more comedic than its predecessors. I’m enjoying Diamond Is Unbreakble in all of its glorious ridiculousness a great deal. – Ash Brown

My Hero Academia SMASH!, Vol. 2 | By Hirofumi Neda| Viz Media – I don’t think I reviewed the first volume of this gag series spinoff to the famous shonen manga, but that’s a shame, as it’s really well handled. The gags are personality-based, and the series is not afraid to veer totally away from the source material when needed—half the sports festival is different events, and some battles that don’t lend themselves to gags are omitted. And then there’s Gran Torino, who does not live up to the adorable tsundere granddaughter teaching Izuku in his dreams. There’s a lot of great Uraraka stuff here, for her fans, and a lot of great Yaoyorozu gags as well, though her fans may be a bit annoyed at how socially inept she’s shown to be. Basically, this is hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

Our Wonderful Days, Vol. 1 | By Kei Hamuro | Seven Seas – Given the cover art and the magazine that this ran in, I was expecting that I’d be reading about the lead couple on the cover. And I am, and they’re both cute—I like the fact that, despite having the “serious black-haired girl” personality type, Mafuyu is the only one whose grades are bad. But I’m actually more drawn to the other couple, Nana and Minori, best friends to main girl Koharu, who live in an apartment together to attend school and behave exactly like a married couple without actually being one. How yuri this will get is still unknown—so far we’re still at “I may like her”—but if you like your slice-of-life high school with a dash of sweet and cute, this will put a smile on your face. – Sean Gaffney

Shortcake Cake, Vol. 6 | By suu Morishita | VIZ Manga – I really loved how this volume of Shortcake Cake portrays Ten’s reaction to Chiaki’s surprising confession. She tries to let him down gently, and is upset about hurting her friend and conscientious about not leading him on. It’s not played for the drama of a love triangle—it’s just sad. And yet, she still does like Riku very much and wants to let him know that her feelings have changed, but now the Chiaki situation has made everything more complicated. Some really cute scenes ensue, but actually most of the volume takes place in Ten’s head as she worries and overthinks everything. We’re halfway through the series at this point and, though it seems like she and Riku will officially get together in the next volume, that’s a lot of time for things to go wrong somehow. Man, I love Margaret shoujo. – Michelle Smith

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 2 | By Honda | Yen Press – The second volume of Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san is much like the first, with Honda covering more aspects of the bookselling business, including the talented distribution chief with a knack for anticipating what will sell, dealing with “harmful publications,” wholesalers who never supply as many copies as are requested, the difficulty in promoting books that are receiving high-profile adaptations (particularly when bonus items feature popular idols), and dealing with a customer who happens to be a yakuza. It’s pleasant, but I was kind of bummed to learn that after Honda published the chapter about customer service training, she got in some trouble with her bosses and now has to get their approval for everything she writes and worries about being fired. That’s a shame. – Michelle Smith

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 4 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that this series was going to end with the next volume. The reason for that is a very surprise mutual confession between our two leads, something which I was not expecting to happen for at least a dozen more volumes. It is really well handled, though, and shows that these two shoujo protagonists are actually smart enough to pick up on signals. We also get some backstory for one of Zen’s two guards, Mitsuhide, who is asked by Zen’s older brother to watch over him and therefore must gain the trust of someone who doesn’t trust very easily—and even when he does, he seems to be betrayed. Zen and Shirayuki are very good for each other, and I’m excited to see where this goes. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 4 | By Sorata Akiduki | VIZ Media – This volume almost feels like a final volume, what with Zen and Shirayuki affirming their feelings for one another and their determination to stay by the other’s side, come what may. The final page seems to suggest a happy ending. Except this is volume four and there are 21 volumes so far. Maybe this was the point where the series changed magazines? In any case, it’s a very nice volume, with Shirayuki showing her willingness to act in Zen’s stead when his station prevents him from doing so—and giving us a glimpse of the upbringing that led to her always trying hard and being independent—as well as a revealing flashback to six years ago when Zen’s friend betrayed him but he found a new person to trust in Mitsuhide. I really enjoy this series! – Michelle Smith

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 11 | By Rei Toma | Viz Media – There’s some gorgeous art here, which is good as it may take the mind away from the fact that this is really drawn out for a finale. The basic premise—send Asahi back and the water dragon dies—is obvious, despite Asahi’s protests, and you get the sense that the other gods will eventually do something about it, but it does take forever to happen, with lots of longing pages with no dialogue. Also, how does Asahi return to her normal life so quickly? Still, it’s a happy ending, and the last two pages of the “afterword” 4-kon section make up for it with a hysterical deconstruction of why the Water Dragon won the romance war and Subaru did not. Despite not quite sticking the landing, this was a very good series. – Sean Gaffney

Manga the Week of 11/20/19

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SEAN: There’s more November to come, and more manga as well.

Bookwalker gives us a 10th volume of The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done!, which according to LN fans is still the best series that I’ve dropped after reading the first page.

Lots of folks seem to have this already, but Dark Horse gives us a 2nd volume of At the Mountains of Madness, the new H.P. Lovecraft manga adaptation. Expect loss of sanity.

ASH: I’ve not read the source material to know how it compares, but I found the first volume engaging and plan on reading up more.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Altina the Sword Princess, which comes from the pen of How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s author, but I will try not to hold that against it. A gorgeous redhead with a big sword teams up with an apathetic soldier who reads a lot of books. Can they change the world?

We also get An Archdemon’s Dilemma 8, the 3rd Arifureta Zero spinoff, and Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension 6, the first new volume of this underrated series in two years.

Debuting from Kodansha is Tales of Berseria, another adaptation of a video game manga.

Also in print is Gleipnir 5, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 4, and The Seven Deadly Sins 35.

Digitally, there’s Cosplay Animal 9 (the first new volume of this series in over a year), Defying Kurosaki-kun 13, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 2, My Boss’s Kitten 2, and The Great Cleric 4.

There’s a cliche that the moment a light novel is licensed, some horny LN fan will ask if there’s sex in it. The answer, at least for licensed novels, is almost always no. But good news for horny fans! Sol Press has a new imprint called Panty Press, and they’re debuting the first 18-rated light novel in North America, Busy Wizard: This Warlock Just Wants to Provide for His Wives!. A warlock who’s grown strong in the mountains makes his way towards the imperial capital, but finds young women as he goes along.

ASH: Huh. I somehow missed the news about the new imprint.

MJ: I’m trying to figure out how to react to the name of that imprint. I don’t think it’s a great reaction.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a digital-first debut with Citrus+, the sequel to the popular yuri soap opera. Yuzu and Mei are now openly dating, what comes next?

The fourth Classroom of the Elite light novel also gets its digital-first release.

As for print, no debuts here, but we do get Classroom of the Elite 3 (in print), Generation Witch 5, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s 6th manga volume, My Monster Secret 18, My Next Life As a Villainess! has a 2nd manga volume, Reincarnated As a Sword gets its third LN in print, Shomin Sample 11, and Wonderland 4.

Tokyopop debuts Still Sick, a Mag Garden series about a woman who secretly draws yuri doujinshi and her bright and sunny colleague who finds out.

Udon has the 2nd Stravaganza omnibus, which hopes to be as bananas as the first one was.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give this series a try; maybe that time has come.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Vertical debuts Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagotoro (Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san), which is part of a hot new genre of girls teasing guys (see also Teasing Master Takagi-san and Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!). Nagotoro seems to be more aggressive about it than those others.

Viz debuts Levius/est, a continuation of the original Levius that changed names when it changes publishers – this runs in Ultra Jump.

ASH: Another manga I’ve been meaning to try! (I’ve apparently got some catching up to do…)

SEAN: They also have BEASTARS 3, Children of the Whales 13, No Guns Life 2, Ran and the Gray World 5, and the 4th Urusei Yatsura omnibus, which is the most important of those. (Look, if you want unbiased release lists, go somewhere else.)

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on BEASTARS.

ASH: The first volume was great! I just got my hands on the second, so hopefully the trend continues.

ANNA: I need to get caught up too!

SEAN: Yen On has the 3rd volume of 86.

Yen Press gives us Bungo Stray Dogs: Another Story, a spinoff manga of the light novel which is a spinoff of the original series.

ASH: That seems appropriately meta.

SEAN: They also have Kemono Friends a la Carte, a manga anthology with lots of cute stories written by various artists.

Lastly, we get Kaiju Girl Caramelise 2 and Teasing Master Takagi-san 6.

See? I told you we’d have more manga. What’s in your wishlist?

The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody: The Myth-Killing Honor Student

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By Myojin Katou and Sao Mizuno. Released in Japan as “Shijou Saikyou no Daimaou, Murabito A ni Tensei Suru” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jessica Lange.

Sometimes I read light novels and feel that, despite the annoying main character, the ludicrous power levels, and the ongoing “horny teenager” vibes, that it’s worth it in the end because the author has something interesting to say behind all that. Sadly, sometimes I do not. Here we have a case of the latter, a series that wants to be “merely entertaining” and succeeds in the sense that I made it to the end of the book, but I was dragging my feet towards the end. Our hero is either frustratingly dense or frustratingly blase, the entire female cast is sorted by the size of their breasts, and the main joke, which is that he’s trying to hide the fact that he’s a reincarnation of the ancient demon lord, is not really something that can be stretched out over an entire series – though apparently we’re going to try. The author says they’ve only been a writer for a year, and I feel that this could be an example of publishers moving to the webnovel well too fast.

Varvatos is a demon lord who has saved the world countless times over but is alone and friendless. He decides to die and reincarnate himself as a normal human being, Ard, several hundred years later, so that he can make friends and have a happy life. There are several problems with this. The first is that he retains his demon lord memories, and he’s just as socially inept as he was before, so making friends is hard. The second is that he’s the son of two of the three great heroes, and what he’s been thinking of as “relatively weak magic” is actually “I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!” powers. So any attempt at living a normal life is out of the question. With the help of Ireena, a shy and busty elf girl who’s his neighbor and first actual friend, and Ginny, a busty succubus with self-esteem issues and a liking for harems, he will start life at his magical academy and be… not a typical nobody.

You’ll notice I wrote ‘busty’ twice in that last paragraph, but that’s simply as Ard tells us about the size of his friends’ breasts over and over again throughout the book. This is at least excusable with Ginny, a succubus who is actually trying to seduce him, but Ireena is his “childhood friend” who he feels a “fatherly affection” for, so it just gets annoying. And yes, the fatherly affection bit is him in denial. Given that he’s already one of the most powerful people in the world at the start of his school life, there’s also a distinct lack of conflict that makes you wonder who will prevail. The sole threat comes towards the end, when Ireena is kidnapped by the villain, stripped naked, and threatened with a tentacle monster. Sigh.

There are one or two plot points that actually surprised me, mostly involving the circumstances of Ard and Ireena’s births, but on the whole this was a bit of a slog. Recommended if you like describing all your friends based on their breast size and also if you like super strong protagonists who constantly get to show it off.

One Piece, Vol. 92

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

When One Piece was a young, relatively new series, ages ago, it was relatively easy to jump right into, with story arcs that rarely bled into each other all that much. Once they arrived in the New World, though, all that has changed, possibly as Oda realized that a 92-volume series is much harder to have people jump right into with no information. As such, storylines have bled together a lot more than they used to. Law is back again, of course, and the rest of the supernovas seem to be following, as when Luffy is thrown into prison midway through this book, he meets up with Kidd, and the two of them seem to be competing to see who can be the most badass prisoner (it’s a tie). There’s drug-running… pardon me, artificial devil fruit running, which Luffy upended by taking down Doflamingo. And of course Big Mom is back, chasing after the Straw Hats, though the cliffhanger suggests she may have a very different role to play this time.

She’s covered up by the 92 (a very unfortunate placement), but I did notice Robin’s expression along with Usopp and Frankie’s was enough to make the cover art this time around. This is nothing new for Usopp and Frankie, but I still tend to remember Robin as being the one who has “normal facial reactions”, as per Oda himself, and so it always startles me whe I see things like this, even though this isn’t the first time she’s overreacted comedically. I guess it’s meant to be a sign that she’s fully integrated into the crew now – or, perhaps more accurately, a sign that Oda no longer sees her as “untouchable”. It helps that she’s not around the rest of the crew – though everyone’s in Wano, several of the cast are still investigating on their own, which allows Robin to try to be a spy (unsuccessfully), Nami to try to be a ninja (semi-successfully), and Frankie to play a wonderful game of “who’s got the plans?” that goes nowhere.

And then there’s Sanji, who I have discussed many times before. There is a bit of his “I only care about women” behavior here as he runs his soba stand and leers at Robin as a geisha, but once the mob moves in and he has to actually defend people he turns into the cool Sanji that women might actually be attracted to if he could stop being an eternal perv around them. Speaking of which, I found it amusing that one of my least favorite parts of Thriller Bark – Sanji yelling about losing his dream of turning invisible so he could spy on naked women all the time – is seen in a flashback here, as he puts on a superhero suit (no, really, it’s literally that) to fight, because once again he’s the one whose identity is still unknown. And this also ties in with his family as well, showing that self-contained arcs really are in the past now.

The cliffhanger involving Big Mom is quite interesting, and I will not be at all surprised if she and our heroes now team up in some way (because why else give her amnesia?). Till then, enjoy a volume of One Piece that is a bit less chaotic than most of the recent ones, but still excellent.

Short Takes: No Guns Life and Ryuko

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This month’s Short Takes column checks in with two previously-reviewed series: No Guns Life, a sci-fi thriller whose principled hero sounds like Sam Spade and looks like a Remington; and Ryuko, a thriller starring a yakuza assassin who’s hell-bent on avenging her mother’s kidnapping.

No Guns Life, Vol. 2
Story and Art by Tasuku Karasuma
Translation by Joe Yamazaki; Adaptation by Stan!
VIZ Media, 224 pp.
Rated T+ (Older Teens)

After a decent, if predictable, first volume, Tasuku Karasuma finds his groove in volume two of No Guns Life, maintaining a brisk pace while allowing his characters’ personalities to emerge more fully. Though the action occasionally pauses for the characters to expound on important plot developments, these dialogues are less of a drag on the story than they were in volume one; here, they add badly needed layers of  complexity to a familiar noir plot line. Better still, Karasuma introduces several new characters who push the narrative in a more interesting direction, hinting at the power and secrecy of the Berühen Corporation, as well as the general public’s mixed feelings about living alongside cyborgs. If Karasuma engages in a little too much fanservice, or relies too heavily on speedlines and sound effects to enliven his fight scenes, No Guns Life is still entertaining enough to make all but the most discriminating reader root for Juzo to succeed. Recommended.

VIZ Media provided a review copy. Click here to read my review of volume one.

Ryuko, Vol. 2
Story and Art by Eldo Yoshimizu
Translation by Motoko Tamamuro and Jonathan Clements
Titan Comics, 226 pp.
No rating (Best suited for older teen and adult readers)

Paging the exposition police! The second volume of Ryuko has all the swagger of the first, but leans more heavily into Talking Points Conversation to help expedite its resolution. In some respects, these exchanges are a welcome development, as they clearly—one might say baldly—delineate the various factions’ interest in the Golden Seal, an object whose significance was glossed over in volume one. These passages also help the reader untangle the complex web of relationships among the characters, making it easier to grasp why Ryuko forges an alliance with an avowed enemy and why US military forces are trying to manipulate the outcome of her feud with the Sheqing-Ban. These conversations would feel less forced if the pacing were more even, but the two-volume format is too compressed for such an ambitious, labyrinthine plot to unfold at a reader-friendly pace.

Volume two’s chief attraction is the same as volume one’s: the artwork. Eldo Yoshimizu has a flair for staging car chases, fist fights, gun battles, and dramatic escapes, immersing the reader in the action with his creative use of perspective and fastidious attention to detail; Ryuko’s leopard-print catsuit is practically a character in its own right. In less capable hands, this maximalist approach might be overwhelming, but Yoshimizu’s layouts have a strong narrative pull that leads the eye across the page at the speed of the action, creating an almost cinematic experience. The final confrontation between Ryuko and evil American operatives is a show-stopper involving a motorcycle stunt so outrageous that even Jackie Chan would be impressed with its audacity. None of the story makes much sense, but Yoshimizu’s energetic, bold, and—yes—sexy artwork is cool enough to carry the day. Recommended.

Click here to read my review of volume one. 

The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious, Vol. 2

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By Light Tuchihi and Saori Toyota. Released in Japan as “Kono Yuusha Ga Ore TUEEE Kuse Ni Shinchou Sugiru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matt Rutsohn.

This is very much a book of two halves. The first half is very much like the first book. They’re still trying to fight demon generals, Seiya is still rude and appalling, Rista is still screaming at him (and also lusting at him), etc. It’s funny, though not as funny as the first book, and I am reminded why I thought it would be hard to sustain over a long series. Then halfway through Rista realizes, as they head towards a major battle, that Seiya did NOT say “I’m perfectly prepared”, and everything turns very dark very fast. Normally that would be a disaster in a series like this, which is supposedly a lighthearted comedy. But in this case it’s so well-handled and emotionally draining that I have to applaud. We also get Seiya’s backstory, which I had suspected earlier, and it makes sense. And we also get Rista’s backstory, which was far more of a surprise. You will forgive the lack of humor.

This is not to say that the front half of the book is not funny. It might actually be better animated – the anime is airing as I write this, and there’s something about Seiya throwing Rista around like a rag doll that cries out to be seen and not read. We meet Rosalie, and if I said “daughter of the emperor and swordswoman” you can probably guess her entire personality from there. She and Seiya clash immediately, and he’s far more obnoxious towards her than even those who know Seiya are expecting (the reason for that comes later). Seiya needs to learn some more new tricks, and so gets bow and arrow training from a very thirsty goddess (making Rista jealous) and additional training from the goddess of Destruction, which involves being naked in bed together (and leaves Rista infuriated).

But then comes the second half, and I will try not to spoil everything but do have to talk about some things. You know that things are taking a turn for the dark when you see an old man cheerfully holding his wife and child’s severed heads in a bag, and it has to be said that Seiya is undone more by humans turning bad than demons. He then tricks Rista and the others into staying behind while he fights the Demon Lord by himself – because (as I’d guessed), this is not his first isekai, and in a previous world he was far more typically charge ahead and get things done so as to save the most people. The horrifying result of this means that he tells his future summoned self (who does not have memories of this) to be super, super cautious about everything. Fortunately, Rista finds out about this, and the ending, while relatively tragic, is also inspirational – the “I’m perfectly prepared” line will leave a lump in your throat this time.

This book feels like it could have ended here very nicely. The world is saved, but Seiya is “dead” and Rista needs to be punished for using her goddess powers on full blast to help him, a forbidden act. They are thus sent back to Seiya’s first world, now a hellish nightmare run by the Demon Lord. The series does go on, of course, though I’m now less concerned with whether the author can keep up the madcap humor as to what happens when he returns to it. Still, props to this excellent second book, which is not nearly as funny but very emotionally satisfying.