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Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, Vol. 8

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By Hiromu and raemz. Released in Japan as “Chitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund.

I have found that Chiramune is one of those series that glides along for a while till the author has a sudden explosive burst of inspiration where everything gets really good for the rest of that scene, and then it goes back to normal. This can sometimes be frustrating, especially if you’re reading it for the ongoing plot, but it does make those scenes instantly memorable in your head. Which is good given how this does not exactly release every three months or so. Here we get two such scenes, one short and one long. The short is the second conversation between Yuzuki and Kureha, where we start to see exactly why Kureha is doing things in this particular reckless way. The second is the final scene in Saku’s apartment, where Yuzuki drops all pretense of reserve and straight up tries to seduce him into sleeping with her. If you know Saku, you can guess how well this goes. But as a scene, it’s dynamite. The series works best in sprints.

The culture festival is almost upon us. While the core cast work on their cheer routine, Yuzuki also has a heart-to-heart with Kureha, and realizes that she’s going to have to stop trying to be “Yuzuki Nanase” and remove her limiters. This means suddenly she’s blowing away everyone else on the basketball court… including a dispirited Haru. This means that, when the Snow White play they’re putting on turns out to be literally the author writing the love triangle between Saku, Yuuko and Yuzuki into the plot – and having Saku improvise an ending – she wows everyone with her amazing acting skills. And it means that, when she gets the opportunity to cook dinner once more for Saku at his apartment, she puts on her best underwear and pins him to the couch. Unfortunately, talking to Kureha also gave her Kureha’s desperation.

I liked Kureha better here… or at least understand her more. Everyone’s annoyed at her for upsetting the status quo, but to her it feels like she’s started a race where everyone else is on the last lap. When you literally can’t catch up, sterner measures are needed. I also really loved the conversation between Yua and Asuka, where they both reflect on their breakdowns from the last book and both admit it’s their fault rather than Kureha’s. This book has a lot less Saku narration than usual, which makes sense as the series is getting into the second half and needing to resolve things, but also as Saku is discovering that trying to figure out who he loves and trying to figure out what he wants to do in the future involve the same things… and he’s reluctant to do anything – STILL – as he knows how much pain it will cause. Hence the final scene, which manages to be very painful and also pretty erotic.

This is the first of a two-parter, and I’m not sure when Book 9 will drop, but Chiramune fans should be quite pleased, especially if they think Yuzuki is best girl. Though the book is also hinting we should enjoy that while it lasts, like Yuuko.

Sword Art Online: Progressive, Vol. 9

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By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

I think I have come to the conclusion that Reki Kawahara, much like Ryohgo Narita, has too many balls in the air. The last time a Progressive volume came out here was in 2022. It is now 2026. That is bad, mostly as I can remember literally nothing about the last book other than “Kirito is a vampire now”. And I have bad news for you, 10 isn’t out in Japan, as he’s also writing the main series and Accel World, as well as supervising all those Alternative spinoffs, only some of which have been licensed over here. As such, it sure would be a shame if this volume got off to a slow start and really dragged through the first half, as I’m already a bit grumpy that it’s been so long and I have to try to tell dark elves alike that I haven’t seen in a while. Heck, even the plot regresses back to the fourth floor. That said, as with many books, the second half really picks up, and has some surprises.

Kirito and Asuna, having met up with Kizmel again, are trying to get back the keys stolen by the fallen elves. This ends up, as I noted, taking them back to the fourth floor, where they have a happy reunion with their boat, as well as with the dark elf they broke out of prison with. He wants to have a chat with the leader of the Dark Elves, and asks the three of them to get him out of the castle so they can talk. This requires Kirito using his new vampire powers (which, by the way, means this entire volume happens at night) to tame a Kelpie so they can ride it without the castle guards realizing their viscount has flown the coop. When they finally engineer the meeting, it ends up leading to a duel, but more importantly, backstory that’s actually interesting.

Not gonna lie, I worried I would have nothing to talk about when I reviewed this through the first hundred pages or so. Then Yofilis reveals his tragic backstory and my jaw dropped. Not just because it once again shows off how well coded these “AI” NPCs are (and I mean, almost everything Kawahara has ever written has involved AI becoming human in some way), or even how Kirito and Asuna picking the dark elf rather than the forest elf may have messed up the plot to the point where the frontliners are all in danger of being killed, but mostly because said tragic backstory revolves around Yofilis being gay, and how that messes with the way this game treats elves and aging. Essentially Elves age as they gain roles, such as “parent, grandparent, knight captain”, though obviously I’m simplifying. And the fallen elves specifically aren’t aging after “falling”. So we get an odd dovetailing of how a gay character might be coded in a fantasy like this one, as well as the fallout of same, which involves a literal metaphor for sinning and falling from grace. It’s… interesting.

And Kirito and Asuna are adorable and everyone except them agrees they’re a couple and should just kiss already. Rest assured, it still has that. Next time we resolve another cliffhanger, though a more happy one this time. Will it be another four years? Maybe.

The Alchemist’s Fluffy Island Getaway, Vol. 1

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By Kisetsu Morita and Matsuuni. Released in Japan as “Renkinjutsushi no Yurufuwa Ritou Kaitakuki” by GA Novel. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Tristan Hill.

Sometimes I pick a book to read based on vibe, and only afterwards do I realize the actual creative team behind it. This is definitely one of those books. I got it as I like the mini-genre of “alchemist in a remote land a la the Atelier series”, and it felt cute. And then I finished it, and it turns out it’s freaking Morita AGAIN, with I believe his fourth LN series licensed over here, not counting spinoffs. And then I realized how an awful lot of this felt familiar if you’ve read Killing Slimes for 300 Years, especially the main character picking up two fighting monster girls who bond with her. That said, Killing Slimes for 300 Years is a very static series, with little to no growth or change. This one seems to know it can’t be that. Because when we meet Freya, well, she’s kind of horrible, and getting exiled to the middle of nowhere to learn to be a better person is what she richly needs.

Freya Corvidge is an orphan girl who ends up at a premier academy for alchemists, and ends up with the highest grades of her year. We don’t see any of that. We start with her graduation speech, where she talks about finding a cushy job where she can be lazy. And when other graduates accidentally summon a massive wolf monster, she steals supplies without asking to paralyze it and make it invisible so it’s not killed. All this means that, far from a cushy job in the capital, she’s being treated like the bottom of the class, and sent to a remote island where she should reflect on her actions. When she gets there, while the locals are very friendly, her alchemist shop is so overgrown it will take her weeks to uncover it. Then she meets the island’s god… who seems very familiar.

Freya is a hoot, frankly. Her obnoxious tendencies are to a certain degree a front for the fact that she’s a nerd who had no friends and was bullied a bit at school. Unlike Killing Slimes, her character journey over the course of the book, where she grows to like island life and discovers the joy (and embarrassment) of doing good things that others praise her for, is the point, and it’s handled well. I also liked Lilil, the wolf god who ends up becoming her apprentice and tsukkomi, there to bring Freya back to reality when need be. Given the author, it’s not surprising that there’s a bit of yuri in this title, though thankfully it’s not punctuated with reassurances that everyone is straight like their other series. There’s also a lot of “this is how we do alchemy” stuff, which is the norm in these sorts of titles, and unlike, say, Management of a Novice Alchemist, Freya is talented but also inexperienced and is not going to be OP right off the bat.

So yeah, this is a lot of fun, and I will cut the author a bit of slack and cheerfully read the second in the series, which will no doubt add another cute girl somewhere.

Manga the Week of 5/20/26

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SEAN: School is almost done for the year! But not yet. What manga do you buy sad kids who should be studying?

ASH: Minecraft and Kirby are the ones currently in demand at my house.

SEAN: Viz Media starts us off with Assassin’s Creed: Forgotten Temple 3, Battle Royale: Enforcers 5, Centuria 2, Choujin X 12, Hirayasumi 9, Hunter x Hunter 3-in-1 6, Kingdom 7, Mujina into the Deep 4, and One-Punch Man 33.

ASH: I really do need to start reading Kingdom.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts Nagi & Hayasaki (Nagi-kun to Hayasaki-kun), a one-shot BL title that ran in from RED. I really don’t want to break down the summary of this one, so let’s just say rivals who hate each other find spicy common ground!

MICHELLE: Yeesh. Good call on skipping the summary.

SEAN: Shinjuku 69 Heaven is also a from RED BL title. A reporter shares a night with a sex worker, then when they become roommates is upset to discover the sex worker is only nice and open when he’s on the job and being paid!

MICHELLE: Okay, when one of the characters is described as “snarky” and “sneering,” I’m in. I choose not to examine what this might say about me, personally.

ANNA: I feel like people don’t have to be self-reflective all the time!

SEAN: Also from Tokyopop: Eternal Covenant 4, Monster and Ghost 2, and The Tale of Luvelia Kingdom 2.

Titan Manga has Farewell, My Odin 2 and Sanda 3.

ASH: I’ve not read the first volume yet, but I have been eyeing Farewell, My Odin as it does seem to be up my alley.

SEAN: Steamship has Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts 9.

Square Enix Books gives us Final Fantasy IX Picture Book: Vivi and Grandpa’s Memories for the Sky, which is self-explanatory. For the kids!

Square Enix Manga has a 2-in-1 one-shot, A Cat Is a Cat in Any Life (Tenseishitemo Neko wa Neko). This Gangan Online title has a cat reincarnated into a fantasy isekai-style world… that has no cats!

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: They also have Just Like Mona Lisa 9 and 10 (the final volumes) and The Otaku Love Connection 4.

Seven Seas starts us off with danmei, as they have Joyful Reunion 4.

There is a giant pile of Seven Seas, but no debuts. They have Choking on Love 5, The Demon King is Way Too Overprotective! 3 (the final volume), Dinghai Fusheng Records 3, Hope You’re Happy, Lemon 3, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 11 (the final volume), Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized! 6, My Kitten is a Picky Eater 8, No Longer Allowed In Another World 11, Otaku Elf 11, Our Dining Table: Seconds, Please! 2, The Princess I Loved in My Past Life is Now a Middle-Aged Dad 3 (the final volume), She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 14, The Too-Perfect Saint 6, What It Means to Be You 4, and A Yuri Love Story That Begins with Getting Dumped in a Dream 2.

MICHELLE: I look forward to more of Our Dining Table: Seconds, Please!.

ASH: I almost missed seeing that in there!

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 9th volume of The Death Mage manga.

Noir Caesar has the 2nd volume of Deep 3.

KUMA has a one-shot, Only My Psycho, a BL title from iHertz. A guy who is recruited to be an assassin makes fast friends with another guy… but is there more going on?

ASH: Signs point to yes.

SEAN: Kodansha Manga debuts Dragon Circus, which runs in Hero’s. This is actually “Volume 0”, but it does seem to be the first released here. Dragons appear in the skies, and a motley crew has to be sent to battle them!

Magical Karina is another dark take on the magical girl drama, with a girl being called upon to save the world when she’s barely able to cope with the death of her grandmother. It runs in Comic Days.

ANNA: Ok, I’m a little curious about this!

SEAN: Also in print: Am I Actually the Strongest? 10, Blue Lock 30, How I Met My Soulmate 7, Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow-Up 6, Ninja Vs. Gokudo 13, Parasyte Paperback Collection 6, Senpai Is an Otokonoko 6, Tank Chair 8, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: IruMafia Edition 4, and Whisper Me a Love Song 11.

The digital “debut” is Pink, the legendary Kyoko Okazaki manga that came out in print 13 years ago. It’s a one-shot, and ran in NEW Punch Zaurus. A young woman moonlights as a sex worker in order to be able to afford her pet crocodile. But it’s so much more than that. Go read it.

MICHELLE: Somehow I never read this one!

ANNA: I think I did read it back in the day? But I’m not sure. More Okazaki in print is a good thing!

ASH: Pink specifically and Okazaki’s work more generally are excellent.

SEAN: Also digital: The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses 21, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 33 (the final volume), Killing Line 5 (the final volume), Matcha Made in Heaven 14, and Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 21.

MICHELLE: Somehow, I was expecting Elegant Yokai Apartment Life to never end.

ANNA: I need to get caught up on Matcha Made in Heaven!

ASH: I still really appreciate the title.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has more debuts, as their May is filled with Volume 1s! Miss Medic’s Diary at War (TS Eiseihei-san no Senjou Nikki) is a dark reincarnation series, as a young woman with recovery magic who loved playing FPS in a previous life finds it’s not as fun when the battlefield is real.

ASH: I’m assuming that became pretty clear pretty quickly.

SEAN: The Path of an S-Rank Adventurer: From Deadweight to Weapon Master (S-kyuu Boukensha ga Ayumu Michi: Party wo Tsuihou Sareta Shounen wa Shin no Nouryoku “Buki Master” ni Kakusei Shi, Yagate Sekai Saikyou e Itaru) is another “thrown out of the hero’s party” book. You know how those go. This is on the “revenge” end of the spectrum.

ASH: I tend to enjoy a good revenge tale, but the the “thrown out of the party” stories aren’t usually a draw for me.

SEAN: Sister Mafioso (Gisou Shishita Moto Mafia Reijou, Nidome no Jinsei wa Zettai ni Ikinobimasu) stars a woman who fakes her death and starts over, but sadly her previous life is not going to leave her alone.

ANNA: I hate it when that happens!

ASH: Right?!

SEAN: Tearmoon Empire Short Story Collection 1 is what it sounds like. Mia antics in short form.

ASH: Marvelous.

SEAN: Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey (Yuusha no Tabi no Uragawa de) doesn’t star the hero, who has an unfortunate prophecy that she’ll die, but rather two people who have to change fate and stop the prophecy. I have heard this is yuri?

ASH: I could be convinced to find out.

Other light novels out next week from JNC: The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World 3, The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 19, In Another World with Household Spells 5, Isekai Walking 6, The Misfit of Demon King Academy 12 Part 1, My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 12, Revenge of the Soul Eater 5, Royal Spirits Are a Royal Pain! 3, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 27.

For manga they have The Invincible Summoner Who Crawled Up from Level 1 7 and Sometimes Even Reality Is a Lie! 7.

Ize Press has no debuts, but they do have Beware the Villainess! 7, The Boxer 13 (the final volume), I Love Amy 2, Kill the Villainess 6, Lady Devil 5, Overgeared 10, Revenge of the Baskerville Bloodhound 2, and See You in My 19th Life 10.

Hanashi Media has a 4th and final volume of The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage.

ASH: There are so many publishers to keep track of these days! (I keep forgetting about Hanashi Media …)

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us 2.5 Dimensional Seduction 18, Let’s Make a Harem in a Zombie World! 2, and A Reincarnated Carrier’s Strategy for Another World 2.

Alien Books has Kinryo Rock – Code Amrita 2.

Airship has print books! The debut is Venus Mission: I Was an Assassin-for-Hire Who Died, Now I’m Hunting Heroes in Another World (Venus Mission: Moto Koroshiya de Youhei no Chuunen, Yuusha no Ansatsu wo Iraisare Isekai Tensei!), about an assassin who can kill anything except the cancer that he has. When he dies, he wakes in another world… where he has to hunt down heroes!

Also in print: She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 16 and A Tale of the Secret Saint 10.

Early digital has My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s 5 and The Too-Perfect Saint 6.

And ONLY digital has When a Clueless First-Person Shooter Player Falls into Another World 2.

There’s something for everyone here, I think. Am I wrong?

The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World, Vol. 3

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By Heiseiowari and Noy. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Saikyou Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life wo Tanoshimimasu” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alex Castor.

This is a slow-life series that has things happening, but it can be a bit difficult to review as, due to its nature, deep character development is just not on the table. The closest Arata gets to it are his struggles to fight back against everyone judging him by his god-like powers and insisting he’s human, and even he is half-hearted about it. There is a more interesting plot happening… away from the island, where the hero’s team are still being hunted by the Church as heretics. This means that they’re being hunted by two Celestial Archmages, who are ludicrously powerful… till they do another summoning, and pull not Arata this time, but Reina and Zelos, who are suddenly in front of their former allies. The interesting bit is they’ve lived with Arata and the other OP folks on the island so long that they’ve also gotten much stronger than anyone else, to the point where they can easily fight off colleagues who used to beat the stuffing out of them before. It pays to be around Arata!

Arata and Reina are headed to the Alfin village where Katima lives, there to meet up with her Village Elder and mostly have fun at Katima’s expense. While there it is revealed that the Great Spirits that normally watch over the village have been absent for a while, so Arata and Katima go searching for them.. and find that the Great Spirits are, unsurprisingly, a lot like humans, which is to say that two of them are having a “man’s battle” while the third has locked them in a sphere to shut them up. It turns out they’re fighting over who gets to raise the new Great Spirit who’s just been born… but when Arata, with all his power, interrupts, the Great Spirit ends up choosing him as her new “Daddy”. Now he’s raising Snow, the Great Spirit, along with her “mommy” Reina. The trouble is, Snow is having a bit of trouble controlling her ice powers…

The main reason to read this series remains the still adorable, still virginal romance between Arata and Reina. Indeed, it’s astonishing to everyone except Arata and Reina that they’re not already lovers. Every time they talk to each other the folks around them complain about the flirting. It also goes without saying that when they’ve got to take care of Snow, who calls them Mommy and Daddy for good reason, they become the perfect parents. There’s even the obligatory “we’re finally giving in to our feelings and leaning in for a kiss when we’re interrupted because this book has seven volumes to go till the wedding” scene. That said, I’m pretty sure we’re getting him more than one wife in this series. It’s hinted heavily that polyamory is OK, and Tailtiu has made it very clear she’s not going to be an unlucky anything. But the thrust of the goopy romance is still these two.

Island stuff is all well and good, but I do hope we dovetail back with the main world again soon, as that adds a bit of spice to this otherwise very relaxing series.

Starting on Hard Mode: God Levels, Got Problems, Vol. 1

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By Hanmenkyoushi and ririnra. Released in Japan as “Level Count Stop kara Hajimaru, Kamisama-teki Isekai Life: Saikyou Status ni Tenseishita node Suki ni Ikimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Jessica Speed.

There are series rich in depth, with multiple layered plots and character development galore, the sort that you read by a roaring fire in your study. And there are books that you read when you’re lying on the beach and want brain candy, something that really does not require you to think. Take a wild guess which one this falls into. There’s a smorgasbord of all the things that you’d expect from a series that looks like this cover and with this title. Overpowered guy, cute girls of elf and beast variety, adventuring parties, lots of monster killing, and even a backdrop of racial discrimination crushing the souls of everyone who isn’t a human. OK, not all of it is brain candy for the beach, but I’m letting people know not to raise their expectations above about knee level. If you manage to keep them there, this isn’t all that bad. It hasn’t really made any of the more egregious errors titles like these do.

It’s possible our nameless Japanese guy was hit by Truck-kun, but as he doesn’t remember anything we won’t find out. God, talking in his head, tells him he’s been reincarnated in another world! And he’s overpowered! In fact, ridiculously overpowered. His stats are about 25 times stronger than the strongest humans. Oh, and his physical appearance looks just like, well, God. Surely this will not lead to misunderstandings! No sooner is he dumped in a forest full of monsters than he saves a desperate elf girl. Unfortunately, no haughty or powerful elves in this world. Here elves are treated like dirt. What’s more, after arriving at the nearby town and going to the obligatory adventurer’s guild, he meets a beastgirl… who is also despised, despite being really strong. Why was he reincarnated into racism world? To make things better, of course.

I do appreciate that Merlin (said nameless hero has a name in fantasy world) has an immediate and visceral reaction to all the prejudice going on around him, and that he takes pains to be extra nice to the elves and beastgirl as a result. (Oh yes, cute elf has a dying sister. It’s OK, Merlin is powerful enough to heal anyone.) The girls are all cute, and due to the genre I can let slide that they are torn between worshiping him and falling in love with him, and sort of decide to do both. There’s also some obligatory fanservice, but Merlin is the “I will blush and turn away they’re like little sisters” sort, so don’t expect any romance anytime soon. For the most part, though, we’re here to watch Merlin be awesome and then try to cover up the fact that he’s being awesome. It’s hard enough getting a slow life in a series like this without being gorgeous, all-powerful, and a budding activist.

This is a DRE series, so should not run too long. Recommended for folks who like what the cover art shows them.

Proud to Be the Villainess: If My Doom Can Be Her Happily Ever After, So Be It!

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By Mary=Doe and Kuga Huna. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijou no Kyouji” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Bérénice Vourdon.

It’s always interesting seeing a Villainess title on the Club side of J-Novel rather than the Heart side. Usually it means that the romance isn’t the point of the exercise, and that is the case here, though that might surprise you after you see what the plot is, as there is an awful lot of romance in this book. But in the end this isn’t a romance as much as a twisted caper film. Our protagonist has a goal, that will take years and involves lots of moving parts, and eventually everything comes together until she’s able to pull off the goal… or at least, she hopes that’s what happens. Heck, since she’s not reincarnated from Japan, this doesn’t even have to involve a game world at all, and there’s no pesky heroine either. There’s just two sisters, with one of them being noble and abused and the other being arrogant and haughty. All is as it should be… except, as you may have gathered by the title, the other sister is the main character.

We open the way a lot of villainess books open – with the seeming romantic lead cruelly breaking off his engagement to his poor fiancee. However, we see this from the perspective of Iora’s sister Wellmy. While Iora has been abused by her parents, barely fed, forced to live apart from the main house, and essentially tortured, Wellmy has had it good. The best dresses, the finest jewely. She even has fantastic grades… which also happen to have her forcing her sister to write her papers for her and sign Wellmy’s name. She is every inch the terrible stepsister we see in these books, and she even manages to get Iora married off to the horrible Marquis, rumored to hate women. It is therefore no surprise whatsoever that, six months from now, Wellmy arrives at a party only to have Aides, the Marquis in question, reveal all of her horrible deeds in front of everyone. Just as Wellmy planned.

This book does have its flaws. It’s horribly overbalanced towards the front, having its climactic and best scene (the slap) only 1/4 of the way through, with over half the book devoted to looking at the “other side” of what’s been going on. It’s also clearly written as a standalone, and it is hard to see how it has 7+ volumes in Japan now, which it does. That said, I loved this to bits. Not a surprise, everything in it was designed to be catnip to me. It’s not as dark as I expected, frankly – there is a lot of funny business here, especially when Wellmy discovers her inner submissive – but there is a core of despair that falls over the main events. Wellmy’s grand plan means that she’s never considered what to do with her life besides “die”. Iora is forced to watch from afar as her sister deliberately destroys herself. Even their mother, who is written off for most of the book as a scheming woman who loathes her adopted daughter, turns out to have a terrible backstory. There are definitely reasons why Wellmy had to go so far, though in the end she and Iora reap the rewards… even if Wellmy does so reluctantly.

All this plus casual verbal abuse of a crown prince. What’s not to love? For all fans of this genre, and I hope the author can figure out what comes next.

Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!, Vol. 6

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By Atekichi and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (ko)!” by TO Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

A lot of these “we’re in the world of a game” series tend to fall into two categories. Either the game just goes off the rails immediately but the main character doesn’t realize it and is determined to fight against a fate that no longer exists (e.g. Observation Records of My Fiancee), or the game has a malevolent mind of its own and is determined to make sure those pesky villainesses die and heroines save the day. This title is firmly in the second category, and while the bulk of most of the book is fairly light and maid-related, it does not let you forget it. The climax of this book does feature the “heroine”, Melody, but because she’s already derailed this game as far as possible, even she cannot save the day in the end. And it’s not going to be the tsundere duke’s daughter either, who comes a lot closer but falls short. No, in the end it’s past tragedies that will have to win out.

Despite the fact that you’d never imagine it with a culture like the one we have, it’s school festival time, and thanks to the dumbass Prince Christopher suggesting something anonymously assuming no one would go along with it, their class is doing a maid cafe. Since Cecilia is currently convalescing back home, Melody will of course not be participating (yet… the festival will be in the next book, and I have my suspicions), but she can advise folks on what works and doesn’t work when it comes to a practical maid uniform. Celedia would like to be getting closer to the capture targets, but alas all she’s doing is secretarial work related to the festival, and she thrown a hissy fit that goes wrong thanks to the evil lurking inside her. Unfortunately, said hissy fit is stopped by Christopher, and even though he and Anna-Marie have done their best to avoid having the plot impact them, it’s time for him to turn evil.

Christopher and Anna-Marie have been around since the start, usually complaining about the fact that they’re trying to stop the plot of the game but that it’s been stopped before it gets to them, but they’ve been relatively minor characters. Here they get more to do, though I’m sure they wish they didn’t. I feel bad for Christopher, who didn’t do anything wrong, really, but ended up almost destroying the world, because thanks to Celedia’s extra added evil Melody is NOT strong enough to head him like the game says. The final scenes are really dark and horrific, both because Christopher is slowly being mind-controlled and also because we get a flashback showing Maika’s reaction to her brother and his “childhood friend’s” death, and how deeply that affected her. It’s pretty heartbreaking, and Christopher and Anna-Marie are appropriately heartbroken. It also allows the Maika that’s HERE to accidentally save the day, though she’s unaware of it. I really enjoy the way this series interweaves everyone’s past lives into the mix.

As I noted earlier, we get all the buildup to the festival but not the festival itself. And by the time the next book comes out, the anime will have aired. We’ll see how that goes. Sometimes it helps, sometimes you’re Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter. But the books are good.

The Bladesmith’s Enchanted Weapons, Vol. 4

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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.

This remains a series written almost entirely for teenage boys, but it’s worth noting that this isn’t just one aspect of things teenage boys like. Obviously there’s the stuff about the swords, because teen boys love swords, and fantasy authors love treating the swords like they’re women, which this book absolutely does. It’s also written for teen boys in terms of the sexuality – Lutz and Claudia remain very sexually active, and a princess of another country’s city/tribe is mostly described by her large breasts. But there’s something else teenage boys like, and that’s grimdark, and this series has that as well. It never quite spills over into actual tragedy, but there’s a lot of bleak, depressing stuff in this series, ranging from the start with Claudia being saved from a fate worse than death (more on that later), to a clan leader who has let the love of a sword turn him evil, to a vengeful knight seeking to atone for past sins by killing his fellow sinners. It’s not fluffy.

This story essentially consists of two parts. In the first, Lutz, Claudia, and Ricardo head to the federation to see what’s going on there after the death of their king. Turns out things aren’t great. They meet up with Gwynn, the guy who asked Lutz to create a katana he could give painless death with, and together they head to a wretchedly poor city where the chief seems to really, really hate them. He has a daughter who’s far more sensible, but he also has a bewitching katana that has killed three of her brothers when they challenged dear old dad. Maybe an unbewitching katana from Lutz can help. When they return home, they find that there’s a masked avenger going around killing the lazy knights, and while Lutz and especially Claudia have no love lost for those guys, Lutz decides to investigate just in case this turns out to be the fault of one of his katanas, like almost everything else in this series.

There is some humor in this, of course. The darkness of the village chief and his bewitching sword is offset by the adorableness of the first love between Gwynn and Melty. There’s another subplot about Ricardo asking for a second katana to be used with Tsubaki as a dual wield, and it’s up to Lutz to show Ricardo that dual wielding is something mostly done by fictional heroes for good reason. But we see slavery here, and a village whose people are starving to death just because its chief wants a second priceless katana to go with his first. There’s also the entire plot with Donaldo, who worships Lutz for all the wrong reasons. Lutz has to secretly meet with Donaldo to resolve this, because much as Claudia likes to pretend that she’s over the terror of what the knights did to her in the first book, she’s really not, and he knows that he needs to handle this away from her. The darkness of this world leaks in whether you want it to or not, and it’s impossible to get rid of.

It will be interesting to see where this series goes next – especially given we’re now seeing Enchanted Weapons by people other than Lutz. I’m still really loving it.

Manga the Week of 5/13/26

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SEAN: It’s Mother’s Day week, and Manga Bookshelf has some totally mother-appropriate manga… as well as a lot of other titles.

ASH: Seems about right.

SEAN: Airship has print volumes for Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 2 and Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 21.

And we get early digital for I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 11 and Magic Maker: How to Create Magic in Another World 2.

Hanashi Media has a 4th volume of I Got Reincarnated as a Cultist Mob in an Eroge Full of Maniacs with Death Wishes.

Ize Press has a 3rd novel of Villains Are Destined to Die.

There is a giant pile of print for J-Novel Club, including debut volumes of three of their contest winners. We see Cogs of Time, The Dragon and the Blade Saint: This Isn’t Where We End, and Promised to a Dragon.

ASH: I’m curious to see how these will be received.

SEAN: Also out in print: Blade & Bastard 5, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 6, the 5th Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill manga, Gushing Over Magical Girls 10, Hell Mode 10, Infinite Dendrogram 22, Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole 5, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 11, My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 6, My Next Life As a Villainess 14, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Omnibus 13, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 8.

J-Novel Club has five new light novel series dropping next week digitally. Fired? But I Maintain All the Software! (E, Shanai System Subete One Operator Shiteiru Watashi wo Kaiko desu ka?) already had its manga picked up by JNC, and now we’re getting the light novel. A programmer gets fired for cosplaying in the office. Sure, without her the company is doomed, but hey. Now she’s joining a new startup where she can give advice to other coders. For fans of… this series, I can’t think of any other licensed title like it.

ASH: It does certainly stand out from a lot else being released these days.

SEAN: Proud to Be the Villainess (Akuyaku Reijou no Kyouji) stars Wellmy, who has spent most of her life tormenting her stepsister. However, there’s a method to her abuse. For those who wanted Observation Records of My Fiancee to be serious.

Reborn to Reign: Imposing My Rules with My Mastery of Magic (Mujihi na Akuyaku Kizoku ni Tenseishita Ore wa Shuuaku Mahou wo Kushishite Mahou Sekai no Chouten ni Tatsu: Heroine nante Inai to Akirameteitara Mukou kara Katte ni Yottekimashita) stars a guy who wakes up in the body of a villain and starts to try to fix that. Now all his enslaved women are falling for him! For fans of …I got nothing, this sounds dire.

ASH: I’m sure there will be fans, but I’ll be passing.

SEAN: Return of the Corpse King: Reining in My Cringe Secret Society (Shiou no Kikan: Moto Yuusha no Ore, Jibun ga Soshikishita Chuuni Himitsukessha wo Tomeru Tame ni Futatabi Isekai ni Shoukansareteshimau) stars a young man who has already been summoned as a hero, defeated the demon king, and was sent back to Japan. Three years later, he’s summoned back to deal with the evil secret society… that he secretly founded when he was being chuuni. For fans of The Eminence in Shadow.

ASH: I won’t be going out of my way to read it, but I am amused be the premise.

SEAN: Starting on Hard Mode: God Levels, Got Problems (Level Count Stop kara Hajimaru, Kamisama-teki Isekai Life: Saikyou Status ni Tenseishita node Suki ni Ikimasu) stars a reincarnated young man who finds he’s amazingly handsome and devastatingly powerful… so powerful he has trouble touching anyone. Can he live a slow life, in this world where there’s discrimination? Like hell. For fans of heroes who try to sort out the world with their OP powers.

ASH: Poor guy.

SEAN: Other light novels from JNC: The Isle of Paramounts 3, A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even 7, and My Next Life As a Villainess 15.

Other manga from JNC: Flung into a New World? Time to Lift the 200-Year Curse! 6, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 13, and Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer! 4.

Kodansha Manga’s print debut is Cat-Life Balance (Kurone-san wa Nyaa to Nakanai), a seinen manga from Morning Two. A guy who happily overworks himself and takes on all his colleagues’ requests starts to rethink that when he discovers his co-worker playing with cats in the park.

ASH: Woo, cat manga!

SEAN: Also in print: The Drops of God Omnibus 4, Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow 2, Love at First Memory 2, Perfectly Fine on My Own, So My Fiancé Can Twist in the Wind 2, and Roar: A Star in the Abyss 4.

MICHELLE: I am interested in Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow, but haven’t managed to check it out yet.

ANNA: Oh same, good reminder to check it out.

ASH: Ditto.

SEAN: Digitally, we get Because I, the True Saint, was Banished, that Country is Done For! 11, Blue Lock 37, Gazing at the Star Next Door 8, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 18 (the final volume), Medalist 14, and Nina the Starry Bride 18.

MICHELLE: Woo, Medalist.

ANNA: Also, woo, Nina the Starry Bride!

SEAN: Living the Line has a one-shot manga, Hide and Seek (Keito no Pants), which ran in Nakayoshi and Shoujo Friend in the early 1970s. This short story collection is about the darker side of childhood, and definitely falls into the horror end of the shoujo spectrum.

MICHELLE: Interesting!

ANNA: I am likewise intrigued.

ASH: I’ve really been enjoying the releases from Living the Line, and shoujo horror is often the best horror.

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 3rd volume of You Talk Too Much, So Just Shut It Already!.

Seven Seas has three danmei novels out next week. We get Case File Compendium 8, There’s Something Wrong with the Chief 3, and Three Hundred Years of Longing 3.

They also have three manga debuts. Exotic Animal Doctor (Chinjuu no Oisha-san) is a seinen series from Harta. These vets are here for your weird critters (mostly lizards, judging from the cover).

ASH: And I’m here for the series.

SEAN: I Have a Secret (Kakushigoto) is based on the novel already released by Seven Seas. It’s coming out in two big omnibuses. It’s from the I Want to Eat Your Pancreas creator, so we know we’re going to be crying by the end of this.

MICHELLE: Wow, the manga cover has an entirely different energy than the light novel!

SEAN: Laughter in the Sunshine (Taiyou wa Hidamari to Warau) is a BL one-shot from Lynx. A man smuggling a cat into his apartment is caught by his building manager. Can this lead… to love?

MICHELLE: Hm. Possibly cute!

ANNA: Cats are always a good starting point for cuteness.

ASH: Agreed.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: 100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death 5, Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex 2, DEAR. DOOR 3, Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 6, I’m Running for Crown Princess, but All I Want is a Steady Paycheck! 3, I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 8, Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary 5, The Long Summer of August 31 5, Magic Maker: How to Create Magic in Another World 3 (the final volume), Only I Know the World Is Ending and Getting Killed by Rampaging Beasts Only Makes Me Stronger 5, Roses and Champagne 3, and Someone’s Girlfriend 6.

Square Enix debut A Starlit Darkness (Naraku no Hoshi), a BL title from Gangan Pixiv. A suicidal writer runs into a frenetic literary group, and gets drawn into the world of literary early 20th century Japan.

MICHELLE: This is by the author of Cherry Magic, so I am looking forward to it!

ASH: Oh, good catch! And I enjoy a manga with a good literary theme.

SEAN: They also have Bride of the Death God 3, The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! 11, and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 30.

SuBLime has A Man Who Defies the World of BL 4 and Scattering His Virgin Bloom: Love Frenzy 2.

Titan Manga debut Eko Eko Azarak Reborn, a Champion Red title rebooting the classic 1970s manga. A young witch has to battle the forces of Hell.

ASH: Interesting! I like that more publishers seem to be releasing horror manga these days.

SEAN: Tokyopop has an 8th volume of The Margrave’s Daughter & the Enemy Prince.

Udon Entertainment has Blue Archive: Comic Anthology, a collection of short manga based on the popular franchise.

No debuts for Viz, but we get Akane-banashi 16, Akira Falling in Love 2, Devil’s Candy 5, Hayate the Combat Butler 48 (the series is speeding up as the end is near, Excel Saga was the same), Jujutsu Kaisen 30 (the final volume, assuming Viz doesn’t use Domain Expansion), Mao 24, Persona 5 15, Rai Rai Rai 4, Tsumiki Ogami’s Not-So-Ordinary Life 6, and Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 9.

Yen On has one debut. The Alchemist’s Fluffy Island Getaway (Renkinjutsushi no Yurufuwa Ritou Kaitakuki) stars a genius alchemist assigned to the middle of nowhere, which is becoming a standard plotline. Can she help the local god?

Also from Yen On: The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori 4 (the final volume), Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle 8, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 13, Divine Incursions 2, The Executioner and Her Way of Life 10, Lord of Mysteries 3, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 7, The Summer Hikaru Died 2 (light novel version), and Sword Art Online Progressive 9.

ASH: I should give The Summer Hikaru Died novels a try; the manga series has been great.

SEAN: Yen Press debut A Long & Short Love Story (Nagaku mo Mijikaki Koi no Hanashi), a BL one-shot from Ciel. Two neighbors have always been besties as they grow up. Then one of them kisses the other…

MICHELLE: Also possibly cute!

SEAN: Yen Press also has Bocchi the Rock! Side Story: Kikuri Hiroi’s Heavy-Drinking Diary 3 and The Teen Exorcist 4.

That was more than I expected! Anything for mom?

Observation Records of My Wife: The Misadventures of a Self-Proclaimed Villainess, Vol. 3

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By Shiki and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Jishō Akuyaku Reijō na Tsuma no Kansatsu Kiroku” by Regina Books. Released in North America by Hanashi Media. Translated by Ethan Holms.

Since I last reviewed this series, the anime has debuted, and a few things are becoming clear. First of all, like many light novel adaptations, the anime is speed running things a bit, so I suspect we’ll get into the “wife” part of the series before the end of the season. Secondly, I’d forgotten how some of the characters looked at the start of the series compared with now. In the first volume, Zeno was a beleaguered but relatively calm butler who normally served to snark at Cecil when Cecil was being particularly evil. In this sixth book, Zeno is an absolute wreck of a spirit, constantly whining and yelling at everyone around him. Part of this is due to the dreaded “oh, his partner looks really young, ha ha he’s a lolicon” joke we get in light novels, which is never funny and isn’t here either. But partly it’s because family, no matter how much you may try to avoid it, will always be embarrassing.

Cecil and Bertia are home from Seahealby, and everything seems relatively peaceful. So it’s now time for Zeno to go visit the spirit kingdom, so that he can ask permission from Kuro’s parents to marry her. This isn’t required, but he wants to be polite about it. Bertia is going as Kuro is very attached to her. Cecil is going as Bertia is going. And everyone else is suffering, because Cecil was already gone for an extended period and now he’s leaving again. When they arrive, they have to deal with Zeno’s parents, who are merely very embarrassing, and who also set up the plot of the 4th book in this series, when we’ll meet his seemingly overbearing sisters. The main plot, though, has the “ha ha he’s a lolicon” jokes hit at exactly the wrong time, meaning he and Cecil are now locked out of her parent’s castle till he completes some herculean tasks. No worries, Cecil is here to help. Wait, no, here to observe.

I have to admit, the stakes in this one are pretty low, mostly because you know all that has to happen is Kuro putting her foot down and the problem is solved. Also, Bertia is mostly sidelined in this book, as she stays behind while Zeno and Cecil go off to do the plot, staying behind mostly to try to be villainous again, as Kuro’s mother hits a bunch of her “so cool!” buttons and she goes off into la-la land. (I will admit, Bertia trying to have herself get tied up is a very funny bit.) The bulk of the heavy lifting goes to Cecil, though, as is appropriate. here he’s smug, a bit sadistic, and also accidentally helps Zeno save the day. While Cecil is pretty much an expert at anything he’s ever done, he also has a fair bit of “golden boy” luck, which helps him out here. I also appreciated that Kuro’s parents end up being just as socially awkward as she is, and it explains quite a bit.

This series feels like it’s coasting, but I still like the cast, and it’s fun most of the time.

Manga the Week of 5/6/26

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SEAN: May is here, and the weather is turning into spring! Which is good, depending on where you live!

ASH: I’ve been appreciating it!

SEAN: Viz Media has one debut. Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi (Exorcist no Kiyoshi-kun) runs in Weekly Shonen Jump. Kiyoshi is a fantastic exorcist. If only he wasn’t scared of demons. And girls. And making friends. He’s actually pretty useless… but boy, can he exorcise.

ASH: At least he’s got something going for himself.

ANNA: It is good to have some sort of direction in life.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Blue Box 20, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex 5, Colette Decides to Die 7, Kagurabachi 7, My Special One 11 (the final volume), Natsume’s Book of Friends 32, Nue’s Exorcist 6, Prince Freya 13, Queen’s Quality 25 (the final volume), Star Wars: The Mandalorian: The Manga 4 (the final volume), and Super Psychic Policeman Chojo 3.

MICHELLE: Natsume! I look forward to a catch-up binge.

ASH: Oh, yes, that is an excellent plan.

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of Monster and Ghost.

Titan Manga gives us Gran Familia 3.

Square Enix Books has a new artbook tome. The Art of Final Fantasy XVI: Echoes of the Rising Tide is exactly what it sounds like.

ASH: Hooray for artbooks!

SEAN: They also have the 9th Apothecary Diaries light novel. Miss Chue, Miss Chue!

ASH: And hooray for Apothecary Diaries!

SEAN: And Square Enix Manga has Otherside Picnic 14.

No debuts for Seven Seas (they’re having a quiet week), but we get Dai Dark 9, Lost in the Cloud 3, Pet Shop of Horrors: Collector’s Edition 6, Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me 6, and A Tale of the Secret Saint 11.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to catch up with Dai Dark, but I might just hold out for the deluxe edition now that that will be releasing soon.

SEAN: Kodansha Manga has a couple of new print books. Stella Must Die (Zettai Shinanai Stella-hime) is a Suiyoubi no Sirius series about a princess whose father passes away… and now her stepsister is trying to kill her! Fortunately, she has someone protecting her from the shadows.

ASH: That does help.

ANNA: I can see how that might be handy!

SEAN: Voices in the Sea Foam (Utakata no Koe wo Kiite) is a one-shot BL manga from Magazine Be x Boy. Our protagonist falls in love with a boy at school… then remembers he’s the reincarnation of a mermaid who died for her love!

MICHELLE: Hm. Potentially interesting.

ASH: I am likewise curious.

SEAN: Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition is a handsome hardcover omnibus of the first 3 volumes, with color pages and unspecified bonus content.

ASH: It’s such a gorgeous edition of such a gorgeous series.

ANNA: I don’t often buy more than one edition of something but I’m tempted!

SEAN: Also in print: In/Spectre 21, Pupposites Attract 4, Tower Dungeon 5, Tune In to the Midnight Heart 7, and WIND BREAKER 21.

Digitally we see The Food Diary of Miss Maid 5, How to Grill Our Love 20, Manchuria Opium Squad 12, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 21.

Kana has the 3rd omnibus volume of Cat’s Eye.

No debuts for J-Novel Club. For digital light novels, there is The Amazing Village Creator 3, Cooking with Wild Game 33, and VTuber Legend 10 (the final volume).

For manga they have An Archdemon’s Dilemma 11, Ascendance of a Bookworm Arc 2 11, Even Exiled, She’s Still the Beloved Saint! 3, and I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic 7.

Inklore has a 3rd volume of Wet Sand.

Ghost Ship gives us The Cursed Sword Master’s Harem Life 6, Desire Pandora 5, and Makina-san’s a Love Bot?! 3.

Dark Horse Manga has the 16th and final volume of Mob Psycho 100.

ASH: Another series I should probably catch up on at some point.

SEAN: Airship, in print, has the debut of Classroom of the Elite: Year 3. Or, to be more accurate, Classroom of the Elite 30.

There’s also Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex 2 and Though I Am an Inept Villainess 10.

And there are early digital volumes of Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 6, I Like Villains, so I Reincarnated as One 2, and Virgin Knight: I Became the Frontier Lord in a World Ruled by Women 3.

What manga title Springs out at you?

Earl and Fairy: How to Win Over a Gentleman

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By Mizue Tani and Asako Takaboshi. Released in Japan as “Hakushaku to Yōsei” by Shueisha Cobalt Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

Well, I was suckered in once again. I was all set to talk about the fact that Earl and Fairy is a product of 90s shoujo, and that like a lot of 90s shoujo (and indeed a lot of manga and comics in general), it had a habit of snapping back to the default whenever anything important happened. I was ready to rage against no one seeming to have learned their lesson and everyone forgetting what happened the previous book. But no, it’s another stealth short story collection. Which means I can’t be really annoyed at Lydia and Edgar for behaving like they used to eight or nine books ago. There’s just one issue with this: I am annoyed anyway. Given that getting these two to meet in the middle and come to an understanding has been like pulling teeth, I feel no need to go back to the days where Lydia was stubborn and quick to believe the worst, and Edgar helped her along very well in that regard. On the bright side, the last story is terrific.

There are three short stories here, two of which were written for magazines and feature Edgar and Lydia towards the start of the series. In the first, a “stork fairy” arrives posing as a baby, and a delighted Edgar takes this opportunity to play as if he and Lydia are already parents… while Lydia tries to hook him up with his own maid, despite the fact that she sort of hates that idea. In the second, a nightingale (fairy version, not bird version) tries to get Lydia to fall in love, because otherwise she will perish, but runs up against the problem of, well, Lydia in general. The final story is new to this volume, and takes place after Book 11. A newly engaged Edgar and Lydia are having dinner with her father, Frederick, and he takes the opportunity to reminisce (to himself, Lydia has no idea) how he met her mother.

I have mentioned this before, but will bring it up again: The author is much better at writing action, suspense and supernatural intrigue than they are writing romance. The first story really rubbed me the wrong way, mostly as I had forgotten this is what most 90s shoujo was actually like. The 2nd was a bit better, and we did get to see Raven in drag, which was a lot more fun for us than it was for Raven. But no, the main reason this was a decent book is the back half, with the story of Frederick and Aurora. They meet cute, and you do get the sense that she falls for him almost immediately, but as the story goes on you see that’s not quite true. It also has some unnerving and scary bits. This is an insular community, and her father is unpleasant. What’s worse, her “second fiance” is abusive, and it’s hinted that if she doesn’t get away with Frederick getting abused will be her lot in life. It’s well known to the village that she’s a changeling, and not everyone seems at peace with that – though more people are than Aurora expects, leading to the sweetest part of the book.

I assume next time we’ll get a full volume. I also assume some fairy-related or Edgar’s past-related thing will get in the way of our heroes getting married, because that’s how this sort of series rolls. Less of past “always angry, always caddish” Lydia and Edgar, please.

Our Party Nearly Wiped and Then Everything Went Downhill, Vol. 1

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By Ameria and kodamazon. Released in Japan as “Zenmetsu End wo Shi ni Monogurui de Kaihishita. Party ga Yanda” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Leah Sargent.

Our main character, Walker, remembers his past life from Japan, and also that he’s in a grimdark manga that begins with an adventuring party getting murdered (him) and raped and murdered (the rest of his party) by a monster almost no one has defeated called Grim Reaper. He remembers all this just in time to figure out a way to defeat it. He does not remember this in time to avoid losing an eye and a leg to it. Now he’s recuperating in the Church and trying to combine his stoic, overly serious in-world memories with his somewhat current personality, as well as try to work out if he can ever use a sword again. Because boy, does Walker love swords. He’s invented a new sword style this world doesn’t know. Which is probably why he was able to survive. As for the rest of his party… well, they’re a bit traumatized and guilt-ridden. He really should do something about that too.

Things that annoyed me about this book:

• Lisellarte, the girl with the giant witch hat on the cover, is a supposedly hundred year old magic user who acts like a 7-year-old child most of the time, even before the tragic event that starts things off. She feels like she was added to fulfill the “loli” quotient.

• Euritia, a 13-year-old swordswoman who has a problem with men constantly trying to pick her up, has decided that the best way to deal with her grief is to kill everyone who even comes close to being against Walker.

• Atri, the obligatory Amazon girl, has been told by her grandmother that when she finds the one she loves she needs to “Accept his seed”, but of course every time she tries to he assumes she’s trying to fight him because he is dense.

• Walker himself started off (in the fantasy world) as a stoic blank slate dedicated to his sword fighting and his party. Adding the memories of his past life mostly makes him more annoying than anything else, and the book could easily have happened without any of that.

• Anze, the holy woman who knows their party, gets the fanservice jokes. I’m mostly annoyed at this as otherwise the book is relatively free of a leering fanservice gaze. There are rape mentions throughout, as that’s what originally happened to the party in the “manga”, but Walker doesn’t see the girls as anything but family.

• This is far more serious than I expected it to be, and that works to its detriment. I had assumed, based on the premise, we’d be in for some yandere stuff, and that’s true, but it’s really mild and not funny. Honestly, I wish there was more yandere stuff, it might lighten up the book.

• Most importantly, though, is that the author’s barely disguised fetish in this book isn’t yanderes or lolis or large-breasted nuns. It’s the girls all crying brokenly and feeling guilt-ridden and sad. They say in the afterword this is true, I’m not reading into it. And that makes this a different kind of book. It’s not about this group having to overcome a severe setback and tragedy, about Walker overcoming his disability, and about the girls regaining their confidence. We won’t see the girls regaining their confidence because the sad crying guilt-ridden monologues are the point. This is about the reader going “awwww” while seeing them castigate themselves.

And you know what that is? It’s torture porn. Bye-bye. You weren’t enjoyed.

Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived, Vol. 5

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By Masekinokatasa and Kaito Shinobu. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Koutei deshita: Umarenagara no Koutei wa Konosaki Ikinokoreru ka?” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gwendolyn Warner.

Of all the series to be reminded of while reading this isekai military fantasy, I was not expecting it to be The Executioner and Her Way of Life. But with this volume, it’s unavoidable. Executioner has at its core the premise that being isekaid’s to another world can be bad, especially if you’re not the only one. Catastrophic world ending things happen because Formerly Japanese folks get magical power and abilities and go slightly mad. And while that’s not happening here, it is very clear that this world has the potential for also wiping out civilizations because of their interdimensional travelers. Not only is Carmine not the only reincarnator, but there are absolute piles of them out there, some of whom are on his side but some of whom are working for the enemy… and easily manipulable. And they’re also having children, who sometimes have to suffer for the sins of their parents. Carmine will have a rough ride ahead.

When we last left Carmine, he was finding that his legendary victory was not without a cost, that being everyone suddenly deciding that now is the time to turn and wipe him out. Fortunately, (military things) and he is able to return to the palace, where plans are afoot for him to marry Rosaria… at least in two years, once he’s fifteen, the age of adulthood in this world. He also is urged by Rosaria to take Nadine and Vera-Sylvia as his concubines, which he pushes back against at first but is reminded that this world runs on politics rather than love and caves in… that said, he clearly also likes them, and they love him. After this he goes on a campaign to take Teyanave… which ends up going very badly indeed because (military things). He is barely able to make it back in time for his wedding.

As you may have guessed by reading the above, I am the wrong audience for this series, even though I enjoy it a great deal. I really do not have any interest in the battles, the strategies, and how we get from point A to point B while losing as few men as possible. This series, and this book, really do love that. Expect more of me eliding in future reviews. For now, let me focus on my favorite part, which is Carmine and his wives. He is a classic case of “does not realize what a smooth player he is”, and it’s very amusing seeing him say bluntly to Rosaria, who lives in a world where everything is couched in subtle metaphor, how gorgeous she is and how much he owes to her. Other than that, the most interesting thing in the book was the introduction of Mei Hatsume… erm, Lady Valenriehl, the daughter of a reincarnator with a grudge against the Church but a fantastic mind for taking apart magic things. I like her. Carmine is very wary of her.

If you like military history you will eat this up. If you don’t, you are me, and I still liked the smaller parts of the book that were not that.