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I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History: It Seems Turning into a High-Born Baddie Makes the Prince All the More Lovestruck, Vol. 1

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By Izumi Okido and Jyun Hayase. Released in Japan as “Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo: Akuyaku Reijō ni Naru hodo Ōji no Dekiai wa Kasoku suru yō desu!” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

This is the 2nd book that’s been licensed from the imprint B’s-LOG Bunko, the first being The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices, also from Yen On, and with a very similar vibe. Taking a look at the Japanese publisher’s page, the imprint is rife with villainesses, disgraced nobles, and young women striking out on their own by opening shops, etc. For all that we complain about isekai harems and villainess books being the only thing that gets picked up these days, there’s certainly ten times more of it in Japanese. We’ve had so many villainess books, in fact, that here we actually get someone who seems to be basing her idea of the archetype from light novels rather than otome games. A typical “villainess” is a shallow, vain bully who exists to get banished and/or killed, to the joy of the reader, right? Why would anyone want to be that?

A Japanese woman gets hit by a truck, and wakes up as a 7-year-old, Alicia Williams, the villainess of the game … actually, I don’t think the title of the game is mentioned by Alicia. She’s delighted, though. She has always loved villainesses, who need to be strong, powerful and caustic so that she could be a perfect match against the pure young heroine. Alicia therefore does a 180 from the spoiled, selfish girl Alicia was before, and asks for sword lessons. She’s told to do 100 situps and 50 pushups first… and does so. Then she goes and reads 100 books a day in the family library. Oh dear. It’s not clear if this is just due to being reincarnated, but it seems Alicia is a Divergent, someone with super special abilities whose presence can change the world. And so the King decides that she’s going to help the actual heroine, Liz, who is, frankly, a bit too idealistic. Can Alicia do that, even though it might mean being hated? She can’t wait.

The author says they wanted to contrast the idealism of Liz’s heroine with Alicia’s pragmatism, and honestly, has stacked the decks against Liz. To its credit, Liz isn’t an idiot like some other Villainess books, and I suspect she’s not going to turn evil anytime soon. That said, the way everyone is taken with Alicia immediately as a child, then all fall for Liz and start to turn against Alicia later on, shows she’s using some sort of heroine power, though it’s unclear what. The most interesting thing here is that Alicia is five years younger than everyone, including Liz. This allows her to become super special in order to catch up, as she isn’t being told “that’s impossible” by anyone till after she does it. That said, be warned: there’s a lot of people falling in love with Alicia when she’s only 7-13 years old (there’s a 6 year timespan in this book), and the book ends with everyone looking forward to her being 15, which is legal in Villainesslandia. Sigh.

This got an anime, which I haven’t seen but which seems to have been “good except the animation quality”. It made me want to read more, creepy love interest obsession aside. That’s almost a given for shoujo these days. Recommended for genre fans.

Love & Magic Academy: Who Cares about the Heroine and Villainess? I Want to Be the Strongest in this Otome Game World, Vol. 1

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By Toyozo Okamura and Parum. Released in Japan as “Renai Mahou Gakuin: Heroine mo Akuyaku Reijou mo Kankeinai. Ore wa Otome Game Sekai de Saikyou wo Mezasu” by GC Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

For obvious reasons, I write these reviews as if people are coming across these reviews individually rather than sequentially. That said, if you are reading these day by day… boy, there’s been a lot of overpowered protagonists, right? I mean, yes, Sean, it’s a light novel, but even more so than usual. Arius in particular, in this book written around 2021-22 or so, feels like a Fanfiction.net story from 2009 or so. You know, the ones that have “Dark/Grey/Independent Harry” in the summary. I will not lie, this book is filled with tedious scenes of Arius marching through dungeons, or criticizing others for marching through dungeons wrong, and generally being the best thing since sliced bread. That said, I did find things here to like. Most of them have to do with the parts of this book that are not a dungeon crawl, as it’s another otome game reincarnation story.

A nameless college researcher dies from overwork and finds himself as a baby – with his full memories from Japan – and realizes he’s in the otome game Love & Magic Academy. His childhood friend was obsessed with it and forced him to play it, so he knows how it’s supposed to go. He also knows that the makers of the game wanted to make an RPG, but it failed, so they laid over the otome game setup but kept the RPG undertones, meaning this world is filled with terrifying monsters (who are polite enough to stay in dungeons). Arius, as he grows up, decides to become a strong adventurer and fight amazing battles. That said, he does also need to do the whole “I am the son of a marquis and have to attend the noble magic academy” thing. But he’s not following the plot.

So I did promise I’d talk about what’s interesting. The interesting thing, for me, was that this is a rare case where no one is particularly trying to stick to the plot. Arius isn’t. The “heroine”, Milia, at first feels she has to, but eventually Arius convinces her that these are not characters but people. And there is not, so far, any “guiding force” that is forcing the events of the game to happen regardless of how everyone acts. It’s honestly refreshing, a huge “free will, boys!” moment that suffuses the book. I also appreciated how, for all his cool “I’m not interested in romance” bullshit, Arius actually does get to be a teenage boy near the end of the book, as he clearly realizes he likes noble “villainess” Sophia, but she’s engaged to the prince, so welp. (It’s also heavily hinted, but never stated, that Milia is the “childhood friend” he had in Japan.) More of Arius being uncool, please.

I’m not sure there’s enough here to make people want to read it unless their ability to tolerate OP bullshit is high (he’s speaking full sentences to his parents at six months old). But if you gotta catch all the otome game books, this won’t make you angry. Decent-ish.

Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 11

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

This series continues to be a masterclass in doing things that I find questionable and them making them heartwarming anyway. Class Rep talks here about Haruka using “Eye Mastery”, which is basically a brainwashing skill that lets him read someone’s mind and then alter their memories. He uses it here on some nuns that were about to be raped by the Church soldiers, as this world, as we are constantly reminded, is awful. I wasn’t happy with hearing that he’d been using it on the girls for a long time now, keeping them content and selfish, fighting over clothes and equipment and being goofy. He wanted them to be unaffected by this crapsack world. Sadly for him, they’ve all now leveled up enough so that it doesn’t affect them anymore, and thus they go to battle knowing full well what the Church’s soldiers have been doing. And they kill them. A lot of them. This is war, and our heroines are no longer going to be kept out of it. Innocent no more.

Our cast are headed off to the theocracy, there to take on the Church who are responsible for so much of the evil in this world. (We meet the Pope here, and he’s cartoonishly evil.) Sister Girl, who is (natch) a princess, will be leading the charge, backed up by Princess Girl, MeriMeri, the 20 girls of Haruka’s group, and Armored Rep as backup in case anything goes wrong. Meanwhile, Haruka and Dancer Girl are headed off to the capital itself, to deliver letters to various cities letting them know that The revolution is coming, and it’s time to break off and join it. They’re also there to kick ass, murder a metric fuckton of goons and assassins, and along the way, pick up a rabbit girl (on the cover), who is searching for her sister, kidnapped by the Church. Her sister is a wolf girl, by the way. Haruka is over the moon, but also a bit disturbed that these two are such an obvious chuuni stereotype.

I deliberately avoided using any names except for Haruka there, because that’s how he thinks. It’s underlined in this volume, where the girls once again yell at him for not using their names, getting their backgrounds wrong, and forgetting the name of their own school. Haruka’s subtext has rapidly become text. (Class Rep mentions the deaths of Haruka’s parents and sister here, though we get no details.) The running gag in the book is that Rabbit Girl and Wolf Girl, who are desperate to thank him for saving them and want to ask if there’s anything they can do for him (sorry, kids, you’re too young for Haruka to feel comfortable with), always have food stuffed in their mouths by him to shut them up, because the idea of hearing himself praised for doing what is essentially a giant pile of murders bothers him more than he can say. (And, just to bring the book back around to its core again, yes, a lot of the time when he’s shoving food in their mouths it’s meant to be phallic.)

Again, this book is for hardcore fans only, but if you are one, it’s always rewarding. And completely filthy, of course. I assume next volume we’ll get a new Dungeon Emperor, and I’m sure she’ll end up being gorgeous. This series is what it is.

Mercedes and the Waning Moon: The Dungeoneering Feats of a Discarded Vampire Aristocrat, Vol. 1

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By Fire head and KeG. Released in Japan as “Kaketa Tsuki no Mercedes: Kyūketsuki no Kizoku ni Tensei Shita kedo Suteraresō nanode Dungeon wo Seiha suru” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Maddy Willette.

Let’s face it. At its heart, this is a story about a girl who starts off ludicrously OP and just gets even more so. She’s of the stoic variety, but otherwise she fits the stereotype perfectly. She defeats monsters who “swear eternal loyalty” to her, though of course the word slave is not used. If you dislike this sort of book, then this is absolutely not a book that is going to change your mind. I kinda liked it, though. It has a gimmick that took me a while to figure out, which I’ll get to below. It has a few people other than our somewhat sociopathic heroine who have actual heart and soul, though honestly this is not a world for nice people to be nice in. And honestly, I just kinda got on with Mercedes. It’s the sort of power fantasy I don’t mind reading.

Our heroine is Mercedes, a young vampire who has (yes, I’m sorry) memories of her past life in Japan. (Yes, she invents chocolate. Sorry.) She’s the daughter of a concubine, and she and her mother live in a run-down decaying mansion, abandoned by her father. So she decides to become an adventurer. She trains hard to make herself strong, though because she never sees anyone other than her mother and maid, she has no idea how strong she is compared to others. And then she heads off to take on a dungeon and do quests. Which… turns out pretty easy, actually. She even tames an ogre and a dangerous wolf to act as her companions. Could she actually be really strong? Nah. But she’ll soon find out, as her older half-brother is holding a party where he plans to beat up the rest of his family to prove he’s best.

At first I wondered if this series was a satire, as Mercedes continually points out the cliches and weird things about her world. It’s medieval in tone, but has some 21st century amenities. It combines a tourist’s idea of Germany with Japanese writing. It is, in fact, exactly like you’d expect an isekai written by a writer who’s just taking a standard RPG setting and doesn’t care much to be. But, as it turns out, there may be more to it than that, as when she conquers the dungeon (which features a slew of cliches, including her confronting her also sociopathic past self) she learns that this world was created in the past, and records of its past then excised. I hope we come back to this. As for the rest of the book, I liked Mercedes’ interaction with Margaret, which is possibly the only point in the book she shows that she’s not simply exactly the same as her father. Just… mostly the same.

That plotline will play out in the second volume, I assume. Provided you don’t mind everything about its genre, this is quite enjoyable.

Trillion Game, Vol. 1

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By all rights, Trillion Game should be a blast. Creators Riichiro Inagaki and Ryoichi Ikegami have more than a dozen hit series to their names—including Eyeshield 21, Dr. Stone, Sanctuary, and Crying Freeman—and a flair for writing shamelessly entertaining stories that burst at the seams with crazed villains, over-the-top plot twists, and jaw-dropping action scenes. Trillion Game, however, is just plain bad, saddled with a premise so dumb I’m almost embarrassed to type it: a young man sets out to be the first Japanese entrepreneur to make a trillion dollars without an actual plan for achieving that goal.

A dumb premise isn’t automatically a deal-killer; executed with panache, a silly idea can still work if the reader feels invested in the main character’s success. Trillion Game, however, has both a dumb premise and an awful lead who is less a person than a teenage male fantasy, a ruthless entrepreneur who weaponizes his charm and good looks to get what he wants. Haru lies, bluffs, and cheats, manifesting new talents—say, bantering in Mandarin or scaling skyscrapers—whenever the plot demands, prompting other characters to gush about his charisma and business acumen. His only redeeming quality is his unwavering loyalty to friend and business partner Gaku, a helmet-haired nerd with computer skills. Even that relationship is fraught, however, as Haru repeatedly puts Gaku into situations that test the limits of his abilities.

The other issue plaguing Trillion Game is its sincerity: we’re supposed to admire Haru’s audacious, go-for-broke style, even when his behavior seems more sociopathic than strategic. No matter what he does, Haru always gets the best of his opponents, especially when they appear to be more logical, experienced, or perceptive than he is. That dynamic is most evident in his interactions with the beautiful, inscrutable Kirika Kokuryū, a.k.a. “Kirihime,” a twenty-six-year-old wunderkind who helps her father run the all-powerful Dragon Bank. Any time she gets the upper hand in her dealings with Haru and Gaku, the authors undercut Kirihime’s authority by dreaming up new ways to humiliate her while suggesting she’s turned on by Haru’s cutthroat tactics.

The only bright spot is Ikegami’s artwork. As he did in series like Samurai Crusader and The Wounded Man, Ikegami populates the story with attractive leads while rendering the supporting players as caricatures, making it easy to keep track of the sprawling cast. The layouts, too, are easy to scan: they’re dynamic and detailed, capturing the density and opulence of Tokyo’s financial district with the same degree of realism as the spartan office that Haru and Gaku rent.

No amount of stylish artwork, though, can disguise the fact that Trillion Game feels like an macho artifact of the 1980s, a Wall Street for the Young Jump reader. I have no doubt that there are folks who will love this series, but I found it impossible to get swept up in Haru’s embrace of greed and deceit, especially when he approvingly cites broligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos as an inspiration. Not recommended.

TRILLION GAME, VOL. 1 • STORY BY RIICHIRO INAGAKI • ART BY RYOICHI IKEGAMI • TRANSLATED BY STEPHEN PAUL • TOUCH-UP & LETTERING BY JOANNA ESTEP • VIZ MEDIA • RATED M FOR MATURE (NUDITY, SEXUAL REFERENCES) • 208 pp.

Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days

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By Asaura, imigimuru, and Spider Lily. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kiki Piatkowska.

Lycoris Recoil ended up being the big hit of Fall 2022, and evidence of that hit is starting to trickle over here to manga and light novels. The manga began a few months ago, and a manga anthology was just licensed last week. And we also have this spinoff, a Dengeki Bunko short story collection featuring some of the stories that the creator was not able to fit into the 13-episode anime. It feels like a regular old short story collection. I’ve talked before about how these seem to either be front-loaded (best stories come first) or back-loaded (best stories go last). This one turns out to be middle-loaded – the three stories in the center of the book are pretty damn good, but the first main story is incredibly irritating, and the last story is monumentally bleak and awful. Fortunately, we have the main cast. Well, we have Chisato and Takina. As with the anime, the other three “main” cast are mostly here to be support, though Mika gets some nice scenes. But it’s about our girls.

The wraparound story in this volume is about a reporter who wants to do a feature on the LycoReco cafe. He’s sensibly told “no”, but hangs out at the cafe anyway, as it’s a great place to come up with ideas. The main stories: 1) a recently retired man comes to the cafe but seems depressed, and Takina is showing him a lot of attention. Chisato thinks that this might be… love! 2) Chisato and Takina infiltrate a hideout pushing drugs, featuring a very big foreign man who hates the weak coffee Japan has; 3) Takina’s extreme way of thinking has led to increasingly spartan lunches when it’s her turn to cook, and the cast try to figure out a way to tell her “vary the menu” without upsetting her; 4) Takina wakes up to find that Japan is overrun by zombies, and she and Chisato have to battle their way out of the cafe and find help; and 5) a middle schooler who’s been enjoying the cafe turns out to have a terrible home life, and terrible school life, and has decided to murder everyone who is bullying her. Will she ask for help before it’s too late?

So, I know Japan is different, but I’m pretty sure the North American audience who wanted to read 50 pages of “is Takina in love with a 55-year-old dude?” is precisely zero. It’s meant to be in the genre of “Chisato inspires people”, but did less than nothing for me. As for the last story, after a while I started to skim, because it’s so unrelenting grim that I was not having fun – the reverse, it drags the entire end of the book down. I also note that the author should not have had one bad guy say that he wanted a really good cup of coffee and then not pay it off later with Chisato getting him one, that was a missed moment there. The best story by far is the zombie one, and it’s no surprise that it’s the one that focuses most on the relationship between Chisato and Takina, and where along the yuri spectrum it lies. Takina’s headspace is fascinating.

So a mixed bag, which this was always going to be, but not a total loss. For fans of the anime.

The Manga Review: Baby, It’s Cold Outside

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What earthly power can defeat The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the bookstore? Manga! As Brigid Alverson reports, the January 2025 Circana Bookscan numbers show that readers are still interested in perennial favorites Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, and Solo Leveling, as well as hardcover editions of older titles like Berserk and Vagabond. Equally significant: all twenty volumes on Circana’s list were published by Dark Horse, VIZ, and Yen Press.

NEWS AND VIEWS

The ALA just released its list of 2024’s Best Graphic Novels for Adults, which includes a good selection of manga. [American Library Association]

Shaenon Garrity and Meg Lemke offer a sneak peek at this year’s new and noteworthy manga, and highlight a few of 2024’s best titles. [Publisher’s Weekly]

Once more, with feeling: Dark Horse will be publishing a new omnibus edition of Gantz G this fall. [ICv2]

Dragon Ball Super fans rejoice: a new one-shot will run in next week’s issue of V-Jump. [Anime News Network]

As part of his ongoing series about the manga industry, Isaiah Colbert interviews Kumar Sivasubramanian about translating Dan Da Dan. [i09]

The Reverse Thieves podcast names Takahashi From the Bike Shop its Manga of the Month. [Reverse Thieves]

Kara Dennison explains why Star of Beethoven “has the earmarks of an interesting story” and “the earmarks of a series likely to be cut down before its time.” [Otaku USA]

REVIEWS

Erica Friedman reviews Hitorimi Desu 60-sai Lesbian Single Seikatsu…  Hagai Palevsky offers an in-depth analysis of Tokyo These Days… Andrew Osbourne takes Tokyo Alien Brothers for a spin… and Beneath the Tangles looks at recent volumes of Centuria, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, and Solo Leveling.

The Hero and the Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged, Vol. 3

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By Washiro Fujiki and Heiro. Released in Japan as “Eiyū to Kenja no Tensei Kon: Katsute no Kōtekishu to Konyaku Shite Saikyō Fūfu ni Narimashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Joey Antonio.

I regret to tell you that this series has become difficult to write about. Oh, it’s still good. I quite enjoyed this volume, and will read more. It’s sometimes funny, the OP-ness isn’t ludicrous (unless it’s because it’s funny), and the characters are all interesting and not annoying (except that one guy, and he’s now comedy relief). But aside from one plot point, which I’m saving for later in the review so it’s not just 500 words of me whining, there’s nothing here to jabber on about. I suppose I can talk about how this is an overpowered protagonist fantasy that is not meant to really have the reader identify with it. Raid is not just “potato with a +infinity sword”, and Eluria is his co-star rather than just love interest. The climax of the book is not “oh my God, how will our two heroes possibly defeat this thing that is beyond their abilities”, it is “wow, a monster so powerful that they don’t have to be told to hold back and can go all out”.

It’s time to prepare for exams! …well, for everyone except our lead couple, who are going to take the time to investigate the ruins of Raid’s old country. Everyone ends up at the water resort city of Palmare, where Raid and Eluria put their friends, rival, and rival’s maid and butler through some awful torture… pardon me, I meant excellent training. They then meet up with two sorcerers – note the different magic terminology – from the nearby country of Legnare. They are also powerhouses, and consist of Totori (young-looking girl who’s actually over 100, has cat ears) and Savad (her husband, seemingly normal but we’ll find out that’s not true). The four of them, plus Alma (who admits in text she’s a fifth wheel, and she’s right) are off to investigate Raid’s old country… and there they find it’s not as abandoned as previously thought.

The interesting bits in this book (an d again, I enjoyed the book, it’s just the first 2/3 are froth I can’t analyze) are right near the end. Last time I theorized that we might be seeing a child from the future plot going on, and that turns out to… sort of be true, but not remotely in the way I thought it would be. The cliffhanger ending, which I will try not to spoil is also another good example of this series taking a seemingly silly, comedy character (see Millis, for example) and then showing off their depth (as in Millis), or showing off that it’s all a front. As for the love comedy part of the series, aside from the running gag of the flirting, I did like how, at one point where Eluria appears to be having a genuine crisis, Raid steps in immediately and diffuses it in ten seconds. In any other series, these two already having had all their character development before the plot begins might be tedious. Here I think it’s the point.

So: good stuff, cute couple. They like to fight. Their relationship even progresses here. The next book should develop the future/past/present time travel stuff a bit more, but I think it will end up being cute flirting 60% of the time.

The Eminence in Shadow, Vol. 6

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By Daisuke Aizawa and Touzai. Released in Japan as “Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

I think I am finally, mostly, beginning to give in and accept the series’ vibe, and the fact that it’s written as a ridiculously overblown piece of… satire is wrong, but so is parody and comedy, to be honest. I’ll roll with it. Also, I’m sure those terrible, terrible name puns (and there are a LOT more in this book, like four times more) are just as bad if not worse in Japanese, so I will forgive the translator… just. That said, we are running into a really big issue with this series, which is that it is very dependent on remembering things from previous books, but it only comes out once in a blue moon. I reviewed the first volume in 2020, and here it is 2025, and we’re only on Book 6. Worse, Book 6 came out in Japan in 2023, and there’s no new book on the horizon. So yeah, apologies, little girl from apparently Vol. 1 who was meant to be tragic. I had forgotten about you. As had Cid, I think.

After the events of the last book, evil noble Eliza is manipulating things to make sure she’s found innocent, and is also planning to quietly do away with the star witness (who we find out here is named Kanade, and oh my god, more on her later). Christina Hope is trying to prevent this, but her family is actively hindering her, and all she can do is take Kanade and that annoying background extra Cid, who seems to have found definitive evidence, to one of her villas to hide from assassins. Meanwhile, the latest Mysterious Evil Group of Evil are indeed planning to kill Kanade (and Christina, and Cid, and possibly Alexia if they could get away with it), but all of a sudden they’re getting killed off one by one by a man covered in blood, dressed as a clown, and calling himself Jack the Ripper. Who could this mysterious assassin be? Who?

I won’t deny that this volume was helped by having slightly less Cid than usual. Also, Kanade is hilarious, and I hope we see more of her. If Cid is a chuuni who has ended up in a dream world that runs along his desires, then Kanade is that sidekick girl in a shonen manga who keeps trying to be cute and sexy but ends up looking stupid all the time instead. She and Cid are wonderful together, and I’m, glad she doesn’t die. Also, finally, we get Akane back into the storyline, though she’s a bit stunned to find she’s suddenly one of the weaker characters. Naturally, she ends up in Shadow Garden… as does a victim from the first volume, who has Cid literally cut the monster out of her. This scene is, honestly, as heartwarming as this series will ever get, and I hope she and Akane bond.

So yeah. This was good, especially Christina’s character arc. I will try not to take it too seriously. I will also be waiting a while for the next volume, though.

Manga the Week of 2/19/25

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SEAN: Is it Yen week? (checks, sighs) Yup.

ASH: Here we go!

SEAN: In fact, we start with THIS week, as I missed Yen On’s one title in my last post. Lycoris Recoil: Ordinary Days is based on the hit anime, and is, as the title might suggest, a look at the less gun-battle side of the franchise.

Yen On has four debuts out NEXT week. We’ll start with I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History: It Seems Turning into a High-Born Baddie Makes the Prince All the More Lovestruck (Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo: Akuyaku Reijō ni Naru hodo Ōji no Dekiai wa Kasoku suru yō desu!), a villainess title in the subgenre of “she’s trying to be a villainess on purpose” rather than “she’s trying to avoid her doom”. This had a hit anime recently.

ASH: I haven’t read many of them, but I am appreciating the villainess trend.

SEAN: The Only Thing I’d Do in a No-Boys-Allowed Game World: Reincarnated as a Yuri Ship-Sinker (Danshi Kinsei Game Sekai de Ore ga Yarubeki Yuiitsu no Koto: Yuri no Aida ni Hasamaru Otoko toshite Tenseishiteshimaimashita) is a series about a male yuri fan who gets reincarnated into the world of his favorite yuri game. The trouble is, all the girls are falling for him rather than each other! While I appreciate this is a comedy, you’ll pardon me if I treat it as radioactive.

ASH: Fair.

SEAN: Recommendations for Bad Children (Warui Ko no Susume) seems to be a dark series about two classmates, dealing with a school system that thrives on abuse and discrimination, who decide to start breaking the rules. I’ve heard this is good, but it’s not my genre.

ASH: Hmmm. Closer to some of the genres that I read, when I’m in the mood.

SEAN: Whoever Steals This Book (Kono Hon wo Nusumu Mono wa) is the novel that the manga (also licensed by Yen) was based on. A girl who doesn’t really care for books is forced to when some books trigger a curse on her hometown.

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also from Yen On: Babel 3, Bofuri 15, and Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table 3.

Yen Press also has debuts. Liar Liar is a manga based on the light novel, also from Yen. It runs in my nemesis, Comic Alive. As with Recommendations for Bad Children, it’s in the “the best way to inspire geniuses is to let them bully the crap out of the weak” genre, which always stars the weak, of course.

Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale is the manga adaptation of the movie based on the omnipresent SAO franchise. It ran in Comic Walker.

Victoria of Many Faces (Tefuda ga Oume no Victoria) is the manga adaptation of the light novel Yen also releases. It runs in Flos Comic. A spy betrayed by her boss fakes her death and moves to another country, trying to live a quiet, happy life.

ASH: A quiet, happy life sounds really nice right now.

ANNA: I’m into that.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Assorted Entanglements 7, Bocchi the Rock! 6, Bungo Stray Dogs: Wan! 10, CLAMP Premium Collection Tokyo Babylon 6, Dead Mount Death Play 13, Detroit: Become Human – Tokyo Stories 2 (the final volume), The Executioner and Her Way of Life 6, God Bless the Mistaken 4 (the final volume), The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All 2, Handyman Saitou in Another World 6, Honey Lemon Soda 8, I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time 4, I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet 11, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 14, Imitation 5, Is the Order a Rabbit? 2, Laid-Back Camp 16, Let This Grieving Soul Retire 9, Love of Kill 14 (the final volume), Mieruko-chan 10, Oshi no Ko 9, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 8, Riviere and the Land of Prayer 2, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 25, The Shiunji Family Children 3, So I’m a Spider, So What? 14, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale 4, The Three Body Problem: The Comic 2, The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat 7, and Witch Life in a Micro Room 4.

MICHELLE: I’m going to try to get caught up with The Guy She Was Interested In… before it seriously gets away from me.

ASH: I was finally able to get my hands on the first volume! I’m looking forward to reading it.

SEAN: Viz Media debuts Mujina into the Deep, the latest title from Inio Asano, a Big Comic Superior title about a jaded man who has his life overturned thanks to a runaway kid and an assassin. I suspect this will be very different from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction.

ASH: I suspect it will be intense in one way or another, as Asano’s work tends to be.

SEAN: They’re also re-releasing Hunter x Hunter in 3-in-1 omnibuses.

Also from Viz: Choujin X 8, Hirayasumi 4, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 6, Mission: Yozakura Family 15, Rainbows After Storms 2, Rooster Fighter 7, and Twin Star Exorcists 33.

Tokyopop gives us Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke 6 and The Person I Loved Asked Me to Die in My Sister’s Stead 2.

Steamship debuts Loving Moon Dog (Koi Suru Moon Dog), a shoujo title from Hana to Yume Ai. It’s by the author of Skyblue Shore, which got culled as part of the Tokyopop collapse. A woman finds a doberman one day… who can turn into a hot guy! And is looking for a mate! This is actually a long-runner, and may be more shoujo than smutty despite the imprint.

MICHELLE: While I continue to have a sad about the unfinished shoujo series TOKYOPOP left behind, I just can’t with the “animals as love interest” genre.

ANNA: I’m also sad about Skyblue Shore but I’m with Michelle on skipping this.

SEAN: Steamship also has the print release of The Villainess and the Demon Knight (light novel) 2.

Square Enix Manga has Dragon and Chameleon 2.

Seven Seas debuts Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: The Complete Manga Collection, which collects both volumes of the first manga spinoff of Fate that is “what if Ilya were a magical girl?”. Fans of Ilya will be happy, fans of Rin will be happy but also annoyed, probably.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Hate Me, but Let Me Stay 3, Lonely Castle in the Mirror 5 (the final volume), Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 20, My Boyfriend is a Dog 2, Nakamura-san, the Uninvited Gyaru 2, The New Recruit 2, Royal Tailor: Clothier to the Crown 3, Tokyo Revengers: A Letter from Keisuke Baji 3, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! 12, and Wild Roses and Pretenders 2 (the final volume).

They also have a danmei title: the 3rd volume of Peerless.

One Peace Books has the 4th manga volume of Villainess Level 99.

Kodansha Manga debuts in print I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day (Kimi ga Shinu made Koi wo shitai), a yuri title from Comic Yuri Hime. A girl at a school for assassins hasn’t been the same since her roommate died. Then she meets an adorable new classmate who can turn her frown upside down! Oh yes, she first meets said classmate covered in blood.

ASH: Seems right.

ANNA: These things happen.

SEAN: Also in print: As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 13, Battle Angel Alita Mars Chronicle 10, My Noisy Roommate 2, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement 9, and Twilight Out of Focus 6 (the final volume so far, but I won’t be surprised if we get another sequel).

And digitally we see Having an Idol-Loving Boyfriend is the Best! 6 (the final volume) and My Boyfriend in Orange 14.

J-Novel Club, in print, has Black Summoner 4, Hell Mode 7, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 7, Reborn to Master the Blade 5, and Reborn to Master the Blade 5. (Light novel and manga, respectively.)

There are two digital debuts, both light novels. Knock Yourself Out! The Goddess Beat the Final Boss in the Tutorial, So Now I’m Free to Do Whatever (Ato wa Gojiyuu ni Douzo! Tutorial de Kamisama ga Last Boss Taoshichatta no de, Watashi wa Suki Houdai Ikiteiku) is one of the “I’m a guy reincarnated in a girl’s body” titles we’ve seen on occasion. A goddess wants her to defeat the final boss… and the immediately does so herself, using our heroine’s powers. Now what?

Pens Down, Swords Up: Throw Your Studies to the Wind (Ken to Mahou to Gakureki Shakai: Zense wa Gariben datta Ore ga, Konyo wa Kaze Makase de Jiyuu ni Ikitai) has a reincarnated as a noble guy. He spent his past life doing nothing but study, so wants to be a swords and magic sorta guy this time around. Sadly, you have to study to be able to do that.

ASH: A valuable lesson to be learned!

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club in light novels: The Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage’s Carefree Life in Another World 5, Duchess in the Attic 3, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 7, The Legendary Witch Is Reborn as an Oppressed Princess 3, Magic Stone Gourmet 8, and The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 4.

And from J-Novel Club in manga: The 100th Time’s the Charm 3, The Banished Former Hero Lives As He Pleases 5, Bibliophile Princess 8, Duchess in the Attic 5, Fushi no Kami 6, My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 4, and Seirei Gensouki 11.

I’ve been ignoring Yen Press’s Korean imprint Ize Press forever, and I apologize. I’m trying to get better about putting Chinese and Korean titles in this list, even if I can’t point to a magazine and genre and say “ah ha!”. So let’s see what Ize has this week.

The debut is Kill the Villainess (Angnyeoreul Jugyeo Jwo), which is a webtoon but otherwise fits the villainess genre precisely. There’s just one hitch: our villainess is trying really hard to go back to her life in Japan, so all these love interests are a pain.

Also from Ize Press: A Business Proposal 8, Solo Levelling 11, The Star Seekers 6, Tied to You 4, Unholy Blood 5, Villains Are Destined to Die 7, The Villainess Turns the Hourglass 6, and The World After the Fall 9.

Ghost Ship has The Cursed Sword Master’s Harem Life 2, Into the Deepest, Most Unknowable Dungeon 10, and Might as Well Cheat 9.

Dark Horse Comics has Danganronpa 2: Chiaki Nanami’s Goodbye Despair Quest 2.

And Airship, in print, has Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! 19, Sword of the Demon Hunter 8, and Too Many Losing Heroines! 3.

And we get one early digital release: I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 8.

That sure was a Yen week. Adding Ize didn’t help. What are you reading?

ASH: This column.

Let’s Get to Villainessin’: Stratagems of a Former Commoner, Vol. 2

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By Hiironoame and Misumi. Released in Japan as “Sa, Akuyaku Reijou no Oshigoto wo Hajimemashou: Moto Shomin no Watashi ga Idomu Zunousen” by PASH! Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Dawson Chen.

I have a dog, and I love my dog. Occasionally, though, I want my dog to stay out in the yard for a bit. And my dog, he does not want to stay out in the yard. And so he throws himself at the back door. Over. And Over. And Over Again. He will do this for up to three hours or so, knowing that eventually I will get annoyed enough to let him back in. As I was reading this volume, and watching Mio hurling herself at “villainessin'” time and time again, I was reminded of my dog, as it takes real stubbornness to do. Yes, I am aware that her sister’s life hangs in the balance, but frankly, I appreciate Mio doing this, as everyone else in the book is taking things extremely seriously, and at least Mio being the most obvious tsundere ever leads to the book’s moments of hilarity. That she’s so bad at being bad is the point.

Mio has been doing… well, not great, but at least she’s so far managed to avoid falling flat on her face. The same can’t be said for her two “minions” who got humiliated last volume, and Mio’s new mission is to rehabilitate them and bring them back in the fold. She’ll have to do this while also negotiating the school’s sports festival, which (in the game) she played a minor part in. Unfortunately, Mio’s actions so far are starting to have knock-on effects elsewhere in the world, and her attempts to prove to herself that she can, in fact, affect things so they’re not quite like the game’s plot may end up getting her in a ton of trouble. Trouble that she can only get out of by – finally – genuinely being cruel.

I mentioned Mio being the one comedic part of this book, and that’s because when I try to imagine the rest of the cast watching her, I can feel their frustration and helplessness. They know she’s a good, kind person. They know she’s acting this way on purpose. And they know she’s determined to drag her own reputation in the mud. But they don’t know why, and it’s maddening. They don’t have the Shizuku piece of the puzzle. (The names, by the way, are just as bad as before, and this volume we have a Miyu pretending to be a Miu to confuse Mio. It’s so bad that I think even the translator/editor get Shizuki and Shizuku mixed up once or twice) Fortunately, Nonoka is straight from the Maria Campbell school, and her faith in Mio (and, it’s hinted, slight crush on Mio) remains steadfast. The end of this volume also brings a fake engagement into the mix, so the third volume would be very interesting…

…if it existed. I think even the webnovel version of the story ends with this volume. Which is a shame, as I kind of wanted to see Mio continue to throw herself against my back door.

The Hero-Killing Bride: The Blood-Soaked Champion

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By Aoikou and Enji. Released in Japan as “Yuusha-goroshi no Hanayome” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Faye Duxovni.

I always love it when I’m surprised by a title. I didn’t have many expectations for this one, despite the fact that it was advertised as a yuri series (the yuri is mostly plot rather than character so far). Honestly, the description made me think of that old meme, as I said “We have The Executioner and Her Way of Life at home”. And theoretically, the two do have a lot in common, as they feature a protagonist who is sent by the church to kill in order to save the world, over the course of the book begins to realize the corruption inherent in what’s she’s doing, and attempting to get close to the one she’s trying to kill. And, if I’m being honest, Executioner and Her Way of Life has a better plot and thematic heft. But I will say this: if I had to choose between following Menou around her books, or following Alicia around this book, I will pick Alicia every time. Love her.

Alicia Snowell, a “bride” of the church and assassin of the church as well, is told by the Cardinal who is her boss to assassinate the Hero. After killing the Demon Lord, the Hero’s popularity is so tremendous that the church now worries that eventually they will lose power as everyone follows the Hero instead. They tried marrying the Hero into the royal family, but it didn’t work. They’ve tried sending voluptuous temptresses, but the Hero doesn’t seem to be interested. Oh, and the Hero is also apparently invulnerable to blades. So Alicia’s told to seduce the Hero – after all, she’s not voluptuous at all, so maybe the Hero has different tastes – and then get close enough to kill them. So Alicia is sent off to the frontier where the Hero is… and there discovers (not much of a surprise, it’s in the blurb) the Hero is a girl!

As I said earlier, Alicia is the best reason to read this – in fact, honestly, one of the only reasons, really. The Hero is interesting mostly in terms of who she isn’t, and everyone else in the book is a variety of the sort of character you see in “dark fantasy” book, which this definitely is – expect blood and strong language. I am very bored with “funny psychopath” guys, thanks. Alicia, though, is a great first-person narrator, as she presents herself as so cynical, bitter, and absolutely done with everything – and she is – but every time she gets the opportunity to not be compassionate and caring, she fails miserably. She is exactly the sort of person to stare at someone going senselessly off to sacrifice themselves, scream at them, curse them, and then try to save them anyway. What’s more, her worldview gets increasingly shattered over the course of this book. Right now the Hero only has Alicia to depend on, while Alicia theoretically has her allies in the Church. But I get the feeling pretty soon they’ll only have each other.

I’ve no idea if this will end happily or not – the genre tends to suggest it will not. But I’m definitely going to be reading more, and I want to see these two uncover the secrets of the world, with one taking the world’s burdens on herself and the other kicking the world in the nuts.

Dinners with My Darling: How the Former Monster King Ate Her Way to Happiness, Vol. 1

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By Mugi Mameta and Nagisa Hanazome. Released in Japan as “Aisanai to Iwaremashite mo – Moto Maou no Hakushaku Reijou wa Kimajime Gunjin ni Ezuke wo Sarete Shiawase ni naru” by M Novels f. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by JC.

I spent most of this book trying to figure out its heroine, which puts me in the same company as everyone else in this book. I honestly think the artwork does it a bit of disservice. Don’t get me wrong, the artist is fine. But the text has Abigail, the title character, sounding most of the time like a hyperactive six-year-old child, and you imagine her in your head as being filled with massive smiles and big eyes. And then you get the occasional line when we switch to the POV of other people, which tells you that, in fact, Abigail rarely changes her expression from default neutral. Abigail sounds, and honestly is written as 75% of the time, like an adorable moppet. But she is a reincarnated monster, and she spent her first 16 years being starved and abused by her terrible family. The dissonance in this book, especially at the start, is almost comical.

We open with Gerald, the son of a marquis who is entering a political marriage, informing his wife Abigail that he will never love her. She innocently asks if this means she won’t get any food. As he and his servants listen to her talk about her life before arriving there with a creeping horror, any thought of treating her coldly flies out the window. Her old family made her do the laundry (which they threw in the mud), handle running the duchy (she can forge signatures!), and starving her to death by giving her next to no food. She can barely eat four mouthfuls before getting sick. That said, she has a bigger secret. In her past life, she was the Monster King, and she still has access to those powers (and just remembered her past life at her arrival). Which means she can predict disasters, use magic without incantation, and generally is a Top Secret in every single way you can imagine.

The thing that separates this from, say, Little Orphan Annie, or Oliver Twist, is that Abigail is sixteen years old, and is theoretically supposed to be his wife. This can be uncomfortable at times, particularly when Abigail is sounding like a hyperactive child. Fortunately, both the author and the male lead seem conscious of this. As Abigail manages to grow healthier and eat a normal amount, she begins to actually grow into her age physically, but mentally… it’s not that she’s mentally a child, as she can clearly do the work of an earl with minimal issues. No, it’s that her way of thinking at times is literally inhuman. It goes with her blank face. Her abusive life never registered for her except that it meant she didn’t get much food. Her new life is wonderful… because it means she gets more food. She simply is not going to understand the idea of marriage beyond “yum!” at this point. Future volumes will need to keep up the balance while she continues to grow into her new self.

There’s at least four more volumes, which makes this a huge success for the cancel-happy M Novels. Despite occasionally feeling that Abigail was manipulating me with her cuteness, I definitely want to read more. For fans of “Cinderella stories” who don’t mind a heroine whose head is harder to get into.

The Manga Review: Lost in Translation

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As part of an ongoing series about working in the manga industry, io9 recently interviewed the translators for One Piece, Undead Unluck, and Spy x Family to learn more about their working conditions and the challenges of adapting culturally specific material into English. The article is sobering: not only do translators cope with tight deadlines and low pay, but they face harassment from fans who disagree with the way they’ve translated a phrase, voiced a character, or substituted an American pop-cultural reference for a Japanese one. The problem is especially pervasive among Shonen Jump readers, who frequently “dogpile” on work that doesn’t match their favorite scanlations:

“Especially when it comes to Shonen Jump stuff, one misconception I see a lot is when [readers] see the scanlation first, they think if there’s something different that it was something we saw it and we changed when that’s not the case,” [Stephen] Paul said. “We work before anyone sees the material. There no prior conception of the material before we get our hands on it.”

The article also touches on the looming threat of AI-generated translations; though AI currently “produces subpar output that readers notice and abhor… it also results in the same amount of work for translators while they are paid less to copy-edit.” If you care about the quality and artistry of good translation, this is a must-read essay.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Everything old is new again: Dark Horse announced that it will publish new editions of Blood Blockade Battlefront and Planetes. Both are slated for a July release. [Dark Horse]

Speaking of licensing announcements, VIZ unveiled its summer 2025 line-up, which includes a new Star Wars manga, a Castle in the Sky cookbook, and a historical drama set in China’s Warring States era. [Behind the Manga]

Erica Friedman rounds up the latest yuri news, with updates on Galette and a new Vampire Princess Miyu-Yui manga. [Okazu]

David and Jordan kick the tires on Chameleon Jail, a new Shonen Jump series. [Shonen Flop]

ICYMI: Ray and Gee discuss their top five manga debuts of 2024. [Read Right to Left]

Adam Wescott jumps in the WABAC Machine for a look at Ranma 1/2 fanfic from the early 1990s, when English-speaking fans penned their own scripts and circulated them through Usenet. [Anime Herald]

REVIEWS

SKJAM! offers a full-series review of Undead Unluck… Kara Dennison argues that Komi Can’t Communicate “had a perfect final chapter”… Sarah gives I’m Here, Beside You mixed marks… and Tony Yao explains why Manga Goes to School is an essential resource for parents, teachers, and librarians.

The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes, Vol. 9

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By Bisu and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru” by Arian Rose. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Esther Sun.

That’s right, it’s back! The popular TV comedy “Everybody Loves Rosemary” has returned for a new season a year and a half after ending forever, and she’s just as adorable as ever. I will assume everyone buying this knows what to expect because they read the other volumes, but wow, I had forgotten how much everyone just looks at her like she hung the stars in the sky. And, to be fair, her ideas are good in a “thank God this is not real life but an otome game” sort of way, and she is not only able to inspire everyone around her, who still adore her and desire her even though she’s married to Leonhart, but also manages to find a prince and a princess from different countries who also hate themselves and inspire them to change how they view the world and become better people. Who needs therapists when you have a gorgeous blonde?

Some time after the events of the main series, Rosemary is happy as a clam. She’s married to Leonhart, and manages to match his love in enthusiasm if not necessarily in stamina. She’s now the duchess of a vibrant, expanding city, mostly vibrant and expanding because she’s in it. Her hospital is going great guns, and other nations are also interested. Most importantly, they’ve found rice and soy sauce! Yes, the inevitable Japan analogue that always turns up in these books has turned up, and the Third Prince… falls for her immediately, and is promptly devastated when she admits she’s married. A princess we briefly met in an earlier book is here to try to arrange a marriage with one of Rosemary’s brothers, mostly out of obligation, but winds up depressed after seeing how Rosemary is just so fantastic at everything. And there’s something secret that not even Rosemary knows about yet.

Technically this is a spoiler for the last part of the book, but come on: the moment Rosemary says she’s feeling tired, eating weird things and is even gaining a bit of weight at last, the reader should be able to figure out what’s actually happening. Rosemary’s pregnancy delights absolutely everybody, even the other love interests, who have been alternating between gnashing their teeth at her happy marriage and grudgingly being happy for her. Now they’re all picturing her as a mother and are over the moon. The best scene in the book was from the POV of her mother, who is told by her husband (after he tells his sons, I note) that Rosemary is pregnant. It’s a delight to see the king behaving like a normal person, as he realizes that he’s been a terrible dad to her for so long, essentially treating her like a prized student, that he has no idea how to be a grandfather. The queen happily notes they can learn about it together. I really liked this.

There’s already a Vol. 10 out in Japan, so we’re not done with Rosemary and her utopia just yet. It requires a lot of patience to put up with all the adoration, but this is still a lot of fun to read.