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RVing My Way into Exile with My Beloved Cat: This Villainess Is Trippin’, Vol. 3

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By Punichan and Canarinu. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō wa Camping Car de Tabi ni Deru: Aibyō to Mankitsu Suru Self Kokugai Tsuihō ” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by sachi salehi.

Villainess books (and this still is a villainess book, despite increasingly looking just like a standard isekai) all tend to have the same basic setting. They’re supposedly based on “noble court” kingdoms, all of which are best described as “vaguely Europe in the vaguely end of the 19th century, only with magic”. The problem with this, and a lot of isekais that take place in RPG land, is that it’s not Japan. Now, you *could* theoretically solve that problem by writing a villainess or isekai story that takes place in 19th century Japan, but no. We’d much rather simply have another, very familiar country, just offscreen, to the east, and over the ocean, that’s got rice and miso and so many other magical things. I just finished seeing Kuma Bear doing this, and S-Ranked Daughter also discussed it. And now here we are,. Mizarie and Raoul have come to not-quite-Japan. And it’s AWESOME.

Now that she’s found out about a country which has rice, Mizarie really wants to go there. But it’s not easy, and requires her and Raoul – who has now paid off his debt but, to the relief of both of them, wants to keep traveling with her – to traverse the desert, end up at the ocean, and then somehow cross through the Scylla and Charybdis. Fortunately, this is a world with magic, so a dangerous path opens every month – dangerous, that is, unless you have an RV. Now in the land of Mizuho, they arrive at a small town and meet the village chief’s daughter and a soba seller who is clearly in love with her. But they don’t have time to wait for the plot twist to kick in, there’s slow life to be had in the capital! Mizarie can buy SO MUCH Japanese food, get a kimono, and stay in a hot springs inn with her… um… bestie?

I admit I was wondering if this one would be purely slice-of-life this time around. Mizarie finally confesses her past to Raoul (her past from this world, that is – we’re not opening up about reincarnation just yet), but for the most part the Kingdom of Richard are not allowed to be dicks and remain firmly offscreen. But fear not, there is definitely a plot twist, because we can’t have a Camper Van Villainess story without the Camper Van being the real hero. As such, we get a good old fashioned virgin sacrifice to the gods, which feels VERY out of place in amongst all the “hey, hey, isn’t Japan awesome?!” that is the rest of the book. (Honestly, that part is a bit wearying.) But it allows Mizarie to race her RV like never before, do Evil Knievel jumps, and ram a massive snake to death. After that, meeting Raoul’s folks seems easy… well, provided you’re not two shy dorks in denial.

Best of all, it appears Camper Van Villainess escapes the “end in three volumes” curse most DRE titles have! Or at least they’re not married yet. I look forward to more wacky van adventures.

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer: Short Story Collection

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By MOJIKAKIYA and toi8. Released in Japan as “Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

I admit that I got really happy when I saw the 30-page section at the end of this book. No, not the color art gallery, though that was fine if you like that sort of thing. But the definition of a short story collection like this, one that is almost entirely made up of stories that were “bookstore exclusives” from various stores, is that they do not give anything for a reviewer to grab hold of. They can’t affect the main plot, they can’t really change anyone, they’re only there to be spice. The short stories in this book take place over the entire timeline, though Bel as a youth gets the least time, as those flashbacks were in the main story. Lots of Ange as a kid. Some good ones of Ange as a newbie adventurer, which I enjoyed. A lot of “boy, found family sure is great” stuff. Fortunately, there’s also the author discussing the creation of the work.

OK, there is a little more to talk about with the short stories. I did enjoy the one or two we got for Charlotte, who started off as an antagonist but very quickly stepped into the big sister for Bel’s new child role. Here we see that she’s constantly thinking of what she did and the people whose deaths she’s responsible for, and asks herself if she deserves to be happy. In addition to Ange’s early adventuring, I also enjoyed seeing the early life of Anessa and Miriam a bit more, and Miriam’s story where we see how her apprenticeship started with Maria is great. Maria is the sort who can’t show affection normally, so would only open up to someone not willing to put up with all her bullshit anymore. I also liked seeing a lonely and sullen Marguerite, who misses everyone and is depressed in Orphen but can’t stop telling herself “this is fine:.

But the final textual part of the book is a long section where the author talks about the creation of the work and what went into it, and I wish more authors did this sort of thing (or at least had it translated over here). Unsurprisingly, this was meant to be a one-volume series, and Angeline’s backstory was not meant to be anything other than “child found in the woods”, but when you’re trying to expand a plot you need to think of things to expand. I also really appreciated that the author’s first and most important rule was “no incest”, especially after seeing so many “dad raises an adopted daughter” series fail to clear that low bar. The author also discusses having to write things in later books to help explain the plot holes from previous books readers on the webnovel site pointed out – the obvious one being the state of the guilds, and how to fix it.

So obviously, for fans only, but fans should enjoy it. Just be ready for a lot of stories that are “Bel and young Ange fish” or “Bel gets a cold” and other store exclusive type things.

The Blessing of Liefe: Leave This Magical Letdown Alone!, Vol. 2

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By Kureha and Yoko Matsurika. Released in Japan as “Liefe no Shukufuku: Muzokusei Mahō Shika Tsukaenai Ochikobore toshite Hottoite Kudasai” by Arian Rose. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alex Castor.

In my review of the first volume I marveled at the fact that our heroine had, helping her out and in her corner, about 90% of the important and powerful people in the kingdom, which sort of made this story about an abused child even more Cinderella than those stories usually are. This volume tries to show us that there’s a reason that she needs all that support and protection. The volume begins with a flashback to the tournament she did in middle school, where we hear she simply never bothered to show up for the semifinals. Now here we see why – she’s been threatened, and it does not take a genius to figure out who has enough emotional hold over her to get her to change the entire way she’s been living to date. As such, the resolution of the confession she got in the first book is obvious. It’s hard to agree to a romantic love with the prince when you have PTSD.

So yes, as I hinted above, Yui ends up rejecting Prince Filiel’s proposal. Everyone then heads off to the training camp for strong fighters, which also has Yui and her passel of first-year prodigies along for the ride, much to the disgust of some of the other students. This disgust is not helped by Yui’s attitude throughout the entire training camp. She skips out on all the training, doesn’t care about anything but sweets, and when forced to fight, puts up a defensive wall and starts to read a book. About sweets. She’s always been fairly blase and nonchalant about things, but it’s getting a bit ridiculous. Maybe Filiel’s proposal had a lot more impact than he thought. Can everyone figure out how to get Yui to come out of her shell and try to be the prodigy she is? And can they do this with anything other than snack bribes?

We know Yui’s backstory with her father, so can sympathize with her. Well, *I* can sympathize with her. I have a feeling a lot of readers are going to bounce off Yui hard, and I get it. What’s more, to those who DON’T know Yui’s abusive backstory, she comes across as an arrogant, uncaring, overprivileged creep, due to, well, everyone being in her corner. The middle of the book, where Yui is forced to fight battles, is a tale of two halves. In the first half, you grind your teeth at how stubborn and irritating Yui is being. Then, in the back half, we see her going up against one of the strongest men in the kingdom, and she shows off WHY she’s hiding everything and trying to avoid showing her true magic at all. Yui knows very well what her father wants. He wants to use her, marry her off, and otherwise treat her like a thing. And it terrifies her, because her father is a noble, and as we’ve seen in this series, nobles kinda suck.

Fortunately, by the end of the book, she does accept Filiel’s feelings, so in future books we can… what’s that? No volumes in two years>? Webnovel also looks abandoned? Well then. In any case, I enjoyed this.

Manga the Week of 12/11/24

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SEAN: As we prepare for Christmas, publishers try to put out all – well, most – of their titles a couple weeks early. Buckle up.

ASH: Let’s goooooo!

ANNA: I’m scared!

SEAN: Yen actually delayed a bunch of their titles a week or two, but we still have plenty this week. Yen On debuts The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori (Umidori Tougetsu no “Detarame” na Jijou). What appears to be a typical school life book ends up in a web of lies and intrigue. Umidori seems to be the normal narrator type.

ASH: What sort of BS are we talking about, here?

SEAN: Also from Yen On: 86–EIGHTY-SIX 13, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian 6, The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten 8, High School DxD 15, My First Love’s Kiss 2, Riviere and the Land of Prayer 3, and Sword Art Online Alternative Clover’s Regret 2.

Yen Press has a bunch of debuts. Be My Worst Nightmare! (Dareka Yume da to Itte Kure) is a BL title from Manga Mee. A short boy discovers his crush getting rejected by a tall brute, so he challenges him to a contest! And loses. And loses. And now, for some reason, his affections seem to be shifting…

ASH: Uh-oh!

SEAN: Revenge Agent Hizumi-san (Fukushuu Daikou Hizumi-san) is a BL one-shot from B’S-LOVEY. A man whose job is getting revenge on the worst scum is hired to humiliate a cheating bastard. Which he does.

ASH: Goodness!

SEAN: Stomp, Kick, Love (Fundari, Kettari, Aishitari) is a shoujo title from pixiv Sylph. An office worker finds her only respite is going out drinking with her platonic friend, who’s a bit of a playboy. Then she ends up in bed with this platonic friend.

ASH: Whoops.

ANNA: Listen, these things happen.

SEAN: With You, Our Love Will Make It Through (Kimi to Koete Koi ni Naru) is a shoujo title from Manga Mee. A high school girl finds her class has a transfer student who is a beastman one day. She gets along with him, but her classmates don’t. Then, when they’re locked in a warehouse, his wild side merges…

ASH: Didn’t see that one coming!

ANNA: I wonder if “locked in a warehouse” can be a new trope, like “only one bed”.

SEAN: Oh yes, and we also get Delicious in Dungeon: The Complete Box Set. Comes with an exclusive poster.

ASH: Oh, very nice.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life II 2, The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess 11, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 16, The Detective Is Already Dead 6 (the final volume), The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 22, The Eminence in Shadow 11, The Hachioji Specialty: Tengu’s Love 2, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese 4 (the final volume), Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! 18, Magical Girl Incident 3 (the final volume), The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady 6, Minato’s Laundromat 4, My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress 5, No Longer Heroine 8, The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter 5, Overlord: The Undead King Oh! 12, Pandora Seven 4, The Reformation of the World as Overseen by a Realist Demon King 5, Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included 6, Sword Art Online Re:Aincrad 2, Touge Oni: Primal Gods in Ancient Times 5, Touring After the Apocalypse 5, Trinity Seven Revision 3 (the final volume), When I Became a Commoner, They Broke Off Our Engagement! 4, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 7.

Next we… oh dear, everyone stopped reading. Anyway. The debut from Viz Media is Rainbows After Storms (Hana ni Arashi), a yuri title from Sunday Web Every. Two girls are best friends, hanging out at school with their other friends. But they’re also secretly dating each other. Which is getting harder to cover up…

ASH: That’ll happen sometimes.

ANNA: Indeed.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Akane-Banashi 9, Call of the Night 18, D.Gray-man 3-in-1 Edition 9, I Wanna Do Bad Things with You 3, Jujutsu Kaisen 24, One Piece 3-in-1 34, Pokémon: Sword & Shield 11, Splatoon 3: Splatlands 3.

Udon Entertainment debuts Mr. Mega Man (Rockman-san), a slice-of-life title from Young Ace Up based on the classic game.

Two debuts from SuBLime. The Metalhead Next Door (Tonari no Metaller-san) is a Chara title starring a young gay man who is freezing outside his unheated apartment during a blizzard when he’s rescued by his neighbor, a young man always in black who looks scary. Over time, they eat together and love begins to grow… at least on one side. This is a one-shot.

MICHELLE: This looks cute! I love the cover on this one.

ASH: Agreed!

ANNA: It does look cute!

SEAN: Worst Soulmate Ever (Unmei no Tsugai ga Omae da Nante) is an omegaverse series from Dear +. An omega who’s been unlucky in love tries an agency… but ends up paired with an alpha who knows him from long ago… and hates him! This is a comedy, apparently.

Steamship has Guilty Smile (Danzai no Bishou), a dark josei title from Sonya Comics. A princess is the last one standing as the royal palace is taken by rebels… and she’s also impersonating her sister, who tormented the rebel general. Not realizing the switch, the general puts a curse on her that turns her into his plaything.

ASH: Dark josei Steamship manga, hmmm…

ANNA: Intereresting!

SEAN: Just one title from Square Enix: My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World! 16.

Seven Seas also has a pile of titles… which we’ll get to when we hit Ghost Ship. They do also have 100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death (Boku ga Shinu dake no Hyakumonogatari), a horror manga from Shonen Sunday S. A boy tries to jump out his classroom window one day, and a girl stops him by telling him a legend that if you tell 100 ghost stories, afterwards you’ll see ghosts yourself.

ASH: I’ve been curious about this one.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Berserk of Gluttony 11, The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store 2 (the final volume), The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom 8, How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? 16, Kemono Jihen 14, The Kingdoms of Ruin 9, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 10, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout 5, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 18, Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills 3, Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn 19, Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes 3, A Stepmother’s ‏Märchen 5, The Strange House 2, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 14, Too Many Losing Heroines! 2, The Villainess Who Has Been Killed 108 Times: She Remembers Everything! 4 (the final volume), and Who Made Me a Princess 8.

MICHELLE: I need to get on The Strange House.

SEAN: And for danmei we get The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish: Canji Baojun De Zhangxin Yu Chong 3.

One Peace Books has the 7th manga volume of The Death Mage.

No print debuts for Kodansha. We do get BLOOD BLADE 4, I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl 5, Noragami: Stray God 27 (the final volume), and Tank Chair 2.

ASH: The first volume of Tank Chair surprised me in a good way. Also, I should make a point to finish Noragami eventually.

SEAN: The digital debut is India Calling Me Now (Ima, Indo ni Yobarete), a josei one-shot from Palcy. A manga artist has been getting nowhere for years, and when her husband gets a new job in India, she takes it as a sign to give up and goes with him. Then he expects her to be a good little housewife. So she dumps his ass. Leaving her in India by herself. Can she find her dream?

MICHELLE: This sounds delightful!

ASH: I’m in!

ANNA: Sounds cool.

SEAN: Also digital: Drops of God: Mariage 10, Gang King 24, Giant Killing 46, Harem Marriage 20 (the final volume), I Have a Crush at Work 7, and Quality Assurance in Another World 12.

Some print titles from J-Novel Club, as we see Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 8, Black Summoner 4, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me! 10, and My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 12.

4 debuts for J-Novel Club next week. A Cozy Life in the Woods with the White Witch (Shiro Majo-san to no Henkyō Gurashi ~Saikyō na Majo wa Nonbiri Kurashitai~) is a new light novel series. A guy is banished from his party, and ends up coming across the all-powerful White Witch. Trouble is… she’s a slob! Fortunately, he excels at everything that does not involve fighting, so keeps house for her.

Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner (Lady Rose wa Heimin ni Naritai) is a light novel for a series we got the manga for some time ago. Our heroine is reincarnated as the villainess of an otome game… AFTER the bad end. Oops. Fortunately, she just wants to live happily with her true love… bread.

MICHELLE: Hee!

ASH: That is fortunate!

ANNA: I sympathize with her love of bread.

SEAN: A Royal Rebound: Forget My Ex-Fiancé, I’m Being Pampered by the Prince! (Konyakusha ga Uwaki Aite to Kakeochi Shimashita. Ōji Denka ni Dekiai Sarete Shiawase nanode, Ima Sara Modoritai to Iwarete mo Komarimasu) is the manga version of the light novel already released by J-Novel Club. It runs in Drecomics.

The Tanaka Family Reincarnates (Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru) is a light novel series that shows an eccentric family dying in an earthquake… and reincarnated as an equally eccentric family, only in an isekai. This is more along the noble girl end of the genre.

Also from J-Novel Club: the 4th The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases manga, the 3rd Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade manga, Duchess in the Attic 2, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 6, The Legendary Witch Is Reborn as an Oppressed Princess 2, Only I Know That This World Is a Game 6, RVing My Way into Exile with My Beloved Cat: This Villainess Is Trippin’ 3, the 2nd Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight manga, the 2nd Stuck in a Time Loop: When All Else Fails, Be a Villainess manga, and This Art Club Has a Problem! 5.

Ghost Ship debuts Imaizumi Brings All the Gals to His House (Imaizumin-chi wa Douyara Gal no Tamariba ni Natteru Rashii), a seinen series from Web Comic Gamma Plus. Based on a hentai doujinshi, this stars a normal everyday high school student who happens to have three high school gyarus at his apartment. He’s living with them, hanging out with them, and yes, they’re doing that as well.

They also have Creature Girls: A Hands-On Field Journal in Another World 11 and World’s End Harem: Fantasia 13.

For mature Seven Seas stuff, we see Play Me Softly (Dolce na Bokura no Koi ni Tsuite), a BL one-shot from LiQuille. An office worker who also plays in a concert band finds that his old high school crush has joined the band.

ASH: Vaguely music themed mature manga, you say?

SEAN: Sweet Room Escape is a BL title from Qpa. A gay man seems to have it all, great job, lots of partying, great sex, and no strings. Then he meets Albrecht… and is horrified to find he’s caught feelings!

Also in mature Seven Seas titles, At 25:00 in Akasaka 2, Killing Stalking: Deluxe Edition 8 (the final volume), and No Love Zone 2.

Dark Horse Comics has the 3rd Deluxe Edition of Trigun Maximum.

In print, Airship has Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 9.5.

And for early digital, we have Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 8, I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince 2, and Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 20.

Um… Merry Christmas? Please spend over one thousand dollars on these titles.

The Former Assassin Who Got Reincarnated As a Noble Girl, Vol. 2

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By Satsuki Otonashi and MiRea. Released in Japan as “Moto Ansatsusha, Tenseishite Kizoku no Reijou ni Narimashita” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

I admit I was surprised and a little put off by the cover of this volume, which, like the cover of the first, is salacious and mostly exists to draw in the hapless reader by promising sex that isn’t actually there. That said, the cover is actually quite clever, as your eyes may be drawn to her chest but we are also meant to notice her gun, and the huge and deadly hairpin she also has. Selena talks about “honey traps” in this series, and the volume in fact opens with the rather hapless and tragic crown princess being driven half mad and out of the palace by her asshole husband bringing home a “honey trap” lover and their two children and saying “this is who will be next in line now”. Thus, Selena on the cover of this volume is meant to draw in a reader hoping for a bit of sex. There’s none of that here. But there sure is lots of death and violence. This series is dark as pitch.

We open with, as I noted above, the tragic downfall of Shahrnaz, a noble girl who marries the crown prince, has a child, and thinks that things are fine. They’re not. Many years later, Selena is told that their school is getting three exchange students: Shaghad, the son of the prince and Shahrnaz, and Ismail and Aisha, the two children of the prince and his lover, a viscount’s daughter. They’re behaving like arrogant fools, but they also have a mission: Aisha is here to seduce Prince Evan, and Ismael is here to get rid of Shaghad, who is first in the actual succession. It doesn’t help that Shaghad, who has a big helping of “my mother abandoned me and I feel depressed”, is letting them do whatever they want. Clearly another noble is not what’s needed here. This needs an assassin’s touch.

For the most part, this book has a plotline that is pretty obvious… at least until the end, which has a terrific twist that I won’t spoil. Selena spends much of the volume rather annoyed that she has to be dealing with this at all, though once she manages to get Shaghad to actually take steps to stand up for himself, and also trains him to fend off assassins, she feels better. The ongoing questions seems to be not “who will she choose, royalty or her devoted bodyguard?”, as honestly I don’t trust her not to kill both of them if she feels a need to. The writer says that they gave Selena a “dumb” friend, partly so she actually had a friend who wasn’t a love interest, but also to point out that Selena can be as grimdark as she likes, and kill as many assassins as she wants, but in the end she does care about people, and there’s no getting around that. The assassin is also a noble girl, and that’s not something Selene can accept right now.

This second volume was not part of the webnovel but requested by the publisher, and there’s no third book out in Japan, so this may end up being it. It’s an odd duck, this, and I’m not sure it could have reasonably given us a happy ending, but I liked it.

Soup Forest: The Story of the Woman Who Speaks with Animals and the Former Mercenary, Vol. 2

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By Syuu and Muni. Released in Japan as “Soup no Mori: Doubutsu to Kaiwa Suru Olivia to Moto Youhei Arthur no Monogatari” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

It’s always annoying when I read an afterword and the author essentially says everything I’m going to say. So yes, the first book in this series was about taking a broken young woman and helping her to open up to one man, leading to their marriage. This second book has as its goal getting her to interact with a much larger world, and also realizing that, while her powers may make some people scared and/or dismissive or her, this isn’t always the case, and that her powers can do good things. To be honest, she ends up saving a lot of lives here. Clearly she probably SHOULD be a royal apothecary, as she has the skills, and also can talk to the animals like Doctor Doolittle. There is just one slight problem – Olivia doesn’t want to do this. She wants to live in the forest with her husband, sister (more on that later) and many, many animals and hand out soup. Sorry, kid, you’re a light novel protagonist.

This book alternates between slice-of-life stories of Olivia puttering around her restaurant with Arthur, doing things like making health potions or healing a wounded rabbit, and the larger overall plot of Olivia’s world becoming much larger. This is mostly due to the arrival of Lara, a runaway teenager who was the daughter of a noble father and his maid, and now that the father and her mother have died the stepmother has made her life miserable. She ends up becoming the younger sister that Olivia never had, and is basically part of the story to add sometime bright and upbeat to a series that is still mostly about two sweet yet default morose individuals. She’s also studying to be an apothecary, something that Olivia is already qualified for… and she even gets a letter saying she is the equivalent of a royal apothecary. Which is good, as this is a dangerous world.

As I said above, if Book 1 is “Olivia gradually learns to care about things other than the animal world”, this one definitely shows the interactions between the animal world and the human world, and Olivia and her powers are a huge part of that. Olivia ends up getting more than one “What’s that, girl? Timmy? Trapped? Down in Dead Rock Canyon?” moment here, though the animals can literally speak to her, so it just makes things easier. Which is good, as this book is filled with deadly plagues, near-fatal road accidents, and driven insane with grief drunkards, and Olivia comes to the rescue each time. The last one is particularly hilarious, as we meet a steward who clearly despises Olivia, and think to ourselves, “Oh man, I hope he’s secretly evil”. And good news! This was the one plot that didn’t quite work for me, as it felt the most manufactured and had the most bullshit use of Olivia’s powers. But I’m not really going to criticize such a relaxed series like this for going too OP.

The webnovel of this series indicates there’s a third book, but it’s not out from the publisher yet. I wonder if it will continue trying to drag Olivia into larger and larger political spheres and away from her insular life. I can see an argument either way.

Third Loop: The Nameless Princess and the Cruel Emperor, Vol. 3

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By Iota AIUE and Misa Sazanami. Released in Japan as “Nanashi no Ōjo to Reikoku Kōtei: Shītagerareta Yōjo, Konse de wa Ryū to Mofumofu ni Dekiai Sarete Imasu” by M Novels f. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by JCT.

In the first book, we dealt with a girl who is so mistreated that she’s not even given a name. In the second book, Angelina has a name, but everyone still only regards her in terms of her position and power, rather than as a person. That continues in this third book, but it’s OK, because we have someone who’s been with her almost from the start who sees her as a person. The title is now truly incorrect. That goes both ways as well, as the plot complications mean that the emperor is forced to confront his past and accept that he really did earn his “cruel” title, while also admitting that he doesn’t really want to sacrifice it all because he was a bit of a dick, but rather wants to live with his family and do better. Both Angelina, though her loops, and Feilong, through what happens in this book, become better people. Well, Angelina doesn’t have far to go.

Angelina is riding a high. Everyone adores her, she has her best bud Ryuho, and also joining them at the academy is other best bud Hisame. Then a traveling player band of refugees from the destroyed country Yule (home of Angelina’s late mother) arrive, and they show off their shadow puppetry. Unfortunately, when their leader has Angelina try out the magical barrel organ they use to control the puppetry, it activates a horrible magic… which the Emperor blocks and takes himself. This causes the emperor to become a small child… in both mind and body! Worse still, the leader of the troupe was the only one who really had bad intentions, and he turned out to be a fake. Now the three youngsters have to try to find a way to restore Angelina’s father…which involves searching for a legendary beast who will only speak to the pure of heart. Good thing they have our main cast, who are so pure they squeak.

Angelina always works best when she’s in deadly peril. The start of the book reads a bit smug, as everyone loves her, she loves everyone, and things are all sunshine and roses. Thank goodness that doesn’t last. There’s the trauma of her past lives still weight in on her unconsciously, as she knows she still hasn’t actually said “I love you” to her father yet. There’s her father’s own actions, as she argues with an all-powerful spirit about how sometimes purging an evil family by killing them may not actually be worse than BEING an evil family. My favorite part is where it turns out that the one who’s been controlling everything in this book turns out to be a bit of a scapegoat himself, and when given the choice between “let your father die” and “let me die”, Angelina naturally chooses neither one of those. Which, well, leads to more folks being utterly devoted to her. By the end of the book she’s Queen of her mother’s now restored country, and has Ryuho proposing to her. But the most important part may be that she finally gets to go back to the pub she spend her past life in and eat its really great food once more.

This was, provided you can get over the aggressive, weaponized adorableness of its heroine, a decent, solid series. I’m glad Angelina has a name, a tiger boy fiancee, and most of all, no more timeloops. 3 more and she’d hit her 7th time loop, and that’s been done.

The Theater of Haruhi Suzumiya

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By Nagaru Tanigawa and Noizi Ito. Released in Japan as “Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekijo” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

I suspect how much you enjoy the latest book in this series depends on what you enjoy most about it. If you’re the sort who likes the sci-fi trappings and everyone trying to figure out what’s going on, you’ll be in clover, as that’s basically what this book is about, especially the back half, which features far more discussion of quantum mechanics than any light novel really needs. If you enjoy Haruhi doing funny things, Mikuru being adorably clumsy yet cute, and Nagato saving the day, this is also a strong book. Kyon’s narration is not quite as caustic as it’s been in the past, but I’ll forgive it. Unfortunately, if you read this series for character development, this is not the book for you. It’s an extension of two short stories that ran in The Sneaker 20 years ago, and seems to take place before the 4th book/movie, meaning most of the softening of Haruhi’s character is absent. It’s a fun book, but it’s not necessary as the next in the series.

We open with what looks like the most 2024 thing ever, even though it was written in 2004 – Haruhi and company get isekai’d to another world to save the kingdom from the demon lord. Haruhi being Haruhi, she proceeds to do whatever she wants, and only saves the world because Mikuru blows up the demon lord’s castle with magic. Suddenly they’re now in an outer space setting, and have to rescue two nobles from space pirates… something that’s also screwed up due to Haruhi’s gung-ho approach. Then all of a sudden they’re in a Western setting, with a shootout, and Kyon, Koizumi and Nagato are starting to realize something is wrong. Unfortunately, they can’t trust their memories, and as they go through more and more pulp fiction scenarios, the question becomes whether they can stop it at all… or even who they really are.

The idea that the cast are trapped in a bunch of tropey fictional settings is a good one. As you’d expect, the weakest part of it is the start, with the two stories written so long ago. They’re pure comedy, not really doing anything with the characters. Once Kyon and Koizumi start discussing what’s really going on, things pick up a lot more… or at least they do if you can put up with Koizumi’s philosophizing. There may be more of that in this book than any other in the series, so reader beware if you’re not in the mood for it. The one scrap of characterization we got was near the end, when Koizumi suggests that they’re likely just virtual reality mindselves, and that escaping the game might mean death. Nagato explicitly says that she wants to return to the real world, to be in the club with everyone. It’s pretty nice.

If you wanted another volume in the series, this sure is one. Still no actual continuation, but I’m not really expecting that anymore. For fans.

A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO, Vol. 1

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu ZERO” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Faye Cozy and Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Melanie Kardas.

If you have a prequel series, it helps to have two really important things: a reason for the author to write it, and a reason for the reader to read it. The author explains in the afterword the reason that we’re getting this prequel: it’s a story they wanted to tell as flashbacks in the main series, but it rapidly got far too huge, so it was decided to make it a series of its own. As for the reader, I will admit I was a bit worried. The general premise of the main series is that, whether it be in the present as Fia or in the past as Serafina, our heroine is an extremely lovable goober who everyone adores. Technically that’s true here, but there’s a very important difference, which is that this is the story of Serafina at six, not sixteen (we get those flashbacks in the main series). As a result, she’s an ADORABLE lovable goober.

Sirius, the most powerful man in the kingdom of Nav, is sent out by the King to go gget the second princess, Serafina. Six years ago she was born blind, which is still frowned on when you’re royalty, and so she was sent to a detached house in the forest to stay so that she did not get bullied at the royal court. But circumstances have changed, and now she’s needed back at the palace. So Sirius and his beleaguered colleagues (who can’t keep up with him) head into the forest to find an extremely adorable six-year-old redhead. She can’t open her eyes, but she can apparently see spirits. When monsters attack, and prove too strong for most of the knights, a panicked Serafina calls on her Saint powers, regains her sight, and proves to be the Most Powerful Saint in the World.

This book has an agenda, and that agenda is CUTE. Sure, Serafina can still be a colossal airhead some of the time, but for the most part that’s explainable as her being a six-year-old who lived in a jungle all her life, rather than as her having none of the common sense of everyone she grew up around like the main series. Everyone who meets Serafina seems to adore her immediately, except (briefly) her brothers, who give in after Sirius trains them to death. We also meet Canopus here, and get a sense of the prejudice that he and his people go through… which ends up being steamrolled through the power of Serafina’s really liking him. And what do you know, he does indeed turn out to be really strong. She even manages to tame a griffon and a fenrir, which sort of serves as a replacement for the dragon she has in the main series. Basically, she’s a bundle of cute, and also packing ludicrous power, which Sirius is not yet ready to show off just yet. He’s too enraptured by her to do so.

The recent light novel rankings came out in Japan, and the main series placed a LOT higher than I had thought. Which explains the prequel. Fans of Fia will love seeing cute l’il Serafina wrap everyone around her finger.

Management of a Novice Alchemist, Vol. 3

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By Mizuho Itsuki and fuumi. Released in Japan as “Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

As I noted earlier, I watched the anime of this series before I read the novels, and I’m rather surprised at how a) the anime did a whole lot of adding/cutting and pasting in a different place, and b) how it usually worked pretty well. The anime is paced like an anime, and gives viewers a reason to be really sympathetic to Sarasa from the get go. The light novel doesn’t bother with either of those, and Sarasa can be quite a morally ambiguous character. Here, we see her having to struggle with the fact that she has friends she cares about and wants to help, even if it might lose her money. There’s never any doubt she’s going to, but just seeing her inner monologue is revealing. She cannot stop thinking of how much everything in her life costs, and how much ingredients cost, etc. It’s not quite presented as a savant thing, but she certainly would do much better with more sensible people around her. Good news there!

After the events of the last book, and a comedic interlude with raw honey and horrible diarrhea, our intrepid gatherers, along with Sarasa, go on a mission to find out why the Hellflame Grizzly stampede happened. This takes them to an inactive volcano which has fire lizards, which they can harvest, with some difficulty, for materials, but also a far more dangerous salamander further up the mountain, which isn’t being hostile so Sarasa ignores it. But when Iris’ father, a noble in charge of two villages, arrives to tell her that in order to solve their own hideous debt (separate from Iris and Kate’s debt to Sarasa), he has to marry her off, Sarasa recognizes the husband Iris is getting paired with as being related to the corrupt merchants she took out last book, and, eventually, makes a decision to help with the debt by going after that salamander after all.

When the anime aired, I heard some talk that the books were yuri, but when I investigated, the answer seems to be “eeeeeh, kinda?”. Having read this volume, I get that. On the one hand, in this world, men can marry men, and women can marry women, There are even (very expensive!) potions to allow you to change sex temporarily for the purpose of siring an heir if you are an LGBT couple. And, to solve their issues, Iris is clearly VERY happy to marry Sarasa, offers Kate as Wife #2 (which Kate seems OK with), and says “your preference might change, who knows?” On the other hand, Sarasa says she’s not interested in women multiple times, and also says she’s too young to get married. I suspect what we’re going to get by the end of this series is Sarasa married to her three wives (no way Lorea’s not getting in on this) in a familial marriage with no sexual aspect to it. I have no idea if that’s yuri or not. But it’s fine, I’m much happier with these four as a family.

Sarasa was a little less terrifying this volume, and we’re starting to see that being in the village is very good for her. Unfortunately, she seems to have pissed off the local lord, which I have a feeling will be the plot of Book 4. This is the last one that had the anime mine it for materials, and it was pretty good.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Astrea Record, Vol. 3

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By Fujino Omori and Kakage. Released in Japan as “Astrea Record Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

There are some pretty nifty scenes in this final book, but in the end, I think I will best remember this series for what it was: an adaptation of a video game spinoff. It suffers a lot from being a prequel, meaning that when we see folks we remember from the main series or Sword Oratoria, we know that they’re going to survive, whereas when we meet new people, we know they have a low chance of it. This volume introduces three older, veteran adventurers from Loki Familia, the ones who were training Finn and company when they were just starting out. They have names, but I could not help but imagine them saying things like “this is my last job, after this I’m retiring and buying a boat”. As for Lyu and her familia, well, we get to see them make a decision that will end up being Very Bad, but for the most part they get to be cool, as they fight to determine what justice is.

The book is basically a 270-page fight, which we are very used to with this author. Everyone is getting their secret weapons ready, including Lyu’s new sword, which is made from the gift of her late friend Ardee… erm, Adi (don’t you hate it when the Japanese publisher tells you the name has a different romanji AFTER you start the series?). First things go very well for our heroes, and very bad for the Evils… then everything swings the other way and all hope is lost… then the cavalry arrives, etc. You know the drill. What we most focus on are Zald and Alfia, who explain why they’re doing all this: failing to defeat the black dragon and having their familias destroyed broke them, and they think the current generation of adventurers suck, so they want to go back to a Golden Age where there were real heroes. Yes, that’s right, it’s the DanMachi version of Invasion of the Dinosaurs from Jon Pertwee’s final series.

I was once again irritated that we were getting a teenage version of moral dilemmas, so was amused when the “main villain” pointed out that this is exactly what it was, and the way to defeat the trolley problem is to come up with ways to defy it and work around it. As for the whole “we want to return to a golden age” thing, it’s also mostly bullshit – as I expected, but which isn’t confirmed until an epilogue, it’s more of a “we are testing you to make sure you are ready to face the strong enemies that are to come, and we must do this by being evil ourselves”. Which, again, is very “for 15-year-olds” logic, like the rest of this spinoff. There are a lot of really cool scenes and character pieces in here, and I liked hearing about Bell’s mother, but in the end this wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, and was too depressing most of the time.

We’re not done with Lyu yet. The next spinoff will bring us the story that was cut from Book 18 because it was already 600 pages long – Lyu’s journey to see Astrea. I don’t think that comes from a video game plot, so I’m looking forward to it a bit more. Though… hasn’t Lyu become the main heroine in terms of appearances by now?

Manga the Week of 12/4/24

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SEAN: December is here, and so is Whamageddon. Good luck to all!

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: No print light novels for Airship, but we do see an early digital release for I’m the Heroic Knight of an Intergalactic Empire! 2.

Dark Horse has the 3rd and final omnibus volume of Innocent, containing Vol. 7-9.

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up, eventually.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has the 9th and final volume of Call Girl in Another World.

And Seven Seas has a mature debut, No Spicy Romance Allowed! (Unmei demo Netsuai wa Yurushimasen!). This one shot from LiQuile is an omegaverse book about an alpha fashion model and his omega manager.

Also mature is the 7th volume of The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun.

Three debuts for J-Novel Club, all manga. From Villainess to Healer: I Know the Cheat to Change My Fate (Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijou) is a manga adaptation of a light novel J-Novel Club has licensed but has not released yet, and it runs in Flos Comic. Our protagonist is dumped for having evil dark magic rather than good healing magic, so she goes to another country, changes her class to healer, and vows to forget all about him.

ASH: Wishing her luck on her new endeavors.

SEAN: Jeanette the Genius: Defying My Evil Stepmother by Starting a Business with My Ride-or-Die Fiancé! (Kakure Saijo wa Zenzen Megenai – Gibo to Gimai ni Ie wo Oidasareta no de Konyaku Haki shite Moraou to Omottara, Shinshi Datta Konyakusha ga Hageshiku Dekiai shite kuru you ni narimashita!?) is a manga version of the light novel also licensed by J-Novel Club, and it runs in Drecomics.

A Pale Moon Reverie (Tsuki no Shirosa wo Shirite Madoromu) is also a manga version of the light novel also licensed by J-Novel Club, and it also runs in Drecomics.

ASH: I do appreciate that we often see both the originals and the adaptations licensed these days.

SEAN: J-Novel Club also has The Blessing of Liefe: Leave This Magical Letdown Alone! 2, Cooking with Wild Game 26, DUNGEON DIVE: Aim for the Deepest Level 9, The Eternal Fool’s Words of Wisdom: A Pawsitively Fantastic Adventure 3, Magic Stone Gourmet: Eating Magical Power Made Me The Strongest 7, My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer: Short Story Collection, The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles 9, and the 2nd and final volume of The Troubles of Miss Nicola the Exorcist manga.

ASH: That’s a decent amount.

SEAN: No debuts for Kodansha. In print they have Fire Force Manga Box Set 2 (Vol. 7-11), The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity 4, Initial D Omnibus 4 (Vol. 7-8), Mobile Suit Gundam Cucuruz Doan’s Island 2, Tsugumi Project 6, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 11.

And digitally we see Chihayafuru 47, Sayabito: Swords of Destiny 5, Shangri-La Frontier 18, and Those Snow White Notes 23.

MICHELLE: Must. Read. Iruma and Chihayafuru.

SEAN: One Peace Books has a 2nd volume of I Was Sold Dirt Cheap, but My Power Level Is off the Charts.

Debuting from Seven Seas is Hoteri Hotette First Kiss, an anthology of shoujo short stories that ran in Dessert from author Coco Uzuki, whose first long-form manga is coming out from Kodansha next year.

MICHELLE: Hm. The cover’s kinda cute.

ASH: I like anthologies!

ANNA: I think we don’t get many shoujo anthologies, I might check this out.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain 3, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi – The Comic 8, Last Game 7, Lout of Count’s Family 2, and My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren’t Wicked 5.

Square Enix has The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl 8.

ASH: I should read more of this series.

ANNA: It is pretty cute, the couple of volumes that I’ve read.

SEAN: Tokyopop is shoving everything for December out next week. Comic Party Wonder Love is a BL comedy manga from Lynx. Two male BL authors are each other’s opposites, but find themselves drawn to each other.

The Person I Loved Asked Me to Die in My Sister’s Stead (Koishita Hito wa, Imouto no Kawari ni Shindekure to Itta. – Imouto to Kekkon shita Kataomoi Aite ga Naze Imasara Watashi no Moto ni? to Omottara @COMIC) is an adaptation of an as-yet unlicensed light novel. A noble lady is asked by her fiance to sacrifice herself and watch over the evil Predawn Realm in place of her little sister. Heartbroken, she does what he asks, and twenty years pass. Now his son arrives in the realm, asking her for the sentient sword she wields. Is she gonna finally snap?

Tokyopop also has Double 5, If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die 10, My Hateful Man 2, SANCTIFY 2, Wails of the Bound: Beta 2, and World’s End Blue Bird 2.

Udon Entertainment has Ottoman: Henshin Hero Husband 2 (the final volume). Boy, that series came and went fast… or Amazon is screwing up small publisher release dates again. One of those is more likely than the other.

ASH: Yeah.

SEAN: Some debuts from Viz. First a spinoff. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Shining Diamond’s Demonic Heartbreak (JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Crazy Diamond no Akuryou-teki Shitsuren) is a manga adaptation of the as-yet unlicensed light novel, and it ran in Ultra Jump. Hol Horse searches for a missing parrot, but this is JoJo’s, you know it won’t be as simple as that.

ASH: I’ll admit to being curious!

SEAN: Next, another spinoff. Kaiju No. 8: Exclusive on the Third Division is a light novel detailing, well, the Third Division.

There’s also Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Official Art Book, which is what it says.

ASH: I have a couple of friends I should get this for.

SEAN: And there is Studio Ghibli: Architecture in Animation, an artbook covering the studio.

Also from Viz: Blue Box 13, Blue Exorcist 30, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu Academy 4, Dragon Ball Super 22, The King’s Beast 14, Let’s Do It Already! 3, Mashle: Magic and Muscles 18 (the final volume), Neighborhood Story 4 (the final volume), and Rainbow Days 13.

MICHELLE: Dang, Neighborhood Story reached its end quickly, too! I guess that’s an omnibus release for ya.

ANNA: It did seem to fly by.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has one manga volume, Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 9.

Gotta be thinking of presents by now, right?

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 26

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

We were spoiled by the first books in Arc 5 and Arc 6. Each of those books was filled with the main cast we know and love, featured Subaru being smart and making good decisions (even when he is getting killed), and generally were a lot of fun and led us into the horror and return by death gradually. This is the first book in Arc 7, and it is absolutely not that at all. We’re in a completely different country, most of the cast are new, and of those who aren’t new, one has no memories of her past, one seems to be mentally a baby, and one… is meant to be a mysterious swordsman named Abel, but anyone who’s read the Ex 4 and 5 novels know who he really is. And then there’s Subaru, who is… shall we say, making poor decisions again. Once again his stubbornness leads him to do things that just a moment of rational thought would show are going to get him in trouble. Whee.

Subaru, along with Rem and Louis, has been somehow transported far away from Emilia and company, who know he’s not dead and what direction he’s in but that’s about it. He wakes up in a jungle. Rem is awake, but has no memories, and of course Subaru has been returning by death a lot lately, so he smells horribly of miasma. What’s more, Louis has come along with them, and he suggests abandoning her… except she looks like a small child and acts like an innocent baby. So, naturally, Rem chokes him unconscious and flees. Congratulations, Subaru/Rem fans, you got your touching reunion? In any case, Subaru also manages to be shot by a hunter and killed, and then when he catches up with Rem he’s captured by an army on the march. And who’s that mysterious masked guy in the woods?

As I said above, reading the Ex spinoffs will help a tiny bit here, but for the most part this is pure unfiltered Subaru with new people – including Rem, who is basically in “angry and distrusting” mode most of the book, though she’s already worried and concerned about him by the end of it. So I’m sure the love will return. As for Louis, I understand why Subaru hates and is willing to abandon her. But his constant disdain and scorn of Louis in front of Rem is easily the dumbest he’s been since the 3rd arc. He doesn’t explain, he doesn’t take Louis at face value, he just… makes himself look like an asshole. Speaking of assholes, we meet a lovely smiling villain named Todd Fang, who I suspect we’re going to get a lot more of in future books. Don’t like him. And he’s not even the abusive one of the pair of soldiers. I do like the Amazon tribe that Subaru and Vincent run into, though – they’re all cool and badass, and I hope they don’t get killed off.

I’m sure as I get used to the arc, things will pick up. But this arc is *eight* books long, and I miss the core cast already. Good writing, interesting stuff, but a Subaru that I didn’t want to see again.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Vol. 8

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By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

Technically this book is the second half of an arc that began with the last one. That said, what this book really does is take everything that we’ve learned in the last seven books and boil it down into an examination of how monarchies really function, especially ones where the nobles don’t necessarily do what the ruler says. And that’s not even the case either, because of course this is a magical kingdom, and being a magical ruler is not remotely the same as being, say, Henry VIII. The magical revolution is still ongoing, and there are people who are very unhappy… not with the revolution itself (i.e. Anis’ magical tools) but simply with the loss of power that this entails. And the fact that it’s come from the non-magical Anis. What does all this mean? It means that both Anis and Euphie spend more time being utterly furious than in any other book we’ve read to date, and both consider simply executing everyone to solve the problem. (Spoiler: they don’t do that.)

Anis is busy working on the construction of her new magical city when she gets an urgent message from Lainie to return to the royal palace, and when she does she finds that Euphie is in her room on forcible rest. What’s worse, she hasn’t been able to sleep for days, and when she tries to eat food it’s tasteless and she can barely choke it down. Euphie is losing touch with her humanity and moving towards being a spirit contractor. And the reason for this? Well, they were meeting with the Western Nobles, who have always been difficult. But when one noble, Count Leghorn (I did try doing the Foghorn Leghorn voice, but it doesn’t match the character) venerates Euphie in a religious fervor, and suggests that all of Anis’ accomplishments have been falsified, Euphie almost loses control of herself in rage. So now she’s on forced leave… and tells all this to Anis, who is now ALSO losing control of herself in rage.

I haven’t really talked much about Lainie lately, who gets the bulk of the narrative here that’s not Anis or Euphie. (Most of the POV in this book is Euphie, and it’s really good.) This series began by combining an isekai with a villainess story, and Lainie was the “heroine” in that scenario. Now a loyal maid, she’s just as livid with what the Western nobles are doing but is not quite as close to it as Anis and Euphie are, so instead calls in the cavalry to come up with a solution. It’s pretty terrific. I also liked her discussion with Lumi, who points out that neither Anis nor Euphie are truly human anymore, and isn’t that a bit disturbing? Lainie believes in them, but then Lainie is a vampire, so she’s dealing with the same problems. The Western nobles have a much higher bar to clear… and they don’t clear it. There are no mass executions, but trust me, an epic smackdown happens.

This book shows that “happily ever after” is hard to achieve and requires constant effort, and even that may not be good enough. Fortunately, it ends rather triumphantly. We get a short story collection before Book 9… but both only came out a couple months ago in Japan, so it may be a bit. Highly recommended.

Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain, Vol. 1

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By Ageha Sakura and Kurodeko. Released in Japan as “Imokusa Reijou desu ga Akuyaku Reisoku wo Tasuketara Kiniiraremashita” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Vasileios Mousikidis.

I’ve never been very good with photoshop or meme creation, and I generally only embed cover images to these reviews in any case. But I will admit, about 20 pages into Lady Bumpkin, all I could think of was that Shrek meme and seeing him saying “She doesn’t even have a loyal maid!”. Now, I am aware that the loyal maid comes later, yes, but I’ve gotten so used to seeing these abused daughters who are simply surviving from day to day in their House O’ Evil Nobles have at least the one loyal maid to be the ally in their corner keeping them from completely losing it. Agnes has had to deal with this solely on her own, where even the help doesn’t help. Fortunately, she’s in luck, in that she’s in a villainess book. No, she’s not the villainess. The villainess is in fact a villain. And he’s just as innocent as most of the villainesses are in this genre, because oh dear, the princess is terrible.

Agnes Evantail is the eldest daughter of an old-school noble house. And I mean really old school. Her parents have furniture that’s outdated, clothing that’s outdated (including codpieces, Christ), and makeup that’s outdated, and they force Agnes into all of those (except the codpiece) before sending her out into a noble world that now regards those things as comical in order to find herself a man. Oh, and when she fails her father hits her. At one of these humiliation events, the princess and her fiance happen to be at the same party… and Agnes watches with horror as the princess denounces her fiancee, Nazelbert Florescruz, as a horrible person who has bullied her new boyfriend, a baron’s son – who has also gotten her pregnant. She insists he be exiled to the frontier… and since Agnes was the only one to help him up after he was knocked over, and she’s a national laughingstock, she’s told to become his wife.

Regarding that cover, I have to assume it’s metaphorical and that Agnes is holding her younger self, as they haven’t even gone beyond kissing on the cheek by the end of this volume. Most of this volume trundles along exactly as you might guess, with the occasional exception when we see Agnes getting the shit beaten out of her, as these sorts of books usually stick to emotional abuse. Once she’s disowned and heads to the frontier with her new disgraced husband, things definitely improve… though not right away, as they’re going to a territory where the previous noble in charge was an abusive rapist louse, so no one trusts them. Fortunately, and feel free to roll your eyes a bit, Agnes’ “useless” magic turns out to secretly be awesome, making this the distaff version of all those “weakest is really strongest” books. Minus the harem.

That said, as you’d expect, once the two of them are away from everyone else, we get a lot of sweetness and cuteness, along with Agnes turning out to be beautiful once you get the heavy makeup and heavy dresses off her. There’s little new here, but the writing style is breezy and fun, and I really liked Agnes. I’ll read more.