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Fiancée No More: The Forsaken Lady, the Prince, and Their Make-Believe Love, Vol. 1

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By Mari Morikawa and Bodax. Released in Japan as “Konyaku Haki no Sono Saki ni: Suterare Reijō, Ōji-sama ni Dekiai (Engi) Sareru” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Adam.

Just as we’ve had so many isekai and “game stat world” light novels that it’s super refreshing to get a normal fantasy book, we’ve had some many novels where the protagonist is a “villainess” trying to change her fate, redeem herself, or otherwise fight against her narrative that it’s nice to see a book that straight up *is* that narrative. Yes, technically the book begins with a broken engagement. But Estelle, our heroine, really is a heroine for once. She’s well known for being a nice, if somewhat plain, young noble lady. She helps to care for her people after they’re wounded fighting dragons, and she also helps fight the dragons herself if need be. Oh yes, and she has a secret: she’s got magic powers, a rarity in this country, and can see the mana within people, and tell what their emotional state is. Sadly, this has left her mostly a bundle of introversion, so the broken engagement is not a good thing.

So yes, we open with Estelle having her engagement broken. Not because Lyle, her fiance, hates her now. It’s just that his family is on hard times, and they can get financial assistance if he marries Diana Pautrier – who does hate Estelle, but that’s neither here nor there. Now Estelle needs to find another engagement – which is hard, given her parents are dead, she’s only an Earl’s daughter, and the valuable magic powers she has she’s kept a secret from most everyone. Worse still, it means they have to give up their neutrality and pick a side in the upcoming throne war between the first and second prince. She and her brother attend a ball held by the first prince, and since she’s actually choosing to ally with him, he gives her the second dance of the night after his fiancee. Then she’s shot trying o prevent him being killed by an assassin, and everything goes off the rails.

So yeah, the title is the spoiler now she’s engaged to the first prince. He knows about her powers, and regards her as a “walking alarm”, so is content to dump his current fiancee (who does not take it well) and get engaged to Estelle, saying that it’s true love. Which it isn’t, but the main reason to read this book is to see these two people, both dealing with their engagement out of need and not true love, slowly falling for each other. Estelle is cognizant of it almost immediately, but feels guilty as she can see Arcrayne is being manipulative and teasing and also she feels bad for giving up on Lyle so soon. As for Arcrayne, he’s not intending this to be anything but “she is useful”, but rapidly realizes she really is a terrific fiancee for him. There’s even a realistic depiction of both “we are pretending I just had my first time” and, later on, “we have to pretend I didn’t just have my first time”, which is sweet.

The antagonist of the book is dealt with here, but there’s clearly more antagonists waiting for future volumes, including Arcrayne’s ex-fiancee, as well as the Queen, who I have a sneaking suspicion has a past with Estelle’s family. In any case, if you want a straightforward romance plot with heroines and villainesses who stay in their lane, this is very good.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 2

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

This series continues to interest me far more than I expected, possibly as, while it is doing a lot of the usual fantasy tropeland stuff (mana, guilds, etc.) it at least manages to avoid game stats and power levels. Our heroine and her too-young-to-be-a-boyfriend are both quite powerful, but in his case, this has mostly completely ruined his life, and in her case, she’s hiding most of her true strength to avoid attracting the wrong kind of attention. Honestly, in the first half of this book, everyone is sort of prickly, including the heroine. You’d expect this to be a warm, fuzzy series where the townspeople take in this plucky orphan and make sure she has everything she needs, but no, she’s still living in tents or watchtowers – albeit because she wants to, she can afford better – and they’re still content to use her skills on a regular basis. It’s slow life, but until the end of this volume it lacks the sweetness.

Sara is still selling meals at the adventurer’s guild and collecting healing herbs, all while trying to avoid the attention of Ted from the Apothecary Guild, who continues to dislike Allen and Sara intensely (though, as the book goes on, the reader sees he’s more a tsundere than anything else). Unfortunately, Nelly is *still* not back yet. What’s worse, she’ attracted the attention of a knight from the capital, who sees these two extremely powerful orphans sleeping outside the city and gets several ideas in his head. First he says they should come with him to the capital and be his maid and butler – rejected. Then he leans on the town to make things much harder for adventurers sleeping outside the city, in order to clear them off – and, it’s hinted, drive Sara and Allen to him. Fortunately, Nelly is finally able to return, and a whole lot of misunderstandings are cleared up.

I will admit the big flaw with this volume is that a lot of it depends on everyone being somewhat thick. Nelly and Sara’s descriptions of each other do not match the reality of who they really are, so no one recognizes they’re connected. Hell, they don’t even realize Sara is a girl till the other women of the town (who do know right away, of course) tell them outright. No one connects a missing 12-year-old kid desperately being searched for to the powerful 12-year-old kid who showed up in town at exactly the same time. You start to understand why Sara’s general reaction to most of the adults around her is disappointment and irritation. That said, the friendship between her and Allen is a definite highlight of the book, and I do wonder how things will go for them in the third book, especially now that Sara has revealed to all she’s from another world. I suspect she won’t be allowed to live a quiet life in the woods with her wolves for long.

This isn’t terrific, but definitely falls under “better than I expected”, and I’d like to read more. I miss the first book’s running gag, though, and hope it returns.

My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex: “Time to Get Serious”

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By Kyosuke Kamishiro and TakayaKi. Released in Japan as “Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gierrlon Dunn.

The subtitle of this volume serves as an accurate description of what’s inside. Of course, that’s not to say there still isn’t a great deal of broad humor in the book. I mean, Isana exists, for one. There’s also Yume deciding that the best way to seduce Mizuto is by wearing a miniskirt and cat ears, and (ça va sans dire) endless discussions of breasts, with much groping of the larger girls happening from the other girls. (Isana even notes this is the sort of thing she though only happened in light novels, implying that she’s read her own series.) That said, this is about a trip that all the main and supporting cast take, and the girls decide to use it to confess, seduce, or otherwise make things clearer to the object of their affection. Does it work out? Well, sort of. Some of the pairings are actually becoming pairings. It won’t surprise you,l though, that the main pairing remains up in the air.

The student council are planning a getaway trip to a hot springs town (given that their president’s family is loaded, this isn’t as hard as it sounds), and Yume is asked to fill out the numbers a bit, so Mizuto, Isana, Minami and Kawanami end up coming along as well. Aiba has decided that this is the trip where she stops being the teasing flirt and seriously confesses to her senpai, and so the other girls also decide to make an effort. Well, apart from Isana, who is supposedly here for art study. Kurenai ramps up her attempted seductions of Joji, wanting to lose her virginity without really thinking trough what that actually means. Minami has finally accepted the fact that she’s still in love with Kawanami, and her own attempt to be serious baffles and annoys him. As for Mizuto and Yume… LEWD HAND HOLDING.

The main couple are still hamstrung by Mizuto’s own reluctance and Isana’s presence in their life (going poly would solve most of these problems, but I can’t see the author or publisher OKing that), so it’s the other couples that carry the book. This is easily the best volume for Minami, who, once she decides to stop being an annoying bitch around her ex all the time and genuinely try to help him, turns out to be pretty awesome. Both Kawanami and Hoshibe (the senpai) are dealing with past traumas that have left them either unable to move forward or literally ill, and this book is about getting past that with the help of others. It’s also about being yourself, to a degree – Kurenai fails here because she was just trying far too hard. She’d be much better off trying to raise Joji’s bottomless well of self-hatred first. Basically, at the end of this book we have one definite couple, two “give it a book or two” couples, and Mizuto, Yume and Isana. Who remain in stasis.

The 9th book may change that, as we are reminded that where there are stepparents there are also parents, and one of them is still alive. Till then, this is a good volume in a romcom that’s enjoyable provided you can wade past the wall of breast jokes.

Manga the Week of 10/25/23

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SEAN: We’re close to Halloween, so I’ve declared manga to be candy.

ASH: Oh! Maybe I should try giving out manga this year… but that could be dangerous.

SEAN: Yen divided its October pretty evenly this time around, so there’s a lot this week as well. This includes three light novel debuts. From Yen On we see Days with My Stepsister (Gimai Seikatsu), another light novel series from the creator of My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! and Looks Are All You Need. As you can imagine, this is a “I’m now living with the hottest girl in school” title, but apparently trauma from their parents’ respective divorces and remarriages has them both being very distant with each other.

Only I Know the Ghoul Saved the World (Ghoul ga Sekai o Sukutta Koto o Watashi Dake ga Shitteiru) is also by a known quantity, the creator of The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody. The world’s most famous ghoul hunter… is also a ghoul, so everyone hates him. But one girl sees past the ghoul in him and wants to be his disciple.

And from the JNC imprint comes a print release for Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire, released digitally by J-Novel Club.

Other light novels from Yen On: Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 7, Date A Live 10, The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey 2, The Holy Grail of Eris 4, I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 6, and Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- 23.

Some Yen Press debuts as well. 7FATES: CHAKHO is listed as ‘comic’ rather than manga, so I assume it’s a Korean webtoon. An amnesiac young man wakes to find he’s suddenly the center of a bunch of murders, a bunch of monsters, and 7 people with the same fate.

ASH: I had to look this one up and, indeed, it is a Korean webtoon. With a BTS connection, too.

SEAN: Cheerful Amnesia (Bright and Cheery Amnesia) is a yuri series from Comic Cune. When her girlfriend loses all her memories of the last three years – including their relationship – Mari assumes they’re through. Little does she know that now Arisa can fall in love with her all over again!

ASH: That does sound cheerful.

SEAN: Honey Trap Shared House is… oh God… from Dragon Age, so we know what we’re getting. A spy starts a shared house to seduce enemy agents. Little does he know his first target is his former childhood friend!

ASH: Uh-oh!

SEAN: Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord (Maitsuki Niwa Tsuki Ooya Tsuki) is from Comic Newtype, and is also a yuri manga. A manga editor, trying to get over her ex-girlfriend, finds the perfect new place to live! One problem… she’ll need to live with the landlord.

ASH: I still love that were getting more yuri featuring adults these days.

SEAN: Overgeared is also a Korean webtoon series. Um… VR game… legendary class… strongest skill… yeah, OK, anyway, there’s this.

Also from Yen Press: The Boxer 4, The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess 8, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious 6, Higurashi When They Cry: GOU 2, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? II 4, Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! 16, My Gently Raised Beast 4, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 7, Plunderer 11 (the final volume), and Uncle from Another World 8.

Viz Media debuts another Junji Ito collection, Mimi’s Tales of Terror (Mimi no Kaidan). This collection of urban legends ran in Comic Flapper.

ANNA: Good for spooky season!

ASH: It is!

SEAN: They’ve also got My Hero Academia: The Official Easy Illustration Guide, a guide to drawing your favorite characters.

And we also get The Promised Neverland Complete Box Set. If you want a great example of how an incredible shonen manga can leap off a cliff in its last few volumes, definitely check this out.

ANNA: Oh, I’m glad I only read the first couple volumes and never tried to get caught up then!

ASH: There was a lot to like in those early volumes.

MICHELLE: I never managed to finish this. I didn’t know it was as bad as leaping off a cliff!

SEAN: Two debuts from Tokyopop. Sating the Wolf (Boku de Mitashite) manages to combine BL, alpha/omega stuff, and beast men in one package. It ran in from RED, and is complete in one volume.

UNDEAD: Finding Love in the Zombie Apocalypse is also BL, and comes from the magazine Cab. Two childhood friends try to find love in a deadly post-apocalyptic world.

From Square Enix we get Otherside Picnic 7 and Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition 12.

No debuts from Seven Seas, but we do see Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest 11, I’m in Love with the Villainess 5, Kemono Jihen 8, My Lovey-Dovey Wife is a Stone Cold Killer 5, Skeleton Knight in Another World 11, Skip and Loafer 8, and Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii 5.

ASH: Still behind with Skip and Loafer; I need to change that!

SEAN: Kodansha’s print debut is one they’ve been putting out digitally again, as we see print for Nina the Starry Bride.

ANNA: This is one of the few series that I read digitally, and I’m happy it is also coming out in print. Great if you are longing for some fantasy shoujo.

ASH: Oh! I may need to check it out then.

SEAN: Also in print: Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 7, L♥DK 21-22, Rent-A-Girlfriend 21, Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen 2, Something’s Wrong With Us 17, Tsugumi Project 3, and Twilight Out of Focus 3.

The digital debut is Ogami-san Can’t Keep It In (Ogami-san, Dadamore desu), an Afternoon series about a young girl who has perverse fantasies that she tries to keep to herself… till she meets the man of her dreams!

Also digital: As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 7, Blade Girl 3 (the final volume), Boss Bride Days 10, Drops of God: Mariage 2, Fungus and Iron 4, Gamaran: Shura 13, My Home Hero 9, and The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World 7.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but plenty of stuff. The 13th Black Summoner manga volume, Demon Lord, Retry! R 7, The Game Master Has Logged In to Another World 4, Gushing over Magical Girls 8, In Another World With My Smartphone 28, The Invincible Little Lady 4, La Ragazza: Living with Francesca 2, Monster and Parent 2, My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer 10, Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up 3, Seventh 5, and Stuck in a Time Loop: When All Else Fails, Be a Villainess 2.

Ghost Ship gives us a 15th volume of Parallel Paradise.

Airship has one print release, the 13th and final volume of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest.

And in early digital we get Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 25 and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 5.

Did you get huge candy bar manga? Or did you get circus peanuts?

If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love ~ She Was All But Disowned for Her Spirit Contract, But She’s Still Competing with Her Rival ~, Vol. 1

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By Harunadon and Yomi Sarachi. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara: Nanashi no Seirei to Keiyaku Shite Oidasareta Reijō wa, Kyō mo Reisoku to Kisoiatte Iru Yō Desu” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Judy Jordan.

I didn’t really have too many hopes for this one. The villainess market is, frankly, glutted, and the description of this series combined the villainess tropes with a magical academy *and* “I have this weak power that everyone hates me for, but it’s really the strongest”, as seen in endless isekais. On the bright side, this is NOT an isekai – our villainess is home grown. So yeah, book full of cliches. And I can’t deny that they’re there. But this is also a book that took me by surprise a number of times, and it did that by taking a big swing towards being dark. Brigitte’s life until the start of the book has been a tale of hideous abuse, the “heroine” in this story is not only arrogant but also sociopathic, and we may have a winner for the worst fiance in a villainess book – despite the fact that he barely appears.

We begin as so many of these books tend to begin: with Brigitte, the “villainess”, having her engagement broken and getting publicly humiliated by her fiance, who claims she was bullying the girl he is with now, Lisa. Brigitte’s world collapses around her, frankly. We learn that she was judged to have very little spirit power as a child, despite coming from a famous family of fire spirit users. Her father reacted to this news in a sensible, staid manner: he took his 5-year-old child’s hand and stuck it in the fire till it burned horribly. Needing to wear gloves all the time, she’s a shy, reserved child… till she meets the third prince, Joseph. Joseph tells her to her face that he likes stupid girls, and that she should dress in pink, gaudy clothes, wear thick makeup, and act arrogant. So, desperate for anyone to like her, she does. And then we get to page 1.

I apologize for summarizing the book using only the first 10 pages or so, but the first 10 pages are dynamite. My jaw dropped. After that, things turn a bit more typical, as she meets Yuri, a cool young man who has contracts with two major spirits, but gives everyone the cold shoulder. But honestly, the main reason to read this is the aura of toxic misogyny that permeates it. Not from the author, I hasten to add – this was deliberately baked into the world itself. More to the point, it’s coming from Joseph. He’s very unusual for a “fiance who breaks things off” character, remaining cool and collected even when attempting to do to Yuri what he did to Brigitte. But there’s an air of petty sadism around everything he does – he’s done it with Brigitte her whole life, and now that she’s gone he starts to do it to Lisa, who responds by… well, the other time in the book where I screamed “Holy shit!” was her response.

Given the cliffhanger to the book shows Joseph asking Brigitte to get engaged to him again, I think we’ll see more development of this in the second book. Till then, apologies to Yuri, and maybe next time I can get into the adorable romance that he and Brigitte develop.

Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 11

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By Hitoma Iruma and raemz. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Lee.

It may not feel like one, but the Adachi and Shimamura series comes out as a Dengeki Bunko title. One of the heavy hitters of the light novel world, skilled at many things, including, of course, cross-promotion with other series. And if you add to that Hitoma Iruma, who loves throwing in “if you get this, great, if you don’t, it doesn’t matter” references to their other series, you can sometimes get a crossover cameo pileup. And since we’re also dealing with a series that has not been (and probably is unlikely to be) licensed over here, I will let you know (and thanks to translator Molly Lee for confirming) that the kimono girl and the senpai who take up about half the narrative in this book are from the 3-volume light novel series “Watashi no Hatsukoi Aite ga Kiss Shiteta”, also a Dengeki Bunko title. Oh, and another Yashiro shows up. Not our Yashiro, and not the Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl Yashiro, but the third one that we met earlier in this series. I need diagrams.

This is one of those volumes that really should be called Shimamura and Adachi – all the POV for the “main story” is hers this time around. It’s more a series of short stories than a novel (not the first time we’ve seen this), as we get to see Shimamura at 8 years old (hyperactive, full of life, hanging at the pool with her bestie Taru-chan), Shimamura at 15 years old (sullen, teenage drama, getting close to the Shimamura we meet at the start of the series), Shimamura at 18 years old (the present-day Shimamura, having a study date with Adachi that turns into a discussion about whether the attraction between the two of them is sexual or just romantic), and Shimamura at 22 years old (going on a vacation with Adachi, full of life and love, comfortable with herself and her girlfriend). There’s also brief chapters with Yashiro and Shimamura’s mother, Hino and Nagafuji, and Shimamura’s sister meeting another Yashiro.

Given that most of my experience with this series has been dragging Shimamura constantly in these reviews, it’s really amazing to see how far she’s come. The Shimamura at 18 and 22 is a Shimamura who has finally found the thing that she needed to shake her out of her torpor: being in love with Adachi. She’s still trying to figure out what this love is. Her discussion with Adachi about sex is, for this series, very frank (for any other series, not so much), and while it’s funny to see Adachi completely lose it multiple times over the course of a single minute, I also appreciated the conclusion they came to: Adachi wants to do sexual things but refuses to unless Shimamura does as well, and Shimamura has never thought about this at ALL, so is not ready. And that’s fine. Instead, we get the power of Adachi as a transformative force, transforming Shimamura into someone with real human emotions, joy, and energy. Go back to, say, the fifth book and read Shimamura, then re-read this one. Night and day.

12 is still the final volume, but before that Dengeki Bunko is releasing a short story volume (how is that different from most of the last few?), and “Vol. 99.9”, which is a collection of the bonus stories that came with the Blu-Ray release of the anime. That said, both of those will be a few more months till they get here, I imagine. Till then, enjoy Shimamura’s happiness, and Adachi’s Adachiness.

Bookshelf Briefs 10/17/23

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Blue Box, Vol. 6 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – A lot of things are finally done in this book. We get Hina’s confession, and Taiki’s subsequent rejection, as well as the two of them trying to go back to the friendship they had before. We get Chinatsu hearing about this, which neither of them know about, and now she’s awkward around both of them. And, most importantly, we get Chinatsu’s growing feelings for Taiki. So far the romance in this sports romance manga has been more one-sided than anything else, but it’s now swinging the other way, and we even get the standard “a storm has trapped us in an inn for the evening in the same bedroom” plot. As for the sports part, well, Chinatsu’s team lost, but there’s still one more semester to go. Good solid Jump manga. – Sean Gaffney

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 11 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – This took almost a year and a half to come out, but it serves up the finale pretty well. Takahashi and Sato got together last time, so there’s not really much else about them except “boy, they’re sweet.” Instead we go back to this series’ bread and butter, how people feel about demis. The decision to do a podcast, which will allow semi-anonymity but also let the girls talk about their demi status and also how they’re also dealing with the same issues regular humans do is inspired, and it makes sense that the one to take the reins as the main driver behind this is Hikari, our first “heroine.” I also appreciate how they rope in the rest of the cast, even the zashiki-warashi, who is briefly visible. Honestly, if you’re going to read a cute manga about monster girls, this should be the one to read. – Sean Gaffney

Like a Butterfly, Vol. 2 | By suu Morishita | Viz Media – I have to say, the art in this is really fantastic. Shoujo titles tend to come in two varieties, “cluttered and messy” and “expansive and lots of white space,” and this is the latter, where a conversation (or, given this series and who stars in it, a failed conversation) can take up an entire chapter. I’m not all that fond of one of the main conceits of the series, which is that Suiren is so gorgeous that she cannot go anywhere by herself for ten feet without being accosted by guys, but then, I’m a guy, so I can’t really speak to that. But yeah, this has the same strengths as the first book: really shy beautiful girl tries to tell really shy handsome guy that she likes him. It’s a lot of fun to read. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 35 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – This volume starts the final arc that is still ongoing right now, and so can feel a bit like setup. That said, my shipper heart will forever love this one, which has a ton of IzuOcha in it, from their bonding over sympathizing with villains towards the start to Toga basically outing Uraraka’s love after Izuku ends up grabbed and taken to the wrong place, throwing off all the heroes’ plans. The rest of what follows is “there will be fighting,” though it was nice to see Aoyama playing his part (and, notably, Aizawa didn’t say he WOULDN’T be expelled but also insisted he’s still one of his students, which is a very Aizawa thing to say). And, as always with long-running Jump series, this reads better in volume format. – Sean Gaffney

My Picture Diary | By Fujiwara Maki | Drawn & Quarterly – Although eventually formally published, My Picture Diary is an autobiographical work by Fujiwara Maki, wife of the renowned mangaka Tsuge Yoshiharu, which was originally intended to serve as a personal family record for their son Shōsuke. Nearly every day from January through April of 1981, and then sporadically throughout the remaining part of the year, Fujiwara drew an illustration to accompany a brief note about her daily life. Addressing the same time period as Tsuge’s manga The Man Without Talent, My Picture Diary provides more context and insight into Tsuge’s work but also shows Fujiwara as an artist in her own right. Before marrying Tsuge, Fujiwara was involved in avant-garde theater, only later turning to writing and illustration as creative outlets. With Fujiwara’s charming illuatrations and honest portrayals of the ups and downs of family life, it’s easy to see why My Picture Diary continues to remain in print in Japan. – Ash Brown

Nejishiki | By Tsuge Yoshiharu | Drawn & Quarterly – When Drawn & Quarterly first announced its series of Tsuge Yoshiharu’s mature works, immediately knowledgeable fans of alternative manga started talking about “Nejishiki,” arguably one of Tsuge’s most important contributions to avant-garde comics. It is now finally readily available in English, lending its name to the third volume of the series. Nejishiki collects seven of Tsuge’s short works, including “Nejishiki,” originally published between 1968 and 1972, most but not all in the influential alternative manga magazine Garo. Also included is an extensive essay by the series’ translator and comics historian Ryan Holmberg which places Tsuge and these particular selections into greater context. (I greatly appreciate this aspect of the series.) The stories in Nejishiki are surreal, disconcerting, and provocative, many utilizing dark, and often sordid, eroticism to convey the psychological underpinnings of their characters and narratives. Certainly not always the most comforting to read, Nejishiki is without a doubt a volume with impact. – Ash Brown

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 12 | By Maybe | Yen Press – I stopped briefing this for a while, but am still reading it, despite the various issues it has. (It’s also getting an anime soon.) This final arc has basically been “the past hero was exactly like you and also had a bunch of girls who liked him, but they weren’t as strong, so everyone died, and as a result I won’t let you have your happy poly relationship,” which our hero and heroines beat back with the power of pure shonen manga. Honestly, this whole series sometimes feels like a textbook example of “shonen by numbers”—lots of cute, voluptuous girls not quite having sex with our hero (though we have at least gotten to the sex with the main girl) and lots of fantasy battles. This ends soon, I believe. Keep reading if you are already. – Sean Gaffney

The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles, Vol. 5

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By Tatematsuri and Ruria Miyuki. Released in Japan as “Shinwa Densetsu no Eiyū Isekai Tan” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by James Whittaker.

As I’ve mentioned before, I keep vacillating back and forth on whether I like this series or not. The books themselves don’t help, being variously filled with things that I really want to see more of and things that make my teeth grind. The author himself notes that this book is a bit of a throwback to the first in the series, which is good as it allows the books to pick up various threads that they’d put aside in order to have a throne war (the Fallen and why and how they get that way), but is also bad because it means we still have to cling to some “who is this written for?” light novel conventions (our hero plans things out so that the women can save the day, but they fail and he has to step in himself). That said, I’m still going to be reading the next one, as I want to see if a) Hiro will go full villain, and b) if Aura will worship or execute him.

Everyone’s heading back to the Emperor, and it’s probably bad news. Liz and Aura had some very public defeats, and they’re going to have to accept some punishment for them. That said, Liz is also determined to make sure that Scáthach and her family are compensated… well, as much as they can be given it’s Scáthach and a collection of heads. Unfortunately, everyone (including Hiro) is thrown off their game by the first prince, Stovell, renouncing his claim to the throne… which, of course, is actually a prelude to an attempt to overthrow the Emperor. He’s got 30,000 men. Hiro, Liz, Aura and Scáthach have about 3000. Those are not good odds, even with Liz being who she is, and with the helpful addition of Scáthach’s Gae Bolg. Hiro might actually need to try this time around…

Hiro remains the most interesting part of the book. As I said earlier, I’m not quite sure where we’re going with him. Certainly Hiro is absolutely not doing any of your shipping nonsense, as he plans on simply fading away once Liz is on the throne and has trustworthy allies. There’s also the fact that he’s not quite human, and also his battle bloodthirst is inevitably going to take him over at some point. This is wonderfully hypocritical given he yells at an enemy general for doing much the same thing here, but Hiro is our… well, hero, yes, thanks, I got that pun. He’s going to need the entire female cast giving him a cooldown hug at this rate. And then there’s Aura’s obsession with her Bible of past glories, which is amusing given that she’s the one who notices most when Hiro is doing his suicidal battle lord stuff. She’s still probably my favorite.

If you like edgelord military throne war stuff, this is a must. If you don’t, like me, you’ll probably consider dropping it but get the next one anyway.

The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl, Vol 1

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The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl, Volume 1 by Miyuki Tonogaya

I was curious about this manga, because I’ve heard good things about the anime, which I have not watched yet. The premise of a man descended from snow spirits and his evolving relationship with his work colleague sounded amusing. This series started off being serialized online, and that definitely shows in the episodic nature of the early chapters and the same humorous situation being repeated multiple times. Fortunately, I enjoy scenes of people being overcome with emotions over and over again. I think pacing out reading the first volume over a period of a few days would make for a less repetitive reading experience, and it certainly was pleasant to dip in and out of this manga.

Ice Guy and the Cool Girl

Himuro is the decedent of a snow spirit, and his heritage causes him to have incidents where he inadvertently chills or freezes things in his environment. Fuyutsuki is pretty self-contained, but she does notice Himuro’s challenges and tries to come up with ways to make his life easier. She brings in straw that he can use to insulate the flowers he likes so they won’t freeze over, and brings him cat whiskers as a good luck charm when she realizes that he can’t pet a real cat. Fuyutsuki’s deadpan expression and lack of awareness about her emerging crush provide a contrast to Himuro’s over the top realizations of his feelings for her, which usually involve being overcome with emotion and causing a blizzard in his immediate vicinity. Tonogaya’s art is expressive and the contrast between Himuro’s over the top reactions and Fuyutsuki’s self-contained demeanor is funny. I really liked the bonus story at the end, because it gave a bit more insight into Fuyutsuki’s internal thoughts. Overall, this is a pleasant manga to keep on the reading pile, flipping through a few pages now and then for a bit of cute romantic comedy whenever it is needed.

The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 9

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By Natsu Hyuuga and Touko Shino. Released in Japan as “Kusuriya no Hitorigoto” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

I may not mention it often in these reviews, possibly as I’m distracted by all the crime solving, political dealings, and Maomao slowly learning that she can rely on others for things, but The Apothecary Diaries can also be a comedy, and it has some very, very good jokes. This is possibly the funniest volume of all, featuring a new character (we’d seen her a bit before, but she’s in full flower here) who is here solely to be hilarious, and it works. Honestly, some of the humor is fourth wall breaking to an extent, be it Chue pulling little flags of the nations out of her sleeves (I hope we see some doves or rabbits next book) or En’en pulling out fans with “:Go for it, Yao!” written on them to cheer her on when she’s trying to earnestly get her point across. Unfortunately for Yao and En’en, we may not see them for a volume or two, as The Apothecary Diaries is going on a world tour.

After the stunning events of the last volume, Maomao is now being forced to learn surgery on the fly in order to tend to Jinshi’s brand and make sure that it doesn’t get infected. This will require more knowledge than she has, so she’s forced to go to her adopted father, who presents her with an impossible problem to solve… well, it would be impossible for Maomao by herself, as she doesn’t care about things that don’t interest her, but with Yao and En’en also there, she’s able to discover it (and learn more about Luomen’s somewhat tragic past). Now she’s learning how to be a surgeon the hard way, especially since women aren’t allowed to be surgeons, but everyone is politely ignoring it given who her father is, who her adopted father is, and who her not-yet-lover is. All of this is to prepare for a sea voyage, as Jinshi is being sent to the West to see what’s going on with Gyokuyou’s older brother.

It has to be said, a lot of the appeal of this series is “weak-willed men are led around by the nose of strong women”, and if you like that, this is also the volume for you. Basen’s older brother Baryou is so ill and apathetic that Chue basically has to “do all the work” in order to get a child (and she’s being asked for a second one, so asks Maomao not to bother her at night). As for Jinshi, he and Maomao are sort of being cagey around each other after the last book, and it lasts until the end of this one, when Maomao finally snaps and tells Jinshi that if he’s going to be so manipulative that he brands himself to get her to stay with him, the least he can do is actually manipulate her properly, rather than being half-assed about it. Jinshi’s response to this is that he wants her to slap him, which is a bit too masochistic for my tastes, but certainly fits his character.

I didn’t even get to talk about Yao, who is fantastic in this book, though I fear she’s going to be a lot less happy because she lacks Maomao’s connections. In any case, this is a good read, especially if you’re waiting for the anime to debut later this week.

Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 10

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By Nozomu Mochitsuki and Gilse. Released in Japan as “Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Madeleine Willette.

This volume starts off with something we have rarely seen in this series: the actual beginning of a new story arc. For some reason or another, the author and publisher of this title are very bad at making climaxes in this series happen at the end of the volume itself, so we have the next book start with the climax instead or an epilogue chapter rather than the next arc. But here, at last, we start off with something new: Mia, Rafina, and company headed off to Equestria, there to meet up with the chiefs who make up that nomadic people. Or at least, they are until Mia and Rafina, our for a ride, are beset by bandits. The head of the bandits turns out to be the daughter of one of the tribe leader, and there’s a good reason that her people are reduced to this: a poor harvest means they’re hard up for food. Something that Mia understands all too well…

I’ve been complaining about the narrator for a while now, so it’s time I turned around and mentioned the points where I do appreciate it. The manga doesn’t really use a narrator, making Mia far more sympathetic, but the new anime adaptation (which so far is excellent) is definitely playing it up. It was a highlight of the early books, but grew a bit wearying as we began to see Mia genuinely growing as a person. Where it works best in this book is when it’s looking at everyone else’s thoughts – seeing Ludwig or Rafina staring at Mia talking about what is inevitably food, and thinking that this is the point when they realize that she’s not a great sage but a massive faker… and then they leap to a different conclusion to support their own love for Mia, and the narrator is disappointed once more. This is funny as hell.

Bel, as always, gets little to to in this volume, but for a change what she does get is fantastic. We haven’t paid quite as much attention to her past… which is to say, the Bad Future #3… in a while, but that does not mean that she isn’t constantly dwelling on it, especially given that her entire existence is something of a secret. But now she’s best friends with Citrina, and may finally be able to reach out and make promises without getting her hopes dashed by everyone promising to come back and then dying on her. (There is some mild subtext between her and Citrina, which I’m content to ignore, partly as they’re both 10 and partly as I’m sure it’s unintentional, but…) She also says she’s going to tell Citrina about her secrets when they get back to the Empire, which should be very interesting if it happens, and might be the start of a new arc.

But first we have to end this arc, which of course does not neatly wrap up here. Is Abel’s sister irredeemably evil? Can Mia possibly win a horse race riding a horse the narrator repeatedly compares to Mia herself? And did we just see the start of a Rafina x Malong ship? The next book is… for once, not that far away! Also, go watch the anime.

Surviving in Another World As a Villainess Fox Girl!, Vol. 2

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By Riia Ai and Mucha. Released in Japan as “Scenario Nante Iranai! Rival Chara no Kitsunekko” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Miki “Zombie” Zuckerman.

I will admit, my memory is not that great. I’m fine when a book comes out so frequently that I can retain everything easily, like Bookworm. But when a series catches up, it can be a struggle for me to recall what was happening before, or who the minor characters are. And this goes double for when it’s been a year since the first volume, as I’ve forgotten almost ALL the main characters. All I recalled from the last book was the basic plot, and the two “reincarnated from Japan” characters. I also recalled they mentioned that the “heroine” would be appearing soon, something that filled them with dread. Well, she’s here, and her annoying, obviously evil behavior was making me twitch, and reminding me that the writing and characterization in the first book were not the best. But we then got to the twist, and I also remembered that yeah, the author’s ideas are what’s worth remembering. They work well.

Miku is settling in at the guild, and going on fun errands with Macro, who talks bluntly but she can see the good in him. Unfortunately, she’s almost immediately kidnapped and taken off in a cart. There she meets Laura, a Sound Butterfly girl who can combine her powers with Miku’s to help them escape the gang’s clutches! Back at the guild, it’s revealed to Miku that Laura is the heroine of the game that Claire has always said this is, and that means that Miku is that much closer to dying… especially since Miku has finally realized that she’s fallen in love with Macro! And Laura suddenly declares that she too is in love with Macro (after, oddly, declaring that she’s in love with Ektor and then backtracking on it), and is so sad that she’s going to have to win his heart and have Miku tragically lose! Is Laura really as evil as she seems?

No, thankfully, though it took me a while to cotton on. I’ve seen this sort of heroine before, in I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, and I assumed Laura was similar to Lilia, in that she can’t see the events as anything but achievements in a game. And to be fair, Laura is doing her level best to be as evil-sounding as possible, just to turn everyone against her. Laura’s true identity works much better, and also allows Miku to be able to change her fate and survive. That said, this book still has a Miku-shaped hole in the middle of it. She’s very nice, and I admired her resolve towards the end, but she’s just not as affecting to m as she should be. The same applies to Claire and Ektor, whose not-romance is thuddingly predictable in the best “Th-there’s no way I’m interested in this jerk!” way.

This is the final volume, so I will not have to stretch my memory come next October. I do recommend reading the series for its interesting take on “villainess” books and point of view, but it feels like a series by someone whose writing still has room to improve.

The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor, Vol. 3

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By Sasara Nagase and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoshi Reijō wa Ryūtei Heika o Kōryaku-chū” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

When I was younger and more emo, I would sometimes write things that I knew people would hate just because I wanted to amuse myself watching their reaction. Not my finest moment, let me tell you. Sarasa Nagase is not quite that bad, but there’s a sense when reading this series that she knows that no one wants to deal with the fact that Jill is 11 years old (10 in the first two volumes). the characters in the book are disgusted by it. Judging by the afterword, the readers are not very happy with it either. So of course, it is ground in our faces throughout this book how these two are over the moon for each other but Jill is so, so underage. It’s a shame, because otherwise this would be a terrific LN series to recommend, especially if you like kickass women, because Jill does kick ass. But any time you have to say “she’s not 11 technically”, that’s not great, Ryan.

Having won over two of his family, Hadis is still dealing with the fallout of everything else that happened in the second book. Everyone just seems to default hate him, and he can’t introduce Jill as the Dragon Consort because it will come out that she’s from Kratos and cause even more uproar. Into this mess wander more family members: Natalie, the second princess, who has low self-esteem but is otherwise the most normal and put-together of the royals; Frida, the young third princess, who is shy but also very good at magic; and, most importantly, Vissel, Hadis’ older brother, and one of the few people that he trusts. Which makes it a shame that, as Jill knows from her prior life, Vissel will be the big betrayal that leads to Hadis finally snapping. How’s Jill going to solve THIS mess?

To be honest, mostly by hitting things. The villainess books as a genre run the spectrum of different types of heroines, some of them crafty and long-term planner sorts, some of them massive improvisers, and some who rely on their large pool of allies. And then there’s Jill, who has never mean a problem she cannot beat the shit out of. She is definitely on the “dumb muscle” side of the equation, which is sometimes a problem, but honestly, “straightforward talk and occasional violence” genuinely seems to be the way to go in this case. She also claims that she’s absolutely terrible at romantic things, and so is Hadis, but the two of them make up for any conscious effort by pure subconscious effort – they don’t so much flirt as scream their passion at each other at massive volume. Which is adorable, of course, but… again, Jill is 11.

There’s several more books in the series out in Japan, but after three in a row over the last six months, which is highly unusual for Cross Infinite World, it appears we’re taking a break before the next one. If you can get over its biggest hurdle – and I don’t blame you if you can’t – this is worth reading purely for Jill’s force of personality.

Manga the Week of 10/18/23

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SEAN: At last, it’s finally getting chilly in the mornings again.

ASH: Finally!

SEAN: We start with Airship, which has 3 print titles: Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 8, Monster Girl Doctor 10 (the final volume), and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 24.

There’s also an early digital release for A Tale of the Secret Saint 4.

Dark Horse has the 10th volume of Blade of the Immortal: Deluxe Edition. It’s the final volume.

ASH: I’ve been gladly double-dipping to upgrade to the deluxe version. (My wallet will appreciate the break, though!)

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? 6 and Wicked Trapper: Hunter of Heroes 3. And in Ghost Ship-adjacent mature titles, we also see Love is an Illusion! 4 and Succubus and Hitman 5.

One debut from J-Novel Club, in their Heart line. Fiancée No More: The Forsaken Lady, the Prince, and Their Make-Believe Love (Konyaku Haki no Sono Saki ni: Suterare Reijō, Ōji-sama ni Dekiai (Engi) Sareru) It’s another Cinderella story, with the heroine’s ability to read people’s emotions causing her issues, especially since the Prince is trying to pretend he’s madly in love with her.

ASH: Uh oh. Awkward!

SEAN: Also out: the 9th Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill manga volume, The Coppersmith’s Bride 3, Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade 6, Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke 4, I Surrendered My Sword for a New Life as a Mage 4, Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 6, Only I Know That This World Is a Game 2, the 3rd Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want manga volume, VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream 6, and When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace 8.

ANNA: I imagined that this block of text was one manga with a really, really, long title.

ASH: All in good time.

SEAN: Kodansha Books has the 4th volume of The Dawn of the Witch.

Kodansha Manga has a print debut for a book they’ve been releasing digitally: Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister (Amagami-san Chi no Enmusubi), a Weekly Shonen Magazine romcom, features a guy trying to get into medical school who’s offered a place to stay at a shrine… provided he marry one of the three hot shrine maidens who live there.

Also in print: Blue Lock 9, Parasyte Full Color Collection 4, and The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus 12.

ANNA: Going to remember to pick up Blue Lock for the fans in my house.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is Searching for My Perfect Brother (Watashi no Tadashii Onii-chan), a josei title from Be Love. A college student who was separated from her brother by divorce has been searching for him… he used to help her sleep, and she’s been suffering from insomnia. She gets closer to a co-worker at her part-time job, who reminds her of her brother… but he has a very big secret.

MICHELLE: Hm.

ANNA: Yeah, I dunno, but I also am always curious about new josei.

ASH: Likewise.

SEAN: We also see Boss Wife 7, Gamaran 14, Issak 3, and Mr. Bride 9.

There’s a new manga from One Peace Books. It Takes Two Tomorrow, Too (Futari Ashitamo Sorenarini) is a seinen title from Kurage Bunch. It’s one of those ‘watch the sweet couple’ titles, as we see them having lived together for two months.

ASH: I’ll be giving this one a closer look soon.

SEAN: Two debuts from Seven Seas. Dungeon Friends Forever (Dungeon no Osananajimi) is a Romcom from my nemesis’ spinoff, Comic Alive+. As you can likely tell, it combines a dungeon crawl and the childhood friend romance genre.

A Stepmother’s ‏Märchen, aka The Fantasie of a Stepmother, is another Tapas webtoon put out in full color. A beleaguered mother, whose stepchildren grew distant and cold with her after their father died, finds herself back in time to the day her husband was buried. Can she try to mend the relationship with her stepchildren?

Also from Seven Seas: Dragon Goes House-Hunting 9, Gap Papa: Daddy at Work and at Home 3, Hunting in Another World With My Elf Wife 4, I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl 4, Kageki Shojo!! 10, My Deer Friend Nokotan 4, Reincarnated as a Sword 11, Servamp 19, and Versailles of the Dead 5 (the final volume).

ASH: Oh! I should catch up with Versailles of the Dead.

SEAN: No debuts for Viz, but we do see Asadora! 7, Boy’s Abyss 3, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 9, Golden Kamuy 30, Love’s in Sight! 4, Mission: Yozakura Family 7, Record of Ragnarok 8, Spy x Family 10, Twin Star Exorcists 29, and Undead Unluck 13.

Yen On has two debuts. If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love (Akuyaku Reijō to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara: Nanashi no Seirei to Keiyaku Shite Oidasareta Reijō wa, Kyō mo Reisoku to Kisoiatte Iru Yō Desu) combines so many current trends. Weak-to-strong, magic academy, villainess, broken engagements, etc.

The other one, The Lawyer in Shizukuishi Sleeps with a Wolf (Shizuku-ishi-chou no Horitsuka wa Ookami to Nemuru) looks like it’s BL but isn’t. It’s about two brothers, one of whom turns into a wolf for mysterious reasons, and their struggles with justice (the brother who does not turn into a wolf is a cop). I’ve heard this is pretty good. I think it’s a one shot.

ANNA: OK, I’m a little curious about this.

ASH: I could be pretty easily convinced to give it a try.

SEAN: We also get Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian 4, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! 9, My Happy Marriage 5, and Sasaki and Peeps 5.

The big debut for Yen Press is Bocchi the Rock!, a 4-koma that spawned a cult hit anime in fall of last year! Hitori wants to be a popular rock guitarist. She’s got the skills, but she also has terrible social anxiety, and that’s where the comedy comes in. It runs in Manga Time Kirara Max.

ASH: I shouldn’t be surprised, but I somehow missed that it started as a 4-koma.

SEAN: Yen Press is also releasing a new, fancy, awesome edition, CLAMP Premium Collection Tokyo Babylon. That said, I’m not reading this again. It ran in Wings, meaning I can resurrect my ancient joke of calling its genre “whatever Wings is”.

MICHELLE: I do love it, and am happy new readers might discover it, but I already own it twice over.

ANNA: Every time a new edition of a CLAMP title comes out, an angel with black wings sheds a tear for X/1999 being unfinished.

ASH: Alas, it’s true.

SEAN: Minato’s Laundromat (Minato Shouji Coin Laundry) is a BL title from Gene Pixiv. A man who runs a laundromat finds that one of the high school kids who frequents the place is gay.

Sasaki and Miyano Official Comic Anthology is what it sounds like.

Also from Yen Press: Angels of Death Episode.0 6, Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World! 7, The Case Study of Vanitas 10, Cheeky Brat 8, Coffee Moon 4, Dead Mount Death Play 10, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 11 (the final volume), From the Red Fog 5 (also a final volume), Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana 5, Hi, I’m a Witch, and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion 3, In Another World with My Smartphone 10, Kowloon Generic Romance 5, Laid-Back Camp 14, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story 6, Mint Chocolate 9, Murciélago 22, She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat 3, So I’m a Spider, So What? The Daily Lives of the Kumoko Sisters 6 (also also a final volume), The Summer Hikaru Died 2, Triage X 26, and a 3rd artbook for Yana Toboso Artworks Black Butler.

MICHELLE: I still need to read Kowloon Generic Romance and The Summer Hikaru Died!

ASH: Same! And I’ve heard such good things about both of them.

SEAN: So much manga, I’m starting to feel like Bocchi. What manga makes you anxious?

Accidentally in Love: The Witch, the Knight, and the Love Potion Slipup, Vol. 2

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By Harunadon and Eda. Released in Japan as “Koisuru Majo wa Elite Kishi ni Horegusuri o Nomasete Shimaimashita: Itsuwari kara Hajimaru Watashi no Dekiai Seikatsu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Arthur Miura.

I have to give this book credit. I finished it and it kept me reasonably entertained, despite doing literally everything wrong that it could possibly do. First off, it was going to be hard to begin with. The first volume was very much finished. Done in one. So a second (and, it would seem, a third) seems like overkill. But, I get it, new novel imprint, please produce content. Secondly, the title, which is entirely about the events in the first book, makes about as much sense as The Ideal Sponger Life when it comes to future books, right? Wrong. What if we used ANOTHER love potion! And of yes, the forgotten, slightly evil childhood friend is here too. Plus, Charlotte is back. Remember the girl who says loins constantly? She’s still saying that, more than ever, and she’s also playing detective and being watched over by a guy who I know is being shipped with her but I’m ignoring that. Despite ALL this: not too bad.

Cecily and Zeke are now in love, and she’s met his family and gotten their approval to get married. Her mother also approves, though she seems to be constantly smirking about something. Now she just has to get her father’s approval, which is likely to be a problem, as he’s one of THOSE fathers. This also means that she has to go back to her witch village, which she supposedly can’t return to for another year. But her mom says it will be OK, so…? To add to all this, Charlotte decides she’s going to come with her, mostly as she feels lonely without Cecily. This means Alphonse, her guard, and Maria, her maid, also tag along. This trip has gotten much bigger. Still, they all arrives, and things seem to be going well… till her childhood friend Cain arrives. Turns out he’s also a witch… and he’s just dosed her with a love potion!

Despite all my whining above, most of this is handled pretty well. Except the loins thing. Still annoyed about that. But Cain is an antagonist without slipping over into pure evil, and his motivations are mostly “a childhood thing I dreamed of for ten years has been smashed to bits by reality”. The love potion may have Cecily says she loves Cain and want to spend all her time with him, but that’s ALL that it does, and when Cain, out of frustration, DOES try to kiss her, she’s able to resist it. As with the first book, true love wins out over dosed love. Cecily and Zeke are, frankly, a bit too wet and soppy for my taste, but that is the genre that I am reading, so I suppose I can forgive it. And while Charlotte may act more like a 7-year-old than a 14-year-old, her “detective” bits were pretty cute and funny.

There’s a third book on the way, which I assume will have the second wedding, back in the capital. I do wonder how they’ll work a love potion into it, though… In any case, this was decent, despite (waves hand aimlessly) everything about it.