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Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash, Vol. 3

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By Tofuro Futsukaichi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Gendai Shakai de Otome Game no Akuyaku Reijou wo Suru no wa Chotto Taihen” by Overlap Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Emma Schumacker. Adapted by Jack Hamm.

I want to be more mad at this series than I am. It’s ludicrously pro-capitalism and pro-cop. Our heroine builds gated communities for people in the previous book, then in this one seems to be absolutely shocked that racism exists in the United States. The bulk of the middle third of this volume involves her trying to prevent 9/11 from happening. She fails. But then you also see that 9/11 has been enhanced by a deadly nuclear train almost wiping out Denver, and you think to yourself, “Wasn’t that the movie Atomic Train?”, and you realize that the author really does not have a hidden message or meaning to this book at all. It’s not trying to use its heroine to show you that right-wing politics is good, actually. It’s an author playing with toys, and when there’s a section of the plot where, say, you can work in a Tom Clancy book’s plot, in it goes. It’s hard to get mad at a Tinkertoy novel.

Even the author admits that this volume’s “plot” is scattered. It’s basically events that happen before and after Runa’s 10th birthday. This includes the aforementioned 9/11, which happens DURING Runa’s birthday party. We get school adventures, like Runa doing sports and club activities, and also a mountain climb and a trip to Kyoto. We also get more of Runa being the hidden power behind most of Japan, and start to see the beginnings of a rift between her and Prime Minister Koizumi. But other people are finally beginning to realize that this little girl has her fingers in a LOT of pies, and they’re trying to stop her. Not necessarily for reasons of “I want to control what she has”, but also for upright reasons like “this 10-year-old girl is killing herself trying to do everything”. How much longer can Runa get away with this?

I was very amused at the new character in this book, a “high roller” type who, like most of the capable people in this world, ends up becoming one of Runa’s employees. Unlike the rest of her staff, who likely realize something is wrong but don’t say anything out of politeness, he straight up asks Runa how the hell she is doing this. Runa still has not quite admitted “I’ve been reincarnated into an otome game”, but there’s just no way to accept any of her decisions without thinking that she has supernatural powers. Hell, her friend Hotaru has them, why not Runa? As for Runa herself, I think the book’s weak point remains her “villainess” part of it. She seems torn to the point of tears about whether she can change her fate, but she’s not trying to make herself a better person, she’s just trying to make sure her financial empire is not ruined. She’s still sort of evil. Work on that.

I don’t really recommend this series to anyone but economics majors, but I still find it rather fascinating in a morbid way. The webnovel version of this has 11+ books of material, but the 4th volume is the latest published in Japan, so we’re mostly caught up.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 14

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

No series has quite managed to make me eat my words quite as much as Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, a group of books that is about an overpowered shut-in who wanders the land defeating powerful monsters and acquiring a string of little girls to follow her around and hero worship her. The start of the series balanced out the “cute girl doing OP things” vibe with some truly dark and weird plot points, with young girls being abducted, raped and killed, or Yuna having to repatriate a group of women whose families were murdered and who were *also* raped. To no one’s surprise, as this series got an anime, almost all of this was thrown out the window in favor of “let’s watch Yuna finance a bakery” and similar things. But it still occasionally dips its toe in darkness. Last time I was grumpy about Yuna’s pathological avoidance of praise being treated like a quirk of her personality rather than a genuine problem. In this new volume, it’s clear the author knows that, and is sending us to dark places again.

It doesn’t really seem that way at first. The majority of the book is Yuna coming back home after her trip to the land of giant scorpions. She presents a “Mission Accomplished” to the King, then relaxes in her bear house, only just remembering to tell Fina and the others that she’s back. She then prepares for the massive vacation to Mileela, which by the time it starts has about fifty people going (mostly the orphanage who are Yuna’s main child labor force… let’s not go there right now) and requires Yuna to create not only a big bear bus but two bear minibuses, powered through her mana. This requires her, on the journey there, to switch from her normal black bear outfit to the reversed white bear outfit, as she’s going to be using mana like a sieve. This leads to people not recognizing her at first, which merely irritates her… for now.

So yeah, once they get to the ocean and the beach, Yuna has to give in and remove the bear costume. She’s done this before at a palace function, but that was mostly filled with people who had no idea who she was anyway, so it was mostly her own personal safety that worried her. Same with the school festival. Here she has a bigger existential crisis: when she walks around as Yuna, dressed in a swimsuit and without her bear things, almost no one recognizes her. Literally, they stand next to her and ask Fina where she is. Fina, bless her, seems to be the exception to this rule. (Note that everyone, once they DO see it’s Yuna, immediately praise her pretty and petite body, but Yuna being Yuna, she doesn’t take this as praise at all.) At first Yuna is merely annoyed, but as it goes on and on, and as she attempts to do normal things (like teaching girls to swim) and failing as she has NO STAMINA without the bear suit, she gets more and more depressed. As she states to herself, no one is friends with Yuna, they’re all friends with “the bear”. The bear is the one that does everything. The bear is their savior. The bear is their friend. Yuna? Yuna is just an out-of-shape shut in.

Frustratingly, the book goes from Yuna’s spiral of depression to the usual end of book side stories, so we’ll need to wait till next time. Fortunately, as this book ran a bit late, next time is next month. Join me then to see if we get to see Yuna on the verge of a nervous breakdown, or if she simply shrugs everything off. Again.

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: Fantastic Days

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By Hirukama, Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Spinoffs can be hard. Spinoffs written by someone other than the original author are harder. And when you get a spinoff written by someone who’s not the original author based on a mobile game that likely was also not written by the original author, well, you’re really starting to get into trouble. Hirukama is best known over here for the Reborn as a Vending Machine light novel that’s currently getting an anime. He also writes the longest running KonoSuba spinoff, Ano Orokamono ni mo Kyakkou wo!, which focuses on Dust, the loser guy who seems to linger around the edges of the main series. We’re unlikely to get that, if only as it doesn’t star Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin and Darkness. This book we are getting does feature three new girls who have the plot built around them, but it has healthy doses of our main cast as well, so fans will not feel cheated. Is it good? Eh.

For those wondering where in the main story this fits in, it’s left deliberately vague, but I’d say around Volume 8, mostly as Megumin and Darkness show no signs that they’re in love with Kazuma at all. While trying to stop a disaster, Megumin blows up a wagon containing a) a monetary tribute to nobility, causing him to go deeply in the red, and b) the supplies to a dance troup/adventuring party. The troup consists of Lia, the theoretically sensible one with the mysterious past; Cielo, a noble whose upbringing caused her to develop an extreme fear of men; and Erika, a girl who tries her hardest to be cute, and is also searching for her birth parents. Kazuma, on seeing them, is reminded of Japanese idol groups, and decides to make them stars!… mostly as making them stars will help pay off his debt. Unfortunately, these idols have fanboys, and they’re also trolls. No, not internet trolls, real trolls.

The three new girls, of course, are deliberately meant to contrast with the three regular stars. Cielo and Darkness are both blonde nobles trying to get away from all that by adventuring. Erika focuses on cute as much as Megumin does on cool. As for Lia… well, OK, she’s not that much like Aqua, except perhaps for her pathological messiness. She is, however, the character whose plot matters the most, as her amnesia turns out to be an important key to defeating Daniel, the troll lord who has decided to stan her. Everyone gets to do their bits. Megumin fires off explosions, Darkness is masochistic, Aqua screws up everything, etc. Unfortunately, it really does feel likely someone trying to write an “original flavor” fanfic with their own OCs, to be honest. By necessity, this cannot grow or develop any character except the new girls… and actually, it ends up just being Lia. That means this rides on how funny it is, and the answer is: not as funny as the main books.

If you really love KonoSuba, you can certainly enjoy this. As a spinoff, though, I’d rather read the Megumin books.

Sabikui Bisco, Vol. 5

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By Shinji Cobkubo and K Akagishi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

Sabikui Bisco tends to coast along on three elements. The first is what I would call “high concept”, coming up with fantastical ideas, people or places that make the jaw drop when they’re described. The second is the wall-to-wall action sequences that make up the bulk of the book. And the third is Bisco and Milo getting closer and closer to just making out, even as each book seems to add a new girl to fall in love with Bisco and sigh as she watches he and Milo declare themselves to be soulmates. The good news is that this fifth volume has all of those things in abundance. The bad news is that it does tend to lean a bit too much on the action scenes this time around. Bisco is not really someone who ever slows down or stops to smell the roses, but reading this book is like watching an action movie that’s all the last 15 minutes. It can be utterly exhausting.

After the events of the last book, Shishi is now apparently evil, and Bisco is very definitely a 10-year-old. As he and Milo try to catch up with her so that he can do something about that, they end up on Hokkaido… which it turns out is basically a giant floating space whale. That was not in any of the guidebooks! Unfortunately, Shishi got there first, and is trying to take over the island with camellia flowers… which have already taken over the prison wardens from the previous book. Fortunately, they have allies in the native peoples of Hokkaido, which include (yes, try to contain your surprise) another teenage girl who thinks Milo is pretty hot. She’s not into Bisco, though, as he’s just a kid. Will they be able to stop the island being used for a mass terrorist event? And just how evil *is* Shishi anyway?

The book makes an effort to try to keep it ambiguous about Shishi’s motivations, saying that it wasn’t just her being possessed by an evil flower but her own desires that led to her murdering her dad. But given that this motivational speech is coming FROM the evil flower, it’s a bit hard to take this as anything more than “sorry, bro, I was possessed”. Indeed, it’s not the only possession of the book, as the climax of the volume shows that there is no character the series will not bring back to make another appearance. Speaking of which, Pawoo is kept far away from her husband, but Tirol is around to be the absolute worst again, and Amli also shows up to try to save her god/crush delete where applicable. This is a series that thrives on barely controlled chaos, so it works, but eventually the “controlled” part is going to be lost, I suspect.

Still, overall I was less grumpy about this book, despite it basically just being Bisco and Milo screaming for 260 pages. I’ll keep going.

Manga the Week of 7/26/23

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SEAN: As July sinks slowly in the West, we are faced with its hotter cousin: August.

ASH: How has it already come to this?

SEAN: Airship has a bunch of print light novels. We get Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! 16, Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 3, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 8, and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 2.

ASH: A good reminder that I’ve been meaning to give the first volume of Sword of the Demon Hunter a try.

SEAN: And there’s early digital for There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… 2 and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 4.

Denpa Books has the 2nd volume of Baby Bear’s Bakery.

Not Ghost Ship, but probably should be, we get Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels! 3. Ayakashi Triangle 4 and SUPER HXEROS 11 definitely ARE Ghost Ship.

ASH: I would not have been surprised to find Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels! in the Ghost Ship catalog.

SEAN: One digital light novel debut from J-Novel Club: You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! (Musume Janakute, Watashi ga Suki Nano!?) is from the creator of When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace. A young single mother raising the child of her late sister finds that, now that he’s in college, her daughter’s childhood friend has feelings. Wait, for HER?! For lovers of age-gap romance in a comedic vein.

And there’s Ascendance of a Bookworm 26, I Surrendered My Sword for a New Life as a Mage 3, The Invincible Little Lady 3, The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles 4, Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up 2, Reincarnated Mage with Inferior Eyes: Breezing through the Future as an Oppressed Ex-Hero 3, and the 9th manga volume of Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles.

ASH: Obligatory cry of “Bookworm!”

SEAN: Kodansha Books has the 3rd volume of Am I Actually the Strongest?, whose anime is currently delighting hard-core isekai fans.

Kodansha Manga debuts Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen (Owari no Seraph: Ichinose Guren, 16-sai no Catastrophe), an adaptation from Weekly Shonen Magazine of the light novel that was put out by Vertical, which is a prequel to the original manga, which runs in Jump Square. This manga’s past is kudzu. It’s also an omnibus of the first two volumes.

Also in print: Am I Actually the Strongest? 4, Fire Force Omnibus 5, In the Clear Moonlit Dusk 5, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 22, and What Did You Eat Yesterday? 20.

MICHELLE: I’m always here for more What Did You Eat Yesterday?.

ASH: Same!

SEAN: For digital releases, we get Am I Actually the Strongest? 8, And Yet, You Are So Sweet 8, As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 6, Boss Bride Days 7, A Couple of Cuckoos 12, DAYS 36, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 26, Gamaran: Shura 10, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 18, The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World 6, My Home Hero 6, ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! 7, and Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence 11.

ASH: I had momentarily forgotten about The Heroic Legend of Arslan despite enjoying earlier volumes.

SEAN: One Peace Books has the third volume of Captain Corinth.

Seven Seas debuts a new danmei novel, Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang. Steampunk BL! A young man living in an impoverished village finds his whole life has been a lie! This is from the creator of Guardian, also due out soon.

MICHELLE: Definitely into this but Guardian more so, admittedly.

ASH: Adding them both to my TBR list!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist 7, The Duke of Death and His Maid 7, I’m a Wolf, but My Boss is a Sheep! 3, LES MISÉRABLES Omnibus 3, and Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 9.

From Square Enix we see Beauty and the Feast 9, Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition 11, and Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 9.

Tokyopop has Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke 4, The Fox & Little Tanuki 6 and the 2nd and final volume of My Dear Agent.

From Viz: Chainsaw Man: Buddy Stories is a prose short story collection based on the popular manga.

Soichi: Junji Ito Story Collection (Souichi no Katte na Noroi) is another series of horror stories that ran in Nemuki about 20 years ago.

ASH: I recently mentioned that I was glad we were getting more horror manga beyond Ito’s oeuvre, but I’m not going to say no to more Ito, either.

SEAN: The Way of the Househusband: The Gangster’s Guide to Housekeeping is a guidebook that gives you recipes, helpful hints, etc. Seems to be by Western writers with the blessing of the manga artist.

ASH: Oh, that’s interesting.

SEAN: And Viz also has How Do We Relationship? 9.

ASH: I really need to get caught up with this series.

SEAN: And some stragglers from Yen to close us out. Yen On has Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 9 and Secrets of the Silent Witch 4.

And from Yen Press, the 13th and final volume of High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!.

Definitely less manga than the week before last! What are you getting?

The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?), Vol. 10

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By Toru Taba and Falmaro. Released in Japan as “Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu ~Sou da, Baikoku Shiyou~” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jessica Lange.

As the series hits double digits, it’s pretty clear that it’s at least sauntering towards a conclusion. Wein is closer than ever to becoming the King, but (see premise of the series) he really does not want this, and would much rather leave things to the little sister who’s been growing by leaps and bounds over the course of the book and just run off somewhere with Ninym to do all the things he could not do with Ninym when he was heir to the throne. Of course, what’s stopping him is the rest of the plot. For one thing, he’s made such a name for himself that people are not yet taking Falanya seriously, though I expect that will change in a big way after this book. For another, there are too many people whose ongoing plans really need Wein to be around and also as clever as he normally is. Lowellmina is the obvious one, but the Church has an eye on him too… or rather, on Ninym, by his side.

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After events in the last book, Wein’s country, or more accurately the vassals in his country, really want him to stay home. Unfortunately, Delunio is holding a big event to celebrate their alliance with Soljest and Natra, and have asked Wein to attend. He’s not going to, but he can send Falanya… despite the fact that the disgraced prime minister of Delunio is now Falanya’s adviser. Of course, this does not mean that Wein gets to sit around either, as there’s a more serious crisis in the Empire. Lowellmina has too much power now, so her brothers have come up with a clever scheme: fight each other, let the casualties pile up, and then tarnish Lowellmina’s name because she, the peace loving princess, did not intervene. She wants Wein’s help. And as if this weren’t enough, in Soljest… Gruyere has been overthrown?!

The fun of this series is the fact that not just the main characters, but EVERY character seems to have one main scheme and seven backup schemes all going at the same time. The best scene in the book features a most unlikely pairing, Gruyere and Nanaki, but of course the main thing to talk about here is Falanya. She’s finally gotten to the point where Wein does not have to worry about her when she’s trapped in a dangerous political hothouse, and while she does need his help near the end, 80% of the victory in this book is down to her own clever scheming. There’s a reason that Sirgis has decided to make it his goal to have her become ruler rather than Wein, though I’m not sure I buy his “he doesn’t care about the people of the country” – if that were the case, Wein could have schemed himself out of this a while ago. But it definitely feels like we’re headed for a sibling throne war, which is good, as Natra has experience with that.

So very glad to have this back, and I am pleased that it won’t take as long for the 11th book to come out here. Recommended for political intrigue fans.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/19/23

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Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 12 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – And here we are at the apocalypse. Marcille is being sweet-talked by the lion/book into essentially becoming God, and the dungeon is now everything above ground as well, which is a bit of a problem for non-dungeon crawlers. The solution—kill Marcille—is one that is obvious to everyone but the main characters, who spend most of the book trying to talk Marcille down and figure out a way to walk this back, which is ludicrously impossible right now. This is not the sort of series that will have an unhappy ending, you can tell, but it will be very interesting to see HOW they can manage to work everything out here and not have the protagonists in jail for the rest of their lives. Very highly recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 12 | By Ukami | Yen Press – I’ve joked before about the yuri fandom of this series, but this volume brings it to the fore more than any other. There’s a chapter devoted to the internet art meme of “put two characters in a room and they can’t escape unless they kiss.” (It’s not “kiss,” but this is a family manga, so we get the PG version.) Raphiel is, of course, 100% down for this, and unfortunately is hit with a massive attack of nerves when it comes to following through, which is funny in and of itself. The other problem is that Satanya not only seems uninterested, but may actually be ace, which is bad news for yuri fans but good news for comedy fans. The rest of the volume is also fun, but we know why I’m here. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 25 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – I get the basic idea the author had here, which is that Komi has, in her second year, been surrounded by friends she made who know her well, and is living her best life. So it makes sense to put her (deliberately, as it turns out) into a class where no one knows her and she has to start all over again. Fortunately, Tadano is there as well. Unfortunately, so is Najimi, who is no Yamai but I still don’t like them. And then we get the rest of the new cast, who explode at us in a flurry of names and eccentricities, and who mean nearly nothing to me. The bulk of the book is a battle royale using nerf guns, to promote class unity or what have you, but again: this cast has gotten way too big. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 21 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – Last time I mentioned that Kuroko was spending far more time solving murders and far less time going down on hot women with her long tongue of doom. Good news! We’ve hit the end of the arc, so Kuroko gets to hit one of the surviving women in the arc, and by hit I mean “have sex with.” As for the arc itself, it involves a lot of misdirection, family trauma, and very bad things happening to the series’ punching bag who very bad things always seem to happen to—though this time around the trauma is physical rather than mental. Kuroko and Hinako are both very eccentric women who do not care about a single thing, and if that bothers you steer well clear of this. But for its genre (lesbian splattercore), it’s terrific. – Sean Gaffney

An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess, Vol. 1 | By Shiki and Natsume Hasumi | AlphaPolis (digital only) – This may be the first villainess title where the male love interest actually interests me more. It’s not just because the series is from his POV. It’s that the villainess herself, Bertia, is very difficult to take seriously, even in comparison to Katarina and other goofy villainesses. Cecil, meanwhile, is a budding shoujo boyfriend, which is to say he’s an asshole who spends his life mostly being bored because he’s good at everything, and finds his fiancée/”toy” interesting. I will also note that AlphaPolis basically just sticks chapters together and calls it a volume, so expect no extras you’d normally find in a volume. For villainess fans. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 25 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I get my wish, as we are indeed starting a new arc. We also wrap up this last arc, getting answers and discovering that most everyone involved was either evil or being blackmailed by someone to be evil. Well, there’s also the “this evil was happening in my dominion, so it’s my responsibility” thing as well. In the meantime, we get to see Obi be cool, Shirayuki be cool, and Ryu is cool and also not dead. A lot of this arc was devoted to Ryu’s growth (which we’re also starting to see physically), and it did a good job, even if I felt that this went on a bit too long. That said, anyone expecting Zen and Shirayuki’s reunion to be anything but fleeting is fooling themselves. – Sean Gaffney

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, Vol. 2

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By FUNA and Touzai. Released in Japan as “Rōgo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-Man-Mai no Kinka o Tamemasu” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Kodansha Books. Translated by Luke Hutton.

Sigh. There was no good way to do this. Kodansha Books re-released the first two volumes of this light novel series as an omnibus, which is good! It meant folks didn’t have to re-buy two books that they already had from the late, unlamented Sol Press and we could get to new content faster! But it also means that this second volume is the third in Japan. And that will be the case going forward. That’s why this is another review of the 2nd volume – it’s really a review of Volume 3. Got it? Good. That said, the first volume of this series originally came out here in 2019, the second 19 months after that, and here’s the third, about 30 months after that one. You might be forgiven for completely forgetting what’s been going on. Fortunately, there was an anime! It covered Books 1 and 2, so go watch it, then come back here. Because this is more of the same, and it’s fun and mind-boggling and a little disturbing. See: this author.

Things are getting busier for Mitsuha – so busy that she seriously considers, near the end of the book, stopping the “go back and forth between here and Japan” thing and permanently settling. She has a new territory to run. She’s being asked to attend all sorts of society balls. She’s trying to get board games to be a thing in this country, specifically shogi and reversi. She’s trying to create popcorn, with the help of some adorable… if somewhat mercenary… orphans. And of course she’s looking to make that money so that she can retire, though several times in this book she admits to herself that she needs to stop inventing new things and let this world relax and catch up a bit. That said, the biggest problem may be when three huge ships show up in her domain. Maybe they’re friendly!… OK, probably not.

Fans of FUNA will be happy to know there is quite a bit of what I call “the heroine goes completely batshit” in this book, the biggest being how she deals with the invading foreign army. As with I Shall Survive Making Potions!, the heroine’s morality is firmly in the grey area, and her solutions do sometimes involve “there’s no way I can do this without killing a few people, sorry”. Much of the “fun” in this series is seeing her do something along these lines, then act surprised that everyone is staring in disbelief at her. She actually has another crying breakdown here, after the Count who has become her surrogate father has to remind her that people actually love and care about her here, and she should not treat her life as disposable. Which, let’s be honest, she is. Almost all her decisions in this volume have a form of “what if I die, how will they deal with this then?” Which is great in a worldbuilding way, but not so good in a psychological one.

If you hated Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average and I Shall Survive Using Potions!, you’ll hate this too. If you loved them, you’ll love this too. It’s as simple as that. See you next time for the third (fourth) book.

Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster, Vol. 2

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By Saki and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Albert-ke no Reijō wa Botsuraku o Goshomō Desu” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Ray Krycki.

Most of the time, when you hear about a light novel protagonist who is described as “no one has any idea what they’re thinking”, there’s a fairly obvious reason for it. usually it’s because they were reincarnated from Japan, or (as in Mary Albert, theoretically) a villainess in an otome game. But we, the reader usually know why they’re thinking what they’re thinking. it’s just the poor supporting cast who have it rough. That’s not the case in this series, and I have to hand it to the author: there are many times in this volume when I *really* have no idea what Mary Albert is thinking. It’s not even a case of “trying to sabotage my future” like the first book in the series – she did that (well, OK, the opposite, but you know what I mean) and has moved on. But in the case of Mary Albert and her feelings for Adi, even she has no idea what she’s thinking. Until WELL after you might expect.

Everything’s coming up roses for Mary Albert at the start of this book. Despite attempting to be a villainess, she actually managed to work things out in a different way, so the ending of the otome game is not going to happen. She’s going off to a foreign land to study management skills. Hell, even her trademark drills, previously unable to be tamed, are now gone thanks to the power of the game being over. But there is a second game, the sequel to Heart High, that takes place at the school in that foreign country. One with a “heroine” and a ‘villainess”. That said, Mary’s not in that game at all, so she can simply sit back, watch the enfolding disaster, make good friends with a wet blanket of a noble, and also get married to Adi. Wait, what? What was that last part?

I admit that I *was* expecting the events of this book to some degree, but the author really threw me off by the order in which they happened. Mary is not yet finished dealing with/watching for villainess pointers at her new school when she’s called back to her country to get married, something that she does unconsciously and without think9ing about it, to the amazement of everyone. It’s only after she and Adi are already married that she’s forced to confront the fact that it happened, and why she was so blase about it. Mary Albert is a rare “villainess” who’s retained very little of her Japanese self, and simply associated marriage with “political move”. Marrying for love never was a thing she expected. As such, when she realizes it happened, her freakout is possibly the best part of the book. As for the second game and its resolution, it’s yet another example of why “harem” endings are good in a funny way when you’re a gamer, but terrible if you try to consider them seriously – see also Endo and Kobayashi Live.

And so, we’ve reached the end of the series. Um. There are HOW many books left? Let me guess, short story volume? (checks) Yup. We’ll be back next time for the obligatory short story volume! Till then, this is much more fun than I expected, with a great heroine.

Earl and Fairy: Beware the Enticing Trap

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

I was very excited when Earl and Fairy debuted from J-Novel Heart, but I will admit that I underestimated the backlash that the series got from some areas of the community. This is an old-school shoujo series, and it stars an old-school shoujo love interest. If you don’t know what that means, look up “Black Bird” or “Hot Gimmick”. Though Earl and Fairy does not go nearly as far as those two series, it is definitely in the school of romance that is “he starts off as the worst, but gradually gets better due to the influence of our heroine”. And given this is a long-running series, it’s going to be very gradual. Edgar is not going to suddenly soften up and tell Lydia his deepest secrets. Moreover, given that he thinks Lydia would be perfectly happy to walk off and never see him again, don’t expect him to stop giving affectionate overtures that may be unwelcome. That’s how these series roll. Tender romance will be along in a bit.

Lydia has been hired by Edgar as his Fairy Doctor, meaning that she’s now living in London. Of course, this being a supernatural mystery series as well as a romance, trouble is following her around. Or, more accurately, following her employer around. A young woman has disappeared, and was last seen in a carriage with none other than Edgar. There’s a bogey-beast in the vicinity, and it’s not clear who its master is. Rosalie, cousin to the missing girl, is very much attracted to Edgar, and thus very annoyed that he only seems to have eyes for Lydia. The fog, always terrible in London of vaguely Victorian times, is even worse because of the threat of the Fogman. And possibly worst of all, Lydia is finding herself wanting to get closer to Edgar, and she has absolutely no idea why.

Lydia, I will admit, does suffer from some of the worst traits of a shoujo heroine. When she blithely walks into an abandoned warehouse with a girl that she already knows is antagonistic towards her, you will want to smack your forehead. She’s no shrinking violet, but sometimes that gets her into trouble as well – her desire to take quick and decisive action is what gets her soul trapped near the climax of the book. As for her relationship with Edgar, she’s not close enough for him to open his heart to, but that also means that she’ll never take any affectionate overtures he makes seriously. Nico, Lydia’s walking, talking, sarcastic cat (just throwing that out there for those who are still on the fence about this series) tells Edgar if he wants to win Lydia over he needs to stop lying to her. Unfortunately, Edgar has been hurt so much by so many people – and had nearly everyone who trusted him die – that this may not even be possible.

To sum up” great shoujo potboiler. Lydia is naive but awesome. Have patience with Edgar. Give Nico some tea and fish.

Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 6

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By Shoji Goji and Saku Enomaru. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Eric Margolis. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

It occurred to me as I was reading this volume, this lacks one of the main parts of “summoned to another world” books, which is the summoning. I was thrown off by the god at the start of the series, who actually does summon the class to a different world, presumably to save it, but the world itself is not involved with the summoning, and (while we see some small evidence that past heroes may have also been summoned), there’s no sense that anyone is used to new people suddenly showing up all at once. As a result, try to imagine what the people in the capital city must be thinking when they see Haruka and twenty gorgeous young women, all with black hair and black eyes, show up and save the day almost instantaneously. Seriously, this 413-page book only takes up one week of real time in the book. They’re all absolute monsters. It is, frankly, amazing that more people just give in and go along with it… though given their situation, maybe it’s not so surprising.

Despite various attempts to try to negotiate, war is becoming inevitable. The king’s brother is there to try to work out a compromise: the first prince has said he will spare the frontier if they give up Haruka. Literally everyone except the king’s brother knows this is a trap, but Haruka goes along with it anyway, because it’s just easier to trigger the trap and then massacre everyone. Yeah, there’s a lot of death in this book, this isn’t the manga. Having fixed that problem (and killed one prince), everyone then arrives at the capital, where the king is dying, the second prince is allied with evil merchants, and there’s an orphanage filled with kids who would make Oliver Twist look like a plump spoiled brat. This lights a righteous fire under all the main cast, who proceed to turn into villains in order to save the civilians who are being ground down by the real enemy… capitalism.

These books are starting to struggle a bit with the “wacky” side of things. Don’t get me wrong, Haruka is still damn near incomprehensible and incredibly annoying. And there are still an incredibly large number of pages devoted to Haruka making underwear for all his female classmates, which involves using his “magic hands” to grope them into unconsciousness (with their consent – the underwear is JUST THAT GOOD). But there’s no sugarcoating how awful everything is this arc. The majority of the nobility are cartoon villains, the merchants are greedy scum, and while we haven’t met the church yet (next book), they’re implied to be worse than all of the others. The orphanage is played for maximum mawkishness, except when you see things like the girls all finding the nobles most responsible for it and using status effects like “Pure Pain” on them. And even saving the capital doesn’t fix things, as in the meantime the church’s forces have gone to destroy Omui.

The series, for once, ends with a genuine cliffhanger, as we wonder if Haruka vs. 30,000 troops will finally be what gets him killed. The girls all worry this as well, which is why they’re racing there as well. As always, once you dig past the nonsense, Maria-sama Ga Miteru and Mary Poppins references, and endless descriptions of tits, there’s a whole lot to sink your teeth into. And not in the mean girls way.

The Manga Review: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Manga Superman

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Earlier this week, DC Comics unveiled a new feature on its DC Universe Infinite platform that will enable readers to experience Jiro Kuwata’s Batman in its original right-to-left orientation. Two titles are now available in this format with more in the pipeline… Brigid Alverson parses the June Circana Bookscan data… Brian Mariotti, the CEO of Funko, just stepped down… Saiyuku Jump will serialize a color version of Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land… Kiminori Wakasugi (Detroit Metal City) has begun work on Akina-chan Kamigakaru, a comedy about an aspiring manga artist… sales of the Oshi no Ko manga have tripled since the anime debuted… the final chapter of Space Brothers will be published in September… and How Do You Live?, Hayao Miyazaki’s last film, arrives in Japanese theaters today. Richard Eisenbeis has an early review. Last but not least, the finalists in the Comedy Pet Photography Awards were just announced and, as you might expect, there are plenty of hilarious images of flying poodles and soccer-playing cats. Go, enjoy!

AROUND THE WEB

How will artificial intelligence impact the anime, manga, and video game industries? In a recent survey of 27,000 Japanese professionals, more than half “worried AI will cost them future jobs and opportunities.” They also expressed concern about copyright infringement and unauthorized use of their work to train AI. [Otaku USA]

Muraktama Rodrigues explains why Slam Dunk “is your favorite sports manga,” even if “you just don’t know it yet.” [How to Love Comics]

Danica Davidson interviews Vernieda Vergara, author of My Manga Collection: That Time I Read So Much Manga That I Needed This Tracker to Record Everything, from the God-Tier Volumes to Trash Faves and Must-Reads! [Otaku USA]

Elliot and Andy are back with a new installment of Screen Tone Club. On the agenda: My Home Hero andThe Valiant Must Fall. [Screen Tone Club]

The OverMangaCast gang discuss the first the three volumes of Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. [OverMangaCast]

Buckle up: the Manga Machinations crew are taking Eldo Yoshimizu’s Ryuko for a test drive. [Manga Machinations]

Helen, Kory, and Apryll dedicate the latest episode of Manga in Your Ears to After Hours and Good-Bye, My Rose Garden. [Taiiku Podcast]

REVIEWS

Four volumes in, Arpad Okay is still digging Dandadan… Justin checks out the first ten chapters of Kindergarten WARS… Megan D. revisits The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-Chan… Johanna Draper Carlson praises The Way of the Househusband: The Gangster’s Guide to Housekeeping… Adam Symchuk recommends Don’t Count Your Tanukis… and my Manga Bookshelf colleague Sean Gaffney reminds us that he’s not just a light novel guy; he reads a lot of manga, too!

New and Noteworthy

Complete, OOP, and Ongoing Series

* Final volume

Manga the Week of 7/19/23

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SEAN: Warning: Yen Press week.

ASH: The heads up is appreciated.

SEAN: In fact, we start with Yen On. They have several debuts… well, and sort-of debuts. Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Fantastic Days (Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! Fantastic Days!), a spinoff written by the author of Reborn As a Vending Machine, who has done several KonoSuba spinoff LNs, all unlicensed. This is licensed, probably as it’s based on a game also coming out in the West soon. It’s… well, a standard KonoSuba story.

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World: Secret File (Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjō, Arui wa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen Secret File) is a short story spinoff of the main series, with 100% more wacky and 100% less weird cliffhangers.

The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kokurōjō) is a novel, rather than a light novel, written by an author best known for Hyouka, and this new book has won awards. It’s a historical mystery novel revolving around a real-life person, Kuroda Kanbei.

MICHELLE: Potentially interesting!

ANNA: Hmm, this does sound interesting.

ASH: Oh! Yes, it does!

SEAN: Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (Cider no Yō ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru) is based on a movie, and we also saw the manga last month. It’s the same plot as every other Japanese anime movie ever since Your Name came out.

ASH: I thought it sounded familiar.

SEAN: They also have The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 10, Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway 4, Ishura 4, Magical Explorer: Reborn as a Side Character in a Fantasy Dating Sim 5, Overlord 16, Sabikui Bisco 5, Solo Leveling 8, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina 11, and The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat 7.

Debuting from Yen Press is I Want to Be a Receptionist in This Magical World (Mahousekai no Uketsukejou ni Naritai desu!), a shoujo manga from Flos Comic based on a light novel that J-Novel Club released here as The Sorcerer’s Receptionist. Nunnally is a first-rate mage, but she’s going to be a receptionist who helps others. There’s just one problem… the annoying guy in class is always better than her at everything!

Imitation is a manwha, but not based on a webcomic or webnovel, which means it’s not on the Ize Press imprint. An idol humiliates herself on a talk show… and now a member of the top male idol group is angry with her!

ANNA: Oh no!

SEAN: My Mate Is a Feline Gentleman (Boku no Tsugai wa Neko Shinshi) is an A/B/O title (should that be a separate genre from BL?) about an omega hired by a beastman, who turns out to be appalled at the way omegas are treated in Japan. Is our hero finally going to have people be nice while having sex with him?

Saint? No! I’m Just a Passing Beast Tamer!: The Invincible Saint and the Quest for Fluff (Seijo-sama? Iie, Toorisugari no Mamono Tsukai desu! – Zettai Muteki no Seijo wa Mofumofu to Tabi wo suru), which is another manga based on a light novel J-Novel Club is already putting out. This runs in Comic Walker, and is about a girl who is determined to NOT be the Saint that will save the world.

Secrets of the Silent Witch (Silent Witch – Chinmoku no Majo no Kakushigoto) is the manga adaptation of a light novel that Yen puts out themselves. It’s from B’s Log Comic, and is about an introverted but extremely powerful witch forced to be the secret bodyguard to a prince.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Official Comic Anthology is a collection by various artists of short manga based around the popular series.

ASH: It’s been a while since I’ve thought of that franchise, but I had fun with it.

SEAN: The Summer Hikaru Died (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu) is a BL-ish manga that runs in Young Ace Up. Two boys have always been best friends… but one day one of them comes back from the mountainside… and he’s DIFFERENT. I am not sure if The Summer Hikaru Died is the same time as The Night Chicago Died. Probably not.

MICHELLE: Glory be!

ASH: I’ve heard very good things about this one.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 5, The Beginning After the End 3, Black Butler 32, The Boxer 3, Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! 5, Call the Name of the Night 2, Can’t Stop Cursing You 4 (the final volume), Cheeky Brat 7, Coffee Moon 3, Dead Mount Death Play 9, The Eminence in Shadow 7, Final Fantasy Lost Stranger 9, Goblin Slayer 12, Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 8 (the final volume), Hirano and Kagiura 3, Horimiya Memorial Book Page. 100 (an art book), I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 3, In Another World with My Smartphone 9, Kakegurui Twin 13, Kowloon Generic Romance 4, Love and Heart 8, Love of Kill 12, Mint Chocolate 8, My Gently Raised Beast 3, Please Put Them On, Takamine-san 6, Run on Your New Legs 5 (the final volume), Shadows House 4, Shy 3, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School! 13, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 18, Touring After the Apocalypse 3, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? 2, Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion 4, and The World After the Fall 3.

MICHELLE: I continually forget Black Butler is still going.

ANNA: 32 volumes is something!

SEAN: It’s OK, you can come out now, Yen is done. On to Viz. Continuing their partnership with Marvel, we get Marvel Comics: A Manga Tribute, an artbook featuring several famous Japanese artists drawing Marvel characters.

ASH: I’ll have to see who all contributed to this one.

SEAN: Viz also has Boy’s Abyss 2, Dark Gathering 2, Record of Ragnarok 7, Seraph of the End 27, and Undead Unluck 12.

Udon Entertainment has Record of Lodoss War: The Crown of the Covenant 2.

Square Enix Manga has The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses 4 and My Dress-Up Darling 9.

Seven Seas debuts The Great Snake’s Bride (Daija ni Totsuida Musume), a horror manga from Comic Marche. This has won awards, and is apparently very dark and filled with interesting themes, but I will just say that it is about a marriage between a woman and a giant snake.

ASH: I’ll readily admit that I’m intrigued.

SEAN: There’s also Bite Maker: The King’s Omega 8, The Dangers in My Heart 6, The Evil Secret Society of Cats 3, Ex-Yakuza and Stray Kitten 3, My Senpai is Annoying 10, Namekawa-san Won’t Take a Licking! 4 (the final volume), The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter 2, and She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 9.

Kodansha Books has Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement 2, the third volume in the series. (The first was an omnibus of the first two Japanese novels because it was a license rescue, so this will not be going away.)

Kodansha Manga has no debuts, but has some print. We get Attack on Titan Omnibus 11, A Condition Called Love 4, FAIRY TAIL: 100 Years Quest 13, The Great Cleric 4, Phantom of the Idol 6 (look, Kodansha is now putting out ebooks 1-2 weeks before print, and it’s confusing), When Will Ayumu Make His Move? 12, and Wistoria: Wand and Sword 5.

Digitally they’ve got Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 6, Blue Lock 20, Gamaran 11, Medalist 7, Messiah -CODE EDGE- 2, Small Nozomi and Big Yume 3 (the final volume), Ya Boy Kongming! 12, and You’re My Cutie 6.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up with Blue Lock and Medalist. I enjoyed what I’ve read of both very much.

ANNA: I need to order Blue Lock for one of my kids, I’m likely going to start collecting Medalist in print.

SEAN: The debut from J-Novel Club is Stuck in a Time Loop: When All Else Fails, Be a Villainess (Loop kara Nukedasenai Akuyaku Reijō wa, Akiramete Sukikatte Ikirukoto ni Kimemashita). For once, we have a nice girl who, after being killed over and over for not having the RIGHT power, decides to give up and be a villainess. That’ll go well.

ASH: It usually does.

SEAN: There’s also A Cave King’s Road to Paradise: Climbing to the Top with My Almighty Mining Skills! 2, The Game Master Has Logged In to Another World 3, Holmes of Kyoto 15, I’m Capped at Level 1?! Thus Begins My Journey to Become the World’s Strongest Badass! 2, Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 5, Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire 9, and Seventh 4.

Ghost Ship has Desire Pandora 4 and Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 10.

And Airship, in print, has The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 8 and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 6.

While in early digital, if they can get the retailer links up in time, we should see Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 14 and Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 3.

Tired. Manga? Buy?

Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta, Vol. 3

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By Toshizou and Kuro Shina. Released in Japan as “Yuri no Ma ni Hasamareta Watashi ga, Ikioi de Futamata Shite Shimatta” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tristan K. Hill.

Either this book is wearing me down or I have an undiagnosed concussion injury, because I did not find this third volume of Yuri Tama nearly as annoying as I did the previous two. There are a couple good reasons for that, of course. The godawful incest plotline that plagued the second book seems to have been quietly shelved, and Yotsuba’s sisters, while still overly affectionate, have dialed themselves back. Yotsuba’s self-loathing is still very, very prevalent in everything she says, but at least her girlfriends are now telling her to stop doing that, so we’re getting there. Koganezaki continues to represent the reader’s frustrations, and is awesome. And, of course, there’s a ridiculous new love interest, but frankly, it’s handled about as well as can be expected, given that the premise of this series is Yotsuba doing something amazingly foolish and every other woman in the cast thinking “God, I can’t not fuck her”.

Yotsuba has only just managed to recover from the events of the second book and is trying to quietly enjoy the rest of her summer break, but then her sisters bring stunning news: the idol Maki Amagi is taking a leave of absence from show business. Her sisters are devastated, Yotsuba is nonplussed. Who? Then suddenly a new girl moves into the house next door. No prizes for guessing who it is. It turns out that Maki Amagi is really Makina Oda, who was childhood best friends with Yotsuba before she had to move away. As Yotsuba tries to process this, Makina asks a favor: the paparazzi think she’s dating a guy, so to throw them off the trail, can she pretend to be dating Yotsuba? Yotsuba is immediately taken in by this story that does not sound remotely fake, but how will her actual girlfriends react?

I’ve mentioned this before, but given it’s one of the most notable things about her, I’ll mention it again. When Yotsuba turns off her self-doubt and constant second guessing brain and just goes with the flow, she manages to be a fantastic romantic partner. On her date to the aquarium with Makina, we see this in action, and we also see what’s obvious to everyone but Yotsuba: the “paparazzi” thing was just an excuse, she’s been in love with Yotsuba since she was five years old. The series revels in its cliches (we get the good old “childhood marriage promise” here), but honestly things are handled about as well as I could have expected them to be. Yotsuba has a heart to heart with Rinka and Yuna (followed by offscreen sex with Rinka and Yuna – Yotsuba worries she’ll be terrible in bed, but honestly, given her personality and general vibe when moving on instinct, I think she’ll be a natural) and is still in love with them, but Makina is very much still in the picture.

There’s no fourth book yet, but the author is hopeful, and says it will focus on Koganezaki (who might get to be part of the only yuri pairing in the book that doesn’t involve Yotsuba). Till then, this is very silly but fun, especially if you ignore Yotsuba’s parade of insecurities in her narration.

A Royal Rebound: Forget My Ex-Fiancé, I’m Being Pampered by the Prince!, Vol. 2

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By Micoto Sakurai and Kuroyuki. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha ga Uwakiaite to Kakeochi Shimashita. Ōji Denka ni Dekiaisarete Shiawase nanode, Ima sara Modoritai to Iwarete mo Komarimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by A. M. Cola.

Villainess books (and I’m including the separate subgenre of “not reincarnated but still a noble lady whose engagement is broken” there) tend to fall into “hard mode” or “easy mode”. “Hard mode” are books like I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, where our heroine is constantly threatened with death and execution if they put even one foot wrong, and each volume is flying by the seat of the pants. Easy mode is generally the Cinderella sort of story, where our heroine’s prearranged marriage was really dreadful and she’s immediately snapped up by a much better catch, and the rest of the book is just “how much happier she is now”. A Royal Rebound is definitely in the easy category, to the point where it may even be the “here’s how you play the game” tutorial. Even when we get our heroine put into mortal danger here, her fiance comes along and can fix things relatively quickly.

Amelia is still in seventh heaven as we start Book 2. She’s now engaged to Sarge, the third prince, and the two of them can spend all day (and night… and some of the next day) doing nothing but research agriculture till they drop. Yeah, it’s that kind of relationship – these two don’t even kiss. Nevertheless, she has Sarge, and the royal family, all of whom adore her. Being part of the royal family also means that she is now being asked to go on diplomatic missions, including one to the nearby kingdom of Janaki, who are also having agricultural issues but lack the magic powers that most folks in Bedeiht have. Of course, the kingdom of Janaki is dangerously close to the Beltz Empire, where Amelia was almost kidnapped to last volume by her ex-fiance. But surely there won’t be a second kidnapping, right?

Again, this book is super relaxed. The princess of Janaki, who is the fiancee of one of the other princes, appears like she might be a spoiled brat who’s fallen in love with someone else… but no, it’s OK, she’s just being brainwashed. In reality, she’s like every other woman in this book, sweet as pie and ready to dedicate everything to the nation. Hell, even the bad guy, who comes in with a hate on for the entire nation state, ends up being convinced that her mother really didn’t abandon him out of choice and that he really was loved, and turns around. Even Reese, Amelia’s ex-fiance… well, OK, no, Reese still stays in prison. There are limits. But Amelia thinks about what a shame it is his Earth magic can’t be of use to the country going forward. This is a nice series to read, but its main fault is that it’s so idealistic it squeaks.

But again, that’s probably why folks bought it. I suspect this is the final volume (if there is a third, it might just be a pile of weddings in a row), but if so it’s just really… nice. In a good way. Mostly.