Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Features & Reviews

Manga the Week of 8/16/23

by , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: Are these dog days? I think they’re dog days.

ASH: Seems like!

SEAN: Viz debuts Heart Gear, a new Signature title that runs in Shonen Jump +. Girl and robot try to survive in a future dystopia, but are beset by evil robot.

ASH: Signature, dystopia, and robots? Sounds like something I would read.

ANNA: I’m curious!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Children of the Whales 22, Choujin X 3, Jujutsu Kaisen 20, Love’s in Sight! 3, Mission: Yozakura Family 6, Rooster Fighter 4, The Way of the Househusband 10, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 11.

ASH: I really need to catch up with The Way of the Househusband.

SEAN: Debuting from Tokyopop is Dead Company. Do you ever wish we brought back those manga where teenagers killed each other while wearing creepy rabbit masks? Good news! This ran in Comic Boost, which may be why it’s Tokyopop and not Yen Press.

MICHELLE: Snerk.

SEAN: Also from Tokyopop: I Was Reincarnated as the Villainess in an Otome Game but the Boys Love Me Anyway! 4, If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die 2, and Ogi’s Summer Break 2.

Square Enix debuts Mr. Villain’s Day Off (Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san), a Gangan Pixiv series. A supervillain turns out to be a totally different person on his day off, going to the zoo or eating ice cream.

Also from Square Enix: The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses 5 and The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated 6.

No debuts from Seven Seas, but there are new volumes. CANDY AND CIGARETTES 5, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 16, I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! 4, Marmalade Boy: Collector’s Edition 3, and My Wife Has No Emotion 5.

One Peace Books debut Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I’m Not the Demon Lord (Akuyaku Reijou Level 99: Watashi wa UraBoss desu ga Maou de wa arimasen), based on the light novel J-Novel Club is releasing already. It runs in B’s Log Comic.

Kodansha Books has a new deluxe Maiden’s Bookshelf release, this time of the classic The Girl Who Became a Fish.

ASH: That one’s for me! I’ve really been liking this series.

SEAN: In print, Kodansha Manga has Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 2, Orient 16, The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus 11, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 9, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 3, and The Yakuza’s Bias 2.

MICHELLE: Yay, Iruma. And the first volume of The Yakuza’s Bias was pretty fun.

ANNA: I meant to read The Yakuza’s Bias, maybe I will wait for Michelle’s assessment of Volume 2.

SEAN: The digital debut is Issak, written by the creator of Yugo the Negotiator and running in Afternoon. Take a Japanese man, give him a gun, and throw him into the Thirty Years War.

Also digital: The Café Terrace and its Goddesses 9, Gamaran 12, I Guess I Became the Mother of the Great Demon King’s 10 Children in Another World 8, Messiah -CODE EDGE- 3, Nina the Starry Bride 10, and Teppu 2.

ANNA: I was thinking that there wouldn’t be much for me to pick from this week until I saw that Nina the Starry Bride was coming out. Yay!!!!!

SEAN: The digital debut from J-Novel Club is another wordy one: I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness: I’ll Spoil Her with Delicacies and Style to Make Her the Happiest Woman in the World! (Konyaku Haki Sareta Reijō o Hirotta Ore ga, Ikenai Koto o Oshiekomu -Oishi Mono o Tabesasete Oshare o Sasete, Sekai Ichi Shiawase na Shōjo ni Produce!-). This has an anime coming out this fall. Despite the “naughtiness” in the title, it’s rather tame – the “I” in the title merely wishes to feed her delicious food.

ASH: So many words, but yay food?

SEAN: They also have DUNGEON DIVE: Aim for the Deepest Level 4, the 10th manga volume of The Faraway Paladin, Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! 6, The Ideal Sponger Life 13, Make It Stop! I’m Not Strong… It’s Just My Sword! 2, and Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight 2.

Ghost Ship has PULSE 4 (mature yuri, so I’ll put it here) and Sundome!! Milky Way 7.

Denpa says that Vampeerz 3 should be out around this time, and lacking any other evidence I’ll slot it here.

And Airship, in print, has I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 5 and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 23.

And in early digital titles we have Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 15 and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 3.

No dogs, but no cats, either. What are you reading?

Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back To My World Whenever I Want!, Vol. 4

by

By Hiiro Shimotsuki and Takashi Iwasaki. Released in Japan as “Itsudemo Jitaku ni Kaereru Ore wa, Isekai de Gyōshōnin o Hajimemashita” by HJ Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Berenice Vourdon.

It’s pretty astonishing how much authors think they can get away with provided their hero is mild-mannered and polite. Shiro already has the ability to go back and forth between his world and Japan – something most isekai’d folks don’t get. He gets magical translation, teleport abilities (sort of), and currency conversion. He doesn’t need to learn how to make mayonnaise because he can just go buy it at the local Inageya. He has, hovering around him at various points: his grandmother, who looks like a young girl; his twin high school age sisters who alternate between being mean to him and sucking up to him; a young girl who worships him and her hot widowed mom; a powerful fairy who’s tsundere for him; the mayor of the town; and (in this book) we add a dragon. He has to have little to no personality for this to work. If he had any notable character traits at all we’d despise him.

We pick up right where we left off last time. Shiro’s twin sisters Shiori and Saori have found the door to the other world, and there’s no way they aren’t going through it. To his surprise, instead of leading to his shop it drops them in the middle of the forest where he started way back when. While there, he finds a huge egg, which the twins insist he carry with him. Eventually, all is explained and the twins decide to start their OWN store dedicated to clothing and makeup, the egg finally hatches… and inside is not the minor monster they expected, but a dragon. A very powerful dragon. Who quickly morphs into a young girl and imprints on Shiro heavily. Now they have to figure out what to do with her… especially because demons are also apparently looking for the egg, and would likely destroy the entire town to get at it.

As with previous books, this is not great. Elianna the rabbit girl continues to be the most annoying character ever, and not in a fun way as the author is clearly intending. The twins are also annoying but that works better because it’s in the typical bratty sibling way. As for the plot itself, despite the threat of imminent death and the supposed murder of 3/4 of the cast, everyone is fine. This remains a slow life book at heart, so it’s no surprise that this manages to be one of the murderous demons who knows that murdering humans is not the right thing to do now. Not to mention that she has a very good reason to want the egg… and the whole thing ends up being undercut massively, because the whole reason for this plot turns out to be something she could just have bought at Shiro’s store. The sad trombone noise is almost audible.

All this plus we finally get “I am your slave” in this isekai. Shiro’s not going to be down with the whole slave thing, but I doubt he’ll really protest too much, because mild-mannered and all. If you like beautiful twins, cute dragon children, and hot demons… there are still probably better books with them in it.

My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me!, Vol. 10

by

By mikawaghost and tomari. Released in Japan as “Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

This is a flashback volume, as Akiteru explains to an increasingly despairing Mashiro exactly how he first met Iroha and started the game company. As such, as you can imagine, Mashiro barely appears in it, though she does get many of the funniest moments. Just as the “main” series ends each chapter with a conversation between Akiteru and Ozuma, this one ends them with a conversation between Akiteru and Mashiro… as Mashiro stares in disbelief at the fact that the boy she loves was starring in a wacky harem comedy long before she ever came back into his life. I’ve talked before about how the series seems to abuse her for the laughs, especially since she’s clearly not the winning girl, but there’s no denying it’s funny. Also funny are Akiteru’s deadpan reactions to all of this. Past or present, Akiteru is hopelessly, incurably earnest – and as the cliffhanger ending shows us, that may end up being his downfall in the long run.

As you might be able to tell by that cover, Iroha was not always the teasing girl in love with her sempai that she is today. Akiteru has become friends with Ozuma, which means he naturally meets his little sister as well. The siblings… don’t NOT get along, but definitely seem off – they barely interact with each other. Unfortunately, Akiteru also finds out that Iroha might be interested in joining a gang, and, because that’s the sort of person he is, resolves to try to stop this so she can stay on the straight and narrow. Things immediately go wrong when he runs into the gang’s leader… Otoi, who obviously has a deeper meaning to what she’s doing but finding out what that is will require more investigation… as well as pretending to be Otoi’s boyfriend.

The big surprise here might be that we meet a brand new supporting character, she plays a major role, and then we basically never see her again, as she does not appear in the main series. Asagi is a girl with major musical talent but comes from a very poor family, and being in Otoi’s “gang” allows her to be loaned an expensive guitar with which she can ply her trade on the streets busking. Her personality seems very familiar… deliberately, as it turns out, and she makes a nice contrast with Iroha, who is (rightly) very mistrustful of this friend of her brother’s who seems to be stalking her and far too invested in her life. That said, you can also clearly see why she falls for him – his earnestness is attractive as well as creepy, and also he’s basically found a way to make her dream come true (with the help of Otoi, who fills the deus ex machina role in this book handily). Iroha has genuine talent, and I think even her mother has to admit it.

The question is, will her mother destroy Akiteru’s dreams in order to advance her daughter’s? Stay tuned, because we’re caught up with Japan, and there’s no new volume there just yet.

Honey Lemon Soda, Vol 2

by

Honey Lemon Soda Volume 2 by Mayu Murata

Shy girl in love with popular boy is a fairly common subgenre of shoujo manga, but with the second volume, I do think that Honey Lemon Soda is pulling it off better than most manga. Uka is still adjusting to her new school, and fighting through her instinctual reactions to situations and other kids that she developed when she was horribly bullied during middle school. Fortunately in her new environment she keeps being pleasantly surprised by her classmates, who are generally very kind. When she shows up in full hiking gear to a trip that everyone else knew was a low key walk in the woods, her classmates are perplexed, but not cruel. Kai, the object of her affections, finds her gaffe sort of adorable because Uka is showing up for events with everything she’s got.

Honey Lemon Soda 2

Uka ends up being a defacto leader of the group when they accidentally go off trail, and her giant hiking backpack has enough snacks to take care of everyone. She slowly starts trusting her classmates more, but she also starts getting a sense of Kai’s popularity. Murata’s art continues to be stylish and a little quirky. I especially liked the way she portrayed Uka and Kai’s smiles and attitudes towards each other as documented in other students’ photos of the hiking trip, it gave a little preview to how their relationship might eventually develop.

Raven of the Inner Palace, Vol. 3

by

By Kouko Shirakawa and Ayuko. Released in Japan as “Kōkyū no Karasu” by Shueisha Orange Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Amelia Mason.

This volume delves deeper into why everyone insists that the Raven Consort always be alone. Throughout the book we see Jusetsu just generally being nice to people and helping them with their personal trauma. She’s a good egg. And she’s also gaining another bodyguard here, even though he may be a spy (or a double agent… it’s that kind of book). She might even get in more ladies-in-waiting, though I think Jiujiu might have something to say about that. She’s growing closer to the emperor, though I don’t think she really realizes what those feelings are yet. (It doesn’t help that she has to have jealousy explained to her, and doesn’t get it.) That said, the end of the book is worrying. Having good friends is fine, especially as the emperor is going to work on saving Jusetsu. But the way some people are reacting to her actions is beginning to look a bit like worship. And, as we see in this book, new gods are not always a good thing.

As with the previous books in this series, there are four chapters, each of which has a self-contained “mystery” but each also adds to the larger narrative. A lady-in-waiting is being haunted by a ghost, but the ghost is just standing there and not doing anything. An ancient ghost wanders the inner palace lamenting… but if the ghost is so ancient, why has it only started appearing this last week? A scholar new to the palace has a ghostly arm pulling on his sleeve, trying to stop him from… something. And, as is traditional with this series, the book ends with one of the consorts near death, this time because of a cursed item that was actually meant to kill Jusetsu. Throughout all this, Jusetsu takes care of the problem while struggling to come to terms with her need for people around her.

The best part of the book is its emphasis on the fact that people have more than one side to them, and that just because you had a bad time because of something that someone else did does not mean they meant you to have a bad time. The lady-in-waiting;s ghost was upset with her for fleeing while they were left to die… but they also told her to flee out of love. This also allows Jusetsu to come to terms with her mother’s own sacrificial actions, which were meant to save her even as they also made her suffer. As for the horror part of the book, there’s less of it this time around. It was a bit eerie how one of the supporting characters was revealed to not really exist and just smiled and said “Yup, bye”. And the resolution of the third chapter was basically “well, now I know why I have a ghost, but I can’t stop what I’m here for, so welp”, which is realistic but unsatisfying.

The book overall remains an excellent read for fans of “emperor’s palace” books and dark mysteries.

The Troubles of Miss Nicola the Exorcist, Vol. 1

by

By Ito Iino and Kinokohime. Released in Japan as “Haraiya Reijō Nicola no Komarigoto” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Joshua Douglass-Molloy.

I am always going to be on board with grumpy young women who are on the verge of going “tch” all the time but end up helping everyone around them anyway. It’s a type I really love, and it meant that I really loves the protagonist all through this book. It helps that she’s surrounded by other stock types. There’s the childhood friend who is so handsome that all the girls fall madly in love with him, who unfortunately only has eyes for Nicola. (She’s asked him not to go near her when anyone can see him, and to his credit he gets why and agrees.) There’s also the prince who’s seemingly casual but in reality quite a hard worker, and who loves the fact that Nicola literally gets a royal decree that she can be rude to him if she wants. In fact, I had such fun with the characters that the actual plot twist took me entirely by surprise, even though it shouldn’t have.

Nicola is, yes, reincarnated from Japan. In her previous life she could see spirits, and was taken in by a mentor to become a top-class exorcist… at least until she was sacrificed by some unknown assailant. Now she’s Nicola von Weber, a low-level noble who’s just starting at the academy. Already there, two years ahead of her, is Sieghart, who she met when they were both kids and who has attached himself to her like a lamprey. Sieghart, you see, is SO pretty that spirits haunt him constantly – and Nicola still has the exorcist powers that she had back in Japan, so she can help to, if not get rid of them, at least minimize them. Unfortunately, it turns out he’s not the only one beset by spirits, and now she has to deal with Prince Alois and his grumpy bodyguard Ernst.

First of all, a minor grump. I realize that authors and artists can’t always communicate well, but if your text constantly has Nicola be the usual “woe is me, I am so flat-chested and envy the large breasts of others”, perhaps convey that better in the art. Other than that, I love Nicola, a young woman who clearly *is* in love with the gorgeous Sieghart, but refuses to admit it to herself due to their status difference and her own stubborn embarrassment. She starts off basically thinking of herself as the only sane person surrounded by unthinking men, but as the book continues it becomes apparent that she’s the one who’s in the most danger of haring into danger at the slightest provocation. Sieghart is also well-handled, being a standard shoujo pretty boy but showing a lot more intelligence than most in that genre, as well as actual trauma from his constantly being haunted that affects a lot of the things he does.

This felt like it was written as a one-shot and then the editor demanded the ending be rewritten to allow for a continuation. Disappointing for romance fans, but I do admit I want to read more of this.

The Reincarnated Villainess Won’t Seek Revenge, Vol. 2

by

By Akako and Hazuki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shita Akuyaku Reijō wa Fukushū o Nozomanai” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by JCT.

Sometimes authors have to admit that they have certain strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult for the author themselves to be able to spot what their weakness actually is. Trust me, I’ve yelled at far too many light novel authors who think that falling over into someone’s tits is “funny”. So, I will state up front: the author of this series is not all that good at writing romance. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the book. But I basically enjoyed all the parts of the book that were Mary and Albert waffling around trying to figure out their love a lot less than I did things like all the action sequences, close encounters with certain death, and seeing deep into the mind of our very disturbed antagonist, who is taking game theory far more than it really needs to go. Now, in the end this book remains a romance novel, so you can argue it failed. But the middle bits ARE really good.

The day has been saved, the new king is on the throne, and the need for vengeance (mostly) no longer lies in everyone’s hearts. Sure, Queen Tia is still missing and presumably at large, but that’s a problem for a future date. That said, Mary is trying to decide what to do now, return to the place she grew up or stay as a handmaid to the knights. Then she gets waylaid by Albert, who proposes on the spur of the moment. She clearly has feelings for Albert, but she has fear as well – she worries that he loves Rosemary, and just sees her as a vessel for her soul. So she can’t say yes straight away, but she doesn’t want to say no either. And then, unfortunately, everything collapses as Rosemary’s funeral detail, with Reynaldo guarding her coffin, is attacked by bandits, and Mary herself is facing an assassination attempt. Guess we really do need to concentrate on Queen Tia.

Leaving aside its flaws, the author does some things very well indeed. The dramatic sequences in this book sing, moving at a very fast clip and showing a genuine sense of tension and menace, particularly whenever Queen Tia shows up. We get to know Tia a lot more in this second volume, and she’s just as unpleasant as you can imagine, but unlike a lot of “villainess” books content to make the antagonist rather shallow and one-note, we go deep into Tia disturbing psyche and see how much she truly enjoys seeing others suffer. It’s thus both cathartic and rather disquieting when we also focuses on the moments before her own execution, when she realizes that she won’t be able to manipulate her way out of this one. The one bit of the romance that did interest me was Reynaldo and Mary’s stupid plan to have Mary pretend to lose all of Rosemary’s memories, a scheme thankfully interrupted by the person who should most be dealing with this.

This is the final volume, so happy ever afters all around. Usually I say that a book starts great but tails off, or starts slow and then picks up. This is a rare book where you read it for the middle.

Manga the Week of 8/9/23

by , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: Getting geared up for back to school, which manga will you sneakily read behind a textbook… ah hell, it’s all gonna be on tablets now, isn’t it?

ASH: Depending on the students’ acumen, that may actually make things easier!

SEAN: Airship debuts a novel based on a short film, Summer Ghost. It’s a supernatural coming of age story, and you know what that means. Get ready for some dead teenagers.

ASH: That doesn’t seem to be a particularly uncommon theme in manga these days.

Airship also has Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 14 in print.

There’s also an early digital release of Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 8.

Fantagraphics has a box set collecting both volumes of Shintaro Kago’s Dementia 21. Recommended for lovers of the weird and disturbing.

ASH: Truly!

ANNA: Alright!

SEAN: And Ghost Ship gives us Rise of the Outlaw Tamer and His S-Rank Cat Girl 2.

It’s print week for J-Novel Club. We see Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 7 (the manga), Infinite Dendrogram 18, and My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me! 8.

The digital debut is the manga version of The Magician Who Rose From Failure (Shikkaku kara Hajimeru Nariagari Madou Shidou!), whose light novel J-Novel Club also releases. It runs in Comic Ride.

J-Novel Club also has Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade 5, Full Metal Panic! Short Stories 7, Gushing Over Magical Girls 7, My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer 9, Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want! 4, and the 2nd manga volume of Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want!.

Kaiten Books has a digital release of the 9th manga volume of Loner Life in Another World.

No debuts for Kodansha, but we get some print. Attack on Titan Omnibus 12 (the final volume, until the next repackaging), I’m Standing on a Million Lives 15, Lovesick Ellie 11, Peach Boy Riverside 12, and Quality Assurance in Another World 3.

MICHELLE: Yay Lovesick Ellie!

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

ANNA: Ohh, me too! This is something to look forward to for me.

SEAN: While digitally we see The Fable 17, Gang King 8, Giant Killing 38, Life 2: Giver/Taker 6 (the final volume), Orient 16, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 9, and WIND BREAKER 11.

MICHELLE: Yay Giant Killing!

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 8th volume of the Higehiro manga.

Two debuts from Seven Seas. Delinquent Daddy and Tender Teacher (Motoyan Papa to Hitsuji-sensei) is a BL title from Comic Fleur. A teacher who never manages to confess to the boy he liked in high school now finds that boy is a single father of one of his students.

ASH: Drama!

ANNA: LOL

SEAN: And Summer Ghost: The Complete Manga Collection is the manga version of the short film/novel, I mentioned above. It ran in Tonari no Young Jump.

Also from Seven Seas: Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 7, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 8, The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife 2, Last Game 2, Lazy Dungeon Master 5, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 17, Yokai Cats 5, and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition 3.

ASH: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is definitely something I’m looking forward to reading.

SEAN: Square Enix has the 9th manga volume of The Apothecary Diaries, the 9th manga volume of By the Grace of the Gods, My Isekai Life 8, and Tokyo Aliens 4.

Steamship has a second volume of The Villainess and the Demon Knight.

From SuBLime we see Megumi & Tsugumi 3 and Yarichin Bitch Club 5.

Viz has the debut of the week with Akane-banashi, a Shonen Jump series about a girl who wants to become a rakugo star, and it’s one of the breakout hits of the last year.

MICHELLE: Interesting!

ASH: This looks really good and I’ve heard great things.

ANNA: Huh, this wasn’t on my radar before, but it sounds interesting.

SEAN: And they also have Komi Can’t Communicate 26, Pokémon: Sword & Shield 7, Show-ha Shoten! 3, and Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 21.

ANNA: Reminder to myself to read more Sleepy Princess.

ASH: Same! It’s such a fun series.

SEAN: Apologies to Yen Press, because I missed two of their titles last week. The Reformation of the World as Overseen by a Realist Demon King (Realist Maou Niyoru Seiiki Naki Isekai Kaikaku) is a manga based on an unlicensed light novel about a new demon king who decides to win the day by using every dirty trick in the book. It runs in Dengeki Maoh.

And The Misfit of Demon King Academy is one of their “print version of a J-Novel Club light novel” titles.

In titles actually out next week, we see A Certain Magical Index: The Old Testament Omnibus Edition, collecting all 22 of the original Index novels into one 1,664-page book. The “Old Testament” part excited fans, who anticipated a license of the sequel. I would make a joke here, but Yen actually did just license the sequel, so well done!

ASH: That will be quite the tome!

SEAN: And there’s the light novel debut of You Can Have My Back, a BL take on the reincarnation fantasy. A young man recalls his past life (not in Japan, for once) where he was killed by a traitor. Worse, that traitor is still around.

Amazon’s Advanced Search is still broken, so apologies to everything on this I get wrong. What are you getting?

ASH: I remember the days when the advanced search largely worked; I miss them.

ANNA: Alas, boolean logic and advanced filtering options.

I’ll Use This Do-Over to Become the Ideal Lady’s Maid!

by

By Saki Ichibu and Cocosuke. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoseru Mitai nano de, Kondo Koso Akogare no Jijo wo Mezashimasu!” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

This is actually a very good book once you get past the rather odd premise. I am aware that Japan has a sort of maid THING, in all sorts of ways. And yes, I am sure that this also extends to the fantasy worlds that they write about, such as the one we see here. It just seems a bit weird to me to have the heroine, a noble lady who has the power to manipulate time and works for the royal family, saying that her goal after graduation is to go be a maid for some rich girl. Now, of course she imprinted on her own maid as a girl and wants to follow in her footsteps, and the maid described here is also a bodyguard and butler and every other thing you can think of. But it’s still kind of like someone graduating from Yale and deciding, instead of getting their doctorate, to go to a vo tech. That said, that’s fine too. She knows what she wants.

Emma Seagrove is rather startled to wake up one morning to find she’s got to get ready for her first day at the magical academy. She’s startled because, while she has time travel powers, she’s not supposed to use them to change history, and she did NOT deliberately go back in time! No matter how much she wanted to. Because she’s from 4 years in the future, after she graduated, and the night before she was dumped by her fiance publicly at a party so that he could marry her best friend. (You know, the usual Villainess plot.) Still, now that she IS here she might as well make the most of it. After testing things to see if she CAN change the future (yes, she can), she dedicates herself to making her original dream come true that she had to abandon the first time around: become a maid!

Once you get past the premise, the book itself is quite well done. The “bad guy”, her ex-fiance Bernard, is used very sparingly, mostly because he’s the only character in the book who is truly vile. I was a bit worried about Annette, her best friend, who is someone who “excels at getting others to take care of and spoil her”. The author’s other series, Formerly the Fallen Daughter of the Duke, has a very annoying character who runs along similar lines. But Annette surprised me near the end of the book with a plot twist that I should have seen coming but did not. And of course there’s also a romance here as well, but it takes a back seat to Emma trying to get out of her engagement and learn maid skills – something that is actually MUCH HARDER because, in this new go-round, she has far more magical power than she used to. Emma is a very likeable heroine, and you want her to succeed.

This is a single-volume series, so I definitely recommend giving it a try, as it won’t become a potential financial and time burden. Hope you love maids, though. But who doesn’t?

Lovestruck Prince! I’ll Fight the Heroine for my Villainous Fiancée!, Vol. 2

by

By Shakushineko and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Betabore no Kon’yakusha ga Akuyaku Reijō ni Saresō nanode Heroine gawa ni wa Sore Sōō no Mukui o Ukete Morau” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Mittt Liu.

As with so many of these books that are written as one-offs but unexpectedly become popular, the subtitle to this second volume is inaccurate. The “heroine” of the first book is still being emotionally tortured by sadistic magic expert Raphael, and doesn’t figure into this volume. A more accurate subtitle might be “I’ll Fight the Foreign Prince for My Villainous Fiancée!”. As with the first book, Elizabeth is about as villainous as a wet rag, but due to plot circumstances we do get to see her acting the part near the end. This is actually the funniest moment in the book, as she’s absolutely terrible at being bad, even if it’s for good reasons. As for the series itself, it remains “decent”. There’s nothing overtly wrong with it, and the main couple are sweet, but unfortunately it also lacks that certain something to make it stand out from the pack.

Things are mostly going well for Vincent and Elizabeth. The young lady plotting their downfall has been dealt with in a vaguely creepy but also pretty permanent manner. The guy who was also antagonizing them is now under house arrest. And they’ve even managed to confess to each other in the shyest, most adorable way possible. What could possibly go wrong? Well, for a start, Lord Lars is back, and he’s now a dragon. A tiny dragon the size of a cat. And seems to have very little memory of being Lars except a vague “I am imprinted on Elizabeth” sort of way. More importantly, there are visitors from the neighboring kingdom of Orion, which is currently undergoing a bit of a throne war. In that case, why is Second Prince Leohardt arriving to study at the academy? And why is he bringing along a baron’s daughter who can barely string two sentences together without screwing up?

The most interesting part of this book is how they set things up so that Lecia, the aforementioned baron’s daughter, can marry the First Prince. Normally the status difference would be far too great, so everyone assumes that the second prince is going to unseat his brother from the throne and thus make it OK for him to marry Lecia. But no, Leohardt is craftier than that (a lot is made about his demonic smile throughout the book). The plan they have instead is a bit of an ass pull (it’s fortunate that a mere baron’s daughter can punch out all that magic after simply seeing one traumatic event) but I’m OK with the handwave, especially as it allows our “villainess” to show off her absolutely terrible acting chops. Leohardt is also very interested in Elizabeth… supposedly, this may also be a lie… but by now she is very firm at rejecting other suitors. We even get a few more scenes from her POV, which were welcome.

There is a third book in this series, and judging by the wedding outfits on the cover it’s the final one. Given that Vincent can’t even bring himself to kiss Elizabeth on the lips, they likely need to third volume to build up the nerve. Recommended for those who like adorable dorks being dorky.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 1

by

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.

Just because a series is trying to be “Slow Life” does not mean that it can’t make things difficult for our protagonist. We can’t all get magical farming implements and a harem of young girls, or find that we have the power to control slimes that can do virtually anything. Sometimes even OP is not enough if you don’t know how to use it, and are in the middle of nowhere. This does, though, make it rewarding, for those who can tolerate a book starts starts very slowly, to see Sara slowly figure out things like how not to immediately get eaten by wolves, or which magical herbs will net the most cash when her mentor/older sister figure takes them into town. And then even that is taken away from her, and she’s forced to go on a perilous journey to find her guardian, make friends, and deal with the worst of isekai enemies: that jerk from that one guild.

Sarasa has spent her entire life in Japan feeling drained of energy, just lethargic all the time. Then one day, coming home from work, she ends up in the realm of a goddess, who explains that the reason she has so little energy is her body was designed to run on mana, which our world doesn’t have. The goddess proceeds to reincarnate her in a world which has TOO MUCH mana, where Sarasa (shortened to Sara) can be a mana sponge. Sadly, she’s dropped in the middle of nowhere on a mountain surrounded by dangerous animals. But there is one young woman there, a mysterious hunter named Nelly, who will help Sara get accustomed to things, give her a textbook on how to learn magic, and help her build up the stamina needed for a five-day trip into town. Which she will need, as after two years or so of slow life cabin living, Nelly doesn’t come back one day, so Sara goes to search for her.

I enjoyed most of this book, so let’s start with a quibble. I get that for most writers now the isekai is just a necessary evil to get readers to start the book, but don’t be so half-assed about it! The goddess handwaves the fact that Sarasa isn’t even run over by a truck, saying “I’ll explain things to your family”, and Sarasa just sort of shrugs? Other than that, this i a solid fantasy. Sara is very likeable, which helps get us through the first third of the book or so, which is mainly her slowly learning how to use magic. The second half gets her into town, where she meets a best friend, who has his own issues, and together the two of them deal with prejudice against those who were not already born into privilege, and we discover that Nelly was absolutely not a normal everyday hunter… and Sara is also far from normal as well.

So yeah, another book to throw on the decent isekai pile. Plus it has a great running gag! I love great running gags, especially if they involve wolves.

The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles, Vol. 4

by

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.

“Well, well, well, look who’s come crawling back.” Yeah, I know. My last review of this title said I was dropping it for being too dark, but here I am. This is what happens when you forget to cancel the preorder. But I mean, I felt like a military book, so I thought fine, why not? And I mean, it is still dark. The young woman on the cover has a collection of the heads of all of her family in her tent, just so that she remembers who killed them as she goes after her quest for vengeance. The “heroine” (always a dangerous word to use in this series which enjoys making its heroines badass but also damsels them a lot) pends the entire book being abused despite her status as a prisoner of war. And, of course, our hero proves that he is one dead friend away from losing it entirely, to the point where even the cool semi-sentient weapons of this world are sending prophetic dreams saying “could you all talk this goombah down PLEASE?”.

Hiro gets back to the capital to find bad news and worse news. Liz has somehow been taken prisoner by the enemy, and the guy in charge of her is delighting to see how far her blessing goes before he can destroy it and assault her. Aura is holed up in a fortress, surrounded by enemies, and with no real way to rescue her. He has to choose who to save and who to sacrifice. Hiro being Hiro, he chooses to save both of them. This he does by being as arrogant and powerful as possible – he’s got the power to back up his words, to the horror of everyone who tries to take him on. He manipulates, he lies, and he coerces, and his army are also super powerful, so it works even though they’re severely outnumbered. Unfortunately, there’s a new enemy yet to be accounted for, and she bears a weapon called Gae Bolg and is named Scáthach. Yes, that’s right, we’re finally crossing over with the Fate universe.

OK, not really. Scáthach is merely a former royal who had to watch as her entire enemy was butchered by the Empire – the Empire, that is, that Hiro and Liz are part of. She recognizes that Liz, at least, is not a monster like those who killed her family, but this does not stop her from using Liz as a giant popsicle to try to discourage those on the Empire’s side. It will not surprise you to find she’s pledged herself to Hiro by the end of the book. As for Hiro, thank God he’s not a real isekai hero. I mean, yes, he is, this book began with him in Japan and he got transported to another world, but you know what I mean. Hiro’s thoughts and attitude are informed by his past life here, and Japan basically never comes up, meaning he lacks the bland potato-ness of many of those heroes. One might argue this makes him something of a monster, but that’s why Liz is being told by her sword to calm him down.

That said, the Emperor and some of his family are definitely not the good guys here, so I feel we’re going to get pretty throne war-ish soon. Will I keep reading? I dunno, if I’m in the mood for more military battles, which take up the bulk of this book.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/31/23

by and Leave a Comment

Insomniacs After School, Vol. 2 | By Makoto Ojiro | Viz Media – It can be hard to start up a club that’s already been shut down before. First of all, there’s the question of what the actual club activities were, which requires Ganta and Isaki to hunt down a graduate who is now running an arcade out in the boonies. Secondly, there’s the question of what to do when your class goes on a camping trip but you’re still suffering from that pesky insomnia? This is especially a problem for Ganta, who tends to behave when sleepy in a way that gets him into trouble. And the most important question, can the series manage to suggest that there’s potential romance for those two kids without them actually doing anything specific? Signs point to yes on that last one. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 9 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – It’s time for our main cast to become second years, which means that they’re the ones who have to mentor the new first years. There’s a lot of excellent new talents, though Sarasa is dealing with the fact that her new kohai does not really see her as a figure of respect yet. The bigger plot point, though, and one which will definitely be impacting Sarasa in the next book, is what happens with Ai. After taking over for Sarasa as Thibault in the first-year play, it’s suggested that she might want to think about whether she’d make a better otokoyaku… and while she appears to give it a bit of thought, the fact that she shows up at the climax of this book with short hair shows she seems to have made her decision. Great stuff as always. – Sean Gaffney

Matcha Made in Heaven, Vol 6 | By Umebachi Yamanaka | Kodansha (digital only) – This fake marriage josei series with a focus on tea-making continues to show the relationship between Chako and Isshin evolving even though he’s away in the land of corporate beverage manufacturers. When a typhoon hits the tea farm, Chako risks herself to try to save Isshin’s special tea crop and he comes to the rescue just in time. While Isshin is still not easily able to express himself like a normal human being, he puts all of his feelings into a tea blend inspired by his feelings for Chako. Her dedication to her family farm and niece is admirable, but I’m hoping that a more secure future for the family tea business makes life a little easier for her. I’m still wondering about the uselessness of her writer brother—he better sell an amazing novel to make up for being an absentee father and non-tea farmer. This series is still enjoyable six volumes in. – Anna N

Scribbles, Vol. 1 | By Kaoru Mori | Yen Press – This just came out last year in Japan, but it seems to be scribbles that were entirely drawn during the Emma period of the artist’s career—don’t expect anything from A Bride’s Story here. That said, I would happily look at anything Kaoru Mori draws, and what she gives us here are gorgeous sketches of men and women in formal wear, informal wear, and even one or two nudes. For the most part this is Emma and Emma-adjacent, so expect maids, maids, and more maids. Each drawing has comments next to it, which are rarely insightful but frequently amusing and show off how much she enjoys drawing attractive people. This is only worth picking up if you’re a fan of the artist, but if you are it’s a must buy. – Sean Gaffney

The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, Vol. 3 | By Takashi Ikeda| Seven Seas – The career stuff ends up taking a step back here—the big project that Wanko was going to be a part of is cancelled. Meanwhile, Ellie is trying to write a bold new project, but is unfortunately getting some very good advice about it—advice that consists of telling her how unrealistic she’s being. Things are far better on the romance front, and we’re reaching a point that the two of them are getting more and more open about their relationship. Mostly, though, you don’t really read this for plot but mood, and the author is one of the best when it comes to setting a mood. Recommended for those who enjoy seeing adult lesbians doing everyday things. – Sean Gaffney

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 5: Avatar of a Goddess, Vol. 5

by

By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

If you go to Pixiv and look at fanart of the Bookworm series (please god set your setting to all ages), you will find that a good 90% of it is Rozemyne/Ferdinand shipping. If you go to AO3 to look for Bookworm fanfics, you will likewise see that 90% of it is shipping Rozemyne with Ferdinand. And, I assume, if the idea of the ship really bothers you, you’ve probably already dropped the series. And in this book we see that it’s not just fans of this fictional universe: all the nobles see it. Rozemyne and Ferdinand are far too close. The books have basically has as a major selling point that we see Rozemyne’s view of a thing, and then frequently get the noble view, showing how incredibly wrong or off base she is. She’s not a great narrator in the “truth” sense. And we see that here as well – only Rozemyne is in denial about this, saying that Ferdinand is like family, and that she’d do the same for other members of her family. Uh-huh.

The bulk of this book is taken up with the Archduke’s Conference, which normally would not involve Rozemyne, but she’s there to do blessings. She’s also sent to the underground archive, along with Hannelore and Hildebrand, to translate the writing there. Unfortunately, this means that she’s there when Detlinde stops by to essentially Detlinde all over the library, so she and the others have to hide. They do so by essentially sneaking out the back of the library and into a forested area, where they find a small, unlooked-after shrine. Rozemyne being who she is, she immediately cleans it, then goes to see what’s inside… and gets sucked into the shrine. What she finds is that she’s a potential Zent candidate and she gets a clue for finding the magic doodad that will automatically grand power to whoever finds it.

There’s no getting around it, this is a much darker book than the last few have been. Leaving aside the final story in the volume, which seems to imply we’re about to have a supporting cast member be horribly murdered, there’s everything about Rozemyne being a Zent candidate. The problem being that she’s not a royal. And this leads to bad things happening to her and Ehrenfest. Anastasius and Eglantine, two royals she thought were her friends, show how little that friendship really means when the fate of the nation is at stake. Her marriage to Wilfried is annulled, which does not bother her at all, but now she’s engaged to Sigiswald, which is bad because, as Adolphine already knows, he’s a terrible human being. And she has to leave Ehrenfest, who initially are supposed to just accept it and suffer, though thankfully Rozemyne’s inner Benno rises to the fore and she gets some concessions. This whole book is a game-changer, and the game is getting more dangerous.

And, as noted above, there is Ferdinand, who at least is no longer in danger of being executed for failing to contain the disaster that is Detlinde. Will he show up in the next book? Probably. And will Rozemyne stop looking nine years old? Probably not just yet.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 9

by

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The review I did with the last volume indicated that I expected the main thrust of this one to be a big battle between Van and Ruti, and Ruti’s smiling presence on the cover art might seem to indicate that she is victorious. Which is kind of true, but it’s rather remarkable how little Ruti is in this book. the bulk of the story here is spent trying to do two things: 1) get Van to actually listen to other’s advice and be a bit less sociopathic, and b) have him not find out this is where Ruti is. They’re unsuccessful on the second one but manage to mostly succeed on the first one, because of course this book isn’t about the hero, or even the former hero, it’s about that guy who was banished from the hero’s party and living a quiet life in the countryside. As such, it’s Red/Gideon who saves the day, by going back to his roots.

Van has temporarily left Zoltan, but he’ll be back very soon, and they need a way to try to get through to him. Their instinct is to try to go through his two most stubborn allies. Red will try to talk to Ljubo, the corrupt cardinal from the Church who is trying to guide Van on the hero’s path, and Rit will attempt to reason with Lavender, the killer fairy who has a severely maladjusted idea of what love is. Both these negotiations go fairly well, all things considered, perhaps the first one better than the second. Unfortunately, things completely go to hell when a girl is accidentally led into danger by a fairy dragon, and Van thinks that, even though the fairy dragon has apologized and the girl herself doesn’t want it, the only solution is murder. And unfortunately, his blessing has decided to stop speaking to him…

The best part of this book, as I hinted above, is Red going back to being Gideon temporarily and being the Guide for the newest Hero. He realizes that the best way to try to break Van is to make him MORE emotional, not less, and this actually works, as eventually Van gets so angry and frustrated that he simply snaps, which makes it much easier to fight him, as he doesn’t really do anything other than “attack head on” and rely on healing powers. That said, the book also shows signs of the back half being rushed. Ljubo, the cardinal who is persuaded by Red and his allies to dissuade Van from destroying Zoltan, ends up being brutally murdered by Van… and then is literally never mentioned or heard about again. I get that he was a bad guy, but still, at least acknowledge that Van did a murder.

the next book in the series promises Van aftermath, though, so it may come up there. That said, I do hope we get back to Red and Rit wuv wuv time, as while there was some of that here it wasn’t really enough. The quiet life is the point.