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Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower, Vol. 10

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By Miri Mikawa and Kasumi Nagi. Released in Japan as “Ikka Kōkyū Ryōrichō” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hunter Prigg.

For a great deal of this series, we’ve been presented with a question: who will Rimi end up with? It seemed fairly obvious for the first half, as it was very much a romance between her and Shusei, bonding over food and dodging inner court intrigue. But then Shohi also fell in love with Rimi, and things got shaken up… to the point that Shusei is now starting a war in order to gain the throne so he can get what he wants. Ironically, if he’s only waited a little bit longer he might have gotten it anyway, as while it’s clear Shohi does love Rimi, and she loves him, their relationship is explicitly likened to a mother and son, and so when he’s told he needs to sire an heir NOW because of the upcoming war, he can’t see Rimi as a partner in that way. This WOULD be good news for Shusei… if it weren’t for the last three or four books, and honestly, I’m starting to wonder if the books might now just end with no romantic resolution at all.

Rushing back to the palace, Shohi and company find that a large number of the bureaucrats have switched sides, and are asking him to abdicate. This includes Shusei, who is generously giving him ten days to decide whether to abdicate or go to war. And Shusei, by far, has the larger force to make war. There are, unfortunately, other problems as well. They still haven’t found the spy in the court, Mars. Tama has been out of sorts ever since they returned, and her actions midway through the book cause a crisis. Oh yes, and Shohi starts to become ill and also go blind, which doctors say is some mysterious illness, but the reader can very obviously see is because he’s being poisoned. By Hakurei. Which… makes no sense whatsoever. Can Rimi figure out what’s really going on? And are they really going to war?

Mars’ identity has been a well-placed mystery this whole book, and when it’s revealed here it makes sense – I won’t spoil it, but it has an impact. I also enjoyed seeing the four consorts have a large role in this book, especially Ho, who is forced to deal with all the manipulation Hakurei has done against her and help with the main plotline. (Yo continues to be comedy relief, alas, but at least she’s funny most of the time.) As for Shusei and Rimi, it’s very clear from Shusei’s actions that he’s got several tricks up his sleeve, and I don’t think all of those involve his own victory. Unfortunately, given he’s a traitor, and also given Rimi right now thinks that “Lord Ho” has killed the Shusei she knew and is 100% against him, I’m not sure quite how this ends. Exile with Rimi at his side would feel far too pat.

I should not have too long to find out, though, as the next book is the last in the series. A good addition to one of the classic “intrigue in the emperor’s court” genre.

Manga the Week of 6/21/23

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SEAN: Manga the Week of is happy to celebrate Juneteenth, and hopes the day off lets you read more manga.

It’s Yen week, so there’s plenty of it. Starting with Yen On. There are two debuts. The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey (Setsuna no Fūkei) is one of those “summoned as a hero” books that tries to take a long look at what that sort of thing would do to the psyche of a person. The description makes it almost sound like Frieren.

Yami-hara is a one-shot novel. The author is famous for her mysteries, but this seems more horror than anything. The plot description… does not really reveal anything.

MICHELLE: Indeed not!

ASH: Oh, I am intrigued, though! (And had somehow missed that another of Mizuki Tsujimura’s novels was being translated…)

SEAN: We’ve also got Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 3, Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 10, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle 4, Date a Live 9, Gods’ Games We Play 2, My Happy Marriage 4, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Nightingale (11th in the series), Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- 22, So I’m a Spider, So What? 16 (the final volume), Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 12, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 8.

Yen Press has a bunch of new series as well. Appare-Ranman! is a 3-in-1 omnibus, and thus done-in-one. It ran in Young Ace, and is based on an anime of the same name. A young man decides to do a cross-country race to earn money so he can go to the moon.

ASH: This seems like it could be fun.

SEAN: Bloody Sweet is a Korean title based off a webcomic (is that the word? Those “read as a long strip on your phone” comics), about a bullied shaman’s daughter who gets rescued by an ancient vampire.

The Essence of Being a Muse (Muse no Shinzui) is a Comic Beam title. A girl who’s always stuck to the path that her mother has laid out for her as an artist finally snaps, runs away from home, and resolves to try to find her own way of doing things.

ASH: My curiosity has been piqued; I often find artist stories interesting.

SEAN: Handyman Saito in Another World (Benriya Saitou-san, Isekai ni Iku) runs on Comic Walker, and was adapted into an anime recently. A jack-of-all-trades who finds himself underappreciated in Japan ends up in a fantasy world, and realizes that jack-of-all-trades is an awesome power!

ASH: Never underappreciate a jack-of-all-trades.

SEAN: Higurashi When They Cry: GOU was framed initially as a reboot of the series, but by now everyone has been spoiled that it’s a pure sequel. Who can possibly completely destroy our heroes’ lives now? This ran in Young Ace Up, and is an omnibus of the first two books in the series.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese (Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka ~ Memoria Frese) runs on Manga Up!, and seems to be an adaptation of the mobile game.

My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AO— (Sokushi Cheat ga Saikyou Sugite, Isekai no Yatsura ga Marude Aite ni Naranai n desu ga) is the print edition of J-Novel Club’s manga.

A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom (Tensei Majo wa Horobi wo Tsugeru) features the ever-popular Truck-kun, who kills our heroine and sends her to the next world. Sadly, she’s a witch there, so everyone hates and fears her. This runs in shoujo magazine Flos Comic.

MICHELLE: Truck-kun, why must you be this way?!

SEAN: Scribbles is a collection of sketches by Kaoru Mori, and as such is must-buy.

ANNA: Cool!

ASH: Very excited for this one!

Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night (Sword Art Online: Progressive – Kuraki Yuuyami no Scherzo) starts the new arc of the Progressive manga.

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (Cider no you ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru) is a Comic Alive (my nemesis!) title based on the feature film. It’s also an omnibus. She was a streamer girl, he was a haiku boy, could I make it any more obvious?

ASH: Haiku! I apparently need to catch up on my film watching.

SEAN: Yen Press has non-debuts as well! We get Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 2, Assorted Entanglements 2, Chained Soldier 4, Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie 4, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 14, Gahi-chan! 2, The Holy Grail of Eris 4, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady 4, Monster and the Beast 4 (the final volume), No Longer Heroine 3, The Otherworlder, Exploring the Dungeon 2, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 6, Overlord: The Undead King Oh! 10, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 2, So I’m a Spider, So What? 12, SOTUS 2, The Splendid Work of a Monster Maid 5 (the final volume), Uncle from Another World 7, Unnamed Memory 3, Val x Love 14, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 6.

ASH: I enjoyed the earlier volumes of Monster and the Beast, so I guess I should finish out the series!

SEAN: Viz has a new Signature title, Until I Love Myself (Jibun no Karada wo Yurusu made). It’s an autobiographical manga about coming to terms with being nonbinary. It ran in seinen magazine Yawaraka Spirits.

ASH: Signature titles are always a good bet and I am particularly interested in this subject matter.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Alice in Borderland 6, Beast Complex 3, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 8, Golden Kamuy 29, Insomniacs After School 2, Love’s in Sight! 2, Mission: Yozakura Family 5, Persona 5 10, and Requiem of the Rose King 17 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: Very excited to see how Requiem of the Rose King ends.

SEAN: Technically we’ve known how it ends since the 16th century.

MICHELLE: Snerk. Valid point, though I expect Bosworth Field with a twist.

ANNA: I need to catch up.

ASH: I am absolutely here for the finale of Requiem of the Rose King.

SEAN: From Square Enix we see Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! 7 and Wandering Witch 4. Not sure what happened there, I could swear these were last week.

MICHELLE: I thought so, too.

ASH: Hmmm…

SEAN: Seven Seas has one debut. What He Who Doesn’t Believe in Fate Says (Unmei wo Shinjinai Kare ga Iu ni wa) runs in pixiv Sylph, and is a story of college students and the “red strings of fate” that determine love.

MICHELLE: Apparently, the red strings will occasionally be printed in color!

ASH: That is very cool.

SEAN: There is also The Dragon Knight’s Beloved 5, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 7, Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 3, Time Stop Hero 7, and Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! 9.

Kodansha Books has a 3rd volume of The Dawn of the Witch.

Kodansha Manga has a print debut of a title they’ve been putting out digitally, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms (Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsuujinai), a Weekly Shonen Magazine story about a girl trying to get a monk in training to fall for her.

Also in print: Drifting Dragons 13, Fire Force 33, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 5, Something’s Wrong With Us 15 (the final volume, though I think there’s after stories), and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 7.

ASH: I need to catch up with Drifting Dragons; I was really enjoying that series but got distracted by other things.

SEAN: And in digital the debut is Messiah -CODE EDGE-. This runs in Aria, and is based on another project that I know nothing about. Basically, it’s spies, in pairs, with romance. And they’re all guys, so I guess it’s BL romance?

MICHELLE: The blurb says, “Mysterious, handsome young men working as spy-pairs for a secret agency, the Church, are forbidden to love anyone but their partners.” So… yeah. :)

ANNA: Heh.

SEAN: There’s also The Café Terrace and its Goddesses 8, The Dawn of the Witch 3, Gamaran 10, Mr. Bride 8, Small Nozomi and Big Yume 2, This Vampire Won’t Give Up! 5 (the final volume – I guess they gave up), and Vampire Dormitory 10.

MICHELLE: LOL. Maybe they moved into the dormitory.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a 5th volume of Gacha Girls Corps digitally.

J-Novel Club has a debut in its Heart line. Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight (Doinaka no Hakugai Reijо̄ wa О̄to Elite Kishi ni Dekiai Sareru). Not isekai’d or reincarnated, but the heroine is still abused by her family. When she runs away and is rescued by a knight, will things improve?

ASH: I’m still delighted that the Heart line exists.

SEAN: We also see By the Grace of the Gods 12, The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom 4, Doll-Kara 5, An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! 3, the 4th Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World manga volume, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 23, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 8, Sometimes Even Reality Is a Lie! 3, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 11, Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! 8, and the 3rd Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster manga.

From Ghost Ship we have Into the Deepest, Most Unknowable Dungeon 6 and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 4.

Airship has just one print title, the 5th volume of Loner Life in Another World.

And for early digital we see She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 8 and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 4.

I know, you likely stopped halfway through Yen Press. But what are you getting regardless?

The Ideal Sponger Life, Vol. 12

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By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Jyuu Ayakura. Released in Japan as “Risou no Himo Seikatsu” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT.

You don’t see it quite as much these days, but, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a thing called a “backdoor pilot”. The creators had a show they wanted to get on television, but knew it did not quite have the pull with the networks to get it there on its own. So what would happen is that you’d be watching, say, The Golden Girls, and the episode would instead be devoted almost entirely to a new cast, with the members of The Golden Girls basically serving as a cameo. (See: Empty Nest, as I’m using a real example). Now, sometimes this did not work, and what you ended up with was one of the characters of your hit show meeting a whole group of people, introducing all their plot points and characters, and then we simply never see them again. I mention this because boy, this 12th volume of The Ideal Sponger Life sure seems like it’s a backdoor pilot to show off adventures here in not-Poland.

Freya, Zenjirou and company are making their way slowly back to Uppasala, but they can’t just said there on a non-stop boat ride. So they dock for a few days in the country of Złota Wolność, which is sort of like what Poland would be if it was France. There they try to relax, but are almost immediately caught up in something, as a young orphan boy has big news to tell the priest who came to his (now destroyed) village a year or so ago, and in order to see the priest, he needs people with clout. People like Zenjirou. What they find is that the port is about to be invaded, and they’ll need to rally forces to have a hope of fending it off. Fortunately, they have a royal on their side, who drops in – literally – to help them. Naturally, this has the added benefit of helping her own fight for the throne…

In many ways, The Ideal Sponger Life also reminds me a lot of Bookworm, in that Zenjirou and Rozemyne both seem to casually upend everyone’s lives without even realizing it. I imagine that Aura, like Sylvester, is going to be rubbing her head to ward off the migraine when she hears about what happened. Honestly, Zenjirou does quite well here given the circumstances – despite his “I’m just an ordinary vice-commander… erm, royal consort” talk, he’s quick enough to spot that Anna has an ulterior motive behind all of this. Unfortunately, he and Freya are not quite quick enough to pick up on how she plans to draw them into it, though this will affect Freya more than it does the Southern Continent. There’s also some very interesting history dropped into the conversation at a party which ties in to Francesca’s people, though given that she stated she won’t talk about it till they return to Capua, it may have to be put on the back burner.

All in all, the most inaccurately titled light novel ever continues to trundle along, even as this volume feels like it wants to be the start of some other series set in the same world. Next time we should actually reach Freya’s homeland.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!, Vol. 4

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By Touko Amekawa and Wan*Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuukimama na Hanayome (Hitojichi) Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Amy Osteraas. Adapted by Vida Cruz-Borja.

The 4th volume in the series decides to lean a little less on “why is Prince Arnold so determined to go to war with everyone in the future” and focus more on “why are Prince Arnold and Rishe not admitting they’ve both completely fallen for one another? Well, they have, sort of. In their own way. The trouble with agendas is that it can be very difficult to admit explicit feelings of love when you know that eventually you’re going to destroy several countries. Or, in Rishe’s case, when you’re trying to juggle six prior lifetimes and solve each issue with them one by one to get a golden ending. That said, this book is far more explicitly romantic than the previous three, even if it does throw in the cliched “heroine is scared of ghosts” subplot. To be fair to Rishe, though, she has looped over and over. Given that’s possible, anything is.

While the romance at the start of the book is still theoretical, the wedding plans are trucking along anyway. In particular, they’re starting to get foreign visitors who will be there for the wedding, including the prince of Siguel, Curtis, and the princess, Harriet. Harriet is currently preparing for a political marriage in the neighboring kingdom of Fabrannia, a fact that Rishe knows all too well. She was a hunter in Siguel in her 5th life, and remembers Queen Harriet as an evil spendthrift who was executed and led to Siguel being forced to go to war against (who else?) Prince Arnold. As with previous books, Rishe has to fix things so that events don’t turn out that way. This time, though, there’s an added twist: Harriet is a fluffy hamster of a woman, and is highly unlikely to have been remotely evil.

There are several points in this book where Rishe is thrown off her game, but frankly they all involve Prince Arnold. Around him she gets flustered and stammering. Away from him she is, as the antagonist of the book Raul notes, “a monster”. Hell, even Raul isn’t a real antagonist, because here she actually can use all the info from her past life to save him. Harriet is trickier, but Rishe still manages to act as a sword-wielding guardsman, show Harriet that proper skincare is a great way to gain confidence, and fake being poisoned to let everyone think that she won’t be riding to the rescue with Prince Arnold, shooting down enemies with a bow and arrow and dramatically crashing through a stained glass window. Frankly, I think it’s Arnold who should be terrified of her. But this isn’t really that sort of genre.

I can’t wait for the next book. Alas, I may have to. This is the last to date, and a 5th is on Amazon Japan with a release date of “2100”. Let’s hope we can get the end of Rishe’s story.

Bookshelf Briefs 6/14/23

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The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vol. 11 | By Tsunami Umino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The copious adulting continues in this volume to the point where it’s a little stressful at times. I guess I prefer my manga threats to be opposing teams or nefarious foes rather than a casually sexist boss who gets on your case because you did too good a job leaving detailed instructions for your sloppy coworker. Anyway, the baby is born and Mikuri and Hiramasa seem poised to be a good team for the duration. Numata organizes a forum for sharing workplace complaints, and it’s at this point that the themes of this sequel—the necessity of which I’d begun to doubt—become clear: 1) communication is key and 2) there are all kinds of families in this world. If you don’t end up getting married or having children, you can still create a family with friends who support you. And that’s nice, if a little preachy in execution. – Michelle Smith

Last Game, Vol. 1 | By Shinobu Amano | Seven Seas – Reading this book was like time-traveling back to 2008 or so. This is such a LaLa title, perhaps the ur-LaLa title. It wraps up in about 140 pages despite the fact that there’s clearly ten more volumes to go. There’s 60 pages of unrelated short stories from earlier in the author’s career at the end. The art is messy and filled with asides. It was like drowning in nostalgia. As for the book itself, it was pretty good. Most of these series are from the POV of the heroine, so it’s nice to see it narrated by the guy, who’s… well, a smug asshole, but the circumstances explain that, and he gets rid of that side pretty quick. It’s when he turns out to be caring and considerate that it really takes off. Still, hasn’t it finished? What’s next? – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 34 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – The first half of this volume really made me angry, introducing the most powerful woman in the series to date and then killing her off to develop the character of the villain. It’s appalling, and thank God for fanfics. The second half is much better. Remember the whole “there’s a traitor in UA” plot? From 30-odd volumes ago? Turns out it’s true, and after a terrific fake-out that focuses attention on someone who everyone suspected, it turns out to be another obvious suspect… though the circumstances behind it are, thankfully, tragic rather than “ha ha, I was evil all along.” This is where MHA shines, in the character writing and the plots that develop from it. Shame the new character was never given that chance. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 48 | By Yoshiki Namamura | VIZ Media – Even though this is another slim volume, it manages to fit in several scenes that exemplify what makes Skip Beat! great. I enjoyed the brief moment during which we see Kyoko and Moko talking shop about filming scenes out of order. And more than that, I enjoyed the Kyoko and Ren chapters at the end where she realizes “I have no idea how close I’m allowed to get!” (We even get a return of the grudge demons as they are bombarded by Ren’s happiness beam.) But even more than that, I adored the absolutely riveting scene of Kyoko in character as Momiji as she manages to impress everyone, including visiting eccentric producer Leonard Herbert. It’s pretty exciting to contemplate that, after 48 volumes, Kyoko’s career might be on the verge of really taking off. I still love this series after all these years. – Michelle Smith

20 km/h | By Woshibai | Drawn & Quarterly – 20 km/h is a collection of surrealist short comics by Woshibai, an anonymous illustrator and cartoonist based in Shanghai. While there are recurring characters and themes, there isn’t a central narrative; the comics can be read independently from one another and largely stand on their own. However, they make for a wonderfully effective collection when taken together as a whole. The volume is almost entirely without dialogue, sound effects, or narration, the translation largely limited to the actual titles of the individual comics. The collection’s success, then, comes from readers taking the time to directly engage with the details of the comics’ surreal scenarios. Those who rush through without pause will likely find 20 km/h to be less satisfying, but I absolutely loved this collection with its dry humor and poetic strangeness. Woshibai’s illustrations may be simple, but the resulting comics are surprisingly layered and nuanced, inciting a sense of both wonder and resignation towards the absurdities of life, real and imagined. – Ash Brown

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Vol. 2 | By Hitoshi Ashinano | Seven Seas – I really do appreciate that, though this series obviously stars Alpha, she does not have to be present in every chapter, and that we frequently get a look at the other members of the cast as they’re doing their own thing. Which makes sense, because not everyone can travel out to the middle of nowhere for coffee, especially if there’s a 50-50 shot that Alpha is away in another city visiting Kokone, or shopping for supplies, or just passed out because she tried to drink milk again and it reacted badly. (Honestly, Alpha doesn’t seem the same as the other robots, even if we weren’t already meeting her suspiciously familiar creator.) Again, if you like slice-of-apocalyptic-life, this is a must read. – Sean Gaffney

To Every You I’ve Loved Before & To Me, the One Who Loved You

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By Yomoji Otono. Released in Japan as “Boku ga Aishita Subete no Kimi e” and “Kimi o Aishita Hitori no Boku e” by Hayakawa Bunko JA. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Molly Lee.

First of all, I will note a couple of things. a) I am reviewing two linked novels here, so the titles are separated above by the & sign. b) there will be more spoilers than usual. Even summarizing them destroys the surprise. When I first saw the solicit of these two titles, I had assumed they were part of a multimedia project like so many of Yen and Seven Seas’ novel licenses these days, and that it would be another slight variation on Your Name. But no, this is instead more like Otherside Picnic or Last and First Idol, a science fiction series with a heavy helping of theory mixed into its plotlines. Get ready to understand a lot more about parallel universes than you did before. The books were advertised as something you could read in either order, and I read them in the order I give above. I recommend that order too, for reasons I will lay out later in the review. Did I enjoy it? Kind of, in a detached sort of way.

In the first book, we meet the protagonist, Koyomi. He’s a smart kid, with a father who’s an expert in imaginary sciences. They’ve discovered that we’re constantly shifting between parallel universes, and developed wristwatches to let you know when it happens. In high school he meets Kazune, a classmate and rival, and becomes friends with her one day when she tells him she’s a different Kazune from a different universe. The book shows their life together. The second book has the same premise, but here the imaginary sciences are not as developed as they were in the first world. Koyomi and his father work with another brilliant scientist and her daughter, Shiori. Koyomi and Shiori grow close, but when tragedy strikes Koyomi finds himself going down a dark path that may not have a solution.

I can see how the final scene of the first book would be a lot more impactful if you’d read the second one first, as opposed to my own feeling, which was mild puzzlement. That said, I think if I’d started with the second book I’d have dropped this halfway as being too dark and angsty. The first book is a cute romance between two nice people. He falls in love relatively quickly, she takes a bit longer (“You’ll do” was the funniest line in both books), they get married and have a child, they grow old together. The drama near the end is character-based, involving grief and how parallel universes might lead one to commit a crime over that grief. The second book is almost entirely ABOUT that, as Shiori’s death comes before the novel is even halfway finished, and we see a Koyomi who would sacrifice anything to save her. The second book also has a lot more scientific theory to talk through than the first.

Did I like them? They were both good, I had moments of emotion reading them, but ultimately all I can come up with is “yeah, they were pretty good”. This happens a lot with concept SF and me, though. There’s a book that came out last year focusing on Shiori, though, and is this does well maybe Seven Seas will pick it up.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 4

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By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn.

Sometimes when you’ve lived a certain way your entire life, and are suddenly shown that there are other ways to live, it can be very very difficult to go back to what you have always done. That’s what Reirin is dealing with in this book, as a consequence of the body swaps. For the most part, she’s held this in, because, well, that’s the sort of person she is, but the stress of the situation in this book and the fact that, for the first time, someone might be dead because of her actions, makes her have a breakdown and admit – she hates being in constant pain. She hates being at death’s door. She never used to worry about not waking up every time she fell asleep, now she does. And it terrifies her. It terrifies her so much that she misses something else – why is her sickly, dying body now so utterly healthy whenever Keigetsu is in it? I mean, this is new, right? It wasn’t the case in the first book. What’s going on?

We pick up right where we left off with the previous book. Reirin, in Keigetsu’s body, is trying to deal with the outbreak in the village, while she and her allies also try to figure out how to stop the entire village, AND the maiden, being burned to the ground as a “necessary measure”. Meanwhile, Keigetsu (in Reirin’s body) is having to deal with her reputation being tanked so hard that there will be no way for her to come back from it, and now she has to give a tea party with three of the other maidens, including the one behind all of this. Fortunately for both of them, they have actual allies this time around, including the Emperor. Which helps a lot, let me tell you. But is it going to be enough?

There are three scenes in this book which should make every reader sit up and cheer. The first is the tea party itself, where Keigetsu finally manages to apply al of the observational skills she’s never really tried to use before to manipulate the conversation away from the master manipulator and swing things back her way. The second I mentioned above, where Reirin (who is noted beforehand to have never cried before) breaking down, a scene which is probably the first time I actually though that she and the Emperor could be a good couple after all. But the final scene is magical. Everyone is doing their best to stop Reirin’s roaring rampage of revenge, and they fail miserably. But it’s actually Houshun who’s the MVP here, as all this has done is make her FAR more interested in Reirin than she was before. She’s clearly one of those “anything but a boring life” villainesses, and now that Keigetsu is effectively a dual heroine, we needed a really great bad guy. We have one now. “I’ve taken a liking to you” is like a white glove thrown to the ground. Let the duels commence.

That said, our dual heroines may be in trouble with Book 5, which promises (in the author’s afterword) to break them up. This remains one of the best series I’ve read this past year, and is recommended to everyone, even if you think you’re tired of villainess books.

The Invisible Wallflower Marries an Upstart Aristocrat After Getting Dumped for Her Sister!, Vol. 1

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By Makino Maebaru and Murasaki Shido. Released in Japan as “Kon’yaku Haki Sareta “Kūki” na Watashi, Nariagari no Dan’na-sama ni Totsugimashita” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

It’s all about looking for the jagged edges. That’s a very good rule of thumb when reading these books, especially the ones written for women that have a tendency to amount to “Cinderella story” or wish fulfillment. It also helps me when I’m trying to get past a beginning that might seem less than ideal. The start of this series is excruciating, with Iris, our heroine, getting dumped by her sneering fiance, mocked by her shallow sister, and sold off to a noble who is seemingly buying her for money by her abusive father. All the while she carries in her inner monologue a refrain of how she’s “dull and plain”, and everyone compares her to air. It’s a good portrayal of an abused noble, but you also want to throttle her. Fortunately, the moment she leaves everything about her life comes up roses. The jagged edges, though, remain throughout, and show off hos this world really is not a very nice place at all.

So yes, Iris has spent her life training to be the wife of the Marquis’ son, but he likes her sweet, blonde sister better, so she is instead dumped on Lucas Stock, a merchant recently made a baron, who wants her to be his wife on paper so that she can train his staff and employees on how to better interact with nobles, as they’re all commoners like he was. She takes to this with aplomb, quickly managing to win over everyone by generally being nice, intelligent, and unlike most other nobles, while still managing to convey how to deal with other nobles anyway. And, of course, she and Lucas gradually come to realize that they quite like this marriage thing, and would not particularly mind if it became genuine, though honestly they’re both too pure for that to happen right away. As for the Marquis’ son and Iris’ sister… let’s just say I’m torn between whether Mikhail is merely a rapist or whether he’s also a murderer.

See what I mean about jagged edges? Everything about Iris’ plotline in this volume is sunshine and roses, showing her learning to love herself and how she blooms when around other people who actually value her. Everything ELSE in this book ranges from vaguely disturbing to downright dark – the scene where Airia, Iris’ sister, is making out in the garden with Mikhail and sees a shoe in the bushes, which he quickly distracts her from, is absolutely chilling. Iris’ lady maid, Kiki, has a fear of nobles that is hinted to be because of physical abuse, and she’s very careful to wear clothing that does not show skin below her neck. Lucas’ benefactors, while happy that he’s made a name for himself, cannot help but emphasize over and over in front of Iris how he was once their servant, and that as far as they are concerned he still is. Meanwhile, Iris holds a food festival.

The book ends with Airia, in a letter, begging her sister for help, though I do not trust little sister one bit. Those jagged edges may be more visible in the next book. Till then, plow past a beginning so cliched I made fun of it on Twitter – there’s a lot more to this than just plain girl has her dreams come true.

The Manga Review: Another One Bites the Dust

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CBR—formerly Comic Book Resources—announced that it would be restructuring, and laid off several key staff members, including Editor-in-Chief Adam Swiderski, Senior Editor Stephen Gerding, and Featured Editor Christopher Bagget. Though the site had a long and celebrated history of covering the comic book industry, CBR’s focus began to change after Valnet acquired it from founder Jonah Weiland in 2016, morphing into a pop-cultural news site that published more listicles and press releases than news stories or reviews. As Heidi MacDonald observes, the current economic turndown is partially to blame. “Advertising is way down, even more so than usual,” she notes. She also points to the “looming threat” of artificial intelligence, “which can take over the scut work of human drones (rewriting press releases, making explainers, etc) in a frightfully efficient (but unverified) manner.” There are still a handful of comics-focused sites—The Beat, ICv2, Women Write About Comics, and AiPT! among them—but, as MacDonald observes, AI “could kill sites like the one you’re reading right now with a ruthlessness Thanos would find cold-blooded.”

In other news, Seven Seas announced that it will be issuing box sets for The Ancient Magus’ Bride, orange, and two other series… Azuki just added seventeen new titles to its library, including The Mermaid Prince and Gourmet Glutton… Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail) has begun work on a new series…. Makoto Yukimura, creator of Vinland Saga, will attend this year’s San Diego Comic Con… and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is working closely with several organizations to challenge an Arkansas law that makes it a misdemeanor to “furnish a harmful item to a minor,” a law with potentially terrible consequences for librarians, teachers, and booksellers.

AROUND THE WEB

Palomo Lin-Linares revisits Shuzo Oshimi’s squirm-inducing masterpiece The Flowers of Evil. “The Flowers of Evil is not escapism, it’s more akin to being trapped in a situation with the characters,” he observes. “It isn’t a manga you read to lose yourself in a story, but rather the opposite, you read it to discover the most unsavory parts of your character.” [Asian Movie Pulse]

Anyone hankering for a good mountaineering manga will want to check out Ichi’s feature on Yama o wataru (Crossing Mountains), which focuses on group of college students who climb some of Japan’s most daunting peaks. [Sports Baka]

Speaking of sports manga, Tony Yao makes the case that Medalist may be the best title you’re not reading. “I don’t know a damn thing about figure skating, but I sure as hell know a great manga when I see it,” he notes. “And Medalist is just that.” [Drop-In to Manga]

Alexis Sara explores non-monogamous relationships in yuri manga. [Anime Feminist]

Josephine Bowman discusses the quietly subversive premise of Akane-Banashi. [Anime Feminist]

Wondering what to read next? That Manga Hunter has compiled a great list of 2023’s most anticipated series. [That Manga Hunter]

Also worth a look: Elias Rosner sifts through the August 2023 release calendar and highlights 20 can’t-miss manga. [Multiversity Comics]

Danica Davidson interviews Centaurs creator Ryo Sumiyoshi about his influences, his work on Monster Hunter, and his interest in mythology. [Otaku USA]

Kara Dennison ponders the deeper meaning of Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. “What starts as a wholesome but ultimately self-centered journey in Zom 100 turns into something surprisingly empathetic,” she notes. “Once everyone has their immediate wants and needs out of their systems, they begin looking outward. How can they show kindness to their families and friends? Their fellow survivors? Heck, even to the people who walked all over them? The group’s bucket list soon stretches beyond paddleboard yoga and penthouse suites into doing legitimate good for the world.” [Otaku USA]

REVIEWS

Over at Anime UK News, Sarah describes Manner of Death as a “twisty murder mystery in which the author delights in misleading the reader”… That Manga Hunter reviews Is Love the Answer?… Erica Friedman reminds us why Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is worth reading… Jocelyn Allen explains why you should pick up a copy of Let’s Go Karaoke!… Ichi offers an in-depth look at the cycling drama Wind Breaker! … and the latest Reader’s Corner focuses on the latest volumes of Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love, Ex-Yakuza and Stray Kitten, and A Condition Called Love.

New and Noteworthy

Complete, OOP, and Ongoing Series

Since I Was Abandoned After Reincarnating, I Will Cook With My Fluffy Friends: The Figurehead Queen Is Strongest At Her Own Pace, Vol. 5

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By Yu Sakurai and Kasumi Nagi. Released in Japan as “Tenseisaki de Suterareta no de, Mofumofu-tachi to Oryouri Shimasu: Okazari Ouhi wa My Pace ni Saikyou desu” by M Novels F. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Emma Schumacker.

It’s been so long since the start of this series that I had honestly forgotten the setup, which is, of course, the standard “disgraced fiancee” story that I’m trying to stop calling “Villainess” when it doesn’t apply. To be fair, we spend so little time dealing with it that it was very easy to forget. But now, as if the author realized that there was more material to mine here, we’re going back to where it all began. Not just as the reigning queen of a foreign country, that would be too simple. Laetitia is also going back to school, which she of course left when she left the country, in order to complete her education. And you know what that means… the horrible guy and the horrible girl who started this are back, and they’re determined to get right back on the “why are you bullying her, you terrible woman?” cliche bandwagon.

Laetitia and Glenreed are going back to Laetitia’s home country, Elltoria. While Laetitia is going to get her education finished while she’s there, the main purpose is the celebration of the King reigning for ten years. And honestly, given how much of a family feud everyone has going on during this, you can see why ten years is a big deal. Sadly, the candidates for taking the throne after the King steps down are a) Laetitia’s old fiance, who is shallow and annoying, and b) Princess Velta, who judges men by how handsome they are and is a conniving backstabber. Honestly, neither one is all that appealing, but you can bet that Laetitia’s going to get dragged into this anyway, protected only by her magic power that is so high that it’s literally unheard of.

It was nice to see the author poking at their own setup, as well as the typical setup for novels like this. The idea that a prince of the realm can dissolve a long-standing engagement with a woman who has been trained for years to be the next Queen, just by shoving her into a fountain and saying, “the engagement is off!”, boggles the mind. What’s more, after hearing so much about Laetitia’s brilliant, talented brothers, who adore her, it’s rather odd that ALL of them were away when this played out. Sadly, we don’t learn WHY this scheme was hatched, but at least learning that it’s a scheme is sufficient. As for Laetitia and Glenreed, sorry, she’s still ludicrously oblivious. Hell, Glenreed’s main issue is that, because he hasn’t told anyone about her past life in Japan, he is jealous of a dog. Who he thinks is a former lover. This is funny but also quite sad. But mostly funny.

A lot of this book felt like the “your series is popular enough now, start spinning out subplots that will allow it to continue for a long time” sort of thing, but it read well enough. And there’s frozen oranges, lest you worry food doesn’t get a look in here.

Manga the Week of 6/14/23

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SEAN: A moon, a spoon, in June, Mang…oon. Nope, sorry, try again.

MICHELLE: Black Lagoon?

SEAN: We start with Airship. In print, they have Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 7 and Vivy Prototype 4 (the final volume).

And in early digital we see Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 6 and The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe 6.

Dark Horse has the 9th Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition.

ASH: At this point, I’m sure nobody is surprised that I’ll be picking it up.

SEAN: There’s Ghost Ship as well, with Welcome to Succubus High! 4 and Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? 5.

It’s print week for J-Novel Club! We see Ascendance of a Bookworm: Royal Academy Stories – First Year, In Another World With My Smartphone 26, and Marginal Operation 14.

ASH: Yay, print!

SEAN: The digital debut for J-Novel Club is Fake Saint of the Year: You Wanted the Perfect Saint? Too Bad! (Risō no Seijo? Zannen, Nise Seijo Deshita! Kuso of the Year to Yobareta Akuyaku ni Tensei Shitanda ga). A lazy NEET wakes up one day to find he’s in the otome game he loves so much… but yeah, he’s not reincarnated as his “waifu”, but as the terrible “Fake Saint”. Now he has to try to fix things to get a happy ending for all. I’m not sure how much this leans into “guy in a girl’s body”, but it definitely seems to lean comedy.

Other digital titles: The 12th Black Summoner manga volume, the 2nd Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte manga volume, the 2nd I Parry Everything: What Do You Mean I’m the Strongest? I’m Not Even an Adventurer Yet! manga volume, Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner! 3, Rebuild World 2 Part 2, and Reincarnated Mage with Inferior Eyes: Breezing through the Future as an Oppressed Ex-Hero 2.

The first print debut for Kodansha is Prophecy Complete Omnibus Edition, which is what it says, an omnibus of the manga released by Vertical a while back. It’s a psychological thriller.

MICHELLE: Ooh. Somehow this was not on my radar when it was initially released.

ASH: It’s definitely worth checking out! (If I recall correctly… it’s been a while since I first read it.)

SEAN: Also debuting is the manga version of Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement (Rougo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-manmai no Kinka o Tamemasu), which runs in Suiyoubi no Sirius. For FUNA fans only.

Also in print: Last Gender 3 (the final volume), Rent-A-Girlfriend 19, The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus 10, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 2.

MICHELLE: Yay!

SEAN: And digitally we have The Fable 15, Gang King 6, Giant Killing 37, Life 2: Giver/Taker 4, Police in a Pod 23 (the final volume, though the blurb says “end of the first part”), Tokyo Revengers 31 (the final volume, though a side story is ongoing on Kodansha’s online manga app), and WIND BREAKER 10.

MICHELLE: At first I wondered, “Are we getting close to the end of Giant Killing?” So I checked and no. No we are not. Not that I’m complaining!

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 7th and final volume of I Belong to the Baddest Girl at School and Usotoki Rhetoric 3.

Seven Seas debuts Qualia the Purple: The Complete Manga Collection (Murasakiiro no Qualia). Based on the light novel, it ran in Dengeki Daioh.

Seven Seas also has Correspondence from the End of the Universe 3, The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom 2, Even Though We’re Adults 6, His Majesty the Demon King’s Housekeeper 4, Kageki Shojo!! 9, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today 6, The Summer You Were There 3, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes: Ultramarine 4 (the final volume), and X-Gender 2.

ASH: There are some really good series in that list.

SEAN: From Square Enix we see Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! 7 and Wandering Witch 4.

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on Cherry Magic!.

ASH: Same! I really enjoyed the earlier volumes in the series.

SEAN: SuBLime debuts Old-Fashioned Cupcake, a BL title from ihr HertZ. A middle-aged salaryman finds romance… and pancakes… with a much younger co-worker.

ASH: I do love when BL manga crosses with food manga.

SEAN: There is also a 2nd volume of The Dragon’s Betrothed.

Three debuts from Tokyopop. At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender: Life Lessons From a 50-Year-Old After Two Decades of Self-Discovery (30-sai de “Seibetsu ga, Nai!” to Hanmei shita Ore ga Around Fifty ni Natte Wakatta Koto) is a one-shot biographical manga published by Bunkasha. It explores the difficulties in being agender in Japanese society.

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made it to the Budokan, I Would Die (Oshi ga Budoukan Itte Kuretara Shinu) is a long-running yuri-ish series from Comic Ryu, it also had an anime. It’s the story of a minor member of an idol group and her #1 fan.

Why I Adopted My Husband: The True Story of a Gay Couple Seeking Legal Recognition in Japan (Douseikon de Oyako ni Narimashita) is another biographical manga from Bunkasha, and examines the same sorts of issues, only for a gay couple rather than an agender person.

ASH: If only I wasn’t avoiding Tokyopop! So many of its recent releases are absolutely up my alley.

SEAN: Viz Media debuts Spider-Man: Fake Red (Spider-Man: Itsuwari no Aka), a complete in one volume about a young man in Japan who comes across a Spider-Man costume. It ran in Magazine Pocket, and is a Marvel tie-in as well, of course.

ASH: I might have to check this out; Spider-Man is very popular in my household.

SEAN: Viz also has Call of the Night 12, Komi Can’t Communicate 25, Yakuza Lover 9, and Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 3.

Lastly, Yen Press has the 2nd and final volume of Rose Guns Days Sorrowful Cross Knife out digitally.

ASH: Wait, there are weeks in which Yen only releases a single volume?

SEAN: Any manga have you feeling poetic?

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 5: Avatar of a Goddess, Vol. 4

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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.

With each successive volume in this arc, that subtitle is becoming more and more like foreshadowing. We see here that Hartmut is already brainwashing everyone in the temple to add Rozemyne to the list of Gods, and though she tries to shut him down you get the sense that she won’t be able to for very long. We also see, even if they may not think of her as a Goddess just yet, they definitely think of her as a Saint. The bulk of the first half of this book is that the Liesegangs, now the dominant power after Sylvester p;urged his own base to get rid of the Veronica Faction, think that Wilfried is useless and awful, and that Rozemyne should absolutely be the next Aub. While they’re not wrong about Wilfried (I’ve sort of given up on him, the narrative makes it clear why he’s gotten so awful but it doesn’t make me like him), they forget that Rozemyne simply has no interest in this.

Rozemyne arrives home to find that things are… not great. She’s surprised and rather upset to find Sylvester telling her to try to lay off getting the duchy elevated for the moment, because they’ve done it so fast that no one is ready for what it entails. Of course, what that really means is that the older generation like things as they are and fear change. Sylvester is essentially unable to do anything because the Liesegangs are dominant, but fortunately Rozemyne’s retainer Brunhilde has a wonderful solution that will solve most of these problems. Meanwhile, Rozemyne returns to the temple, now filled with a lot more children whose parents were executed or imprisoned, and gets ready to train Melchior to take over for her. And there’s still time to visit other areas of Ehrenfest and learn some very important past history of the duchy.

The story of Eisenreich is another reminder that women in this world have to struggle to get any headway at all, and that frequently even after achieving their goals they’re still unhappy. The aub’s daughter who essentially saved the country centuries earlier was given a poisoned chalice of a position, and it’s not a surprise that trying to keep the duchy together eventually broke her. We get this history after all the politics with the current generation, with Brunhilde stepping forward to offer herself up as Sylvester’s second wife… but this only comes after her father sires a son, meaning all the power that she would have been coming to will now be taken from her. She ends up consoling Charlotte, who (as we saw in the short story book last time) is bemoaning the exact same thing. We know that Charlotte is the most obvious choice to be the next Aub. But that knowledge does not help us… or Charlotte.

All this plus Angelica gets extra blessings!… with the help of her sword literally telling her what to say. Angelica, I love you. And hey, only three more books till THAT spoiler!

Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools, Vol. 7

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By Hisaya Amagishi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Osman Wong.

One thing I haven’t really talked about with Dahlia in Bloom is a fact that it shares with a lot of more male-oriented isekai/reincarnation titles, which is polygamy. It’s made clear here that a lot of nobles have multiple wives (it does not go the other way round, btw), and that commoners can also do this, but most don’t. And this is important because Dahlia and Volf are still denying that they have anything but friendship between each other, which makes Dahlia very vulnerable, not only to single men, but to married men who see her as a hot commodity and can afford a second wife. The trouble is that Dahlia is a one-man woman, and she wants her partner to be a one-woman man. Plus, y’know, Dahlia’s usual self-deprecation. Things are going to have to come to a head soon, because as this volume shows, Dahlia’s inventions are revolutionizing everything, be it military-grade weaponry or a kotatsu.

There are basically two subplots in this book. The first involves Dahlia and Volf’s quest for the perfect magic sword, which in this case ends up being two swords connected by a wire. When showing them off to his fellow knights, Volf doesn’t want to make Dahlia more popular than she is, so says it came from a weapons company started by his brother. Sadly, the weapon proves SO popular that everyone then goes to his brother to talk about it. The other subplot is Dahlia making a kotatsu, which immediately becomes the biggest thing since sliced bread. Everyone wants one, they’re (relatively) easy to make, and the lead to “degeneracy” as no one wants to come out from under them after they first try it. Even the royal family are buying it. Which, again, reminds you that Dahlia has come up with at least 7-8 history-changing inventions during this series, and is still single. Please be careful, Dahlia.

This volume has a much larger role for Dahlia’s friend Lucia, probably because Lucia’s spinoff series, Lucia and the Loom (also licensed by J-Novel Club recently) debuted between books 6 and 7. Lucia is basically what Dahlia would be if she had confidence, and she’s a lot of fun. She too is single, and she too is vulnerable to getting marriage proposals, this time from Forto, whose wife shows up asking if Lucia will become Forto’s second wife. The first wife is basically pure nobility, which does not help, but also, like Dahlia, Lucia wants to marry for love, to one man, who will also only have one partner. That last one is the definite sticking point in this series, as there’s a lot of guys who are “not exclusive”. Dahlia’s solution is obvious – just hit her and Volf in the head over and over till they get it – but I’m not sure what will be happening with Lucia down the road, especially if her star is hitched to Dahlia’s.

There’s only one more volume to go till we’re caught up with Japan, so folks waiting for the payoff may have to wait even longer. Till then, this is fine.

The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 8

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

For most of the volume this almost seems like a short story book, with Maomao running around dealing with various things one by one. It’s only when we get near the end that we realize that all the stories we’d seen earlier are all tying together, and all of them are there to show off Maomao and how good she is at what she does, whether that be medicine, or crime-solving, or even just being blunt as hell. She may be annoyed about all of this, but she still does it, mostly for the promise of good food, good medicine, or the chance to avoid people that she’d rather never deal with again, i,e, Lakan, who is slightly less annoying than he normally is in these books, but that’s only because he’s performing the equivalent of a wake. And this all culminates in a final scene that I really don’t want to spoil, which is basically “who gets Maomao?”, and the consequences are larger than you think.

Maomao spends a lot of the book with Yao and En’en by her side, wondering offhandedly if this might be that thing humans call… friendship? She’s just gotten a pile of Go books written by Lakan, presumably as a present, and she’s desperate to sell them, especially when she hears how much people might actually be willing to pay for a book written by a legendary player. But first she has to solve the question of why the consistency of the makeup at a store has changed, the question of which of three identical triplets raped an underage girl, and the question of who stole – or sabotaged – the Empress’ hair stick, perhaps as a threat. All of this culminates in a massive Go tournament, with the rumor being that if anyone can defeat Lakan, he will grant them one wish. The rumor is fake, but that doesn’t stop someone from wondering if this is a way to solve his problems…

After featuring heavily in the first few books, we haven’t seen much of Gyokuyou recently, and this book tries to make up for it. She’s not having a great time right now. Her servants keep leaving (as tends to happen, they mostly leave to get married), and new ones are not coming her way because of her manipulative brother. Fortunately, she has a set of identical triplets (no relation, though they also are caught up in one of the crimes Maomao has to solve) to help her, but her oldest attendant is now over 30 and still not married, which is worrying. She *really* misses Maomao, who is a masterclass at cutting to the heart of everything. Unfortunately, she’s reckoned without the fact that Jinshi is ALSO really missing Maomao, and he’s far more obsessed with her than Gyokuyou is. I will not spoil the final scene, but it’s dynamite, with Maomao for once not being able to do anything as the three most powerful people in the country fight over her.

It does leave the question of where we go from here. The blurb for the 9th novel is suitably vague, so we shall see. Till then, please enjoy another book of this very prickly young woman who absolutely everyone adores.

Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord, Vol. 1

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By Satori Tanabata and Tea. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō Level 99: Watashi wa Ura Boss Desu ga Maō dewa Arimasen” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by sachi salehi.

One of the frequent complaints about fantasy light novels that I’ve seen is that everything tends to be dependent on stats and levels, even when the novel in question is not depicting a world based on a game or people trapped inside a game. Because of Japanese RPGs being the default fantasy for everyone rather than, say, Lord of the Rings or Narnia, everything is about level grinding and raising your stats to the point where you can do things. It’s fine if you’re the reincarnated from Japan person – like our heroine in this book. But to the rest of the cast, this is just their world, and it just… has levels, for some reason that no one quite knows. Even the king thinks it’s baffling. Unfortunately, that’s also the plot of this series, as our heroine is all powerful and ALSO has the stereotypical hair color that makes her clearly EVIL. Fortunately, she’s not evil. Well, mostly. She wavers a bit.

Yumiella Dolkness remembers fairly quickly her past life from Japan (which we get no details about except that she was killed by a car) and knows she’s in a game she played – as the villainess, who also turns out, once you’ve beaten the game, to be a hidden super-strong final boss. Yumiella wants nothing to do with this, at first… but then realizes that if she wants to actually survive, she’d better be strong enough to stand up to the heroine and her love interests. Plus, she loves grinding levels. And, helpfully, her parents have essentially abandoned her in the countryside with only a servant or two, so it’s easy to go out and find monsters and dungeons. Now she’s arrived at the Academy, ordered to do so by her parents (who she’s still never met), and just wants to quietly get through school… despite being 99 times more powerful than most of the student body.

The strength of this book is Yumiella, though she’s also one of the weaknesses, as her personality can vary highly depending on what the writer wants to do. At the start, she’s relatively stoic and blase about everything. As the book goes on, though, she starts to get a lot more “eccentric” in a Katarina Claes sort of way, especially when she ends up raising a dragon as her pet, not understanding why anyone wouldn’t think it was anything but adorable. Then at the end, when things have to turn serious, she’s mostly back to the first, with an added helping of “why aren’t you trying to destroy the country?” from the demon lord. He has a point, given how the very shallowly written heroine treats her. The answer might be Patrick, Yumiella’s love interest, and the only one who really treats her as a person – though he has to work at it. Frankly, given when we meet Yumiella she really DOES think about blowing up the school once or twice, it’s not hard to see where the “hidden boss” thing came from.

Still, overall this was more good than bad, and everything wrapped up nicely in one book. Except, of course, there’s five books and counting, plus an anime on the way. Guess we’ll see you back here in a couple months.