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Reviews

The Holy Grail of Eris, Vol. 5

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By Kujira Tokiwa and Yu-nagi. Released in Japan as “Eris no Seihai” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Amelia Imogen.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? This is a series that I thought ended with the third volume, and then we got a fourth, which at first was “digital-only” in Japan. Then the series changed publishers in Japan, and DRE Novels put out the first four books with new cover art, and I think a couple of bonus short stories. (No, Yen will not be redoing those.) Meanwhile in North America, we had a series that was contacted between Yen Press and GA Novels, now belonging to a different publisher that works exclusively with J-Novel Club. Talks had to be had. But here we are, with Book 5, and Book 6 is just around the corner! In between Books 4 and 5, we had the anime, which was received pretty well, though the reaction by fans felt a bit familiar, and this fifth book underlined the fan reaction with a highlighter. Namely, with the intense intimate female friendship between the two leads, why is the series het? The answer is, of course, that women are allowed to have intense intimate female friendships and still like men.

Connie is back from her vacation, and everything seems well. Unfortunately, the dregs of Daeg Gallus are still around, and they’re targeting the Kingdom’s important mythology. To help deal with this, a baron by the name of Camille Miller has decided to take steps to discredit them. This first involves, for some reason, framing Connie for the bombing of the statue of the hero in a town square, which goes about as well as you’d expect given her fiancee is head of the police and the king is in her debt. Changing tactics, he then decides to announce that she’s another Saint, just like the Saint Anastasia of old. Can Connie try to figure out what’s going on, stop the terrorist group that is still trying to destroy everything, *and* not punch Camille Miller in his smug face? Meanwhile, in the past, we see Scarlet’s grandmother and find out the real story of both Saint Anastasia and the Grail family.

So, for those who loved the anime and are curious, Randolph is technically in this, and he and Connie are still engaged. But even the author admits he’s not in the book very much. This isn’t, at its heart, a romance, it’s a mystery series with added thriller aspects. As such, Connie and Randolph aren’t the main “couple”, Connie and Scarlet are. Thematically, this series is about them. Likewise, in the past, we expect to see the story of a romance between Cornelia and her somewhat fanatically loyal friend Percival Grail, but that’s also pretty much a fakeout, and the important relationship is between Cornelia and her maid and best friend Asha. That said, again, the relationships take a back seat to the mysteries here. Fortunately, the mysteries are very good, and I found it amusing that most of the present-day sleuthing was just Connie reading old histories till she got bags under her eyes.

There is a short story volume after it, but the 6th book, with its incredibly bisexual cover (she has two hands!), does appear to finally wrap the series up after a couple of fakeouts. I’m delighted to see it continue. I hope we never see Camille Miller again, but I’m not optimistic about that last part.

Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 13

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

Glory be, we finally get a volume that isn’t just short stories, and takes place in the present day! After so many alternate universes, flash forwards to the future, and the terrifying vision of Adachi’s idea of heaven, we are back in a normal yuri romance. OK, yes, no series with Yashiro is normal, but you know what I mean. As always, Shimamura is the narrator. It’s amazing how far she’s come since the start. Adachi, when not dealing with Shimamura, is pretty much as she’s always been, introverted, uncommunicative, and giving off a strong “fuck off” aura. Shimamura, who I described as attempting to learn what human emotion is in prior books, is absolutely filled with them here, and a lot of the book is her suddenly breaking down as she once again deals with her childhood dog maybe dying (again, the dog does not die in this book), or her cutely realizing how much she’s in love with Adachi. A depressed teenager who barely interacted with life is now happy and content. It’s nice to see.

First bit of the book: Shimamura goes to see her grandparents, gets overcome with emotion at seeing that Gon is still tired and listless but not dead, unleashes Yashiro on a new set of folks, meets a “childhood friend” from another Iruma series (more on that later), and comes out to her grandma. The rest of the book: it’s school festival time! Honestly, Shimamura wasn’t aware they had one, and neither was Adachi – they likely skipped before now. But this is a new, dynamic Shimamura who does things, and so she comes over to help with their classes’ candied fruit cafe. And Adachi also comes, because Shimamura asks her, and that’s the only reason. The festival is cute – we see Adachi serving and Shimamura waitressing, they get to tour the sites together on a date, they go see Hino and Nagafuji in a class play that sounds like it was based on another work by the author, and they see a concert that I’m pretty sure is based off ANOTHER work by the author. Then, after the festival is over, Adachi invited Shimamura to her house for their own private festival. (No, not like that.)

I’m sure hardcore fans of Iruma are delighted at seeing all the cameos from their other series pop up in A&S. I did work out the girl making the ceramics is from a collection called End Blue, I think? And yes, the series can be read without knowing who the hell these people are. But man, for people like me, who want to track down references, it’s a pain in the ass, as 90% of Iruma’s work is never coming out here. (And, let’s face it, the crossover with My First Love’s Kiss was deeply unwelcome.) That singer and piano player are no doubt from another series, and I don’t know which one, and that just bugs me. And because Iruma doesn’t own the characters, I won’t even get Sayaka from Bloom Into You showing up. Other than that niggle, this is a strong volume, absolutely drenched in Shimamura’s feelings for Adachi, and I can mostly ignore Adachi’s obsessive “there is only one person in my world” feelings, which Shimamura sees as cute but a bit worrying. The “roleplay us ten years in the future” at the end is really sweet.

So yes, a nice, relaxed volume, with no child predators or possible heat deaths of the universe. Next up, a third short story collection, though that doesn’t count 99.9, or the other numbered volumes that have basically been short story collections in all but name.

Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived, Vol. 7

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By Masekinokatasa and Kaito Shinobu. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Koutei deshita: Umarenagara no Koutei wa Konosaki Ikinokoreru ka?” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gwendolyn Warner.

One of these days we’ll have a nice relaxing book where Carmine is given a respite from constant chaos and attempts to take over the Empire, but that day is not today, and honestly probably we’ll never get that. That said, at least Carmine is finally starting to ditch the need to pretend to be a dumb puppet emperor… mostly. He’d like to do this, and he gets to demonstrate that he does know magic after all in a truly ludicrous sequence where he drops a magic nuke, but for the most part the conceit can still be useful. Especially when, following up on the cliffhanger from the last book, the old leader of the Imperium, the religious republic next door that is the Empire’s biggest threat, shows up seeking asylum. Along with his loser son and a terrified aide. So Carmine once again has to pretend to be kinda dumb while he figures out what to do, because every answer seems to be “but that will lead to war”.

Carmine is so caught off guard by the news of the asylum seekers that he has to fake a contagious illness for a few days to gain time to think and gather information. Then he heads back to the capital, meets the Imperium guys, and big surprise, they’re terrible. The former leader is the decadent Roman emperor sort, and his son is scheming and wants power, but doesn’t really have any smarts to back it up. They also clearly have spies in their entourage. In the meantime, of course, the Empire is still fighting a war on several fronts, so Carmine also has to head over to another front line to see how things are going… where, unfortunately, he arrives far too quickly thanks to Count Ethiac, who essentially drugs her horse to ride at top speed for hours to get there as fast as she can. Oops.

The author seems to be swapping out eccentric but unhinged women every book. At the end of this one Count Ethiac is dumped, mostly due to making everything more difficult. In her place we get Illumino, who is the granddaughter of the Gotiroir, who are the “Mongolian horde” equivalent in this series. She’s very strong and very good at being a bodyguard, but cares nothing about anyone around her, so is a terrible commander. She’s also interested in Carmine, and wants to marry him, mostly because he’s the only guy who’s NOT interested in her. Carmine has now found a third weirdo he doesn’t want, which is a shame, as I think Rosaria is dropping hints she would like a couple more wives, if only to build a power base. I apologize for only talking about the mostly non-existent harem in this series, but the alternative is discussing military maneuvers, and no.

Another cliffhanger, as someone is trying to assassinate Carmine! He’s framed as an old enemy we should remember, but this cast is so huge I don’t. I’m sure it’s dramatic. Will he live? Oh, probably. Decent read.

The Side Character Who Thought He Was the Protagonist Mistook the Real Hero for a Side Character and Accidentally Won Everything, Vol. 1

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By Yuyushita Sasuga and Tamago no Kimi. Released in Japan as “Jibun no Koto o Shujinkou da to Shinjite Yamanai Fumidai ga, Shujinkou o Fumidai da to Kanchigai Shite, Yuushou Shite Shimau Ohanashi desu” by TO Books. Released in North America by Hanashi Media. Translated by Harris Hayes.

Assuming that the average reader of this series gets past the title, which is a bit more ludicrous than usual, they’re going to run up against the lead. And assuming that they get past the lead’s tendency to talk about himself like he’s still a chuuni (which is half of the point of this series), we get to the other point of this series, which likely resonates with a lot of people. The idea that hard work will be rewarded is a good, idealistic one that unfortunately is not always true in the real world. As such, a lot of fiction, particularly shonen fiction, revolves around the fact that you can do absolutely anything provided that you do it often enough. Do you suck at something? Do it ten million times, and you will get better! (True.) And then all the good things in life will be yours (not necessarily true except in series like these).

Our nameless main character rescues a kid from the inevitable truck, dies, and ends up in front of a bored and amused Athena, the goddess currently in charge of reincarnating people. He grew up in Japan thinking he would be IMPORTANT, and idolizing shonen main characters. So she offers to put him in the world of Chronicle of the Round Table Heroes, a visual novel, as the Hero Fey. He immediately accepts! Unfortunately, she’s amusing herself. Not only is Fey the guy who bullies random people and gets the shit beaten out of him in the game itself (the real hero is named Tru), but the VN is also pretty damn dark, with most of the cast meeting Bad Ends. But that matters little to our guy. What is perhaps more concerning is that the game limits how much he’s able to change – the original Fey was an asshole, after all. So he has to train as hard as he can and join the Holy Knights… while still being kind of a jerk.

Clearly I finished this, so there were things I liked. It’s quite readable, as I’ve come to expect from TO Books, who usually do a good job selling their product. I really liked the main “heroine”, named Arthur (the names sometimes skew Arthurian due to the game’s title), who is incredibly beautiful and talented but has the social skills of a brick. Since Fey, as he is still very much “sullen asshole who simply trains constantly”, also has the social skills of a brick, they get on quite well. Other than that… while I did like the teacher’s backstory, and I appreciated that she was allowed to avoid her cruel and horrible fate (and I hope one days she avenges her family), describing her as the “busty loli” type and having her fall massively in love with Fey by the end made me sigh. Ah well, so goes life. the actual lead, Tru, also fades into the background as the series goes on. I’d have liked it more if he ended up an antagonist, but the author seems content to have him just be wary of Fey but still basically a hero. Which is nice, but duller.

So this wasn’t great, but wasn’t terrible. I might read another. Recommended for fans of the genre.

The Petty Villain Plays by the Rules: Rewriting This Otome Game with Honest Work!, Vol. 3

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By MIZUNA and Ruki. Released in Japan as “Yarikonda Otome Game no Akuyaku desu ga, Danzai wa Iya nano de Mattou ni Ikimasu” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by sachi salehi.

Ah, we’ve hit that difficult third album, I see. It was inevitable, given that the first two volumes of this series basically ended up being “this is better than I thought”, that I’d run into one that was on a level of exactly what I thought. In practice, this means that while this volume is for the most part enjoyable, it has a subplot that actively grates on me and which I found interminable. What’s worse, I worry it will crop up again – this seems the sort of author who would try to think of other ways to use that subplot in the future for “comedy” reasons. Sigh. Other than that, this basically wraps up the two-volume arc from last time, shows Reid simultaneously behaving like a prodigy and also having the emotional capacity of the child he is, and also giving us a cute dwarf girl to go with its cute elf girl. Though the dwarf is an adult.

After last time, Reid has impressed the dark elf king and helped to take down an evil noble, but he also showed off a bit TOO much, so his dad forbids him from going into town. This is a problem, as he has to find the herb that’s used in the medicine needed to cure his mother, one that’s supposed to be in the neighboring evil forest (yes, it’s called the Evil Forest, really). That said, his fiancee is not prohibited from visiting the town. So clearly Reid has to dress up as a maid in order to get around this. Hijinks, as you might guess, ensue. They come across a skilled dwarf brother-and-sister blacksmith shop, though they’re currently being threatened by a different evil noble. They also come across a guy who does know of the herb in question under a different name. But he’s ALSO being threatened by that evil noble. man, how many evil nobles does this series have?

So yes, everything about Reid dressed as a maid, and (inevitably) Prince Rhesis falling for “her” made me wince like I was hearing nails on a blackboard. Every single “gag” paid off like a pie to the face, and that’s not a good thing. I have no doubt we’ll see Reid in disguise as a maid again, even if I don’t want it. Other than that, this was pretty good. Reid gains a new butler/intelligence officer, who has a better gag in that he’s one of those “I don’t know how to smile properly as I am stoic as hell” types. That’s fun. This also, oddly, causes the dwarf girl to fall for him – since I’m not getting the hot gay bodyguard romance I want (due to them tragically not being gay), I guess this one is OK. I was also amused to see that Reid’s father is essentially a pushover when it comes to his family, and I have no doubt that, if this series ever lets anyone age, Farah will be able to manipulate Reid the same way.

That said, future volumes imply that this is not going to be a “two years passed” kind of series, but more “Volume 12, 5 days after Vol. 4”. I’ll keep up, but less wacky crossdressing hilarity, please.

I’ll Become an Elegant Villainess! Time to Enjoy My Second Life to the Fullest, Vol. 1

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By Shisui Hazuki and kururi. Released in Japan as “Karei naru Akujo ni Naritai wa! ~Aisare Tensei Shoujo wa, Tanoshii Nidome no Jinsei o Okurimasu~” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Olivia Plowman.

We’ve started to see metatextual isekai with folks hit by Truck-kun who are delighted to be in another world, ready to eat up all those great tropes, get a harem of cute babes, and have a +1 sword new life. (Indeed, I have one in my queue for two days from now.) So it should not particularly be a surprise that we’re getting the shoujo equivalent, which is to say girls who are absolutely delighted to find that they’ve reincarnated and they’re now a villainess. For once it’s not due to love of the genre when they were Japanese – this particular girl is reincarnated from THIS world, she just remembers her past life. But it doesn’t really matter. What’s important is that “villainess” has once again been twisted a bit to mean “incredibly cool and powerful girl who just ojou-sama laughs a lot”. There will be no evil here. Which is good, as this world is already filled with evil.

We open with Mitia Lumiol… no, she’s not having her engagement broken. Instead, it’s the usual “your magic isn’t what I wanted, so I hate you” from her father. We then get her telling us about her reincarnated memories, her love of romances with villainesses, and how getting exiled from home to a dying part of the country is perfect as this means she can put her master plan into effect. Her master plan… to be AWESOME! Coming with her are her maid, Ciel, who went from “wow, she’s suddenly become a different person” to “she is my literal daughter that I gave birth to only not literally” in a couple short years, and her butler, Vincent, who is actually a spy but who thinks that Mitia is secretly a genius, and decides to ally with her because of her goal. Which is to be AWESOME! … by healing the sick, repairing the land, lowering taxes, and essentially being a good person, unlike most other nobles in this book.

As you may have gathered, how much you enjoy this depends how much you are prepared to buy into the silliness of its lead. It’s basically a cross between Observation Records of My Fiancee (Mitia and Bertia are very, very similar) and The Eminence in Shadow (Mitia’s followers all adore her, and things she makes up later turn out to be 100% true). Her lowly Household Magic turns out to only be lowly if you don’t have all the mana she does, as she can essentially cast it on top of itself till it can do almost anything. She’s also very GOOD at being an evil villainess, which is to say that she’s not a ditz – she can use blackmail and cleverness with the best of them. It’s just that, despite her past memories, she acts like a six-year-old trying to be nineteen. Which is to say, she’s absolutely cute as hell. This is why she gets Ciel and Vincent, who by the end of the book basically admit they’re her new parents (there’s no romance between them yet, or indeed between anyone, but it is a Heart title). And her former village thugs turned crack secret agents. And the prince in disguise, who she… loathes, as she doesn’t see through the disguise at all.

So yeah, enjoyed that. Very silly. And there’s a second volume! Hooray! Surely that will be the start of a long run… what’s that ominous train in the distance?

Father, Have You Sinned? An Assassin in Priest’s Robes, Vol. 1

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By Kennoji and Reita. Released in Japan as “Moto Saikyou Ansatsusha wa Inaka de Hissori Shinpu ni Naru ~Daishusse Shita Oshiego-tachi ni Shitawareru Ossan ga An’yaku Suru Hanashi~” by Dre Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Jade Willis.

Boy, do I have mixed feelings about this one. I’ve read this author before – among their titles over here are The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend and Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin – and can’t help but notice that I eventually dropped both of those other series. The author enjoys dabbling in various genres, and it shows. I’d also argue the blurb is slightly false advertising – after spending the bulk of the first half focusing on Emilia, as promised, she promptly vanishes, as this book is not interested in her story. it’s all about the former assassin turned priest, his grim job now continuing in secret, and the crappy, crappy world he lives in. Things may be peaceful, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of terrible people around.

The world used to be at war, and needed people like Zach, a skilled assassin and master of disguise. Now that the world is, theoretically, at peace, Zach decides to retire and lead a humble life as a priest in an orphanage – helped out by his former contact Rebecca, who disguises herself as a nun to help him because she has a not-so-secret crush on him. For the next few years, things seem to go well, and one of his graduated orphans is even now a knight captain in the nearby city. Unfortunately, there’s still lazy, creepy nobles, there’s still arrogant bandits, and there’s still child slavers. Clearly it’s time for a former assassin to put on a fresh new disguise and go out to take care of business so his cute l’il orphans can grow up in peace. He may even have to stop a coup.

So, despite the cover that seems to suggest a slow-life, relaxed sort of book, content warning: this book has a child being raped until she is killed. We don’t see it, but we graphically hear it. It was a repugnant scene, and honestly it wasn’t needed to show off the bad guys were really bad. We also see more child slaves in other sections, mostly there to be rescued by Zach. And there’s also Emilia, a 19-year-old knight captain who doesn’t seem to understand why it’s a bad idea to have all the knights room in the same barracks together regardless of gender. Zach is, honestly, a bit overprotective about this. The book emphasizes the sexism in its universe while also being sexist itself, and that doesn’t sit very well. On the bright side, the prose is pretty zippy, and some of the interactions between clueless Zach and the various women who like him but he doesn’t see it are cute in a light novel way. But honestly, I wish this didn’t have the fluff. It’s meant to be grim, and reminds me a bit of titles like Secret Saint and Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, which also had rape in their early volumes before gradually scrubbing it out.

So yeah, I continue to have issues with this author. But if you liked their other titles, and don’t mind the questionable content, it’s certainly readable.

A Young Maiden’s Growing Pains: I Reincarnated and All I Got Was This 100X Stat Buff!, Vol. 1

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By Yuno Yozakura and Nimoshi. Released in Japan as “Seichouritsu 100 Bai Cheat no Tensei Youjo ~Heion ni Kurashitai no ni, Mawari ga Sou Sasete Kuremasen~” by Dre Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kim Louise Davis.

I’ve mentioned before that a lot of light novels these days feel like eating stew. The author puts together various ingredients they have around the house, cooks it all up, and if you’re lucky it ends up being far tastier than you were expecting. Unfortunately, sometimes you aren’t so lucky. Sometimes you get what Japan calls “dark nabe”, where people throw deliberately bad ingredients in and the person eating it just ends up unhappy. This should have been a delicious stew. It’s a comedy – in fact, it verges on parody. It’s got a really strong girl who’s also kinda dumb. I normally eat these sort of titles up. Unfortunately, the book cannot quite get past… well, OK, there’s many things wrong with this book, but the biggest is that its heroine, Satie, is thoroughly unlikable. She’s not an airheaded ditz meathead who’s fun to read about, she’s just annoying.

Please count the cliched light novel tropes with me. Our heroine, Saki, is an overworked office lady (1) whose parents abandoned her (2) and who is far too small for her age (3). One day, she saves what she thinks is a cat from being run over by a car, only to die herself (4). She then meets a goddess (5), who explains that what she actually rescued was a plastic bag (6 – OK, so that’s only KonoSuba, but still). She’s offered reincarnation in Japan, or reincarnation in a world filled with fantasy tropes (7). Normally, for once, they don’t give out free stat buffs, but her death was so hilarious – erm, touching – that Hades offers her one cheat skill (8). She decides, having never had a boyfriend due to her small stature, to ask for a smoking hot body. But she words it ambiguously (9), and she ends up smaller than ever – in fact, she’s a perpetual seven-year-old (10) – but her strength is such that she can take down entire armies! (11).

Satie is a pain. Her buffed stats don’t kick in till she takes out a monster, so she doesn’t even realize what’s happened till she’s 13 years old and she kills a slime (12… OK, I’ll stop) that’s terrorizing a cute little puppy that turns out to be Cerberus, a hellhound. Instead, she’s spent most of her time sulking in her room. Her sister loves her, but also sort of regards her as useless, and her parents have given up on her. This is most as she’s given up on herself – she admits she’s not smart and hates to study, so this is not a “sure, my sibling got all the looks and talent but there’s still something I can do” sort of series. Once she gets her powers, she does do things like take on giant monsters, save her sister from a creep trying to use her as a hostage, and prevent a war between two kingdoms by taking one over in half a day. The whole thing is meant to be funny, but it barely raises a chuckle, mostly as Satie is just a whiny girl who doesn’t understand how life works. To be fair, she does manage to avoid breaking up the love between the prince and his childhood friend. Eventually.

This is a Drecom title, and so no doubt there will be one or two more, but they’re not out yet, and I feel comfortable abandoning Satie here. For folks who enjoyed I Shall Survive Using Potions! but figured a 12-year-old body was way too old.

The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman: To Seize the Throne, Part 1

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By Kamihara and Shiro46. Released in Japan as “Tensei Reijo to Sūki na Jinsei o” by Hayakawa Shobo. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

We’re definitely heading into the endgame with this book, though there will be three more after it (the series ended in Japan with book 6, and we’ve been getting it since book 2 in halves). The subtitle is absolutely not wrong, and for once the forced cliffhanger halfway through the book is a terrific cliffhanger – no “the book just kind of stops” here. That said, yikes, that escalated quickly, even for That Escalated Quickly: The Series. The entire volume is Karen trying to get word to Reinald to accelerate his plans, which may be a bit tricky given he was sent away to solve an insoluble problem. And there’s also the issue that, well, Reinald is kind of the bad guy here, and Karen spends a lot of the book firmly declaring she knows this but she is on his side anyway. We are choosing blood and conquest, and our heroine, despite her misgivings about gunpowder now being a thing here, is making it happen more than anyone else.

Karen prepares for Six to transport her to the city of Estaverde, where Reinald is doing delicate negotiations to try to get the city to be part of the Empire again – though so far they won’t even talk to him. Unfortunately, Six’s teleportation sends Karen on top of an assassin trying to kill Kiem, the leader of the city in question, and despite technically saving his life she’s thrown into prison. Quickly released thanks to Reinald, she delivers her message: the Emperor and Wilhelmina are teaming up to get rid of him. This forces Reinald to advance his plans, helped out a bit by the fact that Kiem has something he wants and Reinald can help him get it, and also by Karen, whose hair, in this country, makes her a sort of lucky cat statue. Then Karen goes back home and everything gets worse and worse.

The first two-thirds or so of this book is a lot of fun. We once again see, despite Karen thinking he has no feelings for her at all, and Reinald’s insistence that he’s not taking a wife, that they’re perfect for each other, and that Karen understands Reinald better than anyone except his closest aides, and while I think he still struggles to get Karen’s mindset, he’s now accepted it. We also get a really cool swordfight, showing that Reinald loves to fight dirty, not a great look for a supposed royal. That said, I was unsurprised that the moment Lubeck popped up in the narrative again things got worse, though Karen proves herself a very capable agent provocateur. Still, even she was unprepared for what she finds when she gets to The Box to destroy it. Gotta admit, they picked a really, really clever way to protect the box, despite it also being an atrocity in every possible way.

Excitement! Adventure! Really wild things! Horrors that make you ill and probably prevent this getting an anime! All this can be yours in another exciting Trials and Tribulations, a series whose title still does not lie.

A Tale of the Secret Saint, Vol. 11

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Kevin Ishizaka. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

There’s a fascinating moment towards the start of this book where, in front of most of the Saint candidates and several doctors and patients, Fia once again does something completely and utterly ludicrous in terms of her magical power. It’s meant to be played for comedy, and it is funny, but it also reminds you what an anomaly she is. Those gathered don’t see her as a Saint, as she’s supposed to be for this competition, or as a Knight, which she insists she is, but as some sort of monster or cryptid. They rear back, and some literally run away. It’s a reminder of just how different she is – and you could say how far downhill the country has come in three hundred years, but while that’s true to an extent, let’s remember what the Secret Saint Zero books have taught us, that Serafina, in her own time, was ALSO ludicrously powerful above all of the other Saints. She’s just that terrifying. (And hilarious.)

We’re still in the middle of the first round of the Saint competition, and Fia is doing what she does best, which is “helping” all her fellow candidates by doing things that no one else could do as if it was nothing. In my review of Book 10 I mentioned that she failed to cure a man who lost his legs, and theorized that would wait till Book 11, and I was absolutely correct. She’s also winning the Saint candidates over to her side – the three from the last book are in her corner, of course, but even prickly Priscilla, who has really disliked Fia until now, starts to falter in the face of her goodness and niceness. Fia doesn’t have a political bone in her body. Which is good, as it means she’s not getting influenced by any of the political wranglings going on here, but also bad, as God, she’s such a dumbass.

If you’ve read my reviews of the last few books you can skip this entire paragraph, but here I go again: God, I hate the way these books are paced. I also dislike that the last third to quarter of every volume is short stories, but I think I wouldn’t mind that as much if things were not moving so glacially in the main storyline. Look, this is a good series, I like it. And yes, it’s very popular in Japan, and has an equally popular spinoff. The anime even starts soon. But come on, I don’t want to be reading it in 2032. I want to resolve the plotlines, bring in the demons, have Fia confront her past, figure out at last which one is really Sirius reincarnated (I *think* it’s Cyril, but…), and have everyone live happily ever after. Loner Life has an even slower pace, but at least it’s nearly 500 pages per book. Make things happen!

After Secret Saint ZERO 6, of course, which should be around in a couple of months. Till them, please stand in awe of the weirdness that is Fia.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: Tales of the Royal Academy

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By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi 0” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

I had tied myself in a bit of a knot trying to figure out what the header for this review should be. See, this is Volume 0, a common conceit for Japanese manga and light novels that want to do a prequel but sound cool. But it’s also getting a 2nd volume, out in Japan later this week, so it will be Volume 0-2? In any case, then I remembered that I used the subtitles for my reviews anyway so it didn’t matter. In Japan this came out the same day as the 20th volume of the main series, but you know that’s not how we roll here. But we do finally, at last, have the first meeting between Allen and Lydia. Sort of. Amusingly, the VERY first meeting between them is skipped, in order to give the book a more exciting opening scene grab showing the two of them teaming up for the first time. It doesn’t matter, we know why we’re here. For the harem. Which, yes, includes Zel.

The cover features a young Lydia, making a face that we don’t really see at all in this book. The wraparound has Stella, Tina, Ellie, etc. asking Lynne about the time Allen and Lydia were at the academy. From there we cut to the entrance exam, where Allen and Lydia are forced to fight against the headmaster in order to get in. This is fine, though. Lydia can’t use magic, but she has her swordplay, which ends up basically hitting away all magic. Allen, of course, is Allen. Both of them do very well… in fact, they do better than Princess Cheryl, which is controversial, albeit not to Cheryl or her father. Once in the academy, Allen has to deal with the usual prejudice and bullying, as does Lydia to a smaller degree. They also meet Zelbert, who is mysterious and yet somewhat pathetic right from the get go, and honestly comes across as just another character who immediately falls for Allen, just like Lydia and Cheryl. The four of them then get to take on a diabolical dragon conspiracy…

It can be easy to forget that both Allen *and* Lydia are dealing with vicious bullying most of their lives, and with Lydia there’s also emotional abuse from her extended (though not immediate) family. Lydia’s tsundere nature is here in full effect, but the arrogant confidence that she has through most of the main series is completely absent, and without Allen (who she falls for literally immediately), she simply falls apart. We joke about Allen’s dry, deflecting reaction to everyone and everything, but his narration also masks the fact that Lisa and the maids are incredibly, pathetically grateful to him for helping their shut-in daughter to achieve great things. As for Cheryl, she certainly gets more to do here than the main series, and she’s also the secondary narrator when Allen’s not around, but she mostly fulfills the function of “the normal one”, so lacks as much of an impact.

Honestly, reading this book makes me feel like a Leinster maid – not that I’m suddenly a combat expert, but that I want to take the Allen and Lydia stuff, record it, and rewatch it endlessly. Fans of the series should eat this up.

Spy Classroom: Monika’s Thin Veneer

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By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

Don’t worry, this is still Erna’s arc. I’m sure she’ll get the next cover. But each of these books has featured one of the main characters going beyond, finding new ways to live, new ways to be a spy, and new ways to cope with what they are inside, and then getting ushered off the stage for a while. Last time it was Sara, who spends this volume in prison, being tortured. (I was going to bitch once more about how fiction makes people believe torture works great, but the convoluted plot this series always has makes it work.) And this volume it’s Monika, who gets what may be the best “big action scene fight” we’ve seen in this series to date, and makes the most of it. Because she’s up against Nike, who is strong as hell, smart as hell, and angry as hell. This is a good matchup for Monika, then, who is also strong, smart, and angry. And, as it turns out, they may have even more things in common.

We pick up where we left off, with everything being terrible. Sara is in prison and getting the crap beaten out of her, and we hear that she’s revealed the names of her companions. Erna has PTSD after dealing with Nike, a mental block that makes her natural twitchy mess of a self even more of a twitchy mess. And Annette… is Annette, I’m afraid, no matter how much Erna might be trying to make her see the virtue of not being a psychopath. Fortunately, there are more allies. There’s Sybilla, who accomplishes a hell of a lot in this book by just going around, helping people, and talking to them. There’s Thea, who does what she does best – having amazing sex in order to advance the aims of her nation. And there’s Monika, who sees that Nike has made Erna scared and decides that the best solution to this problem is to kill Nike. Easy peasy.

I remain impressed at how this series is handling Monika’s sexuality. It’s a core part of her character. Its illegality in her nation means that suppressing it, keeping her feelings inside, is not only natural to her but what is the right thing to do for her. And she recognizes that in Nike as well, recognizes a fury and drive that stems from a repressed love for another woman. They’re kindred spirits, and Nike even says that she’s incredibly upset Monika isn’t on her side. (There’s also Thea, who sleeps with both men and women in this book, but her arc is more about “enjoying sex is not only part of my job, it’s also great, and I’m not a slut because I have it.) I also appreciated that – finally! – we got a flashback to Monika’s heart to heart with Lily. Monika being Monika, she triers to do the “let’s pretend it never happened” thing, but Lily doesn’t want to do that. She realizes that she hates it when guys leer at her because of her body (can I read this as a tacit critique of most Spy Classroom artists – she gets more skeevy fanart than the other girls combined) and the only thing holding her back is her inexperience with love at all. Basically, I like that this series makes LGTBQ issues part of the intrinsic plot without making the romance the point or making it for fanservice.

The author says the 5th SS collection is next, but bad news, we already had that one. As a result, we have to wait to see when Yen schedules 12, which I think wraps up this arc. Good luck, Erna! And your increasingly small number of allies!

BLADE & BASTARD: Saga of the Unknown Adventurers

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By Kumo Kagyu and so-bin. Released in Japan as “Blade & Bastard” by Dre Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

I think this may be the 6th time I’ve said this, but I have never played or delved into Wizardry. And so far this hasn’t really been too much of a problem. There’s the vague annoyance of the parenthetical telling you that someone’s mental well-being is really something you should roll for, i.e. all the “hit points”. There’s the hilarity that sometimes comes when one of the ridiculously named spells is accidentally something familiar – TILTOWAIT in this book just kept making me think of the amusement park ride Tilt-a-Whirl. But in this volume, I really get the sense that the author is talking about backstory the reader should already know. Are these characters – who everyone seems to know except Raraja, who I have never identified with more than I do now – something from the Lore? Are they part of spinoffs, sequels, side-stories? And in the end, do I really need to care? Or can I go back to thinking that Iarumas and Ainikki really need to bone?

We pick up right where we left off. The prince is missing (and sorry, court ladies, I guess you’re all really dead dead after all), and the dungeon is being overrun by essentially possession goop monsters. Iarumas’ group has to go down there, as they’re the main characters. Schumacher’s group is also going down there, as they’re the less good, more realistic ones. And as for the top party in the city… well, they’re missing, whoops. It will come as no surprise to learn that the bulk of this book is spent is a slow, almost lethal, sometimes actually lethal dungeon crawl, with trick doors, hidden doors, hidden chutes, zombie dragons, and everything else a teenage boy could want to roleplay with. And when they finally reach their destination… wow, are we finally getting Iarumas characterization? Yes! Spoiler: he shows multiple emotions in this book!

Generally speaking, Japanese light novels tend to have first person narration, or third person omniscient. This one has the POV spin from character to character from scene to scene, and frequently within the same scene. One could argue this is bad writing, and to a degree it is, but it also helps to get across the desperation and determination this book is meant to ooze. Iarumas’ party have become, mostly thanks to Garbage, something pretty famous, but the party themselves are filled with doubt and fear. Schumacher’s party is filled with even more of that, along with a heaping helping of self-loathing (hell, even the left-behind childhood friend seems to hate herself), despite the fact that they’re really freaking awesome this book. There’s also a lot of trying to get past the thing you hate the most, be it a dragon that killed you before, a demon that enslaved you before, or just an evil boss who has your face but does a lot more than you do. Ah well. In the end, we can always listen to the words of Garbage. “Arf”, she said.

We’re caught up with Japan again, but fortunately this book finishes up the arc. What will happen next? My guess: dungeon crawling.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 48

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

I had not realized that it had been over a year since the last volume of Rokujouma. The author apparently had heart issues that left them in the hospital for a while. As such, it’s something of a relief to hear that the series is coming to a close soon – thought I’ll take “soon” with a grain of salt, given I originally thought this was gonna end at Volume 29. This is also the 50th book in the series, counting the two .5 volumes, and I was wondering if we’d get an old-fashioned short story volume of fluff to celebrate. But no, we’re in the middle of the big final arc, and there’s no time for delays. As such, the bulk of this book is something that can be fun to read about but is very difficult to review: it’s strategizing and fighting, as our heroes try to rescue Kenji and Nalfa from the clutches of the Gray Knight. That said, if I’m being honest, having Kenji around may be just what the Gray Knight needs right now.

Kenji has figured out who the Gray Knight is, and is trying to see what makes him tick… as well as get a little more freedom so that he can check on Nalfa, who spends most of this volume asleep or depressed. Also depressed is Koutarou, who is dwelling a lot more than he should. Fortunately, although a lot of contingency plans failed, and some people even died, Clan’s last contingency plan worked, and they can mount a rescue mission much quicker than the enemy might expect. They end up on a planet that seems ready for battle, with drones galore, automatic defenses, and reinforcements coming – for the Gray Knight. So things are not looking great. Fortunately, Koutarou not only has a harem, but it’s a Battle Harem, so he and the girls are all in sync with each other and ready to kick ass and rescue their friends!… maybe.

While it’s always nice to see the girls again, and I enjoyed seeing Sanae, Shizuka and Theia kicking ass, and Maki and Nana being really clever, the most interesting parts of the book revolved around the hostages. Kenji knows that the Gray Knight is really Koutarou from an alternate world, but is trying to figure out how he ended up the way that he did. We’re reminded that Koutarou has the power of eight dead girlfriends at his beck and call, with only Sanae (yeah, remember alt-Sanae? It seems so long ago) missing, and we have assumed, to be honest, that the major point of divergence was that something went wrong and he lost nearly everyone. But that’s not the case, as we find out here. This is a Koutarou that grew up without KENJI. A Koutarou that never ended up trusting anyone because he never had that first crack that made him begin to open up. That’s really fascinating. And it helps me accept the fact that in the end we read 160 pages of fighting back only to achieve very little. They’re still hostages, and will be as long as Kenji gets to play therapist.

There won’t be nearly as long a wait for the next book, though that will catch us up with Japan again. Stay healthy, author!

Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!, Vol. 7

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By Atekichi and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (ko)!” by TO Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

Last time I talked about the fact that this world is still trying hard to re-rail things so that they go the way the game wants them to, and that’s still true, but it’s also astonishing how many “doubles” this has led to, and in some cases triples and quadruples. We have Celesty, of course, now Melody, maiding it up. And reincarnated. And not Cecilia, at least not anymore. There’s Serena, a walking, talking, living doll who Melody accidentally and unknowingly put the soul of her dead mother inside. There’s Celedia, who is really an evil minion of darkness, but is also a young girl who’s also a reincarnate. There’s the missing foreign prince, busy being a lothario servant. There’s his sister, who has lived her life as a man, till given the chance in this book to see what the life might have been like. There’s Luciana, who isn’t the tragic dead one anymore, and Luna, who got her role, and Olivia, who almost got her role. Hell, even Anna-Marie disguises herself as her own maid. And then there’s Maika, and the end of this book, where she may be adding to the heroine pile. It’s a Heroine Pileup.

It’s finally time for the school festival! Given all the fuss about the maid cafe, we don’t actually see very much of the cafe itself. Instead we get a lot of the before and after, as everyone tries to finish the uniforms in time and ensure that everything is perfect. That said, Melody can’t participate, so she’s at a loss for what to do. She’s reminded she promised (without thinking) to tour the festival with Schue, so she does this for a while, until Schue’s own subplot comes smashing through the narrative and he literally flees. Then Lect is told to escort her around, which actually goes pretty smoothly, though her lack of romantic interest in him (or indeed anyone) is very obvious. Unfortunately, there’s still supposedly an event that’s due to happen tonight… in the game. Is this world now so different that it won’t happen after all?

Honestly, of all the characters I thought I’d find most interesting in this volume, Celedia would not have topped my list at the start. And yet, here we are. It’s fascinating the way that she’s written, in an almost Umineko-esque way, not quite multiple personality disorder but something else. Tindalos is filled with darkness, rage, evil plans, and an increasing desperation that nothing is going right. Celedia, meanwhile, is clearly suffering from depression. She’s an absolute mess throughout the book, collapsing twice, and even when she’s out and about she’s so clumsy she causes disasters just by walking around. Honestly, her evil side taking over may be good for her. As for Maika, well, she finally has her magical familiar, but as expected with this series, it’s not quite as it should be. It does allow us to get a magical girl parody in here as well, that was fun. That said, the most interesting thing in the book may be the cliffhanger into Book 8.

So yeah, what’s Melody going to do now? Can Celedia use this chance to actually, y’know, achieve a thing? Anything? And will the anime, which ends next week, get a second season? We’ll know in a few months. For Maid fans and Villainess fans.