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Reviews

Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts with a Village, Vol. 1

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By Mizuumi Amakawa and Mai Okuma. Released in Japan as “Fushi no Kami: Henkyou kara Hajimeru Bunmei Saiseiki” by Overlap. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Maurice Alesch.

I always enjoy it when I’m pleasantly surprised by a new license. The description of this did not seem promising – it read like “what about Ascendance of a Bookworm, only with a young boy?”. It also gets off to a bit of a slow start, though I will admit I was immediately taken in with the discussion of ancient writing types. As it goes along and picks up speed, though, this becomes excellent, with a young protagonist who has knowledge from a past life, manages to do wonderful things and save his village, and yet never feels overpowered at all. It helps that this lacks all the usual tropes of the genre – there are no dungeons, or guilds, and Ash has no magical powers or swords. Heck, even his knowledge from a former life isn’t all that helpful much of the time, as he’s not a botanist or chemist. But for this backwards village filled with exhausted farmers, he’s a breath of fresh air.

Ash has been reincarnated into this world, and retains his memories, but for the most part he’s spent the previous eight years pretending to be happy and content while being anything but. When we first meet him, he’s just had a major revelation, and bolts to the local church to beg to be able to read books – and also to be taught to read. It won’t be easy. The priest has been exiled and mostly given up. The village chief’s daughter dislikes those fake smiles of his. They’re all dirt poor. And there are mentions of demons out of the forest, though we never see one in this first volume. Fortunately, once he gets going, Ash proves absolutely impossible to stop, be it discovering aloe, learning about hunting and gathering, accidentally romancing the aforementioned chief’s daughter, and even fighting off a giant bear. But most of all: making life in the village better.

This book is not really slow enough to be a “slow life” title, but it has a bit of the same vibe. Ash may have memories of a previous life, but we never really hear all that much about it apart from a mention of nanotechnology in medical use… which is obviously not happening here. More to the point, with the exception of his romantic impulses, Ash feels like a kid more than a reincarnated adult (I’m looking at you, By the Grace of the Gods). The book is about 2/3 his POV, and the other third various people in his life, particularly Maika, who goes from the aloof chief’s daughter to being head over heels in love. (Ash sees her as a child, I think, which explains why he does not get the very obvious signs she is throwing at him.) All of the things Ash does improve life… somewhat. Things are a bit better. The highlight is the lack of deaths over the winter, a first for this remote village. It’s the sort of book that makes you smile.

It’s also not staying in the village – the ending indicates that Ash and Maika are going to the nearest city for the next volume, and I assume things will move onward and upward from there. In the meantime, this is recommended for fans of isekai who hate the usual RPG tropes that usually go with them.

Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight, Vol. 9

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By Hyougetsu and Nishi(E)da. Released in Japan by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

While we’ve had a lot of fun watching Veight do a lot of really cool things while claiming to be just a humble vice-commander (and we get that here as well, to the point where he uses it as a tag line, Bruce Willis style), there has been a certain “harem manga” element to the title since it began. There were already a couple of his werewolf subordinates in love with him, we know that Eleora also fell for him, etc. That said, there’s really been no doubt since the series began that if Veight was going to finally clue in to romance, it would be Airia that is the choice. The main problem is that, due to her job and Veight having to save the nation so much, she’s gotten very little to do in the books. As a result, this book not only had to sell the romance finally starting but also remove the power imbalance between the two. In succeeds quite well, provided you don’t mind ridiculously overpowered hero and heroines. Which, hi, light novels?

As you can see by the cover, the book is not exactly concealing what it’s about this time. One of the fleeing senators from the north hid in a mine and then died with a hideously powerful magical artifact in his hands. Now Veight and the Southern Continent have to deal with a massive attack of undead skeletons. Unfortunately, the artifact is sentient, looking for its next occupant, and decides that Airia fits the bill. Can Veight figure out that she’s no longer who she seems to be in time to stop its plan? Does he actually want to stop the artifact’s plan? And will all of this finally manage to get it through his thick skull that he loves Airia and she loves him? (The last, trust me, will be the most difficult. Everyone breathes a huge sign of relief when Veight finally confesses.)

As you can guess from my synopsis, the romance here is not really a big surprise to anyone. There’s a ‘mindscape’ scene, a mutual confession, and a wedding. (We don’t see the wedding night – this series is as pure as its leads – but there is discussion on whether a werewolf can get a human pregnant.) The bigger surprise is the way that the artifact’s plot to bring a hero into this world forcibly is taken care of. Veight’s solution makes sense, but is also something only he could come up with. (Veight’s past does come up here, and he actually admits to Airia he’s a reincarnation from another world, but we still know next to nothing about it – by design, the author admits). It also allows Airia to take a much stronger role in the series… though I admit I’m doubtful that actually happens. I suspect we’ll still mostly be seeing Veight traveling.

So overall an excellent volume, with lots of awesome, lots of heartwarming, and a bit of fanservice (Airia’s large breasts feature heavily in much of the art). Fans who enjoy this series should find much to love. Now, the question is where it goes from here.

Slayers: The Sorcerers of Atlas

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By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

These books came out in the early 1990s, but they got a recent re-release to prepare Japan for new volumes after a long break. As a result, the afterwords from the author that we see here are new. In this one, the author talks about the struggle to make Slayers into a series… as he points out, when you defeat the demon lord in book one, where do you go from there? The answer is that awkward second book, very similar to that awkward second album. Last time I pointed out the anime skipped it, but I’d forgotten that they did circle back round to its events in Slayers Next, a full season later. It’s not hard to see why they skipped it – there’s no regulars other than Lina and Gourry, there’s less humor and more horror than you’d expect from a series like Slayers, and the pacing also feels very odd, ambling along for 2/3 of the book before realizing that it actually has to come to a conclusion.

Lina and Gourry, on vacation in the city of Atlas, are doing the usual (Lina inciting bar fights by punching out creepers, Gourry snarking at her) when they’re hired by one of the local sorcerers to be his bodyguard. The head of the sorcerer’s guild has vanished, so there’s a bit of a power vacuum going on at the moment, and protection from the other side is needed. Lina is, frankly, not all that interested, but she gets more so when they’re attacked by two demons with masks. Fighting ensues… then, when Lina and Gourry go to investigate the competition, they find, buried at the bottom of an underground lake in a crystal prison, the missing head of the sorcerer’s guild. What follows is amazing to Lina and Gourry but not to the reader, who probably guessed what was going on about Page 40. The main surprise is when one of the characters involved DOESN’T die.

It has to be said, the most annoying aspect of this book is how it handles Lina. Gourry is supposed to be the big dumb muscle, though the anime exaggerates that to the poi not of parody. Lina, though, is supposed to be the one who gets what’s really going on. Unfortunately, here she’s got to be unable to make sense of the actual power struggle among the sorcerers in order for the plot to function, and you sort of slap your head a bit when she lets the cheerful obvious bad guy out of his prison and then walks away. She’s clueless. There’s also a lot more grotesque horror than I’d expect in a Slayers book here, with graphic descriptions of body mutations and diabolical experiments. And even then, the obvious payoff – the evil sorcerer is killed in a murder-suicide by his creation – doesn’t actually happen. (The anime fixed this.)

So yeah, overall a disappointment, although Lina’s narrative voice is still a lot of fun. That said, I know the series picks up again soon, and am definitely looking forward to more.

I Refuse to Be Your Enemy!, Vol. 3

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By Kanata Satsuki and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Teki ni Narimasen!” by PASH! Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tara Quinn.

For the most part, while reading this series, it’s fairly easy to simply ignore that it’s meant to be a “villainess otome” book at all. Yes, Kiara’s memories of the game do sometimes come in very handy, but they don’t always match, as she’s altered the world too much for them to be the same. That said, there is one big subplot that is very dependent on Kiara’s original role being the villainess who gets killed off. Kiara is no longer filling that role and so it has to be filled by SOMEONE. And so we see a lot more of Ada, the spellcaster who uses fire we briefly saw in the second book. After Kiara ran away, she was next in line to be married off to the frog-faced noble and turned into a weapon, and boy is she angry about it. It’s an interesting reminder that this fantasy military action-adventure still runs on otome game rules, which means you still need a villainess no matter who it is.

As for our original villainess, now turned heroine, she’s doing pretty well here. While still not wanting to directly kill anyone, one battle sequence shows that she’s come to terms with indirectly doing it, in a chilling reminder of how deadly Earth Magic can be when used cleverly. Reggie’s army is slowly moving towards the capital, though it needs to make a few detours (farmers have a limited amount of time to cultivate, and they would like to have their land back). Things are mostly quiet on the romance front with Reggie, but that’s just because this is Cain’s book – he’s her bodyguard and has a crush, and starts to come on strong before being told that Kiara really is not ready to think about this sort of thing (she never dealt with love in her previous life, either). And there’s another surprise… Reggie can use magic?

Fortunately at least one of the pair of doomed lovers has decided to be less doomed – Kiara is taking more care of herself here – well, a bit more, but it’s visible – and no longer seems quite as willing to throw her life away for Reggie. The same cannot be said of him, unfortunately. Hearing about the fate of his game self seems to have given him a big case of “I’m living on borrowed time anyway”, and trying to hide the aftereffects of the wound he got last book is not really helping anyone in the long run. In particular, he’s clearly jealous of Cain and his closeness to Kiara, but almost seems to be giving up rather than fighting back. His fatalism had better change in the next book. Giving Kiara an evil counterpart who’s obsessed with him might help – all the setup for that is in this volume.

I never really have as much to say about these books. They’re so straightforward and serious – I believe I counted two jokes, which were admittedly quite funny – and they don’t give much to overanalyze. They’re just a good yarn. And this is the halfway point of the series, so I expect things to move even faster next time.

Restaurant to Another World, Vol. 5

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By Junpei Inuzuka and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan as “Isekai Shokudou” by Shufunotomosha. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Elliot Ryouga. Adapted by Nino Cipri.

Last time I said that the book jumped around several time periods, and that goes double for this book, which shows us a few of the ongoing characters and their development but is also happy to show us how the fantasy world is coming from a period where there were battles to the death between humans and demons, between Empires and Kingdoms, and between vampires and “liliputians”. Indeed, it’s not really clear how time connects the world to the restaurant – there’s one story here which feels like it reads as a vampire from way in the past ends up at the restaurant of the “present”. That said, I honestly think that I’d need to go back and read the pr3evious books if I wanted to keep track of it all. This is a series about fantasy characters eating food, and while it’s doing its best to provide plot and characterization to go along with that, anything else is secondary. Which, as I’ve said before, makes it hard to review.

The “big” development at the start of the book is that the owner puts a sign on the fantasy world-side of the door that translates the restaurant’s name and purpose for the denizens of that world. Until now, the clientele it had attracted – at least in regards to first-timers – always tended to be either people in dire straits or people who naturally say “oh hey, what’s this door in the middle of nowhere?”. Now that it can say what it is, it’s attracting more newcomers who might have been wary were it just a door with Japanese written on it. Of course, even if they’re aloof elves that literally live in the clouds, they still end up enchanted by the clouds. I also liked that the customers are interacting with each other in ways other than talking about the food – one bard with a broken leg who found the door in the middle of nowhere gets healed by a priestess, meaning the restaurant is literally a life-saver.

The “main” cast still don’t do much but serve food. I had wondered if the series might be going for some sort of romance between the owner and Aletta, but there’s absolutely no sign of that here – I think it’s got nothing else on its mind but food. Aletta is still working on recovering from the abuse she received in the fantasy world – when she comes down with a bad cold (and gets some egg porridge), she fears that she’ll end up being fired for being unable to work. Kuro has a more difficult problem – she’s hideously overpowered, doesn’t speak (she communicates with customers telepathically, and none of them notice this at all), and is at heart a stoic sort of character. She seems to care for Aletta and the owner, but it’s hard to get a grasp on her. I’m not sure we ever will.

All this and food, food, food. There’s roast beef, Chinese congee, mille crepe cake, etc. The series continues to be a peaceful meal of a book.

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: The Knight’s Lullaby

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

Ever since the revelation of her nobility, I’ve talked about how the author of the KonoSuba series has had a little bit of trouble with Darkness. The Lalatina side has come to the fore in recent books, and you see it here as well, as she helps come up with a scheme to force the adventurers to pay their taxes. But it has made her less hilariously appalling, which you could always count on Darkness being in earlier books. That said, KonoSuba has character development, slow though it may be. We’ve seen it with Megumin, and with Kazuma. And now it’s Darkness’s turn, as this book manages to combine her general nobility and need to do good things with her masochistic fantasies and leave her a more well-rounded character. The catalyst of this, as it was with Megumin, is her confession to Kazuma. Unfortunately for Darkness, and as Kazuma explicitly notes, this is not one of those light novels with polygamy.

The book starts where the last one left off, with Darkness begging everyone to not think that she had a love child. It’s her cousin, of course, but fortunately for the narrative, which literally just did “little kid causes chaos in Axel” last time with Komekko, she’s a minor character. Instead the first half of the book, barring the tax collecting subplot, is about Kazuma having to choose between Megumin, who already confessed to him but is not yet ready to go to bed with him, and Darkness, who confesses to him in this book, and certainly tries to go to bed with him, though her actual willingness to do this is in question. Which Kazuma does have a bit of “I have two girls wanting me, I am the man” to his behavior, he actually does think things through sensibly, and decides… he wants to be with Megumin, as “more than friends but less than lovers”. (Her age also seems to still make him uncomfortable, justifiably so.) While there are many funny parts involved, I appreciate the book handled this seriously.

The other half of the book has Darkness’ cousin having a virus that infects the local kids (what is it with 2020 light novels and pandemics?), causing Kazuma and Darkness to have to travel to get a “demon’s fingernail” as an ingredient for the cure. (Vanir, the obvious choice, can’t provide one as he turns to sand if they do it.) This is much more in the ‘goofball Konosuba’ style, especially once they add Chris to their group, who has decided to help them out, a decision she will quickly come to regret. There’s bathroom humor, girls getting stripped humor, tentacle rape humor… it’s not the classiest series in the world, but it never QUITE crosses a line, and for the most part is amusing, though I will admit I preferred the first half of the book.

So yeah, somewhere along the line this parody grew up. Well, except for Aqua. And the author hints that her development will be the climax of the series. Till then, this book is recommended for all KonoSuba fans, though if you ship Kazuma with Darkness, you might end up being a little sad.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Familia Chronicle: Episode Freya

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By Fujino Omori and NIRITSU. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?: Familia Chronicle: Episode Freya” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

For the most part, along the course of the main DanMachi series, the Freya family has tended to function as Not-Quite-Villains. Particularly Freya, who has her sights set on Bell and making him hers. They’re not out and out evil… trust me, we know who the evil Familias are in this series. Indeed, we get another one in this spinoff. But they’re meant to be aloof and unlikable, the ones at the top looking down on everyone else, and the ones who fight each other constantly just for their goddess’s favor. As such, Episode Freya, which has her leave Orario and go out into the desert looking for her “Odr”, which seems to be used in the same way that we might use “soulmate”, only the implication is that this would not be an equal relationship. While out there, she finds a slave who’s really a royal, and gets inveigled in a massive war. Which, if nothing else, keeps her from being bored.

As promised, we see a better side of Freya here. She’s not exactly a nice person… indeed, the author takes pains to show that she really is exactly who you think she is. But it becomes very apparent in this book why she commands the strongest fighters in Orario, and it’s not that she’s “charmed” them with her goddess powers at all. Indeed, we see her essentially seducing the young prince, Ali (who is really a princess pretending to be a man, because male succession only, etc.) over the course of the book, and at the end Ali is genuinely torn about whether to stay and rule her country or just head off with Freya. Freya, though, makes that decision – Ali was attractive to her precisely because of the liminal space of “I am trying to gain back my kingdom and my people” – an Ali who followed Freya would not be attractive to her. (She does get a night in bed with the goddess, though – though it’s all offscreen, this book has far more sex than the other books.)

The book starts off light – Freya freeing over a hundred slaves because their despair makes the town less sparking is very her, and the scenes with her being the boke to Ali’s tsukkomi were hilarious. Sadly, there’s also a lot of tragedy here as well – the body count is high, both good guys and bad, and the carnage of war is very much on display. There are also two other stories in the book – the first one gives us glimpses of Ottar’s past, and how he got to be the Level 7 powerhouse he is, as well as showing us Mia and Ahnya from the pub back when they were in the Freya familia. There’s also short backstories for the rest of the family, but the biggest one may be the last… and I suspect it spoils Vol. 15, which is out next month in English but came out first in Japan. Let’s just say the fans’ first theories may have been right after all.

Very well done, and you have a much better sense of who Freya is now, though I expect when we’re back in the main series she’ll go back to being an antagonist of sorts. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another two and a half years for the next Episode.

The Wedding of Marielle Clarac

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By Haruka Momo and Maro. Released in Japan as “Marielle Clarac no Kekkon” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

Those who have been waiting patiently will be happy to hear that we do get the wedding of Marielle and Simeon in this book. That said, if you’re expecting a book filled with wedding prep and relaxation, think again – even with Marielle trying her best not to get involved in any incidents, she still gets abducted two days before her wedding. Which should not be a surprise – readers of this series are here for the detective thriller part of it just as much as the romantic back and forth, and so not only want Marielle in a wedding dress saying “I do”, but also Marielle escaping her captors in a boat and headed down a very fast river with no real strength to row her way out of it. That said, worry not, romance fans, as there are some delightful moments of that here as well, as the Duke who has been a thorn in their side for some time decides to make a last-minute effort to break them up… mostly as he’s bored.

With two days to go until the wedding, all Marielle and Simeon have to do is pick up the wedding rings, their “wedding eyeglasses”, and enjoy a nice afternoon at the fantasy equivalent of the local Marks and Spencer. Unfortunately various things happen, and for once they’re not really Marielle’s fault. She’s mistaken for someone else and her handbag is stolen, then she ends up involved in a jeweler’s efforts to try to stop the theft of a super-expensive ring… that is being made for the Duke. Then she’s kidnapped. In the second half of the book, after both the expensive ring AND her wedding rings are lost in the river, she and Simeon are forced to play a game as captives of the Duke and his wife… and if they lose, they have to call the wedding off. Even if, by then, the wedding is less than 18 hours away.

I admit it, I was rather surprised, when the wedding rings ended up in the drink halfway through the book, that we did not get them back by some weird coincidence at the end. That said, it does lead to a very sweet and very in character replacement. Marielle and Simeon are in fine form here, with her being the usual mix of level-headed straightforwardness and fangirlish squeeing and Simeon being… well, look, there’s a spoiler I won’t reveal here, but let’s just say it’s the highlight of the entire book and also leaves Simeon feeling as if he’s shamed himself forever. You will laugh a lot. There are also some old favorites who show up here… I’d say it’s a spoiler as well, but come on, of course Lutin is going to try to get in the way of everything again. We even get a nice epilogue from his po9int of view, showing a bit of the genuine feelings he has for Marielle… and how he has no plans of giving up just because they’re married.

Theoretically they should finally be able to consummate their marriage now (and Marielle, though naive, certainly seems eager to do so), but I’ve a suspicion that they may have to wait a bit. Till then, please enjoy another in a series of amusing romantic thrillers starring a young woman who claims to be plain and unassuming but is anything but.

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, Vol. 4

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By Kei Sazane and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan as “Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

I’ve come to realize that Our Last Crusade falls into the same bucket that I put Strike the Blood and the complete works of Ichiro Sakaki, which is to say a series that does not stand out as all that good but succeeds by dint of being smoothly written and not really doing much that’s bad. It feels written in hopes of an anime, which is good news given that there’s one airing as I type this. Sadly, I was not able to get very far into it, mostly as I can tolerate characters like Mismis when they are words on a page, but find it almost impossible when they are tripping and falling onto their boobs in glorious color. This particular book picks up right where the last one left off, but manages to avoid sending our heroes into deathtrap number four and sends them on a vacation instead. Of course, where Iska goes, Alice is soon to follow… though not alone this time.

As hinted by the last cliffhanger, this volume features Sisbell, the youngest of the three sisters who are vying for the throne. Due to the nature of her powers, and the general scumminess of humanity, she has come to distrust everyone around her, especially her two sisters, Elletear and Alice. the only one she feels she can trust is the man who rescued her from the Empire one year previously – Iska. As for Iska and company, they’re sent on a forced vacation after the higher-ups realized how ,long they’d been in enforced combat. Which is very good news for them, as this gives them time to figure out what to do about Mismis’s Astral Crest. The group, after a long shopping scene that reminds me why this series tends to grate on me, heads to an independent desert nation that consists mostly of resort hotels. Sisbell is also there, and propositions Iska: will he join her? Unfortunately, the villain of the second book – and his mask – have also shown up.

Given the entire series deliberately runs on coincidences constantly bringing Iska and Alice together, I am not all that annoyed at events conspiring at the last moment to save Mismis form execution, and anyone and everyone showing up at the same desert city. And I was glad that we briefly got to see Mismis do a thing, even if it was unconsciously and we’re not really sure what she did. Sisbell is sympathetic, and I expect to see more of her as the books go on, though I’m almost positive she will serve as hostage fodder in some way. The ending fight with what amounts to a giant robot with lasers is a lot of fun and will likely look cool if the anime gets to this book. As for the romance between Iska and Alice, they’re separated most of the book again, so it’s mostly just constantly thinking about each other.

The cliffhanger, which is again excellent, implies that events are going to be headed towards the Alice side of the two nations for a while. Till then, enjoy a book that can best be described as “serviceable”, but at least also lacks the bad habits of many other light novels. It’s okay.

Bibliophile Princess, Vol. 4

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By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

Last time I wrote about how the author of Bibliophile Princess seemed to be running out of ideas, and that the third book was, in large part, a retread of the first book. Apparently between that book and this one, according to the Afterword, the author’s writer’s block got even worse. So, if nothing else, this shows that sometimes a huge amount of pressure can be good for a person, as the fourth volume of Bibliophile Princess is the best in the series to date. Finally accepting that she can’t simply write the same love story over and over again, this time around politics, which have always simmered in the background of every book, come front and center and put Elianna in a position where she has to make decisions on her own in a crisis. All of this without Chris at her side – he’s busy trying to resolve things with the kingdom’s longtime enemy. And another subplot that’s been burbling underground through all the books finally comes to the surface, and it’s terrifying.

Elianna is being sent to Ralshen, a region that, for historical, political, and religious reasons does not have the best relationship with Sauslind. She’s taking Chris’ place as he’s negotiating some sort of peace deal with the war-loving Maldura. A lot of the nation’s past is explained to Elianna (and the reader) in this book; she’s already aware of it, of course, but needs to see how this affects things politically. There’s also a couple of examples of failed marriages, in particular one between a King and a Queen who disagreed over policy decisions, and Elianna is asked, if she and Chris came to such a crisis, what would she do? She’s not sure, frankly, and I don’t blame her – she’s only just come to terms with her feelings for Chris, and so far they’re pretty much agreed about most things.

We meet one of Elianna’s childhood mentors – a friend of her grandfather’s who she calls “Grandpa Teddy”, he’s also a general who has seemingly been supporting her relationship with Chris. But that ends here, and you are once again thrown up against the fact that the Bibliophile Princess world is so political that marrying for love is not something that can happen very often. Elianna finds her upcoming marriage to Chris is also a political marriage, and one that, in the past, has always led to war. She’s not going to let that happen, but it’s hard to buck tradition. Along the way, there’s mysteries to solve, which allows her to do the now-traditional scene where she looks at a book – or, in this case, a painting – and tells everyone what really happened. As for the crisis at the end, I won’t spoil, but it’s been hinted at since the beginning, and leads to an especially nasty cliffhanger.

There is a fluffy short story at the end, taking place mostly about 2 years prior to the main action. It’s OK, but honestly after that cliffhanger it feels out of place. In the meantime, Bibliophile Princess has grown up, much like its heroine, and I can’t wait to see where Vol. 5 takes us.

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 3

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By Toshio Satou and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shonen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

This book continues to get the little things right. The humor is still very solid, and the main reason to read the series. The characterization is not really deep but it is fun, and it was nice to see the one main character I dislike get buried upside down in the dirt by the end of the book. The individual; situations, scenes, etc. are well-handled, and I really like the way that the action scenes are not just “Lloyd does everything” but have the rest of the cast all taking turns to take down the monster. That said, I have concerns about the main plot of the series… does it have one? There are more dark hints of future badness, as we meet another of Lloyd’s hometown friends who seems to be working for a Big Bad, but… look, this is a book where our hero is sent to a hotel in the country to be a bellboy. And it’s only Vol. 3.

An acquaintance of Chrome’s who is an ex-military man who now owns a hotel is desperate for staff, and so Lloyd is loaned out for their holiday season. Naturally, Lloyd is a one-man staff just by himself, instantly doing everything. Also naturally, all the rest of the cast separately make their way there as well. Riho wins at the horse races and treats herself to a luxury hotel; Selen is attending an arranged marriage meeting, much to her irritation; Allan is ALSO attending an arranged marriage meeting, and the dots can be fairly easily connected; and there’s a mysterious being draining the life force of people in the area, so Mena and Phyllo get sent to investigate. As it turns out, lots of people are investigating this. Good thing that Marie arrives to be a master detective. Which she totally is, uh huh. She’s not just here to see Lloyd or anything.

So there is a plot of sorts to this book – investigating who is behind the tree monsters that are draining life forces. Sadly, the culprit is not hard to guess. More importantly, aside from occasional hints that bad things will happen in a later book, I’m not sure where this series is headed. The second book added in a fighting tournament, and the third book took us on the road, so clearly “life at military academy” is not the goal here. Of course, the goal is Lloyd and his unique combination of total overpoweredness and ridiculous self-deprecation. And I do appreciate that the other characters are allowed to do their own thing and are not just a harem (though there’s aspects of that as well). It just sometimes feels like the fastest paced “slow life” series around. I wish it had more at its core than “be silly”.

Which is an odd thing to say about a broad comedy, and it’s possible I’m just being too grumpy. For most people, this is a fun and goofy comedy with lots of cute girls. Oh yes, and Lloyd too. Who, for this volume only, I like to imagine is voiced by Keith Moon.

The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?), Vol. 4

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

The title continues to be increasingly archaic, as there’s not even any scenes of Wein bemoaning how he can’t pawn his nation off on someone else and relax here. Indeed, he’s so busy he can’t even spare the time to go to the Empire’s Summit Conference, where the three brothers vying for the title of Emperor (and Lowellmina, who is also vying for the title but not officially) are getting together to try to hash things out. In reality, it’s mostly posturing, so Wein decides to send his little sister Falanya, who needs to gain some independence and become her own person. This succeeds beyond everyone’s wildest dreams; however, as is always the case with this series, events spiral out of control fast and Wein’s presence is required to stop what might be a very nasty conflict. And stop his sister getting married off. Oh yes, and defend himself from the charge of poisoning the eldest prince. Any sane man would collapse from the strain.

The highlight of the book was the journey that Falanya makes over the course of it. We’ve seen her briefly in the first three books, getting taught politics and history and being very bored with it, and also having a massive brother complex. This does not go away here (though thankfully it’s familial in nature – Wein/Ninym is Falanya’s OTP), but this book does see her forced to grow up fast, as well as fend off unseen assassins (OK, her bodyguard does this), unwanted proposals, evil princesses out to steal her brother (well, “evil” is perhaps incorrect here) and, most importantly, become fascinated with debate and parliamentary procedure to the point that, when the city the conference is in is in danger of being conquered, she can rally the populace with stirring speeches and save the day. She is fantastic all round here. And getting more like her brother every day.

As for Wein, I give him credit for actually staying home for a while, as I was thinking we’d get some comedy here of him secretly tailing Falanya because he’s worried. That doesn’t happen, but he does end up running himself ragged, having to race to the conference after all and then getting roped into the political nightmare that it happens to be. He’s in good form here, trying to gauge what everyone wants while not giving anything away himself. The Genius Prince books also have a very nice habit of one big surprising scene 3/4 of the way through each book, and the surprise this time is that it does NOT end with a corpse, but things are still very bad for Wein. I also like how his collapse near the end is not really part of a secret double-bluff or anything – it’s just exhaustion finally catching up with him. And it does allow us to see Ninym being something other than stoic and cool.

Overall, this is perhaps the best volume to date in a series that’s already excellent. Very highly recommended.

Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! Bonus Story: We Are the Megumin Bandits!

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

Of course, this is just the 4th volume of the Megumin spinoff, really. But since it’s now caught up with the main series and is no longer a prequel (or possibly as the original was announced as a trilogy), we get a “Bonus Story” with more Megumin shenanigans. Yunyun is here as well, though the expansion of the cast means that she doesn’t really get a chance to do much other than play the tsukkomi and be pathetic. And, alas, Cecily is back as well, and continues to be the worst nun ever. That said, as the 10th volume of the main series hinted, we get a new addition to the group. Princess Iris is sneaking away from the royal residence every day, and quickly insinuates herself into Megumin’s group as the muscle (she certainly has the sword skills). Add a very reluctant thief, and you have all you could ever want in a KonoSuba spinoff.

The “plot”, such as it is, takes place mostly around Vol. 9 of the main series, though the last quarter or so takes place around the 11th book. Megumin has discovered Chris and Kazuma pulling off one of their Silver Haired Bandit raids, and finds herself fired up about the idea of stealing in order to defeat bad people (and also strangely attracted to the masked assistant). She decides to form her own group, quickly rounding up those I mentioned above… including Chris, who as you can imagine feels very awkward about all of this. After a brief detour where they try to figure out who a blond, handsome adventurer of legend is (it’s pretty obviously Dust, though the legend, as you might guess, is quite wrong in many places), they end up taking on a rival of Darkness’s who has a herd of monsters around her mansion deep in the forest. There has to be a reason, right?

There are a few flaws here. The last chunk of the book is back to Kazuma’s POV, which is fine but is not really what I signed up for with this Megumin-driven spinoff. And, as with the main series hinting about this series before we got it in English, the spinoff series hints about another as yet unlicensed spinoff series, this one starring Dust, that is familiar with Japanese readers. Mostly you get the fact that Yunyun and Dust have had adventures before, and she’s not happy about it. On the other hand, the parts of the book with Megumin thinking about her current state are excellent. She’s newly in love with Kazuma, but isn’t quite sure how that works, or even why she fell for him. She’s also trying to figure out how to be a “leader”, and Kazuma, who is mostly in non-dirtbag mode in this book, gives her some excellent advice. Fans of their pairing will be happy with this book.

There’s one more book in the series, which I’m sure we’ll get relatively soon. Till then, this is a solid KonoSuba spinoff with lots of laughs and some good Megumin character development.

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 5

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By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

I have been preparing myself since the start of the first book for the fact that this series, which has an awful lot of gore, death, and icky things happening to everyone in the world, is going to have characters I care about die in horrible ways. That said, the author knows how to keep us coming back, and while Hina may have spent one of the volumes on ice, for the most part the main cast has made it though with a lot of pain and maiming but with their essential selves intact. That changes big time in this volume, in ways both surprising and not so surprising. No one is going to gasp at the idea that Izabella, the one noble Paladin in a corrupt church, is not going to have a fun time, and that turns out to be the case. Far more surprising it the fates of our two Torture Princesses themselves, as we get a book that sounds like it’s the penultimate volume (it’s not).

This volume picks up right where the last left off, with the reveal of the church’s big secret. After escaping thanks to Izabella making a noble sacrifice of herself, the rest of the cast go off to let the Butcher out of the gibbet Elisabeth left him in. Anyone surprised he isn’t there doesn’t know either the Butcher or books like these. Instead he leaves them a clue that takes them over the ocean to this world’s equivalent of the South Pole, where they might find the Saint – who everyone agrees they need to kill if they are to stop the world being completely annihilated. Fortunately, they have some allies here, as the Beastmen (mainly Lute) have also been led here. Unfortunately, the Church is here too, with yet another creepy child who essentially gives Kaito a Trolley Problem that he proves unable to solve. Then of course, we see what the Butcher has really been doing, and finally meet the Saint… which is not good news for our title character. Either of them.

I have to admit, Jeanne went from villain to ally awfully fast, and the book lampshades that it’s mostly due to Izabella. I’d been expecting Very Bad Things to happen to her for a while, so my only surprise here is that it wasn’t as bad as I expected. It did give Jeanne some nice character development that might have gone somewhere were it not for the end of the book. There’s also some lovely imagery regarding the Suffering Saint, who is less the Lamb of God taking on the sins of the world and more simply tired and worn. She wants a change, which Jeanne and Elisabeth are here to provide. Fortunately, Elisabeth and Kaito are very clever, so our heroes do find some way to carry on – it causes Kaito monumental pain, but let’s face it, that’s become almost a gag for humor purposes by this time. Now all he and the others have to do is stop the rest of the world going to war.

The first three books were an arc, and I suspect the same is true of the second three, so I’m pretty sure we’ll get an even more grandiose climax in the next volume. Till then, enjoy this dark, pitiless world and the creepy yet strangely awesome cast that walk through it. (Also, does anyone else get Jimi Hendrix in their head when they see Izabella?)

Blue Flag Vol. 3

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Blue Flag Volume 3 by KAITO

Blue Flag continues to be an incredibly nuanced and introspective look at teenage life with an unconventional love quadrangle that shows characters intersecting in different ways, producing moments of self-reflection. As the volume opens Taichi has redeemed himself from a trauma in his childhood by saving a kitten from being struck by a car – only for his old friend Toma to break his leg saving Taichi. Toma’s stuck in the hospital and unable to lead his high school team to victory in the baseball championships but one of the biggest conflicts in this volume isn’t due to physical pain as Taichi’s crippling insecurity causes him to lash out at the people around him. Having an event that he genuinely feels guilty about causes him to feel even worse about himself.

Blue Flag Volume 3

Toma betrays his own feelings when Taichi comes to apologize, saying that Taichi’s life is more important than baseball and then attempts to cover it up by saying that Taichi is his best friend. Taichi is so used to comparing himself to Toma unfavorably that he’s not even able to really process this information, and it seems like his insecurity is preventing him from acknowledging the genuine friendship that Toma is offering. Taichi even lashes out at Futuba when she attempts to comfort him, pointing out that he’s only a means to an end for her crush on Toma. Masumi steps in to help Futuba process her feelings for both Taichi and Toma, but I hope in future volumes she gets a little more of the spotlight herself, instead of being a default teenage relationship counselor for the other kids.

Throughout this volume KAITO’s art portrays teenage drama and introspective moments with the same amount of facility and care. While there are plenty of dramatic incidents in each volume as the protagonists start trying to figure out who they are and what they want in terms of romantic relationships, it is clear to see that they are moving forward. While Taichi’s self-loathing is still ensnaring him he’s still moving forward in terms of having more of a genuine connection with other people than he’s had before. I’m hoping that these friendships help him feel better about himself and his place in the world as the series develops.