Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Reviews

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 5

by

By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

We start things off in this volume with the the battle Altina and Regis came to at the start of the fourth book. They win, but it isn’t pretty, and there are a lot of casualties, which briefly devastates Regis, who until now has been fairly lucky in his plans having minimal fatal consequences. They also lose Eric, who gets an arrow to the shoulder and has to be left behind. But they are able to muster a force and set out to help fight against Brittania, whose main force are the villains we met last time – Oswald, the eccentric tactician, and Margaret, the bored and changeable queen, who are likely meant to be a dark counterpart to our hero and heroine. Regis and Altina both must deal with the other companies of soldiers looking down on and belittling them. Can they survive what turns out to be a fierce battle? And, most importantly, can Regis survive meeting up with his sister?

Meeting up with Vanessa is probably the highlight of this book for readers who aren’t here for the combat. She’s a lot of fun, and I love her husband (he’s a blacksmith who is tasked with fixing Altina’s massive sword, which she broke in the initial battle of this book, and he’s also a sword nerd who will no doubt make it 800 times better). That said, I was intrigued by the serious core of her story, as she reveals just how Regis got his superhuman lack of self-confidence. It’s rather sad, and fits very well with a twelve-year-old girl who’s trying to be the adult in the family but is still emotionally growing and does not take kindly to having a younger sibling who’s brilliant. It also shows that words matter, and things that you teach kids can leave lingering scars even after you no longer mean them.

As for the battle itself, it’s a classic case of “we are arrogant and will listen to our arrogant tactician’, which sadly leads to piles on piles of dead soldiers and a tactician who has his mind broken by events. Luckily, Regis is there to ave the day, though I think he’s going to need to learn how to think about battles that are not related to a fantasy book he happened to read a while back. And the battle is won at great cost, while the war is still going. I expect this war will continue into the 6th book. One interesting feature was showing us a brief look at a common soldier, charging into the enemy. He’s a farmer and sets off several death flags, including mentioning wanting to see his wife and kids back home. Imagine my surprise when he shows up at the end to be the one soldier who was not beaten down by the battle and who wants their fight to actually mean something. I wonder if we’ll see more of him.

It may be a bit – Book 6 has not yet debuted on J-NC’s site – but I will definitely be sticking around for the next book in this series, an underrated military history where the only fantasy element is that it’s set in “not-France”.

In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 20

by

By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by HJ Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

I’d said before that I plan to read this series until the wedding/honeymoon and then drop it. Perhaps the author heard me, and also knows I was planning to do the same thing with Irregular at Magic High School and didn’t make it, because this volume seems to be filled with my least favorite things. Now, to be fair, Touya does not commit genocide, but that’s only as he’s starting to run out of countries, even with the addition of an entire new map thanks to the Reverse Universe and Touya’s own crashing together. No, instead we get a roundup of all the niggling little Smartphone things that get under my skin. Inappropriate sexual humor, gay rape as comedy, ‘henpecked guy’ as comedy., etc. The joy of seeing the J-Novel Heart line start, and other women-oriented light novels and isekais catch hold over here, is that it will mean fewer series like this. And it started so well, too…

Now that the Phrase and Evil God have been dealt with once and for all, it’s finally time to prepare for the wedding of Touya to his brides. Of course, nothing there is going to go smoothly. Touya is forced to intervene between two countries who are always at war, and essentially solves the problem by turning the two kings into The Defiant Ones. Back in “heaven”, there’s a war among the various gods as to who gets to attend Touya’s wedding, and he gains a “grandmother”, the God of Space and Time. Turns out Touya’s quite popular. Then he has a new crisis when a princess shows up asking to be another one of his brides… but she may be a fake. For this particular crisis, Touya is told to stay home and let his fiancees handle things. That said, the problem turns out to be more of the same: ancient tech gone wrong and a villain so evil it’s amazing you don;t see him kicking puppies.

If you were to ask me which character I least wanted to see become a regular, the unicorn from the last volume would likely be tops on the list. And yet, here he is, used as the “comedy” punishment for the villain, and it’s just as funny as it was last time, which is to say not at all. The start of the book also get very bad very fast, as Touya has to deal with the captured Luna, whose mind has been possessed so long that it’s hard to break her of her pain-loving ways. That said, Touya’s solution was fairly obvious, and I could ALMOST have accepted it as sort of fanservice comedy… if he didn’t then take her to a goddamn elementary school. Fuck. That. In between is the usual Smartphone stuff, but fortunately nothing else that stood out as monstrously awful like those two. It’s typical Smartphone. And it was nice seeing the fiancees show off how they’re now just as OP as Touya. (Could have done without the “ranking”, though, even if Touya insists it’s not him.

So next volume is the wedding and honeymoon, and barring a cliffhanger that is REALLY good, it will be the end of the line for me. This volume is recommended if, like me, you can’t seem to let go of this thing.

Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight, Vol. 8

by

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

It has to be said, even though the whole premise of this series is that Veight is a highly successful werewolf precisely because he has his memories from his old Japanese life, there are many times I tend to forget this is a reincarnation isekai. Aside from his occasional longing for soy sauce and the like, Veight’s old life has come up surprisingly little, and even his advanced use of tactics could be put down to “he’s just smarter, OK?”. But with this book, we finally can’t get away from it, as the premise is that Veight and company go to the fantasy equivalent of Japan and find that the reason it’s that way is that it has been visited by Japanese people for centuries who change the world, and Veight is the latest of these. That said, Veight is not about to abandon the country he’s grown to call home, or Airia, who is growing increasingly more obvious in her attempts to hand Veight a clue. This doesn’t mean, however, that he can’t enjoy himself.

The woman on the cover is Fumino, who is an ambassador-cum-spy sent to Ryunheit from the Kingdom of Wa. Just the name makes Veight suspicious, and while at first I thought she was going to actually make an attempt to challenge Veight on his own level, sadly, he’s soon basically guessing everything she does. That said, Ryunheit needs to arrange more treaties anyway, so he and a few others head for Wa to negotiate – including Mao, who used to be from there but was falsely accused of smuggling and fled. As it turns out, the Kingdom of Wa is just as suspicious of Veight as he is of them, and he is finally forced to admit to someone, if not his allies, that he is in fact one of the “Divine”, which is to say those who come over from Japan. That said, Veight was also BORN here – the other Divine were more traditionally isekai’d. So Veight has to stop the artifact that’s been screwing that up, and while he’s there, also help take out a drug ring. Just another day in the life of a humble vice-commander.

I will admit, after the epic saga of the last three books or so, there are times when this seems to meander a bit. The best scenes are, oddly, when we get little hints of Veight’s past in Japan – I’m not sure if he’s meant to be a yakuza or just an unfortunate salaryman, but when the minor villain starts screaming that “I’m different from you failures” and “You all exist to serve me”, something in Veight naps, and I really, really want to see more. I don’t get it – but this is a nice taste. It’s also nice to see Airia actually back and doing things – even Veight admits he’s too much of a pushover to be good at negotiation, so she arrives to actually get down to brass tacks. The end of the book is literally her and Gomoviroa talking in Veight’s presence about how dense he is. The balance between Veight the superpowered commander and tactician and Veight the “there’s no way a girl would like me” has been fun, but is getting old.

Fortunately, the cover of Vol. 9 implies that may change soon. In the meantime, this is a bit of a letdown after the “Werewolf in Russia” arc, but only a bit. Fans of Veight will still be happy.

The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, Vol. 1

by

By Yuka Tachibana and Yasuyuki Syuri. Released in Japan as “Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Julie Goniwich.

I’ve always – theoretically – had a soft spot for what Japan refers to as “slow life” light novels. They usually involve someone who has ridiculous powers and could theoretically be saving the world, but for one reason or another decides instead to be a farmer, or a pharmacist, or even a prisoner. There are a slew of these titles in Japan, and they’re starting to come out here as well, but so far I haven’t been as satisfied with what I’ve been getting. By the Grace of the Gods, a classic example of the genre, bored me to tears. It’s hard to hit that sweet spot that shows the protagonists doing what they want at their own pace and also keeping the audience’s interest. Fortunately, we may have a winner here. The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent features a women who, after being summoned, is almost immediately written off by the prince of the land. Fortunately, others can see her worth. Good thing too – she seems to be the savior after all.

Sai is a harried, overworked office worker in her early 30s who is getting by on about four hours sleep a day. This changes when she and another girl are summoned to a fantasy world in order to help cleanse the land of monsters. Sadly, the crown price sees “cute teenage girl” and “30-ish OL with bags under her eyes and glasses” and promptly declares the other girl to be the Saint that will save them, leaving Sei to her own devices. After the rest of the king’s advisors beg Sei not to leave the country in a huff – after all, they haven’t proven she ISN’T the saint yet – she ends up getting a job making healing potions and medicine, something she finds very fulfilling. As she gradually adjusts to normal work hours and sleeping properly, her actual beauty starts to shine through (she even loses the glasses). What’s more, Sei’s medicine seems to be far more powerful than they should be.

I enjoyed this a great deal. Aside from the prince – who notably is talked about not not really seen at all – everyone in it is nice. Sei has a bit of “gosh, they can’t be in love with me” to her, but notably, this is dealt with by the end of the book, so doesn’t seem to be an ongoing plot point. Most of the book’s fun comes from seeing Sei’s medicine heal or cure people to ridiculous levels. It starts off with “gosh these wounds healed fast” and “her potions saved the Knight Commander from death” and only gets more ridiculous from there. (One niggle – Sei’s “stats” can be seen, as in an RPG. The reader constantly sees her magic power as ‘infinite’, but no one else seems to see this, so there’s a lot of people staring at her stats and wondering why she can do this. It’s frustrating.) The “slow life” bits are also fun, with Sei making friends, learning about her new world, and of course falling in love, though there may be more men falling for her in the future.

All this and no fanservice or creepiness. An excellent debut, and I want to read more as soon as possible.

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 1

by

By Yu Shimizu and Asagi Tosaka. Released in Japan as “Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lampert.

Sometimes trends can be exhausting. Just try asking a hardcore light novel fan what they think of isekais sometimes and you’ll see what I mean. This is especially true when a trend happens so fast that you get five or six books in a row right at once. Magical academies – particularly ones that also teach swordsmanship and other “knight” classes – have been around for some time, as those of you who have mocked Asterisk War are well aware. And lately the trend has been to populate these schools with a demon lord who is reincarnated in these modern times. Not only is The Demon Sword Master at Excalibur Academy not the first of these, it’s not even the first one licensed by Yen On. Heck, it doesn’t even have a hot anime attached to it like The Misfit of Demon King Academy. What it does have is a very readable text that is written by a light novel veteran, one that doesn’t excite much but doesn’t put many feet wrong either. Read this, it’s competent.

As with most novels of this type, our hero is the one in the background there, behind the cute girl. Leonis Death Magnus is an undead king whose lands are finally being taken down by the heroes. (He’s a former hero himself, so knows how tough they can be.) The Goddess of Rebellion, the one he was doing this all for, is gone. And so he seals his soul and waits for time to pass. Which it does. A thousand years later, he’s freed by two students investigating a ruin. There are a few problems, though. First of all, he’s got the body of a 10-year-old. Secondly, the girl who is trying to protect him, Riselia, is one of the few students at this academy who hasn’t woken to her abilities yet, and ends up getting killed as a result. So Leonis is forced to resurrect her as a vampire queen. Now he’s trying to figure out how much this world has changed, try to start a new life at this magical academy floating on the water, and help Riselia deal with her newfound state.

If you’re like me, nothing in that paragraph made you hyped up to read this. But it’s really not bad. The cast isn’t that large yet, and this book focuses squarely on its hero and heroine. The fight scenes are exciting and not confusing. There is some humor that is actually amusing, not always guaranteed in light novels. Of course, it’s not perfect. The hero really wants to tell us that the girls he meets have large breasts, so he does over and over. Riselia’s “it’s OK, he’s just a kid!” naivete beggars belief, though to be fair that’s the opinion of everyone else as well. The fact that Leonis is trying to figure out who the reincarnation of his lost love Roselia is when there’s a girl named Riselia who is his new minion makes him seem a lot more dumb than I think he’s meant to be. And I could do without the guy and his harem of mind controlled sword girls, even though he’s only there to get humiliated.

But yeah, this is another example of a book that exudes competence, which helps make up for deficiencies in originality and character. You will be mildly entertained when reading it. Which these days is more than we can ask for.

Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! ~A Sign-on-the-Line Wedding Story~, Vol. 3

by

By Tsuredurebana and Rin Hagiwara. Released in Japan as “Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumei Shite Kudasai! ~Keiyaku Kara Hajimaru Wedding~” by ArianRose. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mattias Hirsch.

Something struck me as I was reading this book, particularly as our hero is away fighting a war that we never actually see and our heroine and her in-laws sit at home eating snacks and wondering how long it will be before their country triumphs: this particular story is rich people and their rich lifestyles. It does point out the arrogance of Cercis in trying to wine and dine Viola with the most expensive possible food and accessories, but this is meant to point out his naivete as a man more than his naivete as a rich man. Even Viola, who arguably goes from rags to riches as the point of the entire story, is a poor NOBLE – she is still the daughter of an earl. Most of the plot involves Viola bopping around her mansion, tending to her garden, and eating yummy food, and the closest she gets to utter shock is when she spills tea on one of the expensive dresses. It’s a fairytale.

As noted, the majority of this book sees Cersis reluctantly away from the wife he is desperately trying to woo, as the country next door has decided to battle, and they have to go over there and put them down. We get a very one-sided view of this conflict – it’s basically accepted that Cersis and company will win, the question is how long it will take, and we get no real impression of the other side at all. It’s dissatisfying, frankly, and makes everyone feel just a little bit smug. This is not helped by Cersis being in heavy-duty lovey-dovey mode throughout, so he’s writing super sappy letters to his wife and also punishing other soldiers who apparently hit on Viola without knowing who she is. It’s meant to be amusing, but it again struck me more as “I am rich and a duke, so I can do what I want.”

As you’d expect, we’re also still dealing with the fact that Viola does not realize how much Cersis is in love with her, mostly as Viola still has killer self-loathing that is starting to become a problem. Her servants are beginning to wear down a little the more Viola describes herself as plain and dull, because it just isn’t true. We do see that she’s not very good with socializing at garden parties, but that’s more as she was abandoned the moment she came in and forced to walk around on her own. Fortunately for Cersis, it does seem as if Viola is starting to develop feelings for him unconsciously. These don’t show up in her third person narration, which still seems to be filled with “gosh, we’re just a contract marriage”, but her reaction when a messenger brings what she thinks might be bad news about her husband is the clincher – she’s clearly panicked and also clearly has no idea why she’s panicked.

So overall, this is a pretty good volume in the series, but, well, even the “commoner date” Cersis takes Viola on at the start is shown to be “we use our power to take over a restaurant so that they can have their sweet date”. It’s not the most 2020 series in the world.

The Eminence in Shadow, Vol. 1

by

By Daisuke Aizawa and Touzai. Released in Japan as “Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kristi Fernandez.

The sort of story that The Eminence in Shadow tells is one that can only be a comedy. It can’t take itself seriously, because if it does, it’s going to be the worst thing ever. Everyone has seen those fanfictions where the author says “So this is the plot of the main series, only the main character is grey, and intelligent, and badass, and gets all the girls, and…” etc. Warning you now, this is that fanfiction. Perhaps minus the intelligent part. Cid is ridiculously overpowered, his ethics are distinctly sketchy (though occasionally he can muster some rage at true cruelty), and he not only has a battle army of multiple girls in love with him, but he also gets two other girls to fall for him in this book. Fortunately, this*is* a comedy. Cid’s reaction to everything, and the over the top responses of his minions, are what make this a fun, breezy read. Such is a good thing, because there’s another warning about this book: it’s a demon lord at a magical academy book in disguise.

Oh yes, it’s a reincarnation isekai as well. We meet our hero in Japan, where he’s trying to grow stronger and stronger. His desire in life is to “control things from the shadows”, to be the sort of supervillain you see in Sailor Moon R. To that end, he does masses of ludicrous training, which ends with him smashing his head against a tree for hours and then, thoroughly concussed, wandering in front of a truck. It would be somewhat horrifying in any other context – there’s clearly something broken in him – but here it’s played as goofy. He ends up in another world as Cid, the son of a noble, but he hasn’t let go of his desires, and he’s stupidly strong and tough. He also gradually rescues a number of girls from fates worse than death, and because he only thinks in supervillain he names then Alpha, Beta, etc. After coming of age, he goes to the local magic academy, where he tries to be a “normie” – remember, the point of ruling from the shadows is that you aren’t conspicuous – but fails utterly.

As I said, after the first quarter of the book it essentially becomes a magical academy series, with Cid’s delusions of grandeur as a spice. The gimmick – which I haven’t mentioned yet, oddly enough – is that he’s made up complete garbage about a secret conspiracy to resurrect an ancient evil… and it all turns out to be true, only he is unaware of this, and assumes everyone around him is simply going along with his shtick. He meets a princess who he immediately realizes is a tsundere with a sharp tongue, because it fits her “trope”. Reality warps itself to match his fantasies, and as I said, that sounds awful but it works because he isn’t buying that for a moment. When he hears the villains have taken the school hostage, he’s over the moon that he can now go on a one-man assassination spree, but doesn’t think of it as genuine. Again, if you start to worry about his mental heath, the whole thing falls apart. It’s just a show, we should really just relax.

I’m not sure how this will hold up in the long run – titles like this get old fast – but this was a good first volume that should amuse anyone who enjoys “OP harem” series but doesn’t take them seriously.

Slayers: The Slayers

by

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.

Slayers has had a very long history, both in Japan and North America. In Japan the first novel, this one, came out in 1990. It ran for ten years, then stopped, but recently put out two more novels a couple years ago. These are the ones with Lina and Gourry as the stars. In addition, there are well over 30 novels called Slayers Special (unlicensed, and probably unlikely to be), which started in 1991, and star Lina and Naga. They take place before the main series, and are lighter in tone. Not that the main series is all that dark. This is one of the earliest fantasy comedies out there, and signs of its humor are present throughout this first volume – sometimes to the book’s detriment. And then there’s the anime (based on these novels), which started in 1995, spawned several sequels, and was most old-school fans’ first exposure to the series. Oh yes, and the Slayers OAVs, which started in 1996, also brought out over here. Tokyopop licensed the light novels in the pre-light novel boom, and released about half of them before cancelling the series. Now we have these new books, with a new translation.

Light novels were shorter back in the day, and that shows with this first volume, which barely makes it above 125 pages. Given that the anime spread this out over the first ten episodes, those who saw the anime first may be startled by the fast pace of the books. They may also be startled by Lina Inverse’s first-person narration. For those who are not intimately familiar with the series, a North American anime fandom touchstone, Lina is a powerful teenage mage wandering the land, who quickly meets up with Gourry, a buff blonde swordsman who becomes her protector/punching bag/love interest. Together, they get into trouble. In this first book, that trouble is Zelgadis, a chimera who is searching for a way to turn himself human again, and his minions; and Rezo the Red Priest, a very suspicious and smiling priest (but not THAT very suspicious and smiling priest). Throughout it all, Lina deals with all of this with her magic powers and knowledge, her cunning, and Gourry’s sword, which she really, really wants for herself.

Lina’s narration is great, and really gives the novels a different feel from the anime. Her ego is huge, and she’s constantly praising herself, but she makes sure to subtly puncture it throughout. Fans of Gourry will be surprised at what they see here – Gourry is not a genius, and constantly has to have basic information explained to him, but he’s not a dimbulb either, and he definitely feels more mature than Lina. And, for that matter, more mature than Zelgadis, who may be the fandom’s most beloved character, but boy, does he get off to a bad start here, kidnapping Lina and then telling his goons to rape her. Now, the main reason he does this is so that the writer can make a dumb joke about the way fish people have sex, but it certainly reads like a joke from a different era these days. And then there’s the fights, which are well handled but which the anime, obviously, would make a much bigger deal out of.

Despite a few hiccups, I’m delighted to see the novels back in print in North America. If you didn’t read Tokyopop’s version when it first came out, be aware the 2nd novel was not adapted to the anime, so it’ll be new material to you. Enjoy one of the classic comedic fantasies.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 12

by

By Fujino Omori and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

This is not the final volume of this side series, the author hastens to reassure us in the afterword. There are more stories they want to tell. Which is fine, but it certainly FEELS like the final volume, and there’s no Vol. 13 on the horizon in Japan. It’s the longest volume in the entire series, and manages to once again pull off the specialty of this particular author in that it has a fight take up about 350 pages and still remain interesting. I have some grumps, many of which may be familiar to those who read my previous review – see below – but for the most part this hit the right buttons, has a few fakeouts and a few fake fakeouts, and shows us the good side of some antagonists gods and the bad side of some other gods. And the protagonists, Aiz and Lefiya, both grow stronger emotionally and physically, though Lefiya’s actual recovery may have to wait till future books.

The biggest fakeout impressed but also annoyed me. Last time I talked about media’s habit of the ‘dead lesbian/evil lesbian’ trope, and I wondered if Lefiya might turn a bit dark, but I must admit I was not prepared for Filvis being both the dead AND the evil lesbian. (Yes, yes, they’re not explicitly said to be gay, but come on.) It’s somewhat well prepared, pointing out the many times recently where Lefiya, accompanied by Filvis, has been noticeably in less danger than everyone else. That said, Filvis’ ability, which allows her to essentially clone herself an evil twin, feels a bit too on the nose, the sort of ability that was set up just for the climax of this volume, where Filvis can argue with herself about whether Lefiya has to die or not. Better done was Filvis’ relationship with the main God villain, who is a truly nasty piece of work (I guessed their identity, despite an attempt to distract, but I don’t think the mystery was the point), and the abusive and toxic nature of a “father” figure and his daughter.

The cast of the main series feature more prominently in this one, with Bell getting the big final critical hit in just like he does in the main series (Hestia only has a few scenes, but let’s face it, she’s the Index of DanMachi). As with prior volumes of both series, I remain fascinated by the interplay between Finn and Lilly, who is tacitly forgiven for her deception a while back by being allowed to disguise herself as Finn and take over the logistics of one or two of the battle points. It shows off Lilly’s growth as a tactician, but also really demonstrated Finn’s trust in her – again, if it weren’t for her love for Bell, these two would be an amazing power couple. Most of the rest of the extended cast also gets an attempt to show off, and we get introduced to a few more of Freya’s family, which is good timing as her spinoff is out in a couple of months. And of course there is Aiz, who is able to reconcile her feelings towards monsters, humans, and when it’s right to kill.

This started as an Aiz spinoff but rapidly changed into one about the Loki Family as a whole, and it’s for the better. That said, I don’t mind taking a break here. It’s been a bit exhausting lately, and these volumes got a lot more tragic than the main series. Still, fans of Sword Oratoria should find this a satisfying payoff.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol 25

by

Yona of the Dawn Volume 25 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Every story arc in Yona of the Dawn eventually has a volume that delivers action and emotional devastation. As Yona tries to prevent Su-Won from going to war with Xing the hypocrisy of religions officials is revealed, Yona manages to sway people through sheer willpower, the damaged and imprisoned four dragons fight back, and everything is mostly terrible yet incredibly epic and emotionally satisfying!

The volume opens with an excruciatingly awkward scene as Yona confronts Su-Won in front of his men, some of whom seem a bit perplexed that the daughter of King Il is alive after all. If that wasn’t enough, Yona’s logic and arguments on behalf of the Xing people prompts Su-Won to actually modify his intentions after she promises that Xing will be content to endure as a vassal state. An evil priest shows up all of a sudden! Gobi is determined to manipulate the political upheaval in Xing to get rid of Princess Kouren and install Princess Tao in her place, but he’s sadly mistaken if he thinks his transparent ploys are going to work. While Yona of the Dawn generally presents villains with some nuance and character motivations, there’s some satisfaction for the reader in seeing that anyone who would underestimate women is beyond any hope of salvation. Kouren is the type of leader that inspires devotion in her supporters, and Yona has Hak, who does some fairly foolish things in order to protect her.

There’s so much action packed in this volume, I felt slightly exhausted at the end! Kusanagi’s capable illustrations are able to easily carry such a plot and action-scene heavy book, where a panel here and there will contain hints about the emotional impact for all the characters in such high-stakes conditions. There were some Wind Tribe antics to distract a little bit from the impending horrors of war, and the promise that Yona and Hak might actually talk about their relationship soon? As always, an excellent volume of Yona of the Dawn. I always find myself looking forward to the emotional aftermath just as much as any big battle the characters overcome.

The Reincarnated Prince and the Kingdom in Woe

by

By Nobiru Kusunoki and Arico. Released in Japan as “Herscherik” by M Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Seacord.

It has to be said, after a year that seems to have been filled with nothing but Japanese office ladies dying and being reincarnated in various games, it was somewhat startling to realize that’s not what’s going on here, and that The Epic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince Herscherik (the series name overall) is simply a normal reincarnation isekai – albeit one where our hero is reincarnated as our hero. If I was to ask what the ‘gimmick’ is with this series, that would be one of the three points. The second would be that the hero’s adventures in this book take place from age 3 to age 5 years old. There may be a timeskip in later books (the series is a total of five volumes), but certainly not here, where the prince needs to learn to get things done while being an even smoller bean than Myne. Possibly most importantly, there is very little to no humor in this book. The kingdom is in danger from its corrupt officials, the king is powerless, and good people die. Herscherik is going to need all his OL skills.

Unlike a lot of these sorts of ‘otaku lady in another world’ stories, the life in Japan plays a large role in the story, with Ryoko’s past life sometimes making Herscherik function almost the way Tanya von Degurechaff does, with Ryoko’s own thoughts sometimes seeming separate from Herscherik. Ryoko is a relatively successful office worker who specializes in oversight and checking to make sure everything balances. She is the eldest child, but isn’t married despite her younger sisters both having partners. But she’s reasonably happy, and has a love of games which makes her rush through the rain to get a preorder… which leads to the inevitably car accident that causes her death. There are flashbacks that show her interactions with her family, and we see what her funeral may have been like. It’s quite touching, and it’s also nice to see someone in a reincarnation isekai who got on well with their loved ones.

There is a LITTLE bit of humor in the book – I was amused at Herscherik noting how handsome he is, and then seeing the rest of the royal family, each of whom are far, far more gorgeous. That said, for the most part the book runs on intrigue and thriller, as our little prince rapidly realizes that his kingdom is going to be destroyed and that his father the King is too beaten down and cowed to do anything about it. (We get some scenes with the king, and he’s nice enough, but yeah, Herscherik is needed.) The prince may be only a few years old, but thanks to Ryoko’s knowledge he’s able to figure out who the bad guy is and who the bad guy’s minions are. We don’t take out the big bad here – this feels like a series that was entirely plotted out before it was started – but at least we get a minion humiliated and blackmailed. Oh yes, and Herscherik gets a butler-cum-assassin, who is exactly what you would expect an assassin-turned-butler to be like.

If watching Full House made your eyes roll at the precociousness of the Tanner kids, this may do the same. That said, Herscherik at least has Ryoko’s memories and life experience as an excuse. Other than that, though… this is simply well-written and gripping. Epic Tale fits it nicely.

The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious, Vol. 4

by

By Light Tuchihi and Saori Toyota. Released in Japan as “Kono Yuusha Ga Ore TUEEE Kuse Ni Shinchou Sugiru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matt Rutsohn.

As I said last time, it’s been hard seeing this two-volume series continue into Volumes 3 and 4. The author knows they can’t just walk things back, but at the same time a different path forward is hard to take. For the most part in this fourth volume, Seiya is much the same as he always is – verbally trashing everyone and anyone while also creating the most perfectly prepared plans. We get a lot of that here as well. He abuses another God who’s hiding a dark secret that turns out to be more embarrassing than anything else. He distrusts almost everyone else around him, including the zombie general (who Rista is too weak to send to his eternal reward) and a machine person with the personality of a meek young girl. And of course Rista supposedly spends most of the book in ‘lower than a weed’ status, even though she’s gotten to the point where she no longer wonders why he does the things he does. That said, there’s a tiny bit here and there showing other sides to him.

This applies to Rista as well, who is not simply there to be a tsukkomi anymore (though when she is called upon, she does manage to step right back into the role – the scene with the giant Rista golem is the funniest in the entire book, and reminds you that above all this is still meant to be a comedy). She follows Seiya’s orders without questioning now. Unfortunately, she also wants to try to help in a way that is not simply following instructions, and that’s what leads to danger and trouble, as she ends up cursed by the villain simply because she took the initiative for once. (She also fails hard when meeting the God of Wealth, where her need for some way to help Seiya causes her to give in to their pyramid schemes even as she knows that’s what they are.) And she knows she needs to step up despite all this, because Seiya is clearly doing too much.

In the first half of the book, we see Seiya seemingly panicking, something egregiously out of character for him, and it turns out, unsurprisingly, to have been part of his plan all along. This makes the impact much greater in the climax of the book when he falls unconscious and turns out, yes, to be genuinely unconscious. (This leads to the second best joke of the book as well, when the instructions he leaves behind are a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style manual for every possible problem.) The villain in the book isn’t as memorable as the last few, though I will grant that she is creepy, particularly when consuming her other selves. They do leave a nasty curse on Rista, and there’s a cliffhanger suggestion that tragedy awaits (though I’m not as convinced as Rista is that she is Seiya’s Most Important Person.)

The 2nd arc ends with the next book, and it might be a good point to see whether the series is one that I should continue or not. I’m still sort of on the fence. But till then, please enjoy giant Mega Rista.

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 14

by

By Negi Haruba. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Steven LeCroy.

(Obviously this spoils who Futaro chooses, though if you read Vol. 13 you should already be spoiled.)

There has been a decided pushback in the last couple of years away from “no ending” harem series. Harem series in general are always a tough sell, because they’re wildly popular… at first… but unless you make the “winning girl” clear from the start (and even if you do – see Love Hina, for example), fans will pick their choice and get very very angry with the author when it doesn’t go their way. For a while, authors tried to avoid that by having the ending be open and ambiguous. That went so badly that it destroyed some careers (see: School Rumble). Sometimes the author is determined to have his choice win despite the fact that almost his entire fanbase wants someone else (hi, Hayate the Combat Butler). We’re even seeing right now a series which literally is a “choose your own path” ending for 5 different girls (We Never Learn). Of these, The Quintessential Quintuplets has the most “traditional” harem ending. A girl is chosen, the fans get upset, and the series rapidly comes to an end. Perhaps too rapidly.

In terms of the actual girl chosen, I liked the ending. Of the five, it was always going to be down to three (Ichika shot herself in the foot during the school trip, and Itsuki finally realized her feelings for Futaro AFTER he confessed to Yotsuba, so was a non-starter), and the author surprisingly chose the least likely of those. Miku had the “yamato nadesico’ vibe to her, and was the first girl to really show Futaro her feelings. Nino was a dark horse at first due to her actions, but proved to be the most direct of the quints, and her popularity soared. But no, in the end it went to the girl who has spent the entire series denying a) that she’s in love with Futaro, and b) when that didn’t work doing everything in her power to hook him up with one of the others. That said, when the backstory came out, showing that it was Yotsuba who was Rena (most of the time), it started to become clear that this is where the author was heading.

The biggest argument against this final volume that isn’t “he picked the wrong girl” is that it’s rushed, and there’s no denying that. Leaving aside that the author felt a need to show his homework at the start of the book, showing off all of the moments where Futaro and Yotsuba grew closer and bonded (it feels like, even though the author was careful to show that Yotsuba was his choice all along, a montage he wouldn’t need if it were Miku or Nino) the aftermath flies by, to the point where only five chapters after confessing his love Futaro is (accidentally) asking Yotsuba to marry him. Some extra time and extra angst would have been nice. That said, there are tons of lovely scenes in this book. “”I won’t let you get away!” (She got away.)” Miku’s “I’m Yotsuba”, possibly the funniest pages in the entire series. The reverse “kabedon” on the train. The other quints grinning at Yotsuba saying “Futaro” instead of “Uesugi-san”. And, of course, everything about the wedding is a giant bundle of heartwarming.

When this ended in Japan, textual spoilers made it sound like it was choosing an “it was all a dream” copout. Context shows that isn’t the case (and an epilogue helps), but still, I think the author did not need to add to his troubles like that. That said, in the end I was pleased with this series, which kept fans guessing right up to the very end, something most harem series are not able to pull off.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 13

by

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Borque.

I took a liking to Emilia from the very start of Re: Zero, and have been patiently waiting for her to live up to the potential she had. It’s been hard, let me tell you. This story has very precise and long-running character development, and when it pays off it’s marvelous, but it can take forever. The far more popular girl getting her important character development first did not help either, let’s face it. So I was ready for Arc 4, where I’d heard we would finally start to focus on Emilia. And… let’s face it, it’s STILL been hard. Seeing Emilia fail her test over and over, screaming and crying, has basically been playing into the hands of her detractors. It hasn’t helped that she doesn’t seem to have any allies. Yes, I’m including Subaru, who has been busily trying to find a way that Emilia doesn’t have to take the test, to the point where I wanted to punch him in the face (this made me nostalgic, let me tell you.) But here, in Vol. 13, we get the payoff, and the start of something new.

Admittedly, first of all we get the climax of the Witch’s Tea Party, which gets a bit Umineko after all, with Subaru at one point trying to bite his own tongue off to get out of there. The witches are, all, for once, relatively united in their desire to stop Subaru being self-sacrificing above anything and everything, and they try to explain (mostly to no avail, but it works a tiny little bit) that he needs to be selfish once in a while. That said, Echidna’s removing his ability to take the Tests is the best thing that happened to Subaru frankly. Now he can try to create a Faustian bargain with Roswaal, which tells us that we’ve seen the last of his Return by Deaths in this arc… or at least we hope so. Moreover, it helps Subaru to come to a realization: he doesn’t think Emilia can do it. He doesn’t believe in her. Neither does Roswaal, but Subaru’s the one who supposedly loves her.

This culminates in what may be the best scene in the entire series, where Subaru and Emilia confront each other in the tomb. (And yes, I am leaving out a lot here. Everything about Satella is jaw-dropping. The fight against Garfiel and seeing what drives him was wonderful. Otto is amazing and awesome and if you don’t love him we can’t be friends. Ram is fantastically sharp-tongued but also knows what Subaru is really like. And we see Puck again, probably for the last time, as Emilia is allowed to recall her tragic past and thus try to move beyond it.) Emilia is bitter and angry because Subaru promised he’d stay by her side as she slept and then he promptly left so that he could set up his multi-layered plan. The two of them have a wonderfully childish fight, appropriately given Emilia’s “mental age” is that of a teenager, and she eventually seems to accept that there aren’t conditions or logical reasons for Subaru loving her. I cannot wait for all of this to be animated.

So we’ve turned the corner 2/3 of the way through this arc, and I suspect that the next book will delve deeply into Emilia’s past. We get a bit of it here (oh dear, more Petelgeuse?), but there’s clearly a lot more to come. What’s more, I want her to triumph just as Subaru needs to. I want them to crush Roswaal’s spirit. And oh yes, stopping Elsa might be nice too. Why is there always so much packed into each volume of this. In any case, this remains one of the best light novels coming out right now. Give it to your friends who hate isekai to show them how it’s done.

Bibliophile Princess, Vol. 3

by

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.

We’ve been seeing a lot of light novels lately, particularly on the shoujo end, where it’s clear the author has a story in mind, wrote that specific story, and now the editors are telling them the story is popular, please write more and they get a little stuck. I’m not sure if that’s the case with Bibliophile Princess 3 (like the others, this does seem to have been published on the web first), but it definitely feels like that. We’re not ready for the wedding yet, and so we need to introduce more conflict. Unfortunately, the conflict that is introduced will feel very familiar to readers of the first volume, as it’s of a similar nature. Even after promising to talk to each other and not misunderstand things anymore, Christopher and Elianna are still struggling – him because he’s drowning in so much work that he doesn’t have the time, and Elianna because she is finally growing up and gaining emotional depth – for good and for ill.

She’s been going through royalty training, with Queen Henrietta trying her hardest to ensure that she’s prepared for the hardcore power politics that is life as a royal. A large part of Elianna’s teenage years was spent with Chris hiding her from this sort of thing, so there’s a lot of catch up to do. And Elianna is an introvert and wallflower (well, unless books become involved). She hears of one of her ideas being stolen by another noble family, and is shocked (mostly as it means there’s a mole close to her). There’s a Christmas ball (OK, it’s not “Christmas” per se, but everything about it reads like a Christmas holiday) where she’s supposed to dazzle everyone, and she is reluctant to be the Queen’s dress-up doll to perfect that (as the Queen has abused the privilege in the past). Worst of all, she keeps hearing about the prince’s childhood friend, and how she’s the one who REALLY should be with him.

Again, we’ve walked this journey before, in the first book. Elianna has a tendency to either downplay or simply not understand at all what she’s done for the kingdom, and we get that again here. That said, sometimes her emotional agony rings quite true, and the scene where she finally breaks down and cries in Christopher’s arms was well handled. I was not particularly fond of Lady Sharon – not as an antagonist, she works perfectly well there, being the typical bratty kid, but because she’s 10 years old and is being married off to Lord Glen, something that thankfully does not actually happen. I know back in the day such royal marriages across countries were typical, but this is not that day. That said, Sharon also led to the funniest scene in the book, when she tries to get Elianna to abandon Chris by offering an extremely rare book – and Elianna, while she eventually makes the correct decision, is sorely tempted.

So all told this is a very up-and-down volume in the series, which is struggling to try to find new ways to say the same thing. I hope in future books it finds different things to say.