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Reviews

The Beloved of Marielle Clarac

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

I enjoyed the first Marielle Clarac series while noting a couple of flaws, and I’m pleased to say that this second book at least does a good job fixing one of them. (The “BL tease but no more” aspect is, I fear, not going away anytime soon.) But the mystery/thriller aspect of the book works even better than the first, keeping us guessing as to the motivations of the antagonist (who is not really a villain) and switching immediately to the thriller aspect the moment things are revealed. There’s also a good helping of elements of the first book I greatly enjoyed: Marielle and her tendency to see everything in terms of romantic ‘shipping’ tropes, who gets to simultaneously be very clever and good at reading people and also capable of the most shockingly dumb moves when trying to chase after a lead. She’s not quite an amateur detective, but it’s on the verge of that genre. And the relationship between her and her fiancee Simeon is fantastic.

It’s wintertime, so all the garden parties are inside. More importantly, the Crown Prince (Simeon’s best friend) is being forced to step up his attempts to find a bride now that Simeon and Marielle are engaged. Marielle recommends, in possibly the best scene in the book, the girl who had been bullying her in the past, because she’s clearly not concealing any hidden side and would stop doing it if her husband demanded it. The prince, however, falls for Michelle, a shy and withdrawn young woman who would rather be anywhere but at this party but who reluctantly opens up to the prince anyway. The Prince invites Simeon and Marielle to Michelle’s estate to basically be on his side, and they discover that the family seems to treat her with contempt, or at least treats her as a pawn rather than a daughter. What secrets does Michelle hold? And why is Lutin here and pretending (IS he pretending) to be an Earl?

Marielle and Simeon may have admitted their love to each other in the last book, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not still filled with doubts and misgivings. Marielle has a tendency to describe herself as plain and dull so often that it would come across as self-loathing if she weren’t so confident – it’s practicality turned inward and twisted, and I’m glad Simeon tries to get her to see that she can in fact be attractive. Marielle also has a tendency to get herself into trouble, and while I doubt that’s going away she does at least understand how much it’s panicki8ng him when she does this. The last third of the book has a number of excellent chase scenes, and shows that the author is just as good at action as they are at mystery and romance. As for Michelle’s secret, it’s relatively obvious (Marielle guesses it), but also not quite as obvious (Marielle is stunned), and is handled slightly better than I expected.

It’s suggested that the wedding might be in the next book, though given the subtitle for the third volume is The Temptation of Marielle Clarac that may not happen. But I’m definitely going to be reading more in any case. These are a fun addition to the J-Novel Heart line, and will interest any romance readers, even those not interested in Japanese light novels.

Blue Flag Vol. 2

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Blue Flag Volume 2 by KAITO

This second volume continues to be strong entry in slice of life high school stories, as everybody gears up for an unexpected performance at a school sports day. They’re doing all the typical things teenagers do in spring, hanging out, getting gelato, and discussing everyone’s love life. Apparently Masumi is dealing with a string of short-lived boyfriends, which Toma finds quite startling. Toma gets peer-pressured into being cheer team captain in addition to being anchor on the relay team, and he agrees on the condition that Taichi and Futuba be on the cheer team too as vice-captains. Taichi is characteristically reluctant, but agrees to go along with Toma’s plan. Toma’s charm is key in winning his friends over. Taichi and Futuba diligently practice together while Toma is busy.

Taichi finds out from Futuba that Toma isn’t planning on going to college, and he’s startled because when he and Toma were childhood friends, this was the type of thing that they’d talk about. Friendships shift and develop in new ways, even though Taichi still has feelings for Futuba. There’s a general air of wistfulness throughout this volume as Taichi wonders what’s going to happen as his friends transition away from high school. KAITO’s illustrations set Toma apart from everyone around him, and while this emphasis on his hulking size shows how athletic he is, it also serves as a way of visually distancing him from everyone else. Taichi and Masami also get some one-on-one time, where he shows he’s not very capable at picking up what she’s talking about when she asks him what it is like to experience being attracted to the opposite sex. Taichi’s pondering about Toma’s future also cause him to question his own aimless nature.

It is a pleasure to see this new friend group come together in Blue Flag. While there is certainly drama to be had, it is also somewhat uncomplicated so far which makes it a relaxing read. This volume ends on a big cliffhanger though, so I expect much more drama ahead.

Bleach: Can’t Fear Your Own World, Vol. 1

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By Ryohgo Narita and Tite Kubo. Released in Japan by Shueisha. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Jan Cash.

There have been several Bleach novels released in Japan, but I believe this is the first one to be licensed for the West. Previous books either tended to be novelizations, tie-ins to games, or… well, no, I don’t know why they didn’t pick up We Do (Knot) Always Love You, except shipping reasons. This trilogy, though, is explicitly a direct sequel to the main manga, exploring aftermaths that Kubo couldn’t get to because they cancelled Bleach a bit earlier than expected. Moreover, it’s written by a known name to English-speaking readers: Ryohgo Narita, the creator of Baccano! and Durarara!!. Narita’s series are also known for their huge, hard to wrangle casts and slow-burn plots that end in explosions. Moreover, unlike Kubo, Narita actually knows how to pace. So it makes sense that this is the first novel we see of Bleach over here, and fortunately it’s a good choice, wrapping up several things while introducing a new villain to the piece. And boy howdy, Narita also knows how to write villains. This guy is smug scum who makes you long for Aizen.

Aizen is in this book briefly, and he gets to be smug as well. That said, as the cover might suggest, the star of the book is Hisagi, who is in his capacity as roving reporter for the Soul Society’s newspaper. The newspaper, as you might imagine, was not being published during the last, oh, 30 volumes of Bleach, but it’s starting up again, and he’s trying to interview the participants in the Thousand Year War, figuring that it’s best to get opinions now while it’s fresh than years from now. Unfortunately, a new story inserts its way into the narrative: there’s a new head of one of the Four Great Noble Clans. He’s paying to have the newspaper talk all about him. Oh yes, he’s also a known murderer. Of his wife. Who was Tosen’s best friend. This is not a spoiler, he pretty much admits it. And he has a plan to install a new King in Soul Society. Fortunately, this plan MOSTLY does not involve Ichigo.

The “main” cast of Bleach are pretty much absent from this book, and you get the feeling that will be the case for the other two books as well. Narita seems to have two goals in this book. The first is to wrap up Bleach proper, as we see a lot of the aftermath of Hueco Mundo (including several people I was sure were dead who are, in fact, not dead) and the Sternritter (including several people I was sure were dead who are, in fact, not dead). If you dislike the fact that Jump tends not to kill off characters, this volume may annoy you. The other goal of this book seems to be saying “screw the class system”, and I’m behind that. We’ve seen before that Soul Society has a lot of skeletons in its closet, but here we really get a sense of what it means to be privileged. The villain is absolutely over the top, not in a laughing crazy way but in a smug snake way, and he reminded me not a little bit of another villain Narita has written in his series. I assume he and Hisagi will eventually confront each other.

In the end, I’d say this book succeeds in that it made me interested in Bleach again. I’ll definitely be getting the second in the series. And there’s no romance at all in it, so even shippers can buy it without fear. Maybe Kubo should hire out a writer and just plot his next work. Then again, that did not work very well for Naruto’s creator…

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 2

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Will Holcomb.

There’s a lot less focus on bear in this second volume of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, mostly because Yuna herself has gotten used to it – at one point she casually names something with a bear motif, showing that unconsciously she’s accepted that’s what she is now. Instead the focus is on Yuna and her general attitude towards everything. Yuna is, in both her own internal narration and dialogue, a grumpy girl with minimal emotional range, and we see lots of that here. That said, the point of the books is to show that Yuna, underneath that, is a caring girl with a heart of gold. Here she helps a nearby orphanage, employs Fina’s mother so that she doesn’t have to return to adventuring, helps save a village from a giant snake, and protects a newbie group of adventurers from a giant wolf. All in a day’s work for our overpowered heroine, who has a few moments here where she has to break a sweat and not simply overpower everything in her path… but only a few.

As with the first book, if the idea of OP heroes irritates you in any way, steer clear. Here not only does Yuna do awesome power moves to defeat strong monsters, including having an army of tiny bears made of fire march down the gullet of an enemy, she’s also learning cure and heal, so that she can be an all-purpose team all on her own, and also save Fina’s mom from her tragic ending. Other than that, though, Yuna doesn’t really have very many motivations in this book. The ending of the book indicates she’s going to the capital city of this world, and that might be a good idea, because she’s a bit unmotivated. We see her looking at several quests and rejecting them all as she doesn’t feel like doing them. It’s hard when you’re stuck in a rut only a few weeks after you arrive in your “trapped in a game world” world.

One interesting thing (in both good and bad ways) that was done here is the local lord of the Town, who Yuna meets in this volume. He’s a nice guy with an adorable daughter, but Yuna, having read far too many light novels in her old life in Japan, immediately thinks he’s going to be cruel and arrogant, with a snide, privileged son. This turns out not to be true… however, the lord *is* negligent, as we see when Yuna discovers kids begging on the street and a run-down orphanage losing its funding. Yuna is understandably furious, even as she fixes the problem all on her own (because of course she does). That said, it turns out the reason for all this is an evil aide and his evil family. The aide is REALLY evil – as in “kidnapping young girls, raping and killing them” evil. It’s tonally awful in a book that is supposed to be “cute girl in bear suit is awesome”, and I didn’t enjoy it, mostly as the lord, who was negligent in not noticing this, is very quickly forgiven. (The first book also had that mindboggling “so I paid my parents off till they abandoned me” moment, and it was just as jarring.)

Putting that aside, though, the book delivers what its readers want, though I wish Yuna’s stoic emotionlessness didn’t sometimes carry over to the actual prose. It will be interesting to see what a larger city does for our favorite bear.

Kokoro Connect: Asu Random, Part 1

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By Sadanatsu Anda and Shiromizakana. Released in Japan by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Molly Lee.

Here we are, folks, the final arc of Kokoro Connect. (There’s another short story book after this, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s more of a victory lap than a plot mover.) This one is big enough to be divided into two books. When you finish it you will see why. Everything that the Club has been doing for the last year and a half – every victory, every heartwarming moment, every time they managed to win out and not completely lose it – has now turned into a liability, as it turns out that they’re simply TOO STRONG for Heartseed. And so there are new dangers on several fronts: other students are now suffering bodyswaps/emotional rages as they once did; people are finding out about the Club’s real activities, particularly their families; and there are now FOUR Heartseeds, some of whom are (supposedly) good guys now, and some of whom are determined to erase everyone’s memory of the last eighteen months. Even if that means destroying lives.

These books have always had a high amount of teen drama, and this one is no exception, though for once our main heroes aren’t actually part of it. By design. (Actually, I was rather surprised that the two main couples didn’t reflect more on the fact that their budding relationships might soon be completely undone, but to be fair they’ve got a LOT going on.) Indeed, all their secrecy is now coming back to haunt them, as it’s fairly easy to see them as the cause of the problem. There’s also a lot of brainwashing in this book, to a disturbing degree. Everyone has heard rumors of the school vanishing, but no one knows where from. The teachers don’t seem to care that everyone’s skipping class… or not there at all. Even Iori’s mother and Taichi’s sister, tho literally go to the school to investigate, end up being influenced. And then there’s Misaki, who serves as the test case for what’s going to happen to everyone – after talking with the Club, she loses her memories, and is mow merely casual acquaintances with her former best friends. It’s scary.

If this sounds a bit over the top and unrealistic, well, the Club points that out as well, as to how big an undertaking it will be to do this and not have the world notice. What’s also interesting is that they have not one, but TWO former enemies seemingly on their side – I say seemingly merely because Heartseed, as always, is deeply untrustworthy, be in the first or the second one. But they admit what I’ve been suspecting for a while – the reason they’re doing this so much is to see the emotions that humans have, and the Club has been influencing them more and more to try to retain their observations and emotions. As I said, the Club is simply too good at being emotional wrecks, in both good and bad ways. Now the entire school is in anotehr dimension, along with most of the first and second years, and it’s up to our heroes to rescue them.

Will they do it? Probably, though if any series was going to play with a tragic ending it would be this one. We’ll see what happens in the 2nd part. In the meantime, get reading for a shipfull of feels. (Speaking of ships, is it me or does polyamory feels REALLY natural with these five?)

Ao Haru Ride, Vol 11

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Ao Haru Ride Volume 11 by Io Sakisaka

Throughout this series, nostalgia and feelings of being haunted by the past have come up in a variety of ways, and this volume shows a bit of movement forward on Kou’s part as he goes to visit various sites from his past. He ditches during a school trip where he used to live and induces Futuba to come along with him “as friends.” She comes along, knowing in the back of her mind that she’s lying to herself.

Together they visit Kou’s old apartment, middle school, and his mother’s grave. Kou seems much more emotionally resilient, coming out of this nostalgic trip with a greater sense of certainty about what he wants to do and who he wants to spend time with (spoiler alert, it is Futuba!). There are also some nice side stories with the larger friend group interspersed as Futuba and Kou wander around with each other. Futuba ends up being stricken with guilt that she was hanging out with Kou without telling Toma what was going on, and ends up going to angsty extremes in dealing with her emotions. Toma’s on the cover of this volume, and he definitely deserves it, as his steadfast approach to romance with a girl who is fairly honest about her wavering feelings makes him a stabilizing presence. While Kou might finally know what he wants, and I’m team Kou all the way, Sakisaka infuses scenes of Futuba and Toma talking to each other with so much joy that I felt myself wavering a bit! There’s always plenty of drama in each volume of Ao Haru Ride, but it never seems to be over-the-top or unearned, because so much of it is drawn from the characters’ internal motivations and the changes to their personalities as they are gradually growing up. This was yet another solid volume in a very good shoujo series.

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 2

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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.

The good news is this is still a very fun series with a lot of laughs and big goofy characters doing silly things. The bad news is that it is not a series that lives and dies on its character development, so I can see myself having trouble stretching reviews out to 500+ words as we go along. Lloyd is still stupidly strong and overpowered and completely unaware of it. He gathers yet more women into his orbit in this book, without remaining remotely aware of it, of course. Marie, the other seeming “main” character from the first book, is sidelined so hard and with such humiliation here I was tempted to call her Yunyun. The closest we get to serious characterization is Riho Flavin (yes, that’s still her name, a fact I will never get over), whose past catches up with her and whose days may be numbered. That said, this is a very silly comedy. Don’t expect it to kill off major characters.

The main cast remain the same as last time. Lloyd and Marie I mentioned. Sadly, the village chief comes back as well, and she’s not any less annoying. Selen is a mind-blowing yandere, but unlike most of this type, is actually funny. The plot is that there’s a magic tournament that’s located in their hometown this year. Unfortunately, their hometown is filled with muscles, not magic. No one would even want to participate expect Riho is being blackmailed by her childhood friend-turned-archenemy Rol Calcife, who seems to have become a Bond villain, and a pair of sisters. Mena is the sort of girl you’d expect in any other series to be the reporter girl looking for scoops, and she talks a lot. Her sister Phyllo is stoic and also a martial-arts master, looking for the one enemy she isn’t able to defeat. Guess who she finds that fits that bill? So Riho. Selen and Lloyd end up in the tournament after all.

Everything is secondary to the comedy here. Including Lloyd, who after starring in the first volume plays more of a supporting role here. He’s become the big gun that’s pulled out when an instant win is needed. As for the cast additions, my guess is that Phyllo will be the major one going forward. She’s amusing, as seeing Lloyd take her kicks without even reacting (she did break his ribs, but he doesn’t give that away), she is now almost as much a yandere over him as Selen is, just in a stoic way. It gets to the point that when a serious plot point is introduced at the very end, when we see that Rol may not have been fully in control of her evilness, that it feels out of place. We don’t really want this book to get any darker. We want it to be Big Goofy.

That said, this is still predominately great fun, with an excellent translation to match, which gets the book’s ‘no one is above humiliation’ style dead on. If you’re missing KonoSuba and looking for similar zaniness but wish Subaru and Wiz switched personalities, this is right up your alley.

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter, Vol. 1

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By Meguru Seto and Takehana Note. Released in Japan by Kodansha Lanove Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Tiva Haro. Adapted by Cae Hawksmoor.

As I was commenting on Twitter about reading this book, I kept calling it “trash”. And it really is. But wait, it’s not actually bad. In fact, you could do far worse than this kind of trash. But – it’s still trash. The lead is a stock light novel hero, the sort referred to these days as “Potato-kun”. He gathers together a group of young women, all gorgeous, all who are either already in love with him or fall for him almost instantly. His powers essentially rewrite reality to a certain extent, and aren’t powered by MP but rather LP, which means he can do more provided he gorges on delicious food, makes love to beautiful women, etc. It’s not actually an isekai (he’s the son of a baronet, and genuinely from this world), but isekais have happened here before, so there’s soy sauce and miso. I was expecting it to hit the plot/character beats that would cause me to groan and drop it in annoyance. But… it didn’t.

Our hero is Noir, and as I mentioned before he’s the son of a Baronet, which means he’s nobility but the lowest rung, meaning nobles don’t give him the time of day. He has a great ability where a voice in his head tells him the solution for any problem… but it gives him crippling pain to use. And the job he had lined up for adulthood was given to a higher noble’s son. All he has is his adoring busty childhood friend who clearly is in love with him but he hasn’t caught on to this. She discovers that the pain of using the skill is lessened by kissing, and this in turn leads him to a dungeon no one has found, and an adventurer who’s been trapped there for 200 years. From there, he’s ready to become an adventurer, go to Hero Academy, save the lives of cursed young ladies, and… yeah, you get the picture. This is trash.

So why is it good? It knows its boundaries, and knows when to push and when not to. For all that his skill is powered up by sexual acts, hugging, lap pillows, and the like usually suffice – the closest this gets to 18-rated is the instructor who decides to reward him by sitting on him. He gets a skill that is called ‘lucky pervert’, and after falling into his friend’s boobs and seeing an old lady’s panties, he quickly rewrites the skill so that it happens ‘very rarely, and never in a serious situation’. For a generic guy, he’s a bit smarter than most (still dense, of course). In one epilogue, he sees a bunch of kids bullying a boy for “hanging out with a girl”, and very quickly tears apart their logic – aside from mentioning Emma’s chest a lot, there’s little of the stock sexism we see in these books. Heck, there isn’t even any slavery (and it makes me sad that this is so rare I’m happy to note it). Even the little sister in love with him is restrained compared to others.

So basically, if you bought the book because you wanted it to be a nice, friendly OP fantasy with a lot of cute girls in a harem, this is a good book to buy. It hits all those buttons, and isn’t appalling. It’s also getting an anime soon, so you get in on the ground floor. It’s trash. Embrace that.

The Asterisk War: The Steps of Glory

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By Yuu Miyazaki and okiura. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

There’s good news and bad news in this new volume of The Asterisk War. The bad news is that this is the start of the series’ THIRD tournament arc, and with a few exceptions, battle scenes are what we’re going to get. The good news is that this author is quite good at writing battle scenes, particularly with a lot of young men and women kicking ass in various kinds of ways. We do get more at the start of the book showing the growing relationship between our villain, Madiath Mesa, and Ayato’s mother Sakura, whose real name seems to be Akari. It’s no surprise by now that she’s a girl shunned by the rest of her family due to “out of control” powers and forced to essentially live in a shed for most of her childhood, given what we’ve seen of this world to date. We do also get a bit of Kirin investigating, though that’s mostly her almost getting killed. The rest is fighting and foreshadowing of more fighting to come.

Saya is on the cover this time, and does get a bit to do, as she’s in the tournament. I was amused that chaotic, unpredictable fighters are her weakness, which makes perfect sense given her own personality and her love for Ayato. Ayato actually gets the most troublesome fights, not a big surprise given he’s the main character, and learns the hard way that the nature of this tournament (one-on-one, as opposed to pairs or groups) means everyone is far more brutal – several characters are hospitalized and the narrative has to tell us “it’s OK, they’re going to live”. He fights a big guy who has a few surprise Luxes that he can bring out, which shows off that there are various factions trying to influence this tournament as much as possible. He also fights a very nice girl and is very nice back at her, and it’s a good thing their battle is fierce otherwise I suspect the audience watching these fights would have been rather bored.

For those wanting more Julis, sorry to say you will have to wait – she’s barely in this book, and we don’t get to see any of her preliminary bouts. Instead we get a large number of characters, some of whom we’ve seen before and some we haven’t, but I can guarantee you I’ve mostly forgotten who they are. That’s fine, we’re not here for character development, we’re here to read some nice fights. Hilda’s battle was excellent, and I look forward to seeing the Mad Scientist fight, even though the narrator for some reason wants to tell me I won’t be able to get it. I was also amused at the student council presidents of the various schools trying to figure out how to explain the various borderline-illegal things their students have done. Next volume promises us the start of the real Tournament proper – in other words, battles where we may NOT guess the outcome in advance.

This is apparently the final arc in the series, per the author, which doesn’t surprise me given the main cast is about to graduate. I am assuming that many good fights will be had, all the remaining women in love with Ayato will confess to him, and he will end up with Julis, because in the end Asterisk War is well-written cliche but still very, very cliche. Still, I’ll be back next time.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Ut Sementem Feceris, ita Metes

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By Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Emily Balistrieri.

This book came out just before the anime began in Japan, and right about the time the manga started. As such, it’s the first one to be possibly influenced by both of those sources. I’ve talked before about how I don’t think Tanya’s pragmatism is usually as evil as the author wants us to believe, but sometimes he digs deep and shows us that there really is a difference in the way she (and her soldiers) think and everyone else. This book has an Ildoan Colonel observe her unit during a Federation attack, and is horrified that the soldiers not only plan to attack a town but also to bomb a church. Tanya’s cheerful explanation of how this is all perfectly fine due to the rules of war (and the fact that the Federation hasn’t signed any agreements) can be chilling as you realize how she’s not thinking of morality in a general sense at all. And then you remember that this is meant to be an anti-war series, and it all makes sense.

Tanya is all smiles on the cover, partly as she’s entertaining the observer and tries to be on her best behavior, but also has there’s a very real chance that we may be achieving peace again. Lergen spends most of the book in Ildoa, negotiating a peace with excellent terms for the Empire. And the generals (and Tanya) make sure that those terms are acceptable by absolutely trouncing the Federation, who have stronger weapons, better shields and well-trained men now but still lack aerial mages, and that’s making all the difference. Unfortunately, peace is not decided by the generals. We get another look at the ruling government of the Empire, and it’s chilling. By the end of this book, you realize that there’s no way the series can possibly end with anything but total, 100% defeat for the Empire. That’s a ways down the road, but… get used to war is what I’m saying.

The last volume was mostly talk and little fight, and this one goes in the other direction, being mostly filled with battle after battle. Our core team stays alive, and wins each battle, but there’s no mistake – things are getting harder. The enemy is starting to prepare for Tanya’s pyrotechnics, and she’s stunned when, for the first time, one of her “blow everything to hell” attacks does not blow everything to hell. Even when they do win due to clever tactics and overwhelming mage superiority, the Federation are able to make their retreat to fight another day. Even worse, they do so in an orderly fashion – discipline is winning. These are not the enemies Tanya wants to fight, as they’ll only lead to bad things for her and her fellow soldiers. That’s why she’s so happy at the end of the volume, not knowing what’s been happening with her government. I expect a big freak out from her at the start of the eighth book.

So a good, strong Tanya volume, better than the last, and reminding you again that when war is being fought, no one wins. The title’s translation, “As you sow, so shall you reap” could not be more appropriate.

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 6

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By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta…” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Marco Godano.

At last, our cast has managed to graduate from school and become real adults. That said, working at the Ministry seems to be giving Katarina and company the same opportunities that they had in the 3nd and 4th books, which is to say going around investigating magical problems. More importantly, though, Katarina has discovered that Fortune Lover had a sequel that came out after her death (courtesy Sophia’s still unconscious memories – Sophia herself sadly seems to function only as a plot device this book) which features the return of villainous, one-note Katarina Claes… and this time there’s no exile involved, it’s jail or death. Now she has to charm new characters (read: new love interests) all while dealing with being put into the Magical Department that all the weirdos go into… not that Katarina is weird, of course. Oh no.

So yes, be reassured that the plot is moving forward at last. That said, I’m not sure how I feel about Fortune Lover II, which seems like a convenient way to simply have the same stuff happen. It certainly widens the cast, albeit at the expense of the original “harem”, who all get far less to do this time around, with the exception of Maria, who is in Katarina’s group for the practical exam they’re taking. (She does not end up in the department of weirdos.) This includes a trans character, though I’m not quite sure how we’re supposed to read her. The “girly macho” type is a Japanese stereotype mined for comedy, and there’s quite a bit of that here as well – she clearly makes Katarina uncomfortable. That said, Katarina does at least gender her correctly and use her preferred name, which the rest of the cast does not. (I’m not sure how much of that is down to translation, though.) It remains to be seen if this is progressive or just awkward.

As for the new “love interest” we meet in this book, Dewey, he’s meant to compare and contrast with Maria, being a younger boy from her hometown, also poor and relatively unloved, who studied hard and got into the Ministry at a young age and is not fond of a) people who pity him, b) asking for help, or c) nobility. Naturally, Katarina rubs him the wrong way. Fortunately, their practical exams blows up into a major crisis which turns out to involve a dragon (something thought to be mythical, even in this “magic exists!” world) and Katarina knows the best way to deal with it… throw rocks and sticks at it. OK, that didn’t work, but it distracted the dragon long enough for her magical darkness puppy (from Book 4) to get REALLY BIG and defeat it. (Katarina’s relationship with dark magic is something I hope we get into in future books… there’s already Ministry officials wanting to examine her.) I’m not sure Dewey has fallen in love with Katarina like everyone else in her orbit, but at least he knows she cares.

Despite the gimmicky Fortune Lover II jumpstarting the plot, this is a good volume in the series, and I’m happy we’re away from school life. Whether the author can handle the huge cast is another question – Jeord gets a chapter to himself here (and it’s good – the anime did him no favors, frankly) but I suspect we’ll be dealing with Katarina’s workplace friends more and more. Fans of the anime should still enjoy it, however.

Deathbound Duke’s Daughter: Erika Aurelia and the Seafarer’s Ruins

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By Terasu Senoo and Munashichi. Released in Japan as “Shini Yasui Koushaku Reijou to Shichi-nin no Kikoushi” by M Novels (Futabasha). Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

We’ve had isekais for years now, and are used to “so what is the slight difference that makes this one worth reading”. Otome Game Villainesses, though, is still a relatively recent genre. That said, the fact that it seems to be exploding in popularity means that we can start to compare and contrast them that much faster. So, for those who would like a far more intelligent protagonist than Bakarina, or for those who want less emphasis on the romance aspect of these sorts of books, here’s a really nice choice for you. That said, Erika lacks Katarina’s empathy and emotional well of kindness, mostly because one was a happy-go-lucky high school girl who got hit by a truck while thinking about an otome game, and the other is a young OL who’s spent her entire life being slutshamed and the subject of rumors, and who finally was murdered by someone with a “grudge” against her for existing. It’s no surprised that Erika is a bit more jaded – even as an eight-year-old.

So you know the drill, she’s woken up as a villainess – a bratty young woman whose death kickstarts the plot of the game she was playing. That said, this is years earlier, and the event that makes her so loathed is one she knows – don’t let the younger sister of one of the “targets” die because of her neglect. She succeeds in making young Anne a fan of her right away, but Claus is dealing with inferiority complexes and preconceived biases, so is a tougher nut to crack. He’s interested in the ruins that her kingdom is known for – and so is the sister, which makes it more annoying when they both deliberately vanish one evening, leaving Erika to try to catch them so that Anne’s death doesn’t lead to her own demise. Unfortunately, Erika reckons without her super, super bad luck in general, and also her past life making her more than a little death-seeking, even if it’s only unconsciously.

As you can see, the bulk of this is not so much “otome game villainess tries to stop dying” as “kids go on a big underground adventure”, and it’s all the better for it. They’re mysterious moving labyrinths, deathtraps galore, golems, and a big bad with a big grudge. Erika and Claus work well together, and you can see why he ends up falling for her despite their young ages. Though Anne is the one who can tell that she’s not really looking for any romance, especially after her last life. As for Erika herself, despite seemingly being weak in terms of alchemy, she’s actually quite the savant, something noted by her older brother in a side story, where he worries that she’s going to take after their shady (and now dead) mother. (Amusingly, Erika was wondering if HE was the evil one earlier, but they both seems to be OK.) Most importantly, the book is simply fun, a short, quick read that will please most fantasy readers as well as “otome game villainess” fans.

Each book in the series has a Harry Potter-style title, so we’ll see what Erika Aurelia and the _______________” gets up to next time. In the meantime, this is an excellent addition to J-Novel Club’s Heart line.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 2: Apprentice Shrine Maiden, Vol. 4

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

(This review contains more spoilers than usual. I’ll try to keep the big ones to after the cover art.)

To my annoyance, the book starts off with a scene between the villains, each trying to prove that among the sneering evil bastards, they are the MOST sneering evil bastards. To my relief, it’s all uphill from there – as always, Bookworm’s books are long but they feel like they’re too short. Myne is trying to get her kid’s picture books off the ground, which involves experimenting with colored ink as well as getting new wax for their stencils. the second quarter of the book has a lot of the arts and crafts we’ve come to love from this series. (It also has the author, in probably the funniest part of the book, write in “Myne and Lutz as an adult married couple” and have it be DEAD ON.) Unfortunately, right at the start of the book an abandoned baby arrives at the orphanage, and Myne, trying to convince a reluctant Delia to care for it with the others, makes a big deal of Delia being the child’s big sister. This sets off a terrifying change of events that will shake up the lives of everyone – and result in a major fatality.

Though we’re not quite going to be leaving the temple yet, I suspect this may be the last we see of Delia as a major character. I had wondered if Myne would ever manage to win her over to betraying the high bishop, and sadly the answer is “not really”, though this isn’t helped by everyone keeping secrets from Delia because… well, she’s a spy. At least she avoids execution. Indeed, this book is filled with executions and threats of executions galore, and it’s a reminder of just how dark this world can be when it’s not about “hey, let’s make paper!”, and when the archduke is pondering whether it would be easier to simply have Myne’s family executed, you get the chills. Fortunately, Myne has her fingers in too many pies to make this really feasible, especially given that her printing press is the proverbial genie that cannot be put back in the bottle. No, instead of everyone around Myne getting executed, the simplest thing is for Myne to die.

And so we end this arc, with Myne dead. Fortunately, we have a new heroine in Rozemyne, who is the hidden daughter of a noble adopted by the archduke, and who happens to look, talk and act just like… OK, yes, Rozemyne is Myne, something most people are immediately made aware of. But the cover story is very important, and the scene where Myne has to say goodbye to her family as a family is heartbreaking. We know they’ll meet again (if anything else, I’ve seen Tulli on a few book covers coming up), but it’s not the same. Indeed, the cover story is magical, to the point where even Myne’s magical contracts change names. As for the Archduke himself… well, I admit, I didn’t see the reveal coming, though others may disagree. Certainly he helps to rescue Myne in the nick of time from a hideous fate. We’ll see how the double act holds up in the next arc. (The book proper ends about 2/3 in, and we get some very good post-Myne short stories, including some subtleties in regards to the High Priest’s aide, and how his seething cauldron of anger is not as secret as he’d like.)

The next arc is titled ‘Adopted Daughter of an Archduke’, and as such I expect a lot of noble life, probably some bullying – Rozemyne will likely find it hard. That said, she’s now in a majorly important position, the daughter of the MOST important man, and as we saw here, has enough mana in her to whip up a prayer to 5 or 6 gods, all at once, and have it work fine. No need to worry, even if Myne has left us, Rozemyne should be just fine. This was an excellent volume in the series, despite the “I am eviler than the most evil person!” villains.

A Triple Dose of Terrible Titillation

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This week three titles came out all at once that made Manga Bookshelf collectively groan and hold their heads. I decided, in a rare masochistic moment, to read all three of the new volumes. It rapidly became apparent that I’d have to review them together, as they all defied my ability to spin a large number of words. So let’s get started with title #1, which is easily the scuzziest of the three.

(Please note: all three of these titles are various degrees of sexually explicit. Reader discretion is advised.)

Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time. By Daisuke Hiyama. Released in Japan as “Peter Grill to Kenja no Jikan” by Futabasha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Monthly Action. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Ben Tretheway. Adapted by David Lumsdon.

First off, a brief summary: a guy wins a worldwide fighting tournament, and is recognized as the strongest in the land. He wants to marry his pretty but naive fiancee, but unfortunately as he’s the strongest every woman around wants to have sex with him. He attempts to resist, but fails. Rinse and repeat. As for a review… at least it’s not hiding what it wants to be. About 15 pages into this book, I had read as euphemisms “man yogurt”, “down-low mayo”, “cream filling”, and “man mucus”, to the point where I wanted to beg the translators to just say “cum” over and over like a normal person. They say they want to bear his strong children, but honestly, it’s all about the sex. We get two ogres and an elf in this book, and I’m sure as the series goes on more fantasy creatures will show up. As for Peter, he’s the sort of guy that creators think is likeable but is really teeth-grindingly irritating. It certainly has an audience, but that audience is “80s sex comedy”. I’m amazed the pages didn’t stick together… and I read it on a tablet.

Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World!. By Wakame Konbu. Released in Japan as “Sekai de Ichiban Oppai ga Suki!” by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Cune. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Alexandra McCullough.

This was not as offensive as Peter Grill, but does have the problem that I kept checking to see how many pages to the end. It’s possibly the most boring “sexy” manga I’ve ever seen. The premise: Chiaki is the school “prince”, an archery master and all the girls love her. Harumi, who goes to a different school, has a not-very-hidden crush on Chiaki. Chiaki has a very not hidden crush on Harumi’s large breasts. She likes to grope them, and if she can’t do so, she loses motivation in terms of her archery. It’s basically Knight of the Ice with boobs. Theoretically this is a yuri title, but honestly you end up simply angry after seeing Chiaki say over and over, in about fifteen different ways, that she loves Harumi’s boobs, not Harumi. There are various boob-grabbing situations… buying new bras, etc… but really, nothing happens but boob-groping for about 150 pages. It’s certainly a very narrow fetish. I can’t even imagine yuri fans would be pleased, as they’d no doubt tell Harumi to find someone – anyone – better than Chiaki. And the breast-grabbing, given we’re constantly told it’s not about lust or arousal, is not even sexy.

Lust Geass. By Osamu Takahashi. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

When I started reading these three, I was not expecting the erotic mind control porn story to be the best of the three – by far – but here we are. Souta and Rikka are childhood friends, and he’s in love with her, but can’t quite get the words out. Then one day he finds a mysterious bookstore with occult tomes. Rikka loves occult stuff, so he gets one for her birthday. Now, suddenly, she’s really, really horny, and needs his help to get off… though won’t go all the way. The premise of “cursed book that makes us have sex” is not really new, and you can see the direction this is going. The second volume will no doubt pull in the respectable class president girl, the volume after that the hot teacher, etc. And we also get the “if you have sex with the one you truly love, you’ll die” curse to keep the main pairing apart till death or cancellation do us part. But… honestly? This had the only likeable cast in these three books. Consent is occasionally mentioned, which is surprising given the premise. You get the sense that Souta and Rikka would likely have gotten together relatively soon even without the book. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not great. It’s possible I’m making it sound better than it is because I read it after the other two. And, well, it’s erotic mind control porn. But this is the only one of these where I though “I might actually get Vol. 2 just to see if the leads stay likeable”. It’s not terrible.

So Lust Geass is worth getting if you’re into that sort of thing, Peter Grill will likely please its very, very narrow demographic of horny teenage boys (likely why Seven Seas rated it Older Teen and not Mature), and Breasts Are My Fav… zzzzzzzz… hm? where was I? Oh, right. No.

Toradora!, Vol. 10

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By Yuyuko Takemiya and Yasu. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Will Holcomb.

It might come as a surprise to those who have read the last three or four volumes of Toradora!, but there was, at one point, a large element of comedy in this series. As things have turned far more serious that’s mostly been repressed, but there’s a wonderful moment here where it returns… and yet we also don’t let go of the soul-crushing despair that both leads are going through. This leads to my favorite scene in the book, where, after having accidentally thrown 24,000 yen into the river, Ryuuji and Taiga finally kiss… then he jumps back onto the edge of a bridge, and she suddenly thinks he’s trying to kill himself, so she grabs at him, but slips and accidentally sends him over the bridge into the river (it’s winter), and then he asks her to marry him, and then SHE jumps off the bridge, and then the two have a giant screaming fight/confession scene in the rover while slowly freezing to death. It’s a bit unnerving to read… but also very like these two.

The first half of the book made me worry that the two of them might actually make good on their running away, which is, let’s be very clear here, a VERY BAD IDEA. Their friends have gotten so invested in giving up on their own denied love and supporting the couple that they’re willing to go along with this, though at least Ami is there to point out the foolishness before giving in anyway. Even their teacher, who literally bets her job that the two won’t run away, can’t stop them from making their escape. In the end, what stops them is actually the actions of Ryuuji’s mother, herself estranged from her parents after a high school relationship ended in pregnancy, who has ALSO run away from home. This leads to Ryuuji reuniting with his grandparents, and he and Taiga seeing that nothing is unrecoverable.

One thing I very much appreciated about this final book is that it does not try to redeem Taiga’s own parents, who have both been portrayed as emotionally and mentally abusing Taiga most of her life. Her dad is finally unable to run from his creditors, and I feel grateful we don’t see him. We do see her mother, who is there to remove Taiga entirely from her friends and love. Their teacher at one point can’t help but compare mother and daughter – they have similar mannerisms, and you can certainly see the family resemblance. But, thankfully, Taiga has emotional depth and the ability to care for others that we really don’t see in her mother here, and it’s why you feel so pained when she finally gives in and leaves with her. Of course, this story is not going to have an unhappy ending, fear not. But I do like how, in the end, Taiga is able to stand up for herself and demand her own right to be happy rather than being yanked around by her parents.

Toradora! is a relatively old series in light novel years, and at times it did feel rather quaint compared to some more modern examples of the genre, which certainly would have added three or four more girls to the Ryuuji mix. But even if it did, no one would be able to get past the destiny of the main pairing. It’s literally in the title. It’s also a terrific read.