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Reviews

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.

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 4

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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.

This book starts off with Altina and company, who are recovering from running away from the palace only to find themselves attacked by the country whose fort they overtook in the second volume. What’s more, war has just been declared between their nation and Britannia. So they’re in a pinch – can they defend what they took and ALSO send troops to defend the country? Well, we might find out next time, because this book isn’t about Altina, but her older brother Bastian, who has essentially been exiled to Britannia for being too much of a handful, and is busy going to school as a disguised noble. Unfortunately, the OTHER disguised noble at his school, Eliza, is suddenly in the middle of a nasty power struggle between those who want war and those who want peace. We know how it turns out (war is at the start of the book, after all), but getting there is entertaining and feels like a different series by the same author.

Altina sometimes had tendencies of “idiot hero” in the first three books, but could also strategize and listen to more tactical advice. Bastian, on the other hand, is absolutely the very definition of idiot hero to a ridiculous degree. He’s writing a book, you see (despite some spelling mistakes), a book of derring-do and adventure and really cool battle scenes. He is, in other words, under a severe “middle school syndrome” spell, which is even more annoying given he’s in the equivalent of high school. He’s also from a different country, though, and so has to deal with petty bullying from other guys who are asking why he’s always writing in that book, then taking the book and keeping it from him. Never let it be said the author doesn’t know his tropes. Of course, once Eliza vanishes and then needs rescuing, it turns out Bastian is really an insanely overpowered guy who can run as fast as a horse and has a magical dagger. Frankly, his own life makes the better story.

Eliza is the preferred heir that the dying queen wants, but she’s a pacifist, and the people seemingly want war – or so we’re told. Fortunately, there’s another princess who can be Queen that is more amenable to war, provided that it’s not dull. Margaret is the polar opposite of the relatively innocent, staid Eliza – she’s the seductive vamp type. The power mostly resides in her aide, Oswald, who does want war – infinite war, forever. He’s that sort of guy. The two of them actually make quite a good double act, and I hope we see them both again. Admittedly, it does also mean that this book doesn’t have a very happy ending – Eliza and Bastian are on the run, her country is at war, and the one thing she had that could prove she was the rightful heir is lost in their escape. It’s a downer all around. But hey, at least they’re not dead. The author is not quite that mean.

Despite ending on a down note, this is a fun, breezy read, and another strong entry in the series. Next time I expect we’ll get back to Altina.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol 24

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 24 by Mizuho Kusanagi

This was yet another excellent volume of Yona of the Dawn, this time featuring high-stakes diplomacy, surprising smooches, feline nicknames, and strategic partying. One of the nice things about long-running series is when characters from the past suddenly pop up, prompting some moments of reflection about just how far everyone has come as the story has progressed. In this volume, in response to Yona’s political overtures Su-Won sends Min-Su, the young man who allowed Yona and Hak to escape from the castle right after Su-Won murdered King Il. Min-Su brings a letter that states that Su-Won will not delay going to war and Yona quickly develops an alternate strategy that involves delaying the involvement of the Wind Tribe and spreading rumors in an attempt to get Su-Won to divide his forces. She uses her treasured hairpin to bribe Su-Won’s old informer and sends Hak off to meet with the Wind Tribe.

While the stakes of averting war makes this volume fairly serious, the Wind Tribe can always be relied on for some humor, in particular the way all the young people glom on to Hak. This has a physical manifestation as his people literally drape themselves over him because they are so delighted that he’s returned. Hak tells them to get along with the people of Xing, and in true Wind Tribe fashion they decide to start throwing a party along the battle lines. Min-Su tags along as Yona goes to visit Kang Tae-June for another favor, and he reflects on Yona’s influence. Min-Su reflects that Yona’s attitude of doing her best to help others ends up being so influential to those around her that it inspires everyone to want to act like her, which is “…a terrifying ability.” Yona’s captured friends have to fend off Mizari who is both evil and insane, and his behavior begins to reflect badly on Xing in general, further destabilizing the region. Kusanagi continues to pack so much story and character development into each volume of Yona of the Dawn, I feel like she manages to accomplish in one volume what would take other authors a minimum of two to three volumes to accomplish. Yet another thoroughly satisfying volume and I’m already impatiently waiting to see if Yona actually does manage to avert war in volume 25.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 15

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

I’ve often talked with this series about how it feels slightly fake, how it’s written by a computer, and how it was written not as a story in and of itself but a story to become an anime. All these are still true. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad, and sometimes, when the computer writing it has a particularly good bunch of data to work with, it ends up with a really, really good book. Such a book is the 15th volume, which might as well be called Strike The Blood: The Movie. It’s the longest book in the series to date by far, and that seems appropriate given the subject matter: the secret cabal that runs the world (yeah, I know, I know…) has decided that too many dangerous things are going on on Itogami Island and, more importantly, too many dangerous people are there, including Kojou. So they’ve sent in a fleet of magic battleships and airships to destroy the island and everyone on it.

The author calls this book the “end of Part One”, and you can see why. There’s a lot of big, plot moving things going on here. Nagisa finally discovers the truth about her brother, though her reaction to all of this will have to wait for next time, as she’s also nearly killed due to the other soul inside her. Kojou finally manages to control his beast vassals and also get all of them, meaning he’s now come into his own as the Fourth Primogenitor. He also publicly declares that Itogami Island is his “territory”, putting it in a class of nations that cannot simply be wiped off the map because they’re inconvenient. And oh yes, Asagi and Vattler join forces to declare war on the people declaring war on them, a pairing so unlikely that everyone and their brother boggles at it.

Why is Asagi doing this? Well, we find out in a great fight scene between her and Yukina, which I wish had been longer. Yukina is fighting to protect Kojou, the Fourth Primogenitor who is using his great power to save others and will one day be the most powerful force in the world. Asagi is fighting to protect Kojou, the high school kid and her friend/crush, who she wants to continue to have SOME semblance of a normal life. As you might expect, they both have valid points but Yukina’s are more valid. You can’t walk back what Kojou is now (though we do get an amusing epilogue where he’s forced to do makeup homework because he missed a month of class negotiating peace treaties). As for Vattler, it will come as no surprise to regular readers to find out he was behind all this, but I was surprised at the eventual outcome of his fight with Kojou. Which is about the 13th major fight Kojou gets into in this book, which is filled with old cast members returning once more.

The series just ended in Japan at 22 volumes, so Part Two, whatever it is, is not going to be as long as Part One was. And for those waiting to see who wins the “harem” wars, La Folia points out what is likely going to be the obvious solution, though that may simply be because it benefits her most. In the meantime, Strike the Blood remains shallow fun, and this book is particularly fun.

Owarimonogatari: End Tale, Part 02

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By NISIOISIN and VOFAN. Released in Japan by Kodansha BOX. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Ko Ransom.

We saw Nisioisin in the last book begin to get ready to wrap the series up (which, spoiling you, he absolutely did not do) and tell the stories that he’d been skipping around and only hinting at: the first appearance of Ogi Oshino and the story of why Araragi got so broken before the start of the series, i.e. the story of Oikura Sodachi. He’s just about ready to finish up by telling us what happened after Gaen literally killed Araragi and sent him to hell at the end of Koyomimonogatari. However, there’s another story that got too big to tell – he says in the afterword it was supposed to be part of the other two “August” Araragi-narrated books, Kabukimonogatari and Onimonogatari, but there simply wasn’t room. And so we get Shinobu Mail, a story big enough to get a volume to itself. It’s ‘mail’ as in armor, and is Shinobu-focused, but also has a heaping helping of Kanbaru, who’s had very little to do since her own narrated book.

Gaen is on the cover along with Shinobu, and she’s also in this book a fair amount. Which may be surprising, given it’s also loaded with Kanbaru, but Gaen solves the problem by simply lying through her teeth about who she is, and Kanbaru, while not dumb, is straightforward enough not to question it. Gaen is here – along with Episode, who hasn’t really had much of a role in the series since Kizumonogatari – to deal with a part of Shinobu’s past that has shown up. Her first thrall, Seishiro, who we had been told (by her) had killed himself rather than be a vampire with here, has managed, after 400 years, to reconstitute himself – killing yourself when you’re Kissshot’s thrall is HARD – and wants to roam the world with Shinobu again. And if that means killing Araragi by fair means or foul, welp, those are the breaks.

This is a particularly well-written book in the series. Araragi and Kanbaru’s long, long, LONG dialogue at the start shows how much she was missed, and also how close the series gets to lowbrow humor. Things aren’t helped by Araragi, in what is meant to be the coolest line in the book, tell Gaen that he knows that both Senjogahara and Hanekawa would understand – he’ll happily leave them to save themselves to rescue a little girl. On the bright side, though she doesn’t actually appear in person, we get another terrific conversation between Araragi and Senjogahara, this one meant to parallel the thoughts that he’s been having about him and Shinobu. Senjogahara, despite admitting that if a man better than him came along she would absolutely dump him, knows exactly what he wants to hear, and it’s actually very romantic. As for the resolution, it’s very appropriate to Araragi.

The whole book is framed as a conversation Araragi has with Ogi right before he leaves for his exams – a trip we already know ends in his death. It feels like all the dots have now been connected. Is his death permanent? Well, we’ll find out next time with the last of the End Tales. Till then, this is a strong volume in the series, especially for Shinobu and Kanbaru fans.