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How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 19

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan as “Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

There are certain long-running light novel series that I review that I consider “grandfathered in”. What that means is I’ve been reading them for years, and I know that they’re not really all that good any more, but I set a lower bar just because… well, I’ve been reading them for years. Now, obviously, sometimes a series doesn’t even clear that low bar, and I drop it some 15-20 volumes in. In Another World with My Smartphone was blessed with an obvious “please stop reading here” volume, whereas The Irregular at Magic High School decided to shove its homophobic right-wing protagonist in my face one too many times. Realist Hero has not hit that low bar. It’s still readable, I feel no desire to stop one volume before the end. That said,. there is a moment here where our heroes are fighting the villain, and get mad at him for still being single and not having married like everyone else in this series, where I wondered if this was written by the ghost of Shinzo Abe.

We left off with Souma having revealed that there’s a whole new world of adventure to be had in the North, thus impacting the morale of all of Fuuga’s troops, as well as Fuuga himself. Unfortunately, that’s not quite enough to stop the battle that’s going to be happening today, and now Fuuga knows he has to deal with everything right now or he’ll lose. What follows is a lot of battle, and Fuuga loses. (I don’t regard this as a spoiler because you have read the previous 18 volumes. Did you think Souma would be killed?) Souma manages to swing the battle in such a way that Fuuga is able to retreat with honor (persuaded to do so by, you guessed it, a pregnant wife), but his dreams are dashed. Unfortunately, he is smarter than some of his generals, who have a “war or nothing” mentality. The fragile peace can’t last forever…

This series, for the most part, does not kill people off, something I joked about last time, when it killed off the two oldest men in the cast who had already lived full lives and didn’t have young wives and children. This penultimate volume can’t QUITE do that, but it does manage to avoid killing off any of the named supporting cast on Souma’s side. The same cannot be said of the enemy, and I spent most of the book wondering if the author actually had the moxie to legitimately kill Fuuga off. (The answer is that they leave it vague, but I’m pretty sure the 20th volume will answer “no, he did not”). That said, Yuriga’s family definitely suffers some deaths, as they’re divided between two warring states, and some of them are simply battle hungry. Of all the “it’s better to have a family” hammers that get dropped on our head by the book, the best is Aisha’s fight with Nata, where she declares him boring because his battle style has nothing he cares about behind it but his own bloodlust. She kills him as an afterthought. That was some actual good writing.

Most of this, though, is Realist Hero writing. It’s ending in the next volume, which the author already says will be “epilogues” about all the characters. It’s long overdue, but I’ll read it when we get it. (And hopefully it won’t come back with After stories. Looking at you, Arifureta.)

Otherside Picnic, Vol. 9

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By Iori Miyazawa and shirakaba. Released in Japan as “Urasekai Picnic” by Hayakawa Bunko JA. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

It’s been about nineteen months since THAT volume of Otherside Picnic came out over here, and let’s be honest, the wait was excruciating. We all wanted to know what would happen next? What we got, as usual with the series, was three interconnected chapters tat also function as short stories. The “horror” part comes at the start and near the end, and it does a pretty good job, even though I’m never going to be one of those folks reading this series for the horror. The actual plot comes in the second half, where we bring Runa back into the series as more than just a cameo, and reintroduce the eccentric Tsuji, who I am suspecting might be the next major antagonist but I could be wrong. The rest of the volume is very strong. But yeah, I’m going to be talking about the middle chapter, which left me grinning like an idiot and jumping up and down in happiness.

But first, a recap. In the first chapter of this volume, Toriko and Sorawo go to the Otherside (its only appearance in this volume) to check on Todate and Hana, as after Sorawo’s Toriko-infested Otherside experience from the last book she’s worried about them. She’s right to be worried – this is the really scary part of the book, though not without its heartwarming, in a weird way. I the second story, Sorawo and Toriko head over to Kozakura’s mansion to inform her that they’re now a couple, and Sorawo struggles with the fact that everyone wants her relationship to be more romantic than she’s comfortable with. In the final, longest chapter, Migawa asks Sorawo and Toriko to help instruct soldiers from their facility on how to deal with Otherside terror, and they bring along Runa (who they are trying to figure out what to do with) and Tsuji (who is now Runa’s minder). Runa has a knack for interior decorating that is kind of cute, and then less cute.

So, let’s talk about that second story. First of all, everyone who enjoyed watching Sorawo struggle with what her relationship with Toriko is will be happy to note that even after they defined it together, Sorawo still hates talking about it with anyone else, as she always senses them making it more normal and ordinary. This fits in really well with Sorawo’s mindset. (The funniest parts of the book are where folks have to explain to Sorawo when she’s seducing people, and Sorawo’s “wut?” reaction to this.) The best part of the book for me, though, was Kozakura. They arrive at her mansion and find it brightly lit, and this worries them. But what it actually means is that she’s moved on and is now in control of her life again. She’s adopted Kasumi which is why the house is bright), and she’s using her degree to make the Otherside safer to think about and study. I wanted to shout “woo hoo!” when I saw this. I’m so happy for her.

Now, is Runa going to be able to have the same journey? Can Sorawo come to terms with the fact that everyone is going to interpret her relationship with Toriko differently? And can Toriko stop all these thirsty women macking on her nue so that she can get in some quality cuddling time? That will have to wait for Book 10, in all likelihood. I loved this book, though.

The Countess Is a Coward No More! This Reincarnated Witch Just Wants a Break, Vol. 2

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By Ageha Sakura and TCB. Released in Japan as “Tensei Saki ga Kiyowa Sugiru Hakushaku Fujin datta” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Bérénice Vourdon.

This is not an isekai title, and it’s not QUITE a reincarnation title, even though it features that, mostly as they’re not reincarnated from Japan. Everyone in this fantasy world seems to have been born in it at some point. But it is one of those titles, like Reborn to Master the Blade or A Tale of the Secret Saint, where our protagonist was an incredibly powerful and influential person in the past, and now that they’ve reincarnated into the future, they find that their past is not so easy to get rid of. This is more literally true for Lam than others in this genre, as not only was she forcibly reincarnated via a spell, but all of her disciples are there as well. And unfortunately, this gets to one of the parts of the title that I wish weren’t the case… all of her disciples are, to one degree or another, yanderes. Fortunately, she has minimal interest in anyone but Char… who gets SLIGHTLY more than minimal.

Things start off fairly normally, as Lam decides she wants to attend a tea party for nobility, which goes about as well as you’d expect, given that she’s still assumed to be an introverted coward by those who haven’t met her new self. After that, though, we get the real plot, as Lam is asked to go to the country of Levres, whose prince wants to meet her. Naturally, Char comes along, and they take Canon as well. It turns out that the prince is the reincarnation of her second disciple, Glacial, who was reincarnated properly with his memories from the start, unlike Lam’s broken reincarnation. Now Prince Fleche, he wants Lam to marry him and live with him forever – much to Char’s displeasure. Unfortunately, the hatred of mages has also followed them to this kingdom, helped along by the Church.

This series has a very big problem for me, which is not a deal breaker so far but the ice is getting thinner. The problem is that while I like the basic situation, I usually want to sympathize with… anyone. Lam is fairly emotionally stunted, quick to deal with “insects” when she’s annoyed, and, while she’s not aromantic per se, she might as well be given her inability to get anyone’s point. The men in her life are all various shades of obsessed with/in love with her, and Char is possibly the only one who actually cares about what SHE thinks about this… and the implication is that if he finds out she was actually Aurora, he won’t care about her own feelings either. The bad guys are also mostly immature brats with far too much power and a tendency to not care about anyone or anything. And given they all have magic, even the people trying to prejudice the world against magic, that’s not a good thing. You want to smack them.

This ends with a cliffhanger, so we’ll see how all these men decide to resolve who gets to marry and have sex with a woman who really doesn’t want to be married to anyone but Char, and who still tends to blush and have a look of horror if sex is mentioned. I’ll keep going, but buyer beware.

Did You Think My Yuri Was Just for Show?

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By Neru Asakura and Minori Chigusa. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Yuri mo, Eigyou da to Omotta?” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Janny McKeon.

I wasn’t really sure what this was going to be when I first saw it. The author hasn’t had other titles licensed for the West (though they apparently wrote another, “spicier” yuri title previously). It’s also a one-shot. That said, I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would, although not necessarily for the yuri aspect of it. It’s an excellent look at the voice acting industry and how it can be very boom or bust at any time, told to us through the viewpoint of one of its bigger stars (though she would deny that). It also gets into the terror of idol fandom, both “trying to start a scandal for clicks” fandom and also what you do when you’re confronted with your celebrity crush in real life and you want to keep that sort of thing separate. Mostly, though, I enjoyed this because of its main character, Suzune, who is fantastic.

Suzune is, for once in this sort of series, NOT an up-and-coming wannabe voice actress. Instead, our narrator is well-established in the industry, not a top star but getting several roles a season, with usually one or two major titles. She’s also ‘yuri for real’ (gay and lesbian are not used, as the novel leans very deliberately into the ‘yuri’ label), something she’s hiding from most people except her friend at work who is the same. That said, Suzune hasn’t really experienced actual love per se. Sure, she’s a massive fan of Karin Shotsuki, the former leader of idol group DIAGONAL who mysteriously retired a few months ago. But being an ‘oshi’ for an idol is not the same thing as love, right? Then, of course, she’s introduced to the new kid on the block at the agency the next day… the same Karin.

Suzune is a type I always like, which is modest and realistic, a bit self-deprecating, but not overly so, and VERY good at what she does. Her professionalism throughout (well, mostly, I’ll get to it) was fantastic, and I even appreciated the scenes she had with the evil villain washed-up voice actress, which she was handling well enough but which Karin, out of necessity, had to take over. Speaking of Karin, she’s fine, and I liked her, but a bit less. I do think that Suzune was missing some very obvious signs that Karin was massively in love with her from the start, but given that Suzune was asking what love really is anyway, that can be expected. The one weak part of the book is the final scene, which not only feels very unrealistic (both in terms of what Suzune does, and the lack of consequences), but also feels abrupt as heck, as if the author was told to stop as they had a page limit.

Still, that’s 90% of a really great book. And it’s a one-shot, so you’re not investing much. For fans of voice actors and fans of yuri.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Minor Myths and Legends, Vol. 1

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By Fujino Omori and nilitsu. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Shohenshu” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

Oh goody, another short story collection, the first of two that have been given fancier names to disguise the fact that this is a collection of extra stories mostly written for bookstore exclusives, which means by definition that all of them, with one or two exceptions, not only cannot impact the ongoing narrative but cannot impact any of the character arcs. That said, I am always grateful that we get these anyway, as it’s nice to see the little content that Japanese readers got when they bought the volume at Toranoana, Animate, or Gamers. What’s more, fans of the harem aspect of this series, which usually takes a backseat in the main series to the ongoing “series of fights to the death” plot, will be eating well here. Everyone loves Bell and knows it (except Aiz), and Bell is clueless to everyone’s love but loves Aiz (who is clueless towards him). It’s in the title of the franchise!

Trying to summarize all of these would be impossible – most of them only run two pages or so. They take place over the course of Vol. 1-18 of the main series. Some of the ones that are longer than two pages include Eina and Bell’s first meeting, Hestia trying to be Bell’s supporter in the dungeon, a story taking place right after Bell first starts to become famous and shows off his growth as the smith who made his first knife asks if he can put it in his “hall of fame” section, after Vol. 6, Hestia tries another ball to try to dance with Bell, but it proves very difficult; Fels watches over Hestia Familia during the Xenos arc, and keeps a diary of what they are seeing – which quickly turns into a confessional of a sort, Cassandra makes another effort to get people to believe her right before the disaster that sends Bell and Lyu to the deep levels, Lyu and Bell are forced to drink slimes to survive in the dungeon, and three more that I’ll talk about below.

The three stories that work best here are the ones that actually *are* able to do something with character development. They all take place during the “Freya” arc of the series. Bell is going through enforced date training so he can go out with Syr, and as part of it rescues an Elf in Hermes Familia and tries to be suave as he was taught. It works far, far too well. In the second, we get the POV of Horn during the time when Bell is staying with Freya Familia and she’s manipulating everyone’s memories, which shows both Freya’s guilt and angst over her lot in love as well as her massive tsundere nature over Bell; and in the final, funniest story, Laurier does her own character poll of everyone in Orario, and runs into Horn, who is at loose ends after Freya’s fall. The cat fight they both get into, with Laurier praising Bell so much it makes you sick, and Horn tearing him down as much as possible, is simply fantastic.

That said, overall.. this is a short story collection. For fans only. Join us soon for Vol. 2, which has all the store giveaway stories for Sword Oratoria.

I Shall Survive Using Potions!, Vol. 10

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By FUNA and Sukima. Released in Japan as “Potion-danomi de Ikinobimasu!” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hiroya Watanabe.

Due to a weird scheduling quirk, I think this is the first time that I have read all three of FUNA’s licensed series in the space of two weeks. Seven Seas’ Make My Abilities Average! came out last month, but its digital version was delayed two weeks for unknown reasons. Kodansha’s Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World also came out with a new volume. And now we have I Shall Survive Using Potions!, which may not be the best of the three (I don’t think I can really call one of these series the “best” easily), but it’s certainly the most interesting, mostly as Kaoru is still an atomic bomb of a protagonist (the word “heroine” seems grotesquely wrong), and as these books have shown, the world that she is in, especially after the time skip, is a toxic one filled with greedy nobles, murderous thugs, and temple priests who have no idea why they should not be rude to a 12-year-old. Kaoru is not thinking about wiping out kingdoms for no reason

Kaoru is currently masquerading as the “stray priestess” Edith, but after almost getting herself murdered by bandits, she decides to performatively hire some bodyguards to protect her as well as talk to the local lord to try to find out who may have hired said bandits so she can eradicate them. Fortunately, the dumb evil noble sends a bunch of disguised soldiers, bandits and goons to kidnap and/or kill her, and it’s only due to the presence of… her bodyguards. And half the town. And, um, the local lord and his own soldiers… that this is foiled. Huh. Funny, that. Anyway, she and her two co-conspirators, Reiko and Kyoko, have decided to open a new shop in the capitol. Kaoru, as “Edith”, heads over there… and is immediately almost kidnapped. And then almost kidnapped AGAIN. Fortunately, guardian angels keep showing up in the nick of time. Funny, that.

So yes, the big gag of the back half of this volume is that Kaoru’s masterful powers of trying to fix her own mistakes and remain “an anonymous priestess with a little bit of power” are hopelessly doomed from the start. Partly because she’s so incredibly bad at not being her real, evil… erm, good, sorry… self, but also because in spite of this series timeskipping 70 years into the future, everyone that she adventured with in the past is still alive, because of her ludicrous OP potions. Especially Francette, who is now a living legend, is famous for bitchslapping a goddess till she stopped threatening to destroy the world, and has mobilized all the other Kaoru worshippers of yore to make sure that everything goes PERFECTLY for her. Kaoru must be disappointed, how is she supposed to commit a little genocide or two if everyone’s so NICE to her?

All this plus more of the PTSD-ridden codependent orphans who develop facial tics if they’re not working themselves to death for more than ten seconds. Potion Girl remains AP FUNA, the kind of FUNA you only read if you’re advancing to higher learning. Like learning how to defuse a bomb.

I Could Never Be a Succubus!, Vol. 6

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By Nora Kohigashi and Wasabi. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Succubus Ja Arimasen” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

When I finished this volume, I went to the Hero Bunko site to see its status, and discovered that this volume came out in 2023. I worried that it had been. y’know… (whispers) cancelled. Then I discovered that it was just Hero Bunko not bothering to update their site, the 7th volume came out in July of last year. Still, if the author had been told “can you write an ending that might pass if there aren’t any more of these?”, this would be close to what they might have come up with. We get to hear a lot about the war between Heaven and Hell years and years ago, and the hero’s sword (which, in case the last volume didn’t clue you in, is definitely Altina’s rather than Cain’s). We also get an explanation for Liz, and why she’s super powerful and super horny. We don’t get her memories back, but we get a WAY to get them back. This could be an “our fight has only just begun” Jump ending. Luckily, it isn’t.

Cain and Liz show up for a planned trip to the seaside… only to find that the entire rest of the cast bailed on them. On purpose. So they could date. Deciding to have fun anyway, Cain and Liz show off swimsuits, frolic in the surf, and then go back to their hotel… to find their friends got them a hotel room with a hot spring in the room, but only one bed. They’re not subtle. Unfortunately, it turns out that Liz has been having a massive attack of self-loathing that she’s been keeping from everyone, and when Cain tries to press his suit and say that he’s absolutely fine with loving her, she snaps and essentially becomes a weapon of mass destruction, throwing off holy powers and devil powers that no one knew she had before. can they stop her before the power burns her life away?

This was slightly less horny than previous books, but it makes up for the lack of pages with past Liz’s invention, Girl Time (in Darkness) Mk. I. and then, after Cain destroys it, Mk. II. Which is, not to put too fine a point on it, a robot covered in dildos and vibrators that is supposed to show guys how good anal is. I mention this mostly because I worry that my reviews may entice innocents into reading this series, and if they want to, please don’t. Other than that, this was very good, working Altina The Sword Catgirl into the regular cast and showing how good Cain and Liz’s chemistry is while also showing why Liz feels like she’s so weak compared to everyone else. We also get a new character here, who is Liz’s ancient ancestor, and she’s going to be mentoring Liz from now on, because though they know how to recover her memories it’s not going to be easy or fast.

So yes, Volume 7 is out in Japan! But not here yet, it hasn’t even started pre-pub. So we may have a bit of a wait. Fortunately, I’m sure Liz will send the Girl Time (in Darkness) Mk. IV to help everyone endure the wait. For fans of horny romantic comedy

The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain, Vol. 4

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By Bakufu Narayama and Ebisushi. Released in Japan as “Danzaisareta Akuyaku Reijō wa, Gyakkō-shite Kanpekina Akujo o Mezasu” by TO Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

It’s been a while since the start of this series, and it’s become very hard to remember that Claudia had a life before this one. I mean, we hear about her life as a sex worker on a regular basis in the series, but that’s not what I mean. I mean the “Condemned Villainess” part of the title. And since we haven’t thought about that part as much, it can be hard to remember, not to put to fine a point on it, how gullible and naive Claudia was, and how easily she was led around by the nose. That’s not the Claudia we have here, who is the belle of everyone’s ball, the apple of everyone’s eye, and saving the world one yakuza organization at a time. Unfortunately, there are still shadowy people in the background who very much want things to go badly for the main cast. And as a result, since Claudia can’t be a condemned villainess, someone else is going to have to step to the plate.

We’re dealing with another country next door, and things are pretty bad there. At a masquerade ball, the delegation from Parte, a neighboring country whose citizens seems to hate Harland more and more by the day, have arrived, and they bring with them Niamilia, a noble woman who ends up being suggested as the prince’s fiancee in order to prevent a potential war. But what of Claudia? Well, another of the fiancee candidates, calls her out at the party (can’t have a villainess book without public call out), saying Claudia is an evil woman who uses her mob to traffic in slaves and also murdered a noble the other day. Claudia is, needless to say, above most of these accusations, but given that she IS the secret mob boss of a yakuza organization, she decides to investigate… and finds that someone has been impersonating her.

So yeah, my favorite scene in the book is right at the end – in fact, it’s one of the extra stories added for the book. Throughout the book, we get Wendy, who if she’s been in previous books I’ve never noticed, and she is horrible. She’s easily led, falls for an obvious loser who is luring her into a trap to do his bidding, ignores the advice of the maids who have her best interests at heart, and ends up literally orchestrating murder to prove that Claudia is SECRETLY EVIL. It’s a good look at how conspiracy theories can take hold in someone, and she is teeth-grindingly annoying throughout this book. But at the end, as Claudia leaves the prison where Wendy resides till her exile, she realizes, Oh, that was me. That was literally me in my last life. And thus it affects her more than it otherwise would, and therefore affects us more as well. Claudia gets a time travel get out of jail free card Wendy probably ain’t getting.

All this plus our horrible antagonist from last time, who isn’t in this book in person but who makes his presence felt throughout. These books are difficult but rewarding reads.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: The Ice Wyrm That Slew Champions

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

After spending a long time promising us that Tina would be playing a larger role in the narrative any day now, we finally get a book (well, arc, as I think she’ll be heavily featured in the next volume as well) where Tina plays a major role and gets to do things and be cool. And it sadly underlines the biggest fault of this series, which is that the title and premise promise that the series is about Tina, the Duke’s Daughter, but she’s the least interesting one in the cast. Now, this is not exactly a cast filled with depth – it’s a very McDonald’s sort of series that runs on harems and shonen battles. Despite that, the author continues to struggle to give Tina things to do beyond be jealous and childish and whip out her super ice powers. Heck, she can’t even have a “turn evil” arc, as both Lydia AND Stella have already covered that. (Still, better than Ellie, who was supposed to feature till Stella booted her out of the arc.) Weak heroine energy.

After the events of the last two books, you’d think that our heroes could catch a break. But the villains have been doing the “losing the battle but winning the war” thing for a number of volumes now, and it’s all coming to a head in the next country over, Lallanoy. This is where Felecia’s father was taken, and it’s where the villainous beastmen went, and basically it’s become the go-to place for anyone evil. And now Gondor is calling for aid, and Allen gets to go over there (because of course he’s the key to everything going on everywhere right now), along with Lily (as the diplomat), Tina and Stella (as the magical muscle), and… a random girl they met on the train, who seems to be young but is clearly hundreds of years old. Well, I guess we hadn’t broken out THAT cliche yet.

That summary covers only the first third of the book or so, but… look, much as I enjoy reading this series, and I do, I can usually sum it up by saying “a lot of fights happen, and things look bad for our heroes” as well as “all the girls fight over Allen while he ignores them”. Fans of The Apothecary Diaries anime adaptation who are frustrated at Maomao’s seeming obtuseness will find that she, like Allen, knows but chooses not to. That’s the trouble with being both the chosen one and someone that half the leaders of the country despise (the other half, of course, adore him) – he really can’t afford to notice any of this. That said, he’s in a bit of a pickle this time, though not a bad enough one that his living alarm clocks sets off in front of Girl #1. Yet. We see him having to use Tina as a living battery, and it still drains the hell out of him. Who can possibly come to the rescue?

The cover of the next book might hint. In the meantime, sorry, Tina. Your fights were pretty cool. Your heart is in the right place. But you’re still too damn young and childish to make me prefer you over the older girls.

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 19

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By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Tara Quinn. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

Let’s address the elephant in the room first: I am reading the digital version of this title, and it has one very large (20+ pages) and one very small section of text that repeats itself verbatim. Fortunately, nothing seems to be missing as far as I can tell, and I assume it will be fixed soon. Leaving that aside, this is another FUNA book, and in particular a volume of Make My abilities Average, which has as its one goal showing a lot of teen and tween girls kicking ass, making their own careers, and deliberately not getting married or even thinking of getting married anytime soon. I’m not sure I can comfortably call it feminist, but at least you don’t have to worry too much about anything too uncomfortable getting in the way of the goofy overpowered antics. Even on another continent, the Crimson Vow and the Wonder Three are going to be ridiculous, and now they’re infecting the royalty.

We pick up right where we left off, in the fishing village, as they try to figure out, now that they have all this rare and expensive fish, how they can preserve it when they don’t have ice magic and they’re miles from anyone. (It involves to a degree, eating and then throwing up, because they’re somewhat devout about not wasting fish.) After departing (and leaving behind the selfish merchant, who ended up being far less important than I expected), they slowly make their way to the capital, where they finally meet up with the Wonder Trio. The two groups, now that they both have Mile to themselves to a degree, agree to team up, after the Wonder Trio manage to game the system and get promoted the same way the Crimson Vow did, and they all move into a big house together. It’s very cozy.

Once a volume, the series tries to remind you that the author does have this ongoing sci-fi plot involved, where we see Mile discussing the fate of the world with various robot dogs, birds, and assorted intelligences. But honestly, this volume seems to half-ass that, and happily gets back to cute girls doing cute things. That even affects the side stories, where we see the two princesses (who also have Mile’s OP cheats) saving their countries from famine/surplus, making a profit doing it, and getting revered as saints. By accident. In the other side story, the baron’s daughter in the Servants of the Goddess – the one who hits things very hard – is inundated with marriage proposals, up to and including the princes of the kingdom, and like every other girl in this series decides the answer is to run away and be a monster hunter. FUNA has a leitmotif, and dammit, we’re going to play it over and over again.

That said, this is fine, aside from the usual “oh no my breasts are small” shtick. As always, for fans of the series only, but they should be happy.

Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner!, Vol. 2

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By Kooriame and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Lady Rose wa Heimin ni Naritai” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W.

We have had numerous books where I have observed that the protagonist and/or the antagonist tends to be a bit too quick to see the world they’ve been reincarnated in as the actual otome game they remember, rather than as a world with living, breathing humans with real feelings. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a series lean quite so hard into the concept as Lady Rose, in which Lady Rose has to be handed a lot of the answers to the mystery she’s trying to solve as she is SO ingrained into the mindset that everyone is like the characters she remembers that she not only can’t see the forest for the trees, but can’t even see the tree. And when you add in the fact that, like so many other shoujo light novels, she is utterly unable to see her own value, calling everything she does “acting”, and you end up with a book that is less of a mystery and more of a psychological horror story.

We pick up immediately after the cliffhanger from Book One, as Felicia and Seth confront her adopted younger brother and try to figure out why he’s kidnapped Liliana… though this ends up being more an exercise in making Felicia face reality, something that proves to be… very difficult, frankly. Things are not helped by the fact that Liliana is now actively trying to kill herself, and Felicia has to figure out why that’s happening. And oh yes, Evan was also in on the kidnapping. This means that both Shade and Evan are going to be executed, unless… Rose goes back to the castle, and pleads with the King for clemency. Something which is unlikely to have any impact, unless of course she goes ahead and marries Nika, who she at least finally admits she loves. Will she be forced to give up on everything she’s fought for?

I’m gonna be spoiling a bit of the climax of the book here, but I just have to talk about how delighted I was by the ending, which until the last page I thought was going to be reversed. Hell, so did everyone else in the cast, and they’re very surprised at the final outcome. Because this is not “Lady Rose Learns How Important She Is”, or “Lady Rose Makes Sacrifices But Finds True Love”, it’s “Lady Rose Wants to Be a Commoner”, and it’s absolutely committing to that bit. Now, she and Nika are still being cute and blushy at the end, but notably: she’s a commoner, he’s a prince, and they aren’t married. She not only defies fate but defies the narrative, and I love that. (I also love the fakeout opening of Chapter 6, which gave me a brief heart attack till I laughed).

The series ends here… except it doesn’t, as there is a third and final volume, from the perspective of Liliana, the “saint”. Honestly, any perspective that isn’t Felicia’s will be welcome at this point – she’s too unreliable a narrator. Very much enjoying this.

The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place, Vol. 3

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By Toryuu and hamm. Released in Japan as “Kimo Ota Mob Yōhei wa, Mi no Hodo o Wakimaeru” by Overlap Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Josh DM.

We’re starting to get a bit of an overarching plot for this series, though for the most part it is still fairly episodic, showing us John taking a job, John doing the job, the complications that set in, and the aftermath. There’s far fewer girls crushing on John in this volume – the romance, emphasized in Book One, is almost completely removed now. That said, don’t worry, all the love interests have been replaced by people who are trying to shoot John instead. We are tripling down on people trying to kill him, and while some of it is just garden-variety bad guys, we’re getting the sense that there’s a conspiracy going on here, mostly in scenes with the worst of the nobles, a cartoonishly evil girl who looks like she stepped off the pages of a villainess book. Needless to say, she’s not a threat, but her eventual fate does show us that this series is not afraid to get dark if it has to.

John has been doing pretty well lately, but this book sees him having an awful run of bad luck. On the plus side, he does make enough money to finally pay off his parents’ debt, though he gently rejects their offer to get another job, as he feels that mercenary is the one that best suits him. He tries catching some pirates, only to run into a noble’s territory, which means he can’t go further. He acts as security for a noble party, only for a murder to happen there, and one of the accomplices decides to make their escape with John’s help. At the guild itself, an arrogant ex-noble who can’t get over the fact that she’s not allowed to simply murder anyone who she dislikes really hates John. And when he does pilot duty for an archaeologist, he’s left for dead and his ship is destroyed. Just… not a great book for him.

This book definitely is “guild fantasy in space”, but it’s not afraid to be other things “in space” as well. Sometimes this is for the sake of broad comedy, such as the murder “mystery”, which talks about an amateur detective showing up to solve everything, only to treat it the way amateur detectives are usually treated in real life. That said, that was the weakest section of the book, so I hope we don’t get “pastiche of the volume” going forward. The best segment was the last one, which did not have a strong villain (almost every villain in this book is dealt with ludicrously easily), but does manage to have John in actual peril briefly, though it is a bit deus ex machina to have him rescued by… well, spoiler. Sadly, even deadly peril doesn’t really cause John to move from his default “well, whatever” emotional state. Which might be due to his traumatic backstory, but doesn’t really help us in the present.

We’ve caught up with Japan – Vol. 4 comes out in two weeks there – and that’s probably for the best, as I need a break. I’ll get the next one, and I hope we get more of the evil plotters behind the scenes, but this is almost the dictionary definition of “okay”.

Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived, Vol. 1

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

I pay more attention to publishers than most, as readers of my reviews know very well. I’ve talked before about how, if I see something is GC Novels, my rate tends to be 9 failures for every 1 success. If I were to name the opposite, it would probably be TO Books, which is not quite the reverse ratio, but I do find that books I would not normally have tried (Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival, for example) tend to be better than I’d expect. This was the main reason why I took a flyer on this title, which is in a genre I have mostly forsaken at this point. And, sure enough, I found it quite interesting. Well, let me clarify that. I found the actual plot and characters interesting. There is, however, a MASSIVE PILE of backstory in this book, which our emperor is not only expected to learn, but expects US to learn. It feels like homework.

Our dead Japanese man, who can’t recall much about his past life than that it was rather boring and unfulfilling, gets his memories back RIGHT from birth, and finds that he is now Carmine, the new Emperor of the Bundarte Empire. Unfortunately, he is an actual baby, and has not gained his isekai memories (such as they are) when he’s 7 or 8. Or perhaps that is fortunate, as our newborn emperor knows very well what fates historically await child emperors, and decides that the best thing he can try to do is pretend to be a good little puppet, and perhaps a bit stupid, while trying to secretly find out what’s really going on. Unfortunately, what he finds out is that his Empire is on the verge of collapse, and that everyone has taken one of two sides in the political maneuvering, neither of which are his side. On the bright side, he discovers magic exists, and that he’s good at it.

As mentioned above, the thing I least liked about this book was the history lessons, which will likely be important later but which I promise you I have already forgotten. The best part was probably the alternate narrative that I was slowly sussing out as the book went on. Carmine narrates most of the book, and shows us that he’s trying to put on an “I am an incompetent child” persona to avoid getting assassinated, and that, for the most part, folks buy it. Whenever we focus away from Carmine on other characters, we see that he’s actually very bad at the facade to anyone with half a brain. His eyes simply look too clever. I also very much liked his betrothed, Princess Rosaria, who pretty much immediately spots that he’s faking but also falls for him relatively quickly because of this dissonance. She then turns around and shows that she is even smarter than him, which impresses him in turn. This is still a relationship too young to go anywhere (and some concubines are promised as well – I think we meet both of them here, if I’m right), but it’s cute nevertheless.

The first book is about the first eight years of his life. It’s still ongoing in Japan, and later books promise we’ll see him reach adulthood. I’ll keep reading to discover how. Good stuff if you like reincarnation and college textbooks about Prussia.

The Tanaka Family Reincarnates, Vol. 2

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By Choko and kaworu. Released in Japan as “Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru” by Dragon Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sasha Schiller.

I was a bit reminded of the Dirty Pair while reading this, mostly as Emma tends to think that it’s not her fault a lot of the time she gets into these situations. It kind of is, though? When you create misunderstandings by being an airhead, even if they are good misunderstandings, you have to accept the consequences of your ditzy actions. Here we see Emma take control of the low-level villainess trying to ruin her debut and end up befriending her (and not in a Nanoha way either), we see Emma destroy a noble trying to traumatize her through simply seeing the trauma as a sweet treat, accidentally solve a crime by watching a guy paint, and finally, fail to realize that all these fantasy worlds always have a Japan equivalent, and accidentally just start speaking perfect Japanese to the agog crowd. Sorry, Emma, just as with your brothers, who are also doofuses of their own making, it pretty much IS your fault.

The Tanaka family have arrived in the royal capital, though MUCH later than planned, mostly as Emma can’t stop looking for rare bugs. They barely have time to move into their gigantic mansion they all feel uncomfortable in before Emma and her brothers have to attend a royal ball, where… she’ promptly has wine spilled on her by a petty noble girl… who, admittedly, has been ordered to do it by higher-up petty noble girls. Fortunately, Emma salvages the situation and ends up making a friend of her tormentor, as well as twin sisters from a wealthy port city, a handsome girl who likes to wear the boy’s uniforms, and of course the various boys in love with her, which now includes the handsome girl’s brother. Are there any bad nobles in this series? No fear, we’ve got a nasty one.

There continue to be a few things that I’m not fond of. William as an 11-year-old lolicon is less funny than it sounds, and Emma being a 13-year-old who loves older men is not much better. Mostly it just assures us that this series is not going to be about romance, despite all the men in love with Emma, it’s going to be about the Tanakas upending society. Which has already started, but seems to be getting a few pushes in this book. Emma’s complete lack of trauma after her near-death experience is read my all and sundry as repressed trauma, which works out well for her. Finding that red paint/dye sounds like it will lead to more innovations for their business. And I suspect Emma’s “wait, women just stop education after they get married?” question will be relevant later. Nothing, though, will be as relevant as that cliffhanger, because “I know a foreign language” is going to be hard to explain away.

All this and twins who speak the same thing twice, which I found cute rather than annoying. This remains completely loopy fun.

Observation Records of My Fiancée: The Misadventures of a Self-Proclaimed Villainess, Vol. 2

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By Shiki and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Jishō Akuyaku Reijō na Konyakusha no Kansatsu Kiroku” by Regina Books. Released in North America by Hanashi Media. Translated by Ethan Holms.

I realize that, given that most of the Bakarina fans I follow are mostly interested in the lesbian side of the polycule, this may not sound like that much of a recommendation, but it is: if you read My Next Life As a Villainess and wondered what the series would have been like if it were ENTIRELY narrated by Jeord, then this is the series for you. Bertia is the villainess, and her actions are sort of what drives the first book, but by the second book she’s become a supporting character in her own series. Cecil, on the other hand, remains fascinating, continuing to try to grope his way towards figuring out why it bothers him so much that Bertia keeps shoving him towards the heroine and insisting on her own doom, and also what in the world this “otome game” is in the first place. His growth, and emotional opening up, is the main selling point of these novels.

Cecil is in his final year of school, and Bertia in her first year. Unfortunately, Heronia is there as well, and is still being the worst heroine ever, trying her hardest to prove that Bertia is evil despite Bertia… well, ALSO trying to prove that she is evil, except she remains sweet as pie, so that’s not working. Bertia’s biggest danger is gaining weight, as everyone likes her so much they keep giving her sweets. Meanwhile, Cecil is still trying to figure out what his feelings for Bertia are, even as he really, REALLY knows what his feelings for Heronia are: he wants nothing to do with her. Things come to a head at the graduation party for Cecil, where Heronia presents her “proof” of Bertia’s evils, and when this fails, decides to simply go for death from above.

The second half of the book really digs into the otome game aspect of this world, and I appreciated that, while Cecil was initially baffled as to why Bertia would be doing any of this, when it’s all laid out for him he totally understands. In a world in which Bertia was normal and not, y’know, the girl who wants to be knocked down and go “gah!”, Cecil would never find anything that would fill the dull void in his life. The routes are laid out so that, when the heroine tries for anyone OTHER than Cecil, it’s a happy ending of sorts, but there’s war and death. When the heroine ends up with Cecil, there’s peace. THIS, more than anything else, is why Bertia has been doing all this: she wants a safe and happy world. And this Cecil, who readily admits the only thing keeping him from being a possible nightmare is her, agrees with her.

The series ends with this volume, though there is a three volume sequel that we may see someday showing Bertia as a wife and mother. That said, Bertia is not the reason to read this. I really liked Cecil as a tin man trying to locate his heart, and am happy I read this.