Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Reviews

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~ Short Story Collection, Vol. 2

by

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu: Tanpenshuu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

The first volume of the Re: Zero short stories was supplemented by some stories written directly for the volume. Unfortunately, that appears to be a one-off, as the volumes from this one going forward consist entirely of stories from Monthly Comic Alive. This volume came out near the end of the third arc, between Books 8 and 9, but is still entirely concerned with that period after the second arc, with every story happening around Roswaal’s mansion. The stories themselves appeared between July 2014 and July 2015, which is to say around the start of the third arc. Why am I writing so much about trivia like this? Because this is still a short story book in the end, and there’s a limited amount of things they can do to affect canon and be important characterization, especially given they’re all “buy in a manga magazine” stories. That said… this is a lot of fun, and should be greatly enjoyable for Re: Zero fans.

There are six stories here. 1) After the events of Liliana’s visit, the mansion’s residents are horrified to discover that Emilia is tone-deaf, and try to teach her how to sing; 2) Subaru accidentally uses Ram’s special medicinal tea that she needs to help her mana, and now he, Ram, and Puck have to go into the forest to get the dangerous ingredients required to make it again; 3) Subaru asks if there are ghosts in this world, and discovers that some of the residents of the mansion may fear them (they’re “hollows” here. He decides to use the Japanese “divination” game of kokkuri to have some fun; 4) Trying to get sedentary Beatrice to be more active, Subaru bets her that he can catch her in a game of tag played around the mansion. Beatrice accepts, but forgets how cunning Subaru cam be; 5) The mansion is freezing over due to Puck needing to get rid of his magic, and Subaru decides to help him along by holding a snow festival in the village; 6) Subaru finds a stash of alcohol under a trapdoor, and Roswaal gives permission to host a party with it, since in this world Subaru is old enough to drink.

The last two stories were adapted into an OAV of the anime, and it’s easy to see why, as they lend themselves very well to that sort of thing. Last time I talked about how odd it was to read about the “original” Rem from Arc 3 after all the time we’ve spent (in North America) with her in a coma. This one reminded me that I’ve gotten spoiled by the Emilia of the 5th and 6th arcs, who’s gotten herself together and is kicking ass. This is a return to the old, naive and somewhat goofy Emilia, which isn’t as cool but I will admit can be funnier; Emilia with Mr. Bucket may be the comedic highlight of the book. Most of these are downtime stories, with little danger. The second story has Subaru step off a cliff and get menaced by monsters, but honestly he was more in danger from Ram’s sarcasm there than anything else. Likewise, the danger of potentially dying of the cold in the 5th story is hilariously undercut by Subaru pointing that that Puck has to “fart out all that mana”. This stays on the funny rather than heartwarming side of the scale, though the final scene with Subaru and Beatrice is sweet.

For obsessives only, but it’s great the obsessives finally have a chance to buy it.

Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden, Vol. 5

by

By Umikaze Minamino and Katana Canata. Released in Japan as “Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by okaykei.

Last time I asked for less of Nia hitting things, and that’s what I got – Nia’s antics being super overpowered are confined to the final quarter of her part of the book (the last fifth of the book is a short story starring Fressa), and most of the rest of it is devoted to what I’m actually here for, which is the magivision stuff. Admittedly, I’m more worried about Nia on that front. After the first couple of books talked about her programs, each successive one has cared about them less and less, which this fifth book in the series only noting that she’s filming a lot and that it makes her tired. It’s even pointed out point blank that Reliared and Hildetaura are having far more popular shows and are coming up with far more innovative ideas. Nia briefly worries about it, and thinks they need to come up with some ideas in her own domain, but then goes back to earning cash. Maybe her “downfall” is due to low ratings.

The start of this book has Nia hired by the second prince to film the wedding of Zackford and Phyledia, so that he can better show off the strengths of magivision to his kingdom. This requires a ridiculous amount of prep, as filming is still brand new, so there’s all sorts of rules to follow and contracts to sign. It ends up coming off perfectly, though. Back at school there’s now a junior magivision club, which our heroine is not a member of, but her advice is sought out when it turns out that their ideas and actual filming experience are subpar. She also continues to train her underlings in chi… and is very angry when she finds out that one underling has been training others without her permission. Finally, she’s accosted by space pirates, which allows her to do the overpowered Nia Liston things that are increasingly difficult to hide as being her own invention and not her “master”.

It will not surprise folks that I find the quiet character moments in this book more interesting than child whupass time. The best scene in the book is when Nia takes the newlyweds into a side room so that she can show them the magivision video they spent the previous day flying all over to record – greetings from all their family and friends who were unable to attend the wedding. They’re brought to a side room as Nia knows they’ll cry and she doesn’t want that to be public. It’s very sweet. We also meet new supporting players who I suspect will get more to do later, but I did like the surly punk-looking one who, after observing the art of magivision, realizes that not only does this actually interest him but he could probably be really good at it. We’ve all had those “eureka” moments when we find something that we love and can achieve. It’s nice to see here as well.

Is Nia still marching slowly towards her doom? Is her doom a late-night cable magivision show where she sells pocket fisherman and veg-o-matics? Is this the era of Nia Popeil? Probably not, as long as she can keep punching things.

Adachi and Shimamura: Short Stories

by

By Hitoma Iruma and raemz. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Lee. Adapted by Emlyn Dornemann.

I wasn’t really expecting a lot out of this short story volume. The stories are, with one exception, microstories, ranging from half a page to about 6-7 pages, and feel like the sort of bonus you’d get if you bought the book in a certain store (they probably were). But they’re laid out cleverly if that is the case, thematically giving the book a weight and progression it might not otherwise deserve. We see Shimamura finally expressing herself in ways she really never has before, we are taken once again into the deep, deep, drowning waters of Adachi’s obsessive love, and we even get a short story from the point of view of Yashiro, which honestly reads more like she’s an AI than an alien. But the last quarter of the book is one story, from the POV of Adachi’s mother, and it’s both the most interesting and the hardest to read. Our heroines are very, very much like their mothers, and that’s both good and bad.

The first third of the book is the closest to the normal series, as it’s all from Shimamura’s POV, showing her hanging out in the gym with Adachi around the start of the series, several stories after they’ve become a couple, and a few stories of her office life after they’ve gotten an apartment together. The second third is Adachi’s POV, which is much the same only it’s a lot pricklier and more desperate, both in a good and bad way, and also shows us Adachi’s idea of heaven, which is kind of sweet but also very worrying. After a few stories from the POV of various side characters (but not Hino and Nagafuji, who are absent from this collection), the final story, a full quarter of the book, has Shimamura’s mother dragging Adachi’s mother to a “sleepover” with both their families, which turns out to be an attempt to have Adachi and her mother try one last time to communicate with each other.

The Shimamura stories were adorable, honestly. They have a healthy dollop of Yashiro, as you’d expect, but for the most part what you get out of them is that Shimamura has come to terms with loving Adachi, and she’s extremely soppy about it. Adachi’s stories are less interesting except for one, where she finds herself in a black and white cityscape where every person in the world is a teenage Shimamura. It’s said that this is Adachi’s idea of heaven, and she does not dispute it – she thinks of this as the goal after her life, an afterlife where she can care about only Shimamura with literally no one else. It’s eerie, but shows the bottomless depths of her love. As for the story with Adachi’s mother, it’s painful to read. She confesses to Shimamura’s mother that she finds interaction exhausting as it’s hard to “read the room and manage all their feelings”, which Shimamura’s mother boggles at, wondering why she bothers to do that. The story ends with Adachi’s mother giving her daughter the only advice she feels she can: “please don’t turn out like I did”. Chilling, but compelling.

So yeah, this is still a series by Hitoma Iruma, meaning I recommend it, with reservations.

Since I Was Abandoned After Reincarnating, I Will Cook With My Fluffy Friends: The Figurehead Queen Is Strongest At Her Own Pace, Vol. 6

by

By Yu Sakurai and Kasumi Nagi. Released in Japan as “Tenseisaki de Suterareta no de, Mofumofu-tachi to Oryouri Shimasu: Okazari Ouhi wa My Pace ni Saikyou desu” by M Novels F. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Emma Schumacker.

This is the final volume of the series, and so it has quite a lot to pack into its pages. We have to resolve the Queen situations, of course. And then there’s Laetitia’s past life issues. There’s also the fact that several countries appear to be at war with several other countries. I’m going to be honest, of the six books, this one has the least amount of cooking with the fluffy friends. There’s pancakes coated in honey at the start, but that’s about it, really. That said, it’s quite good, and manages to have some nice elements of romance, thriller, and isekai. Admittedly, the romance may be the least important element. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is romance here, as our clueless couple finally manage to get together. But I get the sense that the author is not nearly as interested in this as they are with the thriller, backstabbings, and isekai shenanigans.

We’re getting closer to when Glenreed has to choose his queen. He’s pretty much decided, but unfortunately for him, Laetitia can’t get rid of the “temporary” in her head and is doing everything she can to try to help him find someone else. She meets with the fourth of the queen candidates, Fillia, who… seems nice. Unfortunately, the obnoxious princess from a foreign country is lurking around Laetitia, doing her best to frame her for something every chance she can get. As this is going on, meanwhile, Laetitia and Glenreed are learning some secrets about this world, secrets which go back over 600 years, and are apparently responsible for the prosperity each of the countries around them has had. Unfortunately, things come to a head when Laetitia confesses her past life memories to Glenreed, which leads to him… pulling a sword on her and trying to kill her? What’s going on here? And did the evil princess somehow manage to poison herself?

The twist for this final book is an interesting one, tying in past lives, curses, and free will. The question is, do you rule wisely for years and then risk leaving your beloved country to a son or daughter who might not rule wisely? And if that’s the case, shouldn’t you do something to stop it? That said, we’re all meant to agree with Laetitia, and I do. You have to let people screw up, you have to let them learn from mistakes, because that’s what leads to progress. The message is a bit heavy-handed, but I didn’t mind it. In lighter news, I was very happy to see Laetitia admit that she was in love, though I was worried, as the confession on her end came in the second side story, after the main one had ended. And for those who like tear jerkers, we also get a reunion with the one thing she cares about more than anything else from Japan. No, not her family, her dog.

In the end, this was a good series, and one which did manage to justify its length. Recommended for those who like to see women who can kick your ass as well as cook sweets, and decide to prioritize the sweets.

The Promise of Marielle Clarac

by

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

Usually when it becomes apparent the author is getting a little tired of writing their best-selling series, it’s not quite as blatant as this. Oh, don’t get me wrong, this is another fine book in the franchise for those who like the sort of things Marielle Clarac gives you. But the author states flat out that they had not expected to still be writing this as Marielle hits her 20th birthday (which she does at the end of the book), and they don’t really have a desire to write an adult Marielle. (This re-emphasizes my feeling that we won’t ever see her as a mother, or if we do it will be in an epilogue in the last book.) And I get it. This series is meant to be about Marielle Clarac, but she’s been Marielle Flaubert for far longer. She’s no longer the teenage girl who can lurk in the background and hear juicy gossip, the juicy gossip is now about her. Not great.

Marielle is horrified to find that the gossip newspaper La Mome has a story accusing Agnes Vivier of plagiarism. After talking her down a bit, Simeon agrees with her that her publisher should handle things themselves… but of course, Marielle can’t help but investigate anyway. She meets up with the reporter that she teamed up with a couple of books ago, and discovers that the article was in fact meant to lure her out, as a piece of jewelry described in her latest book perfectly resembles a piece that a young nobleman needs to get his inheritance. Needless to say, that story is absolutely full of holes, and Marielle doesn’t buy it either. This does not stop her from getting involved, chased, kidnapped, kidnapped AGAIN, and seemingly nearly murdered a few times. Fortunately, she has her overprotective husband by her side. Most of the time.

One of the things I liked best about this book is it has a double bluff revelation. We get the somewhat obvious revelation I was expecting about 3/4 of the way through the book, which I did not complain about because it made a lot of the previous peril Marielle was in make a lot more sense. But then there’s another revelation near the end that was more of a surprise. And it’s always fun seeing Marielle sleuth, and fangirl over her husband looking dark and menacing. But I will admit, it *did* feel a bit like the writer is going through the motions, giving the readers what they want. There is a plot point dangled which promises to be of greater importance in the next book (which should be out faster than this one), but a lot of the most exciting things in this book are looking back at past triumphs rather than ahead to the future.

If the author does not really want to write Marielle as an adult, there’s not much further this can go. But it’s going another volume, at least. For fans.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 8

by

By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn.

This was supposed to be the final arc of the series, but the author says in the afterword that it’s being extended, supposedly because there’s so many stories still to tell, but also probably because this sells quite well in Japan. That said, I get the feeling the bulk of this volume may have been written before the series got the OK to continue, as there’s very much a “headed into the final act” feel to this, with the danger ramped up even more, and with one of the most violent and hard to read sequences in the series so far, which is thankfully cut off by a series of punch the air moments. Honestly, this is a punch the air series much of the time, as the first half of the book shows us how dangerous things are going to be, and the second half sees Keigetsu managing to succeed somehow and Reirin simply blowing everything up and doing exactly as she pleases. That said, this one is gonna be hard to fix.

Our two heroines have still not been able to swap back to their own bodies, even a month after the 7th book. The reason for this is the Emperor is very suspicious, and wants to execute any magic users he finds. They try to figure out a way to do the switch during a ritual that’s coming up, but the Emperor figured out they were going to do that, and instead sends them all out into the poorer areas of the country to distribute food. Keigetsu (really Reirin) will be sent to the most dangerous, remote part of the country, a land that’s caught between two families and thus has no one taking responsibility for everything. He also sends an assassin after her. Meanwhile, the Emperor himself surprises the other four maidens by showing up at their own distribution site, and he’s determined to prove that Reirin is not Reirin. Which is going to be easy, as she isn’t.

This is the first volume where we’ve really had to dig into the Emperor himself, as mostly we’ve seen the generation after him – his son Gyoumei and the maidens. As it turns out, Genyou’s had it very rough as well, and is consumed by the idea of revenge – which is the main reason that he’s trying so hard to uncover Keigetsu’s magic. Elsewhere, as you’d expect, this volume is filled with Reirin doing jaw-droppingly amazing things, but it also has yet another instance of our two besties completely misunderstanding each other. Reirin has spent so much of her life at death’s door that she has no idea how to deal with things like depression, longing, and love – and let me tell you, this book may not be yuri, but even Reirin’s fiance AND her brothers agree that she’s head over heels in love with Keigetsu. Fortunately, they make up in the most overdramatic way. Unfortunately, they’ve sort of blown any chance of keeping things a secret.

After last volume’s one-volume breather, we’re back to a cliffhanger ending, but fortunately the 9th book came out in Japan a couple months ago. Also fortunately, this is going to continue. I want to read the stories the author says are still to be told.

Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite, Vol 1

by

Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite Volume 1 by Julietta Suzuki

Hina is an otaku vampire who has decided to move to Japan to devote herself to her fandom, an anime called Vampire Cross. She’s basically a shut-in, only venturing out to try to score limited edition items at merch drops. She takes occasional calls from her father who seems supportive of her lifestyle choices but can’t help reminding her that vampires sometimes find a special human who they want to bite. Hina is resolute in her decision to only drink from blood bags and fully indulge her fangirl nature. She does become distracted one day by her next door neighbor who looks exactly like Mao, the character she’s obsessed with. Kyuta recoils in disgust initially when he realizes that Hina is an otaku, but something about her draws him in. On Hina’s side she finds that Kyuta smells irresistibly delicious. She notes that there’s a mysterious voice coming from his apartment occasionally – who or what could it be?

Otaku Vampire's Love Bite

Suzuki excels at portraying tsundere heroes. Kyuta initially finds Hina off-putting, but when he realizes that she truly knows nothing about how to live on her own he starts helping her. He gives her practical advice about taking out her trash and even joins her for a special Vampire Cross cafe event when the internet friend she was supposed to go with stands her up. Kyuta ends up being a vampire magnet, and Hina has the ability to protect him because she’s unexpectedly powerful even if she has no desire to engage in vampire activities like sucking blood. I enjoyed the developing relationship dynamic between Kyuta and Hina. Hina has powerful supernatural abilities but only cares about arranging acrylic standees and Kyuta’s ability to function in the modern world balances her out. Suzuki’s art is so whimsical and cute. Hina’s tiny fangs and pointed ears are adorable and Kyuta’s exasperated but kind in spite of himself mannerisms make him sympathetic. Suzuki’s series are always delightful and the first volume of Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite started off strong.

From Villainess to Healer, Vol. 1

by

By Punichan and Yoh Hihara. Released in Japan as “Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijō” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Seacord.

I do appreciate that an author might feel that the villainess genre is played out. There have been many, many, MANY villainess books in the last eight years or so. They all tend towards specific types. Some have the villainess actively trying to change her fate, as they were reincarnated long before the “break off the engagement” event. Some have them fighting death after they’re unable to avoid that fate. Sometimes they go to a different country, where they’re welcomed with open arms. Hell, this particular author will do almost the exact same premise and first chapter in a later book – you could have copy/pasted much of the start of this book into the start of Camper Van Villainess. So I do appreciate the conceit of this book, which is “what if the villainess is an RPG nerd who just wants to be hitting up dungeons and grinding levels?” Oh wait, we had that too, with Villainess Level 99. That said, this does get the “boring as hell” part of these RPG books 100% correct.

Mitsuki loves playing the RPG game Reas Life Online, as well as its Otome Game side story game, Reas Love. When we next see her (and it’s never clear how she dies), she’s in the body of Charlotte Cocoriara, the daughter of a duke and fiancee to the prince. But this is one of THOSE games – the player is a commoner girl who the prince falls for, and Charlotte is the villainess, who the prince exiles. Expecting her to object, he’s a bit stunned when she says “OK” and bolts instead. (It’s really, REALLY just like Camper Van Villainess.) She runs home, tells her parents what happened, and leaves to achieve her dream – become an adventurer and play Reas Life Online rather than Reas Love!

There were some things here I found interesting. Unlike most otome game worlds, where the “heroine” has to be yelled at by the villainess for treating it like a game when in fact it’s real life, but here it really DOES seem like a game, inasmuch as our protagonist can see status screens, levels, etc. I also like the conceit of the otome game being a side spinoff of the main RPG core. As with Camper Van Villainess and Otome Survival Game, this is more interested in taking the skeleton of a villainess plot and spinning it off into a different genre. Sadly, the genre, generic RPG power leveling, is something I’ve tried to avoid for the last few years when trying out new books, and seeing it in a villainess book really didn’t help much. At least the RV book is meant to be more ridiculous – this is just basic. And then there’s the same problem the villainess genre as a whole seems to have – by emphasizing the villainess as good and the heroine as bad, it plays into “commoners should know their place, only noble people have the breeding to rule”. Which is not helped by this heroine being, well, a generic selfish heroine.

I’ll happily read more of the author’s other series. But as for this, if I wanted an OP isekai, I’d read an OP isekai.

An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me!, Vol. 9

by

By Yuishi and Kagachisaku. Released in Japan as “Inkya no Boku ni Batsu Game de Kokuhaku Shitekita Hazu no Gal ga, Dō Mitemo Boku ni Beta Bore Des” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Satoko Kakihara.

I honestly hope that this series does get an anime some day. Not just because it’s cute and sexy and all that. Some of you may recall back in the day there was a manga called My Dress-Up Darling, which also spawned an anime. That anime spawned Episode 11 of same. And Episode 11 spawned 80 million fanfics on AO3, the basic summary is “but what if they’d had sex?”. And that’s not going to happen with a light-novel only series like this is now, but if it gets an anime, I can’t help but think that frustrated fanfic writers are going to take matters in their own hands. Not only have they only kissed (and not even with tongue, as Nanami is reminded by her teacher), but their every move is now being watched to make sure they don’t go too far in the school. And yet these two have no idea what the definition of “too far” is. They revel in being sexy together.

Last time the author said we’d finally be getting the class trip, but I was dubious, given that the cover art showed what was clearly a sports festival. And yes, that’s absolutely what we get in the first half, as a reluctant Yoshin is convinced by Nanami to actually try for a change, and they end up competing in the Piggyback Race, a couples event where the goal seems to be “how embarrassing can we make things?”. That said, the back half of the book actually does give us the preparation and the setup for the class trip, which ends up being in Hawaii. This is possibly not the wonderful news you’d expect. Both Yoshin and Nanami’s parents had their honeymoons there, and given Yoshin has already proposed – more than once – they joke that this will be a “pre-honeymoon” for the couple. Which gives them ideas. Ideas of getting even closer. They may even get to extreme hand-holding.

Theoretically this book is still a sort of “guide” to new couples who may be reading it, showing the value of communicating everything to your partner and being open about your feelings and desires. The difficulty is that Yoshin and Nanami have a broken sense of shame. They don’t have NO sense of shame, otherwise this would be a very different series, and possibly in the Ghost Ship line. But it seems to activate late, which means they have no idea that they’re talking about intimate couple things while they’re in class surrounded by other students. Nanami in particular has this funny combination of innocence and salaciousness, meaning she can say things like “When you’re ready, feel free to really take me for a ride” and not get the implications, but also spend at least a minute sensuously licking and biting her boyfriend’s ear. I think being a guide on how to be an open loving couple has long left town.

Will they finally go further in the 10th book, when they’re in Hawaii? Probably not. But I’m sure we’ll all want to read it anyway.

I Could Never Be a Succubus!, Vol. 5

by

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.

(This review assumes you want to be spoiled about the last third of the book.)

I will always love the fact that this series is “come for the horny, stay for the funny”. And rest assured, this is still a very horny series. But there are several points in this volume where it appears that the book is finally going to take a bit of a serious bent, and then it absolutely takes a wild leap back into the broadest comedy. And that’s good, as this is one of the few light novel series that does broad comedy really well. Even the horny – especially the horny – works so well because it’s so over the top that you can’t really kinkshame it. So yes, Liz really will wear those panties with the magic-infused elephant trunk that can act like a real penis, because it means the artist will have to draw art of it, and make it funnier. And thus, when we resolve the cliffhanger from the last book, with the new hero menacing everyone, it turns out to be hysterical.

Dia the new hero, shows up and proceeds to not only give Cain a serious wound, but also kidnap Liz. That said, once Liz finds out what’s going on, she realizes that not only is Dia not nearly as villainous as previously advertised, but she’s also a cute young catgirl, which sets Liz’s heart throbbing, though she’s not quite sure why. Liz is rescued soon enough, but finds herself teleporting back to Dia’s location (basically figuring out a teleportation spell on the fly and instantly doing it perfectly, which reminds you how powerful this horny succubus really is), where she finds that Dia not only does the bare minimum of cooking and cleaning, but wears… bloomers! With holes in them! And no bra! This will not stand! It’s time for a lingerie shopping trip!

I ended up trying to overthink this. Yes, as it turns out, Dia’s story about her having the “real” hero sword and Cain’s being a suspicious fake does in fact turn out to possibly be the case but that’s not what drives the climax. The entire climax is driven by the scene where Cain walks into the lingerie shop and sees not only Liz but also Dia, and we realize that he already knows the new hero very well. Once all the identities are revealed, this gets even funnier… at least until we get to the fight to the “death”, which, of course, Cain wins. Again, this should be a dramatic scene, either tear-jerking or heartwarming, and it’s 100% undercut by Liz literally holding up cue cards for the reluctant Cain to read aloud to resolve things properly. Hell, even the sad finale where she leaves to find herself is ruined by Liz, albeit unconsciously. The main reason they want Liz’s memory back is so that when they punish her she actually a) knows why, and b) enjoys it again.

Again, I don’t recommend this to anyone who is not ready for our heroine to be dressed in panties with a working penis shaped like an elephant trunk on the front. But if you are, this remains 10% cool, 10% heartwarming, 30% sex-obsessed, and 50% LOL.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: The Angel That Broke the Star Oath

by

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.

I’ve talked before about how this series really loves being a harem title, but it’s not just that the harem writing is done very well (though it is). It’s that the harem antics actually manage to take over every OTHER aspect of the series. The battle scenes are crisp and action-filled, and also filled with banter as the heroines literally encourage each other by saying that they’re going to be the one who marries Allen, forcing the other person to fight EVEN HARDER so that they can deny that possibility. We get the tragic backstory that has led to much of this series, and it turns out it’s because the heroine was unable to save her version of Allen and went mad with the revelation. Nobles are furious with Allen simply because of the sheer number of young superpowerful girls he has at his disposal. Hell, even the resurrected corpse of his dead best friend is cheering him on and urging him to keep saving the girl no matter what. It’s kind of hilarious.

Allen and Stella remains trapped deep underground, with Stella’s body having been taken over by a dangerous-looking angel. Ellie has escaped to tell everyone what’s going on, but the Sealed Archive is not letting anyone come in the way that they originally did. And of course there are those who simply want to leave Allen there, though one of the more annoying antagonistic nobles grudgingly admits Allen is what is needed here. But eventually we get a squad to go into the catacombs under the city and go *up* to rescue Allen, led by Lydia, Caren, Tina and Ellie. Unfortunately, the religious folks are behind all this, and have sent more than one apostles to stop everyone, including a very familiar face to Allen, Lydia, and Cheryl.

I’ve been whining for a long time that I wish the series would do a massive flashback to show Allen and Lydia’s school days, and this is the first volume where we get a flashback that lasts longer than a couple of pages. It shows that, unsurprisingly, school life mostly consisted of Lydia and Cheryl fighting each other every day to see who gets the right to say they’re Allen’s Number One Girl. Allen, naturally, does not get a say in the matter. (I did briefly wonder what would happen if anyone asked him his opinion on being in love with any of the girls, but his self-deprecation is too high for that to work.) But there’s also Allen’s best male friend Zelbert, who seems to be the classic snarky glasses-wearing best friend of the hero type, but who we already know died before the main story began, and here we see why that happened, as well as Zelbert’s own tragic past. If you’re going to fire off the flashback guns, this is an excellent way to do it.

Unfortunately, it turns out our heroes did not win as much as they may have thought, though at least Stella is not evil. The next volume promises – again – more Tina and less Lydia. We’ll see.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 7

by

By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

All right, I apologize, I was reading one of the main plotlines wrong. There’s no real defending it, I had forgotten how this series begins, with Sarasa shunted into this world with her massive piles of mana in order to save it. So when I kept seeing her having to fight off monsters that surprised everyone by showing up all of a sudden, I assumed it was due to her being a monster attractor. But no, I should have realized the more important fact, which is that, with the arrival of a new girl in this volume, there’s now FOUR isekai’d folks running around, more than they’ve ever seen before. it’s not that Sara attracts monsters, it’s that she and the others are here to prevent the apocalypse. As such, even in the parts of the world which traditionally have no monsters around, we end up getting a plague of locusts all of a sudden. The Invited go to where the crisis is going to be.

Sara is headed off to see Nelly’s older sister and her husband, who live in an agricultural region that has no dungeons and few monsters but does have lots of medicinal plants. They’re technically there to take care of a larger than usual attack of green locusts, but in reality they’re there because Nelly hasn’t seen her sister in forever, and also because, to everyone’s surprise, there’s a new Invited, Anzu, who also ended up in this world after falling ill in Japan. Ann has been sickly and weak, which puzzles Sara, who knows that they’re brought to this world in order to get more healthy, but the cause of this is found very fast (she’s coddled too much) and we get to the real meat of this book: Nelly is still unmarried, LOTS of people want to change that, and Chris is going to be very unhappy unless he does something soon.

So yes, finally, Nelly and Chris are a couple, though what I liked most about this was that it was framed as the two of them officially gaining a “daughter” in Sara than any romantic leanings. (Despite his mooning over her for the entire series, neither one is the romantic type.) Speaking of unromantic types, Sara and Allen continue to be besties and that’s about it, though there are hints that they both are aware where they’re going to end up in a few years but are just too young now. As for Sara, she’s forced to admit here that her philosophy of “keep my head down and stay out of the way” just isn’t going to work anymore. She cares about everyone in this world too much, and she wants to be proactive. Which she certainly is here, saving the day with her barriers again. That said, unlike Allen or Nelly, she’s happiest being a giant apothecary nerd with her fellow nerds, and fending off proposals from all and sundry.

This was a fun volume, and I do wonder how Ann will blend in with the cast, assuming that she continues to pursue her new dream. One of my favorite isekai of the moment.

The Royal Hostage Has Vanished: The Black Wolf Knight Yearns for the Persecuted Princess, Vol. 2

by

By Ajigozen and Yura Chujo. Released in Japan as “Hitojichi Hime ga, Shōsoku wo Tatta. Kuro Ōkami no Kishi wa Rinkoku no Shiitagerareta Hime wo Zenryoku de Aishimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Emily Hemphill.

It’s always awkward when a book doesn’t really do anything wrong but leaves me a bit cold. Most of this second and final volume is fine. There are a few action scenes, which are exciting. The lead guy is perfectly fine, vacillating between stolid handsome hunk and soppy “I’m so in love with my wife” annoyance. There’s a few plot twists near the end that work pretty well, and the evil nobles are cartoonishly evil without feeling like they also kill babies and kick puppies. And yet, I think I came away from this book shrugging. In the end, I think it comes down to having the wrong narrator. This is Sonia/Nia’s story, but except for one or two POV scenes, mostly in the first book, we rarely see inside her head, instead spending all our time with husband Ark. I appreciate that not all shoujo romances have to have a woman’s POV, but this story would have worked better with it.

After getting unofficially married at the end of the last book, Ark and Nia move to their new domain, which as it turns out is dealing with a nasty outbreak of bandits… which are fairly obviously being sent by the second prince of Sylvario, Nia’s brother. Fortunately, when she was Sonia, the princess formed a bond with the denizens of the towns, which helps them win everyone over fairly quickly. The medicine also helps. Ark is a distant third. Once it’s determined that the foreign prince is behind this, it’s decided to bait him into a trap and capture him, which works so well that everyone wonders if they’re in some sort of Reverse Uno situation, but no, the prince really is that stupid. That said, he’s not the only antagonist…

Towards the end of the book we get several genre shifts to go with the “disgraced noble” that we’ve been dealing with all along. There were hints of a “secret saint” plot, and they turn out to be correct, and we also get a villainess plotline that reminds me far too much of the recent arc of Bakarina – the third princess reads very much like the original evil Katarina Claes, and her fate is likely going to be much the same. (Isekai’d otome game villainesses seem to do very badly in this world, in fact, as she’s not even the first one.) I would argue that the identity of a secret royal who can end up being a potential love interest for Prince Alphonse is perhaps one twist too far, and mostly serves as a way to allow our main couple to actually get it on without getting a cold stare of shame. But for the most part they work well. They just didn’t excite me.

If this was ongoing, I likely wouldn’t get more of it. Fortunately, we’re done here. This was good, but in the end, I wish I’d read it from the other POV.

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 13

by

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 Joshua Douglass-Molloy.

Let’s face it, Fortune Lover I was a bad game. Lots of fans have spent ages pointing out what a disaster it would be for the country if Maria’s routes played out the way we’re told they did, but more importantly, it’s shallow and badly written. Katarina absolutely did the best thing possible by “trying to prevent her doom” and accidentally saving everyone. Unfortunately for her, they brought in better writers for the second game. Not in terms of the routes themselves, those are still lame. But in terms of the politics behind it, and how it’s now affecting multiple kingdoms. And unfortunately for Katarina, that one’s much harder to derail. The kidnappings, murder attempts, and potential coups we’re seeing in Sorcier are not “a problem for the player to solve”, and as such even when Katarina does her best, success remains elusive. Especially since she still has that pesky dark magic, and it turns out she now knows how to make it strong, and it’s not a good thing.

Cezar, the prince of Ethenell, is being sent to Sorcier as part vacation and part to see how a country that’s not recovering from a civil war is doing things. Everyone tells Katarina that she should absolutely not get involved with him, because something else he’s doing is looking for a wife. Of course, Katarina absolutely gets involved with him. She accidentally breaks up his meeting with various other desperate noblewomen, she takes him on a tour of bookstores, cafes, and farms (of course the farms are the most interesting), and she sees him touring the ministry of magic while she’s busy trying to practice with her dark magic (she’s only good at absorption) and translating the dark magic book (she gets bored easily). Unfortunately, Cezar is also investigating the conspiracy that everyone else is, and this investigation results in Maria’s family being attacked…

Those who read my Bakarina reviews know that I don’t really care about the cishet pairings, even as I acknowledge the author does. Mary and Sophia barely appear. Fortunately, our one exception is present throughout. Yes, Maria ends up getting a bit damselled in the climax, when Sarah and a bunch of goons overpower her, but the best moment might be when she sees Cezar and Katarina at the orphanage, where Katarina has been showing off what a great place it is for kids, and Cezar starts putting the moves on her (something she has no idea about). I love seeing Maria being jealous, and her cold attitude towards Cezar, though it doesn’t last long (they bond over Katarina being awesome) is great to see. What’s more, Katarina has literally saved the life of her and her mother this time. Maria is going to be more in love than ever.

As for HOW Katarina saved Maria, well, that’s worrying. I get the feeling “have better control over your emotions” is easier said than done, but I don’t think this series will get TOO dark. This continues to meander towards its ending. Mary and Sophia fans (and Alan and Nicol fans, honestly) can drop it, but Jeord, Sora, Cezar, and Maria fans will be happy. (Keith? Who’s Keith?)

Drunks

by

In the shadow of the mainstream North American manga industry, there are a handful of indies who are keeping manga weird. They’re publishing the kind of offbeat stories that you won’t read in Shonen Jump or stream on Crunchyroll, stories that are elliptical, profound, strange, funny, or unsettling in ways that My Hero Academia or Blue Lock aren’t. 

On a recent visit to Star Fruit Books, for example, I discovered Okaya Izumi’s Drunks, a pair of stories that put a novel spin on the meet-cute. In the first, a shy salary man staggers home from a night of drinking only to fall prey to a chatty vampire who casually asks, “Do you have blackout drapes at your house?” You can guess where this is going, but the light tone and odd notes of humor push “Drunks” in an unexpected direction as these two wildly different people find solace in each other’s company. The second story—“Tick Tock”—also crosses genre boundaries, using elements of science fiction to set the plot in motion. Tomoko, the heroine, spends a century in a cryogenic chamber before a young man accidentally frees her. Though the pair stumble into a physical relationship quickly, Okaya focuses as much on Tomoko’s complex reaction to rejoining the world as on her sexual reawakening, helping us understand why Tomoko is secretly relieved to discover that the future is not much different than the past.

Art-wise, Okaya’s style recalls Nishi Keiko (Love Story) and Yamada Murasaki (Talk to My Back, Second Hand Love), as Izumi’s characters are rendered in thin, almost scribbly, lines that make them look a little fragile. In her stories’ most emotionally charged scenes, there is almost no background detail; the reader’s eye is drawn to the characters’ faces and body language, allowing us to more fully appreciate their sense of joy, astonishment, and confusion over finding companionship in unexpected places. The quiet authenticity of these moments help both stories transcend their cliché elements to make a deeper point about the characters’ need for connection. Recommended.

DRUNKS • BY OKAYA IZUMI • TRANSLATED BY DAN LUFFEY • LETTERING/RETOUCHING BY KELLY NGO • STAR FRUIT BOOKS • 60 pp.