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Reviews

The Legendary Witch Is Reborn As an Oppressed Princess, Vol. 2

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By Touko Amekawa and Kuroyuki. Released in Japan as “Shiitagerareta Tsuihou Oujo wa, Tenseishita Densetsu no Majo deshita: Mukae ni Koraretemo Komarumasu. Juuboku to no Ohirune wo Jamashinaide Kudasai” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

I have fantastic news. The main thing that stopped me really enjoying this series is now gone. Claudia is now eight rather than six, and while she still tends to act like a small cute child when it serves her purpose, she no longer talks like Elmer Fudd. As such, the book is much easier to read and we can concentrate on the mystery aspect of it. Because, despite the reincarnated aspect of it, this is essentially a mystery. Claudia accepts a marriage negotiation, but has no intention of really following through – the main goal is to try to solve the other kingdom’s tragic secret. Honestly, if there’s any romance here it’s between Claudia and her servant/best friend/etc. Noah, who is obsessed with her but in a cute way, because he’s 11 and she’s 19 + 8 counting the past life. OK, year, the reincarnation shenanigans means there are still issues here. Japan loves its age gap.

As noted, the nearby country of Klingate is looking for someone to marry their 11-year-old crown prince Lewis, and Claudia fits the bill. Of course, neither she nor her father are really expecting this to be a normal marriage meeting. You see, Klingate has a problem that has been growing over the years. Princesses in the royal family keep falling into comas and not waking up. Each year a new princess, and now eight of them are sleeping without waking. The kingdom, needless to say, is trying to hide this as much as possible. But Lewis himself seems a charming young man… if perhaps falling madly in love with adorable Claudia a little too quickly. That said, there’s an older brother, Stuart. He’s no longer in line for the throne, possibly as for the last eight years he’s barely left his room. And he seems obsessed with painting the sleeping princesses.

Not to spoil too much, but a lot of the climax of this book once again asks us to remember back 500 years ago to Claudia’s past life as Adelheid. She ended up sacrificing her own life in order to make sure that those who served her did not do the same, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they were all grateful and happy about her doing this. It also compares nicely to Noah, who is clearly meant as a mirror here. He’s told point blank that if Claudia were to die, he’d want to destroy the world, right? But Noah, who still has a living Claudia next to him to help, is able to say that yes, he’d want to, but he wouldn’t, as it would make Claudia sad. Instead he’d just wander off into the forest to die alone. So yes, it’s a codependent relationship, just like the ones she had centuries ago. But it’s OK, this is the “romantic” kind of codependent.

Despite its flaws, this is a stronger book than the first one, and I’ll happily read the next volume.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 20

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

I admit that I am sort of ready to give up? Not on Kuma Bear, mind you, it continues to be fine, if somewhat obsessed with its ongoing parade of children adoring Yuna. But look, this site gradually morphed into a thing where I only review light novels on it a few years back, and the one thing that’s been hardest for me to learn is that not all light novels need to have a full review. This especially goes for the slow-life ones that end up going on forever and ever, like this or Smartphone. And as readers have figured out, there are only so many ways I can say “boy, Yuna sure hates people praising her” or “gosh, this series loves to tease yuri fans while pointing out how not gay everyone is”. (Actually, this volume seems to be leaning more towards everyone staying single forever – the series’ almost complete lack of men doesn’t help.) But let’s roll up our sleeves, because I did see one thing this time I can talk about.

After the battle against the orochi in the Land of Wa, we get the traditional post-arc cooldown. Yuna is gifted a mansion to reward her for her efforts in saving the country, and the mansion being filled with hot springs leads to to actually accept the reward for once. She then grabs Fina, Shuri and Luimin and brings them over there for a lakeside barbecue as well as going around the shops, eating Wanese food and dressing up in kimonos – all things Yuna is strangely familiar with given she’s not supposed to be from Wa. On returning home, she decides to write a new volume of the children’s book series, and spends the rest of her time giving out souvenirs and candy. But there’s a competition in a country Yuna hasn’t been to yet, and Shia’s part of it, so Yuna and Noa go to cheer her on.

There were two interesting points this time around. First, Yuna’s love of natto, and the fact that the natives of Wa were baffled that she knew about it, almost caused her to give away her otherworldly origins. Yuna’s backstory, to everyone but Yuna and the reader, is wrapped in mystery, and she wants to keep it that way, partly because I think she doesn’t want to remember it very often. We do see her wish that she could invent Coke and anime so she could go back to being a shut-in, but I think Yuna’s grown past that now. The other interesting thing is the fourth picture book, where Yuna continues to rewrite her own reality to make it more palatable. Not only is she a literal bear in this series, but she also smooths things out and makes them more narratively easy to understand. The author has already been doing this with the novels themselves – it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a whiff of the sexual assault that plagued the earlier books. Yuna is not quite a self-insert, but the line is vague.

I’m not sure what will happen next, but I do know that what we’re getting next is another short story collection. Till then, this continues to be for fans who hope that when they grow up Fina and Yuna will marry. Keep hope alive, I guess.

Duchess in the Attic, Vol. 2

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By Mori and Huyuko Aoi. Released in Japan as “Yane Urabeya no Kōshaku Fujin” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by piyo.

I admitted to being very surprised that there was a second volume of this very “finished in one book” series. Even the title, Duchess in the Attic, was not something that was going to make sense going forward unless something silly happened. (The author agrees with me there: it’s an artifact title, and a few jokes are made about her moving back to an attic if things with Claude go south.) So I wondered what was left to learn about Opal now that the series was ongoing. As it turns out, not much about Opal herself – she’s much the same person she was in the first book, if a bit more unforgiving of fools. But the systemic power of the nobility and the misogyny rife throughout multiple kingdoms is very much still a problem, and Opal wants to solve that. If the first book was about Opal rescuing herself, this book is about her trying to rescue others. She’s a philanthropist. Of course, there are a few things to work out first, and that’s what this book is about.

Opal and Claude are off to his new homeland, Taisei, to get married. This involves meeting some of his friends, who regard Opal as a terrible choice of spouse. And the King, who seems to be one of those mischievous kings. Many subplots are introduced, but we don’t really deal with any of them, because the bulk of the book actually takes place back in Socille, as Opal hears that Beth, her former abusive maid who was working for Hubert and Stella, has been fired because she got pregnant. Investigating, it turns out that the father is a rogue noble, Keymont, who apparently has spread his seed far and wide, and other women have children by him. Deciding that enough is enough, Opal decides to shame him at a public gathering to get child support for his conquests, only for things to blow up far more than she intended.

There is no small amount of romance in this. Opal and Claude love each other, and get very jealous when any of the opposite sex shows interest. There’s also the very awkward conversation they have where Opal tells Claude that, despite being married for almost a decade, she’s still a virgin (it’s implied he is as well). But the main reason to read this book is not the romance, it’s the politics and the worldbuilding. These are two kingdoms that are essentially right around where the late Victorian/early Edwardian period was in this world, and progress is happening so fast that it’s unnerving people. Why, it’s gotten so bad that a noble rake can’t even go around robbing common people for the lulz anymore. The other political part of the book is its feminist stance, which is awesome. I loved Opal’s reaction when Hubert indicated Beth’s pregnancy was her own fault – marveling at an Immaculate Conception.

Opal still hasn’t seen her new domain yet, and I have a feeling that the third book will have things go a lot more poorly for her than this one did. Still, I found this just as enjoyable as the first.

High School DxD: Dark Knight of Sunshine

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By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

I am, frankly, irritated that we have another short story volume with Vol. 15 when we already got one with Vol. 13. I get that this is a Fujimi Shobo series, which means there’s always TONS of extra content written for Dragon Magazine, and that fans want to see it compiled (one story in this book is literally said by the author to be “we left it out, but fans complained, so here it is). But still, we’re ready to begin a new vampire-driven arc, and until the last 3 pages of this volume we don’t get that – which means we don’t get it. What we get is a lot more silliness that I didn’t really care for (the magazine stories) and two very good backstories that were written especially for the volume. I get that this is a series driven by fanservice, and that’s what the fans want, but I like what I like, and I like the action and character development more than the “oh no, they’re wearing a silly and sexy costume” stuff.

The wraparound story has Issei and Ravel, hanging at the pool, still trying to decide on a mage. Le Fay is the obvious choice, but sadly she’s still a terrorist. Meanwhile, we get a number of short stories. 1) Leviathan wants to audition for the live-action Magical Girl Milky movie, and cons the rest of the cast into coming in costume as well; 2) we learn how Rias and Akeno first met, when Rias rescued a 12-year-old Akeno from being murdered by her relatives for being part-fallen angel; 3) Irina tells us about the time she, Xenovia and Asia went to Akihabara to buy what turns out to be an eroge for Issei; 4) Akeno asks Issei to join her in going to the Grigori training institute, and Gaspar tags along, and they then learn what sort of training goes on there; 5) Fenrir tells us about their group’s efforts to untraumatize the White Dragon Emperor after it learned about Issei’s fetish; 6) We learn how Rias and Yuuto first met, which is much the same as Akeno’s story, but with more swords.

I enjoyed the two original stories, which work well with the characters and show off how awesome Rias can be, which is something I sometimes forget in this Issei-dominated series. I also, got help me, loved the Irina-narrated story. I’ve made a joke of the fact that a volume focusing on her is happening any day now, because she has gotten – by far – the least attention of the main cast. But this story shows off why the author may be avoiding it – Irina has always sort of been “no thoughts, head empty”, but here we actually see it from her own POV, and it’s kinda hilarious? Less hilarious are the Issei-narrated stories, which mostly depend on him thinking everyone is gorgeous and sexy (the first one), being stunned at the ludicrousness of the “training” the Grigori are doing (the second one) or being a loud, annoying tsukkomi (both of them).

Next time we should – finally – get the vampire arc. Till then, the good news is I think this is the last short story volume for some time.

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 8

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By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

The author, I get the sense, is not only well aware of the reputation that this series has for purity to the point of ridiculousness, but positively revels in it. The start of this volume has Mahiru indicate that she’ll let Amane do anything he wants to her, and both times the closest we get to actual sex is hickeys. Indeed, the joke – both at the start and the end – is that everyone else, including Mahiru, wants something more (never stated, of course, due to pure pureness but implied with her getting very red when he talks about lying in her lap – the last time he did that he was facing towards her, so the implication is there). Amane is made of sterner stuff, though, and he knows very well that the moment that he lets go of his self-control and allows himself to do what he wants with Mahiru, she will somehow immediately be pregnant and possibly homeless. So for now, hickeys it is.

So yes, Amane and Mahiru are now sleeping together. By which I mean she’s staying the night in his apartment, and they sleep in his bed, but again, hickeys is as far as we go. And they’re not even visible hickeys. In the meantime, though, Amane has the future in mind. He wants to live with Mahiru forever, and that means marriage. His parents, who drop by to visit and embarrass the hell out of their son, not in that order, say that they will he,lp with whatever future plans he has – they know he tries to take everything on himself – but he wants to buy the ring with his own money. As such, he asks muscle fangirl classmate Ayaka to help find him a part-time job, and she hooks him up at a cafe her aunt runs for wealthy older customers – one where he can work as a waiter/barrista. That said, Mahiru’s not allowed to see him at work. Yet.

The final scene in the book is essentially the continuation of the first, showing off that them being married is just a matter of a registration – as far as their behavior is concerned, they may not be having sex, but in all other respects they’re soulmates. We meet the co-workers at Amane’s cafe, and they reminded me of the sort of eccentric personalities you might find in some other light novel series, where the childhood friend pines without ever being noticed. But Amane and Miharu are those types as well. In any other light novel, they’d be minor characters, the schmoopy couple who put everyone else in the class to shame and are always shamelessly flirting. Of course, these two flirt without realizing it – even to each other, which can get hilarious.

If you’re waiting for the sex, I’d wait till the end of the series, and get very angry then, as I suspect it won’t be there either. If you’re waiting for the cuteness and the syrupy sweetness, it’s all over this volume.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Clover’s Regret, Vol. 2

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By Soitiro Watase and Ginta, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

So, I’m still enjoying this spinoff, but I will admit that I’m enjoying it despite one of its subplots. Actually, more accurately despite its main plot. When the series is showing off the Asuka Online game, its horror events and the cast debugging things, it’s great. When it’s got them solving mysteries of absent fathers and mysterious support dolls who are not named Yotsugi, it’s also great. When it has its real life subplot about Nayuta gradually moving in with Kurei, making him food, and acting like a wife, while blowing off the fact that she’s been spotted with him and that people at her school are asking questions about it, that’s less fine. Now Kurei spends most of the book insisting he hasn’t done anything improper, which is true, but that’s not the point. The point is that Nayuta is underage and Kurei is in a position of power and we’re both supposed to be rooting for these two to admit their love and get married. Which, eh.

The book is divided into two short stories and one novella. The first story has Nayuta and Koyomi join Klever as he tests a vacation resort that will be used for events, meaning it’s an excuse for the cast to fool around in a luxury hotel. But what’s with the staff… or lack thereof? The second story has them participate in a fun event where you get to snuggle cabyparas, and find the wombat hidden among all of them. This is mostly pure fluff, but also has them discovering an AI android that appears to be part of a part of the game still being argued about, named Onihime. In the final story, they meet a young girl named Mahiro, who is searching for her missing father, who might have gotten called up in something criminal. What’s more, the girl looks a LOT like the android AI they just found…

Koyomi continues to have the depth of a sheet of paper, but she’s fun, and she’s also a necessary ingredient in a cast that otherwise consists of two very serious people. She also has Nayuta’s best interests at heart, and he constant battering of Klever about his “intentions” towards Nauyta masks a very real worry that she could be taken advantage of. Nayuta has an abnormal trust of Klever/Kurei, and while the reader is, I think, meant to assume it’s because they’re destined, it’s still uncomfortable. The other thing about this book is its examination of AI – it seems to be mostly pro-AI, but in the world of SAO I can see why that makes more sense – we already have Yui, for example.

This has one more volume to go, but doesn’t really have any plot points to resolve besides “when Nayuta turns 18 she will simply propose”. Let’s home it’s a little more complicated than that. For SAO fans.

86 –Eighty-Six–, Vol. 13: Dear Hunter

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By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert.

Yes, the “Dear” in the subtitle is spelled correctly, as the author states in the afterword. As for the book itself: I would like to remind readers, before I continue, that I do think this is an excellent series and I eagerly await reading the next book. That said, reading this was like being punched in the face for 318 pages. Each of the volumes has built on what has gone before, and here it reaches a crescendo, as everything completely falls into chaos, leaving our main cast in a situation exactly where they were at the start of the first book. It’s not quite “everything is for nothing”, but it’s close. The book has never been subtle about choosing kindness over prejudice, but here it reminds everyone that choosing to be kind is hard and requires constant vigilance, whereas being prejudiced is easy, and if a person is under stress or furious, easy is what happens. In among this, we do have time for another part of the secondary romance in the series, but even that is dramatic and bittersweet.

We open the book with a group of young girls preparing to go on a journey. They’re all part of a group, and we find that some of that group aren’t joining them. We then discover that this group are girls who were experimented on by Republic scientists and turned into living human bombs, who will go off at certain times. As this comes to light, along with the fact that it was Republic scientists who were responsible, rumors start flying. The “human bomb” thing is contagious. Everyone from the Republic is a secret enemy. Everyone who is foreign in any way is a secret enemy. And, of course, the Eighty-Six are secret enemies. As this goes on, the military falls apart, as all the soldiers turn on each other. Now Shin and company have to try to at least make sure there’s a base for them to come back to, as well as try to stop the Legion, who are helping all this along. And they have to do it without Lena and Annette, who have been “detained”.

In the middle of this nightmare is the story of Anju and Dustin. Dustin, as it turns out, is the childhood friend of the girl who is the “head” of these human bombs, and was unaware what happened to her until it’s revealed. The obvious narrative choice would be for him to desert, making a dangerous trek over the battlefield and reunite with her right before she does so they can have a tearful reunion. But not only would that go against literally everything that the Eighty-Six series has ever done, it also would not be fair to Anju, who has finally managed to acknowledge moving on from her first love and finding a new one with Dustin, and now there’s all this. I did wonder if Dustin was going to die, and spark the final chaos. It doesn’t work out that way, but an Eighty-Six *does* die, and that leads to the cliffhanger, and to the final arc, where everything has to be fought for all over again right from the beginning.

Yyyyyyyeah. Really well-written. Great philosophical points. Feels very relevant to today’s world. But also: A BUMMER.

My First Love’s Kiss, Vol. 2

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By Hitoma Iruma and Fly. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Hatsukoi Aite ga Kiss Shiteta” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kiki Piatkowska.

So there’s a huge cliffhanger plot twist at the end of the book, and I’m gonna have to discuss it, so let’s put it after the picture and plot summary. In the meantime, let’s talk about the only reason I really am keeping up with this series: how does it tie into Adachi and Shimamura? Last time it was hinted that Chiki was somehow connected to Hino’s extended family, and a prologue in this volume continues to hint that’s the case. This volume, desperate to find out more about the woman that she’s become so besotted with that it’s become obsession, Umi does detective work and manages to infiltrate Hino’s vast estate, and gets the information she needs, mostly thanks to the timely arrival of Nagafuji. I joked that I would scream if this series ended up getting Nagafuji involved in its tawdriness, and the good news is that she and Chiki never meet. Indeed, Umi sees Hino and Nagafuji’s friendship and envies it. The bad news is the rest of the book.

We open, after a prologue showing a young girl deliberately injuring herself and blaming a family member, with Takasora confronting Umi and Chiki. Chiki, highly amused by all this drama, admits they’re going to a hotel, and then invites Takasora along, to have a “girls’ sleepover”. To Umi’s horror, Takasora accepts, and they all spend the night in a swank hotel room, though sex does not happen, or at least not while Takasora is awake. The next day, while Umi is asleep, Takasora (who has confessed her love, and been rejected, as expected) has a long chat with Chiki, who reveals her real name is Shiho Chitaira (which Takasora doesn’t really believe), and not to tell Umi. A couple days later, Chitaira takes Umi out on a date, shopping and buying her a seemingly expensive ring. What Umi doesn’t know is Chitaira is also taking Takasora out on reluctant outings, playing on her jealousy and self-loathing and preying on her just as she’s preyed on Umi.

So the artist on this is Fly, and it has to be said, the characters in the series do tend to look alike, particularly Umi and Chitaira. I wonder if Iruma saw the art and decided on the plot twist at the end of this volume, and said “hey, since they already look like sisters…” So yes, this volume’s cliffhanger ending was a twist and a half. I had assumed that the book would end with Umi’s rage at Takasora for getting caught up in Chitaira’s scheming, and there is a bit of that. That’s the normal “toxic yuri hell” part of this book. Then Umi’s mother shows up, greeting Chitaira warmly, and wonders why she never said she’d introduced herself to Umi. And then says “Umi, this is Shiho, your older sister.” Honestly, if that came from Chitaira I wouldn’t have believed it, thinking it would be another weird scheme to create more drama. But it’s coming from Umi’s mother, who we’ve seen throughout the series has all the scheming ability of a cream puff, so I have to assume it’s the case. I didn’t think anything could make things worse, and I was oh so naive.

If this were a longer series, I would nope out. But it ends in the next book. I had idly wondered, midway through this volume, if the final twist would be Umi managing to actually get Chitaira to genuinely stay with her, but obviously the end of this book has blown that out of the water. I now wonder if the series will end with everyone alive.

Oh, for the curious, Hino, when she shows up, talks about meeting a kid in a spacesuit while fishing, if you’re trying to figure out where this is in the Adachi and Shimamura timeline.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 6

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By Sunsunsun and Momoco. Released in Japan as “Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matthew Rutsohn.

I feel badly for Alya at times. This is, theoretically, her series. She’s the character on the cover art, she’s obviously going to be the winning girl, and she’s cute. But the overall plot of her arc is “I need to open up to others and not just rely on myself, and also I need to admit I’m in love with Masachika.” As arcs go, it’s simple. It’s not something that can carry a series. That’s Masachika and Yuki’s arc. Yuki’s not going to be the winning girl, for obvious reasons, but the screwed-up family she and Masachika are both in is what we’re going to be seeing more and more of. We get a bit of it here, and see that everyone is still carrying Expections, with a capital E, and that failing to meet them is worse than actually murdering someone. This has a lot of fluff in it, but the back half sets up darker things going forward.

The first half of this is pure fluff and fanservice, as we continue to have the school festival arc. We now see Alya dressed up as an elf, which frankly is perfect for her, and the sight blows everyone’s mind. Meanwhile, Masha is running a magician’s bar, and has some brilliant tricks… that she can’t perform in front of her sister because she’s always forced to be the goofy one in her presence. We get Ayano’s incredibly intimidating MAID SKILLS, which threaten to overwhelm Masachika when she maids a bit too hard at him. And, of course, the band get ready to perform. Unfortunately, it turns out that some mysterious person forged invitations to the festival, and there are now various pranksters, thugs, and bad guys there, who have been ordered to destroy it. Can the student council find out who’s responsible and save the day?

It’s really brought home here how this is a school for elites. Yuki, in an amusing takedown of one of the ringleaders, points out that his romantic angst would make a very poor subplot in a villainess book, and that’s kind of what we have here – not the villainess herself (though Yuki’s trying her best), but the “nobles rule the world” worldview. The elite families of many of the students are at the event – including Masachika and Yuki’s family – and they observe the chaos that’s been created with an amused eye, knowing that it will all come down to who controls the narrative and who can win the day. No great prizes for guessing who’s the man behind it all, but I did appreciate the ending, which does not revolve around Alya’s band performance (again, she’s not narratively important), but around Masachika’s, and his tendency once again to a) be miles ahead of everyone around him, and b) hate himself so much I worry he’ll end the series with a suicide attempt. Though I doubt it gets THAT dark.

The next book looks to be the athletics festival, and will no doubt once again be half otaku nerdery and half GRIPPING DRAMA.

The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori, Vol. 1

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By Kaeru Ryouseirui and Natsuki Amashiro. Released in Japan as “Umidori Tougetsu no “Detarame” na Jijou” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

This is one of those titles that I ended up taking a flyer on after seeing Twitter comments by Andrew Cunningham (who ended up translating it after it was licensed), and I thought it sounded pleasantly odd. The start of the book certainly makes you think that’s going to be the case. We meet Umidori, the tall, voluptuous but seemingly normal straight man, and her classmate Nara, who has a normal vocal emotional range but whose face shows no expression. This is good, that’s a quirky character for a quirky series. She then starts to talk about how someone is stealing her pencils, showing a somewhat monomaniacal obsession with them, and Umidori seemingly responding with “uh huh” and “is that so” responses. This then leads up to the payoff, when we find out the true culprit behind the theft. Even when we see WHY the pencils are being stolen, I went “OK, wow, that’s very, very weird” but it was still to be expected. Then Bullshit-chan showed up.

So yeah, as you may have figured out, Umidori is not just the straight man of this series. She’s unable to lie, to anyone, and as you can imagine this has left her upsetting everyone around her, to the point where she makes sure never to get too close to anyone – even Nara, who she is seemingly good friends with. Then Bullshit-chan shows up at her apartment, furious, and wielding a knife, and starts to explain the plot, and you realize that this is not a “eccentric high school kids” series but a “supernatural action drama with utterly messed up protagonists” series. This is compounded by Nara showing up, who talks about her own issues (which are somewhat hamstrung by the art for the series – it’s fine, but anytime you have someone who is “the most beautiful person in the world” and you have to draw them, it’s never going to work). And then the ACTUAL bad guys appear.

The main plot for the series in general seems to be to get Umidori to be able to lie, as her truth-telling is presented as a condition or “curse” rather than her own choice. I also get the feeling that it’s going to be getting Umidori friends as well – thanks to a conveniently plotted glass of alcohol, she doesn’t even remember how her words a year ago saved Nara from a fate where she too may have cast off everyone around her. (Umidori of course lives in an apartment by herself, and her parents are divorced). As for Bullshit-chan, she’s an interesting concept, but at the moment that’s all she is – I’m not as invested in her as I am in Umidori and Nara. I did like the villain – no, not the concept, but the human behind it, and her own twisted desires and how they ended up horrifying everyone (which seems to be the theme with those afflicted by the series’ concept.)

If it sounds like I’m trying to write around giving any spoilers, you’re right. This is best experienced cold. It’s good, though. Try it.

Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner!, Vol. 1

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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.

This came out as a manga from JNC well before the light novel was licensed – in fact, the manga’s six volumes all finished before the light novel was licensed. I didn’t read the manga when it came out, but I experienced it, as this was a popular title to see liveblogged on Tumblr. And from what I saw, it appeared to be a pretty broad comedy, mostly dealing with the heroine’s over the top reactions to things and her obsessive love of bread and cute young women, in that order. (The fact that all the love interests are male is neither here nor there – when she hears a rumor she’s in love, she asks which of the two girls she knows it is). I enjoy comedy. But as I read this first book, I realized that there was a lot more to it. There was mystery, as both our heroine and the reader try to figure out the plot. And there’s traumatic backstory. In fact, that’s one of the mysteries.

We open with a very familiar villainess book trope. Felicia Schwarose is condemned in public by her fiance, the Crown Prince, and dumped for a woman of a lower noble rank. This time, though, our reincarnated girl actually IS the heroine – and she has spent her entire life in this otome game world gunning for this bad end. Now she’s disowned by her family, but they give her a small house in the commoner area and some cash. This means she’s finally free of the noble training that she’s hated and can live a happy life working in a bakery – helped along by her past life, where she also did this, and is the only reason that a duke’s daughter can survive without servants. Unfortunately for her, she is the ONLY one who wants this future for herself, and she reckons without the impact she had on the rest of the cast.

I was expecting the standard “hit by a truck” death, and I got it, but it was everything else about her life that startled me. Let’s just say that a lot of what Felicia, aka Fii, has been doing is driven very heavily by her own past trauma from her previous life. Here, she’s very good at arranging things so that all the dominoes can fall in place and she can scamper off to live in her bakery, but reckons without the impact this has on everyone who knows her. Like so many other otome game imports, she sees this world as a game, no matter how much she tries to deny it, and reckons without everyone just really liking her for her actions rather than the plot. By the way, in case I made this seem more serious than it is, there really IS a goofy quality to some of it, particularly the bread jokes, and the contrast between her inner and outer voices.

There’s only three volumes to this, and I think the third one is a side story focusing on the “villainess”, so this should wrap up next time. Which is good, as it ends with an action-packed cliffhanger. I will get tired of this genre one day, but not today. This was a terrific read.

RVing My Way into Exile with My Beloved Cat: This Villainess Is Trippin’, Vol. 3

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By Punichan and Canarinu. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō wa Camping Car de Tabi ni Deru: Aibyō to Mankitsu Suru Self Kokugai Tsuihō ” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by sachi salehi.

Villainess books (and this still is a villainess book, despite increasingly looking just like a standard isekai) all tend to have the same basic setting. They’re supposedly based on “noble court” kingdoms, all of which are best described as “vaguely Europe in the vaguely end of the 19th century, only with magic”. The problem with this, and a lot of isekais that take place in RPG land, is that it’s not Japan. Now, you *could* theoretically solve that problem by writing a villainess or isekai story that takes place in 19th century Japan, but no. We’d much rather simply have another, very familiar country, just offscreen, to the east, and over the ocean, that’s got rice and miso and so many other magical things. I just finished seeing Kuma Bear doing this, and S-Ranked Daughter also discussed it. And now here we are,. Mizarie and Raoul have come to not-quite-Japan. And it’s AWESOME.

Now that she’s found out about a country which has rice, Mizarie really wants to go there. But it’s not easy, and requires her and Raoul – who has now paid off his debt but, to the relief of both of them, wants to keep traveling with her – to traverse the desert, end up at the ocean, and then somehow cross through the Scylla and Charybdis. Fortunately, this is a world with magic, so a dangerous path opens every month – dangerous, that is, unless you have an RV. Now in the land of Mizuho, they arrive at a small town and meet the village chief’s daughter and a soba seller who is clearly in love with her. But they don’t have time to wait for the plot twist to kick in, there’s slow life to be had in the capital! Mizarie can buy SO MUCH Japanese food, get a kimono, and stay in a hot springs inn with her… um… bestie?

I admit I was wondering if this one would be purely slice-of-life this time around. Mizarie finally confesses her past to Raoul (her past from this world, that is – we’re not opening up about reincarnation just yet), but for the most part the Kingdom of Richard are not allowed to be dicks and remain firmly offscreen. But fear not, there is definitely a plot twist, because we can’t have a Camper Van Villainess story without the Camper Van being the real hero. As such, we get a good old fashioned virgin sacrifice to the gods, which feels VERY out of place in amongst all the “hey, hey, isn’t Japan awesome?!” that is the rest of the book. (Honestly, that part is a bit wearying.) But it allows Mizarie to race her RV like never before, do Evil Knievel jumps, and ram a massive snake to death. After that, meeting Raoul’s folks seems easy… well, provided you’re not two shy dorks in denial.

Best of all, it appears Camper Van Villainess escapes the “end in three volumes” curse most DRE titles have! Or at least they’re not married yet. I look forward to more wacky van adventures.

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer: Short Story Collection

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By MOJIKAKIYA and toi8. Released in Japan as “Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

I admit that I got really happy when I saw the 30-page section at the end of this book. No, not the color art gallery, though that was fine if you like that sort of thing. But the definition of a short story collection like this, one that is almost entirely made up of stories that were “bookstore exclusives” from various stores, is that they do not give anything for a reviewer to grab hold of. They can’t affect the main plot, they can’t really change anyone, they’re only there to be spice. The short stories in this book take place over the entire timeline, though Bel as a youth gets the least time, as those flashbacks were in the main story. Lots of Ange as a kid. Some good ones of Ange as a newbie adventurer, which I enjoyed. A lot of “boy, found family sure is great” stuff. Fortunately, there’s also the author discussing the creation of the work.

OK, there is a little more to talk about with the short stories. I did enjoy the one or two we got for Charlotte, who started off as an antagonist but very quickly stepped into the big sister for Bel’s new child role. Here we see that she’s constantly thinking of what she did and the people whose deaths she’s responsible for, and asks herself if she deserves to be happy. In addition to Ange’s early adventuring, I also enjoyed seeing the early life of Anessa and Miriam a bit more, and Miriam’s story where we see how her apprenticeship started with Maria is great. Maria is the sort who can’t show affection normally, so would only open up to someone not willing to put up with all her bullshit anymore. I also liked seeing a lonely and sullen Marguerite, who misses everyone and is depressed in Orphen but can’t stop telling herself “this is fine:.

But the final textual part of the book is a long section where the author talks about the creation of the work and what went into it, and I wish more authors did this sort of thing (or at least had it translated over here). Unsurprisingly, this was meant to be a one-volume series, and Angeline’s backstory was not meant to be anything other than “child found in the woods”, but when you’re trying to expand a plot you need to think of things to expand. I also really appreciated that the author’s first and most important rule was “no incest”, especially after seeing so many “dad raises an adopted daughter” series fail to clear that low bar. The author also discusses having to write things in later books to help explain the plot holes from previous books readers on the webnovel site pointed out – the obvious one being the state of the guilds, and how to fix it.

So obviously, for fans only, but fans should enjoy it. Just be ready for a lot of stories that are “Bel and young Ange fish” or “Bel gets a cold” and other store exclusive type things.

The Blessing of Liefe: Leave This Magical Letdown Alone!, Vol. 2

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By Kureha and Yoko Matsurika. Released in Japan as “Liefe no Shukufuku: Muzokusei Mahō Shika Tsukaenai Ochikobore toshite Hottoite Kudasai” by Arian Rose. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alex Castor.

In my review of the first volume I marveled at the fact that our heroine had, helping her out and in her corner, about 90% of the important and powerful people in the kingdom, which sort of made this story about an abused child even more Cinderella than those stories usually are. This volume tries to show us that there’s a reason that she needs all that support and protection. The volume begins with a flashback to the tournament she did in middle school, where we hear she simply never bothered to show up for the semifinals. Now here we see why – she’s been threatened, and it does not take a genius to figure out who has enough emotional hold over her to get her to change the entire way she’s been living to date. As such, the resolution of the confession she got in the first book is obvious. It’s hard to agree to a romantic love with the prince when you have PTSD.

So yes, as I hinted above, Yui ends up rejecting Prince Filiel’s proposal. Everyone then heads off to the training camp for strong fighters, which also has Yui and her passel of first-year prodigies along for the ride, much to the disgust of some of the other students. This disgust is not helped by Yui’s attitude throughout the entire training camp. She skips out on all the training, doesn’t care about anything but sweets, and when forced to fight, puts up a defensive wall and starts to read a book. About sweets. She’s always been fairly blase and nonchalant about things, but it’s getting a bit ridiculous. Maybe Filiel’s proposal had a lot more impact than he thought. Can everyone figure out how to get Yui to come out of her shell and try to be the prodigy she is? And can they do this with anything other than snack bribes?

We know Yui’s backstory with her father, so can sympathize with her. Well, *I* can sympathize with her. I have a feeling a lot of readers are going to bounce off Yui hard, and I get it. What’s more, to those who DON’T know Yui’s abusive backstory, she comes across as an arrogant, uncaring, overprivileged creep, due to, well, everyone being in her corner. The middle of the book, where Yui is forced to fight battles, is a tale of two halves. In the first half, you grind your teeth at how stubborn and irritating Yui is being. Then, in the back half, we see her going up against one of the strongest men in the kingdom, and she shows off WHY she’s hiding everything and trying to avoid showing her true magic at all. Yui knows very well what her father wants. He wants to use her, marry her off, and otherwise treat her like a thing. And it terrifies her, because her father is a noble, and as we’ve seen in this series, nobles kinda suck.

Fortunately, by the end of the book, she does accept Filiel’s feelings, so in future books we can… what’s that? No volumes in two years>? Webnovel also looks abandoned? Well then. In any case, I enjoyed this.

The Former Assassin Who Got Reincarnated As a Noble Girl, Vol. 2

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By Satsuki Otonashi and MiRea. Released in Japan as “Moto Ansatsusha, Tenseishite Kizoku no Reijou ni Narimashita” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

I admit I was surprised and a little put off by the cover of this volume, which, like the cover of the first, is salacious and mostly exists to draw in the hapless reader by promising sex that isn’t actually there. That said, the cover is actually quite clever, as your eyes may be drawn to her chest but we are also meant to notice her gun, and the huge and deadly hairpin she also has. Selena talks about “honey traps” in this series, and the volume in fact opens with the rather hapless and tragic crown princess being driven half mad and out of the palace by her asshole husband bringing home a “honey trap” lover and their two children and saying “this is who will be next in line now”. Thus, Selena on the cover of this volume is meant to draw in a reader hoping for a bit of sex. There’s none of that here. But there sure is lots of death and violence. This series is dark as pitch.

We open with, as I noted above, the tragic downfall of Shahrnaz, a noble girl who marries the crown prince, has a child, and thinks that things are fine. They’re not. Many years later, Selena is told that their school is getting three exchange students: Shaghad, the son of the prince and Shahrnaz, and Ismail and Aisha, the two children of the prince and his lover, a viscount’s daughter. They’re behaving like arrogant fools, but they also have a mission: Aisha is here to seduce Prince Evan, and Ismael is here to get rid of Shaghad, who is first in the actual succession. It doesn’t help that Shaghad, who has a big helping of “my mother abandoned me and I feel depressed”, is letting them do whatever they want. Clearly another noble is not what’s needed here. This needs an assassin’s touch.

For the most part, this book has a plotline that is pretty obvious… at least until the end, which has a terrific twist that I won’t spoil. Selena spends much of the volume rather annoyed that she has to be dealing with this at all, though once she manages to get Shaghad to actually take steps to stand up for himself, and also trains him to fend off assassins, she feels better. The ongoing questions seems to be not “who will she choose, royalty or her devoted bodyguard?”, as honestly I don’t trust her not to kill both of them if she feels a need to. The writer says that they gave Selena a “dumb” friend, partly so she actually had a friend who wasn’t a love interest, but also to point out that Selena can be as grimdark as she likes, and kill as many assassins as she wants, but in the end she does care about people, and there’s no getting around that. The assassin is also a noble girl, and that’s not something Selene can accept right now.

This second volume was not part of the webnovel but requested by the publisher, and there’s no third book out in Japan, so this may end up being it. It’s an odd duck, this, and I’m not sure it could have reasonably given us a happy ending, but I liked it.