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Reviews

A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO, Vol. 1

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu ZERO” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Faye Cozy and Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Melanie Kardas.

If you have a prequel series, it helps to have two really important things: a reason for the author to write it, and a reason for the reader to read it. The author explains in the afterword the reason that we’re getting this prequel: it’s a story they wanted to tell as flashbacks in the main series, but it rapidly got far too huge, so it was decided to make it a series of its own. As for the reader, I will admit I was a bit worried. The general premise of the main series is that, whether it be in the present as Fia or in the past as Serafina, our heroine is an extremely lovable goober who everyone adores. Technically that’s true here, but there’s a very important difference, which is that this is the story of Serafina at six, not sixteen (we get those flashbacks in the main series). As a result, she’s an ADORABLE lovable goober.

Sirius, the most powerful man in the kingdom of Nav, is sent out by the King to go gget the second princess, Serafina. Six years ago she was born blind, which is still frowned on when you’re royalty, and so she was sent to a detached house in the forest to stay so that she did not get bullied at the royal court. But circumstances have changed, and now she’s needed back at the palace. So Sirius and his beleaguered colleagues (who can’t keep up with him) head into the forest to find an extremely adorable six-year-old redhead. She can’t open her eyes, but she can apparently see spirits. When monsters attack, and prove too strong for most of the knights, a panicked Serafina calls on her Saint powers, regains her sight, and proves to be the Most Powerful Saint in the World.

This book has an agenda, and that agenda is CUTE. Sure, Serafina can still be a colossal airhead some of the time, but for the most part that’s explainable as her being a six-year-old who lived in a jungle all her life, rather than as her having none of the common sense of everyone she grew up around like the main series. Everyone who meets Serafina seems to adore her immediately, except (briefly) her brothers, who give in after Sirius trains them to death. We also meet Canopus here, and get a sense of the prejudice that he and his people go through… which ends up being steamrolled through the power of Serafina’s really liking him. And what do you know, he does indeed turn out to be really strong. She even manages to tame a griffon and a fenrir, which sort of serves as a replacement for the dragon she has in the main series. Basically, she’s a bundle of cute, and also packing ludicrous power, which Sirius is not yet ready to show off just yet. He’s too enraptured by her to do so.

The recent light novel rankings came out in Japan, and the main series placed a LOT higher than I had thought. Which explains the prequel. Fans of Fia will love seeing cute l’il Serafina wrap everyone around her finger.

Management of a Novice Alchemist, Vol. 3

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By Mizuho Itsuki and fuumi. Released in Japan as “Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

As I noted earlier, I watched the anime of this series before I read the novels, and I’m rather surprised at how a) the anime did a whole lot of adding/cutting and pasting in a different place, and b) how it usually worked pretty well. The anime is paced like an anime, and gives viewers a reason to be really sympathetic to Sarasa from the get go. The light novel doesn’t bother with either of those, and Sarasa can be quite a morally ambiguous character. Here, we see her having to struggle with the fact that she has friends she cares about and wants to help, even if it might lose her money. There’s never any doubt she’s going to, but just seeing her inner monologue is revealing. She cannot stop thinking of how much everything in her life costs, and how much ingredients cost, etc. It’s not quite presented as a savant thing, but she certainly would do much better with more sensible people around her. Good news there!

After the events of the last book, and a comedic interlude with raw honey and horrible diarrhea, our intrepid gatherers, along with Sarasa, go on a mission to find out why the Hellflame Grizzly stampede happened. This takes them to an inactive volcano which has fire lizards, which they can harvest, with some difficulty, for materials, but also a far more dangerous salamander further up the mountain, which isn’t being hostile so Sarasa ignores it. But when Iris’ father, a noble in charge of two villages, arrives to tell her that in order to solve their own hideous debt (separate from Iris and Kate’s debt to Sarasa), he has to marry her off, Sarasa recognizes the husband Iris is getting paired with as being related to the corrupt merchants she took out last book, and, eventually, makes a decision to help with the debt by going after that salamander after all.

When the anime aired, I heard some talk that the books were yuri, but when I investigated, the answer seems to be “eeeeeh, kinda?”. Having read this volume, I get that. On the one hand, in this world, men can marry men, and women can marry women, There are even (very expensive!) potions to allow you to change sex temporarily for the purpose of siring an heir if you are an LGBT couple. And, to solve their issues, Iris is clearly VERY happy to marry Sarasa, offers Kate as Wife #2 (which Kate seems OK with), and says “your preference might change, who knows?” On the other hand, Sarasa says she’s not interested in women multiple times, and also says she’s too young to get married. I suspect what we’re going to get by the end of this series is Sarasa married to her three wives (no way Lorea’s not getting in on this) in a familial marriage with no sexual aspect to it. I have no idea if that’s yuri or not. But it’s fine, I’m much happier with these four as a family.

Sarasa was a little less terrifying this volume, and we’re starting to see that being in the village is very good for her. Unfortunately, she seems to have pissed off the local lord, which I have a feeling will be the plot of Book 4. This is the last one that had the anime mine it for materials, and it was pretty good.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Astrea Record, Vol. 3

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

There are some pretty nifty scenes in this final book, but in the end, I think I will best remember this series for what it was: an adaptation of a video game spinoff. It suffers a lot from being a prequel, meaning that when we see folks we remember from the main series or Sword Oratoria, we know that they’re going to survive, whereas when we meet new people, we know they have a low chance of it. This volume introduces three older, veteran adventurers from Loki Familia, the ones who were training Finn and company when they were just starting out. They have names, but I could not help but imagine them saying things like “this is my last job, after this I’m retiring and buying a boat”. As for Lyu and her familia, well, we get to see them make a decision that will end up being Very Bad, but for the most part they get to be cool, as they fight to determine what justice is.

The book is basically a 270-page fight, which we are very used to with this author. Everyone is getting their secret weapons ready, including Lyu’s new sword, which is made from the gift of her late friend Ardee… erm, Adi (don’t you hate it when the Japanese publisher tells you the name has a different romanji AFTER you start the series?). First things go very well for our heroes, and very bad for the Evils… then everything swings the other way and all hope is lost… then the cavalry arrives, etc. You know the drill. What we most focus on are Zald and Alfia, who explain why they’re doing all this: failing to defeat the black dragon and having their familias destroyed broke them, and they think the current generation of adventurers suck, so they want to go back to a Golden Age where there were real heroes. Yes, that’s right, it’s the DanMachi version of Invasion of the Dinosaurs from Jon Pertwee’s final series.

I was once again irritated that we were getting a teenage version of moral dilemmas, so was amused when the “main villain” pointed out that this is exactly what it was, and the way to defeat the trolley problem is to come up with ways to defy it and work around it. As for the whole “we want to return to a golden age” thing, it’s also mostly bullshit – as I expected, but which isn’t confirmed until an epilogue, it’s more of a “we are testing you to make sure you are ready to face the strong enemies that are to come, and we must do this by being evil ourselves”. Which, again, is very “for 15-year-olds” logic, like the rest of this spinoff. There are a lot of really cool scenes and character pieces in here, and I liked hearing about Bell’s mother, but in the end this wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, and was too depressing most of the time.

We’re not done with Lyu yet. The next spinoff will bring us the story that was cut from Book 18 because it was already 600 pages long – Lyu’s journey to see Astrea. I don’t think that comes from a video game plot, so I’m looking forward to it a bit more. Though… hasn’t Lyu become the main heroine in terms of appearances by now?

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 26

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

We were spoiled by the first books in Arc 5 and Arc 6. Each of those books was filled with the main cast we know and love, featured Subaru being smart and making good decisions (even when he is getting killed), and generally were a lot of fun and led us into the horror and return by death gradually. This is the first book in Arc 7, and it is absolutely not that at all. We’re in a completely different country, most of the cast are new, and of those who aren’t new, one has no memories of her past, one seems to be mentally a baby, and one… is meant to be a mysterious swordsman named Abel, but anyone who’s read the Ex 4 and 5 novels know who he really is. And then there’s Subaru, who is… shall we say, making poor decisions again. Once again his stubbornness leads him to do things that just a moment of rational thought would show are going to get him in trouble. Whee.

Subaru, along with Rem and Louis, has been somehow transported far away from Emilia and company, who know he’s not dead and what direction he’s in but that’s about it. He wakes up in a jungle. Rem is awake, but has no memories, and of course Subaru has been returning by death a lot lately, so he smells horribly of miasma. What’s more, Louis has come along with them, and he suggests abandoning her… except she looks like a small child and acts like an innocent baby. So, naturally, Rem chokes him unconscious and flees. Congratulations, Subaru/Rem fans, you got your touching reunion? In any case, Subaru also manages to be shot by a hunter and killed, and then when he catches up with Rem he’s captured by an army on the march. And who’s that mysterious masked guy in the woods?

As I said above, reading the Ex spinoffs will help a tiny bit here, but for the most part this is pure unfiltered Subaru with new people – including Rem, who is basically in “angry and distrusting” mode most of the book, though she’s already worried and concerned about him by the end of it. So I’m sure the love will return. As for Louis, I understand why Subaru hates and is willing to abandon her. But his constant disdain and scorn of Louis in front of Rem is easily the dumbest he’s been since the 3rd arc. He doesn’t explain, he doesn’t take Louis at face value, he just… makes himself look like an asshole. Speaking of assholes, we meet a lovely smiling villain named Todd Fang, who I suspect we’re going to get a lot more of in future books. Don’t like him. And he’s not even the abusive one of the pair of soldiers. I do like the Amazon tribe that Subaru and Vincent run into, though – they’re all cool and badass, and I hope they don’t get killed off.

I’m sure as I get used to the arc, things will pick up. But this arc is *eight* books long, and I miss the core cast already. Good writing, interesting stuff, but a Subaru that I didn’t want to see again.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Vol. 8

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By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

Technically this book is the second half of an arc that began with the last one. That said, what this book really does is take everything that we’ve learned in the last seven books and boil it down into an examination of how monarchies really function, especially ones where the nobles don’t necessarily do what the ruler says. And that’s not even the case either, because of course this is a magical kingdom, and being a magical ruler is not remotely the same as being, say, Henry VIII. The magical revolution is still ongoing, and there are people who are very unhappy… not with the revolution itself (i.e. Anis’ magical tools) but simply with the loss of power that this entails. And the fact that it’s come from the non-magical Anis. What does all this mean? It means that both Anis and Euphie spend more time being utterly furious than in any other book we’ve read to date, and both consider simply executing everyone to solve the problem. (Spoiler: they don’t do that.)

Anis is busy working on the construction of her new magical city when she gets an urgent message from Lainie to return to the royal palace, and when she does she finds that Euphie is in her room on forcible rest. What’s worse, she hasn’t been able to sleep for days, and when she tries to eat food it’s tasteless and she can barely choke it down. Euphie is losing touch with her humanity and moving towards being a spirit contractor. And the reason for this? Well, they were meeting with the Western Nobles, who have always been difficult. But when one noble, Count Leghorn (I did try doing the Foghorn Leghorn voice, but it doesn’t match the character) venerates Euphie in a religious fervor, and suggests that all of Anis’ accomplishments have been falsified, Euphie almost loses control of herself in rage. So now she’s on forced leave… and tells all this to Anis, who is now ALSO losing control of herself in rage.

I haven’t really talked much about Lainie lately, who gets the bulk of the narrative here that’s not Anis or Euphie. (Most of the POV in this book is Euphie, and it’s really good.) This series began by combining an isekai with a villainess story, and Lainie was the “heroine” in that scenario. Now a loyal maid, she’s just as livid with what the Western nobles are doing but is not quite as close to it as Anis and Euphie are, so instead calls in the cavalry to come up with a solution. It’s pretty terrific. I also liked her discussion with Lumi, who points out that neither Anis nor Euphie are truly human anymore, and isn’t that a bit disturbing? Lainie believes in them, but then Lainie is a vampire, so she’s dealing with the same problems. The Western nobles have a much higher bar to clear… and they don’t clear it. There are no mass executions, but trust me, an epic smackdown happens.

This book shows that “happily ever after” is hard to achieve and requires constant effort, and even that may not be good enough. Fortunately, it ends rather triumphantly. We get a short story collection before Book 9… but both only came out a couple months ago in Japan, so it may be a bit. Highly recommended.

Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain, Vol. 1

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By Ageha Sakura and Kurodeko. Released in Japan as “Imokusa Reijou desu ga Akuyaku Reisoku wo Tasuketara Kiniiraremashita” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Vasileios Mousikidis.

I’ve never been very good with photoshop or meme creation, and I generally only embed cover images to these reviews in any case. But I will admit, about 20 pages into Lady Bumpkin, all I could think of was that Shrek meme and seeing him saying “She doesn’t even have a loyal maid!”. Now, I am aware that the loyal maid comes later, yes, but I’ve gotten so used to seeing these abused daughters who are simply surviving from day to day in their House O’ Evil Nobles have at least the one loyal maid to be the ally in their corner keeping them from completely losing it. Agnes has had to deal with this solely on her own, where even the help doesn’t help. Fortunately, she’s in luck, in that she’s in a villainess book. No, she’s not the villainess. The villainess is in fact a villain. And he’s just as innocent as most of the villainesses are in this genre, because oh dear, the princess is terrible.

Agnes Evantail is the eldest daughter of an old-school noble house. And I mean really old school. Her parents have furniture that’s outdated, clothing that’s outdated (including codpieces, Christ), and makeup that’s outdated, and they force Agnes into all of those (except the codpiece) before sending her out into a noble world that now regards those things as comical in order to find herself a man. Oh, and when she fails her father hits her. At one of these humiliation events, the princess and her fiance happen to be at the same party… and Agnes watches with horror as the princess denounces her fiancee, Nazelbert Florescruz, as a horrible person who has bullied her new boyfriend, a baron’s son – who has also gotten her pregnant. She insists he be exiled to the frontier… and since Agnes was the only one to help him up after he was knocked over, and she’s a national laughingstock, she’s told to become his wife.

Regarding that cover, I have to assume it’s metaphorical and that Agnes is holding her younger self, as they haven’t even gone beyond kissing on the cheek by the end of this volume. Most of this volume trundles along exactly as you might guess, with the occasional exception when we see Agnes getting the shit beaten out of her, as these sorts of books usually stick to emotional abuse. Once she’s disowned and heads to the frontier with her new disgraced husband, things definitely improve… though not right away, as they’re going to a territory where the previous noble in charge was an abusive rapist louse, so no one trusts them. Fortunately, and feel free to roll your eyes a bit, Agnes’ “useless” magic turns out to secretly be awesome, making this the distaff version of all those “weakest is really strongest” books. Minus the harem.

That said, as you’d expect, once the two of them are away from everyone else, we get a lot of sweetness and cuteness, along with Agnes turning out to be beautiful once you get the heavy makeup and heavy dresses off her. There’s little new here, but the writing style is breezy and fun, and I really liked Agnes. I’ll read more.

Haibara’s Teenage New Game+, Vol. 7

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By Kazuki Amamiya and Gin. Released in Japan as “Haibara-kun no Tsuyokute Seishun New Game” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Esther Sun.

One of the things that folks tend to forget about teenage years as they grow older is how wonderful, how absolutely cathartic it can be to see your friends, your pals, those you are closest to and hang out with all the time, be complete and utter dipshits and make the worst choices imaginable. Not in a dangerous and life-threatening way – I don’t mean “I’m gonna take heroin” or that jazz. No, I mean things like “hey, I bet I can eat all these hot pockets in one go” or “I wonder how far I can go if I went down this steep slope on a garbage can lid?”. Dumb teen stuff. So when the cast here try to work out how to get Reita to listen to them and not throw away his entire life, Natsuki is the one who understands: we need to do the dumbest thing. Only that can save us. And it does, of course, because they’re teens, and also because this is a romcom.

Reita’s been suspended for a week for getting into a fight outside school. What’s more, there’s a video uploaded to social media of the fight, which is clearly staged BY Reita to destroy his own reputation. Everyone tries to get him to open up, and they all fail – he is really, really determined to throw himself under the bus. A visit to his home gives Natsuki some answers, but not many – home life not the best. But there has to be something there that’s more than just “I wasn’t thinking about Miori, I am a terrible person”. This also isn’t helping Miori much either – her reputation is not in the dirt anymore, but that’s because Reita is trying to say he forced her to do everything. Can Natsuki come up with a plan to solve everything in one go? See above re: dumb things.

Obviously Reita is the bulk of the book, but there is also the traditional romcom that is the reason you’re reading this. I appreciate that Natsuki and Hikari are dating and yet there’s still an acknowledgement that Natsuki also has feelings for Uta and Miori – in fact, as Hikari points out, right now his feelings for Miori are probably greater. But all of that is irrelevant – it has to be. Yes, he can’t let go of those feelings so easily. But he can reject the others girls and dedicate himself to dating Hikari, which he has done. The last part of the book is a classic Christmas Eve date, and it ends with a big ol’ confession and kiss. I will admit that sometimes this series is a bit too fastball-down-the-middle – Natsuki’s rainbow colored life feels a little too easy – but then again, he already suffered in his first life. And he did get the crap beaten out of him in this book. It evens out.

We’re caught up with Japan again – Book 8 is out early next year – so how things go from here is unknown. I can’t see this series going on too much longer, though. But it’s good overdramatic stuff.

You Are My Regret, Vol. 3

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By Shimesaba and Ui Shigure. Released in Japan as “Kimi wa Boku no Regret” by Dash X Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andria McKnight.

Generally speaking I don’t really pay much attention to the color pages of a book when I’m writing my review, as they rarely affect it one way or another. I glanced back at the color pages for this third volume of You Are My Regret, though, and I almost laughed out loud – definitely the only time I did that while reading this overwrought, dramatic book. The cover is absolutely an advertisement for the content within, showing Risa, with her box cutter, in front of a garage door covered in graffiti. Then you get to the color inserts… And they’re Ai and Kaoru in “cute romcom girls” poses, all three pictures, with none of the other characters, as if this is a standard “who will he choose” series. And, I mean, I *guess* that’s what it is in a shallow way, but really, this is a “he fixes them” series. The romance is secondary and irrelevant. Why we’re here is to see Yuzuru try to communicate with people until they give in.

It’s summer vacation, and everyone’s going to the beach, giving us the opportunity to get in at least a little bit of the love triangle in this book. But Sousuke, who’s in love with Ai but has already accepted that she’s over the moon for Yuzuru, has a bigger issue. Risa, who we met in the second volume, used to play the bass, and she was fantastic, until one day she quit and refused to ever play music again… and this is also when she started to cut herself. The culture festival is coming up after summer break, and Sousuke wants to have everyone form a band and get Risa to play with them… but she rejects him, and the rejections get harsher as the book goes on. Can Yuzuru figure out what’s really going on here and manage to heal Risa’s traumatized heart?

First of all, much to my relief, Risa does not fall in love with Yuzuru as well in this book, so the love triangle remains a love triangle. Secondly, there is a rather annoying mystery. The premise of the mystery relies on everyone BUT Yuzuru, who it’s repeatedly says doesn’t watch TV or pay any attention to things besides books, to know Risa’s tragic backstory… and NOT tell him, because the point of the book is that it’s a mystery for he and the reader to work out. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for at least Kaoru or Misuzu (a mutual friend of Sousuke and Risa) to explain what actually happened. I suppose the incident is so horrific that they’re remaining quiet so as not to shame her, but come on, this girl is cutting herself to escape her own pain. Tell Yuzuru, who’s good at getting to the heart of the matter, why that is.

This book ends with a nasty cliffhanger that promises the next book will remain a drama-filled potboiler… except the last book was out in Japan in May 2022. So, well, that’s it, maybe? Read it if you love TEEN ANGST to the nth degree.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 15

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Tristan Hill.

This one was scheduled for the summer but got delayed several months, possibly duie to the change in translators we see with this book. Honestly, I’m not too sure it’s a bad thing. As a book series that is supposed to have plot and characterization and an endpoint in sight, this is a failure. This series would run away screaming from actual drama. But I think it’s best if I try to think of it as music. Let’s say you buy a 90s house compilation on CD. You want variations on a basic concept, that concept being 90s house. It should not stray far at all from that core concept, because that is why you bought the CD. Likewise, if people want more drama in their slow life, go read Kuma Bear, which is perhaps one step up from this. This is only the fluff, only the slice-of-life. As such, it’s perfectly fine. It gives you 6 main tracks on the CD, as well as 2 bonus CD remixes that you can skip.

The six main stories: 1) Beelzebub takes the cast to meet a group of living monoliths, as well as their Elder monolith, who houses… well, a big surprise; 2) After hearing that there’s an area of the desert where there are no slimes, curiosity has Azusa and company try to see why, and they find out that they really hate the heat; 3) After Halkara and Laika both discover that this year is unlucky for them, Azusa meets up with a new god, who explains how fate works in this world; 4) Falfa, Shalsha, and Sandra try to discover when Azusa’s birthday is, and then proceed to go on a journey to get her the perfect birthday present (Azusa secretly follows them); 5) The world’s worst thief returns, having been hired to go to a museum that has one of her targets and get rid of the mimics living there; 6) everyone goes to meet a famous hermit, and finds that trying to live up to expectations can be really embarrassing.

There’s also the 2 CD drama scripts. In the first, Falfa and Shalsha try to figure out who hit Halkara over the head with a massive metal jar (knowing Halkara’s proclivities might help get them the answer), allowing them to act like they’re in Case Closed, and in the other, Laika worries that she’s training the same way each time, and meets with each of the rest of the cast to try to figure out how to expand her boundaries. These both suffer greatly from being unable to hear them – they’re written for audio, and it shows. As for the rest of the book, well, it has what you’d expect. Lots of found family, lots of Azusa tsukkomi responses, lots of Laika having a massive crush on Azusa without any danger of it coming to anything. This is more than slow life, it’s almost no life. It does add a mimic to the cast… but we’ll need to wait till the 16th book to find out anything about her.

But it’s still relaxing, and still likeable, and yeah, I’ll likely grump about 16 as well.

Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World, Vol. 2

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By Bunzaburou Nagano and Neruzo Nemaki. Released in Japan as “Dagashiya Yahagi: Isekai ni Shutten Shimasu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mizuki Sakamoto.

I always feel a little awkward when I’m reviewing these slow life titles, because I inevitably feel like I’m picking on them. Most of this volume consists of the slow life stuff itself, and it’s fine. I enjoyed it. There’s lots of selling new snacks with odd status buffs, or accidentally giving the gnomes their legendary armor. Meryl is funny, we actually learn a bit about Mira’s family. My favorite part was when the three of them set out to track some monsters that have big treasure chests in their lair, take out the monsters, and actually get the treasure, which does indeed have so much money that even Meryl puts most of it into savings in the bank. The trouble is there’s very little to actually review about slow life. So I have to look for other things to talk about. And frankly, those things are less enjoyable. Ah well. At least we got to see Meryl’s hilariously bad luck a few more times.

After the events of the last book, Chichi is in prison, and Yahagi and Michelle are living a happy if still chaste cohabitational life. Yahagi has realized that, for some reason (honestly, it sort of beggars belief), no one has tried to map the dungeon, so he sets out to try to do so, selling them to adventurers as he completes floors. Also, his stand is now definitely a shop, complete with a living space at the back, much to Michelle’s delight. He’s also discovered that he now has actual magic! And not just his Dagashi-ya magic either. Unfortunately, Chichi is not going to simply sit back and accept being imprisoned. She’s got a plan to escape and get her revenge on her sister and Yahagi…

So, in reverse order from least annoying to most annoying. 1) like a lot of light novel folks, our hero and heroine seem to think that the only sex they can have is the missionary kind that runs the risk of pregnancy, so all they do is kiss and cuddle. I urge them to remember there are other ways to express physical love. 2) Yahagi learns a spell that allows him clairvoyance, to the point where he can even search backwards in time, but it gives him mild to mid-range heart attacks. ARE YOU KIDDING? I hope this is dealt with in later books, but dude, stop giving yourself heart attacks and then NOT TELLING ANYONE. 3) the main redemption arc in this book was carried out through the use of mind-control snacks that charm you into falling in love with someone if used too often (they literally say this), and also having the evil buffed out of you by an angel from heaven so that you’re no longer a main antagonist. I can’t even begin to say how annoyed I was with that whoooole subplot.

But, other than that, it was fine. I’ll read the next one. I would sum it up as “mid (affectionate), with a slight side of mid (derogatory)”.

From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress!, Vol. 2

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By Masamune Okazaki and Hayase Jyun. Released in Japan as “Mob Dōzen no Akuyaku Reijō wa Dansō Shite Kōryaku Taishō no Za wo Nerau” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W.

As folks may know, I tend to pay attention to publishers a bit more than is normal. I have my favorites, and I have those where I always say “uh oh” (looking at you, GC Novels). Generally speaking I tend to really enjoy TO Books releases. They do Ascendance of a Bookworm, and Tearmoon Empire. They’re solid. And, like most LN publishers these days, they take the webnovel that’s already published online, have the author revise and add a few scenes to it, and publish it. What makes TO Books different from, say, Hobby Japan is that the cutoff point for where to end a book is much longer for them. To put it bluntly, these books are too dang long. Even the shortest of them usually top out at 260-270 pages, and most can get in the 350 range. And when you’re reading a book that’s doing obvious things, like this one, it can get exhausting.

Everything that Elizabeth has been changing herself for has finally arrived at school: the heroine is here. Lilia has transferred in, and she has Saint powers. Now all Elizabeth has to do is cut off everyone else’s romance routes and seduce her. Well, friendship her. Elizabeth doesn’t want an actual romance route or anything, she just wants to block the “otome game” from running down its rails. However, when Lilia arrives, Elizabeth is in for a shock: she’s clearly ALSO reincarnated from Japan, and is trying herself to hit those routes… and rather puzzled that she has run into this hunk rather than the sickly Prince Edward. Now Elizabeth has to try to step up her seduction while also dealing with a Lilia who has no idea what she should be doing now. Perhaps… it’s time to give up the act?

The best part of this book is the relationship between Elizabeth and Lilia… eventually. That’s what I meant about these books being too long. Though in this case it actually works in the book’s favor, as all the character development is towards the end of the volume. Lilia is written well – she’s not an “evil” heroine, and she’s not a BL fangirl who will love all the guys swooning over the “handsome” Sir Burton – she’s a girl who found herself in this role and is trying to survive while being rather annoyed and also depressed over how everyone forgives her everything because she’s cute. Yes, she DOES find out Elizabeth is really a girl, and it does lead to a brief fight. But just as Elizabeth realizes she’s been too wedded to trying to stop the game she’s forgotten to treat everyone as people, Lilia realizes that just because she’s the heroine doesn’t mean she has to romance one of the targets. The book ends with Elizabeth admitting she’s also from Japan, and Lilia doubling down and saying she has fallen in love with her and will seduce her. Now, this isn’t a yuri book, quite – Lilia seems very happy the game is Rated “T” so she doesn’t have to do any of the ICKY lesbian stuff – but Lilia seems quite happy with her bisexual awakening.

Elizabeth’s ethics are questionable – she’s no Katarina in that respect – and she’s even MORE oblivious than Katarina at times, who I think at least might recognize the voice of her own fiancee – but I still like this enough to recommend it. Also, she fights a massive bear.

Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!, Vol. 1

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By Atekichi and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (ko)!” by TO Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

It could be argued that I’m reading too many of these sorts of books. Because, not to spoil something you should be used to by now, but there’s an otome game in this novel, and a villainess. We have definitely hit the point where we’ve got burned-out fans, especially as we’re now getting at least an anime a season with that premise. And yet, I persevere. Because sometimes I get something as completely batshit as this book, whose heroine starts out OP in Japan and only gets worse when she’s reincarnated, who can accidentally solve the entire premise of the otome game she’s been reincarnated in without realizing it, who is secretly the daughter of a noble and already has a love interest who is tortured because he can’t reveal that. And the reason he can’t reveal it is that her one goal in life is to be a maid. The BEST MAID EVER. And nobility will, frankly, just get in the way of that goal.

Ritsuko was an incredibly talented child in Japan. So talented she grew jaded… until she discovered MAIDS. The concept of maids fascinated her and became her obsession, to the point where she traveled to England to become a maid… or at least, she would have if not for that plane crash. She’s reborn as Celesty, a silver-haired girl in a small village, and lives a normal life… until her mother dies, which fills her with grief. On reading a letter from her mother revealing her real past, she suddenly develops magic. Strong magic. Impossibly strong magic… which she quickly manages to hide, because having overflowing strong magic would get in the way of her goal. Instead, she bids farewell to the village and heads off to the big city, where she plans to find work as a maid. Because she is still over the moon about maids, no matter what the world.

So as you likely gathered, this is a broad comedy. It’s at its best when it’s leaning into its genre and feels like a deconstruction. Celesty (who quickly changes her name to Melody, which she’ll be going by from now on) is not the only person on that plane crash who was reincarnated. Yes, there’s a villainess as well, and she’s trying to change her fate, along with her “not my boyfriend” who in this world is the crown prince and “not my fiancee”. They’re in a standard otome game light novel, but unfortunately for them Melody is not a standard heroine, and they spend most of the book panicking that the plot has gone off the rails. There’s also a narrator who is quite happy to point out that Melody’s maid-obsessed head is mostly full of air, and they seem borrowed from Tearmoon Empire. Oh yes, and all the girls in this series seem to be bi, despite the chance of yuri being zero. They’re just all really attracted to pretty girls. I can roll with that.

If you’re not yet tired of these sorts of books, this is a winner. It’s funny, knows its genre, and loves maids. Also, it has a cute puppy! OK, sort of a puppy. You’ll see what I mean when you get to it.

The Obsessed Mage and His Beloved Statue Bride: She Cannot Resist His Seductive Voice

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By Crane and Hachi Uehara. Released in Japan as “Yandere Mahoutsukai wa Sekizou no Otome shika Aisenai – Majo wa Manadeshi no Atsui Kuchizuke de Tokeru” by Mitsu Neko Bunko. Released in North America by Steamship. Translated by Molly Lee. Adapted by Kathleen Townsend.

I had to remind myself a lot while reading this that I am not the intended audience for this sort of book. Not only is this an erotic light novel written for women (which is why it’s in the Steamship line rather than Airship), but it’s for women who see the word “Yandere” in the Japanese title and go “oh hell yes!”. In that sense, they absolutely get what they want, as Alistair starts the book off as a 12-year-old bratty yandere with tremendous magic power and a lust for his mage mentor, and ends the book as a 32-year-old yandere who really has not changed a bit. There is a brief scene where we see that he apparently really did do good things in the 20 years in between because he believes in those values, and not just to get into Lara’s pants. Which is good, as that’s really the only scene. I won’t get into what he does to the statue in the interim.

Lara is a low-level mage with not a lot of power but a lot of precision and one really neat trick. She’s told to mentor Alistair, a young boy whose magical power is off the charts and who was abused so much as a child that he not only murdered his parents but also the entire mountainside they were on was destroyed. Fortunately, Lara is a big sweetie pie. Actually, to be honest, Lara is a bit of a saint. And a doormat. Nevertheless, for four years, she trains Alistair and thinks of him as a little brother, ignoring that he’s hopelessly in love with her. Unfortunately, they run across a dragon, and he’s badly injured. Telling him to live on, she draws the dragon away and seemingly sacrifices herself… but in fact her one cool trick is that she can turn herself to unbreakable stone to protect herself. Twenty years pass, and now her stone body comes back to life… but what’s with this hottie?!?

So yeah, if, after reading that description, you went “ergh” a bit, I don’t blame you. This relies on “reverse age gap” romance as its main thing, and if that squicks you, don’t read it. As for the sex, unlike the other Steamship light novel, this does prioritize the plot – somewhat. That said, when the sex comes, there’s quite a bit of it, and most of it kind of consensual, in a romance novel sort of way. I will admit that hearing that men found “nothing sexier than a woman with big tits and a baby face” makes me wonder if this book was trying to draw in male readers as well – Lara is certainly a male fantasy sort, being super nice and caring, has super low self-esteem, and of course is very easily aroused. The main “plot” takes a back seat to their romance, which dominates the book, as you’d expect, though I was amused by her mentor and his wife, who Alistair is insanely jealous of, because see: yandere. Honestly, given how they both treat her, he’s right to be jealous.

In any case, if you’re looking for a romance with sex in it, make sure you fit the narrow demographic this book is in. If you’re in that demographic, it’s fine.

The Hero and the Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged, Vol. 2

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By Washiro Fujiki and Heiro. Released in Japan as “Eiyū to Kenja no Tensei Kon: Katsute no Kōtekishu to Konyaku Shite Saikyō Fūfu ni Narimashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Joey Antonio.

It can be very difficult to combine comedic stuff with serious stuff in the same series, and frequently the balance is off in some way or another. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by this second volume of Hero and Sage, which I enjoyed more than the first. For the most part this is content to show our lead couple being ridiculously flirty and at ease with each other, and it’s also not afraid to go full on silly with scenes such as Kristia, the nation’s princess and Eluria’s childhood friend, forcing Raid to participate in a game show to determine who loves her best. But it also has a serious core, as the two of them are trying to work out why she died in the past and who is trying to kill her in the present. And then there’s the entire subplot with Lufus, which is almost all serious and made me wonder if this fluffy series might actually kill a cute kid off.

After the events of the first book, The Magicians’ Association really, really want to expel Raid, but can’t find a good enough reason to, so he is neither rewarded not punished. That said, there are exams coming up, and they will make sure to make them extra impossible for him to do. In the meantime, those exams will happen with the rest of their core team… including Fareg, whose flunkies are still on medical leave, so he needs to be part of their group. They also meet Lufus, the young redhead who was briefly seen in the first book. She’s very proud of her skysteel dragon, Lafika, but more importantly, she can apparently summon four Guardian dragons, which is very unusual. In fact, a bit too unusual. And when Raid and Eluria discover Lufus’ mother is Very Disappointed with her, they realize that things may be more dangerous and potentially tragic than they expected.

I mentioned in my review of the first book that Eluria’s new best friend Millis is comic relief – she even calls herself comic relief – so I was relieved to see that, appropriately, that’s not ALL she is. When she busts out her inscribing skills halfway through the book I was waiting for the punchline, but no, it’s just something that a lot of college kids have dealt with: just because you’re fantastic at something doesn’t mean you want it to be your career. Millis wants to be a magician. And from what we see in the exam, she’s very good at it (after having the crap beaten out of her by Raid and Eluria as part of training). Likewise, Kristia is introduced as a big goofy joke, which lasts just long enough to be funny and then is replaced with an interesting revelation and also shows us how much of this is a deliberate act. This is what I meant by the comedy and drama being well balanced.

The cliffhanger is 100% making me thing “child from the future”, but that’s the third book’s problem. In the meantime, this book is fun and cute – mostly.

A Surprisingly Happy Engagement for the Slime Duke and the Fallen Noble Lady, Vol. 3

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By Mashimesa Emoto and Kasumi Nagi. Released in Japan as “Slime Taikō to Botsuraku Reijō no Angai Shiawase na Konyaku” by HJ Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Minna Lin.

I get the feeling there’s another story that we’re missing here, especially towards the end. I remember when I was reading Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter and we took two books to learn about her mother’s backstory. Maybe we need that sort of thing here, because all of a sudden Slime Duke is feeling like a sequel series to the main one that starred Adele, a villainess who was shunned by her fiancee and moved to another kingdom, only for the Emperor’s son to fall in love with her. Then we get this series, which is about what happened to the main character’s younger sister, who was always worried about but never actually seen in the main series. Now, as far as I know that’s not what actually happened, I think this is indeed the main series. But it also possibly explains why I’ve found this series a bit mid-tier when it comes to Japanese romances, especially Japanese romances with slimes. Best duck romance, though.

It’s time for Gabriel and Francette’s wedding, and we spend the entire book getting there. There are two main worries. First, they want her wedding dress to have fancy pearls, and unfortunately the country that gave everyone fancy pearls is having a shortage due to the royal relatives being toxic jerks. So the two of them decide to try and make their own pearls in Gabriel’s land… but this proves easier said than done. Secondly, Francette’s mother and sister will be coming to the wedding, and she’s very worried about finally seeing them, especially since she really did not tell them “by the way, I’m now living in poverty in a slum”, which is where she was at the start of the series. Fortunately, their reunion works out. Unfortunately, we then get a wacky sibling switch leading to a less wacky kidnapping.

I’m used to dealing with heroines with a sense of self-esteem so low it’s on the floor, but this is a rare series where the entire family suffers from this problem. Everyone is very quick to credit everyone else for all the solutions to life’s problems. That said, those crediting Francette are more right than others, as she really pulls off a lot here. That said, the solution on how to make the pearls is one that I was expecting to be the FIRST thing they tried, so it felt a bit underwhelming to come up with it after exhausting everything else. Second, we get a second absentee dad, though at least the series tries to explain how it’s walking a fine line between “they should be allowed to love life the way they want” and “that doesn’t mean they’re forgiven”. And, as noted, I want to read Adele’s story. And Emilia’s, to be honest. Probably more than Francette’s.

This is the final volume, so well done. At least we’ll always have the attack duck.