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Reviews

Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World, Vol. 1

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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.

Every time I come across a “slow life” light novel series that actually *is* slow life, I get thrown off, and I have to recalibrate the way I’m reading it. I spent most of the first half of this book thinking “wow, this is moving at a crawl, and nothing’s really happening”, and that’s the POINT. There have been so many “trying to be slow life” novels published over here that they’ve almost taken over the genre. You know, where the hero decides that he’s just going to set up a shop, or run a farm, but then suddenly halfway through the book he’s got to defeat the demon lord, that sort of thing. This is not that kind of book. Yahagi is here to sell penny candy, and he’s going to sell it. Oh, he does gain new cool powers. His candy stock gets expanded, and he really takes off when he can sell cheap Gundam models that can move via mana. But, the climax of the plot? Is mostly handled by other people.

We’re barely told how Yahagi dies (truck, of course) at age 25. He ends up in essentially a “next life” waiting room, where he’s told that he’s not going to be the hero, or even a basic-ass mage, but he’s going to a fantasy world where he will be a dagashi-ya. Which means he sells cheap candy for ten yen, etc. He’s then dumped there as is, and finds he can create a store out of nowhere, but by store I mean “stand”. And he has no money. And nowhere to live. Fortunately, it turns out that his cheap candies actually give stat boosts, so he attracts the attention of a couple of cute young adventurers. And as he sells more stuff, his stand gets bigger and he gets more products. This also gains the interest of a “shinigami”, who is wearing a mask and cloak but seems to like the chocolate, and also seems to be very attached to Yahagi. Especially after he looks at a wanted poster of the Great Witch Michelle, and states she looks beautiful and is his type. Who could this mystery shinigami be?

This is a decent read, though anyone expecting originality or depth is reading the wrong series. And honestly I’m not sure I’d want those things in a series like this. The book namechecks Do You Love Your Mom?, KonoSuba and Danmachi in the first two pages, so it’s clearly geared towards otaku. The witch/love interest, Michelle, is what is usually less than politely termed a yandere, though it’s a mild version that mostly involves vague threats, with actual curses reserved for people who are genuinely terrible rather than just “making eyes at my man”. The romance in the book is sweet, though given Michelle spends most of the volume disguised as a man, there’s a lot of “OMG are they gay?” from Meryl and Mira, the other two main cast members. And, as I said, the main plot of this book, while it does involve Michelle and Yahagi, is not really resolved by either of them. Though there’s a sequel hook, of course.

So yeah, this is exactly what it says on the tin. Slow life. Lots of otaku references. A few boobs references. The implication there might be sex but there ends up being no sex. Fans of this sort of thing will enjoy it.

Too Strong to Belong! Banished to Another World

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By Kazuki Karasawa and Akane Rica. Released in Japan as “Saikyou Joshi, Isekai e Iku!” by the author on the Shosetsuka ni Naro website. Released in North America digitally by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Marissa Skeels.

How much you enjoy this one-shot may depend on how in tune with the standard comedy tropes of anime and manga you as a reader are. It stars a young woman who is not only oblivious as to her own ridiculous strength, but also oblivious to the fact that she has multiple suitors. Part of that obliviousness may be that she tends to imagine her romantic rivals are in love with each other (she’s a classic “I see everyone I know as a BL pairing” type) but most of it is that she’s so dedicated to the idea of being a “dainty young maiden” (which is to say a gender stereotype-conforming girl) that the idea that people might be in awe of her strength… or worse, afraid of it… makes her skin crawl. But it’s OK! She has a childhood friend. Who is clearly in love with her, which he has tried to communicate by hanging out with her all the time and hoping that she’ll realize his feelings by osmosis. It’s this kind of humor.

Sakurako has been having a rough year. After the death of her parents, she’s trying hard to run the family dojo with the help of her childhood friend (who also lost HIS parents in the same accident). Unfortunately, she keeps getting attacked by savage dogs. And wolves. And telephone poles falling on her. And trucks trying to crash into her. Weird. Good thing she’s ludicrously strong, so she escapes all these accidents. After she finally is killed off, the god who’s been doing it reveals that she was also supposed to die in the same accident as her parents, so they’ve been trying to correct fate. Now she’s dead… but so is Kazuya, her childhood friend, who wasn’t supposed to die. The god decides to solve this by tossing them in a world of magic and monsters. Now Sakurako can remake her life as a dainty young maiden!… who can atomize B-rank monsters with just one punch.

In the afterword, the author says this was written before their other CIW series, The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom!, and for the most part it shows. This is a weaker work, mostly as Sakurako is far too aggravating to have as a long-term protagonist. Likewise, once you realize that Kazuya could solve all his problems by actually confessing rather than expecting her to get it like every other dumb teen out there, you lose a lot of sympathy for him. That said, the fact that this is complete in one volume definitely helps, as it means that they both have to catch a clue about this before the book ends. I was also amused at some of the humor, such as the demon lord briefly assuming that all of humanity is just like Sakurako and turning into a whiny baby, and the effects of Sakurako’s magic food forcing the stoic of their party to start espousing its virtues at the top of his lungs. There’s fun to be had here.

That said, if you want to try out this author’s work, I’d definitely start with The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom! first.

The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor, Vol. 5

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By Sasara Nagase and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoshi Reijō wa Ryūtei Heika o Kōryaku-chū” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

After four volumes of absolute breathtaking drama, where you worry every single page that Jill is going to either die or end up thrust into a war that will cause everyone else to die, it’s a relief to have a volume that is comparatively a relaxing romp. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the main plotline is still “there’s a secret plot to destabilize things so that the Dragon Emperor will be forced to go to war and the timeline can go back to its old, Jill-is-dead self, but that’s the plotline of the series as a whole. Whereas this book reads like Nagase-san took a reader poll saying “Hey, if I was to have Jill in any cliched situation you can imagine, what would it be?”. And the winning entry was absolutely “I want to see Jill as the new teacher having to deal with a bunch of awful delinquent students who just need the power of someone who cares and can punch them hard.” “Can she wear a cap?” “Oh God yes.”

Jill has plans. She doesn’t want to just be a good wife to her future husband, and she doesn’t want to just punch everything in sight in his name. She wants to help him make her adopted nation even better. Towards that end, she’s come up with a plan for an academy, and wants to go to the nearby La Baier military academy in the Grand Duchy of Laika… which, coincidentally, also has another member of the royal family there – Hadis’ younger brother – as well as a noble who Jill remembers as being a schemer in her previous life. Jill is approved to attend the academy – honestly, approved far too fast – and Hadis ends up tagging along, because of course he does. Unfortunately, when she gets there, she finds not only that the younger brother is one of the worst of the delinquents, but that she’s not there as a student… but as a teacher?

I’ve said this before, but I love how this author always seems to know exactly what the audience for these books want. Yes, a lot of tense intrigue and action, with one false move and the series will end forever tension. But, more importantly, the fact that Jill and Hadis rarely feel that tension themselves. After the events of the last book, Hadis has discovered that the best way to both get revenge on Jill for ignoring him and also find her at her most attractive is to infuriate her, and also possibly side with the enemy. (The actual enemy is in flux through a lot of this volume, and will involve even more of the extended family from hell.) Everything may be going to hell in a handbasket, people’s lives are at stake, but that doesn’t stop these two nitwits from fighting like they’re flirting and vice versa. It is, frankly, cute.

Unfortunately, there’s a nasty cliffhanger that suggests that we may be back to “everyone is trying to destroy Jill’s happiness” next time around. Fortunately, the next book is out very soon, so we can suffer then. This is, almost, a fluffy respite.

Earl and Fairy: The Secret Behind Your Tears

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By Mizue Tani and Asako Takaboshi. Released in Japan as “Hakushaku to Yōsei” by Shueisha Cobalt Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

I don’t want these reviews to get too similar, so let me start off with something that isn’t the tortured romance between Edgar and Lydia for a change. Perhaps the plot itself. This book really hammers home that we’re seeing a re-enactment of Shakespeare’s Richard II in Japanese light novel form here. Edgar wants to be the Blue Knight Earl. He acts like a proper English noble, which includes caring about those whose lives he governs. He’s a good person who’s trying to do what the Blue Knight Earl is supposed to do. And he gets the reward in the end. Unfortunately, Ulysses has the bloodline in his (borrowed) soul, and so all the magical guff actually works for him, whereas Edgar is left with a reward that he cannot actually see or access. The good guys do sort of win here, but it’s a bittersweet victory, comes with a death, and its only real success was getting Edgar to finally realize that “it’s OK if I die” is not a good way to live.

We open with Lydia back in Scotland, determined to separate herself from Edgar, but missing him nevertheless… and despite the multiple letters a week he writes her. However, circumstances end up reuniting them on the island where this all began, where they are dealing with a banshee who is related to the Blue Knight Earl of a hundred years ago… and has amnesia. Unfortunately, Edgar is feeling rather depressed and morose about his inability to get his feelings across to Lydia, so goes to his club, gets drunk (and, it’s implied, also smokes some questionable drugs), then goes home, and when Lydia tries to talk to him, it goes badly. (No, not like that… though he’s initially afraid it was like that.) Unfortunately, as all this is going on, Ulysses is ma,king everything worse, as usual.

Ermine continues to be interesting, though I’m not sure how long she can keep up being a double (triple?) agent without wearying the audience. The author is being pretty good about keeping us on our toes as well, but I can’t help but notice that most of the recent cliffhangers are all “Ermine does something that looks evil”. That said, after her resurrection, I don’t think the author is getting rid of her anytime soon. If only as she’s still able to completely torpedo any efforts at Lydia and Edgar to get over their hangups and talk to each other about their doubts and fears. Edgar makes his biggest declaration of lover ever this book, but it’s a drunken murmuring of Ermine’s name that Lydia takes to be his “true” feelings, partly as I think she’s scared of her own feelings for him. Certainly she’s ready to walk into a massive deathtrap for him, as well as save his life when even he doesn’t want that. But… yeah. Still not quite a couple yet.

If you love exquisitly frustrated romance and supernatural action thrillers, this remains a must read.

I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s So Cheeky for a Commoner, Vol. 3

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By Inori and Hanagata. Released in Japan as “Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!” by GL Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Kevin Ishizaka.

(This does spoil the spinoff’s one big reveal, but not till after the picture.)

And so the I’m in Love with the Villainess story comes to an end once more – this time, apparently, for good, as the author says there are no plans to do a Claire POV for Book 3-5 of the original series. Which makes sense, because while there’s a lot of great stuff happening in those books, Claire’s character arc is the focus of this spinoff, and it comes to its head here. We see Clire’s determination in ferreting out the corrupt nobles, her horror at discovering her father is seemingly behind them all, and her stubborn nobility coming to the fore when she decides the best thing to do is to die for the sake of her country. Fortunately, things play out like the original series, so she’s free to marry Rae and have incredibly embarrassing naked apron incidents near the end of the book. And of course we have the side characters. Loretta and Pepi get resolved as well, of course. And then there’s… um… what was her name again?

I’m not going to summarize the main events of the novel, as we’ve read them before, from Rae’s perspective, in the original series. Interspersed with this we get POV scenes from others. I’ll discuss Catherine’s in a bit. Dole gets a brief scene where we learn about where his dedication to wiping out corrupt nobility came from, as well as his belief that he’s already going to hell for what he’s done. Pepi gets to defend the academy from the revolution, as well as try to figure out how to protect Loretta and not see her die. We see Manaria’s POV of what happened when she returned home, as well as what made her come back at just the right time. Lene and Misha also get scenes showing what they did during the revolution, and their own complicated thoughts on it. Loretta gets to deal with life post-nobility and the chance of a new love. And we get a flashback to Melia’s last moments, where she may not return to Claire’s birthday party but she manages to save… well, let’s talk.

There are two big things about Catherine’s plotline, and I’m going to talk about both of them, so apologies to those who haven’t read the book yet. The first, and most “normal”, is that she, as a child assassin trained by her awful father, was the one who killed Claire’s mother, something which has haunted her and crushed her with guilt ever since, especially because Melia ends up saving her life. Needless to say, Claire is a bit poleaxed when she discovers this. My favorite part of the book, though, was the revelation that Catherine can erase memories, and does so in order to protect Claire and escape from the academy. I love this because I’ve spent this entire series wondering how it is that we see Catherine with Claire so often and she never appeared in the main series at all. I was chalking it up, of course, to “because this hadn’t been written yet, duh”, but there’s a better reason now. Catherine literally wrote herself out of the narrative! It’s only after the main story has resolved that Manaria can deus ex machina things to try to once again meet her, and even then we still don’t see it. Catherine exists at the edge of the novels, a ghost in the pages who then walks off the back cover… along with her maid, because try as she might, there are SOME things that you simply can’t wipe away in a light novel series, and “saving a girl from certain death and making them into a devoted maid” is one of them.

If you’ve read the original books, this is a terrific addition. If you haven’t read the original books… well, go read them first.

Goodbye, Overtime! This Reincarnated Villainess Is Living for Her New Big Brother, Vol. 2

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By Chidori Hama and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō, Brocon ni Job Change Shimasu” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Rymane Tsouria.

This book really depends on the reader getting Ekaterina, and if there’s anyone still reading it after Book One who doesn’t get her, they likely stopped before the end of this book. Ekaterina… or rather, Rina from Japan… is a fangirl. She is the sort to see the character she really likes and actually *say* “SQUEEEEE!”. She will happily monologue in her head about possible BL ships, and she goes over the moon whenever her beloved brother deigns to kiss her forehead. The author asks “are these two siblings really OK?”, and the answer is yes, because the best thing about this otherwise pretty typical series is how the author knows exactly how much “comedy incest” to tease without making it creepy. This isn’t incest, really. It’s brocon/siscon stuff, which is functionally different. Just as dads in light novels who say “I’ll never let you marry my daughter!” aren’t really lusting after her themselves, so these two are determined to head off anyone who dares get between their very G-rated relationship.

This volume doesn’t take place at the academy quite as much, though we do get the villainess standard “oh no, I accidentally was too smart and ended up having the best grades in the class” scene. Instead we see Ekaterina trying to learn how to run her family’s estate, so that her brother can concentrate on everything that should be on his plate. A lot of this involves continuing to purge the elements of the family that her grandmother controlled, but there’s also meeting the royal family (who absolutely love her, and are somewhat bummed that she doesn’t really care for their son. She also introducing new fashion trends, and coming up with ideas for a birthday present for her beloved brother. Which, because everything gets out of hand around her, means accidentally inventing the fountain pen.

Like most series in this genre, the basic idea is that Ekaterina is making everyone’s lives better, partly by design and partly by accident. There are, of course, a few people who are too far gone to help, such as her grandmother’s old attendant, who is just as arrogant and prejudiced as grandma was, and is quietly sacked. But even there Ekaterina reasons to the reader that she was the ninth child of her house, likely this was the best job she could ever have gotten, and her grandmother was very good at indoctrinating people. We actually hear that in this she takes after her grandfather, and I like the idea that it’s not JUST “I’m from Japan” that makes all the difference. The first book made a big deal about their personalities fusing, and while it implies that Rina basically “won”, I like the idea that we’re seeing what an Ekaterina without toxic influences might have developed.

We’ve got a ways to go, and there’s still no sign of any successful romance, mostly due to the denseness of the lead. (And, unlike Bakarina, it’s not obvious who will win.) Still, if you can get past the premise, there’s much to like here.

Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 13

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By Nozomu Mochitsuki and Gilse. Released in Japan as “Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Madeleine Willette.

I really enjoy the fact that, even though there are many characters who are introduced into this series to be goofy and comedic, no one is allowed to stay only goofy and comedic. Mia is obviously the biggest example, but we’ve seen a few others pop up. Here we notice that Bel has not only returned from the future slightly older, but she’s also slightly wiser, and while her grades may still struggle, she knows the value of studying and can start to think cleverly on her own. It’s fantastic to see, because “Bel is dumb” was getting as old as “Mia is getting fat”, another punchline we don’t see here. Even the narrative is getting in on being clever. I love the discussion of how Bel’s time-travel (and Mia’s) not only is affecting the present/causing alternate futures, but it’s also reverberating into the PAST, changing the past before it can become that present. Which might make fixing the Patricia problem easier… but also possibly harder, if Mia keeps accidentally acting like a comedy villainess.

The book starts off with the end of the last arc. Julius has been revealed as the villain, and it also turns out he’s Barbara’s son. This comes as a big surprise to Barbara, thanks to the efforts of the Chaos serpents. Still, everything ends up sort of okay, and while some people are punished, and even imprisoned, no one has to be executed. After this it’s summer break, and Mia returns to Tearmoon, with a rather large entourage – not only is Abel coming along, but so are Yanna and Kiryl, the orphans who would rather not go back to their orphanage, and also Aima, who is happy to be checking out the horses of other countries. Unfortunately, new problems abound. Ruby comes to Mia sobbing as she’s being engaged to a noble… and in a world where no one really objects to political marriages, that’s hard to fix. Worse, the Chaos Serpents are still around and still trying to kill Mia.

Just because we’re getting rid of some running gags doesn’t mean they’re all gone. Near the start of the book we get another hilarious sequence where everyone decides to make sandwiches and Keithwood tries desperately to stop them accidentally poisoning everyone (though he also finds a potential future partner, because Tearmoon Empire enjoys pairing off everyone almost as much as How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom does). I also really enjoyed this book leaning into how horse riding has now become equal to dancing in being something Mia is really good at. When she took that huge jump I cheered along with everyone else. If there’s one down side to this series, it’s that the author and publisher can’t figure out a way to have each arc end at the end of a book. This is another book that’s one third the climax of the last arc, and 2/3 the start of the next one, and since the climax is mostly explanations, it means we don’t get much oomph here. Oomph will have to wait for Book 14.

Which isn’t scheduled here yet, but I assume it will be along before too long. I really appreciate how this series has matured along with its heroine.

The Blessing of Liefe: Leave This Magical Letdown Alone!, Vol. 1

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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.

This one took me by surprise a bit. The opening suggests it’s going to be a much darker book, with a girl who has “useless magic” getting physically and emotionally abused by her terrible father. But after her mother divorces said father and returns to her life as a commoner, everything starts to get much better, for the most part. Oh, sure, people still bully her, and she’s forced to endure verbal abuse from various folks. But there are a ludicrous amount of people in her corner, and as it turns out (please tell me you’re not surprised) her magic that’s useless unless you spend years studying it really hard turns out to be fantastic when you actually do this. In the end, she wins battle tournaments, scores high in exams (by accident), and even helps to heal, both with magic and the heart, the second prince, her childhood friend and a man who is deeply in love with her. Something she, of course, does not get at all.

Yui O’Brian (later Yui Curtis) is born with non-elemental magic, in a world where the ‘fire/water/wind/earth” dichotomy is everything, and her magic is seen as support, and something not to be bothered with. As such, not only does her father despise her, but kids make fun of her, and once she’s in school, arrogant nobles look down on her. Fortunately, it turns out that Yui has had, for some time now, a ludicrous number of allies. Her twin older brothers adore her. The second prince sneaks out of the castle and meets up with her, and since she’s the only one who can touch him and his over the top magic and not be injured or killed, the former king is absolutely fine with this. Her mother remarries another noble who turns out not only to be devoted to his wife and daughter (to an annoying degree – see below), but is also the prime minister to the current king. And her friends in the “losers” class at school all seem to be far too powerful for that class. What’s going on here?

At one point, Yui is called to the castle after a magical accident traumatizes the second prince, and as she goes off to his room I was expecting her to pose dramatically and say “It’s OK. I’m a light novel protagonist.” There is… frankly, a distinct LACK of drama and trauma after about page 10 or so, and while I think the story works better for it, folks looking for actual struggle may be a bit annoyed here. Speaking of annoying, while I don’t think that the stepdad is incestuous like some other folks discussing the book, he is a ludicrous example of the “overaffectionate/overprotective dad” trope we see a lot of in Japanese anime and manga. Usually they end up being the comedic butt of jokes, but alas, Layce has too much power for anyone to push back against him (except Yui). I did also enjoy seeing a “noble marrying a commoner” love story go the way it likely really would in a non-light novel: Yui’s father wanted to marry Yui’s mother, a commoner, harassed and bullied her till she gave in, and then hated her once something did not go his way. Even in a series like this where Yui has allies everywhere, nobles are mostly scum.

We get a confession at the end of this book, but Yui is not emotionally prepared to respond, and there are some other subplots that haven’t finished yet. I’ll definitely be reading more, but this feels like a series where someone has entered cheat codes for the heroine’s life.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 6

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

First of all, let’s get the most important thing out of the way: this volume features the triumphant return of “I’m good on wolves”, the running gag that made the first volume such a delight for me. It’s very welcome, and yes, the fact that it’s back means that Sara ends up going ALL the way back to Rosa this volume, courtesy of the plot. Also returning is the author continuing to not confirm but nevertheless convince me that Sara is a monster attractor, and that anywhere she goes will see an increase in their population, ranging from hellhounds and wyverns to the surprise guest monster we’ll be talking about in a bit. Oh yes, and we also get more attempted marriages, with Sara turning all of them down. She’s still not thinking of Allen as anything more than her bestie and family, but we may finally be starting to crack that a bit. His almost dying in this book helps, no doubt.

Sara has returned to Hydrangea, where she is living the happy apothecary life, despite acquiring another suitor – Liam’s younger brother Noel (I see what you did there), who fortunately is a lot nicer than his sibling. Unfortunately, suddenly a lot of dangerous monsters appear in the dungeon where they shouldn’t be, including crossing supposed no-monster zones. After finding mysterious invisible portals in the dungeon, Sara and company come across something much bigger and more dangerous – a continental turtle, which has decided to get up and start to walk. It’s the size of a three-story building, and the last time it did this it caused untold destruction. Now everyone’s got to get together to try to nudge its path slightly so that it does not run through any major cities. What? Kill it? Don’t be silly, it’s invincible. Who would be stupid enough to try that?

So this book is filled with a lot of people learning their life lessons at last. Ted has been exposed to life outside the noble city he grew up coddled by, and gets as close as he ever will to thanking Sara. Liam may be coming up with dumb plans, but he at least is self-aware enough to know that “find a scapegoat and throw them in jail” is not the answer when said plans don’t work, and he DOES apologize. As for Sara and Allen, it’s amusing that they both accuse each other of going with the flow and avoiding confrontation too much. We’re more used to seeing it in Allen, as Sara is the POV character, but he’s right – for all her snarking and complaining, she’s only now getting around to actually refusoing to do things. They’re not together by the end of the book, but they’ve basically admitted that they’ll never be apart from each other.

That said, the cover of the 7uth volume suggests another slow-burn romance may get resolved first, and we might see that next time. Till then, enjoy your fill of wolves, turtles, and teenagers who try to do far too much, and mostly succeed.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 19

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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.

Sigh. So not only does this volume retread a lot of ground I talked about last time when I was reviewing Kuma Bear (Yuna is a big softie but hates when people call attention to it), it’s also a huge battle volume, which means that 2/3 of it is made up of fights that I also can’t really review very well. It is nice to see Yuna having to think about various ways to try to defeat the fire orochi head, whose strengths actually block Yuna to a degree, and seeing her try some stuff that, back in Vol. 2 or so, was an immediate win move end up doing nothing whatsoever. She’s having to think on her feet and be clever, even though a lot of this is just “I can do things everyone else can’t because of the bear costume”. And we get a flashback showing how the orochi was first sealed, which is interesting if you’re invested in the fox spirit. Which… I wasn’t really. So yeah, still struggling.

Sorry, cover art fans, but Yuna spends barely any time in the white side of the suit this book – this is powerful, punching things Yuna through and through. Everyone realizes that the orochi’s seals are breaking, especially now that Mumulute shows up and it starts to really try to break its binding. The answer is to just fight and actually defeat it this time, but the orochi has four heads and its huge body, and even Yuna can’t duplicate herself. So Shinobu and Kagari also get involved, and unfortunately Shinobu is injured and has to be sent to the penalty box (the penalty box being Yuna’s home, where Fina is called over to nursemaid her). As for Sakura and Luimin, two of the latest girls to revolve around Yuna’s “10-year-old girls seem to dog me” orbit, well, they can at least try to stop it waking up for as long as possible. Still, in the end, it takes a bear. A bear who really, really does not want a reward.

So, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Yuna hates being praised and deflects attempts to credit her for anything, saying she just wants to live a life where she’s not viewed as the hero. That’s getting increasingly difficult, and it doesn’t help that Kagari (who, by the end of this book, is also in the body of a little girl – The Author’s Barely Disguised Fetish is always the weakest part of this series) is doing the same thing. On the bright side, I did enjoy seeing Luimin and Sakura bond immediately, to the point where they vow to travel the world together once they grow up, and it might even eventually be yuri if I thought the author was ever going to do anything of the sort, which I don’t. And we got to see Fina pouting and hitting Yuna with her fists like an anime cliche. That was cute.

We’re only a little behind Japan now, which has Vols. 20 and 20.5 out. Next time should see the start of a new arc, and no doubt new things for me to complain about. But I’ll read it. Yuna is as Yuna does.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: The Great-Tree Warden’s Testament

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

I am prepared to eat a bit of crow here. Last time I mentioned how all the characters were getting something to do and character development except maybe Ellie. Well, character development is still thin on the ground (she’s meant to be the pure, naive one, and I think at times the author overdoes it) but certainly in terms of plot function and battle readiness she’s advanced by leaps and bounds. Her magic is strong enough to be able to take on giant monsters to protect Allen and Stella, and we also find out that she’s a Great-Tree Warden, something that was thought to have died out. Oh, and she gets to link mana with Allen. So yes, this is absolutely the book for Ell.ie fans. That said, this harem is large, and you know that no one can stay in the spotlight for too long, so by the end of the book she makes way for Book 14, which promises to be all Stella. Who, um, may be evil now.

We’re now back from the City of Water, after leaving everything to Niche Nitti (which, for some reason, makes Felecia intensely jealous), our cast return home so they can set up for the next part of the plot. Some of that is put off till future books – the Church is still lurking in the background, and every single bad guy who hasn’t died seems to have converged on the same country that’s right next to our heroes. But some of it needs to be dealt with now. There’s an oracular prophecy that may help to fix Stella’s magic issues, but it requires Allen, Stella and Ellie to go visit an underground archive that happens to be controlled by the very people who despise Allen. Now, this would not be an issue if Allen had a title – but he keeps rejecting, deflecting, and avoiding them. So we just have to make it so he can’t refuse…

Allen’s position makes a lot more sense after this book – there are some people who are doing their damndest to try to not only make sure he’s a failure but also, if the ending is accurate, .literally kill him. It’s all related to the Beastmen, because surprise, there’s prejudice. As for the harem, for once we actually get a long look at the Princess, Cheryl Wainwright. The author apologizes for his being unable to shoehorn her into past volumes, but it makes sense – she’s in line for the throne, and unlike Lydia can’t run away at the spur of the moment just cause. She was fun, and at times seems to possess the common sense the rest of Allen’s harem lacked. But I’m sorry, even with that title, she’s lagging behind the rest of the harem.

I’m not sure when we’ll get the next volume – it’s unscheduled in English at the moment – but it’s likely to finally resolve Stella’s issues. Whether she actually does turn villainous is up in the air… well, not really. This isn’t that kind of series. But she may turn for a while. Till then: good job, Ellie. Sorry I doubted you. Headpat from Allen!

The Crown of Rutile Quartz, Vol. 2

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y Surume Enoki and ttl. Released in Japan as “Rutile Quartz no Taikan: Ō no Tanjō” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alice Camp.

Siiiiiiigh. Great, another attempt to review a book which is “okay, I guess”. Again, it would be so easy to paste the review of the first volume here. It’s a decent read, it held my attention, the battles are well-done, and I like Slaine as a character. But it’s again using a fantasy world as an excuse to get people to read a generic military history book, and Monica, Slaine’s lover and later in this book wife, is painfully undercharacterized. The book is happy to have her there to cheer Slaine up and pat his head, as well as glare at anyone who does anything vaguely insulting to him. And that’s really about it. She reads like a prize, which, honestly, I thought authors knew better than that now. On the bright side, the court mage is shown to have another woman as her partner, and even if gay marriage isn’t legal in their country, they call each other wife and wife. Maybe Slaine should do something about that in between fighting to save the kingdom.

Slaine and Monica are now lovers, which you’d think would be an issue given her low noble status, but as it turns out the kingdom’s nobles are balanced so precariously following Slaine taking the throne that everyone’s actually okay with Monica being the Queen provided her family doesn’t get extra perks – well, at least publicly acknowledged extra perks. Meanwhile, Slaine’s reign is still regarded as “laughable” by far too many people, and so he suffers an assassination attempt, then an invasion by a noble who regards him as beneath contempt because he was a commoner… and finally by the Third Prince of the Empire, Florenz, who was behind the noble’s attack in the first place and who seems to think that invading will be easy from their impregnable fortress. Can Slaine perhaps make that fortress less impregnable?

The men in this book fare a bit better than the women, though honestly only three characters really stand out, and one of them is Slaine himself. We get two varieties of “evil ruler” here. Julius is the sort who’s actually good to his men, and goes out to fight with them, etc. The ‘noble bigot’ sort. The bigot coming because he is deeply,. deeply classist to the point where he’ll gladly go to war over it. This goes badly, mostly as Slaine has very well trained troops who know how to perform obvious sucker moves without making them LOOK like obvious sucker moves. Then we get the third prince of the Empire, who is the ‘entitled dickhead’ sort of villain, who assumes that anything he does can be taken care of after the fact provided he wins… and then when he loses literally goes mad. I did like Slaine’s idea for how to take the impregnable fortress, which felt very much like him, as opposed to “tactics that we’re supposed to handwave the enemy couldn’t think of”. More cleverness, less pushing soldiers around on a map, please.

This comes out slowly, so I’m not sure when the next volume will be. And it’s a DRECOM title, so who knows if the third is the last. The webnovel suggests 7 books in total. I’ll read the next one, though. Even though I’ll go “that was all right, I guess” at the end.

High School DxD: Mages of Career Counseling

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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’ve said before that this is a series where you come for the boobs and stay for the worldbuilding, but if I’m being honest this is a series where you come for the boobs, stay for the boobs, and there is also worldbuilding. This series is never going to shy away from what its readership wants. Sona Sitri plays a major role in this volume, and you’d expect a color page showing her, say, directing the combat against the mages as she does towards the end. Instead, we see a shot of her cooking in an apron and panties, whipping up cake batter in a way that leaves her covered in white goo. Needless to say, this scene does not exist anywhere in the book. I think the artist thought that this book had too much actual fighting and a lot less service, which is… wrong given that we see seven naked or near naked girls in Issei’s bed during this, but also correct. This is a more serious volume.

Issei is back from the dead, though most of the girls around him are still traumatized by his death, to the point where EVERYONE is sleeping in his bed at night. Meaning he has to sleep in a chair. Yeah, sorry, still no sex here. In the mean time, stuff continues to happen even though Issei is recovering and Draig is still inactive. He has to train to get better, as to the rest of Rias’ peerage. They’re all being buried in offers to work with mages, and they have to filter down to the actual good offers, which includes a former enemy, Le Fey Pendragon. And there’s a war between vampire clans, and one of them shows up and tries to bully and blackmail Gaspar into joining them or else his childhood friend will fall into darkness. Needless to say, that really does not go over well, and Rias and Kiba head off to negotiate with the vampire clans in Europe. Which means they’re not there when rogue mages kidnap Ravel, Koneko and Gaspar…

Generally speaking fantasy light novels tend to start off with mages in Book 1, then work their way through vampires, and finally end up with angels, demons, and wars in heaven. High School DxD is not afraid to do things ass-backward, of course. Nor is it afraid of asses, though Issei prefers boobs. Seriously, though, this is a clear transitional volume, setting up the table for the plot that will likely carry through the rest of the series (which ends at Book 25, though yes, there’s a “sequel” that just continues it). We get to see some characters show off their talents. sometimes comedically (poor Asia, though at least Issei promises to be with her forever), and sometimes seriously (Ravel, who makes it as clear to Issei that she is in love with him without saying the words, and he reacts… like Issei would, of course. “Please be my manager forever” will have to do for now). And there’s a really cool final battle, and some cool new bad guys, who are very bad, and also related to the cast – literally in one case.

So yeah, we’re back and ready to go!… what? More short stories next time? Oh, *half* a short story volume. I have no idea what that means. Anyway, next time I hear Irina gets something to do. Looking forward to that.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus

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By Hajime Kamoshida and Keji Mizoguchi. Released in Japan as “Seishun Buta Yarou wa Santa Claus no Yume wo Minai” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

You know, Rascal Does Not Dream turned into a horror series so gradually, I didn’t even notice. Oh sure, each volume has had its share of horror and suspense – far more than you’d normally expect from a high school romcom. Starting with Mai potentially disappearing and Sakuta’s horrible scars, each volume has sometimes looked deep into the abyss. But I don’t think we’ve had a volume lean quite so hard into actual horror than this one. Even Vol. 6 and 7 was meant to be a tragedy, not horror. Here we get the ongoing Touko plot blending into loss of identity, and over the course of the book we realize that it’s not just Nene who’s dealing with the loss of identity, but A LOT of other people. And now they’re all invisible Santas. And they’re trying to kill Mai. As I said. Creepy as hell. Sakuta manages to resolve the immediate issue this time around, but only by getting physically injured to protect his love. Also, the ending is not reassuring.

Sakuta has a Christmas dream that Mai is singing at a concert, then announced publicly that she is Touko Kirishima. What’s worse, a whole lot of other people had similar dreams. Other, more disturbing dreams are also happening. Kaede dreamed she had reverted to her alternate self again. Futaba dreamed that she and Kunumi were on a happy date together, which is ominous given that he’s still together with Kamisato. And Mai… didn’t have a dream at all. It all has to relate to the Santa-wearing Touko, and Sakuta spends most of the book looking into Touko, as well as the girl he thinks she is, Nene. The answer to how to solve her problem is a lot closer to Sakuta than he thinks, but… is that really the actual problem? Is he just treating a symptom? And what’s with the dream of Mai getting injured and falling into a coma?

As I said, there’s a lot of scary stuff here. Particularly the ending, showing Mai surrounded by about 100 Santa-clad Toukos that no one else seems to be able to see. I did enjoy the wrapup on Nene’s plot specifically, but it also made me wonder how she and all the other Toukos are meant to reintegrate into society after having “vanished” for about 10 months. The book, unsurprisingly, decides to elide over that. I also enjoyed seeing the friendship/codependent helper relationship that he and Ikumi have, is only because it’s just nice to see him have someone reliable to talk to who can help deal with everything even when no one else can. And, honestly, that may end up tying into the next book. Because anyone who thinks the next book is not going to start with Mai saying that she’s Touko is fooling themselves. The whole volume is a setup for that.

There are two books to go, and they come out only two months apart (the final one is in October in Japan), so Yen may wait and try to release them the same way here. The identity of the antagonist is not hard to guess (hint: what major girl hasn’t got a cover yet?) but I have no idea how it’s going to resolve. In the meantime, there is fun banter here, I promise, but it’s getting thin on the ground.

Sabikui Bisco, Vol. 8

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By Shinji Cobkubo and K Akagishi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey.

OK, this is starting to irritate me. This is not the first time we’ve had a volume of Bisco that felt like the final volume except that there are clearly more coming, but it’s the first time I felt angry about it, because this really was a fantastic ending. It wrapped up most of the plots we’d had so far, it featured an epilogue that screamed “this is it, I have finished the series”, and it’s also one of the best books in the series. Sadly, after that ending you get the usual “movie trailer” preview that says Book 9 will be BISCOOOO… IN… SPAAAACCCEEE!. Now, this could be quite good, and I’ll definitely be reading it. But I’m getting kinda tired of this author wrapping everything up and then just continuing to roll along. Sometimes series can just END, y’know. In any case, back to Book 8 itself. If you’ve been annoyed by the heterosexuality in this book, particularly Bisco and Pawoo having a kid, boy do I have good news for you. It’s mpreg time, baby!

A mysterious ark, led by someone who looks and acts suspiciously like a United States President (not a specific one, honest, just… in general) is sucking up valuable specimens around the world, which ends up including most of our cast. Meanwhile, Milo has been trying to hide from Bisco that he’s been having mysterious morning sickness. That’s right, when they merged their powers earlier, it led to a magical daughter with Milo as the “mother” and Bisco as the “father”, who they name Sugar. Sugar rapidly grows to be a child from hell, especially when Milo and Bisco are taken in by the ark and made into specimens. Fortunately, she has a cat guardian to help… except she’s not really listening to them. More fortunately, Maria, Bisco’s mother, has shown up to help out… wait, WHAT?!? Wasn’t she dead? And is she really helping?

Maria is easily the best addition to this book, and she’s exactly what you’d imagine Bisco’s mother to be like. Her reasons for faking her death are… well, understandable is the wrong word, but they make sense for the character. I also really enjoyed her scenes with Pawoo, who still doesn’t get a lot to do here, but gets a lot more to do than she has in the last few Bisco books. This includes giving birth, which surprised me. The cover art made me think we’d get a time skip, but no, Sugar just grows up almost immediately. Then I thought we’d get one near the end, as Pawoo was only a couple months pregnant…but we live in magical mushroom country, and we’re also here to fight God, so babies need to be born when it suits them. I also really enjoyed the epilogue, which I don’t want to spoil too much, but I feel may have drawn from the author’s own experience… and also reminds us that, no matter how big a fantasy this is every time, it’s still Japan, not an isekai.

So yeah. Space Bisco. FINE, I guess. In the meantime, this was fantastic, and a great ending to the series.