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Reviews

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History: It Seems Turning into a High-Born Baddie Makes the Prince All the More Lovestruck, Vol. 3

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By Izumi Okido and Jyun Hayase. Released in Japan as “Rekishi ni Nokoru Akujo ni Naru zo: Akuyaku Reijō ni Naru hodo Ōji no Dekiai wa Kasoku suru yō desu!” by B’s-LOG Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

She’s not in this volume much, but I will admit I have started to wonder what this series is going to do with Liz. For the most part, these sorts of “the good villainess is balanced by a bad heroine” style books tend to overbalance the heroine into being genuinely evil, or incredibly incompetent, etc. It’s easy to see what’s going to happen to them. Liz is not quite like those in that she’s charming people into loving her, but not deliberately, and it’s basically causing folks to affirm her own misplaced idealism. Unfortunately for her, the rest of the cast really hate her, and I’m fairly sure that exile is probably going to be her best outcome here, and genuinely snapping may still be on the menu. Sometimes you’re just the wrong archetype in a book that’s about someone else. Speaking of what someone else, let’s check in on Alicia.

Alicia wants to investigate Laval, but she can’t simply take a field trip into another country, especially when their own country is chock full of magic users and Laval doesn’t have any of them. So she’s going to have to figure something out. Fortunately for her, Duke suddenly loses all his memories of her, and everyone around says that she’s the one who did it – something which she leans into almost on impulse, because she literally cannot resist trying to be a drama queen. Hey, presto, she’s exiled to Laval so quickly that you’d almost think that it was a deliberately ploy on the part of Duke. She arrives disguising herself as a boy and quickly ends up part of the knights who work for the second prince, who is trying to find an achievement that will let him take the throne. An achievement that may need… magic.

It is sometimes interesting seeing the narrative through the eyes of Alicia, who is living it as if she’s the protagonist of a light novel and to whom dramatic events constantly happen, and the rest of the cast, who are actually part of reality and are forced to deal with the darker bits that Alicia touches upon but rarely stays long. The reunion of the king and his brother is agonizingly awkward, especially when you consider that a lot of the cause of their strife is, well, still around. Alicia may be delighted to be exiled, but for Gill it’s a nightmare, and to make matters worse he’s at Duke’s side through most of the book, so he can’t even pine properly for the girl he loves because the much better love interest is next to him. As for Alicia herself, we’re rapidly finding out that she may want to be a villainess, and has been told to play a villainess, but she has a much more important hidden role. Which, well, Liz is not gonna like.

This isn’t top tier villainess, but it’s solid, and fans of the genre should be quite pleased.

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dear Friend

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

And so the Rascal books come to an end (leaving aside any short story or side story collections) with a volume just as short as the previous one. The main conflict from the last few books gets solved fairly quickly and easily, so much so that we realize that it was a fakeout, and we’re right, as the real conflict is with Sakuta himself. Well, that and maybe the publishers. I’ve talked before about how the series has always felt a little artificially extended after the 9th book, and that Sakuta in college but still dealing with all the Adolescent Syndrome stuff felt tacked on. Turns out Sakuta agrees with me – no, not the Sakuta we’re familiar with, but his alternate-world “perfect” Sakuta, who has come by to let him know that there are many and infinite alternate realities around them, and they all think Sakuta sucks, because he’s managing to break all of them.

When we last saw Sakuta, everything was terrible as Mai announced to the world that she was Touko. Now he has to make things right, which involves getting deep into the heart of Miori’s relationship with Touko and why her repressed feelings are actually making things worse. This is resolved, and thanks to Mai doing a quick “this was all an April Fool” bit, no one believes that she’s Touko anymore (including Mai herself). Unfortunately for Sakuta, all the OTHER reality-altered dreams are still present and correct – there are two Kaedes, Yuuma is dating Rio, etc. As it turns out, Miori is more than just the last in a string of women Sakuta has to help, she’s a dimensional nexus point of sorts. While everyone else has alternate versions of themselves (which we’ve seen with the alt-Sakuta), there is only one Miori. That said, most of this has little to do with Sakuta’s actual problem – how does he fix everything?

Despite the fact that this seems like the 15th book in a row where Sakuta takes a lot of public transportation lovingly described until a solution occurs,. there are things I really enjoyed here. Touko’s final song being a palindrome made it very life affirming, and I wish Miori luck in finding a Touko who isn’t dead. I also liked Sakuta’s discussion with the alt-Kaede, and her own simple solution to his “problem”. His problem is phrased as “grow up”, and the solution is pretty neat, and ties into something we’ve known about Sakuta from the very start – I appreciate how this fixes everything. The biggest issue with the book, and possibly why the last two were so short (well, that and artist illness) is that it’s padded out. Sakuta goes round in circles a lot here, and at one point takes us on a tour of iconic Rascal Does Not Dream locations. Like his alternate self, I wanted Sakuta to get with it and solve everything, not mope around.

The book ends with an epilogue set two years later, with stuff I really liked as well as a few things I’m eeeeh on (why do people love student/teacher relationships? Who are not students?). Sakuta and Mai are still exactly the same as before only with all their issues resolved – sorry, no engagement, marriage, or honeymoon scenes. Basically, everyone has grown up. Rascal went on too long, just like its hero, but I liked it a lot.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Vol. 8.5

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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.

Ah, the good old .5 volume. This one even helps us out by telling us where most of the original short stories were seen – they were in Fujimi Shobo’s Dragon Magazine, which frequently has short story extras for its popular series. This is good news, as it means they’re all chunky short stories written for an attentive audience, rather than, say, the “these are all 2-3 page stories written for bookstore giveaways” short story volumes. In fact, I’d say this is just as strong as the regular volumes, and some of the stories I’d call essential. They mostly, with the exception of the first, examine life after Euphie takes the throne, and deal with the fallout of what comes from that. As we saw in the last volume, it’s still ongoing and nasty, and is destroying a number of families and lives. That said, we know where our sympathies lie, because the families whose lives are getting destroyed are trying to marry Euphie off to a man and still hate Anis.

The stories: 1) Near the start of their relationship, Anis shows Euphie how she collects spellstones, and they have a nice bath and are attracted to each other; 2) Anis tries to repair her relationship with her mother, which is difficult as they’re both very awkward and blame themselves for everything that happened between them; 3) Ilia’s family has gotten rid of her abusive parents, and are trying to get her to come back to them and marry her cousin, but Lainie isn’t going to let that happen; 4) in an original story for the book, Anis tries to ruffle Euphie’s coolness by being her maid for the day; 5) We get Tilty’s backstory as she tries to avoid reconciling with her father; 6) Halphys is getting married but a surprise succession change may mess things up for her at the last minute; 7) In another original story for the book, Euphie asks Anis if she can sometimes wear nice dresses and actually socialize.

The relationship between Anis and Euphie has always tried to toe the line between “codependent, but in a good way” and “codependent, but in a terrible way”. There’s a scene in Halphys’ story where a noble admits he’s abdicating simply as Euphie terrifies him, and given what happened in Book 8, I absolutely get it. Anis may get upset that Euphie always seems to be the dominant one in their love, but that’s more down to Anis’s embarrassment, whereas with Euphie being overly affectionate is how she holds on to what’s left of her humanity. The best story, I thought, was Tilty’s, where we meet her father and realize that they’re the classic case of two people trying to be considerate of each other who only end up hurting each other instead. It’s a must read if you like her character.

Hopefully we’ll get the 9th book a bit faster than we got this one. Another great volume in a series I really love.

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 20

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By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan as “Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a short story volume, but its main plot is definitely a framing device meant to set off each chapter. Mostly what we get here are flashbacks giving us insight into other characters, some of them very important and some of them mostly new to us. The reason for this, of course, is that Zagan is dead, per the cliffhanger of the last volume. Well, OK, probably not, but he does not appear in this volume, and Nephy, who is holding down the fort, only shows up in one scene. Of course this means that the overly sweet romance that was why we all started to read this series is once again in short supply. This is not unique to this author. A lot of light novel and manga authors start off writing something only to find, 20-odd volumes in, that it’s become an epic shonen battle series. Mostly as authors are (mentally) teenage boys.

So yes, Zagan is dead, but nobody really believes he’s DEAD dead. Least of all Nephteros, who has decided to go on a quest to revive Zagan, along with her beloved Richard. Their investigation shows that it’s mostly that Zagan’s soul is lost, and fortunately they have a soul-finder guy, but he’s hard to convince, plus he’s busy, um, imitating the Archangel Michael to such a good degree that the actual article begins to despair. What’s more the core group has already lost Shax, who is forced to ally with the enemy given that Kuroka has been captured. Who is the enemy really? Well, as it turns out, the enemy is a lot of people, and has interacted with our cast a number of times. That said, it may end up being Asmodeus who holds the key to resolving all this.

I jokes online that the big twist at the end of the series was that every single character would turn out to have been secretly Marchiosas, and while it’s not quite as bad as that, he does show up everywhere. The stories we get are a) Bifrons being a generally terrible person, investigating Zagan, and meeting a young girl who… kind of sort of led to Nephteros; Richard’s Sacred Sword, Camael, telling of her past as a seraph and what has led her to try to protect Marchiosas at all costs; Michael/Andrealphus going back to his home only to find his entire life has been usurped by a demon; and Asmodeus/Lily’s backstory, and why she’s so obsessed with getting those soul gems. As with most short story books, even the ones that aren’t quite, the best stories are near the end – Lily is definitely the highlight of the book. That said… I kinda want to get back to awkward handholding.

We’ve been told that next volume will be all battles, so I’m not getting that anytime soon. Enjoy this shonen battle novel that used to be something else.

Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized!, Vol. 1

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By Haka Tokura and Eiri Shirai. Released in Japan as “Zatsuyou Fuyojutsushi ga Jibun no Saikyou ni Kidzuku Made” by M Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Maddy Willette. Adapted by Rei Geronimo.

I’ve gotten very used to light novels that are complete in one volume, explaining everything and resolving the plot, then having six more books after that as it caught popularity and the author has to suddenly come up with more plot and more characterization. It’s not very often I run into the exact opposite, though. This book features a main character with one of the biggest cases of self-hatred I have ever seen (and given I read light novels on the regular, you know it’s pretty bad). He has a childhood friend who is obsessed with him but also seems to have a bit of tragic backstory, and I was certain that by the end of the book we would hear about whatever it was that made the two of them like this to begin with. That does not happen. Instead, we get the guy doing the usual OP stuff (this is a “thrown out of the hero’s party” series, so of course), and then it just stops. To be continued.

Our main character is Wim, who is a support caster with a prominent “Abenteurer’s” party, and as you have guessed if you know this genre, the arrogant swordsman cruelly throws him out to that he can have his party consist entirely of women and him. (The one who replaces Wim, Sophia, rapidly comes to regret this.) Wim, unfortunately, has the self-worth of a sack of manure, so merely goes to the tavern he frequents and drowns his sorrows. Fortunately, he’s met by his childhood friend Heidemarie, who is a prominent member of the strongest party in the city. She wants him to visit them and show off his stuff. As does their leader Camilla, an Amazonian woman who screams badass. Wim has no idea what they see in him. After all, he’s only a support caster, an occupation that is useless unless you’re a multitasking genius. Good thing…

This book is not without its merits. I really did want to understand Wim, who really cannot even accept any praise or compliments without curling in on himself. Heidemarie also clearly has some issues. At first I thought she was the comedy stalker wannabe girlfriend, but as the book goes on it becomes clear that a) keeping tabs on him at all times may be smart, and b) she has almost given up on getting him to notice her. That said… at the climax of the book, we finally get to see his super special skill that only comes out when everyone’s life is on the line (we briefly saw it in a prologue, but it was hidden from us), and it basically turns out to be overclocking his brain to think faster, which most people cannot do but he is Stronger Than He Realized. It’s setting up for a flashback or for us to find out what happened to him to make him this way… but nope. He saves the day, he crashes and wakes up in a bed and is thanked by everyone, cue side stories, the end. It is almost comically unsatisfying as a single volume.

The series seems abandoned at 3 volumes, which for once may not be M Novels’ fault. The author seems to have abandoned it for another popular subgenre, as their webnovel page is filled with noble daughters having their engagements broken and then finding new love. More importantly, this has a manga, also by Seven Seas, and that seems to be far more popular, and is ongoing. Might be best to read that if you want more, rather than reading this book on a Wim.

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 9

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By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

For the first few books of the series, each one focused on one of the women that Bel used to teach who has now fallen in love with him, as well as dealing with Bel’s phenomenally low self-regard. Now that we’ve cycled through everyone, and Bel has… started to deal with getting more self-confident (he still backslides a lot), we get to cycle through the heroines again, and the theme seem to be each of them dealing with a personal issue. For Allucia it was her sword breaking and her attachment to it, and now we have Surena, who has a much more serious issue (the monster that killed her parents has lodged itself on a mountain and is going after passersby) but who also suffers from being the heroine we care about least. Sorry, but since she’s always off being an adventurer, she’s way behind in the Bel sweepstakes. Still, she tries.

As Bel goes about his day, taking the time to look over Ficelle’s class and see that she’s actually teaching them magic swordplay properly now… not that that makes it any easier to get, as Mewi is finding out… he finds Surena coming to his house. She explains that she’s taking on what is likely to be a very dangerous mission, and she wanted to touch base with him just in case she doesn’t return. A while later, Bel is rather upset to hear she has not in fact returned. and Allucia, who may hate her romantic rival but doesn’t hate Surena the adventurer, swings it so that Bel can “take a vacation” and find out what’s happened to her. And it turns out what’s happened is a tough invisible named monster who’s almost entirely impervious to blades… and who both Bel and Surena recognize.

Speaking of characters we don’t usually see in the narrative, this book actually gets Lucy to leave her office and do something for a change, mostly as it turns out sending non-magical sword users to take on a monster who uses mana to kill its opponents is not the brightest idea. The book also shows off why we usually don’t have Lucy along, though – leaving aside that she’s not attracted to Bell and therefore can’t push the wife question at all (speaking of which, Surena gets little sisterzoned, alas), but it becomes very clear that she’s holding back, partly so as not to cause an international incident, but mostly as she’s too OP for this book. We already have Belgrieve as the very, very powerful swordsman who refuses to admit it, we don’t need a very, very powerful mage who revels in it.

The 10th volume only came out in Japan last month, so it will be a while before we see it here. In the meantime, rest assured, everything is exactly the same with these folks, for better or worse.

Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!, Vol. 5

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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.

I’ve said this before about TO Books’ output, but it bears repeating: a lot of their books are just too long. Now, I don’t mind this when the writing justifies the length, with series such as Ascendance of a Bookworm, where you could argue they needed to be even longer. But as I was reading the latest volume of All-Works Maid, I kept checking the page count to see how long there was to go. Like a lot of webnovel-to-print books, tighter editing is required but not always given. This is especially frustrating given the clever conceit of this book, where we start a whole new setup and then discover over the course of the book that the setup is not going to work at all and we have to go back to basics. I like the idea of starting a plot only to stop and say “nah, nevermind” when it’s deliberate, but combined with the flabbiness of the volume it does feel a bit frustrating.

After the attack the last volume, Melody has decided on a course of action. She – or rather Cecilia, her alter ego – is going to transfer into the academy, so that she can protect Luciana from whatever darkness is coming after them. Now, getting in is not a problem – she has people who can pull all sorts of strings for her, and she is a natural genius. As for the dark mana monsters that we saw last time, they too are lying low… mostly as their mistress is busy figuring out that otome gaming is hard when someone’s already broken the plot. It doesn’t help that there are simply too many villainesses walking around, and the narrative can’t contain ALL of them. Unfortunately, what ends up crippling Melody/Cecilia is something that a lot of AP-course high school kids have to deal with – overextending herself and not being able to be who she really is as she’s too busy being who she isn’t.

As I said, I do like the conceit of the plot twist here. As good an idea as Melody joining the students as Cecilia is, it detracts from the theme of the books as a whole, which is MAID. More Cecilia means less Melody, and that’s very bad for Melody. This is handled comedically at first, as Melody is horrified to find that Micah and Rook have been trained so well that, strictly speaking, she doesn’t have to be a maid in the evening at all. As the book goes on, though, and we see continual scenes of Melody going to bed and being unable to fall asleep, we start to get an idea of where it’s headed – collapse. I did also appreciate that while turning back into Melody full-time did temporarily give her a boost of adrenaline, it did not completely fix the issue, and she still needed sleep and food. I also really liked the new addition to the cast, an artist who wants to avoid her father’s struggles but also is consumed by the ART… and who may be able to spot the thread connecting Cecilia with Melody.

This is 8+ books in Japan, so they’ll have lots of time to plot and scheme in the future. But when they do, it will with with Melody maiding it like she’s never maided it before.

Zero Damage Sword Saint: I Enrolled in a Magic School and Wound Up in a Contract with the Demon Queen, Vol. 2

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By Isle Osaki and kodamazon. Released in Japan as “Kougekiryoku Zero kara Hajimeru Kenseitan: Osananajimi no Oujo ni Suterare Mahou Gakuen ni Nyuugakushitara, Maou to Keiyakusuru Koto ni Natta ” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Stephanie Liu.

I’ve talked before about McDonald’s books, and this series absolutely fits the bill. Some people read to stimulate their brain, to be drawn in by compelling plot and rich characterization. And some people just want to see the bland hero who could almost be themselves if they were in this world defeat every monster, get every girl, and have everyone think “gosh, I made fun of him before, but now he’s so awesome, I feel frustrated and humiliated”. This lacks the latter part, which may be why I’m enjoying it more than a lot of those “revenge on my high school classmates” books. Eugene continues to be the least interesting thing about this, but his supporting cast at least keeps me reading, and I’ll take a flyer on another book. The very definition of “It’s OK, I guess”.

We start with a POV from Sara, the student council president and Eugene’s former partner, showing how difficult it is to be a saint candidate, but more importantly how head over heels she is for Eugene. This helps to explain why all of a sudden she’s decided to accompany Eugene on his dungeon quests… because she’s seen how close he’s getting with Sumire, the isekai’d ifrit girl, and doesn’t want her getting too close. Sumire and Sara both regard each other as gorgeous women who could easily seduce anyone they wanted, but sadly this isn’t that kind of book, so rather than having belligerent sexual tension they just get jealous and “grr” a lot. That said, while both Sumire and Sara are very good at helping to get past monsters, in the end the main reason they’re doing so well is that Eugene can use Eri’s dark mana… and a nasty surprise awaits him at Level 100.

There is a good deal of plot involved here. Now that Eugene is accomplishing things and has dropped the “woe is me” attitude from the first book, we are reminded of his lineage, and also the power of working very hard, attack mana or no, so he is clearly a Man Of Destiny ™. There’s also some amusing angel/demon backstory here, as of course Erinyes is fallen, and she has a cute comedic conversation with the angel responsible for monitoring the dungeon battles. That said, the biggest plot advance was in the romantic potential. Last review I said Sumire better hope there’s polyamory in this world or else she’s doomed. Lo and behold… that said, calling it polyamory feels a bit much, given the poly ships we see here run on the women all hating each other but begrudgingly agreeing to share. “Harem” is more apposite right now. Most importantly, though, Eri can’t leave her prison (with an exception or two covered in the book), so when the book ends with Eugene being called home to visit his family, only the two public girlfriends get to accompany him.

Will we get the full backstory of his ex next time? Probably, and I bet she eventually joins the harem. Which I’m hoping gets closer to a polycule, I’d like some of these girls to actually like each other. For fans of light novels who want light, easy, and with a bit of fanservice.

The Tale of a Little Alchemist Blessed by the Spirits, Vol. 1

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By yocco and Junsui. Released in Japan as “Outo no Hazure no Renkinjutsushi: Hazure Shokugyou datta node, Nonbiri Omise Keieishimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Andria McKnight. Adapted by Lex Reno.

Welcome to Scientific Method, the light novel. Hope you like stats! That said, I did enjoy this book a create deal despite the main character using appraisal over and over again to make sure that her creations are perfect. On the face of it, this is a bog standard “atelier” series, which usually involves a young girl starting up her own shop. Indeed, the Japanese subtitle of the series roughly translates as “I got a bad skill, so I’ll open my own shop”, meaning that we also have the ever-trendy “the gods gave you a job and it’s not popular, so you’re useless now”. This one though succeeds partly due to its main character’s utter charm, but also as it does a few things slightly differently to make it stand out from the rest. Notably, and this may come as a huge surprise, our lead is not an orphan! And trust me, this makes “I desperately want to work a 9-5 job at 8 years old” much more acceptable.

This book starts off sounding like it will be dark. The daughter of a baron gets “Maid” as her chosen God Occupation, and this so horrifies her family that they leave her in a hut to get an illness and die. She’s reborn as Daisy, the daughter of a Viscount, and when her God Occupation is “Alchemist” rather than the expected “Mage”, she panics that the same thing is going to happen. But in this world her family all adore her and are ready to do anything to support her, even if it means building her a laboratory and watching as she quietly invents potions that can regrow limbs, defeat any poison, and force confessions. In fact, she’s the Beloved Child of the Spirit King. Oh, and she has appraisal too. Oh, and she can ALSO use magic. That said… she just wants to run a shop, because in the end this is an Atelier series.

One thing I found very interesting is how quickly the “reborn with my memories of my bad old life intact” is abandoned. The old reincarnation basically sees Daisy’s loving family and happy life and goes “well, nothing for me to do here, bye” and goes off to the afterlife, leaving Daisy only with the worry that she may get a bad God Gatcha Roll. Likewise, as I said earlier, it’s amazing how much more tolerable hardworking children wanting to run a business are when they have their parents and actual adults looking over everything, rather than someone just setting up a restaurant and leaving them to run it in exchange for money (or worse, just food) while they go off to be the protagonist. Not naming any names, though they may rhyme with Nile and Runa. Most importantly, Daisy is cute as a button and sweet as pie, which really helps to take your mind off the act that she is, like so many light novel protagonists, OP as hell.

By the end of the book she’s ready to open her shop, which I imagine will take up the bulk of the next book. This is six volumes in total, which seems about right. I’ll definitely read more.

Reforming an Icy Final Boss: Getting Back at the Self-Proclaimed Villainess with the Power of Friendship, Vol. 1

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By Takamedou and Nemusuke. Released in Japan as “”Jishou Akuyaku Reijou” ni Korosareta Last Boss no Yarinaoshi: Bocchi na Reitetsu Koujo wa, Dai Ni no Jinsei de Riajuu wo Mezashimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

Just as a lot of isekai titles lately throw in so many common tropes and themes that they start to rememble an isekai stew, this new series seems to want to use several of the common shoujo plot devices that are popular right now, including villainesses having to fix their reputation, traveling back in time to an earlier period to do so, and an antagonist who is so otome game-pilled that she literally doesn’t care if she talks about the game to the actual inhabitants of this world. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad. Stew can be tasty. And for the most part, I found this a fun and delightful book… with a couple of exceptions, which I’ll get to later. Its stoic heroine tries to let tragedies wash over her, and that fails. So why not try to do something else?

Milly Asteara is having a very bad time, though she’s coping with it mostly by reading in the school’s garden. Her father has just been executed for treason, which of course means no one wants anything to do with her. And now this arrogant count’s daughter, Angelina, walks up and talks about how she’s the “villainess” and that Milly is the “final boss”. Worse still, when Milly barely reacts to any of this Angelina proceeds to murder her with a spell. Then suddenly Milly wakes up three years in the past, right before she’s supposed to go to school. She realizes that she has to fix things so that she’s not killed, and decides the best way to do this, since she was so isolated and had no friends or allies, is to open up and make friends and allies. Unfortunately, she’s the most awkward girl out there, and still pretty stoic, but that won’t stop her.

The author say s in the afterward that they added content for the print version of this webnovel, and I was unsurprised to find they’re the parts I found most jarring. At times in this book Milly decides to act like a “Bakarina-style” protagonist for no reason at all, doing things like squatting down in her house and pretending to be a delinquent. It’s annoying, and doesn’t fit with the rest of the book, when she’s just a socially inept quiet girl who also tends to get fired up when someone mentions something that upsets her. Like her late mother, who she loved. Or, y’know, accusing her of murder. There are also a few good plot twists here. Angelina also going back in time and getting frustrated things are not going the same as before was expected, but I did enjoy that there’s another isekai’d person here, just trying to quietly live a better life than the awful one she had in Japan, but sadly she ran into the wrong girl. Fortunately, in this new timeline Milly is nice. Oh yes, and there’s her dad, who everyone hates and who is a terrible person, but who we rapidly realize is just like his daughter, and also smarter than he lets on. I want to see more of him.

Aside from the author trying to add things that didn’t need to be added to, this was quite good. I’ll read the obligatory 1-2 more volumes before it wraps up, as this is a DRE series.

Long Story Short, I’m Living in the Mountains, Vol. 4

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By Asagi and Shino. Released in Japan as “Zenryaku, Yama Kurashi wo Hajimemashita” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by N. Marquetti.

The author reminds us once again in the afterword that this is not a romance nor is it going to turn into one. And no, the chickens are not going to become cute girls either. I get it, as I imagine that the audience for this series is looking at the cute girl in the cast, joined in this volume by her younger, also cute sister, and shipping is just happening naturally. That said, if the author really didn’t want any romance I think they could shut things down a bit more. Sure, here Sano states outright that he’s not interested in Rie (good, as she’s underage), but much of the relationship between him and the Katsuragis consists of him basically being a perfect catch except for his horrible depression and self-loathing, and the two of them noticing it. And that’s not even considering the ho yay he’s ignoring between him and Aizawa. Or hell, the fact that he has a chicken wife and a jealous chicken mistress. Romance kind of worms its way in anyway.

As noted above, we get another cast member in this volume. Katsuragi’s younger sister Rie is dealing with a stalker who went from “let’s date” to “what are you doing right now?” to “I need to know where you are 24-7 or I will kill us both” very quickly, so her parents agreed that having her stay with her sister is for the best. Rie is a gyaru in Sano’s eyes, but I think “normal 17-year-old who possibly bleaches her hair a little” is more accurate. Elsewhere in the book, there’s a lot of killing of boars; Sano goes to the very top of his mountain and finds a dilapidated shrine, which he tries to fix up a bit; he learns how to get lotus roots straight from the source, though he doesn’t enjoy it; and he begins to prepare for the winter, which given his remote mountain will mean going to ground, possibly for a month or two.

There’s a very interesting bit about 2/3 of the way through the book where Sano realizes that he hasn’t really prepared for winter fast enough or done enough, and thinks ruefully that he’s always slow to pick up on things like this and maybe that’s why his old fiancee left him. About five pages later, he’s hearing how Rie is finding Katsuragi’s place too cold and worries over it, workshopping solutions and eventually coming over and helping the two of them to insulate it. Sano’s depression is all internal – he still hates it when people tell him not to pay them back – and anytime he has to deal with something that affects only himself (see: his chapped hands), he puts it off or ignores it, but when it’s about anyone else, he basically becomes the perfect boyfriend. Something Katsuragi is deliberately ignoring, and which Rie does not ignore but she’s still 17, so…

The book implies that Sano is going to be alone for several months – given this cast is doing its level best to make sure this fragile guy is part of a community, I highly doubt that. Next time: more now, more chickens, and probably less not-romance.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 9

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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.

Even if I hadn’t already seen the news that the next volume is the final one, the fact that the book starts with Sara and Allen finally being a couple and dating would probably have made me think it anyway. The author does not seem to be the sort who enjoys focusing on romance, as we saw with Nelly and Chris and as we see here. Allen and Sara’s first date is exactly the same as their normal work, going dungeon crawling. Allen needs a checklist on how to do a normal date like a normal person. It’s very funny, but it also underlines once again that our core cast are not normal people, and Sara may be the worst of them due to where she landed when isekai’d. The best joke in the book has her being asked to take a class on common sense, because she doesn’t have enough of it – and she has to ruefully agree.

Sara is eighteen now, has settled into her job, and is now dating Allen, though that mostly seems to involve them acting exactly as they always have. They’re not staying long in their current digs, though, as they get a request to take Ann, the Invited we met a few volumes back, to the Capital so that she can become a knight, which is the career that she’s decided on. This will likely take a while, meaning Sara and Nelly have a tearful goodbye for now. On the journey there, they’re interrupted by some cotton sheep, which like all cute-sounding animals in this world are actually vicious monsters. Fortunately, the sheep end up going north of our heroes’ destination. Once at the capital, Sara reunites with old friends and former enemies who she can now grudgingly get along with, and that’s probably for the best, as it turns out the cotton sheep have turned again and are heading straight for the city.

There’s one point in the story where everyone finds out they now have “nicknames” that almost read as titles, and I was rather startled at “Allen the Hero”, till I remembered the whole giant turtle thing and went “oh yeah, guess he is”. In fact, every single one of the Invited, as expected, are fast becoming legendary, as are the folks who hang around them. Kuntz is tricked by his brother into helping to train his fellow rookie hunters, and the training, which ropes in the rest of the group, ends up showing everyone in the city why the Invited are so different – their imaginations and otherworld experience means they can simply think of magic and powers differently. This is why in the past they’d been essentially forced to do whatever the kingdom wanted, and the big thematic climax of this book is not the final fight against the sheep, it’s the fact that Liam a) offers a plan that does not require them, and then b) politely asks if they have any other ideas. He too has come a long way.

Will this series end with babies ever after? Almost certainly not. Will it end with wolves? Almost certainly. Good heartwarming isekai.

I Like Villains, So I Reincarnated As One, Vol. 1

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By Kei Takano and kodamazon. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Suki no Ore, Oshi Character ni Tensei: Game Joban ni Shujinkou ni Korosareru Oshi ni Tenseishita node, Ore dake Shitteru Game Chishiki de Hametsu Flag wo Tsubushitara Akuyaku-tachi no Teiou ni Natteta Ken” by Dengeki no Shin Bungei. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Elliot Ryouga. Adapted by Gray Morrow.

It can be very hard to get past a lousy beginning. When this book began with our title character screaming “hell yeah, I’ve been reincarnated!” and then immediately shouting “Open Status” and getting a list of annoying stats, it dug itself a deep, deep hole. It didn’t help that the other main character is a young maid whose backstory we never learn but who is devoted to Weiss (the character our unnamed Japanese guy has become) to the death, and it was hard not to groan. Oh, there’s also an angry tsundere and a stoic nun who shows her cute side when around animals. This author writes tropes to order, and a quick glance at their other series suggests that, indeed, Seven Seas may have picked the best one. Alas.

Our unnamed hero, whose past consists of “I had a younger sister who was better than me at things”, is reincarnated into the body of Weiss, his favorite villain from a game he liked. Weiss also has an overachieving sister, who was made the heir rather than him, and he turned dissolute and evil as a result. Our guy loves that kind of tragic backstory, and this game is filled with them. Can he turn things around and save himself from an early grave, with the help of Rosalia, his overpowered maid who will do anything for him? (No, not that, the book is very PG-rated.) What’s more, can he save the other villains with really good tragic backstories, the “Evil Bloody Mistress” and the “Cruel False Saint”? And will they all fall in love with him?

By the end of the first book this rose to the level of adequate, though not enough for me to want to read more. Weiss (I have to use the name of the character) is the sort of person who loves a good Draco in Leather Pants – and he specifies they have to have a good tragic backstory and actual reasons for their behavior, when he meets a normal evil slave-owning trading bastard later he has no sympathy. Much as I dislike Rosalia’s over the top loyalty for no stated reason, she and Weiss do make a good team, and while she’d clearly do anything he asked, it’s also clear she seems to have some self-hatred issues that prevent any romance from getting further. Unfortunately, there’s one big reason this continues to not be very good – Weiss has no struggles whatsoever in getting overpowered fast. No, I do not count “passes out after using super cool magic” as a struggle, especially as he usually is caught by his maid. His game knowledge also makes helping defeat the narrative easy as pie. There’s one battle where he visibly struggles, against a literal god.

There are better OP harem romances out there, and indeed better “wow, I’m a villain” books as well.

Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 2

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By Gwon Gyeoeul and JINSA. Released in Japan by D&C Media. Released in North America by Ize Press. Translated by Kakao Entertainmnt.

This second volume does not really focus at all on our main character’s past life in Korea, choosing instead to focus exclusively on the “game” world and how Penelope can extricate herself from it without dying. Which makes this feel more like a traditional villainess book, and so therefore it’s much easier to read and more relaxing; on the other hand this does make it a bit more “the same old same old”, at least until the end. It’s been apparent from the start, but this book merely underlines it, that if she is going to clear a “love interest” and escape, the choice that will help her the most is in fact the crown prince, and that Eckles is not remotely the safest bet, but she still can’t quite see people as people rather than as stat counters, and so that revelation is probably going to take another book or so. In the meantime, at least she’s getting to do some archaeology. Though perhaps in a more Indiana Jones way than she’d like.

Penelope and her family are off to the massive hunting party being held by the royal family. Last year Penelope threw a huge fit, hopefully this year will go better. Though honestly, it’s not. She can’t take Eckles, who’s left back at the mansion to slowly turn more yandere by the day. Reynold is being a bit too tsundere, and Penelope doesn’t realize that’s what he is. Derrick simply cannot stop being an asshole no matter how he feels. Oh, and Callisto is there, and wants VERY much to continue their earlier conversation about love. And then there’s the ladies’ tea party, where she runs up against a group trying to get her to do a repeat performance from last year. Clearly it’s time to go hunting… assuming that she doesn’t get lost. Or run into giant bears. Or have to defend the prince from assassins…

The most telling part of the book comes after all of the hunting party and the chaos that follows, where Penelope has ended up restoring her reputation, and gotten her various love targets to fall for her enough… that the game decides she doesn’t need affection counters anymore, and she can only see them if she pays obscene amounts of money. Which, good news, she now has, but it also shows that she cannot stop seeing anyone as a real person here, and gets paranoid when she’s unable to work out how they feel about her. Which is a shame, because when she’s mostly winging it, such as in the first 2/3 of the book, where the game gives her a few basic opportunities but mostly she makes the right choices by simply making the right choices. This is especially true with Callisto, who is rapidly becoming the Final Love Interest whether she wants him to be or not, and I think they’d be good for each other if she can ever get away from gatcha life.

This is apparently 4 volumes + 1 After Story in total, so I suspect things will get really dark next time. Still, this remains a lot of fun, especially if you read the manwha (I haven’t) and enjoy text.

Even Exiled, She’s Still the Beloved Saint! St. Evelyn’s Weird and Wonderful Friends, Vol. 1

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By Harunadon and Kurodeko. Released in Japan as “Tsuihousareta Seijo desu ga, Jitsu wa Kunijuu kara Aisaresugitete Kowain desu kedo!?” by Earth Star Luna. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Camilla L.

We’ve reached the point where there are enough of the “exiled saint” books that they prove themselves ripe for parody. The noble saint, who is massively overpowered. The arrogant prince, who doesn’t get it. The little sister, selfish and greedy, who thinks she can do the exact same thing but is woefully incorrect. The saint being completely and utterly unaware of how popular she is with everyone who is not that prince and her immediate family. And I saw the cover art and the synopsis of this series, so I was ready for it to be goofy. I was still unprepared. This may be the most bananas light novel I’ve read since the days of The Invincible Shovel. It starts off with the saint being a bit over the top, and then gradually the reader realizes she’s actually one of only a few people with common sense in the whole book. You’d better be here for the funny, because it is shoved in your face.

Evelyn is horrified to be told by her fiancé, the first prince, that she’s being replaced as the Saint of their kingdom by her younger stepsister Mary, who he is also taking as his fiancée. In fact, Evelyn throws a fit, mostly as she’s extremely naive and sheltered, and has been kept away from anything that might taint her since she was five years old. Now she’s 28, “too old to get married”, and wandering around the local town. Going home proves to be a mistake, her parents are absolutely terrible people. She’s reduced to looking around for people on the street to heal, then asking for money. Fortunately, she runs into a streetwise young man who is NOT SUSPICIOUS AT ALL, and he gradually realizes she is a potential cash cow in the making. Meanwhile, back at the palace, it turns out sainting is harder than it looks.

There is a BIT of plot here. Evelyn mostly goes along with this as she’s been the saint for 23 years, and thinks her power has started to wane. Fortunately, there are other people with large amounts of holy power, one of whom is not only engaged to the SECOND prince, but absolutely loves Evelyn. A bit too much. It never quite spills over into “comedy sexual assault lesbian”, but it comes kind of close. The first prince and Mary are both comically awful, so the plot is not so much “how do we fix this” as “everyone immediately realized what happened, find the missing Evelyn”. I’ll be honest, a lot of times I was rolling my eyes and ended up exhausted. If you don’t like everyone in the cast being a broad caricature except maybe three people (Evelyn, the streetwise young man, and one of the princes… and I’m only putting Evelyn on the list barely), or don’t like OMG SO FUNNY books, this is not for you.

But come on, Evelyn goes to a town where she tries to confess who she really is but can’t because everyone in the town names their children… and even pets… after Saint Evelyn. “There are 57 Evelyns in this town.” How can you not like a book like that? (There are two more volumes, which worries me, but that’s for future me.)