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Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, Vol. 5

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By Hiromu and raemz. Released in Japan as “Chitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund.

This has spoilers for the entire volume, sorry. They’ll be after the cover art.

We have been slowly working our way through the main female characters of this series. The second volume focused on Yuzuki, the third one Asuka, and the fourth one Haru. The cover of the first volume was Yuuko, but that volume was more an introduction to the entire cast, and the “heroine” of the volume was actually Kenta, the otaku “saved” by Chitose. So we haven’t really had a volume about Yuuko till now. The group seems to revolve around her and Chitose, and much of the time when she suggests something everyone automatically agrees to it. As we learn here, that’s been the case pretty much her entire life. She’s a spoiled princess, but unlike a lot of these characters remains kind and likeable. That said, she really wants people to treat her normally, and when someone does (Chitose), she falls for him hard. How’s that work out this book? Let me put it this way: she AND Chitose both think “I wish these happy days could last forever”.

It’s summer vacation, and there’s a lot of fun things Chitose could choose to do. He could go on a “we’ve agreed not to date but are still clearly hung up on each other” date with Asuka. He could play catch with Haru some more, who confessed to him last time if you recall. He could go see the fireworks with everyone, and have Yuzuki steal him away for a moment all to herself. He could meet Yuuko’s mom, who’s one of those “gosh, she’s so young-looking she looks like an older sister” types. Heck, he can even stay at home and have delicious food cooked for him by his not-wife Yua. But the back half of the book is dedicated to the cast going on a study camp, a 3-day outing where students and pick teacher’s brains while studying in a beachfront hotel. Studying does get done, I promise. That said, of course there’s beach time as well. In the midst of all this, Yuuko, who is very aware that she has not had a “plot” with Chitose to herself by now, takes drastic measures.

This book is written like a tragedy, with the wait for the other shoe to drop being excruciating. I kept waiting for Yuuko to tell everyone she’s moving to America or that she’s dying. But no, she’s just in love, very aware that all her other best friends are in love, and it’s killing her inside. The most devastating scene in the book has her asking Yuzuki, Haru and Yua if there are any guys they like, because they’re at a study camp getting ready to sleep, and that’s when you talk about boys. But the others girls, knowing Yuuko is in love with Chitose and “has dibs” because she’s the obvious choice – first girl we meet, got the first cover, etc. – all say they’re not in love with anyone. And that kills it. That makes her decide to knock it all over. So she confesses, knowing Chitose, who is absolutely not ready for this, will reject her. Which he does.

The book ends with Yuuko, surrounded by everyone else in the group, sobbing, and Chitose, also sobbing, surrounded by just Yua, who plays the saxophone to try to cover up his incoherent grief at the loss of his static but wonderful high school days. I bet she gets the next book, she’s the only one left. This is a great series, but the romcom aspect is definitely romdram this time.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: 5th Squad Jam: Finish

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By Keiichi Sigsawa and Kouhaku Kuroboshi, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

This is the 13th volume of the SAO:GGO series, and I’m pretty sure it has probably gone on longer than Keiichi Sigsawa originally planned it for. The nature of the series, after all, is basically “death game” only for once it really IS a game so we don’t need to worry about death. Which actually helps with the longevity. The cast here is large, and except for our main group we may not remember everyone all that well, but Llenn is not the only one who’s gotten famous, she’s just the poster child. We’ve also grown to see David’s seriousness as he tries his hardest to finally achieve something in a Squad Jam and always seems to not quite get there. There’s Vera, who took the series’ funniest running gag (the machine gun bros) and made them into the most dangerous team out there, taking out more of our main characters than anyone. And there’s SHINC, of course, who still don’t get to face off against Llenn. Alas.

The last volume ended with the shock of Shirley sniping Pitohui and removing her from the game. But there’s no time to dwell on that, as Llenn still has a bounty on her head and everyone wants the money associated with it. M, Fukaziroh, Boss, and Anna are trying to protect her while also getting to the center of the castle that is their final battlefield… because they’ve been told that the rest of the castle except that battlefield will soon ALSO drop off and doom everyone still in it to death by extreme falling. Clarence is holed up in a tower with good defense, but can’t really move. And Shirley has had her fondest wish granted, but is finding that “Sniper” is not really a good choice for the REST of this game. And wait, are those… ghosts?

Usually there’s one part of each book in this series that I am surprised, and here it was Pitohui returning as a ghost. I thought for sure she’d be back sooner, and torment Shirley, but no – the ghosts don’t show up till the climax, and she and Shirley never interact. Instead, the series does one of the things it does best, with is provide some ridiculous death, badass deaths, and badass AND ridiculous deaths in one book. The climax of the book is hilarious, exciting, and thrilling – I was not actually sure if Llenn really would get killed off by someone else or not till the last few pages, and everything about the rivalry between Fukaziroh and Anna – and, let’s face it, Fukaziroh in general – makes me giggle. There is even a smidge of depth here, as Karen/Llenn starts to realize, and later is told point blank by Fukaziroh, that she’s not the same shy wallflower she was at the start of the series – the game has been good for her in real life as well. It’s therapeutic.

We’ve caught up with Japan, so I’m not sure when we’ll get another of these. It’s a satisfying finish for fans of the series, though.

Rascal Does Not Dream of His Student

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

With the first two books in the “college” part of this series, I have struggled to see why it’s been ongoing at all beyond “this is now a franchise with ongoing multimedia, you will write more until we tell you to stop” coming from Dengeki Bunko. With this book, I think I’ve gotten a handle on where this is going, helped out by a much stronger “cover character” than the others, even if she’s far less likeable. The original Rascal books were, for the most part, “a traumatic event in someone’s past displays itself as external symptoms that are horrible”, with Sakuta attempting to fix things in the same way that Koyomi Araragi or Hachiman Hikigaya try to fix things, i.e. throw themselves at it with little regard to danger. But Sakuta has learned better by now, helped by Mai literally dying for him, and so self-sacrifice isn’t on the menu. More importantly, the external symptoms are now wonderful.

Sakuta is still doing his cram-school job while also attending college, working his part-time job, trying to figure out what’s up with the Santa girl only he can see, and also spending time with his girlfriend. This is a lot. The prophetic dream thing is still ongoing, and Sakuta has a dream that on Christmas Eve he’s on a train … not with his girlfriend, but with Sara Himeji, a new student in his cram school class who has had two cram school teachers apparently try to make a move on her and be fired. Sakuta is #3, and is determined to avoid that possibility, despite events conspiring against him at every turn. And there’s also the fact that Sakuta from the other world where he’s more competent has told our Sakuta that Mai is in danger because of Touko.

Sara may not be 100% likeable, but she’s one of the best characters we’ve seen in this series for a while. She’s basically not had to struggle her entire life, and people are naturally drawn to her. As a result, when something does not go the way she wants, it ends up devastating her in a way that’s pretty easy for Touko to exploit. The best part of the book is the solution to the problem, as Sakuta spends most of it doing detective work to try to find a way out of this dream future, and ends up going with “do what the dream says and see what happens. But then Mai invites herself along. Mai being part of the solution is something that works very specifically for Sara, who is poleaxed at seeing what a real couple really in love is like, and when Mai starts reeling off things she loves about Sakuta and informs her she can do this all day, it cracks the Adolescence Syndrome like an egg. You can see and hear Sara grow up.

There is an ominous cliffhanger to this book, which implies that once again the universe is out to kill Mai. That said, the title of the next book is Rascal Does Not Believe in Santa Claus, so presumably we’ll confront Touko at last.

High School DxD: Supplementary Lesson Heroes

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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 talked before about how difficult I find it to review this series without just constantly saying the same things over and over again. There’s only so many times you can say “this is just combining shonen battle manga with ecchi harem manga” before the audience starts to nod off. And it’s the same with this book. Boy, those sure are some cool fights. They sure do bust out new special moves they got after training hard. And yeah, Issei really likes tits, news flash, film at 11. With this one I thought I’d have a bit more to work with, given the last volume ended with Issei being killed off. As I read it, I also realized that I could talk about how all the women were sidelined so that the male characters could get all the important fights. I could talk about that as well! Then the author, in the afterword, says “hey, did everyone notice the women were sidelined and the men got all the fights?”. So back to the first of those points, I guess.

As you might guess, the bulk of this volume is narrated by Kiba, given that Issei is dead. Kiba is devastated by this, of course, but he’s also the only one who is not romantically in love with Issei (possibly… more on that running gag later), so he’s the only one who can actually tell us what’s been happening and what’s going to happen next without having it just be silence or sobbing. Because the Gremory Family is shattered. Rias and Akeno won’t leave their rooms, Koneko, Ravel and Asia can’t stop crying. Fortunately, the rest of the family is off getting extra training/powerups after getting the crap beaten out of them, so they’re not there to be devastated by the news. That said, even from the end of last volume we suspected Issei would be back. After all, the dragon has not found a new person to give its power yet. And the Evil Pieces are still linked to Issei. Can he possibly return from the dead? In a way that doesn’t involve breasts?

Believe it or not, the answer to that last question is mostly yes, though there is a certain amount of “clap for Tinkerbell” involving chanting the Breast Dragon catchphrase involved. But yes, Issei comes back from the dead, and may arguably be more powerful by the end of the book. And he gets a date with Rias at the end as a reward. As for the rest of the heroines, I hope that they take a lesson from this and try to get a bit less dependent on Issei, but I’m not all that optimistic – they are young women in love, and it is a shonen series. The heroine who comes off best in this book is, of course Kiba – and yes, he is described in the afterword as a heroine. I’m not usually fond of the whole “make lots of jokes about men being attracted to Issei but have him no homo his way out of it” as a plot device, but for some reason with Kiba it just works. It helps that he has no concrete romantic interest in anyone female.

We’re told this is the end of an arc, and the next arc will be introducing magic users and also getting deeper into Gaspar’s nature. That said… there’s another short story volume next. Gotta be patient, I suppose.

Haibara’s Teenage New Game+, Vol. 5

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

In my review of the last book I mentioned that I was not entirely sure where the series would be going after this, since it seemed to end so decisively with the fourth volume: Natsuki has confessed to Hikari, rejected Uta as best he could, and also done a “God Knows” musical moment on the crowd. But of course, having a fulfilling high school life is the goal that he had when he went back in time, and romance is not the only thing in high school. That said… it is a pretty big thing. The Fellowship is still a bit broken after he made his confession, with Uta pouring everything into basketball and Tatsuya completely remaking his entire personality. And there’s the fact that he’s childhood friends and best friends with Miori… which makes everyone think they’re ALSO dating, and makes Hikari a little jealous (though she won’t say it out loud). That said, most of what we get in this volume is the other high school mainstay: sports!

No, it’s not a full blown sports festival (which is a shame, as I wanted to see some bread eating and scavenger hunt antics), but a ball game competition. The class divides into groups, each doing a different sport. For Natsuki’s class, the boys have basketball and the girls have soccer. That’s fine by Natsuki, who has all the training he got in his past life when he was trying desperately to be a cool athlete. But the actual cool athlete, Tatsuya, is still in an incredible funk over giving Uta up to Natsuki and then having Natsuki reject her anyway. As a result, he’s trying to BECOME Natsuki, pouring effort into studying to raise his grades. But does Uta even want someone who’s “just like Natsuki”? Also, is Miori finally going to snap, or will that wait till next book?

We’ve guessed that Miori has a hidden crush on Natsuki since the start of the series, but it’s now getting a lot less hidden. For one thing, she’s dealing with nasty rumors that she’s cheating on Reita with Natsuki, because they’re both on the Sports Committee and also clearly close. She’s also not dealing with with his new relationship with Hikari, trying to distance herself from him but failing, and pulling off a genuine “What if… I was in love with you all this time… ha ha just kidding… unless?”. Most importantly, Reita is well aware that she loves Natsuki, and is basically patiently waiting for her to either get past it, confront Natsuki, or break up with him. None of those things is happening. She and Natsuki are both much better at giving advice on love than dealing with it themselves, to be honest – Natsuki is flailing around trying to figure out how to behave when dating someone, and both he and Miori are fantastic when getting their cute nerd friends to confess to each other but less so otherwise.

So yeah, it turns out that returning to high school not only gets you a rainbow-colored youth but also typical high school drama. Still a fun series in the high school romcom genre.

I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!, Vol. 4

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By Reina Soratani and Haru Harukawa. Released in Japan as “Kondo wa Zettai ni Jama Shimasen!” by Gentosha Comics. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Molly Lee. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

As I was reading the previous two volumes of this series, I was starting to get very disturbed by Yulan’s obsession with Violette, mostly as he’s clearly also meant to be the main love interest. That doesn’t really change all that much in this volume, at least on his end. That said, after reading this volume, I think I’ve changed my mind. Yes, Yulan and Violette are totally codependent, and, amazingly, they also have a maid who is also codependent to Violette along for the ride. But if it gets Violette out of this house, away from her abusers, and away from this family forever, then I honestly am OK with it. Be as codependent as you like. It’s better than the alternative. That said, there’s still another volume coming, so there’s surely some fresh new awfulness that can happen. I said in an earlier review I read light novels to have fun. This is not “fun” per se. But it’s spellbinding.

Yulan has finally arranged everything he needs to get Violette away. All he needs to do is to tell her. Unfortunately, Maryjune intercedes as he’s trying to do this and asks if she can speak with him first. What follows is Yulan ripping his mask off completely and destroying a young women in front of us all. He reduces her to ashes. Unfortunately, that also means he’s forced to wait till tomorrow to talk with Violette… and there may not be a tomorrow for Violette, as that evening she’s also visited by a devastated Maryjune, who begs her to say it ain’t so, say that they’re a real loving family and Violette is a wonderful sister… right? Violette makes a choice that I think was necessary, telling Maryjune exactly what she thinks about her and her family. Unfortunately, this also brings her father to the room.

I’ve left out a good 2/3 of the book, which reads like a thriller a lot of the time, because I don’t want to give it all away. I spent a lot of the time, as with the 3rd book, worried that Marin was going to die. She’s one of my favorites, essentially being in a non-romantic relationship with Violette that nevertheless is even more codependent than Yulan’s. He straight up says he wants Marin to come with as he’s pretty sure they cannot live without each other. The other fascinating character in this is Maryjune, who remains very NICE, in a derogatory way. She basically spends the book having her entire life torn to shreds in front of her, and if the last scene in the book suggests what I think it does, she may end up having an ending that I’d worried would happen to the rest of the cast. She’s done nothing wrong except be unaware of the reality of everyone around her since the day she was born. But that’s enough.

So yes, one time I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! punched me in the face! It was awesome!

Jeanette the Genius: Defying My Evil Stepmother by Starting a Business with My Ride-or-Die Fiancé!, Vol. 1

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By Miyako Miyano and Hayase Jyun. Released in Japan as “Kakure Saijo wa Zenzen Megenai: Gibo to Gimai ni Ie wo Oidasareta no de Konyaku Haki Shite Moraou to Omottara, Shinshi datta Konyakusha ga Hageshiku Dekiai Shitekuru Yо̄ ni Narimashita!?” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Ray Krycki.

As you may have noticed given that it’s every other review I’ve written for the last year or so, the villainess genre has really exploded in Japan, as well as translated into English. Everyone loves seeing the villainess struggle against her fate. Sometimes she’s accused falsely. Sometimes she redoes her life so that everyone loves her. Sometimes she even embraces the villainy. But the one drawback to this is that authors sometimes miss writing actual villainess types. Sure, you can make the supposed heroine secretly evil, but it’s not the same. We want women with expensive dresses and jewels and stepsisters with drill curls holding their hand up to their mouths as they sneer “Ooooohohohohohohoho!”. If you miss this sort, good news! The stepmother and stepsister in this book fill the job admirably. Honestly, I might have been more interested in them than the heroine.

Our heroine is Jeanette, who has spent most of her 13 years being abused by her mother and sister, but being doted on and protected by her father. Unfortunately, one day her father disappears, his carriage found (without a body) in a ditch. Naturally, evil stepmother immediately throws Jeanette out of the house. But that’s fine. This is a learning opportunity, just like every other piece of abuse Jeanette has suffered, and she’ll face it with a smile and GUTS! Still, she’d better break off the engagement to the count, because after all she’s disgraced now. There’s just one slight problem – everyone who knows her loves her to bits, especially her fiance, who when he hears that she’s been thrown from her house swoops in to offer her a much better deal.

I’ll be honest, I found Jeanette somewhat exasperating. First of all, I wish she were about four years older. Secondly, her “genius ditz” personality can be fun, but also verges on annoying, particularly when she needs to be clever and figure things out but also not clue in to the fact that her family are being abusive. I ended up being far more interested in Leila and Ariel. Ariel is merely a spoiled daughter who’s been trained by mother to look down on Jeanette – there’s no actual hatred there, and when it turns out Jeanette is a golden goose she’s quick to turn. Leila, though, is painted in a far harsher light, being a wasteful spender and also a massive sucker for scams. I hope we see more of them in Book 2. Which is going to happen, because Daddy has to come home soon.

If you like this sort of book, it’s a decent entry, though not essential. Jeanette is a genius for business, but when it comes to interpersonal relationships she’s a disaster.

Anime NYC 2023: Remote Musings, Sunday

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Sunday is traditionally the quietest day at a con for press who do industry stuff like me, and so it is this year. I also feel a bit guilty, because if I had been an Anime NYC this year, I’d have attended neither of the industry panels, but gone to the My Next Life as a Villainess movie premiere. (Which I hear was underwhelming, not a surprise, but oh well.) That said, I was not at Anime NYC, so I will wait for reviews of the movie and instead talk about Akuzi and Starfruit.

I don’t cover the digital manga publishers quite as much as the “majors”, especially now that Amazon has made it harder to search for manga by lumping it in with all comics media. But Azuki are certainly among the top tier of the apps out there. They announced two new series debuting on their app.

Our Aimless Nights (Yoru no Manimani) runs on Futabasha’s Web Comic Action site. An upbeat girl and a shy guy meet once a week at the convenience store and talk to each other. Can love grow from this?

You’re So Sloppy, Hotta-sensei (Darashinai desu, Hotta-sensei!) runs in the print Manga Action, a comedy about a high schooler who does housekeeping for his teacher. In school she’s the ideal teacher… at home she’s a slob. I’m told this falls under the “ecchi sex comedy” genre, so expect a lot of underwear lying around the place.

They also announced a number of titles on the service that are also released by MediBang. I won’t go into MediBang too much, except to say that I hear their rates are so low for translators that the mind boggles. And two titles from Media Do, which I also know little about. I did notice that one of the titles picked up was My Sadistic Boyfriend, which was originally released on the old JManga site way back in the day. It reminds me that Futabasha still struggles to this day to get a large-scale English publisher to notice them, especially with the demise of Dr Master. A lot of their titles have gone with the new digital companies. I will say that the MediBangs and Media Dos of the world are a good way for the tiny companies that would otherwise get nothing translated to get their josei romance and supernatural fantasies out over here.

The other panel was Star Fruit Books, who tend towards smaller books licensed from the authors. They announced Virginia Inferno (Otome Jigoku), a horror anthology; I’ll Quit Traveling… (Watashi, Tabi o Yamemasu…), a slow-moving fantasy; Clan Under the Moon (Gekka no Ichizoku), a horror title that I think originally ran in Horror House in the early 90s, and is 2 volumes; The Red Snake (Akai Hebi), a horror title from the early 80s by the legendary Hideshi Hino; and His Ankle (Kare no Kurubushi), a BL title. Star Fruit has been putting out a lot of classic horror from the 80s and 90s, as well as BL and yuri titles. Get excited!

And that’s a wrap! I am hoping to get to the next Anime NYC in the summer. Hopefully my next report will be from the con. That said, it’ll still be “written as one big post the evening after), so not too different from this.

Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home!, Vol. 7

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By You Fuguruma and Nama. Released in Japan as “Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

Generally speaking when you get a book in the current genre of “Cinderella”, be they a villainess or just a betrayed female lead in general, the actual betrayal part is rapidly overwritten by the good stuff. Our heroine finds a new life with those who love and care about her, and finds joys that she never had in the past. And that does happen in this story as well – Shiori is extremely happy with Alec and secure in her job as a housekeeping mage. But she’s also been through not one but two traumatic, world-shattering events over the course of just a year or two, and they still impact her every day. She’s been hiding her past in Japan from everyone for the very simple reason that she can’t prove it. As for her love for Alec, and his true identity as royalty, she’s very upfront about what she wants if she is forced to leave Alec forever – the mercy of death. This book can be chilling.

There’s a new visitor to Storydia – a merchant from the East and her bodyguard. This is bad news for Shiori, who has tried to wave off her background by claiming that she comes form the East. Now that there are actual people from Mizuho here, her story is not going to hold up. Especially as she can’t read the written language they have, meaning that her last desperate hope – that she merely went back in time, and this was some unheard of historical period – is dashed to bits. After a mild nervous breakdown, she finally confesses everything to Alec and Zack, and they do believe her – even through her fears that she’ll be abandoned and left for dead, which understandably still haunt her. That said, Alec’s true past also comes out in this conversation, and now that it’s out in the open, it can’t be ignore anymore – Shiori is going to have to have conversations with the local lord. And the king.

Honestly, over the course of this volume it becomes clear that this adventurer’s guild is essentially an isle of misfit toys for nobles with tragic pasts. We already know about Alec. We’d heard about Zack earlier, but it’s fleshed out more now. And now it turns out that Nadia was meant to marry one of the older princes who ended up dying, and that Clemens was also a noble with a promising future who, after being tricked by a woman, had to flee nasty rumors in order to save his family. That said, I don’t think anyone can quite top Shiori. As I said before, having “magically transported from Japan with no language skills, money or belongings” OR having “my adventuring party/family all grew to dislike me and eventually left me to die in a dungeon” would be good enough tragic backstories. Together… look, normally I would criticize the relationship between Alex and Shiori as being too codependent to be healthy. But after this book? Heck, go nuts.

This is not quite happily ever after yet – Alec and Shoiri are together for now, and the lord approves, but there is still the King to think about. And, um, the little matter that folks are starting to consider Shiori a literal Saint. Ridiculous. Her magic power isn’t even omnipotent! In any case, this was an excellent volume in an excellent, if heavy, series.

Anime NYC 2023: Remote Musings, Saturday

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The second day of Anime NYC, were I there (which I am not), would have likely begun with me feeling very awkward at the Ize Press panel. I will admit, I don’t cover Ize Press much in the Manga the Week of posts. There are a few normal reasons for this (I have enough trouble adding all the Japanese releases; I just don’t vibe with the Korean romances as much; I never got the “long strip” webtoon format), but the real reason is likely far more nerdy. See, I started the Manga the Week of lists on Livejournal so that I could point to which series were in Hana to Yume, or Weekly Shonen Jump, or “whatever Wings is”. And, y’see… I can’t do that with the Korean titles! Basically, I suck, and this is why I would be feeling awkward at the panel.

But I’ll still point out what they announced. The big one, which even I have heard of, is Beware the Villainess!, an insanely popular webtoon title that’s been translated into umpteen languages. As for the plot, well, imagine if Bakarina decides to beat the crap out of all the male leads instead.

The Villainess Is a Marionette is a webtoon about, well, a villainess who’s now died multiple times, and decides to be the puppeteer, not the puppet.

Marriage of Convenience is a loop novel, where the horrible villainess realizes, right before she’s killed, the error of her ways, and gets sent back in time to try to do it right.

My Secretly Hot Husband is in the genre of “I was married off to a scary man, but he turns out to be really nice”.

SSS-Class Revival Hunter is NOT a villainess book, but it does involve the hero gaining the power to go back in time after he’s killed, so it’s sort of Re: Zero meets dungeon crawler.

Tied to You is a BL title, a first for Ize Press, and is a “red string of fate” book – except the red string is going to the wrong brother!

After this we get Yen Press’s panel. First of all, they announced three “media tie-in” manga the day before, as a treat. Days with My Stepsister manga, based on the light novel (Shonen Ace plus), Sword Art Online Re:Aincrad, which seems to be an attempt to reboot the (very rushed) original manga adaptation (Dengeki Daioh), and The Kept Man of the Princess Knight, the manga based on the upcoming light novel, also from Yen (Comic Walker).

At the actual panel, they started with the Bungo Stray Dogs Official Comic Anthology. These have been around in Japan since forever, but rarely get released over here. It’s by various artists.

Goblin Slayer: A Day in the Life is a manga spinoff of the main series that adapts short stories from the light novels that were skipped in the main adaptation. It runs in Big Gangan.

No Game, No Life Chapter 2: Eastern Union reminds us that this manga runs on a “one arc every ten years” schedule, so adapts the 2nd arc of the light novels. It runs in my nemesis, Comic Alive.

We then got some light novels. Guillotine Bride (Dantōdai no Hanayome: Sekai o Horobosu Futsutsukana Tatsuki Desu ga) is from the creator of Demon Lord 2099. A dragon princess on her way to execution finds herself blown up and lands in front of a young man. He’s even more startled when she asks him to marry her.

Brunhild the Dragonslayer (Ryū-goroshi no Brunhild) was probably the biggest “name” of the panel – it’s a very acclaimed series, and J-Novel Club recently got the rights to release it in German. A girl is raised by a dragon to never harbor hatred in her heart… then her dragon parent is killed by humans. Will she fall to vengeance?

The God of Nishi-Yuigahama Station (Nishi Yuigahama-eki no Kami-sama) is a novel about a train disaster that claims many lives… or rather it’s about what happens after, as a rumor of ghosts of the dead passengers has brought their loved ones there to see if they can see them once more.

Back to manga for She Likes Gays, but Not Me (Kanojo ga Suki na Mono wa Homo de Atte Boku de wa Nai), a manga based on a critically acclaimed novel that ran in Comic Bridge. A gay high school boy hiding his sexuality discovers a young woman with a huge love of BL manga. Can he have a “normal” life with her?

Friday at the Atelier (Kinyōbi wa Atelier de) is probably the manga announcement that most interested me. It runs in Harta, and features a bored woman who agrees to be a nude model for a famous painter. Indeed, she agrees a little too easily. What’s up with her? This honestly looks pretty cute.

Yen Press also announced some new audiobooks, for Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Bungo Stray Dogs… and Baccano!. The last one has me delighted, as the Baccano! fandom is small but fierce.

After this, I would have gone to Dark Horse’s panel, but it appears they didn’t license any new titles. They did say they’re reprinting some Berserk volumes, so that’s nice.

Kodansha Manga began with a big announcement: a new manga, The Spellbook Library, from the creator of Is Love The Answer. And it’s coming out in English first, on the Kodansha app. It kind of sounds like a cuter version of Magus of the Library.

Speaking of that same creator, coming out digitally next month is Sayabito: Swords of Destiny, a post-apocalypse drama about human weapons. It ran in good! Afternoon.

Also out digitally in December is Don’t Tempt Me, VP! (Amayakasanaide Fuku Shachou: Danna-sama wa SSR), a josei title from Ane Friend about an OL, deep in debt thanks to her horrible ex, getting a proposition from her company’s vice-president: marriage.

Next we get a bunch of new licenses out next year. Versus has a story from the creator of One-Punch Man, and runs in Shonen Sirius. A group of humans try to make a stand against the evil demon lords.

Pupposites Attract (Seihantai na Watashitachi) is from Comic Pool, and is a romance between two humans of opposite personalities who have two dogs that are also very dissimilar.

The Boy I Loved Became the Jaded Emperor (Mukuchi na Koushaku Reijou to Reitetsu na Koutei – Zense Hirotta Kodomo ga Koutei ni Natte Imashita) is from Comic Zero-Sum. A prince whose life was saved as a child by a mysterious woman grows cold when she’s killed, however, he discovers her reincarnation is a duke’s daughter.

Snow & Ink (Yuki to Sumi) is a seinen title from Comic Days. A criminal accused of murder is purchased by the daughter of a rich family, and takes him on a journey to the north. Can they both escape their sordid pasts?

Home Office Romance (Telework Yotabanashi) is a one-shot from the creator of Sweat & Soap. It ran in Weekly Morning. A man whose life has been turned around by remote work falls for his grad student neighbor. But what about the poor office building landlords?

Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow-Up (Kusunoki-san wa Koukou Debut ni Shippai shite Iru) is a josei title from Comic Pool, about two high school students who each completely redid their look and personality for high school. Will they be able to hide everything?

Spoil Me Plzzz, Hinamori-san! (Amaesasete Hinamori-san!) is a yuri title from Comic Yuri Hime. Our heroine looks up to the “perfect maiden” of the school… only to find she’s a childish brat who needs to be spoiled or else.

Sheltering Eaves (Koboreru Yoru ni) is a josei title from Kiss (!) from the creator of Perfect World. A young boy who was abused by his mother ended up at an orphanage, cared for by another orphan. Now they’re both in high school, and he’s trying to wrestle with his past and his feelings.

Lastly, they’re doing an omnibus release of Your Lie in April, for those who just like to cry a lot.

Today has just two Industry panels I’d be attending – Azuki Manga and Star Fruit. Hope the last day is a good one!

I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness: I’ll Spoil Her with Delicacies and Style to Make Her the Happiest Woman in the World!, Vol. 2

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By Fukada Sametarou and Sakura Miwabe. Released in Japan as “Konyaku Haki Sareta Reijō o Hirotta Ore ga, Ikenai Koto o Oshiekomu -Oishi Mono o Tabesasete Oshare o Sasete, Sekai Ichi Shiawase na Shōjo ni Produce!-” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Yui Kajita.

Last time I said that how much you liked this series depended on how much you could put up with its one joke, that of the protagonist using the word “naughty” to mean things other than sex. Thankfully, there is far less of that in this second book. That said, there’s still a caveat here. How much you like this series now depends on how much you can deal with the syrupy sweetness of it. This is clearly not meant to be a long-runner, as Allen and Charlotte realize their feelings and confess to each other over the course of the fist half of this book. There are, in the words of one of the other characters, the “pure” sort of couple, the kind where you have to look away when they hold hands as the light is too blinding.

Things are much the same in Allen’s mansion… even if he finds out that its previous owner is not quite as vanished as he would like. That said, there is still the issue of Charlotte being wanted by her kingdom, dead or alive. And the fact that he sees a legendary bounty hunter and his goons hanging around the town, waiting for her. Still, all that pales in comparison to the most important thing: confessing to her. Can he do so smoothly and lovingly? Or will it accidentally come out in the heat of the moment when she’s kidnapped by a monster? And even if they do become a couple, what about Charlotte’s sister? The only one of her abusive family who truly cared about her? Is she doing all right? Or has the stress of the whole situation made her become… a delinquent?

This is definitely a book that gets better as it goes along. The first chapter, with the elf who’s also a novelist, had me groaning and rolling my eyes, and was not all that fun except in the places where it focused on the couple’s cuteness. Better was the “let’s have a date while avoiding assassins” chapter, which has a very obvious punchline, but it’s a punchline we don’t mind, because the purity of the heroine is just that good. The best part of the book is the back half, where Allen and Charlotte return to his old school, where his father has asked him to deal with a little problem: Natalia, Charlotte’s younger sister. This had a lot of great comedy and character building, and Natalia is adorable in a “she can beat me up and she’s only 7 years old” sort of way.

This isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s inoffensive enough, and the next volume is, I think, the final one. Still have that pesky wanted poster to deal with. If you are the sort to buy a sugar donut and sprinkle more sugar on it, this might be for you.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 5: Avatar of a Goddess, Vol. 7

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

Covers always spoil of course, but this one perhaps spoils a bit more than most. That said, we were due. Given that Rozemyne keeps being engaged to various people, as well as the clear “we are each other’s destined forever” relationship she has with Ferdinand, keeping her looking nine years old forever is a non-starter. That said, this is only one of the huge things to happen in this book. The time for set up volumes is done, we’re now ready to fire off all the guns on the wall. Fourth year? What fourth year? Instead we get war, or “true ditter” as the book calls it, with Rozemyne being forced to choose between the life of one man and the fate of the entire kingdom and chooses the one man, because really what has the kingdom ever done for her? And honestly, she has a point. In other news, Letizia manages to pass Hannelore for “most unlucky person in the series”, though that naivete costs her a lot more.

The book starts off relatively normally. Rozemyne is headed back to school for her fourth year, and there’s a lot to do. She has to prepare for the move to the sovereignty, investigate the giant magic circle only she can see above the school, and of course get everyone to pass all their exams and get first in her year again. Sadly, that last one won’t happen, as while praying to the odd statue on the 2nd floor of the library, she is whisked away to meet the Gods. There she gets a book!… forced into her head, with so much knowledge that it’s painful. Worse, it’s not even the entire book – about 30% is with someone else. (Ferdinand. Come on, it’s Ferdinand, we all know.) In addition, after seeing that her “vessel” is far too tiny for all the mana she has, they get the God of Growth to give Rozemyne the body to match her age at last… which, unfortunately, means a lot of PAIN.

She gets back (yes, this is still a summary, it’s that kind of book) to find that the school year has come and gone without her (no first in class for her… heck, she may have to redo the year) and that Georgine’s plans are far more advanced than anyone realized. Everyone prepares to combat Georgine, but Rozemyne is mostly going to leave that to others. Then, um, Ferdinand is poisoned. And is slowly dying. And crying out to Rozemyne via a psychic link (we actually saw this before like 25 books ago, with Myne calling out to Lutz to save her, so kudos there) so that she knows exactly what’s going on. Now they have to go to war IMMEDIATELY, which means they need more manpower. Gosh, if only Rozemyne was best friends with a girl whose father was head of the most war-happy duchy around…

So yeah. It’s a lot. Oddly, despite the poisoning and general dire things going on, the Rozemyne sections are still the light-hearted part, if only as whenever we cut to someone else’s POV it’s much worse. Letizia is totally schnookered into being an attempted murderer, and might be executed, and she also essentially had the corpse of her closest ally thrown at her feet. Meanwhile, Detlinde is 100% OK with a foreign invasion as long as people continue to praise her and kowtow to her, though she perhaps is unaware that it’s all massively phony. (Her attendant isn’t, but sorry attendant, pretty sure you are also going to die by the end of this.) And then there’s Ferdinand, who still expects Rozemyne to have the common sense of this world, and also have an ounce of romance in her body, and she has neither of these things. Consciously, at least. Even if you don’t ship them, you have to feel bad for him.

Next time, TO WAR! Bookmaking will be taking a back seat for a while. Also, this series may end with Rozemyne as the supreme ruler of everyone. Be afraid.

A Royal Rebound: Forget My Ex-Fiancé, I’m Being Pampered by the Prince!, Vol. 3

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By Micoto Sakurai and Kuroyuki. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha ga Uwakiaite to Kakeochi Shimashita. Ōji Denka ni Dekiaisarete Shiawase nanode, Ima sara Modoritai to Iwarete mo Komarimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by A. M. Cola.

I’m afraid the law of diminishing returns is hitting this series very hard. I was surprised there was a second book after the first seemed self-contained, and was also surprised that there was a third after the second seemed to run out of things to talk about. And now here is the third, and we’re told in the afterword this is the final book. It stars Amelia. She’s very nice. She’s engaged to Sarge. He’s also really nice. He has three brothers. They’re all swell guys. They have fiancees. All the fiancees get along and have sleepovers together. But wait, didn’t this series start with her getting bullied at the academy? It’s OK, they’re reforming the academy so this sort of thing never happens again. Fortunately, there is a country next door where everything is still terrible, because otherwise this might be 210 pages of just wedding prep.

Unfortunately for Sarge and Amelia, the magical devices they gave to the Beltz Empire are not working the way that they work back home – in fact, in some cases they’re making the drought worse. Going to the Empire to try to figure things out, they find that the issue seems to be the Empire itself, which causes magic to drain at a much faster rate than back in Bedeiht. While there, they get caught up in a succession war and foil an attempted assassination, but honestly neither of those events seems to have much of an impact on our two leads, who are basically concerned with weather, crops, and nothing else. They need to track down what is draining all the magic, and do this before the Empire becomes too hot to live in – or before a war is started.

Honestly, that paragraph makes this sound a lot more exciting than it is. The closest we get to actual danger is when Sarge accidentally gets locked in a magical basement while trying to investigate it, but even when when they break in and get to him, he’s basically fine and far more concerned with magic circles. We also have to deal, throughout the book, with Amelia’s massive case of Imposter Syndrome, which verges on self-loathing. She absolutely refuses to take a compliment to the face, and insists that everyone else around her does the cool things, all she does is have the odd idea or two, not realizing that the ideas are the spark of inspiration that everyone is looking for. It’s meant to be adorable, instead I want to strangle her. In any case, we do finally resolve things and get the pile of weddings I suspected would take the entire book. We then get a honeymoon… which involves going back to Amelia’s hometown to do crop samples some more. Once a nerd couple, always a nerd couple.

This was probably two books too long, but didn’t do anything hideously wrong, apart from needing to take in conflict from an outside source because things are super lovely at home. I wish the cast a happy, dull as dirt life.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, Vol. 3

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By FUNA and Touzai. Released in Japan as “Rōgo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-Man-Mai no Kinka o Tamemasu” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Kodansha Books. Translated by Luke Hutton.

(A reminder that the English Vol. 3 is the equivalent of the Japanese Vol. 4.)

I feel a certain regret in my past choices. When I started to review I Shall Survive Using Potions!, I had only read the first volume of 80K Gold, and given Kaoru’s, um, tendency towards war crimes, I described 80K Gold as “beginning” FUNA, Make My Abilities Average as “intermediate”, and Potions as “hard”. The thing is, though, all of these series are essentially exactly the same. You could take Mile, Kaoru and Mitsuha and swap them into each other’s books and not much would have to change, except the Potions cast would wonder where their grumpy cuss went. They are all basically “a girl who looks younger than she really is wreaks havoc on a fantasy landscape, collecting other young girls along the way”. And boy, is much havoc wreaked in this volume. Mitsuha is going on a world tour, and she’s brought a camper van and her own barrel of war crimes.

Having vanquished the invading country with their newfangled ships and weapons, Mitsuha and company now have to tell the neighboring countries about the same danger. While also trying to get them to form an alliance, and possibly sell them some cool guns. A diplomatic team is put together… with Mitsuha as a supernumerary, not part of the actual team, so she can do whatever the hell she wants. She takes Sabina and Colette with her, and, after introducing the two of them to Japan and the wonders of Japanese food (and, after overeating, the wonders of Japanese toilets), she buys an RV that she names the Good Ship Lollipop and sets off in style and comfort… while occasionally waiting for the diplomatic party to catch up to her.

There are always a few light novel series that make me uncomfortable with where they sit on the political spectrum, and this is one of them. The author and the main character love their guns, and we get more discussion of them, along with which ones are best to use in which situation. The diplomatic mission amounts to blackmail most of the time, as basically the other countries have to give in or they won’t get any of Mitsuha’s armaments… and, after observing the effect of one rifle on their standard suit of armor, they HAVE to give in. It can feel a bit mean. She also wins over a new princess and solves the succession crisis for her (good) but also gets her addicted to gambling (bad). This series never gets too serious, unlike Potions, but there is some melancholy as Mitsuha realizes that her unaging self means that in a couple of years she will have to give up her Japanese life for good to avoid unwanted questions. It depresses her.

That said, it doesn’t depress her enough that she’s not rolling through a fantasy world in a camper van with her two child soldiers… erm, assistants at her side. As always, if you like FUNA, you’ll like this. If you don’t, you’ll hate this.

The Troubles of Miss Nicola the Exorcist, Vol. 2

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By Ito Iino and Kinokohime. Released in Japan as “Haraiya Reijō Nicola no Komarigoto” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Joshua Douglass-Molloy.

DRE Novels is a relatively recent imprint, and they don’t have any series longer than three volumes. So it’s no surprise that when they get a series that does really well – such as winning the Gold Medal in their light novel awards, as the first volume of this did – they’re going to tell them “hey, write more” even when the series wrapped up perfectly fine in the first book. It’s not all that hard. Nicola is, after all, a grumpy cuss, and the lack of life experience other than “exorcist” in her previous life and noble politeness in this one have left her ill-equipped for feelings of love. So she spends a bit of this book asking the other members of the cast what they think love is. That said, that’s not enough to sustain a second book. What is enough, though, is doubling down on the ‘exorcist’ part of the series and turning a lot of this into straight-up horror.

We pick up right where we left off at the end of the last book. Olivia is dead, Nicola and Sieghart like each other but she’s too embarrassed to own up to it on her end, and supernatural things still love Sieghart to death – and in some cases are trying to make that literal. Olivia’s death, unfortunately, means that Alois needs a new fiancee, and Nicola is one of only three candidates – and the top one, at that. The group decide to go on a trip to meet the other two fiancee candidates – Charlotte, daughter of a marquess and a maid who grew up starving on the streets till they were taken in and made an heir; and Elfriede, another marquess’ daughter who has been so sickly no one has seen her in years. There are a few surprises, as you might guess. Charlotte’s identity is a major shock. And what’s really happened to Elfriede is beyond the pale.

This isn’t quite as good as the first book, which makes sense given that it’s a sequel the author had to be talked into writing. Emma, Charlotte’s older sister, is far too underdeveloped a character given her role in the book’s plot, and there is a “I don’t want this to be TOO depressing” bit near the end that takes suspension of disbelief and tosses it out the window. The book excels, as you might expect, with Nicola, who remains very grumpy throughout, even as she tries to figure out what these feelings she has for Sieghart are and why everyone else already knows that she has them. There’s also the horror, especially in the back half. This book comes with a big old “child death” warning, and we see the brutality of some of these deaths. But it’s not done to shock but to horrify, and is handled very well. If the series ends here, I would not mind the author writing more horror.

Will the series end here? Well, Nicola has actually put a name to her love, but they’re still not actually married, so who knows? Till then, this doesn’t have as many dead children as Roll Over and Die, but it makes the deaths count more. (Also, why do I keep bringing up Roll Over and Die in my reviews lately?)