Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Reviews

The Tatami Time Machine Blues

by

By Tomihiko Morimi and Yusuke Nakamura, based on the play “Summer Time Machine Blues” by Makoto Ueda. Released in Japan as “Yojōhan Time Machine Blues” by Kadokawa. Released in North America by HarperVia. Translated by Emily Balistrieri.

I had mixed feelings about The Tatami Galaxy as a novel, as I appreciated the story, the writing, and the other characters, but the nameless protagonist drove me nuts. We honestly spent far too much time inside his head, to the detriment of my enjoyment. If only, I probably did not think at the time but should have, there could be a book with the same cast but where events happen so fast and require so much action that the protagonist does not have all that much time to be a pretentious ass? I was probably yearning for a book just like this one. Taking a pre-existing play written by frequent collaborator Makoto Ueda before The Tatami Galaxy was written (it has a famous live-action film of its own) and putting the Tatami Galaxy characters in it is a fantastic idea, mostly as it turns this into a comedic farce. And boy do these characters work well in that genre.

This is not a sequel to the original, but more an “alternate story”. The setup is the same. The narrator lives in a dilapidated apartment complex, he has his terrible best friend, his cool beauty crush, and the annoying guy who’s been a college student for at least ten years now. The plot starts when the remote for the complex’s one air conditioner, in the narrator’s room, is broken and it’s the hottest time of the year. This is a problem, as they’re busy doing things like making Akashi’s movie about a time traveler going to the Shinsengumi period and turning them all into slackers. Then a *real* time machine shows up, and they get the bright idea to go back in time and grab the air conditioner remote before it gets broken. But… doesn’t this create a time paradox?

The discussion of time paradoxes and closed time loops is interesting, but honestly it’s just an excuse for madcap antics and the narrator freaking out at said madcap antics. The narrator has the same problem he had in Tatami Galaxy – he wants to ask Akashi out but is too much of a coward – but aside from one section in the middle he is not allowed to dwell on this, and honestly his problem ends up being solved by the time loop and Akashi, who (as in the first book) has the patience of a saint. There’s also a time traveler from the future, whose identity is so obvious that even spoiling it here would feel lame, but who allows the plot to happen. And there’s Ozu being terrible, and Higuchi being annoying, and Hanuki being a free spirit, etc. This doesn’t have the grand feel of the last quarter of Tatami Galaxy, but it’s not aiming for that. And honestly, it may be the true canon. The narrator and Akashi come up with the plot for The Tatami Galaxy towards the end, and even name it. So perhaps that’s the fiction and this is the reality.

If you enjoyed the first book, or the anime, this is a must read, and go watch the anime too. Honestly, maybe Morimi should use pre-existing plots more often.

I Guess This Dragon Who Lost Her Egg to Disaster Is My Mom Now, Vol. 1

by

By Suzume Kirisaki and Cosmic. Released in Japan as “Saigai de Tamago o Ushinatta Dragon ga Nazeka Ore o Sodate Hajimeta” by M Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy this new series, which I mostly decided to read because, well, I was reading CIW’s other two debuts this month, so hey. It begins with the old chestnut of “adventuring party doesn’t see the value in strategy so gets rid of the weak guy who’s actually the pillar of their support”, though most of the time those people are merely thrown out, not butchered and left for dead. The “I’m being raised by a dragon but we can’t communicate well, can we become a real mother and daughter?” plot is arguably the main one, and it’s a lot better, reaching a few levels of heartwarming along the way. That said, the big reason I enjoyed this book as much as I did was the ghost story. Not a literal ghost, but the idea that everyone is haunted by the presence of this guy, but they can’t remember his name. That’s fantastic.

Our nameless protagonist is, as noted above, murdered by his party members. They’re on a very dangerous mountainside and decide to use his corpse as bait to get away from monsters. As he crawls towards his inevitable death, he is picked up by a dragon. Back in the dragon’s lair, she finds she’s now a 10-year-old girl, and has lost most of her memories of her past. The dragon is clearly trying to raise her as a daughter, but has no idea what humans need in terms of food, etc., so they both struggle for a bit. That said, the previously magic-less protagonist, now named Lushera, can now breathe fire and manipulate lightning and other dragon-ey things. Meanwhile, back in the town the adventuring party came from, they’re highly disturbed by his old guild badge, which has his name blocked out but has stats that are out of this world.

The other important thing about this book is that the author calls it a “transsexual fantasy”, as the male protagonist, on being nearly killed and then reborn as a dragon’s child, is now a different gender. This is handled pretty well, mostly through subtext, as we see Lushera’s discomfort when having to wear girl’s underwear for the first time, and her constant astonishment at the fact that her new body is “cute” and “pretty”. But yes, it was the “ghost story” that fascinated me. Lushera’s old life is erased by (presumably) dragon magic, but it was just her name, and everything she did – which was a lot more than the stupid party that killed her thought – is still heavily influential on those in the town. We also learn the tragic reason she and the party were there in the first place, which neatly ties in to the new relationship she has with her dragon mother, one where she struggles to admit that it’s love for a parent.

This is another one of those “there’s more to the story, but it also could easily end in this volume” sort of books. I’d definitely put it in the “better than expected” category.

Stuck in a Time Loop: When All Else Fails, Be a Villainess, Vol. 2

by

By Sora Hinokage and Tsukasa Kiryu. Released in Japan as “Loop kara Nukedasenai Akuyaku Reijō wa, Akiramete Sukikatte Ikirukoto ni Kimemashita” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Andria McKnight.

There is apparently a 3rd and final volume of this coming soon, which surprises me, as right until the end I thought that this book was the equivalent of that new Shonen Jump series that is told “you have 3 chapters to wrap up all your plotlines”. This volume hits the ground running and does not let up in terms of reveals, backstories, and monster fights. Thankfully, Selene is no longer stuck in a time loop, as at least in this book she manages to make it all the way through without resetting. Unfortunately, bad things keep trying to happen to her, leading to a change in her goal: escape this time loop’ is now secondary to ‘live freely and happily and screw everyone else’. Well, everyone else except Dier, of course. The romance in this series is so mild as to be almost nonexistent, but it is there, and deep down Selene is probably “quite fond” of Dier. Just don’t ask her to say it.

Unfortunately, Selene, Dier, and the king find that even taking all the other powers from the guardians is not enough to change the mystery stone tablet. Fortunately (?) for Selene, a solution presents itself fairly quickly: her little sister Soleil has finally gained the powers of the sun, and her mother is now telling Selene to step down. Selene says no, and so the two of them have to have a fight to determine who gets to be head of house. Which… makes little sense, given that Selene is a master of shadow and Soleil just came into her power last week. What’s stepmom’s real agenda here? Well, it’s a big one, and is tied deeply into their family, the past of this country, and Selene’s own late mother. Unfortunately, none of these revelations are particularly good news, and Selene spends most of the book in battle.

I was pleased to see that little sister was not evil as I’d theorized at the end of my first review. She just has an evil mom. That said, Soleil is not all that interesting, being the standard “yes, mother” daughter who must break free of her shackles, etc. Selene is the star of the show, and the reason we’re here. I’ve mentioned her emotional walls before, and they’re still very high, making the narrative sometimes feel as if she’s reading off a phone book when she’s actually facing off against monsters who have possessed her family. The best part of the book is probably Selene’s father, who I had written off as a minor part of the series, returning and showing that, like his daughter, he does actually feel things but has tremendous difficulty expressing them. This forces Selene to have her one and only major emotional moment in the book. That said, it’s only about halfway through the book, so she doesn’t “change for the better” or anything.

The cover to the third volume, due out in Japan next month, has the characters walking into the twilight but looking back at the reader with a smile, and you know what that means. I’ll be back, and continue to hope Selene has a love epiphany or something.

A Misanthrope Teaches a Class for Demi-Humans, Vol. 1

by

By Kurusu Natsume and Sai Izumi. Released in Japan as “Jingai Kyōshitsu no Ningen-girai Kyōshi: Hitoma-sensei, Watashi-tachi ni Ningen o Oshiete Kuremasu ka……?” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Linda Liu.

Look, I appreciate a surprise as much as the next person. I love it when a book I thought was going to be one thing turns out to be something totally different. But sometimes there is also joy in picking something up because you know what it’s going to be, and have it be exactly that. This is one of those books. The plot description made it sound exactly like the Japanese sub-genre of “new teacher enters the lives of their students and changes them for the better”. Now, Hitoma is never going to come close to Onizuka, or even Kumiko Yamaguchi. But that’s OK, because these series live and die on the strength of their student cast, and these students are fun, and they do have one or two big surprises. It helps that we don’t have to deal with a huge cast herd. This is a school for demi-humans, and there’s only four in their “senior year”.

Hitoma is a man in his late twenties, and he’s been holed up in his family home ever since a traumatic experience when teaching led him to quit. But he spots an ad for a teacher at an all-girls school in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, with great pay and benefits. He arrives for the interview, and discovers the catch: this is a school for non-humans trying their best to become human. He’ll be in charge of the advanced class, which has upbeat mermaid girl Minazuki, teasing bird girl Haneda, sullen rabbit girl Usami, and shy wolf-girl Ohgami. Each have a wish that can only happen if they learn how to be human and graduate, and Hitoma is here to help them. That said, the graduation rate is very low…

As you might guess, there are individual chapters dedicated to each girl and her circumstances. Minazuki is descended from Poseidon, and really should be mermaid nobility, but wants to be a dancer. Ohgami has a different personality every full moon, one that is her polar opposite, and also is a reverse werewolf. Both sides have suicidal tendencies and a desire to sacrifice. As for Usami and Haneda, the spoiler is the point there, so I won’t go into detail. They’re all fun. As for Hitoma, “misanthrope” is not really all that accurate, “depressed” fits better. This does not stop him for earnestly helping all the girls – he’s a good teacher. (They tease him about teacher-student relationships, but he never rises to the bait – he IS a good teacher). Given the cover of the 2nd book has three different girls, I wondered if the entire cast would leave the series at the end of this volume. That’s not true, but it shows just how much everyone has grown that it’s totally plausible.

So yeah, Book 2 is the latest out in Japan, and as noted, there are different girls on the cover. I’ll be here for it, though. This is heartwarming and life-affirming, and I greatly enjoyed it.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 23

by

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

Do you enjoy Re: Zero but feel that it’s gotten a bit too complacent? Are you upset that everyone now tends to get along and talk through their problems like reasonable adults? Do you miss the early volumes when flipping each page felt like crawling through broken glass? I have terrific news for you! Subaru’s lost his memories, and we’re starting all over from zero! , Now, to be fair to Subaru, he actually IS pretty good about things, at first. My worry was that he would immediately try to hide that he’ lost his memory and try to fake it, which absolutely would not work with this crowd. So he confesses right away. Sadly, he is unaware of Return by Death, but he very quickly finds out, and also very quickly leads to him realizing that someone keeps killing him. So he DOES then try to hide that he’s lost his memory. Which does not go well, because see above.

So yes, going back to the start of the book, Subaru has lost his entire memory of this world, thinking he just got here from Japan. He tells Emilia and Beatrice, who are clearly upset but are used to bullshit, so they cope as best they can. And Subaru is not the only one confessing secrets. “Anastasia” finally comes clean and decides to admit that she’s Echidna (no, not that Echidna, the other Echidna) and that she’s trying to save Anastasia before her life runs out. Unfortunately, as he wanders around trying to figure out what to do next, Subaru is pushed off a staircase to his death. At first thinking this was some sort of dream precognition, he makes another attempt to wobble through the same events… and suddenly finds half the cast also dead. As he realizes that this book just became a locked room mystery, Subaru reacts in a nostalgic way: by completely losing his shit and being 100% paranoid.

I admit, this book hurt to read and I wanted it to be over with as fast as possible. (It does help that it’s one of the shorter Re: Zero volumes to date.) I appreciate everyone’s character development, and seeing it removed it not ironic, it’s just mean. That said, this is very well done. Julius’s frustration, Rem’s furious disbelief, and Emilia’s unwavering love are all done incredibly well. The final scene with Emilia and Subaru is like a reward for the rest of the volume, and it will touch your heart. (Also, thank goodness that Re: Zero is one of those books that uses honorifics, because the moment Subaru says “Emilia-chan” when he’s trying to hide his memory loss you can see everyone go “WTF”.) And then there’s Meili, who spends half the book as a corpse but might get the most development of all, and whose backstory is both grotesque and a bit heartwarming, like most of the cast.

We end the volume with another death, but at least this time Subaru has decided, memories or no, to start fighting back. Which is good, as the culprit is clearly inside the house, and is also not any of the cast we see in this book. A great Re: Zero volume, despite the pain.

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer, Vol. 10

by

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

As I write this, we’re a little under halfway through the anime version of this series, which is quite enjoyable provided you don’t mid that it has the animation budget of one peanut. It’s clearly an advertisement for the books, which just wrapped up in Japan. Unfortunately, despite my saying in my review of 9 that 10 is the last, it turns out that I am wrong, and there’s another book on the way. That said, this definitely has the feeling of an epilogue, and I think that’s fine. Yes, one of the bad guys got away, but honestly I’m OK with ignoring him for now and concentrating entirely on everyone going back to Bel’s hometown and settling into in their new huge mansion to match all the daughters that Bel has accumulated throughout this series. And, of course, his new wife. As for Ange, well, she’s had a lot of dad lately, and believe it or not does love being an adventurer more, so she’s headed back to Orphen, with one extra team member.

We’re back in Turnera! There are lots of kids to play around with and train to hunt and fish. There’s Belgrieve and Satie, who are now married but honestly seem far too comfortable and passionless for others in their group, so a secret second wedding is decided on so we get a real love confession. And then there’s Mit. His mana is still an issue, and the best way to deal with it is to build a dungeon that uses the excess mana to spawn fiends that can then be killed by adventurers. Of course, the question is where to put a freshly built dungeon? Should it be Orphen, which has the guild and is used to this sort of thing? Or Bordeaux, which has been growing rapidly but could use a dungeon to become a city unto its own. Or… should it be Turnera? Can we really turn Bel’s sleepy village into a dungeon tourism industry?

There were some moments in this I really liked. I appreciated that it took Helvetica’s crush on Belgrieve seriously, and also that it was not something that she could just give up on when seeing Bel and Satie being all mild and sedate at each other. (Satie spends a lot of this book acting like a standard housewife, but given the last twenty years of her life before this, I’d say she’s due.) They needed to overtly love each other to make it easier for her to back off. I also liked Angelica telling Maria about her own demonic heritage. She’s not only come to terms with it, but is OK with being used as a guinea pig if it will mean helping to solve the problem. Though Maria doesn’t really believe her. There’s also a great short story at the end showing us how Angeline, Anessa and Miriam first teamed up, and how incredibly awkwardly things started off. It was sweet.

This series runs on good vibes, and if we get more of those in the finale, I’m find with it.

Sasaki and Peeps: Betrayals, Conspiracies, and Coups d’État! The Gripping Conclusion to the Otherworld Succession Battle ~Meanwhile, You Asked for It! It’s Time for a Slice-of-Life Episode in Modern Japan, but We Appear to Be on Hard Mode~

by

By Buncololi and Kantoku. Released in Japan as “Sasaki to Pi-chan” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

The joy of this series is the genre mashup, of course, but that can also make it very hard to take at times. When the author does a genre, they go all in. This means the fantasy world is filled with throne wars, elves, dragons, and last minute plot twists. The “psychic” part of the story involves people using powers to control others and create chaos all around them. It also veers into a sentai show here, and it’s very deliberate. The Neighbor Girl’s supernatural part is very much standard “death game”, even though she and her demonic partner don’t get to wipe out anyone this book. But Neighbor Girl (who we get a last name for at last – Kurosu) also brings another sub-genre to the plate, which is hideous abuse. That’s the “slice of life” in this volume’s subtitle, and it absolutely goes off the rails when she, Sasaki and Futarishizuka attend the wake from hell. This is getting an anime soon, and I imagine making this all cohere seamlessly will be a nightmare.

Sasaki has a lot on his plate. He’s attending the aforementioned wake, where we learn that apparently Neighbor Girl’s family has money, but also that literally everyone in the family despises her; he’s dealing with the aftermath of the sea monster from the last book, as he and Hoshizaki are almost lured to America with the promise of a ton of money, stopped only by their complete lack of English skills. An unknown enemy decided to mind control people into causing a riot near Hoshizaki’s apartment, presumably to do to it what they did with Sasaki’s old place; and there is, of course, the fantasy world, where it appears that the first prince has betrayed the nation and is collaborating with the enemy. Can he even find time to settle down and get some actual sleep? He can in the fantasy world, but certainly not in Japan.

I tend to go on about Neighbor Girl too much in these reviews, and her story vanishes after the first third of the book, so I will just note that that slap made me scream out loud, and also that she is a ticking time bomb that Sasaki is ignoring but Futarishizuka certainly isn’t. We do get to learn a lot more about Hoshizaki in this book, though I suspect she would not be happy with that fact. Unsurprisingly, at school she seems to have no friends and looks the stereotypical bookish nerd – her overly made up face on the job is the attempt to look “grown up”. Her younger sister straight up thinks her part-time job is sex work, and Sasaki has to reassure her while also giving nothing away about what the job actually is. She’s also clearly got a crush on Sasaki, but is sadly running a very distant third, behind Futarishizuka (easily the front runner) and Neighbor Girl.

This is a good book, and has an excellent plot twist near the end I did not expect. It’s also a book that rewards close character analysis, which I like. If you can put up with the occasional lolicon joke, it’s a definite winner. And it appears next book we’re adding aliens.

Days with My Stepsister, Vol. 1

by

By Ghost Mikawa and Hiten. Released in Japan as “Gimai Seikatsu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Eriko Sugita.

I’ve read two previous light novel series written by Ghost Mikawa, and I’ve enjoyed both of them. The author sort of has a type for his main character. Someone who’s a bit overly intellectual, very logical, tries to understand things and put them in boxes. The fun of My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me is seeing this character try to deal with a love triangle that cannot simply be resolved by a game of addition and subtraction. With Looks Are All You Need, it was seeing the main character and his sister immersed in a ‘academy for the performing arts’ environment, and how to navigate an industry that requires emotional heft. This new series also has a very logical, matter of fact protagonist who tends to consult self-help books to understand people, and he now has to deal with his new stepsister, who is – seemingly – exactly the same. This shows a bit of promise, especially as we see the two are not as matter of fact as all that. Sadly, it’s not done well.

Yuuta lives alone with his father, as his parents got divorced after his mother was having an affair. He is thus rather startled that his father has decided to get married again. Even more surprising, he’ll be getting a stepsister in the deal, who judging by the photo the mom sent is a cute little kid. Of course, when they actually meet we find that the stepsister is in fact his age, and simply hates having her photo taken – that’s the one photo the mom had. Saki, though, turns out to want from this new relationship exactly what Yuuta wants – nothing. No requirements, no expectations. There will be no “big brother” names here. And honestly, this works out fine at first. But as the awkward, introverted Yuuta learns more about his new stepsibling, he ends up trying to help her anyway.

The big issue with this book is that the two leads tend to talk to each other like they’re reading out of an encyclopedia. There’s a scene where he walks by her room and sees her underwear drying (it’s raining that day), and gets embarrassed. The way the two resolve this feels like they’re not looking at each other, but reading out of a textbook. It’s meant to show us that both of them have been deeply wounded by the breakup of their parent’s first marriages, and how they have difficulty trusting others or getting close to people. In reality, it just makes me grind my teeth. Yuuta’s co-worker at the bookstore he part-times at, a college woman, is sadly exactly the same, so that doesn’t help. I was so happy when a happy, genki girl from their school came over to play video games with them, as it was a relief to hear someone with real human emotions out of control.

Still a fan of this author’s other series, but I have no desire to continue this one. Consider this review the essay I’m handing in to the author as to why I’m terminating our reading agreement for the foreseeable future, in a way that benefits both parties.

Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, Vol. 7

by

By Natsume Akimoto and Kakao Lanthanum. Released in Japan as “Sentouin, Hakenshimasu!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Noboru Akimoto.

It’s been over two years since the last volume of this series came out in English, but honestly this one doesn’t take too long to get back into the swing of things. There’s rarely a lot you have to remember with Combatants Will Be Dispatched! except for the one maxim “everyone is horrible”. If you remember that, you’re good. So we have Six saying that he needs to sexually harass a woman just in case doesn’t know what sexual harassment is when bad men do it, Alice and Six gleefully sending their “colleagues” all around the world and not bothering to bring them back, and a new nation where a new princess competes to see if she can have as black a heart as Tillis seems to. Oh yes, and as the cover might tell you, we also have Belial, one of Six’s three bosses, whose idea of how to solve a problem is “punch it”, but whose backstory comes as a big surprise to both Alice and the reader.

After the events of the last book, Six and company are enjoying a bit of downtime while they work on building their new city. This downtime is occasionally interrupted by Little Bashin, who is a native tribe girl who can’t speak the language… supposedly (we may have another chuuni here) and a large dragon which is too much for everyone to handle, except maybe Belial, who is asked to to come over to help out Six. She then proceeds to make her way across all the nations, cowing them into submission with sheer firepower and blackmail, and unites most everyone under the Kisaragi banner. Which… makes you wonder about the competency of Six and Alice. Was brute force the answer all along? That said, they have one problem that can’t quite be solved by punching it: Tiger Man has kidnapped a nation’s princess. Who is a little girl. And it’s Tiger Man. Uh oh.

So yes, the usual word of warning for this series, pedophilia is used as a joke for “hilarious” laughs, though the little princess is not in any danger herself and in fact asked to be kidnapped. That said, everyone being a terrible person is the vibe here, and if you enjoy that there’s a lot to like. Six is a terrible person, but he’s smarter than Kazuma, and Alice is smarter than both of them. The Belial focus is appreciated, as is her backstory, where it reveals she was a yamato nadesico sort who Lilith’s enhancements “accidentally” brainwashed/mindwiped, though it’s fairly clear by the end of the book that she remembers who she was but is not particularly inclined to return to that. The main question is what happens now, as Belial has pretty much finished 95% of their “to do” list.

Expect another long wait before we find out, as the eighth book is not out in Japan yet. If you like KonoSuba but wish everyone was scuzzier, this is still your go-to series.

Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke, Vol. 4

by

By Ichibu Saki, Nemusuke, and Ushio Shirotori. Released in Japan as “Moto, Ochikobore Koushaku Reijou desu” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Andrew Schubauer.

Last time I said that this series remained OK, and that I hoped the fourth book was the final one. And it certainly FEELS like a final book. All the plotlines are wrapped up. The bad guys are taken care of. Our heroine is ready to marry her love once they are of age. And yet in the afterword we’re told that the author hopes to write more adventures of Claire and Vik after the wedding. So, I will admit, I do appreciate the fact that a romance book does not have to end with a marriage or end just because the characters may have aged past the series’ market. That said, I admit my reaction to seeing this news was “oh hell no”. There’s nothing hideously wrong with this book aside from an odd disconnect I’ll get to. But there are too many fallen duke’s daughters out there for me to care about this one, who is pleasant but oh so dull.

Things are going well for Claire, aside from a few hiccups. Charlotte is still missing after the events of the last book, and seems to have completely vanished from the entire country. Moreover, the magical tornado that forced her to time loop is still on its way, and she wants to make sure her magic is strong enough that she won’t exhaust it and trigger the same thing happening. She’s even, with Vik’s help, able to get her old dream job back of being Isabella’s governess. Unfortunately, she gets an invitation from Prince Gilbert, who is prince of a neighboring country, to come visit. Just her. Not her fiance. Suspicious. She goes, with Lui at her side as her bodyguard/attendant, and finds that Prince Gilbert is nothing whatsoever like what everyone thought of him. She also finds something even more annoying – Charlotte.

Getting the really obvious spoiler out of the way (I feel no shame, the author doesn’t try to hide it), Gilbert ALSO is a Japanese isekai. He’s not a gamer, but his sister was, and drilled into him her favorite route. Unfortunately, her favorite route is Claire’s. Even more unfortunately, all the other routes seem to lead to everyone in his kingdom being killed. This actually DID catch my interest, and could have led to some interesting things going on. Unfortunately, Chaire’s somewhat… unique relationship with the source (her memories of Japan are muddled and mostly come in dreams) and her desire to not tell her dear friends they’re fictional mean that resolving this by just saying “stop treating me like an NPC” isn’t happening. Meaning we get a lot of tedious “comedy” as Gilbert tries to woo Claire by hitting game flags only to fail over and over.

I did like the epilogue showing us Charlotte’s final fate. Assuming it is her final fate. Certainly, I’m perfectly happy leaving the Formerly Fallen Daughter here, even if there are later adventures.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 5

by

By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn.

In the last volume we saw that discovering the wonders of living inside a healthy and hale body broke down Reirin’s emotional reserve, to the point that when she was confronted with a horrible tragedy she broke down in tears. In this volume we see that the experience of having a friend who doesn’t spoil her and treat her like she’s made of fragile glass has broken her reserves even more without her knowing it. Unfortunately, this friend is also the sort of person to have every single emotion, no matter what it is, come out as “anger”. And this is very unfortunate, because for once in her life, Reirin is completely unable to cope. As for said friend, Keigetsu, well, she’s throwing wild tantrums and raving that she’ll never, ever apologize, but that’s far less surprising. Unfortunately, the timing on this is really awful, as the maidens are having a competition for the Top Spot, and the knives are coming out.

Three months have passed since the events of the last book, and it’s now time for Rite of Reverence, where the five maidens all compete to see who can show the most devotion to the Emperor. This is a hotly contested battle, with the respective house fortunes rising and falling depending on the placement of said maidens. As such, Keigetsu is even more stressed out than usual. And she’s not the only one, as we get a good look at the other three maidens in the series. Seika is trying to do this in an honorable way, but is cowed by her consort’s power and threats. Houshun is discovering that her cutely incompetent act is starting to show its cracks, and her own consort can see them. And Kasui is on a detective mission, desperately trying to find out what happened years ago that led to the death of her sister and the mere mention of her name being forbidden in the inner court. As for Reirin? She’s fiiiiiiiiine.

This is an amazing book in an amazing series, frankly, and I am desperate to read the next one because, of course, it ends on a cliffhanger. Reirin and Keigetsu get into a huge fight, and you can absolutely sympathize with both of them. After four books of finding Keigetsu’s tantrums cute and funny, Reirin is finally hurt by them, and finds her powers of observation and judgment severely curtailed. Of course, that may also be the fact that she’s getting progressively more ill after getting her foot burned in a murder attempt and diving into an icy lake to try to save Keigetsu’s poetry. I think everyone else in the cast was too stunned at seeing the supposedly deathly ill Reirin doing these things to bother to be angry at her. Keigetsu, though, expresses all her emotions through rage. Including worry, and concern, and guilt. Not great. Especially when Reirin genuinely screws up in a conversation with Kasui and ends up beaten up and dying at the bottom of a well.

That said, the cliffhanger is not “will Reirin be found before she dies?”, because the author is aware we know she will. Also, this is a book where the main premise is bodyswapping. So the cliffhanger is, instead, how are we going to stop Reirin’s Roaring Rampage of Revenge this time? Everyone, I beg you, read this.

The Holy Grail of Eris, Vol. 4

by

By Kujira Tokiwa and Yu-nagi. Released in Japan as “Eris no Seihai” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

A few days ago I reviewed the 4th volume of The Sorcerer’s Receptionist, a series that ended naturally at three volumes and got a fourth anyway, and lamented the fact that sometimes authors and publishers just can’t let something end naturally. That said… there are exceptions. Because here I am reading The Holy Grail of Eris, a series that ended naturally at three volumes and got a fourth anyway, and am absolutely delighted that I got to spend more time seeing these characters get into wacky hijinks again. I guess it simply comes down to the main character. TSR has a tsundere who is constantly in denial, and the fourth book, despite a love epiphany, doubles down on that. Connie, by contrast, is very confident in the love she and Randolph have for each other, and instead struggles with the fact that he’s married to his job rather than her, even when they go on vacation. That said, Connie can’t seem to go on vacation without thrilling adventure following behind her, so she’s not one to talk.

The Kingdom of Adelbide is asked to check in on Ulysses, the young Faris royal with a tendency towards being in peril. He also wants to see his “dear friend” Lucia, who he bonded with in the last book when they were in mortal peril together. So a contingent, including Connie, Randolph, and Scarlett, is sent to the island of El Sol – and Connie has another errand from Adolphus – take Scarlett’s mother’s ashes back to where she grew up. Of course, once they get there chaos begins to unfold. The local noble, Antonio, dislikes Connie on sight; Connie ends up getting dragged into a series of petty lawsuits that need an arbiter who can insult everyone till they surrender (fortunately, she can get possessed and let Scarlett do it for her), and most importantly, the terrorists form the first three books are still around, and they’re after a shipment of fireworks that were being sent for the Summer Carnival festival. Is Connie going to have any time at all for a vacation with her fiance?

Well, no, of course not. That’s not why we read Holy Grail of Eris. We read it for the intrigue, and for the thrills, and for the still hilarious otome game biographies that come after every chapter. Connie may still need Scarlett to possess her when a debate is needed, but she’s perfectly fine on her own when it comes to things like high-speed boat chases… well, it’s a rowboat, so medium-speed boat chases. There’s also a sense that she’s going to end up being one of the many Women In Power in this series, whether she likes it or not, and I honestly think that it will be good for her. Meanwhile Antonio is feeling like a third wheel in the relationship between Lucia and Ulysses (who gets kidnapped, again, but has gotten much better at handling it) and, well, he is, but it’s a toy ship, so we don’t need to worry about breaking anyone’s heart till they get older.

This genuinely seems like the end of the series, a bonus book for fans who wanted more. It was a delight.

A Tale of the Secret Saint, Vol. 5

by

By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Kevin Ishizaka. Adapted by Matthew Birkenhauer.

I have to be honest, I should not enjoy this series as much as I do. It really does a lot of things wrong. At its core is broad humor involving a heroine who misunderstands almost everything everyone says to her, and that’s fine. In fact, it’s almost a genre in itself. And she’s really, really good at not getting it. But it also manages to bring up her very real PTSD that comes from her actual death and everything leading up to her death, to the point where she’s actively repressing the worst memories of it. This is also quite well written and handled with care, but the two plotlines really should not co-exist next to each other as well as they do. In addition, this volume once again is 2/3 of an actual book, followed by endless extra side stories that either tell other character’s POV of what Fia narrated for us, or Fia’s wacky adventures as Serafina in the past. Where we find she was also a giant ditz.

After the events of the previous two books, Fia is now officially a knight, but before she can get down to the business of protecting the royal family, she’s given some time off. She uses this to go north to visit her older sister, aka the one sibling that did not treat her like hot garbage growing up, and also check in with Zavilia, who is no longer a tiny little dragon familiar but has become King of the Mountain – literally. He even has his own dragon cult, though there’s some implication that this is mostly due to pure terrifying force of will. Unfortunately, when she gets back to her home, she’s also met by Guy Osbern, who used to “tease” her as a kid by calling himself a legendary demon. Sadly, he had no real way of knowing the very real trauma that she had in the past from demons, and seeing him again brings it all back.

Again, for the most part this is hilarious. Before she sets off on her journey she runs into “Green” and “Blue”, the royals from the neighboring kingdom who are still just random adventurers to her, and she takes them with her on her journey. Literally everyone except Fia can see they’re Very Important People, but she does not care. She also has a nice dose of accidentally using her saint powers and having to pretend that it’s for some random reason, though fortunately she doesn’t have to restore any severed arms here. Amidst all this, we do get actual plot, if only a bit. The past history of the kingdoms does not quite match up with Fia’s memory of her past from 300 years ago, and Kurtis knows why but does not want to upset Mia too much. What’s more, it turns out that they may not have defeated the real demon lord – and “the demon lord’s underling” is the one part of Fia’s memories that she’s still running away from in terror.

So: this is hilarious You will laugh. But there’s an odd current of deep tragedy also rolling through it, and the resulting taste should not work but does.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 4

by

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

There’s a short story volume due out next, but quite honestly, this one also feels a bit like a short story volume, detailing the wacky adventures of the cast on their summer break. There’s no real through line of plot except Masachika’s crippling self-hatred, and the cliffhanger is one I had sort of guessed, so for the most part this feels a bit disconnected. It is also the horniest book in the series, and this comes from a series that is already pretty horny. That said, it does have one of my least favorite things about light novels, which is the idea, held by both boys and girls, that a man having sexual thoughts is the same as the man doing sexual deeds. There are a whole lot of wacky harem manga situations in this book, and a lot of them lead to Masachika having an erection he’s trying to hide. And that’s OK. He’s a teenage boy. But it’s not OK for him, and he continues to consider himself the worst person in the world. It’s annoying.

The student council is going on a summer vacation to a beach house, but before that we have a few plots involving Masachika and Yuki being themselves. This involves a great deal of sex talk, a fair bit of sibling violence, and an amusement park visit where their secret identities end up getting exposed to Sayaka (who is shocked) and Nonoa (who’d already guessed). Oh yes, and Alya keeps coming over to Masachika’s house when everyone out to do homework, and so far… they’ve done homework. Which annoys her. At the beach house, we get bikinis, swimming, bathing, room switching, and a festival with fireworks, all of which are reasonably cute. Unfortunately, Masachika keeps assuming that he’s screwing everything up, and overcompensates to try to fix it, and ends up hating himself even more by the end of it. He ends up going back to the playground where he played with the foreign kid… who turns out to be someone he knows.

As is pretty typical in the genre, the reader ends up sympathizing with Alya heavily here, despite her accidentally getting groped when Masachika tries to save her from falling onto jagged rocks. (She even trots out the “take responsibility and marry me” chestnut, which I haven’t seen in quite some time.) There’s a whole lot of muttered Russian in this book, which Masachika understands but has to pretend he can’t, but really, she could not be more obvious. Even he gets it at the end of the book. But, as with so many other books in this genre, only one thing is stopping the two from being a couple, and it’s the man’s idea that he’s not good enough for her. To be fair, he has the trauma to back it up, and the scenes we get from his childhood in this book are as depressing as you’d expect. But it’s like eating a marshmallow sandwich where the bread is misery.

Next volume… won’t resolve this cliffhanger. Short story volume. Till then, if you like self-loathing and boobs, this is the perfect title for you.

Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade, Vol. 6

by

By Maito Ayamine and Cierra. Released in Japan as “Shinigami ni Sodaterareta Shoujo wa Shikkoku no Tsurugi wo Mune ni Idaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sylvia Gallagher.

Generally speaking, if you’re trying not to spoil yourself when reading a light novel, there are several things you need to do. Avoiding covers is almost impossible, but you can certainly avoid the color inserts, which tend to spoil. Don’t read the author’s afterword till you’ve finished the book, of course, as it often asks readers what they thought of the plot twist. And, of course, try not to read the table of contents, because chapter titles frequently spoil. And so (spoiling here, sorry), when I saw that the last chapter before the epilogue in this book was called “The Girl Defeated”, I knew what was going to happen. It wasn’t a big surprise, the series ends with the next book, so there had to be SOME point where Olivia loses a fight, just so she’s not all-powerful. That said, I was surprised anyway. The Girl Defeated is an accurate chapter title, but the chapter itself ends very happily. It’s the Epilogue that kills you.

We’re finally at the big battle between Olivia and Felix… well, OK, there are a few other big battles before that that don’t involve our heroes, but honestly, most of them feel like they’re padding out the book, and resolving a romance by having a superior officer say “hey, clueless guy, get married to the girl who has an obvious crush on you” is possibly the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in this series. The important bit, though, is that Olivia’s army is finally losing badly, mostly as the other side are simply better, more experienced soldiers. So she decides to gamble it all on a one-on-one fight with Felix, sending Ashton back to base and taking Claudia and a few others to forge a path to Felix. Their battle is cool, well-balanced, and a fair fight. Alas, this world is currently being taken over by an evil Dark God, and he interrupts things to gloat at Felix and generally be evil.

I have grown used to the fact that this series is very good at writing instant gratification, with scenes that work well as you read them but fall apart the moment you try to think more deeply about the subject. This is not a bad thing – popcorn entertainment is perfectly valid. But it can be hard to review. I did appreciate that (spoilers again, sorry) after spending the entire series searching for him, Olivia is finally reunited with Z right as she’s about to die – I get the sense that he wanted to let her grow at her own pace till he had to intervene. The whole “now I will teach you the ultimate final move” ending is pure shonen, but honestly it’s a delight seeing Olivia’s face as she’s finally reunited with her “father”. Less delightful is that pesky epilogue – I don’t expect a permanent death, as this series is not that dark despite its title, but it certainly ends the book on a sour note.

So great stuff, provided you don’t look too deeply, and provided you let your eyes glaze over whenever a male captain and his female adjutant have a conversation with each other. Tune in next time for the final book.