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Reviews

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: Cult Syndrome

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By Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Sometimes, as a writer, you get a great idea. It’s terrific, it works well as a character piece, and it’s also hilarious. There’s just one slight problem – it’s only about 45-50 pages long, and you’re writing a novel. So you put the idea in the middle of the book and hope for the best. That’s basically what we get with this 15th volume of KonoSuba. The scenes with Kazuma under Serena’s control are possibly some of the most hilarious in the entire series, Especially if you enjoy watching Kazuma behave like an utter asshole. Which I assume you do, as you’re reading a review of Vol. 15 of this series. The rest of the book is okay, but it feels just not quite as spectacular. It doesn’t help that it’s trying to set up a serious arc for the series’ least serious character, which means that we’re supposed to care about how she’s feeling at the same time as we admire her total uselessness. But then, that’s what KonoSuba does.

The Demon King’s army is not what it once was, and so Serena, one of its last demon generals, is trying to make a deal with Kazuma to just relax and take it easy and not attack the Demon King, something Kazuma is pretty much fine with. Unfortunately, Serena can’t resist not only turning the adventurers into the town into her loyal puppets, but also smugly lording it over Kazuma, gloating about the fact that he’s not as uncaring as he’s said. So he decides to take back his deal, and starts working to do what he does best – humiliate her till she gives in. Unfortunately, the reason this is happening is because the Demon Lord’s army really is making its move and attacking the capital – they’ve even asked the Crimson Magic Clan to help! (No, not you, Megumin.) That said, what may be the most important takeaway we see here is that with Aqua being down here, there’s no one who can be sly enough to trick dead Japanese boys to reincarnating here… which is bad news for the heroes’ strength.

So yes, the chapter with Kazuma under Serena’s control is marvelous, and you’re just unsure enough about whether he’s faking it or not that it keeps you guessing. It’s a very tiny difference between Kazuma being scum and being total scum, and Serena has been just enough of a jerkass herself that we are amused at everything that happens to her. As for Aqua, it’s not a secret that she’s not my favorite, though I do like the fact that she’s not a romantic interest for Kazuma. I do think the idea that the world is failing precisely because Aqua is here rather than up in heaven being a shyster is an excellent one, and I wonder if that might be part of her gloom. The book has a scene near the end where she asks if Kazuma regrets reincarnating here, and it’s almost heartwarming. It almost makes me wonder if the next book will be more serious.

I doubt it, because this is KonoSuba. Still, we’ve only two more to go after this one. If it’s going to trick its readers with drama, now’s the time. Till then, enjoy Kazuma being the worst puppet slave ever.

Reincarnated As the Last of My Kind, Vol. 3

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By Kiri Komori and Yamigo. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shitara Zetsumetsu Sunzen no Kishou Shuzokudeshita” on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Roman Lempert.

(Some spoilers in here for important events in the book, so be warned, in case anyone doesn’t know how much I normally spoil everything anyway.)

This is a fairly straightforward volume in the series, which unfortunately makes it a bit hard to write about. It’s the third of a supposed five, which means it’s the very definition of a transitional volume. Tina wants to be able to live the slow life with her family and friends, but now that we know that she is the chosen one (and indeed is called the Saint many times in this book, much to her annoyance) we know that the scope of things is only going to get larger. And of course she’s far too nice to blow off saving the world because she doesn’t want to, especially when she thinks about everyone she’s grown so close to. Fortunately, her ability to cleanse the zombie monsters is proving to be a big help. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to deal with one of Western fandom’s least favorite things before we go: the book is setting up romance between Tina and Renge, the nigh-immortal who rescued her.

Tina is thirteen, as the chapter titles don’t hesitate to remind us. Of course, she isn’t really – the word ‘reincarnated’ is in the title, and we are occasionally reminded of the Japanese woman who ended up becoming Tina in this world. But she’s still about, say, her mid-40s in terms of actual age. And Renge, of course, is well-nigh immortal. He’s also well-nigh all-powerful as well, as we see towards the end of the book when he gets mildly annoyed and proceeds to destroy an entire army by himself in about ten seconds. And so the fact that the book appears to be shipping them discomfits me in a “Tale of Genji is not my jam” sort of way. To be fair, the book went out of its way to NOT have Renge be the parental figure in Tina’s life, but there’s still a power imbalance here that is going to have to be dealt with in the next two books. Hopefully Tina will continue to be awesome.

This book was good, and I’m not dropping the series or anything, but there were one or two things in it that just rubbed me the wrong way. In addition to Tina’s mild crush on Renge, we also get her meeting her predecessor, the previous savior of the world Akari – also implied to be a reincarnation – and I was hoping they’d have a cute and sweet scene. It’s sweet enough on Akari’s end, but Tina’s jealousy just made me grump. Also, given how much attention was paid to Marcus’ loss of his arm and how he’s managed to life his best life still without it, Tina’s healing of it here also sat wrong with me. It also sat wrong with Marcus, who spends most of the book, like me, wishing he could still be running an inn with his cute, non-savior daughter and, like me, finding that he can’t really stop the progress. Ah well.

There is still the occasional cute scene of recipe/potion making, and a very funny “this is why I hate elves” gag, but for the most part this is the book you read between the second and fourth books. It’s necessary, but it won’t be your favorite.

A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life, Vol. 1

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By Yuu Tanaka and Nardack. Released in Japan as “Deokure Tamer no Sono Higurashi” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Yuko C. Shimomoto.

The author of this series is the same one who writes Reincarnated As a Sword, and I was therefore inclined to give it a little more rope, given that I bounced hard off that title after an extremely slow start. This one has an extremely slow start as well, and while I’m tempted to say that it has a slow middle and a slow end as well, that’s not quite true. Stuff does happen. But this book is not kidding about the laid-back part, as you will watch our hero plant a garden, wash dishes, pick up trash, and weed for a good long time. And, of course, because it’s one of those light novels, there is constant stat-talking. At least in this case it’s justified because this is an actual game, rather than a game-like fantasy world or a trapped scenario. That said, for all my whining, there is a certain charm to this title. If Maple from Bofuri were actually a seasoned gamer, it feels like this is the sort of thing she would do.

Our hero is a nameless salaryman who takes a two-week vacation in order to devote himself to a brand new virtual reality game. Naming his character Yuto, he quickly spends a LOT of money customizing things just right… but is rather shocked to find that in fact his choice of class and options didn’t really work out for fighting much of anything. He does have a tamed monster, a gnome named Olto, but their specialty is in the soil, not in battle. Should he give up and create a new character? Heck no. He’ll just have to deal and figure out what he CAN do. As it turns out, he can do quite a lot, as he manages to rack up impressive titles, unlock areas no one has ever gone before, win incredibly rare items, and gain two more tamed creatures. He doesn’t seem to think he’s doing anything special, really, and his narration certainly makes that clear.

This is from GC Novels, and like most titles from that publisher it’s a bit of a brick, coming in at 357 pages on my digital edition. As such, you will need to get used to Yuto’s narrative style and general attitude, which is along the lines of “I am just a potato protagonist, I don’t know why anyone would be interested in the normal things I do”. Of course, most of these normal things lead to amazing events, because he’s the protagonists. The rest of the cast is fun, though none of the tamed creatures actually speak beyond grunts and sounds, so Yuto spends most of the book talking to himself. I do love the tamed squirrel he gets near the end of the book, which is named Rick, and who I will be calling Rocky the Flying Squirrel from now on. Also, unlike Bofuri, there actually ARE bad gamers in this world – they may not be able to PK you, but we see Yuto dealing with harassment, which is funny and also disturbing.

If you like reading game logs, this is a must buy. For everyone else, it depends on your tolerance of “aw, shucks” protagonists who have everything good happen to them. I’ll at least be reading the 2nd volume.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 14

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan as “Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

Given that he’s clearly being set up to be the main antagonist, it’s not particularly surprising that we now get an entire book devoted to what Fuuga Haan is up to. Souma and company are certainly in the book, but they feel more like supporting players. Instead, we watch as Fuuga continues to be a cross between Genghis Khan and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, removing his enemies and then, as an encore, removing anyone who’s staying neutral as well. This does allow us to see how the inevitable battle between Fuuga and Souma is going to go, though, and Souma is not enjoying it at all, as it turns out Fuuga does in fact listen to advice, even when the advice given is, dare I say it, Machiavellian. This is due to the Chima family, who turn out to mostly be varying degrees of clever and too clever by half. Souma really lucked out getting the youngest son as an ally, though he may be getting more before this is all done.

On the cover we see Mutsumi, who unfortunately is not nearly as much of an action heroine as it implies. That said, she is very much devoted to her husband, and she to him, and I hope that we do not see her killed off in order to give him grief and vengeance down the road. The plot kicks off when her younger brother, who knows his father is plotting against Fuuga and is confident in his sniping skills, takes it on himself to try to assassinate Fuuga. This goes badly, and forces Mathew, the patriarch, to kickstart his plan into action. What follows are a series of tactical battles, lots of fighting and bloodshed, and Fuuga winning the day, mostly because the eldest Chiba decides to betray his father and advise Fuuga instead. Meanwhile, things look bad for Julius and Tia, as their tiny kingdom is very strategically placed, and Fuuga has it in his sights…

I’ve talked before about my dislike of how much Machiavelli is hammered on in this series, but I’m clearly not going to get anywhere with that, so I will admit that it is interesting comparing and contrasting Souma with Hashim. Souma talks about Machiavelli a lot, but for the most part the only time we’ve really seen him behaving like the modern-day adjectival use of the word is when he slaughtered all those nobles – something he recalls in this book. Hashim does the same thing here, planting a bomb at a meeting of neutral nations, but is far more clearly villainous, and you get the sense that, unlike Souma, he would absolutely do it again and again if it suited him. He’s also happy to tear his family apart, which is a shame, but it does mean that we get a few more Chimas in the allied countries. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward, especially as the Empire and Maria have been very noticeably absent recently.

All this plus MORE BABIES! Yes, who knew when everyone got married in Book 1o0 it would lead to pregnancies? In any case, provided you don’t mind that Fuuga Haan is the focus, this is a decent volume of Realist Hero.

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!: Lily’s Miracle

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By Kousuke Akai and Itsuki Akata, based on the novels by FUNA. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!: Lily no Kiseki” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

Like a lot of readers who first saw this spinoff announced, I was a bit confused. I thought it would be about one of the many side characters we’ve seen along Mile’s journey, and indeed thought it was about the young princess who needed a balanced diet in order to not die (her name is similar to Lily’s). But no, it’s nothing like that.l Instead we have a (mostly) new cast, in the same world that we know of. The Crimson Vow briefly show up at the start, and Mile jump-starts the plot, but otherwise they are entirely absent. Which is fine, really, as it allows us to truly focus on Lily. As with Mile, she’s a former noble with a lack of common sense due to circumstances. Also as with Mile, she has a truly ludicrous amount of magical power on hand. Unlike the childish Mile, though, Lily is a literal child.

Lily Lockwood is the oldest daughter of the local margrave. Unfortunately, she was born deaf, and so has been hidden by her family and quietly ignored. Then one day bandits arrive and attack the family, who vanish… with the exception of Lily, who is hidden in a cupboard by a kindly (?) maid. After emerging, she’s pretty much starving to death when the Crimson Vow come upon her. The girls give her food and water. Then Mile sneaks back in the night to cure her hearing… by giving her a bunch of nanos. Readers of the previous books likely know where this is gonna go. Now Lily is trying to make her way in the world, find allies and money to put food on the table, and also perhaps find her missing family. And all she has going for her is magic that is so strong it can destroy the local landscape.

This side story is not by FUNA, and it shows. Not that this is a bad thing – it’s quite a strong story, and I very much enjoyed it. But with a few exceptions, stupid comedy is mostly absent from this book, and it takes Lily seriously. I was impressed that Mile’s curing of Lily’s deafness did not magically allow her to suddenly hear and understand conversation properly or speak, though she does eventually get past that. Some of Lily’s feats, such as creating 30 fireballs that are almost the literal sun, show us that this author has been doing their homework in terms of the chaos Mile + nanos can bring. But Lily’s 9-year-old POV makes it both more innocent and also multitudes more terrifying, as she’s never been taught magic so does not know how to use only a tiny bit… or turn it off. There’s also a great supporting character in Lafine, the classic “cynic with a heart of gold” who winds up, as the cover might suggest, getting dragged around by her young charge.

I’m not sure if Lily will get another side story, but we may see her show up in the main series. That would be fun. Till then, this is an action-filled, somewhat emotional entry in the Make My Abilities Average series, with a spunky and likeable heroine.

Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 7

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By Hitoma Iruma and Non. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Lee.

I have spent several volumes of this series fascinated by the thought process of Shimamura, and this is the volume that really drove home that perhaps I should have been paying more attention to Adachi, who is starting to worry me. Overexcitable angsty gay has worked for her so far, and has ranged from amusing (we see that in the first quarter or so of this volume) to seriously concerning (the rest of this volume). Indeed, Shimamura has benefited far more from getting a girlfriend, and makes stabs towards almost being normal in this book, in a detached introspective way. She’s saying and doing the right things. Adachi is not, and her lack of any other social group other than her crush/girlfriend is starting to tell in a bad way. Shimamura is allowed to have friends. It can’t just be the two of them in a bubble of their own. Given that I doubt the author is going to do a breakup arc anytime soon, I can only hope Adachi matures soon, as Christ, she’s annoying right now.

The main plot, such as it is, is the two girls trying to get used to their new relationship upgrade. Shimamura has to be a bit more proactive about everything, going along with making lunches for each other and things like that, while also still groping in her own mind towards how she feels about Adachi. I think she clearly loves her – she talks offhandedly about wanting to spend the rest of her life with Adachi – but it’s not connecting with anything other than her default “well, whatever” emotional setting. And there’s also old childhood friends to deal with… or rather, to avoid. As for Adachi, you’d think she’d be over the moon, and she is, but her anxiety and stress is simply making things worse most of the time. You know things are bad when she’s asking Nagafuji for date advice – if you thought we’d end up with boomerang throwing again, you’re right.

The main plot is bookended by several interludes showing alternate universes where Adachi and Shimamura meet or interact in different way. Sometimes this can be a mistake – the universe where Adachi stayed cool and aloof made me think “Oh my God, I wish we had this one instead” – but for the most part they show us that no matter what, the two girls will always somehow find their way to each other, which is sweet. There’s also the usual brief interaction with Yashiro, and I must admit I respect the author for not simply using her less and less as our heroines figure everything out but insisting she barge into the narrative anyway. She’s still not quite human, but she’s not quite 100% abnormal either. She’s almost a mentor to Shimamura and her sister, and has even taken to showing up in Shimamura’s dreams. It’s… weird, but not bad, sort of like eating a food with an unusual filling you didn’t expect in it.

The next volume promises a school trip, which should be fun. Till then, Adachi needs to chill more, Shimamura needs to chill less, and Nagafuji needs to find a different children’s toy.

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 10

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By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta…” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Marco Godano.

As this series goes from a quick two-volume story to a double digit franchise, it’s perhaps a very good time to take a look at exactly who Katarina Claes is now. I still tend to call the series Bakarina out of habit, and certainly when it comes to not picking up romantic clues there’s still no one who can touch her, but the earlier books showed off how difficult it was to imagine Katarina as an adult out in the world. That’s not really the case anymore, and it almost sneaks up on you. While she can’t read the room in regards to anyone’s love for her (and her offhand “love, maybe I’ll try that one day” really will delight the ‘Katarina is asexual/aromantic’ faction), her empathy and desire to help others is off the charts, and, when told to start learning black magic, she develops a power that is literally cleansing the evil out. With a magic wand.

Back at the Ministry after the events of the last book, Katarina has discovered that the books that she and Maria are trying to decipher also turn out to be very user-specific – Maria can’t teach anything that she learns from her book, and Katarina would no doubt be the same. But Maria is a light magic expert. So, much as she worries it will lead to her doom, Katarina is told to learn dark magic. Still, she also has time to go with Cyrus and Maria (and everyone else in the cast, because this is a Bakarina novel) to an orphanage, where she learns what she can and can’t do with little kids and tries to help a particularly stubborn orphan. Unfortunately, we also see the return of a villain who hasn’t been seen since Book Four – Sarah is back, and still trying to find troubled folks she can do dark magic experiments on. Can even she be helped by our all-loving heroine?

I’ve talked before about how I think this series is LGBT “by accident” – that is to say it’s because the premise has everyone fall for Katarina, not because of any desire by the author to have the girls end up with other girls. That said, particularly in the case of Maria Campbell, it’s becoming hard to try to drag things back to the normal romance novel mode. Cyrus has amazed us by being one of those rare main characters not in love with Katarina Claes, and she spends much of this book trying to get the awkward lug to get closer to Maria – and failing, because of course Maria is over the moon for Katarina herself. Even the bonding activities that they’re doing with his teaching her martial arts comes down to her desire to protect Katarina rather than needing to be the one who is protected. If Cyrus does end up being a love interest for Maria in future books, we’ve got a LONG way to go. Then again, the same could be said about Katarina and Jeord.

From what I hear, the next volume may do something about that. Till then, enjoy this series and its all-loving heroine, who may be impulsive but is also a very good person. And now she has a magic wand.

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 12

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

Usually when I’m reading books that I’m going to be reviewing I try to come up with a theme for the review so that it doesn’t end up just being me babbling on for 500 words. (Sometimes I can’t, as longtime readers who have read my babble know.) With this volume of Archdemon’s Dilemma, watching everyone suddenly obsessed with birthdays, it was going to be about how this series tries to balance out the cute romance aspect of it with the much darker plot and backstory part, and how that can be difficult because it’s pretty clear the main audience – or at least me – are far more interested in the former. Seeing magic battles and having traitors get rewarded as they deserve is all very well and good, but where are the blushing idiots? That *was* the plan for the review. Then Richard and Nephteros had to pull a “your shirt” moment, and everything went to hell.

The fun part of the book is the fact that Zagan has the idea of a birthday party for Nephy, and this just spirals on until everyone wants to know everyone’s else’s birthday. This is both hilarious and tragic because half the characters are either orphans, constructs, or hundreds of years old, so have no experience with birthdays or parties. So you get a lot of randomly chosen days, and a lot of worrying about presents. The three “main” couples (Zagan and Nephy, Chastille and Barbatos, and Shax and Kuroka) all get a cute scene or two. As the book goes on, though, the cuteness takes a back seat to the darkness. Nephteros is dying and does NOT want to have the usual fix when a homunculus is dying. Dexia is on the run and desperately trying to resurrect her sister. And we have two bad guys from the past suddenly show up in the present… and they seem to know who Zagan is? Finally, Nephteros too finds out what it’s like to love someone. In the worst way possible.

I think we can all agree that Bifrons is the Big Bad of this series, and he’s at his absolute worst here. You know a villain is bad when they start quoting Izaya Orihara, and that’s what we get here, with Bifrons “I love humanity” amounting to the same thing – he loves seeing them suffer and struggle. The Nephteros and Richard scenes were very good, but I will knock the book off two points for reminding me of that scene with Willow and Tara in Buffy that I pretend never happened. There’s also an attempted rape, which I could also have done without. I did enjoy seeing a new love triangle form, especially when one of the points in it admits that she’s a lesbian, but I’m pretty sure that she’s going to be the one left out of it in the end, so oh well.

As the book went on and got more serious, it was very well written but not really what I read this series for. I suspect the next volume, whenever it comes out, will be rather dark, but I hope it finds the time to remember its core plot: dorks in love.

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 4

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By Yu Shimizu and Asagi Tosaka. Released in Japan as “Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lampert.

There’s a lot of things to love about found family situations, but one of my favorites is that everyone seems to know that everyone else has *a* secret, but doesn’t know what it is, and doesn’t really care. That’s shown off to good effect here, as everyone in our main cast seems to be hiding something. Leonis is a Demon Lord, of course, which only Riselia knows, but the others clearly know he’s not just a normal 10-year-old prodigy. Riselia, of course, has to hide that she’s now basically a vampire queen. Regina and Elfine both have their secrets, though in Elfine’s case it’s the fact that her secret is figured out in 2.5 seconds that makes it amusing. And then there’s Sakuya, the “Sakura Orchid” (read: Japan) resident who’s now living here in not-quite Europe. She’s a seemingly stoic swordfighter, and her secret may in fact be the most dangerous one of them all. Fortunately, our heroine who witnesses said secret is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

It’s school festival time at Excalibur Academy, and you know what that means: it’s time for a maid cafe. Unfortunately, the dorm that our heroines and Leonis live in has been getting creepier of late, what with all the ravens wanting to hang around their vampire mistress. There’s only one thing they can do: make it a combination cafe and haunted house! Oh, but one big problem: Leonis is a guy, and thus can’t participate… UNLESS… we dress him in an adorable maid outfit and disguise him! Fortunately, wacky hijinks are not everything that drives this volume. Elfine’s sister has uncovered the frozen body of another demon lord, and brought it back with her. This surely won’t be a terrible decision! Spoiler: it is, and now Excalibur Academy is once again surrounded by void creatures.

There’s fun to be had here provided you don’t think too hard. Everyone gets to do a cool thing or two. The ancient elf from the previous volume shows up again, and has discovered her true calling, with is to stare in amazement at the stupidity of everyone around her. Which is mostly Leonis’ terrorist minions, who prove to be top-tier dumb mooks. There is a cute plot where Shary, Leonis’ obsessive stalker… erm, dark minion, gets a ring from her beloved… which is just a summoning ring that will immediately call to her the strongest monster. He doesn’t get why she’s disappointed, but we do, especially when we see her seething at Riselia the entire volume. Still, in has a sweet ending. And there’s the ongoing worldbuilding, as we have… you’ll never guess this… evil laughing priests who are trying to restart long dead schemes. A lot of this book, which has everyone call out their attack names all the time, reminded me of Slayers, and you should take it about as seriously.

This remains the light novel equivalent of a late night hamburger meal from Wendy’s, but again, there’s nothing wrong with it. If you like cute girls and magic battles, pick it up.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 4

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By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The author promises a lot more slow life to come, which is good, because this volume absolutely did not have it. That’s not unexpected, given the end of the previous volume, but yes, this book wraps up almost all the plots that we had flailing around. Indeed, it was supposed to be the final book in the series, but, well, you know how it is. Fortunately the author is also good at writing desperate battles in underground caves, which is what a good 75% of this is. The Hero’s Party is finally reunited, but it doesn’t feel so good, because at least half of them are enemies, be it due to arrogance, religious belief, or what have you. And the pressing question through all of this is a familiar one to many: do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Or the one? Banished from the Hero’s Party is here to tell you the answer to that.

Covers don’t always spoil, but honestly they give away a lot here. If you’ve been reading the series, you’ll know why this particular cover is very strange. Still, in the end I think it was worth it. The idea of the Hero needing to sacrifice their own happiness just due to being born with a blessing is one that deserves to be pushed back on, and as Red notes, there are so many other people who could unite to take out the forces of evil. Ruti is quite content to move to the same sleepy town as her brother and live with her not-wife and spider-in-law. Red and Rit are both quite happy as well, both having come to terms with their past and accepting that they still occasionally might have to go save the world, provided the world saving is nearby. They also finally consummate their relationship, in a very sweet scene.

That said, there’s one big character that needs to be discussed, and I apologize for giving them short shrift in earlier books. Given the name, you would normally assume that Mister Crawly Wawly is a cute “mascot” sort, there to give Tisse some depth and also occasionally cheer her up. But the book has never really thought that. The author is not seeing Mister Crawly Wawly as a subtle running gag, they are seen as a friend and party member. As such, when all is almost lost in the battle against Ares and Shisandan, and all our heroes get a chance to shine and also a chance to almost die, Mister Crawly Wawly is involved in the entire fight, and indeed all would have been lost if they had not stepped up to lend a web. I’m not even being ironic here, it’s a genuine fist pump moment. There may be another “best spider” in town, folks.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Ares. Bye, Ares. In any case, this was a great final volume, and like a lot of great final volumes that have many volumes coming after it, we’ll see if it can reinvent itself. Till then, please believe in Mister Crawly Wawly (and watch the anime, airing as we speak.)

Holmes of Kyoto, Vol. 6

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By Mai Mochizuki and Shizu Yamauchi. Released in Japan by Futabasha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Minna Lin.

After five books that are essentially interlocked short story collections, this volume is the first to have one story for the entire book. It has a lot that it’s trying to do at once. Holmes and Aoi are now a couple (her 18th birthday comes at the very end of this book, though these two are not going to be getting more intimate anytime soon), and are negotiating contact and embarrassment. Someone is stealing a bunch of minor pieces of art, the only connection between them seemingly being a link with Buddhism. And Komatsu, the detective we saw in a previous volume, tries to go to Holmes for his detective skill rather than his antiquing skills, as his daughter has gone missing. All of this ends up interconnecting with kids using cannabis and a meditation and study seminar ending up being the gateway to a dangerous cult. And… this is starting to sound a bit ridiculous, isn’t it? And yes, it is. I’d argue this is the first volume in the series that simply didn’t work for me.

The parts of the book that do work are the parts we’ve seen in previous novels. There’s a lot of fun nerditry going on here about both various types of antiques and also Buddhism in general, and Holmes explaining it is a lot of fun. His pedanticism is even weaponized towards the end, as he tries to cause a distraction by rambling on to a guard about his need to whistle loudly before he sleeps being related to a misapprehension as a young boy, and keeps spewing garbage for so long it’s really impressive. I was also amused at everyone seeing Holmes’ attention to detail as being scary and villainous, and Aoi – not denying this, but saying she’s used to it. They have a fun relationship, and I am pleased that it’s developing at a slow pace. That said, due to the nature of the book Aoi is far more of a passive narrator than usual.

Unfortunately, that leaves the main plot as the part I didn’t like. Not to get political at all, but “cannabis is bad and leads to taking stronger drugs and also getting drawn into creepy cults” is not going to win me over even when it’s well written, which this isn’t. The relationship between the detective, his ex-wife and his (kidnapped) daughter is meant to be sympathetic and realistic, but it feels like it was piling complication on top of complication in order to make the stakes higher. As for the cult itself, having some of the staff be genuinely part of the meditation seminar, some of them part of the cult, and all of it being secretly controlled by a politician, except wait, WAS IT REALLY? There are at least two twists too many towards the end, and honestly I got lost. I also suspect the author was trying to contrast the heated, emotional relationships of the other high school girl in this book with Homes and Aoi’s mild, restrained “we’re waiting on intimacy” pairing, and… it’s OK, I get it, so you don’t have to shove it in my face.

I am hoping that this is just an unfortunate blip in the series, though the blurb for the next volume does not fill me with confidence. In the meantime, perhaps we can get back to antiques?

My Love Mix-Up! Vol 1

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My Love Mix-Up Volume 1 by Wataru Hinekure and Aruko

I was curious about My Love Mix-Up since I’m always up for a new shoujo series and Aruko illustrated the astoundingly good My Love Story!!. While this new series doesn’t have the innate hilarity of My Love Story!!, it is a light, warm-hearted unconventional love triangle with protagonists who are all kind to each other.

Aoki has a long-term crush on Hashimoto, the girl who sits next to him in class. On a fateful day he borrows her eraser and sees the name of another boy, Ida, with a heart symbol next to it. When Aoki drops the eraser and Ida picks it up, Ida assumes that Aoki has a crush on him. Aoki plays along with this assumption because he doesn’t want to reveal Hashimoto’s secret. Ida’s reaction to all of this is thoughtful consideration. Ida’s never dated anyone before, so he doesn’t immediately reject Aoki, even though Aoki is encouraging him to! As Aoki gets to know Ida better he starts realizing what a cool guy Ida is. While there is less opportunity for Aruko to engage in the more broad caricature work of My Love Story!!, there are a few great scenes where Aoki looks like a haunted zombie due to the depths of his teenage embarrassment about the confounding situation that he finds himself in.

There’s a similar sort of love triangle in Blue Flag, and My Love-Mix! up looks like it is going to cover the same territory but without the emotional depth. I don’t think that every series needs to have that degree of pathos, sometimes a relatively angst free love triangle is the perfect diversion. There’s a cliffhanger at the end that promises plenty of more romantic mix-ups ahead.

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 3

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By Reia and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andria Cheng.

You can try to take the otome game aspect of your book out of the book, but it still might be coming back regardless. As I said back with the first volume, this feels very much like a book that wanted to just be political intrigue, but Villainess stories were blowing up, so this is an easy way to tie it into that fad. But the author has done a good job of tying it in regardless. Iris may have escaped the fate she had in the game, and also escaped being excommunicated in the last volume, but that doesn’t mean that danger is over – not only is the Queen still trying to get rid of her, but even the tiniest issues in her governership turn out to snowball into near-disasters. What’s more, it’s not just her dukedom – we’re getting closer and closer to a throne war, and one that might actually spill out into a real war. Iris is going to have to finally let go of her peaceful Japanese past memories and admit she might have to send people to die for her.

Iris is still in the capital dealing with the fallout from her failed excommunication, which in some ways is good – it allows her to meet Dean’s sister, who is gorgeous and very similar to Iris and totally not the princess in disguise, nope – but in other ways is not so good, as her mood has been dropping the longer they’re there. Back in her own home she feels better, but having been away for so long the work has gotten appallingly backed up. Fortunately, Dean just happens to be free for a bit, so is able to help her with it. Then there’s the problem of Yuri’s castoffs – now that she’s engaged to Edward, the others who were hovering around her are needing to find something else to do with their lives. It’s not going well. Indeed, Yuri may not in fact be the cute young otome game heroine she appears to me…

There is, of course, quite a bit of romance going on here. It is a romance series. Of course, we’re not ready to do anything with it just yet. It is also interesting to contrast Albert’s motivations for doing what he does with Yuri’s. Both are very driven people trying to get past the death of their mother, but one is trying to save the kingdom and the other to destroy it. Yeah, sorry, it’s not that much of a spoiler – Yuri is indeed our real villainess. That said, we start to get at least some movement towards her not being a cartoon. I also really liked the story with Iris’ aides as well – Tanya and Dida may not be a couple just yet, but you get the feeling it’s gonna happen right after Iris and Dean happens. I don’t blame them for ignoring love right now, though – there’s simply no time to relax and de-stress here.

The volumes have been getting better as they go along, which is definitely a good thing. Read it for the politics, but don’t give up on the Villainess plot too much – there’s still a bit of work to do there as well.

The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious, Vol. 7

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By Light Tuchihi and Saori Toyota. Released in Japan as “Kono Yuusha Ga Ore TUEEE Kuse Ni Shinchou Sugiru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matt Rutsohn.

And so, after a series that should have ended with the second volume keeps going, and manages to do a three-book arc that mostly justified its continuation, we get the conclusion of this two-book arc where it all falls apart. I’m not sure if I blame the author as much as the publisher. You may have an anime coming out, and a cameo in Isekai Quartet, but that doesn’t mean that a series should continue when it’s run out of things to do with the premise. When that sort of thing happens, you only have two choices: 1) completely break the premise and create a new one with our character, which this series absolutely doesn’t do, or b) snap everything back to the way it was and throw out all your character development. Cautious Hero doesn’t do this either, but it feels like it does. The author tried to write an arc where Seiya is even more verbally and emotionally abusive towards Ristarte, and justifies it towards the end. The trouble is, she’s too well written now for it to be funny anymore.

We pick up right where we left off last time. Seiya takes a somewhat broken Rosalie with him and heads back to the Underworld to train, train, train. He takes her as he thinks she’ll be a good distraction ad meat shield. Naturally, Rista is appalled, and she and Seiya spend most of the book disagreeing about the way he’s going about things. There are “amusing” training motifs. The beings Seiya learns skills with want to see Rista humiliated so they can indulge their fetishes, and as a result she is both molested and also given a tasty potato… that causes her to belch and fart uncontrollably. Ha. More seriously, Rista has noticed that Mash is seemingly possessed by Elulu’s dead spirit, which is telling him to destroy everything… which contrasts with the dead spirit of Elulu *Rista* is seeing, which is begging her to stop Seiya carrying out his plan. Will anyone bother to believe Rista?

There’s one big problem with this comedy right now – and no, it’s not that it’s no longer funny, though that *is* a problem. It’s that the jokes depended on Ristarte being as one-dimensional and annoying as Seiya is. Over the course of the last few books, we’ve seen her discover who her past self was, rekindle a romance that is then immediately lost, rediscover her child and have to watch as they die again, and learn to trust Seiya and not react like a cliched tsukkomi character whenever he does literally anything. She’s a real person now. Seiya isn’t, at least not 90% of the time. And that means when the books are humiliating Rista, it’s not funny, it’s just abusive. The ending shows us Seiya, briefly, expressing remorse at what he did and apologizing to Rista – but it’s a sign of where the two of them are that THIS is what gets the most over the top reaction face of the book from her.

It’s pretty clear that the author did not go further with Seiya here as they plan to do more with it in the next arc. Two problems with that. First, I’m about ready to drop the books here, they’re no longer fun. Second… there are no new volumes. The author started writing the Full Dive series (which also has a recent anime) and has not come back to this one in the last two year. So yeah. If you’ve read the previous six, you may as well read this. But boy, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

She’s the Cutest… But We’re Just Friends!, Vol. 2

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By Akamitsu Awamura and mmu. Released in Japan as “Ore no Onna Tomodachi ga Saikou ni Kawaii” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by airco.

There’s a narrowing of focus in this second volume. In the first book, we got to see a whole lot of Kai and Jun’s peers, classmates, and rivals and see how their “relationship” impacted all of them. For the most part, there’s very little of that in the second volume. Indeed, Reina, my favorite character from the last book, has a much smaller role here, though she certainly makes use of it, seeing what the rest of the cast don’t. But for the most part this volume deals only with three characters: Kai, Jun, and Kotobuki, the girl who confessed to him in the cliffhanger of the last book. I was honestly worried about the addition of Kotobuki after that last book, fearing this would become a “one girl per book” sort of harem series. Fortunately, my worries were unfounded – I’d argue this book is better than the last one, getting into the nitty gritty of friends vs. girlfriends and coming out on the friends side.

Kotobuki has indeed confessed to Kai, and suggests dating in order to get to know each other, an idea that floors him because he’s read too much manga and believes you only date AFTER falling in love The date actually goes pretty well, and they’re a cute couple. Then they coincidentally run into Jun on their date… and she can’t get over how CUTE Kotobuki is! No jealousy on her end at all. The trouble is the other end… Kotobuki had heard that Kai had a friend who came over to play games, but assumed it was, well, a female otaku stereotype. Not a stacked blonde goddess. Feeling a bit desperate and threatened, she decides to up her seduction game… which proves to be EXACTLY the wrong move. Can she and Kai recover from the backlash? And can you have a girlfriend and also have a close female friend who’s even more tactile than your girlfriend?

The most interesting thing about this book is that the drama is almost entirely one-sided. Jun is simply not remotely getting jealous, loves Kotobuki to death, and her reaction to Kai accidentally walking in on her topless is nonexistent. If the series is eventually going to get Kai and Jun together, it’s got a long way to go on Jun’s side. That said, she fills an important role here, as she allows Kai and Kotobuki to recover from their dating mishap and find steadier ground. Kai, like Jun, does not feel mature enough to be in a relationship, something that Kotobuki also realizes about herself during the course of the book. Indeed, the book may be an ad for “just friends”, as the best scenes in it are the ones with no tension or romantic angst, just the three of them hanging out and having fun. (It’s also a giant ad for anime and manga properties, and not just GA Bunko series. The lack of censorship is jaw-dropping.)

Unfortunately, after two quick volumes in February and June of 2020, there has been no more of this series in Japan. I hope we eventually get some closure. In the meantime, this is a good one if you like romcoms with a bit less drama than usual.