magical revolution of reincarnated princess and genius young lady

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

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

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

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

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

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

Technically this book is the second half of an arc that began with the last one. That said, what this book really does is take everything that we’ve learned in the last seven books and boil it down into an examination of how monarchies really function, especially ones where the nobles don’t necessarily do what the ruler says. And that’s not even the case either, because of course this is a magical kingdom, and being a magical ruler is not remotely the same as being, say, Henry VIII. The magical revolution is still ongoing, and there are people who are very unhappy… not with the revolution itself (i.e. Anis’ magical tools) but simply with the loss of power that this entails. And the fact that it’s come from the non-magical Anis. What does all this mean? It means that both Anis and Euphie spend more time being utterly furious than in any other book we’ve read to date, and both consider simply executing everyone to solve the problem. (Spoiler: they don’t do that.)

Anis is busy working on the construction of her new magical city when she gets an urgent message from Lainie to return to the royal palace, and when she does she finds that Euphie is in her room on forcible rest. What’s worse, she hasn’t been able to sleep for days, and when she tries to eat food it’s tasteless and she can barely choke it down. Euphie is losing touch with her humanity and moving towards being a spirit contractor. And the reason for this? Well, they were meeting with the Western Nobles, who have always been difficult. But when one noble, Count Leghorn (I did try doing the Foghorn Leghorn voice, but it doesn’t match the character) venerates Euphie in a religious fervor, and suggests that all of Anis’ accomplishments have been falsified, Euphie almost loses control of herself in rage. So now she’s on forced leave… and tells all this to Anis, who is now ALSO losing control of herself in rage.

I haven’t really talked much about Lainie lately, who gets the bulk of the narrative here that’s not Anis or Euphie. (Most of the POV in this book is Euphie, and it’s really good.) This series began by combining an isekai with a villainess story, and Lainie was the “heroine” in that scenario. Now a loyal maid, she’s just as livid with what the Western nobles are doing but is not quite as close to it as Anis and Euphie are, so instead calls in the cavalry to come up with a solution. It’s pretty terrific. I also liked her discussion with Lumi, who points out that neither Anis nor Euphie are truly human anymore, and isn’t that a bit disturbing? Lainie believes in them, but then Lainie is a vampire, so she’s dealing with the same problems. The Western nobles have a much higher bar to clear… and they don’t clear it. There are no mass executions, but trust me, an epic smackdown happens.

This book shows that “happily ever after” is hard to achieve and requires constant effort, and even that may not be good enough. Fortunately, it ends rather triumphantly. We get a short story collection before Book 9… but both only came out a couple months ago in Japan, so it may be a bit. Highly recommended.

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

In the previous volume of MagiRevo, we saw Anis reject the “perfect world” offered to her, as it would render everything that she’s struggled to achieve meaningless. Now it’s one year later (the biggest time jump we’ve seen in this series so far), and she’s finally getting the chance to achieve her dreams… and is still feeling a bit guilty about it. Is it all right for her to do this? To go off and be a weirdo magical researcher coming up with gonzo ideas that will revolutionize the world? Shouldn’t she grow up and be mature, like Euphie is? Leaving aside Euphie’s maturity, which turns out to not be quite as strong as imagined, this makes sense. Anis spent years being the eccentric princess who rebelled, because if she stopped to face reality it would crush her. Now she’s given the opportunity to do the same thing without the same risk. Just one catch: Anis going it alone is a thing of the past.

Anis starts this book, having finally recovered from the events of Book 6, with a startling proposal. Since her magical research and inventions tend to, shall we say, annoy the aristocracy in the capital… why not just build a whole new city and make it a magical Alexandria? As noted above, Anis has to be talked into this, but eventually throws herself wholeheartedly into things, especially since she shocks people with the idea of building the city with both magical and… non-magical means! Me not use magic? That’s unpossible! Moreover, in the massive research that is the back half of this book (it’s OK, it’s interesting for once), we learn that not only might everyone have been learning magic incorrectly, but that there may be more than one KIND of magic. All this means that Anis has a LOT more to do, and is unfortunately going to have to learn to delegate and lead from behind… well, mostly.

Anis is not the only one undergoing crises in this book. Gark is struggling with the fact that everyone around him is a genius of some sort, and he’s just a guy who’s dependent on magic weapons to get anywhere. Tilty is a bit disturbed by Anis going in on making these magic weapons, and serves as her conscience reminding her of the dangers of putting weapons that anyone can use into a world where commoners have massive grudges against the nobility. And we get a new maid in this book, Priscilla, who is also the victim of a noble being terrible – her father – and wonders why Anis, with all the power that she has at her discretion, especially now that she’s a dragon hybrid, not take revenge on everyone who wronged her? The answer Anis has is not what Priscilla really wants, but it works. Anis grew up loved. And she has a wonderful partner. I like Anis sort of acknowledging her privilege here which allows her to be able to take the high road. It’s not as easy for others.

All this plus Anis and Euphie having such a wonderful night (offscreen, of course) that Anis has a hoarse throat the next day. This is the second book in a row with not quite as much Euphie, so the author promises Book 8 will focus more on her. Till then, this was one of the stronger books in the series, setting up the new arc and allowing Anis to feel confident once more in being the little freak we know and love.

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

(So yeah, spoilers for this volume right up top, warning in advance.)

I’m always a big sucker for the “what if everything in your life was perfect?” story. One of my favorite Urusei Yatsura episodes showed Lum going through alternate universes trying to find the correct one, and discovering a universe where everything is the same only Ataru loves her unconditionally. And she has to give it up, because that’s not the right one. That’s not the Ataru SHE loves. And here we see Anis being offered everything she’s always wanted. She still has her lover and her friends. She’s still making cool magical inventions. But she’s beloved by everyone, and she can use magic. And everyone – EVERYONE – knows she was reincarnated from Japan. It’s presented as the best thing ever. Look, you don’t need to struggle anymore. You don’t have to fight anymore. Here is everything you always wanted. And to the reader, and Anis, it’s horrible, as it eliminates everything she fought FOR.

Lainie has a favor to ask. She wants to find out more about her mother. So she, Anis, and Tilty (???) along with the usual male guards go off to an orphanage and an adventurer’s guild to try to track down the history of Tiris, who was also an adventurer but also, unbeknownst to most everyone, a vampire. While doing this they find that the nearby forest is cleaned out of monsters and normal animals both, and the reason is that there’s an even more powerful presence there, and they’re experimenting with horrible things. Meanwhile, back with Allie and Acryl, they too are having a similar encounter, and it becomes clear what it is: vampires. They’re here, they’re getting revenge on the country, and they… seem to be of one mind.

As I said last time, the series is trying to figure out what to do next, and in order to to that, Anis has to get over all of her hangups and take control of her future. She’s been worried about Euphie’s lifespan being so much longer than her own, and, not to spoil even more, but that mostly gets solved here. Anis may dislike a world in which no one suffers and therefore no one has to strive for anything, but that does not mean that she doesn’t want to live as long as possible while still doing that. Ilia is having similar worries, but hers are not resolved here, and will likely be a bubbling subplot. It’s hard when your core group is genius battle princess, genius royal mage, prodigy vampire, and… maid. Unfortunately, the story still struggles for focus at times, especially at the start. Tilty comes along with the group, I think, mostly as the author wanted us to remember she exists. And, given this is a very Anis-heavy book, Euphie does not get quite as many “let’s be really powerful and cool” moments.

And so now Anis is determined to transform the world, and has the extra power to do it. Where are we heading next? Hopefully the series now has a firm plan for the future.

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

The last three volumes of MagiRevo have all had that feeling of “this is the final volume of the series” without it actually being true. It felt as if the author was not sure if it would be a success or not – very common in this medium. This is the first book where I believe that they wrote it knowing that the books were going to be going on longer, as it’s very transitional. There’s looking towards the future, as Anis and Euphie’s road trip is to survey the kingdom and look for new resources, plus they also end up learning of a number of new nations/races/possible enemies. At the same time, the entire book is also about coming to terms with everything that has happened in the previous four. Euphie’s on the throne, but this has not magically settled everyone’s hearts. Particularly Anis, who runs into Euphie’s brother at a ball and ends up projecting her own brother on top of him.

Anis is out of sorts, having essentially been told “try not to be too innovative for a bit, we need everyone to get used to the chaos you’ve already created”. But she can’t exactly turn that part of herself off. So Euphie plans to have the two of them tour the Eastern part of the kingdom, inspecting the damage caused by the previous monster stampedes and also trying to find new areas that they can harvest spirit energy. Of course, as Anis notes, this is a chance to go on a Love Love Honeymoon with her beloved – well, a honeymoon that involves two maids, two aides and a guard – and the guard is Navre, one of the men who was tied up in Lainie’s plotline in the first book. Then, to top things off, Anis had not really been listening when all of this was explained to her (because honeymoon fantasizing), and missed that they are, in fact, going to see her brother as well.

If I were to sum up this book, it would be “not bad, but not as good as the other books”. Part of the problem is Anis, who is still dealing with a pile of repressed guilt about what happened with Algard. (She is also, frankly, still not used to the fact that she is absolutely not the top in this relationship, and Euphie’s frank desires leave her a bit twitchy.) The heart to heart she has with her brother near the end was much needed, if only as I want her to move on from this as quickly as possible. There’s also a new character introduced who isn’t too bad, but seems designed to tick several “isekai cliche” boxes at once, so I was rolling my eyes at her arrival. On the bright side, Anis and Euphie get to have an awesome fight that I’m sure will look terrific if it ever gets animated in a theoretical Series 2.

So yeah. Mezza mezza. Still, we now have the promise of beastmen, and more vampires, and a bunch of other potential new plots. I just hope Anis will be back to being a fun ball of chaos next time around.

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

Since my review of the third volume, we have had the anime version of this series, which covered the first three books. In my opinion, it was a fantastic success, and the way that it adapted the books, changing and cutting things to the anime’s benefit, was a definite highlight. That said, there were some people who bemoaned a lot of the world building and discussion of magical technicalities getting cut from the anime. If that was you, good news! The books are still here, and they are still being very nerdy. This volume digs deep into the heart of magic vs. magicology, and why the latter is terrifying a number of the nobles remaining at everyone’s least favorite ministry. Can you change the prejudices and thoughts of an entire country by letting go of the past, or does the past need to be embraced as well? And, most importantly, why are all the books written like they sell for $200 on Amazon from Paletia University Press?

Anis and Euphie are now a couple, although it would appear their intimacy in bed is limited to Euphie taking Anis’ magical energy rather than taking Anis. Moreover, Anis now has two new assistants, since Euphie’s additional responsibilities mean she can’t be Anis’ assistant anymore. Halphys and Garkie… erm, Gark help Anis to think about what about magicology would help win over the nobles, who already have magic to do what she’s doing with kettles and the like? There’s also the problem of Lainie. Now that the dust has settled and she has a prominent position in Anis’ household, she’s getting marriage offers she does not want. And, of course, there’s the succession, as Anis’ father decides that now is the time to step down from the throne and let the next ruler take over. Who will be Queen? (I mean, we know who’ll be Queen, but let’s pretend we don’t.)

I had to laugh at the appearance of Tilty in this book. She’s there for about five pages, tells everyone they’re idiots, is absolutely infuriated, and storms off, having started the process of solving the problem. Unfortunately, the problem with Lainie is her crippling self-hatred, as the idea that anyone might actually be in love with her and not just influenced by her vampire powers causes her to have a complete meltdown. It was also nice to see Ilia actually screw up, and show that the relationship she and Anis have is very beneficial to them but can also be detrimental in regards to others. As for Anis and the Ministry of the Arcane, I also enjoyed how that played out. The remaining nobles know what the winning side is, they just want to ensure that they still have a place somewhere on it. You don’t want to help with your own downsizing.

I had a ball reading this book, and think those who enjoyed the anime will as well. It also wraps up nicely as a finale to the series… but don’t worry, there’s more coming.

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

In my review of the 2nd volume I mentioned that it wrapped up the first arc in the series, to which I can only say: oops. That said, I am absolutely not complaining. This may not be the final book in the series (there’s at least two more out in Japan), but it’s definitely The Payoff. Following directly on from events in the last book, it has tons of conflict, but it’s all character-based and 100% understandable. It gets into worries about isekai/reincarnation journeys that I always love to see in those books, and also delves into the past of this kingdom and why trying to change it in the future is something that’s going to be very hard and yet absolutely necessary. Basically, this book is everything you wanted to see in this series wrapped up. Anisphia has come a long way from the Chaos Gremlin of the first book. (Not to worry, the anime starts next week, and from what I’ve seen, they’re hammering on that aspect.)

After the events of the last book, Algard has been sent off into exile, meaning that there’s only one really obvious candidate in line for the throne: Anisphia. She proceeds to put on a brave face, buckle down, and accept her fate in a way that devastates everyone around her, because they all know her far too well. This includes Euphyllia, who knows her better than anyone and refuses to accept Anisphia giving up her happiness and becoming a shell of her former self. To that end, she goes searching for a way to bypass Anisphia and find another heir to the throne… and finds there is another way, but it would involve a ton of sacrifice of her own. With both Anisphia and Euphyllia playing a weird game of chicken in trying to sacrifice their own love and joy for the sake of each other, who’s going to blink first?

As I mentioned above, my favorite part of the book was the look at Anisphia’s interiority, particularly something that she’s been half in denial about this entire time. She may have abdicated early in her life, but being a Princess is a very important part of her, and a reason that she’s constantly working herself to death. She also finally confesses to Euphyllia that she’s a reincarnation, and talks about her life back in her other world… as well as what that means to her current self. We’ve seen reincarnation isekai (particularly “villainess” titles) have our reincarnated heroine “overwrite” the original personality when they regain their memories, but here we see Anisphia’s horror at the very idea of doing that. And there’s also the fact that she was reincarnated as a royal that needs to use magic to rule but one who can’t use magic. That unfairness drives her, and also nearly breaks her. Spoiler: there’s a lot of crying in this.

But there’s kissing as well, and I was amused at the book dancing around the fact that the obvious solution is joint rule, but that would involve the country acknowledging their relationship, and I don’t think we’re quite there yet. That said, this was the best in the series by far. I don’t know if I want to see it adapted in the anime – if it is, the anime will have been quite rushed – but it’s a must-read for yuri fans.

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

This is one of those books that starts slow but picks up speed as things go along. It’s essentially the second half of the first “arc” in this series, and we see Anisphia and Euphyllia dealing with the two remaining dangling plot threads: the man who kickstarted everything by publicly denouncing Euphie, and the young woman who was theoretically the cause of that. And any fan of villainess books will know that both of those plotlines are things that we’ve seen before. That said, this book does have an interesting twist that I don’t think we’ve really come across in regards to the “heroine” role. As for Anis’ brother, that’s a lot more serious plotline, and both he and Anis are forced to face up to the fact that the actions they take have far broader consequences than either of them would have liked. Although I think Algard already knew that, since… well, he has an agenda.

The book starts with Anis being forced to do a lot of things she doesn’t want to do. This includes having a conversation with her mother, who is determined enough to break past Anis’ eccentric behavior, as well as the Ministry of the Arcane, who know that Anis took down a dragon recently and want the dragon’s remains for their own use and not hers. In addition, Anis is trying to clear Euphie’s name, which means figuring out why otherwise sensible young nobles were so willing to go along with this public shaming, and what sort of hold Lainie, the former commoner who everyone has an opinion on, has over them. This will involve consulting one of Anis’ “bad friends”, Tilty, a noble who is essentially just as eccentric as Anis, if not worse.

The book’s first really good scene is at Tilty’s place, where we work out what’s up with Lainie and why she inspires the people around her to do emotionally unstable things when she’s around. It’s the sort of plot twist I’d have been incredibly impressed with if the color pages at the start of the book had not 100% spoiled it. Lainie herself is more sympathetic than I was expecting, especially once she comes to terms with the sort of person she is now. As for Anis and her brother, that’s the other really strong part of the book. Algard’s behavior is nightmarish, but it all stems from Anis’ hands-off, “I don’t want anything to do with royalty I just want to study magic” attitude, and even as she points out that he can’t act the way he is because he’s the prince, she understands that she essentially did the same thing. The question of succession is very much up in the air at the end of this book, and I hope it somehow gets resolved in a way that does not remove the yuri from this title, even if so far that’s pretty slight.

So yes, solid second volume, and it suggests that Anis is going to have to get more involved in the lives of those around her, even if it means less magical research. That said, I do hope we get a bit more “magic nerd” stuff between Anis and Euphie in the 3rd book.

By Piero Karasu and Yuri Kisaragi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

We’ve had enough villainess books by now that everyone knows the “Stations of the Canon” so to speak, and so therefore it warms my heart to see that we don’t have to dwell on them forever. One of our heroines, the reincarnated princess (who is NOT the villainess in this story) gains her memories of her life in Japan, discovers she’s in a fantasy world, and rushes off to go learn magic!… and then twelve years pass. As for the supposed villainess, we hit the high points in the by now traditional scene. Her fiance shames her in a public setting. Every other guy she knows is also sneering at her. She’s innocent, but no one believes her. No offense, but we’ve done this. And then our princess smashes through the window on her magical science broom, immediately realizes that this is a villainess shaming story, and yeets the villainess out the window with her. No time for that, there’s SCIENCE to be done!

Anisphia, aka Anis, is the titular princess. In a land where magic power is strongest in the royal family, she can’t use magic at all. But that’s not going to stop her dreams. She removes herself from succession, retires to a side mansion, and proceeds to use her vague knowledge from Japan and sheer GUTS to make tools that work using magic but that can be wielded by anyone… including her! For the most part, this has meant kettles powered by spirits, etc. But she has grander plans, and needs an assistant, preferably one who is a magic savant. Enter Euphyllia, aka Euphie, the duke’s daughter and fiancee to Anis’ younger brother. Having just been publicly shamed in front of most of nobility and dumped by her fiance, Euphie’s marriage prospects are near zero. So why not let her assist Anis in creating new tools? And if they have to fight a dragon too, well, so be it.

The manga of this series is coming out in a month or so, and I’m not sure how well it’s going to work, because so much of Anis and Euphie depend on the reader hearing the inner narration. Anis can seem like a ball of chaos, and she is a lot of the time, but there is real method to her madness, and deep down she’s desperate for the magic that everyone else has. As for Euphie, it’s rare we see the “villainess” (she’s nothing of the sort) so broken by having her engagement called off, and she spends most of the first half of this book feeling miserable and like she failed everyone. Seeing her gradually come into her own is a huge treat. As for the “yuri” of the series, well, though the word “lesbian” is not used, Anis has stated that she likes girls and will not marry a boy, which is close enough, probably. She freely admits one reason she wanted Euphie as her assistant is she’s gorgeous. I suspect once the two work out their issues romance will blossom quickly.

There’s still a lot left unresolved at the end of this book, most notably Anis’ younger brother, the instigator of all this, as well as the baron’s daughter who has “otome game protagonist” written all over her. But honestly, I’m not here for the villainess vibe. I just want to see Anis and Euphie hang out together and invent new things. A definite winner.