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Reviews

Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite, Vol 1

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Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite Volume 1 by Julietta Suzuki

Hina is an otaku vampire who has decided to move to Japan to devote herself to her fandom, an anime called Vampire Cross. She’s basically a shut-in, only venturing out to try to score limited edition items at merch drops. She takes occasional calls from her father who seems supportive of her lifestyle choices but can’t help reminding her that vampires sometimes find a special human who they want to bite. Hina is resolute in her decision to only drink from blood bags and fully indulge her fangirl nature. She does become distracted one day by her next door neighbor who looks exactly like Mao, the character she’s obsessed with. Kyuta recoils in disgust initially when he realizes that Hina is an otaku, but something about her draws him in. On Hina’s side she finds that Kyuta smells irresistibly delicious. She notes that there’s a mysterious voice coming from his apartment occasionally – who or what could it be?

Otaku Vampire's Love Bite

Suzuki excels at portraying tsundere heroes. Kyuta initially finds Hina off-putting, but when he realizes that she truly knows nothing about how to live on her own he starts helping her. He gives her practical advice about taking out her trash and even joins her for a special Vampire Cross cafe event when the internet friend she was supposed to go with stands her up. Kyuta ends up being a vampire magnet, and Hina has the ability to protect him because she’s unexpectedly powerful even if she has no desire to engage in vampire activities like sucking blood. I enjoyed the developing relationship dynamic between Kyuta and Hina. Hina has powerful supernatural abilities but only cares about arranging acrylic standees and Kyuta’s ability to function in the modern world balances her out. Suzuki’s art is so whimsical and cute. Hina’s tiny fangs and pointed ears are adorable and Kyuta’s exasperated but kind in spite of himself mannerisms make him sympathetic. Suzuki’s series are always delightful and the first volume of Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite started off strong.

From Villainess to Healer, Vol. 1

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By Punichan and Yoh Hihara. Released in Japan as “Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijō” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Seacord.

I do appreciate that an author might feel that the villainess genre is played out. There have been many, many, MANY villainess books in the last eight years or so. They all tend towards specific types. Some have the villainess actively trying to change her fate, as they were reincarnated long before the “break off the engagement” event. Some have them fighting death after they’re unable to avoid that fate. Sometimes they go to a different country, where they’re welcomed with open arms. Hell, this particular author will do almost the exact same premise and first chapter in a later book – you could have copy/pasted much of the start of this book into the start of Camper Van Villainess. So I do appreciate the conceit of this book, which is “what if the villainess is an RPG nerd who just wants to be hitting up dungeons and grinding levels?” Oh wait, we had that too, with Villainess Level 99. That said, this does get the “boring as hell” part of these RPG books 100% correct.

Mitsuki loves playing the RPG game Reas Life Online, as well as its Otome Game side story game, Reas Love. When we next see her (and it’s never clear how she dies), she’s in the body of Charlotte Cocoriara, the daughter of a duke and fiancee to the prince. But this is one of THOSE games – the player is a commoner girl who the prince falls for, and Charlotte is the villainess, who the prince exiles. Expecting her to object, he’s a bit stunned when she says “OK” and bolts instead. (It’s really, REALLY just like Camper Van Villainess.) She runs home, tells her parents what happened, and leaves to achieve her dream – become an adventurer and play Reas Life Online rather than Reas Love!

There were some things here I found interesting. Unlike most otome game worlds, where the “heroine” has to be yelled at by the villainess for treating it like a game when in fact it’s real life, but here it really DOES seem like a game, inasmuch as our protagonist can see status screens, levels, etc. I also like the conceit of the otome game being a side spinoff of the main RPG core. As with Camper Van Villainess and Otome Survival Game, this is more interested in taking the skeleton of a villainess plot and spinning it off into a different genre. Sadly, the genre, generic RPG power leveling, is something I’ve tried to avoid for the last few years when trying out new books, and seeing it in a villainess book really didn’t help much. At least the RV book is meant to be more ridiculous – this is just basic. And then there’s the same problem the villainess genre as a whole seems to have – by emphasizing the villainess as good and the heroine as bad, it plays into “commoners should know their place, only noble people have the breeding to rule”. Which is not helped by this heroine being, well, a generic selfish heroine.

I’ll happily read more of the author’s other series. But as for this, if I wanted an OP isekai, I’d read an OP isekai.

An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me!, Vol. 9

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By Yuishi and Kagachisaku. Released in Japan as “Inkya no Boku ni Batsu Game de Kokuhaku Shitekita Hazu no Gal ga, Dō Mitemo Boku ni Beta Bore Des” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Satoko Kakihara.

I honestly hope that this series does get an anime some day. Not just because it’s cute and sexy and all that. Some of you may recall back in the day there was a manga called My Dress-Up Darling, which also spawned an anime. That anime spawned Episode 11 of same. And Episode 11 spawned 80 million fanfics on AO3, the basic summary is “but what if they’d had sex?”. And that’s not going to happen with a light-novel only series like this is now, but if it gets an anime, I can’t help but think that frustrated fanfic writers are going to take matters in their own hands. Not only have they only kissed (and not even with tongue, as Nanami is reminded by her teacher), but their every move is now being watched to make sure they don’t go too far in the school. And yet these two have no idea what the definition of “too far” is. They revel in being sexy together.

Last time the author said we’d finally be getting the class trip, but I was dubious, given that the cover art showed what was clearly a sports festival. And yes, that’s absolutely what we get in the first half, as a reluctant Yoshin is convinced by Nanami to actually try for a change, and they end up competing in the Piggyback Race, a couples event where the goal seems to be “how embarrassing can we make things?”. That said, the back half of the book actually does give us the preparation and the setup for the class trip, which ends up being in Hawaii. This is possibly not the wonderful news you’d expect. Both Yoshin and Nanami’s parents had their honeymoons there, and given Yoshin has already proposed – more than once – they joke that this will be a “pre-honeymoon” for the couple. Which gives them ideas. Ideas of getting even closer. They may even get to extreme hand-holding.

Theoretically this book is still a sort of “guide” to new couples who may be reading it, showing the value of communicating everything to your partner and being open about your feelings and desires. The difficulty is that Yoshin and Nanami have a broken sense of shame. They don’t have NO sense of shame, otherwise this would be a very different series, and possibly in the Ghost Ship line. But it seems to activate late, which means they have no idea that they’re talking about intimate couple things while they’re in class surrounded by other students. Nanami in particular has this funny combination of innocence and salaciousness, meaning she can say things like “When you’re ready, feel free to really take me for a ride” and not get the implications, but also spend at least a minute sensuously licking and biting her boyfriend’s ear. I think being a guide on how to be an open loving couple has long left town.

Will they finally go further in the 10th book, when they’re in Hawaii? Probably not. But I’m sure we’ll all want to read it anyway.

I Could Never Be a Succubus!, Vol. 5

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By Nora Kohigashi and Wasabi. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Succubus Ja Arimasen” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

(This review assumes you want to be spoiled about the last third of the book.)

I will always love the fact that this series is “come for the horny, stay for the funny”. And rest assured, this is still a very horny series. But there are several points in this volume where it appears that the book is finally going to take a bit of a serious bent, and then it absolutely takes a wild leap back into the broadest comedy. And that’s good, as this is one of the few light novel series that does broad comedy really well. Even the horny – especially the horny – works so well because it’s so over the top that you can’t really kinkshame it. So yes, Liz really will wear those panties with the magic-infused elephant trunk that can act like a real penis, because it means the artist will have to draw art of it, and make it funnier. And thus, when we resolve the cliffhanger from the last book, with the new hero menacing everyone, it turns out to be hysterical.

Dia the new hero, shows up and proceeds to not only give Cain a serious wound, but also kidnap Liz. That said, once Liz finds out what’s going on, she realizes that not only is Dia not nearly as villainous as previously advertised, but she’s also a cute young catgirl, which sets Liz’s heart throbbing, though she’s not quite sure why. Liz is rescued soon enough, but finds herself teleporting back to Dia’s location (basically figuring out a teleportation spell on the fly and instantly doing it perfectly, which reminds you how powerful this horny succubus really is), where she finds that Dia not only does the bare minimum of cooking and cleaning, but wears… bloomers! With holes in them! And no bra! This will not stand! It’s time for a lingerie shopping trip!

I ended up trying to overthink this. Yes, as it turns out, Dia’s story about her having the “real” hero sword and Cain’s being a suspicious fake does in fact turn out to possibly be the case but that’s not what drives the climax. The entire climax is driven by the scene where Cain walks into the lingerie shop and sees not only Liz but also Dia, and we realize that he already knows the new hero very well. Once all the identities are revealed, this gets even funnier… at least until we get to the fight to the “death”, which, of course, Cain wins. Again, this should be a dramatic scene, either tear-jerking or heartwarming, and it’s 100% undercut by Liz literally holding up cue cards for the reluctant Cain to read aloud to resolve things properly. Hell, even the sad finale where she leaves to find herself is ruined by Liz, albeit unconsciously. The main reason they want Liz’s memory back is so that when they punish her she actually a) knows why, and b) enjoys it again.

Again, I don’t recommend this to anyone who is not ready for our heroine to be dressed in panties with a working penis shaped like an elephant trunk on the front. But if you are, this remains 10% cool, 10% heartwarming, 30% sex-obsessed, and 50% LOL.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: The Angel That Broke the Star Oath

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By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

I’ve talked before about how this series really loves being a harem title, but it’s not just that the harem writing is done very well (though it is). It’s that the harem antics actually manage to take over every OTHER aspect of the series. The battle scenes are crisp and action-filled, and also filled with banter as the heroines literally encourage each other by saying that they’re going to be the one who marries Allen, forcing the other person to fight EVEN HARDER so that they can deny that possibility. We get the tragic backstory that has led to much of this series, and it turns out it’s because the heroine was unable to save her version of Allen and went mad with the revelation. Nobles are furious with Allen simply because of the sheer number of young superpowerful girls he has at his disposal. Hell, even the resurrected corpse of his dead best friend is cheering him on and urging him to keep saving the girl no matter what. It’s kind of hilarious.

Allen and Stella remains trapped deep underground, with Stella’s body having been taken over by a dangerous-looking angel. Ellie has escaped to tell everyone what’s going on, but the Sealed Archive is not letting anyone come in the way that they originally did. And of course there are those who simply want to leave Allen there, though one of the more annoying antagonistic nobles grudgingly admits Allen is what is needed here. But eventually we get a squad to go into the catacombs under the city and go *up* to rescue Allen, led by Lydia, Caren, Tina and Ellie. Unfortunately, the religious folks are behind all this, and have sent more than one apostles to stop everyone, including a very familiar face to Allen, Lydia, and Cheryl.

I’ve been whining for a long time that I wish the series would do a massive flashback to show Allen and Lydia’s school days, and this is the first volume where we get a flashback that lasts longer than a couple of pages. It shows that, unsurprisingly, school life mostly consisted of Lydia and Cheryl fighting each other every day to see who gets the right to say they’re Allen’s Number One Girl. Allen, naturally, does not get a say in the matter. (I did briefly wonder what would happen if anyone asked him his opinion on being in love with any of the girls, but his self-deprecation is too high for that to work.) But there’s also Allen’s best male friend Zelbert, who seems to be the classic snarky glasses-wearing best friend of the hero type, but who we already know died before the main story began, and here we see why that happened, as well as Zelbert’s own tragic past. If you’re going to fire off the flashback guns, this is an excellent way to do it.

Unfortunately, it turns out our heroes did not win as much as they may have thought, though at least Stella is not evil. The next volume promises – again – more Tina and less Lydia. We’ll see.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 7

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By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

All right, I apologize, I was reading one of the main plotlines wrong. There’s no real defending it, I had forgotten how this series begins, with Sarasa shunted into this world with her massive piles of mana in order to save it. So when I kept seeing her having to fight off monsters that surprised everyone by showing up all of a sudden, I assumed it was due to her being a monster attractor. But no, I should have realized the more important fact, which is that, with the arrival of a new girl in this volume, there’s now FOUR isekai’d folks running around, more than they’ve ever seen before. it’s not that Sara attracts monsters, it’s that she and the others are here to prevent the apocalypse. As such, even in the parts of the world which traditionally have no monsters around, we end up getting a plague of locusts all of a sudden. The Invited go to where the crisis is going to be.

Sara is headed off to see Nelly’s older sister and her husband, who live in an agricultural region that has no dungeons and few monsters but does have lots of medicinal plants. They’re technically there to take care of a larger than usual attack of green locusts, but in reality they’re there because Nelly hasn’t seen her sister in forever, and also because, to everyone’s surprise, there’s a new Invited, Anzu, who also ended up in this world after falling ill in Japan. Ann has been sickly and weak, which puzzles Sara, who knows that they’re brought to this world in order to get more healthy, but the cause of this is found very fast (she’s coddled too much) and we get to the real meat of this book: Nelly is still unmarried, LOTS of people want to change that, and Chris is going to be very unhappy unless he does something soon.

So yes, finally, Nelly and Chris are a couple, though what I liked most about this was that it was framed as the two of them officially gaining a “daughter” in Sara than any romantic leanings. (Despite his mooning over her for the entire series, neither one is the romantic type.) Speaking of unromantic types, Sara and Allen continue to be besties and that’s about it, though there are hints that they both are aware where they’re going to end up in a few years but are just too young now. As for Sara, she’s forced to admit here that her philosophy of “keep my head down and stay out of the way” just isn’t going to work anymore. She cares about everyone in this world too much, and she wants to be proactive. Which she certainly is here, saving the day with her barriers again. That said, unlike Allen or Nelly, she’s happiest being a giant apothecary nerd with her fellow nerds, and fending off proposals from all and sundry.

This was a fun volume, and I do wonder how Ann will blend in with the cast, assuming that she continues to pursue her new dream. One of my favorite isekai of the moment.

The Royal Hostage Has Vanished: The Black Wolf Knight Yearns for the Persecuted Princess, Vol. 2

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By Ajigozen and Yura Chujo. Released in Japan as “Hitojichi Hime ga, Shōsoku wo Tatta. Kuro Ōkami no Kishi wa Rinkoku no Shiitagerareta Hime wo Zenryoku de Aishimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Emily Hemphill.

It’s always awkward when a book doesn’t really do anything wrong but leaves me a bit cold. Most of this second and final volume is fine. There are a few action scenes, which are exciting. The lead guy is perfectly fine, vacillating between stolid handsome hunk and soppy “I’m so in love with my wife” annoyance. There’s a few plot twists near the end that work pretty well, and the evil nobles are cartoonishly evil without feeling like they also kill babies and kick puppies. And yet, I think I came away from this book shrugging. In the end, I think it comes down to having the wrong narrator. This is Sonia/Nia’s story, but except for one or two POV scenes, mostly in the first book, we rarely see inside her head, instead spending all our time with husband Ark. I appreciate that not all shoujo romances have to have a woman’s POV, but this story would have worked better with it.

After getting unofficially married at the end of the last book, Ark and Nia move to their new domain, which as it turns out is dealing with a nasty outbreak of bandits… which are fairly obviously being sent by the second prince of Sylvario, Nia’s brother. Fortunately, when she was Sonia, the princess formed a bond with the denizens of the towns, which helps them win everyone over fairly quickly. The medicine also helps. Ark is a distant third. Once it’s determined that the foreign prince is behind this, it’s decided to bait him into a trap and capture him, which works so well that everyone wonders if they’re in some sort of Reverse Uno situation, but no, the prince really is that stupid. That said, he’s not the only antagonist…

Towards the end of the book we get several genre shifts to go with the “disgraced noble” that we’ve been dealing with all along. There were hints of a “secret saint” plot, and they turn out to be correct, and we also get a villainess plotline that reminds me far too much of the recent arc of Bakarina – the third princess reads very much like the original evil Katarina Claes, and her fate is likely going to be much the same. (Isekai’d otome game villainesses seem to do very badly in this world, in fact, as she’s not even the first one.) I would argue that the identity of a secret royal who can end up being a potential love interest for Prince Alphonse is perhaps one twist too far, and mostly serves as a way to allow our main couple to actually get it on without getting a cold stare of shame. But for the most part they work well. They just didn’t excite me.

If this was ongoing, I likely wouldn’t get more of it. Fortunately, we’re done here. This was good, but in the end, I wish I’d read it from the other POV.

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 13

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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 Joshua Douglass-Molloy.

Let’s face it, Fortune Lover I was a bad game. Lots of fans have spent ages pointing out what a disaster it would be for the country if Maria’s routes played out the way we’re told they did, but more importantly, it’s shallow and badly written. Katarina absolutely did the best thing possible by “trying to prevent her doom” and accidentally saving everyone. Unfortunately for her, they brought in better writers for the second game. Not in terms of the routes themselves, those are still lame. But in terms of the politics behind it, and how it’s now affecting multiple kingdoms. And unfortunately for Katarina, that one’s much harder to derail. The kidnappings, murder attempts, and potential coups we’re seeing in Sorcier are not “a problem for the player to solve”, and as such even when Katarina does her best, success remains elusive. Especially since she still has that pesky dark magic, and it turns out she now knows how to make it strong, and it’s not a good thing.

Cezar, the prince of Ethenell, is being sent to Sorcier as part vacation and part to see how a country that’s not recovering from a civil war is doing things. Everyone tells Katarina that she should absolutely not get involved with him, because something else he’s doing is looking for a wife. Of course, Katarina absolutely gets involved with him. She accidentally breaks up his meeting with various other desperate noblewomen, she takes him on a tour of bookstores, cafes, and farms (of course the farms are the most interesting), and she sees him touring the ministry of magic while she’s busy trying to practice with her dark magic (she’s only good at absorption) and translating the dark magic book (she gets bored easily). Unfortunately, Cezar is also investigating the conspiracy that everyone else is, and this investigation results in Maria’s family being attacked…

Those who read my Bakarina reviews know that I don’t really care about the cishet pairings, even as I acknowledge the author does. Mary and Sophia barely appear. Fortunately, our one exception is present throughout. Yes, Maria ends up getting a bit damselled in the climax, when Sarah and a bunch of goons overpower her, but the best moment might be when she sees Cezar and Katarina at the orphanage, where Katarina has been showing off what a great place it is for kids, and Cezar starts putting the moves on her (something she has no idea about). I love seeing Maria being jealous, and her cold attitude towards Cezar, though it doesn’t last long (they bond over Katarina being awesome) is great to see. What’s more, Katarina has literally saved the life of her and her mother this time. Maria is going to be more in love than ever.

As for HOW Katarina saved Maria, well, that’s worrying. I get the feeling “have better control over your emotions” is easier said than done, but I don’t think this series will get TOO dark. This continues to meander towards its ending. Mary and Sophia fans (and Alan and Nicol fans, honestly) can drop it, but Jeord, Sora, Cezar, and Maria fans will be happy. (Keith? Who’s Keith?)

Drunks

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In the shadow of the mainstream North American manga industry, there are a handful of indies who are keeping manga weird. They’re publishing the kind of offbeat stories that you won’t read in Shonen Jump or stream on Crunchyroll, stories that are elliptical, profound, strange, funny, or unsettling in ways that My Hero Academia or Blue Lock aren’t. 

On a recent visit to Star Fruit Books, for example, I discovered Okaya Izumi’s Drunks, a pair of stories that put a novel spin on the meet-cute. In the first, a shy salary man staggers home from a night of drinking only to fall prey to a chatty vampire who casually asks, “Do you have blackout drapes at your house?” You can guess where this is going, but the light tone and odd notes of humor push “Drunks” in an unexpected direction as these two wildly different people find solace in each other’s company. The second story—“Tick Tock”—also crosses genre boundaries, using elements of science fiction to set the plot in motion. Tomoko, the heroine, spends a century in a cryogenic chamber before a young man accidentally frees her. Though the pair stumble into a physical relationship quickly, Okaya focuses as much on Tomoko’s complex reaction to rejoining the world as on her sexual reawakening, helping us understand why Tomoko is secretly relieved to discover that the future is not much different than the past.

Art-wise, Okaya’s style recalls Nishi Keiko (Love Story) and Yamada Murasaki (Talk to My Back, Second Hand Love), as Izumi’s characters are rendered in thin, almost scribbly, lines that make them look a little fragile. In her stories’ most emotionally charged scenes, there is almost no background detail; the reader’s eye is drawn to the characters’ faces and body language, allowing us to more fully appreciate their sense of joy, astonishment, and confusion over finding companionship in unexpected places. The quiet authenticity of these moments help both stories transcend their cliché elements to make a deeper point about the characters’ need for connection. Recommended.

DRUNKS • BY OKAYA IZUMI • TRANSLATED BY DAN LUFFEY • LETTERING/RETOUCHING BY KELLY NGO • STAR FRUIT BOOKS • 60 pp.

Her Royal Highness Seems to be Angry, Vol. 1

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By Kou Yatsuhashi and Mito Nagashiro. Released in Japan as “Ojou Denka wa Ookari no You desu” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie Kimura.

(This was based on a review copy provided by the publisher.)

We’ve seen quite a few of these “young noble lady suddenly has memories of her past life” series before, but if you’re looking for something unique to separate this one from the others, there are one or two things. First of all, she’s not reincarnated from Japan, but from centuries in the past, when the world was at war. (Not to worry, isekai fans, there are indirect hints that her husband from the past was in a good old fashioned normal isekai plot, albeit a tragic one.) More importantly, rather than struggle with the embarrassment of what she was like before, or have to somehow amalgamate her old self with this new one, Leticiel literally overwrites her present body. The book has her think of herself as Leticiel, her old name, throughout, and she wakes with no memory of any time before that point. It’s as if she simply murdered her past self and took them over. Which, well, her fiance also suspects might be the case…

We open with a prologue, showing Leticiel’s country on the verge of being wiped out. Her family and husband are dead, and she elects to mind-control a soldier into killing her rather than be taken alive. A ,long, long time later, she suddenly finds herself in the body of Drossell, a duke’s daughter who is engaged to the first prince. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember ANYTHING. So, as she tries to figure out where she is and what the state of the world is, she fends off her family by simply being incredibly standoffish and curt. No one really bats an eye at this, which should tell her something, but she doesn’t really care enough to find out. Worst of all, when she goes to her magic academy (you knew it was coming), she finds this kingdom is all about magic! What? Why, when it’s so much less powerful than sorcery?

The weakest part of the book may be its title, as Leticiel spends most of the book being rather nonchalant, only getting seriously pissed off once. I assume it refers to her being upset that sorcery has fallen so far as to be unrecognized. There are more things that I enjoyed, though. The main “love interest” seems to be, not a grumpy noble as is usually the case with these series, but a nerd who spends most of his days working with machines. And then there’s the late Drossell herself (It’s possible the memories will return someday, but for now I have to assume that the girl who used to be in that body is dead.) The book sets us up to see her as an annoying spoiled brat, the typical “villainess” that you see in this genre… and then the backstory explains exactly why she’s acting that way, and it’s a lot closer to I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! than I’d like. Moreover, most of what’s happened to both Drossell *and* Leticiel seems to be foretold, and I’m not entirely sure I trust the king and his ageless advisor to act in their best interests. The end of this book makes me want to read the next one.

So yes, at the risk of being like the “And you’ll hear it again!” Brooklyn Nine Nine meme, I enjoyed another villainess-style book.

I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!, Vol. 5

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

This final volume suckerpunched me a bit. When I was reading the first, oh, 60 pages or so, I wondered if this was actually going to be, against all odds, a “victory lap” final volume, one where all has been taken care of and our happy couple are finally free to be with each other forever. And, y’know, that does happen. Make no mistake about it, Yulan and Violette don’t technically have much bad happen to them here compared to the previous four books in the series. And the book ends with them as a couple. And they are happy with each other, and in love with each other. They even have a child. That said, Their upbringing and the abuse we’ve seen since the start of the series still influences everything they do and think, and as the book goes on you realize that its characters are still, to a large extent, in a dark place that they may never really get out of. But honestly, that’s very realistic, and at this point in the series I guess a happy, fluffy ending would have felt hideously out of place.

The book picks up immediately after the end of the last one. Violette and Marin have escaped from her house and are living in a hotel, and shortly after Yulan moves them to the estate in the country his family owns that he now controls, to his surprise. (Marin is there because Yulan knows that Violette can’t function without her, and Yulan is allowed to be with Violette as Marin knows she would fall to bits without him. The two of them have a somewhat malevolent understanding.) Meanwhile, Rosette has married Claudia, and there’s going to be an heir. Unfortunately, Yulan’s golden eyes are still an issue, and everyone’s doing their best to plot a coup with him as the centerpiece. So for now he waits, and does the overwork they’re giving him, and patiently twiddles his thumbs till the kingdom gets to the point where he’s able to ignore that and do what he’s wanted to do all along – care about his wife and only his wife, and no one else. OK, maybe their child. Possibly.

There are a few side stories at the end of the book, as we get the POV of Violette’s mother, father, stepmother, and Maryjune. Maryjune, at least, has come to terms with her upbringing and her part in it, and has resigned herself to marrying a man twice her age in a political marriage, which is framed as good. These stories should be horrifying, and they are, but to me they pale in comparison to Violette and Yulan every time we see the inside of their heads. Unsurprisingly, Violette is terrified that she’ll end up turning into her mother if she ever gives birth. Yulan wonders if he’d even be able to care about the child. The final scene with the child seems to relieve these fears, somewhat, but it sums up the series perfectly that the end of their story is not “look at our cute child playing with laundry soap bubbles” but “we both despise our mothers for what they did, and it fills us with rage, and that’s perfectly OK.” Everyone in this is still damaged to the end, they’re just damaged with each other. Sometimes that’s all you can ask.

The author suggests that readers try the manga as a “different experience”. Certainly when I tried to read it it seemed to be far more generic and less traumatizing. Stick with the light novel, which will kick you in the stomach and push your face into mud, but it’s still spellbinding and you can’t look away.

The Countess Is a Coward No More! This Reincarnated Witch Just Wants a Break, Vol. 1

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By Ageha Sakura and TCB. Released in Japan as “Tensei Saki ga Kiyowa Sugiru Hakushaku Fujin datta” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Bérénice Vourdon.

I hadn’t realized till I’d finished this book that the author also wrote a book I read less than two months ago, also a J-Novel Heart title, Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain. That one came before this one, I think, which may explain one reason why this book does not bother with any of the heroine’s coward period. We open on page 1 with her getting her memories from a past life back, and after a short “everyone was abusing her since the day she was born” explanation, our heroine never looks back, taking control of her life and making sweeping changes. And honestly, I will admit that that’s probably for the best, though I have one caveat I’ll get to later. Lam, the countess, was a magical legend 500 years ago, and now she’s in the future where magic is much less impressive and much more oppressed. Shades of Reborn to Master the Blade, but Lam is quite happy to continue using magic, as long as she can retrain her weak body. You’ve read this sort of thing before.

Lam was born into a commoner-turned-baron’s household, and when she was found to have residual mana in her she was abused and belittled by her entire family. When she came of age she was sold to an earl, who doesn’t care about her, and is beaten and abused by her servants. Then one day, after getting hit one too many times, she remembers she used to be the legendary with Aurora, who was powerful, saved many people, and had equally powerful apprentices. Sadly, she can’t remember how she died, but that’s not important right now. What is important is beating the shit out of every servant, firing their asses, and getting a divorce from her husband. She’s successful in all but the last of these – now that she’s no longer a nervous wreck who can’t respond to anyone, he finds her super attractive. Even more so when he sees the magic she can now wield…

So, two issues with this book, one of which is not the author’s fault. The petty issue is it makes me think of the Kenny Rogers song Coward of the County, which I hate. The less petty issue is there’s a lot of “if only she’s been stronger and stood up to her bullies she might have been able to fix things”, which always irritates me, mostly as it’s still a prevailing attitude to this day. Other than that, this is fun enough. Lam is the sort who likes to pretend that she’s got it all together even when she doesn’t, and is at her most interesting when she’s struggling with stamina/romance, or when she’s forging new family bonds. Char, the earl and her husband, seems to be the classic “stoic uncaring guy whose heart is opened by a woman”, only it turns out he’s also a massive Aurora otaku, which is the funniest part of the book. Also, unlike a lot of books like this, this was written knowing there would be more than one volume, so there’s a cliffhanger.

Also, Lam’s sisters are named Lem and Lim. Presumably Lom and Lum were busy doing the Pink Panther movies and Urusei Yatsura. For fans of the disgraced noble genre, even though the disgrace all happens before the novel starts.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades, Vol. 12

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By Bokuto Uno and Miyuki Ruria. Released in Japan as “Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

I’ve talked before about how my desire to see the main six cast members live happily ever after is warring with the narrative, which keeps underlining how Oliver and Katie are doomed. With this episode, I get the feeling that we’re going to be adding everyone else to that list as well, and make this an All Or Nothing type of series. The two characters who have gotten the least focus get attention here, and while Pete is mostly setup for future volumes (with one huge exception which I’ll get to later), Guy’s arc is looking to be a lot more dangerous and potentially fatal. Generally speaking I’ve always thought of Guy and Chela as “the sensible ones”, and this book is here to throw that out the window and remind me that absolutely everyone in that group is weird as hell. Of course he survives – none of them will die till at least Oliver explains what he’s doing. But yikes, I don’t wish what he has to go through on anyone else… wait, absolutely the wrong way to put that.

Despite the fact that Guy and Pete get much more focus here, the publisher still knows who its big sellers are, so Oliver and Nanao are on the cover again, along with new teacher Rod Farquois, who will be taking over astronomy, is a reversi just like Pete, and absolutely no one knows what they’re up to – it’s very clear they’re not here at the school’s request. As for the main plot, half of it … again, we’re coming to it… but the last half of the book is a rescue arc, as Guy, Ursule Valois’ twin attendants, and forgotten first book teen bully Annie Mackley are trapped on the second floor of the labyrinth, which is dealing with someone consumed by the spell, and he’s turned the floor into his own cursed treehouse of horrors. Everyone will be going there to rescue Guy/the twins (sorry, Annie, no one really likes you), but can they do it before Guy makes an irreversible decision?

I hate to be a broken record, but my god this series is horny. It’s baked into the plot, as it’s hinted that one of the main reasons that our heroes are suffering so much right now is that they’re not banging each other on the regular. Pete, at least, takes care of that in one of the more startling scenes in the book, where he confronts Oliver in his female body and takes him to bed. Oliver, of course, is doing similar things with Nanao, and Chela helped him earlier. Katie loves Oliver, but knows he’s rejecting her, so is snuggling Guy every chance she gets. Guy likes Katie, so is helping her with this. Third-year Rita likes Guy too, and is angry at Katie. And we also meet Leoncio’s sister, a third year who is absolutely his distaff counterpart, and who seems to be constantly aroused. I don’t think that all Oliver’s problems would be solved with an orgy… unless?

This is another book that ends WHAM, no epilogue at all, so I’m not sure what happens next. The cover to Vol. 13 sure looks like a “Breaking of the fellowship” situation, though, huh? In any case, please read about these powerful and pent-up idiots.

Agents of the Four Seasons, Vol. 4

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By Kana Akatsuki and Suoh. Released in Japan as “Shunka Shūtō Daikōsha” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sergio Avila.

Last time I mentioned that everyone in this book is an abuse survivor, and in this book it becomes even more clear that our heroes are all either children or traumatized when they were children, and the bad guys are adults who are seeking to manipulate them for their own ends. It even spells this out literally, with the leader of Doyen Turtle says how good it is that the Agents are young and easily manipulable. The kid we briefly saw in the last book is no exception, and the biggest plot twists revolve around making him have a complete nervous breakdown because of his powers and things he had no control over. Thankfully, the Agents and their Guards are all much better at this than the last arc,. and things actually go swimmingly… OK, partly as even the “good” adult characters are also manipulating everything behind the scenes. A lot of the main characters end up in romantic relationships, and there’s a reason for that – when you can only trust one or two people, you stick with them.

Picking up where we left off, the Agents of Summer are up on the mountain, and have met up with the Archer of Twilight. The other Agents and Guards are on their way there, but are being blocked by the usual insurgents and traitors, because we still have a battle between two organizations, one of whom wants (theoretically) to protect the agents and one who wants to “replace” them all. And then there’s Ruri and Ayame’s fiances, who are also on their way to the mountain… and it turns out Ruri’s fiancee is actually head of the “protect” organization. They both really love their fiancees, something they hope they can convey after all hell breaks loose. Oh yes, speaking of fiancees, Sakura gets a marriage proposal from Hinagiku’s brother, which would keep Hinagiku safe but make Sakura’s life a nightmare. She is, of course, considering it, because EVERYONE in this series hates themselves.

A lot of the back half of this is an action movie, so forgive me if I talk about the couples a bit more. We learn a lot more about Raicho here, who seems to be someone you would not want to trust. He’s never had a girlfriend longer than three months, and regards love as something he doesn’t want to bother with… till he meets Ruri. Ruri is his OTP, even if they get off on the wrong foot, and it brings out… not the best in him. There really aren’t any sweetness and light relationships in this series. But it does arouse his protective instincts. As for Eken, the cause of most of the “mountain” plot, he gets the plot twists, and they’re very good, forcing us to re-evaluate everything we’d been told – and then do it again later. He might be a bit annoying, but given that he’s been super traumatized and is having guns pointed at him, who can blame him?

So things are temporarily safe again, and Summer Is Icumen In, or at least getting married. The next book in the series is, finally, a stand alone, dealing with the other Archer, who we only briefly saw in this arc. Hopefully it will be less fraught. Please keep these poor kids happy, I beg you.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 13

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By Fujino Omori and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

It’s been over four years since we last had a volume of Sword Oratoria, though thankfully the next two books in the series are out in Japan, so it shouldn’t be that long all the time. If the first six or so books in the series were an Aiz spinoff, the next six were, on and off, focused on Lefiya. She gets this one as well, serving as an epilogue to her arc, and showing how she’s dealing with Filvis’ death and her part in it. I will admit, I probably did myself a favor reading this book right after a volume of Tanya the Evil. That series, which it can be fascinating, is not one you read for great prose. It’s a military slog. This, on the other hand, absolutely flies by despite being almost 300 pages. Say what you will about Omori, they can write a well-paced volume. What’s more, this takes place at the same time as Vol. 19 in the main series. We’ve finally caught up.

We pick up shortly after the events of the last few books. Lefiya returns to Loki Familia, having cut her long hair short, and now equipping herself with Filvis’ sword. She needs training to get stronger so she can be a magical swordsman, she says, and she chooses to train with Bete, reasoning that he’s the only one who will beat the shit out of her till she gets stronger. Loki, realizing that Lefiya is headed down a dangerous path, instead has her go to the flying School District to scout new students for the Familia. After all, Lefiya came from that school originally. On arrival, interspersed with memories of her time as a student, she learns how to be a teacher, and also continues down her very dangerous path. Fortunately, she’s better at one of these things more than the other.

We do see Bell in this, and yes, Lefiya still hates him. (The Memoria Freese game that’s currently being mined for spinoffs suggests they go back a lot longer than either of them realize.) Lefiya and Bell have been compared and contrasted through the entire Sword Oratoria spinoff, and it’s even more clear here, as Lefiya absolutely throws herself into getting stronger so that she can carry on Filvis’ legacy. The flashbacks suggest that Lefiya lacks a goal, and that adventurers who lack goals end up dead adventurers. She’s honestly pretty terrifying in this, especially in the back half, as we realize that she’s essentially trying to commit suicide by destroying her own identity. Fortunately, the genuine teaching moments she gives to the students in her care (some of whom are older than she is) helps to save her in the end. Lefiya can’t be Filvis no matter how much she loved her (and she says it out loud here). She has to remain Lefiya. Now, at least, she can move forward.

As for the spinoff itself, the next volume moves backwards, and appears to finally show us how Finn, Gareth and Riveria ended up in Loki Familia. Till then, I will finally admit that I’ve stopped disliking Lefiya. She’s gotten good.