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86 –Eighty-Six– Alter. Vol. 2: Fight, Magical Girl Reina ☆ Lena! Go, Starship San Magnolia!

By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert. This ended up being a bit of a headache for me. I didn’t mind the parody. Look at that subtitle, I was expecting a lot of goofball antics. The trouble is that it’s also trying to tell a serious story in there, albeit less serious than the main 86 story. I didn’t mind when everyone was talking about using the star grapheme when shouting the name of their colossal killer weapon, but it feels a bit off when it’s in the middle of a dramatic reunion between family, one of whom is the enemy. Which, I note, happens twice in this book. That said, for the most part…

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My Happy Marriage, Vol. 9

By Akumi Agitogi and Tsukiho Tsukioka. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon” by Fujimi L Bunko. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by David Musto. It’s been over a year, but we finally have a new volume of My Happy Marriage. (And it’s likely going to be another year till the next one – Vol. 10 just came out in Japan earlier this month.) We’ve now resolved most of the difficulties between Miyo and Kiyoka, and the title is no longer ironic. They’re married and happy. Which means, of course, that normally you would end the series. But the anime of this did quite well. As a result, it’s time to continue, and since you don’t really want to mess up the lovely couple – yet…

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The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival, Vol. 6

By Harunori Biyori and Hitaki Yuu. Released in Japan as “Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyō Survival” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Camilla L. When I started this series, I had thought it was going to run about six volumes, and here we are at the sixth volume. That said, we’re nowhere near done, and in Japan the tenth volume just came out, and it doesn’t look like the final one either. This series is stretching itself, and I don’t think it’s just because of the long, lovingly detailed fight scenes. There are more of those than ever, of course, though blissfully we have a few less stat screens than usual this time around. One thing I did notice is that now that…

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The Devil Princess, Vol. 3

By Harunohi Biyori and Geso Umiu. Released in Japan as “Akuma Koujo” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Julie Goniwich. Adapted by Emlyn Dornemann. One reason that this series works so well is that, no matter how dark or serious the climax of each volume gets, or how many corpses pile up, the start of each new book is mostly fun and often funny. Yulucia spends some time in this volume at the standard noble academy, and her quest to make friends, or at least interact normally with people, suffers from everything about her presence. There’s a great side story about a young girl who also has memories of a past life, and knows that this is a “dating sim”, and is there to…

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Sword of the Stallion, Vol. 2

By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan as “Sword of Stallion: Taneuma to Yobareta Saikyou Kishi, Ringoku no Oujo wo Netore to Meijirareru” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey. Last time I said that this mecha fantasy might be meeting up with a villainess story, and this second volume leans right into that. Ras goes back to his country only to find that they’re immediately returning, as it turns out that Princess Tishna has an assassin that’s been hired to kill her. So they’re moving up their plans to try and cut this off at the past, all while dealing with their own internal politics – they attend an event that features the ex-fiancee of Auriol, the prince that Fiarca is…

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Spy Classroom: The High Plain of Sara

By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher. After the events of the last volume, which were dark but not as dark as the rest of the series, we’re back into pitch black with this volume, which does just about everything except kill one of the main cast off – and even that’s left up in the air at the end. It turns out, amazingly, that being a spy continues to be very hard! And that one of the few things harder than that is starting a revolution. Honestly, this particular book feels very relevant to our times right now in a way that I will try not to go into great detail…

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Manga the Week of 3/18/26

SEAN: Ask your doctor whether manga is right for you. Do not read manga while operating heavy machinery. ASH: This is good advice. Don’t ask me how I know. MICHELLE: Oh, dear. SEAN: ABLAZE has Neo Faust, Tezuka’s third attempt at the Faust story, which ran in Asahi Shimbun and which he was working on when he died. ASH: I’m glad that Tezuka has found a new home in English. ANNA: Indeed! SEAN: Airship has a print debut. Magic Maker: How to Create Magic in Another World (Magic Maker: Isekai Mahou no Tsukurikata) is an ongoing light novel in the genre of “I am reincarnated into a fantasy world and proceed to revolutionize it as a young child because I am so amazing”. There’s also The Condemned Villainess Goes Back…

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To the Monster I Love, Vol. 1

By ryunosuke and Gesoking. Released in Japan as “Bakemono no Kimi ni Tsugu” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Laura Sitzer. I was on the fence about picking this series up, as let’s face it, I read way too many light novels, and the first I heard about it was hearing complaints about the way the title is translated. (My Japanese is not good enough to go into what it should or shouldn’t be, but the title as chosen certainly can fit the book.) As it turns out, I enjoyed this a great deal. It may be a tad grimmer than I expected, with a high body count overall, but none of those deaths are in the main cast. Instead, the main cast are…

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Notorious No More: The Villainess Enjoys Feigning Incompetence, Vol. 3

By Hanako Arashi and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Kitai no Akujo, Sandome no Jinsei de “Musai Munou” wo Tanoshimu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Mac B. Gill. So this volume, at long last, gives us a good long look about what happened in the past, even if actual flashbacks to the death of Beljeanne, while there, don’t give the entire story either. One thing that has come up from those who know the real story is why, after Beljeanne’s death, the ones who benefited the most from it and ended up stronger than ever are the ones who hated her the most. Basically, Beljeanne’s plan did not differentiate between her allies and enemies. Towards the end of this book, while talking…

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