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Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 17

By Nozomu Mochitsuki and Gilse. Released in Japan as “Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Madeleine Willette. We’re now seventeen books into this series, short story collections aside, and Mia has gotten very good at actual princess things. Sure, she sometimes faces death from things like assassins (as in this book, where we get to see something rare in fictional works, armor actually doing its job in a realistic way), but for the most part, Mia is no longer in any danger of the world turning against her and getting guillotined. As such, Mia has to face an even more dangerous fate, and one that so far she has been very bad at stopping: people in the future thinking TOO highly…

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Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 11

By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn. The author speaks in the afterword about having grand plans for a lot of wacky fun in the second half of this arc, but as they began to actually write the book, it became apparent that wacky fun was going to have to take a backseat. This is a serious book, with lots of threats to our heroines and the city as a whole. Reirin herself is still battling her own chronic illness, and has come to terms with the fact that she’ll be dying very soon – something which absolutely terrifies Keigetsu. And then there’s the…

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Repeated Vice: I Refuse to Be Important Enough to Die, Vol. 4

By Kuroakawa Hitsugi and Kushiro Kuki. Released in Japan as “Repeat Vice: Akuyaku Kizoku wa Shinitakunai node Shitennou ni Naru no wo Yamemashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by piyo. We’ve had a couple of “trapped in the world of a game” series with more than one person aware of it, but those tend to go a different way than this one is. Usually you get the main character figuring things out, trying to change their fate, etc. and we get the other character (often an evil heroine) simply waiting for their life to be the same as the game and getting upset when it is not. That’s not what we get here, as there are two people actively trying to push back against…

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Manga the Week of 9/2/26

SEAN: As August drifts into September, new college freshmen get their very first internet account… wait, it’s not the early 1990s, nevermind. MICHELLE: I didn’t get mine ’til grad school in the mid-’90s! ASH: What’s the Internet? ANNA: In retrospect, a huge mistake! SEAN: Ablaze has the 6th volume of Gannibal. Airship has the 2nd volume of Classroom of the Elite: Year 3 and the 20th and final (barring any short story collections) volume of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom in print. In early digital they have Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 7 and The Neverending Winter, the Land of Broken Dreams (the 4th in the The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes collection). And in only digital, there is Reborn…

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Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 15

By Shoji Goji and Saku Enomaru. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Andrew Schubauer. Adapted by Rei Geronimo. There’s a bit right at the end of this book where all the nobles ask Haruka why he’s not all that worried about the Empire invading, even though they clearly are saying they’re going to do so. And Haruka utters a stream of gobbledegook, as he always does. But when translated by Book Club President, it amounts to: they don’t want to invade, they want all their enemies to collapse from within and then waltz in as saviors. It makes a lot of sense, though Haruka is also well aware that there’s a time limit on this, and I…

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Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey, Vol. 2

By Hachigatsumori and Nat. Released in Japan as “Yuusha no Tabi no Uragawa de” by Dre Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT. In my last review I mentioned that the hero’s party itself barely featured in the book. That changes with this second book, and we get to see what kind of hero’s party they are. And, frankly, it’s very much towards the idealistic end of the spectrum. No one is getting banished from the party with these guys – in fact, we literally see that near the end. The hero is the sort of girl you want to be the hero who saves the world, and she’s got strength and stamina out the wazoo. Sadly, no one really trained her, so she lacks any…

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The Villainess Speaks Not: The Black Pawn and The Summoned Heteromorphs

By Kei Yose and Ruria Miyuki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijou wa Shaberimasen” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam. These are chunky books, with each volume being around twice the size of your average light novel. As a result, I deeply appreciate that the book starts with a “story so far” catching me up on what happened in Book One, because after that the reader is not really given any more help. There are lots of characters in this, and you need to remember who they are and which faction they’re with. More characters are introduced. Some characters we thought would be major players in this book end up being taken off the board instead. Liliana has changed a lot about the…

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Fired? But I Maintain All the Software!, Vol. 2

By Yuki Kashirome and icchi. Released in Japan as “E, Shanai System Subete One Operation Shite Iru Watashi o Kaiko desu ka?” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Minna Lin. Content warning: This review will be discussing a book that deals with multiple companies that use AI, and it discusses AI throughout the book, usually in a positive way (though it does emphasize AI without humans making decisions is a disaster). Reader discretion is advised. The second volume of this series tries to figure out what to do next, as (the author admits this) it was written as a one-shot with no real idea where to go next. As it turns out, while there’s still a lot of discussion of startup companies and AI,…

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If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love ~ She Was All But Disowned for Her Spirit Contract, But She’s Still Competing with Her Rival ~, Vol. 5

By Harunadon and Yomi Sarachi. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara: Nanashi no Seirei to Keiyaku Shite Oidasareta Reijō wa, Kyō mo Reisoku to Kisoiatte Iru Yō Desu” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund. Japanese series, and fantasy light novels in particular, really love a certain kind of villain. He’s usually portly, he’s definitely arrogant, and he tends to sneer a lot. There are few grey or sympathetic villains here, most of the ones we see are kicking puppies when no one is looking. And an awful lot of them seem to be with the church. We’ve had sympathetic clergy so far for this series, but there have been factional fights, and with the…

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