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From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress!, Vol. 6

By Masamune Okazaki and Hayase Jyun. Released in Japan as “Mob Dōzen no Akuyaku Reijō wa Dansō Shite Kōryaku Taishō no Za wo Nerau” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W. Every so often with these Villainess books I have to double check the imprint to make sure if they’re a Heart title or not. You’d think with this one it would be obvious. The entire premise is that all the men in the series are in love with Elizabeth, and she is unaware that they are. And to be fair, the series does a good job of keeping a “balanced harem” so you’re not sure who the winning guy will be, or even if there will be a winning guy, as Elizabeth…

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Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 8

By Matsuri Isora and Nanna Fujimi. Released in Japan as “Silent Witch” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse. (This book, by necessity, goes into spoilery detail about what happens in this volume, bar the final scene.) This is an ongoing series in Japan, and I think the 13th volume just came out. That said, I was starting to wonder if we were getting near the end of the “main plot”, as it were, especially after the revelations from the last volume. Not only was I correct, but I was very correct. If I can misuse the expression for a moment, this entire volume is busy taking all the rifles off of Anton Chekhov’s mantelpiece and firing them all at once. It’s thrilling,…

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Manga the Week of 9/30/26

SEAN: Autumn, and an old man’s thoughts turn to manga. No print releases for Airship, but we get early digital for My Girlfriend Cheated on Me, and Now My Flirty Underclassman Won’t Leave Me Alone 3 and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior 11, and only digital for When a Clueless First-Person Shooter Player Falls into Another World 3 (the final volume). Cross Infinite World debut From Bumbling Prodigy to Villainess: Will the Duke’s Love Go Unnoticed? (Munou Saijo wa Akujo ni Naritai ~Gimai no Migawari de Totsuida Reijou, Koushaku-sama no Dekiai ni Kizukanai~). A girl has an exceptional talent, but her family see her as useless. Now a Duke needs a fiancée he can dump in three years, and our heroine sees this as an…

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The Holy Grail of Eris, Vol. 5

By Kujira Tokiwa and Yu-nagi. Released in Japan as “Eris no Seihai” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Amelia Imogen. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? This is a series that I thought ended with the third volume, and then we got a fourth, which at first was “digital-only” in Japan. Then the series changed publishers in Japan, and DRE Novels put out the first four books with new cover art, and I think a couple of bonus short stories. (No, Yen will not be redoing those.) Meanwhile in North America, we had a series that was contacted between Yen Press and GA Novels, now belonging to a different publisher that works exclusively with J-Novel Club. Talks had to be had. But here we…

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Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 13

By Hitoma Iruma and raemz. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Molly Lee. Glory be, we finally get a volume that isn’t just short stories, and takes place in the present day! After so many alternate universes, flash forwards to the future, and the terrifying vision of Adachi’s idea of heaven, we are back in a normal yuri romance. OK, yes, no series with Yashiro is normal, but you know what I mean. As always, Shimamura is the narrator. It’s amazing how far she’s come since the start. Adachi, when not dealing with Shimamura, is pretty much as she’s always been, introverted, uncommunicative, and giving off a strong “fuck off” aura. Shimamura, who I described as attempting to learn what human emotion…

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Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived, Vol. 7

By Masekinokatasa and Kaito Shinobu. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Koutei deshita: Umarenagara no Koutei wa Konosaki Ikinokoreru ka?” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gwendolyn Warner. One of these days we’ll have a nice relaxing book where Carmine is given a respite from constant chaos and attempts to take over the Empire, but that day is not today, and honestly probably we’ll never get that. That said, at least Carmine is finally starting to ditch the need to pretend to be a dumb puppet emperor… mostly. He’d like to do this, and he gets to demonstrate that he does know magic after all in a truly ludicrous sequence where he drops a magic nuke, but for the most part the conceit can still…

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The Side Character Who Thought He Was the Protagonist Mistook the Real Hero for a Side Character and Accidentally Won Everything, Vol. 1

By Yuyushita Sasuga and Tamago no Kimi. Released in Japan as “Jibun no Koto o Shujinkou da to Shinjite Yamanai Fumidai ga, Shujinkou o Fumidai da to Kanchigai Shite, Yuushou Shite Shimau Ohanashi desu” by TO Books. Released in North America by Hanashi Media. Translated by Harris Hayes. Assuming that the average reader of this series gets past the title, which is a bit more ludicrous than usual, they’re going to run up against the lead. And assuming that they get past the lead’s tendency to talk about himself like he’s still a chuuni (which is half of the point of this series), we get to the other point of this series, which likely resonates with a lot of people. The idea that hard work will be rewarded is a…

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The Petty Villain Plays by the Rules: Rewriting This Otome Game with Honest Work!, Vol. 3

By MIZUNA and Ruki. Released in Japan as “Yarikonda Otome Game no Akuyaku desu ga, Danzai wa Iya nano de Mattou ni Ikimasu” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by sachi salehi. Ah, we’ve hit that difficult third album, I see. It was inevitable, given that the first two volumes of this series basically ended up being “this is better than I thought”, that I’d run into one that was on a level of exactly what I thought. In practice, this means that while this volume is for the most part enjoyable, it has a subplot that actively grates on me and which I found interminable. What’s worse, I worry it will crop up again – this seems the sort of author who would try…

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I’ll Become an Elegant Villainess! Time to Enjoy My Second Life to the Fullest, Vol. 1

By Shisui Hazuki and kururi. Released in Japan as “Karei naru Akujo ni Naritai wa! ~Aisare Tensei Shoujo wa, Tanoshii Nidome no Jinsei o Okurimasu~” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Olivia Plowman. We’ve started to see metatextual isekai with folks hit by Truck-kun who are delighted to be in another world, ready to eat up all those great tropes, get a harem of cute babes, and have a +1 sword new life. (Indeed, I have one in my queue for two days from now.) So it should not particularly be a surprise that we’re getting the shoujo equivalent, which is to say girls who are absolutely delighted to find that they’ve reincarnated and they’re now a villainess. For once it’s not due to…

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