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.
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