By Sasara Nagase and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoshi Reijō wa Ryūtei Heika o Kōryaku-chū” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

I feel confident in saying that very few readers of this series will have gone through the same thing that Jill has. Which is good, really, because yikes, Jill once again goes through some stuff in this book. We’ve been reading the series from her perspective, and of course we know it’s a villainess-style “back in time” story, so we’re expecting a lot of fighting fate and never giving up, etc. The problem is that everyone else in the world does NOT have Jill’s perspective. And to them, this is absolute lunacy, and the Dragon Emperor is going to go mad, start a war, and destroy everything. Why on earth would they let this 11-year-old (yup, still, just assume I talked about it already) do whatever the hell she wants just because she says that the two of them are in love? Especially when that love is tested – again – and Jill is forced to once again fight for everything she’s achieved to date or else everything will be set back to the original track.

Jill and Hadis are headed off to get permission to marry from her parents, which requires essentially going through days of traps and dangerous travel because, unsurprisingly, Jill’s entire family are all as eccentric as she is. (It turns out she did the wrong test, too, because Jill is still not the brightest bulb.) Unfortunately, Jill has assumed this will mostly involve her dad saying “you can’t date my daughter, you cur!” and other wacky light novel cliches, forgetting that her family are, in fact, part of the kingdom of Kratos, and that it would be much, much easier, instead of agreeing to Jill and Hadis getting married, to start a war to get Jill away from him. Something which, to Jill’s horror, Hadis is 100% okay with.

Probably the best part of this book (aside from the ending, where Jill once again proves there’s no problem that cannot be solved by extreme violence) is how it ties back to the rest of the series. It’s paying close attention to its backstory, and has not forgotten about the other taboo subject in the series, with is Gerald and his sister starting the whole plot off with their incest. First of all, everything we’ve seen about Gerald in this new timeline makes that seems puzzling, as he just doesn’t seem the type. Then his father, who is a real piece of work, explains what’s actually going on to Natalie, who appears to be taking the role of Jill in this new timeline since Jill has abdicated. It’s not completely explained, but it’s certainly ominous, and is not helped by Faris, who appears to be about to go full evil. I also really liked the look we got at the past Dragon Consorts, and how they all tried to have a wonderful relationship with the Emperor only for it to fall apart. It weighed the tragedy and fate just right.

Assuming you kept reading past the basic premise, this is an excellent volume in the series, from an author who really knows how to make everything feel that the words “BAD END” will appear on the very next page.

By Sasara Nagase and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoshi Reijō wa Ryūtei Heika o Kōryaku-chū” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

When I was younger and more emo, I would sometimes write things that I knew people would hate just because I wanted to amuse myself watching their reaction. Not my finest moment, let me tell you. Sarasa Nagase is not quite that bad, but there’s a sense when reading this series that she knows that no one wants to deal with the fact that Jill is 11 years old (10 in the first two volumes). the characters in the book are disgusted by it. Judging by the afterword, the readers are not very happy with it either. So of course, it is ground in our faces throughout this book how these two are over the moon for each other but Jill is so, so underage. It’s a shame, because otherwise this would be a terrific LN series to recommend, especially if you like kickass women, because Jill does kick ass. But any time you have to say “she’s not 11 technically”, that’s not great, Ryan.

Having won over two of his family, Hadis is still dealing with the fallout of everything else that happened in the second book. Everyone just seems to default hate him, and he can’t introduce Jill as the Dragon Consort because it will come out that she’s from Kratos and cause even more uproar. Into this mess wander more family members: Natalie, the second princess, who has low self-esteem but is otherwise the most normal and put-together of the royals; Frida, the young third princess, who is shy but also very good at magic; and, most importantly, Vissel, Hadis’ older brother, and one of the few people that he trusts. Which makes it a shame that, as Jill knows from her prior life, Vissel will be the big betrayal that leads to Hadis finally snapping. How’s Jill going to solve THIS mess?

To be honest, mostly by hitting things. The villainess books as a genre run the spectrum of different types of heroines, some of them crafty and long-term planner sorts, some of them massive improvisers, and some who rely on their large pool of allies. And then there’s Jill, who has never mean a problem she cannot beat the shit out of. She is definitely on the “dumb muscle” side of the equation, which is sometimes a problem, but honestly, “straightforward talk and occasional violence” genuinely seems to be the way to go in this case. She also claims that she’s absolutely terrible at romantic things, and so is Hadis, but the two of them make up for any conscious effort by pure subconscious effort – they don’t so much flirt as scream their passion at each other at massive volume. Which is adorable, of course, but… again, Jill is 11.

There’s several more books in the series out in Japan, but after three in a row over the last six months, which is highly unusual for Cross Infinite World, it appears we’re taking a break before the next one. If you can get over its biggest hurdle – and I don’t blame you if you can’t – this is worth reading purely for Jill’s force of personality.

By Sasara Nagase and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoshi Reijō wa Ryūtei Heika o Kōryaku-chū” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

When I reviewed the first volume I mentioned that Cross Infinite World was putting it out a lot faster than they normally do their series, and the reason for that became apparent shortly after the release of the first volume over here: it’s getting an anime. It’s a good choice: I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss got a decent if not dazzling anime as well, and the audience for the two series is exactly the same. Not just because of the author, but the same basic themes are here as well. iris may be a Villainess reincarnated into a game, and Jill a young woman who travels back in time to fix her past mistakes, but as protagonists they’re both doing the exact same thing: improvising and being badass as the universe does its best to kill them over and over and over again. And in this second book we get another think it has in common with Final Boss: for every Villainess there’s a Heroine, and heroines in these series tend to be evil.

Hadis and Jill are on their way to the capital to meet the rest of his family. Sadly, on arriving there, he’s attacked, accused of being a fake, and his magic and Jill’s is sealed. Hadis is mostly fine with this, and tries to make the series into a Slow Life book, gardening and cooking delicious meals. Jill is not particularly happy with his, so she and Zeke (half of her bodyguard duo) go into a nearby town so that she can join the Dragon Knights and gain intel. Easier said than done – she’s got the combat skills, even without magic, but the reaction of dragons to her means that she’ relegated to squire duties – which also means getting bullied. We also meet Hadis’ siblings, who turn out to not be as bad as she thought… at first.

Reading this book can be a struggle. Not because it’s bad, I really enjoyed it, but because Jill’s life is such a high wire act that at any moment you expect her to die and for this to become a Re: Zero sort of time loop story. Things are not helped by the introduction of Princess Faris, Gerald’s younger sister. In the first book she had merely been one half of the “ew” part of the story, as we knew Gerald was sleeping with her and that she was frail but not much else. Here we see her younger self, who turns out to be doing much the same thing Jill is – and for many of the same reasons. Alas, this makes them mortal enemies, and the two pretty much hate each other on sight by the end of the book. Final Boss also had its “heroine” antagonist, but Faris looks to be a lot nastier than Lilia ever was.

This really is “if you like Final Boss, it’s more of the same”. But that’s good, as it means it’s just as addictive. Roll on Volume 3.