By Nora Kohigashi and Wasabi. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Succubus Ja Arimasen” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Once I’ve reviewed about two or three volumes in a series, I really should not have to worry about new readers when I write these things. New readers are not going to start a title like this with Vol. 4, it’s only going to be read by those who read the first three volumes. That said, I also know there are some folks who read my reviews just as a matter of habit, and may not know about this series. So, as such, fans of the series can skip to below the cut. Everyone else: Christ alive. This volume is absolutely drenched in “ha ha, pedophilia is funny!” humor, and you cannot escape it. There’s no actual pedophilia in the volume, the humor is all “a 12-year-old has a crush on the 19-year-old guy who saved her life, and the entire cast proceed to drag him for being a pedophile (and yes, the translation uses that rather than lolicon) over and over and over again, to the point of arresting him. But, again. This series is like that in general, about everything.

The humans and the demons, after the events of the last book, are holding a peace conference. This means the arrival of Princess Sylphonia’s siblings: older brother Anzel and younger sister Remiphinia. What’s more, Remiphinia is specifically there to meet Wolfe, who saved her life three years earlier when she was kidnapped by the demon forces. She’s fallen for him hard, and tries to get advice on how to make herself attractive to him (don’t be twelve, kid). Meanwhile, the main cast do a maid cafe… including Miter, who it turns out looks really good dressed in women’s clothing. Unfortunately, not everyone wants the humans and demons to make peace, and those who desire the extermination of all demonkind may be closer than the royal family thinks…

Liz is still, of course, the star of the show. For once she doesn’t get a late in the book power-up where she gains her memories briefly. Instead, throughout the book, her true self is just seeping through more and more, to the point where she’s unable to stop it most of the time. Taking photos of everyone as maids, giving salacious suggestions on how the young princess can get her man, or just using her forgotten hero training to perform superhuman acts and save the day, the line between the Liz who’s a student at the academy and the Liz who’s a horny succubus with insane power is growing thinner and thinner. That said, I’m not expecting her to be back for good until the end of the series, so it’s mostly just tease. As for the rest of the book, if you ignore everything about Remiphinia and Wolfe, it’s fun and funny, exactly what readers want. And, if I’m being honest, most readers of this series probably laugh at the pedophilia “wacky” humor as well.

The book has a cliffhanger that will presumably tie into the next in the series, which promises to have 100% more catgirls than this book. I the meantime, if you love maids or precocious twelve-year-olds, this is fine.

By Nora Kohigashi and Wasabi. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Succubus Ja Arimasen” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Sometimes this series can be heartwarming, and sometimes it can be horny. But the one thing it cannot be for more than two pages is serious. The prologue to this volume suggests that the demons are ready to make their comeback, and we anticipate a serious, gripping battle. What we get it… well, it’s a battle. But this series is also dedicated to being funny as well as heartwarming and horny, and I will admit, to its credit, it did much better at cracking jokes than a lot of its light novel contemporaries. You could argue the final battle was a bit TOO ridiculous, but the basic premise of this series, as well as every single chapter that begins “Then”, is just as bad if not worse. There may very well be a serious final battle, but I doubt it will be till then end of the series. Which this isn’t. So please enjoy +20 Squeaky Mallet Of Doom.

The hero’s party are doing their best to include a rather puzzled and exasperated Liz in their party and their training, and if this means that she has to train while wearing a bunny girl outfit, well, technically that’s her own fault. One of the demon lord’s minions has started attending school, which worries her, though it’s a different transfer student who she should be concerned with. And she also goes to a drag bar which turns out to be a secret information bureau for top secret missions, which… is handled much better than I was expecting when I saw it was a drag bar. Unfortunately, the demon lord sends the hero a challenge to duel at the demon castle, and the hero’s party can’t just ignore it. That said, of course Liz is staying behind… except she’s not allowed to.

There are fewer and fewer chapters set in the past as this series goes on, mostly as we’ve now met all the main cast. But it does help to not only show off what a shameless pervert Liz was back when she had her memories, but also why she was so beloved by the party anyway, and why they’re desperate to get her healed. After the final battle in this book she gets to have her old self back for the rest of the day/evening, and while she ends up making a big thing about turning it into roleplay (helped out by Sylphie, whose masochistic depths we have not begun to plumb, though this volume helps a lot in that regard), she ends up spending the night making love to Cain, because they DO love each other, and not having her around to get exasperated by but also be at her side is killing him. The others may tease him the next day (next to a baffled, re-amnesia’d Liz) about his nighttime activities, but they’re all really happy for him. This was not just getting his rocks off, there was more to it.

If it sounds like I’m making this silly series too serious, well, probably. One of the “good” horny light novel series.

By Nora Kohigashi and Wasabi. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Succubus Ja Arimasen” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

In the first volume of this surprisingly fun series, we meet Lisalinde, the beloved, perfect and pure student at the academy, and over the course of the book we discover that she has amnesia, and is actually Liz, a succubus who was part of the hero’s party to defeat the demon lord but also a raging pervert who slept with half the party and can turn anything into sexual innuendo… or indeed just sex, period. The contrast is what makes it funny, and that’s still true here. Here, though, we also get an added dimension, and it’s the reason why this series works beyond one volume. Liz is a perverted succubus, yes, but she’s also a hero, and is basically kind, good, and wants peace in the world. We see that kindness a lot more here too, and yes, it’s tied in with a lot of the sex stuff, but that’s the point of her character, and it’s why the hero’s party are frustrated by all this. They want their Liz back.

We pick up where we left off, with Lisalinde trying to live her normal, peaceful school life but having to deal with these occasional weird urges. She’s attending a fancy dress party (and sniffing Cain’s shirt after he’s forced to change due to a drinks spill); she’s helping to finish the combat uniforms that have been ordered at her friend’s shop (and also dress in erotic outfits provided by said shop); she’s going out shopping with friends and dealing with the hero party’s massive tsundere Rachel (and, in the past, helping her get stop denying her feelings and get together with another member of their party); and she’s dealing with Aina, who is certain that she’s making moves on Cain but is mostly just jealous… and honestly, Aina’s evilness is rather pathetic. Unfortunately, near the end of the book, the hero’s party goes off to take care of a crisis… but it’s a trap, and now the school is being attacked, and only Lisalinde… or rather, Liz… can save them.

I don’t want to make this sound TOO heartwarming. It’s absolutely not for anyone who is not ready for unrepentant horniness. I quoted a passage on Twitter where Liz (past Liz) is doing a perverse sentai performance, and demanding children love underpants, but was advised to remove the tweet as, well, it’s deeply, deeply, wrong. Honestly, I was rather surprised that it’s not the ENTIRE hero’s party who are part of Liz’s sexual polycule, and that Rachel and Mitter appear to be a separate couple (albeit sexual, thanks again to Liz). Even the final battle, which is mostly a dramatic fight showing how, when she actually HAS her memories back, Liz is stupid powerful, is triggered by her huffing Cain’s gym shorts for an extended period. Unfortunately, while she’s recovered enough to regain her memories for emergencies, she’s not recovered enough to keep them beyond that, so it’s back to horrified pure Lisalinde at the end.

So yes, better than it sounds, again, but only read it if you’re interested in what it sounds like.