By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel

For all that the premise of this book is about a girl who likes to take things easy and relax, they sure do a hell of a lot. But that’s where the humor comes into play, of course. The only thing relaxed about Azusa’s life is her general attitude and desire to simply live in her cottage. What actually happens? Well, OK, the cookie baking battle seems to fit in nicely. But then one of her daughters is stuck as a slime, leading to a big adventure to try to fix things, which includes a martial arts tournament. Then a fake witch is abusing the name of the Witch of the Highlands, forcing Azusa to track her down and find out why it’s happening. Even a barbeque party, which you’d think would be as peaceful as the cookie baking, involves killing off masses of dangerous boar animals – and teaching dragon girls that nudity is not OK. There’s a lot going on here.

There is more of what I enjoy about the series in this volume (some great humor, “found family” affection) and less of what I don’t like (Halkara’s clumsiness and jokes about her chest – well, OK, there’s some of those). There’s also still a large amount of yuri subtext, though it’s not going anywhere as Azusa really isn’t interested. It’s heavily implied most everyone who lives in the house – and even some who don’t – love her romantically, but she seems to be a) straight, and b) mostly indifferent anyway. Actually, that may be by design – when we meet another long-lived witch, and discuss the loneliness that happens when you outlive everyone around you, Azusa strongly implies that she’s deliberately suppressing all her emotions in order to not be affected by this. It helps that she’s made several long-lived girls part of her family (or ghosts, as the case may be), but I do wonder if it will come up again in the future.

Frankly, though, I’m happy with Azusa being relatively subdued and snarky – except in her head, when the tsukkomi comes across much louder. We get a lot more memories of her previous life on Earth, both from her wageslave days and her school life (she brags about her ping ping club skill… which proves to be a mistake against two dragons she describes as being “classic high school jocks”. There’s a bit more development of the others, particularly the dragons and Beelzebub the Demon Lord, who isn’t living with Azusa but might as well be for how often she pops up. There’s also some examination of modern Japanese foibles, as we get a fantasy undead who’s also a NEET, and the “fake witch” trying to get people to praise her by a method so oblique that it feels a little ridiculous.

If “my pace” heroines drive you nuts, steer clear. But however much Azusa may not want it to, things are happening in this series. Just… very slowly and leisurely.

By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel

The afterword for this second volume has the author telling us that GA Bunko’s editors told them that the first volume was the biggest seller in the history of the publishing label. Which, given this is the same publisher as Is It Wrong to try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, is quite impressive. But I can see it. Unlike DanMachi, the average reader does not have to deal with any of those pesky male heroes, and the girls are all cute/sexy/maternal (delete where applicable). [EDIT: It turns out that DanMachi is on a different imprint at the same company, so the two may not be comparable after all.] The series is still trying, for the most part, to keep a “my pace” sort of drama, with plotlines taking the form of things like “we’re opening a maid cafe” and “we have to design a dress for a ghost”. And, of course, the heroine is still an amazingly powerful person but absolutely does not seek to show it off or take advantage of it unless absolutely necessary. Which it is one or two times here. This is such a peaceful series.

The cast remains the same as the first book, with one or two additions. Halkara, the busty elf who was the weakest part of the first book, is better here – there’s still a lot of focus on her bust, but doubling down on the clumsiness and bad luck makes her a more entertaining comedic figure. It can also lead to drama, as with the longest story of the volume, where Azusa and company go to the Demon Lord territory to accept an award (for achieving peace in Vol. 1 by stopping the dragon war) and Halkara accidentally headbutts the demon lord to the brink of death, something punishable by execution. Fortunately, Azusa is clever, and even more fortunately, Azusa is a Level 99 powerhouse, showing off her amazing fighting skills and taking out all the demons trying to arrest them. It all ends up good anyway, as the demon lord (who is also female, to go with the rest of the main cast) proves to be more of a troll – in the internet sense – than actually evil.

New cast members include the ghost I mentioned before, who (like everyone that falls into Azusa’s orbit) proves to be friendly and eager to please, and can even help with the cooking. And there’s also Flatorte, the blue dragon who was the antagonist of the first book. She’s now back and tricked by the demon lord into being Azusa’s slave, though Azusa nips that in the bud immediately, to her credit. If nothing else, she will offer a different kind of personality – the main flaw of the book is arguably that everyone is far too nice and sweet. Now, that is the POINT of the book, which is why I said ‘arguably’, but it can all feel very pat. There’s one story where Halkura gets herself in trouble (again) and our heroes have to take out a corrupt governor. They do this in the space of about 5 pages, in what must be the fastest takedown of this sort of character ever. It’s almost embarrassing.

If you like exciting adventures, run, don’t walk away from this series. If, on the other hand, you want the light novel equivalent of a nice hot cup of tea, this is a great buy.

By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel

The premise for the start of this book may seem a tad familiar: a young woman dies and is told by an apologetic angel that she can be reincarnated in another world, and is entitled to 1 (one) cool power. Azusa wasn’t actually killed saving a young boy or murdered by a jealous colleague, though – she just worked herself to death as a corporate wage slave. Since dying for her job proved to be very unsatisfying, she asks to be immortal in her next life, and is reincarnated as a perpetually 17-year-old witch in your standard fantasy land. (If this is made into an anime, she’d better be played by Kikuko Inoue or I’ll be sad.) She meets the local villagers, finds a conveniently abandoned house, and spends her days killing off low-level slimes. Then 300 years pass…

If this sounds like I just spent a paragraph explaining the plot of a book whose plot is actually explained in the title, well, welcome to the world of Japanese light novels, where the longer and more pedantic the title, the more popular it seems to be. Yes, after killing slimes every day for 300 years, Azusa is rather shocked to find she’s now a Level 99 powerhouse. This upsets her, as for 300 years she’s also been doing the opposite of what she did in her former life – taking life easy, slow, and not really doing anything at all. Unfortunately, now that word’s gotten out, she suddenly finds adventure coming for her. A dragon wants to challenge her, two slime girls are here for revenge, a busty elf arrives demanding protection from a demon… you get the idea. Will she be dragged into dangerous yet compelling adventures against her will?

Well, no, she won’t, in fact. The conceit of this series, and its most entertaining aspect, is that everyone who tries to fight Azusa ends up pulled into her “my pace” lifestyle. The dragon, once defeated, transforms to human form and lives as her apprentice. The slime girls are really children who need a family more than anything else. And what’s more, Azusa benefits from this as well, as she realizes that while living alone and relaxing for 300 years was all very well, her new found family is even better, and she’s even willing to protect them in a pinch, despite that not being very relaxing. (I haven’t mentioned the elf girl, who is the weak point of the book, being a busty airhead with lesbian tendencies who is in the book because it’s written by a male author for a male audience that wants to see a busty airhead elf with lesbian tendencies. She’s not as funny as everyone would like us to think.) The general theme of this book is “relax and take it easy, do things at your own pace”, and I quite like that.

The book has several volumes out in Japan, and I’m not sure how well it will succeed going forward, but I’m perfectly happy to find out. Another “don’t read if you hate overpowered characters” warning, but if you can get past that, Killing Slimes for 300 Years will put a nice smile on your face. A good beach read.