By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

We have now reached the end of the 5th arc! That said, as the author notes, this is less of a resolution and more of a change of scenery. In terms of achievements, our heroes do not make out very well this time around. They do succeed in stopping the destruction of the city, and they capture one of the archbishops. But before this arc there were five “camps” for the Who Wants to Rule The Country?” sweepstakes, and two of them are decimated after it finishes. Even the fights here are bittersweet rather than satisfying, with the exception of Garfiel, who gets to unleash his inner shonen protagonist. Reinhard gets to finally tell his wife what he never managed to say, but it’s hard to call that happy or heartwarming. Al doesn’t win but merely survives. Otto is grievously injured. Crusch is still not healed. That said, I think the Anastasia Camp wins the prize for “Bad Things”. Oof.

The bulk of the book is fighting, as we basically get the fights that were happening while Subaru and Emilia were busy with the previous book. Garfiel is fighting (and losing, most of the time) to the eight-armed legend, but his fights run on pure shonen, as I said, so he’s good. We get a double dose of Gluttony, which goes very badly for many soldiers who get their names stolen, though Otto manages to figure out something about how their powers work. Wilhelm is forced to realize – again – that this is a fantasy world, and therefore hard work hardly works. Fortunately, Reinhard is there to finish off his grandmother. Unfortunately, their relationship is not magically healed. Al is fighting Lust, which mostly involves a lot of banter and a truly excessive amount of property damage. And then there’s Julius and Anastasia… let’s save that for the next paragraph.

This is one of those series I do tend to spoil myself on, given we’re still so far behind Japan (and also you never know when a short story volume may be relevant to the main series, cough), so I was aware something was going to happen with Anastasia. It’s not nearly as bad as Subaru or the reader feared, though that reveal is a killer. And at least this was done with Anastasia’s consent. But it’s still depressing, as I liked her, and I fear it will be a while before we see her again. Julius is a pure gutpunch, though, and meant to be the truly devastating consequence of this arc. At least he has Subaru, who (like Rem) can remember who he is. And , unlike Rem, he can at least walk and talk. In any case, we’re all now going to consult with the Great Sage to see how to solve everyone’s problems. I’m sure it will go fine.

Rem is, by the way, still in a coma and no one remembers her. We’ve now had far more books with Rem than without Rem. I fear the fans may have forgotten her. In any case, this is well-written, but intentionally leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Last time I mentioned that the 4th side story volume was actually a setup for the 6th arc, which had not come out yet. It still hasn’t – expect it in 2023. Worse news, this volume is mostly a setup for the seventh arc of the series, so I’d say expect that in late 2024. Fortunately, this one can be read as a standalone relatively easily, mostly as it stars Priscilla, who we are already familiar with. That said, you might want to brush up on the 4th book in the Ex series, as several characters from that show up here, even though this book takes place a few years earlier. This book can basically be divided into two stories: 1) a throne war with 32 siblings trying to kill each other, and 2) a death battle stadium where the competitors take over, but one of them has an ulterior motive. That said, it’s a Priscilla book. So honestly, the real plot is “Priscilla is fabulous”. (Oh yes, and Al as well. Hi, Al. You sort of sound like Subaru, but less tsukkomi.)

In the first story (framed as Priscilla reading what might be her diary to Schult), we meet Prisca Benedict, age 10… who is immediately murdered by her servants. But it’s OK, that was just a body double! This should give you an idea of the sort of thing we have going on. It’s betrayal, backstabbing, and zero sibling affection, as Prisca tries to stay alive and become heir over her cunning older sister and powerful older brother. Who has the power of the previous book on his side, which shows he wins. The second story shows us Al, who has lost his arm but lacks his helmet. He’s spent ten years fighting death battles for an audience on an island devoted entirely to that purpose. Unfortunately for him, the other “sword-slaves” are rising up in rebellion, even if that’s a terrible idea. Will Al be able to talk them down? What about that ulterior motive? And what is Priscilla Pendleton, now on Marriage #1, doing there?

The biggest frustration with this volume is that it’s NOT how Priscilla and Al first meet – they spend the entire second story apart from each other, and never meet. We also don’t get a shot of Al’s face, though he’s there on the front cover and also one illustration seen from the back, showing off his ponytail. Priscilla has her intelligence and arrogance here, but is also ten years old, so is now quite the powerhouse we see in the main series. She’s helped by Arakiya, a dog girl who gains monstrous powers by “eating” spirits (and can somehow hold on to her sense of self), and one things I really like about the Re: Zero books is seeing characters who are otherwise terrible people and show the people that they like and respect. Priscilla may regard 95% of everyone around her as clowns, but she’s rarely WRONG about that either, and I enjoyed her scenes with Arakiya. Al shows that he has similar people-judging qualities, too.

I’m sure I will forget 95% of this book when we get to Book 26 and Arc 7. Oh well. It’s still a solid entry in the series, especially if you like Priscilla: The Early Years.

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

First off, for fans of Subaru/Emilia, this book is a full-course meal with chocolate trifle for dessert. After worrying when Emilia ended up getting kidnapped and forcibly married off to the worst man in the world (who, we are reminded here, killed her mother and “father”), Emilia spends most of this book kicking ass eight ways from Sunday. She’s joined in this by Subaru, who has his handy whip but more importantly has a increasingly analytical mind, as he, Emilia, and Reinhard (who is occasionally sent off the state in order to allow Subaru and Emilia to be cooler) to try to figure out why Regulus is invulnerable and how to stop it. Over half the book is just this fight, and it’s well worth it. That said, I am a bit worried now, as past arcs have told me that I should expect Emilia to be absent from the 6th one, just because the author simply hates using the same heroine more than twice in a row. Who could be next? Well…

Summary of this volume: They fight. They fight. They fight and fight and fight. Some sights are merely teased and will play out in full in the next volume (Otto, Garfiel, Wilhelm), and one is left for the cliffhanger (Lust vs. Anastasia, Ferris, and Al), so we’re left with two major battles. Subaru and Reinhard break up the wedding just in time, but Regulus is not only seemingly impossible to kill, but also the single most annoying character in Re: Zero to date – and this is a series which includes Subaru himself! The other big battle we get here is Priscilla and Liliana taking on Sirius, which also serves to give us some Liliana backstory. Based on the rather abrupt ending, I’m not convinced Sirius is dead yet, whereas Regulus definitely is. Through it all, Priscilla is simply fabulous. As expected.

First of all, given that I have yelled at illustrators in the past for not drawing the really obvious scenes that should be drawn, bless you, Shinichirou Otsuka, for the two-page color spread of all of Regulus’ wives tearing him a new asshole. That was beautiful. Elsewhere, I really did enjoy Priscilla here, who does show off that a) she has her own limits and weaknesses, and b) she can be quite kind – in her own arrogant way – to those that she likes and respects. And if that happens to be an incredibly annoying bard, so be it. Liliana is much better here, mostly as she’s under threat of death, so we don’t get to see her be irritating. Instead, she pretty much helps save the day. And again, Subaru and Emilia are wonderful here, so trusting of each other. Particularly at the climax, where Subaru uses some very bad powers to do good things. That said… I think he may have gotten more bad powers as a reward.

The next volume wraps up this arc, and we’ll see if there’s any of the city left. Given the cover, I expect it will mostly focus on Wilhelm. Till then, enjoy another volume of one of the strongest light novel series for pure thrills.