By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

I have stated before that the main reason I enjoy this series is that it has only one joke: Inglis is a meathead who only cares about fighting, food, and Rafinha, in that order. The trouble is that the author wants to hammer home to the reader that this is not entirely amusing and something to appreciate for the lulz. I say trouble because we’re introduced halfway through to a girl who lost her entire family when her village was destroyed and therefore has… sigh… been sold and is working “in servitude”. Rafinha is appalled that this is happening, while Inglis points out the political realities of trying to shut it down everywhere. The trouble is that Inglis does not care about any of this. She’ll support Rafinha if she wants to fight against slavery, but that’s because she’ll follow her anywhere, not because of any actual moral center. Inglis’ moral center is: I want a good fight. And she will cheat and manipulate to get it.

While working to help rebuild the school (and, more importantly, the school cafeteria), Inglis is called to the throne to be offered a position as Captain of the Royal Guard. A huge honor, but far too much work and would mean she would not get to do whatever the hell she wants, so she talks her way out of that one. More importantly, the acting troupe Inglis has met before are back in town, and they want her to play one of the roles and put on a spectacular fight scene. Inglis realizes that if she cons Yua into taking the other role, then she can get to fight the half-assed but equally strong women in a real (theatrical) battle. That said, there is a problem… the winner has to kiss the male lead, and the mere idea of this causes Inglis to flip out. That said, there may be even bigger problems… like an assassination attempt. Or an invasion.

I’m glad that Yua has essentially become Inglis Mark 2, because she’s just hilarious all the time, whereas Inglis occasionally has to play the straight man. Yua’s complete apathy to nearly anything extends even to her own self, as we discover that she may have a lingering side-effect from her death battle in the previous volume, to which her response is essentially “ah”. This is why it’s even funnier seeing her thirst for the girly-faced Ian, to the point where she spends most of the epilogue of the book carrying him around under her arm like a sack of potatoes. As for Inglis, she gets to have some really good fights here, so she must be happy. We also get to see the mothers of Inglis and Rafinha pay a visit, and it turns out that huge appetites definitely run on the mothers’ side, as between the four of them they terrify everyone with the amount of food consumed.

This series is never really going to get into Big Questions and Ethical Dilemmas, and even if it does it probably is not going to be Inglis having the dilemma. She gets why things are wrong. She gets they can be hard to fix. She doesn’t care. Fight now plz.

By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

It can be very difficult sometimes when you are writing a series which has exactly one joke. It gets harder the longer the series gets because, well, it’s just the one joke. But, believe it or not, sometimes that is enough, and you’re able to keep going because yes, it’s a good joke. The joke for Reborn to Master the Blade is that Inglis is a meathead who only thinks of fighting strong opponents. And throughout this book, that’s what we get, over and over. Either she’s fighting them or, more often, she’s trying to fight them and failing because of things like politics or the other party refusing or having to save lives and the like. And we also see other characters knowing this and essentially smacking their foreheads. It’s one joke. But we’re early in the series, and the joke is still funny. And also Inglis as an overpowered meathead is pretty cool. As with previous books, the fights are a highlight.

Our main cast are still trying to deal with Ripple, who is still sucking in mana and letting out monsters (and does not even have a pebble to toss or wind to blow). Unfortunately, the response of the kingdom to this seems to be “send Ripple back home and get a new heiral menace”. Which, it is implied but never outright stated, would mean Ripple’s death. What’s more, it becomes pretty clear that the reason all this is happening in the first place is that Ripple is being “punished” by one of the Highland factions in order to… well, in order to be sneeringly evil, because this is not the most subtle book in the world. Inglis and company try to work out a plan, part of which involves her and Rafinha going undercover as maids to a ceremony held by the King for a Highland ambassador. Sadly, he too is mostly cartoonishly evil. Fortunately, Inglis is there and can hit things very hard.

The other great part of this book, besides Inglis wanting to fight fight fight, is the introduction of her antimatter universe counterpart, Yua. Yua is astonishingly strong, just like Inglis, and you’d think that she’d finally found the perfect opponent. There’s just one problem: Yua doesn’t care about fighting. She’d rather take the path with the least effort where she can be lazy, and even has to be talked into fighting a bunch of potentially lethal monsters. She’s also got that ‘stoic’ Rei Ayanami-ish personality, which also balances next to Inglis’. Oh yes, and she gives everyone nicknames. Inglis is “Big Boobs”, because this is a Japanese light novel. Basically, she’s a hoot, and I am glad she was not killed off towards the end of the book, which looked like it might actually happen for a while. There’s also lots of terrorism and political maneuvering and people losing arms and then getting them sewn back on with magic, but… let’s face it, it’s not Inglis fighting.

So yes, if you like dumb meatheads who only think of one thing, this is still that thing. I do think this will work better in Vol. 3 than in Vol. 17, though…

By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

In general, when you’re reading a series that stars a big dumb person who only likes fighting, you’re not supposed to be on their side. The reader can see that there are advantages to talking things through, or do finding another way, etc. But, of course, there’s fighting anyway, because our hero just leapt in there and starting whaling away. That’s definitely true with Inglis in this second volume. What’s worse, her fights are almost all one-sided beatdowns, as she is ludicrously strong and powerful, even without any runes or talent of that sort. She is every reader’s OP nightmare. And yet… let’s face it, while reading this book, I was agreeing with her. The parts of the book that really came alive and felt like the most fun were those where Inglis had her sword out and was fighting monsters, or bad guys, or bad guys turned into monsters. She’s great fun as a meathead. The rest of the book has trouble keeping up with her.

Now that she and Rafinha are in the Academy, Inglis is ready to start learning. And by learning I mean “learning how to fight stronger and stronger opponents”. She and Rafinha have very few problems, mostly as they’re the cool kids. Leona, on the other hand, their new friend whose brother turned traitor, is having a terrible time, especially when her new roommate (the princess curl type) refuses to live with her. On their first day the three of them happen to come across a sea monster which they prevent from destroying a ship… a ship that turns out to be owned by the Rambach Company, whose heir became a Highlander in the first volume, if you’d forgotten. As a reward, they’re invited to be guards for a very important summit meeting between the company and various factions. Could it be a trap? No worries, I’m r pretty sure Inglis can punch traps away.

As noted, the fun in these books is seeing how ludicrous Inglis is all the time. We get occasional mention of her past as a male king, mostly when she’s trying not to gawk at women in the bath, but for the most part it’s just a flimsy excuse to have Inglis be less “ladylike” than some folks would like. Rafinha is supposedly her voice of reason… but is almost as bad as she is, occasionally trying to stop her but more often joining in. They’re also both desperate for food, another fun running gag, as chunks of this book are written in “Talk-with-your-mouth-full-ese”. There are actual political things going on and genuine danger to the city and country… but Inglis is content to leave that to the royal family and the knights who have to worry about politics. Indeed, her suggestion to allow the woman currently spewing out monsters on occasion to stay at the academy is “cool, monsters to fight without sneaking out!”.

So, basically, if you like smart intelligent girls and politicking, this is not the series for you. If you read it and think “I wish there was even more of Inglis hitting things”, by all means keep reading, I’m sure you will be satisfied.