By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

The author mentions in the afterword to this volume that they were worried about Avian’s impact on the reader, and in particular whether Avian would be likeable enough. It’s a good point. From the moment we met them, they felt like the unpleasant, annoying mirror to our heroines, and it was not helped by the fact that they were better than all of them at everything. Of course, the ending to the previous volume also seemingly cut off any further development there… or so you’ think. But the author’s main strength has always been manipulating the written word and literary tricks (this is one reason the anime failed so hard for me), and so we get judicious use of flashbacks here to show off that really, Avian weren’t as bad as all that. In the end, they’re another bunch of wacky, eccentric spies. Of course, another way of helping to make your new characters sympathetic is to introduce even more new characters and make them worse. The spies we meet in this volume are worse.

The book starts off with Sybilla getting captured by these new characters. Belias are an English team of spies (OK, it’s the “Spy Classroom” version of England, but come on, this is sort of like Tanya the Evil’s version of England) who are trying to find the one surviving member of Avian, who are accused of trying to assassinate the Prince. Sybilla has also been trying to find Lan in order to discover how Avian were all killed so easily. The two have wildly different ends, but the same goal, so they agree to team up – or rather, Belias forces Lamplight to team up with them. This will involve going to an exclusive ball where they will have to dance to attract attention – meaning that Sybilla and Klaus will have to be on the same page, something they’ve been failing at since the series began. Then things get worse, as the Prince really is assassinated.

As I mentioned in the last review, this series can get pretty damn dark. The girls all being flakes is probably the best way to distract from that. I had been wondering if Avian being dead was another fakeout, but no, all but Lan are indeed dead. What’s more, Belias aren’t the real bad guys either, being a classic example of “we were only following orders” spies who don’t bother to question things lest it lead them to realizing that they’re being manipulated. Which naturally makes it easy for them to get manipulated by Lamplight. Avian may be dead, but before they died they managed to train the girls in ways that Klaus has entirely failed to, and they’re now really coming into their own. They clean Belias’ clocks and get the intel Avian left for them before dying. Good end! I mean, provided they aren’t betrayed by one of their own, of course. That would be terrible.

So yeah, another vicious cliffhanger. And a longer than usual wait for the next volume, because we’ve got a second book of short stories coming first. Till then, enjoy a world that is so tragic that Sybilla has to create a happy backstory to keep her going.

By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

It should go without saying, but the series Spy Classroom involves spies. And spies can sometimes be not nice people. Downright unpleasant, in fact. We’ve seen that in previous books, with villains working for other countries ranging from weak to comically evil. But for the most part, we know our girls. Those wacky, lovable scamps who are all dropouts but come together in the end with the power of friendship. Surely they’re all different! Well, OK, not Annette. We already know fro previous books that Annette is one of the only girls in Lamplight who can, when push comes to shove, do something cruel. But she may not be alone, as we learn in this book that focuses, for once, on the character the anime tried desperately to adapt and failed miserably. The character that even the publisher tried to avoid drawing for the longest time. A girl plagued by misfortune. Which even extends to this review, because sorry, Erna, Sara is my favorite character in this book.

After the triumph of the fourth book, and becoming an official team, things are not going very well for Lamplight. They’ve been screwing up mission after mission, and believe it or not, it’s not JUST Lily. Things take a turn for the worse, though, when they meet two members of another spy organization working for their country, Avian. If Lamplight is composed of dropouts and washouts, Avian is composed of only the top graduates of spy schools. And recently, their handler was killed, meaning they don’t have a leader. After discerning that Lamplight are pathetic and awful, Avian decide that Klaus should be their leader instead, and Lamplight can all go back to spy school where they truly belong. Of course, the girls are not going to take this lying down, and it ends up becoming a competition to see who the best spy team really is!

If you thought that my description of Lamplight in the last paragraph was a bit mean, you ain’t heard nothing yet. Avian may be just as eccentric as Lamplight, but they’re far, far more skilled, and they have a heaping helping of arrogance to go with it. They’ve also had actual completion of spy school, which means they have an extra technique the Lamplight girls do not, and much of this book amounts to our heroines “trying to reach their second form”. Sara comes close, and actually manages to kick ass and take names (yes, Sara, the animal girl), but of course Erna is the star of the book, for spoilery reasons, and it’s her own development that provides the big climax. It also allows Klaus to have a paternal talk with her, which I appreciate, as Klaus as a hottie everyone wants to bone is not my favorite thing. (That also comes up here, alas.)

All this plus one of THOSE epilogues, the ones that really like to kick you in the teeth and then make you wait for months or so for the next book. This book, though, was good, and arrives just in time for the second half of the anime, which… has nowhere to go but up.

By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

When I reviewed the 4th volume of The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady the other day, I talked about how the success of the anime gave me a new appreciation and love of the books. The same season that that anime ran, we also had the first season of the adaptation of Spy Classroom. Sadly, here I have the opposite problem, as I have to remind myself that I actually did enjoy this series and was looking forward to the next book. Fortunately, this short story collection is in prose, which is the series’ greatest strength, and so I don’t have to worry about lame attempts to hide Erna under a table. Also, I know it’s a short story collection, so am not really expecting it to be more than it already is. As such, I am pleased to say that this is a solid book in the series, with the ending especially pleasing me a great deal, even as it really leans in to having its cake and eating it too.

The wraparound plot, and final short story, involves the girls finding out that Klaus has married one of them on paper for the sake of missions where he needs a wife. However, no one is admitting they’re the wife. As such, interrogations ensue, which form the four main short stories. We see Klaus and Sybilla embark on a miniature Oliver Twist story, only one where Bill Sikes rather than Fagin is the leader. We then see Sara, who already has low self-esteem in regards to being a spy, trying to make herself usual by repairing the mansion, which ends up turning into a contest. Monika goes on a solo mission where we learn her backstory, and she also bonds with the mark she’s trying to take care of, despite her best efforts to be cool and collected. And Grete tries to help Klaus by saving the local meat pie shop he likes, which ends up becoming an escalating comedy of errors. Finally, there’s only one way to resolve the wife question… have a winner-take-all fight to determine who gets to be Klaus’ new bride!

The four main stories all ran in Dragon Magazine, which exists primarily to run short stories for light novel franchises. They’re all pretty decent, though the meat pie story was struggling to keep my attention. The four girls who star were chosen as they weren’t the focus of the first volume in the main series, so this fleshed them out. (This takes place mostly before the climax of Vol. 1, with the rest happening right before the start of Vol. 2). If you like romance, you’ll enjoy this, as most of the cast are in love with Klaus, and a few are not shy of saying so. If you hate the idea of romance, though, you will also love this, as Klaus makes it very clear that he sees his relationship with the girls as teacher and students, does not want to cross a line he shouldn’t, and hopes they all find other partners. I am in the camp that prefers this cast as a found family, so to me this was the best part of the book.

So yes, wipe that taste of the anime out of your mouth, the books are fine. What’s more, for some odd reason, this SS volume did not follow Yen’s normal publishing schedule, meaning we only have a month till the fifth book in the main series. I look forward to it.