Sasaki and Peeps: Fake Family Formed! ~The Youngest Daughter Dreams of a Warm Family in This Hodgepodge Household~

August 13, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Buncololi and Kantoku. Released in Japan as “Sasaki to Pi-chan” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

I do feel that this series might have a conclusion in mind, but it really is meandering towards that conclusion, to the point where I was actually a little bored somewhere in the middle of this volume. Which is surprising given it’s an isekai-lite book, and I usually tend to prefer those. For the most part, the bulk of this book is spent integrating Type Twelve into the main cast, which has Futarishizuka and Sasaki making decisions that make sense in a “we’re trying to save the world” sort of way, but narratively in a book makes them sort of terrible. It doesn’t help that the idea that all of this is secret is really being blown apart, with Neighbor Girl’s classmates all discussing whether aliens are real or not after spotting the huge obvious flying saucer. Each book tends to set up the next book, and I suppose that’s true here. And to be fair, the end of the volume definitely was excellent. But I’d like to know the author has a final volume envisioned.

Type Twelve wants to learn more about humanity from Hoshizaki, and has decided the best way to do this is to pretend to be a family. Hoshizaki is the mother, Sasaki is the father, Kurosu and Abaddon are her older siblings, Elsa (returned from isekai land) is the next door neighbor who’s always dropping in, Sasaki is the family pet, and Futarishizuka is the crotchety grandmother, a role she takes to with gusto, to be honest. They go shopping, they buy a house – well, OK, Type Twelve steals a house – and they go to the amusement park, which Futarishizuka, with the reluctant help of Sasaki, tries to depress the robot so that she’ll give up and return home. Everything changes, though, when Kurosu says there’s a new death game coming to a mysterious island, and she wants their help in going after the big prizes that come with said game. Alas, when they get there they find that things will not go that well…

As noted, the death game is the best part (the worst part may be when Kurosu, running away from interaction with her classmates, comes across her teacher screwing her bullied classmate, and she just sort of stomps away in a fit of pique that she’s not able to get that with Sasaki). They arrive assuming that everything will be much the same as the previous games, but not only is everyone on the angel AND demon teams now trying to kill her and Abaddon specifically, but there are also a lot more random elements. A psychic is killing people because he can, the magical girl rips a hole in reality to go kill psychics, and Type Twelve has to literally blow herself up 9she gets better) to save the main cast. And, oh yes, the entire death game has been co-opted by rich assholes. Because of course.

I greatly enjoy this series when it’s being ridiculous, but when it’s down to earth it can sometimes lose me. The next volume… has everyone going to Kurosu’s school. Oh well, we shall see.

Filed Under: reviews, sasaki and peeps

Observation Records of My Fiancée: The Misadventures of a Self-Proclaimed Villainess, Vol. 1

August 12, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Shiki and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Jishō Akuyaku Reijō na Konyakusha no Kansatsu Kiroku” by Regina Books. Released in North America by Hanashi Media. Translated by Ethan Holms.

I am, frankly, a little sick of every new villainess book forcing me to say how much it reminds me of My Next Life As a Villainess. And given that this book stars a dumbass who everyone loves, that’s a trap that I want to avoid. So let’s try something else. You know the works of Sarasa Nagase? The kind where the clever heroine has to think on her feet and not let her guard down for a minute or else fate will slot everything back into place and she’ll be killed? And this is helped along by an evil but equally clever heroine? This series is the mirror opposite of that. Both the villainess and the heroine are desperately trying to NOT fight fate, for reasons that we don’t really find out in this volume, but the problem is that they are both not particularly clever, so fate is constantly changed so that things are better. Congratulations on falling face first into success.

While visiting his fiancee on her eighth birthday, the Crown Prince Cecil is rather surprised to hear her say that she’s actually a villainess, and she will do her best to grow up to be a fantastic one so that he can dump her and her family will fall into ruin. And she can go ‘GAH!”. (The “GAH!” is very important!) Cecil is baffled by all this talk of “otome games” and “routes”, but he finds Bertia amusing and interesting, which frankly almost nothing does as he’s the most jaded ten-year-old in the world. Each chapter in the book is “one year later”, and we see that Bertia’s schemes and plans do things like tell everyone where those trying to overthrow the country really are, or making sure that people get together with their true loves, or telling Cecil enough information that they can stop a deadly plague. Isn’t she actually sweet as pie? Why does she want to be a villainess? And what’s with the new girl named (sigh) Hironia?

I read the first volume of the manga when AlphaPolis put it out here, and reviewed it in a Bookshelf Brief where I mentioned Cecil was who interested me most. That goes double for this first book, though Bertia is also interesting for reasons that I don’t think we’ll get explained till the next book. Cecil regards Bertia as a fun toy when he’s a kid, but as he grows older and grows to appreciate her as a person… he’s still not quite there. It’s mentioned many times that Cecil is fundamentally broken, and that gets more clear as we get closer to the climax, when we realize that Cecil has never expressed any affection for Bertia besides “you are my fiancee”, and that he doesn’t really get that he’s fallen in love with her at ALL. We never get Bertia’s POV, for reasons that, again, I think will make more sense in Book 2, but I think she has realized her feelings, but is desperate to avoid them for the sake of the greater good.

This is a series that will end next time, though I think there’s a sequel that Hanashi Media has also licensed with their marriage. Till then, this is a fun Villainess book that starts off very wacky and gets increasingly less so as the book goes on.

Filed Under: observation records of my fiancee, reviews

The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power: Forget My Sister! Turns Out I Was the Real Saint All Along!, Vol. 3

August 11, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Almond and Yoshiro Ambe. Released in Japan as “Mujikaku Seijo wa Kyō mo Muishiki ni Chikara o Tare Nagasu: Imadai no Seijo wa Anede wa Naku, Imōto no Watashi Datta Mitai Desu” by Earth Star Luna. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Dawson Chen.

It’s never a good sign when I’m checking Amazon Japan to see how long a series has left to go. Fortunately, this series looks like it ends with the 4th volume, so I guess I’ll finish it. It’s not doing anything wrong per se, and doesn’t have random slavery or the usual light novel turnoffs, but it’s a damp wet towel of a book. Our heroes hear of a setback, think of a plan, and the plan, for the most part, goes swimmingly. The bad guys are really bad, the good guys are really good, with the exception of Teodore being a standard “glasses sadist” for laughs. There are one or two exceptions, which I’ll get to later, but if I’m being honest, the most interesting and exciting part of the book was when this volume’s antagonist snaps and decides to start choking Carolina to death in front of royalty and hundreds of people. Dumb, but exciting.

Carolina’s father arrives with bad news: Archbishop Mills is on his way to the kingdom and wants an audience with Carolina, likely to try to get her to come back to Celestia. Unfortunately, they’re not quite ready to reveal how powerful she is to the world yet. So they try several stopgap measures. She puts off her decision while she “thinks about it”, they investigate the bishop for his horrible crimes (can’t have a light novel without a Church of Evil, though in this case it’s just one Bishop of Evil), and create a Saint for their own Empire. Unfortunately, while they get enough support to do this, they can’t just make it Carolina, especially since her power is a secret. There’s going to be a magic competition. And her main opponent is Monica, the noble girl who despises her.

So there are a couple of bits that weren’t too bad, most of which revolve around accepting that sometimes people change, and sometimes kids can’t change situations because they’re kids. Marisa and Owen both had terrible childhoods that left them with many regrets, and indeed we saw Marisa’s younger sister of terrible in the last book. But they need people to vote for their new Saint idea, and that means she has to talk to her OLDER sister, who also treated her like crap. Then she finds… her sister happily married, and love has softened her, and she deeply regrets what she did and apologizes. Marisa really doesn’t know how to take this. As for Owen, it turns out that his brother’s disinterest was not that in the slightest, but just a massive miscommunication, and now the two of them are getting along again. Now, both of them credit Carolina for basically making them nice enough to reach out and make amends, but I’m used to perfectly pure heroines.

I didn’t mention Flora at all, but the final volume has basically one question: will she be saved or will she die? We’ll find out. Bet the answer is the obvious one.

Filed Under: oblivious saint can't contain her power, reviews
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