I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, Vol. 9

September 24, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Sarasa Nagase and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

Everyone loves a good harem series. But, unless you’re reading The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You or other polyamorous titles, you’re going to wind up with fans of one love interest happy and the fans of the other love interests disappointed. This is even true in a series like this one, where there’s been no doubt since the beginning of the first volume that Aileen and Claude were the OTP. This series was based around a series of otome games, and as a result there are any number of hot guys that you could, theoretically, pair a heroine with. Sadly, Lilia blew all that up, and Aileen kicked fate in the nuts, so we’ve got a few guys who are dedicated to their work. Can’t have that, though. This is a romance, and romances with lots of unattached love interests get hit with “pair the spares”. That’s the entire purpose of this volume, taking place a little while after the main series.

This book consists of three stories, but honestly it feels like the author had a complete volume that didn’t quite meet the word count and so they added a (normal-sized) short story to the start and a (very small) short story to the end. The first has Elefas going back to his homeland to find that he’s suddenly married to Neifa, one of the harem queens of Baal’s that he has no use for now that he has Roxane. He thinks he can quickly get out of the marriage, but sadly she’s brilliant *and* has big boobs, a deadly combination. In the final story in the volume, Claude and Aileen try to go on a date where it’s just the two of them, despite everyone trying to stop them. The story that takes up the most time, though, involves Walt and Kyle, who get involved, once more, with demon snuff, as well as a very mysterious “fairy” girl.

The reason to read this is the middle story, though I did like Neifa, whose use of “all-ages” a la Lilia makes me wonder if she’s another import from Japan. (Lilia is fantastic in her one scene, where she looks like she’s being serious for once but later turns out to be a troll as always.) But Walt and Kyle – OK, mostly Walt – are the reason to pick this up. Walt tends to wear his heart on his sleeve, so even as he’s told to investigate a teenage girl who’s suspected of making and distributing a highly potent demon snuff, and even after discovering that yes, she is doing that, he still wants to prove that she’s innocent, because it doesn’t match with her character. In fact, her character doesn’t match from one day to the next, which is a bit of a spoiler except that the cast portraits at the start of the book give it away anyway. This is basically a thriller where they’re working against the clock trying to stop a horrible chain of self-sacrificing against a virulently disgusting bad guy who’s been sexually abusive (so yes, warning for that), and thankfully the day is saved.

The day is saved without Aileen, who only makes small appearances in the first two stories – after all, they don’t involve her being executed if she makes one wrong move, so what should she care? The next book, though, sees us back in familiar territory once more, as the author admits that the series isn’t ending just yet.

Filed Under: i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss, reviews

Spy Classroom: Sara’s Meadow of Opportunity

September 23, 2024 by Leave a Comment

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 basic premise of this series, more than the spy shenanigans, or the moves and counter-moves, or the traumatic cliffhangers, is fairly simple. The narrative lies to the reader over and over again, and we have to try to figure out what’s going on before we have the rug pulled out from under us again. We get a lot of that in this volume, as Lamplight use the idea of narrative convenience to plant doubt in their colleagues’ mind. Everyone knows Avian were really amazing spies. Everyone knows that their symbol was a phoenix, the symbol of rebirth. And everyone knows that faking deaths for drama is something that books have been doing ever since there were books. Surely it’s possible that we were all bamboozled, especially considering THIS author. But that’s not all we’re here to doubt. There’s piles and piles of lies here, and therefore it’s doubly ironic that the star of this book is Sara, who is the most straightforward, honest, and true cast member.

Lamplight is smashed to pieces. Monika is a traitor, and presumed dead. Klaus and Thea are imprisoned. Annette, Erna, and Grete are hospitalized. That leaves the three “weakest” members of Lamplight to figure out who set them up, find the traitor and save the day. Unfortunately, no one trusts them, and they aren’t really allowed to do anything without a watchdog. Despite this, they try to figure out how to stop White Spider, whose backstory we get here, from doing his damndest to kill Klaus – and see exactly why he wants to kill Klaus. There’s traitors galore, there’s one of their members going off the rails and deciding to go full evil, and there’s everyone calling them weak, stupid, and saying they’ll be executed as soon as they blink. With all this going against them, can they find a way to rescue Klaus, stop White Spider, and clear their name? Well, as much as it’s possible to clear their name.

I’ve gushed about Sara before, and want to avoid repeating myself, but man. This is her book, and it’s here when she finally gets a purpose, a reason she wants to be a spy. She’s also brilliant, using her abilities and talents in the best possible way – when White Spider sneers at her and says he saw through it all, I wanted to yell at what a dipshit he was being. I don’t care that he saw through it, it was incredible! I also liked her final conversation with Klaus, and hope she gets that happy ending. Lily and Sybilla, of course, also get their chance to shine, though Sybilla also gets a heaping helping of verbal abuse – EVERYONE seems to loathe Lamplight beyond all reason in this book. I also liked how the ending to this 8th book was a dark, serious mirror to the wacky comedy ending of the 4th book – one involving Lily, the other involving Monika.

This was an excellent ending to this arc. And now it’s time to start a new one… after yet another short story volume. The SS volumes come fast and furious with this series.

Filed Under: reviews, spy classroom

A Certain Magical Index NT, Vol. 3

September 22, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Shinyaku To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

The first volume of New Testament did not really feel like the return of the beloved/infamous series, mostly as Touma was entirely absent until the very end of it. The second volume consisted almost entirely of exposition, so also felt like an oddity (sorry, Kaori, I know you tried hard). This one, though, is Index hitting the ground running and announcing that it’s back for good in a full-throated roar. The series has never shied away from action setpieces, of course – that’s its bread and butter – but it’s never felt more like an American action movie than it does in this book. That’s clearly by design, of course – everything’s set up to have the maximum number of explosions and volcano eruptions, everyone gets a chance to show off their cool powers, and even the President of the United States feels more like a movie star than he does an actual President. Unfortunately, Touma ends up figuring out that World War III ending did not, in fact, return everything to normal.

Leivinia Birdway has led a group of all-stars to Hawaii – Touma, Mikoto, Accelerator, Misaka Worst, and Umidori, the villain of the first book, now reduced to mostly being Misaka Worst’s toy, though she gets to be cool near the end, as is traditional with Index books. Unfortunately, from the moment they get to Hawaii, they are caught up in non-stop attacks, explosions, more explosions, terrorists attacks up the wazoo, the aforementioned volcano eruption, and an actual coup by a media mogul who wants to make the United States a theocracy, and also really wants to find her estranged daughter. All of this converges in Hawaii, along with the US president, who has run away from all his handlers as he can’t trust anyone anymore. In fact… can Touma trust anyone anymore?

I mean, probably. Despite her annoyingly evil words to Touma at the end of the book, I doubt that Birdway is really involved with GREMLIN. But it simply works better for her to have Touma in a constant state of righteous fury, and that’s what she gets here, despite the best efforts of Mikoto. Mikoto has, honestly, suffered almost as much as Index (that’s the character, Index, who wears a nun habit, in case everyone had forgotten) since this series began, with whole volumes in a row where she barely does anything. For most of this book, it looks like that may also apply here, given she spends much of this Hawaii trip trying to buy matching promise rings for her and Touma that supposedly tell you if your boyfriend is cheating. Even Misaka Worst points out that she’s been far more relevant than the original Misaka lately. (Every time Misaka Worst mentions the “Third Season”, I roll my eyes.) But Mikoto is pretty much the only one who can try to talk Touma down from the “it’s all my fault, and I alone will shoulder this burden” complex he’s got. I don’t think she succeeds. But she does better than anyone else might have. Touma’s a stubborn nut.

We will be headed back to Academy City next time, but the 4th book isn’t solicited yet. Which is fine, I think we need a small break, this book was exhausting but fun.

Filed Under: a certain magical index, reviews
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