Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 7

By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn.

For the most part, the idea of romance has been about 4th or 5th on the list of reasons to read this series. We know that Reirin is loved by more than one man, but honestly until recently Gyoumei has not really had enough focus to make us care about him enough. But (perhaps because they realized that the readers were starting to wonder if this was going to be a yuri series given the relationship between Reirin and Keigetsu) this volume starts to concentrate a bit more on the romantic chemistry between some of the potential couples – indeed, we get new potential couples here. The other major aspect of this volume, which has again been touched on but not overused in previous books but they’re usually too serious to do it for long, is farce. The entire plot is that our party is split up and slowly converge at once place, and when they get there they all open doors at the same time. All it needed was a plate of sardines.

After the events of the last two books, Reirin and Keigetsu need to switch back to their own bodies. Unfortunately, the Emperor is apparently searching for evidence of magic practitioners, who are supposed to be dealt with with great prejudice. The main characters suspect the Emperor is just doing this for show, but they decide it’s safer to do the switch out in the outside world, so they all agree to leave the inner court, go to a restaurant, and switch there. They split up to avoid being obvious. Reirin, with Leelee (and Gyoumei trailing them) comes across a girl trying to find her mistress, who was sold to pay off debt. Keigetsu and Keishou walk around looking at jewelry, with Keigetsu in full “every word out of my mouth is full of spite and anger” mode, but find illicit goods. Tousetsu and Keikou hide out at a restaurant that turns out to be in the process of a shakedown by thugs. And Shin-u, joined by Unran, goes to a teahouse which they find is actually a brothel. All of this ties into one gambling house.

In case that lengthy description did not clue you in, this is a caper book, and decidedly lighter in tone than the previous six, though there is an ominous cliffhanger at the end that suggests the party is over. It reads a bit like a short story volume, and as such there are some that are better than others. the highlight of the book for me was the incredible fight/flirting/takedown of bad guys by Keikou and Tousetsu, as she realizes that he does not, like every other man she’s ever dealt with, hate women who can fight, and he realizes that she’s able to keep up with him. It’s also a hilarious scene. Speaking of which, as always Reirin is a hoot, ending up in a gambling den where she immediately disquiets everyone by throwing a knife at an erotic piece of art that penetrates the member of the rapist portrayed, causing every man there to feel… uncomfortable. She also has terrific chemistry with Gyoumei, though, much to Leelee’s horror, they don’t balance each other out but instead are like a gasoline fire and a bigger gasoline fire combining.

If you aren’t already reading this, I don’t know what more I can do to convince you. Every single volume is magical.

Raven of the Inner Palace, Vol. 6

By Kouko Shirakawa and Ayuko. Released in Japan as “Kōkyū no Karasu” by Shueisha Orange Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Amelia Mason.

Yeah, sorry, the days of solving ghost crimes are officially history, unless you mean the overall plot, which is more like God vs. God. Though we do get to see everyone trying to solve the mystery of Jusetsu’s ghost, sort of, and Shiki still has the arm of his dead sister, who actually ends up saving the day. But really, this is the first part of a two-part finale, and as such it’s taking all the political drama and intrigue and fantasy deity stuff from the past five books and setting off all the guns at once. Honestly, it’s hard to put down, as it barrels along till it gets to the final chapter, which slows way down but has more of a devastating impact because of that. In general, if you really enjoyed previous volumes of this series, you will enjoy this volume, and the wait for the final volume will likely prove quite difficult.

There is, frankly, too much for Koshun to deal with right now. After the events of the last volume, everyone knows that there’s a member of the Ran family, who were supposed to be completely wiped out, in the Inner Palace. Jusetsu is no longer in her body, which is now possessed by the Raven, who is only partly helpful after having been betrayed for so long. And there are any number of political allies and enemies looking to take advantage of this. Fortunately, he’s able to calm things down a bit with a few well-placed cabinet meetings, as well as one of our main characters finally having to bite the bullet and admit that he’s a lot closer to Jusetsu than anyone thought. Meanwhile, Jusetsu herself is in limbo, depicted here as a river (the cover shows this), but has to deal with Kosho, the one who started all this, who has been trapped there forever by the gods and really wants someone else to join her in despair.

The last half of the book continues to deal with the main plot, but away from the two leads. We get Senri and Shiki acting as a sort of Holmes and Watson as they try to work out how much of the volcano story is actual history in order to try to get the other half of the Raven’s body back. This is particularly difficult for Shiki as he runs into the man he wants revenge on, the very revenge that his sister is trying to stop him getting. This was very good. The last chapter returns us to the family drama of the Saname family, which, and for once I mean this in a GOOD way, reads a lot like a Sam Shepard play. In fact, it reads like Buried Child. Shin suffers very well, as every around him tries to convince him to get the hell away from there, only in the most awkward and counter-intuitive way. This is excellent, and possibly the highlight of the book, provided you don’t mind awfulness.

Everyone’s arrived at the volcano site by the end of this book, and it’s going off again for the cliffhanger. Can’t wait to see how this wraps up.

Earl and Fairy: The Changeling Princess

By Mizue Tani and Asako Takaboshi. Released in Japan as “Hakushaku to Yōsei” by Shueisha Cobalt Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

This feels like it was inevitable. Throughout the series we’ve seen our two leads struggle with everything about their love affair, mostly the fact that it exists at all, but also Edgar’s attempts to be a better person (he keeps failing, but he’s making an attempt, and makes it far more often this book) and Lydia’s self-doubt in regards to not only everything Edgar does but also his past and her own life. Her confession halfway through the book that she worries that she’s a changeling feels a bit out of nowhere at first, but gradually the reader comes to realize that it’s informed a lot of her actions in this series. If Lydia can’t trust her own self, can’t even believe that she’s human, then there’s no way she can trust Edgar, and no amount of reassurances and reenactments of the Orpheus legend are going to change that. This leads to a cliffhanger ending that sure feels like, if this series was not a runaway success (which it was), would lead to the 7th book being the last.

Some more of Edgar’s past is catching up with him – this time a pirate crew, which includes Lotte and Pino, two young people who were with him in America. They watched him toy with Betty, another young woman in their group, who apparently turned out to be a long-lost princess, but more importantly, is also missing, and allegedly kidnapped. This also ties in with a request form one of Edgar’s holdings to look into a baby kidnapping which might be down to fairies. Edgar and Lydia, with Raven and Ermine in tow, thus head off to the village, where they find that Ulysses had not only been there before, but was much better at pretending to be the heir than Edgar is – particularly when it comes to getting the village to commit atrocities in the name of “prosperity”. Now Edgar and Lydia have to rescue Betty, defeat a giant dragon wyrm, and also somehow resolve their tortured courtship. Two of those things end up happening.

I appreciated that Ermine got more to do here, and I also appreciate that she’s still not 100% trustworthy. Leaving aside Lydia’s belief that Edgar/Ermine is the real OTP, which has more to do with her own self-image than anything else, there’s the scene with her and Kelpie, shown to the reader but very pointedly not revealed to either Edgar or Lydia. There’s something else going on with her, and I hope it doesn’t lead to her dying – again. Her own fluid identity between selkie and human, and the fact that she doesn’t see herself as anything other than human unless forced, also serves as a mirror to Lydia, whose every move in this book seems to be about resolving what she believes – that she’s a fraud, a fake, and that once she returns to the fairy world everything will be fine and happily ever after. Lotte may set off the cliffhanger in this volume, but honestly I think she did both Lydia AND Edgar a great service. These two need a break.

This was one of the stronger volumes in the series, really showing off the reasoning behind both leads being basket cases. I really want to see what happens next.