Miss Savage Fang: The Strongest Mercenary in History Is Reincarnated As an Unstoppable Noblewoman, Vol. 2

June 22, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Kakkaku Akashi and Kayahara. Released in Japan as “Savage Fang Ojō-sama: Shijō Saikyō no Yōhei wa Shijō Saikyō no Bōgyaku Reijō to natte Futatabime no Sekai o Musō Suru” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

First of all, some good news: while she is still fairly worshipful towards Mylene, the character of Colette is allowed to keep a lot of her kickass attitude from the first book. In particular, while I would not call this a yuri book per se, it is very clear that a) Mylene, being a male mercenary reincarnated, is not interested in men, and b) Colette is incredibly thirsty for Mylene and will absolutely try to seduce her whenever she gets a chance, held in check only by Mylene’s grumpy attitude and realization that it would upend a lot of things Mylene does not want upended. Basically, Mylene is looking to get through the next few years without what happened in the previous world happening again. Unfortunately, that religious cult is still around, they do not like Mylene at all now that she’s not their evil queen bitch, and they are ready to assassinate her.

Sure, this may take place in a world with magic, gods, and apocalyptic prophecies, but we are still in a high school of sorts, adn that means that there’s going to be a culture festival. Or the equivalent in this universe, which basically has the students compete to see if they can be good businessmen and women. Mylene realizes that selling upscale goods that nobles can get anywhere is not going to cut it, and suggests what amounts to a maid cafe… and is somewhat horrified to find that this means she will have to wear a maid outfit as well. There’s also a student, Melissa, who is hanging around, glaring at Mylene, and then running away. She’s essentially the “heroine” of this universe, a priestess who led the charge against Mylene in the old world and died a martyr. Here Melissa is more concerned by Mylene’s current personality, which is nothing like her old one.

This had a big “difficult second album” feel to it, as I got the sense that the author had written it as a one-shot and wasn’t sure where to go from here. The fact that we haven’t had a 3rd volume in Japan in the last two years does not really help that feeling. Still, the volume’s not bad. Colette is just plain hilarious, especially when she’s trying to politely say “take me now” and getting into fierce rivalry with Prince Albert. (She also gets the blatant fanservice in the book’s color pages.) The assassin himself is also interesting, mostly as he’s not a devoted cultist like the last bad guy, but a serial killer who just delights in killing off “interesting people” for the sake of the drama. Literally – he was a playwright. The final fight between him and Mylene is excellent, though I was annoyed that Melissa is basically just there to be a plot device. Oh well, I’m sure she’ll integrate better in the next volume.

If there is one. Till then, this is decent enough villainess fare, for those who like one who swears a lot.

Filed Under: miss savage fang, reviews

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 7

June 20, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

This series continues to feature more of exactly what readers want, provided what readers want is Amane having an amazingly low self-image and also being overly polite about “not going too far” to the point that it’s actually starting to annoy Mahiru a bit. More to the point, now that they are a couple, and everyone in school knows it, they’re both having to deal with jealousy. Yes, both. It’s expected from Amane, as Mahiru is the Angel of the School, and that’s the premise of the series. But Mahiru is also starting to realize that her attempts to clean up Amane’s life, give him some self-esteem, and show off what a great guy he is means that other girls are going to think the same thing. And she hates that. It all comes to a head at the culture festival, featuring maid costumes, butler costumes, and lots and lots of thirst. Well, it’s Angel Next Door. Not thirst. Mild dryness.

So yes, it’s culture festival time, though this is a milder one compared to other series – no outsiders, invited family and friends only. But there’s still maid cafes, and much to Amane’s annoyance, that’s what the class chooses, even if it means everyone will be ogling his girlfriend all day. That said, she does look REALLY good in that outfit. And he also looks really cool as a butler, though you’ll never hear him say that – all signs of him being cool come from outside his own self-hating narrative, because you can try to clear up all the past trauma but it still lingers on when the plot demands it. Can he survive a customer trying to grope Mahiru’s ass? Can he survive his parents being amazingly embarrassing? And, yes, we finally get the full story on Itsuki.

We’ve heard the story of Itsuki and Chitose in dribs and drabs, and some of it in the short story book, but here we get the actual reasons behind things. He’s from a rich family, where there’s actually a need to carry on the family name. Being a second son, this should not affect him – except the first son decided to marry the girl he liked, who was not father approved. And now that he sees Itsuki doing the same thing, he is determined to dislike Chitose, especially since she’s the sort of girl that would grate on him regardless. I like how everyone realizes and admits that there’s no way to “fix this”, and there’s nothing Chitose is doing wrong per se. It’s just that sometimes family can be difficult. And even so, Mahiru ends up being jealous, as even though Itsuki’s father is against his relationship at least he acknowledges Itsuki exists. Mahiru still has the worst parents crown.

All this plus Amane’s determination to be a gentleman, to the point where Mahiru has to almost browbeat him into using his tongue. The Slow Burn Express is not stopping at this volume, but it’s good anyway.

Filed Under: angel next door spoils me rotten, reviews

Demons’ Crest, Vol. 1

June 18, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Reki Kawahara and Yukiko Horiguchi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by James balzer.

I had heard, for some reason, that this was Reki Kawahara wanting to do something different, and if you look at this book superficially, you might laugh. It’s about a bunch of folks who get trapped in a gaming environment where they can actually be killed, and most of the battles and technical talk is straight from the gamer handbook. And we also have eye/ear tech that bonds with your body and is used by absolutely everyone in the real world, as this takes place about 10 years in the future. Fans of SAO and Accel World must be going hrm. And yes, it does feel sort of like an author of romance fics featuring the same couple deciding to do something different by doing a Pirate AU of that exact couple, but I do think this has a few things that really do make it different. First of all, these are 11 and 12-year-olds, meaning for once being immature jerks is actually not only tolerable but expected. Secondly, it’s clear that what Kawahara REALLY wanted to write is a Death Game. (Yes, yes, SAO, but…)

The kids of Yukihana Elementary School are excited. They get to try out a brand new, still in testing virtual reality game that feels just like real life!… well, mostly. They’re still working on smell and taste. We follow Yuuma Ashihara and his twin Sawa, as well as their childhood friend Nagi and Yuum’s best friend Kenji as they try to capture monsters, card-captor style, and defeat dungeon bosses. Then suddenly Yuuma finds himself back in the VR capsule… and when he gets out of it, he finds the class idol, Sumika, stumbling towards him, with her face blank except for a row of ravenous teeth and holding a severed arm, presumably of a classmate. Now he has to join up with his sister and best friend (childhood friend is missing) to try to figure out what’s going on and survive.

This does do some things well. The romance is kept to a 12-year-old level, which is a bit of a relief, frankly, especially as the body count starts to get higher. The action scenes are as good as you’d expect for this author. I admit I was a little annoyed with Sawa clearly putting off telling her twin brother (and the reader) what really happeneed till the cliffhanger ending, as it felt forced. There’s also a guy in here… I forget what his name in the book is, because I just called him “Monoma Neito” as soon as I read him, and anyone who’s read My Hero Academia will do the same. Only, unlike Monoma, this guy looks to be actually evil. Lastly, I did enjoy the fact that folks think about what will happen if they do escape this. The monsters are not all game-only, some are classmates or adults turned into monsters, and I don’t think “I killed them because it was a death game” will fly if they get back to reality and have to explain things.

Still, reality looks a long way away. Fortunately, there is a 2nd volume coming soon, which hopefully features Sawa actually talking. Till then, for fans of ‘trapped in a game’, death games, or this author.

Filed Under: demons' crest, reviews
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