Too Strong to Belong! Banished to Another World

September 13, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Kazuki Karasawa and Akane Rica. Released in Japan as “Saikyou Joshi, Isekai e Iku!” by the author on the Shosetsuka ni Naro website. Released in North America digitally by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Marissa Skeels.

How much you enjoy this one-shot may depend on how in tune with the standard comedy tropes of anime and manga you as a reader are. It stars a young woman who is not only oblivious as to her own ridiculous strength, but also oblivious to the fact that she has multiple suitors. Part of that obliviousness may be that she tends to imagine her romantic rivals are in love with each other (she’s a classic “I see everyone I know as a BL pairing” type) but most of it is that she’s so dedicated to the idea of being a “dainty young maiden” (which is to say a gender stereotype-conforming girl) that the idea that people might be in awe of her strength… or worse, afraid of it… makes her skin crawl. But it’s OK! She has a childhood friend. Who is clearly in love with her, which he has tried to communicate by hanging out with her all the time and hoping that she’ll realize his feelings by osmosis. It’s this kind of humor.

Sakurako has been having a rough year. After the death of her parents, she’s trying hard to run the family dojo with the help of her childhood friend (who also lost HIS parents in the same accident). Unfortunately, she keeps getting attacked by savage dogs. And wolves. And telephone poles falling on her. And trucks trying to crash into her. Weird. Good thing she’s ludicrously strong, so she escapes all these accidents. After she finally is killed off, the god who’s been doing it reveals that she was also supposed to die in the same accident as her parents, so they’ve been trying to correct fate. Now she’s dead… but so is Kazuya, her childhood friend, who wasn’t supposed to die. The god decides to solve this by tossing them in a world of magic and monsters. Now Sakurako can remake her life as a dainty young maiden!… who can atomize B-rank monsters with just one punch.

In the afterword, the author says this was written before their other CIW series, The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom!, and for the most part it shows. This is a weaker work, mostly as Sakurako is far too aggravating to have as a long-term protagonist. Likewise, once you realize that Kazuya could solve all his problems by actually confessing rather than expecting her to get it like every other dumb teen out there, you lose a lot of sympathy for him. That said, the fact that this is complete in one volume definitely helps, as it means that they both have to catch a clue about this before the book ends. I was also amused at some of the humor, such as the demon lord briefly assuming that all of humanity is just like Sakurako and turning into a whiny baby, and the effects of Sakurako’s magic food forcing the stoic of their party to start espousing its virtues at the top of his lungs. There’s fun to be had here.

That said, if you want to try out this author’s work, I’d definitely start with The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom! first.

Filed Under: reviews, too strong to belong

The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor, Vol. 5

September 12, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Sasara Nagase and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoshi Reijō wa Ryūtei Heika o Kōryaku-chū” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

After four volumes of absolute breathtaking drama, where you worry every single page that Jill is going to either die or end up thrust into a war that will cause everyone else to die, it’s a relief to have a volume that is comparatively a relaxing romp. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the main plotline is still “there’s a secret plot to destabilize things so that the Dragon Emperor will be forced to go to war and the timeline can go back to its old, Jill-is-dead self, but that’s the plotline of the series as a whole. Whereas this book reads like Nagase-san took a reader poll saying “Hey, if I was to have Jill in any cliched situation you can imagine, what would it be?”. And the winning entry was absolutely “I want to see Jill as the new teacher having to deal with a bunch of awful delinquent students who just need the power of someone who cares and can punch them hard.” “Can she wear a cap?” “Oh God yes.”

Jill has plans. She doesn’t want to just be a good wife to her future husband, and she doesn’t want to just punch everything in sight in his name. She wants to help him make her adopted nation even better. Towards that end, she’s come up with a plan for an academy, and wants to go to the nearby La Baier military academy in the Grand Duchy of Laika… which, coincidentally, also has another member of the royal family there – Hadis’ younger brother – as well as a noble who Jill remembers as being a schemer in her previous life. Jill is approved to attend the academy – honestly, approved far too fast – and Hadis ends up tagging along, because of course he does. Unfortunately, when she gets there, she finds not only that the younger brother is one of the worst of the delinquents, but that she’s not there as a student… but as a teacher?

I’ve said this before, but I love how this author always seems to know exactly what the audience for these books want. Yes, a lot of tense intrigue and action, with one false move and the series will end forever tension. But, more importantly, the fact that Jill and Hadis rarely feel that tension themselves. After the events of the last book, Hadis has discovered that the best way to both get revenge on Jill for ignoring him and also find her at her most attractive is to infuriate her, and also possibly side with the enemy. (The actual enemy is in flux through a lot of this volume, and will involve even more of the extended family from hell.) Everything may be going to hell in a handbasket, people’s lives are at stake, but that doesn’t stop these two nitwits from fighting like they’re flirting and vice versa. It is, frankly, cute.

Unfortunately, there’s a nasty cliffhanger that suggests that we may be back to “everyone is trying to destroy Jill’s happiness” next time around. Fortunately, the next book is out very soon, so we can suffer then. This is, almost, a fluffy respite.

Filed Under: do-over damsel conquers the dragon emperor, reviews

Earl and Fairy: The Secret Behind Your Tears

September 11, 2024 by Leave a Comment

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.

I don’t want these reviews to get too similar, so let me start off with something that isn’t the tortured romance between Edgar and Lydia for a change. Perhaps the plot itself. This book really hammers home that we’re seeing a re-enactment of Shakespeare’s Richard II in Japanese light novel form here. Edgar wants to be the Blue Knight Earl. He acts like a proper English noble, which includes caring about those whose lives he governs. He’s a good person who’s trying to do what the Blue Knight Earl is supposed to do. And he gets the reward in the end. Unfortunately, Ulysses has the bloodline in his (borrowed) soul, and so all the magical guff actually works for him, whereas Edgar is left with a reward that he cannot actually see or access. The good guys do sort of win here, but it’s a bittersweet victory, comes with a death, and its only real success was getting Edgar to finally realize that “it’s OK if I die” is not a good way to live.

We open with Lydia back in Scotland, determined to separate herself from Edgar, but missing him nevertheless… and despite the multiple letters a week he writes her. However, circumstances end up reuniting them on the island where this all began, where they are dealing with a banshee who is related to the Blue Knight Earl of a hundred years ago… and has amnesia. Unfortunately, Edgar is feeling rather depressed and morose about his inability to get his feelings across to Lydia, so goes to his club, gets drunk (and, it’s implied, also smokes some questionable drugs), then goes home, and when Lydia tries to talk to him, it goes badly. (No, not like that… though he’s initially afraid it was like that.) Unfortunately, as all this is going on, Ulysses is ma,king everything worse, as usual.

Ermine continues to be interesting, though I’m not sure how long she can keep up being a double (triple?) agent without wearying the audience. The author is being pretty good about keeping us on our toes as well, but I can’t help but notice that most of the recent cliffhangers are all “Ermine does something that looks evil”. That said, after her resurrection, I don’t think the author is getting rid of her anytime soon. If only as she’s still able to completely torpedo any efforts at Lydia and Edgar to get over their hangups and talk to each other about their doubts and fears. Edgar makes his biggest declaration of lover ever this book, but it’s a drunken murmuring of Ermine’s name that Lydia takes to be his “true” feelings, partly as I think she’s scared of her own feelings for him. Certainly she’s ready to walk into a massive deathtrap for him, as well as save his life when even he doesn’t want that. But… yeah. Still not quite a couple yet.

If you love exquisitly frustrated romance and supernatural action thrillers, this remains a must read.

Filed Under: earl and fairy, reviews
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