You Are My Regret, Vol. 1

February 24, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Shimesaba and Ui Shigure. Released in Japan as “Kimi wa Boku no Regret” by Dash X Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andria McKnight.

As with the author’s previous series, I wasn’t going to originally be reading this at all. Mostly that’s because the author’s previous series was Higehiro, and the first volume of that annoyed me in about 8,000 different ways. The other reason is that it has a title and cover art that made me think it was another of Yen’s many “license the novel based on a new animated Japanese movie starring a young teenage couple whose love is perfect and yet also tragic”, and I’ve kind of gone off those. But then I saw it was none of those, that’s it’s a romantic drama which tries to dig into the concept of “free spirits”, being selfish about being selfless, and how middle school students are dumbasses who can’t talk to each other. Honestly, the same holds true in high school, which is why this is a romantic drama and not a comedy. Everyone is in love and it’s killing them inside.

Back in middle school, Yuzuru and Ai dated. She had confessed to him, and he loved being around her. They walked around, did couple-y things, etc. But eventually the pressure of thinking that Ai was the sort who shouldn’t be tied down to anyone and should live her life freely got to be too much for Yuzuru, and he broke up with her while badly communicating this. Shortly afterwards, her family moved away,. and he now contents himself with sitting in the literature club classroom, reading, and being completely oblivious to the feelings of angry tsundere Kaoru. Unfortunately for him, Ai has moved back and is transferring into their school. Even worse, she’s still in love with him. Can they manage to recover their relationship and figure out what went wrong in the first place?

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. That’s actually a plus, because it means that it rises ahead of Higehiro. Unfortunately, it does that by actually taking place in high school and featuring kids the same age, meaning it doesn’t have 90% of what made Higehiro annoying. It does have the remaining 10%, which is Yuzuru, the male love interest. I want to push him into a canal. That said, I get it. He’s a high school kid. He’s also one of those “cool intellectuals” who really isn’t, and fails to understand how women think or even that they do. I really pity poor Kaoru, who not only is clearly in love with this schmuck but also has to take him by the hand and lead him to the actual clue, that clue being that when you break up with someone because you feel dating them is too selfish, you need to ask yourself what it means to be dating, AND talk to the other person. As for Ai, I am honestly not sure it’s healthy for her to BE dating him at this point, but I suppose that’s what fiction is for. She is a ball of energy and angst, and I hope we get more depth about her in the next two books (a 2nd book from her perspective would help, but I’m not expecting that.)

This is a compact three volumes in Japan, so it should resolve things fairly quickly. I wasn’t wild about it, but I’ll try another volume. Just remember that teenagers are idiots.

Filed Under: reviews, you are my regret

The Kept Man of the Princess Knight, Vol. 1

February 23, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Toru Shirogane and Saki Mashima. Released in Japan as “Himekishi-sama no Himo” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

This book has one big, big thing going for it, which is that I finished it. More than that, I plan to read the next book. That’s a big deal, because this book is dark as fuck. It starts off really bleak, but at about the two-thirds mark I said “ah, good, it’s bleak, but it’s not 100% bleak”. NOPE. It is indeed 100% bleak, and I regretted even thinking it would be otherwise. This is a book filled with violent death, and not just of evil bad guys. The protagonist is an incredible asshole, and does things throughout the volume that are beyond the pale. The Princess Knight who is in the title is somewhat out of focus, mostly as she has to be off in the dungeons for most of the book, but she also has many issues. I have no illusions that this will have any ending other than “everyone dies, but at least they get to choose the manner of their death”. And yet… this was an award winner, and I can see why. You can’t put it down.

Matthew is the Kept Man of the title, and the Princess Knight is Arwin. Her country has been destroyed, fallen to monsters, and the only way she can save it is with a legendary treasure located at the bottom of one of the world’s only remaining dungeons. Matthew is a lecherous layabout who is as weak as a kitten but hella tough, and who, it is said by everyone, sleeps with the princess and is paid by her to do so. As the book goes on, we get to find out Matthew’s actual past, see how he goes about his day when Arwin is in the dungeon, and see him gradually get embroiled in various plots in the dark side of this town – which is, to be honest, the entire town – as he tries to hide the real reason that the princess is so dependent on him.

Translator Stephen Paul, who must have been over the moon to work on this anti-Kirito title after so much Sword Art Online, described this as being “raunchy and funny”, and I’ll agree with him on the first, but I’m not really sure where all the laughs are in this book. Matthew’s comebacks end up being more “yo mama” jokes than anything else, and the best joke in the book is one I won’t spoil, but involves some brothers. It’s definitely raunchy, though I note that the author, who knows his audience will only put up with so much in regards to their heroines, obfuscates about whether Matthew and Arwin are in fact lovers. But the main reason to read this is the sheer jaw-dropping awfulness of everything going on. Matthew’s past and present are awful, Arwin’s past and present are awful, Matthew kills about a dozen people throughout this book, and even those who try to escape the book’s world can’t make it out. It’s a compelling, nasty world.

Again, I hate reading dark stories where everyone dies, but I still finished this and want more. That’s a big selling point. That said, buyer beware.

Filed Under: kept man of the princess knight, reviews

Miss Savage Fang: The Strongest Mercenary in History Is Reincarnated As an Unstoppable Noblewoman, Vol. 1

February 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.

This is, for the most part, a good entry in the “reincarnated as a villainess” genre, with two big exceptions: a plotting decision at the start, and a characterization decision at the end. Other than that, it’s got a non-Japanese reincarnation, which is always nice, and a narrator who is a hell of a lot of fun. (Yen seems to have quietly dropped the “don’t let the books say fuck” guideline in the last year or two, and it’s allowed the books to sound more true to life much of the time.) I will note, though, that it’s a book that really assumes you want to see violence. The heroine used to be a mercenary who literally beat his enemies to death, and now that she’s the daughter of a duke she’s still capable of doing this, though at least holds back a bit. Mostly as she knows murder is a bad rep for a duke’s daughter to have.

The nation of Eltania is on the verge of collapse, thanks to its selfish and evil queen Mylene. We follow a group of mercenaries, led by a magicless but powerful man named Envil. Eventually Mylene is captured and is about to be executed when a foreign power shows up, using Eltania’s collapse as an excuse to invade. Envil ends up getting himself killed during this… and wakes up ten years in the past. But not in the orphanage that he first grew up in. No, he’s now in the body of Lady Mylene, already a holy terror and not yet engaged to the Prince. Now it’s up to Mylene to try to change the future as much as she can… while still, of course, making sure that she’s able to beat the crap out of absolutely anyone whenever she feels like it.

To start with a complaint, this book takes forever to get to the reincarnation. Most villainess books these days steamroll through the backstory as fast as possible to get to what readers like, which is why this one leisurely showing us that Envil is powerful and that Eltania is corrupt feels like a slog. After that things pick up, though. Mylene retains her foul mouth from her previous incarnation, at least when she’s not around other nobility, and it’s amusing to hear. She kicks eight kinds of ass. There’s a suggestion that Mylene (who has the “powers of a god”, supposedly) is fated to be greedy, and we see her, even in this new timeline, fall prey to it a bit. Best of all, though, is the scorching relationship between Mylene and Colette, the princess of the Empire that invaded Eltania in the prior timeline. I absolutely loved these two fighting and also looking like they were arguing about who gets to top. So, as you can imagine, the ending of this first volume, which has Colette essentially change to the same personality as the masochistic, worshipful prince who adores Mylene, left a sour taste in my mouth. Let two dominant women try to one-up each other, dammit.

Despite these issues, and a lot of violence/gore, this is still a good series debut. I’ll pick up the next one. Oh yes, warning, they do go to a noble academy. Did you forget what genre you were reading?

Filed Under: miss savage fang, reviews
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