I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 15

November 22, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Tristan Hill.

This one was scheduled for the summer but got delayed several months, possibly duie to the change in translators we see with this book. Honestly, I’m not too sure it’s a bad thing. As a book series that is supposed to have plot and characterization and an endpoint in sight, this is a failure. This series would run away screaming from actual drama. But I think it’s best if I try to think of it as music. Let’s say you buy a 90s house compilation on CD. You want variations on a basic concept, that concept being 90s house. It should not stray far at all from that core concept, because that is why you bought the CD. Likewise, if people want more drama in their slow life, go read Kuma Bear, which is perhaps one step up from this. This is only the fluff, only the slice-of-life. As such, it’s perfectly fine. It gives you 6 main tracks on the CD, as well as 2 bonus CD remixes that you can skip.

The six main stories: 1) Beelzebub takes the cast to meet a group of living monoliths, as well as their Elder monolith, who houses… well, a big surprise; 2) After hearing that there’s an area of the desert where there are no slimes, curiosity has Azusa and company try to see why, and they find out that they really hate the heat; 3) After Halkara and Laika both discover that this year is unlucky for them, Azusa meets up with a new god, who explains how fate works in this world; 4) Falfa, Shalsha, and Sandra try to discover when Azusa’s birthday is, and then proceed to go on a journey to get her the perfect birthday present (Azusa secretly follows them); 5) The world’s worst thief returns, having been hired to go to a museum that has one of her targets and get rid of the mimics living there; 6) everyone goes to meet a famous hermit, and finds that trying to live up to expectations can be really embarrassing.

There’s also the 2 CD drama scripts. In the first, Falfa and Shalsha try to figure out who hit Halkara over the head with a massive metal jar (knowing Halkara’s proclivities might help get them the answer), allowing them to act like they’re in Case Closed, and in the other, Laika worries that she’s training the same way each time, and meets with each of the rest of the cast to try to figure out how to expand her boundaries. These both suffer greatly from being unable to hear them – they’re written for audio, and it shows. As for the rest of the book, well, it has what you’d expect. Lots of found family, lots of Azusa tsukkomi responses, lots of Laika having a massive crush on Azusa without any danger of it coming to anything. This is more than slow life, it’s almost no life. It does add a mimic to the cast… but we’ll need to wait till the 16th book to find out anything about her.

But it’s still relaxing, and still likeable, and yeah, I’ll likely grump about 16 as well.

Filed Under: i've been killing slimes for 300 years, reviews

Dagashi-ya Yahagi: Setting Up a Sweets Shop in Another World, Vol. 2

November 20, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Bunzaburou Nagano and Neruzo Nemaki. Released in Japan as “Dagashiya Yahagi: Isekai ni Shutten Shimasu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mizuki Sakamoto.

I always feel a little awkward when I’m reviewing these slow life titles, because I inevitably feel like I’m picking on them. Most of this volume consists of the slow life stuff itself, and it’s fine. I enjoyed it. There’s lots of selling new snacks with odd status buffs, or accidentally giving the gnomes their legendary armor. Meryl is funny, we actually learn a bit about Mira’s family. My favorite part was when the three of them set out to track some monsters that have big treasure chests in their lair, take out the monsters, and actually get the treasure, which does indeed have so much money that even Meryl puts most of it into savings in the bank. The trouble is there’s very little to actually review about slow life. So I have to look for other things to talk about. And frankly, those things are less enjoyable. Ah well. At least we got to see Meryl’s hilariously bad luck a few more times.

After the events of the last book, Chichi is in prison, and Yahagi and Michelle are living a happy if still chaste cohabitational life. Yahagi has realized that, for some reason (honestly, it sort of beggars belief), no one has tried to map the dungeon, so he sets out to try to do so, selling them to adventurers as he completes floors. Also, his stand is now definitely a shop, complete with a living space at the back, much to Michelle’s delight. He’s also discovered that he now has actual magic! And not just his Dagashi-ya magic either. Unfortunately, Chichi is not going to simply sit back and accept being imprisoned. She’s got a plan to escape and get her revenge on her sister and Yahagi…

So, in reverse order from least annoying to most annoying. 1) like a lot of light novel folks, our hero and heroine seem to think that the only sex they can have is the missionary kind that runs the risk of pregnancy, so all they do is kiss and cuddle. I urge them to remember there are other ways to express physical love. 2) Yahagi learns a spell that allows him clairvoyance, to the point where he can even search backwards in time, but it gives him mild to mid-range heart attacks. ARE YOU KIDDING? I hope this is dealt with in later books, but dude, stop giving yourself heart attacks and then NOT TELLING ANYONE. 3) the main redemption arc in this book was carried out through the use of mind-control snacks that charm you into falling in love with someone if used too often (they literally say this), and also having the evil buffed out of you by an angel from heaven so that you’re no longer a main antagonist. I can’t even begin to say how annoyed I was with that whoooole subplot.

But, other than that, it was fine. I’ll read the next one. I would sum it up as “mid (affectionate), with a slight side of mid (derogatory)”.

Filed Under: dagashi-ya yahagi, reviews

From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress!, Vol. 2

November 19, 2024 by Leave a Comment

By Masamune Okazaki and Hayase Jyun. Released in Japan as “Mob Dōzen no Akuyaku Reijō wa Dansō Shite Kōryaku Taishō no Za wo Nerau” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Caroline W.

As folks may know, I tend to pay attention to publishers a bit more than is normal. I have my favorites, and I have those where I always say “uh oh” (looking at you, GC Novels). Generally speaking I tend to really enjoy TO Books releases. They do Ascendance of a Bookworm, and Tearmoon Empire. They’re solid. And, like most LN publishers these days, they take the webnovel that’s already published online, have the author revise and add a few scenes to it, and publish it. What makes TO Books different from, say, Hobby Japan is that the cutoff point for where to end a book is much longer for them. To put it bluntly, these books are too dang long. Even the shortest of them usually top out at 260-270 pages, and most can get in the 350 range. And when you’re reading a book that’s doing obvious things, like this one, it can get exhausting.

Everything that Elizabeth has been changing herself for has finally arrived at school: the heroine is here. Lilia has transferred in, and she has Saint powers. Now all Elizabeth has to do is cut off everyone else’s romance routes and seduce her. Well, friendship her. Elizabeth doesn’t want an actual romance route or anything, she just wants to block the “otome game” from running down its rails. However, when Lilia arrives, Elizabeth is in for a shock: she’s clearly ALSO reincarnated from Japan, and is trying herself to hit those routes… and rather puzzled that she has run into this hunk rather than the sickly Prince Edward. Now Elizabeth has to try to step up her seduction while also dealing with a Lilia who has no idea what she should be doing now. Perhaps… it’s time to give up the act?

The best part of this book is the relationship between Elizabeth and Lilia… eventually. That’s what I meant about these books being too long. Though in this case it actually works in the book’s favor, as all the character development is towards the end of the volume. Lilia is written well – she’s not an “evil” heroine, and she’s not a BL fangirl who will love all the guys swooning over the “handsome” Sir Burton – she’s a girl who found herself in this role and is trying to survive while being rather annoyed and also depressed over how everyone forgives her everything because she’s cute. Yes, she DOES find out Elizabeth is really a girl, and it does lead to a brief fight. But just as Elizabeth realizes she’s been too wedded to trying to stop the game she’s forgotten to treat everyone as people, Lilia realizes that just because she’s the heroine doesn’t mean she has to romance one of the targets. The book ends with Elizabeth admitting she’s also from Japan, and Lilia doubling down and saying she has fallen in love with her and will seduce her. Now, this isn’t a yuri book, quite – Lilia seems very happy the game is Rated “T” so she doesn’t have to do any of the ICKY lesbian stuff – but Lilia seems quite happy with her bisexual awakening.

Elizabeth’s ethics are questionable – she’s no Katarina in that respect – and she’s even MORE oblivious than Katarina at times, who I think at least might recognize the voice of her own fiancee – but I still like this enough to recommend it. Also, she fights a massive bear.

Filed Under: from two-bit baddie to total heartthrob, reviews
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