My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 13

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By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta…” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Joshua Douglass-Molloy.

Let’s face it, Fortune Lover I was a bad game. Lots of fans have spent ages pointing out what a disaster it would be for the country if Maria’s routes played out the way we’re told they did, but more importantly, it’s shallow and badly written. Katarina absolutely did the best thing possible by “trying to prevent her doom” and accidentally saving everyone. Unfortunately for her, they brought in better writers for the second game. Not in terms of the routes themselves, those are still lame. But in terms of the politics behind it, and how it’s now affecting multiple kingdoms. And unfortunately for Katarina, that one’s much harder to derail. The kidnappings, murder attempts, and potential coups we’re seeing in Sorcier are not “a problem for the player to solve”, and as such even when Katarina does her best, success remains elusive. Especially since she still has that pesky dark magic, and it turns out she now knows how to make it strong, and it’s not a good thing.

Cezar, the prince of Ethenell, is being sent to Sorcier as part vacation and part to see how a country that’s not recovering from a civil war is doing things. Everyone tells Katarina that she should absolutely not get involved with him, because something else he’s doing is looking for a wife. Of course, Katarina absolutely gets involved with him. She accidentally breaks up his meeting with various other desperate noblewomen, she takes him on a tour of bookstores, cafes, and farms (of course the farms are the most interesting), and she sees him touring the ministry of magic while she’s busy trying to practice with her dark magic (she’s only good at absorption) and translating the dark magic book (she gets bored easily). Unfortunately, Cezar is also investigating the conspiracy that everyone else is, and this investigation results in Maria’s family being attacked…

Those who read my Bakarina reviews know that I don’t really care about the cishet pairings, even as I acknowledge the author does. Mary and Sophia barely appear. Fortunately, our one exception is present throughout. Yes, Maria ends up getting a bit damselled in the climax, when Sarah and a bunch of goons overpower her, but the best moment might be when she sees Cezar and Katarina at the orphanage, where Katarina has been showing off what a great place it is for kids, and Cezar starts putting the moves on her (something she has no idea about). I love seeing Maria being jealous, and her cold attitude towards Cezar, though it doesn’t last long (they bond over Katarina being awesome) is great to see. What’s more, Katarina has literally saved the life of her and her mother this time. Maria is going to be more in love than ever.

As for HOW Katarina saved Maria, well, that’s worrying. I get the feeling “have better control over your emotions” is easier said than done, but I don’t think this series will get TOO dark. This continues to meander towards its ending. Mary and Sophia fans (and Alan and Nicol fans, honestly) can drop it, but Jeord, Sora, Cezar, and Maria fans will be happy. (Keith? Who’s Keith?)

Her Royal Highness Seems to be Angry, Vol. 1

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By Kou Yatsuhashi and Mito Nagashiro. Released in Japan as “Ojou Denka wa Ookari no You desu” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie Kimura.

(This was based on a review copy provided by the publisher.)

We’ve seen quite a few of these “young noble lady suddenly has memories of her past life” series before, but if you’re looking for something unique to separate this one from the others, there are one or two things. First of all, she’s not reincarnated from Japan, but from centuries in the past, when the world was at war. (Not to worry, isekai fans, there are indirect hints that her husband from the past was in a good old fashioned normal isekai plot, albeit a tragic one.) More importantly, rather than struggle with the embarrassment of what she was like before, or have to somehow amalgamate her old self with this new one, Leticiel literally overwrites her present body. The book has her think of herself as Leticiel, her old name, throughout, and she wakes with no memory of any time before that point. It’s as if she simply murdered her past self and took them over. Which, well, her fiance also suspects might be the case…

We open with a prologue, showing Leticiel’s country on the verge of being wiped out. Her family and husband are dead, and she elects to mind-control a soldier into killing her rather than be taken alive. A ,long, long time later, she suddenly finds herself in the body of Drossell, a duke’s daughter who is engaged to the first prince. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember ANYTHING. So, as she tries to figure out where she is and what the state of the world is, she fends off her family by simply being incredibly standoffish and curt. No one really bats an eye at this, which should tell her something, but she doesn’t really care enough to find out. Worst of all, when she goes to her magic academy (you knew it was coming), she finds this kingdom is all about magic! What? Why, when it’s so much less powerful than sorcery?

The weakest part of the book may be its title, as Leticiel spends most of the book being rather nonchalant, only getting seriously pissed off once. I assume it refers to her being upset that sorcery has fallen so far as to be unrecognized. There are more things that I enjoyed, though. The main “love interest” seems to be, not a grumpy noble as is usually the case with these series, but a nerd who spends most of his days working with machines. And then there’s the late Drossell herself (It’s possible the memories will return someday, but for now I have to assume that the girl who used to be in that body is dead.) The book sets us up to see her as an annoying spoiled brat, the typical “villainess” that you see in this genre… and then the backstory explains exactly why she’s acting that way, and it’s a lot closer to I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! than I’d like. Moreover, most of what’s happened to both Drossell *and* Leticiel seems to be foretold, and I’m not entirely sure I trust the king and his ageless advisor to act in their best interests. The end of this book makes me want to read the next one.

So yes, at the risk of being like the “And you’ll hear it again!” Brooklyn Nine Nine meme, I enjoyed another villainess-style book.

I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!, Vol. 5

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By Reina Soratani and Haru Harukawa. Released in Japan as “Kondo wa Zettai ni Jama Shimasen!” by Gentosha Comics. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Sarah Moon. Adapted by Hayame.

This final volume suckerpunched me a bit. When I was reading the first, oh, 60 pages or so, I wondered if this was actually going to be, against all odds, a “victory lap” final volume, one where all has been taken care of and our happy couple are finally free to be with each other forever. And, y’know, that does happen. Make no mistake about it, Yulan and Violette don’t technically have much bad happen to them here compared to the previous four books in the series. And the book ends with them as a couple. And they are happy with each other, and in love with each other. They even have a child. That said, Their upbringing and the abuse we’ve seen since the start of the series still influences everything they do and think, and as the book goes on you realize that its characters are still, to a large extent, in a dark place that they may never really get out of. But honestly, that’s very realistic, and at this point in the series I guess a happy, fluffy ending would have felt hideously out of place.

The book picks up immediately after the end of the last one. Violette and Marin have escaped from her house and are living in a hotel, and shortly after Yulan moves them to the estate in the country his family owns that he now controls, to his surprise. (Marin is there because Yulan knows that Violette can’t function without her, and Yulan is allowed to be with Violette as Marin knows she would fall to bits without him. The two of them have a somewhat malevolent understanding.) Meanwhile, Rosette has married Claudia, and there’s going to be an heir. Unfortunately, Yulan’s golden eyes are still an issue, and everyone’s doing their best to plot a coup with him as the centerpiece. So for now he waits, and does the overwork they’re giving him, and patiently twiddles his thumbs till the kingdom gets to the point where he’s able to ignore that and do what he’s wanted to do all along – care about his wife and only his wife, and no one else. OK, maybe their child. Possibly.

There are a few side stories at the end of the book, as we get the POV of Violette’s mother, father, stepmother, and Maryjune. Maryjune, at least, has come to terms with her upbringing and her part in it, and has resigned herself to marrying a man twice her age in a political marriage, which is framed as good. These stories should be horrifying, and they are, but to me they pale in comparison to Violette and Yulan every time we see the inside of their heads. Unsurprisingly, Violette is terrified that she’ll end up turning into her mother if she ever gives birth. Yulan wonders if he’d even be able to care about the child. The final scene with the child seems to relieve these fears, somewhat, but it sums up the series perfectly that the end of their story is not “look at our cute child playing with laundry soap bubbles” but “we both despise our mothers for what they did, and it fills us with rage, and that’s perfectly OK.” Everyone in this is still damaged to the end, they’re just damaged with each other. Sometimes that’s all you can ask.

The author suggests that readers try the manga as a “different experience”. Certainly when I tried to read it it seemed to be far more generic and less traumatizing. Stick with the light novel, which will kick you in the stomach and push your face into mud, but it’s still spellbinding and you can’t look away.