Repeated Vice: I Refuse to Be Important Enough to Die, Vol. 2

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By Kuroakawa Hitsugi and Kushiro Kuki. Released in Japan as “Repeat Vice: Akuyaku Kizoku wa Shinitakunai node Shitennou ni Naru no wo Yamemashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by piyo.

This series has one big selling point that makes it a lot better than most of the “reincarnated as some dude who dies” series I’ve been reading lately. Lofus starts this book angry, goes through the book angry, and ends the book angry. He is a perpetually frowning, bitching twelve-year-old, even when he’s rescuing slaves, helping to extend the life of dying wyverns, or helping one of the heroines escape from his family’s deadly crypt. Why does he have to do all this? Why can’t people just leave him alone to get on with escaping his pointless fate? An escape that seems like it might be harder than it sounds, as when the main bad guy of the series shows up to invite Lofus to join his Council of Evil, Lofus really has to struggle to say no. The narrative wants what it wants. Well, mostly. SOMEONE besides Lofus is able to twist the narrative to serve their own devices. I wonder who?

We pick up where we left off last time, as Lofus and his bodyguard Yusurika find themselves teleported to where the slaves are being sent. They find Norn, Faltiana’s friend, almost too quickly, though she’s been raped and tortured by her abusive owner. He also finds Warm, who is another “character” who was part of the Council of Evil (not its real name) and who is, at the moment, just some guy who loves his wyverns – though Lofus feels a need to fight him anyway, as in the previous world he was intensely jealous of Warm. Finally returning home, he’s immediately sent by his dad (another of those “I think he’s horrible but the reader sees he’s just awkward” dads) to investigate a break-in of the family crypt… and finds another “heroine” like Faltiana, who has triggered a trap and is now surrounded by monsters, as this crypt is basically a dungeon.

Setting aside the part that annoyed me first – I accept the author did not want this to be a series that realistically covered the aftermath of a rape and abuse victim, especially if she’s not going to show up much going forward, but “I was told to get over myself” is not really how I wanted her to recover either. Honestly, this series is a bit too quick to have rape as a threat to begin with, because it’s trying to show a tonally dark setting. On the bright side, the new love interest, Lilka, is an absolute hoot, being one of those “bright, talkative, has no sense of personal space or noble customs” girls. The funniest part of the book is where he realizes she must also have knowledge of the game, and tests her… but no, she has no idea what the hell he’s talking about. She *is* different from the game, but not, as far as we can tell, because she’s from Japan.

The book ends with a cliffhanger, but I’ve no doubt that Lofus is going to save the day, have ludicrous amounts of cool magic tricks, and be very, very grumpy. I’m here for it.

Re: ZERO -Starting Life in Another World – Ex, Vol. 6

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Ex”by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

I know a lot of this review might sound like I’m complaining about the dead dove I found in the bag labeled Dead Dove: Do Not Eat. But it’s been harder lately to forget just how incredibly, punishingly bleak Re: Zero can get when it’s firing on all cylinders. The middle third of this volume is just getting punched in the face by the author over and over again, and I’ll be honest, I did not enjoy it at all. Part of it is that I don’t really enjoy seeing characters suffer – that was the me of thirty years ago – but I think a lot of it is that this is still a side story that talks a lot about how awesome Theresia is and then proceeds to not really show us any of that. Most of this book Theresia is unable to fight for one reason or another, and even though the author lampshades it a bit it’s still annoying. I hate damseling.

After a few volumes that examine other side characters, we’re back to the backstory of Wilhelm, who is now happily married to Theresia. Unfortunately, there’s a problem, which is that Stride and Eight-Arms Kurgan are still at large, and are not likely to simply go back to the Empire empty-handed. As it turns out, Stride has an absolutely epic plan that revolves around the fact that, despite being a country that the dragon will supposedly protect in times of peril, the dragon never appeared during the ten years of their civil war. Was this because it didn’t involve other countries? Or is the dragon thing a lie? To find out, Stride decides to kidnap, murder, and turn into mind-controlled puppets a good part of the cast, and it’s up to Wilhelm, his best friend Grimm, and Roswaal J. Mathers (note the middle initial) to try to save the day.

I’ve talked before about how the way these come out in Japan and here is screwed up, because Yen started late and can’t release this book with Vol. 39 of the main series, as it did in Japan. So there’s some subtext here that will no doubt make sense when we do get that book in 2029 or so. On the other hand, sometimes it does match up with other volumes accidentally quite well. This book comes out here right after Short Stories 4, a book with a large amount of Carol and Grimm, who are old but still powerful folks in the main series and are young powerful folks in this side story. Carol really goes through the wringer, and I am grateful that the “you were mind controlled but you still killed all those people including my dad” plotline is absolutely ignored. This was bad enough without that. And we also say a fond farewell to the Roswaal Mathers of the past, who if nothing else I liked a lot more than the Roswaal Mathers of the present.

This had good fights, and lots of interesting lore. But, like a few other Re: Zero books I’ve read lately, I can sum it up thusly: A Slog.

To Sir, Without Love: I’m Divorcing You, Vol. 1, Part 2

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By Kori Hisakawa and Airumu. Released in Japan as “Haikei Mishiranu Danna-sama, Rikonshite Itadakimasu” by Media Works Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Carley Radford.

I had not realized when reading and writing the review of the first book that it’s literally half a book – the books were released in Japan as Part 1 and Part 2, and that’s what we’re getting here as well. As such, it’s not really a surprise that the book concentrates more on the political climate going on around our main couple, which is not only getting dangerous but also might implicate them personally. This is not nearly as lethal as The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman, but I was thinking of that series while reading this, and believe fans of one might like the other. Byletta is a young woman trying to run her own life and have as much freedom as possible, despite this being a world where noble wives are expected to look pretty and give birth. Arnald is someone who finds he’s fallen in love, and simply does not have the communications toolkit to deal with it. Basically, they need to talk but don’t.

Byletta, frankly, has a bit too much on her plate at the moment. She has to rush back to the flood control project because outbreaks of violence are breaking out and the nobles who own the hot springs hotels nearby claim the project is taking their water. The city where she lives is under constant threat of a military coup, with destruction, bombs, and many injuries, and the supposed person behind this coup is said to be her husband. And then there’s her own marriage, as she still struggles to understand Arnald, who usually seems cool and uncaring but occasionally shows a more comforting side. Worst of all, he’s still insisting on acting like her husband in bed at night, and it turns out that, after the horrible first time she had, he’s actually an amazing lover. Is she going to be able to get her divorce after all?

Arnald’s mindset is comparatively easy to understand, and once he realizes what he’s doing wrong, very easy to change. Byletta is a much harder nut to crack, frankly. She’s haunted by the fact that everyone sees her mother in her, she’s desperate to be her own woman, be that by learning to use a sword or start a revolutionary fashion industry, all because she does not want to be trapped by marriage. It’s astonishing how many times she refers to herself as Arnald’s whore or prostitute throughout this book – and it’s using the terms because she means them to be derogatory, she has to think of herself as that, because otherwise she would have to accept that she really is falling in love with Arnald, and in her eyes, that means giving up. She’s a fantastic character, and I appreciate that Arnald realizes the only way to keep the one he loves is to essentially give her everything she asks for. All the freedom she wants, just stay married to him. It’s sweet.

This volume ends definitively, as we see a flashforward to them living a happy life with their two children. Nevertheless, there are seven more books in Japan. We’ll see if we get more, but if we do, I’m happy to read it, even though I suspect it won’t just be post-marital fluff.