My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex: “You, More Than Anyone Else”

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By Kyosuke Kamishiro and TakayaKi. Released in Japan as “Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gierrlon Dunn.

So first of all, I’m going to be blithely ignoring the cliffhanger ending of this one, as well as its “oh no, it ends sadly after all” implications. First of all, no it doesn’t, and secondly, now that this series is down to once a year, we’re not gonna have to worry about it for a long, long time. Instead, let us revel in this book, which gives us a whole heaping helping of Isana. We even get a flashforward about four years, seeing her talking with a junior and seemingly having her life a lot more together than she does now. We also get a new girl added to the mix, who does us the courtesy of falling for Mizuto immediately, and so hard that he actually notices and rejects her. Of course, no fear, that takes the entire volume, because yikes, he’s still Mizuto. When Yume calls him Enemy of All Women she’s not kidding. This guy will be cripplingly nice at you until you have no recourse but to fall over dead.

It’s the Culture Festival, and Mizuto’s class needs to come up with something nifty. an escape room is a good idea… that everyone else is also doing. But hey, maybe if they have art by Isana! Yes, she’s outed at last for being a brilliant artist by hyperactive, scatterbrained Yoshino, and will thus be doing art for the day. She’s already stressed enough, as she has a job offer to do a light novel series, but is afraid of taking that big step. Meanwhile, Yume and her student council election rival are in charge of the entire festival, meaning Yume’s stressing out a bit as well. And then there’s the girl writing the play for her freshman class, who is a great writer who lacks passion, and ends up having Mizuto making some really good but really ill-timed advice. As for Mizuto… well, same ol’ same ol’.

This series has always been really heavy on the fanservice, but I was very impressed with this book, which not only stars Isana in terms of the plot but in terms of the artwork. Isana wears farmer’s overalls that emphasize her chest… and then back in her room, wears them without a bra or shirt. Towards the end of the book, we also see her in her underwear. The big fanservice, of course, cannot actually be drawn, alas, but at least she got her groove back. I also really liked her mother, who is well aware of Mizuto’s “kindness” in helping his friend being incredibly cruel in many ways as well. He deserved to be hit, to be honest. The idea they have for the escape room, with it essentially turning into a multiple endings sort of thing, is quite clever. Best of all is Isana coming to terms with the fact that people like her art, and while it may be embarrassing, it’s her, and she needs to embrace it.

And now we wait, and see if the author actually does pull the trigger on that cliffhanger. Till then, this is saucy romcom fun.

The Petty Villain Plays by the Rules: Rewriting This Otome Game with Honest Work!, Vol. 2

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By MIZUNA and Ruki. Released in Japan as “Yarikonda Otome Game no Akuyaku desu ga, Danzai wa Iya nano de Mattou ni Ikimasu” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by sachi salehi.

This continues to be in my Top 5 “I’m enjoying this far more than I thought I would, and possibly more than I should be” titles. Its biggest flaw is its pace. It’s not slow life – there’s a lot going on here, most of it involving princes and other high nobles – but it is definitely slow writing. This thing is fourteen volumes and counting in Japan, and by the 14th book he still doesn’t really look much older than he is in this book, which is to say six. This despite the fact that he meets his wife in this volume and officially gets engaged. While also, erm, causing a major international incident. Which, to be fair, he was gonna have to do anyway. Kinda hard to solve the other kingdom’s problems without going full ham. especially in this series.

After training in martial arts with his tutor and his father, and in magic with his other tutor (and accidentally revolutionizing all magic… again), Reid and his dad are off to the neighboring kingdom of Lenarute, home of the Dark Elves, where he’ll be meeting his fiancee… who is also six years old. Unfortunately, the Dark Elves are in a massive power struggle between the King and the traditional Evil Noble Who Wants Power And Also Things To Be The Way They Used To Be. Sadly, evil noble has poisoned his fiancee’s brother against Reid, turning him into a proud arrogant brat. So when Reid is forced to have a sword battle with him, he’s asked to humble the prince a bit. Not a problem. Unfortunately, the prince and the Evil Noble decide to make Reid mad by insulting his slowly dying mother. THIS is a problem. For them.

Most of this book runs on a six-year-old accidentally being really smooth, far too smooth than someone his age should be. That’s a pretty good gag, and it helps that we already know his future wife (she was the lost girl in the town in Book 1, hiding her elf ears.) But there are other really good gags, mostly character based. Farah (his fiancee) is adorable, and also shows her positive emotions by wiggling her ears, something she’s very bad at turning off. Her bodyguard, Asuna, is a battle junkie, and oh my God I wish Diana was not already in a relationship with her childhood friend, because Asuna and Diane would make an AMAZING lesbian power couple. There’s also a bittersweet side story from the POV of Reid’s mother, who wants to be an active, teasing mom who loves her kids, but is simply too bedridden, and she hates it. She also gets the funniest gag in the book, at the end of her chapter.

Basically, this is better than I expected – again. Despite it being nearly 400 pages, and the author STILL couldn’t finish the arc. I’ll read another one.

Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey, Vol. 1

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By Hachigatsumori and Nat. Released in Japan as “Yuusha no Tabi no Uragawa de” by Dre Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT.

It’s been interesting coming at all these fantasy light novels based on Japanese RPGs (which are in turn based on Japanese folklore) without really having played them. The idea of the hero going off to defeat the demon lord, and of course they’re accompanied by the warrior (who is usually “the hero, only not quite”), the cleric (healer girl), and the mage (varies the most, this one seems to be a sad sack of a man) is not one I have played, but I have read enough of these so that it’s as old hat as the author wants it to be. As such, and as you can no doubt tell by the title, this isn’t about the hero. They weren’t even in the original webnovel, and only get a few tiny scenes here. Instead, we follow another cleric and adventurer as they try to stop a prophecy from coming true… though both of them also have their own hidden agenda and hidden tragedies.

Rhuys is a young cleric who is trying to find a strong swordsman as she knows of a prophecy: the newly anointed hero will be killed off early in her journey, leading to devastation for the world. In a rundown tavern, she finds Ariagnée, who is very strong and very cool and wears a strange black gauntlet on her left hand. Everyone is already a bit on edge as the hero, who is supposed to be chosen every 100 years, has been chosen after only ten. Something weird’s going on. Rhuys asks Ariagnée to travel to where the hero is going to be ambushed and take care of the bad guys before the fact, which Ariagnée agrees to partly for hidden motives of her own, but also partly as Rhuys is cute. As they journey on, each one learns about the other’s secret past and horrible backstories, which both tie in with the reason that this hero journey has come so early this time around.

There is definitely yuri here, for those who seek it out, but this is not a romance per se; the focus is on the adventure. Both our heroines are pretty messed up, with Rhuys hiding her true powers and wracked with guilt over her childhood, essentially having become a very passive death seeker. Ariagnée has a past that is not as secret as perhaps it should be – I guessed a lot of it before the reveal – but that doesn’t make it less compelling in terms of the overall narrative. The two of them do make a very good team, and hopefully couple. I will admit that the big fight in this book, which takes up a large chunk of the back half, felt far longer than I would have written it. But this is a fantasy thriller, not a psychological drama or a yuri romance, so it makes sense there’s lots of sword battles and hidden moves and the like.

As with most Dre books, this reads like a one-shot but there’s more. Will we actually meet the hero? Who knows, but the hero certainly isn’t why we’re reading this. We’re reading for the lead couple.