The Tale of a Little Alchemist Blessed by the Spirits, Vol. 4

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By yocco and Junsui. Released in Japan as “Outo no Hazure no Renkinjutsushi: Hazure Shokugyou datta node, Nonbiri Omise Keieishimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Andria McKnight. Adapted by Lex Reno.

It’s genuinely hard to review this series. I’ve said before that I prefer happy endings and don’t need to read books where lots of people die. But, I mean, I do like SOME conflict. This is a fun, enjoyable series, but in terms of things I can grab on to to review, I’d rather be reading a tournament arc. Daisy is here, and she’s making cool things. She’s setting up her Montessori school. She’s spending time with her adorable adopted sister, who is starting to show an interest in blowing things up (for good, not for evil, so you can relax). She’s going on beach vacations with her friends, which seem to be excuses for the author to put in the standard “I am jealous everyone has bigger breasts than me”, which at least this time is coming from an actual 11-year-old. Oh, and in her spare time, she’s the messiah saving the world from its inevitable end. Just girly things.

Most of Daisy’s activities in this book are meant for her to get her party ready to tackle That One Level again. You remember that tower that no one has ever climbed, with the unkillable boss? Well, they killed the boss, but still couldn’t get to the top of the tower, so it’s time to try again, which means lots of fire weapons, lots of ice cloaks, and plenty of cool magical doodads. Elsewhere, she’s busy making Schwartz and Weiss from Ascendance of a Bookworm, and also discovering the soul of her mysterious older sister has also now leveled up. (Yeah, I know. More on that later.) Oh yes, and in the middle of one of their difficult quests for materials Gondor calls for aid, as those elves that said they’d solve their own problems suddenly have a Hellmouth. Well, the spirits coming out aren’t really evil, so it’s more of a Heckmouth.

There is a hint of theoretical future conflict, as we get a scene with a bad guy very upset that their plan to poison the elves’ tree has been undone for some mysterious reason, and they now vow to use their final last resort but of evil. That said, I laughed my ass off when Daisy just ran up the side of the tree, poured potion all over it, then grabbed an evil worm and threw it to the ground. And then multiple Gods showed up to thank her. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a messiah. As for the older sister, I had to go way back to the start of this series. I remember thinking the voice wishing Daisy farewell was the previous “soul” in that body, going to the afterlife. It turned out to be a spirit basically making sure she had the skills to be a title character. And now she’s back, and has also leveled up, because everyone who hangs around Daisy gets ludicrously strong, except maybe for the kid who still struggles with math. But at least he has a childhood friend waiting back home.

I do enjoy this series quite a bit, and there’s only two more volumes to go so it won’t wear out its welcome. But man, it’s OP as hell.

The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World, Vol. 5

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By Heiseiowari and Noy. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Saikyou Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life wo Tanoshimimasu” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alex Castor.

There have been a lot of amnesia plots over the years, and one of the more popular has always been “what if a bad person gets amnesia and ends up being really good?”. Now, the person affected here is not exactly a villain per se, but the previous few books have certainly featured her as a sort of mentor from hell, and all the magical folks seem to have a twitchy reaction when her name is brought up. As such, the most interesting part of this book is not the reaction of everyone else to the amnesia, but the reaction of the amnesiac to everyone else. Because it also hits on another popular plot line for amnesia stories, which is the person not really wanting to get their memories back. For the moment, they have their wish, but I’m not sure that will fly in the long run. Especially when Mina tells us who they actually are.

After the events of the last book, it’s not much of a surprise when Arata goes down to the shore and finds a woman there on the beach. Unfortunately, she’s forgotten who she was, and takes on the name Nanashi briefly. But that’s OK,everyone ELSE knows who she is – Edinburgh Emil Edelheid, the most powerful magician in the world. The trouble is that while Reina and the others have many stories of what she was like as a teacher – terrifying – all Arata can see is this nice woman who enjoys playing with his daughter. After a while they gather the other Celestial Mages and the Hero’s Party, and everyone arrives at Arata and Reina’s place – leading her to realize that they need more houses. Meanwhile, remember the gorgeous ogre girl from the last book? Well, her brother now knows who she’s in love with, and he’s reacting like the way a teenage overprotective brother would. Is a big fight really the best way to resolve all this?

I mean, given this cast, yes, it pretty much is, but it also requires Sakuya to confess, which she does almost by accident. I do actually wonder if we’re ever going to leave the Isle again – the cast members that we were flashing over to the mainland to see are now all basically here. Sakuya’s won the heart of her man. Arata and Reina are still not having sex, but everyone treats them as if they are. Tailtiu has made it very clear Arata is not going to have only one wife. And the hero’s party are a polycule, they just don’t know it yet. They even buy a house – well, build a house. There are still a few things left to resolve on the island, notably the High Elves, who show Arata a horrible island-killing problem and then tell him “we’re dealing with it, go away”, but for the most part… why not just get married and live happily ever after?

Because there are five more books to go, that’s why. Still, this remains a solid “OP guy constantly insists he’s normal” series.

Her Royal Highness Seems to Be Angry, Vol. 4

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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.

After three volumes of sort of faffing around, even though we have had several cool sorcery battles, this volume pulls out all the stops. Black clouds, Drossel’s past, the mystery of Alec, Leticiel’s own past.. by the end of this book it’s clear we are setting up for a new stage of the series. A stage that may not involve school anymore, as by the end of this book Leticiel is not really a noble anymore. Still, she has options, which is more than I can say for the rest of her family. There’s also a lot of discussion of “yes, nobles have more privilege, but in return they have more responsibilities” that we see in a lot of books that want to say “yes, evil nobles are everywhere, but our heroes are the GOOD nobles”, thus allowing everyone to live in mansions but still be lovable. It wold be nice if that were the case in real life, but alas, this is why fiction exists.

The first third of the book is basically research, as Leticiel and Zeke try to look into the past to find answers. Leticiel does find a bit more about alchemy, and how it differs from magic, and also even more hints that the reason she can’t find anything is that it’s been very covered up. Unfortunately, at that point, word gets out of a rebellion back in her domain… which turns out to be because her older brother is being an evil piece of shit. Pausing only to verify that this rebellion has not killed off her loyal maid, who went home to attend to her ailing mother, Leticiel then ends up joining the rebel forces, much to the surprise of the rebels, who are not used to good nobles. Unfortunately, also joining the party are her older sister and her massive, suicidal guilt complex, and her younger twin sister, who has kind of snapped.

I was very amused at the resolution of the raging sibling hatred that Christa has had for Leticiel since the start of the book. After being allowed to stab her sister in the gut, once, as a treat, she seems to magically realize that it’s just a normal “I’m jealous of my twin because she’s better at everything” sort of hate, and she just accepts that. It’s certainly more easily wrapped up than every other plotline. Leticiel now has Drossel’s memories again, and we now have a basic idea of what happened in the past, but that doesn’t make things any easier, especially with the revelation of who Alec is (and the hint, especially to the reader, that Alec is not as dead as everyone seems to think). The royal family has its own agenda, of course. There’s mysterious monks, going around healing people but in a creepy sort of way. Oh yes, and Leticiel is rather startled to find she’s worshiped as a Saint… or rather, someone is using her past self to create a Saint. This was a terrific volume but doesn’t wrap up much of anything except her family’s noble title, which is toast.

The series is complete at nine books in Japan, which is ominous given the questionable fortune of the company putting it out in English. Still, if a 5th book comes onto the horizon, I’ll be reading it like a shot.