The Misdeeds of an Extremely Arrogant Villain Aristocrat, Vol. 3

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By Yukiha Kuroyuki and Uodenim. Released in Japan as “Kiwamete Gouman Taru Akuyaku Kizoku no Shogyou” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Ben Trethewey. Adapted by Kylee Yasin.

So the bad news is that this is still the last volume published for the moment. The good news is that, after a two-year break, the author has recently started writing more of the webnovel, so that may eventually change. Certainly absolutely nothing is resolved by the end of this book, so more of it would be welcome. As for the book itself, it continues to do what it wants to. If you like male power fantasies and are not too picky, it fills that need. Luke is a grumpy asshole who can’t help but get involved in his friend’s problems and have every girl in the series (except one, mercifully, this hasn’t turned into a cheating series yet) fall for him. What’s worse, his father has big plans for him… plans, I suspect, that Luke will very much not approve of. And there’s fanservice galore, of course. It also manages to, somehow, avoid being completely misogynist despite every love interest turning into a submissive masochist when they see Luke.

Note I said “completely” – the art still exists, and is pretty blatantly “Hope you like big tits”. In any case, after taming the ice dragon, Luke has to figure out what to do with… her? Yes, her, and while she stays in two forms in this book – big powerful scary dragon and cute fun-sized dragon – I suspect we’ll get a hot dragon woman soon enough. In a normal world, he’d be invited to the palace to be honored for this amazing feat. This is not a normal world, and his dad is pretty much openly trying to bring down the royal family by being much better at running a country than they are. As such, there’s a party being held where the second prince might drop by if he feels like it. (He does, though he’s not happy with what he finds.) But the author says this is Abel’s book, and… I guess? Abel definitely gets stronger, and suffers a lot, but it’s hard to pass someone like Luke.

Because I suspect readers of this series will want to know, yes, there’s an (offscreen) sex scene here, and Mia is now Luke’s lover as well as Alice. More to the point, it’s not just Abel – all of Luke’s lovers and potential lovers are desperate to remain useful to him, knowing he’s the sort to abandon anyone who isn’t, and so they push themselves desperately to become ludicrously powerful. Unfortunately, comparing themselves to Luke just leads to depression, as Mia finds out – she even gets a pep talk from Luke’s dad, who has to point out that she already can use multiple magic elements. Their desperation and co-dependency would be a bit sad and tragic if this series were not comedic and upbeat about it. The only despair in the book comes from Abel when he’s trying to rescue Lily, and even then most of this is just Abel hating himself, rather than actual danger. Luke, the most powerful man in the country, is usually depressed, and everyone around him seems to be getting that trait too.

We end in another country, with elf terrorists, and multiple invasions. Hopefully I remember all this by the time the fourth book comes out!

Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden, Vol. 9

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By Umikaze Minamino and Katana Canata. Released in Japan as “Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by okaykei.

I have to give the author credit. When I began this new volume, which starts after the epic tournament arc, I wondered if we really were going back to Nia films herself racing dogs again. I felt the story was somewhat played out, frankly. And much to my surprise, the main character agrees with me. The best scene in the book may be right at the start of the book, where Nia blithely asks Lynokis “what am I even doing with my life?”, and realizes that being the strongest means throwing away everyone near and dear to you… and she’s already done that in her previous life, and while she still can’t remember much it made her feel empty. She needs something new. Fortunately, the author agrees with us, as we ditch 9/10ths of the cast and go back to just Nia and Lynokis creating chaos wherever they go. So much chaos, in fact, that Nia forgets that’s not actually her goal.

The tournament was a resounding success. For Nia, for the winners (at least after they wriggle out of being a wanted criminal). and for the kingdom. Unfortunately, having not seen anyone in the tournament who could come close to beating her, Nia is a bit depressed. Moreover, when you have a huge event that gets everyone to buy Magivision, you need to follow up with more brilliant ideas or it will stagnate. And so the King orders the kids to come up with a brilliant idea… and reminds them that they’re kids, so as long as it’s not literally illegal, they can get away with just about anything. Nia is here to test that “just about”, and she finds that there are indeed limits. As while they do get a huge event that drives sales even higher, um, she’s now been thrown out of the country.

I will admit, this may be the single funniest book in the series. The entirely of the chapter “The King Falls Into a Pit Trap” had me giggling, and I appreciated that it started with the aftermath – the author wanted to create an absence of tension so we weren’t distracted from the hilarity of the king falling into a pit trap. Even the queen agrees. As for Nia’s exile, sure, I may miss the rest of the cast a bit, but not much, and my main disappointment is that Lynokis is still around, so we still have lolicon jokes. That said, I regret I must give a content warning that countless other light novels have: if you dislike starving orphans being snapped up by the heroine and given food and housing in exchange for working, well, here it is again. The orphans are pretty cute, though.

All this plus a new royal to torture. Nia is here to kick ass and spread the word of magivision, and she tends to forget about the latter, so kicking ass is what you get.

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.