Goodbye, Horrible Fiancé, Hello, Fun Magic School Life!, Vol. 2

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By Mashimesa Emoto and Nitou Akane. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha wo Sutetara, Tanoshii Mahou Gakkou no Seikatsu ga Matteimashita” by GC Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

Usually, when you’re writing a romance, there are various tricks you can use to make sure that it doesn’t resolve itself too soon. The usual method is to have the protagonist be dense as a brick, and there’s a bit of that here, as Misha does not seem to realize just how utterly infatuated with her Vil has become. Another way, best suited for longer-running series, is to plant seeds of doubt in the protagonist’s mind, doubt that this is really love. Could they be lying? Could this be betrayal? Are they just being used? The author tries to do this with Misha and Vil as well, but it comes off a bit less well, mostly as she simply cannot fall for the obvious bait. She can’t picture Vil as anything but a swell guy. Which is good news for those who like sweet romance, but does mean that any conflict is gonna be delayed till Book 3. Which isn’t out in Japan yet.

Misha continues to do her best at school, even though her weak snow magic makes her struggle a lot of the time. She’s a little wary around Vil now that she knows his real identity. Unfortunately for her, he’s not about to give up on the one person who treats him like a normal human being. As such, she’s made Vil’s personal assistant, which naturally means she has to treat him the same and be around him all the time. She also volunteers to be staff at the next school dance, mostly as she doesn’t want to buy a new gown. Unfortunately, at the dance, a large number of students start collapsing with sickness, and they have to figure out what’s happened. As for her weak snow magic, well, you’ve read series like this before. It turns out it may, in fact, be strong, powerful magic, it’s just she’s been learning how to magic the wrong way this entire time. In other words, her school life is filled with protagonist-like events, as expected.

This was, once again, pleasant without really knocking me out. I am amused by Misha’s familiar Gem, who not only can seemingly do anything, and not only is hiding their true power from Misha, but is also a filthy little shipper, and manages to get Misha and Vil together despite her best non-efforts. I also liked the drama of the food poisoning at the dance, though I rolled my eyes a bit at the fact that everyone ended up getting a reward. If this is supposed to be a school set up around noble rules, there’s no way those first-years who came up with the food that made everyone ill would not be getting in at least a little trouble. As for the ongoing plot, it’s clear that someone really wants Vil dead, and since poison didn’t work, we’ll turn to vicious rumor. I’m not sure if the prince is in on it, but it wouldn’t surprise me. As for the romance, I did like the cute beta couple, thought once again, I can’t see this being an option if this is written in class war-ese rather than romance novel-ese.

So good, but not great, stuff. Now we wait for a third book.

Observation Records of My Wife: The Misadventures of a Self-Proclaimed Villainess, Vol. 4

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By Shiki and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Jishō Akuyaku Reijō na Tsuma no Kansatsu Kiroku” by Regina Books. Released in North America by Hanashi Media. Translated by Ethan Holms.

I will admit, this is the first volume in the series that I wasn’t that wild about. It’s still great whenever Cecil is being Cecil or Bertia is being Bertia, but I get the sense the author thought of this as a two-book arc, and was determined to keep it that way despite the fact that the second book doesn’t have nearly the interest that the first one does. The first book in the arc had a “you’ll never marry my daughter!” dad and a shut-in mom, a deadly and attractive combination. This second book has a family of mostly airheads, and also has a girl who irrationally hates Kuro. Yes, the irrational hatred is the actual plot, and it does turn out to have a reason, but it makes her annoying and easy to dislike. I admit that I was counting pages towards the end there. Fortunately, the book is still narrated by Cecil, which automatically raises it up.

Last time we met Kuro’s family, this time we meet Zeno’s. His mother is a ditz… as are his four sisters, who don’t believe he actually has a girl who likes him, so kidnap him immediately and try to get him to marry the girl they approve of – the niece of the King of Light, Light Sparrow. She’s been sickly, especially lately. She also seems to really like Zeno when she meets him… but she takes an immediate, visceral dislike of Kuro, saying that she can sense she’s evil. This goes badly. Bertia tries to handle this by showing off how cute Kuro really is, which does not work at all. Cecil tries to figure out what is making Light Sparrow sick and why she relapsed, and this goes better. Finally, they return home to a big surprise.

There were a few things I did really enjoy. The revelation of what’s wrong with Light Sparrow ties back into much earlier in the series, and while it’s a bit of a handwave solution, I appreciated how it was handled on the human end, with Cecil, despite wanting to simply ignore it, giving in to Bertia’s kindness. Speaking of things typing back to plotlines I had actually completely forgotten about, one of the minor issues in and earlier book (Bertia’s maid has a “weak presence”, which causes people to ignore her) is also given a solution stemming from the spirit world, and I did appreciate the maid’s resolute “nope” to the solution being offered. Good for her. And then there’s the ending, which is pretty telegraphed, and not entirely unexpected. I did appreciate Cecil, on hearing the news, realizing he now has TWO people to love unconditionally. Cecil is, at best, lacking empathy, so it’s nice to see he’s not going the route of, say, the lead couple in I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!.

If you want to skip this book and start with the next one: Bertia wants to do Halloween, and Cecil will be making it more of a harvest festival with costumes. Also, she’s pregnant. This was OK.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 10

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By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

Each volume further a writer gets into a series, the more difficult it gets to write an ending that wraps everything up in a nice, neat bow and resolves all the hanging plot and character points. And since that’s the case, it’s always glorious to see a series that does it. This final volume of Good on Wolves (the series’ unofficial nickname among its fans here) is everything I wanted to see. The series returns to its roots, acknowledges how far it’s come, and settles back down after spending the previous volumes roaming all over the map. There’s also a proposal here, though this series is always going to be fairly mild about romance. The big emotional high for this story wasn’t Allen saying to Sara that they should get married and build a house, but rather the mountain wolves asking everyone to trust them and fighting together with the cast to fend off cockatrices. Good doggos to the end, even as scary wolves.

Sara and her friends are in the capital, living their best life. But they hear that things are a little rough in Rosa right now. They were building a paved road from the city to the Dark Mountain, but work stopped halfway. What’s more, the mayor apparently looks haggard. Who’s the mayor? Why Ted, of course! Despite this, Sara wants to go back to Rosa. She wants to visit the cabin where she started in this world, and she’s made her peace with Ted and his jerk antics. So the whole crew go up there, only to find… things are better than expected? Ted is exhausting himself, but that’s more his personality than anything else. He even has a fiancee! The road project is stalled mostly as they’re out of magic stones. Fortunately, when Sara’s around, monsters are sure to follow, and now there’s a huge number of Cockatrices making life difficult for everyone.

Much of this book, like the previous one, is showing off how Sara has matured and become an adult, much to the surprise of some (she’ll always be short and look pretty young). Her teaching is first rate, and she even helps Ted with his romantic relationship (which is also relatively free of drama). The only dramatic moment is when there’s a crisis with several hunters needing supreme potions, a “either you get all better or it kills you” sort of potion. Sara’s been lucky to this point, but one of the hunters doesn’t survive. That said, Sara briefly castigates herself but recovers quickly. She’s basically a doctor through most of this, when she’s not using her barriers to do virtually anything. If there’s one minor nit I have, it’s that Allen feels a bit left out until the end of the book – I’d like to have seen more with just the two of them.

This is another series that I’ve always loved, going from a small insular mountain (that we don’t even realize is a dangerous dungeon till much later in the series) then expanding outwards from a refugee camp to a city to a bigger city and finally to the capital… then back to the mountain in the end. Bye, Sara. Enjoy your career, your married life, and your many, many pet wolves.