Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!, Vol. 6

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By Atekichi and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (ko)!” by TO Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

A lot of these “we’re in the world of a game” series tend to fall into two categories. Either the game just goes off the rails immediately but the main character doesn’t realize it and is determined to fight against a fate that no longer exists (e.g. Observation Records of My Fiancee), or the game has a malevolent mind of its own and is determined to make sure those pesky villainesses die and heroines save the day. This title is firmly in the second category, and while the bulk of most of the book is fairly light and maid-related, it does not let you forget it. The climax of this book does feature the “heroine”, Melody, but because she’s already derailed this game as far as possible, even she cannot save the day in the end. And it’s not going to be the tsundere duke’s daughter either, who comes a lot closer but falls short. No, in the end it’s past tragedies that will have to win out.

Despite the fact that you’d never imagine it with a culture like the one we have, it’s school festival time, and thanks to the dumbass Prince Christopher suggesting something anonymously assuming no one would go along with it, their class is doing a maid cafe. Since Cecilia is currently convalescing back home, Melody will of course not be participating (yet… the festival will be in the next book, and I have my suspicions), but she can advise folks on what works and doesn’t work when it comes to a practical maid uniform. Celedia would like to be getting closer to the capture targets, but alas all she’s doing is secretarial work related to the festival, and she thrown a hissy fit that goes wrong thanks to the evil lurking inside her. Unfortunately, said hissy fit is stopped by Christopher, and even though he and Anna-Marie have done their best to avoid having the plot impact them, it’s time for him to turn evil.

Christopher and Anna-Marie have been around since the start, usually complaining about the fact that they’re trying to stop the plot of the game but that it’s been stopped before it gets to them, but they’ve been relatively minor characters. Here they get more to do, though I’m sure they wish they didn’t. I feel bad for Christopher, who didn’t do anything wrong, really, but ended up almost destroying the world, because thanks to Celedia’s extra added evil Melody is NOT strong enough to head him like the game says. The final scenes are really dark and horrific, both because Christopher is slowly being mind-controlled and also because we get a flashback showing Maika’s reaction to her brother and his “childhood friend’s” death, and how deeply that affected her. It’s pretty heartbreaking, and Christopher and Anna-Marie are appropriately heartbroken. It also allows the Maika that’s HERE to accidentally save the day, though she’s unaware of it. I really enjoy the way this series interweaves everyone’s past lives into the mix.

As I noted earlier, we get all the buildup to the festival but not the festival itself. And by the time the next book comes out, the anime will have aired. We’ll see how that goes. Sometimes it helps, sometimes you’re Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter. But the books are good.

The Bladesmith’s Enchanted Weapons, Vol. 4

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By Kazuma Ogiwara and CARIMARICA. Released in Japan as “Isekai Toushou no Maken Seisaku Gurashi” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ryan Burris.

This remains a series written almost entirely for teenage boys, but it’s worth noting that this isn’t just one aspect of things teenage boys like. Obviously there’s the stuff about the swords, because teen boys love swords, and fantasy authors love treating the swords like they’re women, which this book absolutely does. It’s also written for teen boys in terms of the sexuality – Lutz and Claudia remain very sexually active, and a princess of another country’s city/tribe is mostly described by her large breasts. But there’s something else teenage boys like, and that’s grimdark, and this series has that as well. It never quite spills over into actual tragedy, but there’s a lot of bleak, depressing stuff in this series, ranging from the start with Claudia being saved from a fate worse than death (more on that later), to a clan leader who has let the love of a sword turn him evil, to a vengeful knight seeking to atone for past sins by killing his fellow sinners. It’s not fluffy.

This story essentially consists of two parts. In the first, Lutz, Claudia, and Ricardo head to the federation to see what’s going on there after the death of their king. Turns out things aren’t great. They meet up with Gwynn, the guy who asked Lutz to create a katana he could give painless death with, and together they head to a wretchedly poor city where the chief seems to really, really hate them. He has a daughter who’s far more sensible, but he also has a bewitching katana that has killed three of her brothers when they challenged dear old dad. Maybe an unbewitching katana from Lutz can help. When they return home, they find that there’s a masked avenger going around killing the lazy knights, and while Lutz and especially Claudia have no love lost for those guys, Lutz decides to investigate just in case this turns out to be the fault of one of his katanas, like almost everything else in this series.

There is some humor in this, of course. The darkness of the village chief and his bewitching sword is offset by the adorableness of the first love between Gwynn and Melty. There’s another subplot about Ricardo asking for a second katana to be used with Tsubaki as a dual wield, and it’s up to Lutz to show Ricardo that dual wielding is something mostly done by fictional heroes for good reason. But we see slavery here, and a village whose people are starving to death just because its chief wants a second priceless katana to go with his first. There’s also the entire plot with Donaldo, who worships Lutz for all the wrong reasons. Lutz has to secretly meet with Donaldo to resolve this, because much as Claudia likes to pretend that she’s over the terror of what the knights did to her in the first book, she’s really not, and he knows that he needs to handle this away from her. The darkness of this world leaks in whether you want it to or not, and it’s impossible to get rid of.

It will be interesting to see where this series goes next – especially given we’re now seeing Enchanted Weapons by people other than Lutz. I’m still really loving it.

Observation Records of My Wife: The Misadventures of a Self-Proclaimed Villainess, Vol. 3

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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.

Since I last reviewed this series, the anime has debuted, and a few things are becoming clear. First of all, like many light novel adaptations, the anime is speed running things a bit, so I suspect we’ll get into the “wife” part of the series before the end of the season. Secondly, I’d forgotten how some of the characters looked at the start of the series compared with now. In the first volume, Zeno was a beleaguered but relatively calm butler who normally served to snark at Cecil when Cecil was being particularly evil. In this sixth book, Zeno is an absolute wreck of a spirit, constantly whining and yelling at everyone around him. Part of this is due to the dreaded “oh, his partner looks really young, ha ha he’s a lolicon” joke we get in light novels, which is never funny and isn’t here either. But partly it’s because family, no matter how much you may try to avoid it, will always be embarrassing.

Cecil and Bertia are home from Seahealby, and everything seems relatively peaceful. So it’s now time for Zeno to go visit the spirit kingdom, so that he can ask permission from Kuro’s parents to marry her. This isn’t required, but he wants to be polite about it. Bertia is going as Kuro is very attached to her. Cecil is going as Bertia is going. And everyone else is suffering, because Cecil was already gone for an extended period and now he’s leaving again. When they arrive, they have to deal with Zeno’s parents, who are merely very embarrassing, and who also set up the plot of the 4th book in this series, when we’ll meet his seemingly overbearing sisters. The main plot, though, has the “ha ha he’s a lolicon” jokes hit at exactly the wrong time, meaning he and Cecil are now locked out of her parent’s castle till he completes some herculean tasks. No worries, Cecil is here to help. Wait, no, here to observe.

I have to admit, the stakes in this one are pretty low, mostly because you know all that has to happen is Kuro putting her foot down and the problem is solved. Also, Bertia is mostly sidelined in this book, as she stays behind while Zeno and Cecil go off to do the plot, staying behind mostly to try to be villainous again, as Kuro’s mother hits a bunch of her “so cool!” buttons and she goes off into la-la land. (I will admit, Bertia trying to have herself get tied up is a very funny bit.) The bulk of the heavy lifting goes to Cecil, though, as is appropriate. here he’s smug, a bit sadistic, and also accidentally helps Zeno save the day. While Cecil is pretty much an expert at anything he’s ever done, he also has a fair bit of “golden boy” luck, which helps him out here. I also appreciated that Kuro’s parents end up being just as socially awkward as she is, and it explains quite a bit.

This series feels like it’s coasting, but I still like the cast, and it’s fun most of the time.