The Villainess Speaks Not: The Black Pawn and The Summoned Heteromorphs

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By Kei Yose and Ruria Miyuki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijou wa Shaberimasen” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam.

These are chunky books, with each volume being around twice the size of your average light novel. As a result, I deeply appreciate that the book starts with a “story so far” catching me up on what happened in Book One, because after that the reader is not really given any more help. There are lots of characters in this, and you need to remember who they are and which faction they’re with. More characters are introduced. Some characters we thought would be major players in this book end up being taken off the board instead. Liliana has changed a lot about the way that the “plot” of this world is supposed to go, but it feels like fate wants to railroad her anyway. Things are definitely not helped by her attempts to distance herself from the love interests, which not only fails, but actually gets worse. Basically, she’s so good at everything that she may accidentally end up as dead as the narrative wants.

Liliana can actually speak now, though she hides that from most people. And she’s much calmer and better at powerful magic, meaning she has an alive handmaiden rather than the dead handmaiden she had in the narrative. Despite this, the world keeps moving on, and she keeps trying to figure out how to fix things so she escapes her fate. Maybe it can be by understanding the complicated politics of the various countries that deal with them – especially the Empire, who seem to be actively sabotaging them. Maybe she can save the entire country when a massive monster swarm attacks the royal capital on the Prince’s birthday party. Maybe she can make an ally, and indeed hire, the assassin who’s been trying to kill her and her allies. And maybe she can get Riley to choose someone else to be his fiancee, though honestly, that’s the hardest goal. After all, he’s mostly figured out what she’s hiding.

This book has a problem a lot of light novels taken from webnovels do, which is that the big climax of the book happens a little over halfway through it, and the ending is sort of a quiet “to be continued”. I suppose it’s better than a nasty cliffhanger, but after 389 pages it can feel anticlimactic. That said, we did have lots of climaxes in the pages beforehand. The addition of Obsidian to the cast is fantastic, as every heroine needs someone who will snark at her and also try to kill her just so she can prove she’s still better than him. I also liked the subplot around Austin, who ends up going out on the monster hunt even though he’s too inexperienced. He survives, but clearly needs therapy, and I appreciate this is recognized and forced onto him. As for Liliana, I think she may need to admit soon that she and Riley are in fact a perfect couple. Then again, she still isn’t even ten years old yet.

If you like your villainess stories to be more like black coffee than sweet tea, this is right yup your street.

Anime NYC 2026, Sunday

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Sunday is usually my quietest day, and this year was no exception, as I only had a single panel. Technically it should have been two, as Crossed Hearts split up their panel as they were introducing two new imprints, but the late time of that panel would have meant I’d get home around 10pm or so. The panel also helped to remind me how old-school I am. I started covering NYCC, then Anime NYC, carrying around a notebook that I would write in very quickly as the panelists spoke, and I have leveled up to carrying around a laptop that I type on very quickly, but otherwise my modus operandi is much the same. Which can be a problem, as panels go faster and faster and the slides stay on screen for a shorter and shorter period. This was especially true with Crossed Hearts, who had the most multimedia-driven panel I saw at the convention. They were here with Tiktok-style videos, and while they were cool, it meant it was hard to be there typing away like a beaver before the next one hit.

Crossed Hearts also featured a team that seemed to be very good at everything except public speaking, so they thoughtfully hired an emcee to yell loudly and get the crowd excited. It was a good move. The actual head of the panel was Aurora Aurealis, and the description of what the company is and what it offers reminded me a lot of the Kaze panel the previous day. They don’t narrow down by genre, they’re not just interested in hits. They focus on manwha from Korea (mostly of the webtoon/vertical scrolling sort), manga from Japan, and novels (from Korea for now). Their first titles, including Baroness Goes on Strike (a Peggy Sue rewind title), From a Knight to a Lady (a wake up in the body of a noble title, sans otome game), and The Archduke’s Adopted Saint (saint abused by her family Cinderella story), but future series seem to be wandering away from the typical shoujo stuff popular right now.

Out digitally this month and in November in print is The Matchmaker’s Fiancé: My Fiancé Won’t Leave Me Alone While I’m Finding Him the Ideal Bride (“Risou no Hanayome wo Sagashite Shiawase ni Shite Sashiagemasu” to Ittara, Sokkenakatta Kon’yakusha ga Nazeka Kakawatte Kimasuga, Hanayome Assen Ganbarimasu), a Comic Brise title about a matchmaker who is convinced her fiance isn’t into her, so breaks up with him, vowing to find his ideal woman. Little does she know… The Executioner of Greminal (Grenimal no Shokeinin) is also a digital August, print November title, about two talented guys who team up to hunt vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. This somehow doesn’t even have a female lead! Out in November in print (not not digitally, the Korean stuff seems to lack digital, probably for rights reasons) is Darling, Why Don’t We Divorce?, a villainess story where her divorce is contingent on seducing a guy who hates her.

Rounding up the stuff already announced, out at the end of the year is All-Rounder Maid Connie Wille (Bannou Jochuu Connie Wille), a FK Comics title about a maid who does everything perfectly and only wants to have a quiet, dull life, but sadly the manga is named after her, so that ain’t happening. They also have two novels. These got short shrift at first, but that turned out to be because it was the first in many new imprints that the company announced, A Novel Press. The Abandoned Villainess Became a Zombie is a Korean title whose name pretty much sums it up. She has to hide her zombie status while trying to figure out how to reverse it. The first volume is already out digitally, and I’m pleased to see the ebook has been fixed to be a real ebook and not a print replica (though it still looks thrown together). The biggest reaction (it got an anime earlier) was for Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion, which also features a girl who ends up in the body of someone doomed to die and tries to change her fate. This has print and digital in December.

Time finally for new announcements. Doomsday Requiem with You is a shoujo romance about a girl trying to save her father from dying by a curse, and her interactions with the Crown Prince who seems to be behind the curses. Soul Guiders is, by the way, when their slides started to go so fast I was not able to get the information. A princess and a demon search for macguffins is what I can tell you. Chiaroscuro has a princess who has no cool powers getting involved with a sacrificial boy? These all had fancy videos that made them look cool, and possibly distracted form the fact that I couldn’t read the slide in time.

New licenses that aren’t original series included Welcome to the Rose Manor, a manwha about an impoverished noble who accepts a job as a tutor at the most haunted mansion ever. Emma and the Eyes that Bid Farewell is a manga I can’t track down the Japanese title of, but it runs on the GANMA app. A non-magic using girl enters the academy for magic users. Fortunately, she meets a hot guy. Unfortunately, a conspiracy wants her dead specifically. The Two of Them Can’t Be Mobs (2-Ren wa Mob Ja Irarenai) is also a GANMA manga, about a really hot guy and an oni girl (literally, she has horns) who want to blend into the background but can’t because of who they are. Love Beyond the Final Boss: The Hero’s Party’s Quest for Love (also can’t find the romanji, also on the GANMA app) takes place after the demon lord is defeated… and now all these isekai’d folks are going berserk. Our heroes have to stop them. This was noted as having, in addition to the main het couple, asexual, bisexual and intersex characters. That said, it appears to be for KonoSuba fans. Flirting with the Villain’s Dad is a manwha about a girl who wakes up… as the heroine’s AUNT in a tragic webnovel, and has to stop the deaths of everyone in the previous generation (i.e. hers) from dying.

The last original title before the panel got cut off by the con for going too long was Where Sea Meets Shore, and I wish I could tell you about it, but the slide went too fast. It’s an OEL title, and I am but one man with poor eyesight. It debuts next month.

Speaking of things I missed, as I mentioned, I was not at the 2:30pm panel that was the sequel to this one, where they announced new imprints. Glam Beat (shoujo/yuri stuff) and Blush Club (BL). The Devil in Me is a Thai yuri title about a priestess and a vampire, seems to be on the dark end of things. Ink Soaked into Ashen Paper is a Korean yuri novel about two countries at war brokering a peace by having a young princess marry an older queen. Fairy Trap is also a Korean novel, this one BL, about a guy who sleeps almost the entire day who finds he can dimension walk. And there’s Addicted to You, a BL title about an Angel who finds love with a human, and reincarnation is involved? This is the trouble with announcing things via Tiktok videos. Lastly, they’re joining with the Thai publisher Lily House to release more Thai yuri content in the future.

And that’s it! It was a good con!… except maybe for the DJ, whose music was FAR TOO LOUD. Looking forward to next year!

Fired? But I Maintain All the Software!, Vol. 2

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By Yuki Kashirome and icchi. Released in Japan as “E, Shanai System Subete One Operation Shite Iru Watashi o Kaiko desu ka?” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Minna Lin.

Content warning: This review will be discussing a book that deals with multiple companies that use AI, and it discusses AI throughout the book, usually in a positive way (though it does emphasize AI without humans making decisions is a disaster). Reader discretion is advised.

The second volume of this series tries to figure out what to do next, as (the author admits this) it was written as a one-shot with no real idea where to go next. As it turns out, while there’s still a lot of discussion of startup companies and AI, for the most part the series turns into Ai being a counselor and solving the mental blocks and traumas of young women. If you asked Ai, of course, she’s not particularly thinking of herself as a counselor, but that is de facto what’s happening here. We also get an introduction of a new regular, who looks so much like Megumin from KonoSuba that the book outright admits it. Oh, and we also meet a younger sister who’s tall, smart, and also indebted to Ai. The series may not be yuri per se, but Ai can’t help but draw cute girls into the fold.

As with the first book, the cover art is the first moment of the volume, as Ai gets up, still in pajamas, turns on the TV, and sees her old boss doing a press conference in cosplay. She doesn’t have time to boggle at this too much, as her company has a problem – because Ken was unprepared for Ai’s brilliance, they had to sell the Smart Frames – including the rights. As a result, Ken takes most of the book off to level up, so to speak. As for Ai, she realizes she doesn’t have a dream like most everyone else she talks to, and decides to talk with the handsome, rich, brilliant CEO she met in the last book. He immediately tries to headhunt her, but reckons without her oddly low self-image. He then directs her to a similar problem genius – Megumi Yamada, whose combination of intellect that skirts around being labeled autistic and deep past trauma and grief have left her something of a basket case – but a brilliant one. After this, Ai then meets Tsubasa’s younger sister, who has a dream she can’t fulfill and has grown jaded and weary of life. She’s also a complete genius, by the way.

A lot of the solution here seems to be “fight genius with genius”. Yes, Ai takes Megumi to a hot springs and forces her to do things like sleep, but what really fixes things is that Ai is clever enough to rapidly catch on to what Megumi is doing and make suggestions to fix the one thing that was missing. As a result, not only do they have a brilliant new product, but they have a new employee, as Megumi now wants to be at Ai’s side at all times. As for Arisa, I did come up with the technical answer for how her issues were going to be dealt with, but I was thrown off by the extended description of a sports anime that also helped wear her down and reminded her why she liked basketball so much. The solution actually combined the technology from both Ai and Megumi, making it thematically appropriate, too.

The big flaw with this series, of course, is that it’s so ridiculously idealistic it squeaks. Ai is essentially an isekai’d guy with a sword and a harem, only the sword is her computational brilliance. That said, in a genre overflowing with guys with swords, that can easily be good enough.