The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain, Vol. 7

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By Bakufu Narayama and Ebisushi. Released in Japan as “Danzaisareta Akuyaku Reijō wa, Gyakkō-shite Kanpekina Akujo o Mezasu” by TO Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Alyssa Niioka. Adapted by Vida Cruz-Borja.

Please note that spoilers are far more unavoidable than usual this volume. If you want to remain unspoiled, please try to read the review after the book. I’ll stick the cover art here to hopefully mask it.

So, let’s talk about the Unreliable Narrator. Starting off by spoiling a 100-year-old book for you, the most famous example is probably Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. It upset a lot of people when it came out, and folks who were especially invested in trying to figure out the mystery, rather than reading it as a cracking good yarn, especially felt betrayed. They said it was cheating, not playing fair. The author said that all the clues were there if one kept an open mind. And the narration did actually play fair. There were omissions, and subterfuges in it. But you didn’t see a whole chunk of book being given first-person narration by someone who then turned out to literally be lying solely to the reader. That’s why this volume makes me mad.

The book alternates, at least for the first half. Claudia’s part of the book has her learning that the Church has chosen a new Saint, and that she is one of the two who have been chosen to help the Saint during her canonization, which will involve not touching men, not eating meat, etc. She’s also dealing with a refugee problem, which is tricky because, as both her brother and her maid/best friend point out, she gets too emotionally invented in everything. She also gets very mad at herself for not seeing things that are only obvious in hindsight and not being perfect. Typical Claudia, in other words. The other half of the book follows a sister in a girls-only monastery who gradually opens her heart to the injustice of the world, saves a young boy from being whipped to death, and uses her new Saint position to help war-torn refugees. Then the author says “whoops, I had the switch on her back set to good by accident” and everything turns terrible.

I’m not sure if I was supposed to be fooled by the Sister (nun)/Sister (sibling) thing, but it was made pretty obvious from the start that this was supposed to be Fermina. And I thought I was going to see… well, exactly what I saw, but I thought we’d go about it a different way. The first half has lots of Fermina’s POV, as we see her viewpoint gradually change as she’s exposed to good people and also the injustice of this world. And then she’s picked up by the Church, who we’ve already seen are going to be evil so Claudia can suffer. I was pretty sure we were either going to see sweet lies poured into her head, or literal brainwashing, but that had been signposted, so I was fine with it, and the Claudia stuff was excellent. Then the Saint POV disappears from the narrative for about 100 pages, and I went “uh oh”. Then we get the final Fermina POV chapter, where she reveals that in fact this was all a setup from the start, which she knew, and she’s secretly been as evil as ever. This is not a case of “if you read the unreliable narrator right you can guess it”, this is a case of “LOL, you fell for it!”. SO ANNOYING. Especially as I was OK with Fermina learning a hard lesson and getting better only to fall again, and am very unhappy she’s as one-dimensional as ever.

This has a nasty cliffhanger, which you can likely guess, and I’ll keep reading. But boy, this left a bad taste in my mouth.

An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me!, Vol. 12

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By Yuishi and Kagachisaku. Released in Japan as “Inkya no Boku ni Batsu Game de Kokuhaku Shitekita Hazu no Gal ga, Dō Mitemo Boku ni Beta Bore Des” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Satoko Kakihara.

Given that the bulk of this series is our two main leads flirting hard with each other, deliberately or no, it makes sense that this is also what’s going on with the author. Oh, sure, the start of the series was different. We had the push and pull of “when will they discover they both know and admit their feelings”. But ever since they got together as a real couple, the books have been the author as Lucy, holding a football, saying, “I bet this is the one where they finally give in” and the reader as Charlie Brown running up to kick it, even as we know intellectually that no sex is going to happen until the final volume of the series, and probably not even then. This doesn’t run on porn, it runs on horniness, and the true tease knows that you need to keep the audience on edge as long as possible to make the release all the sweeter. If it happens at all.

Christmas has passed, which means both Yoshin and Nanami are going off to visit their respective grandparents, and will be apart for about a week. Though come on, this is the modern era, they just video chat every night. We meet Yoshin’s grandparents, who are astonished how much he’s changed, as well as his tall, cute older cousin, who you’d expect would be a subplot involving a jealous Nanami till you remember what series you’re reading. (Nanami does get jealous later, no worries.) After that it’s time for a shrine visit, where they run into Nanami’s two besties and their problematic significant other, as well as the problematic class president. Finally, the two of them convince their parents to let them go on a hot springs date in Hokkaido for two days and one nights – with one condition. You can guess what that condition is.

The reason, of course, that this remains so horny and yet so wholesome is that Nanami is absolutely the one pushing harder to go further, while Yoshin is steeling himself to not even do anything beyond kissing and hugging till they’re married. This gives her all the power, which is why it’s relaxing. We see that at the shrine, as he wishes that the gods help him nail down his libido so he doesn’t do anything he’ll regret, while Nanami’s, I suspect, were probably the opposite. At the hot spring hotel, they get closer than they’ve ever been – thanks partly to an in-room open air hot spring, and in part thanks to some horny college girls hitting on Yoshin without realizing he’s under 18 and also taken. They’ve now seen each other naked – by accident, and the interstitial art has to give Nanami the largest hand towel known to man to make it OK – but that’s as far as it gets. This series knows it’s in it as long as the publisher demands.

Next time, Valentine’s Day! Which will be a bit, as it only came out in Japan a month ago. Till then, enjoy these sweet kids not banging.

One Last Hurrah! The Grayed Heroes Explore a Vivid Future, Vol. 2

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By fukurou and johndee. Released in Japan as “Jiji Baba Yuusha Party Saigo no Tabi: Oita Saikyou wa Iroasenu Mama Mirai e Susumu you desu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Vasileios Mousikidis.

I do enjoy some good foreshadowing. It’s the kind where you know this is going to be important later, and think “ah yes, the author is doing that deliberately”, but also not enough so that’s it’s constantly on your mind. By the time we get to the big reveal in this volume, I remembered the ominous mentor guy, as well as the terrible country that sat out the war because they were simply too terrible, but I was distracted by the main plot of the first half, which is the same as the main plot of the first volume. The hero’s party are all now 90 years old, and no one recognizes them, but at the same time everyone knows what they achieved back then. Or at least what the history books say. The funnier first half of this book shows that history is not always written by those who make it, and distortions can be… horribly embarrassing.

Our group of six, making their way slowly to see Ferd and Elrica’s great-grandchild, have arrived at the large magic academy that is run, in part, by Lara and Sazaki’s son. We also meet their own great-grandson Connie, who looks much like Armin from Attack on Titan, and has fallen in with a group of students who include “the shonen guy who has a creepy intuition that is always 100% accurate” and “the girl being forced to relearn everything she knew as her mentor was a lunatic”. There’s also classes, which the hero’s party sit in on. And Connie has everyone over for a round of tabletop gaming… though they are a bit frustrated by the fact that the game appears to be unwinnable. Everything is light and fluffy, and everyone’s smiling the same as a-a-a-a-a-always…

Trying not to spoil TOO much about the last half of the book, but that does make it difficult to write more, so here we go. I do love a good Lotus-Eater Machine, and that’s what we’re getting here. This allows some things to happen that would otherwise have horrible consequences for all involved (Hagen would likely have to leave school, and Emmeline might honestly have to be executed) but still allow everyone to look cool. As for the party themselves, well, this is possibly the one part of the book I wasn’t fond of. I read this series for the fun of seeing powerful old folks doddering around and being powerful but mostly passive. Here they need to get involved in past battles all over again, only the script is rewritten so it’s not as good. This means a lot of fight fight fight. Not why I’m here.

Still, the day is saved, our heroes are off, and we meet more young kids who may be the next generation of heroes. We’ll find out more… when/if we get a third, and presumably final (check the publisher) volume. Good stuff, clever gimmick, did not need the shonen battle arc.