Monthly Archives: April 2021

The Matchmaking of Marielle Clarac

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By Haruka Momo and Maro. Released in Japan as “Marielle Clarac no Kyuuai” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

The author describes this book as a “calm and gentle” story, and I suppose, given that the previous book involved Marielle getting involved with pirates and her wedding had her kidnapped, falling into a river, etc. that that is correct. In reality, all it means is that all the action and danger to our heroine is packed into the last quarter of the book. Heck, even the main storyline in the book has Julianne, Marielle’s friend and BL reader, accused of attempting to poison the royal family. When you are the light novel equivalent of Murder, She Wrote, calm and gentle seems like a long time ago. That said, this novel also serves as a reminder that the only thing worse than the attitude of nobles towards commoners is the attitude of greater nobles towards lesser nobles. Marielle had to deal with this as well, of course, but at least Simeon was only an Earl. When the Prince of the Realm is head over heels in love with you, and your parents are social climbers, it can be quite the headache…

Marielle is happy as a clam as the book starts, but inevitably gets dragged into this mess. After all, Simeon and the Prince are friends, and she and Julianne are friends. She’s the reason the two even met in the first place. And the Prince is now doing his best to not act like a pathetic drip. Mostly. So it’s time to meet the parents, who are worried that a girl from a lesser barony winning over their son means she has intentions other than love. This is not helped by Julianne herself, who is firmly convinced that their classes are too far apart, and is in general far too practical to simply leap into something like this. The answer, of course, is to have Marielle around, as she is both very much a part of the royal world now and also frequently the opposite of practical. Can she get Julianne to admit her own feelings, get the King and Queen to learn what type of person she is, and not get stabbed preventing an assassination attempt? Note: the answer to the last question is no.

Yeah, as noted, this book leaves all its thriller aspects for the last quarter, and spends most of the time in mystery and romance mode. The King and Queen are both very likeable people – indeed, the whole royal family is pretty great – and the moral of the first 3/4 of the book might just be “don’t assume everyone loves dogs”. But there has always been the threat of war and politics lurking at the edge of this series, if not directly involved with it, and there is a definite anti-monarchist faction, which decides to take more decisive action. It is rather startling to see Marielle, who I have previously described as a flibbertigibbet sustain a serious injury in this book, though in best action heroine style this does not stop her from sticking around till everything is resolved before passing out. Heck, she even does the “I can’t run in this dress” clothing rip!

So yes, another strong volume, and fans of Marielle who notice that she doesn’t fangirl QUITE as much in this book will, I suspect, get more of what they want to balance it in Book 7. Will the nation go to war? And can Marielle find a way to write romance novel about it?

Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts with a Village, Vol. 3

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By Mizuumi Amakawa and Mai Okuma. Released in Japan as “Fushi no Kami: Henkyou kara Hajimeru Bunmei Saiseiki” by Overlap. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Maurice Alesch.

It’s rare that you suspect that an author feels that his series has too many readers, but that seems to be the case with Fushi no Kami, which is really going to be pushing the limits of reader tolerance here in just how much the cast can praise every single thing Ash does. It really is ridiculous, and that’s not even counting Maika and Arthur, who are in love with Ash, or the maid that he gains in this book, who clearly is also falling in love with Ash. Now, to be fair, in their eyes Ash is this weird combination of Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, and God, so I suppose it is perfectly reasonable in some ways. Adn yes, Ash is trying to bring back many of the ancient civilization’s conveniences, as well as ruthlessly fending off assassination attempts. Still, I would love it if in future books he gets a complete failure or two under his belt.

We start off with Ash finding a new outlet for his creativity, and this time he isn’t alone. Fellow study group friend Hermes turns out to have an obsession with planes, and has built a model that is being made fun of by the local bullies. Naturally, Ash is over the moon about this, and decides to help him build, if not a full-sized passenger plane, at least a working model. Ash is also getting rewarded, as he gets a medal for taking out the demon monster in the previous book… which promptly gets stolen, leading a vengeful Maika to do some investigating. In the most serious story in the book, some spies have been snooping around from the capital city, and they are looking for a girl. Given this is happening at the same time as Ash’s class is doing survival training, he has to protect said girl while also drawing away the spies turned assassins who have been ordered to kill her. Which… sounds like a fairly sedate book for Ash, given the previous two.

Frustratingly, we still don’t quite get all of Arthur’s backstory here, but we get enough to know why they have to unfortunately return to the capital, though I’m sure we’ll be seeing them again in the future. Much is made near the end of their rivalry with Maika, and I agree they share wonderful moments of closeness, but let’s face it, Maika is going to be married to Ash eventually, he just doesn’t know it yet. I would not necessarily call her a yandere, as she doesn’t really fit the criteria, but she’s certainly obsessed with Ash to the point where it’s almost disturbing, and moves heaven and earth to make sure that he stays by her side for future books. The book’s chapter titles all deal with planes, which makes it a bit frustrating that we only get proper plane building in the first section – I hope they return to this again. More to the point, the cast have now graduated and are essentially adults… how much more can Ash actually pull off now?

As noted, these books require a lot of patience in terms of the cast calling Ash the greatest thing since sliced bread. There’s also what amounts to a torture scene about 3/4 through the book, and the fact that Ash does not realize what he’s doing does not really make it any less (deliberately) creepy. That said, Fushi no Kami remains resolutely readable, which is one of the best qualities in a book.

Outbreak Company, Vol. 17

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By Ichiro Sakaki and Yuugen. Released in Japan by Kodansha Light Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

One thing that has always remained reliably on brand about this series is how all in it goes on its otaku evangelism. The author is clearly just as bad if not worse than his lead character, and it shows, as the books are littered with references to anime, manga, books, films, games, etc. And what’s more, this is shown in a (mostly) very positive light, with people who would otherwise be indifferent to if not hate each other bonding over their shared obsessions. This particular volume seems to really lay the references on thick – it trusts that readers will not only know what Area 88 is, but also buy into the extended Star Wars riff that comes at the climax of the book. It even affects the plot, as the Americans who show up in Eldant towards the end are somewhat stunned to see the princess swearing at them, as she’s quoting the cliched stock American from Japanese media. That said, the guys who show up in Eldant very much DO feel like stock characters – Outbreak Company is not only a huge fan of cliches, it’s also a client.

We pick up where the last book left off, after a brief prologue from the POV of Shinichi’s family showing how things are going back in Japan. Not well. The hyperspace tunnel is starting to really go to pieces, which is leading to lots of natural disasters. As such, Japan has decided to punt, and tells Shinichi and company they’re pulling out of Eldant in five days. Needless to say, the cast are varying levels of upset by this – Minori is pretty cool with just going back, Hikaru suddenly realizes his own feelings for someone else in the cast, and of course Shinichi is still waffling about what love really is and if he’s in it with anyone. If he stays behind, lacking any ability to either import or create anime and manga, isn’t he just useless? If he takes a girl back with him to Japan, won’t they just be captured and experimented on? And then suddenly the USS Nimitz appears on top of a forest in rival nation Bahairam, and everything gets blown to hell.

As is typical of this series, Shinichi can be thick or clever when the situation demands it, as with his being unable to understand why Petralka seems to be OK with him leaving forever, missing the subtleties of her response as well as her own true feelings. We’ve still got one volume to go, and it’s possible that he won’t pick anyone, but I’d still lay odds on Myusel, who also has a bit of a love revelation in this book. As for the subplot, it’s basically pure action movie – the book makes many references to the 1980 movie The Final Countdown, as our heroes have to infiltrate Bahairam – again – and try to stop the war breaking out between their country, already upset about losing the Dragons Den, and some very jumpy naval officers. Can Shinichi talk everyone down? Can they figure out how to return a battle carrier to its proper place in the world? And can we actually get anyone to confess their love at all without being under the influence?

The next volume is the last, though there’s also a short story collection that I’m not sure is licensed. Fans of the series should enjoy it, though I suspect, like me, they’re happy it’s finally drawing to a close.