Monthly Archives: June 2021

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 4

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By Riku Misora and Sacraneco. Released in Japan as “Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

While there are no long-term disasters here, it’s safe to say that this might be the first volume to actually belie its title, as the High School Prodigies don’t really have that good a time here. Trying to get their kingdom to stand on its own so that they can make preparations to go home turns out to be easier said than done. The actual way to go home seems to be offered up to them on a plate… but what’s the catch? Aoi finds that it’s not enough having a really strong sword, she needs a really strong CURSED sword or she’s screwed. And worst of all, economics happens. All of this barely leaves time for the love triangle that still inhabits the heart of this book, but rest assured there’s still time to deal with that. And, thankfully, there’s a minimum of Keine here, so we don’t need to worry about any questionable medical practices.

The book is divided into three, with two medium chunks and one long one. In the first, the prodigies go to negotiate with the Empire, currently being ruled by a proxy, and finds things go… suspiciously well. What’s more, said proxy is also from a different world. In the second story, Lyrule and Winona try to teach Jeanne how to cook, which is interesting more for Lyrule’s own tortured love life than anything else. The final story features the new nation of Elm, with Elch as its new Finance Minister, trying to introduce a new currency to the other nations. Masato is there as well, but he’s trying to be hands off so that the natives can attempt to handle things themselves. m Unfortunately, he underestimates Roo, and thus everything turns out both better and much worse than it could have gone.

Changing a world is not particularly an easy task, and the Prodigies have limited themselves to merely one part of it. When visiting the empire, they get a glimpse of the slave trade there, and we see a maid of the main villain of this book who is horribly abused. But she’s not there to be rescued later on, and indeed isn’t; she’s there to show us that you have to fix what you can for now. Which here mostly means the currency, as there’s a lot of back and forth, deals, secret deals, and endless piles of backstabbing. We get to learn firsthand the difference between politics and economics, and also see what I feel may be the first of many attempts to lure one of the prodigies to the enemy side. (It doesn’t work.. yet.) We also get to see how Roo has been soaking up information and tactics like a sponge from Masato, and though she still ends up getting tricked and almost killed, her resolve is impressive. (I do sort of wish we’d seen more of her after this scene.)

Overall I was pretty happy with this book, and the cliffhanger clearly introduces what’s likely to be the Big Bad of the series. It’s never going to be what one might call a good light novel, but it’s perfectly serviceable popcorn.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 18

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

I think the author is finally, as we near the end of Strike the Blood, getting the hang of things. As such, I will stop implying that the entire book is written by an AI bot, as I have in previous books, and give credit where credit is due. This is the second of two books expanding on an OAV that came out years earlier, and manages to pull off something we haven’t really seen done before due to the nature of Kojou’s vampiric abilities – mind controlling him to become evil. (You’ll pardon the spoiler, but anyone who is reading a review of the 18th volume of a series and also hasn’t seen the earlier OAV is probably limited to one or two people.) The book manages to divide itself fairly well into halves, with the first part being a political romance of sorts, and the second half being our usual action movie. La Folia gets a large role, which is great, and Sayaka does as well, which… is not so great.

Kojou is in a good mood, as he’s headed up to the long holiday break, where he can finally relax and not have to worry about saving the world… or so he thinks. Instead, La Folia invites Kanon to a ceremony in her home country of Aldegia so that she can try to mend tensions between Kanon and the rest of the family, and Kojou and Yukina to essentially be her bodyguards. (Asagi, Yabe, and Nagisa also tag along.) Of course, this is merely part of a larger plan, which is to get out of various arranged marriages set up for her by saying Kojou is her fiancee. Part one of her plan goes far smoother than anyone intended, possibly as Kanon is a giant sweetie pie. The second part goes OK, despite the fact that La Folia’s father is one of those huge, killer dads who will never let anyone date his daughter and has a giant sword to back him up. And this is all BEFORE the terrorist plot, when La Folia and Yukina are kidnapped… and Kojou is brainwashed.

The last book made it pretty clear that Kojou, in the future, has more than one partner, and this book hammers home that this is perfectly valid for vampire Primogenitors. As such, anyone who was rooting for someone other than Yukina will be pleased to know they’ll still get a place at the table. (Well,l no, they likely won’t, as I sense Strike the Blood fanatics don’t like Yukina much.) In any case, La Folia is perfectly happy to share, especially as Kojou cannot help but be the best guy she’s ever met. He’s like that. As for Sayaka… her absence from the series for so long had made me forget how much of a comedy jealous dumbass she is 90% of the time, honestly. Sorry, Sayaka. I have also told the author multiple times that his humorous scenes aren’t funny, so props to him: the scene with brainwashed Kojou acting like a Byronic hero and spouting lines so cringeworthy that Asagi and Yabe took actual damage? That was really, really good.

As with a lot of recent books in this series, the epilogue serves to set up the next book in the series, with will be back on Itogami Island and no doubt will continue to make it completely uninsurable. In the meantime, Strike the Blood fans, especially fans of La Folia, will be quite happy.

I’m in Love with the Villainess, Vol. 3

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By Inori and Hanagata. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou” by GL Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Kevin Ishizaka. Adapted by Nibedita Sen.

If a lot of this third volume feels a bit like Chekhov restocking his armory, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. The second volume of this series ended at a very satisfactory place, to the point where I was very surprised to see a third volume. This is not uncommon in the light novel or manga genre, with a lot of “short” series becoming very popular and the author trying to extend things a bit. That said, this book is clearly written knowing that there will be a fourth volume coming later (it’s already out in Japan). As such, we get a lot of events here that… don’t really go much of anywhere at all. We know they will eventually, but for the moment they’re just sitting there, on the mantelpiece. Of course, that’s not to say there’s nothing going on in this book. We go to an “enemy” country, fight off demons, and try to prevent assassinating the Pope. There’s something for everyone.

As you can see by the cover art, which feels like a culmination of 100 years of yuri, Rae and Claire are happily together now with their adopted children, May and Aleah. It’s about a year after events in the second book, and they’re both teaching at the academy and being very lovey-dovey. Even setbacks like one of their daughters turning out to have zero magic power is dealt with sensibly and with love. Then… they’re asked to join a political “exchange” with the Nur Empire. Rae is familiar with this plot from the side story sequel to the Revolution game, which, much like its predecessor, has somewhat unimpressive romantic routes and a fantastic non-romance route. The empress, Dorothea, is not here for decorum or political gamesmanship. Its imperial princess is currently too meek to really start any sort of revolution. Oh yes, and the Pope has just shown up, and she looks… exactly like Rae.

The intrigue is quite good throughout, as are the few tragic moments. What I enjoyed most about this book, though, is seeing that the relationship between Rae and Claire is just as fun to read now as it was when Claire was a “villainess”. Rae, honestly, feels like the more immature of the two most of the time. They also both manage to wear the “oblivious to love” hat at different times, as Rae can’t seem to figure out (or at least is deliberately ignoring) a student’s crush on her, while the third princess ends up falling for Claire after Claire essentially enacts a classic otome game “route start” scene in front of her. That said, these two are crazy about each other. I especially loved Claire attempting to act like a bully again, to try to excite Rae, only for Rae to completely fail to pick up on it. The book also has several short stories after the main action, which involves weddings, holidays, and nightmares that involve Claire realizing how lucky she is that Rae is… well, the sort of person she is.

This definitely feels like “Part One of Two”, and I expect most of the dangling plotlines will come up there. But there’s still so much here to love. This is a very hard book to put down, even when you want to, and fans of Rae and Claire will be very happy with it.