Monthly Archives: May 2022

Prison Life Is Easy for a Villainess, Vol. 2

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By Hibiki Yamazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Konyaku Haki kara Hajimaru Akuyaku Reijou no Kangoku Slow Life” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

While I did very much enjoy this second volume and the series, I want to emphasize once again that this is a bit of a mess. The entire cast is filled with terrible, terrible people. The resolution basically amounts to “the king and queen finally come home and stop everything”. And every time that we get a scene that wasn’t in the original webnovel (which is to say one that is not focusing on Rachel in prison) it’s well written but jars terribly with everything else. Margaret’s past as a child, selling flowers on the side of a road, avoiding pedophiles, and living with sex workers trying to marry into royalty, honestly makes me want a bit more for her. The author says in the afterword that Margaret has “gumption but nothing else”, but gumption can get you far. In the end, though I think accidentally, the books read more as “you can be the worst person imaginable and it’s fine as long as you’re rich”. Which, well, current mood of world.

The plot is the same as the first book, though honestly some of the events seem to strain… not disbelief, but I think they show the author was grasping at straws. Elliott and company try to torment Rachel with terrible music, but she merely grabs a trumpet and forces them to play to her own rhythm, in a metaphor so obvious it smacks you in the head. She also has her pet monkey arrive from home, which leads to as many shenanigans as you can imagine a monkey running around the royal palace can have. Meanwhile, Elliott’s allies are being cut down one by one… possibly literally in the case of Sykes, whose fiancee turns out to be one of the few times I will actually use the word yandere in a review. That said, this cannot last forever, and finally Rachel’s parents and the King and Queen arrive to stop Elliott. But can they get Rachel to leave her cell?

The best parts of the book are the ones that show us what Rachel is really like behind all her confidence and casual cruelty. We’ve seen the shallow selfishness of Elliott and Margaret… but honestly, Rachel’s not all that much better. She can plan things out very well in the moment, but does not bother to think of consequences. What’s more, we see more people that her schtick doesn’t actually work on here… though, in keeping with the theme of the book, they’re also terrible sadists. (Word of warning, there are spanking scenes here. More than one.) In the end, she whines like a child and refuses to come out of her cozy cell where she’s been able to avoid responsibility, and ends up having to be bribed with a toy. (The toy is Margaret. Honestly, terrible as they both are, in five years or so I can see them being quite a power couple with Raymond as the beard.) Prison life is easy for a villainess, but actual life does not go as she’d like.

In the end, this book has a very, very specific readership. If you love the idea of a bitch doing horrible things to pathetic men who deserve it, you’ll love this. Two volumes honestly is a bit too many, but nevertheless I had fun.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 12

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jasmine Bernhardt.

There has been some discussion over the last few years about “yuri tease” or “yuribait” series, i.e. series which promise yuri content but fail to deliver. (This is entirely separate from LGBT content, by the way.) Frankly, any series that was popular with yuri fans in 2004-2005 would likely be piled on by modern fans for this very reason. Gains in media have made people spoiled, especially when you hear things like “it’s a yuribait series because men exist in it” (heard that one recently about Birdie Wing). But sometimes I do have to admit that I feel like I’m being led on. I’m not even sure I *want* Killing Slimes to be yuri. I think it works much better as found family. But if I could pay the author to drop Azusa reminding us that she’s straight every single volume, I would. Especially when the side story is MariMite with dragons. In any case, this volume is pretty much the same as the previous ones.

(Cover art, you are REALLY not helping the author’s case.)

In this volume: Azusa finally decides to get some rice and make some Japanese dishes, but reckons without Laika and Flatorte’s appetites; a Tiger Festival in a nearby down proves to be an excuse for baseball jokes; the treasure dredged from the lake a book or two ago is appraised by “experts”; Azusa and the ghost characters investigate a haunted hotel; Kuku and Pondeli have invented the compact disc, but that also comes with the marketing for same; Falfa and Shalsha see what might (or might not) be a UFO and have a debate about it; and finally, Azusa, Beelzebub and a few others try to help the smart slime, one of the great sages of the world, meet up with another sage who lives on an inaccessible island. In the Laika side stories, Laika continues to mature and become a better fighter almost despite herself.

Again, there’s almost no depth to any of this. The closest we come is when Azusa, on board a ship with only Smarsly for company, actually tells them that she’s a reincarnation from Japan, and opens up about her regrets. Unfortunately, we only get her summarizing this, and it’s mostly done to make Azusa realize that she’s come to terms with and is happy with her new life, but it’s better than nothing. We’re introduced to a bunch of sages from an isolated island, who turn out to be dryads… who talk like Valley Girls. Fortunately, as we discover towards the end of the main story, they really are brilliant, and are happily discussing philosophy with Smarsly, so that’s good. It honestly astonishes me that these books tend to run 250-300 pages, as they feel light as air. Still, at the same time, aside from the walking back on the yuri tease, there’s nothing really wrong with them.

Another popcorn book down. It should please fans, provided they don’t ship Azusa with anyone.

Spy Classroom: To Forget Is Annette

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By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

Given that the last book focused on four of our spies, this one is here to focus on the others. Mostly it’s about Thea, who is the designated leader this time around, and the most normal of the group… for good and ill. Her “power” also ties in with her personality, and makes it so that she has the moral dilemma in the book. Monika continues to be the “I don’t work well with others” one, but here we see that she too is not as stoic and uncaring as she appears, and she also gets to do the most badass stuff. Erna… well, look, Erna is probably the weak link of the book, but we got a large chunk of her deal in Book 1, so that’s to be expected. And then there is Annette. The cliche of “lovable but airheaded gadgeteer genius” is not new to Spy Classroom – leaving aside Mei from My Hero Academia, it’s been around for years. I’m not sure they had quite the same impact as Annette, who feels empty to Thea.

As was revealed in the last book, Lily’s quartet is actually a decoy mission – our heroines introduced above will be helping Klaus take out the assassin. We don’t actually see too much of that, and only in flashback. Instead, we get the aftermath, where the girls are relaxing after the mission at a luxury hotel. They then run into a woman who says she’s Annette’s mother… and certainly there’s a resemblance. It’s a bit difficult to ask Annette, as she has amnesia of the time before she became a spy. But Thea, who is perhaps projecting just a little after seeing that Annette’s heart’s desire was “I want to get taller”, wants the two of them to reunite. Which may be harder than it seems, as it becomes apparent that Annette’s mother is an enemy spy.

I feel less guilty giving things away than I did the previous two volumes, probably as there’s no big “a ha!” moment where the narrative is totally flipped like their was in the first two books. The story of Matilda and Annette is not that hard to at least figure out, and I’d argue the real mystery was trying to see when it would be revealed and how. It’s very good for Thea and Monika, who are at odds over what to do here. Both are soft in different ways, and I have a feeling that may come back to bite them in later books, but here it doesn’t, mostly as Annette is anything but soft. Its worth remembering that the other cliche about Japanese gadgeteer geniuses is that they have a tendency to forget about ethics and morals unless it’s brought up to them. Annette fits this to a T… and that’s probably very good given she’s a spy.

But just because the mystery is not as mysterious does not mean this isn’t excellent. Spy Classroom runs on its characters, and this book’s heart is not the titular Annette (who is on the cover – again) but Thea, and I’m interested to see what she does next.