Monthly Archives: November 2023

I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!, Vol. 4

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By Reina Soratani and Haru Harukawa. Released in Japan as “Kondo wa Zettai ni Jama Shimasen!” by Gentosha Comics. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Molly Lee. Adapted by Lorin Christie.

As I was reading the previous two volumes of this series, I was starting to get very disturbed by Yulan’s obsession with Violette, mostly as he’s clearly also meant to be the main love interest. That doesn’t really change all that much in this volume, at least on his end. That said, after reading this volume, I think I’ve changed my mind. Yes, Yulan and Violette are totally codependent, and, amazingly, they also have a maid who is also codependent to Violette along for the ride. But if it gets Violette out of this house, away from her abusers, and away from this family forever, then I honestly am OK with it. Be as codependent as you like. It’s better than the alternative. That said, there’s still another volume coming, so there’s surely some fresh new awfulness that can happen. I said in an earlier review I read light novels to have fun. This is not “fun” per se. But it’s spellbinding.

Yulan has finally arranged everything he needs to get Violette away. All he needs to do is to tell her. Unfortunately, Maryjune intercedes as he’s trying to do this and asks if she can speak with him first. What follows is Yulan ripping his mask off completely and destroying a young women in front of us all. He reduces her to ashes. Unfortunately, that also means he’s forced to wait till tomorrow to talk with Violette… and there may not be a tomorrow for Violette, as that evening she’s also visited by a devastated Maryjune, who begs her to say it ain’t so, say that they’re a real loving family and Violette is a wonderful sister… right? Violette makes a choice that I think was necessary, telling Maryjune exactly what she thinks about her and her family. Unfortunately, this also brings her father to the room.

I’ve left out a good 2/3 of the book, which reads like a thriller a lot of the time, because I don’t want to give it all away. I spent a lot of the time, as with the 3rd book, worried that Marin was going to die. She’s one of my favorites, essentially being in a non-romantic relationship with Violette that nevertheless is even more codependent than Yulan’s. He straight up says he wants Marin to come with as he’s pretty sure they cannot live without each other. The other fascinating character in this is Maryjune, who remains very NICE, in a derogatory way. She basically spends the book having her entire life torn to shreds in front of her, and if the last scene in the book suggests what I think it does, she may end up having an ending that I’d worried would happen to the rest of the cast. She’s done nothing wrong except be unaware of the reality of everyone around her since the day she was born. But that’s enough.

So yes, one time I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! punched me in the face! It was awesome!

Jeanette the Genius: Defying My Evil Stepmother by Starting a Business with My Ride-or-Die Fiancé!, Vol. 1

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By Miyako Miyano and Hayase Jyun. Released in Japan as “Kakure Saijo wa Zenzen Megenai: Gibo to Gimai ni Ie wo Oidasareta no de Konyaku Haki Shite Moraou to Omottara, Shinshi datta Konyakusha ga Hageshiku Dekiai Shitekuru Yо̄ ni Narimashita!?” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Ray Krycki.

As you may have noticed given that it’s every other review I’ve written for the last year or so, the villainess genre has really exploded in Japan, as well as translated into English. Everyone loves seeing the villainess struggle against her fate. Sometimes she’s accused falsely. Sometimes she redoes her life so that everyone loves her. Sometimes she even embraces the villainy. But the one drawback to this is that authors sometimes miss writing actual villainess types. Sure, you can make the supposed heroine secretly evil, but it’s not the same. We want women with expensive dresses and jewels and stepsisters with drill curls holding their hand up to their mouths as they sneer “Ooooohohohohohohoho!”. If you miss this sort, good news! The stepmother and stepsister in this book fill the job admirably. Honestly, I might have been more interested in them than the heroine.

Our heroine is Jeanette, who has spent most of her 13 years being abused by her mother and sister, but being doted on and protected by her father. Unfortunately, one day her father disappears, his carriage found (without a body) in a ditch. Naturally, evil stepmother immediately throws Jeanette out of the house. But that’s fine. This is a learning opportunity, just like every other piece of abuse Jeanette has suffered, and she’ll face it with a smile and GUTS! Still, she’d better break off the engagement to the count, because after all she’s disgraced now. There’s just one slight problem – everyone who knows her loves her to bits, especially her fiance, who when he hears that she’s been thrown from her house swoops in to offer her a much better deal.

I’ll be honest, I found Jeanette somewhat exasperating. First of all, I wish she were about four years older. Secondly, her “genius ditz” personality can be fun, but also verges on annoying, particularly when she needs to be clever and figure things out but also not clue in to the fact that her family are being abusive. I ended up being far more interested in Leila and Ariel. Ariel is merely a spoiled daughter who’s been trained by mother to look down on Jeanette – there’s no actual hatred there, and when it turns out Jeanette is a golden goose she’s quick to turn. Leila, though, is painted in a far harsher light, being a wasteful spender and also a massive sucker for scams. I hope we see more of them in Book 2. Which is going to happen, because Daddy has to come home soon.

If you like this sort of book, it’s a decent entry, though not essential. Jeanette is a genius for business, but when it comes to interpersonal relationships she’s a disaster.

Anime NYC 2023: Remote Musings, Sunday

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Sunday is traditionally the quietest day at a con for press who do industry stuff like me, and so it is this year. I also feel a bit guilty, because if I had been an Anime NYC this year, I’d have attended neither of the industry panels, but gone to the My Next Life as a Villainess movie premiere. (Which I hear was underwhelming, not a surprise, but oh well.) That said, I was not at Anime NYC, so I will wait for reviews of the movie and instead talk about Akuzi and Starfruit.

I don’t cover the digital manga publishers quite as much as the “majors”, especially now that Amazon has made it harder to search for manga by lumping it in with all comics media. But Azuki are certainly among the top tier of the apps out there. They announced two new series debuting on their app.

Our Aimless Nights (Yoru no Manimani) runs on Futabasha’s Web Comic Action site. An upbeat girl and a shy guy meet once a week at the convenience store and talk to each other. Can love grow from this?

You’re So Sloppy, Hotta-sensei (Darashinai desu, Hotta-sensei!) runs in the print Manga Action, a comedy about a high schooler who does housekeeping for his teacher. In school she’s the ideal teacher… at home she’s a slob. I’m told this falls under the “ecchi sex comedy” genre, so expect a lot of underwear lying around the place.

They also announced a number of titles on the service that are also released by MediBang. I won’t go into MediBang too much, except to say that I hear their rates are so low for translators that the mind boggles. And two titles from Media Do, which I also know little about. I did notice that one of the titles picked up was My Sadistic Boyfriend, which was originally released on the old JManga site way back in the day. It reminds me that Futabasha still struggles to this day to get a large-scale English publisher to notice them, especially with the demise of Dr Master. A lot of their titles have gone with the new digital companies. I will say that the MediBangs and Media Dos of the world are a good way for the tiny companies that would otherwise get nothing translated to get their josei romance and supernatural fantasies out over here.

The other panel was Star Fruit Books, who tend towards smaller books licensed from the authors. They announced Virginia Inferno (Otome Jigoku), a horror anthology; I’ll Quit Traveling… (Watashi, Tabi o Yamemasu…), a slow-moving fantasy; Clan Under the Moon (Gekka no Ichizoku), a horror title that I think originally ran in Horror House in the early 90s, and is 2 volumes; The Red Snake (Akai Hebi), a horror title from the early 80s by the legendary Hideshi Hino; and His Ankle (Kare no Kurubushi), a BL title. Star Fruit has been putting out a lot of classic horror from the 80s and 90s, as well as BL and yuri titles. Get excited!

And that’s a wrap! I am hoping to get to the next Anime NYC in the summer. Hopefully my next report will be from the con. That said, it’ll still be “written as one big post the evening after), so not too different from this.