By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

As you can tell by the volume number, this is a short story collection. That said, definitely don’t read it till you’ve read the 6th book, as a lot of the back half of this volume deals with what happens in that book. For the most part, Tomozaki is not the focus of this book either, though of course a lot of it has his presence. Instead we get each heroine getting approximately a quarter of the book to get short stories giving us insight into how they think and interact with others. (The exception to this is Suzu, who’s barely mentioned here, and it feels odd she’s left out, especially as this volume is rather short.) The good news is that they’re very good stories, with one exception, and Aoi and Mimimi in particular come off with added insight into their character. Indeed, Aoi continues to worry me. I’ve said before that I find her the most interesting heroine, and that hasn’t changed, but boy, she’s set up for a breakdown somewhere down the road if she keeps this up.

The stories are: Aoi in middle school, slowly becoming the perfect girl we know and are wary of, and dealing with her first boyfriend; Aoi and Tomozaki shopping for winter clothing and learning more about fashion; the girls’ side of the cabin conversation from Book 3 (where we saw the boys’ side); Kukichi in middle school, where she discovers Michael Andi and learns to open up to others – slightly – with the help of a kind librarian; Izumi worrying that her boyfriend is cheating on her; Mimimi feeling at a loss and left behind shortly after she quits the track team, and realizing that just because she quit track does not mean she has to stop running; two other Mimimi POV stories from Vol. 6 that give us her side leading up to and right after her confession; and Tsumugi and her friends spotting Takahiro dressed as a bartender and following him… and indeed, he is working at a bar (to help his brother).

First of all, the Izumi story is the one I didn’t enjoy. “I have little self-esteem so am worried my guy is cheating on me but it all turns out to be a big misunderstanding” makes me roll my eyes at the best of times, and this one has no surprises at all. Other than that, this was quite a good book. Aoi’s “how can I manipulate this situation to my advantage” mindset is exactly as you’d expect, and is even more “impressive” given that she hasn’t even gotten into gaming yet at this point in the story. That said, we do also see a nervous middle-schooler at the core of her actions, and are reminded that being a popular girl has its own dangers. Mimimi’s stories are also fantastic, and I feel the most for her, I think, as she also tends to “put on a persona” around others, but isn’t sure how to move on or grow up the way everyone else is. Indeed, Tomozaki’s growth and development both impresses and annoys her, and likely leads to her confession… and immediate complete panic afterwards.

So yes, I do think this is not the usual irrelevant short story collection, but actually has good plot and character beats. The voices of the girls in their narratives all sounded very different as well, so kudos to the author and translator for that. Next time, presumably, we finally resolve the love triangle? Maybe?

By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

Despite what some people may think, particularly those who watch the opening of the recent anime adaptation, these light novels are not meant to be a romantic comedy. That is not to say they don’t have elements of it – they certainly do, and that’s the subject of much of this book. Tomozaki has been kicking the dating can down the road, at first simply as he didn’t want “get a girlfriend” to be a goal Hinami sets for him to tick off, but, as she correctly points out, he needs to start examining his own feelings and ask himself if there is a girl he really likes. Because there’s certainly someone who likes him… in fact, is there more than one? This isn’t a harem comedy, but it may be a love triangle, as, after several scenes showing Tomozaki accidentally being seductive (we see it, she sees it, he does not), he gets an honest to God confession. There’s just one problem – he needs to actually have some love for himself first.

Having seemingly run out of heroines to put on the cover (sorry, Tsugumi, maybe next time), Mimimi gets a second appearance, and she gets a lot to do. The school festival is coming up, which is right in her wheelhouse, even if she doesn’t actually want to be in charge of it. Meanwhile, in addition to being on the festival committee (which he volunteered for even before Hinami assigned it to him), Tomozaki is getting into social media! Yes, he has an Instagram account now, and his job is to fill it with specific photos Hinami asks him to get. This, of course, involves him getting into situations where he can easily get those photos… some more easily than others. It’s a good lesson for Tomozaki, who needs to be reminded “this is what normal teens do, and I am a normal teen”. Meanwhile, he reads Kikuchi’s stories… and suddenly knows that they should do for the festival. A play, written by her.

The whole book is filled with great scenes (as you can see by my devoting two paragraphs to a summary of it), but two particularly stand out to me. The first is when Hinami talks to him about which girls he likes, and says the idea of “I must only love one woman and be steadfast and true” is, to put it bluntly, virgin thinking. Real life is not like manga and anime (or even light novels), and high school romance does not have to be a deep commitment. Given how earnest Tomozaki is in general, I’m not sure how much he’ll take this to heart, but hey. The other scene is near the end, after Tomozaki has gone with Mizusawa to Tsugumi’s school’s festival, with Mizusawa taking on the role of teacher this time. As with Hinami, he points out that dating someone else does not have to be a OTP commitment. But after Tomozaki gets confessed to, and tries to do his usual “but I’m just a loser” waffling, Mizusawa tears him apart, pointing out (accurately) how rude that is to the girl who likes him. I actually cheered.

We may have a long wait to resolve the cliffhanger of Tomozaki responding to this confession – the next volume is a short story collection. But honestly, I think the reader can intuit the way that it’s going to go anyway. In any case, light novel readers, particularly ones who enjoyed the anime, will love this.

By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

As I write this review, the Tomozaki anime is about to start, and I am very curious to see how it does, given how much of this series is just dialogue with very little action. It’s about two gamers, and at times reads a lot like you’re reading their gaming log, particularly when characters get together to try to decide how to fix things. On the bright side, Tomozaki has improved by leaps and bounds, and there is very little “normie” chatter here. He barely feels like Hachiman at all now. That said, he is somewhat humbled when he tries to apply the same lessons he, a shy cynical introvert, learned over months to Tama-chan, who is merely very serious and dedicated, and when she tries his helpful hints, she improves far faster than he ever did. That said, the true star here is probably Kikuchi, who starts high above everyone else and just soars ever higher. It’s a shame girls like her are never the lead.

Hinami is the lead, but… let’s save her for later, OK? A good 3/4 of this book is a lot of fun. Tomozaki tries to help Tama-chan by helping her change herself so that she’s more open and likeable to her classmates, which would defuse some of the tension caused by Konno’s bullying. Part of that is simply not fighting back constantly (It’s noted that Tama-chan is basically “attack, attack, attack” in terms of game metaphors), but also to try and have her fit in with banter, conversation, and self-deprecating jokes. There’s a great moment when everyone realizes that Tama-chan does not really care much about the rest of her class, and I enjoy that it’s seen as a flaw but she’s not shamed for it. He also bonds with Kikuchi, brought in as a conversation partner for Tama-chan, and I think he is beginning to realize he likes her as more than a friend.

That said, this is not helping with the basic issue, which is Konno. Except it isn’t, because in the back quarter of the book, we realize that Hinami has taken this far more to heart than Tomozaki or anyone else had expected, and she proceeds to wreak an absolutely epic r3evenge that almost destroys Konno. (It does not completely destroy her, and thank god for Tama-chan coming in at the end, or else this book would be even darker than it already is.) The book ends up being about Hinami, whose “mask”, as it turns out, is pretty obvious to most of the rest of the class, particularly Tama-chan, who feels responsible for Hinami having to go as far as she did. Notably, aside from one or two brief meetings, Hinami and Tomozaki barely interact here. I imagine readers ended up being pretty unnerved.

That said, I have to agree with Tomozaki: I desperately want to know more about the real Aoi Hinami, and she’s still my favorite reason to read this book, as I find her fascinating. (As for who Tomozaki should date, well, let’s leave that for now.) For a series that started off as “what if My Youth Romantic Comedy but milder”, it’s really started to come into its own. I can see why it got the anime.