By Washiro Fujiki and Heiro. Released in Japan as “Eiyū to Kenja no Tensei Kon: Katsute no Kōtekishu to Konyaku Shite Saikyō Fūfu ni Narimashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Joey Antonio.

I regret to tell you that this series has become difficult to write about. Oh, it’s still good. I quite enjoyed this volume, and will read more. It’s sometimes funny, the OP-ness isn’t ludicrous (unless it’s because it’s funny), and the characters are all interesting and not annoying (except that one guy, and he’s now comedy relief). But aside from one plot point, which I’m saving for later in the review so it’s not just 500 words of me whining, there’s nothing here to jabber on about. I suppose I can talk about how this is an overpowered protagonist fantasy that is not meant to really have the reader identify with it. Raid is not just “potato with a +infinity sword”, and Eluria is his co-star rather than just love interest. The climax of the book is not “oh my God, how will our two heroes possibly defeat this thing that is beyond their abilities”, it is “wow, a monster so powerful that they don’t have to be told to hold back and can go all out”.

It’s time to prepare for exams! …well, for everyone except our lead couple, who are going to take the time to investigate the ruins of Raid’s old country. Everyone ends up at the water resort city of Palmare, where Raid and Eluria put their friends, rival, and rival’s maid and butler through some awful torture… pardon me, I meant excellent training. They then meet up with two sorcerers – note the different magic terminology – from the nearby country of Legnare. They are also powerhouses, and consist of Totori (young-looking girl who’s actually over 100, has cat ears) and Savad (her husband, seemingly normal but we’ll find out that’s not true). The four of them, plus Alma (who admits in text she’s a fifth wheel, and she’s right) are off to investigate Raid’s old country… and there they find it’s not as abandoned as previously thought.

The interesting bits in this book (an d again, I enjoyed the book, it’s just the first 2/3 are froth I can’t analyze) are right near the end. Last time I theorized that we might be seeing a child from the future plot going on, and that turns out to… sort of be true, but not remotely in the way I thought it would be. The cliffhanger ending, which I will try not to spoil is also another good example of this series taking a seemingly silly, comedy character (see Millis, for example) and then showing off their depth (as in Millis), or showing off that it’s all a front. As for the love comedy part of the series, aside from the running gag of the flirting, I did like how, at one point where Eluria appears to be having a genuine crisis, Raid steps in immediately and diffuses it in ten seconds. In any other series, these two already having had all their character development before the plot begins might be tedious. Here I think it’s the point.

So: good stuff, cute couple. They like to fight. Their relationship even progresses here. The next book should develop the future/past/present time travel stuff a bit more, but I think it will end up being cute flirting 60% of the time.

By Washiro Fujiki and Heiro. Released in Japan as “Eiyū to Kenja no Tensei Kon: Katsute no Kōtekishu to Konyaku Shite Saikyō Fūfu ni Narimashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Joey Antonio.

It can be very difficult to combine comedic stuff with serious stuff in the same series, and frequently the balance is off in some way or another. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by this second volume of Hero and Sage, which I enjoyed more than the first. For the most part this is content to show our lead couple being ridiculously flirty and at ease with each other, and it’s also not afraid to go full on silly with scenes such as Kristia, the nation’s princess and Eluria’s childhood friend, forcing Raid to participate in a game show to determine who loves her best. But it also has a serious core, as the two of them are trying to work out why she died in the past and who is trying to kill her in the present. And then there’s the entire subplot with Lufus, which is almost all serious and made me wonder if this fluffy series might actually kill a cute kid off.

After the events of the first book, The Magicians’ Association really, really want to expel Raid, but can’t find a good enough reason to, so he is neither rewarded not punished. That said, there are exams coming up, and they will make sure to make them extra impossible for him to do. In the meantime, those exams will happen with the rest of their core team… including Fareg, whose flunkies are still on medical leave, so he needs to be part of their group. They also meet Lufus, the young redhead who was briefly seen in the first book. She’s very proud of her skysteel dragon, Lafika, but more importantly, she can apparently summon four Guardian dragons, which is very unusual. In fact, a bit too unusual. And when Raid and Eluria discover Lufus’ mother is Very Disappointed with her, they realize that things may be more dangerous and potentially tragic than they expected.

I mentioned in my review of the first book that Eluria’s new best friend Millis is comic relief – she even calls herself comic relief – so I was relieved to see that, appropriately, that’s not ALL she is. When she busts out her inscribing skills halfway through the book I was waiting for the punchline, but no, it’s just something that a lot of college kids have dealt with: just because you’re fantastic at something doesn’t mean you want it to be your career. Millis wants to be a magician. And from what we see in the exam, she’s very good at it (after having the crap beaten out of her by Raid and Eluria as part of training). Likewise, Kristia is introduced as a big goofy joke, which lasts just long enough to be funny and then is replaced with an interesting revelation and also shows us how much of this is a deliberate act. This is what I meant by the comedy and drama being well balanced.

The cliffhanger is 100% making me thing “child from the future”, but that’s the third book’s problem. In the meantime, this book is fun and cute – mostly.

By Washiro Fujiki and Heiro. Released in Japan as “Eiyū to Kenja no Tensei Kon: Katsute no Kōtekishu to Konyaku Shite Saikyō Fūfu ni Narimashita” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Joey Antonio.

So, I have good news and bad news about this title. Let’s start with the bad news, as I suspect that a lot of you were suspect some really good AO3-style Enemies to Lovers with this book, based on the title and premise. And, I mean, before reincarnation, they were on opposing sides in a war and really loved to fight each other. But “enemies” is the wrong word, as both of them turn out to be kind people who always end up making the battle all about them in order to minimize casualties for everyone around them. They’re secretly sweetie pies. And once they’ve been reincarnated, there’s no awkward reunions or tsundere denial in sight. They’re both on the same side now, they can (well, with a few conditions – see below) fight each other, and they can be utterly goddamn adorable and ludicrously badass. That’s the audience that this book is for. OP Sweethearts to OP sweethearts.

Years and years ago, the hero Raid Freeden and the sage Eluria Caldwin fought each other for ages, both equally matched – he with his ludicrous strength, her with her incredible elven magic. Then one day he hears that Eluria has died. In sheer disbelief that anything could kill her (she was young for an elf), he runs straight into their country, taking multiple mortal wounds, just to arrive at her coffin, confirm her death, and then pass away himself. Now it’s centuries later and everyone can use magic… everyone, that is, except Raid Fredeen, commoner in a small village, who ends up breaking magical devices when he touches them. Then, when he’s about 16 years old, Eluria (now a human) shows up at his village. Like him, she was reborn with all her old memories, and she’s spent over a decade searching the country to try to find him. Sure, his lack of magic means he’s a second-class citizen. But she’ll do anything to make sure they can fight each other again… even get engaged!

This is cute and fun, and that’s all it’s trying to be. Don’t expect amazing plot twists here. The plot is basically that it’s unclear how Eluria, who was perfectly healthy, suddenly died in the past, why they were reincarnated with all their memories, and if someone is behind that. But we’re reading it for Eluria being so “floaty” when she’s half-asleep that she hangs all over her new fiance, and Raideen being cool and suave. We get the standard one (1) male friend, with glasses and a fondness for magical support equipment; one (1) female friend who’s also from the country and is mostly there to be comic relief, and one (1) obnoxious noble who thinks he’s better than everyone and needs to have reality beaten into him. Fortunately, this is a noble who learns his lesson pretty fast and actually *is* competent, which already ;puts this over other cliched magical academy books.

Most modern light novels let you know if you’ll like it or not by the cover art and premise. If you like cute, fluffy romance between two people who could kill you a million times over, this is right up your street.