By Heiseiowari and Noy. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Saikyou Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life wo Tanoshimimasu” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alex Castor.

I was talking online about how comfy and relaxing I found this series, and someone pointed out some quotes I made while reading the first book that talked about how tired and cliched it was. And of course both things are correct. There’s nothing here that’s going to make you say “wow, that’s something I’ve never seen before” or “didn’t expect them to react like that!”. But it’s like a nice meat and potato stew in the middle of winter. There’s meat. There’s potatoes. There’s carrots. And that’s about it. You don’t really want much else. We’ve got lots of Arata and Reina being married in all but name but still too shy to do anything about it. They’re raising their adopted daughter, adopted niece, and girl who’s still a bit too loli to get into the harem sweepstakes but she’s working on it. And, of course, we have today’s cover star, the blonde vampire who is hundreds of years old. She’s exactly what you think as well. Thank goodness.

It is pointed out to Arata that while he visited the dragonfolk village, he hasn’t yet visited the ogrefolk village, so he and the rest of his family decide to do just that. There they find that it’s essentially a Japanese hot springs town, and the ogre vibe is so “Japan” that Arata is somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing. He meets Sakuya, the sister of the ogre he met in previous books, and thankfully she’s not falling for him – though she does help accidentally facilitate the big fanservice scene of the book. A problem comes up, though, when Luna, who is hitting puberty but still can’t remember her ancestor (the trigger for it in this series), winds up possessed, then dying, then back to normal but occasionally possessed again. And then there’s Mina, who’s spent three volumes tormenting our main couple but it’s been hiding her true desires – and Arata wants to give them to her.

There’s some nice backstory for Mina here, which doesn’t tell us anything we hadn’t guessed but does help to set up the big problem. Arata’s wish is to have everyone on the island gather together in peace for a big banquet. Mina is a vampire who wants a really, really really good fight, so that she can finally die. These two are fundamentally incompatible, but this is basically a shonen series, so the outcome of their fight should not surprise you. Honestly, as blonde vampires go, Mina is on the nicer side all round, though Arata and Reina may disagree after she tries to seduce Arata in Reina’s body… and we’re told that she does the same for Reina in Arata’s body. I like to think of that as Mina being a stand in for the reader, who wants to knock their heads together and say “You two need to fuck”. As for the rest of the book, it’s cute. It’s relaxing. It’s uneventful, mostly.

That said, a large number of additional cast may hit in the next volume. We’ll see if that stirs the pot any. Till then, I’ve come to like this quite a bit.

By Heiseiowari and Noy. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Saikyou Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life wo Tanoshimimasu” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alex Castor.

This is a slow-life series that has things happening, but it can be a bit difficult to review as, due to its nature, deep character development is just not on the table. The closest Arata gets to it are his struggles to fight back against everyone judging him by his god-like powers and insisting he’s human, and even he is half-hearted about it. There is a more interesting plot happening… away from the island, where the hero’s team are still being hunted by the Church as heretics. This means that they’re being hunted by two Celestial Archmages, who are ludicrously powerful… till they do another summoning, and pull not Arata this time, but Reina and Zelos, who are suddenly in front of their former allies. The interesting bit is they’ve lived with Arata and the other OP folks on the island so long that they’ve also gotten much stronger than anyone else, to the point where they can easily fight off colleagues who used to beat the stuffing out of them before. It pays to be around Arata!

Arata and Reina are headed to the Alfin village where Katima lives, there to meet up with her Village Elder and mostly have fun at Katima’s expense. While there it is revealed that the Great Spirits that normally watch over the village have been absent for a while, so Arata and Katima go searching for them.. and find that the Great Spirits are, unsurprisingly, a lot like humans, which is to say that two of them are having a “man’s battle” while the third has locked them in a sphere to shut them up. It turns out they’re fighting over who gets to raise the new Great Spirit who’s just been born… but when Arata, with all his power, interrupts, the Great Spirit ends up choosing him as her new “Daddy”. Now he’s raising Snow, the Great Spirit, along with her “mommy” Reina. The trouble is, Snow is having a bit of trouble controlling her ice powers…

The main reason to read this series remains the still adorable, still virginal romance between Arata and Reina. Indeed, it’s astonishing to everyone except Arata and Reina that they’re not already lovers. Every time they talk to each other the folks around them complain about the flirting. It also goes without saying that when they’ve got to take care of Snow, who calls them Mommy and Daddy for good reason, they become the perfect parents. There’s even the obligatory “we’re finally giving in to our feelings and leaning in for a kiss when we’re interrupted because this book has seven volumes to go till the wedding” scene. That said, I’m pretty sure we’re getting him more than one wife in this series. It’s hinted heavily that polyamory is OK, and Tailtiu has made it very clear she’s not going to be an unlucky anything. But the thrust of the goopy romance is still these two.

Island stuff is all well and good, but I do hope we dovetail back with the main world again soon, as that adds a bit of spice to this otherwise very relaxing series.

By Heiseiowari and Noy. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Saikyou Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life wo Tanoshimimasu” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alex Castor.

The general theme of this book seems to be that everyone has a certain amount of stress in their lives, and that the best way to get rid of it is to totally relax in a place where your work can’t get to you. The two mages who were sent to check on Reina, and don’t really like her much, by the end of the book are just another part of the extended family being built up here. Of course, it helps when everyone on the island is so ludicrously powerful that there’s no point in stressing – you’ll just die if you don’t relax. Above everyone else is Arata, who gets annoyed every time someone implies he’s not human but by the end of the book is starting to get why they say it. As far as we can tell so far, he’s literally omnipotent. Even the vampire, who is able to take anyone else out no trouble, has issues dealing with him. He is OP Guy personified.

Arata and Reina have gotten completely settled in on this island (and are essentially acting like husband and wife, though his cluelessness and her shyness means they’re not really going much further than “we’re really good friends”). They’re also getting new visitors: as I noted above, two of Reina’s fellow mages wind up washed ashore on the island, and are quickly forced to get used to what life is like here. (Notably, they both specialize in an element and are jealous Reina can use all of them, while she’s jealous they’re really strong in one of them, calling herself a jack-of-all-trades.) We also meet the ancient dragons and ogres… or at least their teenage versions, who are fighting for supremacy but refuse to let Tailtiu join… not because she’s a girl, but because she’s too strong.

There’s a glorious scene midway through the book where, I thought at first, Arata had been yeeted to a completely different light novel to solve their problem and then yeeted right back. As it turns out that’s not true – while the Saint and the Hero were trying to summon someone to solve their problem, they exist in this world as well, and as it turns out Arata can solve the killer dragon problem but can’t help with church politics. I get the feeling we’ll see them again. I’m also not sure if this series is going to go polyamory, and if it does how many wives Arata will get. Reina is a given, of course, but Tailtiu, who is currently in the “little sister” role, does not look as if she’s prepared to stay there, especially as, once again, Arata solves all her personal issues by punching a few people till they understand. That said, give his “no, no, mustn’t have sexual thoughts about anybody” attitude, I doubt I need to worry for a while.

This is sort of a slow life series, even if the life is hanging around on what is basically the island where the gods live. I enjoy it.