By MOJIKAKIYA and toi8. Released in Japan as “Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

I admit that I got really happy when I saw the 30-page section at the end of this book. No, not the color art gallery, though that was fine if you like that sort of thing. But the definition of a short story collection like this, one that is almost entirely made up of stories that were “bookstore exclusives” from various stores, is that they do not give anything for a reviewer to grab hold of. They can’t affect the main plot, they can’t really change anyone, they’re only there to be spice. The short stories in this book take place over the entire timeline, though Bel as a youth gets the least time, as those flashbacks were in the main story. Lots of Ange as a kid. Some good ones of Ange as a newbie adventurer, which I enjoyed. A lot of “boy, found family sure is great” stuff. Fortunately, there’s also the author discussing the creation of the work.

OK, there is a little more to talk about with the short stories. I did enjoy the one or two we got for Charlotte, who started off as an antagonist but very quickly stepped into the big sister for Bel’s new child role. Here we see that she’s constantly thinking of what she did and the people whose deaths she’s responsible for, and asks herself if she deserves to be happy. In addition to Ange’s early adventuring, I also enjoyed seeing the early life of Anessa and Miriam a bit more, and Miriam’s story where we see how her apprenticeship started with Maria is great. Maria is the sort who can’t show affection normally, so would only open up to someone not willing to put up with all her bullshit anymore. I also liked seeing a lonely and sullen Marguerite, who misses everyone and is depressed in Orphen but can’t stop telling herself “this is fine:.

But the final textual part of the book is a long section where the author talks about the creation of the work and what went into it, and I wish more authors did this sort of thing (or at least had it translated over here). Unsurprisingly, this was meant to be a one-volume series, and Angeline’s backstory was not meant to be anything other than “child found in the woods”, but when you’re trying to expand a plot you need to think of things to expand. I also really appreciated that the author’s first and most important rule was “no incest”, especially after seeing so many “dad raises an adopted daughter” series fail to clear that low bar. The author also discusses having to write things in later books to help explain the plot holes from previous books readers on the webnovel site pointed out – the obvious one being the state of the guilds, and how to fix it.

So obviously, for fans only, but fans should enjoy it. Just be ready for a lot of stories that are “Bel and young Ange fish” or “Bel gets a cold” and other store exclusive type things.

By MOJIKAKIYA and toi8. Released in Japan as “Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Last time I said that Book 10 felt like an epilogue, and technically this one should as well. The first 3/4 of it or so is basically everyone being chill. Ange and the others in her party are in the city, but they’re coming to visit in the fall at last, after trying several times. Meanwhile, Belgrieve has settled down with Satie and is busy trying to learn how to start a new dungeon and become a guildmaster, leaving the caring of his many adopted children to Charlotte and Byaku, the oldest of said children. There’s lots of loving descriptions of the seasons, or people watching, or reflecting on the passing of time, which we’re used to. There is one slight issue. Ishmael shows up again to greet Angeline, and unfortunately the reader is the only one who knows who he really is. So really this entire volume is being a little frustrated at all the chill and wanting to shout “hey, he’s the bad guy!” at the characters.

So yeah, Angeline is fine until she meets Ishmael, who is carrying around, for some reason, a small part of a branch from an apple tree. Touching this starts to give Ange terrible nightmares which she can’t remember afterward, but which we see some of: they’re showing how awful life was for Percival, Kasim and Satie after their party broke up, and also the occasional flashback to the same scene we’ve seen since the start of the series, a demon eating Belgrieve’s leg and destroying his adventuring career. All these nightmares are causing Ange to be exhausted when awake, and her skills are suffering. So, at the suggestion of not-at-all-secretly-evil Ishmael, they all pile in and head off to Turnera for the fall festival. Unfortunately, when there, Ishmael throws off his (very good) Scooby Doo disguise to reveal he’s Schwartz, and that all this is part of his master plan, which requires Ange to be completely, 100% broken.

Despite begging from some folks, I’m not going to reveal the big twist in this book which made me swear on Twitter. I will note that it’s not Bunny Drop, it’s a normal twist that fits in well with the book as a whole, and Ange and Bel remain daddy-daughter in the good way. But I like how it made sense. We know Ange is a demonic creation, as does she and the rest of her party, but since she’s human presenting and also a really good kid, no one really stops to think when she begins to be sick, get depressed or have nightmares “hhhrrrm, I wonder if this is due to our missing bad guy?”. And why should they? Last volume was an epilogue with a wedding! But it makes the surprise hit harder, and gives Ange and Bel an even stronger connection – for good and ill, obviously. As for the actual end of the series, it’s pretty open-ended, and we could see more if sales permit, but finally ALL the main plot points are wrapped up, so ending here is just fine.

In the end, this is a very enjoyable, fun series with a bit of dark drama in the middle and end to keep things interesting, and I also appreciate that it gives us a series with an adopted daughter being raised by her father figure that STAYS that way. Fantasy fans, or anyone who liked the anime, should read this.

By MOJIKAKIYA and toi8. Released in Japan as “Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

As I write this, we’re a little under halfway through the anime version of this series, which is quite enjoyable provided you don’t mid that it has the animation budget of one peanut. It’s clearly an advertisement for the books, which just wrapped up in Japan. Unfortunately, despite my saying in my review of 9 that 10 is the last, it turns out that I am wrong, and there’s another book on the way. That said, this definitely has the feeling of an epilogue, and I think that’s fine. Yes, one of the bad guys got away, but honestly I’m OK with ignoring him for now and concentrating entirely on everyone going back to Bel’s hometown and settling into in their new huge mansion to match all the daughters that Bel has accumulated throughout this series. And, of course, his new wife. As for Ange, well, she’s had a lot of dad lately, and believe it or not does love being an adventurer more, so she’s headed back to Orphen, with one extra team member.

We’re back in Turnera! There are lots of kids to play around with and train to hunt and fish. There’s Belgrieve and Satie, who are now married but honestly seem far too comfortable and passionless for others in their group, so a secret second wedding is decided on so we get a real love confession. And then there’s Mit. His mana is still an issue, and the best way to deal with it is to build a dungeon that uses the excess mana to spawn fiends that can then be killed by adventurers. Of course, the question is where to put a freshly built dungeon? Should it be Orphen, which has the guild and is used to this sort of thing? Or Bordeaux, which has been growing rapidly but could use a dungeon to become a city unto its own. Or… should it be Turnera? Can we really turn Bel’s sleepy village into a dungeon tourism industry?

There were some moments in this I really liked. I appreciated that it took Helvetica’s crush on Belgrieve seriously, and also that it was not something that she could just give up on when seeing Bel and Satie being all mild and sedate at each other. (Satie spends a lot of this book acting like a standard housewife, but given the last twenty years of her life before this, I’d say she’s due.) They needed to overtly love each other to make it easier for her to back off. I also liked Angelica telling Maria about her own demonic heritage. She’s not only come to terms with it, but is OK with being used as a guinea pig if it will mean helping to solve the problem. Though Maria doesn’t really believe her. There’s also a great short story at the end showing us how Angeline, Anessa and Miriam first teamed up, and how incredibly awkwardly things started off. It was sweet.

This series runs on good vibes, and if we get more of those in the finale, I’m find with it.