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Sasaki and Peeps: The Gang Heads to School and Ends Up in a Friendly Little Romcom ~Who Will Get Their Hands on True Love?~

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By Buncololi and Kantoku. Released in Japan as “Sasaki to Pi-chan” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

(This review discusses the dialogue in Sasaki and Peeps 8, which uses several sexual slang terms, and I mention them towards the end. Be warned.)

This is my own fault, I suppose. Last time I suggested that the middle part of the volume was a bit boring, and I said that Sasaki and Peeps was at its best when it was ridiculous rather than down to earth. Given this volume takes place at Kurosu’s school, I was perhaps not overly optimistic. Oh, foolish past me! This is easily the most off-the-rails volume of the series to date. I’ve also talked before about how the series is a harem series that doesn’t really have its lead be interested in anyone, and that’s done away with here as well. Sasaki manages to have a libido. When you add to this horny middle school students, numerous people being paid or threatened to act as “honey traps”, and a truth serum that also doubles as an aphrodisiac, and you have all sorts of no. On the bright side, at least for me, this volume is easily the shippiest he’s gotten with Futarishizuka, who, in age and compatibility, is Best Girl.

Type Twelve wants to experience school life so she can learn about humanity – and, in particular, she wants to learn about love. So they fake her family register, change her name to Twelve Sasaki, and she transfers into Kurosu’s school. Along with Sasaki, her new math teacher. And Futarishizuka, her new English teacher. And two of the other new teachers are Mason and Inukai, the ones working with the magical girl. Oh yes, and the magical girl they’re working with also transfers in. Naturally, with so many World’s Most Wanted girls in one location, every single enemy sends their minions to kidnap Twelve, kidnap Kurosu, kill Sasaki, etc. And that’s not even counting the pink magical girl, who as always, wants to kill all psychics.

There’s quite a bit of death and gore in this book, mostly due to the magical girl, who is here to kill psychics and chew bubblegum and she’s all out of bubblegum. the final scene with her and Futarishizuka is actually very sweet, and possibly the nicest Futarishizuka has ever been. Kurosu, aka neighbor girl, also gets a much larger role than usual, though for once she’s too busy being the straight man (and tsundere, as Twelve correctly notes) to try to get into Sasaki’s pants much. Unlike many other women in this series, who are trying to seduce him for money, because their parents are being threatened, or because all their inhibitions are down. And then there’s Type Twelve, who is the reason that I think this book needs a bit more of a content warning than other books. She’s trying to figure out human love, and is very good at making boys her “simps” – but when she gets an actual confession, and uses truth serum to verify it, things go bad fast – and we find out that Kurosu’s classroom is a hotbed of sexually active teens. In addition to simp, ‘fuckboy’ is used here, and there’s also mentions of spanking and anal sex, though only in conversation, not in actual content. Basically, teens are horny and awful.

Fortunately, this seems to have stopped Twelve wanting to learn what gangbangs are (oh yes, that’s mentioned as well). She now wants to drop out of school. Where to next? We shall see. Honestly, I would not mind going back to isekai world for a while, which seems a bit less unhinged. Till then, boy, this will be fun if ever animated.

If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love ~ She Was All But Disowned for Her Spirit Contract, But She’s Still Competing with Her Rival ~, Vol. 3

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By Harunadon and Yomi Sarachi. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijō to Akuyaku Reisoku ga, Deatte Koi ni Ochitanara: Nanashi no Seirei to Keiyaku Shite Oidasareta Reijō wa, Kyō mo Reisoku to Kisoiatte Iru Yō Desu” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund.

So-called Villainess books have glutted the market over the last three to four years, and I have seen a few folks saying that it’s just the female-narrated version of the isekai. But of course the two genres have very different goals. Isekai is, at heart, wish fulfillment. I have the coolest powers, I get a harem of girls, I battle the demon lord, etc. Villainess books, on the other hand, start out in much the same place as a lot of isekai – my life is wretched and everyone hates me – but the best examples of the genre dig deeper into the terrible life. I’ve come to terms with the fact that this series is never one I’m going to read for the cute romance, and I don’t think the author cares much about it either. This book is about seeing a survivor of abuse take control of her own destiny and confront her demons.

We left off last volume with her father’s ultimatum, telling her to come back to the main house or… well, we’re not sure, but Brigitte assumes it means “or I will disown you”. In the meantime, there’s a dance coming up, which she and Yuri agree to go to together after a lot of awkward faffing about. We also meet her brother Roze, who was adopted into the family after Brigitte’s disastrous spirit reading, and who seems to really like Brigitte a lot… possibly in a Keith Claes way, if you know what I mean. Yuri certainly does, and he’s unhappy. Unfortunately, Roze also tells Brigitte that their mother has disappeared, and Brigitte, still wrestling with what to do about that ultimatum, decides to help try to find her. What follows is basically all the dark secrets of the past revealed.

The author has also written Even a Replica Can Fall in Love, which I just reviewed the other day, and I have to say, they’re really good at writing trauma. It’s not much of a surprise to find that dad’s ultimatum is not “come back or be disowned”, it’s “come back and give me your phoenix, you ungrateful child”. Worse revelations are to come, too. But it’s a testament to Brigitte’s determination and resolve that she’s able to stand up and fight back… though the help of Yuri and her friends to make this a lot more final than anyone really intended also helps. The romance is pretty cute, too.

Honestly, this works perfectly well as an ending to the series, and I wondered if it was. But there is a suggestion that we still have further to go, as Brigitte worries that once the knowledge of her phoenix gets out, everyone will be coming after her. Likely that’s where this is going in future books. Till then, come for the cuteness, stay for the angst and schadenfreude.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!: Short Story Collection, Vol. 2

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

The main series may have ended, but there are still stories to be told. Especially given this is one of TO Books’ best-selling juggernauts. As with the first collection, this contains extra short stories that were online exclusives, bookstore exclusives, or otherwise not collected with the short stories that follow Rozemyne’s narration in the main series. The stories run the gamut, timeline-wise, from the start of Part 2 to midway through Part 5… yes, that’s medium-sized Rozemyne on the cover, we’ll have to wait till the third volume (just out in Japan last month) for the post-growth glow-up stories. Unlike last time, this does give us a brief story from Rozemyne’s POV, as she discusses Ferdinand with his old attendant. For the most part, though, this is from the POV of others, and it helps to establish one of the things we’ve learned most from the side stories: thanks to rumors, hearsay, and general eccentricity, Ehrenfest is seen by others as deeply untrustworthy.

Among the many stories in this volume, we get two from the POV of Brunhilde, which take place very early in her career at Rozemyne’s attendant, and show us how difficult she found it to understand her at first, and how ignorant of noble customs Rozemyne is. We get Raimund’s backstory, which reads exactly like it is, as a bullied nerd finally finding a place for himself among other nerds. Florencia watches and makes occasional observations as Elvira and company accidentally invent genderbend fanfics. Tuuli realizes, thanks to Karin and Lutz, that’s she’s fallen for Benno, and the realization crushes her as she knows it will never happen. Justus reminisces about a time in the past when Ferdinand going to Ahrensbach was what everyone dreamed of. Barthold is very, very angry that people are trying to stop his treason. And Lutz and Tuuli have one of the least romantic engagements ever.

That last one should not surprise anyone who’s read the main series, where its main romance is remarkable for its lack of sexual charge. Rozemyne and Ferdinand both tend towards the asexual, though not aromantic, and Eckhart and Angelica’s on-again off-again engagement is mostly of interest to them because it means they can keep beating people up when needed. Sylvester and Florencia are very much NOT the norm. And so we see here. Tuuli is harboring a crush on Benno, but there are 87 reasons why that’s not realistic. She’s also busy with work all the time, and thus unlikely to meet any better options. Lutz is exactly the same. The two of them agree to get engaged quickly, but that’s less “we realized our feelings for each other” and more “we want to prevent Tuuli, who still lives on the wrong side of the tracks, from getting abducted by creeps”. It’s not remotely romantic, but it makes sense. And that’s good enough in this world.

As I said above, there’s a third short story book that just came out. But before we get that, we’ll get the first in the spinoff series, featuring Hannelore, who will be a very different narrator from Rozemyne, I expect. Till then, this is a good selection of stories.