Category Archives: reviews

Looks Like a Job for a Maid! The Tales of a Dismissed Supermaid, Vol. 1

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By Yasuaki Mikami and Kinta. Released in Japan as “Maid nara Touzen desu. Nureginu wo Kiserareta Bannou Maid-san wa Tabi ni Deru Koto ni Shimashita” by Earth Star Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Sylvia Gallagher.

It’s always interesting to see how light novels deal with the age old problem of “my workplace is horrible and no one appreciates me”. Sometimes they just have the person die and end up in another world where they can get cool powers and women. But this is a J-Novel Heart title, despite an utter lack of romance, so instead we get something a bit more villainess-adjacent. Here we have the classic “I work and I slave but everyone abuses me except one or two people” plot, which inevitably begins with the protagonist being framed for something she didn’t do and thrown out. And indeed, that’s what happens. But guess what? When you leave a bad place of employment, sometimes it’s good for you! You can help others achieve their dream. You can show off your skills. And you can try to get a sense of who you are as a person besides your job. Nina has trouble with that last one.

Nina is a maid who can do anything, thanks to the harsh training of an unseen mentor. But sadly, the training did not include self-confidence, so when she’s framed for breaking an expensive vase, she has to leave without even a reference. Deciding to travel (she’s got money as she never spends anything on herself), she comes across a rookie magician who has the talent for Level 5 magic but can’t seem to access it; an inventor whose parents are famous but who seems to be stuck on that one final thing that will make her go down in history; and a beastgirl working in a mine who’s trying her best but finds all food in the area makes her sick. All three of them have their lives turned upside down by Nina, who is bad at doing things for herself, but when it comes to helping others, there’s literally nothing she cannot do.

This has a lot of fun aspects to it. Technically it’s an isekai, though Nina is not the one with memories from Japan. Emily and Astrid are nice and relatable, and once Nina solves their immediate problems they are determined to travel with her so that she stays out of trouble. Spoiler: she does not. All four of the young women in this book suffer to a degree from low self-esteem – for Emily and Astrid it’s because of their continued failures in their profession, and with Tien it’s due to starvation, but also the fact that her parents abandoned her and she doesn’t know why. Nina, though, is the toughest nut to crack, and I really love that Emily spots what Nina needs right now – a family. Nina needs to find a way to define herself that isn’t “maid”, and so far she just can’t do that. Honestly, I suspect given the narrative of the series she won’t be able to, but the effort to do so is the important part.

Upcoming books in the series make it sound a bit like Make My Abilities Average only with less work-obsessed orphans. (OK, there *is* a work-obsessed orphan in this, but she becomes one of the party.) If you love found family stories and don’t mind a maid who can solve any problem almost immediately, this is a great deal of fun.

The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World, Vol. 1

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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 another title I took a flyer on that surprised me. Well, I mean, relatively. There really isn’t a plot beat in this book that has not been carefully chosen to appeal to folks who like the familiar and cliched. At the start of the book, when our reincarnated hero gradually realizes he is in fact Superman, I was rolling my eyes a bit. It kept me going for about half the book by not really doing anything wrong (which is a low bar that many series fail to clear). I think it started to win me over around the time of the blond loli vampire – because of COURSE there’s a blonde loli vampire – who doesn’t drink blood but drinks tsundere instead. That is a really terrific joke. And as the book went on I realized that I just really liked the entire cast. They were nice folks. Just chilling on an island and not overworking themselves to death or dealing with workplace abuse. Gotta love it.

A Japanese salaryman working at a black company, Arata, finds he has died. You’d think it would be from overwork, but in reality he was accidentally killed by Aqua. (OK, it’s just a goddess who’s ditzy and kind of pathetic, but there’s nothing saying it’s NOT Aqua…) He’s burned out by dealing with people, so asks to be reincarnated on a remote island with “a healthy body”. What he gets is a near indestructible super body, as well as a cheat that lets him copy skills. What’s more, right after he arrives on the island he runs into a beautiful mage who’s washed up on the island searching for something, a happy young beastgirl and her gruff-but-kind adopted father, a dragongirl that falls for our hero at first punch, the aforementioned vampire, etc. Can this really be a slow life?

Though it does not get hot and heavy like Bladesmith did (it’s still platonic by the end of the volume), I was once again really won over by the relationship between the two leads in this book. As it turns out, Reina the mage is dealing with just as difficult a life as Arata had, and between the ludicrously hard training from her mentor and pressure from the kingdoms to marry into their family or else, she regards the island castaway life as a relief. She also finds that, unlike her old country where she was top mage dog and feared by all, here she’s the smallest fish in the pond. I joked about tsundere above, but that’s not really true, she’s just trying to deal with the fact that she’s been rescued by a handsome nice guy who can punch out top-tier monsters and also can learn magic much faster than she does. It’s no wonder by the end of the volume, they’ve built a house. With separate bedrooms, of course. For now. (They backtrack on that almost immediately, though it’s still platonic.)

The vibe for this book is friendly. Even the seeming antagonists end up being, at most, annoying teases. Turns out that a relaxing life among friends where you control your own destiny is therapeutic as hell.

This Gyaru’s Got a Thing for… Vampire Hunters?!, Vol. 2

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By Wasan Kurata and Kewi Hayashi. Released in Japan as “Vampire Hunter ni Yasashii Gal” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gwendolyn Warner.

This appears to be one of those rare series that is not based on an ongoing web novel, and the last volume (this one) came out in June of 2023, so I think we can assume this is the last one. It’s definitely open-ended, but not unsatisfying or anything. As it does seem to be the wrap up, though, I find myself asking once again: is this yuri? Last time I said it was the sort of series I’d call yuri in 2004-2005 or so. This second volume, I’d say, moves that forward a decade. Ruka says once more here that she’s not interested in dating guys right now. She thinks of her relationship with Ginka in very romantic terms. When a girl in the series says she has a confession to make, Ruka assumes it’s a love confession and gets flustered. And, of course, she decides to make it her life’s work to ensure that she and Ginka can be together forever. I mean, they don’t kiss, but come on.

After the events in the last book, all Ruka wants to do is spend the summer hanging out with her new bestie and showing her the fun side of life, and maybe also figuring out what she wants to do after graduation. Unfortunately Suela, a 13-year-old vampire hunter (who hero worships Ginka more than a little) arrives to say that after the fuss that just happened, she’s been assigned to monitor Ginka for a month. Still, that just means they get a cute Mexican vampire hunter to hang out with them! The beach is conquered, albeit with some difficulties. Final exams go OK. And Ruka even thinks she’s decided on her future career… though everyone she knows is against it. Unfortunately, Suela is trying to get Ginka to return and take control of what’s left of the falling apart vampire hunter organization. And she’s not the only one…

I think the thing I liked best in this book, aside from the relationship between Ruka and Ginka, is how it looks seriously at career paths and the dangers that are inherent in all of them. The dance club is being asked to collaborate with a popular influencer, but that involves investigating everything about both the influencer AND the company behind them, to make sure it will be safe for the club members. Ruka thinks she has what it takes to be an influencer, but is reminded how almost all of them fail to make any money or fame doing it, and that it will require a lot of fine details that Ruka normally glosses over. And the vampire hunters can’t figure out what to do with no vampires, especially give that they have no downtime and no hobbies. This all dovetails into Ruka once again rescuing everyone with the power of niceness and optimism, and her decision is very HER. And makes Ginka happy as well, even if she has trouble showing it.

This isn’t as lights-out terrific as the first volume, but it’s still a great deal of fun, and I love the two leads. If it ever gets a Book 3, I’ll be here for it.