Category Archives: reviews

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 9

Leave a reply

By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

Even if I hadn’t already seen the news that the next volume is the final one, the fact that the book starts with Sara and Allen finally being a couple and dating would probably have made me think it anyway. The author does not seem to be the sort who enjoys focusing on romance, as we saw with Nelly and Chris and as we see here. Allen and Sara’s first date is exactly the same as their normal work, going dungeon crawling. Allen needs a checklist on how to do a normal date like a normal person. It’s very funny, but it also underlines once again that our core cast are not normal people, and Sara may be the worst of them due to where she landed when isekai’d. The best joke in the book has her being asked to take a class on common sense, because she doesn’t have enough of it – and she has to ruefully agree.

Sara is eighteen now, has settled into her job, and is now dating Allen, though that mostly seems to involve them acting exactly as they always have. They’re not staying long in their current digs, though, as they get a request to take Ann, the Invited we met a few volumes back, to the Capital so that she can become a knight, which is the career that she’s decided on. This will likely take a while, meaning Sara and Nelly have a tearful goodbye for now. On the journey there, they’re interrupted by some cotton sheep, which like all cute-sounding animals in this world are actually vicious monsters. Fortunately, the sheep end up going north of our heroes’ destination. Once at the capital, Sara reunites with old friends and former enemies who she can now grudgingly get along with, and that’s probably for the best, as it turns out the cotton sheep have turned again and are heading straight for the city.

There’s one point in the story where everyone finds out they now have “nicknames” that almost read as titles, and I was rather startled at “Allen the Hero”, till I remembered the whole giant turtle thing and went “oh yeah, guess he is”. In fact, every single one of the Invited, as expected, are fast becoming legendary, as are the folks who hang around them. Kuntz is tricked by his brother into helping to train his fellow rookie hunters, and the training, which ropes in the rest of the group, ends up showing everyone in the city why the Invited are so different – their imaginations and otherworld experience means they can simply think of magic and powers differently. This is why in the past they’d been essentially forced to do whatever the kingdom wanted, and the big thematic climax of this book is not the final fight against the sheep, it’s the fact that Liam a) offers a plan that does not require them, and then b) politely asks if they have any other ideas. He too has come a long way.

Will this series end with babies ever after? Almost certainly not. Will it end with wolves? Almost certainly. Good heartwarming isekai.

I Like Villains, So I Reincarnated As One, Vol. 1

Leave a reply

By Kei Takano and kodamazon. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Suki no Ore, Oshi Character ni Tensei: Game Joban ni Shujinkou ni Korosareru Oshi ni Tenseishita node, Ore dake Shitteru Game Chishiki de Hametsu Flag wo Tsubushitara Akuyaku-tachi no Teiou ni Natteta Ken” by Dengeki no Shin Bungei. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Elliot Ryouga. Adapted by Gray Morrow.

It can be very hard to get past a lousy beginning. When this book began with our title character screaming “hell yeah, I’ve been reincarnated!” and then immediately shouting “Open Status” and getting a list of annoying stats, it dug itself a deep, deep hole. It didn’t help that the other main character is a young maid whose backstory we never learn but who is devoted to Weiss (the character our unnamed Japanese guy has become) to the death, and it was hard not to groan. Oh, there’s also an angry tsundere and a stoic nun who shows her cute side when around animals. This author writes tropes to order, and a quick glance at their other series suggests that, indeed, Seven Seas may have picked the best one. Alas.

Our unnamed hero, whose past consists of “I had a younger sister who was better than me at things”, is reincarnated into the body of Weiss, his favorite villain from a game he liked. Weiss also has an overachieving sister, who was made the heir rather than him, and he turned dissolute and evil as a result. Our guy loves that kind of tragic backstory, and this game is filled with them. Can he turn things around and save himself from an early grave, with the help of Rosalia, his overpowered maid who will do anything for him? (No, not that, the book is very PG-rated.) What’s more, can he save the other villains with really good tragic backstories, the “Evil Bloody Mistress” and the “Cruel False Saint”? And will they all fall in love with him?

By the end of the first book this rose to the level of adequate, though not enough for me to want to read more. Weiss (I have to use the name of the character) is the sort of person who loves a good Draco in Leather Pants – and he specifies they have to have a good tragic backstory and actual reasons for their behavior, when he meets a normal evil slave-owning trading bastard later he has no sympathy. Much as I dislike Rosalia’s over the top loyalty for no stated reason, she and Weiss do make a good team, and while she’d clearly do anything he asked, it’s also clear she seems to have some self-hatred issues that prevent any romance from getting further. Unfortunately, there’s one big reason this continues to not be very good – Weiss has no struggles whatsoever in getting overpowered fast. No, I do not count “passes out after using super cool magic” as a struggle, especially as he usually is caught by his maid. His game knowledge also makes helping defeat the narrative easy as pie. There’s one battle where he visibly struggles, against a literal god.

There are better OP harem romances out there, and indeed better “wow, I’m a villain” books as well.

Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 2

Leave a reply

By Gwon Gyeoeul and JINSA. Released in Japan by D&C Media. Released in North America by Ize Press. Translated by Kakao Entertainmnt.

This second volume does not really focus at all on our main character’s past life in Korea, choosing instead to focus exclusively on the “game” world and how Penelope can extricate herself from it without dying. Which makes this feel more like a traditional villainess book, and so therefore it’s much easier to read and more relaxing; on the other hand this does make it a bit more “the same old same old”, at least until the end. It’s been apparent from the start, but this book merely underlines it, that if she is going to clear a “love interest” and escape, the choice that will help her the most is in fact the crown prince, and that Eckles is not remotely the safest bet, but she still can’t quite see people as people rather than as stat counters, and so that revelation is probably going to take another book or so. In the meantime, at least she’s getting to do some archaeology. Though perhaps in a more Indiana Jones way than she’d like.

Penelope and her family are off to the massive hunting party being held by the royal family. Last year Penelope threw a huge fit, hopefully this year will go better. Though honestly, it’s not. She can’t take Eckles, who’s left back at the mansion to slowly turn more yandere by the day. Reynold is being a bit too tsundere, and Penelope doesn’t realize that’s what he is. Derrick simply cannot stop being an asshole no matter how he feels. Oh, and Callisto is there, and wants VERY much to continue their earlier conversation about love. And then there’s the ladies’ tea party, where she runs up against a group trying to get her to do a repeat performance from last year. Clearly it’s time to go hunting… assuming that she doesn’t get lost. Or run into giant bears. Or have to defend the prince from assassins…

The most telling part of the book comes after all of the hunting party and the chaos that follows, where Penelope has ended up restoring her reputation, and gotten her various love targets to fall for her enough… that the game decides she doesn’t need affection counters anymore, and she can only see them if she pays obscene amounts of money. Which, good news, she now has, but it also shows that she cannot stop seeing anyone as a real person here, and gets paranoid when she’s unable to work out how they feel about her. Which is a shame, because when she’s mostly winging it, such as in the first 2/3 of the book, where the game gives her a few basic opportunities but mostly she makes the right choices by simply making the right choices. This is especially true with Callisto, who is rapidly becoming the Final Love Interest whether she wants him to be or not, and I think they’d be good for each other if she can ever get away from gatcha life.

This is apparently 4 volumes + 1 After Story in total, so I suspect things will get really dark next time. Still, this remains a lot of fun, especially if you read the manwha (I haven’t) and enjoy text.