Category Archives: reviews

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 20

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By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Tara Quinn. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

One of the very first things I observed about this series, back in the first volume, is that it gives its heroine a supporting cast and then replaces with with another, seemingly similar supporting cast. Now, as the series has gone on, we’ve found that this works fine: the Wonder Trio, for all that they came first, are basically three very similar girls who are “upper class”, “middle class”, and “lower class”. Reina, Mavis and Pauline have been given far more opportunity to show off they are more than just that and also they are lunatics. As is Mile. The Wonder Trio can be a bit eccentric, but compared to our main girls they are common sense personified. That said, now that they’re here, they can help develop the main cast, as they are nearly perfect at everything – and Reina and Pauline, as it turns out, are not.

Our two groups have settled into their new country, and are able to easily fend off merchants who are trying to lowball them on jobs. That said, there is an elephant in the room: Mile has her fantastic Storage Magic. Mavis can now also use it. The Wonder Trio has Inventory, which they are quietly pretending is Storage. But Reina and Pauline, since they’re not Nanomachined up, are struggling. Perhaps… the problem is how they’re being taught? After this, everyone decides to take a quick trip back home to check in on folks, only to find that when you’re the heroes who saved the world, a lot can happen in the little hometown you came from. This hits Reina especially hard.

This was a solid volume, with the usual good points and bad points (Mile once again tells us how AWESOME child labor is if you’re an orphan). I liked how the difference between Mile’s teaching (teaching magic as it’s learned here, trying to convey the power of imagination) and Mavis’ methods of teaching (we must use the power of EMOTION and FEAR to make your storage POWERFUL!) and, as it turns out, this is exactly what Reina needs. She gets the climax of the book, which has some wonderfully black comedy (what’s happened to her parent’s graves in the interim) and some triumphant power-ups (about to be murdered when trying to save a group of children being sold into slavery, she unlocks her inner storage through the power of not wanting to die), and you really feel great for her. Pauline also gets some nice development (quiet, you) as she realizes that maybe, with the Crimson Vow’s weird party makeup, she needs to learn how to direct a battle rather than be the support.

All this plus our heroines asking each other about marriage and gradually realizing that they’re all gay (no, not really, but yes, really). FUNA fans will have a ball.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: Invitation from Vivi

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By Keiichi Sigsawa and Kouhaku Kuroboshi, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

After fourteen volumes, it has not escaped my attention that the volumes of GGO that I enjoy the most are the ones that do not have the words “Squad Jam” in the title. Possibly it’s because of their one-off nature, possibly it’s due to them being a change of pace, and possibly it’s because the Squad Jams all tend to combine a VRMMO game with the most annoying aspects of reality TV where we’re all watching waiting to see when they figure out who the traitor is. So this volume was always going to be starting off well for me. It finished well, too – this may be my favorite volume of the series to date. There’s some really cool game battles, lots of ludicrous things happen to Llenn, everyone’s reasonably funny, and there’s even a surprise or two. This may be Keiichi Sigsawa’s vanity project, but since we’re never getting his main project (thanks, Tokyopop), I’m cool with seeing him work his chops here.

After the events of the last Squad Jam, our core cast are celebrating in a virtual karaoke room when they get a request from David, the leader of MMTM. Vivi, the leader of the machine gun squad XEMAL, has issued a challenge, and if David wins he’ll get to meet her in real life. The challenge doesn’t say that he can’t invite others, so of course he’s turned to our girls, who are reasonably happy to help him with his live life – after all, this is just a game, so if they lose badly, it doesn’t mean anything. Miyu, aka Fukaziroh, is especially excited for this – she’s lost time and again to Vivi in ALO, and thinks she has a good guess as to who she is in real life. That said, first they have to clear Vivi’s challenge… which ends up being nearly impossible. Fortunately, they have a Llenn.

I’ve always been a fan of Fukaziroh as comedy relief, and we get a lot of that here, but this is a really fantastic volume for her in general. She gets to do clever and explosive things during the challenge, and her guess as to Vivi’s identity is… well, it’s wrong, but it’s only wrong by a very little bit. (There is also the joke that she and one of the machine gun players share a name, and will get married in the future, which makes me wonder if Sigsawa has been sitting on that for ages or if he just realized he used the same last name twice and decided to make it into a joke). As for Vivi, not spoiling too much, but this not only makes for a satisfying reveal, but also ties back into the main series. It can sometimes be hard to remember this takes place in the world of Kirito and company, and that VRMMOs can be used for reasons other than just having fun and shooting each other.

There’s no new volume in Japan yet, and if the author wanted he could probably end it here, but I suspect we’ll get another Squad Jam at some point. In the meantime, this is pretty much the series hitting on all cylinders.

Notorious No More: The Villainess Enjoys Feigning Incompetence, Vol. 2

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By Hanako Arashi and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Kitai no Akujo, Sandome no Jinsei de “Musai Munou” wo Tanoshimu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Jeremy Browning.

As with the first book, it frequently feels as if our main character is in a different book from everyone else. This makes sense, of course. Here is a woman who loved as a princess and died young, then lived for 85 years in modern Japan before dying and being reborn as the granddaughter of… well, the backstory of the “villainess”, while a lot clearer than it was before, is still missing a lot of data. In any case, she’s got the mind of an old woman, and she also really does not care for all the drama that her kingdom wants to throw her into again. As such, it makes sense that she wants to spend her time writing smutty romance novels and avoiding anything to do with responsibility and consequences. Unfortunately for Laviange, there’s someone manipulating things behind the scenes, and they’re not done trying to screw everything up. And they get a willing accomplice in Sienna, who is simply terrible.

After the events of the first book, Sienna is rapidly becoming persona non grata, the second prince is basically no longer in this series, and Heinz has been reduced to huddling in his room and avoiding everything. Unfortunately, a mysterious hooded figure is still trying to manipulate things, and gives Sienna an egg that she promises will allow her to get all that she desires. As for Laviange herself, she’s busy composing new books, getting rare and hard-to-cook meat from her friends, and working hard to at least show up to school (if not bother to try to get good grades) so that she can get the lunch special from the cafeteria. Unfortunately, Heinz shows up looking near death, Sienna is in full “I am a bratty younger sister” mode, and students are dropping like flies, their magic appearing next to them like a ghost. How can this be solved? If your answer is “giant paper fans”, you get this series’ vibe.

I understand that this series is not for everyone. Laviange makes a lot of her own problems by her sheer willful desire to not care, and the fact that she’s turned her older brother into a tsukkomi factory does not really offset that. It also clashes badly with a lot of the vile abuse of children that appears in the pasts of several important characters, especially her own past. There’s also a section about 3/4 of the way through the book where the characters stand around for a good thirty pages while the plot is explained to them, and it’s even more irritating that it’s still not the whole plot. This series has not once flashed back to Laviange’s first life, and I suspect it really wants to keep it vague. On the other hand…; Christ, Laviange is just a HOOT. The paper fans and ofuda, as well as her desire to have everyone shout out anime catchphrases as they’re used, cries out to be animated, if this ever gets one. I’m almost ready to forgive her everything. As are a lot of people, really.

So if your need in a villainess book is “complicated but funny bitch on wheels”, this is for you. If not, reader beware.