Category Archives: reviews

The Tanaka Family Reincarnates, Vol. 4

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By Choko and kaworu. Released in Japan as “Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru” by Dragon Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sasha Schiller.

This series makes no bones about the fact that it is a comedy. So much of this volume is utterly ridiculous, and it’s not just the Tanaka family being giant overpowered weirdos. They’ve also influenced everyone around them to be better, and the knock-on effects of that are not only heartwarming but also funny. (I enjoyed the running gag of “the wait for grandchildren was extended”.) Other folks in this series are also loopy eccentrics, mostly as they love Emma and would do anything for her. And the entire back half of this volume is the folks in not-Japan trying to get the Tanaka family to leave them to die and return to safety, followed by 10 pages or so of them screaming “what the hell is wrong with you?”. There is a hint that the 5th book in the series may have a darker, more serious plotline… but we know it won’t. Emma will just be shiny and the problem will solve itself.

Having heard about the disaster currently destroying the Eastern Empire, and now that it’s summer break, they’re off to solve the problem and get themselves some Japanese food!… and also save everyone. Right, that comes first. Maybe. This leaves most of the rest of the supporting cast behind in the kingdom to have their own adventures, such as learning about the horrible slum life of the orphans (Edward), turning heads at a ball (Emma’s friends), suffering from the lack of their goddess (everyone back at the their domain, which they won’t be going back to this summer), and getting dumped in a poor village with bad food and worse shelter in order to learn how the non-noble folks live (Robert). Meanwhile, the Tanaka Family, Joshua (who is coordinating shipping and fanboying over Emma), a spare orphan who seems to be there to learn how to be a ninja, and the 4 Empire ninja/cooks, who Emma has renamed as Hispanic cooks for some reason, are going to the Eastern Empire to see what can be done.

I could not get over how much I enjoyed seeing every single Tanaka go full ham once they reached the Empire. This is foreshadowed a bit by Emma’s pilfered bugs growing to massive size by accident, and Emma convincing her furious mother that they will just be able to cut through those horrible monsters with GUTS! Much to the surprise of the bugs, who seem to doubt this. But sure enough, on arrival, and after boot camp with the monster cats, Emma’s bugs are indeed able to do everything that she says they can. All of this is done with maximum LOL factor, as Emma is far more concerned about getting monster parts and tasty monster food to worry about, y’know, everyone giving up and accepting death. Hell, by the end of the volume they “accidentally” build a hot springs inn, complete with multiple rooms, made from the corpses of the monsters that were supposedly unkillable. Silly monster, you cannot defeat the narrative.

So, now that they’re heading back home, will Emma be forced to move to another country and be the cruel plaything of religious zealots? Hardly. Bet she’ll do something completely bonkers, though. This is amazingly silly, but if you accept that it’s great fun.

The Misdeeds of an Extremely Arrogant Villain Aristocrat, Vol. 1

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By Yukiha Kuroyuki and Uodenim. Released in Japan as “Kiwamete Gouman Taru Akuyaku Kizoku no Shogyou” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Ben Trethewey. Adapted by Kylee Yasin.

I haven’t really dipped my toe into the smaller pool of “villain” books, which is to say the genre and basic plot beats are the same, but it’s someone being reincarnated as a terrible man rather than a terrible woman. This also is one of a small number of books where the reincarnated person and the “bad” person they’ve replaced/overwritten actually struggle to see who’s really in charge. Luke was supposed to be another stereotype of these fantasy books – the snobby, coasts by on his family name, rude to absolutely everyone sort. But our new reincarnated guy knows that that is, as Katarina Claes would put it, a path to doom! So he tries to change. Can he be nice?… no. Can he reach out to others to ask for help?… provided he frames it as an arrogant command. This will be tough. Fortunately, he can actually put in the work and study. Also fortunately, the series he’s in is a comedy.

Luke Witharia Gilbert has just remembered that he’s actually a character in a light novel. What’s worse, he doesn’t really remember all that much about the light novel except the basics. He knows that he’s a talented but lazy arrogant ass who is doomed to be killed by the “you can do anything with enough willpower!” hero in a few years. While the real Luke inside his head won’t let him stop being an asshole to almost everyone he meets, he can at least do something about the lazy. So he demands his butler (an ex-soldier) teach him the sword… and he’s brilliant at it. Then he demands a wandering magic lecturer teach him magic… and he has rare and powerful dark magic. He’s told by his father to find himself a girl to get engaged to… and ends up with a talented bombshell who is cold and sneering to everyone… till she meets Luke, and discovers what she really wants in life. Frankly, maybe it’s the hero who should worry.

The author in the afterword straight up admits that it’s tough to take a book in this genre and set it apart from the others. Their solution was to make everyone a “pervert”, though how you define that depends how you feel about such things. Certain Alfred, the butler, is not a pervert in any sense but his desire to see Luke grow to be the strongest in the world. Alice *is* a masochist, as she discovers once Luke effortlessly defeats her in a duel, but her desire to be worthy of staying at his side makes her also a genius who tries. Mia, a young girl who has talent but also a case of the self-doubts gets crushed when she duels… and turns to Luke to make her better. Basically, he’s warping the entire narrative around himself. The hero, Abel, is a nice guy who reads like a Jump hero, but he has no chance in a series like this. I also worry about his obvious love interest Lily. I can see this series going the NTR route as part of its comedy. Luke is just that good. (I was amused that the one time he actually “lost” is when Alice basically stripped naked and started to kiss him. Some things you can’t sneer your way out of.)

If OP characters bother you, steer clear. But I honestly found this a hoot. I look forward to seeing Luke be mean to others and force them to be the best that they can be in the future.

The Devil Princess, Vol. 2

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By Harunohi Biyori and Geso Umiu. Released in Japan as “Akuma Koujo” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Julie Goniwich. Adapted by Emlyn Dornemann.

I got startled 3/4 of the way through this book, but this time it was more because I forgot the premise than for any “what a twist” reasons. I was so distracted by our little evil princess’ “reincarnated as a villainess” style storyline that I forgot about the first part of Volume 1. And so when we got her four lazy, eccentric and just plain awful retainers, I was expecting it to be either the standard “she whips them into shape with the power of intense training”, or, later on, “she whips them into shape by putting the fear of god into them”. Then the actual plot kicks in, and each of the four retainers gets a lovely little “this is why I am a terrible person deep down” flashback, and I realized that this was not the direction this series was going. And then I was surprised, and reminded of the first part of Volume 1, which explains everything. Gotta pay attention to things.

Over the course of the book Princess Yulucia goes from four to six years old, and it’s an eventful time. She has her debut at a ball where everyone is absolutely overwhelmed by her (or terrified of her), but her sisters still manage to act just like wicked stepsisters always do in these sorts of books. She gains the aforementioned attendants, who are, respectively, bad and obsequious, bad and lazy, bad and angry, and bad and ditzy. She heals people with crippling diseases (yay), and cures the early male pattern baldness of various loser nobles (less yay). Unfortunately, another very striking young noble is inviting girls to her own nighttime tea party… and some of them are not coming back. Time for Yulucia to investigate… and do something about her sucky servants.

The last quarter of this book is not quite as striking as the first volume, but Yulucia makes it very clear that she does not suffers fools gladly, and if they don’t improve, well, their souls will be destroyed. That’s how it rolls with demons. Fortunately, she’s able to save their bodies, and it turns out she has some very capable folks to inhabit those bodies. We also see some innocent lesser nobles get invited to Miss Mylene’s tea party, and we never see them again, so clearly this is not a case of “and then we found them in the attic and returned them to their parents” but “and then we found their corpse with the others”. As with the author’s other series, this is not for the faint of heart, and gets pretty horrific… but it can also be very funny at times. Sometimes at the same time. As for Yulucia, her stepsisters may be a bigger issue going forward, as the older one seems to be the one person who sees her true self.

I hear that future volumes go even further off the rails, so I’m not sure where this will end up. For the moment, though, I’m happy to be following along.