Category Archives: reviews

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 2

Leave a reply

By Reia and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andria Cheng.

It’s not always easy trying to reform something. First of all, how much can you really do? Iris is the acting governor of her land, and is doing a great job of building it up and modernizing it. But what about the next domain over? What about the entire Kingdom? What about the Kingdom next door, which is not nearly as well off as you are? These are not questions one can easily answer, and Iris has trouble coming up with answers either, though she’s doing her best to try to make changes that everyone is going to want to emulate. Fortunately, as I noted in my previous review, she has a ridiculous number of allies who are there to help her make those changes. Unfortunately, she also still has a large number of enemies. The villainess otome game aspect of this continues to be a very small part, while the politicking and intrigue are definitely at the forefront. Which is for the best, really.

Iris may be the glory of Armelia, but that means little to the Kingdom as a whole, which does not know she’s behind the Azuta Corporation and thinks of her as the noble who got shunned by the second prince. That said, an invitation by the Queen Dowager to a major function helps her start to reintegrate into high society, helped along by the prince, who is being an absolute dick, and also Yuri, the protagonist of the otome game that this supposedly is based on, who is at best ridiculously unaware of everything and at worst an actual enemy agent. Then, just when things seem to be going really well, word comes from the Church that Iris has been excommunicated! With employees leaving her company and neighboring domains refusing to allow trade, is there anything Iris can do to possibly get herself out of this? If only she had a really hot assistant who was secretly the first prince…

As I said earlier, the otome game aspect of these books is minimized, but I do want to come back to the character of Yuri. I’m not sure if the author of Duke’s Daughter read My Next Life as a Villainess before starting this (there are many other examples of the genre, but Villainess did begin on the web about 8 months before this title), but it’s hard to look at Yuri and not see Evil Maria. Which makes sense, given that Iris is essentially Good Original Catarina, without the personality of the Japanese girl overwriting her. I appreciate that Iris can’t be sure if Yuri is a spy that is seeking to have the kingdom collapse simply because if she is, she’s so bad at it. There are many other ways to go about doing this rather than acting like a cliched otome game heroine trying to get all the Good Ends with the various boys. I doubt we’ll ever get anything from Yuri’s perspective, but it would be interesting.

With another crisis solved, you’d think the series would be wrapping up quickly. But alas, the first Prince absolutely does not want to marry Iris, as he’s far too content seeing her “flying free” and changing the entire world. it’s hard to disagree with him. That said, I hope Dean sticks around, if only for her own mental health. This was an improvement on the first volume, though it has the same flaws.

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Home Alone

Leave a reply

By Hajime Kamoshida and Keji Mizoguchi. Released in Japan as “Seishun Buta Yarou wa Orusuban Imouto no Yume wo Minai” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

The first four books of the series had its main character, Sakuta, helping out a different girl each time who had what he termed “Adolescence Syndrome”, where an inner issue they were suffering from showed itself in an exterior way. Mai was turning invisible, Tomoe was time looping, Rio twinned herself, and Nodoka bodyswapped herself with her sister. Through all this, though, we were also learning of Sakuta’s own past – both his encounter with a high school girl named Shouko (who he rediscovers but not in high school) and his sister, whose reaction to bullying, and his frustration and reaction to her own pain, is what jumpstarted all of this. Now, at last, in this 5th book, we finally get to focus on Kaede. She’s more determined than ever to leave the apartment and go to school, to the point where she has a list of tasks in her diary. Together with Sakuta, can she succeed? Well, yes, but that’s not necessarily a wonderful thing for all involved.

Much of this book is about moving forward and trying to take a next step. For Sakuta that means actually applying himself. Mai, despite her celebrity, is going to college, and Sakuta wants to follow her there a year later. For Kaede, this means a whole lot of things. Just going to school is fraught with tensions, given that whenever she sees someone she doesn’t know, especially someone wearing her school uniform, she has a panic attack. She’s also re-exhibiting signs of her adolescence syndrome, which is definitely not a good thing. (Given that when this happened before, the authorities thought her mother abused her, I worried they might zero in on Sakuta, but thankfully this does not go there.) And there’s another, even larger issue: Kaede, as we discover here, has no memories from before two years ago. Given the way amnesia works, there’s a danger that she might lose herself no matter what the outcome.

There is a large chunk of this book that is very heartwarming. Seeing Kaede’s determination is great, trying to take small steps despite her terror. Sakuta strikes exactly the right notes, knowing when to push and when to retreat. The scenes at the zoo were magical, and brought a smile to your face… which of course makes the last fifth of the book all the more tear-jerking. It’s startling to see not just Kaede but also Sakuta re-develop symptoms from adolescence syndrome, and of course it happens when Mai is out of the city and can’t help him. Fortunately, he has Shouko – the older version – to help him once again. That said, she’s not Mai, and I wish that Mai had been there to talk him out of it. Mai remains the best part of this series. In any case, I’m not sure where Sakuta’s family relationship will go from here, but hopefully his romantic relationships will survive the cliffhanger. They probably will, she’s eminently sensible.

I joked on Twitter that the next two books would be light and fluffy – trust me, I saw the movie reviews, and while I don’t know what’s going to happen I know it’s a tear jerker. But so is this, in its own way, as we take a look at what makes up a person’s identity, and how fragile that can really be.

The Executioner and Her Way of Life: Whiteout

1 Reply

By Mato Sato and nilitsu. Released in Japan as “Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon.

The second volume in this series picks up right where the first one left off, with Menou and Akari arriving in the Port City Libelle. Akari is here to have a vacation, Menou is here to try to kill her, and makes an attempt, but it fails as the others have. More worryingly, the terrorist organization we saw on the train in the first book has also got a hook into this city, and it appears to actually have the approval of the royal family – or at least the royal princess, who seems somewhat… detached from life. Menou’s not getting any help from the Church – they loathe her. The fight-loving princess finally meets her, but, unsurprisingly, just wants to fight. And Momo is doing her best to help, but things might be a little more difficult than any of them had assumed. Why is one of the four Human Errors out of her fog prison? Why does she know Akari? Even more chillingly, why does she know Menou?

So, first of all a warning: while this is not quite as bad as, say, Roll Over and Die 4, it is a very gore-filled and violent book. Pandæmonium is our villain here, and she’s a little girl who can essentially resurrect herself from her own body and blood – meaning that she can be killed endlessly and literally crawl out of her dead body. This is, needless to say, disquieting, both as a concept and as prose. She’s a classic type – the killer little girl – but that does not make her any less difficult to deal with. Akari’s own subplot is also rather chilling, as we get a lot more time in the head of the original Akari, the one who is not an airhead (though both are in love with Menou – indeed, that’s pretty much the one trait they share). The revelation from Book 1 is gone into further, and I wonder if a happy ending is truly possible for her – or if death is the only solution.

Not that the world has really had a solution to the isekai’d heroes before. We don’t get much more backstory, and a lot of it is filtered through Pandæmonium, who sees everything in terms of a movie, but it’s pretty clear there’s more going on here than just “the four human errors turned evil and were all destroyed”. For one thing, the one who put them down has also vanished from history… maybe. We get hints here and there as we go through this book that Menou’s past is tied to the human errors more than she’s aware of. (She’s also mostly figured out what Akari is doing, so it’s not simply making her ignorant on purpose.) As with the first book, everything ties back to her mentor Flare, who she gets her nickname (Flarette) from. Good news! They may reunite soon! That is the end of the good news.

Apologies for being somewhat oblique, but this is the sort of book that runs on mysteries, and I’m not ALWAYS a giant spoiler factory. If you’re reading this for the yuri, you may be disappointed – it’s there but isn’t a focus. If you’re reading this for lots of cool action, dark mysteries, and a bit of existential horror… OK, more than a bit… then this should serve you quite well. If you got off the Roll Over and Die train after Book 4 caught up to Japan, pick this up.