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The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 15

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By Natsu Hyuuga and Touko Shino. Released in Japan as “Kusuriya no Hitorigoto” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

One of the things that comes up both in this latest light novel volume and in the recent anime season is that this is one of those “sort of ancient China emperor, inner court with consorts” series. There are more of them than you’d expect. And a subplot in a lot of them is that, if someone does something that attacks the country or the Emperor, not only are they killed, but everyone in their family, and their servants, and everyone even remotely connected to them is also killed. This seems a bit excessive to some people. Someone asked what happened to all Loulan’s servants after Jinshi interrogated them, and well, sorry, they were all killed by the state. This is because the Emperor is not merely a head of state in this genre, he is a divine being of sorts. He is not meant to be human like everyone else, and trying to make him human is a hideous crime. Even if, say, that crime involves trying to save his life.

Maomao is one of several physicians given a medical exam to show how good they are at their job, with the winners being assigned to various seemingly unrelated places. Maomao is assigned to help with testing out a new drug, meant to deal with intestinal disorders. They also have to research better and safer ways to give anesthesia, which requires Maomao to go to Ah-Duo’s residence and talk with a dead woman who is, of course, not so dead – Suirei. All of this turns out to be for a very good reason – it’s the Emperor who has the intestinal disease, and it may kill him. What’s even more annoying, there’s no guarantee it’s that – it could also be appendicitis, which would be better… unless it bursts. Basically, surgery needs to be done. Unfortunately, Luomen serves as an example of what happens to doctors who do surgery on imperial family, and everyone worries the reward will be execution even if they do succeed.

For those concerned that JinMao is not a factor in this book, fear not. Even though Jinshi doesn’t appear till about halfway through, the crux of the book is still the fact that he’s in love with Maomao. (And she with him, though that’s so understated one could argue it’s nonexistent… which has led to arguments on social media.) There’s a lot of people who would rather have Jinshi be Emperor after the current Emperor dies. But that would mean he’d have to have consorts, and visit them. And that brand he gave himself back in Book 8 (which dwells on Maomao’s mind constantly in this volume, which should reassure folks who saw my earlier statement that understated is NOT nonexistent) is vital to showing how much he does NOT want the job. If he gets it, he would rather give Maomao up forever than order her to be his consort, which she would have to acquiesce to. This gets back to discussions the series had back at the very start about the relationship between Maomao and Jinshi, and its evolution is important to them both. (Fortunately, the success of the surgery means this can be put off a while.)

All this plus Tianyu at his most irritating. Who could ask for anything more?

A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO, Vol. 3

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu ZERO” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Sarah Burch. Adapted by Melanie Kardas.

I should be used to this by now from this series, as well as its parent. Both have a very bad habit of only being half a book and then padding it out with side stories. This volume is 244 pages digitally, but only 141 of them are the main storyline. And that’s not even getting into the fact that the main storyline is also a bit of a short story collection that’s interconnected somewhat. It makes it hard to review, as the side stories after the main content tend to be of the “free when you buy at this bookstore” variety, i.e. not all that impactful. This volume also has a character poll, and the results should not surprise anyone. (It’s a poll of both this and the main series.) Serafina/Fia may be the star, but this is a series written for women, and as such the handsome men are going to grab most of the votes. Which means they get stories from their POV. Which take up more pages.

Serafina and her knights are ready to return from their seaside adventure, but ideally they’d like to fix the climate problem that have plagued the region… unless, as it turns out, Serafina has fixed the problem by accidentally befriending the spirit whose grief was causing the problem in the first place. On their return, Serafina’s father is delighted to see her, but we’re reminded of her general reputation… as well as her knights’… when we meet her older three brothers, all of whom seem to despise and belittle her. Indeed, other knight brigades fight it out with Serafina’s, as no one knows the extent of her powers except a scant few. She then goes with her knight Mirach to his village, which turns out to grow its own medicinal herbs… and does not trust saints, which is why it’s likely good that she’s incognito. Well, as incognito as Serafina ever gets.

This is a prequel to the main series, and I’m not sure how much you’re meant to compare the characters in the past with the ones from the main series, except for the ones who are obvious reincarnations. Most of the knight herd tend to be a bit similar to the knight captains Fia knows, but that’s less because of potential reincarnation and mostly because they’re all soldiers, and thus tend to act the same way. It is interesting comparing Serafina here to the Fia in the main series. In the main series proper, Fia is definitely written as an “airhead” character, unthinking, reacting on instinct a lot, and missing connections a lot while also picking out connections others don’t catch. Serafina in this series is the same, but it’s not written as “airhead” but as “I am six years old”. As such, those who find Fia a but, shall we say, dumb as a bag of hammers might be better off just reading the prequel, which otherwise offers the same amount of fun.

If you don’t mind the fact that you’re only getting half a book’s worth of plot every book, this series remains a lot of fun.

Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 12

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By Hitoma Iruma and raemz. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Lee.

It should not be a surprise to the reader that, despite saying this is a 12th volume rather than a short story collection or whatever “Volume 99.9” was, this is essentially the same as the previous few books. There has been a running theme of Yashiro trying to unite all Adachis with all Shimamuras to save the universe, and that reaches its culmination here, allowing us to get back to the main story at last. Not that there’s much to the main story, except Shimamura starting to think seriously about what her life will be like going forward, and that it will probably be with Adachi. As for Adachi herself, well, she’s gotten better, but the poster child for “vibrating ball of gay” is still exactly what’s on the tin. If there’s an issue here it’s with the author. As this arc has gone on, we had three volumes of My First Love’s Kiss, in the same universe, come out, and that poisoned me so much against the author that I can’t give them the benefit of the doubt with questionable scenarios anymore.

There are four short stories here, along with two mini-short stories. In the first, Adachi is a school teacher in her early 20s who is teaching 6-year-old Shimamura, who wants them to get married. In the second, Adachi is a best-selling author and Shimamura is the lead actress in the movie adaptation of her book. These are both part of the “Yashiro searches for Shimamuras” plot. In the third story, she rescues Shimamura for almost getting hit by a car, only to realize that by doing so she messed up Shimamura meeting Adachi, and now the world is ending. Only donuts can solve this. In the final story, we’re back to the “main” timeline, and the present day (i.e. high school), as Adachi asks Shimamura on a date to the beach. (The two micro stories are Hino and Nagafuji fluff and Adachi and Shimamura’s mothers fluff.)

As I said, My First Love’s Kiss was a toxic series that featured multiple characters preying on children. As such, the first short story, which is written as if we’re supposed to go “awwww”, gave me the creeps. Adachi tries to think of reasons not to marry a six-year-old, and the only one that she can think of that stops her is she’d be arrested. There’s soulmates and then there’s ick. Fortunately that’s the only ick in the book. The other AU was genuinely cute, mostly as they were both adults. I also like seeing the ongoing repair of Adachi’s relationship with her mother, no matter what timeline. The third story is basically an excuse to write the “canon” Adachi and Shimamura meeting in a different way. The final story really does feel like a continuation of the series, and is filled with adorable yuri moments. It feels very much like the anime.

This was supposed to be the final volume, though the author hasn’t had afterwords lately. But there’s a Short Stories 2 due out in a couple of months, so this cash cow continues onward. If it keeps the author away from creepy shit, I’m OK with more of it.