Category Archives: reviews

Guide to the Perfect Otaku Girlfriend: Roomies and Romance, Vol. 1

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By Rin Murakami and Mako Tatekawa. Released in Japan as “Dousei kara Hajimaru Otaku Kanojo no Tsukurikata” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Marco Godano.

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t read everything. I don’t even read every first volume anymore, which I tried to do for a while, and my ‘should I check this out?’ meter has gotten higher, meaning less “I was the absolute worst talent, only it turned out it was the best” style books. (Well, excepting the ones I’ve already started.) That said, I have been trying to do every Vol. 1 of non-fantasy novels, simply because they’re still a refreshing minority in a sea of isekai and villainesses. It’s a good plan, and I’m usually happy, but sometimes I hit a series that is not for me, like this one. It’s not a bad series, and it certainly should appeal to its market, but it just didn’t grab me. The hero and heroine both clearly have room to grow over the course of this five-volume series, but (especially in regards to the guy) it’s not enough to make me want to read more. Still, that’s me. If you like otaku and high school romance, this is fine.

Kagetora is our male protagonist. He’s that guy. You know, you’ve seen anime. Kinda schlubby. Giant nerd, loves his manga, games and porn. Has no girlfriend, and bemoans the fact, but his standards are too high. He wants a girlfriend who will tolerate his otaku hobbies. Then he meets Kokoro, a popular girl who turns out to have a secret otaku habit herself. She wants the same thing he does – a guy who will understand her love for her own genres. Trouble is, her expectations for a boyfriend are just as out of sync as his. What starts as snapping and griping at each other, then turns into a decision to help each other out, finally gets far more serious when, owing to a wacky situation (TM), they end up living together in Kagetoro’s house while their families are overseas. Can they teach the other person how to appeal more to someone of the opposite sex? Or perhaps… the two of them are perfect for each other?

I don’t know how this actually ends in Japan, but I will be very, very surprised if the two of them don’t end up with each other. Most of the book shows off that they have quite good chemistry, which they mostly tend to ignore, and they also look out for each other, which is great. Kagetoro took longer to warm up to me, as he has a few qualities that I frankly hate in otaku guys, and the word “slutty” is thrown around far too often. Kokoro is more likeable, but also has her issues, though they tend to be more of the standard “has a sharp tongue” sort – this series is written for guys, after all, and you don’t want a heroine who will turn off the audience. (A hero who does, of course, is acceptable – at least in this way.) Over the course of the book, they try dating via game parties (disaster), otaku meetups (mostly a disaster, though we get a bit of a cliffhanger in regards to his date), and advice. Still, Tomozaki this ain’t.

Again, it didn’t really put too many feet wrong. And it’s not too long. If you like the genre, this is worth reading. But not my thing.

Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel!, Vol. 1

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By Rhythm Aida and nauribon. Released in Japan as “Buta Koushaku ni Tensei shita kara, Kondo wa Kimi ni Suki to Iitai” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Zihan Gao.

For the most part, the “villainess” stories that we’ve seen a lot of lately have all been… well, villainesses. The genre began as a woman-driven creation, usually pairing the (former) villainess with various hot guys, because theoretically they live in an otome game. The male equivalent has not particularly shown up much. Visual novels meant for guys tend not to have a serious romantic rival for anyone. If for villainesses you think of sneering ladies covering their mouths with fans while laughing “OHOHOHOHOHO!”, then for villains in anime and manga you tend to think of a specific type. Short, fat, usually has a bowl cut. Son of a major noble, so can bully people pretty well, and usually will get a humiliating defeat at the hands of our heroes. That said, one of the more interesting things about this new series is that it really isn’t that. The titular Piggy Duke is actually the “Ensemble Darkhorse” of the show.

We don’t even find out how our hero died this time, but he’s been reincarnated as Slowe Denning, a duke’s son and the antagonist of the popular anime Shuya Marionette. Shuya is the hero. Slowe has spent most of his recent history destroying his reputation, to the point where he’s now despised by almost everyone around him. Of course, the reincarnated anime fan knows why: he’s trying to rig things so that he can confess to his retainer, a (secret) former princess who now lives as a commoner. That said, with his new memories of how the anime turned out for Slowe (badly, though the fans loved his stubbornness), our hero is NOT going to go down that path. He’s going to try to lose some weight. He’s going to improve his reputation. And he’s going to confess to the girl he likes. That said… easier said than done when he can’t even walk ten feet without three passersby calling him the Piggy Duke.

Not gonna lie, this book’s fat shaming is not great. Slowe’s appearance is belittled all the time, and while some of it is due to his porcine face and occasional snorts making him sound like an “orc”, most of it is mocking his weight. A good deal of the book sees him starting to work out to lose it, or searching for magical weight loss potions to help take the pounds off. But that said, I did enjoy this more than I expected. Slowe actually does sound much of the time like an anime fan would if their memories were now part of their favorite villain character. Also, unlike almost all villains of Slowe’s type, he actually has HUGE skills with magic… which, yes, means this is an OP hero story, sorry, did you expect something else? The magic system is classist (and described as such, to the point that when Slowe helps a commoner figure out how to use magic, it’s a big effing deal) but does allow for nice property-damaging mage battles. And the girls are cute.

So it’s not terrific, and I could do without the fat shaming embedded into the premise, but for the most part I found this book quite readable and the protagonist a fun guy. I’ll be picking up the next volume.

Outbreak Company, Vol. 18

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By Ichiro Sakaki and Yuugen. Released in Japan by Kodansha Light Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

(This review discusses the ending of the series, so spoilers abound.)

OK, I’ve calmed down now. When I first finished this volume, the final one in the Outbreak Company series (let’s leave Gaiden aside for the moment), I was a little upset. The book ended up going in a couple of unexpected directions that threw me for a loop, which the author seems to specialize in – Bluesteel Blasphemer did the same thing. Unlike Bluesteel Blasphemer, I was able to finish this series and do recommend it, though I’m tempted to tell people to simply skip the epilogue. In the end, this book is a political one, and who Shinichi chooses (which is pretty obvious by now anyway) takes a backseat to the hyperspace tunnels, the damage they’re doing to Japan, and the fact that closing them has become complicated by the presence of the US Navy and Marines, who are looking at a fantasy world with technology beyond anything they have and getting very sinister ideas.

The J-Novel Club Forums discuss the novels as they come out, and there was some discussion of how realistically the United States military was in this book, which seems to portray them most of the time as arrogant, cartoon bad guys. The folks who said “nope, no issues, it’s 100% realistic” in the comments were in fact ex-military, so there you go, then. They quickly decide to make the most of being in Eldasnt by taking over everything, threatening Shinichi repeatedly (as he and Theresa can control the Dragon’s Den) to give them power, and then going so far as to become “advisors” to a terrorist group that kidnaps Patralka and holds her hostage, meaning the series is ending much the same way it begun. That said, in these modern times, Americans being power-mad psychos is not something all too surprising, though the treatment of Theresa, who is murdered repeatedly to keep her down, is disturbing and creepy.

In the end, things are taken care of, and we end up where we’ve been for a couple of books now: are the main cast returning to Japan or staying in Eldant, and who is Shinichi in love with? The answer to Question 2 is obvious, as if the cover didn’t already tell you, but suffice to say getting him to say the words is like pulling teeth. As for their decision to stay or go, it’s not what I’d heard (showing to never trust spoilers on the Internet), but it fits the series pretty well, and leads to a nice, sweet, relatively happy ending… until you get to the epilogue, showing a future Japan is a dystopia where BL doujinshi is punishable by death. (It’s also a Japan that’s been essentially taken over by China with the US’s help, which… let’s not go there.) I suppose it’s meant to show that the struggle for otaku lifestyle will always go on no matter where or when, and also that our heroes will be there to be on the side of the otaku, but it really did not work for me. I’d have preferred the next-gen that the author rejected (as he says in the afterword).

That said, me liking certain things and really disliking other things is par for the course for Outbreak Company, a series that has always worn its heart on its sleeve, sometimes to a truly horrifying degree. I wish Shinichi and Myusel luck, and feel bad for Petralka, who (as the author admits) just wasn’t in a role that allowed her to do a lot.