Category Archives: reviews

Her Royal Highness Seems to Be Angry, Vol. 4

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By Kou Yatsuhashi and Mito Nagashiro. Released in Japan as “Ojou Denka wa Ookari no You desu” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie Kimura.

After three volumes of sort of faffing around, even though we have had several cool sorcery battles, this volume pulls out all the stops. Black clouds, Drossel’s past, the mystery of Alec, Leticiel’s own past.. by the end of this book it’s clear we are setting up for a new stage of the series. A stage that may not involve school anymore, as by the end of this book Leticiel is not really a noble anymore. Still, she has options, which is more than I can say for the rest of her family. There’s also a lot of discussion of “yes, nobles have more privilege, but in return they have more responsibilities” that we see in a lot of books that want to say “yes, evil nobles are everywhere, but our heroes are the GOOD nobles”, thus allowing everyone to live in mansions but still be lovable. It wold be nice if that were the case in real life, but alas, this is why fiction exists.

The first third of the book is basically research, as Leticiel and Zeke try to look into the past to find answers. Leticiel does find a bit more about alchemy, and how it differs from magic, and also even more hints that the reason she can’t find anything is that it’s been very covered up. Unfortunately, at that point, word gets out of a rebellion back in her domain… which turns out to be because her older brother is being an evil piece of shit. Pausing only to verify that this rebellion has not killed off her loyal maid, who went home to attend to her ailing mother, Leticiel then ends up joining the rebel forces, much to the surprise of the rebels, who are not used to good nobles. Unfortunately, also joining the party are her older sister and her massive, suicidal guilt complex, and her younger twin sister, who has kind of snapped.

I was very amused at the resolution of the raging sibling hatred that Christa has had for Leticiel since the start of the book. After being allowed to stab her sister in the gut, once, as a treat, she seems to magically realize that it’s just a normal “I’m jealous of my twin because she’s better at everything” sort of hate, and she just accepts that. It’s certainly more easily wrapped up than every other plotline. Leticiel now has Drossel’s memories again, and we now have a basic idea of what happened in the past, but that doesn’t make things any easier, especially with the revelation of who Alec is (and the hint, especially to the reader, that Alec is not as dead as everyone seems to think). The royal family has its own agenda, of course. There’s mysterious monks, going around healing people but in a creepy sort of way. Oh yes, and Leticiel is rather startled to find she’s worshiped as a Saint… or rather, someone is using her past self to create a Saint. This was a terrific volume but doesn’t wrap up much of anything except her family’s noble title, which is toast.

The series is complete at nine books in Japan, which is ominous given the questionable fortune of the company putting it out in English. Still, if a 5th book comes onto the horizon, I’ll be reading it like a shot.

Haibara’s Teenage New Game+, Vol. 10

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By Kazuki Amamiya and Gin. Released in Japan as “Haibara-kun no Tsuyokute Seishun New Game” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Esther Sun.

First of all, go back and read the last half of my review of Book 9, and then come back here and point and laugh at me. I haven’t been THAT wrong in a while. Secondly, it’s worth noting that while this is a high school romcom taking place in modern-day Japan, it is in many ways a typical “Cheat Skill” book. After all, our hero is looping back in time, just as several other heroes and heroines do. And he has a cheat skill – his memories of the first time he did this, what he did wrong, and the maturity of a 28-year-old that allows him to fix it. This has led to a confident, popular young man, who has the girl of his dreams (quiet, you), some very good friends, and a band he loves playing in. He’s all set for a career in engineering. It’s just, well, he is technically cheating. And you know what happens to cheaters. Eventually, it all comes crashing down.

As with the previous volume, we go back and forth between the world Natsuki went back in time to, and the adult world where he didn’t. In that adult world, things are going very well. And and Miori date, lose their virginity to each other, he proposes, and they marry. Hikari, who he hasn’t seen since high school, even comes to the ceremony, and he apologizes to her for his high school awfulness. In the high school world, everything’s great. He and Hikari get closer, getting to third base. Everyone goes to a festival and watches the fireworks. Hikari’s novel wins an award. And they’re planning for the trip to Okinawa. Only… Natsuki’s been having these dreams of the future. A future with him and Miori. And when Hikari asks to go all the way with him, and his mind is still filled with alternate futures… things get very bad very fast.

Despite my words from the last review, I was pretty sure, given the “main” series ends in Book 11 and we get a short stories epilogue, that we’d see a breakup arc here. After all, things have just been going too well for Natsuki, due in large part to the above cheating. That said, I’m pretty sure the God talking to him in his mind at the end is more a guilty conscience than a God. I did appreciate how Hikari actually proved to be a damn good detective, and has been slowly accumulating evidence to figure out that Natsuki is from the future. It’s well-reasoned. Unfortunately, emotionally she’s a wreck, and I don’t blame for for breaking it off as she can no longer trust him. And while I appreciate Miori being there to pick up Natsuki’s shattered remains, I also thought “oh my God, your timing is AWFUL”. I bet Hikari saw them.

So, while I do think this will work out eventually, and no I don’t mean going back to the original timeline, let’s all prepare for the worst class trip ever. Start Over Yes/No?

Zero Damage Sword Saint: I Enrolled in a Magic School and Wound Up in a Contract with the Demon Queen, Vol. 5

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By Isle Osaki and kodamazon. Released in Japan as “Kougekiryoku Zero kara Hajimeru Kenseitan: Osananajimi no Oujo ni Suterare Mahou Gakuen ni Nyuugakushitara, Maou to Keiyakusuru Koto ni Natta ” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Stephanie Liu.

When you are a country that prides itself on being the best of the best, and you see a different country doing something amazing that no one has ever done before, it is only natural that you want to replicate that success. If they can do it, we can do it too! Unfortunately for everyone else in this series, there is only one Eugene, and he’s the main character who drives all the amazing stuff. As such, this book is neatly divided into halves, both of which are essentially “can we borrow your Eugene?”, but go in very different ways. As for Eugene, it’s all the same to him. For all that he gives off the impression of mild, boring light novel guy (who gets laid a lot more than most LN guys), what he really wants is a good fight, and his girlfriends are realizing that stopping him is much harder than you’d expect.

So yes, the first half of the book takes us to Sara’s home country, full of saints and religious fundamentalists. They’re there to take out their country’s own gothic horror, the Shadowbird Raum. Unfortunately, Erinyes reveals that the bird has a bit of a curse – once slain, the one who killed it dies… along with everyone they ever knew personally. As such, they’re going to PRETEND to set out to kill it, but not really do it. Unfortunately, they run into a disciple of the Demon Queen with other ideas. Then they travel to the Blue Sea Union, which is trying to kill off its killer mermaids, but they’re proving a lot stronger and more lethal than expected. Fortunately, something comes along and does it for them! Unfortunately, they then have to fight the something, who is worse. Much worse.

I made the plot sound dramatic, but rest assured, this *is* still Zero Damage Sword Saint, so there’s a lot of harem antics as well. I will smack the me who wrote a review of the last book, where I said that Airi was clearly too childish right now to get it on with Eugene. Spoiler, it only took one more book. Erinyes, Sara, and Sumire also get some in this book, though as always we get a fade-out before any actual sexy things happen. And there’s other potential girlfriends as well, though I’m not sure if Lily’s boring-as-hell-tsundere character is really needed here, even if the author does like her. Heck, Claude also has his own harem going – in addition to his two rivals/girlfriends (I did enjoy Claude noting that, for all Sara and Sumire are always fighting, they’re clearly best friends, unlike his girls), and a not-yet-fallen angel, he’s also engaged to a Princess, and my guess is she gets preference. Basically, everyone’s getting some in this series.

Speaking of princesses, there’s a surprise transfer student at the end of this volume. Well, not that much of a surprise. In any case, if you like harem fighting books, this remains a very good example.