Category Archives: reviews

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 8

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

After a book that was mostly politics last time, we spend much of this book with warfare, as the tiny kingdom of Lastania is under attack by a horde of monsters from the demon territories. This is relevant to Souma and company because Roroa’s brother Julius, who has been wandering around ever since he got his ass handed to him in the early books, has settled down in this kingdom due to falling for the kingdom’s insufferably cute and plucky princess, Tia, who is on the cover despite not getting nearly as much focus in the book as I expected. Julius is a bit desperate here, as the Kingdom is falling to the monsters, so asks Souma for aid even though it may mean his own death. That said, readers of this series know that Souma is (usually) not one to carry grudges, especially not against members of his fiancee’s family. He also has the ability to show up and lead a charge to wipe everything out, which he does.

Given the nature of this series, there’s not really much of an actual threat here. We do see a few of the regulars get to show off their skills, including Hal, Kaede and Ruby, now pretty much working as a well-oiled OT3; Kuu and Leporina, who remain the perfect overenthusiastic royal and harried bodyguard; and Komain and Jirukoma, who are reunited here as Jirukoma is part of Julius’ forces. Honestly, despite all the battles, you get the feeling that the author is more interested in the romance. Leporina clearly has feelings for Kuu, but is waiting for him to mature enough to see them. Poncha, Serina and Komain appear to be forming an OT3 of their own, but Komain may be the only one who actually realizes this. Jirukoma hooks up with one of the Captain’s of Lastania’s forces, Lauren, in a classic “I am too dim to recognize obvious signals” sort of way. Oh yes, and on Souma’s end, Maria is still hinting she would not mind hooking up with him, Excel is hitting on him to the displeasure of ALL the fiancees, and we also hear about a beautiful young warrior from not-China as a tease for the next book. (Hopefully Realist Hero’s not-China holds up better than Smartphone’s not-China.)

There are a few drawbacks to this volume. I’ve talked before about the “Native American” stereotype for the refugees, and we get more art showing it off here. Still don’t like it. Given we’re focusing on how Julius has been reformed, partly due to the power of love, I wish we’d had a bit more time spent with him and Tia, who pretty much exists as a thing to protect. That said, I approve of villains who can reform, and Julius’ guarded conversations with Souma were excellent. I also liked an exhausted Souma confessing his fears of becoming too jaded and uncaring when he becomes king, and Roroa and Naden’s reassurances. I would like to see Liscia again – we do get a scene with her, revealing she’s pregnant with twins, but the nature of the universe, and the “realist” part of it, means she’s still being treated like fine china.

So a mostly solid Realist Hero here, and we’re edging closer to the actual coronation and wedding(s). That said, it appears we have another detour coming up next. Does Souma need an artist?

One Piece, Vol. 89

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

So, as I have said before, and will again, I have difficulty doing full reviews of these volumes of One Piece that are just a bunch of giant melee battles. And yet, One Piece is also one of the series where I am dedicated to giving full reviews to each volume – no Bookshelf Briefs as that would be cheating. So let’s see what we have here. First of all, I pretty much enjoyed this volume as much as I have the last few, which if anything else puts this arc above Dressrosa, where I was desperate for an ending by the second to last volume. As this manga moves towards the inevitable Volume 100, it’s nice to see that Oda really is mastering his craft, and still learning from his mistakes. The last few arcs have had him “write out” members of the Straw Hats because he doesn’t want everything to be too cluttered – in this arc that means no Zoro, Robin, Franky, or Usopp. This also allows him to introduce a truly ridiculous number of minor villains and allies.

Big Mom’s pirates are the villains here, but even among them there are varying degrees of Good and Evil. We’ve already seen Big Mom’s empathetic but also horrifying backstory, and have gotten hints that Katakuri, Luffy’s opponent throughout the volume, is a “noble villain” sort. We get that confirmed here with the peanut gallery help from Flampe, one of the many family daughters, and a brat with a brother complex that, like most brother complexes, doesn’t take much to get destroyed. Her attempts at ‘helping’ her brother in his fight by shooting needles at Luffy completely miss the point, especially if you view the fight as a “many battle between men”, which, this being Shonen Jump, it absolutely is. Naturally, when Luffy Haki’s up and gets serious, Flampe is one of the first to foam at the mouth and fall unconscious. There are rules of cool in One Piece, and only certain characters can flout them and get away with it.

Meanwhile, the replacement cake has finally been delivered, and there really is an awful lot of discussion about it being poisoned, and Big Mom possibly being affected by the poison. I’m gonna be honest, I simply cannot see Sanji poisoning a cake, at all, for any reason, so I think they’re waiting in vain here. I think it’s pretty much just pure delicious – which is at least enough to slow Big Mom down, as she has to eat it if nothing else. It even makes her nostalgic for her childhood party that went terribly wrong. That said, this also means it’s time for Sanji and Pudding to break up, at least for now. There’s no real romance in One Piece, and we were never going to get a big damn kiss, but we come as close as Oda is ever going to show us, and it was pretty cool. Again, when he’s not being a comedy lech, I really like Sanji.

There’s a cliffhanger ending to this volume, of the sort that’s “did all our heroes get killed just now?” Probably not. Still, it definitely looks like next volume we’re moving on to a new arc, and gathering up the rest of the Straw Hats. Which pleases me, but this arc has been, on the whole, very sweet.

I Shall Survive Using Potions!, Vol. 1

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By FUNA and Sukima. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Garrison Denim.

This was honestly not at all what I expected. I expected this series to be a very ‘slow life’ sort. The heroine would be reincarnated in another world, start a potion shop, get a couple of assistants, etc. Kind of like Killing Slimes for 300 Years, that sort of thing. This is 100% not that sort of series. Kaoru is not interested in a quiet life, just a life with freedom. Like Katarina from My Next Life as a Villainess, she has “evil eyes”, i.e. the sort that slant up, and wherever she goes she changes the lives of people around her. But Katarina is a sweetie pie, whereas Kaoru is more of a tactical nuclear missile. As the book moves from place to place, and Kaoru and her potions affect more and more people, the reader’s jaw begins to drop as to what will happen next. And woe betide the evil baron or sketchy gate guard who gets in the way of a really good plan. Kaoru is here for one reason alone: Kaoru.

A brief summary: Kaoru is a 20-something OL who’s on her way home on the train when she literally EXPLODES and dies. This is the fault of higher beings who were trying to do something else and she got caught up in it. They offer to reincarnate her in a medieval-style world, and she proceeds to ask/blackmail them into giving her a LOT of things. Language skills, a box of infinite holding, etc. And the ability to create any potion she can think of, along with containers for same. The kicker here is that she thinks she’s going to be in a standard light novel fantasy world. But no, there’s no magic here beyond dragons, and it’s more ‘hunting’ than ‘adventuring’. As such, when Kaoru uses her potions to heal a gravely wounded hunter, the general reaction is “WHAAAAAAAAAT?”. Now Kaoru finds herself moving from kingdom to kingdom, getting involved, healing people with potions, and trying to live a free life.

There are so many light novels out there that are male power fantasies, where the hero gets a harem of slave girls, awesome adventurer powers, etc. that it’s weird to read a female power fantasy like this. Most of the other series we’ve seen over here with female protagonists (including Make My Abilities Average!, by the same author as this) tend to have them as nice girls who are “plucky”. Kaoru is not that sort of heroine, and is almost anti-plucky. Occasionally she is in mild danger, such as when she’s captured by the evil nobles who want to get her potion abilities, but she’s got a plan, which involves knocking out the maid, dressing up as her, stealing the entire room, and walking out. (The poor maid eventually gets her dress back, and we’re reassured is not beaten or anything.) That said, most of the people whose lives Kaoru makes miserable are men, and sometimes you get the feeling she’s going out of her way to be awful to them. That said, she really does help a number of people suffering from grievous injuries, rich or poor. As well as, um, de-aging a female knight who’s too old to get married so she can try again.

By the end of this book I was enjoying it quite a bit. I will warn that it may make some readers uncomfortable. Kaoru is a lot to take, and can tease men or destroy their lives at a whim. But then, that’s what it means to live the free life, rather than the slow life.