Category Archives: reviews

The Invisible Wallflower Marries an Upstart Aristocrat After Getting Dumped for Her Sister!, Vol. 3

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By Makino Maebaru and Murasaki Shido. Released in Japan as “Kon’yaku Haki Sareta “Kūki” na Watashi, Nariagari no Dan’na-sama ni Totsugimashita” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

The first two volumes of this series were pretty rough, and while I knew this third one would be the finale, I also wondered if we’d have to get through a lot of pain and drama to get to the inevitable wedding photo cover art. As it turns out, not only did the book start with the wedding, but this came a lot closer to the “victory lap” I’ve talked about before than I was expecting. Oh, sure, there’s a murder attempt, a blackmail attempt, and a relatively serious resolution to the matter of Lucas’ parentage. That said, the fact that the parentage was resolved in any way other than “dead deadbeat dad” surprised me. What this mostly was was Lucas and Iris in love, and having to prove over and over they’re in love because everyone is trying to get them to back out of their relationship. Fortunately, they’ve already consummated… oh, right, they’re both innocent virginal dorks. Well, heck.

Lucas and Iris have moved up their wedding, mostly as the third prince has been sending potential fiancee towards Lucas,. trying to get him to call things off. Lucas, of course, refuses. Meanwhile, he and Iris are busy searching for his father, and decide to start by going back to the convent where his mother gave birth to him. This reveals a secret that is not exactly a shock to Lucas, Iris, or the reader – his mother was a noble, and was cast out of her family for being in love with a commoner. What’s more, this is also known to the noble family itself – who are down on their luck right now, and could really use a fresh new pawn to blackmail into doing whatever they say. As for Iris, well, that’s what murder is for. OK, it’s not ENTIRELY a victory lap here.

The outcome of the dangerous evil nobles is not exactly a surprise – in fact, it’s so little of a surprise that we never actually find out how Iris manages to get out of being murdered, she just shows up to rescue Lucas and save the day. That said, as I noted above, I was surprised that we actually had some resolution with Lucas’ long-lost father, who turns out to be hard done by but who also married too young, and the way that Lucas reacts to all of this information coming at once feels very true to life. I will note that this book definitively ends with the third volume, but it may have been a last minute decision – Things are set up so there could be more,. but then we get a quick epilogue explaining they had many children and lived happily ever after. It does have a really killer ending sentence, though, which ties up the theme of Iris’ character nicely.

These two have spent three books trying to stay married, let’s leave them to it. A fun read.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 11

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By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

Last time I said that this volume is the final one, which is not true anymore. That said, last time I reviewed this series it was June 2023. Yuki Yaku has been busy with the anime, as well as writing Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night. But, he assures us, the 12th volume is done and will be out a few months later. Um, well, this came out in Japan in January 2024. And there’s no sign of it. But honestly, that’s fine, as this book was a jaw dropper, and I was emotionally worn out by the end of it. We’re at the finale even though this is not the final volume, and you can tell because the cast has narrowed considerably. It feels thematically relevant that everyone who ends up in the sciences classroom for third year doesn’t appear for the rest of the volume. We can’t solve this with numbers. In fact, that may be part of the problem. We need to solve it with words… which Tomozaki is good at, but “good” isn’t enough anymore.

We pick up where we left off, with Aoi seeing the family video that was made for her. Let’s just say her reaction is… viscerally bad. After we return to school, and the main cast starts their third year, Aoi is absent from school, and does not appear to be returning. It doesn’t help that she’s not in either arts OR sciences, but the “advanced” classroom, meaning she’s isolated. And so Tomozaki is forced to do things that are, well, sketchy. Namely, lurk around her house, and eventually start talking with her younger sister Haruka, who, after verifying Tomozaki is not a kidnapper or creeper, opens up to him – a bit – about her family. Eventually these meetings do drag Aoi out of the house, and she too opens up to Tomozaki. Unfortunately, learning the full story of the death of her other sister does not fix everything magically.

There’s a lot of really big scenes in this book – the author excels at writing compelling set pieces to advance the story. Fuka, who is the secondary heroine of this whole series, shows off why she’s the only one besides Tomozaki who’s been able to rattle her, and Fuka’s response when Haruka explains her family is stunning – and also drives home the fact that she truly thinks like a writer. The lightest part of the book is at the live Atafami competition, with Mimimi’s novice commentary, but even that has Tomozaki realize that while he wants to be a gamer he doesn’t really have a compelling enough dream that will make him attract others. Lastly… we really had not seen much of Aoi’s mother at all, but we get a much better portrait of her here. And oh, I wish we hadn’t. There are some things you should not say to grieving children.

We came very close to ending on a MASSIVELY depressing cliffhanger, but fortunately, Fuka exists, and as always is there to pull Tomozaki up and push him forward. Though if they’re going to save Aoi, they’ll need the entire cast, not just this scaled-back version. As for when we’ll see the finale? Or if it really will be the final book? Stay tuned.

Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 15

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By Nozomu Mochitsuki and Gilse. Released in Japan as “Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Madeleine Willette.

Generally speaking, unless God is literally involved in the plot, the “how and why” of these time loop stories is rarely examined. We know why – so they can redo their life and get it right this time. And for a lot of Tearmoon Empire, that’s been the case. Even with vanishing diaries and conflicting timelines, the premise has been “Mia fixes things so she’s not executed”. But with Bel and Patty, things aren’t quite so clear cut. We can guess that Patty might have been sent back to screw up Mia’s timeline fixes, but if so that’s going pretty badly. As for Bel… is it really just to help her mature and keep Citrina happy? Or is there some deeper purpose to her presence? Is there a guiding hand in this that is not Saint Mia and her sarcastic narrator? Unfortunately, this is Bel’s problem to solve, as Mia has a whole host of new things to deal with. Which, mostly, she handles very well.

This is a “set up the next arc” volume, so there’s a bit less drama and a lot more talking. What drama there is comes from Patty, who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and Mia realizes that she may have left it a bit too long before she needs to tell her the truth. We also get more details about Patty’s brother, who was supposedly very ill, and also supposedly assassinated by Citrina’s family… though we discover most of those “assassinations” were “ship them overseas on a boat” instead. Once Mia returns to home base, she must deal with her clingiest friends being out of sorts about not spending time with her, and also has to win over a new princess in order to further her own plans. Unfortunately, this princess is following daddy’s orders, and while she’s savvy she’s not really that clever… except when it comes to fish.

After last volume reminded us that Sapphias exists, this volume does the same for Esmeralda, who has mostly been absent from the story since the shipwreck arc. She’s very aware of that, in fact, and has been hearing about Mia having all of these adventures – some of them dangerous, but that doesn’t matter – without her. As for Esmeralda herself… look, with Mia, we have her genuine character growth constantly undercut by the narrator, so we have to pick it out in between the snark. The narrator, however, mostly shuts up when Mia or her immediate offspring aren’t involved, though, and it allows us to see that Esmeralda has changed as much as Mia.This also means that she not only spots regrets in others – such as one of Mia’s ex-maids who is now at the Mia academy – but also in herself, as she finally gives Arshia a richly deserved apology… which, to Arshia’s credit, she doesn’t accept. More needs to be done before the bridges can be repaired. It’s also a good example of the timeline changing as we read. as the start of her arc in this book has Esmeralda an obscure, mostly forgotten figure who worked behind the scenes, while at the end she’s a famous diplomat.

I was annoyed that the fat jokes seem to have returned here, but other than that this was an excellent volume, showing Mia actually thinking things through and making clever decisions, though it’s her empathy, as always, that wins the day.