By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

All right, I apologize, I was reading one of the main plotlines wrong. There’s no real defending it, I had forgotten how this series begins, with Sarasa shunted into this world with her massive piles of mana in order to save it. So when I kept seeing her having to fight off monsters that surprised everyone by showing up all of a sudden, I assumed it was due to her being a monster attractor. But no, I should have realized the more important fact, which is that, with the arrival of a new girl in this volume, there’s now FOUR isekai’d folks running around, more than they’ve ever seen before. it’s not that Sara attracts monsters, it’s that she and the others are here to prevent the apocalypse. As such, even in the parts of the world which traditionally have no monsters around, we end up getting a plague of locusts all of a sudden. The Invited go to where the crisis is going to be.

Sara is headed off to see Nelly’s older sister and her husband, who live in an agricultural region that has no dungeons and few monsters but does have lots of medicinal plants. They’re technically there to take care of a larger than usual attack of green locusts, but in reality they’re there because Nelly hasn’t seen her sister in forever, and also because, to everyone’s surprise, there’s a new Invited, Anzu, who also ended up in this world after falling ill in Japan. Ann has been sickly and weak, which puzzles Sara, who knows that they’re brought to this world in order to get more healthy, but the cause of this is found very fast (she’s coddled too much) and we get to the real meat of this book: Nelly is still unmarried, LOTS of people want to change that, and Chris is going to be very unhappy unless he does something soon.

So yes, finally, Nelly and Chris are a couple, though what I liked most about this was that it was framed as the two of them officially gaining a “daughter” in Sara than any romantic leanings. (Despite his mooning over her for the entire series, neither one is the romantic type.) Speaking of unromantic types, Sara and Allen continue to be besties and that’s about it, though there are hints that they both are aware where they’re going to end up in a few years but are just too young now. As for Sara, she’s forced to admit here that her philosophy of “keep my head down and stay out of the way” just isn’t going to work anymore. She cares about everyone in this world too much, and she wants to be proactive. Which she certainly is here, saving the day with her barriers again. That said, unlike Allen or Nelly, she’s happiest being a giant apothecary nerd with her fellow nerds, and fending off proposals from all and sundry.

This was a fun volume, and I do wonder how Ann will blend in with the cast, assuming that she continues to pursue her new dream. One of my favorite isekai of the moment.

By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

First of all, let’s get the most important thing out of the way: this volume features the triumphant return of “I’m good on wolves”, the running gag that made the first volume such a delight for me. It’s very welcome, and yes, the fact that it’s back means that Sara ends up going ALL the way back to Rosa this volume, courtesy of the plot. Also returning is the author continuing to not confirm but nevertheless convince me that Sara is a monster attractor, and that anywhere she goes will see an increase in their population, ranging from hellhounds and wyverns to the surprise guest monster we’ll be talking about in a bit. Oh yes, and we also get more attempted marriages, with Sara turning all of them down. She’s still not thinking of Allen as anything more than her bestie and family, but we may finally be starting to crack that a bit. His almost dying in this book helps, no doubt.

Sara has returned to Hydrangea, where she is living the happy apothecary life, despite acquiring another suitor – Liam’s younger brother Noel (I see what you did there), who fortunately is a lot nicer than his sibling. Unfortunately, suddenly a lot of dangerous monsters appear in the dungeon where they shouldn’t be, including crossing supposed no-monster zones. After finding mysterious invisible portals in the dungeon, Sara and company come across something much bigger and more dangerous – a continental turtle, which has decided to get up and start to walk. It’s the size of a three-story building, and the last time it did this it caused untold destruction. Now everyone’s got to get together to try to nudge its path slightly so that it does not run through any major cities. What? Kill it? Don’t be silly, it’s invincible. Who would be stupid enough to try that?

So this book is filled with a lot of people learning their life lessons at last. Ted has been exposed to life outside the noble city he grew up coddled by, and gets as close as he ever will to thanking Sara. Liam may be coming up with dumb plans, but he at least is self-aware enough to know that “find a scapegoat and throw them in jail” is not the answer when said plans don’t work, and he DOES apologize. As for Sara and Allen, it’s amusing that they both accuse each other of going with the flow and avoiding confrontation too much. We’re more used to seeing it in Allen, as Sara is the POV character, but he’s right – for all her snarking and complaining, she’s only now getting around to actually refusoing to do things. They’re not together by the end of the book, but they’ve basically admitted that they’ll never be apart from each other.

That said, the cover of the 7uth volume suggests another slow-burn romance may get resolved first, and we might see that next time. Till then, enjoy your fill of wolves, turtles, and teenagers who try to do far too much, and mostly succeed.

By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

It’s always interesting reading a final volume that isn’t. This is NOT the final volume in this series – the 6th book is running on the JNC chapter release schedule as we speak – but if you didn’t know that, and you finished this volume, which does not even have an afterword, I think you’d be pretty convinced that this was the ending. It wraps up almost all the plot points from the previous books – though I still say Sara is a monster attractor. She finally goes to the capital, she accepts the fact that she’s a celebrity and will have to deal with it, she, Allen, Nelly and Chris realize they’re all a family, and she not only gets the prime minister to reject Liam’s marriage proposal but rejects him personally. It does everything but say “our fight has only just begun”. Still, I’m glad there’s more of this, as I like the cast, and I like Sara. She’s just fun to head when she’s snarking.

Everyone is getting invited to the capital, it would seem. Sara has to go for multiple reasons – not only does she have to introduce herself to the King (and deal with Liam’s annoying marriage proposal), but the capital is asking for extra apothecaries due to the dragon migration currently going on – the same thing that tore Nelly away from Sara in the second book. Unfortunately, once Sara gets there she discovers similar problems to previous books – she’s only 14, and looks about 12, and she’s only been an apothecary for two months, though she’s already a prodigy. As such, she’s disregarded and belittled once she’s there, and paired off with the other rookie commoners. Fortunately, Sara is the heroine, so the plot comes to find her anyway.

Sara admits in this book that she is very happy to be an apothecary, but honestly I think her true talents may lie in management. When they wrap things up in the capital, and Sara realizes they’re just going to do the same thing with the same problems next year, she gets very angry. And then it’s explained to her that none of the guilds collaborate with each other at all, or even help out unless asked, and thus no one has given any thought to anything but the immediate problem of that month. Long-term thinking doesn’t happen here, mostly as everyone’s competing for power and prestige. Fortunately, Sara is an Invited, and has some of the most powerful people in the company as her found family, so she is able to call everyone around to the royal table and cut through the bullshit. Though admittedly, she doesn’t recognize the King. As for marriage… there’s a minor hint that Allen is thinking about marriage, but for the most part this book is content on the two of them having a sibling bond, and for now that’s absolutely fine.

So, NOT the end, I guess. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next arc.