By Fuyumi Ono and Akihiro Yamada. Released in Japan as “Kaze no Banri, Reimei no Sora” by X Bunko White Heart. Released in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. Translated by Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Monica Sullivan.

This is a book – well, the whole series is, but especially this book – with a message. This whole volume shows us what life is like in a city, and indeed a county, that is so used to corruption and venality that it doesn’t even matter that the new queen is supposed to be better than the old one, things will still continue. We see, over and over in this book, the normal law-abiding folks turning away whenever there’s something horrible going on – or worse, cheering it on – because they’re scared that if they speak up, it will happen to them and their loved ones. The trouble is… sometimes that happens anyway. Youko’s friend in the village, whose name I couldn’t remember from Book Five so I just called her “tragic girl who’s going to die”, lives up to her name. Fortunately, things do get better by the end of the book, as Youko finally comes to terms with that fact that, advisers or no, in the end, she’s the Queen.

Our three heroines continue along their journey of self-discovery. 1) Youko goes touring around the land of Wa in disguise, occasionally helping people out, and discovers that things are much, much worse than she expected… then goes back to the village where she’s staying to find death and disappearance; 2) Suzu decides, after the death of her friend by the evil guy in charge of the city, that murder is okay, but fortunately before she can put her poorly thought-out plan into action she hooks up with the local resistance group, who are here to tell you “murder is okay but only if you have a plan for post-murder”; 3) Shoukei, having finished being shown the life of an abused commoner and also having finished being educated about life in other countries by Rakushun, manages to hook up with the OTHER local resistance group. Eventually the three women meet each other, and they all agree that while murder may be OK, revolution is the way to go here.

The bulk of the character development here goes to Suzu, who got the least last time. She spends most of the first half of the book in a rage, snapping and deciding that murdering Shoukou will solve all her problems, then realizing that in fact it doesn’t solve the most important part, which is that she blames herself for Seishuu’s death, and then realizing that her entire life here to date was built around passively accepting abuse without doing anything, and that changing that is what she needs to do. Youko, meanwhile, simply needs to be galvanized into being proactive, and once she gets past “I don’t know enough about this world” by going on the road and finding out, she quickly cleans house and starts what will hopefully be a prosperous reign. As for Shoukei, she’s not only had recent experience as an abused commoner, but also years as a pampered princess. I admit her character arc here was a bit too “I’m suddenly mature now”, but hey, talking with Rakushun for weeks on end can do that to a person. I’m not sure we’ll see those two again (Youko I’m sure will turn up), but it was nice to follow their journey.

Next up… short story collection? Short story collection. Till then, please read this lovely series that reminds you that overthrowing the state can be a good thing… though admittedly it helps when the leader of the state is on your side.

By Fuyumi Ono and Akihiro Yamada. Released in Japan as “Kaze no Banri, Reimei no Sora” by X Bunko White Heart. Released in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. Translated by Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Monica Sullivan.

If you recall, when I reviewed the first volume of this series, I pointed out that it being divided in two meant that the first half was mostly unrelentingly miserable, with good things only starting to happen in the second book. You can assume the same thing for this one, and if you want to leave this arc with your spirits high, you may want to wait for September for the other half. That said, fear not, this is still brilliantly written and compelling. And yay, Youko is back! Admittedly she’s not all that happy, but she’s in this one! As are two other main characters, also young women. This book is about growing up and learning about the world around you, and how closing yourself off to the world around you can lead to you being immature and disliked. Youko has learned this lesson, at least partly. The other two, not so much.

There are three interlocking plot threads, which I will streamline for ease of reviewing. 1) Youko is now Queen, but that has not magically solved everything. The people have had too many bad queens lately, and worry she’s just another one. They want a king. Also, her underlings are all conspiring against each other and taking advantage of her ignorance about this world. And Keiki, frankly, is being no help. She goes on a journey in disguise to learn about this world. 2) A hundred years ago, a girl in Japan sold as a slave falls off a cliff during a storm and ends up in the Twelve Kingdoms. After suffering at first, she becomes a servant to ex-king’s mistress Riyou… and suffers for much longer, mostly so she can speak the language. Now, though, she’s thrown out, and told she needs to learn to be less whiny and passive. 3) The king of Hou and his Queen are executed in a coup, and their daughter, Shoukei, is disguised and thrown into a shabby village in lieu of execution. She hates it, and hates being poor, but stays selfish through most of the book, till she meets a familiar face… to the reader, that is.

Not gonna lie, but Youko is easily the best thing in this, mostly as we only get a tiny bit of character development from Suzu and Shoukei, who will get most of theirs in the next book. (As a reminder for anime watchers, the high school kid who came with Youko in the anime doesn’t exist here.) She’s doing her best, but has never really been a politician, and people are running rings around her. Meanwhile, Keiki just sighs at her. I don’t blame her for running off. I did like Shoukei’s journey as well, though she’s easily the hardest to take for a good 4/5 of this volume. Meeting Rakushun is the best thing that happened to her, and she’s learning about life for non-princesses. As for Suzu, she’s very whiny and hard to like, and unfortunately her character development is also in the last fifth of the book. I’m sure she gets better.

The book ends with all three of these women converging in the same place, and I suspect the next one will have them meet up. I hope they get along. I suggest Youko not mention who she really is. In any case, essential as always.

By Fuyumi Ono and Akihiro Yamada. Released in Japan as “Juni Kokuki: Higashi no Wadatsumi, Nishi no Sōkai” by X Bunko White Heart. Released in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. Translated by Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Monica Sullivan.

Everyone loves a good scoundrel who’s secretly smart and caring. They’re a very popular fictional trope. The scoundrel – almost always male, as in this book, though I have seen excellent scoundrel heroines as well – is the sort that always looks like they’re a good for nothing. They drink a lot, they don’t dress or stand properly, they’re always hanging out in the bad parts of town rather than, y’know, ruling the country. It’s always fun to read about how everyone gradually realizes that it was all part of a clever plan, and that in reality everything they’ve been doing had a very good reason. Note that I said it was fun to READ about. As it turns out, when the previous king was renowned for being awful, your kingdom is on the verge of collapsing, and you’re only just starting to recover. having a king who never goes to meetings and is hanging out in brothels can, in fact, be bad.

We’ve met the king of En and his kirin before, helping Youko establish herself and her own kingdom, and later on Taiki needing to choose a new ruler, but it’s clear in those that he’s well-established. Here we go back a bit and see what things were like when he was just getting started. The previous king was a tyrant who nearly destroyed the kingdom, and the land was arid and inhospitable. Twenty years later, the land is starting to recover and the domains that make up the kingdom are beginning to find their feet. But it’s a struggle, and things are not helped by the new king, Shouryuu, who seems to want to fire his most loyal subjects and replace them with people who dislike him. The king, as I noted above, avoids meetings and likes to hang out in brothels. As such, it’s not a surprise when the chancellor of the most prosperous domain decides to have the king step down and let him take over.

As always with this book, the writing is stellar and I barely know where to begin. Shouryuu *is* thinking about the kingdom, and wants to try to get by with the least amount of lives lost. Particularly as his kirin is so sensitive to blood and death. That said, it is interesting that this book pushes back against the idea of kings ruling in the way they do, especially given that this is a world with real gods who have kings chosen by what amounts to people with magical ruler sense. In a normal fantasy universe, there might be a much better argument against Shouryuu’s rule, but here the world is literally set up to show he’s the one they need – which turns out to be true, the guy starting the rebellion is a complete loser who you get to hate. Imagine Tenya from My Hero Academia, only evil. I will also warn you that there *is* bloodshed here, and it’s not the bad guys who die. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the kid who talks to youma, who turns out to be a far more interesting villain than the other guy, and I hope we see him again.

I hope I don’t need to tell people how good this is and that you should be reading it. Next time, it’s the first of a two-parter where we finally catch up with Youko and see how smoothly things have gone for her. (My guess: not very.)