Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 7

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By Matsuri Isora and Nanna Fujimi. Released in Japan as “Silent Witch” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

This book’s pacing reminded me a bit of Tearmoon Empire. The first half is mostly action and big magic, as the Sages face off against one of their own. The second half, though, essentially starts a new arc, as Monica investigates Felix’s past and his upbringing. It should be overbalanced towards the former, which very much has a big action feel to it. But the latter half of the book makes the series feel like it’s actually gearing up towards an ending. Now, technically it isn’t, as the 11th volume is due out in Japan soon. But there are plotlines that you can’t drag on forever, and the biggest of these is who Felix really is, why Duke Clockford feels he can be used as a puppet, and what’s the story behind the execution of Monica’s father. As for romance? That’s thin on the ground here, as Monica spends most of the book annoyed that you cannot simply turn love into a mathematical formula, and if anything Lana is the one she’s closest to right now. (No, not like that.)

When we last left Monica, she, along with the other sages, was in the forest trying to find a way to get to the Gem Sage Emanuel Darwin, whose artifact is sending out clockwork soldiers and also can command spirits – such as Ryn, who is now attacking them. By splitting up and playing to their strengths, they’re able to save Cyril and Glenn, who are currently trapped in the thick of all this, as well as take care of the artifact and send the Gem Mage packing with his tail between his legs. Unfortunately, we also learn that Louis seems to be trusting Monica even less, and worries that she will in fact side with Duke Clockford because of her relationship with Felix. Also unfortunately, once Monica gets home, she finds that once again someone has infiltrated her attic bedroom – and this time it’s Bridget.

Now, readers of this series may be asking themselves, who is Bridget again? Since being introduced in the first book as part of the student council, Bridget has done somewhere between fuck and all, mostly serving as a signpost of “this jealous girl will be activated when a button is pressed, but no one is pressing it”. Fortunately, not only does she finally get things to do, but it turns out that she’s far more interesting than that, and that her backstory ties into Felix’s (which we expected) but is also fairly tragic (which we didn’t), and that she is absolutely not a rival for the affections of Felix now… if that is indeed Felix. More and more it’s looking like at some point around when he was eight years old, the gentle, sickly, cute but pathetic Felix was somehow turned into the handsome, capable, cool with ladies Felix we have now. Bridget may not have found an answer she wanted, but Monica did, and what she does next…

…will presumably come up in Book 8. Which we won’t get till after the next volume of the Louis spinoff. Still, this was a solid Silent Witch, and I am very happy to welcome Bridget to the cast.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 17

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Tristan Hill.

I will admit that I never thought that I would be comparing the meandering, Cute Girls Doing Cute Things, decidedly ambivalent to romance despite its yuri fanbase I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 3400 Years to the energetic, Anything Can Happen, very very bisexual and horny series The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, but here we are, they both tend to handle their casts the same way. Both have a cast that is simply too large to juggle everyone all the time. So 100 Girlfriends will see Rentaro going out on a date with four of his girlfriends, and a footnote will say “the others were busy and couldn’t make it”. Likewise, Azusa will always be involved in the wacky antics of the short story, but the supporting cast and expand or contract depending on the needs of the author. Which is good, as I tend to have a lot of trouble remembering who is who in 300 Slimes beyond the ones who live in the house.

The stories: 1) Flatorte goes to visit her parents, and the rest of the house residents come with. They end up babysitting a neighbor’s blue dragon child, which causes havoc as they have no idea how to deal with baby blue dragons; 2) Sandra has a flower grow on top of her head, and attracts attention, both good and bad; 3) Pecora feels her idol singing career is in a rut, so goes on a training camp, and forces Azusa to come; 4) Vania needs to get her Leviathan Flying License renewed, and forces Azusa to come along; 5) A demigod escapes from the underground and starts creating magical girls… pardon me, magical gurus; 6) Pecora is horrified to find a demonic sweets company is making knockoffs of Azusa’s edible slimes, and forces her to fix the problem; and the after story, starring Wynona, she goes to learn magic from Wizly, but finds that she’s actually a genius.

As you can see by the short stories, a lot of these involve pushy characters forcing Azusa to do things to advance the plot. This is the danger of having a passive character as the lead. Azusa is immortal, can defeat almost everyone in the world, and is quite content to hang at her cottage on the hill with her family and have nothing happen to her. This is very undramatic. Fortunately, other characters do seem to be growing, if only a little, in this series where even the author admits they cannot actually have dramatic events. Flatorte is noticeably more mature in the stories that feature her doing more than eating, and if folks had listened to her a bit more, the first story would have gone much easier. Likewise, while Halkara has her drunkard moments, she’s allowed to also be very intelligent and innovative. It’s nice to see in a series where nothing usually happens.

Look at that, 500 words. I have defeated another volume. See you next time.

Too Many Losing Heroines!, Vol. 6

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By Takibi Amamori and Imigimuru. Released in Japan as “Make Heroine ga Ōsugiru!” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson. Adapted by Hayame.

I think these volumes have started to hit their stride, in that I’m no longer incredibly annoyed with the main characters quite as much anymore. It helps that, for the most part, when I want to roll my eyes at Nukumizu, someone is there to do it for me. The conceit of this series is that its male lead is very familiar with the concept of light novel harem romcoms, but he’s also a normal teenage boy, and so, like all normal teenage boys, too dim to understand flirting and attraction towards him (a healthy dose of self-loathing helps too). The girls, meanwhile, are all very aware that they’re in a harem romcom, and are trying their best, but… (waves vaguely at Nukumizu). There’s a running gag which comes up a few times here where the girls try to have a romantic, sweet moment, and Nukumizu just watches as it goes right over his head, and they say “that right there…” to him. He never gets it. That right there is why this series is ongoing.

Yes, that’s Tsukinoki on the cover art, which means that for the first time we’re not seeing a Losing Heroine. That said, it’s the last time we’ll be able to see her, as graduation is here, and she and Tamaki are worrying about getting into university more than the current romcom plot. The current romcom plot is that Lemon has asked Nuzumiku out on a date, and after taking him to the aquarium and watching him be completely confused about why she would be doing this, she confesses she wants to quit her clubs. Plural. Both track and the lit club, which would be bad news for him and Komari. They end up making a bet – if he can beat her in a race, she’ll stay with both clubs. Of course, she’s an outstanding athlete who could compete in Nationals, and he’s a skinny, out-of-shape nerd. So she gives him a handicap… which likely still won’t be enough.

As noted above, this is not Tsukinoki’s book but Lemon’s, though the other girls all get a good scene or two. My favorite was Shikiya, who realizes that, like Araragi, Nukumizu is a guy who would “save anyone”, and she likes that a lot less than Senjougahara did. Lemon, meanwhile, is dealing with an issue she’s had before – she’s simply too good at track, and the coaches are understandably concentrating on her to get the school some notice and to get her into Nationals. She, however, is worried about all the other track girls, who are not as good as her and therefore not getting the attention. Of course, as it turns out none of the girls feel resentment towards her at all, mostly as Lemon is a sweetie pie who has not a single selfish bone in her body. Once he wins (sorry to spoil, but come on, this IS still a light novel), he solves the problem by telling her to be more selfish. The girls not being as good as she is is not her problem. Go for the gold. Too bad love isn’t like a track meet, no matter how much she tried to make it so.

So now our leads head into second year, and I bet that means a new character being introduced who’s a giant flaming loser of a girl. We wouldn’t have it any other way.