Sasaki and Peeps: Assigned Overseas! Poached! Hired on the Spot! ~That Time the Corporate Drone Who Couldn’t Speak English Was Sent to a Foreign Country and Taken In by the Mafia~

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By Buncololi and Kantoku. Released in Japan as “Sasaki to Pi-chan” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

It’s always nice when Sasaki and Peeps hits the sweet spot of adding so many more genres you think your head is going to explode, but also tying everything back to what’s come before so that it doesn’t get too confusing. (However, the summary of what’s happened so far is VERY appreciated.) This time around the genre, at least for the first 2/3 or so, seems to be “Asian action movie”, with a side order of mafia in the mix. That said, you know what this series does. It adds underage girls (or women who look like underage girls) to Sasaki’s orbit, has then fall for him, and has him completely ignore that. And sure enough, we get another one here. The afterword tells me that this girl is a mesugaki, which I had to look up (and now you will too). That said, it sounds worse than it is, and this series continues to provide a lot of “lolicon” content without any actual worry. He’s just not that into them, no matter what his neighbor thinks or how many suggestive hot dogs are on the cover.

Our family would kind of like a break after the events of the last few books, but that’s not in the cards. The American soldiers they’ve met before essentially blackmail Japan into having the Sasaki Family come to America to deal with a threat. Once there, everyone but Sasaki is treated to a glorious, very expensive vacation. Huge planes, vast hotel rooms, casinos at Vegas, clearing out all of Walt Disney World except for them… (which backfires, as everyone agrees it’s too eerie). Meanwhile, Sasaki is asked to pose as a convicted felon and infiltrate a prison to find out about a Chinese mafia connection. This leads to all the cliches you could possibly imagine. Then, once he’s out, he goes back to Chinatown in New York and meets up with the aforementioned mesugaki and her bodyguard/minder. After saving her from thugs, he’s promptly hired as bodyguard #2. Does this have anything to do with why they were brought there?

This series has always had its narrator and sub-narrator for when Sasaki’s not around, and Kurosu, aka neighbor girl, gets a lot of it here, as he’s absent a good part of the book. She definitely has the funniest part of the book, as while the rest of the family is trying to deal with a terrorist threat (yes, the vacation eventually ends), she’s trying to figure out what Sasaki’s type is and why he seems closer to Futarishizuka than any of the other girls. As for the new girl, Yingling, as I said above, she turns out to be closer to what was happening in past books than we thought, and that also gives us a chance (in case you didn’t look at the top of the cover art) to bring in the pink magical girl, Sayoko. Whose living situation continues to be absolutely wretched, and I hope Sasaki can work out a way to get her defenses down and bring her into their family orbit. Even if that messes up Type Twelve’s cliche math.

Lots of action. Lots of hijinks. Lots of fun. Sadly, the family is now banned from Japan. And America. This may prove difficult whenever book 11 comes out here (seems to be about every 10 months or so). But I will wait patiently.

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 10

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By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

By definition, this series is for readers who want to see cute sweet romance with little to no drama. No one is here to watch Amane and Miharu get into a big fight or temporarily break up. We want to see them be adorable and make sweets and give each other presents and maybe kiss and hug once or twice, because they’re definitely not doing much more than that. The trouble is that that can sometimes make for a very dull book. This is why we have supporting couples in the series. Unfortunately, aside from her muscle fetish, Ayaka is also relatively normal. That means we’re left with Itsuki’s family drama, which does indeed pop up again here, and also the comedy not-a-couple workplace duo of Miyamoto and Oohashi, who have the sort of relationship problem that you can only get when a couple are NOT together. That helps to make the book a bit more intriguing than usual.

Now that Mahiru’s birthday is done, it’s time for Christmas!… which both Amane and Mahiru have forgotten about due to all the birthday stuff. Fortunately, Christmas is a fairly easy event, they can spend it at Amane’s home eating fried chicken with Itsuki and Chitose, and give presents (well, he does. He tricked her into not returning it). And then there’s New Year’s, which is unfortunately interrupted by more Itsuki family drama. Amane’s father, however, stops by, and gives some very salient advice that amounts to “I get you were killing yourself with the honor student stress, but perhaps being a goofy slacker is what actually is upsetting your father”. Lastly, Valentine’s Day rolls around, and Amane is absolutely baffled to discover that girls might give him chocolates, even though he’s in a relationship. What has this world come to?

Leaving aside Amane’s mental issues, which are starting to almost overwhelm the series, I quite liked this. The most amusing part was the subplot with Miyamoto and Oohashi, which is very very good at implying but never outright saying “they got drunk and accidentally had sex”. The awkwardness that follows feels almost like justice given how annoying Oohashi has tended to get in previous books. I do hope they eventually figure it out. As for Itsuki, I do hope that he and Chitose can discover there’s a happy medium where you don’t have all the stress in the world but can still actually, y’know, become a productive member of society. But yeah, the bulk of this is Amane’s POV, and while I do like Amane and think he’s come a long way, he can be frustratingly obtuse just when you don’t need him to be. The idea that someone could have feelings for him despite his being in a relationship is just so foreign to him. I feel bad for the girl who confessed, and hope she gets some closure out of it.

In the next book, we’ll probably get White Day, which is how these romances go. Good stuff, probably better in print than animated.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 15

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By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

With one exception, which I’ll get to further down the page, this was a pretty good final volume to the series. It wraps up all the things you were expecting, and all the things you realize you’d never thought of but probably should have. Red and Rit are cute, Red gets to do some cool things, Ruti and Tisse are cute, Ruti gets to do some cool things, and Mister Crawly Wawly is the best. OK, I kind of wanted Ruti and Tisse to become a real couple rather than just “I can see it if I really want to”, but at least there aren’t any last minute love interests. A lot of this book is about parents and their children, so it makes sense that it ends that way, with Red and Rit having a son, who is on the cover, and in the book. For about 3 pages at the end.

Summertime, and the living is easy. If a bit dull. Peace means there’s not as much medicine being sold, and Red and Rit experiment with potion making. Then they hear Yaralandra is leaving to go exploring (and, given her lifespan, won’t be back for about a decade), and Tisse is returning to her guild to finally give her report on the job she took in Book 1. So they decide now is the time to take their long-awaited honeymoon. They go and visit Red and Ruti’s parents, which is a bit awkward but far more loving than I was expecting. They then go and visit Rit’s father, so that she can renounce her claim to the throne, which leads to a lot more political wrangling than she would have liked. Finally, they return home and delight in the news that she is pregnant. All is well… unless the author decides to throw in some last minute drama.

No spoilers guessing what I didn’t like. The entire ending with Rit slowly dying and Red having to find the right medicine reeked of “I want to end this with a bang”. The author has struggled with the slow life part of their slow life series since the start, and still can’t hack it. On the bright side, I’ve made no secret about my favorite characters in the series, and they’re both great here. Mister Crawly Wawly remains, to the end, one of the best non-speaking monster characters in any light novel, and I hope the restaurant goes well. Tisse may be described occasionally as being emotionless due to her training, but there are several moments here where she’s overcome with happiness, and the artist clearly loves to draw her grinning. I hope she finally confesses now that Ruti has gotten over her brother.

This was one of the first “banished from the hero’s party” books to come out here, and it’s still one of the better ones. I enjoyed it very much, despite its struggles with its genre.