Jeanette the Genius: Defying My Evil Stepmother by Starting a Business with My Ride-or-Die Fiancé!, Vol. 1

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By Miyako Miyano and Hayase Jyun. Released in Japan as “Kakure Saijo wa Zenzen Megenai: Gibo to Gimai ni Ie wo Oidasareta no de Konyaku Haki Shite Moraou to Omottara, Shinshi datta Konyakusha ga Hageshiku Dekiai Shitekuru Yо̄ ni Narimashita!?” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Ray Krycki.

As you may have noticed given that it’s every other review I’ve written for the last year or so, the villainess genre has really exploded in Japan, as well as translated into English. Everyone loves seeing the villainess struggle against her fate. Sometimes she’s accused falsely. Sometimes she redoes her life so that everyone loves her. Sometimes she even embraces the villainy. But the one drawback to this is that authors sometimes miss writing actual villainess types. Sure, you can make the supposed heroine secretly evil, but it’s not the same. We want women with expensive dresses and jewels and stepsisters with drill curls holding their hand up to their mouths as they sneer “Ooooohohohohohohoho!”. If you miss this sort, good news! The stepmother and stepsister in this book fill the job admirably. Honestly, I might have been more interested in them than the heroine.

Our heroine is Jeanette, who has spent most of her 13 years being abused by her mother and sister, but being doted on and protected by her father. Unfortunately, one day her father disappears, his carriage found (without a body) in a ditch. Naturally, evil stepmother immediately throws Jeanette out of the house. But that’s fine. This is a learning opportunity, just like every other piece of abuse Jeanette has suffered, and she’ll face it with a smile and GUTS! Still, she’d better break off the engagement to the count, because after all she’s disgraced now. There’s just one slight problem – everyone who knows her loves her to bits, especially her fiance, who when he hears that she’s been thrown from her house swoops in to offer her a much better deal.

I’ll be honest, I found Jeanette somewhat exasperating. First of all, I wish she were about four years older. Secondly, her “genius ditz” personality can be fun, but also verges on annoying, particularly when she needs to be clever and figure things out but also not clue in to the fact that her family are being abusive. I ended up being far more interested in Leila and Ariel. Ariel is merely a spoiled daughter who’s been trained by mother to look down on Jeanette – there’s no actual hatred there, and when it turns out Jeanette is a golden goose she’s quick to turn. Leila, though, is painted in a far harsher light, being a wasteful spender and also a massive sucker for scams. I hope we see more of them in Book 2. Which is going to happen, because Daddy has to come home soon.

If you like this sort of book, it’s a decent entry, though not essential. Jeanette is a genius for business, but when it comes to interpersonal relationships she’s a disaster.

Anime NYC 2023: Remote Musings, Sunday

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Sunday is traditionally the quietest day at a con for press who do industry stuff like me, and so it is this year. I also feel a bit guilty, because if I had been an Anime NYC this year, I’d have attended neither of the industry panels, but gone to the My Next Life as a Villainess movie premiere. (Which I hear was underwhelming, not a surprise, but oh well.) That said, I was not at Anime NYC, so I will wait for reviews of the movie and instead talk about Akuzi and Starfruit.

I don’t cover the digital manga publishers quite as much as the “majors”, especially now that Amazon has made it harder to search for manga by lumping it in with all comics media. But Azuki are certainly among the top tier of the apps out there. They announced two new series debuting on their app.

Our Aimless Nights (Yoru no Manimani) runs on Futabasha’s Web Comic Action site. An upbeat girl and a shy guy meet once a week at the convenience store and talk to each other. Can love grow from this?

You’re So Sloppy, Hotta-sensei (Darashinai desu, Hotta-sensei!) runs in the print Manga Action, a comedy about a high schooler who does housekeeping for his teacher. In school she’s the ideal teacher… at home she’s a slob. I’m told this falls under the “ecchi sex comedy” genre, so expect a lot of underwear lying around the place.

They also announced a number of titles on the service that are also released by MediBang. I won’t go into MediBang too much, except to say that I hear their rates are so low for translators that the mind boggles. And two titles from Media Do, which I also know little about. I did notice that one of the titles picked up was My Sadistic Boyfriend, which was originally released on the old JManga site way back in the day. It reminds me that Futabasha still struggles to this day to get a large-scale English publisher to notice them, especially with the demise of Dr Master. A lot of their titles have gone with the new digital companies. I will say that the MediBangs and Media Dos of the world are a good way for the tiny companies that would otherwise get nothing translated to get their josei romance and supernatural fantasies out over here.

The other panel was Star Fruit Books, who tend towards smaller books licensed from the authors. They announced Virginia Inferno (Otome Jigoku), a horror anthology; I’ll Quit Traveling… (Watashi, Tabi o Yamemasu…), a slow-moving fantasy; Clan Under the Moon (Gekka no Ichizoku), a horror title that I think originally ran in Horror House in the early 90s, and is 2 volumes; The Red Snake (Akai Hebi), a horror title from the early 80s by the legendary Hideshi Hino; and His Ankle (Kare no Kurubushi), a BL title. Star Fruit has been putting out a lot of classic horror from the 80s and 90s, as well as BL and yuri titles. Get excited!

And that’s a wrap! I am hoping to get to the next Anime NYC in the summer. Hopefully my next report will be from the con. That said, it’ll still be “written as one big post the evening after), so not too different from this.

Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home!, Vol. 7

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By You Fuguruma and Nama. Released in Japan as “Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

Generally speaking when you get a book in the current genre of “Cinderella”, be they a villainess or just a betrayed female lead in general, the actual betrayal part is rapidly overwritten by the good stuff. Our heroine finds a new life with those who love and care about her, and finds joys that she never had in the past. And that does happen in this story as well – Shiori is extremely happy with Alec and secure in her job as a housekeeping mage. But she’s also been through not one but two traumatic, world-shattering events over the course of just a year or two, and they still impact her every day. She’s been hiding her past in Japan from everyone for the very simple reason that she can’t prove it. As for her love for Alec, and his true identity as royalty, she’s very upfront about what she wants if she is forced to leave Alec forever – the mercy of death. This book can be chilling.

There’s a new visitor to Storydia – a merchant from the East and her bodyguard. This is bad news for Shiori, who has tried to wave off her background by claiming that she comes form the East. Now that there are actual people from Mizuho here, her story is not going to hold up. Especially as she can’t read the written language they have, meaning that her last desperate hope – that she merely went back in time, and this was some unheard of historical period – is dashed to bits. After a mild nervous breakdown, she finally confesses everything to Alec and Zack, and they do believe her – even through her fears that she’ll be abandoned and left for dead, which understandably still haunt her. That said, Alec’s true past also comes out in this conversation, and now that it’s out in the open, it can’t be ignore anymore – Shiori is going to have to have conversations with the local lord. And the king.

Honestly, over the course of this volume it becomes clear that this adventurer’s guild is essentially an isle of misfit toys for nobles with tragic pasts. We already know about Alec. We’d heard about Zack earlier, but it’s fleshed out more now. And now it turns out that Nadia was meant to marry one of the older princes who ended up dying, and that Clemens was also a noble with a promising future who, after being tricked by a woman, had to flee nasty rumors in order to save his family. That said, I don’t think anyone can quite top Shiori. As I said before, having “magically transported from Japan with no language skills, money or belongings” OR having “my adventuring party/family all grew to dislike me and eventually left me to die in a dungeon” would be good enough tragic backstories. Together… look, normally I would criticize the relationship between Alex and Shiori as being too codependent to be healthy. But after this book? Heck, go nuts.

This is not quite happily ever after yet – Alec and Shoiri are together for now, and the lord approves, but there is still the King to think about. And, um, the little matter that folks are starting to consider Shiori a literal Saint. Ridiculous. Her magic power isn’t even omnipotent! In any case, this was an excellent volume in an excellent, if heavy, series.