The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor, Vol. 2

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By Sasara Nagase and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoshi Reijō wa Ryūtei Heika o Kōryaku-chū” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

When I reviewed the first volume I mentioned that Cross Infinite World was putting it out a lot faster than they normally do their series, and the reason for that became apparent shortly after the release of the first volume over here: it’s getting an anime. It’s a good choice: I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss got a decent if not dazzling anime as well, and the audience for the two series is exactly the same. Not just because of the author, but the same basic themes are here as well. iris may be a Villainess reincarnated into a game, and Jill a young woman who travels back in time to fix her past mistakes, but as protagonists they’re both doing the exact same thing: improvising and being badass as the universe does its best to kill them over and over and over again. And in this second book we get another think it has in common with Final Boss: for every Villainess there’s a Heroine, and heroines in these series tend to be evil.

Hadis and Jill are on their way to the capital to meet the rest of his family. Sadly, on arriving there, he’s attacked, accused of being a fake, and his magic and Jill’s is sealed. Hadis is mostly fine with this, and tries to make the series into a Slow Life book, gardening and cooking delicious meals. Jill is not particularly happy with his, so she and Zeke (half of her bodyguard duo) go into a nearby town so that she can join the Dragon Knights and gain intel. Easier said than done – she’s got the combat skills, even without magic, but the reaction of dragons to her means that she’ relegated to squire duties – which also means getting bullied. We also meet Hadis’ siblings, who turn out to not be as bad as she thought… at first.

Reading this book can be a struggle. Not because it’s bad, I really enjoyed it, but because Jill’s life is such a high wire act that at any moment you expect her to die and for this to become a Re: Zero sort of time loop story. Things are not helped by the introduction of Princess Faris, Gerald’s younger sister. In the first book she had merely been one half of the “ew” part of the story, as we knew Gerald was sleeping with her and that she was frail but not much else. Here we see her younger self, who turns out to be doing much the same thing Jill is – and for many of the same reasons. Alas, this makes them mortal enemies, and the two pretty much hate each other on sight by the end of the book. Final Boss also had its “heroine” antagonist, but Faris looks to be a lot nastier than Lilia ever was.

This really is “if you like Final Boss, it’s more of the same”. But that’s good, as it means it’s just as addictive. Roll on Volume 3.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 22

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

When I was reading this book, I mentioned on Twitter that if you removed all scenes where Subaru is essentially acting as the “tsukkomi” to every else that the book would be 100 pages shorter. That said, I know that one of the reasons we enjoy Subaru so much is that this is how he copes with things. He’s always had three ways of dealing: overcompensating, trauma response, and sarcasm, and he’s gotten much better on the first two but the third is ingrained. You’d think this would make him very one-note, but it doesn’t, because each of the characters that he reacts this way to is so different. The way Subaru responds to Emilia, mocking her while also acknowledging his adoration, is very different from how he has to deal with Shaula, the new character, which is a mix of disgust and “what the hell is going on?”. He has a type, but the range is larger than you’d think… until the cliffhanger, which promises to upend this a lot.

Having finally arrived at the tower, and gotten the comatose Rem and the injured Patlash to the medical bay, our heroes now have to deal with the fact that the Sage they’ve been seeking is… probably NOT the sage. And also a bit of an airhead. They also have to pass a test to get access to the upper floors of the tower at all. The first no one is able to pass until Subaru, who is from Japan and suspects the creator of this test is as well, finds a solution to. Unfortunately, the floor they get to has a bunch of “book of someone’s life” books, and they’re in random order. So they need to get to the next floor… which requires another test. Unfortunately, not only is this one much harder, but they all have to pass it individually. Bad news, since the test giver is an insanely powerful swordsman.

This has the feel of a book that is a time-marker, to be honest. I never felt bored, but there’s a sense that we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, and since it doesn’t drop till about page 280, that’s a lot of waiting. There are some very nice scenes between Subaru and Julius, which shows off their friendship (Julius is kind of put through the wringer in this book), and EMT fans will be eating very well, as the relationship between her and Subaru has never been more romantic, even as she wins a fight by letting her opponent grope her tits, not understanding why she should feel offended at that. (Emilia’s “sexual innocence” continues to be at 120%.) And we’re also getting more of an idea about what Anastasia/Echidna is really after, and trusting them a wee bit more. Not much plot happens here, but a lot of good character stuff occurs.

Next book, judging by that cliffhanger, should be far more plot-driven, though I suspect it will also remain inside the tower. And hey, no death loops this book!

The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes, Vol. 8

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By Bisu and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru” by Arian Rose. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Esther Sun.

Last time I wondered if this final volume in the series would be a victory lap, or if we would have one last plot twist for Rosemary to deal with in order to save her life. As it turns out, there’s nothing to worry about, this is pure fluff, an absolute victory lap that consists entirely of everyone praising Rosemary to the skies while she herself acts like a lovestruck teenager and frets that she’s about to screw everything up at any moment. Spoiler: she doesn’t. There’s always been an element of “everyone thinks of the best possible reasoning for our heroine’s behavior” to this series, but it’s tended to be balanced by action sequences or suspense. Here there’s none of that, and even the romance is handled fairly early, so it really is just wedding prep, wedding, and having all the other love interests get a narrative bit about how sad they are but how happy they are for Rosemary. The word “schmoopy” was invented for books like this.

After the events of the last book (and reassuring herself that her cat is not in fact dead), Rosemary spends the bulk of the first half of this book recuperating. Of course, that does not mean that she’s not doing things. First of all, she and Leonhart finally confess to each other with words and everything, and get across that, rather than merely tolerating the other’s presence, they are in fact giant dorks in love. This means there’s a wedding coming!… in two years time. While we wait for that, she says a final farewell to Kanon (who goes back to Japan, though she’ll return for the wedding itself) and concentrates of learning how to become a duchess, because the status gap between princess and count is too large, so they’re giving her a duchy to solve the problem. And, of course, there’s the hospital and medical schools. Plus, y’know, the rest of her harem.

As with prior volumes, the books alternate between Rosemary and various other characters. Most of this is what you’d expect, but we do meet Leonhart’s family, the most interesting part of the book. They’re husband, wife, and three sons, Leonhart being the eldest, and the men in the family all have the quirk of being uninterested in romance till they meet the one woman who they will love the rest of their days. As such, they’re a bit worried about Leonhart, as the princess might be trying to selfishly coerce him. Then they meet Rosemary, who is practically perfect in every way, and are quickly adoring her like everyone else. If you are the sort of person who is bothered by this, I assume you dropped the series long ago, but with no serious plotline to balance out the praise, it gets to be a bit too much even for me.

In the end, they get married and the book ends. I was wondering if we’d get a flash forward to the future, which we don’t in terms of Rosemary, but I did like the epilogue, which shows what her real legacy will be. So yes, I enjoyed this series, a good one for a combination of “avoid my fate” reincarnation and suspense thriller.