The cover shows Jill, in a red dress with fantastic shoes, being held in the air by Hadis, who is looking 100% more together than he is in the actual book.

The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor, Vol. 1

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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 Jenny Murphy.

This has really become the year of Sarasa Nagase. Last month J-Novel Club released one of her earlier one-shots, The Disowned Queen’s Consulting Detective Agency. One of her two biggest hits, I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, just had a semi-successful anime, and is being released by Yen Press. And now we get her other big hit, whose webnovel is just as long as Final Boss. The two series are somewhat similar. While the first one is a take on the basic Villainess book, where our heroine has knowledge of a game and discovers she’s the antagonist, this one is what’s called in Japan a “Yarinaoshi” genre, which we in the West call a “Peggy Sue”, after the 1980s movie Peggy Sue Got Married. Our heroine is killed and finds herself going back in time to try to get things right this time. That said, both Final Boss and Do-Over Damsel have one big thing that’s exactly the same: their heroines are both completely bananas.

Jill Cervel is fleeing for her life, having been betrayed and wrongfully accused by her fiance. (Try to contain your shock.) Cornered, she leaps off a tall castle wall to her certain death… and wakes up back at the age of ten years old, right when she’s about to get engaged to the fiance that murders her. And said fiance really, really wants to get engaged to her. To avoid this, she grabs the guy behind her without looking and says that she’s already pledged herself to this guy. Of course, this guy happens to be Hadis Teos Race, emperor of the Rave empire, a gorgeous young man who IMMEDIATELY accepts Jill’s proposal and whisks her away to his country. Has she gone from the frying pan into the fire?

I mostly loved this, so let’s start with a few caveats. Jill is ten here, regardless of her mental age, and spends a great deal of the book worrying that her new lover is into little girls. This is not helped by the plot, which requires him to take someone under 14 as a bride (not for sex reasons, I promise). The other caveat is the reason that her fiancee is out to murder her, which is that he is sleeping with his younger sister and she just discovered this. Frankly, Gerald is one of those “so evil it’s laughable” guys we often find in light novels, and so it’s no surprise that he’s the worst. Hadis is the biggest surprise, as I expected him to be similar to Claude from Final Boss and he is very much not. He’s kind of a mess. As for Jill, she is a hoot, she’s overpowered as hell, and she’s trying her best to not die even when the universe really, really wants her to die. The author’s heroines are always the main reason to get the book, and this is no exception.

Cross Infinite World is fast-tracking this one a bit more than their usual schedule (possibly as it’s more than 2 volumes long), so we’ll get the 2nd book in about 3 months. If you like reset novels, or strong heroines, or “eccentric” lead characters, this is a great choice.

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 13

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By Ryo Shirakome and Takayaki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

The last third of this very long final volume of Arifureta is a giant victory lap. We get lots of cleanup after, the apocalypse, lots of comedic stuff involving the Haulia, some vaguely amusing jokes, and Hajime finally gets around to having sex with most of the rest of the harem (offscreen, sorry to all those wanting your “snu-snu”). It probably goes on far too long, frankly. But I was so happy to be reading it, because it meant that I was not reading fight scenes. After last volume being 175 pages of fights, this volume is 220 pages of fights, and frankly I would rather chew my own arm off than read more of the battle first going one way, then the other, and the occasional nameless person that we don’t know actually dying. The only named people we know who die are the evil God, and Eri, who was killed off last book. We know how this final battle will turn out, this is not Arifureta Zero.

Even the fights in the book are divided neatly in half. The first third of the book shows us Ehit’s apostles versus the rest of the cast that weren’t fighting in Book 12, including Kaori, who frankly gets the MVP for that battle easily. That said, it shows off everyone’s cool moves, shows everyone almost winning and them almost losing, etc. It’s very much a final battle. Then we cut to Ehit vs. Hajime for the second half, and the same thing happens, only every time it appears that Hajime is almost losing, he pulls some new “I was only fooling” bullshit out of his ass, because, frankly, this is Arifureta, and if you didn’t think this was coming you’re reading the wrong series.

So yeah, the first two thirds of the book is basically fight now grr. the only emotional moment is the one pre-designed to be a tear-jerker, which is where Miledi shows up to save the day and also die, because now that Ehit is finally defeated there’s no reason why she cannot finally pass on and rejoin all her friends and her true love. (There’s an additional short story that adds a nice even happier ending to that, if you like). The last third is a bit more varied, as we see Kouki trying to deal with apologizing to literally everyone he’s ever known, Kousuke unlocking his inner chuuni and ending up with a rabbit girlfriend, and Liliana pouting because she’s still too young to get the sex that the rest of the girls all get. And there’s a nice little epilogue where Hajime finally returns home to his family, which is heartwarming.

The webnovel this was based on has an After Story that would probably run about 13 more volumes, but Overlap has shown no sign they plan to release any of it, so this might be it for Arifureta. Which is fine, frankly. It ties up well, and I don’t need the wacky adventures of Yue in Japanese high school. To the end, Arifureta was the “I’ve got the lamest power and everyone hates me, but it’s secretly THE COOLEST” that every other similar series tried to be, and none of them really could ever touch it. I won’t MISS it per se, but I’m glad I read it. Mostly.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!, Vol. 3

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By Touko Amekawa and Wan*Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuukimama na Hanayome (Hitojichi) Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Amy Osteraas. Adapted by Vida Cruz-Borja.

Sometimes, particularly when it’s a villainess book, all of which take place in “vaguely Europe in the days before cars”, I struggle to remember how supernatural the series is meant to be. Now, obviously there’s SOME supernatural content going on, namely the fact that Rishe keeps looping around to try to not be horribly killed, and this particular book has talk of a girl who can supposedly “curse” those close to her, but for the most part it is content to otherwise be vaguely realistic. That said, I do wonder if the author is having fun with our expectations a bit, as two of the book’s emotional climax rely on the fact that Rishe and Arnold are vampires. They’re NOT vampires, of course. But neck biting is such a thing here that it even gets a color page. That said, there’s a rational reason for it. But still. Vampire Arnold. Mmm-mmm.

Rishe comes to Arnold with some news: it turns out that running away does not actually break an engagement when it involves religion and royalty, so she’s still engaged to Dietrich. Fortunately, Dietrich’s new partner is fine with them breaking it, so that just leaves the Church. She’ll have to go to the Grand Basilica and have a long, involved ceremony designed to make sure this is OK in the eyes of God. Of course, all this is part of Rishe’s next plan in “find out why Arnold keeps turning evil”, as she’s there to see why Arnold was so dedicated in her past lives to wiping out the entire Church and most of its believers so thoroughly. And along the way, she also runs into a spoiled duke’s daughter… one who she’s very familiar with from her fourth life.

Gotta say, the more we hear about Arnold’s father the more we can probably explain the reasons behind Arnold’s actions as “I just snapped”. Not to get too gory here, but the actions taken on newborn children who don’t “pass the test” that Arnold is forced to watch are are the stuff of nightmares. Which, as it turns out, Arnold has frequently – his only respite in this volume is when he’s sleeping next to Rishe, who is sleeping off a poison. As for Rishe, it’s interesting seeing how the memories of her past lives still drive her present circumstances. She’s not Millia’s maid and minder in this world, but she still very much feels the same way about her, and is thus puzzled at the changes in this universe compared to her past one. Fortunately, those changes end up being a big clue, and lead up to an exciting ending that once again revolves around talking Arnold down from committing murder.

I’m not sure how many volumes this will run – 7, for the 7 lives? – but there’s a 4th one out in Japan, so definitely one more. I enjoy this series mostly for Rishe, who’s a lot smarter and savvier than many of her villainess counterparts.