Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 3

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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.

It’s not just the Silent Witch, really, everyone in this series has secrets of some form or another. The most obvious one is the Second Prince, who everyone calls a puppet and certainly has “I must obtain the throne” as his goal, but one gets the sense that “And them I will let my grandfather rule with me as a puppet” is NOT on his agenda. Monica, of course, has her main secret mission, but there’s also the fact that she would really rather NOT have Prince Felix find out her real identity given how much it consumes him. And there’s also her time at Minerva Academy before this series, which comes back to haunt her in a big way this book, as it turns out intermural sports are still a thing in this world, and that does not just mean the school sports teams (I don’t even think this school has sports). Monica is about to come face to face with another secret – one that haunts her.

Monica is still recovering from the events of the previous book, but at least she now has her two “sports” classes. Horseback riding is a bit awkward now that her friend Casey has withdrawn from school in a concerted effort to not be executed for an attempted assassination on the second Prince. Fortunately, Felix is there to help her discover such impossible talents like “how not to fall over immediately”. Then there’s her chess class, where she proves to be a prodigy – but that comes back to bite her, as she’s now part of the three-person chess team facing off against her old school. But there’s no way that anyone from her old school would recognize her, right? She has a disguise! Unfortunately, the worst POSSIBLE person is on the other team – a guy who helped turn Monica into the complete wreck she (mostly) is today.

I note I haven’t even been able to mention the back half of the book, which has some really good stuff involving Felix, and also a tear-jerker involving Monica’s father. But honestly the middle of this book feels like the real climax, with Monica finally facing the asshole whose petty jealousy and overweening pride trampled on any feeling she might have, and realizing… why do I have to care about this guy anymore? Why is he worth my time? Now, to be fair, the nature of the plot means that he actually does do one or two noble things here, and we probably WILL see him again, but I appreciated the effort, which is more than some other books make. We also get to see more and more how people at her school DO value her as a friend and care about her, though I think if you asked her about it she’d think that it will all vanish once her “mission” is over. We’ll see about that.

I had thought this series was three volumes when I first heard about it, but now we not only have a 4 and a 5 but a short story volume as well. It makes sense, the writing in this is fantastic, and Monica herself is someone I could cheerfully read for 800 pages. If I were Kadokawa, I’d ask for more as well.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 21

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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.

As I said last time, this book starts off a new arc but is also a continuation of the previous one, which is both good news and bad news. The good news is that we don’t really get a huge new cast to remember like the previous arc’s start: all the main characters here are familiar faces with the only new person showing up at the very end. The bad news, of course, is that I don’t get a whole bunch of new faces to talk about in a review, just the old familiar ones, which is a problem as this book is very much “clearing an obstacle” as a plotline. There is a place our heroes have to get to, it’s considered impossible to get there, but they do get there thanks to some old familiar faces, some nice gossip from an innkeeper, and of course Subaru’s Return By Death, which comes back gloriously in this volume, featuring some of the goriest deaths to date.

Yes, yes, look at the cover’s Rem’s back. Except she’s not, she remains in a coma the entire volume, so don’t get too excited. But she’s one of the many things that Subaru is hoping the Sage of the Watchtower can fix, along with Julius and Anastasia (who Subaru now sometimes calls “Foxidna”, i.e. Echidna wearing a fox stole. Anastasia/Echidna is not fond of that). Unfortunately, this involves making a journey so impossible even Reinhardt couldn’t manage it. Towards that end, they go back to the mansion and grab Rem (and thus Ram as well) and also Melia, the minor villain who can control beasts from a prior arc, who agrees to help them as basically she’s reluctant to go back to the person who hired her and pay the price of her failure. Unfortunately, not only do they have to deal with sandstorms, twists in time and space, and terrible monsters, but the Sage of the Watchtower seems to want Subaru dead. And she has lasers.

Rem may be in a coma for the volume, but that does not mean that her presence does not influence the others. Subaru and Ram both have very complex feelings of love and loathing regarding her, and Ram’s are even more complex as she’s the one who can’t remember her. One of the “death” endings involves everyone losing control of their emotions and killing each other, and Subaru and Ram both scream at each other for not caring enough about Rem’s wellbeing. And then there’s Emilia, who is sure that she loves Subaru, but has not quite gotten the hang of what that kind of love is. Everyone boggles a bit when she suggests she’s 100% fine with her and Rem both being objects of Subaru’s affection… till she throws in every other close friend he has, and we realize she means as a big family. Hang in there, Subaru.

So yes, a good volume, but it’s basically a long prologue to what’s actually going to be happening, which will no doubt involve Shaula, the character introduced right at the end, who seems far more delighted to see Subaru than is reasonable under any circumstances. We’ll see what happens next.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 8

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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.

The main thrust of this series is supposed to be the quiet life, but of course we also need to kickstart the next arc, which is basically “the new hero is broken”, and so this volume tries to have it both ways, with half the book being Red, Rit and Ruti on vacation doing things like making curry for the first time, or doing emergency appendectomies. The other half shows us the new hero’s party, and his arrival in Zoltan and interaction with the cast that remain in that sleepy town. Unfortunately, this created the main issue I have with this book, which is that the dissonance between the two plotlines is too great. I was unable to enjoy Red’s mountain vacation because I kept waiting for the evil things to start happening, and it put me on edge in a way I was not particularly fond of. Slow Life is there to be enjoyed, after all.

The start of the book is definitely in Slow Life mode, as Danan has recovered from his injuries and wants to celebrate by fighting Red in a spar, mostly to make sure Red hasn’t lost his edge by retiring to this backwater town. While this is happening, the Hero’s Party advances towards Zoltan, and we get a good look at Van, the new Hero. One gets the sense that The Gods were a bit annoyed with Ruti’s pesky ethics and morals, as Van does not have any of those. Hero is a job, and his only goal. Saving people is not part of that goal, nor is even being nice to them. Their job, according to him, is to battle the demon lord and die. And, in Zoltan, he finds an entire town full of people who don’t want anything to do with the battle against the demon lord. Uh-oh.

There was an interesting prologue to this book, showing the villain of the previous arc, Leonor, being shown the future that “should” have been, where she feels remorse at the end. (Said future also has Gideon being dead, and I get the sense that is what God wants more than anything else.) Leonor’s reaction is to basically say “fuck your redemption” and refuse to repent for anything. I respected that. But yes, “we have to kill God” definitely looks like it’s going to be the endgame of the series at the rate we’re going. Van is frankly terrifying and difficult to read, he makes your skin crawl. On the bright side, I continue to enjoy the author making Mister Crawly Wawly a genuine supporting character in this book, getting his own dynamic entrances and moments where he saves the day. In any other series he would be the adorable spider mascot there to show Tisse is a bit weird, here he helps humanize Tisse, who’s still probably my favorite character.

I would love to see more relaxed slow life stuff next time, but that’s not going to happen. Van vs. Ruti, coming soon. I just hope I can plow through it.