Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 10

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By Hitoma Iruma and raemz. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Lee.

Finally, after two volumes with illustrations ranging from minimal to none, we have a new artist. I had speculated last time that Non, the old artist, had left the title as they were ill, but I’ve since found out that it’s more “they are shifting their career goals”, i.e. they’re only drawing BL now. Which is fine. Replacing them is raemz, who is best known over here for the gorgeous illustrations for Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle. So things are back to normal with this series… for the most part. This volume, following up on the 8th book, spends far more time in the future with Adachi and Shimamura moving in with each other after graduating and getting jobs. Iruma has never really been all that fond of linear storytelling, so I’m not too surprised, but it does also remind you that the series is winding down. Indeed, the author states in the afterword that the 8th book was the “final” one, and the four to follow are afterwords. And Dengeki confirmed 12 will be the last.

As noted, the book is divided into ‘present’ and ‘future’ sections, with the former narrated by Shimamura and the latter mostly by Adachi. In the present, now that Adachi and Shimamura are dating, and given that the author is not really going to do anything with Hino and Nagafuji here after they got a major spotlight last time, there’s really only one plot thread to wrap up. Or rather, to cut. Tarumi is still around, still has a major unstated crush on Shimamura, and still wants to hang out with her. And credit to Shimamura, here we see what all this interaction with Adachi and Yashiro has wrought, as she decides to deal with the issue head on telling Tarumi that she’s dating Adachi now. The scene is meant to be heartbreaking, but sadly, most of Shimamura’s narration still puts a layer of gauze over everything, so I think it’s merely bittersweet.

There’s quite a bit of Yashiro in this book, as she spends most of it dressed up in onesies of various kinds of animals. I’ve joked before about how I’m the only fan of the series who likes Yashiro, but I do think that her role in the story is very important. First of all, she deserves just as much credit as Adachi for getting Shimamura out of her passive daze and forcing her to take a good long look at herself. Adachi does this directly by being a vibrating ball of gay, but Yashiro always does it indirectly, so it’s harder to spot. She also gives Adachi and Shimamura a gravitas that they would not otherwise have. The idea from prior books that there are many alternate universes, and that all of them have Adachi finding Shimamura in them, is a nice one that distracts you from the fact that these books can be very, very dull if you let them. Future Shimamura also seems to realize that even after they’ve moved to a different city, Yashiro is gonna show up anyway. She’s the spice.

Adachi and Shimamura 11 just came out in Japan last month, so it will no doubt be a while before we see it here. Till then, enjoy the present, as Shimamura cuts ties with an old friend, and the future, as Adachi and Shimamura move in together and share a bed but are quite asexual about it all.

My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex: “The Only You in the World”

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By Kyosuke Kamishiro and TakayaKi. Released in Japan as “Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gierrlon Dunn.

This series is definitely one which enjoys being for otaku nerds, and expects its readers to keep up. Fortunately, it also has Yume, who is not an otaku nerd, and who sometimes needs things explained. (There’s a Haruhi Suzumiya joke here, and it’s remarked on how old that series is.) It also leans heavily on the sort of stereotypes such fans enjoy. And Isana Higashira leans heavily into those stereotypes. She’s the weird one. She talks like she’s from the 19th century. She’s got a really big chest. The whole nine yards. She’s also a hoot to read. I was quoting this book on Twitter while I read it, and everything I was quoting was one of her lines. That said, there’s a reason why, despite her plotline supposedly wrapping up in the second volume, the author came back to look at her in more depth. It’s because real life is not like light novels, and people don’t really get over being rejected by their first love that easily.

Mizuto and Yume return from their trip worse off than before, thanks mostly to Yume’s inability to spit her feelings out and Mizuto’s talent for rationalizing anything as “not in love with me”. They’re back home, though, which means that Isana can come over. A lot. And hang out with Mizuto, and get in compromising situations with Mizuto, and go out on a date with Mizuto (and Yume, who invites herself along), and introduce Mizuto to her mother. It should not really come as a surprise that, when school finally goes back into session, the rumor among the class is that Mizuto and Isana are dating. And Yume, trapped by her own inability to get her own feelings across, can’t say anything. Unfortunately, suddenly being the center of attention, and having the reason for that be a lie that everyone believes, makes Isana very unhappy.

The subtitle of this volume comes from Isana’s awesome mom, who sounds like she starred in a light novel series of her own as a teen. Isana suffers from an inability to read social cues, and when she asks things that to her are not obvious, she binds that everyone gets upset and she’s isolated. Mizuto is the first person her own age she’s met who not only does not get upset by her but is able to interact with her as a friend. This is why she fell for him so hard, and it’s also why, despite everything she’s told him, she can’t get past being rejected quite yet. The author mentions in the afterword that he originally ended the volume with Mizuto being more cool and dramatic, but that Isana was telling him that something wasn’t working there, so he went back and wrote the ending we have now, which feels more in character.

Yume will still eventually get together with Mizuto, of course, whenever this series ends. That said, I can understand why the author says Yume “feels like she’s losing” after this book. Isana, if nothing else, deserves her own spinoff.

The Drab Princess, the Black Cat, and the Satisfying Break-Up, Vol. 2

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By Rino Mayumi and Machi. Released in Japan as “Jimihime to Kuroneko no, Enman na Konyaku Haki” by M Novels F. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Evie Lund.

Last time, I mentioned that we’d gone an entire novel without having the satisfying break-up of the title. Well, I’ve just finished the second volume, and I have some bad news for you. Now, this is not entirely bad. The scenes dealing with Prince Helios, how Seren thinks he feels about her and Marietta, how he *actually* feels about her and Marietta, and the fact that he’s really starting to mature and come into his own now lend a nice air of anticipatory horror to the whole thing. Helios isn’t a bad guy, just a teen who was overheard once at the exact wrong time and it’s going to destroy his life. That said, that’s about 15% of this book. The other 85% is Serena and Viol being adorable at each other while he teaches her magic. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cute, and they make a good not-yet-couple. It’s just compared to the underlying tension it feels a bit… dull?

The exam to become a High Mage is not that far away, so it’s time for Viol (or his alternate self/cat familiar Vi) to train Marietta to do better and better things. It helps that she’s a complete genius who picks up on everything much faster than he anticipates, to the point where he has to forbid her from learning how to FLY for fear she’ll try too hard and injure herself. Instead, they sneak out of her mansion and go to find magical beasts to destroy, so that she can gain experience. Which is good, because she really does show off that she’s unused to this, being terrified on her first encounter with one, and her magic therefore not being as strong as usual. But she improves, very quickly, and all is going well. Including her feelings for Viol, and Viol’s feelings for her. Now if they could only tell each other…

So yeah, it turns out that what this really is is one of the current genre of “sweet and syrupy romance” books, with a side order of magical creatures. Seren can’t stop staring at Viol, or thinking about how to please him, and near the end of this book realizes that she’s fallen in love with him. She’s also fully made her decision to become a High Mage and not the Queen, which is all very well and good but she really needs to tell someone about it. Viol loves Seren and sweets, in that order, and sort of suspects that Helios still likes her, but is certainly not going to try to fix things on his own. The result is a book where the high tension is surrounded by fluff. That said, I do really like the minor subplot of bringing more women into the “salons” that the noble men attend. Even if Seren does misread the reason, it’s good to see that for once we have a group of nobles and none of them are sexist dickheads! What are the odds?

There’s certainly more to this story – the author is still writing it as a webnovel. That said, these are the only two books to come out in print in Japan – two more seem to be digital-only. In any case, I really, REALLY hope that the break-up is dealt with in Book 3, because there’s only so many times I can read about these two eating sweets, y’know?