The Magician Who Rose from Failure: Tales of War and Magic, Vol. 5

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By Hitsuji Gamei and Fushimi Saika. Released in Japan as “Shikkaku Kara Hajimeru Nariagari Madō Shidō! ~ Jumon Kaihatsu Tokidoki Senki ~” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

After a fourth volume that abandoned nearly the entire main cast in order to tell the “war” part of the subtitle, this new volume of The Magician Who Rose from Failure feels like an apology to the reader of sorts. It’s a chance to relax and take stock of where the various nations are after the giant battle that ended the previous volume, see how far Arcus’ father can continue to have his head up his own ass, and give a bit of attention to his main love interests, who were absent from the previous book. (Lecia, though she appears, gets very little attention, but I’m hoping a future volume will take care of that, as there’s certainly some family drama bubbling up.) Arcus is being forced to come to terms with the fact that he is now a Very Important Person, which means he can’t simply live his life holed up in a lab inventing fluorescent lights and pudding.

There are, as you might imagine, various problems that stem from Arcus’ antics in the last book. As least three other nations have now taken an interest in him, and want him either dead or on their side. His left arm was injured badly, and healing magic is not good enough to fix it right away – it takes most of the book for it to get mostly better. And, of course, he saved the life of the Prince, which is a very good thing but also politically difficult, so a story will have to be cooked up. That said, he does meet the king, who (of course) takes an interest in him. After this, he gets a new house, and throws a housewarming party, which ends up mostly being an excuse for his two love interests to fight over him. That said, Charlotte wins here, getting most of the back of the book to herself, as she crosses swords with Arcus.

The book has used its isekai sparingly, for the most part, with Arcus thinking of his Japanese memories as a separate person from himself. This volume shows off more of why he’s able to keep up with the sword genius Charlotte, though… as well as why she’s still ahead of him in the end. After all, if you can have a kid who has memories o a past life in another world, there’s no reason not to have characters have other inexplicable abilities. I admit, though, I do prefer Sue, who has admitted she’s the daughter of a duke, but that doesn’t quite seem right either. (She’s almost called “princess” here.) She also contrasts with Charlotte in that, due to their status and how they first met, he treats Sue like… well, like an annoying brat, whereas with Charlotte he has to force himself to not be excessively formal with her. Again, this would be a great romantic triangle if we hadn’t already heard this world has polyamory, so it doesn’t have as much impact.

This isn’t as strong a volume as the others, mostly as it’s a “breather” book with minimal major plot developments. But it was also nice to see the character interaction, and fans of the series should be perfectly happy. Unfortunately, we’re caught up with Japan, so it will be a while before the next one.

Reincarnated as an Apple: This Forbidden Fruit Is Forever Unblemished!, Vol. 1

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By Gato and Itsuki Mito. Released in Japan as “Ringo Tensei: Kindan no Kajitsu wa Kyō mo Korokoro to Musō Suru” by HJ Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by piyo.

For the most part, light novels are neither as good or as bad as people say. Most of the books tend to be the kind that entertain you as you’re reading them, but you will forget the very next day. They’re LIGHT novels, shallow entertainment. Occasionally you get a series that rises above the basic level of “keep them interested enough to finish the book” and really takes off. And yes, sometimes a lot of the shallow entertainment books have gotten anime as well. But what happens when you have a book that does not reach the basic quality needed? A book that cannot entertain even while reading it for the first time? A book that desperately makes you wonder why you aren’t moving on to the next in your stack? Well, you get things like Reincarnated as an Apple, which is dire.

A salaryman named (groan) Furutsu is hit by a truck filled with apples and dies. He reads light novels, so knows what happens next. Sure enough, he meets God and gets cool powers. Unlimited growth! Unlimited magic! Cannot be killed! Infinite storage! …oh yes, and he’s an apple. Hanging on a tree. He can’t speak, he’s an apple. He can roll around. After investigating his storage, he finds a young girl inside, who is apparently a staff made from a branch of the World Tree. She… um, can’t leave the storage box. But she and Furutsu can talk to each other! Furutsu ends up in the hands of Fresa, a physically strong, magically weak, and mentally inept wannabe adventurer, who’s just about to take the adventurer’s test, with the help of her guardian. Can she pass with the help of an apple?

Where do I begin? To start with, you’d expect this to be more like Reborn as a Vending Machine, but Furutsu is far more of a normal isekai guy. He can shoot fireballs, kill B-ranked demons, and levels up ridiculously. So basically, he’s a typical modern light novel protagonist… except that three-quarters of the time he and Grida (the staff) are merely watching Fresa’s antics and commenting on them like a Let’s Play video. Because he’s an apple, and she is a staff and also can’t interact with anyone but him. This is very tedious. Especially as even though Furutsu is in italics and Grida is in normal text, it’s still very hard to tell them apart, because all four main characters in this book sound the same, which is like they’re trying to compete in a tsukkomi competition. The series is, for the most part, a broad comedy, but occasionally tries to bring in drama, such as the implications about Fresa’s past, but… she’s such a vapid character that it annoys me more than anything else. And of course it’s a modern light novel, meaning it’s filled with stats and powerups, so you find your eyes glazing over as you hear things like “Spell confirmed. Activating at fifty percent strength”.

If you’re looking for a silly “reincarnated as a random thing” series, read the Vending Machine one. For those who *do* enjoy series about overpowered protagonists with cute girls and lots and lots of gamer chatter… there are *still* so many other better series than this.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 5: Avatar of a Goddess, Vol. 1

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

So much of Bookworm runs on the difference between Rozemyne and everyone else in the cast. Indeed, the books can sometimes be summed up as “Don’t do the thing!” (Rozemyne does the thing) “I had no choice, tell me how could I have avoided doing the thing?” (groans, heads slammed against table) This book is much the same, as every single thing Sylvester tells Rozemyne to avoid happens anyway. And to be fair, a good 80% of it is not her fault this time. It either stems from their burgeoning printing industry, or it’s a function of mistakes she made earlier now being compounded without her consent, or it’s simply her very nature as the most powerful person in the entire country (something a couple of people are finally starting to notice, but not too many). Heck, the main thing everyone was waiting for in this volume, The Purge, happens entirely offscreen and we don’t even see it in the side stories. It doesn’t involve Rozemyne.

It’s the start of Rozemyne’s third year at the Academy, and to celebrate the character notes now say she looks EIGHT years old rather than seven! There’s a lot to do. She needs to find a way to communicate with Ferdinand on an irregular basis, she has to set up joint research projects with several other duchies into various things, and there are, of course, her classes. One of which is now being taught by Eglantine, who has returned after graduation to teach and to observe Rozemyne, not in that order. There’s also a new archnoble librarian, Hortensia, who is also there to observe Rozemyne, and has had a life that makes you sad that she’s married to Mr. Evil Guy. That said, the most dangerous thing that happens to Rozemyne is not resolved in this book: after her huge blessing to Eglantine and Anastasius at their wedding, the other prince wants one for HIS wedding. And it had better be bigger than Anastasius’… or, for that matter, Ferdinand’s. If not, civil war could erupt.

The subtitle for this 5th arc is Avatar of a Goddess, and we’re starting to see some foreshadowing for why that is. (It’s apparently the final arc, but don’t worry, it’s the longest arc yet.) In her classes to get blessings from the gods, most people get one or two. Wilfried amazes people by getting twelve, something very rare. Rozemyne gets forty. Something she decides to keep a secret from everyone else. Once she learns the names of the Gods of Light and Darkness, she powers up so much that mana is now leaking out of her whenever she prays, dances, or anything, really. See the color pages, which show everyone staring in awe as her whirling ends up, as she says, “turning me into a human glowstick”. There are already people who are realizing that it’s actually Rozemyne, not Ferdinand, responsible for Ehrenfest’s fortunes raising. I suspect soon she’s going to be the prize everyone wants. And probably because they will say she is… well, look at the title.

As always, there’s so much I haven’t talked about, such as the various boys who have fallen for Rozemyne (she has no idea), or the way the Veronica faction kids are handled, or the Evil Teacher’s schemes being thwarted by Ferdinand and Rozemyne simply being SUPER EXTRA. These books are each the size of two normal light novels, meaning this is technically Vol. 44 or so. That said, I’m not complaining.