Baccano!: 1931 Winter The Time of The Oasis

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By Ryohgo Narita and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

This was fun! Possibly as I wasn’t expecting anything from it. This is another book, like Man in the Killer, that was originally written as extras for the DVD releases and has now been fleshed out into a book. In fact, judging by what Narita says, it was barely fleshed out, with minimal editing and a few additions. It also has a plot that revolves around the Flying Pussyfoot train jounrey… again. Thankfully, the main thrust of the book does not take place on the train. Instead this book is a reminder of the best of what Baccano! has to offer. We get a huge number of relatively new characters introduced to us, and they’re all pretty chaotic and have weird character tics. We get a young mafia heir. We get lots and lots of guns, bombs, and hideous violence. That said, this book is very weird in that almost no one actually dies. This is a big surprise given the events of the book itself, but Narita really wants to mention how they’re not dead. It’s a happy book.

As always with Narita, the plot involves several groups coming together. These include: a) half of Jacuzzi’s gang, who are supposed to get the cargo out of the river after Jacuzzi and company rob the train; b) three young women who accidentally kidnap the heir to the Runorata crime family and (without knowing who he really is) try to get a ransom for him; c) The Lemures who are supposed to negotiate with Senator Beriam once Goose and company have taken his family hostage on the train; and d) twin bodyguards of the Runorata Family, who are here to find out who kidnapped the Young Master and make their life very difficult indeed. And throughout all this, there is another player, skulking in the darkness, someone that absolutely no one was expecting to show up in the woods of mid-state New York…

It really is astonishing that there are still members of Jacuzzi’s gang that we haven’t really gotten to know yet. The only one here that we’ve seen before on a regular basis is Chaini (who actually gets to show us that she can speak and is in fact fairly erudite, she just chooses to say “Hya-haah!” all the time). But we don’t really need to know all the new people (who, except for time-obsessed Melody, don’t even get named) to know that they’re family. Pamela, Lana and Sonia are a sort of family as well, and it was amusing to see that their kidnapping idea fell apart in two seconds once they realized that their victim (who had, in fact, stowed away in their truck) is a total cinnamon roll. Even the surprise character, who I don’t want to spoil but is absolutely amazing, ends up becoming part of a family by the end of the book. Families are important in Baccano!, be they street gang, mafia families, or just three youth thieves. Honestly, Huey’s goons don’t stand a chance – they aren’t family.

This is the last diversion from the main plot, and we’re back to 1935 next time. I expect we’ll be seeing Pamela, Lana and Sofia again, as this entire book seems to have been inserted here to set them up for something. Till then, enjoy a lightweight but incredibly fun Baccano! volume.

Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home!, Vol. 3

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By You Fuguruma and Nama. Released in Japan as “Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

The good news is that this is definitely far less heavy than the first two books, with only occasional panic attacks and memories of past trauma. Alec and Shiori are a couple, and while they still have not talked to each other about their secret backstories, that’s mostly because they haven’t had the time. That said, we do get a brief glimpse at Japan, where Shiori’s disappearance ended up being quite a big thing. We still don’t know WHY she was isekai’d, but we do see what effect her vanishing had on her immediate family, and it’s not really that great, though shared dreams end up offering a modicum of hope. The book has made it very clear this was a one-way journey, and I’m pretty sure we won’t be coming back to Japan again, so it’s a reminder that all isekais leave someone behind, and sometimes that can be devastating.

Alec and Shiori, along with Clemens and Nadia, get a new mission. An artistic noble wants to go visit a scenic tower, which is normally not a problem… but it’s in the dead of winter, which is. Her aide found out that Shiori is a housekeeping mage, which would be ideal for the trip, so arranged things. Unfortunately, her aide then discovered Shiori is “an Eastern woman”, and due to his tragic backstory he has an innate prejudice against Eastern women. Fortunately, he’s self-aware enough to realize this is his problem, so things don’t go too badly. The journey itself goes fairly smoothly, aside from the occasional attacks from snow jellyfish and monstrous bears. But why is Annelie so determined to make this journey? And what about the other party of adventurers they stumble upon, who frankly are far too sketchy?

Given that Alec and Shiori are now a couple, and Clemens is obviously still getting over it so there’s nothing we can do with him, it’s not a surprise that we’re getting a new romance written into the series. Annelie is an “artist” sort of noble, which means she’s far more relaxed about things than the other nobles we’ve met in this series. Unfortunately, her aide Dennis is well aware of what other nobles are like, and this has led to him attempting to keep Annelie at arm’s length, despite the fact that it becomes clear very fast that he’s 100% in love with her. He’s also the one with the prejudice, by the way, so he does the bulk of the growing and changing this volume. I feel bad for the other aide, Walt, who gets very little to do beyond being “the other aide”. As for Alec and Shiori, they’re in the sugary sweet part of their relationship, which still has not moved beyond kissing. It’s almost cloying. Which, after the first two books in this series, is fine.

The arc is not done in this volume, so we’ll have to wait till next time to see if dumbass noble and his two beleaguered servants cause problems for our heroes. Signs point to yes. Till then, I am relieved that this has risen from the darkness and allowed its couple to be adorable.

Unnamed Memory, Vol. 6

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By Kuji Furumiya and chibi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Tangney.

I do get into the ending of the series in this review, be warned, spoiler lovers.

Readers of the third volume of this series, where we had a happy ending for our hero and heroine yeeted away fro us at the last minute, may be a bit wary of this 6th volume of Unnamed memory. And they are absolutely right to be wary. This series has had the feeling, throughout all six books, of “what will get in the way of them getting married next?”, to the point where it’s almost felt like a short story collection as Oscar and Tinasha go around dealing with crisis after crisis. At first she was the wary one and he was the one wanting to get married. Now, in books 4-6, it’s the reverse. But it’s essentially the same vibe. And for those who enjoyed Tinasha the Witch, good news, you definitely get to see her again. That said, those who enjoyed Tinasha the Queen may be saying “uh oh” right now. This is the trouble with time travel and repeating lives.

The first half of the book, as noted above, is basically “what can get in the way of the upcoming wedding?”. This even includes plots from previous books/timelines, as the “curse song” from earlier gets dealt with a lot more swiftly and neatly. The main snag is when the king of a neighboring country ends up in a coma, and the culprit seems to be The Witch of the Forbidden Forest… who has been noticeably absent from the second arc of this series. Is she really the one trying to destroy Tinasha’s country? That said, the main antagonist here is Valt, who has been trying to find a way to save the girl he loves and not have her take on his own burden, and is coming up empty. Towards that end, he is now 100% behind “destroy everything, start over”, even if he has to get Oscar and Tinasha to do it for him.

The second half is the best part, as usual with these books. The first half isn’t really filler, but can feel like it. (A queen of one nation stabs the queen of another nation, while in her right mind, and we never hear from her again except that her son is now king. Was she executed?) Valt’s backstory hits a lot harder than I was expecting, and I enjoyed the scenes with him and Tinasha. That said, I imagine the ending can be frustrating – again. We don’t quite get the first timeline back at the expense of the second timeline – this is an all-new timeline – but there is a sense that the Tinasha who we’ve been following for the last three books, the human Queen of Tuldarr, “died”. That said, the framing of the finale is “the two of them still live on in legend”, which fits the theme of the books as well, and ties into the author’s (unlicensed) other series. I also liked the short story at the end, which was basically another Tinasha-as-witch what-if.

There is an “after story” volume out in Japan, but I’m not sure if Yen will pick it up – they’re sort of 50-50 on those kinds of books. In the meantime, while I may have found some of the plotting frustrating, Unnamed Memory is a very rewarding read, filled with luxurious prose and great characters.