Surviving in Another World As a Villainess Fox Girl!, Vol. 1

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By Riia Ai and Mucha. Released in Japan as “Scenario Nante Iranai! Rival Chara no Kitsunekko” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Miki “Zombie” Zuckerman.

It’s always tough when a word ends up being shorthand for a genre. There’s no “villainess” in this book. Indeed, the Japanese romanji uses “Rival Chara”, which is far more accurate. But, as with “isekai” books that aren’t really isekai, “villainess” has become shorthand for a genre of books that this series falls under, so here we are. That said, it’s also intriguing for other reasons. First of all, as the blurb suggests, we have two different “reincarnated into a game” characters butting heads in order to save the game from a bad end, which honestly is mostly used for comedy here. Secondly, the “villainess” is NOT one of the reincarnated Japanese people, and she’s the narrator. Just having a reincarnation book from the POV of someone else is refreshing, but it turns out that the villainess is sweet as pie, and makes everyone around her want to protect and love her. Honestly, it’s no surprise that the actual “heroine” doesn’t even show up in this volume.

Miku and Claire are sisters, and both are Fox Girls, one of many demi-human races in this world. That said, Miku was rather startled when Claire, back when she was 4 years old or so, fell over, hit her head, and then started talking about her past life from Japan! Miku doesn’t really get all this talk about otome games and airplanes, but she loves her sister, so if her sister wants her to train her magic so that they can fight monsters and save the village from a theoretical attack, then that’s what they’ll do. Things get complicated when the love interest from the game arrives, and he too also appears to be attempting to change the narrative to suit his tastes. Both Ektor and Claire have Miku’s best interests at heart… even if they want to solve things in different ways. After all, if they don’t do anything, Miku will die!

I will be honest, this is a book that lives and dies on its ideas, because its writing style and characters are somewhat basic and bland. I had to look at the cover to remind myself that Claire did not have red hair, simply because she fills the “red-headed anime girl” slot so well. As with many books in this genre, Claire and Ektor both don’t really seem to realize that by changing things so much, they’ve probably already achieved their goal. That said, the “gimmick” behind Miku’s powerful light magic is a dangerous one, and while I get that they wanted to wait till she was mature enough to handle it, I appreciate it that they told her immediately once the truth came out. Mostly, though, this is a story of Miku walking around charming everyone in her wake by being adorable, naïve, kind, and earnest. The reader wants to protect her as well.

As noted above, the cliffhanger ending of this volume implies that the “heroine” of the games (there’s more than one genre, something that comes as a surprise to Claire, who only played the original) will show up and make things difficult, though given that Ektor is firmly on Team Miku, it’s hard to see how.Till then, this is a standard webnovel with a decent gimmick of having the narrative come from the non-isekai character.

The Ideal Sponger Life, Vol. 8

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By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Jyuu Ayakura. Released in Japan as “Risou no Himo Seikatsu” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT.

The Ideal Sponger Life is doing a pretty good job of trying to strike a balance between fantasy (after all, this is a series with magic and dragons and the like) and realistic political outcomes. And one of the realistic political outcomes that comes up in this volume is Aura having to give up some of her power. This comes in two different ways – the first is appointing her general/rival as military leader, an unfortunate necessity now that she is pregnant with her second child. The second is finally giving in and admitting (and Zenjirou also has to admit this) that Freya has won the battle, and that she is now definitively going to be his first concubine. Ironically, this means that competition for additional concubines is heating up even MORE, as it means that he has a type other than “tall, strong, buxom amazon”, meaning there’s a larger pool of potential nobles stepping up to the plate. Starting with one who is probably going to be on the next few covers.

Freya is on her fourth straight cover, however this is effectively the end of her arc, as she and her crew have now finished repairs, and have to get back home to not-Sweden before the winter arrives there. She’s quite happy with Zenjirou himself, especially the way that he treats her as an equal, which I think she not only finds affirming but also arousing. That said, the heat is something that she’s going to have to get used to, and we see her and Skaji suffering through a typical “blazing season” here. Meanwhile, Nilda has arrived in the capital and needs training in how to be a noble, so ends up being hired as a palace maid – meaning, once again, that the three comedy maids are forced to step up their game and be more mature. As for Zenjirou, he finally masters teleportation – which means another mission to another country.

I must be honest, even if it weren’t for her name making me wonder if she was going to assassinate someone, I don’t think I’d be looking forward to the arrival of Lucrezia Broglie all that much. She’s far younger than his other love interests, and is deliberately being deceptive by pretending to be clumsy and naïve – something that, I suspect, is going to bite her in the ass when she gets to know the real him. Honestly, I’d be far happier with Bona as his next choice, but that does not appear to be happening, possibly as Aura thinks that she and Zenjirou are a bit TOO compatible. I do also wonder if we’re setting up for a throne war in the future – Aura is correct in that she’s going to have to start giving up some of her power, but in a heavily patriarchal society like this one, that’s power she’s likely never going to be able to get back. I worry about them.

All this plus, worst of all, no sex, as Aura is confirmed to be with child. Still, anyone reading this series for sex long since stopped, as I’ve said before. The politics is still first rate.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 2

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By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn.

I want to be able to talk about the rest of the cast when I review these books. After all, it can’t ALL be about Reirin. I could talk about Keigetsu, and how my opinion of her went way, way up with this book, when we finally get to delve deeply into how she’s being used as a tool. I could discuss the wonderful flashback showing us Kenshuu and Gabi, which takes a mystery with a rather obvious culprit and turns it into a sad tragedy. I could mention Leelee, who goes from reluctant servant and straight man to … well, less reluctant servant and straight man, to be fair, but she does it beautifully. Hell, even the prince, who is literally said to be most appealing to Rinrin when he’s weak and pathetic, manages to carry off some really good moments. That said, all of this is going to have to get around the insurmountable wall that is Reirin, because OH MY GOD, Reirin.

We pick up immediately where we left off at the end of the first volume. Someone else may have figured out that Reirin is in Keigetsu’s body, but that does not really help things because there’s far more to it than just that. Even if Keigetsu was willing to undo the bodyswap and blithely go off to get tortured and executed, it rapidly becomes clear that, as with Leelee, someone is manipulating things behind the scenes to make sure that, somehow, Reirin dies. And when that doesn’t happen, we actually get a worse outcome, as the next in line for vengeance is the Empress herself. Can Reirin manage to fix things so that no one dies – not her, not the Empress, not Keigetsu, not even the actual culprit? And can she do this despite almost everyone now realizing that she’s in the wrong body?

Last time I wondered how on earth this was going to be spun out into an entire volume given that the secret was out, and kudos to the author for managing to do it. It helps that we would honestly read 89 volumes of this if it meant to got to experience the tornado that is Reirin some more. Her attempts to pretend to be Keigetsu are laughable, especially as she is describing herself as a villainess, but by the end of the book it’s pointed out that she really *is* one – in that she has everyone wrapped around her finger with no idea that that’s what she’s doing. Including the two hottest men in the palace. She may be most attracted to Gyoumei when he’s pathetic, but we love Reirin most when she’s being strong, righteous, and kickass. You get the sense that the reason she’s so desperately ill all the time is that without that handicap, she’d have taken over the world by now. And filled it with potatoes.

The original story ended with this volume, but apparently it was such a success that the author is continuing it with more, and I’m glad, even as I know that this will likely mean more bad things happening to our heroine. Oh well, at least she has a friend now, in addition to her cadre of family and attendants who would absolutely die for her if she asked them. The friend is more important.