My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me!, Vol. 8

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By mikawaghost and tomari. Released in Japan as “Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

This is not a bad volume in the series by any means, and I had fun reading it. But. There’s a definite sense of the volume treading water a bit, and it becomes apparent fairly early on that this is going to be a multi-volume arc, which means that the hints of bad things going down are all deferred to the next book. What we’re left with is mostly an examination of the character of Midori. We’ve seen her as a supporting character before, and she’s tied to the plot in several ways: she’s Sumire’s sister, she’s head of the drama club, and, most importantly for this volume, she’s developed a massive crush on Akiteru. Which is driving her nuts, because she’s a stickler for rules, and one of the biggest rules is “don’t fall in love with a guy when he’s dating another girl.” And Akiteru and Mashiro are totally dating. Right?

As with Strike the Blood, this is a series that has only one character on the cover art, and it’s always been Iroha. So it is here as well, but as you’d expect, she gets left behind early on as the rest of Akiteru’s class goes on their school trip. (If you thought “she’ll show up later anyway, well, you know how to write cliched romcoms, congrats.) As for the trip itself, Akiteru is in a group with Ozuma and Mashiro, but also three others that he knows less well; the hyperactive Takamiya, the shy Maihama, and the muscle guy Suzuki. They’ll visit temples, they’ll have baths at the hotel, they’ll do party games, and they’ll try in vain to help Maihama with her love life. All the while, though, Midori is having a massive crisis.

The plot with Midori is actually handled quite well, with only a minimum amount of standard romcom shenanigans. She’s a nice girl, and it takes most of the book for her to realize her feelings and act on them. Akiteru is also nice, but also a dense light novel protagonist, so he’s still working out what love is, but Midori gives him a major hint that might help things along. (If you’re wondering which girl will actually win, I advise you to look at the cover art of the 8 books you have.) That said, this ends up being an important book for Mashiro as well. She’s grown more quietly confident, and while she still hates social situations, she can actually handle them without help now. As such, she decides to level the whole playing field by asking her father to let her break up her “fake” relationship with Akiteru so she can pursue him for real. That said, she does this without clearing it with Akiteru first, so… as I said, there are still SOME shenanigans in a series like this.

We leave off with a set of double cliffhangers, all of which promise more high-stakes drama in the next book. Which leaves this book feeling rather uneventful and flat, even though it isn’t really.

The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash, Vol. 1

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By Honobonoru500 and Nama. Released in Japan as “Saijaku Tamer wa Gomihiroi no Tabi wo Hajimemashita” by TO Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Benjamin Daughety. Adapted by M.B. Hare.

I appreciate that Slow Life books are slow starters and you have to give them room to breathe before they get going. I appreciate that “seems weak but is actually strong” is a well-worn genre, and that if you’re going to play in it you need to follow the rules for that genre. But wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book get the first half as wrong as this series does. Starting on page one with a situation that is so comically evil I wondered briefly if this was a parody, we follow our heroine as she survives on her own, eating what she can and having only herself and her pet “weak” slime for company. After all, she’s a no-star tamer, and the slime was near death. How interesting can she be? The answer, at least till about 2/3 of the way into the book, is “not very interesting at all”. It’s cripplingly dull.

Our heroine is introduced to us when she gets her magic rating at the age of five, as all people do in her village. It’s… a no-star, the weakest amount. And tamer, the weakest class. Her family immediately despise her, and she is forced to go live in the woods, with only a kindly fortune teller helping her to stay alive. Then she hears the village chief plotting to have her murdered, and flees. She ends up walking from RPG-named village to RPG-named village, looking through trash heaps for useful items. The only thing she can tame is a weak slime on the verge of death. That said… once the slime starts eating used potions, it quickly turns out to be a rapidly growing slime indeed. As for Ivy (as our heroine names herself), she also seems to have hidden skills… which might stem from memories of a past life.

So much is shoehorned in here. I called the towns RPG-named, and they seem to be about as shallow as a generic RPG town as well. The fact that most of the people are surviving on field mice, rabbit, and pigeon meat tells you how far out in the boonies she is. I kept forgetting about the isekai part until it was brought up again, because it’s just there to explain why Ivy can use herbs, or make tea. Things do get a bit better once she starts interacting with actual people, but again, this takes until halfway through a pretty long book. Oh yes, and there’s slavery in this book as well, and the subplot near the end involves Ivy trying to protect herself from being kidnapped and sold as a slave. Unfortunately, this is not resolved in Volume One, so… guess I’ll never know.

TO Books has done well here with Ascendance of a Bookworm and Tearmoon Empire, but man, this was an absolute zero of a first volume. I have no doubt Ivy’s life will continue to get better as she finds more allies and gradually learns how strong she no doubt is. As for me, byeeeee.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 4: Founder of the Royal Academy’s So-Called Library Committee, Vol. 9

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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.

And so another arc in the Bookworm series comes to an end, this one the longest arc yet, at nine volumes. The arcs tend to end with big dramatic world shifts, and this one is no different, as Ferdinand finally departs for Ahrensbach to start his new role as victim… erm, husband to the delightful Detlinde. That said, Ehrenfest is managing to stay busy. The entire volume has the air of waiting for an axe to fall, which does make it a wee bit frustrating that it doesn’t quite fall yet. It can make for uncomfortable reading. We are basically watching our heroes getting ready to carry out a series of politically-motivated murders, and only Rosemyne is bothering to question it. And even then, she’s just saying “are you really going to kill the 5-year-olds as well?”. The other uncomfortable part is the relationship between Ferdinand and Rosemyne. It’s still very mentorish, but is rapidly becoming The Elephant In The Room.

The author makes a joke about how Eckhart and Justus are also on the cover, but they’re hidden by the title box, but that does sort of fit the “main” segment of the book very well, as Ferdinand and Rozemyne prepare to be separated from each other, and we watch each of them try to outdo each other in “being strong” and also “giving amazing going away presents”. Unfortunately, his departure happens a lot faster than they would like, owing to the ill health of the Ahrensbach Aub. As such, there’s only time for one more big deadly adventure, as Rozemyne arrives back at the temple after Ferdinand’s heartwarming and hilarious Italian dinner, only to find that something seems off. Her intuition helps her avoid death, but there’s still a sense that Georgine has won the day somehow, and that means that Ehrenfest is also going to have to get rid of the former Veronica faction once and for all…

So yeah, let’s talk about Ferdinand and Rozemyne. The relationship between the two of them has become, for many people, the main reason to read the book. Certainly it’s more interesting than the relationship between Rozemyne and Wilfried, which seems utterly doomed, mostly as the two of them really are not interested in each other at all – even political marriages need SOME sort of connection. Ferdinand has been a teacher to Rozemyne, as well as a mentor, and it’s to the writer’s credit that he’s never felt like a father. Rozemyne has a number of dads, but Ferdinand is not one of them. And then there’s the protective hairpiece he gives her on his departure – something that everyone around notes is the equivalent of a marriage proposal, even if Rozemyne totally does not take it that way. I think the book is edging in that direction. The main problem with it is that Rozemyne, even if the book says she’s been growing “slightly”, STILL looks eight years old. Nothing should happen unless that changes. To sum up, your discomfort level may vary.

The next arc is called ‘Avatar of the Goddess’, which makes me worry that Hartmut’s gospel of Rozemyne is spreading much too far. We shall see. Till then, this was a good Bookworm, but also has all the stuff in it that makes you say “It’s great, BUT…” when you recommend it.