Loner Life in Another World, Vol. 2

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By Shoji Goj and booota. Released in Japan as “Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Eric Margolis. Adapted by Veles Svitlychny

It’s been almost a year since the first volume of this came out, and honestly I think I had forgotten how annoying Haruka’s narration can be. And trust me when I say that GOD, it is annoying. There’s only so much stream-of-consciousness you can take before you want someone to settle on a thought. That said, in this second volume, as a consequence of trying desperately to seek depth in this series, I am starting to notice a few things. Haruka’s blase discussion of how he effortlessly takes out every single monster disguises the fact that he pretty much immediately comes up with a very clever plan (based often on his Japanese memories) and executes it. We also see him refer to someone by their actual name. In the first volume it was because we were meant to know they were a Bad Guy. Here it’s for the opposite reason. Sorry, Class Rep, but there’s a new girl on the cover and she’s taken a lot of Haruka’s firsts. And he calls her, once or twice, by name.

After a few random chapters where Haruka tries to avoid getting lectured by the rest of the class, he winds up falling to the 100th floor of the dungeon by accident. (Unlike Arifureta, there are no classmates trying to kill him – indeed, all twenty girls in the class are clearly in love with him, especially Class Rep). There he meets and battles the Dungeon Emperor, a Dullahan, Lich AND Deathling whose stats are so high even Haruka can’t see them. That said, of course he defeats them anyway… and then accidentally used Servitude on her. Yes, her, the skeleton emperor is a girl, whose name is Angelica but who Haruka tends to call ‘Miss Glare Armor Rep’. Now the two of them have to fight their way UP through the dungeon, battling insanely powerful monsters, while the rest of his class tries to fight their way down to get to him.

Given that you see her as a pretty young girl on the cover, I kept waiting for the big moment when Haruka would find something that would magically give her body back. Instead, due to the fact that the POV is entirely from him and some textual/art trickery, it turns out that it had been happening right under our noses and we missed it. This was very clever. He also gets lucky with her at the end of the book, which also surprised me. I admit the servitude thing bothers me a bit, but it doesn’t seem to really influence Angelica all THAT much – the humor of half the book comes from his seeing Miss Glare Armor Rep staring at him with, he thinks, the same look he gets from the rest of the cast, but it’s really just her being in awe of him – and falling in love with him. That said, the rest of the cast (who are increasingly showing themselves to be, if not as eccentric as Haruka is, pretty damn eccentric) also are not glaring as hard as he thinks.

So yes, plowing through the narrative diarrhea is still worth it, and I must admit I wonder what’s going to happen next. The poor little town with a dangerous dungeon they were in is now a rich little town with a former dungeon. Will we see other cities now? Will this mean the town will stop having everyone carry around clubs? And will Haruka call anyone but Angelica by their actual name? The third volume may take as long to come out as the second did, but I’ll be reading it.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter: Guiding a Lost Saint with a Magical Revolution

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By Riku Nanano and cura. Released in Japan as “Koujo Denka no Kateikyoushi” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by William Varteresian.

It can be difficult to know when to step in. You see your friend is having issues and struggling. You want to help them. But they insist that they’re fine and they can handle it. You want to trust them… but then it’s too late and they’ve started to break. And you’ve got to play catch up. That’s basically what we see here, as Stella, whose lack of self-confidence was forecast in the previous volume, completely implodes in this one, running away from the school and collapsing in self-loathing. It’s not hard to see why – she’s surrounded by once-in-a-lifetime prodigies, and even her one other normal friend is now leaving the school for a cushy management job. Meanwhile, Stella works hard… but in series like these, hard work does not necessarily mean success. Allen knows how she feels… and honestly suffers from many of the same issues, though he hides it better. Can he help her recover?

This series continues to build on previous volumes nicely. They’re still trying to decode the encrypted diary, and have managed to work out all the love love romance entries, but not the ones that are actually relevant to them. We get to know Allen’s hapless friend Gil, who is involved in a battle for the Dukedom that he really doesn’t want. We also meet Gil’s bodyguard, who I have a sneaking suspicion will either be dying or needing to be rescued soon. Being unable to say anything because of magical contracts never works well. And of course we have people underestimating Allen… not least of whom is Allen himself. He regards the fact that he’s not a noble as an insurmountable mountain that he can’t cross, and that seems to be the main reason why he’s so cool with Lydia, who clearly is ready to marry him at the drop of a hat otherwise.

Allen’s a good teacher as well, which comes as a horrific surprise the the rather conservative teachers of the school, who find that the students who took his classes are already leagues ahead of what they should be learning. I really liked that he framed the big battle with Stella vs. Caren, Ellie and Tina as a learning experience, and we see how everyone – including Stella – has become just that much stronger afterwards. Of course, it’s not all training, as he also gets the chance to take Stella out for a date, which amuses him as the entire town is clearly enchanted with her and she notices this not at all. The subplot with Felicia was also good, though it did have a bit of the “let’s mention her breasts as often as possible” crap that comes with so many other light novels. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders – and she’s also joined the Allen harem.

I know there are folks who are annoyed at the harem aspect of this, given that Lydia and Allen clearly have a “inevitable” thing going on, but I doubt it’s going away anytime soon. This is quite a fun little series regardless.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Viribus Unitis

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By Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki. Released in Japan as “Youjo Senki” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Richard Tobin.

Credit to the author for knowing his key strengths. He is very good at having our heroes assume something about the enemy, and then cutting to the enemies’ viewpoint and seeing that this is 100% incorrect. Missing the real point and assuming the worst are The Saga of Tanya the Evil’s bread and butter, and we get a ton of that in this volume. Tanya is seriously thinking about defecting now, but worries that she doesn’t bring anything to the table and other countries don’t know who she is… despite her being the most infamous soldier of them all. She and the rest of the battalion assume that the Commonwealth are sending their new recruits to be meat shields as part of some sinister plan… but it’s just the fact that the battalion catches them completely flat-footed. And everyone on the Empire’s side is trying to see how to end the war in a way that will not destroy the country or inspire a revolt among the populace… but this war is no longer winnable.

Tanya is all over the place this volume with her battalion. First she travels back to the Federation side where she has to help with a very clever and convoluted plan of Zettour’s that requires her to essentially be a decoy. Then she has to go all the 3way back to the West, as Romel has a master plan to hit the Commonwealth where it hurts, in their Navy… a plan which also requires Tanya and her group to essentially be a tasty distraction. Both times things work a bit too well simply because Tanya and her fellow soldiers have gotten inhumanly good at what they do. Sadly, this book is no longer about military victories but about political victories. And those are in short supply. The military can’t help there. The foreign office, with all the diplomats, is trying to do something about three years too late. And Rudersdorf still seems very hung up on a plan that is 100% treason.

Fans of Visha will be happy to see she gets some time here, mostly hanging by Tanya’s side during the battles, though we also get Tanya trying to lecture Visha on how to end the war, something that does not go very well – Visha, like the rest of Tanya’s soldiers, is a bit of a meathead when it’s not about battle. There’s also a lot of focus here on Drake, the Commonwealth soldier who’s currently allying with the Federation… at the request of the Commonwealth, which makes it all the more irritating they think he might be turning communist by simply being near them. One character is interesting merely by her almost total absence. Mary Sue is here, but we don’t see her except as a sheer force – literally. Once again she sees Tanya and goes for the kill, and no one can stop her. She doesn’t need a face, or even a name anymore. She’s pure magical vengeance, here to smite Tanya down. I don’t know when the final confrontation between them comes, but it won’t go well.

There’s a new translator here as well, and the book still reads pretty well, though it’s a bit more… staid, I guess. It can be hard to make the dry military chronicle parts of this book sing on the page. Still, definitely looking forward to the next volume, as we see if we really will go down the dangerous route we’re headed.