Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 9

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By Sunsunsun and Momoco. Released in Japan as “Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matthew Rutsohn.

There was only so long that the main mystery of this series that doesn’t involve “who will the winning girl be” got cleared up. (And honestly, “who will the winning girl be” is not much of a mystery, either – this isn’t the sort of series that’s going for a last-minute swerve.) So yes, Masachika admits to Alya what the relationship between him and Yuki really is, and then goes to visit her. That said, the series still wants to be a romcom, even in what amounts to the most serious volume to date, and so it also flashes to Alya’s POV during these scenes, which amounts to “OMG we’re holding hands no stop I’m comforting him, shut up brain” over and over again. Alya may be a romantic wreck, but thanks to the boy she not-so-secretly loves she’s found a way forward in life. In this book, Masachika also finds a way forward in life, but sadly he manages to botch that in a really bad way.

Yes, that’s Yuki on the cover, only the 2nd person to feature on a cover that isn’t Alya. She’s looking surprisingly serious as well, which fits the tone of this serious volume. After arriving at his sister’s house, and seeing how far Yuki has relapsed, Masachika decides that it’s time he stop running away from everything and has a long chat with his mother about why she started to reject him. Unsurprisingly, the answer turns out to be that they have a lot more in common than they possibly imagined. He then comes to a decision – he’s going to return to the family and become its head, which means Yuki doesn’t have to. He talks with his father about this, who is as easygoing and hands-off as always. He talks to his grandfather about this, who is grumpy but will let him try. He does NOT talk to Yuki about this. That’s where he botches things.

Of course, not all the upcoming chaos is going to be caused by Masachika. Nonoa still exists, of course. I’ve talked before about how much I appreciate her role in this, and I still do. I really liked her showing up late to “comfort” Masachika, and being genuinely a bit annoyed at Alya for getting there first. Which leads to what she does best, making Alya doubt Masachika. She frames things she found out by coincidence – which she freely admits – as if Alya ended up being the last to find out, and this plants seeds that I’m sure will extend this series into at least three to four more books. She’s also seemingly working on Ayano, and I have a sneaking suspicion that will be Nonoa’s downfall. Don’t try to outplot the woman who freely tells Masachika he makes her womb tremble.

I also did not mention Yuki’s complete meltdown when she hears what happened, or her heart-to-heart with Alya, where we realizing just how much all the incest subtext we love (OK, everyone but me loves) is an act – ALL of it. Basically, the next volume promises to be filled with a lot of repressed rage and tension…..short story volume? (checks) Oooh, differently numbered short story volume! So may be 10, may be BTS, which I assume stands for Behind The Scenes rather than a crossover with the KPop band.

The World’s Strongest Witch: I’m Starting My Free Life in a World Where Only I Can See the Online Strategy Guide, Vol. 2

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By Mochimaru Sakaki and riritto. Released in Japan as “Sekai Saikyou no Majo, Hajimemashita: Watashi dake “Kouryaku Site” wo Mireru Sekai de Jiyuu ni Ikimasu” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Phil Charbonneau.

This series is definitely written to be incredibly silly first and think about everything else second. That said, it is at least thinking about other things. This volume makes it very clear what it would be like to be in a game world – not one with a linear through plot, like most isekais that have game elements are based around, but something where there’s a weekly “event”, which is a valuable opportunity for amateur players to earn skills killing monsters, or there’s a way to get “familiars” that involves a random gacha pull. Only it turns out that the town that the weekly event happens in is tormented by the fact that it happens over and over and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. And duplicate gacha pulls, mostly annoying for a player, can lead to existential crises. Fortunately, this is also a “no thoughts, head empty” sort of series.

Lorna is still heading to the capital, barring a few shortcuts, such as through the evil swamp to the evil church staffed by the evil minions, who are no match for her niceness and mayonnaise. She ends up at the shore, but unfortunately the ferry to the capital is a little booked, because tomorrow is … WEDNESDAY. Every Wednesday the monsters attack and destroy the town, and then they do it again the next week. Sure, sometimes strong adventurers can stop it… but it always comes back, so they get discouraged. Luckily, Lorna has her wiki page and her cheat guides. She then ends up looking for a “cute familiar” sort and accidentally summoning the Water Dragon Princess… and then the same Princess again, as she got a duplicate pull. Now there are two identical princesses… who she’s accidentally kidnapped? Uh oh…

I was worried this would get old fast, and it does still worry me a bit. So far, though, the humor is mostly dead on and very funny. (I could do without the lesbian guild leader into cute little girls, but I think I may have to sigh and just give up on telling Japan not to do that stereotype.) Lorna’s horror at finding that looking up guides in front of others may lead to unskippable ads of incest pornography games is hysterical, though. And there is a BIT of non-silly near the end, as the villain of this book (who is taken down ludicrously easily due to Lorna’s cheats) turns out to have been a bitter thousand-year-old sacrifice, and there’s a message from the man she loved apologizing for it. Again, one game’s mid-tier boss is a fantasy world’s tragic victim, and while this series is never going to lean too hard on the tragedy, it’s nice to know it’s there, if only so Lorna can make things better. Also, it turns out the Princess’ father is fine with twins, so that works out as well.

If you can’t stand the broadest of comedy, stay away. If you love the broadest of comedy, though, dig right in.

Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense, Vol. 17

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By Yuumikan and KOIN. Released in Japan as “Itai no wa Iya nano de Bōgyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

Last time I was quite happy, as the author was setting up the end of the series, and there was a lot of non-gaming stuff… well, a little bit of non-gaming stuff… that I could get my hands on. This volume is gaming gaming gaming, and the number of times ‘Kaede’ and ‘Risa’ appear in it is zero. As such, here I am again trying to wring five hundred words (see what I did there?) out of “and then Maple put on her angel throne thing again and they all won”. That said, there are differences here. Maple started this series by essentially playing by vibes, and getting ahead by doing stuff no normal gamer would think of. While the words “normal gamer” still don’t apply to her, she is now thinking like a veteran, and knows when to use her gonzo build to acquire additional buffs that will help her get by in future levels. Our Maple has grown up.

The nostalgia tour continues, as Maple and Sally wander the tenth level, which is made up of bits of the previous levels, and try to get bits of the “demon king’s mana” which will help them in the final floor battle. This means hitting the third level part to teach Maple how to use those flying shoes a lot better than she did last time, as well as help Iz (who reminds us again that everyone in Maple Tree is eccentric and looney tunes a bit). They walk the clouds of the fifth level, where they deal with clouds that may suddenly be less walkable than is ideal. They help Kasumi with her quests on the fourth level, meaning it’s a lot of antiquing and sword battles. And they even team up with Lily, which mostly means that she and Maple can combine to make an even more terrifying atrocity. That said, we all know the Demon Lord battle is not gonna be the end of this book.

There is one bit of through line with the previous book, and it’s Sally pining for Maple. No, not that way – I wish – but there’s a scene where they have to decide if one part coming up will be PvP or party vs. monsters, and you can feel Sally’s anguish as Maple obviously chooses the second. Sally really really REALLY has a fight boner for Maple by now, to the point where she fights both Frederica *and* Velvet and neither one can touch her because she’s saving her first time for … look, sometimes a cigar isn’t just a cigar. The trouble is that Sally has internalized “Maple hates PvP and will agree to this but be unhappy” in her mind, and has therefore decided without bothering to ask Maple at all. I other words, in case it wasn’t clear, Sally is a teenager. Maple is not the girl you remember, Sally. She’s grown up.

All this plus Iz has a tank, something that I really feel should have had the cover art, but oh well. Two volumes to go, hang in there, yuri fans. Your scraps that are plausibly deniable will be coming.