The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World, Vol. 3

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By Heiseiowari and Noy. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Saikyou Shu-tachi ga Sumau Shima deshita. Kono Shima de Slow Life wo Tanoshimimasu” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alex Castor.

This is a slow-life series that has things happening, but it can be a bit difficult to review as, due to its nature, deep character development is just not on the table. The closest Arata gets to it are his struggles to fight back against everyone judging him by his god-like powers and insisting he’s human, and even he is half-hearted about it. There is a more interesting plot happening… away from the island, where the hero’s team are still being hunted by the Church as heretics. This means that they’re being hunted by two Celestial Archmages, who are ludicrously powerful… till they do another summoning, and pull not Arata this time, but Reina and Zelos, who are suddenly in front of their former allies. The interesting bit is they’ve lived with Arata and the other OP folks on the island so long that they’ve also gotten much stronger than anyone else, to the point where they can easily fight off colleagues who used to beat the stuffing out of them before. It pays to be around Arata!

Arata and Reina are headed to the Alfin village where Katima lives, there to meet up with her Village Elder and mostly have fun at Katima’s expense. While there it is revealed that the Great Spirits that normally watch over the village have been absent for a while, so Arata and Katima go searching for them.. and find that the Great Spirits are, unsurprisingly, a lot like humans, which is to say that two of them are having a “man’s battle” while the third has locked them in a sphere to shut them up. It turns out they’re fighting over who gets to raise the new Great Spirit who’s just been born… but when Arata, with all his power, interrupts, the Great Spirit ends up choosing him as her new “Daddy”. Now he’s raising Snow, the Great Spirit, along with her “mommy” Reina. The trouble is, Snow is having a bit of trouble controlling her ice powers…

The main reason to read this series remains the still adorable, still virginal romance between Arata and Reina. Indeed, it’s astonishing to everyone except Arata and Reina that they’re not already lovers. Every time they talk to each other the folks around them complain about the flirting. It also goes without saying that when they’ve got to take care of Snow, who calls them Mommy and Daddy for good reason, they become the perfect parents. There’s even the obligatory “we’re finally giving in to our feelings and leaning in for a kiss when we’re interrupted because this book has seven volumes to go till the wedding” scene. That said, I’m pretty sure we’re getting him more than one wife in this series. It’s hinted heavily that polyamory is OK, and Tailtiu has made it very clear she’s not going to be an unlucky anything. But the thrust of the goopy romance is still these two.

Island stuff is all well and good, but I do hope we dovetail back with the main world again soon, as that adds a bit of spice to this otherwise very relaxing series.

Starting on Hard Mode: God Levels, Got Problems, Vol. 1

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By Hanmenkyoushi and ririnra. Released in Japan as “Level Count Stop kara Hajimaru, Kamisama-teki Isekai Life: Saikyou Status ni Tenseishita node Suki ni Ikimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Jessica Speed.

There are series rich in depth, with multiple layered plots and character development galore, the sort that you read by a roaring fire in your study. And there are books that you read when you’re lying on the beach and want brain candy, something that really does not require you to think. Take a wild guess which one this falls into. There’s a smorgasbord of all the things that you’d expect from a series that looks like this cover and with this title. Overpowered guy, cute girls of elf and beast variety, adventuring parties, lots of monster killing, and even a backdrop of racial discrimination crushing the souls of everyone who isn’t a human. OK, not all of it is brain candy for the beach, but I’m letting people know not to raise their expectations above about knee level. If you manage to keep them there, this isn’t all that bad. It hasn’t really made any of the more egregious errors titles like these do.

It’s possible our nameless Japanese guy was hit by Truck-kun, but as he doesn’t remember anything we won’t find out. God, talking in his head, tells him he’s been reincarnated in another world! And he’s overpowered! In fact, ridiculously overpowered. His stats are about 25 times stronger than the strongest humans. Oh, and his physical appearance looks just like, well, God. Surely this will not lead to misunderstandings! No sooner is he dumped in a forest full of monsters than he saves a desperate elf girl. Unfortunately, no haughty or powerful elves in this world. Here elves are treated like dirt. What’s more, after arriving at the nearby town and going to the obligatory adventurer’s guild, he meets a beastgirl… who is also despised, despite being really strong. Why was he reincarnated into racism world? To make things better, of course.

I do appreciate that Merlin (said nameless hero has a name in fantasy world) has an immediate and visceral reaction to all the prejudice going on around him, and that he takes pains to be extra nice to the elves and beastgirl as a result. (Oh yes, cute elf has a dying sister. It’s OK, Merlin is powerful enough to heal anyone.) The girls are all cute, and due to the genre I can let slide that they are torn between worshiping him and falling in love with him, and sort of decide to do both. There’s also some obligatory fanservice, but Merlin is the “I will blush and turn away they’re like little sisters” sort, so don’t expect any romance anytime soon. For the most part, though, we’re here to watch Merlin be awesome and then try to cover up the fact that he’s being awesome. It’s hard enough getting a slow life in a series like this without being gorgeous, all-powerful, and a budding activist.

This is a DRE series, so should not run too long. Recommended for folks who like what the cover art shows them.

Proud to Be the Villainess: If My Doom Can Be Her Happily Ever After, So Be It!

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By Mary=Doe and Kuga Huna. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijou no Kyouji” by SQEX Novel. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Bérénice Vourdon.

It’s always interesting seeing a Villainess title on the Club side of J-Novel rather than the Heart side. Usually it means that the romance isn’t the point of the exercise, and that is the case here, though that might surprise you after you see what the plot is, as there is an awful lot of romance in this book. But in the end this isn’t a romance as much as a twisted caper film. Our protagonist has a goal, that will take years and involves lots of moving parts, and eventually everything comes together until she’s able to pull off the goal… or at least, she hopes that’s what happens. Heck, since she’s not reincarnated from Japan, this doesn’t even have to involve a game world at all, and there’s no pesky heroine either. There’s just two sisters, with one of them being noble and abused and the other being arrogant and haughty. All is as it should be… except, as you may have gathered by the title, the other sister is the main character.

We open the way a lot of villainess books open – with the seeming romantic lead cruelly breaking off his engagement to his poor fiancee. However, we see this from the perspective of Iora’s sister Wellmy. While Iora has been abused by her parents, barely fed, forced to live apart from the main house, and essentially tortured, Wellmy has had it good. The best dresses, the finest jewely. She even has fantastic grades… which also happen to have her forcing her sister to write her papers for her and sign Wellmy’s name. She is every inch the terrible stepsister we see in these books, and she even manages to get Iora married off to the horrible Marquis, rumored to hate women. It is therefore no surprise whatsoever that, six months from now, Wellmy arrives at a party only to have Aides, the Marquis in question, reveal all of her horrible deeds in front of everyone. Just as Wellmy planned.

This book does have its flaws. It’s horribly overbalanced towards the front, having its climactic and best scene (the slap) only 1/4 of the way through, with over half the book devoted to looking at the “other side” of what’s been going on. It’s also clearly written as a standalone, and it is hard to see how it has 7+ volumes in Japan now, which it does. That said, I loved this to bits. Not a surprise, everything in it was designed to be catnip to me. It’s not as dark as I expected, frankly – there is a lot of funny business here, especially when Wellmy discovers her inner submissive – but there is a core of despair that falls over the main events. Wellmy’s grand plan means that she’s never considered what to do with her life besides “die”. Iora is forced to watch from afar as her sister deliberately destroys herself. Even their mother, who is written off for most of the book as a scheming woman who loathes her adopted daughter, turns out to have a terrible backstory. There are definitely reasons why Wellmy had to go so far, though in the end she and Iora reap the rewards… even if Wellmy does so reluctantly.

All this plus casual verbal abuse of a crown prince. What’s not to love? For all fans of this genre, and I hope the author can figure out what comes next.