Even Dogs Go to Other Worlds: Life in Another World with My Beloved Hound, Vol. 1

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By Ryuuou and Ririnra. Released in Japan as “Isekai Teni Shitara Aiken ga Saikyou ni Narimashita – Silver Fenrir to Ore ga Isekai Kurashi wo Hajimetara” by GC Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Mittt Liu.

When I got to the afterword of this first volume and the author revealed that the original idea for the book did not have the dog, I wanted to slap my forehead a bit, given that the dog is the only reason anyone would read this in the first place. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. The characters are pleasant, the story is pleasant, the dog is pleasant, and it is a perfectly nice slow life book. It just… verges on boring, that’s all. And by verges I mean that we’ve pulled off the road into the Town of Boring and are booking three nights at the local motel. The second half, where you start to get a vague idea where the series may go, is slightly better. But this book suffers, as so many others do, with the curse of “slow life” books: in order to portray that accurately, you have to have nothing happen.

I’m not precisely sure if Takumi, our hero, dies from overwork or not – he just passes out and wakes up in the fantasy world. But he certainly fits the type, as we get the “I am an overworked corporate slave” intro before this happens. His only good thing in life is his pet Maltese. Now he’s in the middle of a forest, next to a monstrous Silver Fenrir… who apparently IS his Maltese, only she’s now the size of a car. Not sure where he is, he and his dog wander around till they hear a cry for help and end up killing an orc that was about to murder a young woman. Orcs! Is this a fantasy world, like all those novels talk about? Returning to civilization with the young woman, Takumi quickly finds himself out of his depth and having to get used to magic, monsters, and mayhem. Fortunately, he has a pupper. A big pupper.

I think I can sum up my feelings towards this book when Takumi and Claire (the young woman) arrive at her palatial estate, the smaller of her two estates, and meet up with her butler, who is named… Sebastian. Of course. This by now 50-year-old in-joke shows that everything in this book is going to be exactly on the nose, with surprises not on the menu. I did briefly hope that Takumi, who definitely fits the nickname “potato-kun” given to bland isekai protagonists, would be completely powerless and have to rely entirely on his dog, but no, he’s overrpowered too, in the “magical herbs” sort of way that we’ve seen in other slow life isekai series of this nature. Even the romance between him and Claire is predictable. She likes him. He likes her. They’re both shy. Will anything happen? Not in this book.

There are hints that we’ll get more plot development in the next book. And again, this book’s only fault is that it’s dull. The prose is fine, the translation reads great, it’s got dogs. But for me it’s another GC Novel to throw on my pile of GC Novels book I’ve tried and failed to enjoy.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 39

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

The Rokujouma landscape post-Volume 29 has thrown a lot more obstacles in the way of our heroes, but it is not frankly in a huge rush to deal with them. This has become a series that has no real plans to stop, so things will get resolved when they get resolved. This also applies to the romance, where we see that Koutarou is still uncomfortable with the idea that all the other girls have already come to accept, which is to say that he’s going to be in a polycule. Physical affection is also a work in progress, as we see in this volume when he’s forced to share a giant robot cockpit with Kiriha. But at least we’ve resolved all the potential love interests and aren’t adding anyone new, right? …right? Well, OK there’s been an asterisk next to that since Vol. 29, but for the most part we’ve ignored it as Nalfa has barely been in these recent volumes. That changes here, and you get the feeling she will be added to said polycule. If she survives.

After the big battle last volume, most of the enemy have fled, likely to regroup around Forthorthe. But the Grey Knight has hung around, trying to figure out why Koutarou’s magical sword is “incomplete”. In the meantime, it’s the start of a new school semester, and there’s going to be a huge influx of alien students. Nalfa has to give the welcoming speech, and it’s making her a bit panicky. That said, everyone else is on edge, suspecting that the Grey Knight is going to be attacking the ceremony. Fortunately, it goes off without a hitch. Unfortunately, the Grey Knight finally clues in and realizes what it is that he is looking for: Nalfa. She’s got some power he needs to draw out. He tries attempting to kill her – this doesn’t work. Then he tries attempting to kill Koutarou – that works. Can our heroes save her with the power of Sanae x 3?

Sanae, Sanae and Sanae fighting against the grey Knight is easily the action highlight of the book, and also gets in a few good one-liners (is it the power of friendship when you’re all the same person?). As for the Grey Knight, well, he may be from a different timeline but he’s still hella powerful and dangerous, and it’s going to take a lot more than Sanaes to get rid of him. As for the romance side of things, if nothing else I think we see here that Nalfa may be the only other addition to the polycule. She’s very blunt about her love for Koutarou, just like the other girls – and not like Kotori, who holds Koutarou on a pedestal compared to her “cheating” brother, but doesn’t see him as a love interest. That said, this is somewhat irrelevant, as any further romantic progress, if it happens at all, will be at the very end of the series.

We’re back to Forthorthe for the foreseeable future in the next book, with a few additions – Kenji, Kotori and Nalfa need to come along so that they’re not used as hostages. (This will kill Kenji’s love life, but he’s comic relief anyway.) Vol. 40 just came out in Japan two days ago, though, so it may be another few months for us.

Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools, Vol. 3

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By Hisaya Amagishi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Madougushi Dahliya wa Utsumukanai” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Nikolas Stirling.

I mentioned this in my review of the second volume, but it bears repeating: These two are a wonderful couple who absolutely should not get together at this point. Even the rest of the cast agrees with me. No one dares bring it up with Dahlia, who is still being treated with kid gloves, frankly (then again, it has only been a month since she was dumped by her fiance the day before her wedding), but everyone is planning for her business to be SO successful that she gets made a baroness, which would solve most of the issues with her marrying Volf. Not that she really has clued in to her own feelings yet. Volf has clued in to his own feelings, but his solution to the problem of class differences is terrible, as is fortunately pointed out to him by his older brother. Really, for the moment, they’re best as they are seen here: inventing new things, creating hilariously bad and terrifying magical swords, and eating and drinking a lot. A whole lot.

Much of this volume is spent with Dahlia trying to find a way to make the portable stove even smaller, so that it can be easily carried by knights when they go on their missions. We get into the nitty gritty of materials needed, cost, and how much to change – this book does not skimp on the business insights. That said, Dahlia is still showing off some painful naivete in this book. She’s trying to deal with the gossip about her and Volf, but it’s not something that you can just smile and hope it goes away. More concerning is the fact that she has so little self-worth that she gives away valuable creations at the drop of a hat, not realizing that she needs to convey a better idea of what she is as a proprietor rather than as a friend. As for Volf, well, his biggest concern is a monster that creates an illusion of a loved one – something Volf has never really had to deal with until now.

We already pretty much knew that Dahlia was having trouble dealing with the death of her father, and here we see that she’s also still having trouble dealing with her previous life in Japan, where she had a still living mother when she overworked herself to death. Honestly, she may have a similar fate here unless events conspire to get her and Volf together, as we see her lose track of the entire day working on another invention. She also says she plans to never get married, which is fine right now given that she and Volf are already acting like – and are mistaken for – a married couple. You can absolutely see where the rumors come from. The scene where they buy the matching glasses and amphora in order to have even better alcohol is really great, and shows that when they do manage to get past their own personal demons, they will be an amazing power couple.

But that’s for future Dahlia volumes. For now there is outside barbecue, a strong cider, and Dahlia’s vague feeling that she wants Volf to be by her side forever. Huh. Wonder what that’s about?