So You Want to Live the Slow Life?: A Guide to Life in the Beastly Wilds, Vol. 1

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By Fuurou and Yuki Nekozuki. Released in Japan as “Shishi Kamori de Slow Life” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Andrew Attwell.

If you do want to read slow life books, you’re going to have to put up with the slow life. And that can sometimes be hard. I have a few slow life books I’ve had to drop simply because the everyday descriptions of their slow life were putting me to sleep. On the other hand, if you can come up with a good plot and characters, you can usually hook your reader enough that they will put up with your slow life anyway. That’s exactly what we get here. I have to tell you, there is a lot of food preserving in this book. A whole lot. Honestly, the book should have been titled “So you want to preserve food?”. And, having peeked at the webnovel itself, that is absolutely never going away. That said… likeable leads who are both adults, good worldbuilding in terms of how this sort of thing would work, and an occasional action scene. I enjoyed it.

Our main character is Mikura, who is decidedly NOT hit by a truck and does not end up in any sort of fantasy world. That’s because it’s already come here. There is a massive forest in Japan called the Beastly Wilds, host to Beastpeople. Grownups look like humans with animals ears and tails, but the kids look like animals wearing clothes. There are all sorts of rules and regulations about going into this forest at all. And Mikura’s great-grandfather had a house here, where he paid the beast people to tend to the chestnut and walnut trees and sat around preserving food as a hobby. Now that he’s passed away, Mikura decides to quit his fast-track office job and follow in his footsteps. Of course, there’s a bit more to it than just moving in… for one thing, he’ll need to deal with the locals.

I’ll be honest here, the best thing in the book by a mile is the main female lead, Techi. She’s essentially a grade school teacher/foreman/minder for all the kids who are working on Mikura’s farm (and there is a welcome discussion of child labor laws and how they apply to beastmen who essentially get a lot less agile as they get more human), and she takes a while to warm up to Mikura… or anyone, really. She is what I would call a ‘lovable grump’ and Her basic expression most of the time is :| or variations on it. Seeing her slowly start to fall for Mikura is the highlight of the book, even as she’s also helping him acclimate to this new situation and fighting off crooked chestnut dealers who want to use the beastfolk for their own ends. The first half of the book is all plot, for the most part, and I loved it. The second half is about 1/3 plot, 2/3 recipes, and I felt like I was googling ‘pancetta’ and having to read someone’s life story before I got to the recipe.

Despite that, and the risk of future volumes being worse, I really loved the lead couple, even if they aren’t a couple yet. (He sensibly sees her flirtation as more of a fascination with romance than him specifically, though I’ve no doubt that will change.). If you’re a cook, this is a must read. to everyone else, recommended if you like relaxed isekais or chipmunks.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 18

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I always enjoy the books in this series that are more about rallying around the flag. The author in the afterword says that the series is always remembered for all the death and gore and terrible things, but that the hope and turning things around is just as important, and I agree with them. It does help that the plotline I was most worried about, Emilia being kidnapped, was handled in the best possible way. Certainly her would-be husband is a loathsome and terrible man, but she still manages to have agency, gaining valuable information and passing it off to allies before returning to her forced wedding because escaping would mean Regulus would take it out on his other wives. That said, for a series filled with Best Girls there are an awful lot of them this book. Crusch is mostly at death’s door, but manages to rally Subaru; Anastasia proves when it comes to actual administration she’s by far the best Royal candidate; and Priscilla… well, Priscilla just IS.

After the disaster of the City Hall assault last time, our forces regroup. Ironically, City Hall is now theirs, but there’s lots of bad things happening. Subaru’s leg… and Crusch’s entire body… are cursed. Emilia is, as I said, kidnapped. Wilhelm has figured out that one of the villains who attacked them was in fact someone he knows very well; heck, even Reinhard had a terrible time, though it was offscreen. What’s more, after Lust ups the demands (she now wants the Book of Knowledge (seemingly burned), an artificial spirit (i.e. Beatrice) and Regulus and Emilia’s wedding to go forward (that last one is obviously his addition). This means that all the citizens of this city are a bit scared and angry and upset. Can someone manage to win them over with a dramatic speech? And is that someone really Subaru?

As I said above; my God Priscilla’s presence in this book is just amazing. She’d be the worst person to interact with ever in real life, but her arrogance, confidence and strength here are just what the doctor ordered; her berating Liliana until she gives in and agrees to help is a thing of beauty. I would love to read some Re: Zero from her point of view. Speaking of points of view, it’s very amusing to see how everyone in the room reacts – particularly Julius and Al – when Subaru casually tells everyone that he loves Emilia. He may constantly regard himself as just this guy getting by, always scared and wanting to run away, but to everyone else he’s a tower of strength and confidence, saying things no one else has the courage to. He is topped, perhaps, only by Otto, who continues to be Best Boy, and unfortunately because he is Best Boy has to face the cliffhanger ending on his own.

The next book will be the counterattack against all the archbishops, and it promises to be a combat filled melee. Till then, enjoy a Re: Zero with no return by death by a whole lot of heartwarming moments.

86 –Eighty-Six–, Vol. 9: Valkyrie Has Landed

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By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert.

There is an awful lot going on in this volume of 86, but we have to start by talking about Kurena, who pretty much owns this book. When we last saw her at the end of Book 8, she was in a very bad place, her screw-up having cost lives, and throughout this book we see her fragile psyche try to recover from it. She’s grasping for a renewed purpose, which for the most part in previous books has been “Shin”, but now that she’s finally acknowledged that he’s in love with Lena she needs something else. It could be the war – after all, getting back her mojo and becoming the best sniper of all the 86 is certainly something that would be an excellent goal for this book. But, as she realizes to her growing horror, having something war-related as a goal is not cutting it anymore. It’s not what the others are doing. They’re all trying to END the war, to find a future that does not involve constantly fighting the Legion. And I’m gonna be honest, that nearly breaks her.

Our core unit that we’ve known since the first book is now down a member, as Theo is forced to retire from military service, something that he tries to cope with over the course of the book. As for the rest of the group, they’re all headed to The Holy Theocracy of Noiryanaruse, a country whose religion and military needs have combined in a disturbing way, and whose general is an odd mix of high priestess and idol singer. Several countries are sending units to try to take care of the Noctiluca, the Legion’s main weapon from the previous book, which has settled in a ruined and ash-filled area of the Theocracy. The battle will be tricky. The ash turns out to be very hard to navigate in, the entire plan hinges on a sniper who’s having a crisis of faith, and, most importantly, when you combine several countries to try to achieve a task, they may not always be on the same page – or even in the same book.

As usual, the bulk of the back half of this book consists of a large battle, which I can’t really review except to say “hey, nice combat, 5 stars!”. So I’ll go back to 86’s core theme, which is that war is terrible, the idea of “constant war” is an easy one to slip into, and that to prevent that everyone needs SOMETHING that they can think of doing when this war finally ends – because otherwise it never will. Shin has Lena, Anju has Dustin, Raiden… will be getting a book to himself soon, I expect, and this entire book is about Kurena’s journey to find a purpose in life. As for Theo, while I doubt we’ve seen the last of him, I suspect we’re going to see him about as often as we do Annette (who does show up here to rally his morale). His future is not in battle, much to his dismay. As for the war itself, our heroes are faced with actually having to fight soldiers who are not Legion… and they hate it.

This feels like we’re headed towards a grand finale, but we’re not there yet. Nevertheless, this is a fine entry in a very fine series.