My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer, Vol. 3

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By MOJIKAKIYA and toi8. Released in Japan as “Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

This third volume returns to the same structure we saw in the first, moving back and forth between Angelica’s life in the big city and her father’s life back in the sticks. Of course, neither one of them lack for things to do. On Angelica’s end, she runs into Charlotte and Byaku, the child villains from the previous book, who are trying to repent but perhaps going about it the wrong way. On Belgrieve’s end, the forest next to his little village is getting increasingly dangerous, to the point where there has to be something behind it. He goes investigating with the help of Duncan, his battle-hungry new friend, Graham, a legendary elf warrior, and Marguerite, a not-so-legendary elf who’s more of a hothead than anything else. Their paths don’t intersect this book, but rest assured Belgrieve is always on Angelica’s mind: she’s trying to find him a wife!

I compared Charlotte to Ilya from Fate last time, and it’s pretty clear that this is the Ilya from the first route. Not that Charlotte is dying from being a homunculus anytime soon (though hold on to that thought) but more that she needs a stable family life in order to be able to recover from her tragic past and her present misdeeds. Angelica provides that for now, and is a pretty decent big sister, but it’s clear that she’s going to need Belgrieve to step in, as Angelica just can’t be doing this AND taking down the strongest enemies at the same time. I also enjoyed the discussion of how Charlotte is trying to apologize for her past religious scams – giving everyone their money back and saying the amulets are phony – and the others taking the time to explain to her why that’s not working and why people are angry with her, as well as what she can do to actually become a better person.

Now, back to the homunculuses. There is a plot to this book beyond cute daddy-daughter antics, and the villains seem to be creating supervillains, though how villainous they are is a matter for future books. Certainly Byaku is one of them, and they seem to be able to remove his super powers at will, leaving him mostly just a grumpy teen. That said, he can also see what we’ve suspected since the start of the series – Angelica is no normal kid, but more like him. She, of course, doesn’t want to believe this, because her being a foundling doesn’t really matter as all her strength comes from her father. Now, it may be true that her TRAINING comes from her father, but her strength certainly seems to be something more. This should be a very interesting plot going forward.

All this and a cute elf girl, though not the cute elf girl that Belgrieve has been pining for from his past. (Sorry, Angelica, your dad has a lost love that likely needs to be resolved before you can hook him up with anyone.) This remains a very enjoyable fantasy series, with a fun and slightly airheaded lead.

The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, Vol. 6

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By Yuka Tachibana and Yasuyuki Syuri. Released in Japan as “Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Julie Goniwich.

One of the better things about this new volume of The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent, aside from waiting till near the end of the book to justify that title, is that it’s committed to trying to figure out how the magic in this world works, rather than just seeing it as a stat. Of course, it IS a stat here, and we get lots of talk of HP and MP, But Sei realizes here that potions and medicine are not the same thing, and that in fact the use of potions may mean that diseases and maladies that might otherwise have been researched and analyzed are completely glossed over. That said, medicine takes years of testing and watching for side effects, and may not be all that potent, whereas potions are a magic cure-all that you just need to drink down. I don’t see one supplanting the other, especially given that Sei manages to invent the bestest potion of them all. The secret? Apples.

The bulk of this book concerns itself with the arrival of a visiting dignitary from the nation where Sei got her Asian food last volume, which continues to be very much not-China. One of the many princes in this country, he is here to study herbs and medicine, and despite the best efforts of the kingdom to hide Sei whenever he’s around, it’s pretty inevitable that they eventually run into each other. While she’s able to conceal her identity as the Saint to a certain degree, she can’t help but find a kindred spirit in the Prince, who really seems to know his herbs… and is also searching for a specific kind of cure. Can Sei manage to figure out what it is that the Prince’s mother has wrong with her? And if not, is there a way that she can weaponize her OPness to save the day?

The cover art shows off Prince Ten’yuu as a handsome bespectacled young man, but what I noticed more was the internal illustration, which showed him with the “spiral coke-bottle glasses” common to Chinese stereotypes in Japan (see Ranma 1/2 for the most famous instance). Fortunately the stereotypes seem to end there, with the main plot instead revolving around him as a sort of villain (everyone’s trying to stop him seeing Sei and figuring out who she is) who eventually becomes sympathetic (when we find the reason he’s there in the first place). It also reminds us that keeping Sei under wraps just is not going to fly as a long-term plan for much longer. Marrying her off to keep her in the Kingdom seems like the obvious answer, but again, she’s still in the ‘blushing maiden’ stage, and Albert is not inclined to push the matter. The politics remain boiling quietly in the background.

This is apparently one of the top ten light novel franchises in Japan right now, and I can see why. It’s solid and has likeable characters, and Sei is overpowered without being boring about it. She puts in the work.

The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior, Vol. 1

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By Tenichi and Suzunosuke. Released in Japan as “Higeki no Genkyou Tonaru Saikyou Gedou Rasubosu Joou wa Tami no Tame ni Tsukushimasu” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Emma Schumacker. Adapted by Michelle McGuinness.

I suppose it had to happen eventually. There can only be so many light novels brought over here with the exact same premise before you find yourself thinking “this is really a lot like the previous dozen or so villainess novels I’ve read this year”. Heroine tries to change her fate while at the same time convinced that her fate is inevitable. Everyone around her is gobsmacked by her skills and her emotional sensitivity, but she doesn’t see it as anything but normal friendship. Everyone her age falls in love with her, including her adopted brother. We get events from her POV, and the events are then repeated from the love interest’s POV. And this one started in 2018, a good four years after My Next Life As a Villainess, so it doesn’t get the excuse some others have. What’s more, this is 100% serious, so we don’t even get the parody of the genre that Bakarina has become. It’s certainly readable – and had one bit I found quite interesting – but still… been there, done that.

Our heroine doesn’t even get half a page in Japan before she’s hit by a car. She wakes up as Princess Pride Royal Ivy, the daughter of the Queen and first in line for the throne (a rare matriarchy in light novels). There’s just one slight problem – Pride is the evil Queen from our protagonist’s otome game Our Ray of Light, and after years of foul misdeeds she’s killed off at the age of eighteen. Pride, who is eight, only has ten years to fix things. She gets off to a good start, rewriting relationships with her adopted brother and younger sister-in-hiding, while also showing off the “precognition” unique to her family line… though in her case it’s just remembering the plot from the game. Unfortunately, there are people behind the scenes determined to portray her as a selfish evil princess. And the cast keep getting these nightmares…

Without a doubt the most interesting parts of this book are the parts of the “game” where we see the Evil Queen Pride. Generally speaking when we get otome game villainesses in these books they tend to be bullies who go after the main character for not knowing her place, etc. Pride goes above and beyond, ordering her adopted brother (who has signed a contract forcing him to obey her every order) to murder his own mother, and casually admitting to her guard knight that she let his father die because it was more important to kill the bad guys who were after her. She really does live up to her name, and it’s easy to see why THIS Pride is doing her absolute best to avoid going there. Unfortunately, the other side of the coin – why is everyone having nightmares of the game, and why is one of the characters secretly evil – is not answered here, so we’re unfortunately left with the main flaw of many villainess books, where the heroine simply cannot get it in her head that she’s not a bad person anymore. It’s frustrating.

I’m not sure if I’ll get Book 2 in the series, but I do see that, judging by the webnovel content, this is going to be at least 7 or 8 books in Japan, and I don’t think I can last that long. For villainess completists only.