Dragon Daddy Diaries: A Girl Grows to Greatness, Vol. 2

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By Ameko Kaeruda and Sencha. Released in Japan as “Totsuzen Papa ni Natta Saikyou Dragon no Kosodate Nikki: Kawaii Musume, Honobono to Ningenkai Saikyou ni Sodatsu ” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Giuseppe di Martino.

If the first volume of Dragon Daddy Diaries primarily revolved around the castle that is our heroes’ home base, then this volume is definitely set in the school. Indeed, we have to figure out excuses to get the rest of the cast to the school, and so our dragon daddy ends up being a security officer for the grounds, while Maredia and Clowria… well, sort of mooch around, but I suppose we can call them security as well. Basically what all this means is that the plot beats this volume all come from the school, and we don’t want to divide up the cast. It’s because we have a new main cast member, and she’s a welcome addition, even if she does, as Maredia notes, share a few character points with the Dark Queen herself. Luca is a new first year student, and she has a complicated backstory, a chip on her shoulder, and a desperate need for validation.

As for Olivia, she has managed to become a second year student, despite a huge amount of property damage to the school caused by her trying to learn beginner level spell and firing off advanced-level bursts. This means she’s now a sempai, and she tries to befriend her new roommate Luca, something that does not go very well for most of the book. Luca was supposed to be the King’s Student, a spot that Olivia has now taken, and thus Luca spends most of her school days challenging Olivia to various duels… and losing, because Olivia has been trained by a dragon and it shows. (That also comes out in this book, by the way, so everyone at last knows that he’s a dragon.) The other plotline going on is that they are searching for the Seven Supreme Hallows, powerful magical artifacts lost in the mists of time. In order to find them… a beach episode may be necessary.

As with the first volume, this series runs on tropes and sugar, and if you don’t like too much of either of them you may want to give this a miss. What character development there is comes mostly from Luca, though it is worth seeing Maredia manage to slowly emerge from her shut-in persona and begin to once again embrace her chuuni persona. Luca’s growth mostly stems from… parental neglect is the wrong term, but it’s a good lesson in why being too strict can sometimes have negative effects. When you’re never praised no matter how well you do, that bar can seem farther and father away. That said, I was a bit disappointed that the dragon having a chat with Luca’s mother was a speech done offscreen. Possibly as it would have interfered with the syrupy sweet mood. Even when battling an undersea turtle monster, the series doesn’t go much further than “he has a thorn in his paw”. Or in this case an ancient relic in his forehead.

This won’t make you count the days until the next volume comes out, but it’s a great read for a sunny day at the beach.

Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts with a Village, Vol. 5

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By Mizuumi Amakawa and Mai Okuma. Released in Japan as “Fushi no Kami: Henkyou kara Hajimeru Bunmei Saiseiki” by Overlap. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Maurice Alesch.

By and large fushi no Kami has been a worldbuilding novel. We’re here to see Ash and company drag the kingdom into the modern era, and we do get a bit of that here, particularly with the development of anesthetic. That said, there has also been an undercurrent of romance to the whole series. Ash has several girls in love with him, and up until this point has pretty much deliberately ignored it. Good news for fans who were hoping for resolution of this plotline, we definitely get it here, as Maika, with the help of almost everyone else in the cast, makes her move. Of course, Ash is unlikely to simply say “sure”, so stronger measures might be needed. And what of Arthur, who is the romantic runner-up in this scenario? Well, she remains a romantic runner-up, I’m afraid. Fushi no Kami does not seem all that interested in polyamory. Fortunately, Maika is awesome enough for five wives.

There is a certain amount of predictability in this volume, to be fair. Once we learn the story of how Maika’s parents got married, the rest of the book writes itself. That said, there is one big surprise, which is Ash casually admitting his feelings for Maika. Ash is a great protagonist, but he also has a tendency to default to ‘blank slate’, both when he talks to others and in his own narrative voice. As such, hearing him casually state that he loves Maika out loud is startling. That said, if you look at most of his actions in the past it makes sense, and his biggest reason to avoid it (they were both kids) is no longer an issue, as both are of marrying age in this fantasy world. That said, his response of “but I’ll never get married because I’d always put my dream over any spouse” is also very Ash. He wants his beloved to be happy.

As for Maika, we know enough about her to know she is not going to mope around after Ash rejects her. Especially not when she learns how her parents got married, and figures she can simply repeat history. Especially if it involves being a cool sword fighter! We’ve seen Maika’s training in the blade throughout the series, and no one has ever really been able to even come close to defeating her. Unfortunately, that applies here as well – despite a couple of attempts to insert drama into the story, with one opponent stating that he’ll be using lethal blows – there is a general lack of tension in her fights the entire way through. That said, it leads up to the best part of the book, where, after Ash says he can’t marry her because his dreams come first, she explains she’ll simply insert herself in between them, as long as it takes. Plus it’s not as if his dreams aren’t hers as well, she just doesn’t have the pat life to draw upon.

There is a decided lack of romantic fallout with Arthur, though that could simply be because she and Maika are best friends. Or it could carry over into Book 6. Which is not out in Japan, so for now we are left with a very nice love confession.

Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools, Vol. 2

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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.

Last time I said readers should not be surprised if this romance series turned into romance in the next book. It turns out that it may take a bit longer than that. Both of our protagonists are suffering from the death of a beloved parent who was their whole world. Moreover, due to different circumstances, both of them are avoiding love at the moment. As a result, while to the eyes of the reader it might look like they’re basically dating at this point, it really is merely a series of dinners, with the occasional experimental magical sword crafting as a side dish. That said, by the end of the book I think Volf is starting to realize how he actually feels about this captivating young woman/drinking partner. As for Dahlia… well, it’s going to be a bit. Heck, we can’t even credit her break up as being responsible for her avoiding love, as it’s made clear in a side story here that Tobias was also not even on her radar. She’s just dense to love. As are they all.

Fortunately for the reader, Tobias and his new bride are entirely absent from this book, which instead focuses on one major flaw that Dahlia has: she does not realize that her new inventions are stunningly revolutionary, rather than just off-the-cuff things that she can casually give out over drinks and dinner. This includes toe socks and insoles, something she suggests when hearing about Volf and his fellow knights having to battle in a swamp and constantly having issues with wet boots. As it turns out, Athlete’s Foot is a huge problem among the men in this world, and Dahlia’s creation – as well as advice she gives them based on experience from her past life – it enough to set up meetings with royalty. And let’s not even get into the magic bracelet she gives Volf that essentially allows him to leap tall buildings in a single bound. She really does not know her own strength as a craftswoman. Fortunately, everyone else does.

I joked on Twitter that the series was called “Dahliacoholic”, and it’s certainly true that pages and pages of this already very long book are devoted to her and Volf sitting around and having dinner and drinks and more drinks. Fortunately, she pretty much only does this around Volf, and he’s as bad as she is but also a gentleman. He also has a woman who he has an agreement with that they pretend to be lovers – for Volf it’s because he wants to avoid the adulation he tends to get walking around town, and for Altea because she appears to have been interested in his mother more than any man in her life. They both make good cover for each other. Which is good, as otherwise rumors about Volf and Dahlia would be rampant. She doesn’t quite have the social standing to be involved with a noble at the moment… but that may change if she keeps inventing at this speed.

I do think these books could stand to be shorter – like their main couple, they enjoy lingering over dinner and drinks and are in no rush to go home. That said, the mood of this book is excellent, and it manages to be a “slow life” that is actually slow, unlike a lot of those sorts of books.