My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World, Vol. 1

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By Tamamaru and Kinta. Released in Japan as “Kajiya de Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Linda Liu.

Obviously one should not read too much into the life of the author from the work they are writing. But sometimes it can be pretty easy to see that the creator is a little bit older than most light novel creators. Especially these days, where Truck-kun has been going after beleaguered office workers rather than shut-in high school NEETs. There’s a lack of gaming terminology and dungeon crawling. The harem, if there is one (there usually is) tends to be more familial than horny, at least on the part of the lead. And, of course, despite having super amazing powers and the ability to save the world, our protagonist wants to do nothing but relax and putter around the house doing what they love best. This is all very well and good. In this book, it turns out what the protagonist (and the author) love best is DIY. You will be reading about making swords and knives. You will be reading about building additions to houses. You will be reading this a LOT.

The setup is cookie-cutter. Our hero, Eizo, dies after saving a cat (but not himself) from a truck while on his way home from his crippling IT job. Turns out the cat was a goddess, and that it was not Eizo’s time to die. To try to salvage this, the goddess sends Eizo to a fantasy world, 10 years or so younger than he was (so about thirty). Eizo wants to be able to create things, so he gets knowledge of blacksmithing and the like, as well as some self-defense skills and magic. And then he’s dumped by a cabin in a forest. He wastes no time setting up shop, and quickly gains two companions: Samya, a beastgirl that he saves after she was savaged by a bear, and Rike, a dwarf who sees his handiwork and demands that she become his disciple. Because yeah, turns out he’s not just a normal blacksmith, he’s The Best There Is.

The edges of this book are interesting. There’s a prologue and an epilogue taking place many years after the main events that play this as “the creation of legends”, complete with a hero vs. demon lord scenario, that I found worked really well. We get two side-stories at the end that show the POV of other characters, and it’s interesting, particularly Helen, who is introduced to us (from Eizo’s POV) as something of a meathead swordswoman, but who turns out to be far more serious and practical when we get inside her own head. Unfortunately (and this is a common problem with slow life books) most of the book is from Eizo’s POV, and Christ, he’s dull. Show, don’t tell is left to die at the side of a ditch here, as we get page after page of him making swords, making knives, doing woodworking, chopping trees, all of which goes on forever. Even the fight near the end, where he takes on a massive bear, is fairly tedious as fights go.

As I said, there’s the hint of a good story around the edges of the book. I may read the second volume. But I think the author would be better off getting into woodworking and metallurgy themselves rather than have their creation tell us about it in excruciating detail.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 4: Founder of the Royal Academy’s So-Called Library Committee, Vol. 5

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

I feel this volume is almost deceptively relaxing. On the one hand, everything goes pretty well. Rozemyne does not make social faux-pas that can’t be glossed over somehow. There is an ambush to try to kill her… but she’s nowhere near it and it’s thwarted immediately. There’s a wedding to a woman from an enemy duchy… but she turns out to be a big sweetie pie who just has a case of resting “I look just like my ancestor who nearly destroyed you all” face. That last one, though, hints at the undercurrents we see in this book that I suspect are going to pay off in big explosions down the line. We’ve talked before about how the class system in this series is not going away anytime soon, but that also means that the nobility are going to be what nobility tend to do, which is find ways to quietly murder each other. Time to pick a side. Meanwhile, Rozemyne wants fish.

The author admits in the afterword that this cover (and indeed most of the covers in the series) is theme related rather than specifying actual events. In this case it’s the dyeing competition that Rozemyne is holding in order to introduce the new techniques (and bring back the old, forgotten techniques), and it turns out that Myne’s mother Effa is one of the contestants. Elsewhere, they’re setting up the printing business in the Groschel area, but the way that the nobility treats the commoners who live there turns out to not only be arrogant but also have legitimate negative effects on the printing. And then there’s the aforementioned marriage, as Lamprecht is marrying a woman from the far, far higher in status Ahrensbach district. It’s a political move, yes, but fortunately there seems to be actual love there as well. Finally, Rozemyne heads back to school to start Year 2 at the Academy, where she will face even more problems… not least of which is that the young prince of the realm has confused her for her younger sister.

As I noted above, Rozemyne is getting better at this. She still screws up enough to make Ferdinand (who is in this book far less than usual) smack his forehead, but that’s mostly just when she’s fantasizing about her ideal library, which would require more magic than there is in the world. She can do the meet and greets and keep up with the nobility, and has learned to translate when they’re being condescending, rude or threatening. The best example of this is her discussion with Aurelia, the bride I mentioned before. She screws up in that she’s not supposed to speak directly to the bride in her position… but she doesn’t bat an eyelid as she immediately says she was just talking to herself out loud, and she AND Aurelia then proceed to have an entire conversation like that. (I hope we see more of Aurelia, she seems sweet.)

So yes, an excellent Bookworm volume, and almost calm and peaceful. Ominous. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Also, when Rozemyne finally does grow up (signs point to Book 28), she will be absolutely terrifying.

There’s No Way a Side Character Like Me Could Be Popular, Right?, Vol. 3

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By Sekaiichi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Yujinchara no Ore ga Motemakuru Wakenaidaro?” by Overlap. Released in North America by Tentai Books. Translated by Alejandro de Vicente Suárez.

When the first novel in this series first got translated into English, the romcom was still very much a rarity in the market. When the second one was published, the genre was starting to be licensed here, if not yet seen. But it’s been a good 15 months since the 2nd volume came out over here, and since then we’ve had absolutely PILES of cute high school romantic comedies. Indeed, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me! manages to hit a lot of the exact same plot points as There’s No Way a Side Character Like Me Could Be Popular, Right?, down to the character types. Unfortunately, that also means that I’m a lot less forgiving of said types when they hit on things I don’t like. And this one absolutely does that, as it adds a third romantic love interest to our “side character”, his teacher Makiri-sensei. Should be fine, should be fine, we know how well teacher-student romances go over here. Buckle up, folks.

After the events of the second book, Yuuji now has a fake girlfriend, Touka (who is genuinely in love with him but he doesn’t get it) and a rejected childhood friend Kana (whose love he DOES get, but he rejects her because of what’s going on with Touka). The two of them unfortunately spend the majority of the book sniping at each other in a classic romantic comedy “jealous girls fighting over their boy” way that irritates Yuuji’s friends almost as much as it does the reader. While this is going on, though, he makes a discovery about his teacher, Makiri-sensei. We already know that she’s much kinder than her seeming cold exterior – now we find that she’s an awful drunk, thjat’s she’s very upset about still being a virgin, and that her father is setting her up for an arranged marriage. It feels like a pulled a slot machine and got three lemons. But I really don’t want to make this lemonade.

The book does have some interesting moments, usually when it tries to push against its romcom cliches. Yuuji’s got the face of a thug, but also has had violent incidents in his past, and in this book we get to see his relationship with his father, which is… really, really uncomfortable and also far more interesting than anything else with his teacher. He and his dad are alike in far more ways than either of them are willing to admit, and seeing Yuuji snap and finally air his grievances – so to speak – in that flashback was chilling. It’s then followed up wtih his father also being a secret manga otaku who reads We Never Learn adn is therefore OK with his son banging his teacher, and I’m ready to hit my head against the table again.

I like the dynamic between the two leads in this series. Touka is fine here, and I can feel her frustration. But it was going to take a miracle to get me to like this plot, and the book didn’t even turn water into Sprite, much less wine. Skip this and see if the fourth book gets back to entertaining romcom stuff.