The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 4

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By Yu Shimizu and Asagi Tosaka. Released in Japan as “Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lampert.

There’s a lot of things to love about found family situations, but one of my favorites is that everyone seems to know that everyone else has *a* secret, but doesn’t know what it is, and doesn’t really care. That’s shown off to good effect here, as everyone in our main cast seems to be hiding something. Leonis is a Demon Lord, of course, which only Riselia knows, but the others clearly know he’s not just a normal 10-year-old prodigy. Riselia, of course, has to hide that she’s now basically a vampire queen. Regina and Elfine both have their secrets, though in Elfine’s case it’s the fact that her secret is figured out in 2.5 seconds that makes it amusing. And then there’s Sakuya, the “Sakura Orchid” (read: Japan) resident who’s now living here in not-quite Europe. She’s a seemingly stoic swordfighter, and her secret may in fact be the most dangerous one of them all. Fortunately, our heroine who witnesses said secret is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

It’s school festival time at Excalibur Academy, and you know what that means: it’s time for a maid cafe. Unfortunately, the dorm that our heroines and Leonis live in has been getting creepier of late, what with all the ravens wanting to hang around their vampire mistress. There’s only one thing they can do: make it a combination cafe and haunted house! Oh, but one big problem: Leonis is a guy, and thus can’t participate… UNLESS… we dress him in an adorable maid outfit and disguise him! Fortunately, wacky hijinks are not everything that drives this volume. Elfine’s sister has uncovered the frozen body of another demon lord, and brought it back with her. This surely won’t be a terrible decision! Spoiler: it is, and now Excalibur Academy is once again surrounded by void creatures.

There’s fun to be had here provided you don’t think too hard. Everyone gets to do a cool thing or two. The ancient elf from the previous volume shows up again, and has discovered her true calling, with is to stare in amazement at the stupidity of everyone around her. Which is mostly Leonis’ terrorist minions, who prove to be top-tier dumb mooks. There is a cute plot where Shary, Leonis’ obsessive stalker… erm, dark minion, gets a ring from her beloved… which is just a summoning ring that will immediately call to her the strongest monster. He doesn’t get why she’s disappointed, but we do, especially when we see her seething at Riselia the entire volume. Still, in has a sweet ending. And there’s the ongoing worldbuilding, as we have… you’ll never guess this… evil laughing priests who are trying to restart long dead schemes. A lot of this book, which has everyone call out their attack names all the time, reminded me of Slayers, and you should take it about as seriously.

This remains the light novel equivalent of a late night hamburger meal from Wendy’s, but again, there’s nothing wrong with it. If you like cute girls and magic battles, pick it up.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 4

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By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The author promises a lot more slow life to come, which is good, because this volume absolutely did not have it. That’s not unexpected, given the end of the previous volume, but yes, this book wraps up almost all the plots that we had flailing around. Indeed, it was supposed to be the final book in the series, but, well, you know how it is. Fortunately the author is also good at writing desperate battles in underground caves, which is what a good 75% of this is. The Hero’s Party is finally reunited, but it doesn’t feel so good, because at least half of them are enemies, be it due to arrogance, religious belief, or what have you. And the pressing question through all of this is a familiar one to many: do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Or the one? Banished from the Hero’s Party is here to tell you the answer to that.

Covers don’t always spoil, but honestly they give away a lot here. If you’ve been reading the series, you’ll know why this particular cover is very strange. Still, in the end I think it was worth it. The idea of the Hero needing to sacrifice their own happiness just due to being born with a blessing is one that deserves to be pushed back on, and as Red notes, there are so many other people who could unite to take out the forces of evil. Ruti is quite content to move to the same sleepy town as her brother and live with her not-wife and spider-in-law. Red and Rit are both quite happy as well, both having come to terms with their past and accepting that they still occasionally might have to go save the world, provided the world saving is nearby. They also finally consummate their relationship, in a very sweet scene.

That said, there’s one big character that needs to be discussed, and I apologize for giving them short shrift in earlier books. Given the name, you would normally assume that Mister Crawly Wawly is a cute “mascot” sort, there to give Tisse some depth and also occasionally cheer her up. But the book has never really thought that. The author is not seeing Mister Crawly Wawly as a subtle running gag, they are seen as a friend and party member. As such, when all is almost lost in the battle against Ares and Shisandan, and all our heroes get a chance to shine and also a chance to almost die, Mister Crawly Wawly is involved in the entire fight, and indeed all would have been lost if they had not stepped up to lend a web. I’m not even being ironic here, it’s a genuine fist pump moment. There may be another “best spider” in town, folks.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Ares. Bye, Ares. In any case, this was a great final volume, and like a lot of great final volumes that have many volumes coming after it, we’ll see if it can reinvent itself. Till then, please believe in Mister Crawly Wawly (and watch the anime, airing as we speak.)

Holmes of Kyoto, Vol. 6

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By Mai Mochizuki and Shizu Yamauchi. Released in Japan by Futabasha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Minna Lin.

After five books that are essentially interlocked short story collections, this volume is the first to have one story for the entire book. It has a lot that it’s trying to do at once. Holmes and Aoi are now a couple (her 18th birthday comes at the very end of this book, though these two are not going to be getting more intimate anytime soon), and are negotiating contact and embarrassment. Someone is stealing a bunch of minor pieces of art, the only connection between them seemingly being a link with Buddhism. And Komatsu, the detective we saw in a previous volume, tries to go to Holmes for his detective skill rather than his antiquing skills, as his daughter has gone missing. All of this ends up interconnecting with kids using cannabis and a meditation and study seminar ending up being the gateway to a dangerous cult. And… this is starting to sound a bit ridiculous, isn’t it? And yes, it is. I’d argue this is the first volume in the series that simply didn’t work for me.

The parts of the book that do work are the parts we’ve seen in previous novels. There’s a lot of fun nerditry going on here about both various types of antiques and also Buddhism in general, and Holmes explaining it is a lot of fun. His pedanticism is even weaponized towards the end, as he tries to cause a distraction by rambling on to a guard about his need to whistle loudly before he sleeps being related to a misapprehension as a young boy, and keeps spewing garbage for so long it’s really impressive. I was also amused at everyone seeing Holmes’ attention to detail as being scary and villainous, and Aoi – not denying this, but saying she’s used to it. They have a fun relationship, and I am pleased that it’s developing at a slow pace. That said, due to the nature of the book Aoi is far more of a passive narrator than usual.

Unfortunately, that leaves the main plot as the part I didn’t like. Not to get political at all, but “cannabis is bad and leads to taking stronger drugs and also getting drawn into creepy cults” is not going to win me over even when it’s well written, which this isn’t. The relationship between the detective, his ex-wife and his (kidnapped) daughter is meant to be sympathetic and realistic, but it feels like it was piling complication on top of complication in order to make the stakes higher. As for the cult itself, having some of the staff be genuinely part of the meditation seminar, some of them part of the cult, and all of it being secretly controlled by a politician, except wait, WAS IT REALLY? There are at least two twists too many towards the end, and honestly I got lost. I also suspect the author was trying to contrast the heated, emotional relationships of the other high school girl in this book with Homes and Aoi’s mild, restrained “we’re waiting on intimacy” pairing, and… it’s OK, I get it, so you don’t have to shove it in my face.

I am hoping that this is just an unfortunate blip in the series, though the blurb for the next volume does not fill me with confidence. In the meantime, perhaps we can get back to antiques?