An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 12

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By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan as “Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

Usually when I’m reading books that I’m going to be reviewing I try to come up with a theme for the review so that it doesn’t end up just being me babbling on for 500 words. (Sometimes I can’t, as longtime readers who have read my babble know.) With this volume of Archdemon’s Dilemma, watching everyone suddenly obsessed with birthdays, it was going to be about how this series tries to balance out the cute romance aspect of it with the much darker plot and backstory part, and how that can be difficult because it’s pretty clear the main audience – or at least me – are far more interested in the former. Seeing magic battles and having traitors get rewarded as they deserve is all very well and good, but where are the blushing idiots? That *was* the plan for the review. Then Richard and Nephteros had to pull a “your shirt” moment, and everything went to hell.

The fun part of the book is the fact that Zagan has the idea of a birthday party for Nephy, and this just spirals on until everyone wants to know everyone’s else’s birthday. This is both hilarious and tragic because half the characters are either orphans, constructs, or hundreds of years old, so have no experience with birthdays or parties. So you get a lot of randomly chosen days, and a lot of worrying about presents. The three “main” couples (Zagan and Nephy, Chastille and Barbatos, and Shax and Kuroka) all get a cute scene or two. As the book goes on, though, the cuteness takes a back seat to the darkness. Nephteros is dying and does NOT want to have the usual fix when a homunculus is dying. Dexia is on the run and desperately trying to resurrect her sister. And we have two bad guys from the past suddenly show up in the present… and they seem to know who Zagan is? Finally, Nephteros too finds out what it’s like to love someone. In the worst way possible.

I think we can all agree that Bifrons is the Big Bad of this series, and he’s at his absolute worst here. You know a villain is bad when they start quoting Izaya Orihara, and that’s what we get here, with Bifrons “I love humanity” amounting to the same thing – he loves seeing them suffer and struggle. The Nephteros and Richard scenes were very good, but I will knock the book off two points for reminding me of that scene with Willow and Tara in Buffy that I pretend never happened. There’s also an attempted rape, which I could also have done without. I did enjoy seeing a new love triangle form, especially when one of the points in it admits that she’s a lesbian, but I’m pretty sure that she’s going to be the one left out of it in the end, so oh well.

As the book went on and got more serious, it was very well written but not really what I read this series for. I suspect the next volume, whenever it comes out, will be rather dark, but I hope it finds the time to remember its core plot: dorks in love.

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.)