Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire, Vol. 2

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By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser.

In general, when you’re reading a series that stars a big dumb person who only likes fighting, you’re not supposed to be on their side. The reader can see that there are advantages to talking things through, or do finding another way, etc. But, of course, there’s fighting anyway, because our hero just leapt in there and starting whaling away. That’s definitely true with Inglis in this second volume. What’s worse, her fights are almost all one-sided beatdowns, as she is ludicrously strong and powerful, even without any runes or talent of that sort. She is every reader’s OP nightmare. And yet… let’s face it, while reading this book, I was agreeing with her. The parts of the book that really came alive and felt like the most fun were those where Inglis had her sword out and was fighting monsters, or bad guys, or bad guys turned into monsters. She’s great fun as a meathead. The rest of the book has trouble keeping up with her.

Now that she and Rafinha are in the Academy, Inglis is ready to start learning. And by learning I mean “learning how to fight stronger and stronger opponents”. She and Rafinha have very few problems, mostly as they’re the cool kids. Leona, on the other hand, their new friend whose brother turned traitor, is having a terrible time, especially when her new roommate (the princess curl type) refuses to live with her. On their first day the three of them happen to come across a sea monster which they prevent from destroying a ship… a ship that turns out to be owned by the Rambach Company, whose heir became a Highlander in the first volume, if you’d forgotten. As a reward, they’re invited to be guards for a very important summit meeting between the company and various factions. Could it be a trap? No worries, I’m r pretty sure Inglis can punch traps away.

As noted, the fun in these books is seeing how ludicrous Inglis is all the time. We get occasional mention of her past as a male king, mostly when she’s trying not to gawk at women in the bath, but for the most part it’s just a flimsy excuse to have Inglis be less “ladylike” than some folks would like. Rafinha is supposedly her voice of reason… but is almost as bad as she is, occasionally trying to stop her but more often joining in. They’re also both desperate for food, another fun running gag, as chunks of this book are written in “Talk-with-your-mouth-full-ese”. There are actual political things going on and genuine danger to the city and country… but Inglis is content to leave that to the royal family and the knights who have to worry about politics. Indeed, her suggestion to allow the woman currently spewing out monsters on occasion to stay at the academy is “cool, monsters to fight without sneaking out!”.

So, basically, if you like smart intelligent girls and politicking, this is not the series for you. If you read it and think “I wish there was even more of Inglis hitting things”, by all means keep reading, I’m sure you will be satisfied.

The Magician Who Rose from Failure: Tales of War and Magic, Vol. 3

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By Hitsuji Gamei and Fushimi Saika. Released in Japan as “Shikkaku Kara Hajimeru Nariagari Madō Shidō! ~ Jumon Kaihatsu Tokidoki Senki ~” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

It’s time to talk about a tragic problem facing many young manga and light novel characters today. They’re young, clever, they want to be helpful. And yet… everyone seems to be suspicious of them. How sad! Is it because they never seem to show you which side they’re really on? Is it because they exude an aura of “I could be incredibly evil, if I wanted, but I choose not to be?” No, we all know the real reason. It’s because they never open their eyes. Studies have shown that nine out of ten characters who smile while constantly having their eyes shut later turn out to be villains in some way, shape or form. (Well, if they’re guys. For women, please see the “ara, ara” subclause.) As such, we identify very much with Arcus in this book as he meets a strange merchant who really wants to establish a connection with him, but cannot really get past looking and feeling incredibly shifty.

Despite the cover promising us delicious pizza, for the most part this book is all about battles and intrigue. After briefly spending a morning flirting with Sue (well, flirting on her end, not his), Arcus runs into a slight problem: he has to get silver to make more of his cool magic thermometer, but someone is buying all the silver in the kingdom. As such, he and his two bodyguards head west to a holding with lots of silver mines. There, they run into a different problem – bandits, who are busily trying to destroy a village, though it looks like their hearts aren’t really in it. Could these two problems be related? And can Arcus manage to figure this all out without a war starting between his country and the Empire? Oh yes, and in the meantime his sister is going on a magical quest and getting possessed by her ancient ancestors.

As with previous volumes, Magician Who Rose from Failure is good enough that you want to read the next book in the series, but not really good enough that you have a lot to talk about with someone else. Arcus remains cool. He gets to use his magic here, and everyone is amazed at how powerful he is. There is a bit more brutal death than the previous books, and Arcus briefly looks queasy about that, but by the end of the book he’s recovered enough to immolate one of the bad guys. We also meet the son of the local Lord, Deet, who has a minder of his own and who looks like the sort of kid who wandered into this series from the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump, He’s fun, and contrasts nicely with the staid and calm Arcus.

As the author indicates in the afterword,the next volume will likely focus more on the ‘war’ part of the book rather than the ‘magic’ part. Till then, this series remains ‘solid’, for good and ill.

Return from Death: I Kicked the Bucket and Now I’m Back at Square One with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me, Vol. 1

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By Eiko Mutsuhana and Hiyori Asahikawa. Released in Japan as “Shi ni Modori no Mahou Gakkou Seikatsu wo, Moto Koibito to Prologue kara (※Tadashi Koukando wa Zero)” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

I must admit that I was expecting this book to be lighter fare than it turned out to be. And yes, I realize that’s on me, since the book being called “Return from Death” in English and having a variation on “Starting from Zero” in Japanese means that the author is likely very familiar with Re: Zero, but, I mean, look at the cute cover! There’s going to be wacky antics, surely! In fact, the start of the book did indeed promise these, but unfortunately for readers who prefer that sort of thing, they require a heroine who’s a bit less on the ball than Oriana is here. She’s not only gone back in time to try to stop the love of her life from dying mysteriously, but she’s also coming on far too strong, meaning he’s no longer the love of her life. So the solution is to wait, and be patient and a good friend, and deal with everything else.

Vince and Oriana were a lovely couple, and he was so sweet and kind to her. Then, a few days after their senior year ball, she finds him dead, seemingly with no cause… except she quickly succumbs to it as well. When she wakes, she’s back in her seven-year-old body. Fortunately for the narrative, we then immediately time skip six years to her entrance to the Academy where she first meets her true love. Sadly, he does NOT have memories of a previous go-round, and regards her excessive adoration and professions of love as extremely creepy and unwelcome. So, as I said above, the long game. She eventually does make friends with Vincent and Miguel, his bestie. She gets close to her roommate, foreign princess Yana and Yana’s bodyguard Azraq. And, like most teenagers, she proves to be very bad at recognizing when a guy is hiding his feelings out of stubbornness and embarrassment.

I haven’t read the author’s other CIW series, Hello, I Am a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion, but judging by this I may have to go check it out. The book is very much a teen melodrama, with hurt feelings at the forefront, and some of the pairings do not work out the way that Oriana (or, for that matter, the audience) would like. There’s a lot to negotiate here. Oriana is a commoner, even if she’s the daughter of a rich merchant, and Vincent is the son of a duke. Yana and Azraq have similar issues, only much much worse. There’s simply dealing with Vincent’s cold, sullen attitude every day, though that does improve as the book goes on. So yeah, the ending is kind of happy, but a bit bittersweet… well, until the cliffhanger. Yes, this is a multipart series, and the ending makes it very clear that saving Vince is not the solution to the original problem.

I tweeted that this book reminded me of all the things I hated about being a teenager, but that’s also good news for those who love that sort of thing. If you like YA novels, romances, or grumpy tsundere male leads, this is right up your alley.