Holmes of Kyoto, Vol. 4

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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.

Rarely have I had to eat my words quite so much as I have in the gap between my review of the third volume and this one, and I urge readers to absolutely not go back and read it. Still, it does mean we have to confront the elephant in the room, though admittedly the book is doing it as well. This series features a man just out of college in love with a girl still in high school, and Japan sure has no issues with this whatsoever given the sheer number of titles out lately featuring age-gap romances, but Western readers tend to dig in their heels a lot more. Now, let’s not kid ourselves, things are not going anywhere anytime soon. Indeed, I will be very surprised if anything happens before Aoi turns 18. Mostly as Aoi continues to delude herself about Holmes’s feelings towards her, which are not only obvious to the reader but are starting to be obvious to everyone else as well. Fortunately by the end of the book, Aoi has at least come to a different realization.

As with other books in this series, we get a short story and three longer ones. The short story is simply Holmes taking Aoi on a date, though she doesn’t actually realize that’s what it is. We then get to meet Holmes’ grandmother, who has a bisque doll that strangely is the distaff counterpart to one they have in the antique shop… and one which might be haunted! After that, despite the author’s assurances in previous afterwords, we get what amounts to a murder mystery, albeit one where the victim survived, and Holmes is forced to deal with a case whose only artwork is the books of an author. Lastly, we meet the owner’s stepson Rikyu, who idolizes Holmes and who clearly is NOT loving Aoi at all. Will she be able to win him over by being a quasi-appraiser at an event thrown by Rikyu’s grandfather to determine who gets his inheritance?

As noted, the second case, while quite well done, feels a bit different to the other “cases” we’ve read, even though we’ve dealt with death and attempted assault in previous books. Possibly for this reason, it also feels a bit overdone, with Holmes’ talents not feeling as natural as they do when he’s looking at antiques. The third story was the best, as Rikyu is a fun addition to the cast, basically being a sullen teen who’s unhappy that his favorite relative is being taken away from him by another woman. I will admit that Aoi’s preternatural progress in learning about artwork and antiques is almost as unrealistic as Holmes turning into Hercule Poirot, but the moment is set up really well and you feel so happy for her I’ll grant it. And we do get an awful lot about Holmes clear feelings for Aoi and mistrust of other men (he’s right, she is awfully naive) as well as Aoi’s tendency towards self-loathing cropping up, thinking that Holmes is “far beyond her”… but at least, right at the end, she can admit to herself she’s fallen in love with him.

So yes, last time I said this wasn’t one for romance fans, and I will have to take that back, but I do think that mystery fans will get more out of this. We’ll see what happens in the next volume, this is a long-running series.

The Reincarnated Prince and the Hero of Light

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By Nobiru Kusunoki and Arico. Released in Japan as “Herscherik” by M Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by afm.

The last two volumes of the Herscherik books have had the subtitle refer to a new vassal that is the focus of that particular book, so you might be coming into this one wondering who the Hero of Light is going to be. But no, Herscherik has a full army of weapons in his cache now, both in terms of the men he has at his side and also his family, who are increasingly rebelling more and more against the chains of Marquis Barbosse. He has tried assassinating the royal family to depress the King into doing his bidding, he has tried introducing lethal drugs into the kingdom, and he has tried using his own daughter in a plot to kill Herscherik, one that ends in her own death instead. And yet here is Herscherik, a literal seven-year-old running rings around him. Of course, the reader knows that’s because he has the mind of a brilliant Japanese middle manager in hi, but no one ELSE knows that. So there’s only one thing left to do: send Herscherik off to die in war.

Yes, in an incredibly convenient coincidence, the country next door has decided to amass a huge invasion force at the border, so the army needs to take their much smaller force and go investigate. Barbosse suggests that Herscherik should go, despite being seven, as … well, he comes up with excuses over and over as to why no one else in the family should go, to the point where by now everyone in the room is aware he’s doing his best Snidely Whiplash imitation. But that’s fine by Hersch, who has also decided to stop pretending to be an innocent seven-year-old and act his age + his reincarnated age. As a result, they head off into an obvious trap and, well, get ambushed. Surprise! That said, Herscherik is a good two or three steps ahead of Barbosse here, and, of course, has Kuro, Orange, and Weiss, who together are the equal of at LEAST one invading army.

The book reads as if the editor said “you know those scenes you always get near the end of a book that make the reader punch the air? Could you fill the book with them?”. Every confrontation is a joy, and while sometimes the plot does verge on the ridiculous (I will give the fall from the cliff a pass because every book needs at least one hand wave) other parts are very well crafted, bringing in events from the first three books and tying them together, and also answering the very obvious question we’ve had for some time: given Barbosse can kill off the royal family with impunity, why hasn’t he done away with the youngest prince? The book is also very good about talking about the difference between doing what’s right for the nation and doing what you personally want to do, and how even Hersch finds that hard to handle at times. And, as I mentioned before, the dramatic confrontations are to die for. (Literally, sometimes.)

The series is not over, and reassuring us that we’re still only in the prologue of the Tales of the Prince (though we do meet the author of the books here, a scrub in the army trying to survive so he can send his pay back to his family), but this book definitely closes the book on the plot that’s run through the previous three. Where does it go from here? We shall see. Till then, enjoy a fantastic light novel series that makes the reincarnation isekai bits work well and also not be overused.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 28

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By Mizuho Kusanagi. Released in Japan as “Akatsuki no Yona” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by JN Productions, Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

As many have noticed, this has gradually become a light novel review site, with the manga that I read generally being reviewed in Manga Bookshelf’s Briefs columns. There are one or two exceptions, though, the most obvious of which is Yona of the dawn, a series I keep finding new things to say about (even though I’m still one volume behind in my reviews). This volume is an excellent example of why I keep coming back to it. There’s really big goofy comedy, as Kyo-Ga is knocked unconscious due to Happy Hungry Bunch antics and essentially becomes a giant comedy prop for a while. There’s romance, as we see in the scene where Yona and Hak take comfort in being each other’s strength. There’s politics, as Keishuk has arrived at the absolute worst time, and we get more of “what is Yona’s goal”. There’s cool action sequences. And there’s intrigue, as the cliffhanger makes you wonder if Ogi is going to be selling Yona out. There’s SO MUCH GOING ON.

Yona of the Dawn sometimes has a Shakespearean feel to it, particularly with everyone being worried about where Yona is and what she’s doing. Su-Won’s position as leader is fairly secure, and yet… everyone assumes that as long as Yona is alive, she can easily lead a rebellion to take over. This is very Richard II/Henry IV stuff here. It does not help that Yona is wandering around the land with a bunch of superheroes/monsters (delete where applicable), who could and have taken out entire armies on their own when at full power. But no one knows what Yona’s real goal is. Well, the reader might have a clue. The highlight of the volume is Yona’s big speech where she talks about how everyone is expecting her to get revenge for the death of her father, and… she doesn’t have to? She doesn’t have to forgive Su-Won, and won’t, but she can simply go around doing good things? Sadly, I suspect forces will continue to stop her doing that.

We also get a glimpse of Kyo-Ga and Tae-Jun’s mother here, and I enjoyed her showing off another classic comedy stereotype, the regal woman with the fan over her face who (almost) never speaks… until she does, as her fury at how Keishuk treats her son forces her to complete entire sentences, to the surprise of her attendants. She’s a very different kind of powerful woman from Yona, and doesn’t exactly clash with her, but she does worry that Yona is not doing what the traditional woman should. Putting herself in danger every day, after all, is dangerous. But this is what Yona has chosen to do, and she’s not backing down now. (Yona in general is filled with women wielding power in very different and varied ways, and I really appreciate that. This is not to say that Yona is not vulnerable, but for the most part that’s a side of herself that she tries to show only to Hak.

As you can see, there are always new things to discover about one of the best shoujo manga currently being published in English. Always a must-read.