Long Story Short, I’m Living in the Mountains, Vol. 2

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By Asagi and Shino. Released in Japan as “Zenryaku, Yama Kurashi wo Hajimemashita” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by N. Marquetti.

So I am here to tell you that the “slow life” part of this series is back in this volume and bigger than ever. You will see lots and lots of food preparation. You will see shopping. You will see vaccinating your animals and the importance thereof. The big dramatic plot point in the middle of the book is a village-wide effort to pick up the litter on the mountain. It’s Slow Life with a capital Slow. The good news is that the other half of the series is also present and correct, and it’s also bigger than ever. Fortunately, Katsuragi’s past catching up with her seems to be dealt with by the end of this book, though it may not stop all her problems. But Aikawa’s fear of women remains, even if he tries to push past it when it’s an emergency. As for Sano… honestly, he is still dealing with not only depression but some serious anger issues. Fortunately, he has his emotional support chickens.

Sano continues to live on his mountains with his beloved chickens, who honestly seem to be monitoring him as much as he is raising them. They’re also getting bigger. Sometimes he goes to visit the villagers he’s gotten to know. He also goes to visit his platonic friend Aikawa, who have a very strong bromance. But he’s not gay. So he says. He gets the village to organize a litter-picking-up event over the course of three non-consecutive days, because these mountains are a tourist trap in the worst sense. And he attends a festival, which everyone tries to get him to attend with Katsuragi, even though he has no interest in her. Speaking of Katsuragi, there’s a mystery man who’s driving around the area looking for her, and he may be related to her abusive ex.

The best part of this book remains the interpersonal drama, which manages to interest me enough that I can put up with the slow life, which is frankly boring. The anti-romance between Sano and Katsuragi is possibly the funniest part of the series. Everyone is trying to ship them, she seems up for it, even as she’s clearly not emotionally ready. But he’s DEFINITELY not emotionally ready, as it’s been six months and even thinking of his ex-fiancee sends him into such a rage he loses track of time. Frankly, he’s more romantically involved with one of the chickens. (I’m kidding, this is not that kind of book.) I also really liked the end of the book. Katsuragi has been tormented not only by her ex, but by her ex’s friend, who it turns out is also in love with her. In the middle of the book she’s basically hiding in her house. Which the village and Sano are definitely justified in getting rid of this loser, she musters her courage, goes out, and confronts him (it helps to have a massive lizard at her side). Hopefully she can be the first of these mountain owners to heal. (But don’t hook up with Sano.)

So yeah, good trauma recovery series, less good “let’s watch everyone make egg dishes” series. But it’s both of those at once.

Notorious No More: The Villainess Enjoys Feigning Incompetence, Vol. 1

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By Hanako Arashi and Wan Hachipisu. Released in Japan as “Kitai no Akujo, Sandome no Jinsei de “Musai Munou” wo Tanoshimu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Jeremy Browning.

This volume is plotted out in a very odd way, though I did end up quite enjoying it. The backstory of our villainess is quickly tossed off in about a page or two, as if it’s totally irrelevant – though it’s not, and I really want to find out what actually happened in the past. The feigning incompetence part is also given short shrift, as is the “everyone at school bullies her” part. That’s all just setup for the bulk of the book, which is a test that rapidly turns into a “death game” sort of environment. But this too is a sequel to something we only see in a side story at the end, as our heroine and her fellow low-ranking students all share a close bond of trust and are a fantastic team. What, you may ask, is this book interested in, then? This book is interested in taking shallow, arrogant nobles and destroying them.

Beljeanne was, so it is said, a cruel and heartless villainess who tried to kill her rival by summoning a demon. She was killed, and reincarnated as a Japanese girl. There, she went through school, work, getting married, having children, and dying happily at the age of 86. Whereupon she is reincarnated back in her original world, two generations later. as the granddaughter of the rival she supposedly tried to have killed. With ALL her memories, of course. What’s more, her mother enjoys hitting her, her father is indifferent, her brother is priggish, and her adopted sister is the “otome game heroine who’s evil because this is a villainess book” sort of girl. Clearly there is one thing that she can do in order to get the life she wants. Yes, it’s time for sandbagging.

Given that this book has a long sequence where Laviange ends up wreaking her revenge against all the nobles who have wronged her in this life, you may be wondering how I felt about it, given that Livid Lady had a similar plot and I hated it. But Notorious No More is very careful to only go after the specific people who deserve it. The noble who is killed off in this book because of Laviange’s actions tried to use mind control magic to brainwash her while they were in a dangerous area surrounded by powerful monsters. She’s very good at being nice to those who deserve it – the one good member of that team is not only spared by Laviagne but also used as fodder for the romance novels she writes as a side job – but those who have sinned against her are (with one exception) not offered second chances. We see the second prince, who has not only bullied her but is also being seduced by her stepsister – gradually realize that he’s been a complete piece of shit and trying to fix it. He fails. Fortunately, he’s only the second prince.

How much you like this book likely depends on how much you like protagonists taking down anyone they don’t like, but the people she doesn’t like are terrible, so I’m down with it. Hopefully in the next book we might find out what really happened in her first life. For smug villainess fans.

The Devil Princess, Vol. 1

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By Harunohi Biyori and Geso Umiu. Released in Japan as “Akuma Koujo” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Julie Goniwich. Adapted by Emlyn Dornemann.

Well, that sure went places. I mean, the basic premise suggested that it would. The author did too, as this author is also responsible for The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival, which is definitely a series that Goes Places. But I admit, I was kind of taken in by the narrator, as is often meant to happen. The reason unreliable narrators are a popular literary device with authors is that we are meant to trust them. it’s what narrators are FOR. First-person narrators are there to be the POV character, the one you root for, mostly. Sometimes they’re bad people, but they still are fun to read. And our heroine Yulucia is fun to read. She starts off the book as a classic “dying in the hospital from weakness” Japanese girl, then ends up as a little demon slime, who rapidly, without knowing it, becomes a far more powerful demon. She becomes the crush of the most powerful demon there is. And then she decides she wants to be human. And this is where the story really starts.

So yeah, as noted above, our little demon suddenly finds that she is a human baby. She’s also spoiled rotten… and kept from doing anything at all… so it’s hard to figure out what’s actually going on with her family. Eventually, as she grows older, she learns that she tends to terrify people who are not her immediate family and staff, likely due to her demon past. She also has tremendously powerful holy magic, and also summoning magic, which she thinks is also due to being a former demon, but the local religious folks think may make her a Saint. Eventually they can’t put it off any more, and she is allowed to go out and socialize, and make friends with other… noble children? Wait, is he the prince? Just how important is her family? And then, of course, she’s kidnapped. And THIS is where the story REALLY starts.

So the main reason I found this so fascinating is trying to figure out along with Yulucia exactly what kind of world she is now living in. It’s pretty apparent from the start that she’s rich and probably nobility, but her dad is rarely around, she’s not allowed to leave the house, and her mother also never leaves the house. She also has a head maid with powerful healing magic, which is rare for adults. And, oh yes, she’s so inhumanly gorgeous that she looks like a perfect doll rather than a human, and everyone around her is either immediately taken with her or repulsed. The other good thing about the book is Yulucia’s determination to be human, as she worries that she’s still a demon underneath, due to being scary and inhumanly beautiful and being unable to taste most food. I don’t want to spoil the last quarter of the book, but let’s just say that her issues get resolved in a big way, and your jaw will drop. I suspect things will escalate as this series goes on.

This is 5 volumes so far in Japan, so there’s certainly a lot more “and this is where the story really starts” we can get. Please keep surprising me, Devil Princess.