The Saga of Tanya the Evil: In Omnia Paratus

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By Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Emily Balistrieri.

I mentioned this a bit in my last review, but it’s even more obvious here: the ‘winning’ part of Tanya the Evil is well and truly past, and we’re likely to see more and more of the Empire losing badly down the road. This book has the Empire try what seems to be a very clever strategy, Tanya and her group do their bit fine, and it just… fails. Due to lack of supplies, because the empire is running out of everything. It’s especially interesting as this is framed around a “won the battle but lost the war” siege, in which Tanya’s somewhat smaller corps has to lay wait in a railroad station and let themselves get surrounded, then get rescued. As it happens, they pretty much are able to rescue themselves. This despite the fact that, to Tanya’s surprise, the Federation are getting much better at being mages. After the last volume, where we almost had peace but then got it kicked away, there’s no way this ends for the Empire in anything but annihilation.

The big change in this volume is that Zettour, after pissing off the government, has been demoted and is sent out into the field. Well, OK, it’s not a real demotion, but he’s not allowed to really take charge. He does anyway, though, because it’s hard to say no to a Lieutenant General. Most of this book shows off that, while the title may be “The Saga of Tanya the Evil”, Tanya is more of a pragmatist above all else – the only evil we see here is her explaining to her green recruits why looting corpses during wartime is fine. Zettour, though, can be even worse than she is. That said, he too is getting an upfront demonstration of the fact that the Federation are getting much better at waging war. It helps show off the difference between action at the front and what the leaders in the rear hear about that action.

Oh yes, Visha almost dies. I can’t recall if I’d mentioned this before, but Tanya the Evil is based off a webnovel, but the LN adds a lot of things. One of those things is Visha, who wasn’t in the original story. (This is why fans get annoyed when they hear “spoil me does Visha die?”.) So sometimes you have to worry about her, because she’s cute and less morally void than Tanya (slightly) and we like her, so her death would have impact. The interesting thing is that we don’t get this near-death from her POV, but Tanya’s, who has suddenly noticed that Visha is not reporting in because she’s busy fleeing from a crazed Commonwealth soldier. (Guess who? Yes, Mary Sue is back, and she’s as vengeful as ever. She is, however, attacking the wrong person. See, light novel artist, this is the danger of making Tanya and Visha look too much alike!) Fortunately, she survives to make coffee another day.

The book ends with Zettour ordering Tanya to help him win the war that needs to be one – the one at the capital, which is to say the war against their political leaders who are demanding total victory. I’m sure this will go well! In the meantime, enjoy what is essentially a siege book with added military theory.

(In Omnia Paratus translates to “ready for anything” and, contrary to popular belief, did not originate with Gilmore Girls.)

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 6

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By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of these books are devoted to scenes of battle, with clever tactics and lots of cool action. It’s well-written, but it does leave very little for me to talk about. I am reminded of reviewing those titles like K-On! or Sunshine Sketch, which rely on cute girls doing cute things. Here we have soldiers doing soldier things. Or, in the case of this particular book, sailors doing sailor things. The enemy is simply better at everything right now, and so Regis is sent to try to stop their supply line. This involves trying to outwit their naval force, something Regis is once again able to do with the help of some books he read once. That gimmick, I fear, will only take him so far. That said, there are more important things going on here that will affect future books: first, Regis won the battle but lost the war, and second, battle commander Latrielle has a war injury that is far more serious than anyone thinks.

The scene with Latrielle and his aide meeting up with Altina and Regis is a very interesting one. Regis notices Latrielle is acting oddly, and is puzzled, but doesn’t really get to the bottom of what’s wrong, and neither does the reader until it’s revealed to us afterward. In the meantime, Regis finally gets listened to by actual powerful people. He also gets a promotion that comes with a title, meaning he can add ‘du’ to his name – not that he plans on doing this. His attempts at remaining a quiet little adviser who reads books seem to be growing less likely every day. Altina also sticks by his side throughout the book, which is handy as he gets to explain everything to her muscle brains. (Her loathing of reading is palpable here.) We also meet a version of what the two of them would be if they were commoners, as Regis hires a boat run by the perky Narissa and her aggrieved childhood friend Phip. Altina is nice enough to forgive Narissa being rude to a princess, but is also immature enough to be jealous of her and Regis getting close.

As for the naval battle itself, we don’t see much of it from the other side except from the perspective of one ship captain, Morins, who would prefer to spend most of his time in bed with his adjutant, Laurelin. He’s clearly meant to be an antagonist who will crop up again someday, so it’s rather annoying that he’s such a sexist asshole. On the bright side, that means I’m quite pleased to see how he gets routed by Regis, who comes up with such clever strategies as “ram the ship with a rowboat full of explosives”. His seasickness means we’re unlikely to see him putting his brain to use for the Navy all that often, but it’s still impressive. Now if only he could take some pride in his achievements. Or even notice that both Altina and Clarisse are clearly in love with him.

The rather imperfect victory at the end of this volume means, I suspect, that the next book in the series will be a bit more serious. Till then, though, this is another fun example of a military potboiler, with a likeable lead couple (even if they aren’t one yet).

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 11

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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.

This series is trying its hardest to keep a good balance between the light-hearted romantic comedy that the majority of its readers are here for and the increasingly dark backstory that is constantly threatening to become the front story as well. That continues in this book, which has an awful lot of Zagan and Nephy being incredibly blushy and goofy around each other, wearing each others clothes, being in each other’s dreams, and generally being the most adorable couple around that haven’t even gotten to first base yet. Contrasted with that is the increasingly doomed Alshiera, the plotting, sinister or otherwise, of the various other archdemons, and the continued horrors being piled upon Dexia and Aristella. Fortunately, with one or two exceptions, this remains very readable overall, even if you are only in it to see when these two lovebirds will finally get it on. (Spoiler: don’t hold your breath.)

The main plotline involves Lilith, who is a succubus that controls dreams. She’s able to give Zagan and Nephy a shared dream (that, oddly, shows them in a Japanese high school) and is also trying to rescue a boy who is stranded in a nightmare. He’s connected to Alshiera, who is still slowly dying from events in previous books, and is trying to show everyone that this is fine and that she’s content with it, ignoring the fact that there are others who are absolutely not content with it. To make matters worse, Zagan and friends may have found Azazel, who is also in Lilith’s dreamland, and is likyly going to kill Alshiera once and for all. And, perhaps worst of all, Foll is going around asking everyone what they think about love. Is there someone actually interested in her? Or is she just a normal girl? (Well, a normal powerful dragon girl).

Describing the plot is somewhat difficult, as you can tell from the preceding paragraph, but it holds together pretty well. One irritating negative is a new character is introduced, and there is some anti-trans humor about them, so be warned. Still sadly very popular in Japanese manga and light novels. Lilith is, for the most part, taken seriously, and proves to be pretty awesome when she tries. I especially liked Alshiera gently trying to push Lilith away and get her to accept Alshiera’s death, and Lilith basically saying “nope, fuck that, gonna save you”. Zagan is also awesome as always, though there is worrying evidence that he’s pushing himself too hard that may come up in future books. Oh yes, and Kuroka gets drunk and horny on catnip wine. Let’s ignore that.

The series seems content to meander along, both in its romantic plotlines and its more serious fantasy-based plots. And we’re caught up with Japan, meaning we’ll likely be waiting even longer for the next book. Still, if you enjoy archdemons and elfs being super cute together, and don’t mind the occasional tonal crash when the bad guys have a scene, this remains a good series to be reading.