Holmes of Kyoto, Vol. 1

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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.

Sometimes you read a light novel because you want adventure, action, and isekai teens slowly amassing a harem. But there are times (most times, I will admit) when that is not what you want. Sometimes you want a book that is the equivalent of curling up in an overstuffed armchair on a sunny winter afternoon, tea and biscuits at your side (British variety or Southern variety, your choice). This new series is absolutely that kind of book. The author admits in the afterword that she wanted to write a series of “light mystery” stories with no murders, and that’s what we get here, with some perplexing (and not so perplexing) challenges for our leads. More that that, though, this book is a love letter to Kyoto, taking the time to walk us around its most famous spots. It was written 6 months after the author moved there so as to keep that “newcomer” feel, and it succeeds admirably, as its lead, Aoi, is also a newcomer to the area.

Aoi has been in Kyoto for about six months, enough so that she’s not entirely new, but not enough that she isn’t dazzled by the sights. She’s dealing with heartbreak, as her boyfriend broke up with her remotely and is now seeing her best friend. She wants to earn train money to go back where she used to live to confront them, so tries to sell some of her family antiques. At the shop, though, she meets Holmes, aka Kiyotaka, the son of the owner and possessed with an amazing talent for observation… as well as an ability to tell real antiques from fakes. Aoi, as it turns out, has similar unpolished talent, and so, after talking her out of her train ride, she ends up working at the shop. Together they solve antique-related mysteries and grow closer – she’s clearly falling for him. But what about her past relationships – and his own?

I was reminded, oddly enough, of In/Spectre while reading this, which has a similar feel of “we solve mysteries while also having a romance that’s mostly one-sided” to it. There’s no supernatural content here, though, and Holmes of Kyoto is far more relaxed about it. As for the romance, given that Aoi is still in high school, I’m content with it being on the back burner – indeed, the series is 15+ volumes in Japan, so I think the mystery is definitely the more important part. That said, Aoi and Holmes bond as good friends almost immediately, even as she blushes and notes his handsomeness to us. The mysteries themselves are not all that hard to solve – I guessed one solution almost immediately – but they’re entertaining to read and the characters are fun. And there is a lot of discussion of both antiques and Kyoto – at times this feels more like a travelogue than a mystery series, and you know what? I’m fine with that as well.

Basically, if I had one word to sum up this series it would be nice. It’s a comforting read, worth saving for when you’re feeling down.

Kokoro Connect: Asu Random, Part 2

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By Sadanatsu Anda and Shiromizakana. Released in Japan by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Molly Lee.

This is, as the author notes, the longest book in the series. It’s not as long as some other light novels in my collection, but in terms of Kokoro Connect it’s pretty chunky. And it does what we’ve always known the series does well and want it to continue doing: traumatize our protagonists as much as possible. They’ve gotten their wish to be put in the place where the other students are trapped, but I’m not sure they were prepared for everyone to think of them as the villains who won’t tell the truth about why they’re really trying to do this. (Because if they tell the truth, they lose.) Even worse, the student council seems to be their adversaries, friends they’ve known their whole high school life are breaking apart, relationships are fracturing, and, yes, people are STILL losing their memories. Kokoro Connect is VERY good at making everything seem completely hopeless about the halfway point of each book, and that’s what we get here. That said, the real hopelessness comes with the special bonus round.

Given the series is essentially a metaphor for teenage hormones and growing up, it’s less of a surprise than expected that the conflict in the first three-quarters of this book is “should we punch each other till we forget everything and disappear?”. Needless to say, the CRC are not in favor of punching. Unfortunately, it turns out “guys, we just have to stand together and unite!” doesn’t actually achieve concrete things, while the punching, while no one knows if the things it causes are good or bad, is at least something to do. What’s more, of course, the CRC are being painted as the suspicious, untrustworthy kids, which, well, is not 100% wrong? Through no fault of their own, they can’t open up about this. That said, the solution they do come up with (start small with their closest friends, then work outward) ends up being fine. Well, almost fine.

Whoops! The last quarter of the book is the seeming worst case scenario – Heartseed does a takeback and everyone really does lose their memories. This is not as emotionally volatile as the first section of the book, but hurts more, because seeing the club interacting with each other like they’re casual acquaintances is just too depressing. Fortunately, all the things they did in Book 9, while mostly erased by Heartseed and company, do manage to clue them in that something is wrong (kudos to the first years) and they end up retracing the steps of the moments in the series where they became the closest of friends… and, for two couples, where they confessed. Kokoro Connect always reads like a roller coaster where it’s just one big down and one big up, and this is the same. It’s a feel good ending.

That said, there is one more book of short stories still to go. But man, this was one of the most emotionally draining light novels I’ve read, managing a lot of supernatural content while ALSO being a slice-of-life high school romance series. Highly recommended, especially to anime fans who want to see what happens next.

Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?!

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By Sorahoshi and Yuki Kinami. Released in Japan as “Moto Hakushaku Reijou wa Otome Game ni Sansen Shimashita” on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Amber Tamosaitis.

First off, this book comes out of the gate with a killer premise. We’ve talked before about the idea of a “reverse isekai”, where a fantasy denizen dies and is reincarnated in modern Japan, but this is, I believe, the first time we’ve seen it in English. And Urara (formerly Annerosa Ortegamo) is not just in modern-day Japan… she’s in a Japan based on an otome game! She only hears about this when she meets Shizuku, a girl who, as it turns out, is the ‘poor girl reincarnated as the heroine of the otome game she loves’ that we HAVE seen before. Only Urara ends up charming the pants off of everyone, while Shizuku ends up being subjected to horrible comedy violence much of the time. What I just described is about the first fifteen pages of a 320-page book. The good thing about this book is it takes a multi-layered ‘reincarnation’ premise and makes us enjoy slowly meandering towards the ending.

The book is based straight off of a webnovel, rather than a webnovel that’s been picked up and edited by a publisher. This is the modus operandi for Cross Infinite World, and it tends to lead to books that are pleasantly long and stuffed with content, including things that would probably get cut down for length elsewhere. The benefit of this is that the character development feels less rushed and more natural, particularly with Shizuku, who starts the book as unlikeaqble as she possibly can be and slowly, over the course of the next two hundred or so pages, becomes Urara’s best friend. She doesn’t particularly change per se, but we get to know her past and her (somewhat warped) reasoning, and more to the point, she likes Urara, once she’s determined that Urara does not, in fact, have her eyes on one of the many male targets in this “otome game”, but is instead falling for… a woman?

Well, OK, no. The book gets this out of the way a fifth of the way through it, which probably was a wise move, as leaving the revelation that Chouko is a guy who dresses as a girl for family reasons for the ending would likely have angered yuri romance fans. Because wow, this reads like a yuri romance otherwise. The school they attend feels very Maria-sama Ga Miteru, though it’s co-ed, and if you can imagine a romance between Sachiko and Shimako you come closest to seeing how Chouko and Urara interact. The guys, unfortunately, do not come across as well, and I do admit that throughout most of the book I kept having to remind myself who was who, though eventually you learn to separate out Shinmyou (the jerk) and Shimozuru (the one who falls for Shizuku). There is also an epilogue set in Urara’s past life that left a very bad taste in my mouth, and I did not really like the implication at all. It added murder and mental torment to what was otherwise a nice, sweet romance novel.

But you can just stop before reading that. Most of this is the equivalent of a long, leisurely boat ride down the river that takes up the entire afternoon. It’s not all that concerned with anything but its heroine and her “perfect princess” manners causing everyone to turn her way. It’s a good read.