A Wild Last Boss Appeared!, Vol. 1

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By Firehead and YahaKo. Released in Japan by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Chen.

Sometimes you get books where the concept is drab and you’ve seen it before, but the execution is excellent, and sometimes you get novels with a great concept that can’t quite pull it off. This comes closer to the second type, which may surprise readers given that it’s another “Japanese gamer is pulled into his game world” sort of book. But there are intriguing things going on here. It’s sort of reminiscent of Overlord, in that we have a gamer who arrives in his game world as the villain he created, complete with minions (most of whom have to be tracked down, admittedly) and whose self of self is being somewhat overlaid with the character. That said, this book does not seem to be nearly as dark as Overlord gets. It’s just Lufas getting used to being back in the world (which is 200 years later), getting used to being a woman (the gamer who created her was male), and getting used to being far, far more powerful than everyone else. Does it work? Somewhat.

As noted, our hero is a gamer who played a fun MMORPG (she’s the blonde on the cover, not the blue-haired girl), taking on a character who ended up playing the role of the villain. She was taken down by seven heroes in a massive battle (which the gamer was totally in on, this was a controlled event) and killed off. Suddenly the gamer finds himself in what appears to be that world, two hundred years later, summoned as part of a botched spell to summon a hero. Lufus has no interest in dealing with the folks who summoned her (the character is a woman, something that actually has a lot less relevance than you’d expect) and so goes back to her old Dark Tower, which she finds is rather decrepit but still standing. It also has her minion and expodump girl Dina, who Lufas created as an NPC and then forgot about, but who can helpfully explain what’s happened since Lufas’ death. She decides to round up her twelve monster companions, which first involves talking one of them down from his roaring rampage of revenge.

There are interesting things going on here. The gamer’s memories and Lufas’ have sort of melded together, and as the book goes on the relevance of “this is a game I played in Japan” lessens, which is interesting. To my surprise, the book also has virtually no fanservice at all, and in fact Lufas notes that she doesn’t really feel any desires for women anymore – or men, for that matter. This does, admittedly, make you wonder why the gender bender was conceived of to begin with, except that Lufas looks really beautiful. There’s also some foreshadowing that one of the characters is not what they seem, and it’s handled very deftly. I am rather relieved that the book slowly starts to drop the gamer stuff as it goes along, as the gamer sometimes uses vocab and ideas that make me suspect he was one of those basic sexist Japanese guys. More to the point, while I appreciate that it has a long game in mind, the book meanders. It’s not meant to be a slow life title, but sure feels like one at times, especially when Lufas is doing things like making Golem Winnebagos.

So I’d say that the series has not quite gelled yet. That said, it’s interesting enough that I’ll read more, and folks who (have I said this a lot in my reviews lately?) don’t mind overpowered heroes will find something to enjoy here.

Outbreak Company, Vol. 14

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By Ichiro Sakaki and Yuugen. Released in Japan by Kodansha Light Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Short stories here, two starring Shinichi and one Hikaru, of varying quality. The three together do remind you that this series has been sort of coasting ever since the Japan arc. The author says that he plans to end it in three more volumes (it ended up being four), so they at least have an endgame in mind, but there is very much the sense of “killing time” here. That said, at least the stories, for the most part, avoid the worst of Shinichi’s otaku qualities. The first one is a continuation of the prior volume, and offers us our hero hiding in his room to avoid seeing the girls in love with him. The second one involves Brook and Cerise hatching a family, and Shinichi trying to bond with the new lizard baby, who unfortunately sees him as food. And in the final story, another magical maguffin is found that ends up turning Hikaru into a girl for real.

The first story is the weakest. For all that the series has seen Shinichi achieve a lot of things and even save the world once or twice, there has been little to no actual maturity in his character. That’s really been emphasized in the last couple of books, as he’s totally unable to deal with the idea that more than one girl might be in love with him. Seeing him deal with this by hiding in his room and reading manga/playing games is totally in character but also 100% annoying to a reader who sort of wants him to grow up. That said, there was some nice suspense writing here as the team uses an obvious but effective lure to get him out. As for the second story, it shows Shinichi in a slightly better light. He could have simply given up and avoided the new baby, but he’s stubbornly determined to make it like him. This shows off the qualities Myusel and Petralka see in him.

The final story is the most interesting, though it loses a bit when the author admits the editors gave him the idea. It’s actually a sex-change slime, discovered in the caves and turning out to be yet another piece of long-lost technology. It fastens onto Hikaru and essentially leaves his real body there while putting his consciousness in a female body. The rest of the cast have some discussion of how Hikaru identifies – Shinichi discovers that he wears real bras and panties rather than male underwear, and they discuss how much he might identify as a woman. That said, Hikaru’s own POV narration is more matter of fact about it – he thinks of himself as a man, and is attracted to women, but dresses as a girl for reasons of family upbringing. Probably the most interesting part of the story is seeing Elvia forcibly bathe Hikaru, who realizes that getting involved in wacky harem comedy “I saw your boobs!” scenes is easier than it seems.

There weren’t really any big missteps taken here, and it’s certainly pleasant enough. That said, it’s not a good sign when, after each volume finishes, you’re thinking “When will this series come to an end?”.

The Beloved of Marielle Clarac

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By Haruka Momo and Maro. Released in Japan as “Marielle Clarac no Saiai” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

I enjoyed the first Marielle Clarac series while noting a couple of flaws, and I’m pleased to say that this second book at least does a good job fixing one of them. (The “BL tease but no more” aspect is, I fear, not going away anytime soon.) But the mystery/thriller aspect of the book works even better than the first, keeping us guessing as to the motivations of the antagonist (who is not really a villain) and switching immediately to the thriller aspect the moment things are revealed. There’s also a good helping of elements of the first book I greatly enjoyed: Marielle and her tendency to see everything in terms of romantic ‘shipping’ tropes, who gets to simultaneously be very clever and good at reading people and also capable of the most shockingly dumb moves when trying to chase after a lead. She’s not quite an amateur detective, but it’s on the verge of that genre. And the relationship between her and her fiancee Simeon is fantastic.

It’s wintertime, so all the garden parties are inside. More importantly, the Crown Prince (Simeon’s best friend) is being forced to step up his attempts to find a bride now that Simeon and Marielle are engaged. Marielle recommends, in possibly the best scene in the book, the girl who had been bullying her in the past, because she’s clearly not concealing any hidden side and would stop doing it if her husband demanded it. The prince, however, falls for Michelle, a shy and withdrawn young woman who would rather be anywhere but at this party but who reluctantly opens up to the prince anyway. The Prince invites Simeon and Marielle to Michelle’s estate to basically be on his side, and they discover that the family seems to treat her with contempt, or at least treats her as a pawn rather than a daughter. What secrets does Michelle hold? And why is Lutin here and pretending (IS he pretending) to be an Earl?

Marielle and Simeon may have admitted their love to each other in the last book, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not still filled with doubts and misgivings. Marielle has a tendency to describe herself as plain and dull so often that it would come across as self-loathing if she weren’t so confident – it’s practicality turned inward and twisted, and I’m glad Simeon tries to get her to see that she can in fact be attractive. Marielle also has a tendency to get herself into trouble, and while I doubt that’s going away she does at least understand how much it’s panicki8ng him when she does this. The last third of the book has a number of excellent chase scenes, and shows that the author is just as good at action as they are at mystery and romance. As for Michelle’s secret, it’s relatively obvious (Marielle guesses it), but also not quite as obvious (Marielle is stunned), and is handled slightly better than I expected.

It’s suggested that the wedding might be in the next book, though given the subtitle for the third volume is The Temptation of Marielle Clarac that may not happen. But I’m definitely going to be reading more in any case. These are a fun addition to the J-Novel Heart line, and will interest any romance readers, even those not interested in Japanese light novels.