Bibliophile Princess, Vol. 2

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By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

The second volume of Bibliophile Princess also consists of three stories, but the biggest (and best) takes up the first 2/3 of the book. Prince Chris has to go away on kingdom business for several days, and so Elianna will be representing him at a noble’s hunting-dancing-and-being-rich party. Naturally the party turns out to be a web of intrigue, from the expected (Elianna, despite being officially engaged to the Prince, is still not very popular with many young women, leading to a lot of catty remarks) to the dangerous (Elianna is almost killed by a runaway boar, knocked from her horse, threatened with violence by an assholish noble trying to mack on one of her new friends, and locked in a room with another noble in an attempt to besmirch her reputation). Fortunately, Elianna is able to get through it with a nice combination of book-learning, air-headedness, and a surprising amount of muscle. Takes strength to climb those library ladders searching for books, after all.

The author knows that Elianna’s personality is the main reason we’re reading the book, and shows it off nicely. That said, she grows in this book, not quite floating through every situation like a dandelion puff. Indeed, a lot of what goes on in this book could be a life lesson in “don’t be so naive and oblivious”, as is pointed out several times, especially by her cousin Lilia, who stomps through this book in a perpetual state of aggravation, which is great. When several young ladies snipe at her, she actually does get that they’re being insulting now, even if she chooses not to bother to respond. And she remains dedicated to her ideals – there is a subplot here involving the warlike nation they decided to give aide to in the last volume, and how a lot of people on both ides would feel more comfortable if the aid were military rather than otherwise. Elianna defends herself wonderfully, the only time she gets emotional in this book when it doesn’t involve books.

The other two stories are shorter and also less successful. Glen has fit into his role as the series whipping boy very easily, but it doesn’t mean I want to read a whole chapter about it. His company whine about why they have bad luck with women – just listening to them should tell you. That said, I will also admit (and this applies to the main story as well) that Prince Chris can be… a bit exhausting. Dial it back a bit, guy. There’s also a “is Elianna pregnant?” scene here that wouldn’t work if anyone took two seconds not to be mad and simply think about Elianna’s personality. The second story is another one that shows two people who are deeply in love with each other but don’t think that the other one is, leading to misadventures in a locked warehouse and Elianna getting to show off how she can still be terrifying in the right lighting and when covered in red dye.

Still, the first story is what sticks with you, and it’s excellent. I’m not sure if the next volume will have Elianna and Chris’ wedding – it’s in the spring, we’re told, but that’s still \months away here – but I am hoping that the series will continue to have Elianna doing what she does best. And perhaps kicking a few more guys in the balls, too. That was fantastic.

Accel World: The Snow Sprite

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By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

Everyone has things they’re good and bad at, and realizing that is one of the best ways to stop being frustrated. To Reki Kawahara’s credit, I think he’s aware of his strengths. He writes good battle scenes. Especially these days, when he’s got years of experience that Sword Art Online (which, let’s remember, is mostly ported from his almost 20-year-old webnovel) does not. And this, the 21st volume of Accel World, finally gets to the big fight against White Cosmos that we’ve been waiting for for about a year now. As such, it should not be too surprising that this is one of the stronger volumes we’ve had in Accel World for some time. It also helps that, in among the action, which is exceedingly well-timed, there are also several plot beats that we’ve had hanging around for a while now that we actually get answers to. Not everything, of course – the reason White Cosmos are doing all this is left vague – but enough that the emotional payoff of the book is very satisfying.

We’ve spent a lot of time taking all sorts of precautions to make sure that Nega Nebulus are as prepared as possible to attack White Cosmos. It should therefore be no surprise to find that everything goes spectacularly wrong almost immediately. The group is forcibly taken to the Unlimited Neutral Field, then it’s transformed into a Hell Stage. 90% of the cast are caught in a “kill you over and over till you permanently die” trap, though fortunately no one permanently dies. Indeed, the biggest twist of the book is someone NOT dying. Sort of. In amongst this, Silver Crow and Lime bell are able to escape, but there are endless numbers of traps still waiting for them… heck, even the upper strata where Haruyuki can confab with Metatron proves to be attackable by our villains. How can they possibly win?

This isn’t all just fights, of course. The reason the fights work well in these books is the emotional beats we get along with them. Chocolat Puppeter helping to given everyone a leg to stand on, and also providing the best cliffhanger ever. Magenta Scissor, still in the throes of her heel face turn. Trilead Tetraoxide, outside the palace for the first time in the series, kicking a lot of ass. The villains are no less impressive. Kuroyukihime’s sister does not put in an appearance, of course, but we do get the snow sprite of the title, as well as a Rose Red to go with her, who proves a bit more noble than their counterparts. And there’s also the reveal on who the major power behind all these surprise moves is, why they’ve been coerced into doing it and who their parent is. It’s a great emotional climax.

So, well done, excellent book in the series. Next volume promises to be the equivalent of a Phoenix Wright trial, which could be very awesome.

The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom!

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By Kazuki Karasawa and Masami. Released in Japan as “Maou-gun Shitennou no Saijaku Reijou wa Jiyuu ni Ikitai!” by the author on the Shosetsuka ni Naro website. Released in North America digitally by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Charis Messier.

This book does not want to be messing around with the heroine’s past life – Truck-kun is on Page 1. In fact, because Elle doesn’t remember anything about her past life except the manga she was obsessed with, it’s mostly irrelevant. This leads to what I think is the strongest reason that I enjoyed Weakest Manga Villainess so much: Elle, our heroine, is a selfish, overdramatic tsundere twintail brat before she gains memories of how she’s killed, and afterwards… she’s exactly the same, only her selfishness (which the narrative hints was never as big as all that) is shown to be slightly better. She’s mostly been busy researching her magic (good at huge spells, bad at fine tuning), loving the Demon Lord, and kidnapping people to be her servants. Now, though, she wants to avoid her death, which starts with confronting the Demon Lord himself. And this… opens up a whole new can of worms.

As I said before, Elle is a treat. The author’s afterword tells us to love her because she’s cute, but honestly I love her because she’s fun. Her brief guilt over kidnapping a bunch of foreigners and making them wait on her is assuaged by, seemingly by accident (but actually by instinct) the fact that all of those people had miserable lives when they were taken and consider Elle their savior. As such, any guilt about her past actions leaves town, and the rest of the book is made up of her planning how to escape the Demon Lord, set up her own town with her as the grand sorceress mayor of Elle Village, a fact the reader will soon learn because she repeats it over and over while posing. Unfortunately for her, it turns out that she is far more valuable to the Demon Lord than “killed off first as she was the weakest” would imply, so escaping may be hard.

The supporting cast is also fun. Because this story is done in one volume, the love interests are limited to two: Julius, the guy on the cover, one of her fellow villains who finds himself fascinated by Elle, and Laurent, a young teen she rescued from a barren village who now devotes himself to learning magic so he can help her. I was amused by the running gag (well, not ha ha funny) of Julius always being ready to use lethal force and attack at a moment’s notice simply as he has no experience with trusting anyone. Bakarina fans may find one thing familiar: Elle is still assuming that the pairings will go the way that they did in the manga, so is oblivious to the fact that Julius is over the moon for her.

The stakes end up being relatively low here, mostly due to Elle’s magic abilities and the shoujo manga heroine’s healing powers. Indeed, a few people I was sure would be bumped off end up fulfilling an entirely different manga cliche. I suspect Elle is voiced by Rie Kugimiya. Or possibly, given how much the heroine feels like a younger, red-headed Rin Tohsaka, by Kana Ueda. The series will not win any originality awards, which is not surprising give it’s part of the “villainess tries to change her fate” genre. But it’s fun, reads impressively fast given its length, and has a heroine that I really loved experiencing.