Long Story Short, I’m Living in the Mountains, Vol. 4

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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.

The author reminds us once again in the afterword that this is not a romance nor is it going to turn into one. And no, the chickens are not going to become cute girls either. I get it, as I imagine that the audience for this series is looking at the cute girl in the cast, joined in this volume by her younger, also cute sister, and shipping is just happening naturally. That said, if the author really didn’t want any romance I think they could shut things down a bit more. Sure, here Sano states outright that he’s not interested in Rie (good, as she’s underage), but much of the relationship between him and the Katsuragis consists of him basically being a perfect catch except for his horrible depression and self-loathing, and the two of them noticing it. And that’s not even considering the ho yay he’s ignoring between him and Aizawa. Or hell, the fact that he has a chicken wife and a jealous chicken mistress. Romance kind of worms its way in anyway.

As noted above, we get another cast member in this volume. Katsuragi’s younger sister Rie is dealing with a stalker who went from “let’s date” to “what are you doing right now?” to “I need to know where you are 24-7 or I will kill us both” very quickly, so her parents agreed that having her stay with her sister is for the best. Rie is a gyaru in Sano’s eyes, but I think “normal 17-year-old who possibly bleaches her hair a little” is more accurate. Elsewhere in the book, there’s a lot of killing of boars; Sano goes to the very top of his mountain and finds a dilapidated shrine, which he tries to fix up a bit; he learns how to get lotus roots straight from the source, though he doesn’t enjoy it; and he begins to prepare for the winter, which given his remote mountain will mean going to ground, possibly for a month or two.

There’s a very interesting bit about 2/3 of the way through the book where Sano realizes that he hasn’t really prepared for winter fast enough or done enough, and thinks ruefully that he’s always slow to pick up on things like this and maybe that’s why his old fiancee left him. About five pages later, he’s hearing how Rie is finding Katsuragi’s place too cold and worries over it, workshopping solutions and eventually coming over and helping the two of them to insulate it. Sano’s depression is all internal – he still hates it when people tell him not to pay them back – and anytime he has to deal with something that affects only himself (see: his chapped hands), he puts it off or ignores it, but when it’s about anyone else, he basically becomes the perfect boyfriend. Something Katsuragi is deliberately ignoring, and which Rie does not ignore but she’s still 17, so…

The book implies that Sano is going to be alone for several months – given this cast is doing its level best to make sure this fragile guy is part of a community, I highly doubt that. Next time: more now, more chickens, and probably less not-romance.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 9

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By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

Even if I hadn’t already seen the news that the next volume is the final one, the fact that the book starts with Sara and Allen finally being a couple and dating would probably have made me think it anyway. The author does not seem to be the sort who enjoys focusing on romance, as we saw with Nelly and Chris and as we see here. Allen and Sara’s first date is exactly the same as their normal work, going dungeon crawling. Allen needs a checklist on how to do a normal date like a normal person. It’s very funny, but it also underlines once again that our core cast are not normal people, and Sara may be the worst of them due to where she landed when isekai’d. The best joke in the book has her being asked to take a class on common sense, because she doesn’t have enough of it – and she has to ruefully agree.

Sara is eighteen now, has settled into her job, and is now dating Allen, though that mostly seems to involve them acting exactly as they always have. They’re not staying long in their current digs, though, as they get a request to take Ann, the Invited we met a few volumes back, to the Capital so that she can become a knight, which is the career that she’s decided on. This will likely take a while, meaning Sara and Nelly have a tearful goodbye for now. On the journey there, they’re interrupted by some cotton sheep, which like all cute-sounding animals in this world are actually vicious monsters. Fortunately, the sheep end up going north of our heroes’ destination. Once at the capital, Sara reunites with old friends and former enemies who she can now grudgingly get along with, and that’s probably for the best, as it turns out the cotton sheep have turned again and are heading straight for the city.

There’s one point in the story where everyone finds out they now have “nicknames” that almost read as titles, and I was rather startled at “Allen the Hero”, till I remembered the whole giant turtle thing and went “oh yeah, guess he is”. In fact, every single one of the Invited, as expected, are fast becoming legendary, as are the folks who hang around them. Kuntz is tricked by his brother into helping to train his fellow rookie hunters, and the training, which ropes in the rest of the group, ends up showing everyone in the city why the Invited are so different – their imaginations and otherworld experience means they can simply think of magic and powers differently. This is why in the past they’d been essentially forced to do whatever the kingdom wanted, and the big thematic climax of this book is not the final fight against the sheep, it’s the fact that Liam a) offers a plan that does not require them, and then b) politely asks if they have any other ideas. He too has come a long way.

Will this series end with babies ever after? Almost certainly not. Will it end with wolves? Almost certainly. Good heartwarming isekai.

I Like Villains, So I Reincarnated As One, Vol. 1

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By Kei Takano and kodamazon. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Suki no Ore, Oshi Character ni Tensei: Game Joban ni Shujinkou ni Korosareru Oshi ni Tenseishita node, Ore dake Shitteru Game Chishiki de Hametsu Flag wo Tsubushitara Akuyaku-tachi no Teiou ni Natteta Ken” by Dengeki no Shin Bungei. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Elliot Ryouga. Adapted by Gray Morrow.

It can be very hard to get past a lousy beginning. When this book began with our title character screaming “hell yeah, I’ve been reincarnated!” and then immediately shouting “Open Status” and getting a list of annoying stats, it dug itself a deep, deep hole. It didn’t help that the other main character is a young maid whose backstory we never learn but who is devoted to Weiss (the character our unnamed Japanese guy has become) to the death, and it was hard not to groan. Oh, there’s also an angry tsundere and a stoic nun who shows her cute side when around animals. This author writes tropes to order, and a quick glance at their other series suggests that, indeed, Seven Seas may have picked the best one. Alas.

Our unnamed hero, whose past consists of “I had a younger sister who was better than me at things”, is reincarnated into the body of Weiss, his favorite villain from a game he liked. Weiss also has an overachieving sister, who was made the heir rather than him, and he turned dissolute and evil as a result. Our guy loves that kind of tragic backstory, and this game is filled with them. Can he turn things around and save himself from an early grave, with the help of Rosalia, his overpowered maid who will do anything for him? (No, not that, the book is very PG-rated.) What’s more, can he save the other villains with really good tragic backstories, the “Evil Bloody Mistress” and the “Cruel False Saint”? And will they all fall in love with him?

By the end of the first book this rose to the level of adequate, though not enough for me to want to read more. Weiss (I have to use the name of the character) is the sort of person who loves a good Draco in Leather Pants – and he specifies they have to have a good tragic backstory and actual reasons for their behavior, when he meets a normal evil slave-owning trading bastard later he has no sympathy. Much as I dislike Rosalia’s over the top loyalty for no stated reason, she and Weiss do make a good team, and while she’d clearly do anything he asked, it’s also clear she seems to have some self-hatred issues that prevent any romance from getting further. Unfortunately, there’s one big reason this continues to not be very good – Weiss has no struggles whatsoever in getting overpowered fast. No, I do not count “passes out after using super cool magic” as a struggle, especially as he usually is caught by his maid. His game knowledge also makes helping defeat the narrative easy as pie. There’s one battle where he visibly struggles, against a literal god.

There are better OP harem romances out there, and indeed better “wow, I’m a villain” books as well.