Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 2

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By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

Having started to successfully negotiate life the way that he does games, Tomozaki now runs up against more treacherous waters. Inviting a group out for a lunch accidentally turns into a shopping trip (MUCH harder for someone like him), and he has to ask his library friend out to see a movie, something that would be adorably cute but unfortunately gets derailed by the main plot. The main plot being Mimimi, the overenthusiastic and hyper classmate of his, running for Student Council President… against Hinami. As we discover that Mimimi has a long history of coming in second to Hinami, and see just how far above everyone else Hinami really is, Tomozaki decides that he wants to help Mimimi take her down by winning the election. But is he really good enough to do that now? And isn’t this just ignoring the larger issues that Mimimi has? More to the point, is being the best at everything really something you can criticize? All this, and it’s only the second volume.

We’d seen a hint of Mimimi’s hidden depths in the first volume, but the second one goes into far more detail. (My suspicion is that each girl on the cover art will be the focus of the book in question, so expect library girl to take center stage next time.) It can be hard to constantly find yourself hitting an insurmountable wall, and even harder when it’s a person. There’s a core of self-loathing to Mimimi’s behavior here, as she can’t see a way past what she’s doing without feeling angry with herself. The “what’s the second highest mountain in Japan?” question was a good way to demonstrate it to Tomozaki – with everyone watching Hinami at number one, who’s going to look at the next best? But, as we hear towards the end, Hinami has felt that anger and frustration as well – in fact, it’s what led to this entire situation. As Tomozaki says towards the end of the book, nobody did anything wrong here.

There’s also a lot of good stuff here about student council elections in Japanese schools, and how you have to balance what kids want vs. what teachers will let you talk about. The reader is absolutely meant to root for Mimimi and Tomozaki here. That said, the reader also suspects the result will be as inevitable as Hinami says it is. (I’m still not sure how the author wants us to feel about Hinami – getting a very “Medaka Kurokami” vibe about her.) And then there’s Tomozaki, who does make some good steps forward here (I really liked his buying the hair wax), but needs to stop framing everything as “this is what normies do” and putting himself outside that box. Also struck by a naïveté I was not expecting from him – even I knew what Mimimi did to Tama, but he’s baffled by it the entire book.

So, to sum up: I enjoyed the plot, I liked the characters, the writing felt smooth and readable (very good translation here), and it doesn’t feel quite as much like a self-help guide compared to the first. Overall, it was excellent. Cannot wait for the next book.

Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension: The Alluring Cave Baths

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By Nagaharu Hibihana and Masakage Hagiya. Released in Japan as “Isekai Konyoku Monogatari” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sophie Guo.

I had to go back and reread my reviews of this series when the new volume came out, just to remind myself what had been happening. It’s been two years since the last book, mostly as the publisher caught up with the author’s webnovel, so had to wait for him to write more. I always recall that I enjoyed this nice, relaxing series, so I was surprised when I reread the reviews and found myself pointing out so many faults. But yeah, after reading Book 6, the faults are still there. The pacing of this series is so slow as to be soporific, there’s descriptions of breasts galore, everyone is so nice that they lack real character, etc. Despite all that, and the fact that I’ve forgotten who 3/4 of the cast are (the character page at the start only shows 6 out of about 24,975 named characters in this book) I still enjoy this nice, relaxing series. It’s easy to pick on, but hard to really hate. It also makes you want to have a good soak.

Touya and his party have arrived at the country of Ares, which is entirely in underground caves, trying to find somewhere they can safely put the cyclops people that are now displaced. After getting a blessing from the Goddess of Earth’s temple, Touya now has blessings from 6 goddesses, and his bath power means the area has now become a full-fledged hot springs inn, with multiple baths and three floors. Unfortunately, while touring the country, Touya accidentally awakens the Demon Lord, the very thing he was called to this world to prevent! Fortunately, as previous books have shown, the past was significantly rewritten by the winners, and additionally the Demon Lord is not really interested in destruction so much as bonding with his granddaughter. Unfortunately, other parties may have a different opinion.

As I said, it’s been two years since I read book 5 in the series/ In earlier reviews, I complained that Touya, in addition to his bath powers, also learned various magic and things, and complained he would be too powerful. Honestly, compared to other light novel protagonists these days, that fear is someone quaint. Tou8ya is not a fighter, he’s a facilitator, something made explicit when there’s a fighting tournament midway through the book, and not only does Touya not participate, he doesn’t even attend. He has more important things to do. Like trying to help Rakti regain her followers, wwhich may also mean telling everyone about the original Goddess of Chaos, the true creator of this world. And explaining to the royal family that, in fact, their history is biased and also their prophecy was misconstrued by everyone. That will probably go less well, and indeed leads into the cliffhanger for Book 7.

When that book arrives is beyond me – the author still hasn’t finished it online, so expect another break. Till then, if you enjoyed a nice, relaxed, possibly too relaxed isekai harem series where there’s little to no conflict between the heroines (because they’re all boring… sorry, that was mean), you should find this a nice little read.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Vol. 1

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By Riku Misora and On. Released in Japan as “Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Sol Press. Translated by Benjamin Daughety.

I have to admit, halfway through the first volume of this series I was ready to trash it to hell and back. It reveled in its cliches, at times even lampshading them so that they could get even worse (I’m thinking of the “yes, we’re blood related, but I still want to do my brother” plotline here in particular). And yes, I will admit it, as someone who has read Asterisk War first, a lot of this felt like something done better somewhere else. (For the curious, Asterisk War predates this series by 10 months.) But then things started to improve, not to the point where I ended up loving it, but enough so that I was able to get to the end and thing “Huh. That got better.” In fact, it almost reads like they fired the original writer halfway through and replaced them. So while it’s not my bag, I will admit that after a shaky start this is a decent light novel for those who enjoy magic academies, harems, and red-headed tsundere princesses – though the tsun vanishes fast here.

Ikki Kurogane is one of THOSE protagonists. You know, he’s strong, brilliant with a sword, his mind is sharp and analytical, he’s handsome (in fact, his face is boyishly cute), and he’s a relatively nice, if reserved, young man. But he has no magic. As such, he’s been abused by his family most of his life, is “Rank F” at the magical academy he attends, a rank which they literally admit later in the book is there just to have students that can be abused, a la Assassination Classroom, and due to his family leaning on the faculty he failed and is a first year student for the second time. But there’s a new school director who will allow him to actually fight and defend himself, and also a new student, Stella Vermillion, who is his polar opposite in most ways – a beloved foreign princess with Rank A fire powers and, ça va sans dire, large breasts. That said, they do share the trait of working hard – in fact, Stella despises people who call her “talented” as if she hadn’t trained for years to get to this point. Now that they’re roommates, can they avoid falling in love? And can Ikki win a fight at last?

I’ve already mentioned most of the things I didn’t like about the first half, but mostly it just felt like it was actively courting the typical LN fan without really trying. Things pick up with the arrival of Alice, who is the roommate of Ikki’s sister. (I’ll just skip his sister if you don’t mind.) Alice is a woman who was assigned male at birth, and this fact naturally freaks Ikki out a bit, as he’s a light novel protagonist, and therefore there’s a bit of “but I’m not gay!” here. But he rapidly adjusts, as does the audience, and the novel uses Alice’s preferred pronouns throughout. I was impressed. It helps that Alice is a “voice of reason” character among eccentrics. The final battle was also good, delving into Ikki’s repressed emotions and showing that, now that he’s allowed to fight, he has to open up or he’ll be crushed. Fortunately, he has Stella. The relationship arguably starts a bit fast, but honestly given most light novel hero and heroines that’s actually refreshing.

Gonna be honest, I read too many LNs these days, so the improvement is not enough to get me to continue this series. But it certainly seems like fans of the franchise should definitely enjoy it, and the presentation is fine. Tempting as it is to end this by saying “for fans of Asterisk War”, I know that would be mean. :) For fans of brooding boys and fiery girls.