The Tanaka Family Reincarnates, Vol. 3

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By Choko and kaworu. Released in Japan as “Tanaka-ke, Tensei Suru” by Dragon Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sasha Schiller.

It has to be said, if you’re going to have a family consisting entirely of airheads, it’s best to have them not only incredibly overpowered but also on the side of the angels. And make no mistake about it, the whole family are wacky. Emma is the poster child and the worst one, but her father is right behind her, followed by her two brothers. Melsa is easily the most sensible in the family, and we see that here in a book where she gets far more focus than the previous two, but at the end of the day she too is basically saving the world so that they can eat rice and miso again. That said, airheaded does not mean dumb, and all of these folks are rather brilliant, which is also why they know it’s a bad idea to get so many honors from royalty. Emma grasping at straws and asking for the rights to the slum district as her reward is a way of showing off the family’s compassion and observation, and the fact that they’re not going to be “normal” nobles.

We pick up from where we left off at the end of the last book, as Emma has accidentally revealed that she can speak the foreign language that no one else seems to be able to. Indeed, this becomes a more important plot point than I thought, as it’s suggested that it’s not just the diplomats being lazy but some inherent world thing that makes the language incredibly difficult to grasp. This also makes Emma phenomenally valuable. And so the rest of the family have to admit that they can also speak it, which causes even more of a fuss. (Fortunately there’s an in-world handwave they can use so they don’t have to pull out the isekai card.) Now, while Emma continues to socialize, be so kind and caring that she has people thinking she’s a literal saint, and getting bullied in a way that she’s gonna love, her mother is off to the Eastern Empire, where she discovers this is not just a simple famine, and that if something is not done fast the entire nation may be wiped out, people and all.

I usually enjoy a story where everyone is misinterpreting what’s going on, and the Tanaka Family makes that its bread and butter. Everyone except her family assumes Emma is this fragile maiden who is at death’s door after her tragic accident, when really most of the time she’s just overworking herself and avoiding reality. When petty nobles Robert and Brian decide they’re going to get revenge on her, I immediately knew exactly what was going to happen, but that does not diminish the humor of it, and it helps that it also ties in with a more serious plot. Most of all, Emma can get it together, usually when she’s not being stared at by hundreds of nobles. Her forced engagement of the tailor and seamstress was a thing of beauty. (I could have done without another “fantasy worlds don’t know about scurvy” plot, though.)

I assume the next volume will send our family off to the Eastern Empire to battle plant monsters, and I beg them to avoid the obvious fanservice. The fetishes of the leads are bad enough. Still, this remains an absolute hoot, and I can’t wait for the next book.

In Another World with Household Spells, Vol. 1

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By Rika and HIROKAZU. Released in Japan as “Isekai ni Kita kedo, Seikatsu Mahou shika Tsukaemasen” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by sachi salehi.

This is the definition of “Fine, I guess”. It doesn’t really do anything wrong, apart from one thing I’ll mention later. The heroine is a classic “I just want a quiet life where I can earn money to help my family” type who does not realize that every single thing that she does draws a tremendous amount of attention to herself. She’s seriously OP, but not in a flashy way. She doesn’t invent mayonnaise, but she does pretend that Mozart and Bach compositions are her own. There’s a royal family, but they’re pretty nice, and the prince her age clearly has a crush on her that is coming out as “you’d better watch your step!”. But there is nothing here to make someone who has read large amounts of “woman is reincarnated as a noble girl and attends a magic academy” books want to add another one to the pile. It feels like the bulk of the book was written to keep up with the trends.

One day Kaoru Aoyama is working her office job and living in her apartment, the next she wakes up as Patience Granger, a ten-year-old noble girl. She wasn’t even hit by a truck! Patience is, unfortunately, recovering from near death. In fact, it appears the real Patience DID die, and now Kaoru is in her body, with a sort of soul of the real Patience insider her yelling when she does things that are not appropriate for nobility. Unfortunately, their family is flat broke, as her father was fired from his royal position for reasons that we never actually find out in this volume. Fortunately, after recovering, she’s taken to the church and told she has “household spells” for magic, one of the most common types. That’s fine with her, though, and like so many other protagonists in these books, she experiments without knowing what not to do and winds up really overpowered.

First off, I understand that it’s in the original, and that there’s not really a Western alternative, but man, when the heroine talks about being a shotacon all the time, I don’t care if she insists “but not in a pervy way!”, it reads wrong and makes you like her less. There has be be a way around the word. Patience’s main trait, besides being oblivious to her own misguided attempts to not stand out, is her adoration of her two cute younger brothers, as well as the kids her own age, who her 25-year-old self sees as cute little ‘uns. If you can get past that steep hurdle… I did like her relationship with the first ;princess, who she is clearly rehabilitating. It’s implied that her late mother and the Queen had some history, and everyone and their brother talks about how their family is supposed to be filled with genius scholars, so there’s clearly a lot of backstory still to dole out. As for romance… she’s ten. Let’s table that for a while.

I’ll read the next volume of this – I do want to see what’s up with her otherwise nebbish dad. But for those who have to much to read already, there’s no reason to add this as well.

Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta, Vol. 4

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By Toshizou and Kuro Shina. Released in Japan as “Yuri no Ma ni Hasamareta Watashi ga, Ikioi de Futamata Shite Shimatta” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tristan K. Hill.

Two years is too long between volumes, and the author apologized but it was still a wrench to remind myself exactly what was going on. Fortunately, the author’s self-awareness bleeds into the work – indeed, this is a book that you have to read with your tongue in your cheek. I think I’ve already talked about how insufferable this series would be if Yotsuba were a guy, but apparently some people are finding Yotsuba insufferable anyway. And sure, I get it. This is a giant failwhale of a teenager, who cannot go for half a page without talking about herself like she’s a food wrapper on the side of the road, and yet for some reason she has two woman in love with her and agreeing to both date her at the same time, a childhood friend who’s a famous idol who confesses to her, and she cannot walk ten feet without another girl going “well, maybe”. She’s a chad.

Oh no, Yotsuba’s in a big pinch! She’s already secretly dating the two hottest girls in the school, but now her childhood friend and celebrity idol has transferred into her class! And she and her two girlfriends are getting all passive aggressive! Worst of all, it’s time for the culture festival, and the class comes up with an idea for a concert! Makina is fine with this… provided she’s not the focus, so Rinka and Yuna get roped into being an idol trio! But wait, even worse, Mai is so stressed out by Makina upsetting the balance of power among the hotties that she’s skipping school, and Yotsuba has to dress in a maid outfit and bathe/massage her to help! And… really, Yotsuba should actually resolve this love square thing and go back to her love triangle! Yotsuba’s in a pinch!

There are some things here that aren’t ridiculous. We get Mai’s backstory at last, and it turns out to be Maria-sama Ga Miteru gone wrong, as she was Yotsuba at her old girls’ private school, but fumbled it and left everyone full of anger and resentment. As such, seeing Yotsuba somehow manage to always manage to do the right thing while at the same time being a giant goofball irks her greatly. Yuna and Rinka’s “dates” with Yotsuba are sweet, and as for Makina… well, Yotsuba still has to do something about her, and having her meet the parents is not helping. Best of all is the finale, where Yotsuba works out why she’s been so worried and stressed since this book began and manages to work up her gumption and do something about it, which also inspires the rest of the class. Once a volume there’s an amazing point where you understand exactly why everyone falls for Yotsuba, and this is the one this time.

That said, this is half a book, even though it’s 250 pages. The author assures us there will be a Book 5 with the actual festival, and the good news is that it is already out in Japan, so hopefully it won’t be two more years. This grows on me more with each book.