Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 8

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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.

Of all the series I was expecting to parallel the main plot in this one, Though I Am an Inept Villainess is perhaps not the most obvious choice. But it does make sense. Sara has had a life in Japan where she spent most of it ill and not being a real kid, and then she ended up in this world and spent almost all of it also not being a normal kid. Even when she met up with Allen, who is himself nothing like real children in this world, they both act relatively mature, and they’re both surrounded by adults most of the time. And now they’re 17, which is to say they’re adults in this world, but have not quite mastered the emotional heft needed to survive as an adult. As a result, when a traumatic event happens to both of them, they have their first big fight. And everyone around them suffers. Because these are GOOD KIDS.

Now that Nelly and Chris are married, they have the perfect choice for a honeymoon: go explore a dungeon, of course. And they take Allen and Sara along with them. Unfortunately, the deep floor of the dungeon turns out to be filled with gargoyles, which badly injure Chris and Nelly and give Allen near fatal injuries, which Sara has to treat by giving him a potion that either works pretty well or hastens death. Allen survives, but as it turns out he has to “take it easy” for a month or else he’ll never get back his old strength. Unfortunately, medical research is still mostly in its infancy in this world, so no one knows what “take it easy” really entails. Meanwhile, Sara, who has her barriers, was perfectly safe throughout this. Allen is realizing that “strong enough to protect her” is going to need a big re-definition.

I do appreciate that the book does not make this ENTIRELY Allen’s fault. Just mostly his fault. It’s about an 80-20 split. The main issue is that the only ones who still see Allen and Sara as kids are Allen and Sara themselves. Everyone around them assumes they’re going to be married in a few months, but the two of them still can’t quite make that jump, and when Sara goes to the capital alone, without Allen, it’s a game changer for her, and everyone comments on it and realizes exactly what’s happened. It must be depressing when everyone around you knows you better than you know yourself. In any case, Sara is a full-fledged apothecary with little more to be taught, Allen is learning how to fight properly as opposed to the hand-wavey bullshit way Nelly fights, and they are developing careers. Settling down will soon need to be a thing.

Unfortunately, the next book seems to start a new, non-romantic arc. Well, I suppose that’s fine. This is a great series. And it had a good amount of wolves this time, too!

The Hired Heroine Wants the Villainess to Gloat

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By Hanami Nishine and . Released in Japan as “Yatoware Heroine wa Akuyaku Reijou ni Zamaa Saretai” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jordan Taylor.

I was somewhat baffled at this single-volume series after reading it. On researching the title further, I am slightly less baffled. It came out in 2019, which is not in the first wave of Villainess titles, but right after, which is why it tries to play with the form a little. It’s also one of the CIW titles that they licensed directly from the author, and only seems to have appeared on the Narou website. A lot of webnovels are written on the fly. They’re week to week. They’re messy. And when they get picked up by a publisher, they tend to get heavily rewritten. This is still in the “messy” stage. It starts off almost as a broad comedy, and gradually starts to get a bit tragic as we begin to understand our hired heroine, who just wants to live happily with her mom but sometimes life doesn’t let you get what you want. Her messiness makes this interesting.

Nina Scaglione has been reincarnated in this world form Japan, but her memories are vague (she *thinks* she may have lived in the country as the daughter of a rice farmer) and she’s not remotely noble. She lives as a commoner with her mother, who is dying and in pain. Her father is also dead. Then suddenly a talking cat shows up, and tries to make a deal with her. She can’t cure her mom, but she can get medicine that will ease her mom’s pain for as long as she has. In return, she has to play out this other girl’s “otome game villainess” fantasies and be the “heroine”, who is there to be a commoner, seduce the prince, and then get publicly shunned at graduation like all the best villainess books. There are a few problems here. The first is that the prince is uninterested in her, and she in him. The second is that this villainess is really, really dim.

At first I was certain this book was a comedy. This villainess, Clarissa, is a master class at “did not think this through”, and can’t even pour a bucket of water over the heroine without screwing it up. Nina’s attempts at being the heroine are helped along by this world’s “heroine powers”, which means everyone who has not co-signed a contract with God thinks that everything she does is wonderful and perfect, and this can also get very amusing. That said, as the book goes on, Nina’s life starts to get worse and worse. Things are not helped by Nina herself, who is very much in the “I am so plain and no one would be attracted to me” school of light novel protagonists. There are some real tear-jerking scenes later on, even as the book gradually manages to barrel along its narrative. That said, the book does end happily ever after, kinda sorta if everyone works art it. Even for the villainess, who is rather flummoxed by all this.

So yes, I don’t regret reading this, and enjoyed Nina’s struggles. But it’s a mess.

Long Story Short, I’m Living in the Mountains, Vol. 2

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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.

So I am here to tell you that the “slow life” part of this series is back in this volume and bigger than ever. You will see lots and lots of food preparation. You will see shopping. You will see vaccinating your animals and the importance thereof. The big dramatic plot point in the middle of the book is a village-wide effort to pick up the litter on the mountain. It’s Slow Life with a capital Slow. The good news is that the other half of the series is also present and correct, and it’s also bigger than ever. Fortunately, Katsuragi’s past catching up with her seems to be dealt with by the end of this book, though it may not stop all her problems. But Aikawa’s fear of women remains, even if he tries to push past it when it’s an emergency. As for Sano… honestly, he is still dealing with not only depression but some serious anger issues. Fortunately, he has his emotional support chickens.

Sano continues to live on his mountains with his beloved chickens, who honestly seem to be monitoring him as much as he is raising them. They’re also getting bigger. Sometimes he goes to visit the villagers he’s gotten to know. He also goes to visit his platonic friend Aikawa, who have a very strong bromance. But he’s not gay. So he says. He gets the village to organize a litter-picking-up event over the course of three non-consecutive days, because these mountains are a tourist trap in the worst sense. And he attends a festival, which everyone tries to get him to attend with Katsuragi, even though he has no interest in her. Speaking of Katsuragi, there’s a mystery man who’s driving around the area looking for her, and he may be related to her abusive ex.

The best part of this book remains the interpersonal drama, which manages to interest me enough that I can put up with the slow life, which is frankly boring. The anti-romance between Sano and Katsuragi is possibly the funniest part of the series. Everyone is trying to ship them, she seems up for it, even as she’s clearly not emotionally ready. But he’s DEFINITELY not emotionally ready, as it’s been six months and even thinking of his ex-fiancee sends him into such a rage he loses track of time. Frankly, he’s more romantically involved with one of the chickens. (I’m kidding, this is not that kind of book.) I also really liked the end of the book. Katsuragi has been tormented not only by her ex, but by her ex’s friend, who it turns out is also in love with her. In the middle of the book she’s basically hiding in her house. Which the village and Sano are definitely justified in getting rid of this loser, she musters her courage, goes out, and confronts him (it helps to have a massive lizard at her side). Hopefully she can be the first of these mountain owners to heal. (But don’t hook up with Sano.)

So yeah, good trauma recovery series, less good “let’s watch everyone make egg dishes” series. But it’s both of those at once.