Éclair: a Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart

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By Various Artists. Released in Japan as “Éclair – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology” by Kadokawa Shoten. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Eleanor Summers.

The big news about this anthology, I think, is the fact that we’re seeing it at all. These anthologies pop up quite a bit in Japan, usually in the shoujo end of the market, with a collection of themed stories by various artists with a few known names to anchor the collection. That’s just what we have here, with the theme being the love between two girls. And yes, it is mostly girls – there are a few adults in this collection, but unsurprisingly most of the stories go to the4 traditional yuri well of ‘all girls school’. That said, while there are a few stories here that are essentially “Story A”, as Erica Friedman has defined it, there are more surprises than I expected, and quite a few touching and amusing moments. It doesn’t get that feeling of reading the same story 16 times that you sometimes see in these sort of books. And, of course, there is Girls’ Love to the nth degree – I only spotted a man once or twice in the entire book, and they didn’t speak.

It’s hard to review a title like this because the stories are so short you risk giving everything away just discussing them. On the ‘famous author’ end, the cover and first story are by Nio Nakatani, the author of Bloom Into You (unfortunately, I found it a rather weak story to begin with). Sakuya Amano, creator of Gosick and Konohana Kitan, has a story about a sheltered rich girl and her sharp-tongued maid, of which my favorite part was the sharp tongue more than the romance. And Canno of Kiss & White Lily fame has a story about a high school girl with a crush on an older, unemployed woman which is probably better off with the open ending that it was given – the author noted that she wanted to make the older woman more “bad”, but was unable to do it, and you can see the struggle to tame the story in the actual work.

Elsewhere, we get stories that allow us to see that not all relationships end happily ever after, with Shiori Nishio’s story showing us a love realized too late. There’s some twisted love, as a coffeehouse employee is falling for their new hire, but only because she’s a completely useless klutz and therefore adorable. I enjoyed the tales we got that stepped away from the school, like the woman who asks her friend to help her cook something for whichever new boyfriend she’s fallen for, only to find that this pie may be a little different; or the “post-apocalyptic” story that was a bit silly but amusing enough. Possibly the weirdest story in the book comes near the end, where a girl declares that she’s going to be having another girl’s baby. It’s the sort of thing you could only pull off in a short story – the number of pages (10) was just about right.

As you can imagine, the contents are highly variable, as you’d expect with an anthology like this. That said, the anthology is still well-worth picking up overall, especially if you like the authors or the genre. There are a few authors in here I would not mind seeing more of.

The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, Vol. 3

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By SOW and Zaza. Released in Japan by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by Bookwalker. Translated by Ari and John Werry.

As readers of fantasy manga and light novels know, one of the go-to ways to create a new world but also invest it with countries that the audience might care about is to make it like Europe around the time of the first and second world wars. Be it refighting the conflict with mecha or girls in powered suits, extending the way forever thanks to the efforts of a twisted God and twisted little girl, or focusing on post-war issues and fallout, everyone loves to write not-Europe – particularly not-Germany. Combat Baker is no different, which has made this book, one where Germany essentially won the war, a bit discomfiting. But for the most part it’s been subtle, and as long as the author doesn’t try to work in the Jewish people in an incredibly unsubtle way with a stereotypical character, I think we’re — (telephone rings) Hello, yes? What? (hangs up) Oh dear.

Before I get into Shylock (yes, really), let’s take a look at the rest of the book. Jacob is the focus of this volume, as his mother wants to move to a bigger city but he wants to stay behind with Lud and company. Meanwhile, the military is dealing with the equivalent of the SS troops, a separate group attached to the powers in charge which is trying to become more powerful than the government’s own military. In order to achieve this they have sent an immature teenage brat with delusions of regaining her family’s honor, one token “just plain evil” soldier, and a corporal in a mask who looks like he wants to stop these people, but also has something to hide. And of course we still have the occasional harem antics, as Sven frustratedly realizes that she cannot control women from falling in love with Lud, mostly as she hasn’t actually confessed yet. Can this group survive a Bake-Off as well as a kidnapping?

I should note here that I’m not Jewish, so this is just my own personal feelings. I think I see what the author wanted to do with his insertion of Shylock, a businessman who grew up abused by people simply due to his ethnicity and has tried hard to run his business and support his country. We see a bit of the catch-22 involved when he thinks that giving money to the state would get him in trouble, only to be arrested for not giving money. I suspect some of my reservations would be allayed if he weren’t literally named Shylock, and his nickname is “Greedy Shylock” to boot, a businessman who controls most of the weapons manufacturing in not-Germany. When you’re writing a fantasy novel which is dealing with the horrors of war in many ways, you need some subtlety in your writing and background. Shylock was as subtle as a boot to the head.

Apart from that, this is a decent enough Combat Baker. Jacob gains some depth here as a child who’s had to grow up far too fast, and occasionally acts like the child he’s supposed to be for once. And once again it’s hinted that Lud knows exactly who Sven is and is just rewriting his own mind to forget it. There’s also new translators, and the book read a lot smoother this time around. If you’ve been reading Combat Baker, you’ll want this one as well. And yes, there is also delicious bread (though the book does not come with free bread with purchase – Bookwalker might want to look into0 that.)

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 6

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

This volume of Realist Hero sees our heroes go off to meet the dragon people of this world. Most of them are as you’d imagine dragon people to be in an isekai light novel series written for guys – Western dragons types who can fly and breathe fire, carry men on their back, and can also turn into beautiful women. Indeed, the carrying men on their back thing is explicitly stated to be the same as losing your virginity for a dragon – with heavy consequences for the dragon if the guy doesn’t end up partnering with her. That said, none of these dragons are the star. The star is Naden, who is a dragon who doesn’t have wings and can’t breathe fire, and thus is mocked by the other dragons around her. Fortunately the star of this series is Souma, and so you know he’s going to find value in her (she can create electricity!), see what she’s really based on (Eastern dragons – which means yes, she can fly), and end up partnering with her in order to save the dragon nation from a disaster – and also because they’ve fallen for each other.

The plot of this book is very straightforward, to the point where it even seems a little rushed. Naden falls for Souma almost immediately, and there are several scenes to reassure us that he’s not going to be marrying her simply because of her powers or status, but because he likes her as well. I also appreciated the development given to Ruby, one of three “Mean Girls” style dragons who bully Naden for being different. It’s framed more as “each wants what the other can’t have”, and as Ruby points out, at least she’s being a jerk to Naden in person, rather than behind her back. Ruby, during the crisis, also has to be ridden by Hal, which of course means that he has to marry her, which is possibly poor timing given that he and Kaede finally got engaged before this book. Fortunately, everyone’s super fine with polygamy here, so it works out.

There are a few seeds for future books sown here, the biggest of which is the nature of the world that Souma was summoned to as a hero, which may not be as “alternate fantasy world” as first expected. I expect this may have something to do with the demons, which we’ve already heard are not quite as “they’re just evil, OK?’ as previously thought. The other implication of the book’s ending is far less surprising – Liscia is pregnant. This may be why the author had her go with Souma for the final battle even though she didn’t do much – it’s possibly the last time she’ll get to be involved. The next book looks to feature Juna and Roroa, so we may simply get revolving fiancee development for a while. And there is also a nice helping of humor here, ranging from Aisha destroying everything around her because Souma disappeared to Empress Maria’s new career as a pop idol. Souma’s influence is felt far and wide, clearly.

There may not be quite as much kingdom developing as previous volumes, so some fans may be disappointed. But for the most part this is a decent Realist Hero, introducing a new fiancee quickly and economically. She’s cute, too.