How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 19

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan as “Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

There are certain long-running light novel series that I review that I consider “grandfathered in”. What that means is I’ve been reading them for years, and I know that they’re not really all that good any more, but I set a lower bar just because… well, I’ve been reading them for years. Now, obviously, sometimes a series doesn’t even clear that low bar, and I drop it some 15-20 volumes in. In Another World with My Smartphone was blessed with an obvious “please stop reading here” volume, whereas The Irregular at Magic High School decided to shove its homophobic right-wing protagonist in my face one too many times. Realist Hero has not hit that low bar. It’s still readable, I feel no desire to stop one volume before the end. That said,. there is a moment here where our heroes are fighting the villain, and get mad at him for still being single and not having married like everyone else in this series, where I wondered if this was written by the ghost of Shinzo Abe.

We left off with Souma having revealed that there’s a whole new world of adventure to be had in the North, thus impacting the morale of all of Fuuga’s troops, as well as Fuuga himself. Unfortunately, that’s not quite enough to stop the battle that’s going to be happening today, and now Fuuga knows he has to deal with everything right now or he’ll lose. What follows is a lot of battle, and Fuuga loses. (I don’t regard this as a spoiler because you have read the previous 18 volumes. Did you think Souma would be killed?) Souma manages to swing the battle in such a way that Fuuga is able to retreat with honor (persuaded to do so by, you guessed it, a pregnant wife), but his dreams are dashed. Unfortunately, he is smarter than some of his generals, who have a “war or nothing” mentality. The fragile peace can’t last forever…

This series, for the most part, does not kill people off, something I joked about last time, when it killed off the two oldest men in the cast who had already lived full lives and didn’t have young wives and children. This penultimate volume can’t QUITE do that, but it does manage to avoid killing off any of the named supporting cast on Souma’s side. The same cannot be said of the enemy, and I spent most of the book wondering if the author actually had the moxie to legitimately kill Fuuga off. (The answer is that they leave it vague, but I’m pretty sure the 20th volume will answer “no, he did not”). That said, Yuriga’s family definitely suffers some deaths, as they’re divided between two warring states, and some of them are simply battle hungry. Of all the “it’s better to have a family” hammers that get dropped on our head by the book, the best is Aisha’s fight with Nata, where she declares him boring because his battle style has nothing he cares about behind it but his own bloodlust. She kills him as an afterthought. That was some actual good writing.

Most of this, though, is Realist Hero writing. It’s ending in the next volume, which the author already says will be “epilogues” about all the characters. It’s long overdue, but I’ll read it when we get it. (And hopefully it won’t come back with After stories. Looking at you, Arifureta.)

Otherside Picnic, Vol. 9

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By Iori Miyazawa and shirakaba. Released in Japan as “Urasekai Picnic” by Hayakawa Bunko JA. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

It’s been about nineteen months since THAT volume of Otherside Picnic came out over here, and let’s be honest, the wait was excruciating. We all wanted to know what would happen next? What we got, as usual with the series, was three interconnected chapters tat also function as short stories. The “horror” part comes at the start and near the end, and it does a pretty good job, even though I’m never going to be one of those folks reading this series for the horror. The actual plot comes in the second half, where we bring Runa back into the series as more than just a cameo, and reintroduce the eccentric Tsuji, who I am suspecting might be the next major antagonist but I could be wrong. The rest of the volume is very strong. But yeah, I’m going to be talking about the middle chapter, which left me grinning like an idiot and jumping up and down in happiness.

But first, a recap. In the first chapter of this volume, Toriko and Sorawo go to the Otherside (its only appearance in this volume) to check on Todate and Hana, as after Sorawo’s Toriko-infested Otherside experience from the last book she’s worried about them. She’s right to be worried – this is the really scary part of the book, though not without its heartwarming, in a weird way. I the second story, Sorawo and Toriko head over to Kozakura’s mansion to inform her that they’re now a couple, and Sorawo struggles with the fact that everyone wants her relationship to be more romantic than she’s comfortable with. In the final, longest chapter, Migawa asks Sorawo and Toriko to help instruct soldiers from their facility on how to deal with Otherside terror, and they bring along Runa (who they are trying to figure out what to do with) and Tsuji (who is now Runa’s minder). Runa has a knack for interior decorating that is kind of cute, and then less cute.

So, let’s talk about that second story. First of all, everyone who enjoyed watching Sorawo struggle with what her relationship with Toriko is will be happy to note that even after they defined it together, Sorawo still hates talking about it with anyone else, as she always senses them making it more normal and ordinary. This fits in really well with Sorawo’s mindset. (The funniest parts of the book are where folks have to explain to Sorawo when she’s seducing people, and Sorawo’s “wut?” reaction to this.) The best part of the book for me, though, was Kozakura. They arrive at her mansion and find it brightly lit, and this worries them. But what it actually means is that she’s moved on and is now in control of her life again. She’s adopted Kasumi which is why the house is bright), and she’s using her degree to make the Otherside safer to think about and study. I wanted to shout “woo hoo!” when I saw this. I’m so happy for her.

Now, is Runa going to be able to have the same journey? Can Sorawo come to terms with the fact that everyone is going to interpret her relationship with Toriko differently? And can Toriko stop all these thirsty women macking on her nue so that she can get in some quality cuddling time? That will have to wait for Book 10, in all likelihood. I loved this book, though.

The Countess Is a Coward No More! This Reincarnated Witch Just Wants a Break, Vol. 2

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By Ageha Sakura and TCB. Released in Japan as “Tensei Saki ga Kiyowa Sugiru Hakushaku Fujin datta” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Bérénice Vourdon.

This is not an isekai title, and it’s not QUITE a reincarnation title, even though it features that, mostly as they’re not reincarnated from Japan. Everyone in this fantasy world seems to have been born in it at some point. But it is one of those titles, like Reborn to Master the Blade or A Tale of the Secret Saint, where our protagonist was an incredibly powerful and influential person in the past, and now that they’ve reincarnated into the future, they find that their past is not so easy to get rid of. This is more literally true for Lam than others in this genre, as not only was she forcibly reincarnated via a spell, but all of her disciples are there as well. And unfortunately, this gets to one of the parts of the title that I wish weren’t the case… all of her disciples are, to one degree or another, yanderes. Fortunately, she has minimal interest in anyone but Char… who gets SLIGHTLY more than minimal.

Things start off fairly normally, as Lam decides she wants to attend a tea party for nobility, which goes about as well as you’d expect, given that she’s still assumed to be an introverted coward by those who haven’t met her new self. After that, though, we get the real plot, as Lam is asked to go to the country of Levres, whose prince wants to meet her. Naturally, Char comes along, and they take Canon as well. It turns out that the prince is the reincarnation of her second disciple, Glacial, who was reincarnated properly with his memories from the start, unlike Lam’s broken reincarnation. Now Prince Fleche, he wants Lam to marry him and live with him forever – much to Char’s displeasure. Unfortunately, the hatred of mages has also followed them to this kingdom, helped along by the Church.

This series has a very big problem for me, which is not a deal breaker so far but the ice is getting thinner. The problem is that while I like the basic situation, I usually want to sympathize with… anyone. Lam is fairly emotionally stunted, quick to deal with “insects” when she’s annoyed, and, while she’s not aromantic per se, she might as well be given her inability to get anyone’s point. The men in her life are all various shades of obsessed with/in love with her, and Char is possibly the only one who actually cares about what SHE thinks about this… and the implication is that if he finds out she was actually Aurora, he won’t care about her own feelings either. The bad guys are also mostly immature brats with far too much power and a tendency to not care about anyone or anything. And given they all have magic, even the people trying to prejudice the world against magic, that’s not a good thing. You want to smack them.

This ends with a cliffhanger, so we’ll see how all these men decide to resolve who gets to marry and have sex with a woman who really doesn’t want to be married to anyone but Char, and who still tends to blush and have a look of horror if sex is mentioned. I’ll keep going, but buyer beware.