Archive for the Light Novel Category


Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Volume 4 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

March 15th, 2021

Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 4 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) is a wild ride of a novel that has more twists and turns than the newest roller coaster at your local amusement park. It was awesome.

At the end of Volume 3, we left Rae and Claire in the Nur Kindgom, having made a heck of an impression on the despotic rule of Nur, Queen Dorothea, in a battle against the Demon Rulers. They also made an impression on the Demons.  Both of these are understood to be ambiguous in nature and will surely come to a head. But first, we have some much more important stuff to deal with….

…including an Iron Chef-like cooking contest between the greatest chefs of Nur, and Rae and Claire’s 6-year old daughter Aleah. And a formal ball. Also a act of incredible magical skill handled by their other 6-year old daughter, Mei. Rae and Claire help foment rebellion, change the diet of the entire army, solve a murder mystery and three other mysteries, only one of which was in the least predictable. Then a kidnapping. And then, about 2/3 of the way through this book, the story slams down on us with a vengeance.

Inori carefully weaves their way through the various plotlines and pulls out exactly the right ending for the book. It could not have been handled better without making concessions to what we knew of everyone.

This felt like a long book, and we had a number of new characters, several of which are undoubtedly going to be key in Volume 5. It was no surprise that I like Hilde, the hyper-competent bureaucrat with a monocle, but almost despite myself, I also like Frida, the Princess’s “Merikan” friend.  This story still remains wholly queer and deeply rooted in social and political activism. This volume takes some time to get there, but when it does, it does.

Every single one of my questions from Volume 3 were answered, save one, and that clearly is going to be a plot in Volume 5. There are a lot of loose ends yet to be tied up. I’m constantly fighting with myself whether to read the chapters on inori’s Pixiv Fanbox or not but I have chosen to not do so, and hope you will respect that by not spoiling anything for me, as I have tried to not overly spoil this for others. Thank you. ^_^ I still have hope that two of the things left undone will be done by the end of the series and one other new thing also gets followed through with, but I admit that this last is simply because I really like Dorothea and want to see more of her.

The art was the best so far of the series. I’ll never adore moe-fication of characters like Dorothea, but I felt that everything in this book was way more finished and solid than in previous books and a few of these were extra lovely. (I did mention the formal ball, yes?) ^_^

Volume 3 is slated for a July release in English, which feels so far away, and Volume 5 is not yet listed in Japan, but I remind you that Volume 3 and Volume 4 are available in Japanese on US Kindle. They are so worth it.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Yes. Still perfectly okay.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

Oh, the boot I kept waiting to drop in V3? It dropped in V4. And it wasn’t a main plot point, just one more crazy arc that lead somewhere else entirely and was even worse and better than I imagined.

If you’d like spoilers or have read it and want to shout with me about it, please join me on the Okazu Discord. ^_^





The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Volume 1

March 1st, 2021

Menou is an Executioner. Her job is to find and kill the people who come to her world from somewhere else, the Lost Ones. They have to die, not because they are bad people, but because their abilities cause untold disaster. After surviving one such disaster, without memories, her home literally erased from the world, Menou trained with a legendary Executioner. Now she is striving to become the best, to protect her world…to kill the most people. So when Menou takes on the task to kill Akari, a Lost One with the ability to manipulate time, Menou knows she’ll do whatever she has to to accomplish her task.

The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Vol. 1: Thus She is Reborn by Mato Sato, has some very good qualities and some not-so-good qualities. But as the days pass and I found myself thinking about what to say in this review, more that comes to mind is good. That said, this book gets off to a rough start. Being a light novel, the writing often focuses on the wrong things for too long, leaving out key elements that weren’t breasts or stupid clothing. Translator Jenny McKeon does decent work with writing that clearly needed an editor on the Japanese side. This novel will be available in print and digital on March 9 from Yen Press and generally speaking, I think it was more good than bad.

On the good side – and deeply unusual for a light novel – this is some of the most detailed world-building I’ve seen in an not-quite-Medieval Europe-esque fantasy light novel series, which makes it much more original than most. The magic theory in this book is also really solid. I quite like the Pure Concepts and the spellcasting here. Like the magic/science of the Locked Tomb series, the magical theory bore up under scrutiny.Characters here are interesting enough, especially when their backstories are filled in and possible future plot complications are implied. Honestly, had both the art by nilitsu and the story not highlighted breasts as often, I might have actually enjoyed the characters, but the infantile male gaze of the writer and artist was really hard to get past. (Please do not waste your time trying to shame me about this opinion. Both the fetish and people who scream at me about it fail to be entertaining.)

The big reveal on the bad guy was super obvious. Maybe it is supposed to be to us, I certainly hope so. But that heavy-handed foreshadowing, combined with the endless prattle about breast size and clothing that shows hard nipples because apparently if you cannot actually see that they have nipples, they aren’t there, makes me think the intended audience here are no older than 12 or so, something I find difficult to believe was worth an award, even at GA Bunko.  Nonetheless, even centering an extremely infantile male gaze in a story about mostly female characters, this wasn’t a bad book. The one insurmountably negative thing was that the world had no joy at all in it. I’m getting tired of grimdark and this is absolutely a grimdark for the sake of itself book, as the creator writes in the authors note. No one, even people living lives of desperation have no joy or art. The poorest people still sing songs, people living in despair still create art. It’s hard to believe any world in which there is not the slightest hint of happiness, even if you bake that into the story. I just don’t buy it.

The Yuri is…a supporting character, I guess I’d call it. The Yuri is not irrelevant to the story, but this isn’t a romance, and it is pretty obvious where the various affections might end up leading the characters in the next volume. If the author has the chops to carry it off, it could be really good. I can think of a handful of places the current set-up can go, and I’m not even accounting for future characters being introduced.  Its really going to come down to the writing which, on occasion, shows promise.

Ratings:

Art – Blleeeeeccccchhhhhhh
Story – On the magic alone I’d give it a 9, but let’s temper it to an 8 for the grim
Characters – This one is hard. They start about 4, but by the end I’d go for an 8
Service – See art. Yes, I get it, it’s all very exciting that women have tits. /eyeroll/
Yuri – Yes and then Yes! and yes again, and we’ll see.

Overall – 8

If you enjoyed ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight With My Love and My Cursed Sword, I definitely think you will also enjoy Executioner, at the very least. If you thought ROLL OVER AND DIE was too gross for you, and/or had not nearly enough worldbuilding, then you might want to give this series a try; it’s less gross and better built.

And, for those of you already into the series, an anime is on the way. A trailer is up, which mostly features face close-ups of the novel art for Shokei Shoujo no Ikiru Michi (Virgin Road) 「処刑少女の生きる道（バージンロード）」

Many thanks to Yen for the review copy. It was an interesting read.





ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight With My Love and My Cursed Sword, Volume 2

February 1st, 2021

When I was in high school, I had a teacher who would walk up and down the rows of desks in the classroom while we were in his class. If he thought we were not paying sufficient attention, he would slam a pointer down on our desks to startle us. Reading ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight With My Love and My Cursed Sword, Volume 2 was exactly like his trigonometry class – overstimulating and understimulating at the same time.

We left Hero Flum Apricot and her companion Milkit at the end of Volume 1 safe in the Western District with a former colleague in her hero party, Eterna, the mage. Eterna had left and, we know that so have several other party members, leaving the so-called “genius” leader Jean close to being on his own. As a hero, Flum is constantly fighting off the utterly tiresome Dein, a boring, gloaty and exhausting guy who spends literally every moment of his life trying to make Flum miserable. This will not end well for him. But we’re going to have to listen to a lot of “gyahahah” style gloating, and “hernh-hernh” type threats of sexual violence first. /deep sigh/

In the meantime, Flum will be fighting off accursed eyeballs and other grotesqueries, and we will learn more about what a total scam the Church is and how humans are evil. On the positive side, all of this will be done at such breakneck speed that we don’t really linger too long in threatening situations. On the negative side, some of the dialogue here is reminiscent of Tantric Stripfighter Trina. Characters that say “I should tell you now that I’m far superior to a normal human.” unironically not as a joke is, in my opinion, not-great writing.

Once again on the positive side, this book definitely saves innocent lives, as opposed to sacrificing them, and violence against girls is usually in the past while the present is filled with affirming their right to thrive. Flum is definitely the center of all the decent and good people of the story, who are slowly, surely drawing in around her to what will undoubtedly be a final climax that is full of scuzzy boring gloaty bad guys, organs and blood. as we remake society.

There are at least two other books in this series. I honestly do not know if I can bring myself to read them. We’ll see. But if you are enjoying this series, rock on. You have at least two more books to go and a manga adaptation is on the way.

I idly wondered what the original name of this series was, as I expected “ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight With My Love and My Cursed Sword” was not it. It was, as I suspected, not it.  “Omaegoto toki ga Maoh ni Kateru to Omouna” to Yuusha Party wo Tsuihousareta no de, Outo de Kimama ni Kurashitai,「お前ごときが魔王に勝てると思うな」と勇者パーティを追放されたので、王都で気ままに暮らしたい, which I’m not saying is untranslatable or anything but does make it tough for a title: (Since I was told, )”I don’t think you you can beat the Demon Chief” and was thrown out of the hero party, I want to live freely in the Royal Capital or something like that.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Okay. Not horrific, just sort of shocked faces and blood and torn clothes.
Story – 6 Rushed, crowded and often lazy, but if you like it, you like it
Characters – 7 No real growth, but they are okay as characters to start
Service – 5 Still lots of gross and dressing and undressing.
Yuri – 4  Last volume I said “but no doubt it will climb”…I was wrong. Milkit and Flum are in outright denial, even as others are like, “Look, its obvious.”

Overall – 7

Try to avoid having every single bad guy in your story being gloaty AND boring. I’m not in this book, but was still begging for death at times.

The team at Seven Seas did a fine job, but this book is just all right, no matter how well it has been handled.





Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

January 25th, 2021

I don’t really know how to review this book. ^_^;  There’s so much to tell you and so little I can say!

In Volume 1, we met former office worker Oohashi Rei, who wakes up one day in the world of her favorite otome game, “Revolution,” as the protagonist Rae Taylor. As Rae, she opts out of the usual romance routes and instead focuses all of her acumen and knowledge of the game on her actual interest, the villainess Claire François. Then the revolution comes crashing down over the two of them.

In Volume 2, Claire and Rae, now a couple, work together to create a better world for themselves, their friends, their country, and…

spoiler warning/ Because both these books are available from Seven Seas in English, I am going to assume you have read them. If you have not read them, this review will contain inevitable spoilers, starting with the cover, because it is right here next to these words and I can’t hide that. If you haven’t read the first two volumes, this review may be largely incoherent and there are even MORE spoilers ahead. Don’t keep reading if you want to avoid spoilers. Do go read Volume 2, then come back. ^_^ /spoiler warning
So, going back to my previous statement.

Claire and Rae work together to create a better world for themselves, their friends, their country, and…their children.

Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。), which I read on US Kindle in Japanese*, begins a year after the revolution. Claire, Rae, and their children Aleah and Mei**, the orphans they adopted in the tear-jearker epilogue to volume 2, are a happy family who are dealing with some major issues that are clearly foreshadowing future plots. Rae and Claire are teachers at the Academy they formerly attended as students, when they are approached by the government with a life-changing request: Diplomatic relationships with the Bauer Kingdom’s former (possibly current?) enemy, the Nur Empire is being established. A team of exchange students are being shared between the two countries. Several students from the Academy are going…and so are Claire and Rae, who decide to take Aleah and Mei with them.

We’ve already established that all norms are off the table in this series, so the plot here is a little bit of everything – school drama, romance, socio-political drama, and some other things and then the demons arrive. From this point on the book is spinning plates and juggling balls and then an axe or two on a high-wire.  And it all works, except I have about 300 questions. ^_^  I’ll just hope that some of that is clarified in future chapters and, eventually, volume 4.  I was worried through the entire first half of the book about two things that were never the problems I thought they’d be. But…what? Why? How? I’m not unsatisfied, I just want more!

I’m going to be really impatient until all of you have read it, too, so I can scream all my questions at you! ^_^

The second half of this volume are a series of deeply schmaltzy and satisfyingly goopy extra chapters that cover a number of celebratory events in Rae and Claire’s life, like birthdays and Christmas and their wedding. Rae and Claire get more and more touchy as the story goes on. Apparently Inori-sensei has offered up the bed scenes as an extra on her Pixiv Fanbox (which I think is a terrific idea and admit, I’m tempted. For the record, her Fanbox is being translated into English and Korean, so don’t be afraid to support her.) Rae and Claire’s wedding is a very pointed commentary on modern Japanese life and laws and an incredibly sweet scene. For a second time, the final scene of the book had me reaching for the tissues. How far Claire and Rae have come in a year is laid bare for all for us to see. (happy tears)

But, Erica! I hope you are flailing your hands at me in an attempt to get my attention. Did you say Rae and Claire’s wedding?!? Yes. And that is not the only wonderfully gay bit – nor is it arguably, the most important gay thing in this book. There are at least three other incredibly important conversations that I hope like heck have made a difference for someone, somewhere. And Rae and Claire are VERY clear about what they are to one another to the people around them in so many words.  They are physically affectionate with each other and with the twins, as well. I honestly loved that affectionate kisses and hugs and touching were just normalized in this story.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Kind of? You’ll have to trust me that its fine, really.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

Absolutely fantastic, but I have so many questions.

What about <spoiler>? What did they do?
What is the deal with <spoiler and spoiler>?
Were the <spoiler> there for shits and giggles?
What is going to happen with <spoiler>????
Why on earth is <spoiler>?????????

*The one thing I do honestly like about using Kindle for Japanese-language books is the translation function. It’s not perfect, but it helps not having to do more than highlight a term once the JP dictionary has been downloaded.

** In case it is not obvious, Aleah rhymes with Claire in Japanese and Mei rhymes with Rae.





I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 2

January 8th, 2021

Remember how amazed we were in Volume 1, when the characters of Claire, Misha and Rae had a frank discussion of sexuality? Well, I’m In Love With The Villainesss, Volume 2 has looked at Volume 1 and said, “Hold my mead”….

Rae Taylor is an extraordinary young woman, because in fact, she is not a young woman. She is a corporate drone from our world who has found herself in the world of her favorite otome game as the player character. Instead of romancing the princes, however, Rae has opted for a new route; one in which she is romancing the villainess, the aristocratic and strong-willed Claire François. Here in Volume 2, the holodeck controls are off and Rae and Claire run full speed towards a resolution that even Rae with her knowledge of the game can not predict.

As a reader and as a writer, I ascribe to what we called at the Fanfic Revolution called the “one-handwave” theory. This theory allows every world is allowed one massive, ridiculous, inexplicable thing that must be accepted at face value and cannot be questioned. This volume of I’m in Love With the Villainess, *immediately* blew that theory to hell in the most hilarious way I have ever seen. And then it did it again. And again. The rules? They are for some other story. This story could not have cared less what rules say. Massively important plot points were handled with literal magical handwaves, while actual time and attention were given to discussions of same-sex attraction, gender dysphoria, and, of course, the social impact of income inequality and political upheaval. It was compelling to say the least. It was a little too on the nose for this week, in particular.

This volume is significantly larger than volume 1. Given the resolution there’s only one thing the author left undealt with so Volume 3, when we get it, ought to address that.

In the meantime, this was an amazing read. Whatever benchmark might have been set by Volume 1, was shattered with sound-of speed waves as this volume goes blasting by it. It got exponentially queerer as the story went on. Final tally – 6 queer characters among the main cast, and a happy ending for our principles. And an epilogue that made me ugly cry at 2AM.

I give it my strongest recommendation. If you have not read this series, I hope you will. I know isekai isn’t everyone’s thing, but this is a shining example of exactly what I was talking about in my essay about queer representation Author Inori doesn’t consider that the limits of the worlds that previously existed are the limits of what the worlds could be. They’ve taken an already played-out plot driver and used it to explore very real-world situations in fantasy cosplay and come up with a different resolution. Rather than just assuming what was is what has to be, this series models a new ideal.  I feel even more confident that this was the right choice for my Top Yuri of the year for 2020, and it is going to be very, very hard to beat for 2021. But you know….I really hope something does beat it, because that would be something. ^_^

 

Ratings:

Art – 7 Okay. I’m still angry we didn’t get a picture of Claire in the tux in V1.
Story – 10 Perfection
Characters – 10
Service – 3 Yes, but…somehow this time didn’t bother me at all.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

“Miss Claire, watch over me now.” I am slayed.