Autumn 2023 we watched an anime called The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess. I found it to be tolerable with some fun elements , Guest Reviewer Cryssoberyl found more to like about it than I. Thanks to Yen Press I have the chance to pick up the light novel series upon which the anime is based and I wondered if it was more to my taste than the anime.

To make sure I was well past the end of the anime, I am beginning with The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, Volume 8 on the assumption that it wouldn’t be that hard to follow any plot in the series. I was both right and wrong in that regard.

The story here begins well past the end of the anime, and at least one more major arc into the series. As a result, there are a number of new characters I had to familiarize myself with. The story is, as I assumed simple, not fully formed and superficially written – it still feels like it’s made for an episodic anime, rather than a novel, per se. Almost none of the characters are given inferiority except Terakomari – and her thoughts are largely centered around being disgusted by her perverted maid and then painfully jealous of her, as one of the new characters presents Komari with a rival.

Dark Cores have been stolen from her world, so Komari and her group are in the Netherworld and very at risk of actually dying, as opposed to the temporary state of non-existence they are used to. They are also being stalked by alternate versions of the military and governments from their world, and yet another nefarious organization, Star something. Please forgive my lapse, like three or four new nefarious organizations are introduced in this one volume, between baths, battles and blood-sucking and a fair amount of screaming, so I forget whether it is the Star somethings or the Moon somethings that we need to be worried about or both, as we head to this world’s version of the Mulnite Empire to meet up with this world’s version of Komari’s mother.

While they travel, and battle and blood suck and bathe, new character Collette freaks out when she meets Villhaze because she had a best friend named Villhaze who disappeared! Our Villhaze can’t possible be that Villhaze, surely, even though she has no memories of her childhood. Yeah, no, she’s the same Villhaze. The louder the protestations became the more obvious it was, until, in a climactic battle, in which it is Komari who becomes practically god-like to defeat the Biwa-playing baddie, all of Villhaze’s memories come rushing back. Nonetheless, she breaks Colette’s heart and declares her intent to stay with her Mistress.

And the “Komari Club” move on towards their destination.

Like the anime, this light novel has some good moments – mostly when the characters stop talking and just do anything. The talking is very expository and often absurd. The constant leitmotif of perversity from Villhaze is exhausting and even more so when Terakomari begins to question her own appeal as Villhaze’s attention turns to Colette, and suddenly we are reminded that there truly are people who think someone creeping can somehow be interpreted as a compliment (usually those people are the creepers). Those people are wrong and this book would have been much better without it. But, this is how we know the series is not written for adult women.

My absolute favorite moment was when the narration became scandalized at Colette putting mayonnaise on her curry in the Curryd empire. The scene includes a line directed at Villhaze which actually made me chuckle, “Do you realize you could start a war by putting sauce on someone’s dish without permission?” I have been that person and have fought that war, so I am with Terakomari on this one. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6  Not terrible
Story  – 5 They camped, ate curry, fought a battle in nearly 200 pages.
Characters  – I would gladly follow Esther and Nelia and dump the rest
Service – 5 It’s like a low drone of omnipresent background radiation
Yuri – 7 Colette after Villhaze who is after Komari.

Overall – 6 Not the worst thing I have ever read or reviewed. ^_^

Many thanks to Yen Press for providing me with a review copy. If this series strikes you as fun and enchanting, this was a very good volume, with Komari really stepping up at the end to be the leader her armies imagine her to be.