Archive for the inori Category


I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 5

August 4th, 2022

“What if you had the chance to remake the entire world in order to save the person you love…and learned that the world was never what it seemed?” is what I said when I reviewed Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Volume 5 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) in Japanese. And, now, you have had the chance to read I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 5 and can, I hope, understand what I meant. ^_^ I’m still trying to avoid spoilers, as best I can. ^_^

The Nur arc comes to a crashing, sword-waving, magic-using, epic ending, that has shockingly little to do with Nur and Bauer at all. Because Volume 5 is about the Demon Queen and the truth of the world. Basically, if you primarily read isekai, you are probably mostly unprepared for just about anything here, until it all settles down.

As I re-read this volume I am fascinated by the scope of this story, which has implications far beyond this narrative. Will future volumes of the upcoming She’s So Cheeky For A Commoner (which I have reviewed in Japanese, as Heimin no Kuse ni Namaika, Volume 1)  – and any series will come after –  let these petals fall and be dispersed, or will they float around reminded us over and over of what, exactly, is going on? I look forward to finding out. There was a great deal of territory covered in this volume and repeated visits in future volumes might help to reify it.

Even more broadly, this series does all sorts of interesting things with the concept of “another world.” Like the Locked Tomb series, it is simultaneously both fantasy and science fiction and some new hybrid child of those genres and isekai. AND it contains that single important question that fills so much classic science fiction anime – what does it mean to be human?

Despite all this, this novel never pretends to be be meaningful in that pretentious literary way of very serious men writing about humanity. It is a human look at the power of community. Once again, I must quote myself here, when I wrote, “If you are familiar with Doctor Who, you will entirely understand how everything in this book works…and how it must work. ^_^ This leads to the only criticism, if you can even call it that, I have. Because of that specific narrative structure, there was no way to give it a punchy ending, which was perfectly okay. It ended as it had to…and then didn’t end for a few more post-epilogue shorts. When you like your characters, it’s hard to let go, I understand completely. ^_^ ”

What I mean to say here is that this ending was the right ending for this book. ^_^ This series ends where it must, with home and family. I have said this about a dozen times recently, but I’ll repeat it – this is what I am looking for these days in the books I read. Future-building with hope…hopepunk, as Ada Palmer calls, it. Stories in which communities come together to build a better tomorrow. The fact that the leaders of this particular community are queer women is delicious icing on this sweet and satisfying narrative cake.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Very little, for perfectly good reasons.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

This…was a very good book. I hope you’ll all read it. If you have read it, do let me know what you think in the comments!

 





Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 1 (平民癖に生意気な！)

May 15th, 2022

We’ve all read the “other perspective” Light Novel by now, haven’t we? My Next Life as a Villainess, for instance, ends every chapter with the same story from the other person’s perspective and, while cute, it doesn’t add that much to the narrative.

Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 1 (平民癖に生意気な！) is once again a brilliant exception to a Light Novel rule. This volume covers the same story as the first novel of I’m in Love With the Villainess, but has so much original content and such a completely different perspective on key dramatic elements. That said, that’s not the only reason it’s worth reading – as usual, it’s the characters that put it over the top for me. Including a new character who never appeared in the original story and, plausibly, has several solid reasons for not doing so.

Claire François, the only daughter of the Bauer Kingdom’s Minister of Finance, is a young woman of extraordinary privilege. She knows this, in a theoretical sense. In a not-theoretical sense, Claire believes in the nobility – that they have an important place in society and that she has both rights and responsibilities because of that role.  When a commoner in her class suddenly confesses her love, Claire has no comprehension as to why? Why her? Why this…? Claire hopes to shake her off but her best friends, Pipi and Loretta, dissuade her by imagining much more severe bullying tactics. When the commoner manages to becomes Claire’s maid, everything starts to change. 

Educated by her new maid and her old one, Lene, Claire begins to see the world from the perspective of the commoners and she’s deeply put off by what she has learned. As Bauer fights internal and external strife, Claire François starts to understand the values she holds may not be up to the strain.  But – importantly – Claire herself is up to the challenge. Her belief in her position, her power and her friends makes this book an outstanding read.

We learn so much about Claire’s apparent henchchicks in this novel that they never again will appear to me as merely hangers-on. Pipi and Loretta get not just backstories, but massive character development, especially in volume 2 of this series. In actual fact, it is a scene with them that has made me cry in this go round. I’m also leaving out everything about the new character, because I don’t wish to spoil anything at all about that.

As a result of my experience with other LNs, I was deeply unsure that this book would offer anything worth reading. It has blown me out of the water. Everything in it is worth reading. Not only do we get a much better idea of who Claire is, but we can see something that Rae herself could not – how effectively Rae hid herself in the first novel…and when that disguise slipped. Claire turns out to be remarkably insightful in a lot of ways and a very good friend to the people she cares about. This book was so good, I read it very slowly and carefully, so I wouldn’t miss a word. inori-sensei’s writing has absolutely leveled up. hangata-sensei’s art is still quite cute and is a little less portrait-y than it was in previous LNs, but still focuses on the figures over the action….typical of Light Novels.

This book has once again been released by GL Bunko in digital form and, like other GL Bunko novels, you can get this on US Kindle in Japanese. I will of course be writing GL Bunko([email protected]) to ask them to please continue the series. There are so many stories yet to tell.

Another way to read this novel is to support Inori-sensei on Pixiv Fanbox and read the sanctioned fan translation, which is released in English and Korean. And, of course, please let Seven Seas know that you’d like to see She’s Such a Cheeky Commoner! in print in English. I know I would. It was really good.

Ratings:

Art – 7 hanagata’s art is so much more confident now
Story – 10 Outstanding writing never mades me feel like it’s the same thing over again
Characters – 10 I cannot express to you how *good* the characters are here
Service – 3? 4? A bit, sometimes
Yuri/LGBTQ+ – Super complicated question! Rae’s feeling are not returned, but the queer content is still totally there.

Overall – 10

This is nothing like the typical “other perspective” trope. While you would have to have read Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 1 at least, readers are well-rewarded in this volume for their time. It’s really an excellent book.

 

 





Interview With inori, Creator of I’m In Love With the Villainess

April 16th, 2022

I'm in Love With the Villainess Light Novel Volume 1Hello and welcome to an exciting interview. Today we welcome inori-sensei, creator of the I’m in Love With the Villainess series.

Over the years, I’ve been pleased to have interviewed some extraordinary creators here on Okazu. I’m especially pleased today because  ILTV, is a ground-breaking series. Riding the wave of isekai popularity, this series takes time to talk about very real issues in queer lives in Japan, and how queer folks have to deal with those issues.

It’s especially exciting to me that Comic Yuri Hime is running the manga of this series and choosing to engage with those issues. I’ve been reading Yuri for a long time, and it finally feels like CYH is ready to talk about queer people – and, even more importantly, show us in the Yuri stories we love.. ^_^

I hope you will please welcome inori-sensei with a warn Okazu welcome!

 

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Q1: Please Tell Us About Yourself

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I: Thank you for giving me this valuable opportunity. My name is inori, the author of I’m in Love with the Villainess. (ILTV)

 

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Q2: How did you become a writer? Was it something you wanted to do since you were young?

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I'm in Love With the Villainess Light Novel Volume 2I:  My becoming a writer was rather accidental. For health reasons, I was always taking care of my parents in a state close to being a NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training), but the novel I wrote as a hobby was published commercially, and as a result I got a job as a writer.

…Even so, I have always wanted to be a writer since I was a student, and I have applied for a newcomer award sponsored by a light novel publisher.

The first time I applied, my work came in third for a fairly large award. “Maybe I have the aptitude” is what I have always thought.

Now that I can manage to eat just by writing, I’m really glad I can do that.

 

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Q3: Why did you begin writing Yuri?

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I:  There is no particular reason for me to write Yuri work; for some reason, when I try to write something, it naturally becomes a relationship between women. I have written a heterosexual story with a male protagonist, but it didn’t quite fit.

 

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Q4: Which artists have influenced you?

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I'm in Love With the Villainess Light Novel Volume 3I:  I’m not familiar with so-called general literary arts, but I’ve been reading light novels since I was a junior high school student. In particular, the work of a light novel writer named Shinobu Saeki has had a huge impact on me. She’s quite different from me in her style, but if I hadn’t read her work, I would never have been a writer like this now. Her work is still cherished on my bookshelf and I read it again from time to time.

 

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Q5: If you were not a novelist what kind of work would you be doing?

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I:  To be honest, I’m not very strong, so it would be quite difficult to work outside of being a writer. If ILTV hadn’t been published, I would still be dependent on my parents.

Since the world is a big place, I think I might have been able to so some kind of work but, in any case, I think I would have been forced to live a poorer life than I am now.

 

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Q6: Please tell us a little about your creative process. How long does it take to write a chapter?

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I:  As a commercial writer, my writing speed is uneven, and the time it takes to write one chapter is extremely unstable.

In the case of ILTV and She’s Such a Cheeky Commoner (SSCC), one chapter is about 30,000 to 40,000 characters in Japanese, but one chapter might have taken one week at the fastest and three months at the slowest. The maximum number of characters I have written in one day is about 100 sheets of 400-character manuscript paper.

 

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Q7: You began writing webnovels, ILTV is now a manga and a print novel. Can you tell us how it felt becoming popular?

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I'm in Love With the Villainess Light Novel Volume 4I:  At the beginning, ILTV seemed to be more popular overseas than in Japan. The very first commercial publication was, of course, in Japan, but it was only an ebook and was not well known, and sales were not particularly good.

After a while, English-speaking people such as Jingle and Angela, and Korean-speaking people such as 와타 오시 번역 did fan translation, and the readers who read them formed a fandom and supported them. Thanks to you, it has become more popular overseas.

These fandoms worked with publishers to release print novels in South Korea and then in North America. ILTV is now translated in 8 countries around the world. Against the background of this popularity, Comic Yuri Hime decided to serialize it – a great manga  with the power of a wonderful manga artist named Aonoshimo-sensei. As a result, it seems that the popularity of the series in Japan is gradually increasing, and in 2021 it was ranked 5th in the “Manga Ranking I Want to See Animated” at Anime Japan, one of the largest anime-related events in Japan.

At the end of last year, a long-awaited print novel in Japan was also released. In this way, the existence of ILTV is due to the fandom who supports me both at home and abroad. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all again.

 

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Q8: Many fans wrote in to ask a question: How do you come up with ideas for characters? Fans were especially interested in the Demon Queen.

(This answer contain slight spoilers for Volume 5 of the series)

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Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyak Reijou, Volume 5I:  I think it’s a famous story for everyone who sees this interview, but the main character Rae has a model. My partner is Aki-san. She’s a very humorous person, so my first motivation was that I thought it would be fun to write a novel with such a person as the main character.

The next character to be born was Claire, who was in line with the genre of “villainess” that was used on the novel posting site Syousetsuka ni Narou (Let’s Become a Novelist) at that time. However, I didn’t think it would be fun for her to simply be a villain, so she was written as a character with conviction and aesthetics as a villain. Many of the other characters were created due to the needs of the story.

The Demon Queen you asked about was created as the most suitable character for writing Chapter 17 “The Truth of the World”. As a prototype, there was “Demon Queen” that appeared in my other work that was not released, but Demon Queen of ILTV was created as a character who burns themselves up from a love without salvation. The idea is that there is a gadget called “Looping World” came first, and from that gadget was born a cast that functions most effectively for the story, that is, “Daemon Queen” of ILTV.

 

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Q9: Do you read any Yuri? What kind of series do you read? ——————————————————————————————–

I:  I may not have read as much as you can imagine, but I think I have read a fair amount. I  read Maria-sama ga Miteru, which is famous as a classic, Bloom Into You, which sparked the recent Yuri boom, and Revolutionary Girl Utena in the old days.

Recently, I’m paying attention to The Demon Girl Next Door (まちカドまぞく, which is streaming on HIDIVE) by Izumo Ito. At first glance, it’s a loose four-frame manga, but in reality, it’s a very readable manga with a bold story hidden in the base. The second season of the anime The Demon Girl Next Door 2-chome (まちカドまぞく　２丁目) will also be broadcast this season, so please pay attention to it.

 

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 Q10: Do you have anything you’d like to ask your overseas fans?

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I would like to ask you: What do you want from the ILTV series and me?

Especially for the former, I sometimes hear requests for a promotional video, CD drama, animation, etc., but I haven’t really reached out to know how many of those voices are. I would be grateful if you could send what you want from the ILTV series to the Yuri Hime editorial department and GL Bunko. Here is the contact information, so please do not hesitate to contact them when your time and passion allow:

Yuri Hime editorial department: https://ichijinsha.co.jp/inquiry/yurihime/

 (Enter your name, email address, type of inquiry (* opinions / requests to the editorial department), inquiries from the top Contents) The form looks like this:

And you can write GL Bunko here: [email protected]

 

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Q11: Your series has been translated in to many languages. Do you have a message for overseas fans?

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Thank you for your continued support. I’m really happy that “your support” is not a metaphor or mere flattery. There is a line in the commercial of the famous Japanese painkiller Bufferin that “half of Bufferin is made of kindness,” but, definitely “half of inori is made with the support of fans.”

ILTV Has come to a close, SSCC will continue a little longer. I would like to try new works, so please continue to support me.

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Thank you very much Sensei! I have written Comic Yuri Hime to tell them I would like an ILTV anime, and I hear that a lot of other people have done that, as well. We will continue to ask for that and other media. And of course support any new projects you start.

 

If readers want to offer direct support, also please consider subscribing to inori-sensei on Pixiv Fanbox: https://inori-0.fanbox.cc/.

And of course, you can support I’m in Love With the Villainess by buying both the light novels and manga from legitimate sources. Volume 5 of the Light Novels is on the way in late summer from Seven Seas! I can’t wait for you to read it. ^_^





Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. -Revolution-, Volume 1 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-)

April 7th, 2022

It’s almost impossible to believe that I have never actually read the Japanese Volume 1 of this series, but it is true. I had read some of it as a webnovel, when it was licensed by Seven Seas, before I had a chance to pick up the GL Bunko digital edition. I read and reviewed Volume 1 in English a year and a half ago, in fact, and then ran ahead to read the rest in Japanese, because it was that good. Until now, it was only available in digital form in Japanese.

Well, now Ichijinsha has licensed the series for a print release and, finally, I have had a chance to read the first novel in Japanese. Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. -Revolution-, Volume 1 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-) was just as excellent as I remembered. Company drone Oohashi Rei wakes up as the protagonist of her favorite otome game, and decides to romance the villainess, the high-minded daughter of nobility, Claire François. Rae Taylor’s actions are ham-handed, but her experience with the game gives her powers and knowledge that offers many advantages.

Having had a year to experience the entire story from Rae’s point of view (and some of the story from Claire’s point of view) I can now see many things that were seeded to be resolved later…and some hints of the Truth (TM) about the world. It’s nice to see those things being seeded way back in the beginning. I know many more will also appear in the next two volumes. The overtly queer content still makes this series stand out from a lot of Yuri work. I’ll never get tired of that. ^_^

Ichijinsha did a great job on the book, with color dust cover, color character page up front (with hanagata’s original art for the GL Bunko cover as  fold out. The cover for this edition is a new work by hanagata. All of the original illustrations are included and two extra stories. The first story is from Lene’s point of view, the final bit from Misha’s. I think I’d love to have this whole story once more from Misha’s point of view, for reasons that are a spoiler. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 Portraits of the people, mostly, rather than the scenes
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Yuri – 7 one-sided in this volume, but…
LGBTQ –10
Service – 2 Dressing and undressing, Rae acting like a perv….

Overall – 9

This print edition doesn’t add anything new to the story, but it gives us a definitive volume for lovers of this series. If you’re still a holdout and where waiting for a print edition in Japanese, now is the time to grab a copy. Although, I won’t lie, having the Kindle translate feature makes reading the GL Bunko volumes a breeze.

It will be such a pleasure to be able to give this series more space on my shelf. ^_^

 





I’m in Love with the Villainess, Volume 2

February 11th, 2022

I’m in Love with the Villainess, Volume 2 is a super fun volume of this story. In many ways, it’s the first turn away from goofy comedy to serious story. This volume contains the first of many conversations about sexuality and gender that this series will provide. I know I reviewed this back in February, in digital, but I wanted to take a look at the print volume as well. ^_^

For the first time, we really meet the three princes, the love interests of the game “Revolution, “and get to know their personalities. This is followed by the student ranking, where we finally understand that Rae, as protagonist of that game, is overpowered and formidable. And how obsessed she really wad with the game…and Claire.

This is followed by a magical battle against a giant water slime, that forces Claire to save Rae, but also keeps Rae on the lonely path she had set for herself. We know this because this is the volume where Misha asks Rae if she is homosexual. I want to stop and say that the art in that section is devastating, as we see Rae with her usual smile, talking about the old her, about how she’s used to her love not being returned – and –  how she’s convinced herself that Claire’s happiness is enough. Devastating…and irrelevant as we know. Phew.

And then(!) the volume wraps up with the lead-in to the Academy Knights arc…and more magic battles, lest we forget that this is a magic isekai. ^_^

Following the manga is a bonus story about Claire and Relaire bonding, which of course is ridiculously cute, and character descriptions.

Many thanks to Joshua Hardy on translation, Courtney Williams handling the lettering, Nicky Lim for the cover design and the rest of the team at Seven Seas for an enjoyable reading experience.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Service – 1 Very little for this series
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9