Archive for the Eleanor W Category


Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight For an Ordinary Love With My Cursed Sword, Episodes 4-12

May 4th, 2026

Main visual for Roll Over and Die anime: 2 girls are in the foreground, the one on the left has apricot coloured hair, the one on the right has silver hair and is wearing a maid's uniform. Other characters appear in the background

By Eleanor W, Okazu Staff Writer.

This review contains spoilers.

When we left Flum and Milkit at the end of episodes 1-3, reviewed here on Okazu , a man called Leitch has asked them to retrieve some illicit herbs to turn into medicine for his sick wife. Remembering that the Church has outlawed such magic, they are joined by Sara, a nun who is willing to defy Church law. While searching for the herbs in a cave outside of the city, our main antagonist Dein, (the man who tried to trick Flum and kill her when she first came to the Adventurer’s Guild looking for work) collapses the entrance, leaving Flum and Sara trapped inside.

If you didn’t enjoy the first 3 episodes, then there’s nothing here for you. As I suspected in my previous review, there is more to the Church than meets the eye, but I was pleased to see it built up in such a way that we gradually learn more as the show goes on, rather than just a massive infodump all at once. An abandoned underground laboratory proves to belong to them, and Flum’s name appears in the papers left behind. Flum reunites with Eterna, a witch from the Hero’s party who quit after an argument with Jean, and is furious when she learns that Jean secretly sold Flum into slavery. Dein and his men continue to pursue Flum, and a new character, a blind girl named Ink, joins the group, as well as some other former members of the hero’s party.

Dein is not the greatest antagonist ever created. He is revealed to be a pawn of the Church and gets a disproportionate amount of screentime for how ultimately inconsequential he is as a character, before he is finally killed by Flum in episode 11. I feel the show would have been much more interesting if Flum and the group had gradually built up to fighting Origin as the final boss, but it may be that the anime just wasn’t able to do this in the 12 episodes available so I don’t want to judge too harshly on that basis.

Artwise, the same dark moody colour palette as in the first 3 episodes prevails. Some character designs are more interesting than others, and most of the budget seems to have gone on the gore, particularly (CW) the torture scene at the beginning of episode 12.

There’s lots of potential directions the story could have gone in, but ultimately I did enjoy this version of it, including Flum and Milkit’s relationship. I liked that the show isn’t shy about making their feelings for each other clear. This is about two girls who desperately need each other and desperately want to protect each other and that’s what they do.  Whilst it does lean on the ick and gore a little too much in places, the setting is still interesting enough that I’d watch a season 2 if it gets made (there were potential threads left dangling to set one up) and I’m curious to read more of the novels too.

Overall, if you’re looking for something in the “kicked out of the hero’s party and wants revenge” genre that’s a little different from the norm with some genuinely nice relationships between the characters, I’d recommend giving this one a go as long as you can deal with the gore.

Ratings: 

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 6
Service – 8 if you enjoy gore, 5 if you don’t care for it.
Yuri – 8

Overall – 7

Eleanor has been a fan of anime and manga for over 20 years, and has several thousand volumes to prove it. Since discovering the original Seven Seas translation of the first 2 Strawberry Panic! light novels back in the early 2000s, they fell down the Yuri rabbit hole and never looked back. They can be found around the Internet under the handle st_owly, and live in Scotland with their wife and 2 cats.

 

 





The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch, Volumes 1 & 2

April 15th, 2026

Two women sitting opposite each other at a tea table. The one in front has a short red bob and is wearing a maid uniform. Opposite her is a younger girl with long pale hair. I’m a big tea snob, I’ve got an entire kitchen cupboard full of assorted loose leaf teas and more teapots than one person could reasonably ever need or use. The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch therefore seems right up my alley, and the fact it’s written by one of my favourite authors just makes it even better. Ameko Kaeruda, perhaps best known in the English speaking word as the creator of the excellent Sexiled, both volumes of which were reviewed here on Okazu by Erica when it was first released. This series is also based on a light novel, but as yet there is no sign of that being released in English. Why Titan Manga decided to pick this up as one of their first releases I’m not quite sure, but I’m not complaining either.

In Volume 1, we meet our main character, Remy,  who just wants to be left alone to get on with her job as a tea witch, whose main job is “making a delicious cup of tea” for the king and court. Unfortunately she attracts the attention of the king’s first daughter, Princess Stella, who thinks she’s the coolest person in the world and is desperate to be friends with her. For Remy, who is desperate not to draw attention to herself, this is her absolute worst nightmare as she’s pulled into the princess’s orbit.

A woman in a maid uniform is in the foreground with a spilled cup of tea. In the background there is a topiary arch and two people sitting at a tea tableThe world building is solid, with references to a past conflict and the fragility of the resulting peace. We are introduced to another court mage, Alicia, who gives off very androgynous vibes, confirmed later on when their gender is described as “unknown.” When Remy learns that Stella is set to be married to another (male) court mage, she realises that this isn’t the world she fought for and vows to protect her, despite her outward annoyance with Stella’s insistence on being her friend.

Remy, as it turns out, is more powerful than she would like anyone to know. As well as controlling the tea she brews and being able to perfectly match it to the person she’s making it for, she can also use it as an antidote, a poison and a weapon, amongst other things. She’s essentially a magical herbalist. This power naturally of course ends up with her being assigned as Stella’s bodyguard, much to the chagrin of Stella’s wannabe fiance. Volume 2 covers a lot of Remy’s backstory, which according to the author’s afterword, wasn’t covered in the original novel, but I think it really adds to her as a character and the world building. She was a child soldier, and is clearly still bearing that burden, so I interpret her wanting to protect Stella as saving her from the same fate. Stella meanwhile is pragmatic enough to understand that her arranged marriage is a duty to protect the kingdom and the peace, so whilst she doesn’t really want it, she realises it’s for the greater good. Fortunately she isn’t written as an annoying child prodigy which is one of my least favourite tropes in fiction, along with amnesia.

In doing some research for this review I came across some Online Discourse with people saying that Remy and Stella’s relationship is inappropriate because Stella is only 12 years old. My personal interpretation is that this is more like a Class-S relationship and Remy cares for Stella more like a big sister would. In volume 2 we get some numbers, the man is said to be twice Stella’s age, so 24 and is older than Remy, who gives the impression she’s in her late teens/early 20’s. Yes, they go on a “date” but it’s just Remy indulging the whims of the younger girl, who is also a princess she can’t really say no to. Nothing untoward happens between them, the only kiss is Stella pecking Remy on the cheek because she’s read that this is what you do on a date.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by these two volumes. There’s more depth than I expected from what at first seemed like a fairly generic fantasy setting. Stella and Remy’s relationship is really open to almost any interpretation the reader chooses at this point, and it’s a good reminder to ignore the discourse and make up your own mind about something. Volume 3 is set to release at the end of April 2026, but as of writing, the 4th and final volume does not appear to be listed anywhere, not even on Titan Manga’s own website (neither is volume 3 so we’ll see how that goes). Hopefully we will eventually see it in English, along with the original novel.

Ratings: 

Art – 7 – the artist mentions at the end of volume 1 that this is their first serialisation, so I was pretty impressed when I read that
Story – 7
Characters – 7 we love a casual non binary/genderqueer side character
Service – 1
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7





I Wanna Be Your Girl, Volume 3

March 11th, 2026

Two people in Japanese style school uniforms, one in boy's uniform, one in girl's uniform, their head on their knees, sit on a school stairway.by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

We have now reached the penultimate volume of Umi Takase’s I Wanna Be Your Girl, and having also reviewed volumes 1 and 2 here on Okazu, this one is definitely the weakest of the three. One thing this series continues to excel at though, is portraying teenagers realistically. Hime is still headstrong in her convictions and her determination to protect Akira. Akira, meanwhile, just wants to be treated like one of the girls and be noticed by the senpai she has a crush on. At the end of volume 2, we start to delve into another character’s back story. Hamuro is another student who has a secret of his own. He cross dresses as a maid while working at a cafe near the school, and it’s revealed that he’s not trans like Akira but cross dresses to support his younger sister Momo who was bullied for being too cute.

I don’t really feel Hamuro adds very much to the story, and the whole starting cross dressing because your sister was bullied just seems a little too out there, especially for a seemingly cishet teenage boy. Fortunately, it’s not a big part of this volume. What we get after Hamuro though is something I’ve hoped would happen since volume 1, and that is Sasaki-sensei’s backstory. I mentioned in my review of that volume that “It seems though, that there is more to the teacher than first meets the eye. He sits Hime down for a talk one day, and it’s strongly suggested that he’s gone through something similar regarding identity in the past” He now reveals in a conversation with Akira that he is aromantic, and how he has suffered from not meeting society’s expectations too. I’m glad we got this segment, especially since in the afterword the author mentions that he was only supposed to appear briefly in chapter 2.

The rest of the volume is just more of what we’ve already seen before, Hime and Akira continue to misunderstand each other, side characters are used as sounding boards for the main characters to talk about their feelings and we’re not really any further forward with their relationship either.

I Wanna Be Your Girl is still an enjoyable series and I’m very glad it exists, but nothing new really happens in this volume, especially when compared to the previous two. I’m optimistic though that everyone will get their happy endings in the next and last volume, and I’ll be reading it to find out.

Ratings: 

Story – 6. This would be a point lower if we didn’t get Sasaki-sensei’s backstory.
Art – 6.
Characters – 7 Hamuro and his sister are unnecessary.
Service – n/a
LGBTQ — 10

Overall – 7 but again, probably an 8 if you’re a confused/closeted queer teenager looking for something to relate to.





Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 4

February 25th, 2026

Cover of Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 4 by Ami Uozumi.Two women in green dresses embrace, lightly, looking forward at us, with soft unfocused eyes.by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Reviewer

At the very end of volume 3, which I also reviewed here on Okazu, an unexpected character from Ema’s past reappears. It’s her mother and there’s clearly some history between them, as within the first two pages of of Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 4 she makes a snide comment about Ema’s hair and clothing choices. Ema also contemplates how long it’s been since she saw her, and how much older her mother looks. Hario does at least stand up for his wife, but the cruelty is very pointed and definitely hurts Ema in a way that I’m sure many of the audience will be able to relate to, so much so that she’s ready to give up on the cafe and have Hario handle it instead. There’s nothing like a mother’s love and support is there? At the end of this chapter, Takara asks Ema if she wants to run away. The next chapter opens with another confrontation with Ema’s mother, but this time it’s Takara standing up for her.

The “will they won’t they” dynamic continues to be the crux of this series, although I do worry about how much longer it can carry the story. We’ve known for a while now that Ema and Takara are head over heels for each other, and I just hope that we get a proper confession from someone sooner rather than later, since we did not in this volume. The characters are still wonderfully messy, flawed and above all, realistically human. For that reason, Pink Candy Kiss continues to be one of my favourite ongoing Yuri series, and I’m eagerly awaiting volume 5. I also think it would make a fantastic live action drama, if a company would be brave enough to produce it.

Ratings: 

Art – 7 It’s still a shame there aren’t colour pages with the chapter art on.
Story – 8 The living apart situation is still a little contrived, but the rest works very well. 
Characters – 10. Ema’s mother is vindictive, cruel and totally realistic, as is Ema’s reaction to her. 
Service – None. It still doesn’t need it. This is a story about women’s feelings, written by a woman for other women.
Yuri – 10 So much yuri.

Overall – 8

 





ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! streaming on Crunchyroll

January 30th, 2026

Title art for ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight With My Love and My Cursed Sword streaming on Crunchyroll, showing a redheaded fighter and a maid withe a bandaged face, surrounded by other characters.by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

From ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! streaming on Crunchyroll: “Flum wasn’t chosen for her strength—she has none. No magic, no skill, only an ability called “Reversal” that even she doesn’t understand. So why did God place her in the hero’s party? After being betrayed and sold into slavery, Flum is abused and eventually thrown to monsters for entertainment. Now faced with death, Flum must choose: be devoured or take up a cursed sword said to kill its wielder.”

I’ve had the original novels for this series in my Bookwalker library for a while now, and didn’t really know much about them other than they were incredibly violent and gory, but the anime offered an easier way in. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that underneath the fairly generic “kicked out of the main hero’s party” premise, there are enough stand out elements to make this show worth watching. The first and most obvious of these is that our main heroine, Flum, is female. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a connoisseur of the genre, so there may be others out there, but the only other series with a female lead which comes to mind is the excellent Sexiled series by Ameko Kaeruda, which you should definitely check out if you haven’t already. Roll Over and Die definitely has a very different tone to Sexiled though, which is much more light-hearted and takes more of a parody angle.

I’ve heard complaints floating around the Internet that the gore has been toned down for the anime, so I did read the first part of the first volume of the novel to compare, and some of the more gruesome moments have been either cut completely or made much shorter and less vivid. However, we do still see Flum being branded on the face very early in the first episode as well as people being eaten by ghouls so it’s definitely not for the faint of heart whichever version you pick. I will give the anime credit though as although the gore in the novel sometimes felt like gore for gore’s sake, the show manages to straddle the line of setting the scene but without overdoing it. It’s very clear that no one in this world is on Flum and Milkit’s side and the very obvious slave branding on Flum’s cheek immediately marks them as lesser once they escape.

They head to the Adventurer’s Guild in the slums of the city, as by becoming adventurers they can earn money from completing quests which will enable them to survive. Unfortunately, the nice man at the guild is also a bit of a bastard, and instead of sending Flum and Milkit on a quest to kill an F-rank monster, they’re tricked into going after some D-rank monsters instead. However, thanks to Flum’s no longer useless ability and cursed sword, the girls are able to kill the monsters and claim their prize, and more importantly, an adventurer’s license from the guild, much to the annoyance of the man who sent them into what he thought was a death trap.

Character-wise, Flum and her companion Milkit are the main protagonists we follow here. Milkit is a slave who Flum rescues from the same dungeon which she was trapped in, and the two begin to work together to survive in a hostile world, and are definitely developing feelings for each other as well. It would have been nice to have a bit more time with them together exploring their feelings when they’re not just trying to survive. This is however one of the other main aspects which makes this show distinct from other “kicked out…” power fantasies. So far, revenge doesn’t seem to be Flum’s main motivation. She just wants to survive and protect Milkit as well. Unfortunately, these first 3 episodes don’t tell us much more about either of them, other than that Flum was chosen by the deity Origin to join the party which would defeat the Demon Lord. One gaping plot hole I couldn’t ignore here is that the Origin just let Jean (another member of the party) sell Flum to the slave trader and didn’t intervene. Maybe this is all part of the grand plan, maybe there’s more going on than we realise.

The character I am most interested in though is Cyrill, another member of the party who is initially friends with Flum due to them being similar ages, however Jean has designs on her and it is implied that one of his reasons for wanting rid of Flum is so that he can pursue her. Flum and Cyrill’s relationship is definitely portrayed in a way that could suggest they were more than just friends, and I would like to know more about them as well as seeing if they reunite further down the line. What Jean also doesn’t realise once he’s got rid of Flum, is that despite her seemingly useless stats and zero magical ability, she helps the party out in other ways, like cooking. Once she’s gone, he’s not getting his food prepared how he likes it and he sulks like the big baby he is. I am looking forward to him getting his just desserts (pun absolutely intended).
In episode 3, we meet Sara, a seemingly pure-hearted nun who has a brand on her neck similar to Flum and Milkit. Sara’s backstory is the most interesting so far, and I hope we get some similar level of detail for the other characters too. She is from a pagan village which was destroyed by the demons and forced to absorb into the Church, including banning pagan rituals such as the use of herbal medicine. (As a personal aside, I’ve been reading about the Scottish witch trials recently for work, and there’s a lot of parallels to be drawn here but that’s probably an article in itself)  Even I, as someone who’s not overly familiar with this genre, have a suspicion that maybe the Church isn’t all it seems to be…

Regarding the art and animation, there’s not really much to make this show stand out. The colour palette is pretty dark, whether that’s an intentional design choice or a saving money choice isn’t really clear, it could just as easily be a bit of both. It does mean Sara’s white robes act as a nice contrast to everyone else’s dark outfits and that the symbolism is incredibly obvious. The character designs are pleasant, although Milkit does remind me far too much of Ren and Ram from Re: Zero.

Overall, I enjoyed this much more than I was expecting to. Whilst there are definitely a lot of generic elements here, the setup and execution is interesting enough for me that I will stick around and see what comes next. If you don’t mind quite a bit of gore, and a well trodden basic premise, you could do a lot worse than this show.

Ratings:

Art – 6. Character designs are pleasant, animation is meh.
Story – 7 There’s enough here to make it stand out from the hundreds of other kicked out of the hero’s party shows.
Characters – 7 There’s a lot to explore here, how I feel about the rest of the show will depend how well this is done.
Service – 8 if you enjoy gore, 5 if you don’t care for it.
Yuri – 8 When the first thing Flum buys for Milkit after they get some money from completing their first quest is a maid outfit…

Overall – 7