One of the best things about reviewing is when a book (or anime or game or whatever) surprises you in a good way.  I had no particular expectations for Did You Think My Yuri Is Just For Show? written by Neru Asakura, with illustrations by Minori Chigusa, translated by Jenny McKeon, from YenOn.  For most of the book, I found it a pleasant surprise. It did not *quite* stick the landing, but it very much failed on the right side of flawed.

Suzune Sengu is a veteran voice actress with a secret crush on former idol singer Karin Shotsuki. To Suzune’s shock, Karin joins her agency and the two begin to bond, even though Suzune does everything to keep her personal feelings out of their professional relationship, but when they begin working together, her boundaries are pushed to their limits and she has one more secret she’s keeping that might ruin everything.

The premise itself is not bad. Suzune is likeable, relatable and intelligent, so one is quickly caught up in her life and generally her choices make perfect sense for her. Karin is also likeable and, what I expected to be the final reveal ends up being handled at just past halfway through the book, allowing both characters room to grow.

The story contains a lot of insight into the world of being a voice actor  – insight that feels consistent and based in reality – from what companies do and do not reimburse, to rivalries within agencies. With one exception, the people we are following are talented, sincere and their management is committed and supportive, which helps us relax and just enjoy the Yuri.

The Yuri is woven throughout this story on multiple levels. It begins and ends with Suzune’s feeling for Karin, but it is not Yuri bait, except in a section of the book about “business Yuri” in which Yuri baiting the main couple of the anime is a part of the promotion. I found that section amusing for the business calculation of what would engage fans who are already shipping two characters…something we might lose as Yuri becomes more openly queer, but is so much a part of Yuri history that I was glad to see it represented. ^_^ Also nice is that Suzune is not the only gay character, which changes the nature of her actions in a positive way as the story develops.

Illustrations by Minori Chigusa were satisfactory. They did illustrate the scene, which was nice, but as the scenes chosen for illustration are mostly people sitting/standing and talking they still look mostly like portraiture, and, sadly, were far too infantile for me. Characters in their 20s looked like children, with one exception of a very nice illustration of Suzune.

Easily 9/10ths of this book was fun, engaging and way more intelligent than I expected. The final hurdle is the only genuinely weak point of the book. It is over-contrived and even then, the resolution was perfectly fine. The problem was that story wrapped up *so* quickly and *so* neatly immediately afterward it all felt a little forced. That said, the author made a thousand excellent choices throughout the narrative with the characters, the setup and even the language choices, so I was very willing to allow it and take only small deduction for the bobble on the landing. ^_^

Speaking of the language, let us give a round of applause to translator Jenny McKeon and her uncredited editor, who gave the characters identifiable voice and did a fantastic job with very fannish language. It was a fun read – I recommend it without hesitation when it comes out later this month from Yen.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 9
Story – 10 right up to the last bit where it faltered ever so slightly
Service – 2? 3? Some? Kinda? Mostly of the “gay girl being way too aware that she is gay in front of another woman who presumably does not know that” kind.

Overall – 8

It’s nice to read a book about adults who act basically like adults, so the screaming is mostly internal. ^_^

Thank you once again to Yen Press for the advance review copy, this was a genuine pleasure to read.

Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a review of Lycoris Recoil Ordinary days (リコリス・リコイル Ordinary days) in Japanese. Today, I am looking at the collection again, this time in English, from Yen Press. I will not lie, I was very tempted to simply cut and paste my review from 2023 to this post, on the assumption that no one but me remembers I wrote it it all. ^_^

Lycoris Recoil Ordinary Days Light Novel is really more of a short story collection tied together by a ribbon story of daily life at the cafe. Written by Asaura, the writer for the Lycoris Recoil anime, this book reads exactly like a series of stories written by a middle-aged male anime fan about teenaged girl assassins, which is, of course, exactly what it is. Chisato is Chisato, ebullient and full of the kind of thinking that teenaged girls only express in stories written by adult men.  Takina is an uncarved and uncarvable block. Mizuki is a drunk and too “old” at 25, which…whatever. Kurumi plays board games and does computery thingies. Mika is, as always, the most interesting character – interesting enough that one of the adult males in the series goes so far to admit that if he were a woman, he’d be into her, which…cool story bro. I really liked the Lycoris Recoil anime for all of it’s delusion, because little girls running around with guns is as much my jam as anyone else’s. ^_^ 

This short story collection is 3/5ths very entertaining. The opening story is a slog since I am not a middle-aged man who wants desperately to believe teenaged girls might be into me. Ugh. To quote myself from my original review, “it will surprise no one that I didn’t care about Doi-san or his shoes. ”

The next few stories wobble between DA activities – y’know two girls, one shooting rubber bullets, somehow taking out an entire gang of heavily armed and armored bad guys –  and coffee, depression, Japanese sweets, and Takina’s inability to understand cooking because literally no one has sat down and explained anything they want to her. I take back my above statement, Takina is not dense, she’s neurodivergent and the people around her are idiots.  But haha, she can’t cook.

“LycoReco of the Dead” remains the best and brightest story in which a dream about a zombie invasion gives us the most fun action segments. And, to quote myself again, “Takina literally awakening to her interest in the idea of being alone with Chisato, forever.” So there is Yuri for those folks who hoped there would be. ^_^

Lastly, the books ends on a story so awful that once again, I quote myself from my previous review, “The final story was the most problematic. More problematic than setting adult men on dates with a young teen girl? Yes, actually. It was problematic in the sense that the bulk of the story forces us to watch a middle-school girl being bullied and tortured, and gives us only the promise of future retribution.” I suggest skipping this story unless you enjoy scenes of a helpless young woman being physically and psychologically tortured.  And I question the age rating for this volume based on that story – there is no 13 year-old that should have to read that. I’m not exaggerating. It was, as Sean Gaffney says in his review of the volume, bleak. It’s a pretty awful way to end a book that feels otherwise like Asaura unable to just let go of his fun characters and use some ideas he had for another season of anime.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Moe heads floating in a panel with largely the same one expression. Chisato smiling, everyone else looking at her.
Story – I would have said 7, but the final story really tanked it.
Characters – Same ones you know from the anime. Mika’s an 8
Yuri – 6, BL – 6 Now that we know Mika’s gay, we do have to mention it. It’s in the contract
Service – No, until that final chapter, then ewww

Overall – 6

Many thanks to Yen Press for the review copy of this book. It was exactly as fun and not-fun as I remembered it being.

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.

Once upon a time Anisphia Palettia, the Crown Princess despite herself, was concerned that she would one day have to give up her studies into the science of magicology and rule the Kingdom. But that was before she rescued Euphilia, fell in love with her and changed the country forever. Now Euphie reigns as Queen, and Anis is free to pursue her dreams. But nothing is ever that simple. Together Euphie and Anis must find a way to stop a rebellion by the Western aristocracy against the Queen and a possible commoner uprising against the corrupt nobility.

I have never, in my entire life enjoyed a book of people talking over the tedious details of diplomacy and politics as much as I have The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Volume 8, written by Piero Karasu, illustrated by Yuri Kisaragi. I’m not kidding, either. This book has stepped well past the after-happily-ever-after, and even past the let’s-build-the-future of previous volumes, and landed kneed deep in “politics is a quagmire of competing agendas.”

Both Euphie and Anis are enraged at the Western nobles – each on the other’s behalf – and together with their privy council, they must find a way to avoid catastrophe, encourage prosperity and harmony and stick it to the most corrupt of the nobles in a way that both punishes them for their transgressions and gives them an opportunity to redeem themselves. And you know, they do find that way. Whether it will work remains to be seen, but as a strategy, it’s excellent. And…that’s most of this book.

If you have never once thought about how complicated it is to rule a country, this volume will absolutely dump the minutiae of every single frickin’ decision and the unintended consequences of every single frickin’ decision into your lap. I continue to be amazed at this series which would have ended with Euphie ascending the throne in most cases, as it just keeps going and adding layer and layers of the kind of responsibilities a Queen and her advisors might have to face. How do we reconcile with the Academy of Magic? How do we envision a new world of magicology even as we develop tools to make people’s lives better now? How do we manage corrupt nobles before their commoners revolt?

There is one other concern for Euphie and Anis and it’s one they are going to have to face sooner rather than later. Neither of them are truly human anymore. They are keenly aware of that and want to provide for a succession before it becomes a matter of crisis for themselves or the country they love. And they want to be able to spend as much time together as they can, to keep themselves as human as possible, as long as possible.

Because this book is mostly talking heads and policy, the final pages provide a fighting tournament in which we get the fighting tournament equivalent of Anis walking away in slow motion from an exploding building. It’s worth every page of policy discussion to get there. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – Female characters standing, looking pensive, upset or sad. The art makes me pensive, upset and sad.
Story – 9 Really
Characters – 10
Service – Almost none
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Let us not forget the entirely eye-opening bitchiness of the former rulers of their kingdom as they cheerfully gossip in the stands of the tournament while Euphie boggles. That was so extremely human.

Volume 9 of  Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei (転生王女と天才令嬢の魔法革命) is out now in Japanese, Volume 10 is on the way in February. In English, Volumes 1-6  of the manga are out now from Yen Press.

Many thanks to Yen Press for a review copy of this volume.