Archive for the Light Novel Category


Adachi and Shimamura, Volume 12

October 29th, 2025

Two young women stand under a colorful sunset sky on the beach, wearing flowery and flowy bathing suits. by KatGrrrl, Guest Reviewer

Adachi and Shimamura, Volume 12 is the twelfth numbered entry and fourteenth overall in this now long running light novel series by Iruma Hitoma, available in English from Seven Seas. This volume features three ‘what if…?’ alternative universe chapters followed by a return to the main timeline as our titular couple take a trip to the beach.

Despite the way this volume is numbered, it actually continues on from themes established in 99.9, one of two short story collections that were released after Volume 11. In particular, Yashiro’s newfound role as a cosmic matchmaker, making sure every Adachi finds her Shimamura in every timeline and alternate reality. Yashiro, as decently a fun comic relief character as she is, was always a bit too omnipresent in previous volumes for my liking, so giving her constant presence a greater purpose, as well as finally playing into her status as an extraterrestrial, really boosted my overall enjoyment of her character, as well as nicely tying in the AU chapters into the main timeline.

Unfortunately, the first AU story of this volume somewhat sullies this idea. “What If Adachi Was a Teacher?” is the title of this chapter, an innocent enough idea… except that one of her students is a six year old Shimamura. And if the alarm bells aren’t already ringing for you, this story sees child Shimamura propose to teacher Adachi, who promises on the condition that Shimamura wait until she’s eighteen. Twelve years later, Shimamura keeps the promise, proposing once more, a happy ending all round and another job well done for Yashiro… Look, I don’t really have to explain how completely irresponsible and predatory Adachi comes off as here, or how the thoroughly positive, ‘destined lovers’ framing is inappropriate for such a story. If this was a one-shot, I wouldn’t have much more to add, but as an AU, I still found some value in it when reading things a little less literally. Younger Shimamura here really stood out to me with how open and upfront she was to Adachi about how she felt, compared to the emotionally withdrawn teenage Shimamura of the main timeline who needed Adachi to help and push her to open up to her feelings. The way she keeps her proposal promise to Adachi throughout her withdrawn teenage years really shows the strength of her love for Adachi, particularly in comparison to her doomed childhood friendship with Tarumi. The Japanese blurb of this volume (if I’m reading it correctly,) seems to imply these AUs are daydreams of Shimamura’s, and for this chapter I feel the framing of a dream or daydream would be such a simple yet effective improvement that would greatly reduce the grossness and further highlight the insight into Shimamura’s character, and I’m annoyed this framing isn’t text.

Thankfully the next chapter, “What If Adachi Was an Author?,” is not only the standout of this volume, but the best AU chapter in the series so far. In the main timeline, Adachi’s thoughts are so pre-occupied by Shimamura, more Shimamura, and oh, did I mention Shimamura? that we rarely get any insight into other interests and hobbies, if they exist at all. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a flaw of the series, in fact I’d say Adachi’s single-track mind for Shimamura is one of its strengths. But after thirteen books, I felt some areas of characterisation were still a bit too lacking for the fully-realised characters that the series needs if it’s going to continue throwing them into random slices of life with no overarching plotlines to rely on. So to see author Adachi here giving an interview about her thought process behind becoming an author, what she thinks about the writings of others and her own, and her lack of interest in the film adaptation of her novel, was exactly the kind of fresh look into those lacking aspects that her character needed and I want to see more of it. Not just a continuation of this AU—novelist x actor Yuri is an excellent concept—but more of seeing Adachi and Shimamura interacting with the real world as people with rich, inner lives.

The third AU chapter, “What If Shimamura Fixed the Timeline?,” is fine. It’s mainly a retelling of the events of volume one chapter one where Yashiro shows up too early and breaks the timeline. From the title, I expected Shimamura to take a bit more of an initiative in fixing things, but in the end she’s handheld by Yashiro for most of it. It was fun to see her befriend Adachi for the first time in a different setting, but overall I felt this chapter stuck to the original events to a point where it felt like it was playing it too safe. I still enjoyed reading it, but it left little to no lasting impression. “What If Everything Was Back to Normal?” is the fourth and final chapter and brings us back to the present part of the main timeline, although it actually seems to take place before Summer18 from Volume 11—any sense of linear storytelling in this series is well and truly gone. I’m impressed it managed to take this long to get a proper beach chapter. We’ve had swimming pools, bikinis and even Nagafuji and Hino at the beach already, so it was about time. With this being their last summer of high school, there’s a definite ‘end of an era, start of a new’ atmosphere here, with Shimamura in particular starting to think towards adulthood and a newfound desire for independence fueled by her desire to be with Adachi, whilst also looking back on her past beach trips with family and whether they would ever happen again, which contrasts with Adachi, who has never been to the beach before. I really like this contrast and subsequent balance between the two, Adachi has independence but no childhood, Shimamura has a childhood but no independence, and this beach trip represents the merging and sharing of both experiences, creating new memories and a new life together. I get the impression Shimamura’s mother has also noticed Adachi and her daughter are now an item, she makes some interesting choice of words for sure. I can’t wait to find out the climax of this plot thread in volume twenty-two in ten years time! Overall this was a solid chapter and my analysis above aside, their beach date was exactly the kind of wholesome cute I can’t help but smile at when reading.

There’s a couple of short shorts here, one involving Nagafuji and Hino, the other with Yoshika and Akka (yes, that’s the correct reading of her name.) There’s not much to say about these other than Nagafuji has large breasts (just in case you forgot, you know? Can’t have the reader forgetting something important like that, can we now? No way…) Molly Lee gives us another excellent translation as always and raemz is really making a habit of giving us beautiful cover illustrations.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Service – 1 (bikinis, Nagafuji)
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

KatGrrrl finds herself getting more addicted to Yuri by the day. Socials at linktr.ee/katgrrrl.

 





There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… Light Novel, Volume 3

August 29th, 2025

A girl with long, pale hair in a Japanese school uniform of a white blouse with red trim and tie and grey plaid skirt holds a finger up to her lip as if to shush us with a smile.

by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

Volume 3 of  There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… changes things up a bit with the cover design. Unlike the Volume 1 and Volume 2 where the covers feature Renako and whoever is the the main character of that volume, volume 3 omits Renako and is purely the next member of the harem, Ajisai Sena.

We know from the previous volumes that Renako already has something of a crush on Ajisai and that Ajisai is often responsible for caring for her two younger brothers, so it seems inevitable that we’ll find out more about both now. This volume is also the “summer vacation” volume, so we can expect traditional hijinks like hot spring trips, beach trips and and festivals, as alluded to on the back cover.

But maybe Ajisai isn’t as angelic as she appears. Perhaps she’s just a normal teenage girl who’s been looking forward to her summer vacation and hanging out with her friends/crushes but instead, she’s stuck staying at home and looking after her brothers. Parentification is a word which has gained traction in recent years and refers to older siblings being thrust into a caregiving role because the actual parents are either absent or negligent. Ajisai’s parents both work long hours, so she is inevitably forced into this position, and in this volume things finally come to a head. Ajisai has had enough and runs away from home, compelling Renako to go with her to, ostensibly, look after her.

This is where Ajisai feels like a normal teenage girl, much more so than either Mai or Satsuki. “Supadari” Mai is obviously meant to be over the top and unreal, whereas Satsuki is her opposite, being quiet, cynical and almost disinterested in romance unless she can use it to get at Mai. Ajisai, by contrast, feels much more grounded in reality. Renako arranges to come over to her house one day during summer vacation so they can play video games together, and this is when she snaps. Her brothers are hogging the game console, and she’s barely had a chance to speak to Renako. She’s had enough of having to put everyone else first and whilst running away is a bit of an extreme reaction, it is believable in this context. One thing I have particularly enjoyed about this volume is the little sections at the end of each chapter retelling the story from Ajisai’s point of view.

The rest of the volume is mostly devoted to the usual summer harem adventures. Renako and Ajisai inevitably end up staying at an onsen with a private hot spring attached, taking the number of members of the group Renako has seen naked and bathed with up to 3. It’s also a good excuse for an illustration of Ajisai in a yukata and a ping pong battle to determine who pays for this whole adventure.

And then enter Mai like the tornado she is, and yet another person to disrupt Ajisai’s time with a friend. She arrives at the inn having used Renako’s sister to find out where they are, so we now have a high school girls’ sleepover party or something like that, and now we’re all off to the local festival together (and bathing together).

We end with everyone back home and the rest of summer vacation passing relatively normally, apart from Ajisai asking Renako out (in front of Mai!)  just in time for school to start again in the next volume, when Renako must also answer Ajisai’s question and figure out where her feelings lie.

This series is ultimately about exploring the difference between friends and lovers, where the line between them lies, how blurry that line is and what it all means to different people. With one more group member to properly introduce in the next volume, my main question is where do we go from there?

If the anime continues at its current pace and it is a 12 episode season, this will be the last volume adapted for now. At the time of writing, there is no news of a season 2.

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 8 Ajisai is definitely the most realistic teenage girl of the group so far.
Service – 6. Some of the illustrations are definitely on the more servicey side in this volume.
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7





There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… Light Novel, Volume 2

August 8th, 2025

Two girls stand back to back, saluting the viewer with V signs. One girl has very long black hair, the other has collar-length pink hair. They both smile at us.by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

Volume 2 of There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… opens with Mai announcing that Renako is her fiancée at a fancy dinner party, much to Renako’s surprise and horror. Despite this, after that prologue, Mai is almost a side character in most of this volume, as we get to know another member of the friend group/harem. This volume focuses almost entirely on Koto Satsuki, who is featured on the cover alongside Renako, and is called Satsuki-san at this point in the story. In Volume 1 we find out that Satsuki has a crush on Renako, but also that her relationship with Mai is more complicated than it first appears. Satsuki describes their relationship as “toxic friends” and also says that “The number one reason why I stay with her (Mai) is that it gives me the opportunity to see her in distress.” Hopefully, this volume will dive into this in more detail.

We also know that after Mai assaults Renako in volume 1, she confesses everything she’s done to Satsuki in an attempt to soothe her guilt. Satsuki is less than sympathetic, and we still don’t really understand her motivations or why she has a crush on Renako. Is it jealousy or does she simply want what Mai has? It turns out to be a little more complicated than that, she wants to date Renako as a way to get revenge on Mai. In classic harem protagonist style, Renako is manipulated into dating Satsuki for 2 weeks. Never mind the fact she’s still technically dating Mai.

Satsuki though, has a secret of her own. She has an after school job at a fancy doughnut shop which Renako and her sister end up discovering, and it turns out there’s more to Satsuki-san than meets the eye. Satsuki invites Renako back to her house after work, and we find that she’s an only child, raised by a single mother and works to try and support herself and her mother and the perfect facade is just that, a facade. She clearly still doesn’t trust Renako very much, but the fact she’s brought a friend home for the first time since starting high school shows that there’s maybe some cracks appearing in that defensive wall.

Harems of course live and die on the strength of their characters, and I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying this series. Renako is understandably utterly bewildered by this whole situation she finds herself in, and the way things are going so far I could genuinely see this ending up in a poly situation. And if it does, I respect that choice, because why have one girlfriend when you can have many? As long as everyone involved is happy and consenting, bring it on. I’m also looking forward to Volume 3 because Ajisai is on the cover and I hope this means we see more of her and her relationship with Renako as I enjoyed her section of volume 1.

Ratings: 

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 8 The side characters are still more interesting than Mai.
Service – 6
Yuri – 7
Harem – 8

Overall – 7.5 I found this volume more interesting than the first one because Satsuki is a genuinely interesting character and I still have no idea what her true motives are.





There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… LN 1

July 28th, 2025

A girl with blonde hair embraces a girl with pink hair, who looks uncomfortable about it. They wear the same school uniform skirt of black plaid, white blouses and red ties. The blonde wears a black blazer, as well.by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

This series has been on my radar for a while, but with the anime now airing I took the chance to read the first novel, which is mostly covered by episodes 1-3 of the anime adaptation of the light novel There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless…, Volume 1

Content warning: sexual assault

Mai Oduka has it all. Money, good looks and brains. So when former loner Renako decides to reinvent herself for high school and go to a new school where no one knows her, she of course attracts the attention of Mai. Renako becomes part of Mai’s friend group, and is stunned when Mai confesses her feelings to her. Renako, however, just wants to be friends, so they set up a contest where some days they’ll try being lovers, and other days just friends. If Mai wears her hair up, it’s a friends day, if it’s down, it’s a lovers day.

I like the premise, it’s silly and a little bit of wish fulfillment for those who want to imagine how the other side lives and date the most popular girl in school. I just wish the author understood consent. There is one particular chapter in this volume where Mai and Renako end up in a hotel room because of course they do, and of course they end up naked together as well. I would describe what Mai does to Renako at this point as sexual assault. If you (supposedly) love someone, you listen to them when they say no. Granted, Mai does apologise later and says she got carried away, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

From this point, feelings start to get a little more messy. Mai tries to put Renako out of her mind, and hosts a private party to find a new partner. After a confrontation with Satsuki (another member of the group who has the potential to be very interesting), Renako dashes to find Mai and they quite literally kiss and make up. I must applaud whoever came up with the pun “friends with Rena-fits” at this point, as that’s how their relationship is going to proceed into volume 2. Not quite friends, not quite lovers. I do wonder if the reason Mai likes Renako so much is that she treats her relatively normally and actually says no to her, when she’s spent her entire life getting what she wants as soon as she wants it.

A potentially much more interesting development is Renako and Ajisai’s relationship. Ajisai is another member of the friend group, described as “the class archangel” but there seems to be more to her than just that. She has siblings who she has to care for and it turns out she’s also into video games, so while Mai is away working in France, Renako invites Ajisai over to play games with her. Renako has a little bit of a crush on Ajisai and does tell her that, so I’m interested to see where that goes, although I’d be very surprised if she ends up with anyone other than Mai.

Overall, this book is more complicated that it first seems. What seems to be a very shallow, over the top, harem-ish premise actually has some interesting characters in there. Renako’s reaction to being assaulted is also surprisingly realistic, she blames herself for not being firm enough with her boundaries and feels bad for slapping Mai. Girl, you are not the problem here. I was heartened to see that the most popular comment on episode 3 of the anime on YouTube at the time of writing was “The word of the day is consent”. Maybe there’s hope for the internet after all.

Ratings:

Art – 7 I do enjoy Eku Takeshima’s art
Story – 6 This would have been a lot higher if there was no sexual assault.
Characters – 7 So far the side characters are more interesting than the main couple.
Service – 6 A few illustrations but nothing too indecent.
Yuri – 7 It gets better as it goes on.

Overall – 7 I just hope there’s no more sexual assault in the next volumes.





The Girl Who Wants To Be A Hero And The Girl Who Ought To Be A Hero

July 14th, 2025

A girl in a school uniform that shows her abdomen, runs towards us smiling, small fangs visible in her mouth, her arms wide, and black hair blowing in a breeze. Behind her a girl in a similar, more conservative version of the same uniform with long silver hair, looks at the girl in the foreground.At the beginning of 2024, I reviewed inori.-sensei’s Yuusha ni Naritai Shoujo To, Yuusha Narubeki Kanojo (勇者になりたい少女と、勇者になるべき彼女). Of it, I said, “Everything I want in a Dengeki Bunko read – a “light” novel in the broadest sense. It’s small, quickly paced, not entirely predictable and ends just where you want it to.” Now it is my pleasure to review this same novel as The Girl Who Wants To Be A Hero And The Girl Who Ought To Be A Hero, by inori., illustrated by Akamoku and published by Yen Press under the YenOn imprint. 

Demon girl Ruchika has come to the Hero Institute in order to become stronger. Daughter of the world’s greatest hero, Leone has spent her entire life training to be a Hero. At the Institute they will face hardships in training, but also bullying by teachers and students…and a system that almost seems designed to destroy them.

This story is fast-paced. inori.-sensei includes a lot of familiar themes about society within the narrative. Systemic inequity is something we’ve seen in all her work, and this book takes a moment to make some very sharp points about both bias and societal inequity in ways that are very clear and cogent. Laws against marriage equality are addressed from the perspective that it is weird to limit who can be with whom…as it is, in truth.

Non-conformity and getting out from under the weight of expectations is the main plot driver, one that I welcomed. This is clearly stated by Ruchika, both to Leone and to us, that should and must are simply not as important as want to her, and she is strong enough as a character to carry it off right to the very end. There are a number of plot points that are left hanging in case we do see a Volume 2, as I hope we will. This would hardly be the first time countries outside Japan drove one of inori-sensei’s series, while a Japanese publisher dithered.

As I said in my original review, Akamoku’s art illustrates the scene, but as is so typical in light novels, everyone looks much younger than the ages we must assume based on the descriptions. I am pleased to see the scenes illustrated over the usual static pin-up.

Yen has done a nice job with this. The bonus book cover from Melonbooks has become a folded-out two-sided poster, a nice touch. Yen doesn’t list credits beyond author, illustrator and the very readable translation by Geneveive Hill-Kamanishi. It was an interesting not to me that she also went with Ruchika and Leone and with Hero Institute for her translation choices, as I had struggled with those for my initial review and also chosen Ruchika and Leone. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

Overall, a fun read and with enough untied ends to offer an opportunity for a sequel, perhaps more.