A few years ago, I was approached by a relatively new publisher of Yuri webnovels, GL Bunko. They wanted to bring their books to the western audience. I took at look at their first title, GIRLS KINGDOM 1 & 2 (that is to say, the first two webnovels of the series, collected. I found the book to be humorous and imperfectly – but sincerely – translated. And I had some hope for the series. I have since read and reviewed a few other GL Bunko novels and likewise find them to be highly entertaining. ^_^ It was a pleasure, then to hear that J-Novel Club has picked up GL Bunko titles and is now offering us Girls Kingdom, Volume 1 as a collected light novel volume.

Let’s get the main questioned answered right away – yes, this book is fun and at times, funny.

Written by Nayo and illustrated by Shio Sakura (whose work you’ve seen in other GL Bunko titles, like A Lily Blooms in Another World,) Girls Kingdom is centered around some classic Yuri tropes – the private girl’s school for obscenely wealthy young ladies with no grasp of the real world (TM), maids and a main character who has lived under a rock and signed up for a school having never once looked at its home page, much less read the handbook. Within these tropes, the story is clever. At this particular school half the students are obscenely wealthy young ladies with no grasp of the real world(TM) and the other half are young ladies vying to become their maids.

Misaki is a student with straightened circumstances who wants to study at Amanotsuka Girl’s School because it is free. Why it is free is not interesting to her, so she ignores all the information she is given and arrives at the school, an uncarved block. An uncarved block who is late to the entrance ceremony and happen to be discovered by one of the most powerful students at the school, Amanotsuka Himeko. Himeko confirms that Misaki has no interest in being a maid and straightaway makes Misaki her maid. And, so, Misaki is thrust into the cuthroat world of competition to become ladies’ maids to obscenely wealthy young ladies with no grasp of the real world (TM).

The remainder of the story is…well, honestly it’s gobsmackingly silly with dollops of tiresome fanservice, but because it’s so irrepressibly silly, it’s easy to enjoy. A quality that has, so far been my experience with GL Bunko. As you may remember the other series I’m reading from them is Kunoichi Bettegumi Igarashi Satsuki, (くノ一別手組ー五十嵐五月) about a samurai bodyguard and the very-probably-a-vampire she serves. These are not novels one needs to analyze deeply. They are novels one ought to read without letting your brain get in the way. But if excessive discussion of underwear and random groping is a deal-killer for you, then you will want to avoid this. There’s are twin maids, and you know that never goes well. ^_^;

Absolutely going to give props to translator Philip Reuben, editor teiko and the entire J-Novel Club team for making sense of this novel while  keeping the loopiness of the story intact.

As I said in my initial review, a “climactic “battle” of table manners fill the final pages of the book. If you did not already know how to eat escargot when you begin this book, you will by the time you finish.” which ought to give you an idea of where you stand with this novel.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Vastly improved from the original version, if, again, heavy on the service
Story – 7 Even sillier than I remembered.
Characters – 8 Enjoyable. Honestly
Service – 7
Yuri – Erm….kind of hard to judge, as its mostly fanservice and “maid’s loyalty” kind of stuff, 3? 5? I dunno.

Overall – 7

My very sincere thanks to J-Novel Club for the review copy. I definitely look forward to Volume 2, which ought to arrive with spring.

Thanks also to my Okazu Patrons who voted for this to be the first review of 2021!