It feels like every review I whine about this slow burn romance being too slow, but, I mean, look at it. Indeed, the author is now anticipating us whining, as we not only get to see Volf once again having people ask if he’s in love and essentially saying “what’s that? Food? Can you eat it?”, but we also see Dahlia realize that she might actually be in love with Volf and practically have a trauma response to the idea. Which makes sense, given what happened with Tobias, who I’m amazed has not been quietly murdered by now by the rest of the cast. But that’s OK, as we also have a lot of other things going on to make sure that we stop paying attention to the lack of romance… or indeed, the lack of barony, as we’re still ALMOST there but not quite, and having looked at the synopsis of the Japanese Vol. 14, I suspect I will be saying the exact same thing next time. Anyway, what DOES happen in this book?

After an amusing start where Dahlia and company try to figure out how to stop killer pigeons nibbling on their vital green slimes, we get down to what has now become a running theme of this series: Dahlia trying to create a cool magic sword for Volf. Volf clearly wants a sword that shoots lasers or somesuch, but instead he gets something that increases speed and is very durable. Indeed, perhaps a bit TOO durable, as after seeing the sword in action Dahlia is asked to visit the Magical Toolmaking Department to explain why this sword has slaughtered twenty huge monsters and still doesn’t need to be sharpened? While there, she meets a duke with a comically evil face, and also discovers that her accident as a child where she dissolved her own hands by touching black slime may have more consequences than just mental trauma. Finally, she and Volf go to meet Guido’s wife Rosaria, who has wanted to see Dahlia… and that also goes off the rails, thanks to Volf wearing his special disguise glasses.

It’s been apparent for a while, but one thing I really like about this series is that Dahlia is not simply doing things like inventing mayonnaise or soy sauce like the usual isekai potatoes, but is essentially creating aides for people who are disabled. We get that really clearly here with Rosaria, who it turns out has facial blindness – she can see, say, a portrait of her husband, but can’t see his face as more than a blur. This is why Volf wearing the glasses that mask his appearance was such a shock – to her, this means she now CAN see Volf’s face. I also enjoyed seeing the magical tool creator who assumes that Dahlia is this smug powerful woman who comes up with amazing ideas every breakfast, and as he watches her struggle to create another pair of fairy glasses – which requires her to hallucinate a terrible nightmare – the creator realizes the reason Dahlia’s stuff is so great is because she’s not got a political bone in her body, and is not thinking of gain at all – she’s just there to help. This is also, of course, why she’s in danger, and I worry that she may run into the equivalent of a stranger offering candy from a van before long.

Next time we’ll get the investiture, right? Surely there’s nothing that can possibly put that off even longer… wait, I forgot what series I’m reading. In any case, still great.

MICHELLE: It’s Halloween in my heart.

ANNA: It is also Halloween in my heart!

ASH: One does not just limit Halloween to the end of October.

SEAN: There are no print releases for Airship next week. There is an Only Digital debut. Reborn as an Aristocratic Scoundrel, I Broke the Game and Mastered Magic Beyond Limits! (Taida na Akujoku Kizoku ni Tensei Shita Ore, Scenario o Bukkowashitara Kikakugai no Maryoku de Saikyou ni Natta) is a story we’ve seen a lot recently. He’s a villain mook. He wants to stop being a villain mook. He gets OP.

Also only digital, we see Fluffy Café in Another World 2.

And in early digital, we get The Devil Princess 5.

Alien Books debuts Badducks, a manga from Web Action about a cyborg, a desperate lady, and a baby, on the run.

ASH: Now that’s an interesting and somewhat unexpected combo!

SEAN: AlphaPolis has a print release for A Gatherer’s Adventure in Isekai 3, May I Ask for One Final Thing? 3, and Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time 3.

Ghost Ship gives us Lilia’s Pregnancy Spells the World’s End 3.

There’s a light novel debut from Hanashi Media. The Capital’s One-Man Golem Master Got Kicked Out!? Now Free, I’m Traveling the World with My Beautiful Heroine Disciples to Build the Ultimate Golem! Don’t Ask Me to Come Back. I’m Done! (Outo Wan’ope Golem Master. Masaka no Tsuihou!? ~Jiyuu no Mi ni Natta node Deshi no Bijin Yuusha-tachi to Issho ni Saikyou Golem Tsukurimasu. Modotte Koi to Iwarete mo Mou Shiran!~). The title is the plot.

ASH: Considering the length of the title, I would think so!

SEAN: Ink Pop debuts I Shall Master This Family, a webtoon about a noble girl who dies after her family comes to ruin, then wakes up as a child and tries to avoid that fate. I’ve heard this sort of story before somewhere…

ASH: It does seem familiar, doesn’t it.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a pile of print. We see Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook 7, Black Summoner 8, Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill Omnibus 7, Infinite Dendrogram (manga) Omnibus 7, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World (manga) 8, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It in For Me! 11, My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 12, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles (manga) 12, and Tearmoon Empire (manga) 9.

ASH: I need to catch up with the various Bookworm and Tearmoon iterations.

SEAN: Two debuts for JNC digitally, both light novels. Genius in the Library: This Bookish Rookie Will Save the Day! (Toshokan no Tensai Shoujo ~Honzuki no Shinjin Kanri wa Boudai na Chishiki de Kuni o Sukuimasu!~) stars a girl who wants nothing more than to sit in a dark library reading books all day. Sadly, she lives in a world with monster attacks! And bureaucracy! Can she defeat both those things?

ANNA: I would also like to sit in a dark library reading books all day, yet my job involves a lot of bureaucracy. Maybe I need to work in the monster attacks somehow.

ASH: Saaaaaame.

SEAN: God Sleeps in Seafoam (Utakata ni Kami wa Madoromu) stars a guy who (try to contain your shock) is born without the cool power everyone in his world has, is thrown out of his family, but discovers a really AWESOME power and finds a new life. It is apparently a bit more serious than I made it sound.

Other light novels: The Amazing Village Creator: Slow Living with the Village Building Cheat Skill 5, The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place 6, Haibara’s Teenage New Game+ 10, Infinite Dendrogram SP 3, and Zero Damage Sword Saint: I Enrolled in a Magic School and Wound Up in a Contract with the Demon Queen 5.

And one manga: A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 11.

Kana debuts Hideout, a one-volume horror manga from Big Comic Spirits. A man and his wife, grieving the loss of their son, go on a journey to find a fabled waterfall. Unfortunately, well, horror manga.

ASH: I should probably read it, then.

SEAN: Kana also has a 4th City Hunter omnibus.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

ANNA: Nice.

ASH: Always.

SEAN: No debuts for Kodansha Manga, but they do have Gachiakuta Dumpster Season 1 Manga Box Set, which has the first 10 volumes and a tote bag.

ASH: Love a good tote bag.

SEAN: Other print volumes: Drawing From Your Memory 3, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity 15, Honey Bee & Lemon Balm sweet moment (the third in the series), How to Treat a Lady Knight Right 6, Kirio Fan Club 4, Last Samurai 6, Love, That’s an Understatement 8, Shimazaki in the Land of Peace 10, To Your Eternity 25 (the final volume), and Vinland Saga 15 (also the final volume, it got bumped, though digital is out this week).

ASH: I will take Vinland Saga whenever I can get it. And To Your Eternity, too, for that matter.

SEAN: And digitally we have Am I Actually the Strongest? 20, Because I, the True Saint, was Banished, that Country is Done For! 12, and Koigakubo-kun Stole My First Time 10.

Last Gasp has a new edition of Barefoot Gen, 572 pages, with new lettering and some new color pages. You don’t need me to tell you to read Barefoot Gen.

ASH: I’m not sure how many editions this makes now, but I’m glad to see this series remain available.

SEAN: One Peace Books has a manga debut. The Delinquent Girl Beside Me Suddenly Dyed Her Hair Black (Tonari no Seki no Yankee Shimizu-san ga Kami wo Kuroku Somete Kita) is based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, and ran in Shonen Ace. A guy mentions he likes refined black-haired girls. The next day, the blonde delinquent who sits next to him shows up with black hair, and acting refined. What could it be? He’s a high school guy, so he’ll never figure it out, trust me.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Seven Seas has one danmei release, the 2nd and final volume of Golden Terrace.

They have two manga debuts. Are You a Landmine, Chihara-san? (Jirai Nan desu ka? Chihara-san) runs in Ganma!, and has an anime coming soon. A guy finds his new seatmate is a girl with long black hair, goth loli fashion, and a tendency to stare. Is she one of those obsessive weirdos? As it turns out, she’s one of those sweet weirdos.

Living with My Old Cat (Jiji Neko Kurashi) is a cat manga about life with an older cat. (Sometimes I got nothin’.)

MICHELLE: Heh.

ASH: But you’ve got cat manga!

SEAN: They also have The Babe at My Back Has Her Eye on Me. I’m Done For. 2, The Dragon Knight’s Beloved 10, Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 14, It Takes More Than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love 7, The Kingdoms of Ruin 13, Nagahama to Be, or Not to Be: The Second Voyage (or, as normal people would say, 2), and This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 20.

Square Enix Manga has Assassin & Cinderella 4, The Emperor’s Caretaker 7, My Favorite VTuber Is Scary IRL 3, and My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World! 27.

SuBLime gives us Black or White 13, Forest of the Rabbits 2 (the final volume), and May I Have a Taste? 3.

Titan Manga debuts Resident Evil: Death Island, a manga adaptation of the CG film. It ran in Comic Hu.

Tokyopop debuts another yuri webtoon. She Is Still Cute Today stars a top student who is rumored to be in love with the #1 boy in class. To stop this, she says she’s in love with the bottom ranked student. Who’s a girl. And was listening to all this. And is now following her around…

Vassalord Deluxe Edition, meanwhile, is exactly what it sounds like, a deluxe hardcover version of the dark BL series.

ASH: Now that’s a blast from the past! This series is somewhat absurd, but I enjoyed what was previously released, so I am pleased by this. (Maybe it means we’ll see the rest of the series translated, too?)

SEAN: Uncivilized Books debut Fire!, a classic shoujo manga from the 1960s that ran in Weekly Seventeen. Aaron Browning is an Ohio teenager in juvie who meets a delinquent who has big music talent. This 900-page book collects all four volumes of his rise and fall. He’s apparently based on Scott Walker. Oh, there’s also an essay on Pink Floyd in here. The manga won an award. Everything about this screams “buy me now”.

MICHELLE: Or else the sun ain’t gonna shine any more!

SEAN: Yes, make it easy on yourself!

ANNA: Well, this sounds amazing.

ASH: Yup. I preorderd this as soon as I learned it was licensed.

SEAN: Viz Media has My Hero Academia: Ultra Artworks, a hardcover artbook dedicated to the popular series.

We also see Beyblade X 7, Case Closed 100, Chainsaw Man 22, Firefly Wedding 8, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Seen 3, Pokémon: Scarlet & Violet 6, Rainbows After Storms 12, Splatoon 3: Splatlands 7, and Yaiba: Samurai Legend 6.

Three debuts for Yen On. Buying a Classmate Once a Week: Our Time Together and the Five-Thousand-Yen Excuse (Shuu ni Ichido Classmate o Kau Hanashi ~Futari no Jikan, Iiwake no Gosen En~) is a yuri light novel about a high school girl who pays her classmate to do things like go get juice, etc… then decides to make the requests more risque. If you liked Adachi and Shimamura but thought their personalities were too normal, this is for you. (BEEP sarcasm BEEP)

See You at That Site of Grace After Work (Shigoto ga Owareba, Ano Shukufuku de) is a one-shot video game tie-in… sort of. A guy who is non-communicative with his co-workers and would rather play games finds his life changing when a young woman asks him to help her get good in Elden Ring. Not a romance, apparently, but a “isn’t Elden Ring great!” sort of book. Note Yen Press releases the Elden Ring manga.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: Your Castle’s Little Helper: Please Feed Me, I’ll Work! (Anata no Oshiro no Kobito-san ~Gohan Kudasai, Hatarakimasu ~) stars a starving young girl who suddenly finds she remembers her life as a Japanese woman. She tries to stay alive doing odd jobs, and lucky for her she’s in a “isn’t this lovable orphan adorable?” series.

Also from Yen On: Agents of the Four Seasons 7, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian 9.5, Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture 7, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 18, Even a Replica Can Fall in Love 5, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End -Prelude– 2, How to Eat Life 3, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria 15, King’s Proposal 8, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 15, Witch’s Can’t Be Collared 3, and You Can Have My Back 5.

And Yen Press have one book, a debut. Isshiki-san Wants to Know About Love (Isshiki-san wa Koi wo Shiritai) is an ecchi manga from Shonen Ace. (If you don’t know what ecchi means, ask your father.) A cop finds herself very flustered around her colleague, and decides to date him to figure out what this whole love thing really is. This is getting an anime soon.

No, it’s still not Halloween yet. What are you buying?

I always tend to have the same pattern when I read a new volume of Earl and Fairy. I start off a bit reluctant, remembering the slow pacing and the fact that Lydia always seems perpetually angry and Edgar has a tendency to always make things worse. I think to myself, “if it weren’t for the fact that I’m the only reader, I would drop this”. Then as the book goes along, it gets more exciting and the thriller aspects take over, and I am reminded once again why I do keep going and why I like it so much: the romance is meh, but the supernatural thriller is great. This book actually manages to improve on the romance a bit as well, as Lydia has admitted her feelings for Edgar, and he is deliberately trying not to mack on other women. Unfortunately, as we will see, both of those things combine to once again make everything terrible for our still not married couple.

Lydia is trying to figure out what to get Edgar as an engagement present, given that he can buy anything he wants. After shopping with Lotta (been a while since we’ve seen her), she goes home and is accosted by a young Scottish man who insists that they need to get married to save the clan. Turns out the short story regarding Lydia’s mom, from the previous volume, is more relevant than expected: the village she left is suffering, and they all think marrying Lydia will solve the problem. Unfortunately, there’s also someone else who wants to marry Lydia – no, not Edgar, although yes, him too. A trow kidnaps her, Lotta, Raven, Nico, and the Scottish guy and says that Lydia will, in fact, be marrying him. Meanwhile, Edgar is still dealing with having the Prince’s memories, and the fact that every problem lately has one obvious solution: access the Prince’s memories and turn more evil.

So I got my wish of Lydia and Edgar growing and changing, but I did not get my wish that this means the entire book won’t be about romantic conflict. Lydia still has huge piles of self-loathing, and while she trusts Edgar now she worries about the depth of his love – especially when, for the plot reasons above, she has to disguise herself as another woman and have Edgar intuitively realize it’s her. Unfortunately for her, reality is not quite as kind, and Edgar, for once trying to be a good fiancee, just finds her suspicious. Much as it makes me uncomfortable, I can’t deny its effectiveness. There’s even a dollop of humor in these otherwise mostly serious books, as Raven learns what it means to forgive someone, and applies it in very funny ways. Oh Raven, one day you will be a real live boy.

All this plus an Ermine cameo! This series is down to twice a year, so I expect we’ll get Book 14 in the spring. But I still really do love it.

MICHELLE: I am in a similar boat. However, I am genuinely interested in Byakko Senkei, however much I have failed to read any of it so far, so I will go with that, this week.

ANNA: I’m a volume or two behind with Byakko Senkei, but for sure that’s a highlight for me this week.

SEAN: The new anime season of The Apothecary Diaries has made me want even more, so this week I’m going to go with the spinoff manga The Apothecary Diaries: Xiaolan’s Story, which will hopefully be fluffy and adorable like its title character.

ASH: My brain is too full of words these days, but still seems happy to look at pretty things, so my pick this week goes to Visions 2024__Illustrators Book (even if it’s a little like living in the past).

It can sometimes be hard with these villainess books that are on the lighter end of the scale, such as this one, for me to wholeheartedly recommend a big, dumb, goofy heroine. Frequently when I ask “gosh, I wonder what in her life led her to being as fun to read as this”, the answer is inevitably “a lifetime of abuse from her family”, and that’s the case here as well. And yet I want to write about Avril anyway, as she’s simply a joy to read. The author’s other big series, Formerly the Fallen Daughter of the Duke, has certain similarities to this one, especially with the obnoxious younger sister who threatens to throw the book off its axis. But that heroine was nice but dull. Our heroine here has a perfect photographic memory and nothing else going for her, and is the sort of person who will speak her own thoughts out loud, then remind herself she should not be doing that.

Avril Allingham has had a rough life. Her mother died when she was young, and her father remarried. And her new stepsister looks really suspiciously just like her. Avril has a photographic memory, which you’d think would be praiseworthy but her family finds it creepy. They use her as a servant. She never goes out or really interacts with others. She *does* have servants who support her, but that’s about it. Meanwhile, Corina, her younger stepsister who looks a lot like Avril, is going out to parties and seducing young men. Using Avril’s name. As such, when an engagement is inevitably broken due to Corina’s actions, it’s Avril who has to pay the price, getting married off to the horrible old lech the Duke of Lanchester. Only, on arriving there, she finds he’s quite young and handsome. Oh well, no worries. She’s out of the house, and can now live her own life. Provided she maintains her cover as Avril, the hussy who seduces men, of course. But that should be easy!

Avril is a wonderful example of “dumbass (affectionate)”. She’ll happily eat stale bread and half-spoiled food because it’s what she ate back home. She’s kind to all the servants, and covers for them when they (very briefly) try to bully her. She’ll help her new husband with managing his territory, and a young noble child who doesn’t have his sheet music, thanks to her perfect recall. And yet every time she does this, she reminds herself she’s supposed to be evil and tries to act like a bad person. I cannot begin to tell you how cute this is. Everyone agrees with me as well, including the noblewoman whose fiancee Corina bonked to start this whole plot in the first place. (Alexandra is great too. She can crush apples with her bare hands.) They would all be perfectly happy if Avril simply admitted she’s covering for her evil sister and settle down with her fiancee, who falls for her almost instantly. But they don’t have the heart. She’s trying so hard to be a villainess.

For some reason (anime soon?), the second volume of this is out in less than a month’s time. I won’t complain. This was a lot of fun.

I decided to go with the lack of a “Volume 1” in the title. The book seems very much finished, with no real sequel hook in sight, and the cover art does not have a 1 on it. On the other hand, the credits say Vol. 1, and Dre Novels are known for releasing 2-3 volume series, not standalones. If it does get more, and I decide to read it, I’ll edit the review. As for this volume, it was good! Definitely more on the serious end of the Disgraced Noble Lady genre, the bad guys are very bad, but they do at least get interiority, which is more than I can say for a lot of series of this kind. As for the main couple, their adorable and relatively innocent romance is meant to be the light relief (and the justification for the Heart imprint) – you want to see these two succeed, because frankly, the alternative is absolutely dreadful.

The first chapter is called “The Queen Is Run Through By Her Beloved”, and it’s not lying. Etoile has already dealt with the death of her father, a weak and conciliatory king, and an ongoing war against another country that they are losing. Now her fiance Isar, the Knight Commander, has announced they’re going to surrender, he’s been sleeping with and is marrying the saint Posenia, and what’s more, he’s going to kill Etoile. And then he does, running her through with a sword just like the title suggests. Another knight, Reigh, who has essentially been her only friend and ally, discovers this and uses forbidden magic to kill himself and throw Etoile back in time five years. Now she’s given an opportunity to avoid her fate… but Isar and Posenia have already been turning everyone against her for a while now. Can she change their opinions and win more allies? And what about Reigh?

The author also wrote The Villainess Is Dead! Long Live the Empress!, which I liked but wasn’t wild about. This is a step up, especially if it sticks to being a single book. Etoile is absolutely not interested in trying to hide the fact that she’s become a new person overnight, and she absolutely will take advantage of future memories and training to her her way in public. This is because she really does have a LONG way to go – no one trusts her or listens to her except for Reigh. This genre tends to have time-traveled noble ladies either be silly or serious, and while this doesn’t hit the heights of I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!, it’s definitely serious, and has a high body count. I did very much like the POV sections from Isar and Posenia. I know better than to expect sympathetic villains in this genre by now, but at least they gain a dimension by letting us see inside their nasty little heads. Great final art of their end as well.

For those who like their noble ladies with a bit of bite to them.

ASH: It’s good to have something that can be relied upon.

SEAN: Yen Press has some stragglers still. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Chapter 5: The City of Water and the Ode on Heroes (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu: Dai-5 Shou – Mizu no Miyako to Eiyuu no Uta) is the start of the 5th arc in the series. It runs in Comic Alive+.

There’s also Visions 2024__Illustrators Book. This is the annual Pixiv Collective artbook, filled with gorgeous stuff.

ASH: Oh, that does look lovely.

SEAN: No new series from Viz Media, but we do see Boruto: Two Blue Vortex 6, The Bugle Call: Song of War 9, Dandadan 21, The Demon Prince of Momochi House: Succession 3 (the final volume), Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki 5, Ichi the Witch 5, Kill Blue 9, Marriage Toxin 15, Phantom Busters 5, and Shinobi Undercover 3.

MICHELLE: Somehow, there is suddenly quite a backlog of Byakko Senki for me to delve into!

ANNA: Oh wow, me too! That’s the best kind of backlog.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts three titles. The Lion Dances With a Loved One (Shishi no Odoriko) is a BL oneshot from Equal. A man was betrayed and sold to a brothel. And now he’s become the favorite of a rude beastman customer!

ASH: And here I was hoping for something about competitive lion dance.

SEAN: Sanctuary Priestess: I’ll Live in Peace by Feigning Incompetence! (Shiniki no Miko: Munou no Furi wo Shite, Kyou mo Heiwa ni Sugoshimasu), an online manga series from CMOA Comics. A priestess in training is shunned by her family for being inadequate… but she’s hiding her too powerful talents!

ASH: Not a bad idea if you want to be left alone, I guess?

SEAN: Unnie, I Like You! is a yuri webtoon series about a girl with memories of her past life who discovers her past love is teaching university… and has no memory of her!

They’ve also got Merry Witches’ Life: The Three Widows of Berlebagille 4, Monster and Ghost 3, and Yuri Espoir 5.

Titan Manga has the 2nd 3-in-1 omnibus of Aoashi.

MICHELLE: Already pre-ordered!

ASH: Very nice.

SEAN: Steamship has a 3rd and final volume of His Sensual Whisper: The Voice That Sets Me On Fire.

Square Enix Manga debuts The Apothecary Diaries: Xiaolan’s Story (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Gaiden: Xiaolan Kaisouroku). What is Maomao’s story like from the perspective of her bestie who’s never around when the important stuff happens?

ASH: Hahaha! Good to see more of The Apothecary Diaries.

SEAN: Seven Seas has some danmei. There’s Something Wrong with the Chief: Du Zhu You Bing 4 (the final volume) and The White Cat’s Divine Scratching Post 3 (the final volume).

Two debuts from Seven Seas. Reborn as an Aristocratic Scoundrel, I Broke the Game and Mastered Magic Beyond Limits! (Taida na Akujoku Kizoku ni Tensei shita Ore, Scenario wo Bukkowashitara Kikakugai no Maryoku de Saikyou ni Natta) is a manga based on a light novel out… next week from Seven Seas. It runs in Dra Dra Flat ♭. It’s a typical Villain book. He’s reincarnated as a bad guy. Tries to avoid his inglorious death by being super powerful.

Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami (Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami) runs in BL Screamo, a magazine title I will never get tired of. It also has an anime AND a live-action series. A hot guy is uninterested in his frumpy co-worker… till they have to share a room for a business trip and he reveals the stud within.

ASH: Oh, my!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System 3-4, Grim Night Tales 3, Kase-san and Yamada 5, Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary 6, Kemono Jihen 22, Kitayama and Minamiya 3, The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru 12, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today 12, Monster Cats 4, My Deer Friend Nokotan 8, and Yokai Cats 11.

Kodansha’s sole print debut had its digital out a while ago. My Journey to Her (Boku ga Watashi ni Naru Tame ni) is a complete in one volume series that ran in Weekly Morning. It’s a memoir of Yuna receiving a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and the journey to getting gender-affirming surgery that Yuna, with her family and friends, goes through.

ASH: Definitely curious about this one now it’s in print.

SEAN: OK, technically this is new as well. Blue Lock Full Color Selection contains seven chapters, from various points in the series, in full color.

ASH: That’s an interesting approach.

SEAN: Other print releases: The Magnificent Bastard 4, MF Ghost 8, the 16th and final volume of Peach Boy Riverside, Secondhand Sisters 3, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 23, the 15th and final volume of Vinland Saga, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 22.

ANNA: Oh, I need to get caught up on Vinland Saga too.

ASH: It is so very good and I’m so very glad all of it made it into English.

SEAN: And digitally we get How to Grill Our Love 22 and Giant Killing 59.

MICHELLE: Obligatory yays for Iruma and Giant Killing.

ASH: Indeed!

SEAN: No debuts for JNC after all the Vol. 1s in September. For light novels we see Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools 13, Earl and Fairy 13, Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want! 13, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 28.

And for manga we get Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character?! 8, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 13, and The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 8.

Ghost Ship has two debuts. Even the Student Council Has Its Holes! (Seitokai ni mo Ana wa Aru!) is a Weekly Shonen Magazine title Kodansha Manga doesn’t want to touch, so here it is with Ghost Ship. It also has an anime. A guy who thinks joining the student council will be easy realizes the other members are all weirdos. This sounds a LOT like Seitokai Yakuindomo, to be honest, another Shonen Magazine title that got an anime.

ASH: That title is rather suggestive if taken a certain way… Which I’m assuming is intentional, being a Ghost Ship release.

SEAN: Harem Camp! also has an anime, and runs in Comic Goichi. A guy camping out runs into a bunch of drunk women, and they all have fun in their tent. Then he finds out he’s their new high school teacher.

ASH: Uh-oh.

SEAN: They also have a 19th volume of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You.

Dark Horse Manga has a 2nd volume of The Credits Roll into the Sea.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to pick this series up.

SEAN: Airship debuts The Neverending Winter, the Land of Broken Dreams (Owaranai Fuyu, Kowareta Yume no Kuni), the 4th in the The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes collection.

Also in print for Airship: I’m the Heroic Knight of an Intergalactic Empire! 5, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 16, and Venus Mission: I Was an Assassin-for-Hire Who Died, Now I’m Hunting Heroes in Another World 2.

They also have early digital for Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 11, The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside By My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom 7, and Witch and Mercenary 7.

Someone left the manga out in the rain. What are you reading?

We’ve seen in this series that Nina tends to lack a sense of self, or rather that her sense of self is “maid” and nothing else. Certainly she has what amount to magical maid superpowers, which only she and her mentor seem to possess. But the question is, why does she have to be a maid? Why can she not use all of her various talents for something else? The most interesting scene in this book has merchant and yuri spoiler Firth showing Nina around a country that believes in equality to such an extent that the idea of servants is anathema to them. We see Nina use her maid superpowers as sort of a consultant, seeing how workers do things and then making them better and more efficient. You briefly think “maybe Nina could be a bureaucrat sort? Does she NEED to be a maid?”. And then she has a brief nervous breakdown, and you remember what this series is.

After a third volume that stayed in one place and told one story, we’re back to Maid & Co. traveling from city to city, and we’re also back to this functionally being a collection of four long short stories. In the first, they come to a city always rebuilding itself, and Astrid is fascinated by a complex water supply machine. They then hear a rumor of a lupalune arrested for poaching, and (since they always try to find any info on Tien’s parents at all) they try to investigate and get around a police chief who tries to do as little as possible to rock the boat. After this, they’re discovered by Myriad (the magic sage from the previous book), who wants to recruit Emily but is OK with recruiting the rest of them as well, and they try to take care of a new dungeon that’s pouring out undead. Finally, they arrive in the town of equality I mentioned in the previous paragraph, and Nina’s faith is shaken once again – as is that of the Queen, who discovers that when everyone’s equal it’s fine to treat the Queen like shit.

Firth appears throughout this book as well. He’s quit his family merchant company, determined to start a new company revolving around Astrid and Nina, even if they don’t really want to. He’s nice and sensible enough, but I was amused that the series literally points out the issue with him. When he’s traveling with Maid & Co., and they have to get an inn or food or what have you, it looks like it’s him and his women. It lessens the four of them. This doesn’t really happen with Myriad, who is also interested in recruiting them for their cool powers but also gives off strong “do not come near me” vibes to everyone around him, so it’s mostly Firth that we want to go away. And, to be fair, he does at the end of the book. As for Nina, I’m glad she got her groove back, and was able to help the Queen, but I am wondering if she is ever going to make it to her mentor, as Book 5 also appears to involve the journey, not the destination.

The 9th volume of this series, just announced in Japan, has big “final volume cover” vibes, so we might have an endpoint. In any case, if you love maids, this is still a must read.

There is a running gag throughout this book where a character is screaming at the top of their lungs in the face of Lettie, the titular wicked lady, and she tells them “TOO LOUD!”. That’s sort of how I felt about the book. It’s a comedy, you see, and it makes sure you know that on every page. There aren’t any straight men here – or rather, because there aren’t, Lettie is frequently forced to be the straight man, which is annoying as it’s her own weird quirks that are supposed to be what this series is about. Her conceit is that she does wonderful things for everyone in her land while pretending that it’s all due to her selfish evilness, but we never really get a backstory about how she came to that idea, and it honestly reads, as many of the newest light novels read, like the author noticed a trend and decided to do a book with that trend. And, well, this has 4+ volumes, so I guess it worked?

Lettie Ungaria is a wicked, evil villainess. She’ll tell you so herself, as she walks through her fancy mansion, announcing to her strangely devoted and grateful servants that she will work them to the bone (for 8 hours, after which they get free time, and of course weekends off). She’s horrible! She buys slaves from a slave trader (who turn out to be the first prince and his loyal army, fleeing from a revolution). She’s wicked! She walks through her city denigrating passersby as she tells them about the potential skin cancer and dental issues that they really should get looked at. Sure, OK, she’s yet another sixteen-year-old who looks ten, but can’t have everything. Unfortunately, everyone keeps calling her really sweet and kind, and there’s a rumor she’s even nicknamed a saint! What’s a wicked lady to do?

So, aside from Lettie being forced to be the least eccentric person in this book about her eccentricities, what else annoyed me? I’m never going to like the pervert guy character, even if you do make him super powerful as well. The prince’s emotional reserve bordering on stoicism is meant to tie into a tragic backstory but, again, looks like the author just wanted that type. The revolution itself gets a brief look-in and it’s the only part of the book that’s not “wacky” – which is a problem because that means it’s a wacky comedy with a scene where a villain decapitates multiple women and talks the new King into murdering his vassals and engineering wars. Clearly we’re going to see more of him later, but since he only shows up in that one scene, it’s just off-putting. And while I do think Lettie’s excuses for handing out money like it’s candy are meant to be seen as flimsy, we still don’t have the backstory to make that work, so it just looks halfhearted.

While Livid Lady made me livid, Wicked Lady just makes me sad. Where are the villainesses of yesteryear?

MICHELLE: Yeah, it looks doofy and charming and maybe a bit of brain balm? I’m in.

ANNA: Vegetable Sandwich does look fun, but I have to say I’m probably most intrigued by Happiness Theories, so that’s going to be my pick.

ASH: Likewise! Somehow, I hadn’t previously heard anything about Happiness Theories, but was thrilled to discover that Mari Yamazaki was being translated by Frederik L. Schodt; I immediately added the book to my must-read list.