Content warning: This review will be discussing a book that deals with multiple companies that use AI, and it discusses AI throughout the book, usually in a positive way (though it does emphasize AI without humans making decisions is a disaster). Reader discretion is advised.

It’s always an event when a book gets licensed in a genre that no one really dabbles in much. We’ve seen a lot of bad companies, overworked office staff, and overtime from hell in light novels, but usually that’s as a setup to killing them off and setting them up in another world. This book is not going to do that, as it is very much interested in this world. It’s essentially a story of how you should not stay tied to a job that is destroying you, that effective communication can still be learned even years after school. and that you need to be careful about getting rid of the weirdo in the company because usually the weirdos are in companies for a very good reason.

Ai Sato (punny first name very much intended) gets to say the title as the first line of the novel. A new executive has taken over her company, goes to see the revolutionary new system that they’re famous for, and discovers that the woman who runs it is dressed in a sexy succubus bikini. With horns. She’s drowning her sorrows in an izakaya with melon soda (none of the main characters drink) when she’s spotted by her childhood friend Ken Suzuki, who’s running a startup programming school and thinks she’d be perfect for it. As it turns out, both of them have major flaws in their respective business personalities that are complemented by the other, and with two other employees they’re ready to take the world by storm. Unfortunately her old company is falling apart at the seams, and the CEO has decided it’s all her fault and he wants revenge.

This series, frankly, drips with idealism over realism, and if that bothers you it will probably taste like acid. That said, I did mostly enjoy it. It’s odd seeing a manic pixie dream girl sort from the narrative perspective of the dream girl herself, though the book is pretty good about showing us her flaws and that, under all the tech genius and overly peppy gung-ho attitude is a socially awkward young woman who is nearing 30 but is very much a child at heart. There’s suggestion of a romance between her and the childhood friend, but I get the feeling that’s all it’s ever going to be – this isn’t a romcom, it’s a workplace handbook. (Also, one of their “students” is a young woman who blatantly has a crush on Ai, and is not ashamed to show it.) I did also enjoy seeing the long, lingering interludes showing the CEO of Ai’s old company slide from “I’m here to streamline things and there is a girl in a succubus bikini in my office” to “BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” evil cackling over the course of the book.

If you’re a corporate drone, or an engineer, this is probably right up your alley. If not, I don’t think Ai actually does enough cosplay throughout to justify it. Also, naming the leads Ai Sato and Ken Suzuki is like naming your leads John Smith and Jane Jones.

Occasionally there are series where I’ll buy it for one reason, usually because it’s advertised as something that intrigues me, only to end up enjoying the book for a completely different reason. This was one of those. The book seems to have been pitched (and judging by that cover, it was pitched in Japan that way as well) as being very much “for fans of The Eminence in Shadow”. There’s a guy prone to making over the top statements, there’s a society of evil made up of extremely loyal servants (though not all of them are women in this one), and there’s lots of fun comedy. But there’s another book that exists behind this book, the prequel that the author thankfully never wrote. And that book certainly is not a comedy. And it drives everything that happens in this book, and makes it a lot more interesting.

Back in middle school, an entire class full of students was summoned to another world by God to defeat the Demon King, each of them gaining special cool powers. At the end of this battle, the demon king is dead, but so are all the classmates, except one, whose special power gains strength whenever an ally dies. He’s returned to Japan, a month after he left, and after police questioning and hospitalization, he’s left to pick up his shattered life. Three years later he’s about to graduate high school when suddenly he’s summoned again. It turns out the “secret society of evil” he created while he was there, made up of various eccentrics, is causing havoc in his absence, and he has to return to clean it up. Two problems. One, he hates remembering his chuuni phase and wants nothing to do with all this edgelord stuff. Two, it’s almost 200 years later!

As noted, while there is humor in this it’s not the reason to read it. It’s mostly “ha ha, it’s funny as he’s horrified by his middle school dramatics being written in stone”. But there are several better reasons. First of all, Shio has suffered genuine trauma from his isekai stunt, and has lingering PTSD. He also feels guilt because, albeit unintentionally, he abandoned his secret society allies for two hundred years… and now it turns out someone is committing genuinely evil acts in its name, as opposed to merely using it to look cool which actually doing good. Most of all, thanks to his actions at the start of the book, ANOTHER class of students has been isekai’d to this world… to stop him. And they may not survive either.

So yeah, the dark, tragic edges in this series interested me a lot more than the funny parts. It was good, I’ll read another.

MICHELLE: I understood that reference!

SEAN: Airship has print volumes for Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord 7, Reborn as a Space Mercenary 15, and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 13.

And for early digital there is The Misdeeds of an Extremely Arrogant Villain Aristocrat 3 and Roll Over and Die 6.

Cross Infinite World has The Drab Princess, the Black Cat, and the Satisfying Break-up 6 and Welcome to Olivia’s Magic Jewelers 3 (the final volume).

Crossed Hearts (which I admit has been releasing print-only manhwa I have been missing) has a manga debut, You’re Way Too Cheeky, Chigaya-kun! (Namaiki Sugiru yo, Chigaya-kun). This runs in Ganma!. Why is this hot guy only in a teasing mood around her? Also, archery.

MICHELLE: Probably this is the sort of thing I’d read and think “needs more archery.”

ASH: Always more archery. Always.

ANNA: I’m not opposed to more archery!

SEAN: Dark Horse Manga has a 2nd omnibus volume of Innocent Rouge.

ASH: I haven’t read any of Innocent Rouge yet, but I have been reading Innocent. If nothing else, the artwork is incredibly striking.

SEAN: And retailers say Denpa Books has the 4th volume of Nana & Kaoru: Black Label.

ASH: Maybe, maybe not. Hard to tell with Denpa.

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us Rebel Hero: I Will Use My Skills to Control the Scheming Princess’s Heart and Body 3 and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 9.

A debut from Hanashi Media: The Disfavored Prince is a Genius Alchemist: All I Want is to Spoil My Little Siblings (Fuguu Ouji wa Tensai Renkinjutsushi: Koutei Nante Gara ja Nai node Teimai wo Kawaigaritai) stars a guy reincarnated as the first prince, but politics force him to step aside. Now he’s going to be an amazing alchemist… who ends up influencing the politics far more than he would have if he’d stayed prince.

ASH: I like alchemists.

SEAN: They also have Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy 16.

J-Novel Club has their last debut for a while (they’re saving their new licenses for AX). The Reincarnated Mastermind: Sundering Fate with Magic Swords (Monogatari no Kuromaku ni Tensei Shite ~Shinka Suru Maken to Game Chishiki de Subete o Nejifuseru~) stars a guy who is delighted to clear the game he’s playing before anyone else… then finds himself reincarnated in the game as the villain. Dammit, he’s just going to live a slow life and avoid the cast, then. (cough) Good luck with that, dude.

ASH: He’ll need it.

SEAN: Other light novels from JNC: The Apothecary Diaries 16, My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex 13, Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden 9, and Repeated Vice: I Refuse to Be Important Enough to Die 3.

ASH: Yay, Apothecary Diaries!

SEAN: Other manga from JNC: My Tiny Senpai 5, Sometimes Even Reality Is a Lie! 7, and Zero Damage Sword Saint 3.

Kodansha Manga has… three print debuts? Maybe? Omega of the Divine (Aijitsu to Hanayome) is an omegaverse manga from Gateau that was announced for print and digital, but the print seems to be AWOL at the moment, so here’s the digital. A sick boy is chosen as the sacrifice to the local god, but the god may be nicer than suspected.

That’s Not Love (Koi ja Nee kara) is a seinen manga from Morning Two. A middle-aged woman goes to see a sculpture exhibit by her old teacher, and finds one sculpture looks a lot like her old middle-school friend… right down to the scarring. Was something happening in school she didn’t know about?

MICHELLE: Intriguing!

ASH: Oh, ho!

ANNA: Hmmmm.

SEAN: Wicked Spot is a yuri manga from CandleA, from the creator of Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko. A witch discovers the powerful world of social media, and ends up crossing paths with a young woman who’s not a fan of witches.

Also in print: GALAXIAS 2, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 17, Honeko Akabane’s Bodyguards 9, Kaijin Fugeki: Kindled Spirits 3, Kei X Yaku: Bound By Law 12, Omega Megaera 4, and Shangri-La Frontier 22.

And for digital we have I Left My A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! 7, Saint Young Men 21, and Shangri-La Frontier 25.

MICHELLE: I had entirely forgotten that Saint Young Men exists.

ASH: I had not! (But am still behind in my reading…)

ANNA: I am glad it does exist!

SEAN: Crybaby Mermaid : Illustrated Memoir of Yumi Uotani is a new series from Mahjong Pros, assuming it doesn’t get bumped like Koizumi did. It’s a biography of the emotional ups and downs of a woman who plays professional mahjong.

MICHELLE: Neat!

ASH: I’ll happily read it.

ANNA: Sounds cool!

SEAN: Getter Robo High is Getter Robo, mahjong style.

ASH: Honestly, I’d read that, too.

SEAN: And yes, they also have Reform with No Wasted Draws: The Legend of Koizumi, which I discussed last month. It got bumped.

ASH: This is the one I’m really here for.

SEAN: One Peace Books gives us I Was Sold Dirt Cheap, but My Power Level Is off the Charts 5, Nukozuke! 6, and the 26th The Rising of the Shield Hero manga.

There’s a Korean novel from Seven Seas not in the Airship line. Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea stars a dentist hired to work at an undersea research facility… but when he arrives he finds everything starting to get creepy.

And for danmei, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi finishes its deluxe hardcover release with Vol. 5.

Two manga debuts. My Cat’s Aura is Strong Today (Kyou mo Neko-sama no Atsu ga Tsuyoi) is a cat manga, which means technically, like all cat manga, it’s josei. Have you ever wondered if cats are really sarcastic to you in their heads? Wonder no more.

ASH: I’m assuming they are, but I guess I’ll find out!

ANNA: I assume that they may be sarcastic, but are also all perfect angels.

SEAN: The Scum Laugh is a full-color seinen series (I can’t find magazine info on either of these, they’re both Kadokawa). Have you ever wondered about the thoughts of beastmen as they’re about to rip you to shreds? Wonder no more.

ASH: Full-color we don’t see very often.

Also from Seven Seas: Breakfast with My Two-Tailed Cat 4, Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord 7, Even Dogs Go to Other Worlds 6, Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 13, Gap Papa: Daddy at Work and at Home 6, Ichi the Killer Omnibus 4, Kitayama and Minamiya 2, Soara and the House of Monsters 6, and You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! 6.

Tokyopop debuts I Picked Up a No-Good, Useless Prince (Danzaisareta Dame Ouji, Hiroimashita), a Comic Gardo title based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel. A spoiled young prince finally pisses off too many people, and is reduced to being a commoner. Now he’s met a young woman who adores royal drama and fangirls him.

It also gives us Boyfriend, Sometimes Girlfriend 3 and In So Deep, It’s Love Already 2.

Viz Media has Cosmos 5 and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 7–Steel Ball Run 7.

ASH: Excellent.

SEAN: And we’re done!… no, we’re not. Here’s Yen Press and its 11 billion titles.

ASH: It feels like it’s been a while.

The Adventure of Black Cat Nyango (Kuroneko Nyango no Bouken) is a shonen title from Dragon Age. A young boy (kitten?) is trying to join a famous adventuring party… but they’re away, so instead he goes into research. This looks cute.

ASH: It does.

SEAN: Every Adventure Needs a Weapon!: The Blacksmith Life of Rudy the Obsessed (Bouken ni wa, Buki ga Hitsuyou da! Kodawari Rudy no Kajiya Gurashi) stars a young woman (Rudy) who is obsessed with weapons, and testing weapons. It runs in Monthly Action.

ASH: That seems like something I would read.

SEAN: Four in Love is a Taiwanese comic anthology, in full color, showing the agonies of love.

Kuro: The Complete Edition collects all three volumes of this monster/horror title from Tonari no Young Jump. A cute girl loves playing with her adorable cat Kuro. To everyone else, the cat is a nightmarish beast.

ASH: I love the cat/monster design of Kuro.

SEAN: Love from the Tip of the Tongue (Shitasaki kara Koi) is a … sigh… Cakeverse title about a young man who is hiding his forkness until he meets an irresistible cake… I’m sorry, I can deal with Omegaverse, but I draw a line here. It’s BL, OK? It runs in Comic Marginal &h.

MICHELLE: Today I learned Cakeverse exists.

ASH: I was likewise unaware.

ANNA: I wish to go back in time when I was unaware.

SEAN: Monster Eater: A Delicious in Dungeon Board Game is what it sounds like.

ASH: I want this to be good!

On the Boundary’s Road: The Works of Suzuka Morino is also what it sounds like, a one-shot from Harta featuring an author known for beast and human manga.

Redeem: Only One Forever (Redeem: Tatta Hitotsu no Eien, Redeem) is a BL manhwa. A man who sees his older lover die in an accident finds himself ten years in the past… but getting his lover to fall for him again may be difficult.

ASH: I’m intrigued.

SEAN: Sailor Zombie: Complete Omnibus is a massive 900-page volume collecting this series from Monthly Hero’s. High school girls try to survive in a world overrun by zombies and also by assholes. Guess who’s the greater danger.

ASH: A giant omnibus can pose a legitimate threat.

SEAN: Shino & Ren (Shino to Ren) is a yuri series – again, can’t find the magazine, but it’s Kadokawa. Loud brash tomboy. Quiet, reserved girly girl. They’re in love. And very attracted to each other.

ASH: Awww.

SEAN: Toxy Noxy Foresty Forest (Doku Doku Mori Mori) is another Monthly Hero’s series. It’s a violent gory horror manga… only they’re all mushrooms.

ASH: I will admit to being curious.

Void: No. Nine (Void: No. Nine – 9-banme no Utsuro) is a seinen manga from Comic Beam. Scavengers search the post-apocalyptic underground depths, hoping to find treasure, but more likely to get killed.

ASH: That is a thing that happens sometimes.

SEAN: In addition to those… TWELVE debuts, we also have Assorted Entanglements 9, Bocchi the Rock! Comic Anthology 3, Bride of the Barrier Master 6, The Girl Past the Filters 2, Handyman Saitou in Another World 9, Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin 8, I Cannot Reach You 9, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 16, Immortality and Punishment 2, Isekai Samurai 3, Kowloon Generic Romance 11, Magical Midlifer 2, Monster-Colored Island 2, Nights with a Cat 7, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 28, Scenes from Awajima 2, So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin? 10, Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale 4, Takahashi from the Bike Shop 4, This Monster Wants to Eat Me 6, Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood 5, The World’s Strongest Rearguard 9, and Yotsuba&! 16 (the first volume since 2021).

MICHELLE: Some good stuff here! (But mostly Scenes from Awajima.)

ASH: Indeed!

SEAN: So clearly I saved the big surprise for the very end. Are you getting Yotsuba&…?

MICHELLE: I guess I should. I haven’t read any since volume 14 in 2018!

ANNA: Wow, what a big surprise!

I worried this would be something of a disappointment because the author was clearly being told to end it with the fourth book. That turns out to be both true and false. it’s false as I think this contains some of the best writing in the series, with some great comedy that is also kind of horrifying. It also, like a good penultimate volume, starts giving us a lot of answers, particularly in regards to Bullshit-chan and Tougetsu. The problem, of course, is that it’s not a penultimate volume, it’s a final volume. As such, it’s pretty much a failure, as it does not resolve any of its important plots, it just reveals the answer sheet. It’s a good answer sheet! But the ending just made me sigh and go “well, this is what happens sometimes, and I suppose we should be glad the author wasn’t signed to Futabasha.” I do recommend that fans of the series read this last book. But temper your expectations.

After a confrontation that makes Bullshit-chan uncomfortable, she decides to finally come clean to Tougetsu about her past and her powers… or at least she says she is, but mostly she just takes Tougetsu out on a date and dresses her in a cat hoodie… which looks far more like fetish gear on Tougetsu than on Bullshit-chan. Unfortunately, as this is going on, Mud Hat has decided he’s going to have a giant festival with all the faction’s core members letting loose at last… which will probably destroy the city, but can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs! What’s worse, they’ve kidnapped Tougetsu… and then one of the faction kidnaps her again, having found the World’s Most Perfect pre-reader. Can Tougetsu’s harem weaponize itself to do something about this? And will Bullshit-chan admit her past, or will it all just be given as flashbacks to the reader instead?

I’ve talked about the issues with this book, so let me talk about what I really liked. The scene between Nara and Seiryoin in the car, where they talk about their dreams, is possibly my favorite scene in the series, if only as it’s hilarious. That said, if looked at objectively, these dreams are also horrific, which at least Seiryoin can admit. I also do really love that Mud Hat is such an utterly unlikable asshole here that even his collaborator and bodyguard lets Bullshit-chan have one free shot to almost break his jaw, because he’s just that much of a dick. Unfortunately, despite being warned that Tougetsu can amass a yuri harem to change the world, and also giving hints as to how the series would have ended had it gone on, this ends where it began, with Tougetsu and Bullshit-chan back in the apartment, and nothing much changed except the reader now knows their backstories.

So a solid series with a few big flaws, only some of which are due to the publisher. I still quite enjoyed it.

So let’s get the bad news out of the way, and it’s not really a spoiler. This volume came out in Japan on the same day as the 11th and final volume did, and they are clearly meant to be read as a pair – the author even says so in the afterword, which at least Yen translates properly. Unfortunately, that’s not Yen’s policy. On the bright side, the 11th and final volume *is* on the schedule, so we know vaguely when it will be coming out – six months from now. So you are reading half a book, and the ending is very abrupt. On the bright side, we’re pretty much in the home stretch, and as such the author does not have to faff around and delay things until the second half of the book as they normally do. This is a very solid volume, possibly the best to date, and folks who do choose to read it now and then wait will be quite satisfied. Lots of folks are cool, even the ones who don’t think they will be.

After the events of the last book, Menou is back to normal, Akari is back to normal, and Momo is cranky. Which is to say, she’s as normal as ever. Heck, even Ashuna, after making me worry for the cliffhanger of the last book, is pretty much back to normal. Which is good, as they’ll need everyone at their best to try to deal with both Hakua and Pandæmonium. It’s time to plan. Unfortunately, after the events of the last few books, Akari is no longer in control of time, but she can do a few things. Momo, of course, can kick ass. Sahara… exists. And then there’s Maya, who has the perfect plan – sacrifice herself to get rid of Pandæmonium. It *is* a sensible plan if you support the needs of the many philosophy, but after watching Menou do the same thing recently, I don’t think it’s where we want to go. They do have a complicated plan, which will send Pandæmonium back to Japan… leaving them to fight Hakua. Who decides to show Akari her tragic backstory.

I’ve made no secret of my favorite character in this series, and I was absolutely over the moon with how she was handled here. Sahara is grumpy and dour and wants to run away, and that doesn’t change. She also hates herself, as she’s made explicitly clear in this volume. But there is one thing that has changed, and that’s what makes her – finally – take a stand and fight. As for Menou and Akari, they’re both clearly still in love, much to Momo’s displeasure, but Hakua has just as much a right to Akari, seeing as they knew each other in Japan. Hakua’s backstory has a lot of stuff we suspected or could guess – and there’s some really disturbing stuff that does right back to the gimmick this series became known for – but it also shows how these powers everyone has are too easily corruptible. Gotta do something about that.

But we gotta wait, even if in Japan could could just reach for the next book. So goes life. This is a top-notch entry in the series, though.

Since it’s been over a year and a half since the last volume of this series, a series where I had a tendency to forget about the plot and characters already. I decided to review my old reviews to see if they jogged any memories. And they did! As with the bulk of this series, the plot involves Octavia stubbornly trying to fix her broken country and also score a man, which she is currently doing by having her bodyguard and obvious future love interest pose as her fake boyfriend. Unfortunately, every time she tries to break the story, the story keeps coming back. It turns out that I forgot all about the Tanya the Evil aspect of this series… she’s fighting with a pissed-off God! Who threw her into this world of BL tropes and wanted to watch her suffer. Job well done, God. That said, Octavia’s still got a few more tricks up her sleeve, despite more and more hot men getting mind controlled.

At last, Octavia has an official fake boyfriend. Sure, it’s Klifford, which is not at all what she planned, but it’s working out, and he seems strangely OK with it! Honestly, perhaps a little too OK with it. That said, there are other issues. Prince Yarsh is now in the castle as a royal guest and official suspicious person. Rust Byrne, who Octavia had been desperately avoiding, is not only at the castle but is now her second bodyguard (as Klifford is also her lover, he’s thought to not be objective enough). Alec has been desperately avoiding HER. Derek has also been avoiding her, and doesn’t even seem to like her anymore. And the Council of Feudal Lords is coming up. In the original game there was a drink spiked with aphrodisiac. But Octavia has already dealt with that plot, so surely it won’t happen anyway. Right?

There are quite a few good scenes here, so it’s been worth the wait. As the author notes in an afterword, several parts of the book are from POVs other than Octavia. The biggest being Edgar’s, as we finally get the full missing backstory that explains why he’s married to Enoch but seems to despise him. I like how his rage can’t really go to far as he knows this was his sister’s choice, and also how his revenge is also hampered by sympathy with what’s been going on with the king lately. We get more close examination of how utterly screwed up a world run on BL really is, and how there’s a lot more straight people in it than you’d expect. And we get a few more sexy scenes between Octavia and Klifford. The last of which may be aphrodisiac-induced, but come on, if we have to wait for Octavia to actually get a clue about her own feelings, we’ll be waiting as long as readers are going to be waiting for Book 8.

Which isn’t out in Japan yet, so here we go again. See you in 2028. Good, though, isn’t it?

KATE: Any week that includes a new installment of Hirayasumi and a re-issue of Pink is a good one in my book.

MICHELLE: I’m glad to see Pink reissued (somehow, I missed it the first time around), but my heart belongs to the second installment of Our Dining Table: Seconds, Please!.

ANNA: Pink is my pick of the week, or pink of the week as well! Great to see such an iconic manga get reissued.

ASH: I am likewise very glad to see Pink being released again. But as for debuts, Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey is the release I’m most curious about, mostly for the same reasons mentioned by Sean.

I have found that Chiramune is one of those series that glides along for a while till the author has a sudden explosive burst of inspiration where everything gets really good for the rest of that scene, and then it goes back to normal. This can sometimes be frustrating, especially if you’re reading it for the ongoing plot, but it does make those scenes instantly memorable in your head. Which is good given how this does not exactly release every three months or so. Here we get two such scenes, one short and one long. The short is the second conversation between Yuzuki and Kureha, where we start to see exactly why Kureha is doing things in this particular reckless way. The second is the final scene in Saku’s apartment, where Yuzuki drops all pretense of reserve and straight up tries to seduce him into sleeping with her. If you know Saku, you can guess how well this goes. But as a scene, it’s dynamite. The series works best in sprints.

The culture festival is almost upon us. While the core cast work on their cheer routine, Yuzuki also has a heart-to-heart with Kureha, and realizes that she’s going to have to stop trying to be “Yuzuki Nanase” and remove her limiters. This means suddenly she’s blowing away everyone else on the basketball court… including a dispirited Haru. This means that, when the Snow White play they’re putting on turns out to be literally the author writing the love triangle between Saku, Yuuko and Yuzuki into the plot – and having Saku improvise an ending – she wows everyone with her amazing acting skills. And it means that, when she gets the opportunity to cook dinner once more for Saku at his apartment, she puts on her best underwear and pins him to the couch. Unfortunately, talking to Kureha also gave her Kureha’s desperation.

I liked Kureha better here… or at least understand her more. Everyone’s annoyed at her for upsetting the status quo, but to her it feels like she’s started a race where everyone else is on the last lap. When you literally can’t catch up, sterner measures are needed. I also really loved the conversation between Yua and Asuka, where they both reflect on their breakdowns from the last book and both admit it’s their fault rather than Kureha’s. This book has a lot less Saku narration than usual, which makes sense as the series is getting into the second half and needing to resolve things, but also as Saku is discovering that trying to figure out who he loves and trying to figure out what he wants to do in the future involve the same things… and he’s reluctant to do anything – STILL – as he knows how much pain it will cause. Hence the final scene, which manages to be very painful and also pretty erotic.

This is the first of a two-parter, and I’m not sure when Book 9 will drop, but Chiramune fans should be quite pleased, especially if they think Yuzuki is best girl. Though the book is also hinting we should enjoy that while it lasts, like Yuuko.

I think I have come to the conclusion that Reki Kawahara, much like Ryohgo Narita, has too many balls in the air. The last time a Progressive volume came out here was in 2022. It is now 2026. That is bad, mostly as I can remember literally nothing about the last book other than “Kirito is a vampire now”. And I have bad news for you, 10 isn’t out in Japan, as he’s also writing the main series and Accel World, as well as supervising all those Alternative spinoffs, only some of which have been licensed over here. As such, it sure would be a shame if this volume got off to a slow start and really dragged through the first half, as I’m already a bit grumpy that it’s been so long and I have to try to tell dark elves alike that I haven’t seen in a while. Heck, even the plot regresses back to the fourth floor. That said, as with many books, the second half really picks up, and has some surprises.

Kirito and Asuna, having met up with Kizmel again, are trying to get back the keys stolen by the fallen elves. This ends up, as I noted, taking them back to the fourth floor, where they have a happy reunion with their boat, as well as with the dark elf they broke out of prison with. He wants to have a chat with the leader of the Dark Elves, and asks the three of them to get him out of the castle so they can talk. This requires Kirito using his new vampire powers (which, by the way, means this entire volume happens at night) to tame a Kelpie so they can ride it without the castle guards realizing their viscount has flown the coop. When they finally engineer the meeting, it ends up leading to a duel, but more importantly, backstory that’s actually interesting.

Not gonna lie, I worried I would have nothing to talk about when I reviewed this through the first hundred pages or so. Then Yofilis reveals his tragic backstory and my jaw dropped. Not just because it once again shows off how well coded these “AI” NPCs are (and I mean, almost everything Kawahara has ever written has involved AI becoming human in some way), or even how Kirito and Asuna picking the dark elf rather than the forest elf may have messed up the plot to the point where the frontliners are all in danger of being killed, but mostly because said tragic backstory revolves around Yofilis being gay, and how that messes with the way this game treats elves and aging. Essentially Elves age as they gain roles, such as “parent, grandparent, knight captain”, though obviously I’m simplifying. And the fallen elves specifically aren’t aging after “falling”. So we get an odd dovetailing of how a gay character might be coded in a fantasy like this one, as well as the fallout of same, which involves a literal metaphor for sinning and falling from grace. It’s… interesting.

And Kirito and Asuna are adorable and everyone except them agrees they’re a couple and should just kiss already. Rest assured, it still has that. Next time we resolve another cliffhanger, though a more happy one this time. Will it be another four years? Maybe.

Sometimes I pick a book to read based on vibe, and only afterwards do I realize the actual creative team behind it. This is definitely one of those books. I got it as I like the mini-genre of “alchemist in a remote land a la the Atelier series”, and it felt cute. And then I finished it, and it turns out it’s freaking Morita AGAIN, with I believe his fourth LN series licensed over here, not counting spinoffs. And then I realized how an awful lot of this felt familiar if you’ve read Killing Slimes for 300 Years, especially the main character picking up two fighting monster girls who bond with her. That said, Killing Slimes for 300 Years is a very static series, with little to no growth or change. This one seems to know it can’t be that. Because when we meet Freya, well, she’s kind of horrible, and getting exiled to the middle of nowhere to learn to be a better person is what she richly needs.

Freya Corvidge is an orphan girl who ends up at a premier academy for alchemists, and ends up with the highest grades of her year. We don’t see any of that. We start with her graduation speech, where she talks about finding a cushy job where she can be lazy. And when other graduates accidentally summon a massive wolf monster, she steals supplies without asking to paralyze it and make it invisible so it’s not killed. All this means that, far from a cushy job in the capital, she’s being treated like the bottom of the class, and sent to a remote island where she should reflect on her actions. When she gets there, while the locals are very friendly, her alchemist shop is so overgrown it will take her weeks to uncover it. Then she meets the island’s god… who seems very familiar.

Freya is a hoot, frankly. Her obnoxious tendencies are to a certain degree a front for the fact that she’s a nerd who had no friends and was bullied a bit at school. Unlike Killing Slimes, her character journey over the course of the book, where she grows to like island life and discovers the joy (and embarrassment) of doing good things that others praise her for, is the point, and it’s handled well. I also liked Lilil, the wolf god who ends up becoming her apprentice and tsukkomi, there to bring Freya back to reality when need be. Given the author, it’s not surprising that there’s a bit of yuri in this title, though thankfully it’s not punctuated with reassurances that everyone is straight like their other series. There’s also a lot of “this is how we do alchemy” stuff, which is the norm in these sorts of titles, and unlike, say, Management of a Novice Alchemist, Freya is talented but also inexperienced and is not going to be OP right off the bat.

So yeah, this is a lot of fun, and I will cut the author a bit of slack and cheerfully read the second in the series, which will no doubt add another cute girl somewhere.