By Hagure Metabo and masami. Released in Japan as “Buchigire Reijō wa Hōfuku wo Chikaimashita. Madōsho no Chikara de Sokoku wo Tataki Tsubushimasu” by HJ Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Rymane Tsouria. I’ve read quite a few bad books in my day. Some are so boring or annoying I don’t even finish them, hence they don’t get reviewed. Some are so hilariously bad I can do a “funny” review of how bad the book is. But it’s rare that I’ve come across a book so bad it makes me angry. In fact, ironically, it makes me livid, which is something that we almost never see fr ..read more

By Nozomu Mochitsuki and Gilse. Released in Japan as “Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Madeleine Willette. The cliffhanger ending to the last volume already told us that Bel had returned “from the dead”, so it’s not a surprise to see her on the cover, though it is a bit of a surprise to see her looking older. Mia is also stated to have grown, and for once the narrator, usually snarky, has to assure us that it’s height this time rather than the usual fat jokes. We are told that Mia is now sixteen, which is nice to hear, but also ..read more

SEAN: End of April, start of May, it’s all the same to me. Just one straggler from Yen On: Once Upon a Witch’s Death: The Tale of the One Thousand Tears of Joy (Aru Majo ga Shinu Made: Owari no Kotoba to Hajimari no Namida), a one-shot light novel. A witch apprentice learns she is cursed to die in one year unless she collects one thousand tears of joy. ASH: I really do appreciate one-shots, these days. Also, i get a kick out of the fact that the basic premise is essentially the opposite of Blade of the Immortal. SEAN: Tokyopop debuts a new series, Watch Dogs Tokyo. This Kurage Bunch series is ..read more

By Yu Okano and TAPIOCA. Released in Japan as “Tsuihō Kizoku wa Saikyō Skill “Seiō” de Henkyō kara Nariagaru: Haikyōsha ni Nintei Sareta Ore da kedo Cheat Skill de Mofumofu mo Seijo mo Nakama ni Shichaimashita” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alex Honton. Ugh. …fine, I guess I have to go into more detail. Last time I was unimpressed with the writing and hero but there were enough interesting ideas that I would read a second volume. It became rapidly apparent as I got about 30 pages into this new volume that this was a mistake, as the book writes o ..read more

By Hiromu and raemz. Released in Japan as “Chitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund. It does sometimes occur to me that my reviews are, of course, telling you my own opinions, which frequently do not match up with the opinions of other light novel fans. So let’s get this out of the way fast: I really loved this book, and was on the edge of my seat reading it. This is despite the fact that I can easily see about ten different reasons why it would piss off most readers who are not me. First of all, it’s 406 pages of nothing ..read more

By FUNA and Touzai. Released in Japan as “Rōgo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-Man-Mai no Kinka o Tamemasu” by K Lanove Books. Released in North America by Kodansha Books. Translated by Luke Hutton. (A reminder that the English Vol. 4 is the equivalent of the Japanese Vol. 5.) Folks, I’m gonna talk about it again. Just as I did with the last Potions volume. And MMAA as well. And, honestly, Kuma Bear, which is not by the same author but does the same thing and appeals to the same audience. What the hell is with all the child labor love in these books? Every series seems to bring a tragic tale of orphans ..read more

By Fuyu Aoki and Minori Aritani. Released in Japan as “Doinaka no Hakugai Reijо̄ wa О̄to Elite Kishi ni Dekiai Sareru” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Dawson Chen. Yes, as you can see from the cover art showing a wedding, this is the final volume in the series. (The imprint has yet to let a light novel series go beyond Book 3, so that’s also not a surprise.) Actually, lack of surprise is a feature of this entire book. Every single plot point in this book can be seen coming from at least ten pages away. That said, this is perfectly fine. You really don’t ..read more

By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell. Humor is always subjective, and what is funny to one person won’t be funny to someone else. So, as you can imagine, this review is even more my personal opinion than most of them are. This isn’t helped by this volume being the second short story volume, meaning that it almost by necessity consists of funny stories, as any drama needs to be saved for the main series. I I will note that my enjoyment of these stories was in inverse to how much Issue was ..read more

Blue Box, Vol. 9 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – This is still a sports-lite volume of the series, which is good news for the reader but very bad news for Hina, who desperately insists she does not need an answer to her confession but she’s gonna get one anyway. Blue Box is, at nine volumes, assured of being a Jump success story, so you’d expect the author to start extending plotlines. As such, I really appreciate it’s not done here. Taiki knows that he’s starting to see Hina as a girl rather than a friend, and her confession is just making him stress. So he has to be fair to Chinatsu and rejec ..read more

By Shinji Cobkubo and K Akagishi. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jake Humphrey. I had wondered in previous reviews why Sabikui Bisco wasn’t simply in Shonen Jump, given its sensibilities, its dialogue, and its homoeroticism, but I think after this volume I’ve figured it out. Jump is a title where, if the author said “hey, I’ve decided that for the next 26 weeks I want this series to be a samurai drama starring a bunch of cats”, editorial would say, “No, you will not be doing that”. But this isn’t a Jump manga, it’s a light novel series, a ..read more