Katarina's ability to absorb dark magic came in handy.

@LightningLeaf In this series the term "win" has so many nuances. Katerina "won" Fortune Lover by avoiding all of the bad ends. I'm expecting a similar outcome for Fortune Lover 2. If you actually think this massive reverse harem is going to end with a single person, I fear you are greatly mistaken. Jeord might be the one that puts a ring on her finger, but I don't see that slowing anybody down in the slightest.

The prospect of Jeord winning the succession battle though. Would the country survive Queen Katerina?

It seems like the Japanese volume 13 is coming out in September:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4758095825

Volume 10 (Premium Edition): 2 Bonus Short Stories & Textless Cover Illustrations Mary Sophia

@terrence
Potential harem, my Great-Aunt Fanny!
Heck, she'd gonna sweep the field of all the male and female prospects from the game!
I'm only in part 8 now, but it looks bloody obvious to me!

Dunno about the intellect of the Katerina from the otome game, but our Katerina sure doesn't have the personality of the game version.

She's honest, open, hasn't an ounce of subterfuge, if she says something you can trust that it's what she really feels...if she thinks something is her fault she'll humble herself before you as she apologizes. And she honestly believes everyone has strengths and weaknesses.
In short, if she says something good about you, believe it.
If she ever grows out of being a knucklehead everyone had better worry because of the alliances she's forming in-kingdom!
And she hasn't meet anyone from outside the kingdom yet...

ETA:
Having now completed Volume 1...
Called it!
Gotta say I loved all the POV sections for the other characters.

Volume 9 (Premium Edition): A Bonus Short Story & Textless Color Illustrations Untitled

@stardf29 said in Bakarina Vol. 8 Discussion!:

So I went ahead and caught myself up on Bakarina and I'm still rather enjoying it. Certainly not one of my favorite series or anything, but it's got plenty of fun and silliness overall. Here's hoping volume 9 starts up soon!

I think you have perfectly encapsulated my views on the series.

Hi everyone! I've updated the versions on our site to include some new edits, including fixing all the typos you've pointed out. Thank you so much for sticking with this series and staying alongside Katarina in her journey!

That explanation works too! Although it's a lot less dramatic than mine.
I just thought it might be a mistake because it wasn't even commented on in the story.

In any case, I'm probably just overanalysing things because I went straight from Bookworm to this...

@unsynchedcheese said in Bakarina magic speculation (contains spoilers):

We're told many times that obtaining Dark Magic requires the sacrifice of a human life, though. Which brings up even more speculation about whether Original Catarina counts as a sacrifice...

Not necessarily.... Raphael didn't sacrifice anyone. The mage who gave him Sirius's memories did. And that mage is no longer around, yet Raphael still has those powers. That implies that while a sacrifice is required to initially create the powers, they can apparently be passed to another person, perhaps by using the memory transfer magic.

@catstorm well I know that. Political marriages have very little to do with love. I am amused by the fact that the only one who wants to be king is so deeply in love with his fianceé, though. It warms my heart seeing Selena being treasured by Selena. The fact that he's too busy flirting with her to go ahead with the wedding, thus leaving Geord unable to proceed with his plans places laughter in my heart.

@unsynchedcheese @holatuwol Sorry, forgot to post an update here, but that should have been fixed and reuploaded. If you bought the premium version, you just need to download it again; if you're still getting the bad page, you might need to clear your browser cache and try again.

If you bought it on Amazon, you might need to talk to their support to get the new version; Amazon by default doesn't push out updates to customers.

Started reading this one.

Part 1:

Katarina and Scott Pilgrim: Bread makes you fat?

So biggest takeaway on this part, Katarina mentions Romeo and Juliet in casual conversation, which catches the interest of Mary and Keith slightly. She explains it's a tragedy. I don't think they have much time before the play, but maybe they'll perform that in the distant future with her direction?

I'm surprised Katarina didn't think Mary and Keith's denial of a relationship was too swift, like a cover-up, and think it confirmed her suspicions, however exhausting that would have been for the reader, and also surprised Mary and Keith didn't take her "I will side with you when the time comes" to mean she would take them both in a harem marriage. Again, any time misunderstandings can be cleared up is good.

I wonder if Katarina knows the recipes for her favorite foods? I forget if she ever brought that up before, but she should really try to create those dishes here.

Edit: Finished the final part, 10.

Ok little volume. We get introduced to Joerd's Bros and their fiancees.

We get more potential harem members (how big is this harem gonna get? I get the feeling the bigger it gets, the less likely we'll get a true harem ending, but either a Joerd ending or a "Friends" ending).

Maria really took a backseat this volume it felt like despite ending strong in the last one, though I suppose Katarina did show interest in being with her by promising to try and join that magical organization after they finish school. Oh, and she made good baked sweets that Katarina gets to gloat about helping sell. All hail marketing queen, villainess actress pro, and future Sherlock, Katarina Claes.

Theory crafting time?

So I'm going back to reread volume 2 at least before going onto 3. So 2 introduces the theme of dark magic, the ability to manipulate ones emotions, consciousness, and memories.

One theory would be that the original Katarina Claes wasn't that villainous, just jealous, but was manipulated by Sirius to do those really evil things to try and knock out a Light Magic user in Maria.

Also, this could help explain how Katarina's memories are combined with her Japanese self, as well as how Sophia is able to share consciousness with Acchan. But I don't know how far they're going to go into explaining how or why the Reincarnation works (like, did god create the video game? Did god make their afterlife a simulation of a game, or did this world already exist?). I feel like we're not supposed to think hard about any of this, that you just accept that it is, but eh. >_>

I had another theory that got shot down which was the fifth secret route wasn't a ship with the student council president, but instead with Katarina herself after resolving his dark magic issue that had a hold on her. But nope, they say in no uncertain terms he is the final route.

Volume 4(Premium Edition): Bonus Manga & Bonus Illustrations