In the afterword, I'm not sure if that bit about the manga is a jab or sincere praise

@Eminent said in Earl and Fairy Vol. 1 Discussion!:

Is this a good series? There are 33 volumes, so there's certainly a lot of content.

I like the volumes released so far.

It's an older series (started 2004, so pretty ancient (: ) and it doesn't read much like modern light novels, or even modern romance light novels. Not much focus on the cuteness of the heroine, or how she feels embarrassed by whatever the male lead does, or any of the other staples. Not much fanservice either.

It reads a bit like a romance set in the world of old British detective stories, with two major deviations - one, that lord Edgar is much more of an Arsène Lupin or Irene Adler type of character rather than any sort of detective, and second, that Lydia, besides being the HolmesWatson of the duo, is also a specialist in the old Scottish (or sometimes other British) supernatural creatures, who turn out to be very real, and very fae.

The romance is of the kind that some people might bounce off. There's enough of something there for it to be a real relationship, except that as it turns out Edgar has had a very traumatic past and is used to approaching the world in a "manipulate them before they could manipulate you" manner, and can't get rid of that habit even when it gets in his way, which makes the progress of the romance very slow, with frequent steps back. So far I'm happy to report that Lydia doesn't respond well to seduction and manipulation as opposed to honest dealings (but there's enough of manipulation attempts there that it might drive some people away anyway).

So, there you have it. It's been an interesting read so far for me, but the romance is slow burn and some people might not like some aspects of it.

Maybe, just maybe, discussions concerning future volumes with numbers like "10" and "11" should happen in something other than the discussion topic for volume 1.

I'm really fond of the way the series blends supernatural mysteries with ordinary human concerns, such that one could never be quite sure when and how much is the work of the fae. This time it was even more so, with the setting and the story strongly reminiscent of detective stories of the era.

I was getting a little concerned about the romance side, with Edgar trying his hardest to make me dislike him for being manipulative, but by the end of the volume we again got to the part where those sorts of approaches just don't get him the real connection he so obviously desires, and he realizes that. But it's a wild ride, in every volume he manages to make me angry with him at least once, because he can't stop backsliding.

I was also glad to see more of Ermine, whose exit from the series in the first volume was far too hasty. It remains to be seen if she'll be as interesting a character as she originally was; she didn't exactly get a chance to shine in this volume.

@TheGrimLich said in Earl and Fairy Vol. 4 Discussion!:

Hmm... I wonder what will happen to Ulysses when the selkies get their skins back.

I seem to recall at least one story not ending well for the person who stole the skins...

The series doesn't really keep that close to the original stories; it's the first time I've heard of selkie skins being anything but, you know, skins.

@SomeOldGuy yes

@whyohwhy1 I belive it was in Sep that 1 site started selling .https://jpbookstore.com/products/the-greatest-magicmasters-retirement-plan-17 Unless it is a pre-order kind.
Also there are 2 colored ilustration already

We're at the end of another volume. Reading it cleared up a few things for me at least. I remember reading the manga, but it was messy and didn't explain enough (or anything at all really).

Is the series continuing? Been a while since volume 6 was completed.

@saidahgilbert said in I Could Never Be a Succubus! Vol. 1 Discussion!:

Did they tell the marquis that all those people were dreaming, that there was no attacker? Or did they offer up a scapegoat so Liz could go her merry way?

It's hard to imagine that Liz would have been able to return to her previous life as a noble after amnesia if anyone knew she had dormant succubus powers.

So, while I don't think we're told what Cain told the marquis, I imagine Cain kept Liz's secret. I'm guessing he informed the marquis that people were losing their vitality to a succubus, and the succubus had been defeated, and so the situation had been resolved.

@Daniel-Perez-Apreza-fymrbja said in Moon Blossom Asura Vol. 2 Discussion!:

any idea of when is the next update?

Volume 3 doesn't come out in Japan until January 10th, 2024, so probably some point after that.

@Jon-Mitchell said in The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects Vol. 1 Discussion!:

the 'creeper rule' (probably has other names but that's the one I know)=
age of younger partner must be greater than or equal to 1/2 the elder partner's age plus seven , any younger than that and the elder partner is being a creep

I love your "creeper rule"'s history. That it originally described that the ideal age of a bride was half the groom's age plus seven. But in modern times it's morphed into the opposite.

It isn't creepy or ick-inducing to me at all; my parents broke it.... because my mom was looking for an experienced older man with kids who would stay at home and raise their kids while she pursued her own career, lol. Rules are made to be broken, as long as you understand why they're rules.

In this case, Alna's hardly dependent on Diaz for his wealth or social status, and I can't imagine him being able to manipulate her with experience. Rather he's pretty dependent on her for anything other than dispensing violence and doing manual labor.

Silly, funny, hearwarming, and also silly. Takes the story in a lot of unexpected directions, with a lot more side characters than the first volume has. (Alas, almost no appearances from my favourite delivery person.) Main duo pretty overpowered, except when it comes to matter of love, where they're adorably awkward. It's still a very light entertainment but it's unexpectedly satisfying to read.

Did I mention it's often silly? There's not many stories where a seven years old girl being a top delinquent at an academy would be as unremarkable as it is here.

Better than a lot of romance in one aspect. Since Allen's employing, mentoring and protecting Charlotte, there's an imbalance to any potential relationship, and I love that the book stopped and spelled that out, on more than one opportunity, and that Allen seriously put his feelings aside until Charlotte herself mentioned she wouldn't mind. Kudos!

This was interesting. I hope it's a short series, maybe two or three books max. It wouldn't be as funny to me if it was longer than that.

This volume has some "first major arc ended, what now" vibes, but it's not a big drop. It still has a lot of chuckle-worthy moments, a cast full of rather eccentric personalities without getting one-note, and a pleasant atmosphere that's not quite slow life but not a full adventure mode either.

What always makes me happy is the way our cast could be overpowered without letting that become their personality. Sara in particular is ridiculous, but her motivations come from caring about others, both her close ones and people in general. And even though she could be the badassest hunter that ever badassed, she doesn't like killing so she doesn't. I really like her as a protagonist.

This volume ends with our cast having left the previous plot mostly behind, and somewhat aimless. It's not bad to have a lighter volume, but I hope the action and drama picks up a bit for the next part. There were seeds of it throughout the volume - the distant nobles plotting, the not-so-distant nobles being annoying and dangerous, the incompetent guildmaster - but a lot of it got left behind unresolved, without being obvious if it's going to be relevant ever again, so there could be a lot of foreshadowing, or a lot of filler, depending on where the next volume goes.

Favourite part: Sara's meeting with the mountain wolves was the best illustration I've seen in quite a while. Of course, it wouldn't be nearly as effective if the books didn't spend so much time setting it up...

Favourite quote: "Anyway, first you say I'm a child, then you say I'm just a girl, but as soon as you realize I'm worth something in a fight, you try to order me to do the impossible. That's what's so gross about you." - Sara, laying a verbal smackdown on a very deserving target

@Travis-Butler said in Knight's & Magic Vol. 2 Discussion!:

@endoftheline said in Knight's & Magic Vol. 2 Discussion!:

and I guess that also means students who enter the academy are effectively conscripted into a dual enrollment with his knight order.

I… don’t think so?

The way I read that part, it’s the current students who go into the knight order - the ones who already worked with him and built the knights. That was the point.

New students wouldn’t have that bond, so no reason to include them.

Yeah I think so too, no idea how big normal knight orders are, but if everyone in the school was conscripted, I don't think that would fit the definition of a small order.

Well, the 2nd one's out now and it's titled "Aftermath", as well as the series now being marked as completed. So, probably more of just a wrap-up volume for what came after the main events finished. I'll give it a read.

Can't be bothered going to each of their forum topics to make a comment but DRE series had a busy week so looks like we'll be getting Stuck in a Time Loop 3 (final) & Jeanette the Genius 2 soon as well, on top of Blade & Bastard 3 which we got here immediately.

This one kicks off with an intriguing situation. Viola's stuck in an engagement with a guy who's just short of being hostile to her, but who won't dissolve the engagement. When she gets knocked out in an accident, she realizes it's a chance! She's going to pretend she's amnesiac, remembering nothing and useless as a partner, to get their families to call off the engagement. Except that when her fiancé learns of her amnesia, he turns into a completely different person, and starts making up complete lies about what their relationship was like. Just what is going on?

However, this pretty promising opening gets buried under a pile of total blandness. Nothing really stands out - not the characters, not the situations, and not the resolution either. For instance, the heroine: I don't think we learn a single thing she's actually good at over the course of the book. We learn about stuff she's terrible at, like cooking, baking or embroidery, we see her do some hobbies like reading, but we never see her being actually capable at, well, anything. She doesn't have any job or a responsibility, she doesn't even go to tea parties or soirées. Beyond talking to her fiancé, talking about her fiancé, or thinking about her fiancé, she doesn't have anything in her life. "Cute" is probably the most specific positive quality anybody attributes to her in the whole book. So utterly bland.

By the way, I'm starting to suspect there must be some kind of rule to light novel romance that gets strictly enforced by the light novel police. What the rule most likely says is that anybody who understands a situation the protagonist doesn't must keep a total silence about it, for reasons. Only once the protagonist goes through all the work needed to figure out the situation for themselves are others allowed to reveal they actually knew all along. And that's how you get people letting their friends struggle through a decade of misunderstanding instead of, you know, dropping a hint or two.
Sigh.

The final volume has at last gotten a Japanese release date of January 2024.

When I started reading the first volume, I would never have guessed, but by now it's evolved into a full blown farce, everybody is an idiot and the titular villainess twice as much, and things are so out of hand that Yumiella's own guards have instructions to run away from her on sight so as not to give her ideas like powerlevelling them all up.

It's not absurdly overpowered in quite the same way as Misfit of Demon King Academy is, but I feel like it's the closest title out there. Villainess' own brand of absurd is less about breaking the laws of logic and nature, and more about Yumiella bringing her JRPG-thinking into situations where it doesn't apply, or at least doesn't help, and never managing to praise herself without contradicting herself in the very next sentence. She's causing only slightly less trouble than she solves, and describing her as a force of nature seems like something those around her would do a lot.

There's definitely not a lot of depth, and it consistently chooses jokes over, well, consistency. I'm not getting tired of it quite yet, but both the style and the characters are completely different from where the whole series started.

Favourite part: The great evil god Kugelschreiber (working title)