What a payoff... had me grinning all the way!

Its nice to see this kind of pure romance in this age of overblown cat and mouse games.

Just finished the series on catchup pretty close to the deadline. It was highly enjoyable, and it surprised me how little of the novels the manga adapted.

I'm so glad the author didn't decide to add some drama by making Ryuto bad at sex snd unable to satisfy Runa. Now we seem to be headed towards a cohabitation arc, that should be much better that what we got in these last volumes.
It wasn't just Ryuto who lost his virginity, Nisshi and Nicole too, and it went really bad. I can't see anything other than a breakup in their future with the way she's acting now.

@Devon The J-Novel club calendar for this volume says it was supposed to release this morning, but on the series page it says the volume isn't supposed to release until 2025-08-04. The volume is not showing up on my user page yet. I'm not sure which page(s) are wrong, but something should be corrected.

I thought this volume would be focused on Iria, instead we got a milf, a hot girl and a loli added as new characters. Sadly, it seems only the loli is going to become a regular in the near future.
Feels like the author decided to downplay the revenge part of the story, or maybe he thought that at this point only people from Onigashima are a challenge for Sora and it's no use wasting time on small fries. Also no more slaves, maybe he didn't want the protagonist to look bad and needed him to become more virtuous before being paired with Sela. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next volume.

@Jackos71 said in The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 12 Discussion!:

@karasutengu Wasn't it Nekokurage who was charged with tax evasion?

Yup. Minoji Kurata was the one that went on childcare leave last year.

Nekokurage's The Apothecary Diaries

Nekokurage Plans to Continue Drawing The Apothecary Diaries Manga After Tax Evasion Sentence

Minoji Kurata's The Apothecary Diaries: Maomao's Notes from the Inner Palace

Minoji Kurata's The Apothecary Diaries Manga Adaptation Returns from Hiatus on July 19

I'm tempted to say that the yandere hero is not a real threat anymore...but I'm not sure how she'll react once she realizes that all the girls around Jack are on love with him.
I'm also convinced that at some point the ancient ruins will become relevant to the story and Jack will be forced to get control of them.
Let's see if we'll get more volumes to see how the story goes on.

It was heavier than expected. The end of volume gave us hope with Raul reunited with his cousin (who I'm assuming will join his harem at some point) but an heavy price was paid. It's definitely not the story of an overpowered protagonist who always has success at everything.

what we know:
love interests are sentai colored
Flora - heroine = pink
Mikhail - prince = blue
Vladforen - dragon king (hidden route) = black
N (can't remember) - Demonic horse house guy - Red
??? other colors, probably green, yellow, silver, maybe purple.
One of those is probably Alexi's estranged childhood friend.

since the prince is the blue one, there is no Alexi (or Ekaterina) route.
With Rina steeling the prince and dragon routes from the heroine (and possibly the heroine route), that means the 'blue' route is vacant, so Alexi could be romanced by Flora in that case (if Rina doesn't steal that open spot in the romanceable by heroine).

Vald is the final boss on all routes but his own (so his route may be the 'true route').
on the prince's route, if Flora messes up, Vlad destroys the kingdom.

Rina has not only stolen the ques to get heroine affection from the prince, she also managed to get affection from the prince and stumble onto the hidden route for the dragon king (and seems to have high affection with him as well).

Not sure if Flora is on the BFF route with the villainess, or if she's trying to be a love interest for Rina as well (I'm thinking Alexi for Flora, but will have to see).

The poor prince has been upgraded from avoid at all costs to good friend, but has also been completely friend zoned. As Rina only sees him as a kid, I don't' see any hope for this relationship (regardless of if he's author approved or not). The age issue will be a huge hurdle (more than possible death flags). Someone in their 30's will even see collage students as kids, so there is no romantic interest in them. By the time the prince is old enough for Rina to consider him a romantic partner, she will have already been married off. Same goes for almost all the other love interests.

Vlad has the Rina can talk to him about her past life and doesn't have to hide anything going for him, on top of being an actual adult. Plus he is a dragon and she would be able to stay by her brother's side, as the duchy is in the dragon's territory. Has the added bonus that Rina is attracted to him (even if she's fighting it due to the trauma of her past life and fear of the unknown). Has being a dragon as a negative though, as Alexi does not think well of that. Does have the advantage currently over the other love rivals for Rina, as he is the only one she knows is interested in her (proposing does that).

As for Rina, she has the trauma of her ex-stalkers and is scared of the unknown of falling in love. She is actively sabotaging herself when it comes to any romantic feelings and is hiding behind her stanning of Alexi to power through it. Sometimes I wonder if her denseness is a defense mechanism and not just her not noticing people being interested in her (which is believable. it is much harder to notice when someone is interested if they are being subtle to ones self then noticing when it is others where you can see from a somewhat objective standpoint).

She is a bit more dense then I am, but as I have trouble telling when someone is interested in me or flirting with me (I can sometimes tell, but it is not easy. most of the time its my family who's like, that guys was into you, why didn't you talk to him type thing), I see her behavior as how she is, plus a product of her trauma.
Rina pushing her relationship management onto her brother is definitely a defense mechanism, plus he is the deciding factor due to the society she is now in.

I also wonder if it would be possible to get a 'good ending' without Rina ending up with Vladforen. I can also see a bad ending if anything happens to Rina, as Vlad will act if she gets killed (and a new wasteland will appear with the epicenter being whoever was responsible). It is a good thing he is not following her to the capitol, as who knows how he would react to anyone trying to bully or do worse to her.

The real question is will Vladforen respect and accept Rina ending up with anyone but himself. He seems reasonable, but he is a dragon. I cannot see him accepting Rina being forced into any relation ship (nor would Alexi, Flora and Mikhail), but not sure what his reaction would be if she actually fell in love with someone that is not him.

Personally I see Flora X Alexi and Ekaterina X Valdforen. I just can't see anyone Rina's physical age being a partner for her due to her mental age.

The new character introduced in today's Reborn as a Vending Machine anime episode would probably get along well with Karina or the goddess. (Has a footwear fetish)

This had so much potential, I'm disappointed. I love the theme of guilt and power overwhelming someone. And the smut parts at the middle where great addition and i was excited to see how it will play out, but then the Duke became secondary/ doll like, moldable to what Craig wants. And then their love was just dark, bitter and twisted.

I liked the chapters where he (the Duke) realized the true impact he had on his sister and mother. I assume he even failed in making it look like a suicide to get the money or his mind tried to make it an excuse about money. I thought we would explore that more.

The part of him that is Heinreid wasn't as impactful to me as the pre-suicide him. Yes, we were told about the evil he committed and he had the nightmares, but other than the guard that pushed him off the stairs there wasn't really that much shown. He kind of just spent a lot of time in the office getting everything in order for the second death.

I wish he had told someone about things more or there was a chance for someone to see the other life he had through his actions that were something he might have done in his last life. They did that a bit with him talking to Elmer in the dungeon. I just wish there was more of that kind of stuff. I like when isekai's use the past life more, I guess. Don't see why it had to be an isekai other than the knowing the book/ future, but even when he gets to meet these characters he supposedly admires there's nothing from that. Seems like a waste.

@jpwong said in Late-Start Tamer Vol. 13 Discussion!:

I'm just picturing a future where Yuto accidentally picks the beast factor instead of the skill points accidentally and gets bestowed that rare race he was thinking about and the server goes wild.

snicker

Was it just my imagination, or was KTK specifically interested in Yuto becoming half-cat?

I kinda get the feeling that if he calls on her in the future, she’s gonna jump at the opportunity…

@heimdal7 What's wrong with being a crazy cat person? 😆

I, also a self proclaimed crazy cat person, appreciate that part of this series.

@Zerio

Yeah, that particular bit about Old World connectors is new information.

As for Katsuya behaving weirdly at the final fight, I think it's him being lost in the network. The others would've been willing to give their lives and I think this impulse overrode Katsuya's own thoughts for a moment after Yumina died.

If a man calling himself the "red light archbishop" invites your child inside his carriage you say NO.

Honestly Eve and especially Zarish being around are making me lose the will to follow this series. Author should focus more on the main couple.

200 Year Curse: MC is a bland OP doofus but the POV of his "pets" is amusing, and his creations taking pity on his incompetence are even more so.

Worthless at Home: I'm expecting his sisters to ruin this for me even more than the ones in Peddler did, but the author is holding off on doing that for now.

Every time I see a new volume is out, I always end up procrastinating until the last minute to read it before it expires. I still enjoy the story. I even like the character introductions, it brings me up to speed so I don't have to keep the characters in my memory. I guess I just like this author's narrative style. It matches what I like about slice of life very much.

@HarmlessDave

Definitely later :)