Just finished the volume and up until part 11 or 12, thought it was going to finally conclude. Instead...death. Sad, meaningless death.

Kudou got somewhat of a redemption. Based on his actions as the demon king, you couldn't really ask for a happy ending for him, even after finding out the motivation behind his desire to destroy the world.

But Berta's death was just pointless. It was a death she wanted and the best death she could have gotten, but it was still tragic and depressing.

And then we learned of the final days of the beast of darkness. After Berta's passing, I couldn't take the side story and had to walk away from the volume for a few days. Her viewing herself as alien and worthless...this almost feels like the Empire Strikes Back of the series.

With Krone now nearly 16 and Ein's magical growth spurt it's less awkward to see them flirting and acting like adults, as with Chris' obvious infatuation for him. I also found a bit funny that the author's way to justify Ein being attracted to his mother is by saying he sees her as his sister...regardless, I hope he will keep shipping them and won't back down from having her in the harem.
This should be the last we hear of Heim but since it appears to be infiltrated by the red foxes there is still a chance the country will get destroyed later and Ein might have to cross blades with his father and brother. Or maybe he'll have to save them and there will be so,e sort of reconciliation? Only time will tell.

Nice ending to the story.

@pcj said in Villainess Level 99 Act 4 Discussion!:

As I was reading this part, I kept thinking "yay, we really did get the intelligent Yumiella back!"

She's still having her insane flights of fancy, but she's actually learned from experience that she's thinking insane things and catching herself before putting them into action. This is fantastic character development for her. And about two volumes overdue. On the one hand I want to think maybe she was using Patrick as a handicap so she wouldn't have to think. On the other, maybe the author had just lost their groove and now has gotten it back.

Tbh it feels more that the author is leaning heavily on the "Patrick is the Yumiella Whisperer and Keeper" schtick for low-effort Manzai comedy. It's a pity because it really makes Yumiella as a character come across as an obnoxious, impulsive moron with zero self control and really unlikeable and tiring in my view. I much prefer the Yumiella that acts mostly like a high-functioning independent person that doesn't need a handler to function in society.

In volume 3 I literally forced myself to keep reading through the garbage in the first couple of chapters and was glad I did because the story got (mostly) better from around chapter 3 onwards. In this volume I just quit after she met Gilbert because I'd skimmed through the first part again and was just tired of it at that point. It was really so much better before the author made Yumi such an addled mess.

@Segoth If you're reading in horizontal/paginated mode, a quick fix if it's a problem with the part is to try switching to vertical/scrolling mode. If that works, then there's a bit of code in the part that's causing it to break your reading.

In this case, I found the offending code and removed it, so hopefully you should be able to read it now!

Loving seeing the growth of Ernie. Cant wait to see what happens in book 4 next

Princess Dragon Exterminator is quite the mouthful for a moniker, but it'll do.

Liedis, no, stahp.
Liedis, yes, more of that.

Overall this volume didn't hit as well as v1 did for me, but it is also very much an intermediary volume. I still enjoyed it plenty.

The only one I've managed to try and guess at myself is no skeleton haunting this place, no cursed saint remains as a Drecom title: 骨骸の剣聖が死を遂げる ～呪われ聖者の学院無双～ MTL:The Skeletal Sword Saint dies ~ The Academy of Cursed Saints Musou

Just finished reading the whole series over the last 2 days after seeing it on catchup - honestly surprised by the overall story, wasn't going into it expecting much but was an enjoyable romp, would def recommend.

@Greg-Elwell

The process of getting books out is a long and complicated one with several moving parts.

Unfortunately, a straightforward answer not always available.

All of this is to say, for a general overview of how new volume starts are handled at J-Novel Club. Please see the new volume release topic in my post signature.

Thank you

@Vine said in The Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage's Carefree Life in Another World Vol. 1 Discussion!:

First thought:
alt text

Second thought:
alt text

Trauma is not an easy thing to recover even when you are OP.

Ok I'll say it, such a missed opportunity
a "crazy ape"? should be a 'rape ape'

[Pile of engagement proposals.]

Sounds like that can be dealt with by using three simple criteria:

Must be able to live in and work out of Dark Mountain. (The Goddess sent her to where she was needed most.) Sara must accept them. (She has a barrier that only allows people she accepts.) Must be close in age to Sara. (Mom's prerogative: creeps need not apply.)

Volume 2 (Premium Edition): 3 bonus short stories Such Enticing Honey: By the Storehouse—Senai and Ayhan One Day, in the Cornr of a Yurt—Aymer A Few Days Later at the Village Square—Dias

Volume 23 (Premium Edition): A Bonus Short Story & Full Wraparound Cover Jacket illustration The Heads of the Small Clans

Volume 16 (Premium Edition): 2 Bonus Short Stories Gerard's Aspiration The Former Goddess and Her Gourmet Tour in Lumiest

Just wondering if someone can help me, for purposes of completing a challenge, and listing this as a book as a qualifying read, does anyone know the gender of the writer of this series?

I appreciated the way the book has dealt with the villains, both Cecil and Cordelia getting what they deserved without any excessive cruelty, and Frank turning out to have been a bad actor without being a bad person, so to say.

I just though of something, how come our MC never questions the oh so very obvious similarities between this world and his previous one when it comes to the east? Grassy plains filled with mongol tribes by another name. China by another name. Japan by another name.

We have an almost 1 for 1 comparison between Japan from his previous world, and this. Their traditions, their meals, their clothing, their weapons, their almost everything. Only difference being that in this world, his original world's mythology is real.

I'm assuming that the whole reason so very many Isekai novels puts Japan into their world is a guilty pleasure. And I can accept and even support that. But at least have your Isakai protagonist find it kinda weird that they are so crazy similar.

There have so far been zero comparable examples among the western kingdoms. None of them look in any way like a 1 for 1 with any specific country in Europe. More like a generic western fantasy kingdom rather then any specific country like France, England, Germany or anyone else.

Kinda weird he hasn't even once thought about how weird that actually is. As someone with memories of two worlds.

I would immediately start wondering if either this world, or mine, had been influenced somehow by the other. And whether or not there is some kind of permanent connection between the two.

Edit; Why is me clicking the forum button on volume 5, bringing me to the volume 4 thread?

@GeorgeMTO Seems like volume 11 came out on 1 Dec 2023. That would put it in the middle of the "licensing window". I said final volume based on what the author said in the afterword of (I think) volume 9. Then again, if sales are good and there are still ideas to be explored, it could go on for longer. I guess we'll find out when volume 11 drops.

Back to wait mode.

@Weird_Wizard said in Unwanted Undead Vol. 12 Discussion!:

My general impression is that things are inflated too much by Rentt‘s inner monologues. Also, can you believe, like in volume 12, a weapon test goes on for 20 pages or so?

This is my biggest problem with this series. You could cut like 30 or 40% of each volume and you would not miss it and instead find it much more enjoyable to read. It's such a fatal flaw of this series. Because it's the reason I often tend to drop it.
And on top of that you also get a lot of attention to "side-quests" that are kind of filler. And each volume already has a bunch of short story's at the end.

At the same time the author does create a lot of mystery and leads that you expect will later have much more importance later on in the series but are already ignored for over 10 volumes...

It's such a shame because the story has a lot of potential but is ruined because no one seems to criticize the author. Like WTH is the editor doing? Cutting down word count is supposed to be his job. Or the author is just to stubborn for his own good.