#Testsuhiro Nabeshima

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Konyakuhaki Kara Hajimeru Akuyaku Reijou no Kangoku Slow Life Review

Official English Title: Slow Life of a Young Lady in Prison, Triggered by Breaking off the Engagement (On the Japanese cover)

Author: Hibiki Yamazaki

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima (Illustrator of Magdala de Nemure)

Release Date: 18 January 2019

Note: Because this is more like a one-shot that was cut into two volumes due to length (and both volumes were released on the same date), I’ve decided to read and review them at the same time.

Note 2: This seems like it was published as a regular novel, rather than a light novel but the books are full of illustrations and they read more like a light novel to me.

This was really funny! There wasn’t much story to it and not all of the jokes worked but it was a really fun experience overall and it managed to stay entertaining all the way through. Rachel is a very entertaining protagonist and it was always fun to see how she would troll with people next. I ended up liking it a lot and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a fun comedy novel.

Story:

Genre: Comedy

The story begins when the Prince Elliot cuts off his engagement with Rachel at a party under the pretense that she bullied the girl that he had grown fond of. She refuses to acknowledge or apologize for this act and is thus sentenced to a life in prison. Suprising everyone, she simply smiles and decides to take this oppurtunity to enjoy a vacation. Thus starts her slow life in prison.

There isn’t much of a plot to this. Most of it is really just about Rachel finding new ways to troll Elliot and the other characters. This one-sided mind game is surprisingly readable but, at some point, you can’t help but think “Is that it? Is that all these books are going to be about?” And, yeah, that’s all they’re about. Yet, it’s still a really entertaining and funny series that never quite becomes boring or repetitive. It’s always fun to anticipate what Rachel’s going to do next and the final arc really ties everything together and ends in a satisfying way.

I laughed a lot while reading this. Not every joke works but most of them do and the ones that do work are really funny. It’s a good small comedy series that ends up being very entertaining, despite it’s non-existent story.

Character:

Rachel is a hilarious protagonist. It’s always fun to see her come up with new ways to screw with people. She’s not very flawed as most of her plans to mess with people do succeed but she’s still a very entertaining protagonist. As for Elliot’s, he’s an idiot prince and there’s not much more to him than that. It’s fun to see Rachel mess with him but he really doesn’t stand out as a character but I think that’s a good thing. It’s because he’s so simple that it’s fun to see him get frustrated about Rachel. If he was more complicated, I don’t think it would be nearly as fun to see.

The rest of the characters are alright. There’s no real apparent depth to them but they work well for the gags and have a consistent personality and some of them end up being quite memorable. Some of my personal favorites include the nameless prison warden, Rachel’s maids who call themselves “The Dark Night Black Cats” and Alexandra, Rachel’s friend who doesn’t show up until late in the first volume but makes an impression, despite her small screen time.

I should mention that the majority of the male characters in these books are shown to be idiots while most of the female ones are shown to have a few screws loose. I think this works for comedic purposes but I can see it bothering some readers.

Adaptation Notes:

A manga adaptation has been announced with art by Miya Taira and is currently being published. As far as I know, the first volume hasn’t been released yet and I haven’t read much of it myself. From what I have read, it cuts out a lot of the gags that are just Rachel trolling with Elliot and co. but what’s kept in could probably be a considered a kind of “greatest hits”. It works well, though it cuts out some of my personal favorite scenes, like Rachel playing the trumpet at night to mess with Elliot’s sleep, but it’s good stuff. I think that it’ll likely all be adapted into one volume, judging by the pace of what I have read but I think it’ll work well as a short gag manga and I’ll probably be buying the it when it comes out.

Recommended for:

If the premise of “girl in prison screws with ex-fiancee/prince who put her there” sounds like a fun time to you, then you won’t be disappointed. If you’re looking for a short comedy series, I’d recommend this one.

Overall, I enjoyed this series a lot and if the author gets any more books published, I’ll likely be reading them.

Next up will be the first volume of Mahoutsuki Reimeiki