#magdala de nemure

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[shazzeaslightnovels]

Shoujo wa Shoka no Umi de Nemuru

Official English Title: A girl sleeps in the ocean of magdala

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Suiren Matsukaze

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 February 2015

Art Notes: Matsukaze’s art is very different from Nabeshima’s. In particular, it’s a lot more expressive and comedic and, while this could just be a reflection of the characters themselves, I also think that it’s probably a result of Matsukaze’s experience as a mangaka. As well as being the illustrator of the manga version of this one-shot, they provided the art for the manga adaptations of Wagaya no Oinari-sama, Kokurase and, more recently, Shinigami ni Sodarterareta Shoujo wa Shokkoku no Ken wo Mune ni Idaku. I liked their art, in any case and I think that it suited the volume and I wouldn’t reading the manga to see more of their art.

This is a spin-off of Magdala de Nemure but it has loose connections to Magdala and you do not need to read the series to understand this one-shot. It focuses on Phil, a character from the original series, who’s on his journey to achieve his dream of becoming a bookseller. The one-shot is fine and I feel like I would have liked it more if I wasn’t reading it so soon after Magdala because my negative feelings about the series ended up ruining parts of this book for me. I also felt that the ending was really sudden and it felt a bit incomplete. Still, it was an enjoyable enough read and I may reread it in a few years, once I’ve gotten over my disappointment about the main series. I especially liked the tone and the main characters were likeable enough. I’d recommend it to fans of Hasekura and to people who enjoy reading books about people who love books.

I definitely won’t be wanting to read another Hasekura book for a while but I did have plans to read Spice & Wolf. I think I’ll rewatch the anime and see if I still like it and read the light novels if I do.

[gurikajis]

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records #4 Endcard - Arisaka Ako

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Akashic Record of Bastard Magic Instructor [END CARD Ep.4]

Illustrazione: Ako Arisaka (KADO: The Right Answer, Magdala de Nemure)

[hatsumishinogu]

Magdala de Nemure Vol.8 (light novel)

[dat-travelin-merchant]

I was gonna post this for Halloween, but then I forgot, but now Purim's this week!!!  Purim is basically Jewish Halloween in the spring, except you give everyone treats instead of running around asking for them.

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[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala de Nemure 8 + Overall series impressions

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 February 2016

Art Notes: This is one of my absolute favorite light novel covers. It’s so pretty! Nabeshima really did improve a lot during this series, if you compare the first volume cover to this one.

Didn’t review volume 5-7 because I had nothing to say about them but I did want to review the “final” volume. I put it in quotes because there are some plot threads left unaddressed and the afterword states that it is not the final volume but a new volume hasn’t been released in years, Dengeki Bunko released a “complete edition” set on BookWalker which they usually don’t do if a series is ongoing and the author has gone on to other things (namely, the Spice & Wolf sequels) so it’s probably going to be left unfinished.

I remember reading the first volume and being so excited about this series because I have some fond memories of the Spice & Wolf anime and I heard that the series had some amazing developments and got better but I couldn’t shake this feeling of being underwhelmed throughout the entirety of the series. It’s not bad, really, but it’s painfully slow and the only characters that are particularly memorable and get development are the two leads. And I do like Fenesis and Kusla and enjoyed their development but I didn’t think that they worked as a romantic couple. All of the side characters are unmemorable and then there’s Weyland, who doesn’t ever stop saying inappropriate things to the female characters around him despite them clearly expressing their discomfort at his words. There were actually a lot of moments where characters would say something that about gender that would feel really out-dated and would take me out of the world instantly. There was some potential here but I don’t think it lived up to it. Someone who’s more into slow-paced stories would probably enjoy it more than I was able to.

I still have the spin-off volume, Shoujo wa Shoka no Umi de Nemuru before I can be truly done with this series.

[hatsumishinogu]

Magdala de Nemure Vol.7 (light novel)

[sevenseasentertainment]

Have you guys heard of Magudala de Nemure? Seems like its going to be interesting and its from the writer who gave us the excellent Spice and Wolf

Far too early to tell (with only 1 volume out in Japan so far), but the series does have a decent pedigree, I’ll say that much. —CC

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei

Official English Title: The Magical Revolution of Reincarnation Princess and Genius Young Lady

Author: Piero Karasu

Illustrator: Yuri Kisaragi

Label: Fujimi Fantasia Bunko

Release Date: 18 January 2020

Arists Notes: Seems like this is Kisaragi’s debut as a light novel illustrator and they did a great job! Their art is a little rough around the edges but they have potential and I Iook forward to seeing more from them. I would like more illustrations with Anis and Yufi being together though, since it felt like most of the monochrome illustrations in this volume were of a single character.

I picked this up because it was advertised as yuri and I’m unable to resist a fantasy story with two leading ladies. I didn’t have high hopes for it but it ended up being a really good first volume with two charming leads and I’m excited to see where it goes. Recommended if you’re looking for a yuri fantasy series.

Story:

Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Magic School, Yuri - F/F Romance, Isekai (it’s not relevant to the story but the protagonist was reincarnated)

Anis is a princess with memories of her past life. She loves magic and longs to be able to fly in the sky but she has no aptitude for magic. One day, after a failed attempt with a flying broom, she walks in on her brother breaking things off with his fiancee, Yufi in a very public place. After witnessing Yufi’s tears, Anis offers to take her with her on her flying broom to see her father. In place of her brother, Anis requests to become engaged with Yufi, who agrees. This is the start of the two’s magical revolution.

The bighest flaw in this volume is that you can tell that the writer is inexperienced. There are abrupt, awkward POV switches and some scenes are just too long. Also, I would have liked some more fluffy scenes that aren’t filled with magic jargon because that got tiresome after a while. 

Otherwise, this was a good start to what could be a great fantasy series. The world is interesting and the dynamic between the two leads makes for some very sweet scenes. The final battle was really fun to read and I look forward to seeing where this goes.

As for the isekai element, it’s there but it doesn’t have much relevance on the plot. Anis seems to consider herself independent from her past life and we don’t know much about what her past life was actually like. The only thing that it really impacts is Anis’ inventions since her ideas do come from her memories but, since she does figure out how to make these inventions work within the setting, I didn’t mind so much.

Going into this, I must confess that I was expecting it to be another one of those light novels that are advertised as yuri but don’t actually have much gay content. This volume proved me wrong in the first chapter when Yufi and Anis get engaged and it’s revealed that Anis is a lesbian who came out to her father years ago. Yufi and Anis have an interesting dynamic and their scenes are sweet but I think that the series could stand to have some more fluffy moments between them.

Character:

Anis is a good protagonist. Most people think of her as a ditz but she possesses a lot of confidence and social skills that you can see when she’s negotiating with others. She’s been inventing things in order to make up for her lack of magic. She’s a likeable and interesting protagonist. Yufi appears to be the perfect lady and she doesn’t show many emotions, positive or negative and Anis wants to see her smile more. It was nice to see her character develop a little in this volume. Most of the time with Yufi as the POV character is spent with her trying to figure out what she’s going to do in the future and how she feels about Anis. It’s interesting stuff and was probably my favorite part of the volume. As for the side characters, Anis’ maid, Iria, was the most notable and enjoyable of them. She has a fun dynamic with Anis and her relationship with Yufi leads to some interesting conversations.

Recommended for:

Anyone looking for a yuri fantasy series. If you’re into isekai there is a bit of that here too but it’s not a major part of it.

This one is based off a web novel and there are plenty more chapters written so I look forward to the release of the second volume and will definitely be reading it when it’s out. My current plans are to do the next volumes of Baccano! and Sword Oratoria before continuing with Magdala de Nemure.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala de Nemure 4

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 September 2013

Art Notes: Nabeshima is a fairly plain artist but Fenesis’ character design is adorable and the covers are nice to look at and I enjoy some of the details put into the backgrounds on the images. There’s a colour illustration in this volume that I really like that has Fenesis with her hair pulled up and it’s really cute.

Seems like this series is finally starting to head where I want it to go as it starts to tell the reader a bit more about Fenesis’ past and develops her character more. I mean, I like Irene and Weyland but the past volumes have been quite boring and I do think that the series is at it’s best when it focuses on Kusla and Fenesis. I also appreciated the additions to the lore of the world in this volume. It was interesting.

I’m a half-way through this series but I still can’t say that I have much of an overall opinion of it. Sometimes it’s nice and sometimes it’s boring and it is much slower than I’m used to. Hopefully the series can fully win me over by the time it’s done. 

Again, I own every volume in this series so I kind of have to finish it but I don’t really have much to say about the volumes so, unless something changes next volume, I might end up giving up on individual volume reviews for this series and just give my overall opinions when I’m done. I’m not completely decided yet but that’s what I’m thinking I’ll do.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala no Nemure 3

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 April 2013

This volume focuses on the group’s preperations before they leave for their journey to Kazan and it centers around Weyland. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this volume too interesting outside of a couple of scenes but I am enjoying seeing Kusla’s and Fenesis’ relationship develop. The slow pacing is kind of killing me. I do think that the slow pacing will end up helping with developing the characters but it is making me kind of bored while I read it. I actually felt suddenly felt sleepy every time I opened up this volume and that’s not good (I was reading Baccano and Otaria at the same time as this and didn’t have the same issue with them). I wonder if I need to slow down my reading of this series to give the volumes more room to breathe before I start the next one. Perhaps it’s just not a series that’s suited to my style of reading.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala de Nemure 2

Author: Isuna Hasekura

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 October 2012

This time, the story was focused on Irene, who was briefly introduced in the last volume but made a strong impression. Unfortunately, even though she had a lot of focus in this volume it didn’t feel like she showed up or interacted with the main characters much. It felt like we learnt about her more from what other people said rather than having the characters converse with her. It was a pretty good volume, overall and Kusla and Fenesis still have a strong dynamic, though I would like for Fenesis to gain some independence in the future, since the relationship feels somewhat unbalanced as-is. I mean, Fenesis definitely has her own personality and strengths that she brings to the table but this volume has a scene early on where Kusla tries to teach Fenesis to look after herself more and he definitely feels like the more experienced one in their relationship. It’d be nice to see this dynamic change a little as Fenesis grows, especially as Kusla isn’t great at looking after himself either.

I’ll be reading volume 3 soon-ish. My current plan is Sword Oratoria 7 > Mondaiji 5 > Bakarina 7 > Magdala 3 I might change things around a bit or end up reading something earlier than I was planning to but that’s the basic plan.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Magdala de Nemure 1

Official English Title: May Your Soul Rest in Magdala

Author: Isuna Hasekura (Author of Ookami to Koushinryou/Spice & Wolf)

Illustrator: Tetsuhiro Nabeshima

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 July 2012

This was a solid fantasy story that focused on alchemy and I like Fenesis a lot. This looks it’s going to be something a slow burn, plot-wise so I think it’s going to be hard for me to form an impression for a few volumes but I enjoyed this one. Recommended for people with an interest in alchemy.

Story:

Genre: Alchemy, Fantasy, M/F romance

Kusla is an alchemist who was sentenced to work in a forgery near a warzone after he was caught attempting to burn some ancient saint bones. There he reunites with fellow alchemist and frenemy Weyland and meets Fenesis, a girl supposedly sent by the Knights to watch over them.

Content warnings: there’s a scene with non-consensual breast groping played mostly for laughs.

I’m... not really sure what to say about this volume. I enjoyed it but it’s kind of hard to talk about. It had a lot of slow build-up and I found the climax to be a bit rushed but the parts that were just about alchemy were really interesting. I do think that some of explanations were a bit stale and hard to follow but you can tell that the author did their research. I also enjoyed the scenes where Kusla and Fenesis got closer. I think this series is going to be too hard to really form much of an impression on just yet but I enjoyed this volume and look forward to the next one.

Character:

I must confess that I had a hard time getting a handle on Kusla as a character. He’s just a very unorthodox protagonist that I’m not used to but, when I did figure him out, he ended up being pretty interesting. Fenesis is a very charming character who I’m looking forward to getting to know more over the course of the series and her relationship with Kusla is interesting, though I’m not sure I really buy them as a potential romantic pair yet and I’m sure that’s what the series going for. I’m not too sure about Weyland yet, either. He didn’t make a good first impression on me at all when he groped Fenesis’ breasts but I might be coming around to him a little and he does have an interesting dynamic with Kusla. None of the side characters are particularly memorable aside from Irene, the head of the blacksmith guild at the town where the series is set in. She only appears for one scene but I want to know more about her.

Adaptation Notes:

The manga adaptation is complete at 4 volumes and is illustrated by Ako Arisaka. It’s unfortunately very rushed with many events being cut out (they even cut out Irene’s introduction) but it’s enjoyable enough and manages to show off the charm of the original series. The art is good but nothing special.

Recommended for:

If you’re interested in alchemy, definitely read this. Otherwise, if you enjoy plots with a slow build-up and an interesting setting, you’d probably like this.

I own all 8 volumes of this series as well as what appears to be a one-shot set in the same universe so I’ll be reading them all over the course of the next few months.

[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