<Shibouyugi> Volume 1 - Intrigued and left with too many questions by the anime, I decided to read this series, and just finished the first volume, which was quite good all in all. As I had sort of hoped, the gaps and vague bits in the anime were mostly due to the fact that the necessary context was Yuki’s thoughts, which unsurprisingly weren’t included in the adaptation. And as I suspected, the anime began with the first half of the first volume, then ended with the second half, with the middle filled out with games from later volumes, which is a lot of why the timeline was so odd. And that also means that some events that were only briefly mentioned then glossed over should have a lot more context when I get to them in their proper order in the later volumes of the LNs.

<The Twelve Kingdoms> Book 3 - Just when the MC of the previous novels started to be less of a whiny little crybaby, this series takes a turn and starts with a completely new arc with completely new characters and a new MC. And this one is even more whiny than the last one. It’s unbearable, and I’ve dropped it after a third of the volume. I assume those plotlines would cross somewhere down the line, but I really can’t suffer through the rest of the volume.

<The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival> Volume 6 - I have always been a fan of Alia, but coming from Twelve Kingdoms before makes her the perfect palate cleanser. If I had to rank her right now, I would put her at number 2 after Myne. The volume itself was a nailbiter, and the cliffhanger is superb. I can’t wait for the next one.

<The Devil Princess> Vol. 3 - It follows the same MO as the first two volumes. 95% boring build-up just for MC unleashing for a bit at the end. It’s getting really boring.