I promise that I was really serious about actually publishing weekly articles for the Etymology and Onomastics series, I just got depressed and distracted. To make up for it, I’ve decided that, in any case where I do not have an article ready for publication, I will instead write up a report on what I’ve been doing instead of writing the intended article. Actually, I was originally going to append this report at the end of said article, but I realized just publishing a report alone is the better option. This change in approach has led to this initial installment covering seven weeks rather than just one, as any going forward are likely to do. In this case, and most cases going forward, this report will be in the form of short reviews of web novels and manga that I have been reading and anime I’ve been watching.
Transformed Into a Fallen Princess, I Sell Nuclear Bombs at the Beginner Village (变身失落公主, 我在新手村卖核弹) is a bit of a bait and switch, as the titular notion of the main character (Xiaofeng) selling nuclear weapons in the beginner village is only relevant for a short period and thereafter only tangentially relevant. If you’ll pardon minor spoilers for classification purposes, this is a gender-bender web novel with a “full-dive” VR game that gradually encroaches into reality (only the players’ attributes do so in this case). Of course, this also pairs with the fact that the “game world” is, in fact, its own reality. The lore of that world is relatively interesting, especially from the perspective of the protagonist playing an NPC fallen princess. Toward the beginning, most of the hype centers around Xiaofeng’s quest of gathering money, her knowledge of the players’ mindsets and expectations of games, and her identity as an NPC that allows her to act as a part of the game. The further the story progresses, however, the more it becomes an episodic adventure tale, remarkably similar to Reincarnated as a Sword (転生したら剣でした). All around, I give it a 6/10 at ch. 490.
How I Lose Bets with My Sadistic Gifted Childhood Friend and She Steals All of My Firsts (性悪天才幼馴染との勝負に負けて初体験を全部奪われる話) is a yuri manga about childhood friends who are also rivals. Komaki is the popular top student and Wakaba is her gloomy friend who doesn’t want to acknowledge being friends. In typical rival fashion, Wakaba challenges Komaki over whatever comes to mind, betting her own dignity on showing that Komaki isn’t that perfect, and consistently loses. It’s that kind of fighting each other into romance type development, there’s a lot of “begrudgingly” kissing, and the art is pretty good. As of vol. 3 ch. 15, I’m giving this one a 6/10.
Dumb Mutt Girlfriend (ダメ犬彼女) is a yuri manga that follows the “they don’t even recognize me anymore” revenge relationship path, with “some” BDSM and pet-play. Sakurako used to be a bookish girl, somehow became upset over Amano’s actions at the time, and now that she’s unrecognizable (“hot,” I suppose) she wants to show Amano what’s what. The series is only up to ch. 2 thus far, so I’m giving a preliminary score of 7/10.
Is It Weird for a Guy to Apply to a Witch School? (身为男生志愿填魔女学院很奇怪吗) is a solid 10/10 web novel. The protagonist, Yan Yuehan1 or Xiao Han, is reborn into a magical world where everyone aims to enroll in one of the numerous “Extraordinary Academies.” A key requirement for enrollment is to have cultivated the talent of “Spirit Vision,” allowing one to see the Extraordinary, but Xiao Han had awakened this power from birth; this is, in itself, not unique in their world, their exceptionality is only in not going completely insane due to their past life establishing a baseline of the “ordinary.” As suggested by the title, the school Xiao Han joins is the Witch Academy, where every student becomes a “Preparatory Witch,” essentially a girl (some distinctions are made in that every Witch is akin to a girl, thereby having no need for the notion of gender, and that their physique, even in the Preparatory stage is fundamentally different than that of humans). Xiao Han, then a girl, is instantly swept out of regular classes to take advantage of her higher than normal level of “Spirit Vision,” proceeding to embark on one research project after another. This provides a very exciting approach to the lore of the series, where every technical aspect is explored to satisfy Xiao Han’s curiosity while looking down on those who simply hoard magical resources to flaunt superficial power. Besides the lore, the character development is amazing; Xiao Han is exposed to the worldview of the Preparatory Witches, the Extraordinary Witches, and the other Academies throughout the “Main World,” having to find her own perspective between them. Of course, it’s also yuri, the relationship between Xiao Han and Bai Yu drags on for hundreds of chapters before progressing to “girlfriends,” but even then they are both still defining themselves both as individuals and partners. Honestly, I’m probably only able to write anything here because I caught up on this series (up to ch. 1389), it’s so gratifying to read and explore that I can’t stand to read anything else… but I did try.
I Came from the Abyss to Save Humanity Today (来自深渊的我今天也要拯救人类) is not a particularly good web novel and it isn’t yuri… at least it has a manhua adaptation? Given the premise of the main character killing himself after losing his fiancée, I was hoping the subsequent reincarnation as a girl would lead to yuri, due to the implication. On the other hand, I understand that no editor would allow it to be yuri, due to the implication.2 The plot is a mix of that sort of niche genre where the protagonist is positioned as a villain, joins the supposed “good guys,” then discovers that the teams aren’t so clear after all and an isekai possession premise wherein said protagonist takes over the identity of an existing person in this world and struggles to discover their past and manage their relationship. I only read up to ch. 194, it’s alright but I just didn’t enjoy it so I’ll give it a 5/10.
The Paranoid Elf Queen Turned Me Into Her Sister (被偏执精灵女王变成了她妹妹) isn’t a particularly good web novel either, but it is yuri. The terminology used for the world is a bit of a mess, but the basic setup is that people form teams of “Divine Princesses” who have combat abilities and “Divine Children” who have leadership and support abilities (such as a typical analysis technique). The protagonist, Di Lin, is a transmigrator with the power of a Divine Child, is sought out by the Elf Queen because his soul matches that of her long lost sister, then is turned into said sister (Theresa) who is a Divine Princess. Di Lin doesn’t believe his is actually the reincarnation of this elf princess, so he attempts to retain his initial identity, but ends up switching between the two for various reasons. The story is one of Di Lin accepting the identity of Theresa, rediscovering her memories, and discovering what was missed in the 400 years since she died; there is, of course, some romance with other girls and hints of past romance, perhaps. I dropped it pretty close to the end (vol. 4 ch. 24) because I got bored3 and didn’t care to reach the end, so it’s a 5/10 as well.
Starting as a Manga Editor (从漫画编辑开始) is a web novel about a gacha game illustrator burning out and waking up as a manga editor named Tang Yao. Between suddenly being a woman, working in an unfamiliar role, being poor, and having to support her sister (Tang Xun) through school, Tang Yao has a bit of an existential crisis to work through as the story carries on. This alternate world seems close to Earth, but the borders are skewed and the media is just a bit less developed. Tang Yao, on the other hand, suddenly has a perfect memory and incredible drawing skills stacked between having been an illustrator and a past of dabbling into drawing manga. She leverages these abilities to solve her financial issues by predicting the economic development of mobile games right at the advent of smartphones, recreating popular manga and games from her past life. It’s a bit of a shame how consistently she merely copies from her memory, only adapting works slightly, given how good of a background she’s been given (though it is understandable that it might be a bit tough for an author to have to imagine dozens of new works just to sell the story). It’s perhaps more annoying how, to show the impact of the works, many chapters are essentially narrations of the plots of manga and games. The insight into the gaming industry and business is neat, anyway, probably for different reasons to me, as an outsider, than they would be at home in China: much of her approach to business is based on existing Chinese companies, so it’s interesting to see a sort of fantastical narration of how those companies work, whereas for those already intimately familiar with them it would likely be more interesting to think of how effective they would be in a world without. There is also some intense will-they-won’t-they action with her co-worker turned investor turned assistant Li Xue. I’m talking like “the only reason she isn’t bothered by sudden intimacy is that she’s straight so it isn’t serious” type development. Anyway, having read up to ch. 290, I’m giving this one a 6/10 (would be a 7/10 without having to skim through the entire plot of Undertale to get back to the two girls flirting).
Academy’s Drunk Fighter (아카데미의 취권 고수가 되었다) is a gender-bender isekai into a game world web novel. The comedic premise of “reincarnated as gag character” doesn’t really define the tone, as much of the plot revolves around coping with the consequences of the main character (Aesha)’s build: physical and mental debuffs when not intoxicated, buffs based on level of inebriation, and, of course, “drunken fist.” These issues are further exacerbated by Aesha not knowing what difficulty she’d set for the game and the academy she enters banning alcohol. The characters are pretty interesting, but the world-building overall just wasn’t to taste. The magic system is scientific overall, which isn’t inherently negative, but the portrayal of it isn’t particularly enjoyable; see I Couldn’t Afford to Buy Mana, So I Started Streaming ( 마나 살 돈 없어서 인방함 [7/10])4 for an example of a scientific magic system I enjoyed reading about. There’s also some implication of the typical Korean urban fantasy (and this is urban fantasy with a modern setting) setup of “gates,” essentially randomly spawned dungeons as portals to other realms, if you’re into that. I’ll give this a tentative 5/10, but it’s on hold for now at ch. 26.
Basement-Dwelling Loser VTuber (방구석 찐따 버튜버) is a slice-of-life gender-bender reincarnation web novel about a VTuber. The premise is an introverted 25-year-old Korean man is reborn as a socially anxious Zainichi (在日) Korean girl in Japan, eventually being pushed into debuting as a VTuber in part to overcome her social issues. I do love a good social anxiety plot and this is more like my favored Bocchi the Rock! (ぼっち・ざ・ろっく！[10/10]) than something like Komi Can’t Communicate (古見さんは、コミュ症です。[5/10]); on the other hand, series about VTubers, or streaming in general, can be real hit-or-miss. The prototypical VTuber webnovel at this point is probably VTuber Legend (VTuber なんだが配信切り忘れたら伝説になってた [5/10]), which I did read and mostly enjoyed; but, as a Korean series, this work consistently sets out to compare, and contrast, itself to the genre of “TS Broadcast.” The typical setup for those sorts of series is that the protagonist finds themselves suddenly becoming a girl, starts live-streaming, and usually gains a buff to their reaction time, analytical skills, etc.; most recent example I was reading, before all the Novelpia series translations got DMCA’d was It’s Not That Kind of Malicious Broadcast (그런 악질 방송 안ㅣ에요 [6/10]).5 This series is very much not actually within that genre, it’s just important context, if anything it is more comparable to a sort of VTuber Bocchi the Rock!, just without the idea that she could do any better without social pressure. Similar to my issues with Academy’s Drunk Fighter, I really do find long descriptions of games within a story to be boring; this is funny because the typical complaint about live-streaming related stories is the inclusion of fictional forum threads discussing the characters, which I don’t mind at all. Oh, this also gets a yuri tag, or maybe baekhap (백합) since it’s Korean, so a 5/10 at ch. 96 (put this one on hold as well).
#Gyaru to Gyaru no Yuri (#ギャルとギャルの百合) is a yuri one-shot manga about two gyaru who decide to date “for a year.” The way they treat their relationship is very amusing, it’s light-hearted, almost a joke, but maybe that’s just the way they express it. It cute and isn’t very long, an easy 7/10.
I Became the Heroine’s Terminally Ill Older Sister (여주인공의 시한부 언니가 되었습니다) is a possession isekai web novel in a similar vein to villainess reincarnation type series, though the “original work” in this case is a web novel, wherein the main character takes on the identity of someone who bullies or abuses the protagonist of the “original work” but chooses to rectify this behavior. The main character, Yurisiel, has a fantasy disease—in this case not enough mana rather than too much as seen in many works—which per the original setting leads to her death before her adopted sister, Irene, is reunited with her biological family, taking out her stress of her impending death and the loss of her parents on Irene, thus establishing the Irene’s tragic backstory. Since she has, instead, chosen to be nice, the novel is more about her suffering with her illness while her sister and childhood friend constantly worry about her. There’s a lot of drama around illness, misunderstandings, and secrets, which was pretty interesting until a lot of things started being cleared up, at which point the story just kind of lost its spark to me. Overall, it’s fine yuri, so I’m giving it a 5/106 despite dropping it at ch. 98.
CITY THE ANIMATION is a comedy anime adapted from a manga by Arawi Keiichi (あらゐけいいち), also known for Nichijou (日常). AniDB describes the series as “surreal-slapstick” which does seem to be the case, with a similar gag format to Nichijou but a different setting. I haven’t read the original work, so I can’t really give a critique of it as an adaptation, but as an anime it is thus far up to par with Nichijou, as is to be expected from a work by the same mangaka adapted by the same studio. There’s only been one episode aired so far (with simulcast English dub), so I won’t even give a preliminary rating, but I’m excited to watch more going forward.
BADGIRL (ばっどがーる) is a CGDCT comedy anime adapted from a 4-koma manga. It’s probably only tagged CGDCT because the original work was published in Manga Time Kirara Carat, otherwise the “cute things” being done by the “cute girls” are seemingly just “being gay.”7 Yuutani Yuu wants her crush, discipline committee chairman Mizutori Atori, to pay attention to her, so she tries acting like the titular “bad girl.” She’s not very good at it; like, she doesn’t actually pierce her ears:,she just attaches binder clips to them; she doesn’t actually dye her hair, she just wears extensions, though it is odd that this somehow circumvents the rules; those sorts of thing. Again, I haven’t read the original work, so no comparison, as an anime on its own the quality is alright (though the modern stylization of hair gradients really clashes with the whole notion that having dyed hair is against the school rules). This also started airing recently, so again no scoring.
From VTuber♂ to VTuber♀ (버튜버♂에서 버튜버♀가 되기까지) is a psychological gender-bender yuri web novel about a VTuber, Han Yeoreum becoming a girl. This series is probably the first “woke up as a girl one morning” type gender-bender to really make me think of the fantastique nature of the genre, especially with the way the main character’s condition is explained. The way it narrates twins inevitably switching genders isn’t like it’s explaining the lore to you, but like that’s just how it is, y’know? The only time it does get a bit rigorous about it is when Toya (Yeoreum’s on-line friend, potential girlfriend) explains the cultural differences between Korea and Japan regarding twins. It’s kind of nice. Given how the gender swap is treated, it’s funny to see her having white hair and red eyes treated more as her having albinism and suffering with the sensitivity that comes along with it than just “because it’s cute.” Anyway, it’s mostly a story about getting over losing everything and finding people who will support you along the way; it’s painful at the start, but more wholesome later on (though there are still some heart-wrenching moments here and there) so a solid 7/10 at ch. 217.
Reading all this has actually given me a good number of ideas for a new series of my own. I’ve been really putting off a web novel I’d intended to write previously due to being far too invested in perfection, so going with the flow and deriving influence from series I’m enjoying has really eased up on that pressure. I don’t know if this will actually pan out; I’ve got so many characters and plot points written up it’s starting to seem feasible, though.
Very fun note about this is that the author’s pen name is also Yan Yuehan ( 杨月涵); though, for some ungodly reason, the translations say Yuelan instead, which makes the Xiao Han nickname confusing. Speaking of the author, I’m convinced they’ve tried to write this story repeatedly, often getting only 3 chapters in, going by their SFACG profile. ↩︎
The implication, for those curious, is that one could reasonably imagine a plot where the main character kills themselves after losing a lover, then meets said lover again in another world. It’s compelling, but it does carry the idea of more or less promoting suicide. ↩︎
There’s an author note mixed into the series somewhere like 80% through that implies the author originally intended to stop writing it, then they continued, all the questions opened up earlier start getting rapid answers, and the whole thing kinda feels rushed at the end. ↩︎
The translations of this series got DMCA’d right when I was thinking of catching up on it after mentioning it here. Sad. ↩︎
This series was actually pretty fun for how it portrayed the mental burden of possession isekai. Much of its premise is actually built around a specific game, the MC being sent to a world where said game is still in its infancy, and the meta of the game being at odds with the MC’s perception with it. It’s rather fun, a shame it got taken down :( ↩︎
“It’s fine so 5/10.” Ok, to explain how I rate things. Everything is a 5/10 by default, then the score goes up or down from there, depending on how memorably good or bad it is. If I think back to a series three months later and can’t remember a single detail, or I do remember it’s just like “oh this or that happened” then it’s a 5/10 still. Goblin Slayer is a 2/10 to me, because all I remember is that it was kind of average but opened with a rape scene for shock value. Bocchi the Rock! is a 10/10 because I think about it constantly and will randomly remember parts I enjoyed before checking for updates to the manga or announcements regarding season two. ↩︎
It’s always amazing how CGDCT is technically separate from yuri; because it isn’t romance, I suppose? Characters are frequently openly lesbian, but that’s never really the point? ↩︎