This manga from J-Novel Club has surprised me SO much!
I wasn't super hooked when I first read volume one, but then I came back to read it again and its become one of my favorite shoujo isekai ever since! 🤩
Highly recommend because it so much fun to read! Lots of laughter!
YouTube Video Review: https://youtu.be/MtPlGCMuGL0
Granted, the setting of this story shouldn't have made this shocking, but of all the Biblical references this light novel could put in, the anointing ceremony was the most surprising one
This event was first held in the New Year of 2021.
Around the start of the New Year, many Japanese households will take part in the annual tradition of mochitsuki, the pounding of rice to make mochi (rice cake). The tradition of mochitsuki consists in pounding the rice grains, placed in a big mortar, with a wooden mallet. Once the rice grains are no longer visible and the dough has reached the right level of consistency, the mochi is ready to be shaped. There are also competitions to see who can pound the rice fastest and hardest.
In this story, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama visit Master Genkai on New Year. Grandma is playing a game, but she can't defeat a certain boss. Yusuke tries to play in her place, but he's also having trouble beating them in the rice pounding level.
Video:
youtube
Translation:
"New Year's Mochi Pounding"
Yusuke: Ooi, baa-san! We came to eat the zouni soup!
T/N: Zouni is a Japanese soup containing mochi rice cakes, a New Year tradition.
Yusuke: ...No reply. Besides, what's this shout?
Yusuke: Oooooi … hey, what are you doing here?
Genkai: Can't you even say a single greeting, jeez. Happy New Year, I guess.
Kurama: She's right, Yusuke. Happy New Year!
Hiei: ...Humpf
Kuwabara: Oh, baa-san. Have a great year! We thought we heard strange voices, but it's the game.
Genkai: It's like a New Year's action game. I've just suffered a series of consecutive defeats to the boss, and reached an impasse.
Yusuke: Leave the action to me! I'll beat baa-san's record in a heartbeat!
Genkai: You don't say! Then, please play it in my place.
[Yusuke plays the game...]
Yusuke: I, I lost again ... What's going on at the mochitsuki level...!?
Kuwabara: To defeat the Boss Brothers, you have to quickly pound 100 times per second, and raise the power gauge to 100% out of 100%.
Yusuke: That seems impossible … I mean, I feel like this reminds me of something, and I'm getting distracted…
T/N: Certain brothers as the boss in a game, 100% of 100% … I wonder what is bothering Yusuke (lol).
Kuwabara: What is it, an excuse for losing? Shall Kuwabara-sama change this situation?
Yusuke: Shut up! I'm gonna play until I win!
Genkai: Things are lively early in the New Year! Here, some zouni.
Kurama: Thank you very much. Shall we warm up Yusuke and the others' portions later?
Hiei: …If they don't want it, I'll eat theirs too.
T/N: In the 2020 New Year event, Hiei didn't want to have any mochi, and now he wants to eat Yusuke and Kuwabara's share. I guess he's enjoying the food of the Human World. ^^
Younger Toguro: This year will be the year for us brothers to thrive!
-The End-
I guess even Yusuke is no match for Full Power Toguro in the Mochitsuki Tournament. It's hilarious that Elder Toguro transformed into a mochitsuki's mallet. Hiei's "humpf" greeting instead of "Happy New Year" is a classic.
Yusuke's voice actor Nozomu Sasaki also recorded Yusuke wishing Happy New Year.
"Happy New Year! Let's keep a good relationship this year!"
"Let's keep a good relationship this year" (kotoshi mo ichi-nen yoroshiku) is a very typical japanese New Year Greeting.
There are two plots in this volume. In the first, Mia returns to her home for the holidays and there's plenty of politics for her to engage with to try to avert her future of being executed. The most interesting part in this plot is the introduction of Dion, the man who beheaded Mia in her previous life. In the second plot, Mia returns to the academy, excited to reunite with Abel, only to find that a revolution is starting in his own country. Together with Sion, Mia goes on a journey to save Abel and prevent the revolution.
This volume felt longer than the first one and not as enjoyable. It's actually the same length but I guess I just wasn't as interested in the story here. It definitely wasn't bad and there were plenty of interesting developments, particularly towards the end, but I wasn't very engaged. I do think this mostly because I'm not a big fan of politic plots in light novels. If I'm reading something in English, I tend to like that kind of drama more but it's harder to follow in Japanese so I end up just feeling bored. I ended up just thinking this volume was fine. I'll be reading the next one but unless it builds up some intrigue for me, I probably won't continue with the series after that.
I have started watching the anime but I'm only on episode 3. I think it's really good so far. It brings out the strengths of it's source material (namely, Mia herself) and also makes some cuts to streamline things that helps the pace a lot. There's some great visual gags too. It probably won't be a favourite of the season for me but I've been enjoying it so far. Also, I love the ED. The concept of adult!Mia and child!Mia having a tea party is brilliant.
Twenty-year-old Princess Mia, the "selfish princess" of the Tearmoon Empire, has been executed by guillotine. Surprisingly, she wakes up as her twelve-year-old self with her bloodstained diary next to her. "Given a second chance at life, Mia decides to rebuild the empire. For the sake of Tearmoon's future? To save the people from starvation? For all the soldiers who lost their lives in the civil war? No! Everything she does in this life is for the sake of avoiding the guillotine! "F-For me, this should be a piece of cake!" Thus the useless, cowardly, self-serving princess brings about miracle after miracle in her great struggle to save herself in this altered-history fantasy." (Crunchyroll)
Based on the novel series by Nozomu Mochitsuki, the Tearmoon Empire anime is directed by Yūshi Ibe. Deko Akao is in charge of scripts with Mai Otsuka designing the characters and Kōji Fujimoto composing the score. Silver Link is producing. The anime stars the voice talents of Sumire Uesaka (Mia Luna Tearmoon), Tomori Kusunoki (Anne Littstein), Yuichiro Umehara (Ludwig Hewitt), Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Abel Remno), and Shun Horie (Sion Sol Sunkland)
Tearmoon Empire: la commedia fantasy di Nozomu Mochitsuki sbarcherà in tv nel 2023 con un anime
La principessa protagonista della storia sarà interpretata da Sumire Uesaka.
Annunciato ufficialmente, con già un primo teaser trailer, l’arrivo nel 2023 di una serie animata basata sulla fantasy comedy dal titolo “Tearmoon Empire” (Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari: Dantoudai kara Hajimaru, Hime no Tensei Gyakuten Story), creata da Nozomu Mochitsuki.
A prestare la propria voce alla protagonista della storia, la principessa Mia Luna Tearmoon, troviamo Sumire Uesaka (Hayase Nagatoro in Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro).
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A dirigere l’adattamento presso lo studio SILVER LINK (When Will Ayumu Make His Move?, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!) c’è Yushi Ibe (assistente di regia in The Dungeon of Black Company e in The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious).
La sceneggiatura è supervisionata da Deko Akao (Komi Can't Communicate, The Case Study of Vanitas), al character design sta pensando Mai Otsuka (The Demon Girl Next Door, Non Non Biyori), mentre delle musiche si occupa Koji Fujimoto (The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious)
Circondata dagli sguardi pieni di odio del suo popolo, Mia, l'egoista principessa del decaduto Impero di Tearmoon, dà un ultimo sguardo al cielo prima che la lama della ghigliottina le tolga la vita. Con somma sorpresa, però, si risveglia a palazzo tutta intera ed è tornata dodicenne!
Con il tempo riavvolto e con una seconda possibilità, Mia decide di correre ai ripari ed evitare tutti i madornali errori che hanno portato l’Impero alla rovina. Governo corrotto? C’è. Problemi al confine? Ci sono. Calamità naturali e conflitti economici? Non mancano. Sembra un bel po' di lavoro. Fatica e Mia non vanno d'accordo, così cerca l'aiuto di altri, a cominciare dalla sua fedele cameriera, Anne, e dal brillante ministro Ludwig. Insieme, i tre si impegnano giorno e notte per riportare l'Impero ai giorni di gloria e a poco a poco, i loro instancabili sforzi iniziano a cambiare il corso della storia, spingendo l'intero continente verso un nuovo futuro.
Che la principessa egoista sia davvero cambiata così d’un tratto? In verità è sempre la stessa, ma la ghigliottina la terrorizza. L’ultima volta le ha fatto un male cane e Mia odia il dolore ancor più del lavoro!
Lanciata online nel 2018, la light novel viene pubblicata con le illustrazioni di Gilse (The Swordsman Called the Countless Swords' Sorcerer) dall’anno seguente e attualmente conta 11 volumi.
Sempre dall’estate 2019, Mizu Morino (B-Project: Mousou Scandal) ne sta portando avanti una versione manga, giunta al 5° volumetto.
* NON VUOI PERDERTI NEANCHE UN POST? ENTRA NEL CANALE TELEGRAM! *
illustrate by: Gilse (light novel and manga) and Morino Mizu (manga)
“How… did it come to this…” The third utterance of her question was met with a reply.
“It’s for the sake of the empire. Now, be a good princess and die.”
aka: dumbass princess, mia, gets guillotined but instead of dying wakes up in her 12 year old body. now, she must solve the empires problems not to help the people but in order to not die. somehow everyone seems think to think she's a saint and a genius.
featuring: mia being petty, everyone having rose-coloured vision, the narrator roasting everyone, a lot of humour 10/10, actually very sweet character development and writing.
tearmoon empire is a great do-over, historical work. i believe theres a light novel, manga and now an anime has been announced. i really enjoy it. it balances the line between mocking the idiocy of everyone while us care about the world and the people in it.
Today's nameplate is a name I've always really liked, on a very pretty granite(?) background: 望月, read Mochizuki, Mochitsuki, Moutsuki, Mōchizu, Machizuki, or Bōtsuki. 望 means hope or aspiration or (as I've just learned) full moon, and 月 means moon.