To be fair, there might be more the Vending machine story in the form of the web novel. I'm only familiar with the two published volumes and the content from them should be exhausted in only a few episodes.
Summer 2025 shows with a light novel source (and how I rate the series based on the LN):
The Rising of the Shield Hero 4th Season (terrible, incel wishfulfillment)
Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus (good mystery)
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability Season 2 (boring shovel ware)
Secrets of the Silent Witch (good, after MC had time to grow on me. Also super cool Nero)
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon Season 2 (good, one of the better reincarnated as a thing series. source is dead though, so I expect anime original content after a few eps)
There's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless...
Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra (okay, Zerg players will love it)
The Water Magician (very interested in how this will be adapted, see this week's "What have you read" …)
Private Tutor to the Duke's Daughter (dropped the LN due to pedo-bait)
Welcome to the Outcast's Restaurant! (I don't think that's a series that got picked up yet by an en publisher, but the synopsis reads like something I would love)
Have you seen this perfect specimen? He needs his beauty sleep!
<Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 6> - Ends on a cliffhanger and in a state with a beloved character in peril.
<Secrets of the Silent Witch -another-, Vol. 1: Rise of the Barrier Mage I> - Louis is a main character more to my taste than Monica. Very entertaining volume, even though the Kerbecks would be even better side characters and deserve a volume of their own.
<The Water Magician: Arc 1 Volume 4> - I still hate this MCU-like banter of MC and sidekick. Every time those two characters are together in a scene and open their mouths, I just want to strangle the author. Maybe it's one of those lost in translation scenarios, but the banter is so stilted and forced. I bet the author has an anime adaptation in mind when writing those dialogues, and in his mind, they're hilarious. But (at least in the translation) they are just sad. The rest is okay though.
P.S.: and it seems there will be a anime adaptation. I wonder if those banter scenes will be as bad in the anime as they are in the LN.
<Magic Stone Gourmet: Eating Magical Power Made Me The Strongest, Vol. 9> - End of the childhood arc, and even though the afterward speaks of what's to expect in the next arc, I consider the series done since there hasn't been a new volume since 2021 in JP. But it's okay, since the ending feels complete anyway, and it doesn't feel like it's abandoned in the middle. Without the afterword talking about the next arc, I wouldn't even expect that there was more. The volume itself was very "battle shounen". You know, getting pummeled by the villain and then finding the power to fight back through the power of love and friendship. You know the type. If that's something someone enjoys, then I suspect they would get their fill there, but it was pretty meh for my taste.
<Secrets of the Silent Witch, Vol. 5> - Nero finally got his time to shine and be super cool. Before he ruins it again by opening his mouth. But before that he was awesome. The overarcing plot also picks up some more steam.
6
Seven Seas Licenses "Fluffy Café in Another World (Isekai Mofumofu Cafe)"
(www.animenewsnetwork.com)
Title: Fluffy Café in Another World (Isekai Mofumofu Cafe) light novel and manga
Creators: Punichan (light novel author), Tobi (light novel illustrator), Yū Takaoka (manga artist)
Release Date: April 2026 (light novel, digital only), March 2026 (manga)
Summary: After a humdrum life as a salaryman, Arima Taichi meets an untimely end while trying to save a mysterious white cat—only to discover the feline is actually a god in disguise! In gratitude, the divine fluffball grants Taichi incredible cheat skills, the rare “Tamer” class, and a second chance in a magical new world. But instead of chasing adventure, Taichi has one simple dream: to open a café filled with the cutest, fluffiest creatures this new world has to offer!
I don't think the new teacher was necessary if she's just repeating the same "esteem" joke as the OG. I would have liked a different personality from a new character, especially since the esteem running gag is running a bit thin for me already.
Something I've been thinking about the entire week since finishing Expedition 33 (the video game). I have something of an obsession with the antagonist's motivations. It's what triggers me the most when reading/watching/playing something, and the villain is just evil for no other reason than to be something for the hero to fight against.
To me, the motivations of the antagonist are more important than why the hero steps up to fight against them. After all, in almost every story, it's the big baddy that dictates the actions of the hero and starts the plot to begin with. Just look at how many main characters in this space are just bank self-inserts without any personality and the story works regardless.
For me, a perfect villain is someone who has a clear and understandable motivation for their actions. Someone who follows their own path and isn't just there to push the plot in this or that direction. Someone who is written to act with their own knowledge base in mind and who isn't somehow omniscient. That's what I consider the minimum for a good villain.
A great villain would be someone who I can say is not wrong, just coming to the wrong conclusions or taking the wrong steps to reach their goal. And a perfect villain would be someone who flips me and brings me completely over to their side. I haven't seen any such "perfect villain" in a light novel, but I haven't lost hope yet. The antagonist of Expedition 33 was the example of a perfect villain that made me think about this topic for the last week and Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2 was another one I could come up with.
[META] This was the last Midweek Discussion topic I had prepared. If someone has some more ideas, please send me a DM. Otherwise I might just let them rest and then loop around from the beginning after a while. Or use whatever I can think of at that given day.
I always call it the best film I never watch again. and then I let people know that this is based on the real life of the author and intended as an apology to his little sister. Just to really rub it in.
I think I'll maybe continue Imperial Reincarnation or get back into Bakarina. I'm a few volumes back on that one.
Fun thing about watching the anime first is that you read all the text now in their voices.
12
Yen Press Licenses Yankee & Carameliser, Magical Midlifer, Monster-Colored Island, More Manga/Novels
(www.animenewsnetwork.com)
Yankee & Carameliser
Creator: Chiuko Umeshibu
Summary
Take one influencer and one bad boy extraordinaire, whisk in a sprinkling of sweets, a scoop of social media, and you get...? Maki and Akito's love story, hot out of the oven! After all, even though Maki might have a bit of a bad rep, the guy must be just as gooey on the inside as the glorious goodies he posts all over social media. So when Akito gets a taste of how dangerously delicious his desserts are, he can't help wanting a taste of the man himself...
Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku!? (Otaku ni Yasashii Gal wa inai!?)
Creators: Norishiro-chan (story), Sakana Uozumi (art)
Summary
Meet Takuya Seo, an otaku who sits behind the popular gals in class, Ijichi and Amane. Since they're people from different “castes,” you wouldn't expect them to have much in common. But when their worlds collide over a borrowed eraser, Takuya slips up about his favorite anime, and Amane...is rather quick to correct him. She says she's not a fan, but her familiarity with the series suggests otherwise. Could she be...a fellow geek?!
Magical Midlifer (Mahō Chūnen) Creators: Maki (story), Nemumi Haiba (art)
Summary
Magical girls—guardians of the people, vanquishers of witches, and defenders of the innocent, all while putting smiles on the faces of children in a flashy spectacle of mass-marketable entertainment. However, things aren't always so family friendly behind the scenes! When the villains get too gruesome for Saturday morning cartoons, these youthful protectors are, in turn, protected by...grizzled middle-aged men? They may be a bunch of old farts, but these geezers have one job: to use their wealth of experience (and some kick-ass magic) to support the mystical maidens from the shadows!
D.N.Angel New Edition
Creator: Yukiru Sugisaki
Summary
He was an ordinary boy. Seriously, Daisuke Niwa cannot stress it enough—he was just a regular guy with a normal crush on one of the pretty girls at his middle school, end of story. If only that were the case... Instead, he's stuck body-swapping with a daring phantom thief every time he sees the object of his affections, and his totally average life has been turned upside down by the people chasing after him in some crazy game of cat-and-mouse!
Monster-Colored Island (Kaijū-iro no Shima)
Creator: Mitsuru Hattori
Summary
Middle school student Kon Chigawa has never left the small island she was born on, nor does she expect to. Shunned by her classmates, Kon's always alone, and she hasn't ever been in love, either. That is, until she encounters the city girl Furuka on a cliff—and ends up resuscitating her after they fall into the ocean! Upon waking, the two mysteriously find themselves in front of a cave said to house monsters, a place Kon often spends time by. And with that, strange occurrences begin to happen on the island...
The Maid is a Vampire (Maid-san wa Kyūketsuki)
Creator: Yasushige
Summary
Fifteen-year-old Alfred Sainoji, the heir to the prestigious Sainoji family, spends his days becoming the perfect gentleman. His only solace from the strict lifestyle his family expects of him is his maid, Magly. However, this cool and collected maid has a secret—not only is she a vampire, she's a naughty vampire.
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Home Alone (Seishun Buta Yarō wa Orusuban Imōto no Yume o Minai)
Creators: Hajime Kamoshida (story), Tsukako Akina (art), Keji Mizoguchi (character design)
Summary
The manga adaptation of the ever-popular Rascal series is back with another installment! Sakuta's shut-in sister, Kaede, has been content always being at home after the bullying incident that put her there. Plus, that's where her favorite onii-chan is! Yet, slowly but surely, Kaede's feelings are beginning to change as she looks to the world beyond the four walls of her home
4
[NEWS] Yen Press Licenses Yankee & Carameliser, Magical Midlifer, Monster-Colored Island, More Manga/Novels
(www.animenewsnetwork.com)
Lira and the Winds of War novel
Creator: Sayuri Ueda
Summary
Lira, a Polish girl who lost her parents during the Great War, now lives in a mansion with an immortal being known only as the Count. After witnessing the tragedies occurring across Europe along with Joerg, a German soldier who serves as her guard,she resolves to use the Count's powers in a desperate bid to protect her homeland. Meanwhile, Joerg must make a choice of his own, with the fate of mankind hanging in the balance. Conflict after conflict, humanity's history and deeds are filled with an endearing foolishness.
Divine Incursion (Ryōkai Shinpan) novel
Creators: Oumi Kifuru (story), syo5 (art)
Summary
In this world, there exist divine beings beyond mortal comprehension. They scoff at the binary of good and evil. Some cast their own flesh down to the earth, others encroach upon the sanctity of dreams, and yet others warp the very fabric of reality. These beings threaten peace across Japan, and humans are completely at their mercy. Agent Katakishi and his junior partner Miyagi belong to a secret government organization tasked with investigating these incidents. But even as they work to oppose these deities and the dangerous humans who worship them, Katakishi has a personal mission to pursue: He wants to track down the whereabouts of his missing wife, even if it forces him to confront a terrible truth...
Bone Ash novel
Creator: Tow Ubukata
Summary
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga is an investor relations manager at a large development firm that's currently in the process of constructing a new high-rise building. After claims surface online of fires breaking out, illness spreading, and human bones unearthed at the site, he ventures there himself to find out whether there's any truth to the rumors. During his search, he detects an eerie dryness and the distinct smell of a person burned completely to ash, bones and all. Eventually, Mitsuhiro stumbles across a mysterious ritual space with a huge hole not on any blueprints—and inside it, a man in chains. Mitsuhiro flees aboveground in a panic, only to quickly learn it is but a taste of the terror that has begun to plague him and his family!
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[NEWS] Cross Infinite World Licenses The Hired Heroine Wants the Villainess to Gloat, Welcome to Olivia's Magic Jewelers, More Novels
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I Want to Be a Saint, But I Can Only Use Attack Magic!
Creators: Fuyu Aoki (story), Bodax (art) Release Date: June 30 (digital), physical version at later date
Synopsis
“You're always alone.” From the bottom of her heart, Yuffie Abisus desperately wants to be a saint for one reason only—so no one will ever say those aggravating words to her again. Fortunately for her, she's been blessed with an extraordinary supply of mana despite being a commoner. Determined to succeed in her mission to become a saint and have everyone fawn over her, she enrolls in the Academy of Magic where she's sure to free herself from her gloomy life. However, Yuffie has a secret. For whatever reason, she can only use attack magic, which itself falls strictly in the domain of men. Meaning she's incapable of utilizing healing magic, women's magic. Maybe that's why she ends up being labeled a second-rate student and isolated from the rest of her cohort from day one.
So begins the tale of a girl who's a smidge socially inept, disheartened by her struggle to make even a single friend, and once more mired in the drudgery of a loner life. A girl who, in spite of the challenges she faces, pushes herself ever onward to achieving her goal of sainthood!
Welcome to Monstrous Miss Sophie's Enchanted Salon of Healing
Creators: Sachi Konzome (story), Harenochihareta (art) Release Date: May 31 (digital)
Synopsis
Meet Sophie Olzon, the only daughter of a wealthy merchant family, cursed from birth with a mysterious skin condition. With her rough, bark-like appearance, Sophie has been cruelly nicknamed “The Monstrous Miss” by her peers and bullied relentlessly at school until she could bear no more. Forced into isolation, she retreats to her family estate and dedicates herself to mastering her peculiarly weak brand of magic that can only heal surface wounds.
One fateful day, when Sophie nearly succumbs to the weight of her condition, a forgotten truth hits her—she once lived a life as a single mother in modern-day Japan! With renewed purpose, the Monstrous Miss opens her heart and doors to those seeking her unique brand of healing.
The Hired Heroine Wants the Villainess to Gloat
Creators: Hanami Nishine (story), Rin Hagiwara (art) Release Date: July 31 (digital), physical at later date
Synopsis
One day, a white cat who calls himself the messenger of a god comes to scout Nina Scaglione for a certain role. The prince, whose heart she's meant to capture only to be thrown aside by him, is obsessed with farming. The villainess, who's meant to gloat over the heroine's failure, is a seemingly perfect noble girl with hidden flaws—one of them being an inability to effectively carry out a plan. Once Nina takes on her role as heroine, she encounters another character: a handsome boy with silver-white hair.
Nina must work hard to make sure the villainess gets a satisfying triumph or she won't get her payment, but can she pull it off?
Welcome to Olivia's Magic Jewelers
Creators: Rinrin Yuki (story), Suzaku (art) Release Date: May 31 (digital)
Synopsis
After coming home one day after working herself ragged, Olivia finds her engagement called off by her fiancé. What's more, her adoptive sister claims Olivia's jewelry designs as her own while Olivia's adoptive family chases her out of her own home and store. Having lost everything, she tightly grips a letter of introduction her late father wrote and heads to the capital, all alone. There, she works hard and manages to start her own shop.
This is the story of a girl who hits rock bottom then climbs her way back to happiness through her own hard work, showing the people who took everything from her that she can't be kept down.
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Heartwarming episode. I loved the appreciation collage Reina made for her friends.