JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World by Ko Hiratori. Translation by Emily Balistrieri. Originally published by J-Novel Club, September 2018. Approx. 334 pages.
The Japanese light novel genre is booming Stateside now. This is a great boon for fans of certain titles. Often, we will see recent anime being developed from light novel sources, where in the past, manga was usually the primary source. Depending on the popularity of said title, a manga adaptation might follow. This gives fans 3 venues through which they can enjoy/revisit beloved titles (light novel/manga/anime). Good times indeed.
One of the most popular sub-genres in the industry, if not the most popular, is "isekai" (another world). These are your stories, which, if you think about it, are most in touch with the true escapist element that fantasy is honestly predicated upon. Put your mundane, oppressive, boring world behind, and step off somewhere amazing, where there are no limits to who you can be or what you can do. Along the anime/manga/novel landscape, we see various methods to 'port over' to the new worlds in question...sometimes, as in SAO, it is via becoming stranded through a VR game. Often, well, it requires reincarnation.
It seems within the sub-genre of isekai, there is yet another sub-genre, that of "being reincarnated in some ludicrous manner or another". Yes, you read that right. We have people being reincarnated as slimes, spiders, and, because why not, vending machines. I mean, they do sound ridiculous, but it isn't like the premise itself is a new one...
On the downside, there's zero waifu material in this title....
Another interesting note about these titles is that a good number of them arise not from commissioned publications, but as serialized stories licensed from Japanese message boards. Such is the case with today's book, JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World. Yes, this is assuredly an isekai title. Yes, the title is pretty outrageous and most assuredly in your face. However, the book itself is not a fluff piece. It is a fairly well-balanced work, that, despite some rough edges, offsets its levity with some dark corners and strong characters.
The title, as you most likely could figure, is not just a thesis, but an entire synopsis. Our young protagonist, Haru Koyama, wakes up in a fantasy world, after expiring in our world via the tried and true method of getting hit by a truck. She is joined by classmate Chiba, an introverted otaku who died as well attempting to push her out of the way. Like all standard fantasy alternate worlds, this one is under constant, perennial danger from an evil Demon Lord.
However, our young heroine has bigger fish to fry. Haru learns quickly that, in this world, the cards aren't exactly stacked in favor of the fairer sex. Her former loser classmate, Chiba, courtesy of some banter with the god who guided them over, finds himself blessed with a broken skill set - one that allows him to 'level up' at 16x the normal speed. Also, the society itself is completely male-dominated. The ubiquitous Adventurers' Guild only issues permits to men. In fact, the only open paths for women seem to be as housewife, priestess/healer (the only way women can be attached to an adventurer), or, sex work. With no skills from her old life to parlay here, Haru opts for the third choice; and then does her damnedest to be the best.
So, how does it all stack up?
Story/Writing: You can tell that this was a serialized piece, which was completed in installments. It all falls under a general thematic arc, but you can still feel that with each chapter, each vignette, the progress and character evolution was more specific to that portion than the overall book. This is not a bad thing, but as each vignette has a somewhat different mood, it plays merry hell on the overall feel of continuity.
The silver lining to this is that the book is, all in all, well-written. Hiratori has put a lot of love into her protagonist, and it allows the readers ease in sympathizing with her. Haru isn't perfect; in Japan, she was one of those materialistic, face in the crowd types (the equivalent of what we call "basic bitches" here). Also, escort and sex work was not entirely new to her when she touched down in the new world. The "JK" in the title stands for "Joshi Kousei", which literally means "High School Girl". However, in recent times, the term has evolved to refer to the compensated dating scene which is prevalent in Japan; and it is basically escort work with the option for sex, and a lot of teen girls engage in it. Haru had done that sort of work to make ends meet in middle school, and she needed to reinvent herself in the wake of it. As the story progresses, Hiratori gives us peeks into Haru's heart, bit by bit, so that you can see, under the veneer, there's a sweet, sensitive, hard-working soul there. And so, by the end of the book, you end up falling in love with Haru as well.
I must also note that, for this book to be so immensely readable to me, a Western reader, a good amount of credit must go to the translator. In this case, that honor goes to Emily Balistrieri. Good job!
World Building: Two ways to look at this one. The world building itself is a bit scanty. We have those aforementioned terms, the ones used in most isekai works, tossed around like window dressing. As for serious discourse regarding industry, economics, climate, etc., it's not there. So is that bad? Not really. Remember, Haru's view is limited to her dedication to working to survive. What we do get is detailed description of life at her workplace. Ergo, we learn about the world in the same manner she does; via her customers. To be honest, that is the best fit for this type of work.
Action: Well, there's action, and there's, ummm, "action". For the former, the clang-clang sword type, there's some, including one magnificent setpiece. As for the sex, well, to be honest, I don't read a lot of that type of fiction, so I can't really appraise it. It is, erm, interesting, to say the least. I did enjoy it, so I'll just say it's well-done.
Overall: Again, all in all it's a fun, heartfelt book. Don't be dissuaded by any perceived implications behind the title. I mean, yes, there is a lot of sex in this book, and there are some precarious situations. But life, as well as this book, is about overcoming those obstacles. While the serialized structure makes it a tad less powerful than a singular piece, and the fact that there are some superfluous elements (the entire Kickin' the Can segment), JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World is a solid book that begs for a sequel.
Get your copy of JK Haru here.
Get your copy of JK Haru here.
Cover:
The artwork is pretty, to be sure, and the color palette enhances the overall effect. However, in my opinion, something along the lines of a bifurcated image - one showing elements of Haru in both worlds, would have worked immensely better.
My other complaint - unlike most other light novels, there's no interior art. Remember, most light novels have a few color plates right after the front cover, as well as an average of 5 interior B&W pics. I'm not even asking for NSFW/hentai pics, just some pics of more of the dramatis personae would have been very welcome.
On a bright note, though, it looks like a limited comic - JK Haru "Summer", or something to that effect, has been released. Very interested in that; look at that gorgeous cover!
More info here.
Here's hoping for more from Haru - more novels, more manga, and how about an anime?
if i were there id beat the shit out of the men who were trying to rape kiyori, cut their hands feets penis eyes ears and nose. I will eat their dismembered dicks and cum and shit on their corpses. I would have cut their heads off and splagsed their scalped, blinded, girlfriends with acid. I would have broken that rotten fucking annoying cunt kiyoris legs, beaten her near death and left her there to bleed out for making me waste my time. I would remove their clothes and leave them lying there, And i would tie their headless bodies in one lomg chain to the back of a wagon and dragged them through town, and dump them directly in a great big pile in front of the blue cat nocturne for all to see. And ill just keep punching the bodies for days into chutney. I dont give a single flying fuck about their constant cunt nagging about how i should listen to women. I dont worship women like that pussyhwipped queer chiba does, and your complaint is that i dont worship them more. You cant even IMAGEINE a man who cant be shamed or nagged into complicance , that doesnt exist in this world. And they are all gonna die. All of em. Lupe is getting skinned for being chibas waifu, and her eight subs will be forced to fight to the death to save her, and im just gonna kill the survivor, and i will use her skin as a flag in my total genocide of these soulless faggots. And i will also skin widgecraft and shit in his skin and throw him across a street of salt abd broken glass. Bisque is getting his face doused with acid and disemboweled and hanged with his own entrails. That bard will be hanged with his own strings, ans the wizard who does tricks will be burned at the stake. Ill beat the shit out of the soldiers, whoever is head of state, the chooey customer, the blacksmith until theyre mangled corpses. Buffness will have his arms adlegs cut off and i will do the same to his company and rape his whole company and shove fireworks up their asses so the y take off and fuckin explode in the air. I will pucnh sumo in the gut so hard his fat ass explodes into a rain of boiling oil that burns shequeraso to death and becomes a river of boiling butter for his crime of allowing himself to be manipulated by her for sales and becoming an instrument of the novel trying to manipulate me, then ill dropkick the madam into the river and gun her down with an SMG. Kill kill kill The blue cat nocturne and all its whores and johns will be burned down with everyone inside, and their families and pets will all be gunned down with machine guns, thrown into a ditch and made into fertilizer which i will use to grow giant hogweed and spread it fucking everywhere while i gas the fucking town with sarin and blow it up. And i will deepfry the kick the can kids like chciken nuggets in boiling oil and eat them. And i will smash chibas queer faggot cocksucking face for simping for haru and watch his brains and skull bits splatter everywhere, then shove harus decapitated head into the hole his head used to be. And i will beat the kick the can judges face so hard his eyes fall out of his skull, and ill rip his jaw out and use it to kill their parents, the other competitors, and more people i didnt name. Then i will napalm to deatn all of chiba and harus former classmates cos fuck em, then bait the chinamen into invading japan and re-enacting the rape of nanking on chiba and haru neighborhoods and families in tokyo. Woohoo!!! And i will castrate the hanged corpse of her benefactor god and carve on it "complete and utter vaginal slave" for giving haru creation preganncy and i will keep beating the corpse like a pinata with a crowbar until theres no more organs falling out, and ill just start cutting away with a machete. Eat shit. Fuck you fag ass bitch. This is what i am and you can cry about it.
ReplyDeleteAll I have to say is that this is a very reasonable response to some of the goings-ons in the book
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