Heroine? Saint? No, I'm an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! Volumes 2-6 Light Novel Review

One must begin this series with a pure heart, willing to accept anything. And should one attain that state before beginning, Heroine? Saint? No, I'm an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! will reward the reader time and time again.

The premise is silly. There's no way to dress that up or pretend it is anything else. Mizunami Ritsuko enters our imagination as an absurdly skilled person, from music to business and, of course, beauty. Ritsuko is a paragon of skill and virtue in our world before she ends up in another.

Her transmigration to this new life offers Ritsuko, now known as Celesty, a chance to do the one thing she truly wants to do—become a maid. It is at this point that we must simply nod and smile. This is the heart of the story, and within it lies all of its strengths and weaknesses, so if you cannot accept this, the rest of the story will be impenetrably absurd.

So we open our hearts as Celesty, upon her mother's death, changes her looks and her name and becomes Melody Wave, the maid and the protagonist in a game of which she has no knowledge. Melody uses her saintly (whoops, did I say that?) magic to resuscitate an overrun household, thus throwing the entire game into chaos. This is important because Ritsuko's fellow passengers on the plane were all obsessive players of The Silver Saint and the Five Oaths, and of them, two are working as hard as they can to make the game get to a happy ending.

I once came up with an idea for an isekai in which every character other than the protagonist are reincarnates. This is not that, but occasionally, it gets close. Melody's true identity as both the protagonist of the game and a reincarnate seems to be shrouded in enough confusion that, while various members of the cast grasp part of the mystery, they lack the remaining context, leading to chaos, confusion, and hilarity.

This series is consistently amusing, as creator Atekichi is aware of and having fun with every element of the novel. The narrator takes potshots at Melody and the people around her with love. The absurdity of the story is highlighted for you, in case you missed how outrageous it is. And when Melody uses what she thinks of as “Maid Magic” to rewrite the laws of time and space, it's just all in good fun. Atekichi is also aware of the difference between the job of a maid and the otaku maid ideal, which comes up in both the novel and the author's notes. It's not that important, but it makes the reader feel a little better, somehow.

The story itself is an impressively multi-layered comedy set in the school life of the nobility, but now diverging from the otome game. There are, of course, court hierarchies to be aware of and school tropes from the game, but over and over, these are suborned and changed, while the gamers watch, confused as to why and how to fix it, leading to comedic scenes where the internal monologues of the reincarnated gamers become some of the best dialogue.

The art is the only true weakness here. I know I am being unreasonably picky when I say that it is not sensible to tell me a character is the most magnificently beautiful person ever seen, then have an image of a same-face moe blob. I will say that Yukiko's art is noticeably stronger in Volume 6 than it was in Volume 1. Perhaps by Volume 9 or 10, Melody will actually be magnificently beautiful.

Overall, I enjoyed every single one of these novels, and I might even continue reading them. The premise is frivolous, but the story is well-conceived, and even the traumatic moments are quite amusing. When the first, genuinely serious crisis comes, it's it 100% in line with the true heart of the story and is handled with maidenly sense and sensibility.

As I finish up these volumes, I find myself hoping that the reincarnates reunite for the good, that the in-game characters all figure out what is going on, and reunite for the good…and that Melody continues her quest to be the most perfect maid. Any other ending makes no sense. I'm willing to trust Atekichi because it's apparent that they care for the characters, even more than the reader does. And that makes the difference between a good series and a forgettable one.

No, this is not high literature, but I've enjoyed my time thus far with this series, and I think you will, too.