The Savior's Book Café Story in Another World, Vol. 3 (… (2024)

Here are three points of criticism about the entire The Savior's Book Café Story in Another World.

Predictable Mary Sue Protagonist: Tsukina, the female lead, fits the Mary Sue archetype too neatly. She possesses magical powers, runs a book café, and is universally liked. Her lack of flaws makes her less relatable and reduces tension in the story.

Underutilized World-Building Despite being set in another world, the story doesn’t fully explore its potential. The remote location of Tsukina’s café away from the central plot (the royal palace) diminishes the impact of major events, rendering them mere afterthoughts.

Shallow Characterization: While Tsukina’s slice-of-life activities are charming, the supporting characters lack depth. The knight Il, who shares Tsukina’s love for books, has chemistry with her, but their interactions remain surface-level. More nuanced character development would enhance the overall experience.

Of course it ends with the cliffhanger of becoming a love triangle! I love the book so far, and am overwhelmingly pleased to see their successful engagement, and . . . the "I want you all to myself" troupe. <3

Othel (I finally remembered the name of the country this story is set in after three volumes!) has welcomed a new savior, one who actually has a name this time: Youta. Youta's a gung-ho try-hard type who is much more talented at offensive magic than protective magic. Youta gets discouraged when he is thwarted by practicalities like territorial boundaries and the limitations of his magic.

Hm... this story is getting a bit better. Plotting and art have improved somewhat. "A bit" and "somewhat" are hints about my level of enthusiasm here. ;)

I can appreciate Tsukina going against the grain by keeping her status as a saint secret from the powers in Othel, and continuing to maintain the secret after her presence has been revealed (though not her identity). However, I ironically note that Tsukina comes across like an easy way for a writer who possibly lacks much real world experience, to create a protagonist who is very rarely called upon to change her mundane daily routine. She easily avoids being exposed to situations or people that might cause her to question her decision to tightly circumscribe her own life.

(As I was writing this, I was reminded of The Fiancée of the Wizard, another isekai where the protagonist spends a lot of time sitting around waiting for her beloved to show up, that also had a rudimentary fantasy plot, and that also ended up being rather boring. I'm sure that this setup could be made interesting, but it didn't happen in either of these series.)

Tsukina and Il are the most boring couple ever. I'm not looking for shoujo manga-esque melodrama. Just... anything that acknowledges--for example--that even the kindest people on earth can have issues and problems that need ironing out would be nice. The fantasy plot, such as it is, is "monster attacks engineered by a demon lord," the same basic major fantasy plot that every writer since Tolkien has broken out when they don't have the imagination for anything else. So neither the romance nor the fantasy has been developed well enough to sustain my interest. A lose-lose situation. Where Youta's arc might lead is an intriguing question, but I wonder to what extent he draws me in because of his minor novelty in an otherwise bland landscape.

* there was no friction either before or after their love declaration, and blushes and hand-holding are as steamy as these two ever get...

I don't dislike isekai in particular, but I think my overall dislike for YA fantasy is manifesting itself here. There has to be something out of the ordinary for it to have much of a chance with me, and the ways that this one, oh-so-mildly, breaks the mold point more toward authorial naïveté than innovation. There's nowhere near enough going on here to motivate me to continue beyond the three volumes that I've read.

A short story where Tsukina and Il go on a date rounds out the volume, and conveniently demonstrates my issues with their relationship. These could be literally any two characters, in any place, at any time, going on a date. Who cares? As a side note, it's uncredited, as was the short at the end of volume 1.

Another one for the used bookstore box. (Alas my 30 bucks. 😔)

Tsukina and Il are engaged and they stopped the very awful crazy saviour from destroying Tsukina’s adopted home. All is well and the series ended. Then it didn’t and God shows up to let Tsukina know that another saviour is en route. Surely this nice guy won’t be any problem…? Right?

Series like this one that simply didn’t need to continue can sometimes have a hard time justifying their continued existence. The day was won, true love did its thing, what else is there to say? Turns out, more than a little.

The story takes a two-pronged approach to this. First, it uses the reappearance of God, who is incredibly not-quite-omnipotent in this series, to widen the story’s horizons. Seriously, theology espoused in this series is a lot more fallible than you’d want from anything with the powers this one has.

We quickly learn about life beyond the borders of Othel, including one particularly sketchy location (and one thing I don’t love is the broad Arab stereotyping for that place) that is specifically being denied all-powerful beings from bargain basement God.

It makes sense, ties in with Tsukina’s own work, and doesn’t feel like it’s being pulled out of nowhere. So that’s step one, but step two is this new saviour. While it might be a bit much to be inflicted with yet another useless blob of a human being, Youta at least seems genuinely helpful and trying hard.

Too bad he’s a nice guy. And that makes him interesting, and dangerous, as this guy means well. He means really well. And he’s being very helpful to Tsukina. A lot. And it’s one thing to introduce a rival to a story, yawn, but another to introduce a guy who’s reading way too much into a little kindness.

This is a particular type of assumption and rebuke that many guys have had to deal with and some of them don’t do it entirely well. Now give that over to somebody who can blow a hole in a wall and you’ve got something to work with. Tsukina is being nice, period, and Youta’s interpreting that a whole other way and we clearly see he’s not the type to take rejection well this volume.

Of course, we might not go that way, but it sure seems like we’re heading down that route. It’s got a bit more of a frisson of danger than the usual rival nonsense so it makes a much bigger impact.

The rest is mostly Tsukina and Il being cute together and remarking on how the book cafe basically seems to exist for just the two of them, which isn’t exactly inaccurate, although they do get a very foreshadowing-heavy visitor at one point this time out.

This story is still working for me. Tsukina is a great character - quiet and content, but doing the real saviour work under everyone’s noses just out of the goodness of her heart. Il’s Il, but they’re definitely a cute pairing and that’s enough.

Minus a little unfortunate stereotype usage and a chunk given up to a short story I couldn’t care less about (I never read these, but if you like these prose additions, you’re in luck!), it’s as strong as it ever was. Did it need to exist? No. Does it betray what came before? Also no. Does it add something interesting? Yes, and that’s a pleasant surprise, if I do say so.

4 stars - this isn’t a top-tier series that I reach for the second a new volume arrives, but it is a consistently strong example of how to make a good isekai story and do something interesting with it, rather than the same old same.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚ Another great volume for this cozy, adorable story!

Il and Tsukina have been living the wholesome life together now. THEY GOT ENGAGED!!!! Ok that took me by surprise (though I love it ngl) but yeah, like the end of the second volume left us with them finally being together, their love is mutual and you know yeah. But we realize that they've become engaged at the beginning of vol. 3 and omg that's so cute. They couldn't wait to be together and now that they are, they're obviously going to marry because they want to spend their lives together in that tiny bookstore. I LOVE THEM.

I feel like this vol. is weaker than the first two but maybe because we're getting introduced to a new plot, new characters, new worldbuilding. So, I think vol. 4 would be better in a way because the real action will start to happen and things will finally be in their correct places, you know? I'm excited to see where this story goes and ends. I believe this manga only has five volumes so I'm nearly done *sobs* But it's such a cute manga I highly recommend it to everyone who wants just wholesome, cozy vibes in their stories. Yeah, there's action and maybe mystery now in the mix, but it's still sweet and charming as well.

✨4.5✨

Adding another savior is making the plot more fun. I'm really excited how the story will progress. Tsukina is till the best girl.

Meh. It’s not bad, but it’s not ringing all my bells either. The story at the end of the volume took whatever forward momentum the manga had and threw it into instant reverse. It slowed everything down and it’s not like the story was moving all that rapidly to begin with.

Maybe I’m just falling prey to getting used to how fast the world is and so I can’t handle slower paced things, but this volume just didn’t do much for me. I have the next and will read it, but I’m not expecting miracles.

3, solid middle of the road, stars.

Dropped a star for the sudden appearance of the villainous people of Hagar, which seem to be coded as Middle Eastern (dark skin, head scarves, the country name...) and want to take over the world.

VIDEO REVIEW HERE: https://youtu.be/A0LJvHfEBeI

I'm not sure what to say about this volume because everything I WANT to say is huge spoilers, but I do agree with quite a few of my friends in that this volume wasn't quite as exciting as the previous two volumes.

I think some of that is because Tsukina and Il have significantly less time together while Tsukina and the new Savior seem to have a lot more time together. While everything is with good intentions from Tsukina's end, it is VERY obvious that her bright smiles mean something VERY different for the new Savior.

With that said though, he is so much sunshine!! I had to laugh when Tsukina said that she was going to get a sunburn because his smile was so bright! LOL!

I truly hope and want the best of things for him, but that ending makes me nervous in more ways than one. I have zero doubts about Tsukina and Il's relationship or that the new Savior will affect their engagement, but I really don't want to see this young man's heart crushed in the process. Let him keep smiling and our couple be super happy! *cries*

4.5 stars. I could scream at how wholesome and heartwarming this series is to me 🥹😍

3.5⭐

I'm not sure where this story is going, but the new Savior is kinda sus if you ask me...

I also wish there'd be more of a focus on developing the romance...

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ☆3.0

middle book syndrome?!! we got to meet new characters but other than that not much happened tbh, but it’s still cute and entertaining

Maybe I’m asking too much for this series, because the first two volumes were QUICK in some departments and surface-level in others and I just thought, maybe it’s trying to get to the good stuff. Well, in this volume, there is minimal conflict, too sweet-they’ll-rot-your-teeth-out characters, and STILL it remains very surface level. Am I still invested? Yes. I literally am because I bought volume 4. But this is a short series so I’m literally BEGGING for the next volume to give me SOMETHING. Fingers crossed. 🤞

It just keeps getting better and better ♡
This was such a sweet, wholesome, and, at times, relatible story.
I will continue with the series ♡
◇ Ages 30 + characters
◇Fantasy
◇Magic
◇Comforting
◇Easy Read
◇Slice of Life
◇Wholesome start of a romance

This is what I want from my stories book, manga, shows, and movies.

Better than volume 2, but not as good as volume 1.

If you want an uninspired paint-by-numbers manga, this is it. For a series that sounded so promising and unique, I gotta say these books have been a let down. If possible, the art gets worse as the series goes on, with Il, the hero and love interest to our main heroine, looking creepier and creepier with his facial expressions.
But I think my biggest annoyance this volume, is how we are told over and over again that this is a story of an adult woman in her thirties...you'd think she'd act like one then. Instead, over half her behaviour is typical teen girl.
It's becoming increasingly annoying how nobody still has any idea she's saviour they've all be asking about given her insane flaunting of powerful magic every which way but loose.
The romance is still contrived and stale with the leads put together in what reads as forced cliches to convince the reader there is chemistry between them when there just is not.
God, i wish i never bought this series.

3.75/5 ⭐️

As I stated in volume 2's review, I love the whole premise of this manga - a middle-aged woman ends up in a fantasy world, creates a book cafe, and falls in love with a soldier. It's different than many of the manga I read, and the artwork is really beautiful.

I don't know how to deal with the lack of things going on in the book. Yes, it's the whole point, the main character wanted to go to this world and do all the background work and let others get credit, yet I just want to see some type of action. Also, still don't know how to deal with the "romance" I mean, it's cute, and I love how protective Il is of Tsukina. Just give me more cuteness!!!! I get they are older, but that doesn't mean romance should be dead. Also, do they have any other mutual interests outside of books? Where is the romance development?

Also, don't get me started on the obvious flirting of a certain someone!

And finally...did we just get a little bit of non-binary action in here? I am all for it. Give me more.

Efectivament, baixada de ritme tot i que prou ben salvat amb el recurs de fer aparèixer un nou savior. Nous elements de lore desconeguts fins al moment (el regne malvat que anhela el poder del savior) afegeixen emoció a la trama que queda aigualida en el terreny amorós... Percebo zero química entre els protagonistes, estan promesos, però semblen dos companys de pis que gairebé no es coneixen, gens d'intimitat ni un mal petó ni res. Sembla que faltin idees o material per treure dos volums més...

This volume wasn't as awesome as the previous two. Things look like they're about to get super tense, and although things felt wrapped up nicely in the previous volume, a few of them unwrapped (eg, Il and Tsukina looked like they were poised to get married at the end of vol 2, but very few people know they're engaged in this one.)

I'm going to read #4 when I get a chance, but I feel kind of like things moved too quickly, wrapped up too fast, and now this volume was a whole pivot.

I'm in a huge reading slump so this review should be taken with a grain of salt. While this installment was very cute....it could have been 1/10th the length and contained the same story and character development.

MF, asian rep, reluctant heroine, friends to lovers, knight mmc, magic & magical artifacts, slice of life

I wasn’t sure where they’d go with the story after the ending of the second one, but I’m both intrigued and nervous that the next book is ending the series. I’m definitely not ready to say goodbye to the characters and the world.

That ending though. I'm not sure I like where this is going. I need more Il and Tsukina content.

3/3.5 stars. I feel it's building again, but am still slightly disappointed it's still not a good as the first volume, though on the same level as the second

Cute! 🥰

3.5/5 stars.

Very good, but I still wish it was longer. It feels rushed and I wish all of this could have been lengthened to extend the pleasure of this story.

I love them. This is such a calming and cozy read. A break from the real world.

Minus a star for this girl not saying she has a fiance when the savior literally walked her to the castle everyday smh

50 50 for me. But its really nice and sweet