Sexiled Volume 1

Review of the light novel Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mystical Sorceress by Ameko Kaeruda.

This series is being released officially in English by J-Novel Club

A fantasy series that draws heavy inspiration from our own world.

Sexiled was inspired by the real life scandal at Tokyo University that broke in August, 2018.

It was revealed that the school had been marking their medical school test with a bias so the number of women admitted would be lower. Their thinking revolved around the outdated idea that women would nearly always choose getting married and starting a family as opposed to maintaining a career. Hence, they figured training women to be doctors was a waste of time and resources.

Ameko Kaeruda was inspired by this event to write a fantasy novel filled with the typical sexism women face every day in our modern society. Unlike some other fantasy novels, she chose not to create a world with overt and overblown sexism. Instead, she models it much like our own, where there are no actual rules preventing women from doing what they want, but society’s expectations often interfere.

In an interview with ANN, she also states she wanted to create a light novel which proved not all light novels are misogynistic.

The novel wears its message openly. The women are strong and intelligent, while the men are mostly villains, cowards, ignorant, or a combination of both. Only the female characters receive much in the way of development.

But the book does achieve some balance in its message in not ignoring how women can become complicit in the oppression of other women. And that women can also just accept things because “that’s just how it is.”

That said, the book’s ultimate message is one of hope. One that speaks to the power of friendship and pursuing one’s dreams. In its depiction of the camaraderie between its female characters and message of self-realization, Sexiled turns out to be a fun title.

It has several engaging characters who break a number of light novel tropes (for female characters). The writing is brisk, with fun dialogue that I’d say the translator has done a masterful job of adapting.

📔LIGHT NOVEL INFORMATION

TITLE: Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mystical Sorceress

Get it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2qBAyII

Get it from iBooks: https://apple.co/2Vpj9O3

JAPANESE TITLE: 女だから、とパーティを追放されたので伝説の魔女と最強タッグを組みました "Onna dakara, to Party wo Tsuihou Sareta no de Densetsu no Majo to Saikyou Tag wo Kumimashita"

AUTHOR: Ameko Kaeruda

ILLUSTRATOR: Kazutomo Miya

PUBLISHER (English): J-Novel Club

TRANSLATOR: Molly Lee

RELEASE DATE (English): October 5, 2019

SYNOPSIS:

Tanya Artemiciov is a talented Mage-class adventurer who just got kicked out of her party by a sexist scumbag. So what's a girl to do? Go to the wasteland and blow stuff up of course! One small problem though: she inadvertently frees a mythical Sorceress named Laplace who was sealed away for the past 300 years...

Surprise! Turns out this so-called "wicked" Sorceress is actually pretty cool. Laplace wants to start a party of her own, Tanya wants revenge, and the solution is obvious: team up. It's time to kick ass, kiss girls, and dismantle the patriarchy!

PUBLISHER (Japan): Overlap Novels

RELEASE DATE (Japan): February 25, 2019

VOLUMES RELEASED (Japan to Date): 2 (Most recent released August 2019)

ANIME SERIES: None

MANGA: None