By Ao Satsuki and falmaro. Released in Japan as “Shinitagari no Shannon” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Olivia Plowman.

This book screams out to a certain kind of reader. And yes, I was that sort of reader. Did you read Wandering Witch? Did you want to read the story of a mage going from city to city and meeting various people in an anthology format? And did you stop reading it because the protagonist was a hideously insufferable little shit? Of course. We all did. This book is the antidote for that. I won’t say that Shannon is not occasionally a bit full of herself, but it’s about 1/10 the attitude Eliana has. For the most part she’s nice, wants to help people, and is pleasant to be around. We want to see her daily life. That said… this book is not for everyone. As the title may have hinted. The premise of this book is about an immortal mage trying to find a way that, after centuries, she can actually die, as she is tired of what she has now. If this would bother you, move on.

Shannon looks like a buxom 20-year-old in a mage’s outfit. In fact, she’s immortal, and has spent years and years wandering the world looking for her master, the man who caused this to happen to her. She’s also trying to see if anything will kill her. In this volume, she a) stays at a quiet village, talks with a cute young man, and tries to get eaten and digested by a dragon; 2) she meets a man trying to save a dying girl from a disease with no cure, and volunteers to drink poison antidotes till they find one that’s not poison; 3) She and an old adventurer go to a dungeon no one has ever come back from, to try to find the remains of his son; 4) she meets another young mage, who is trying to help her dying mother, and whose mentor may be the man who cursed Shannon with immortality in the first place.

I’m going to get the big negative out of the way first, as it’s just my personal preference, because the writing is fine. This artist has featured in a lot of series that come out over here in English, and I can’t stand their work every time. They have a heavy fanservice style, and tend to use the same poses. Basically, skip the art. Other than that, I enjoyed this a great deal. As I said, Shannon is very likeable. If she’d actually acted morose and depressed, the way the title suggests, this book would be unbearable. Instead, she’s well aware of the near-impossibility of her task, and is perfectly fine, while she’s searching, with helping people out every now and then… provided, of course, that helping them out might lead to a new way for her to be killed. Not to spoil the premise, but at the end of this volume, Shannon does not, in fact, die. The search continues.

Unfortunately for Shannon, it’s been two years since her last volume. Still, if she ever does come back, I’ll happily keep her company on her wandering journey. (not you, Eliana.)