You Call That Service? Volume 7 Review

Volume 6 of the light novel series You Call That Service? took a dramatic turn when the heroine Shiren decided to return to Japan with her mother, Sairi. This meant leaving protagonist Ryouta and her sister Ouka behind, but will she come to regret that decision? With the final volume in hand, let’s find out!

As we return to the series, we find Shiren has now become the head of the newly founded Holy Sacred Blood Empire, which stands in opposition to the Sacred Blood Empire that she formally called home. Supported by her mother, Shiren is now living an extremely comfortable life with all the food and manga she could possibly want, but even with a loved one by her side, Shiren can’t help but let her mind wander…

Meanwhile, in the Sacred Blood Empire, Ryouta and Ouka are trying to move on with their lives now Shiren is gone. Ryouta is moving into Ouka’s home and formally being made her minion, which will create an everlasting bond between the two of them. This should be a happy moment for them both, having been in love since they were children, but they can’t help but feel something is missing. They may be closer than ever, but without Shiren in their life, there’s a gap that can’t be filled by their love alone and that’s preventing them from moving on with their relationship.

Ultimately, Shiren is lonely without her friends and now she’s stuck between wanting to support her mother and the empire they’re building or returning home. But she’s convinced that Ryouta and Ouka will be having a happy life without her. On the flipside, Ryouta and Ouka believe Shiren will be happy with her mother, having chosen to flee with her. So neither feels like they’re able to make the first move in contacting the other. So, to resolve things, it’s up to their friends (and in Ryouta’s case, romantic interests!) to reunite them.

As far as final volumes go You Call That Service? wraps up the storyline it started in #6 relatively well. At the very least I thought the Holy Sacred Blood Empire and Sacred Blood Empire elements were tied off neatly. However, my big issue with this book is that it doesn’t feel like a conclusion to the whole series.

In the afterword, author Kisetsu Morita comments that they’d left the ending open for continuation or simply for readers to choose their own ending. I was disappointed about this because the series is a rom-com and I wanted some commitment as to who Ryouta ends up with. Throughout the book we’re led to believe he and Ouka are in or about to be in a relationship, but as it gets closer to the end, that becomes less concrete.

This has been a harem series from the start and I appreciate the authors may have not wanted to tie themselves into one particular ending to avoid isolating readers who were rooting for a different heroine. But by not committing, it feels like all of that suspension and development for the cast has gone to waste. Even if Morita had decided to put Ryouta in a relationship with both Ouka and Shiren, I think I would have preferred that to what we got. The story has more than justified him getting with one or both of the sisters, so I genuinely don’t understand the copout ending.

The ending sours the rest of the series for me, unfortunately. Given how much time has been spent on the romance across these six books, especially with Shiren, it’s just disappointing that the one core element of the story goes unfinished. It makes it difficult to recommend above other similar harem light novels too, unless you’re particularly wedded to the vampire theme.

You Call That Service? Volume 7 comes to the West thanks to Yen Press under the Yen On imprint and continues to be translated by Jasmine Bernhardt. The translation for this final book reads well with no problems, which is always nice to see. As usual, this release opens with colour pages from illustrator Hiroki Ozaki, who depicts all of the cast together for a final send-off.

Overall, You Call That Service? Volume 7 proves an unsatisfying conclusion to this light novel series. While the storyline from #6 is rather neatly wrapped up, the romance goes unresolved which makes it difficult to recommend especially after all the time spent focusing on it. A disappointing read, unfortunately.

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors.