2025 Bingo Reading Challenge ✅

So I have a high bar for Higashino books. I wouldn’t call it garbage, but it’s one of two books of his that I would call “mid.” The current tier list, in English, is:

  1. Journey Under the Midnight Sun
  2. The Devotion of Suspect X
  3. A Midsummer’s Equation
  4. Letter
  5. Mask Manor Murder Mystery (idk)
  6. Malice
  7. The Miracle of Namiya General Store
  8. Salvation of a Saint
  9. Masquerade Hotel
  10. that book (Classmate)
  11. The Forbidden Magic

With 10 and 11 being mid, 7-9 being very enjoyable with minor flaws, and 1-6 being excellent.
Classmate just has a cringe main character (likely on purpose) and a very convoluted resolution that is impossible for the reader to predict. You can guess that something is going on with X, Y, and Z, but the actual truth is unguessable. This is the only Higashino book that made me feel rug-pulled. Also, it was kind of anticlimactic and far-fetched. Far-fetched as in I wasn’t buying the resolution based on the story leading up to it, and the character motivations and actions didn’t feel realistic. I don’t really care about other kinds of realism.

7 Likes

My first bingo!!

#14 Set in a country that is not where the book’s language is spoken: 木曜日にはココアを | L28

I thought this book would fit the prompt when I found myself pondering whether or not (English-speaking) Australians have the concept of aizuchi. Other English-speaking parts of the world that I’m familiar with don’t, but maybe they do in Australia because they are closer to Japan and thus have more cultural exchange with Japan?

previous squares

Free square: とんがり帽子のアトリエ 5 | L27
#1 Read a book and watch the adaptation/Join a book club: ひとりぼっちの○○生活 1 | L21
#2 Cover is primarily composed of your favorite color / From someone else’s board: とんがり帽子のアトリエ 6 | L27
#3 Workplace setting / Character speaks a dialect: 舞妓さんちのまかないさん 12 | L25
#4 Reread: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった | L25
#5 Non-human protagonist: しろくまカフェbis 2 | L19
#6 Second in a series: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった VOL.2 | L24
#7 Shiritori title (Hitoribochinomarumaruseikatsu → Tsuredzurebiyori) / Went in without knowing the premise: 徒然日和 1 | L20
#8 Main character with a disability: ゆびさきと恋々 4 | L20
#9 Has a cat character: サイレント・ウィッチ 沈黙の魔女の隠しごと | L30
#10 Curious title: 時間割男子 1 わたしのテストは命がけ! | L23
#11 Bad Cover: ゆびさきと恋々 5 | L21
#12 Finished* in one day: 齋藤孝のイッキによめる! 名作選小学1年生 新装版 | L24
#13 Has Vampires / No ratings, no reviews: 霧島くんは普通じゃない ~転校生はヴァンパイア!?~ | L22

Books 15, 16, and 17 won’t get me any bingos, but after that every book will get me a new bingo! Wow, I’m more than halfway to getting full blackout!

14 Likes

Okeee three more added in (after a loooong period without an update)

First time switching stuff around, putting 富江 in Science Fiction

工場 | L32 - One Word Title - slightly dystopian factory which is as big as a city and everyone has a weird time.

黒い森の記憶 | L30 - Free - Couldn’t find an easy slot for this, so chucking it in the middle.

不倫と南米 | L28 - Seeking Rec’s - thank you @bungakushoujo for this rec (many many months ago - long TBR lol)

I do feel like I’m playing a game of how many books can I read while avoiding bingos :pleading_face: but I’m sure some will come along soon.

15 Likes

:handshake:        

9 Likes

In an unbelievable turn of events, I finished my book! And they did explain the title!
So here goes “Title that sounds curious:” 당연하게도 나는 너를 | L25


I think I need a break from difficult reading / novels, so I’ll go back to the Dam in the Forest series, and keep on slowly reading 일 퍼센트 | L23 whenever the mood hits.

Previous reads

우리우리 복댕이 | L16 Non-human protagonist
호랑이 들어와요 | L17 Book you keep hearing about
우리들의 식탁 | L17 Genre you don’t usually read
숲속의 담 1 | L18 Didn’t know the premise going in
딱 하나만 선택하라면, 책 | L18 A book about a book
숲속의 담 2 | L18 2nd volume of a series
나빌레라 1 | L20 Main character is retirement age or older
좋은 날이야, 네가 옆에 있잖아 | L20 FREE SPACE
히카루가 죽은 여름 2 | L21 Recommended to you
히카루가 죽은 여름 3 | L21 Favourite colour
노인의 꿈 첫 번째 이야기 | L22 Title includes a number
기억술사 1 | L27 One-word title
당연하게도 나는 너를 | L25 Title that sounds curious

13 Likes

Added two books and two bingo lines for July.

2nd vol. of series

Features cats

Although I love cats and both books featured cats, I like the first book but not the second because I prefer mysteries and detective investigations. The second book lost my interest after the second chapter.

10 Likes

Protagonist is retirement age or older: 定年諸君!(1) | L24??, ‘You, Retirees!’. B2 square, 3 bonus :star: stars for being the first to rate, grade, & review on Natively.

This manga kicks off with a former bank manager reaching retirement, and explores how he adjusts to his life of freedom, how he makes it meaningful, and how his relationships unfold with other retirees. It’s a pretty relaxing, grounded read that I quite enjoyed sitting down with, even if it doesn’t really go anywhere deep or have much of a plot. Tohru Shinohara’s artwork is also a treat, with plenty of varied and realistic designs for the old guys.

I picked this knowing nothing about it but what was in the blurb, specifically because it was a perfect fit for the bingo prompt. It was a pretty enjoyable read! Likely a higher level than what I’m at, sadly, but I still had fun with what I did understand of it.

Apparently Tohru Shinohara is most known for drawing badass sexy lady mangas, which this old man photography manga could not be farther from, but I really want to see more of his work now. The poses and expressions are all pretty stiff and restrained even when they’re pushed, but the way he draws people is just so satisfying to look at.

12 Likes

#15 A book someone else thought I would like / Flower or plant name in the title: あさがおと加瀬さん。 | L18

I really liked this book (I liked the characters, the illustration style was a little unusual and very expressive, and the relationship is one I’m really rooting for), so I’m happy to give it a spot on my board!

I completely made up the secondary prompt, but I think it could be a fun one, so I included it in case it inspires anyone. :slight_smile:

previous squares

Free square: とんがり帽子のアトリエ 5 | L27
#1 Read a book and watch the adaptation/Join a book club: ひとりぼっちの○○生活 1 | L21
#2 Cover is primarily composed of your favorite color / From someone else’s board: とんがり帽子のアトリエ 6 | L27
#3 Workplace setting / Character speaks a dialect: 舞妓さんちのまかないさん 12 | L25
#4 Reread: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった | L25
#5 Non-human protagonist: しろくまカフェbis 2 | L19
#6 Second in a series: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった VOL.2 | L24
#7 Shiritori title (Hitoribochinomarumaruseikatsu → Tsuredzurebiyori) / Went in without knowing the premise: 徒然日和 1 | L20
#8 Main character with a disability: ゆびさきと恋々 4 | L20
#9 Has a cat character: サイレント・ウィッチ 沈黙の魔女の隠しごと | L30
#10 Curious title: 時間割男子 1 わたしのテストは命がけ! | L23
#11 Bad Cover: ゆびさきと恋々 5 | L21
#12 Finished* in one day: 齋藤孝のイッキによめる! 名作選小学1年生 新装版 | L24
#13 Has Vampires / No ratings, no reviews: 霧島くんは普通じゃない ~転校生はヴァンパイア!?~ | L22
#14 Set in a country that is not where the book’s language is spoken: 木曜日にはココアを | L28

11 Likes

Filled the “Disability” slot in my bingo card with 偽りのマリィゴールド

While I thought the premise had potential, the actual execution is sadly not that great.

The manga doesn’t do a such a good job of showing how life is for Ruri, the blind girl, and Hana, the other main character, takes some really strange decisions that didn’t make sense - to the point where the manga itself kinda ends a little bit after she realizes that what she’s trying to do is pointless.

This was my second manga with a main blind character. The other one, ヤンキー君と白杖ガール | L22 does a much better job regarding character development. The manga does a good job of showing what kind of hurdles a blind girl needs to navigate in life, while also showing she’s not a completely helpless person.

12 Likes

I got さよならローズガーデン 1 | L26 but haven’t gotten to reading it yet. Looks great tho!!

If you’re looking for something that handles disability well (in this case deafness) 雨夜の月 | L24 (ongoing) is a great choice btw. The author put a lot of care and effort into portraying how it affects the MC and all the characters around them

4 Likes

=^.^= I hope you enjoy it!

I keep hearing good things about that manga! It’s been in my Plan-To-Read list for a while now.

6 Likes

I finished 黒蜥蜴 (the latest Mystery Club pick) the other day, and I put it in “Keep hearing about”. In all fairness, it’s more that I keep hearing about the author than about this book in particular :sweat_smile: so this is a bit of a stretch, but I’m fine with that.

Coming closer to a bingo but still carefully tiptoeing around it :rofl:

The Science Fiction field is of course a hot contender but in August I need to finish 3 books (so that I can review them for the BookMeter challenge :laughing:) and I’m afraid the SF book I started will not be among them. I have high hopes for September! :crossed_fingers:

11 Likes

21 - Read a book with a non-human protagonist
Fata Morgana: a Visual Novel for this one! It counts because there is a witch in the story. Took a long time to read, it was pretty long (674k char) but I really enjoyed it!

Only 4 to go now! I know what I will read for “Released the year you were born” and I also saw some comments here that made want to read a certain book for “Something from someone else’s bingo card”. I will go and ask for a recommendation at some point for the “Ask what you read next in the Seeking Recommendations Thread”. I expect “Read the latest book you bought” to be the toughest one to fulfill :joy:

Previously

1 - Cover is primarily composed of your favorite color:
→ BLUE!! とんがり帽子のアトリエ 6 with the IMC (Jan 4th)

2 - 2nd volume of a series:
ダンジョン飯 2巻 with the IMC (Jan 4th)

3 - Book you keep hearing about but haven’t read yet:
容疑者Xの献身, previous ABC (Jan 5th)

4 - Read the next book in a series you have started:
スーパーの裏でヤニ吸うふたり 4, Read volume 1 with the BBC in March 2023 (almost two years ago!), it was hard. Feels easier now! (though still doesn’t feel easy! manga is hard) (Jan 7th)

5 - Has cats :slight_smile:
おじさまと猫 1, has a Book Club on WK (Jan 8th)

6 - Read a book that doesn’t have any ratings/gradings/reviews on Natively :
南くんの恋人 got it as a gift, I am apparently the first one to read it (Jan 8th)

7 - Read a book someone else thought you would like
セロ弾きのゴーシュ, children book, got it as a gift. I found it WAY harder than its grading, some sentences were very long and full of kana and very hard to parse. (Jan 11th)

8 - Read something you can read for free
→ 桜の樹の下には Short story, read it for free on Aozora, found it here:
🎄 2024 Aozora Short Story and Essay Advent ⛄ (Jan 11th)

9 - Read a book at a Natively level you haven’t covered yet:
→ Candidates were: below level 14, level 18, level 22, level 24, level 28, level 32, level 34, above level 35. Looked at my backlog and settled for 怪人二十面相 level 28. How can you not want to read it after reading this post from javerend? And it did not disappoint, I really enjoyed reading it :slight_smile: (Jan 19th)

10 - Read something with a one-word title
orange, previous BC on WK. Not gonna lie, was pretty happy with myself when I decided to read this one for the one-word title haha. Had this book in my backlog for a long time, as it was being read here on WK forums at the time where I was actively studying Japanese and kept seeing the threads popping up. Thought I would just read the first volume but I enjoyed it, plus now I’m hooked and need to know what happens next! So I am planning on finishing the series before starting on the next Bingo case (it’s only 7 volumes) (Jan 22nd)

11 - Read something that has won an award
世界から猫が消えたなら, has a thread on WK, keep seeing this one popping up and was wondering what it was about.
What a book. I didn’t know anything about it when I started it, expect that it’s quite popular (or at least that it’s been read a lot, I can see now that not all the comments are positive). “wow this book is pretty funny”, “wow this book is pretty sad”, I don’t know which one fits best but this book gives a lot of food for thought. Especially touching if you are mourning / thinking about your own mortality. (Feb 10th)

12 - The title includes a number
3月のライオン: Read the first volume. Not sure how much I like it yet, I think I will read at least two more volumes to see if I want to read the whole series. I found it pretty hard language wise! (Feb 14th)

13 - Finish a series
ラブひな: The square says “Finish a series” but I made it to “Start and finish a series” :stuck_out_tongue:
I’ve read all 14 volumes in January and February!
I wanted to finish a series that I hadn’t started yet and that was completed, and this one was already in my backlog due to being one of the few manga I read in my youth. I didn’t want to binge it and read that only (would have probably gotten sick of it very fast), so I just read one chapter between whatever else I was reading. Technically I even started+finished Orange first as it was while reading Love Hina, but still wanted to keep this one for my bingo square.
While ecchi humour is not usually my favourite, this manga is a bit special to me because it’s one of the few that I had read in my youth, basically while I’m reading I completely forget that I’m not 14 anymore haha (懐かしいですね). So I had a lot of fun revisiting it (well, up to a point. didn’t enjoy that much the last 5 volumes or so). The ecchi-part is not as often as I remembered thankfully, there were sweet and funny moments too. And funny how it made me realize that I know a lot more now about the culture in Japan now, so many things must have flown right over my head at the time, to just name a few: the legend of 浦島 太郎, or about ホワイトデー, what’s a 浪人, 七夕, etc etc. Maybe I also enjoyed reading it now because it’s a level of difficulty where I’m really comfortable now, so it felt a lot like actually reading and not deciphering for a change! But finally it’s done now, and happy to be moving on! (Feb 15th)

14 - Read something with a title that sounds curious to you
走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること: I enjoy running myself a lot so was very curious to know Murakami’s take on it.
…Don’t really know what to say now that I’ve finished the book. Don’t want to say something bad about Murakami (how would I dare), but I guess I did find the book pretty boring. It’s basically a guy who enjoys running as a hobby who talks about how he got into it and tells about his (albeit impressive) performances. I mean, if it wasn’t for Murakami, I’m not sure I would have liked to read more than 200 pages about that. But it was Murakami, so I guess it’s nice to get some insights into his life and his personality, and of course any Japanese practice is nice. But for my next pick I might try to find something where I feel more engaged in the story, maybe non-fiction is just not my type :sweat_smile: (Mar 9th)

15 - A genre you don’t usually read
しまなみ誰そ彼 1: I have never read a Boy Love manga before, so checked which one was the most popular on Natively in that category. It has also been read on WK before.
The art was really nice and got engaged in the story, the series is only 4 volumes so I think I will finish it! (Mar 10th)

16 - Read the book that has been in your 積読/TBR pile the longest
NANA―ナナ― ! One of my goal when I started Japanese was to read this manga in its original version, as I loved it as a teenager. So happy it has happened now. I can even sit with the book and read it physically without look ups and follow fine. I do a re-read afterwards with the club though, where I look up everything I didn’t 100% understand at the first read. Loving it and looking forward to continuing the series! (Apr 2nd)

17 - Main character is retirement age or older
おらおらでひとりいぐも: was a very tough read due to Tohoku-ben and to the narrator mostly talking to herself in her head. Maybe if my Japanese level had been better I would have enjoyed it more. Interesting (end of) life reflections. But can’t really recommend it. (Apr 16th)

18 - Past book club choice
薬屋のひとりごと 1: previous ABC. I didn’t know anything about it previous to reading. It was pretty brutal at the beginning, a lot of new vocab, and not even that, a lot of things are implied and not written. I struggled a lot but thanks to the old threads of the book club I was following along. I feel like as I was reading it was also getting easier. Really liked it, I could see myself continuing the series. Would maybe be better though to wait until my Japanese is a bit better! (May 16th)

19 - Read a book about a topic you previously didn’t know about
銀の匙 Silver Spoon 1: read with the IMC. Unlike the main character, not everything was new to me about the agricultural world, but still, quite a lot of new things, in particular I knew nothing about ばんえい競走 and there was a full chapter about it (May 17th)

20 - Read a debut (an author’s first book, whether they’ve written more or not)
木曜日にはココアを: 青山 美智子 seems to be a popular author and I hadn’t read anything by her yet. Then a club on Natively was made just at the time where I decided to read this one! Unfortunately I ended up not liking it so much. I can see why it can be liked though, just not my preferred genre at the moment. Would like to give her a go again though. (May 25th)

To do, not sorted 4/25:
  • Something from someone else’s bingo card
  • Ask what you read next in the Seeking Recommendations Thread
  • Released the year you were born
  • Read the latest book you bought
16 Likes

Since my last post, I’ve read 3 more books.


They were all kind of bad.
#39 was 녹나무의 파수꾼 by Higashino Keigo, which I expected to be a murder mystery and ended up being a vaguely suspenseful healing story that definitely did not need to be that long. 3rd worst book of his.
#40 was 죽음의 로그인, a Taiwanese book added to my e-library that looked very promising. It promised video games and death, and while it had some high notes, I feel like it was anticlimactic and ended with a whimper rather than release after the slow buildup (it was a 500+ page book too).
I then got another Higashino book, thinking it would be a short one, since I know the sequel is only 250 pages or so. Nope. It’s another 500+. So I decided to randomly check out a book that’s been on my wishlist for years because of the pretty cover and that I fully expected to be ass: 너와 나의 365일 (41). It’s in the genre of Japanese terminal illness YA, which I despise. I decided to try speed reading it and managed to finish it at a pace of 2.3 pages per minute / 57k 자 per hour, which is almost double my regular pace. Despite speed reading it, I still managed to easily predict the twist. And yes, it was not a good book.

I’m in the process of reading 너의 유토피아 by 정보라 (finished 2/7 stories). Taking my time with it as it’s a short story collection. Also in the process of reading 민트의 세계, a book I own in paperback that I feel like is not going to be a good book.

Otherwise, I’ve requested 불편한 편의점 2 from the library and plan to try my hand at a lower comprehension book soon. I’ve been reading high 98-99% for a while, but going lower will help with vocab gains.

11 Likes

I finished 긴긴밤 | L22 and I think it fits the “adventure-themed” prompt. The character does go on an adventure, he meets people, animals, friends (who keep dying but still) and they discover a whole new world together.

I wanted to cry I think on every single page, and I finally did on the last ones. 10/10 would recommend to lower intermediate readers.

I wanted to read 네모 돼지 | L24 next because of the reviews and also on the off chance one of the stories would be about cats, but it’s not available on Ridi, and I still don’t know how to buy books on Yes24. So I switched to 세계를 건너 너에게 갈게 | L22, which has been on my TBR list for a while, though I don’t think it will fit any bingo prompt.

Previous reads

우리우리 복댕이 | L15 Non-human protagonist
호랑이 들어와요 | L17 Book you keep hearing about
우리들의 식탁 | L17 Genre you don’t usually read
숲속의 담 1 | L18 Didn’t know the premise going in
딱 하나만 선택하라면, 책 | L18 A book about a book
숲속의 담 2 | L18 2nd volume of a series
나빌레라 1 | L19 Main character is retirement age or older
좋은 날이야, 네가 옆에 있잖아 | L19 FREE SPACE
히카루가 죽은 여름 2 | L21 Recommended to you
히카루가 죽은 여름 3 | L21 Favourite colour
노인의 꿈 첫 번째 이야기 | L21 Title includes a number
기억술사 1 | L27 One-word title
당연하게도 나는 너를 | L24 Title that sounds curious
긴긴밤 | L22 Adventure-themed

13 Likes

My recent reads haven’t aligned as well with Bingo, but I got another square! I love how pretty these end up looking :smiling_face:

Previous squares
12 Likes

Another couple of books from me!

I’m picking
Curious title - 泳ぐのに、安全でも適切でもありません | L27
The author picked the title from a sign she saw while on vacation, and it feels like it somewhat inspired her to write these stories. Which is a fun enough title for me.

Someone else’s card - 海がきこえる | L27
Picking up from @bungakushoujo 's card!
Was very sweet, although parts at the start were a bit too much high school drama.
The Ghibli adaptation is on my TBW list now :smiling_face:

11 Likes

1,5 months since my last update (unless I missed one) my board is looking very full already. :slight_smile:

I was waiting to finish another book I was reading which I have now done.

I have since finished NO.6 〔ナンバーシックス〕 ♯2 | L32 for sci-fi,
博多豚骨ラーメンズ | L33 for the ‘somewhere I’ve lived’ prompt (Fukuoka, if only 6 weeks). I moved 黒蜥蜴 to 'movie & adaptation after watching the movie and put 風立ちぬ | L41 in the free square instead. Today I then finished 灰と幻想のグリムガル level.1 ささやき、詠唱、祈り、目覚めよ | L31, which I started after some talk about it on the forums and am hence putting it in the square for ‘book you keep hearing about’.

That gives me 2 new bingos for a total of 3! :partying_face:

completed prompts

One word title: 火花 | L35
Birthyear: 魔性の子 十二国記 0 | L33
Curious Title: B級グルメのたのしい温泉―青森から鹿児島まで | L30??
Has cats: サイレント・ウィッチ 沈黙の魔女の隠しごと | L30
Someone else’s bingo card (cat): 理由 | L35
Unknown premise: 幻獣調査員 | L33
No rating etc: ジブリパーク公式ガイドブック | L30??
Unusual genre: イラストでまるわかり! 日本の神様ご利益事典 | L26??
Retirement MC: おらおらでひとりいぐも | L37
Non-human protagonist: 黒猫ニャンゴの冒険 レア属性を引き当てたので、気ままな冒険者を目指します | L29
Favorite color: 神去なあなあ日常 | L33
Past book club: 神去なあなあ夜話 | L33
Free Book&Adaptation: 黒蜥蜴 | L35
Number: 百年文通 | L36
2nd Volume: 黒猫ニャンゴの冒険2 レア属性を引き当てたので、気ままな冒険者を目指します | L29
Set outside Japan: FLESH & BLOOD 2 | L35
Disability: 1リットルの涙難病と闘い続ける少女亜也の日記 | L28
Science fiction: NO.6 〔ナンバーシックス〕 ♯2 | L32
Set somewhere I have lived: 博多豚骨ラーメンズ | L33
Book you keep hearing about: 灰と幻想のグリムガル level.1 ささやき、詠唱、祈り、目覚めよ | L31
Free: 風立ちぬ | L41

16 Likes

Filled the “Fantasy” slot in my bingo!

The new entry is:

This series is very fluffy, both literally and figuratively!

It tells a really sweet (though sometimes a bit cliché-ish) romance Yuri story between a Sheepa :sheep: princess and her Wolfa :wolf: butler. While the story is nothing ground-breaking, it’s very light-hearted and fun.

The artwork is very cute:




It also includes Sheepasso art!

The author put a lot of effort on the clothing for the princess - she’s constantly wearing all kind of different dresses in all chapters.

There’s also this funny scene where the Sheepa writes the character 羊 on the palm of her hand to fight off nervousness, just like the usual manga/anime cliché of people drawing 人 on their palm.

While there’s some drama, it’s really light and doesn’t drag on.

Time to find my next series to read!

13 Likes

Finished my next book, 香君2. Unfortunately this is a bit broken in Natively, so I cannot record it, but that doesn’t keep me from putting it in the bingo :grin:

Still finding my way around the first bingo :rofl:

This month I want to finish two more books, so that I can participate in the BookWalker review challenge. And after that, let’s see :+1:

13 Likes