チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 🌹 Informal Book Club

[bungakushoujo]

Welcome to the チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 Informal Book Club

チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 | L33

Plot Summary
就職活動に挫折した22歳の光太は、カリスマホストの雫にスカウトされ、歌舞伎町のホストクラブ「チュベローズ」で働きはじめた。夜の世界の苛烈な洗礼を浴び戸惑う光太だが、客としてやってきた女性、美津子が憧れのゲーム会社に勤めていることを知り、彼女を誘惑して自らの夢に近づくために利用しようとする――。野心と策略が渦を巻く、最も危険なノワール・エンタテインメント、開幕編。

Book Contents

When commenting, please refer to the chapter numbers below.

Chapter	Start Page	Chaper Name
1	9	二十二歳の秋
2	17	やまない黄砂
3	29	エントリーシートと白いスニーカー
4	40	パーソナリティクライシス
5	50	共食い
6	60	レモンの甘味
7	71	胎動
8	82	バース オブ ザ シェパード
9	93	M
10	103	割れた豆腐の白
11	114	鬼王
12	124	運命
13	133	インターン初日
14	143	二重螺旋
15	152	ライオンと花畑
16	162	最終面接
17	172	カラスの群れと二本の海老
18	182	戻るべき場所、行くべき場所
19	193	美津子

We’re planning to start reading this book on Dec 1st, 2023. This is an informal club, meaning that there is no fixed schedule. So, feel free to read at your own pace and comment as you like. If you can’t join in at the official start and would like to join in later as well, that’s no problem! This thread will still exist and any participants will be happy to discuss the book with you later on.

Discussion Rules

• Please mention which chapter your comment is meant for
• Please use spoiler tags for anything that gives away plot events/details
• If you have a question about the language please mention the chapter and page number (or percentage if reading digital).
• Have fun and don’t be shy to join in!

Member List

Are you planning to read チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 with the club?

Will you be joining in?

• Yes
• No
• Maybe Later

[cat]

No in the poll but 100%

This book is a riot, looking forward to seeing what people think

[Biblio]

I had a coupon for bookwalker… and I am weak.

[Belerith]

@cat

[bungakushoujo]

Reminder that reading “starts” tomorrow! @Biblio @Naphthalene

Will most likely be reading at a leisurely pace to start with as I have company visiting this weekend but I’m looking forward to the book!

[Naphthalene]

I’m waiting to get the book from the library, but I am next in line, so I should be able to get it in max 2 weeks.

[bungakushoujo]

Started the book this morning and it’s a really fast read! Already read through the end of chapter 3!

My random comments and ツッコミ about the story so far:

Chapter 1

Oh, the first sentence of the book is talking about barf. Nice. Is it possible to just randomly get scouted to be a host like that? I guess it could be.

Chapter 2

Protags family and 就活 situation seems quite tragic, why would his gf go and order the steak menu at the ファミレス?! So insensitive! I guess a round of relations before you let your little sister come sleep in the same spot where you just got it on I will fix everything. Also his little sisters name “芽々” is giving me キラキラ vibes! Is that a common name?

Chapter 3

Finally we are into the host club! Protagonist seems a bit boring but we all have a hard time at a new job. I don’t know anything about hosts but I was surprised to find out they dress rather casually (as opposed to wearing suits). Maybe the appeal is just talking to a young, casual guy? Can’t say I understand anything about why people go to host clubs though.

@Naphthalene

I’m waiting to get the book from the library, but I am next in line, so I should be able to get it in max 2 weeks

No worries at all! Fingers crossed you get it quickly. It’s a fun read so far!

[cat]

@bungakushoujo

Oh, the first sentence of the book is talking about barf. Nice.

Hahaha, I remember that It really does set the scene, doesn’t it?

@bungakushoujo

Can’t say I understand anything about why people go to host clubs though.

I want to go to one once just for the novelty of it, but going back for fake niceness and flirtation would kill my soul I think.

[bungakushoujo]

@cat

I want to go to one once just for the novelty of it, but going back for fake niceness and flirtation would kill my soul I think.

I would also like to go just once to see if they are really that good at talking and find out what the appeal is…but I would never go in alone! Let’s just arrange to be in Japan at the same time one day and go together to find out haha!!

[Cathm2]

I started reading this when it was an informal book club on wanikani, but didn’t keep up. Going to try again.

[Biblio]

I have read all of 1000 characters so far. My eyes might have been bigger than my stomach for this advent.

Edit: I have now finished chapter 1. Intriguing start. I had not read the あらすじ and I thought the MC would be female.

[bungakushoujo]

Welcome aboard!

@Biblio

Edit: I have now finished chapter 1. Intriguing start. I had not read the あらすじ and I thought the MC would be female.

The actual constellation with a male MC is way more interesting, right?!

[bungakushoujo]

Was busy for a few days but am getting back into the book now…

Chapters 4, 5, 6

Read these a few days ago but I found it weird how 光太 just gets kidnapped by his colleagues, threatened, and then nothing else happens?! Is that gonna come up again??

I found the explanation about how hosts have to throw up multiple times during the night to survive all the drinking they need to do interesting. I always wondered how hosts/hostesses/水商売 jobs that required drinking do it if they don’t have a high tolerance and I guess now I know.

Chapter 7

Uh-oh, 亜夢 stole the money and 雫 is in debt. Is the plan ミサキ and 雫 had to open a new shop ever going to happen now? Seems like a bunch of things waiting to go horribly wrong tbh.

Chapter 8
I was wondering why this chapter was called “Birth of the Shepherd” and then I got to the end where he made 美津子 make sheep noises and was like え？ You feel bad? Bleat for me like a sheep then. Very random but comical. Imagine the 面接官 who failed you for no reason showing up in your life all full of remorse. Can’t wait to see how this develops.

Chapter 9

The fact he hasn’t told his girlfriend what he’s doing as a バイト yet also seems like something waiting to go horribly wrong? It seems 光太 is getting a taste for money, though.

Chapter 10

Bruh… did you really need to have sex with her? This chapter was all kinds of weird. I get 美津子 feels guilty and responsible but ugh. Plus, he just cheated on his girlfriend with basically zero hesitation- yikes.

Chapter 11

It seems like 雫 is falling from grace and the host club rankings, uh-oohhh. Will someone please think of the unborn child?! On a serious note though, the course of his downward spiral is a little unclear to me? 亜夢 stole the money and 雫 got left with the debt and yelled at by パパ in front of everyone and has the stress of ミサキ being pregnant + wanting to improve his life on top of that… but I am left wanting some more supporting details and insight into his mental state and why he is now sitting around drunk out of his mind and spilling red wine all over himself. Let’s not pretend that this novel actually has great characterization though.

So far it is quite spectacular how basically no character in the entire book has made a single good decision in any scenario so far. I must say, despite its flaws, this book is quite a fast read and I am entertained by it so far. Let’s see what else goes down in the second half!

[cat]

@bungakushoujo

I always wondered how hosts/hostesses/水商売 jobs that required drinking do it if they don’t have a high tolerance and I guess now I know.

You may find this older documentary interesting:

The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief

[bungakushoujo]

@cat

You may find this older documentary interesting

Always coming through with the documentaries! I watched the first quarter or so to start with, and it was crazy how good the first host is at stringing his clients along that a relationship might be possible. Will finish the rest later, since it was pretty interesting!

I finished the book today and…wow, lots happened. Kind of don’t even know where to begin…

Random thoughts from chapters 12 through the end

Warning: Rambling thought dump incoming

Ok we have the introduction of Machiavellianism - the psychology of that is pretty compatible with host life and the actions of the main character so it was somewhat interesting and kind of added a guiding thread supporting 光太s actions in the last chapters. Although, the fact he beat 雫 up felt out of character (and I didn’t appreciate how the author just covered that up by 光太 himself being like “this is so out of character for me, I am not myself rn lul” as he was doing it).

I guess the fact he missed the second day of his internship was needed for the dramatic final interview scenes where he dropped Machiavelli truth bombs all over the 面接官 in a “that happened” moment (can I just say, I would never want to work at a company that pulls what they did in an interview, though?! Plus, I felt like his motivations for wanting to work there at any cost were really unclear… the only explanation was that his little sister likes video games and because he failed the DDL interview the year prior he wanted to pass the AIDA one… that’s great and all, but won’t it be awkward working there now especially since 美津子 is dead? There is no way the company doesn’t know about that lol).

美津子 committing suicide at the end felt a bit anticlimactic and obvious - where did he think she was getting the money?! I guess he didn’t think hahaha. I found myself completely unaffected by it, since 美津子 was rather 存在感が薄い as a character throughout the entire novel. I also did not really find the fact 光太 liked her very credible, but alas.

This was my first book by 加藤シゲアキ and overall it was a fun and entertaining read. There were points where I didn’t find the actions of the characters very believable or the flow of the plot very natural, which made his writing a bit lacking overall. I think if he had developed the characters further and shown insight into their psychological state, things would have fallen into place a bit better and the novel would have had more intrinsic momentum (if that makes sense). Since that was missing and some of the characters barely talked or felt like little more than cardboard cutouts there to advance the plot, I found that the urgency and tension were not really there when they should have been. However, I was very entertained throughout and think he has great potential as an author. The overall story line, the set up, the edgy descriptors and imagery, and the interactions between the characters (when they did talk) all worked pretty well and he has an eye for what makes books from this genre entertaining. I’d be happy to read more books from him in the future to see if he grows as a writer!

Since volume 1 kind of ended on a cliffhanger and I already own volume 2, I am going to read ahead to see what happens next!

[omk3]

It was fun reliving the book through your posts! I was about to suggest you go on to read volume 2, but I see you’re already planning to do it. The first part is a bit of a slog, but after that… I’ll be eagerly waiting for your updates

[bungakushoujo]

I’m glad you enjoyed revisiting the book! I won’t post as many thoughts about the individual chapters since this thread is technically just for volume 1, but I shall definitely follow up with my final thoughts.