Nominations are currently open! You can view the current nominations here, and use the nomination template below to submit your own suggestion:
Nomination Template
Copy and paste the text below into a reply, and fill out the information for your nomination.
Cover image (optional)
**Title**: Put the Natively link here.
**Book type**: (light novel, manga, etc)
**Available formats**: physical / ebook / audiobook / full-furigana (delete as appropriate)
[details="Summary - Japanese"]
Copy and paste the Japanese summary from whichever source you prefer.
[/details]
[details="Summary - English"]
Check Anilist or similar sites to see if they have an English summary. If not, use a machine translator like DeepL or Google Translate.
[/details]
[details="Content Warnings"]
If you know whether the book contains adult content or potentially triggering topics, include the information here.
[/details]
**Reason(s) for nominating:** Share the reason you are nominating this book - it might persuade others to vote for it!
These have been copied from the BL Book Club; they may need tweaking for our purposes. Since this book club has just started, you don’t need to worry about limits on nominations, waiting times, or excluded titles.
Nomination Phase
Nominations can be submitted when the thread title includes [NOMINATIONS OPEN]
Use the nomination template below to nominate your desired book.
You can nominate as many books as you like, but must wait 1 week between each nomination.
The current nominations will be displayed in a nomination list.
Any book type (light novel, manga, etc) may be submitted.
Only the first volume of a series is eligible for nomination, unless the series can be read as standalone books (such as anthology series), in which case, any volume can be submitted.
Ensure your nomination isn’t on the list of Temporarily Excluded Titles.
A maximum of 20 nominations will be accepted.
Nomination Template
Copy and paste the text below into a reply, and fill out the information for your nomination.
Cover image (optional)
**Title**: Put the Natively link here.
**Book type**: (light novel, manga, etc)
**Available formats**: physical / ebook / audiobook / full-furigana (delete as appropriate)
[details="Summary - Japanese"]
Copy and paste the Japanese summary from whichever source you prefer.
[/details]
[details="Summary - English"]
Check Anilist or similar sites to see if they have an English summary. If not, use a machine translator like DeepL or Google Translate.
[/details]
[details="Content Warnings"]
If you know whether the book contains adult content or potentially triggering topics, include the information here.
[/details]
**Reason(s) for nominating:** Share the reason you are nominating this book - it might persuade others to vote for it!
Voting Phase
A poll will be held to vote on the nominations.
Each person will be allotted 5 votes.
The poll will be open for 9 days, from Saturday to Sunday of the following week.
In case of a tie for first place, a runoff vote will be held to decide the winner.
The lowest-voted 3 nominations (as well as any ties) will be temporarily excluded from the following selection cycle to make room for fresh titles.
Preparation Phase
A dedicated home thread for the winning book will be posted; all further information and discussion regarding the book will continue there.
A poll to decide the start date will be opened, allowing time for people to obtain the book before the club begins reading.
A poll to decide on the reading pace will be included, based on how many pages or chapters people want to read every week.
Reading Phase
A weekly thread will be posted for discussion on the scheduled reading, usually on Sunday night or Monday morning.
Discussion Guidelines
Spoilers should always be hidden using spoiler blur.
When discussing a specific section, please mention where you are in the book, ideally by chapter so people reading different versions have a clear point of reference.
Feel free to read ahead if it’s exciting, but please refrain from spoiling ahead of the appropriate week.
If you have a question about grammar, vocab, cultural things, etc - ask! That’s a welcome part of the discussion too, and other readers will be happy to help.
General Information
The book club guidelines are decided by the community based on polls.
The book club selection process may be referred to by other names (nomination cycle, voting round), all of which refer to the same series of stages, beginning with the nomination phase and ending with the reading phase.
The winning book may be referred to as the book club’s “read”, “pick”, “choice”, etc.
The next cycle begins after the reading phase has started; there is usually an overlap between the reading phase and the next nomination phase.
If the book is part of a series, only the first volume will be read (but may continue via an offshoot book club).
I noticed @spaghettiman’s latest review of きょうのにゃこ譚 ゆるっと (series) | L19 (which looks ADORABLE) and it reminded me that quite a few people were interested in the idea of this club. Given the state of the world (… ) and the time of year (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), it seems like we could all use a little extra dose of happiness.
Since 癒し系 stories generally seem to be on the easier side (for manga, anyway), hopefully the books chosen will appeal to beginners as well as more advanced learners who want a little break from more challenging material.
A kitten, Chibi, is innocently growing up under the watchful eyes of his kind family, Duck Gohan-san and Rasubosu! A heart-warming story depicted from the perspective of a kitten, a very popular character in Nekopan! (DeepL)
I’d like to go ahead and nominate a book that’s hanging around my TBR pile; it’s already been nominated in the BL club by @shablul, so if that’s not allowed feel free to remove this nom.
Title: きのう何食べた?(1) | L27 Book type: manga Available formats: physical / ebook
(Official English summary) A hard-working middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo come to enjoy the finer moments of life through food. After long days at work, either in the law firm or the hair salon, Shiro and Kenji will always have down time together by the dinner table, where they can discuss their troubles, hash out their feelings and enjoy delicately prepared home cooked meals!
Content Warnings
None known
Reason(s) for nominating: It’s officially on my TBR as of last year, and my goal this year to check off as many TBRs as I can. Also it looks cute and has a drama adaption, which could be fun to watch on the side.
So question: what’s a good way to tell if something is iyashikei if it hasn’t been explicitly marked as so on Natively? What’s the relation between iyashikei and slice of life?
I’d judge it by the description and reviews (on Natively and elsewhere) - it’s difficult if you haven’t read something yourself, but hopefully you can judge based on that kind of info whether it’s suitable. It doesn’t have to necessarily use the term iyashikei, but ideally it gives the impression of being uplifting, wholesome, etc, and doesn’t mention any obvious red flags (violence, abuse, bullying, etc).
In the end, you just have to make a guess based on the information available to you.
I’ve found that iyashikei is often slice of life, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be (although I can’t think of any that weren’t off the top of my head).
Can something be iyashikei and still have conflict? Like, “we need to fight the bad guys” kind of conflict? Nothing that’s super serious, necessarily, but there’s a baddie that needs to be defeated?
I’m just looking through my library for potential candidates, and just want to make sure I’m suggesting appropriate candidates. Stuff I had in mind:
I might be overthinking things… I just don’t want someone to think they’re reading something comfy and I’ve accidentally nominated the exact opposite or something.
I was about to nominate 組長娘と世話係 1 | L24, not knowing that much about the series. Just checked the first few pages and the guy is literally covered in blood on page 8 But I should have other things a can nominate…
This might be a good opportunity for people to chime in with what they’d like the book club to be: we don’t want to be too strict, but it would be nice to hear ideas of the kinds of themes people would or wouldn’t feel comfortable with.
The description from AL is “primary aim is to heal the audience through serene depictions of the characters’ daily lives”; I think anything that includes action or conflict beyond a situation played for comedy (think Yotsuba vs. Yanda) might fall outside of the kind of stories we’re looking for.
From your list, the ones I think look like they would be suitable are:
マグメル深海水族館 1 | L24 (from an amazon review: 心がほっこりする系のお話なのですが、泣きながら読んでいました。)
ホテル・メッツァペウラへようこそ 1巻 | L23 (from the AL description: “The kindness of the people living in the harshness of nature will melt the heart of this awkward young man.”)
椎名くんの鳥獣百科 1 | L24?? (from an amazon review: 内容は特に重たいテーマがあるわけでもなく、全体的にほのぼのとした印象で、サクサク軽い読み心地でした。)
I might have a look at the others later if no one else has read them.
獣の王国 1 | L25 and MOON・TRICK 1 | L25 I feel are strong candidates, though I’m still hesitant to nominate. Moon Trick gets more iyashikei as it goes iirc, so maybe just reading v. 1 wouldn’t be a good representation?
Honestly I feel like this shouldn’t be an automatic disqualifier, depending on the situation. :S Like if it’s played for humor? Man, this is all very fuzzy, and not in a good way, haha.
Hilariously, the Yanda interactions were always the worst for me. I just wanted to punch the guy, haha.
Warm and fuzzy? Because that’s what we’re going for!
It’s difficult to make strict guidelines because it’s more about the impression that the work gives you than specific content. If you’ve read something and you feel like it was heartwarming and left you feeling happy, I think that’s enough of a reason to nominate (as long as there’s not a grizzly murder or something). If you haven’t read it, but the description/reviews give the impression that other people think it’s heartwarming, I’d say that’s fine, too.
I think most people will only read the first volume of a series in a book club, so you’d definitely want that volume to fit the vibe.
That’s fair; I may need to revisit a few candidates personally and see if I re-acquire any wholesome feelings or if it’s just rose-tinted glasses on the ol’ memory.
Having lost his wife, math teacher Kouhei Inuzuka is doing his best to raise his young daughter Tsumugi as a single father. He’s pretty bad at cooking and doesn’t have a huge appetite to begin with, but chance brings his little family and one of his students, Kotori Iida, together for homemade adventures. With those three cooks in the kitchen, it’s no wonder this dinner table drama is so delicious.
Content Warnings
None
Reason(s) for nominating: I got the first 3 volumes some time ago, yet never got around to reading them. Nothing a book club can’t fix!
I love stories about strong family bonds, and this family seems particularly cute
And it got a well received anime adaptation back in 2016!
I think it’s his character introduction and doesn’t really come up later… It is also just that one panel, and no violence is depicted otherwise, but who knows It is about yakuza in the end.
Maybe I will read the first chapter next week and decide based on that if I want to nominate it.
I don’t remember if it was in the first volume, but there are discussions of depression and suicide. I actually just checked and there’s also realistic depictions of blood (main character just inadvertently injured himself, but that’s a lot of blood)
Not in the first volume, but flashbacks show violence and blood.
I’m not an expert, but those seem kinda disqualifying for 癒し系? The main character is getting mentally healed as @bibliothecary said, which may heal the reader too? I’m kinda unclear on the definition of the genre myself.
) and the time of year (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), it seems like we could all use a little extra dose of happiness. 
Also it looks cute and has a drama adaption, which could be fun to watch on the side.
