Yeah, this definitely a pretty soft system in terms of rules. āCharacter does cool thingsā is about all you need to boil it down to.
@Naphthalene after reading chapter 2, it really does look like ćć³ć° was aiming for the lips. Further proof I wasnāt going crazy?
And I have to say, dramatic battle between huge man and stuffed animal unexpectedly hits the spot.
I like how easily the school accepts this whole thing, to the point of asking the good looking bad guy brigade to āwait until Natsuki completes his magic, because it will surely be cuteā. I do have to suspend my disbelief for a tiiiiiny bit though
Page 65: itās kinda funny to have a guy with ē¾å in the background. Since he is talking to a girl, I actually went one page back to double check that he was indeed a guy.
Page 69: ććÆćÆ? He is having too much fun explaining something terrifying. But also, why does it work like that? If both their lips touch, shouldnāt the effect be symmetrical?
Page 71: thatās a bit much to think junior high students would stand in the way of that guy just because Natsuki is cuteā¦
No, you see, on the other hand that one makes complete sense to me.
Page 91: and it was.
Page 102 (still part of chapter 2 apparently): ah, the fact that āmonzaemonāās katana was 5 times his size makes more sense now. Didnāt see it comingā¦ but I wasnāt thinking very hard either.
Oh, no, I totally get why he would want that; what I am dubious about is how they seem awfully quick to accept the whole premise of magic existing, Natsuki becoming a magician, and some shadowy organization wanting to stop him - and also awfully quick in understanding that all of that is happening in the first place. Where are they getting all their information from? Are they also reading the manga?
Itās time for week 3! I wonder if weāll learn more about Spade.
Still gotta read week 3; itās been a long week. @.@ @Naphthalene did you want to put up a poll on whether people are still interested in reading further volumes? Just to double-check how everyoneās feeling.
I was thinking of doing so after we are done with volume 2, yes. But I guess doing so after volume 1 makes sense too.
So far, people have been commenting around the weekend, so Iām not worried about the lack of activity this week, but itās true that we are a small group.
Checking at volume two sounds reasonable to me as well; all our previous manga series picks were at two volumes, so it makes sense.
P 108: it feels a bit weird to me that Spade hesitates for that reason. Likeā¦ the fate of his world is in the balanceā¦
P 111: āI donāt want to betray my peopleā, meanwhile he is basically the MVP on Natsukiās team.
P 117: Errm no no no, thatās very weird.
P 118: I trust āēåā (forgot his name) even less than the black cloaks.
Heās getting emotionally attached and he is really interested in Natsukiās magic and doesnāt want to spoil it. Is either of those a good enough reason not to restore his home world? Probably not, but we donāt know anything about his priorities. Maybe he doesnāt think Earth is so bad anyway.
ā¦or I guess maybe the manga doesnāt care enough to make it a good reason and it is Natsuki cuteness overriding logical reasoning again.
Thatās pretty much how I take it. The author notices a potential plot hole and goes ālook, like, yeah, you knowā (cue heavy hand waving).
I mean, since he seems to be really into magic I can sort of understand how Natsuki must fascinate him. Like, if thatās what Natsuki can do 15 minutes after he discovered magicā¦ what will he be able to do in a month? In a year?
It just doesnāt seem to be a good enough reason to not complete his seemingly incredibly important mission and betray his comrades.
P 138 (I think, last page): ć©
I feel like it could have been made more realistic if they had spent more time togetherā¦ I donāt know how the author would have justified him not making a move until that change of heart, though.
Week 4! And end of the first volume!
I looked at the first two (2) pages and Iām not happy with how things are going Hopefully it gets better just after that.
My immediate reaction when I thumbed through the first few pages of the week 4 chapter was āSeriously? ā
Iāll finish this volume, but not sure Iāll want to continue.
Rather than it being a plot hole, this is what I took it as. The bad guys have been at this for like five years already before meeting Natsuki; Iām sure they were all desperate to save their world at first, but a prolonged amount of time on Earth can really dull the pressure, especially if youāre carefree enough, like Spade seems to be. We donāt know what life was like on their world, after all.
Him and that pair of scissorsā¦ Would Monzaemon bleed in his toy state?
The sceneās like three pages long, itās not supposed to scar readers or Natsuki, no worries.
And thus volume 1 ends. Good stuff, good stuff; I hope everyone else is enjoying it.
I did not particularly enjoy the first volume and wonāt read the next. It just didnāt do anything for me.
Itās nothing like the last two BL BCs, which were also my first two (åćć®é£å | L20 and ć¬ć³ćć¬! äøęćć! ! | L22), which I actually quite enjoyed.
Itās not as cute and innocent as the cover suggests, with all the old dudes. And there doesnāt seem to be any particularly interesting plot or characters.
I also found it surprisingly difficult to read.
I do find the whole éę³å°å¹“ interesting, though (even though I recently feel a bit pessimistic about actually enjoying éę³å°å„³ genre things). Looking at Magical Boys! | Japanese list by bibliothecary | Natively most works seem to be guys transforming into girls or cross dressing, and I find the Natsuki éę³å°å¹“ approach more interesting.
Thatās a shame! Glad you could join us for the first volume, at least! Hopefully the next book club pick vibes with you more.