End of book (warning: graphic animal cruelty in the beginning of this section)
Discussion Guidelines
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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.
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So I’ve got a copy of the 単行本 version of the book (which is missing the short story included with the bunko and digital editions of the book), and this is one of those where the author apparently doesn’t believe in chapter delineations, so week breaks may get a little weird. My copy of the book is 254 pages, so…
All right, I’m going to call it! Looks like we’re going to have a pretty small group this book, so we’ll keep all discussion in one thread. We’ll start May 4, and I’ll set up a schedule sometime this week. Thanks all!
So as mentioned before, this book does not have clearly defined chapters it’s all one big blob, so hopefully these week breaks aren’t too jarring; every week should end with a paragraph break. Also note that the book (the 単行本 at least) contains illustrations, which I did not account for in the schedule below, so some weeks will be slightly shorter page-wise.
Finished this week’s part. As I said before. I find it very easy and enjoyable to read language-wise.
Also, bats are one of my favorite animals, so it’s got the bat cuteness bonus!
For the content:
At the beginning, I was astonished by how fail this main character is. I’ve probably never seen a main character as unable to live and as ignorant around their surroundings as him. He seems to be a nice guy and I do like that it seems like he doesn’t wanna hurt anyone, but to not even be able to hunt even animals himself?
Towards the end of this week’s part, we do learn a bit more about him and I felt a bit sorry for him. Seems like his circumstances aren’t as easy and I hope we’ll learn more about it as the story progresses.
Nice, I’m glad you can join us for this book @bungakushoujo!
Week 1:
Well, that was a quick explanation of cow butchering I did not expect and did not need. Also, I have to wonder if the ol’ “a mugger took everything I own, including my clothes” excuse has ever worked, or if it sounded just as fishy in ~2006 Japan as it does now. (Or is this…a common problem for the Japanese? ) アル thinking about how immigrants need to learn the local language and then immediately being told by the meat processing worker that he needs to speak Japanese got a giggle out of me, I’ll admit.
This section was funnier in general than I was expecting, actually.
アル considering the possibility he’s been ID’d as a vampire due to mysterious Chinese magics
The supervisor 広尾 trying, “YOU…YOU…hentai?” “Sir, I don’t think ‘hentai’ is English” “Yeah, but they’ve got weirdos everywhere”
Though we did end on a bit of a sad note, I’ll admit; Al’s fears about his future are quite interesting, especially since I started re-reading Dracula a few days ago as well.
Is anyone reading this book blind, by the way? I’m just curious to hear your thoughts if so; it just struck me while reading how discombobulating this would probably be for someone coming in blind.
The writing style is engaging so far and the scenes change around the time I became tired, so I think it’s a good match to my current level. Constant lookups were also expected.
But uh, seeing “10 hours left in chapter” was depressing. Reading for an hour and 40 minutes only to see that it’s now “12 hours left in chapter” is… Yeah. I need to remember that chapter is a book in this case but oww.
Week 1
蝙蝠 - bat - so my brain is going “虫 on the left twice - that’s koumori”. Is this good enough?..
ビーグル犬 - google pics are so cute!
コミュニケーションがとれないというのは何とも不便極まりない。
SOOOO TRUE. The language barrier is a bitch when something important is happening… This one is both funny and horrifying.
Also lmao, Al is really grabbing at the straws there. A Chinatown policeman is a step too far, baby bat.
“He said country, but he must’ve meant state and different laws between states” sounds like American stereotype of not knowing there is a world outside of the states. But then again, according to YouTube it might just be true? Are you a himbo, Al?
…actually. Damn. What DO you say in this situation… Should he lie about being trafficked? This whole thing sucks so much. Poor baby
Oh, awesome! Glad to have you! I know Kroki and I have read varying amounts of the manga adaption, though in my case it’s been long enough the details are getting fuzzy. I’m also pretty excited to see if the book has any different/extra stuff in it; even if it doesn’t, the manga is excellent, and being able to read the source material for that has been on my wish list for a while.
For what it’s worth (probably not much due to my fuzzy memory at this point), I don’t seem to recall this opening story being as funny in the manga; I’m very curious to see the level of intentional humor in this book.
Week 1 replies
Yeah, Al’s situation is surprisingly sad. Modern media tends to prep us for thinking about how cool and powerful vampires are, I guess, so getting to meet one who’s apparently basically been rejected from society is a really cool perspective.
To be fair, “I was shipped to a country I don’t even know where it is on the globe” definitely wouldn’t be my first assumption either, haha. I felt like his wild guessing was fairly reasonable up to a certain point before he saw the road traffic; I do agree that at that point alarm bells should’ve been going off in his head.
Yeah, I was a little surprised he didn’t go the trafficking route either, as that seems easier to “prove” than that he’s an employed actor. Granted, maybe he doesn’t expect to stay long enough in police custody for it to really matter… I liked how the younger detective (did we find out his name yet? I don’t have my copy of the book on me) was really trying to make Al’s story work, haha.
I’m marking names to make sure I can look up the reading faster if they come up again~
I feel like in manga it might’ve been even funnier with all the facial expressions. But the bat-life pre-travel background was different in manga
I could swear though that it was “constantly eating at that factory”. Not… This sad story
I like that he’s not a pushover. He seems to have some baggage of his own, but seems to also have a very gentle side to him. Definitely an interesting character so far.
And I think it’ll be a long way and very slow-burn for them to end up together. Which I like!
Not joining but just dropping in to say I hope you guys enjoy because oh my, this book is insane! I never finished it as I got swept up by something else, but it’s so ridiculously funny, I think of it very fondly for something I didn’t finish. (I went in totally blind as it was part of a seiyuu audiobook promo event in 2024 - went to try and grab the videos from the event but they were time-limited and have been deleted now ).
Okay, done with week 2! Poor Al, we started this week in the police station and ended there, too. I like 忽滑谷, he seems like a solid fellow; I do wonder how his conversation with 高塚 went when a naked food wrecker Al was reported. I do wonder, though: Al was hoping to lick the blood off the meat, but packaged meat like that isn’t normally going to have any blood left in it, right? Or are packaged meats prepared differently in Japan?
Huh? Plastic bag for transport? I am very sure a bat could tear a plastic bag to run away…
Nukariya: he’s gonna like it
/20 minutes later/
The friend: Ohhh what a pretty bat
Nukariya: what’s pretty about bats…
The friend: he’s a bit like a mouse, so cute
Nukariya: …what’s pretty about mice…
Oh, an illustration. I keep being surprised by the art style in this book. Dare I call it “realistic”?
I was also wondering about the % of blood in packaged meet in Japan. I get he’d just lick the raw juices, but uh. In my country that’d give you nothing, you poor thing.
Ok, so this is devastating.
Seeing it in the manga was funny, but here I’m so tuned to Al’s hunger and inability to understand the country language it’s all just too much.
Next on Kyuuketsuki Nakama: Continuation of the second escape from the police station as a bat
Also, I have to wonder if the ol’ “a mugger took everything I own, including my clothes” excuse has ever worked, or if it sounded just as fishy in ~2006 Japan as it does now. (Or is this…a common problem for the Japanese? 
) アル thinking about how immigrants need to learn the local language and then immediately being told by the meat processing worker that he needs to speak Japanese got a giggle out of me, I’ll admit. 
Modern media tends to prep us for thinking about how cool and powerful vampires are, I guess, so getting to meet one who’s apparently basically been rejected from society is a really cool perspective.
I do wonder, though: Al was hoping to lick the blood off the meat, but packaged meat like that isn’t normally going to have any blood left in it, right? Or are packaged meats prepared differently in Japan?