I skimmed your notes here, and after reading the first 20 pgs of 28, I decided to put it the side stories to the side, and come back later. (Some of them do sound quite interesting)
A little less than 1/3rd into 29, and it does not disappoint! the rosary scene was so good!! And the whole "call me 瞳子’, “no fair, you already called me お姉様” thing was sooooo excellent. I live that the author took the “but it’s so hard to adjust” trope, and blew right through it! Their vibe as sisters is already so nice
Anyway I’ll save any more thoughts for when I’m done
I was also fangirling a lot about the rosary scene. Hehe, that was really hilarious how Touko got Yumi to call her that. I also found it interesting that they both wanted Sachiko to attend the rosary scene. Sachiko also seemed like she was not expecting this. And Yumi almost overwhelmed by her feelings while she was on her way with Sachiko to Maria’s statue.
I can totally relate to that. I was so frustrated in the beginning that I did not get the next episode but only side stories. Cool that you could actually put it to the side. It would have been harder for me to do so then to be 我慢 and read through the side stories (I’m also not good at reading a book out of order, when the author said in the prologue that one can only grab the chapters that were interesting for them)
Any other storyline I probably could have dealt with it, but this arc is literally the thing that made me want to pick up the books (well not the only thing, but the biggest one), and I have trouble switching to unknown, unrelated characters like that.
Opposite for me. I’m not good with interruptions like that, and my reading speed was tanking bc of it
I thought about trying that with some of the earlier books (and Konno-sensei even says certain readers may want to skip certain parts), but couldn’t bring myself to do it - and am mostly glad I didn’t. Side stories though are non-linear and non-chronological. So unless they actually tie in with the plot, I don’t really feel compelled to read them strictly in book-publishing order.
Group amusement park date with (eventually) the whole cast - sooooo much fun!!
Sachiko got her driver’s license - this is scary!!
Also seriously DO NOT put your hands on the steering wheel when someone else is driving!!
When Yumi, Sachiko, Suguru, and Yuuki arrive Noriko asks if they’re on a double date
the Noriko x Shimako romance levels in this are hiiiiiigh
it’s interesting how stuck in darkness Noriko is a lot of the time
SHIMAKO’S ADOPTED?!
A ton of Shouko perspective - that was a nice touch!
The author found convincing ways for Yumi & Suguru to get stuck together. It was delightfully awkward
but Yumi has clearly calmed down, and matured about being around him.
Yuuki seems suddenly more comfortable too - which I don’t quite get. Maybe just “Yumi’s not alarmed, so I don’t need to be”
Yoshino’s petty bratiness is still ongoing, and it’s just amazing how shitty she can be to Rei
Felt bad for Yuuki too, but at least she apologized. Also getting Yuki’s PoV was great
I appreciate that Sachiko of all people took her aside and got her to stop acting like a baby
tho I didn’t totally buy the "Rei’s upset (probably) bc I didn’t tell her that Nana wasn’t coming thing. I got that it was supposed to extend to Yoshino x Nana status in general, but still
How did Shouko not pick up that like everybody’s mood was off at the beginning of the day?! Especially Yoshino - like that was impossible to miss
Felt bad for Touko, but it seemed like she enjoyed well enough. Also she’s such an adorable tsundere when she finally runs into Yumi
she has such high standards, while still being submissive - it’s great
Anyway it looks like book 31 is short stories, which puts me at a weird crossroads. I could:
Take the time to finish 28, then 31 (I want my main plot )
Continue on to 32, and just get to them whenever (I’m worried some of the short stories will connect to main story tho)
Start お釈迦様もみてる, since it was published btwn 31 & 32
In terms of interest, I’m leaning towards starting お釈迦様… But having read the translated afterword for 31, combined with the fact that it’s not extra long, I think I won’t skip it.
I think I’ll try dipping my toes into both. It seems お釈迦様 starts at the beginning of first year. It also seems like it’s gonna involve some new vocab (Buddhism and stuff), and there’s no jpdb decks for it, so curious to see how much harder it feels. I’ll report back when I’ve made some progress
Edit: it turns out 31 is short stories, but they weren’t published in the magazine, and do have main plot relevance. So I’ll definitely read them
I’m so excited about book 30. Currently I am on page 42. So need a while before I can check your comments.
Interesting dilemma and thank you for the update that the short stories in 31 will be relevant. Maybe we get some similar story as we had in 28 with Eriko & Rei. That would be awesome
I’m also quite curious about the Hanadera series. Thanks for the context!
Alright 31 is finished! Overall the easiest read of the short story volumes, tho I got bored during the umbrella story (which was true the first time around too). Even that had some great moments tho.
Story settings (as spoiler free as possible)
デビュー - Youko in college, dealing with themes of changing oneself
ライバルがいいの - Eriko finally meets her rival! (Yamanobe’s daughter)
フィレンツェ煎餅を買いに - featuring Sei and Kei (yes, during the school trip)
*「さん」付け問題 - Yumi, Yoshino, and Shimakoの呼び方
僕の兄妹 - Shimako’s family background
ユミちゃん絵日記・未来編 1 - Yumi has a fateful meeting with Shizuka
ユミちゃん絵日記・未来編 2 - Yumi x Touko date
青い傘の思い出 - what happened to the blue umbrella during those 10 days?
Story impressions (spoilers)
Frame story: was enjoyable - they’re making white day gifts, and fretting not making them too fancy or plain. A little bit of sewing vocab, but nothing too hard
Youko story: The thing with Himura being from Akita (Tokuhou region) and having/being conscious of an accent was a nice touch. She even contrasts herself with natives
I liked the whole “tries to change, but ultimately you still have a certain core that will come through, and don’t/can’t deny yourself” message (well that last part is maybe projection). I could really relate
Eriko meeting Yamamobe’s kid: - this was so sweet. Very refreshing perspective, and you could really relate easily to Eriko. I was so relieved for her that it went!!
Sei & Kei in Italy: Sei totally uses 恋人 for Shiori. It was fun in general, and I like Kei a lot. But I really wish the author would make them into an actual couple, given that Sei is about the only explicitly lesbian character in the whole series
We’re the only ones who use -san: blah, blah - standard “it’s hard to switch and start using -san” trope
Shimako’s family history: wow that’s intense & fascinating. But what happened that her other brother also got off track later on?! I love the way it deals with religious and familial piety, family, leaving, etc. I would have loved to see her dad’s time with his (ex) Catholic wife portrayed
Yumi runs into Shizuka - yeah I predicted that
Yumi x Touko date to shrine: some cute hand holding, but mostly pointless debates, and really was pretty boring. I would have preferred less of that, and more time with Yumi’s family. Especially Yuki having mentioned before that he thinks Touko is cute, plus Touko interacting with Yumi’s parents - so much potential story material there. (I don’t think Yuki would even try to flirt, out of respect for Yumi & Touko’s relationship, but still!!)
Blue umbrella during the 10 days: there were some good moments, but really I just don’t care, and it was way too meandering with a bunch of side characters
Enjoy!! It’s so much fun
I was gonna finish 28 now, but I’m out of patience for short stories again, so starting 32. Leaving お釈迦様 until I’m done with マリみて
Finished 32. Basically: short stories with linear plot, the day before graduation. Wasn’t my favorite, but wasn’t bad for a mostly sappy retrospective. Also I want more Touko x Yumi moments! I feel like the author has really underutilized them, ever since they got together
Which means 33 is the graduation volume… hopefully I like it better than last year’s
Finished vol 33, and while I liked it better than last year’s, I was disappointed with the authors choice to focus on the logistics so much, and not give us Touko’s or Noriko’s perspectives. Tho the after-graduation portion made up for it! Yoshino x Nana official finally!! Tho I’m sad we didn’t get a picture of that scene As I suspected, this volume was the final volume of the main story.
The remaining 4 volumes are side stories (and I still need to finish 28 ), the majority of which don’t involve the main cast (34 does in the frame story, and 37 involves a little bit of Yumi & Sachiko, from what I got from the afterword). While some of them are probably interesting, I’m just not in the mood rn. So starting お釈迦様
Almost 1/3rd through お釈迦様. It starts on Yuuki’s very first day of school, and wow Hanadera is brutal (and frankly, stupid)! I feel really bad for Yuuki so far, and also really miss Lilian’s - maybe enough to eventually read those short stories.
Anyway the writing is enjoyable, though the first chapter had very some different descriptive vocab, cuz of the setting, and there was also more direct mention of Buddhist rituals - at least at the entrance ceremony. Thoughts below, some names may be familiar, if you’ve reached a certain point in マリみて
vol 1 thoughts (34% - spoilers)
So far we’ve met:
柏木 - student council president. ppl unironically call him 光の君. This may be be a 源氏物語 reference (I’ve never read it)? He’s a complete pain in the ass, but oddly kind of reminds me of Youko so far
有栖川 - who was being sexually harassed by some asshole upperclassmen, due to looking like a girl
小林 - Yuuki’s 隣の席人, who is both the helpful explainer, and pretty unfriendly
藥師寺 あきみつ、ともみつ (日光 and 月光) - giant twins who broke up the near-fought that Alice & Yuuki got wrapped up in
ランポー - student council member who’s way too full of himself, and was threatening Yuuki with a 竹刀, all bc he called out 柏木 on the 偉そう way he’s treated (his fan club literally brings him prepared lunch every day)
Yuuki has basically been ostracized by the rest of the school. And seriously what’s up with the student council - they literally called Yuuki over for no reason as a test, and don’t feel anything bad about wasting someone’s time like this, and then threaten him bc of their petty egos? 柏木 could at least tell ランポー to let it go this time. They’re as bad as the roses. Anyway now Yuuki has to make 4 friends in a week, after having had zero for 2 weeks, all bc of student council boy’s frail ego. Oof
Yuuki saving 有栖川 was soooooo great!! I hope things get easier for them soon
I find it interesting how Yuuki basically takes like an instant dislike to Suguru, and instead of being like “oh the student council is inviting me to lunch, maybe I can improve my reputation now”, he’s like “nah, I can’t stand y’all, I’m out”. Also, seeing the contrast between his assertive personality vs Yumi’s reactive personality is interesting
Kobayashi told Yuuki that his thoughts show on his face. Tho he is a bit better at bluffing than Yumi, since he has more pride
Arisugawa seemingly starts to say わ…, but then says 僕, when speaking to Yuuki… Interesting
It seems they do have something similar to the sister system here as well. 烏帽子親 (烏帽子 + 親) - the older classmate becomes the sort of guardian for the younger one. Compared to 親分 and 子分 Nikkou & Gakkou apparently offered to be this for Arisugawa!!
Yuuki on the other hand thinks he won’t get one, and is surprised Kw doesn’t have a 烏帽子子
I was too, in a lot of ways. There were so many developing story lines that I really wanted to know more about where they went. And like I wanted to get to see at least some of 3rd year (which apparently there will be a bit of in some side stories(?), but idk how much). Still though, at 33 (quite excellent) volumes, I really can’t complain too much
Also I’ve been feeling conflicted about this - should I have spoiler tagged the statement/section? It’s kinda hard to judge sometimes
Teenage boys!!!
More details (spoilers are blurred)
It’s partially something we’ve already seen referenced: the 源氏 平氏 thing is taken way too extremely. Medium(?) spoiler: Yuuki is shunned by nearly the rest of the student body for 2 weeks, since he made mild trouble for the student council on the 1st day (by ignoring and trying to bypass the 源氏 vs 平氏 path split) and apparently they’re pretty reified. In general everyone’s just rather emotionally rough and confrontational. One example (that was already hinted at in マリみて): Alice is already scared & facing aggressive public sexual harassment from upperclassmen bc of looking & acting like a girl. Also (MAJOR spoiler for plot in book 1): Yuuki becomes Suguru’s 烏帽子子 without Yuuki’s consent or knowledge. Their ritual is apparently writing their name under their kouhai’s on the kouhai’s 生徒手帳 - and there’s no mention of it being revocable.
I’ll add some more stuff later probably
I’ll put it to you this way: their version of the スール system is likened to 親子 & 子分
In general while I find the characters and behavior pretty believable, I have some suspension of disbelief issues with the setting… Maybe I’m just not familiar with how stuff is at all-boys schools tho?
I finished vol 1 & wrote a long review: 暁のルナ's review of お釈迦様もみてる 紅か白か | Natively . I’ll probably update more specific thoughts in the thread later (in the previous comment(s))
At least for volume 1, none is required
Fwiw Yuuki has more of a strong personality (in some ways) and is definitely the star of the volume (with Suguru as the 2nd lead/pain in the ass) - so hopefully you’ll enjoy him more, if you read it
I started the 2nd volume, and honestly I feel like it’s difficulty might be underrated. I finished some books at the same level recently, and none of them had sentences half as complex as marimite.
Of course different books have different reasons to be considered hard, but the difference is huge for me. There are a lot of “I know all these words but not in this order” moments where after I plug it to a translator it seems obvious.
I am enjoying it though, and I suspect it’s good practice to read more complex sentences.
It seems pretty on-level compared to the other L28-31 books I’ve finished or dropped - which is to say the L28 ones felt easier, and the L30+ ones felt harder
This was basically the main challenge for me as well, but I found it got better as the series went on (a mix of “I improved” and “the author improved”, I think). I find it often depends who’s narrating or speaking tho (I find early Shimako, and Yoshino, to be hardest to understand in general). As an aside, it occurs to me that vocab is (at least to me) a much easier hurdle to conquer (since you can SRS) than complex sentences.
I feel like 弱キャラ友崎くん Lv.1 | L29 has maybe similar sentence complexity. Otherwise, the sentence structures here are closer to the L30+ stuff I’ve read (but those also have trickier vocab)
Do you feel like there’s a difference btwn vol 1 & 2 so far?
Do you know if there’s a difference between the 竜が呼んだ娘 you read, vs this one? Thinking of adding it to the site, since the one you linked seems to be physical-only
It seems the same so far but it’s hard to judge, I am not far into it and while it has been not that long since I read the first volume it feels like ages. Still it’s in that “challenging but not undoable” spot that I remember the first volume also was.
The book already existed in this format on natively, I didn’t add it. I did request the rest of the series to be added though. I guess whoever added it first had the physical edition.
I wondered if there is a difference myself (since the new edition also has a subtitle though one that clearly refers to the same events as the edition I read) But from what I understand reading comments, it originally released as a standalone and when it got sequels, it received a new edition matching the rest of the series. I didn’t find anyone discussing any differences, and only one version (the new cover) exists in bookmeter.
It’s an Amazon issue. Normally when you add one, it will add the others, but they’re totally different, unlinked entries in Amazon (bc different editions), and neither has a series page I added the links to the Where to Find section tho, thx!
Funny how subjective time can be… Anyway, hope you enjoy
Found an interesting bit about where Touko may have been partially derived from - a story in Yoshiya Nobuko’s 花物語 上 | L39 . Quote is from: Okazu » Yoshiya Nobuko’s Hana Monogatari, Part 1 (花物語 上) (the author of that reads the character’s name (道子) as Touko, though it’s more commonly read as Michiko or Mitsuko. 花物語 doesn’t give furigana for it)
Major spoilers for like book 18 onwards
There were two stories that were really the standouts for me. Of these, we’ll start with “Dahlia,” as I have already brought up Maria-sama ga Miteru. This story follows a woman out of school, Touko. Touko has become a nurse in the town in which she attended school. When a former classmate is admitted to the hospital, the former classmate’s rather wealthy and prominent family asks Touko to be their daughter’s private nurse. The head of the hospital strongly encourages her to do that, as it will be good for her both monetarily and prestige-wise. But that night Touko is on the ward comforting a small child whose mother isn’t there and she realizes that this was why she became a nurse. She rejects the offer in order to help people who really need the comfort and companionship. Shades of Marimite‘s Matsudaira Touko lay heavily over me as I read this story, remembering Touko’s own story of early life in a hospital and the nurses there who were kind to her.
I haven’t read the story mentioned yet, bc I gave up on 花物語 6 stories in, but the reading level for this one seems much simpler than the ones I was struggling through
I read it (and am also reading 花物語 now). It is an easier level - probably around マリみて, besides for the antiquated kanji spellings. I can definitely see the parallels. Of course no way to say for sure, but it seems pretty possible it was at least in the back of her mind somewhere.
Otherwise, I dropped お釈迦様もみてる2 学院のおもちゃ【マリア様がみてるカラー口絵つき】 | L29 - left a review about 2/3rds through. I just find 花寺学院 really unpleasant so far, and the plot with Yuuki and the dance thing that I can’t be bothered to remember the name of really should have ended somewhere in the first half, imo. To be fair, most of the characters are actually enjoyable enough, but the environment, but the ones who aren’t really take away from it, for me.
Book 3 starts with an upcoming 合宿 - so I’m giving it a try, and hoping there’s more Suguru, less Andre, and more tie-ins with Yumi or something later on.
I finally returned to vol 28! Since I read most of them 2 months ago, my thoughts are kinda sparse for some of them
Response thoughts, now that I've read them all
I think that’s basically all the short story volumes - tho I still have another 3 to go
It’s been so long since I read that, I totally didn’t think to put it together
４月のデジャブ I loved this sooooo much. I’m a sucker for most 三角関係 stories - but this one particularly was so sweet
三つ葉のクローバー loved how it tied in with Chisato and the 黄薔薇革命 aftermath. Was this the one wear she cuts her hair?
枯れ木に芽吹き I think this was my favorite one of the bunch - especially since we’d previously had the Katsumi & Eriko story from before they graduated. And yeah, Shoujo is pretty interesting and unique - as is her relationship with Tsutako
黄色い系 - not the most exciting, but not bad. I was amazed at Rei accepting that, cuz I woulda been like “uh, nope… leave me alone” lol
不器用姫 - I picked back up from the middle of this, so idk what I thought initially, but reading it I saw the discord pretty quickly. That was a sad breakup, but it’s a good thing it happened in the order it did. I wonder if Miike or her friend realized Hiroumi was on the verge of giving the rosary, or if the timing really was totally coincidental. Either way, it’s good the conversations went in the order it did. I imagine the combination of 絶交 and today rejection combined would have really hurt. I was impressed with Hiroumi neither apologizing nor rejecting, but simply accepting it & moving on. It’s amazing how two people can look at the same thing, and yet see something totally different. I was also impressed she asked for the photo at the end
光のつぼみ - this added some nice detail to Kanako, and where she started to get her distorted image of Yumi from. I’d get flustered too if I were Yumi!
温室の妖精 - I love it when words pop up like that this was my 2nd or 3rd favorite, and it’s nice to finally get an answer about who takes care of the greenhouse
ドッペル階段 - 「アリコ」って…もしかして？… I loved that!! I think that the 罰ゲーム was just a pretext, and the senpai would have asked her eventually regardless - at least that’s the vibe I got. I’m sure there’s some sisters who paired like that though, or like paired despite not really liking each other much… But yeah, I don’t think they’d do it if like they hated the other or something
But rewinding for a sec… What was she doing on Lilian’s campus, since like the afternoon. I assume just exploring, bc it’s the closest she could get to ever actually going there? But still, that’s a lot of time. I’m surprised she wasn’t way more flustered, when confronted… also that it was just Tsutako & Yumi who put it together. Tho I guess that makes some sense, done Yumi & Alice do hang sometimes
Otherwise I started マリア様がみてる 34 リトルホラーズ | L29 is fine so far… あんまり期待してないけど (but only because I’m not super into horror). Also previewed a bit of Friends | L28?? - which I really enjoyed. So that confirms my issue with 花寺学院 isn’t just “it’s not Lilian’s”
As I suspected, this volume was the final volume of the main story.
), the majority of which don’t involve the main cast (34 does in the frame story, and 37 involves a little bit of Yumi & Sachiko, from what I got from the afterword). While some of them are probably interesting, I’m just not in the mood rn. So starting お釈迦様
I added the links to the Where to Find section tho, thx!