My copy of the guidebook arrived today and it is so fun!
Here is how it is arranged
There are maps and character bios at the front in color. I really like them and am personally happy to have them, but FYI Iโd say these are probably minor spoilers (I donโt know yet when/if/how they might be introduced in stories), depending on whether you think knowing of a place or characterโs existence is a spoiler.
Then there is a major section with a page per sweet from the first 12 or so books. The introduction suggests reading these after you have read the actual stories. I read the page for Ch 1โs sweet and would agree as it is a mini summary of the characterโs problem, the sweet, and a bit about what can go wrong with that sweet. Iโll be reading these after every couple of chapters. But this section might be helpful, for example, if I decide to listen to an audio book of a future book in the series, and not buy the book, this could help me with key vocab and not getting totally lost. That is roughly the first half of the book.
After that in the second half there are a few more stories (so getting this book is like buying half of a sequel with 3 instead of 6 stories), a couple of manga (additional stories?), some diary entries from the shop ownerโs cat scattered throughout, and a couple of other chapterโs Iโm not entirely sure what they are until I read them.
Now that weโre almost done, Iโm curious, who is planning on reading the next book? Iโm definitely going to buy (and start reading) that second volume soon. I already have so many other things that Iโm reading, but this first book has been the perfect level for me to learn a lot of vocab, while sticking to simple grammar patterns, so itโs not too exhausting to read.
I plan on buying the rest of the series but it is still a bit too high of a level for me to try reading without multiple look ups, sometimes in the same sentence, so it will be a while before I start reading them.
Iโm not. Barring some huge revelation about how the Dagashiya works in a later volume, I feel like Iโve gotten what I want out of the story with the first book.
I may seek out other short stories at around this level perhaps. The format is good but ้ง่ๅญๅฑ is a bit weird in terms of difficulty/reward for my taste. Fun with the club though
scattered throughout, and a couple of other chapterโs Iโm not entirely sure what they are until I read them.
