I think the Japanese book that has me hooked most so far is Silent Witch, but it’s an academy setting, so not sure if that’s too close to “high school/college” for you. Personally, I’m not fond of any school setting, but I’m still enjoying it a ton.
Since you mention fantasy, you might like:
黄泉のツガイ | L25 - A great ongoing fantasy series with mystery elements by the Full Metal Alchemist author.
And in the Slice of Life + Weird Stuff department (which I know is not quite what magical realism is, but maybe you’ll enjoy it…):
ロジカとラッカセイ | L21 - One of my favourite mangas and probably the best thing I ever read in Japanese.
I’m looking for recs for one-shot collections or 1 volume manga that is under L27 or so. I am running a tiny book club for my friends and I need it to be on the simpler side so more people can participate potentially.
So far my ideas:
Various works by Fujimoto (his short story anthologies + look back + goodbye eri)
Ruri Dragon one shot
Also was thinking of Junji Ito’s stuff but most seem on the more difficult side.
While there is a quite slow burn romance(?) going on in the series, this is a series about a kidnapped apothecary solving mysteries in the (Imperial China-esque) inner palace - which as you might imagine, has a lot of interesting dynamics and complexities. It’s kinda episodic at first, but there’s a larger plot going on in the background, from the very start. There’s a lot of interesting (and sometimes annoying) vocab, and the protagonist is very shrewd, clever, coy, resourceful, funny, etc
I don’t know if this is too gruesome for your club, but I just finished ぼくは満員電車で原爆を浴びた: 11歳の少年が生きぬいたヒロシマ | L17 - it’s a nonfiction written from an atomic bomb survivor who was 11 years old at the time, and it’s written in a style suitable for children, with few kanji and many furigana and also some in-text explanations of difficult terms. It came out Level 17 when I graded it - maybe that’s a bit too low, but it’s definitely under 27.
while this sounds interesting, I’m specifically looking for manga, I guess I didn’t make that clear enough. Thanks for writing though.
And thank you for all the other suggestions as well! @Mara@eefara@Legato
Since this is a slow paced club, I think I have enough suggestions for a while now
Can I get a recommendation for a light novel or book featuring a monster that forms a strong bond with another character? I’m looking for unsettling, inhuman behavior. Monsters like in Hikaru, Shape of Water, Frankenstein, Edward Scissorhands, and The Fly are good examples. Even something more beautiful, like a mermaid, is acceptable if it has a clear separating feature that cannot be changed, such as a permanent tail.
I came across this light novel in which a crab becomes a human but retains his claws and uncanny, animalistic mannerisms. The other character befriends the crab despite his disgust. Wild concept for a BL and I CANNOT stop thinking about it. Then I read a spoiler that caused me to push it down the list.
So can anyone suggest something similar? It doesn’t need to be BL. I would just like a weird little monster and friendship/romance.
Some of them do loose part of their monster nature when they form a pact with the MC, but they still retain some too. Not sure how is the LN though, I liked the anime and is on my to-read list, since it’s a bit on the difficult level has been left there.
Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll check them out! Since there’s an anime for your initial link, I might do the same actually and test it out with an episode first.
In the former, the character pictured on the cover (and other similar characters) are considered human in-world, they aren’t monsters (which is what @shiver was asking for). I really like that series (although there are a few questionable scenes in the first 2-3 volumes)
The later does fit the description… but it’s just plain bad, so I wouldn’t call it a recommendation.
I enjoyed this one!
