Web Novels Informal Book Club - Currently Reading レモン味のラムネ, Nominations Open

Japanese Reading
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A continuation to this post Book club suggestions - #132 by shablul

(If there’s more than 1 nominator except me then I’ll add to the informal club index as well, maybe it’ll gain traffic?)

“Why should you try us out” :wink::crazy_face:

Current Club Status :star: Reading レモン味のラムネ

Nominations Open!!!

Schedule (open for changes):
  • 1st February we vote for next

About voting:

  • Each person gets 2 votes (one less than the nominations you make)

  • Some of the nominations whose Proof Of Quality is that they have an official publication will have natively levels for those novel versions.
    Please take into account when voting or relying on these levels that there are a lot of cases where the comperhensive level between the web version and novel version is VERY different so don’t assume that the level is accurate in any way, take it as a “possibility that considering the subject and author it might be something close to this level” (my example with Re:Zero from the Nomination Rules is probably the most famous one I know of)

Nomination Rules:

Important to note before you nominate;

  • About Content Warning - unless it’s made very obvious from the theme or is added by the author we have no way to know of content warnings.

If someone here has severe phobias or reactions to some themes you might want to read at a slower pace than others and potentially rely on them to warn you if that “something” makes an appearance (either by asking the forum or asking someone specific in DMs or something, I don’t mind being relied on for this kind of matters either so feel free!)

  • There is no much indication to levels in some of these novels, and while the famous ones will have people who read and tried for us to have an indication, this will still remain one of the “big reds” I think

I don’t have much of an idea how to play around that honestly (to be fair the only reason we can do this kind of things with less known material another clubs is practically because natively made it possible :joy: Brandon the absolute savior, thank you :pray:)

  • Regarding the previous point - this will be relevant regardless if it was published previously or not since publication purposely edit these novels for a variety of reasons

(for example: I know from a very well read friend, one who passed N1 without too much trouble, who read the web version of re:zero that it’s MUCH more difficult than the official publication, a.k.a the publication made it more “accessible”)

  • For those worried on this last point - one way to “close the gap” are the relevant addons added in the list below this

Nomination Rules;

  • Nominations will need to be added with some sort of Proof of Quality which can be one of the following;

(1) the nominating person themselves read this work and can guarantee quality,

(2) a formal publication or adaptation of some form,

(3) a significant amount of following (2K at least),

(4) the author being well known for a relevant reason (for example: レモン味のラムネ is a novel written by a YouTuber named Yudai-sensei that teaches Japanese, with a particular emphasis on pitch accent, but overall also tutors and does quizzes on Japanese grammar and etc. It should be noted that he uses novels he writes as material for teaching pitch accent in his channel which makes it very effective for learning and easy to check out in terms of content),

(5) in case the nomination comes from a friends recommendation please ask them for some general synopsis and add it so that we can make sure it’s relevant and not just something they’ve heard of from another someone,

(6) it has an entry in either novelupdates or jpdb

nominations that don’t pass any of these conditions can be negotiated, but make sure it’s something legit and not a “it sounds interesting” or “I heard about it on a forum” and etc (if that really is the reason for the nomination you can just read a chapter or two and pass condition (1))

  • Each person can nominate up to 3 works

  • nominations that weren’t chosen automatically get added to the next cycle

  • if we read the start of something - continuing it can be a nomination in itself (or you can choose to offshoot lol)

  • as of now we will only accept Web Novels (with a huge “maybe” potential for Web comics, fan comics or fanfics, depending on how things go)

  • Regarding how much we decide to we read - we can filter things that have already finished or adjust “reading x number of chapters” that will look reasonable enough for what we specifically decide to read after the voting is done

  • If the person who nominated wants to make a schedule let me know! Either me or them can do so and create the appropriate thread with the info accordingly to that :smile:

Nomination Template: 
**Title**: [Title](Put the link here)
**Platform**: [syosetu](https://syosetu.com/)/[pixiv novel](https://www.pixiv.net/novel)/[estar](https://estar.jp/)/[alphapolis](https://www.alphapolis.co.jp/)/[kakuyomu](https://kakuyomu.jp/)/[other](insert link for other) - leave the relevant site
**Current length:** <chapters-number> Chapters, <characters-number> Characters/Words (leave relevant counter), Completed/Not Completed (leave relevant answer)
[details="Short Synopsis"]
A synopsis either in Japanese or English 
[/details]
[details="Content warnings"]
If you know of any
[/details]
[details="Proof Of Quality"]
without this the nomination won't be accepted! see Nomination Rules
[/details]
**Reason(s) for nominating**: Share the reason you are nominating this book - it might persuade others to vote for it!
  • Note Regarding Natively levels: if your nomination has an official publication with a natively page and level you can add it in the nomination as a ‘side note maybe level’ - please see “About voting” for more details on this specific note

My own nomination for レモン味のラムネ as an example

Relevant Resources:

Platforms for Web Novels:

syosetu
pixiv novel
kakuyomu
alphapolis
estar

DB sources we use:

Prebuilt decks for Web Novels – jpdb
The Novel Updates site - Web Novels
The “can’t be added to natively” wiki for web novels, comics and etc** - any nominations we will have I will probably add here so if you do that on your own I’ll DM a cat pic as a thank you reward :crazy_face: :kissing_heart:

Add-ons:

Japanese.io
Yomitan
Yomichan - Note that this is unmaintained and has a successor Yomitan

other programs

Anki PC Program/Web version
Anki Connect - an interface between Yomichan/tan and the PC Anki version

Some interesting things about webnovels that aren't webnovels:
Past nomination lists and votes

1st Cycle Nominations
1st Cycle votes
1st Cycle - How long for the first series and which one to start with

Works we’ve Read/are Reading;

Order Title+Link Status Nomination Post Home Thread
1 私の夫は冷凍庫に眠っている Finished :file_folder: :house:
2 レモン味のラムネ In Progress :file_folder: :house:
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Just because I feel like it (and might as well spam it here, might be useful lol) here are some pros to join in!

  • web novels have a wide variety that is all FREE and VERY accessible
    the down side is of course that there is no format other than digital, but if it bothers some people that much printing is technically a very desperate option? :joy: if someone does that please tell me how effective it was, specifically I’m curious if learning these like academy articles can be effective (with markers and writing summaries next to the paragraphs and such)

  • the vocab learned in these web novels will not only be unique in general, but also one that is sometimes even censored or ‘corrected’ in official publications, making this an extremely effective way to learn phrases and cultural references that are otherwise very difficult to find and learn

  • like I previously mentioned, when web novels are published they go through editing and screening of things, this also includes how things that are published are chosen, meaning with enough time we might even find things that aren’t published due to their subjects (from “taboo” to “things that the Japanese audience are less interested in that we might be instead”)

  • the very obvious pro is of course, for fans of certain books and series this is a great way to expand into something you like, and even read a “better version of it” (essentially the rumor regarding Freezer Husband" lol)

  • One Shots and very short things, that will fit for a specific week and stuff like that, will be much more accessible!
    Majority of the time short stories are always part of a book or stuff like that, but since we’re already doing more experimental things we can do something VERY light as break or just generally wanting to read something really cute/interesting and it’s not limited to reading it as part of a “bigger book” (this will be something that I think will fit people who enjoy things like anthologies a lot!)

  • I had more but I want to organize them in my head because some of them aren’t much of a pro and more my fantasies lol

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Yomichan was replaced by GitHub - themoeway/yomitan: Japanese pop-up dictionary browser extension. Successor to Yomichan. . They’re mostly identical, except yomitan should have improved browser compatibility,

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Oh! I knew it was abandoned but I didn’t know someone created a successor!!!
Thank you!! I’ll add it :muscle::muscle::muscle::muscle::muscle:
(Btw do you recommend moving over to it?:joy:)

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If Yomichan is working fine for you, it really doesn’t matter either way, imo. If you do switch, it’s better to manually re-add all your dictionaries and settings (tho they might have gotten the dictionary import fixed up now… I installed it months ago)

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It’s basically the same when using. Moving for me took like 15 minutes but someone else on our discord took what felt like days. :see_no_evil:

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(Btw do you recommend moving over to it?:joy:)

I moved to yomitan because yomichan started not working on my browser anymore. I think it’s probably only a matter of time before it completely breaks for everyone. So, if it works for you, no need to rush but you probably will have to sooner or later.

Also, I voted “yes” in the poll in the other thread but, it really depends on what we end up reading for the book club. I don’t generally enjoy common webnovel tropes and genres from what I do know of them. I will try whatever we chose but not so sure I’ll stick with it.

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completely fair lol
I myself don’t think I really want to read much if any of the popular fantasy isekai :rofl:

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Seeing as some people who voted in the original poll came here as well I’m going to put some draft ideas for some rules (feel free to comment, agree, disagree, bring up issues, etc, in fact I encourage and want this lol);

  • Nominations will need to be added with some sort of Proof of Quality which can be one of the following;
    (1) the nominating person themselves read this novel and can guarantee quality,
    (2) a formal publication or adaptation of some form,
    (3) a significant amount of following (2K at least),
    (4) the author being well known for a relevant reason (for example: レモン味のラムネ is a novel written by a YouTuber named Yudai-sensei that teaches Japanese, with a particular emphasis on pitch accent, but overall also tutors and does quizzes on Japanese grammar and etc. It should be noted that he uses novels he writes as material for teaching pitch accent in his channel which makes it very effective for learning and easy to check out in terms of content),
    (5) in case the nomination comes from a friends recommendation please ask them for some general synopsis and add it so that we can make sure it’s relevant and not just something they’ve heard of from another someone,
    (6) it has an entry in either novelupdates or jpdb
    nominations that don’t pass any of these conditions can be negotiated, but make sure it’s something legit and not a “it sounds interesting” or “I heard about it on a forum” and etc (if that really is the reason for the nomination you can just read a chapter or two and pass condition (1))

  • Each person will have a limited amount of nominations available (I was thinking either 2 or 3)

  • nominations that weren’t chosen automatically get added to the next cycle

  • if we read the start of something - continuing it can be a nomination in itself

  • as of now we will only accept Web Novels (with a huge “maybe” potential for Web comics, fan comics or fanfics, depending on how things go)

Edit: added the finalized version as of now to the header message

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Those all sound reasonable to me

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I have an idea, since if I don’t get this moving I will never get to this (things are a mess and I’m re-organizing what I’m doing so I want to push this as well)

since informal clubs are without schedules do you guys mind if we do that?
After nomination phase ends we’ll do a voting for what we want to read next and a general “deadline” to when we vote again (which we will vote for) and people can organize themselves however they like?

let me know if someone is even here for this or if I’m talking to myself I guess :joy:

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# Platform Title and Nomination Post
1 Kakuyomu レモン味のラムネ
2 estar 私の夫は冷凍庫に眠っている
3 syosetu どうも、好きな人に惚れ薬を依頼された魔女です。
4 kakuyomu クラスで２番目に可愛い女の子と友だちになった
5 syosetu 金色の文字使い ～勇者四人に巻き込まれたユニークチート～
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Title: レモン味のラムネ
Platform: kakuyomu
Current length: 27 Chapters, 103,133 Characters, Completed

Content warnings

Not that I know of any

Short Synopsis

Satou Ikutarou, a salaryman who is tired of his job, was supposed to go on a trip to Kyoto to use up his paid vacation days.
However, after nodding off while riding the bullet train, upon waking up he finds that he is in a train station in a place he has never seen or heard of.

会社勤めに疲れたサラリーマン・佐藤幾多郎（さとうきたろう）は有給休暇を消化するため、京都に旅行に出かけたはずだった。
しかし行きの新幹線の車中で居眠りをして再び目が覚めたとき、見たことも聞いたことのない駅にたどり着いてしまう。

Proof Of Quality

Written by a YouTuber named Yudai-sensei that teaches Japanese, with a particular emphasis on pitch accent, but overall also tutors and does quizzes on Japanese grammar and etc (It should be noted that he uses novels he writes as material for teaching pitch accent in his channel which makes it very effective for learning and easy to check out in terms of content)

Reason(s) for nominating: Wanted to read this one for a while now! Plus, the author created an imaginery dialect he put a lot of research into from what I’ve heard so am super curious about it!

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Title: 私の夫は冷凍庫に眠っている
Platform: estar
Current length: 18 Chapters, 70,231 Characters, Completed

Content warnings

domestic violence and cannibalism

Short Synopsis

Nana whom always wanted to marry, one day has a fated meeting.
Her Married life that went well at first slowly but surely began crumbling,
and Nana begins to question herself on whether she loves or loathes her husband.
Finally Hatred overcomes Love and Nana lays hand on her husband.
and yet…

ずっと結婚がしたかった夏奈（なな）はある日、運命的な出会いをする。
最初は上手くいっていた結婚生活はだんだんと崩れていき、
夏奈は夫を愛しているのか憎んでいるのか分からなくなってくる。
次第に憎しみが愛に勝るようになり、ついに夏奈は夫に手をかける。
それなのに…。

Proof Of Quality

Has an official publication

Reason(s) for nominating: wanted to read this book for a long while! Learning that there’s a web novel original version was a blessing :pray::sparkles:

as a side note: there is a natively page for the official publication version

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I’ve been keeping an eye on the thread! But I don’t know that I’ll be free enough to participate anytime soon, sadly. :smiling_face_with_tear: I also have exactly 0% exposure to the Japanese web novel scene, so I don’t have any handy recs immediately available offhand.

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I was scared there for a minute that you’d say “cat and biblio liked it” and then we’d be responsible. :rofl: :face_with_peeking_eye:

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Title:

Platform: syosetu

Proof Of Quality

It has an official release.

Current length: 46 Chapters, 239071 Characters, Completed

Short Synopsis

「惚れ薬を作って欲しい」

”湖の善き魔女”はある日、片思い相手に惚れ薬を依頼され、失恋した。

これが最初で最後なら少しでも一緒にいたい。
せめて時間を引き延ばそうと数々の注文を付ける魔女の主食がレタスと知り、何故か騎士は餌付けをはじめた。

レタスが栄養源だった引きこもり魔女と、真面目で上から目線な騎士の、惚れ薬から始まる恋のおはなし。

「I want you to make a love potion」

”The good witch of the Lake” gets her heart broken one day when she is asked by by her crush to make a love potion.

If this is the first and last time, even if it’s just a little bit, she wants to spend time with him.
In an effort to buy herself more time she sends him on numerous quests, and the knight, who finds out that the witch feeds on lettuce, starts to feed her lettuce for some reason.

A love story between a hikikomori witch, that nourishes on lettuce, and a serious and condescending knight that starts from a love potion.

Reason(s) for nominating: I own the official release and it sounds cute. Very much 女性向け though. Beware. :slight_smile:
Also, it seems to be fully finished, which is a plus IMO.

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I saw the manga version for this one!! I didn’t know it was a web novel :joy:
Super cute!

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I’m in the maybe interested camp, and just wondering of it would make sense to put in more information in the nomination post like a short synopsis, length, and estimated Natively level?

I’m kind of hesitating to write this because I don’t think I will have time to join right away, but I like the idea and I think adding more info to the nominations would make it more attractive!

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A short synopsis yes - I’ll add it :+1:

length maybe, though if it functions as an unofficial book club like I previously said then people will just read as much as they want with no schedule aside from when we nominate and vote next time
If it’s a matter of “do I want to start reading this” I can add a number of current chapters and an “is it completed” checkbox, if that helps?

natively level is unfortunately not possible (to quote myself from the nomination rules

)

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